Tony deeply regretted saving Banner and Rogers for last.

After how badly the previous three Avengers had gone, he doubted the last two would be any better. In fact, they'd probably be worse. Tony knew it'd be hard just to convince Banner to stay, let alone to help him out in his lab - because he most definitely wanted Banner with him in his lab. The man was one of the most brilliant people he'd ever met, and even though they worked in completely different fields, it was invigorating being around someone else as smart as himself.

Unfortunately, he doubted Banner would be permissible to the idea. He'd seemed polite so far, but Tony hadtried to turn him green before. That wasn't exactly the best first impression. Banner probably hadn't forgiven him for that; Tony'd be lucky if the man continued to be civil to him. Others had reacted far worse with far less provocation.

Then there was Rogers. He was the only one who'd been outright hostile to Tony, and Tony had no problem being hostile right back. However, he knew he was toeing the line. He'd only been allowed to join the Avengers as a last resort and a nicety. If he antagonized Rogers excessively, as team captain the man might just kick him out.

What bothered Tony about that prospect wasn't that he'd be kicked off the team. Sure, he cared more about the idea of losing them then he probably should, but that wasn't what really bothered him. No, it was that being an Avenger fulfilled his life's purpose. He needed to help others, and he had the power to do so when he was an Avenger. He could not risk having that taken away from him.

So Tony steeled himself and walked out of the elevator.

Banner and Rogers were sitting across from each other at the dining table in the kitchen. Banner had a Starkpad in front of him, but his eyes sat on Rogers. The two of them were talking. It was a comfortable, casual conversation, the kind Tony had only ever been able to have with Rhodey, and then only rarely. He stopped for a few seconds to watch them enviously.

"-hadn't thought about it that way before," Rogers was saying. "It's dizzying, the kind of new perspectives I get to hear nowadays."

"Wow, you really do sound like an old man," Tony cut in before Banner could respond.

The two looked up. Banner didn't look displeased to see him, but Rogers looked annoyed. "Why? Just because I enjoy hearing other people's perspectives?"

"No, just the use of the word 'nowadays,'" Tony said and smirked. "Banner, you're up."

Just like when he'd called Barton by his last name, Banner stiffened a little. He pushed back the chair and stood, turning to Tony. "I thought the team had agreed to be on first-name basis?"

"While that's nice to hear," Tony said with a roll of his eyes, "I'm not officially part of the team."

Banner and Rogers fell silent.

"Tony-" Rogers started.

"But, I guess if it's such a big deal," he said quickly, "I can follow your rules. C'mon, Brucito."

Tony cursed himself. If he wanted to stay on the team, he had to at least try to abide by their rules. No doubt Rogers was adding yet another tally to his reasons of why Tony would never measure up to him.

Oh wait, that was just Tony himself. Projection was a bitch.

Banner rolled his eyes. "We didn't say anything about nicknames, Tony. But, as long as it's not last names, it's okay. I'm not fond of mine."

Tony winced. He'd talked to Banner longer than any of the other Avengers, and he'd picked up that Banner's childhood hadn't been ideal. "Your wish is my command, Jolly Green."

Banner huffed out what could have been a laugh. "Alright, lead on."

Tony did.

He was far more nervous than he'd been for any Avenger previously. Banner's opinion mattered more, and he was willing to leave and go AWOL on a whim.

So when the doors slid open and he led Banner into his rooms, Tony did his best to show him exactly how much he'd be missing if he left.

Banner's rooms were plain and simple in an attempt to not overwhelm him after years of living in third-world countries. Tony had given him the bare essentials and nothing else, figuring he could always add stuff in later if Banner wanted it. Like with Thor, he'd put plenty of windows in so Banner would feel less trapped. He'd also put a trapdoor in Banner's bedroom so he could hide in case of emergency. Tony knew Banner hated bringing the Hulk out unless it was in defense of others.

"I figured you might want a special room to meditate in," Tony said, opening the door to show the man. Tony had put motion-activated doors in Barton and Romanoff's rooms, but had held off from it for the other Avengers. Rogers and Banner would've felt uncomfortable, and Tony wasn't sure how Thor would feel about it.

"It's farther back than the rest of your rooms and I soundproofed the walls. And you can ask JARVIS - you remember JARVIS, right?"

He'd introduced the AI to all the Avengers, and so far none of them had forgotten. Tony figured a sentient AI was pretty memorable. Still, though, Tony loved showing off JARVIS whenever possible. Call him sentimental, but it never got old.

"Do I remember him? Tony, how could I forget JARVIS?" Banner gaped at him. "He's a sentient AI. That's about fifty scientific breakthroughs at once, and you installed him into our house! He's amazing, Tony!"

"Thank you for the compliment, Dr. Banner," came JARVIS's voice.

"You can call me Bruce, JARVIS. Anyway Tony, what were you saying about him?"

Tony took a breath, trying to center himself. JARVIS was a lifesaver; without his sudden intervention, Tony would've had to stammer out some kind of slack-jawed response to Bruce's enthusiasm. He still felt uncomfortably like fleeing, however.

"If you're not feeling safe, I made a new protocol where you can ask J to lock down your floor at any time. It's effective for the other Avengers as well, but I figured you'd probably..." Tony trailed off. Banner was staring at him. "What?"

"Nothing," Banner let out a tiny, incredulous laugh. "I just..."

"Moving on, then," Tony said quickly. "As a side-note, everything in here is Hulk-proofed. That goes for the entire Tower, actually. You can't break anything if you try, although maybe be careful about the eating utensils because they might bend."

Banner's face had gone slack with astonishment. "Tony, are you for real? I can't break anything?"

Tony hastily back-tracked. "I wouldn't say anything. You have a room especially made for Hulking out if you need to, like, de-stress or something. Believe me, I know the feeling. Uh, I can put some stuff you can break in there if you'd like. That'd probably be better for your stress, actually."

"Tony..." Banner's eyes were wet. "This is...amazing. You have no idea how much this means to me."

Tony swallowed. Seriously? Banner, too? "Can't say that I do, but I'm glad you like it. Next there's-"

"No, really." Banner looked at him. Tony went still under his gaze. "Thank you."

"Don't thank me yet," he said, and gave a weak chuckle. "You haven't even seen the rest of your rooms. You might hate them. Which, if you do, I can totally replace because money - billionaire, got lots of it."

Banner was slowly shaking his head. "Tony, no one's ever done this much for me. Especially not for the other part of me. I don't care if you painted my entire bedroom with green polka dots, I'd still love it."

"Um, no polka dots, but I did put a very lovely blue floral in the bathroom," Tony said. He talked more the more nervous he got. "Blue's supposed to be calming, right?"

"Tony, can I hug you?"

He wasn't sure which surprised him more: the fact that Banner wanted to hug him, or the fact that he'd asked. He gaped at Bruce.

His hesitation cost him. Banner flinched, seeming to blanch. "Sorry, I shouldn't have asked. I forget sometimes: people don't want to touch me because of the Other Guy. I just really wish I could thank you properly for this."

Tony groaned inwardly. There was no way he was letting that stand. "No! No, that's not what I meant, Brucey. I just- I don't- it's not you, I just-"

He gave a defeated sigh. No way around it. He held out his arms. "C'mon, bring it in."

Banner exhaled a little too sharply. "Tony, are you sure?"

No, but Tony refused to let the man think he was scared of him. "Don't make me repeat myself."

Bruce hesitated for a moment longer, then slowly stepped forward and hugged him.

It was like the breath had gone out of Tony. He sank, entirely against his will, into Bruce. His knees actually went weak, and suddenly he was holding Bruce much tighter than he'd meant to.

"S-Sorry," he gasped out, because he never had been able to shut up. "Just give me a sec."

He expected Bruce to take that as a sign to pull back and let Tony compose himself. Unfortunately, Bruce seemed to take it as a request to be hugged for longer.

Tony cursed inwardly and tried to move. His brain fought him every second of the way, screaming that he needed it, he wanted it, there wasn't any harm in letting Bruce hug him for longer. Except there was, because every second he let this continue was another second he allowed himself to be vulnerable. If he allowed it to go on any longer, he knew he would fall apart.

And wasn't that pathetic? All it took to defeat Tony Stark was a hug. His enemies would be pissing themselves if they knew.

Tony closed his eyes, memorizing the feeling, and forced his knees to lock. He pulled away from Bruce, pointedly not looking at him. For the first time in years he felt embarrassed.

"Thank you for that, too," Bruce said softly. Then, louder, "Can I see the bathroom?"

The list of people Tony wanted to kiss was growing longer by the hour. He pasted a grin on. "I don't know, can you?"


Tony really regretted leaving Rogers for last.

The two of them stood in the elevator, as far apart from each other as possible. Neither looked at each other. Neither spoke. Given that Tony literally never shut up even when alone, the silence was stifling.

"We have arrived," JARVIS said, breaking the silence as the elevator slid to a stop. He didn't normally announce such things. A swell of gratitude enveloped Tony.

"Great!" Tony said, stepping into the room with more haste than necessary. "Well, here we are, Cap. Home sweet home - for you, anyway."

Rogers stepped beside him, taking in the room. The elevator opened out into the living room, like with all the other residential floors. Tony had made Rogers' floor far less elaborate than even Bruce's, given that the man had grown up during the Depression. The decor was simple but still tasteful - it was Tony's handiwork and his fashion sense was amazing, thank you.

He'd mostly decorated in dark browns and blues, arranging the sparse furniture in a way he hoped felt homey while still being easily defensible in case of a fight. The living room was bare of modern technology and the furniture itself was as old-fashioned as Tony had been able to find. He'd had to call up a designer who specialized in antique furniture just for this floor.

"All this is...for me?" Rogers asked slowly, turning to Tony. "Tony, this is..."

"Look," Tony interrupted, annoyed, "I don't know what your and the other Avengers' problems with my stuff is, but if you don't like it, just tell me and I'll fix it. Unless you...think you'd prefer a room at- at SHIELD. Forcing people to stay isn't, uh, I don't think Pepper'd approve so I won't do it, but I do think it might be better for the whole team thing you're going for here. Unless you're not, in which case-"

"Tony," Rogers said. Tony was almost grateful for the interruption. "Tony, calm down."

"I am very calm, Rogers. I'm just-" he heaved a frustrated sigh. "Every single one of you seems to dislike my stuff. I'm starting to think it's me, not my things, which is honestly stupid, because there's no reason to hate my stuff just 'cause you don't like me. I'm Tony Stark, my things are the best you're going to get."

"Tony, we don't dislike you," Rogers said evenly. "It's just-"

He rolled his eyes. "It's just that I'm arrogant, self-centered, have commitment issues, a drinking problem, reckless behavior - I've heard it all, Spangles. What's the flavor of the day? Oh, is it that I'm selfish and would never dream of sacrificing myself for others? Or is it that I'm rich, because somehow that's a character flaw to you?"

Rogers sighed and closed his eyes briefly. The movement irritated Tony more. He was about to continue his monologue when Rogers met Tony's eyes.

"Bruce was telling me I should apologize," he said. "I didn't think I had to, but now I see he's right. What I said on the Helicarrier was wrong, Tony. I woke up in a different world than I used to be in, and it's hard. Everything is different from what I'm used to. I made an assumption and you proved that I was wrong. Your flying that nuke into space was all the proof I needed to realize my mistake."

This wasn't how this conversation was supposed to go. Normal people didn't apologize for their mistakes. Normal people pretended they had done no wrong, and anyway Tony Stark was a spoiled rich kid, so it didn't matter. Years in the business world had taught Tony that.

"Wow, I should attempt suicide more often if this is the response I get," Tony drawled.

Rogers flinched. "No, that's not what I meant. I-"

"Relax, Cap. Now do you want to move back in with SHIELD or what?"

Rogers' brows drew in from confusion. "I never said anything about moving back in with SHIELD."

"You clearly have a problem with your rooms," Tony huffed.

"No, no, you've got it wrong. I meant, I was just surprised that you went to all the trouble to make this for me. It's a lot. But I appreciate it!" He added quickly. "I see what you did with the furnishings here, it was thoughtful of you. It feels like home."

Tony felt some of the tension leave his shoulders. "If you think that's good, wait until you see the rest."

He grabbed Rogers by the arm and started pulling him through the apartment. "Here we have the bathroom - standard-issue, didn't think you'd want it too fancy. You'll have to tell me what items you want for personal hygiene cause I bet SHIELD's soap absolutely sucks. By the way, do you still grow facial hair, because do you need a super-razor to cut it? Is it like, stiffer than normal hair now?"

Rogers laughed. "Yes, I can grow a beard. As far as I can tell, it's normal facial hair - I didn't really, uh, have any before the serum."

"Awesome," said Tony, half-listening. He kept moving. "I thought you'd probably want a little kitchen to yourself like I gave the rest of the team. It's mostly technology-free unlike the one in the common area, so you might like it better. I did stick a regular fridge and freezer in, though. I didn't want to haul an ice-block up here, or whatever you used to use."

"We had fridges back then," Rogers said, rolling his eyes. "They started making them in the 30s."

"And here I thought you lived in the stone age. Alright, your bedroom's right there but I wanna show you something else first."

Like most of the other Avengers, Tony had given Rogers a private exercise room. Clint's was an archery range; Nat's a shooting range with a sparring mat. He'd not given Bruce one for obvious reasons, and Thor just had a bunch of sparring dummies in case he wanted to bash something. There was a much larger and more complete training room on a different floor, anyway.

Rogers' was outfitted with a weight table and a bunch of punching bags. It also had a treadmill, although Tony was iffy about that part.

"If you ever want to punch something, I figured I'd give you some privacy to do it," he told Rogers. "There's another gym on floor 70 but I wanted to give you a private one, too."

Rogers was staring at the room, mouth slightly parted.

Tony tugged him onwards before he could respond. "And last but definitely not least, art!"

Tony pushed down the handle of the door and threw it open.

"Tony..." Rogers said softly, something like awe in his voice. He slowly stepped forward. "Tony, this is too much."

He looked around, wide-eyed at the array of art utensils in the room. Everything from canvases to pencils to paints stood proudly inside. The floor and walls were a different material than the rest of the rooms - a specially designed surface that couldn't stain.

Tony made an exasperated sound. "Fine, I'll have someone come tear it down, then. Waste of time on my part."

"No!" Rogers had spun around with a horrified look on his face. "No, don't take it down! This is just...a lot to take in. I'm not used to having this much."

Tony figured that was a passable excuse from a 1930s kid, so he decided to give the man the benefit of the doubt. "So you like it, then?"

If Rogers realized Tony's tone was a bit too hopeful to be casual, he didn't comment. "Yeah. Yeah, Tony, I really do."

"Good. Uh, that's most of it. I can, of course, get you anything else you might want or need because money, so you can just talk to JARVIS."

"Your...artificial intelligence," Rogers said, pronouncing the words slowly.

"Will that be a problem?"

Rogers gave a sheepish grin. "Sorry, it's just...I feel like I keep saying it, but new world, you know? I've never- I'd never even heard of an artificial intelligence back during the war. It's jarring, but I'll do my best to get used to it- him. It's what a good team captain would do, after all."

Tony looked at him for a second, then nodded. As long as Rogers was trying to get used to JARVIS, that was enough. "Right. Like I said, just call his name if you need anything and he'll help you out. I should probably be going now - it's getting close to your bedtime, Capsicle."

Rogers huffed. "If anything, it's getting close to yours. I can function on less sleep than you can. But, back to the subject, what if I need to talk to you about something?"

"Again, just talk to J. He'll patch you through." Why were all the Avengers so obsessed with talking to him? He certainly wasn't that obsessed with talking to himself, and he was the one they called narcissistic.

"Okay." Rogers looked a little disappointed, but Tony ignored it. "Thank you again, Tony. This whole thing - offering to house us, and then putting so much time into this - it's really, really kind of you."

"It's, uh, no problem," Tony mumbled, beginning to retreat. "Just doing my civic doing. Patriotism and all that."

Rogers raised an eyebrow at him but didn't pursue the subject. "Goodnight, Tony. See you tomorrow."

Tony pretended the words didn't send a thrill through him. Half the time, even Rhodey wished he was gone by the next morning. "Yeah. See you, Cap."

He stepped into the elevator and let JARVIS take him to his room. He was silent for most of the ride up, trying to process everything that had just happened. Finally, he said,

"JARVIS?"

"I believe you made a favorable impression on all your fellow Avengers, sir."

He swore J was a mind-reader sometimes. He let out a hollow laugh. "I'm hardly a fellow Avenger, but thanks. Do you think...do you think they like their rooms?"

JARVIS paused, probably scanning or running calculations. "My data seems to point to that conclusion, yes. They all seem comfortable and content within their rooms. You did well, sir."

Tony smiled. JARVIS was the only one he gave that smile - genuine, unguarded - to. He was the only one Tony trusted, and only because Tony had built him himself.

With his AI's assurance, Tony finally let himself relax. He strode the few steps to his bed and collapsed onto it. He hadn't slept for the past three days, catching no more than one or two-hour naps here and there. It was finally time to crash.

"JARVIS?"

"Yes, sir?"

"Thank you. For today." He meant a lot more than that, but he'd never been good at putting it into words.

"I love you too, sir."

He fell asleep with a smile on his face.