"Hey! Where's breakfast?!" Clint was not happy as he sat down on his bar stool in the kitchen. He was used to rolling out of the vents, like a champ, duh, and sauntering into the kitchen where a hearty meal was waiting for him. Unfortunately, Steve was not placing his perfectly well-done omelet in front of him.
Natasha walked in, dressed in sweats, since she actually had the weekend off. No missions, just paperwork that she had already started earlier that morning. She patted Clint on the shoulder on her way to the coffee machine.
"Nat, I'm hungry!" Clint whined.
"Well, then, you came to the right place, beings we are in a kitchen."
"But Steve always cooks for us."
"I'm sure he has a very good explanation for not serving you this particular morning." Natasha winked at him, reaching in a cabinet for some oatmeal.
Bruce walked in next, heavy bags under his eyes. "Morning, guys."
"Morning, Bruce." Natasha politely answered.
"Did the Big Guy have another nightmare?"
"Almost. Thankfully, your room is still in one piece." Clint sighed in relief. Last time there was a nightmare, his room was the Other Guy's punching bag, since they were right next door to each other.
Bruce went over the medicine cabinet and took some Advil to help with the migraine that always came after a rough night...or really anything that had to do with the Other Guy.
"GOOD MORNING MY FELLOW COMPANIONS! TIS ANOTHER SPLENDID MORN!"
Clint winced at the thunderous voice. "Yep, if I had any hearing left, it's gone now." He played with his right ear, the closest one that took the most impact.
Thor sat down on a stool and slapped both hands on the table. "Where is Steven? He promised me he would make me this assortment of eggs and cheese. It sounds delicious!"
"Here you go, Thor." Natasha handed the god a huge mug of coffee with his name monogrammed on it. This was so he would not throw it on the ground after finishing, demanding he wanted another.
"Thank-you, Natasha." He took a big gulp. The temperature did not phase him at all.
"So, where is Steve?" Clint repeated his and Thor's question for breakfast.
"He does not appear to be here at the moment cooking your breakfast, so maybe, you can-"
She was interrupted by a paper football landing in her mug. She eyed Clint, then tossed it out of her coffee.
"Naaaaaaaat! I don't wanna!"
"Fear not, Clinton!" Clint did not like that name. "I shall relieve us of our hunger!" Thor went to the pantry and came back with two boxes of PopTarts, blueberry-flavored for Clint, and chocolate-flavored for him. They both ripped their boxes open, immediately devouring their breakfasts.
They all continued their breakfast in companionable silence. That is until...
DING!
"Oh no...look! It's the walking dead!" Clint jumped out of his seat, pointing in horror at the elevator. "Give me my bow!"
"Shut it, Darrell!" Tony lazily gave him the finger, dragging his feet. He looked like a zombie, felt like one, too. He probably got two hours of sleep, so he was going to fix that with some coffee. Taking out his favorite mug-labeled "World's Greatest Boss" with his face-he poured it then sat down next to Bruce, who gave him what part of the newspaper he had already read.
"Where's Steve?"
"Steven is absent this morning, so we had to fend for ourselves." Thor raised a hand with a half-eaten PopTart, crumbs all over his face. Tony made a mental note to teach him some table manners.
"Captain Sunshine never sleeps in." Tony frowned. "JARVIS?"
"He is on his way, Sir, as we speak."
DING!
The elevator announced the team's last member's arrival. And they were shocked to see him in this state.
Steve's eyes were blood-shot from tears, which he was not going to admit. His hair was still wet and dripping a little from the second shower in the past seven hours. Shirt wrinkled, sweat pants and barefooted, this was not the Steve Rogers they knew.
"Are you OK, Steve?"
Steve ignored Tony's question, and just kept his head down as he made himself some cereal.
That answered everyone's question, since Steve never eats cereal. He always eats a full-course breakfast with protein and starches and basically all of the main food groups.
Tony could definitely see something was wrong.
"Steve?"
The captain sat down and just stared at his bowl. There was not even milk to go with his Cheerio's.
Tony got up and walked over to his boyfriend. "Steve, tell me what's wrong?"
Steve still did not answer. He got up, breakfast untouched and turned to leave.
"Steve, babe, if I knew what was wrong, I could fix it. I just don't know why." He went to put a hand on Steve's shoulder.
That's when Steve snapped.
He threw Tony's hand off of him, the disgust and the hurt all coming back.
"You know damn well why, back off!"
The silence after that little outburst was shocking to say the least. Everyone was staring at the two in the living room, not sure what to make of what just happened.
Tony was not expecting that kind of reaction from Steve. Something was bothering him. He replayed yesterday's events, coming up with empty to the possible reasons why Steve was so upset.
Steve's nostrils were flaring, breathing elevated like he had just run a marathon pre-serum.
"Don't touch me…ever again…" Tears were fighting to escape, but before anyone could see it happen, he stormed out and went back to the elevator to retreat to his room.
Tony just stood there. His heart was hurting. Steve didn't want him to touch him? But why? He was just fine last night before he went down to the lab. They had a nice little make-out session, even, because he told Steve he was not going to bed.
Everyone got up, not wanting to just sit there anymore, and went to go talk to Tony.
"Guys...what just happened?"
Steve slammed his door shut, the hinges threateningly close to falling off. He backed away from the door, away from the threat that was on the other side. He did not expect Tony to be there at breakfast. He hardly shows up on a good day. He did not want to face him, not after what happened last night. He still felt unclean.
Yes, he wanted Tony to be his first, but not so soon and so...he did not know a lot about sex, but that was not pleasurable at all. He knew Tony bragged about being a beast in bed, whatever that meant. Unfortunately, this was more predatory than what Steve was thinking. Yes he's a virgin...was a virgin, but Tony and the others tried to explain things too him. But he kept getting too embarrassed, and Tony had promised he would show him the ropes. And that was when he was ready. And he was not ready last night. Tony was not even supposed to be there. Steve could not believe he was telling himself this, but it was like it wasn't even Tony...
"Tony, you need to give him some space."
"But I need to figure this out! He's never jumped down my throat like that before, not since we first met."
"Look, I know it's hard to-"
"No, Bruce, you don't know!" Tony stopped pacing in front of the elevator. He took a deep breath to calm himself down.
"Anthony, Steven is quite upset at the moment. He will ask for you because he cares greatly for you. Whatever has happened, you can solve together." Thor's voice was surprisingly gentle, wise beyond his years. Well, he was much older than all of the Avengers combined, obviously.
"Hey, didn't you have a surprise you wanted to show us?" Clint tried to lighten the mood, to get Tony's mind working in a different direction.
"It was meant for...him..."
"I'm sure he'll love it, Tony." Natasha tried to be encouraging. Everyone loved watching the mechanic show off his new gadgets, but not as much as Tony loved presenting it.
Tony just shook his head. Yeah...love.