For the next few days, Pepper stayed glued to Tony's side. He was bedridden, so she was always there to take care of him, get him food – the woman even kept watch over him when he tried to go to the bathroom. Talk about awkward, even for a girlfriend. Steve was annoyed by it. Girlfriend or not, Tony must've been smothered by her. The woman was there during everything; Tony never got any privacy or peace. What really angered Steve was that Tony had rejected help from him, but he seemed to accept it from Pepper. Did Tony really have a problem with him?

Steve planned to confront Tony about what was going on, and he found perfect timing, too. Something came up with the company, an important meeting, and Pepper couldn't stick to Tony any longer. She had to go to represent him and confront any press about why Tony hadn't been showing up anywhere for almost a week.

As she pulled on her jacket and stepped into her shoes, she asked Steve, "Could you please watch him, just until I get back?" It sounded more like Pepper was asking him to baby-sit rather than…Tony-sit. Was that how she really saw Tony? As someone so helpless and pathetic?

Steve nodded in agreement. "Sure thing. Don't worry about him; I've got this under control." He gave her a small smile as reassurance.

Pepper smiled back at him. "Thank you, Steve." With that, she left.

Steve swallowed before entering Tony's room. Already, Tony was grimacing at him. Steve cocked an eyebrow at him. Did Tony hold a grudge this entire time? Somehow, Tony managed to already have him on the brink of being pissed off. "What?"

Tony shook his head, sitting up on his elbows. "I just don't see why she picked you to watch me, that's all. I mean, I can take care of myself. It's a head injury, not a broken leg. I really don't have to stay in bed. I'm fine."

Steve shook his head, sitting on the bed beside Tony's leg. Tony jerked his leg away, and Steve glanced down at it, sighed, then looked back up at the bedridden man again. "You seemed to be accepting Pepper's care just fine. Why do you hate it when I try to help you so much? Do you have a problem with me?"

Tony nodded angrily. "Yeah, as a matter of fact, I do have a problem with you. I'm tired of you trying to be a goody-two-shoes and trying to take care of me. I can take care of myself. I don't need you, and I don't need anyone. I want Pepper's help, you see? Because she's my girlfriend. Hell, I'd accept help from Bruce or anyone else here, because they're my friends. But you? I just don't like you. You pretend to be some nice guy and you never express any anger. It pisses me off. What are you trying to prove? Who are you trying to impress by trying to help everyone and be nice to everyone?"

Steve ground his teeth together. "Are you asking me to not care about you?" That was like asking the impossible, oddly enough.

Tony nodded, laughing out of anger, then he glared. "That's exactly what I want. I don't like you, Rogers. My dad might've been your biggest fanboy, but I sure as hell ain't. You're the fakest person I know. Why don't you just express some real anger for once? Get fucking mad!"

Steve stood quickly from the bed. "Screw you, Tony. I try to help you and you don't even give a damn. You can go to Hell!" The smile on Tony's face faded when he backhanded a lamp off of Tony's nightstand, sending to shatter on the floor. "I try to care about you because you're my teammate, but I don't like bullies. And you know what you are, Tony? You're not just a bully, you're a fucking coward. You hide in a metal suit and call yourself a hero. That's like calling the guy driving a tank the strongest man alive. Don't you see? Without that suit, you're nothing! Worthless! You want me to get angry?! You want me to get pissed off?!"

Steve completely tossed over Tony's nightstand table, sending hurtful noises into the air. He practically roared as he did it too. Tony had created a wild animal. "I don't like being angry, Tony! But I can't take it anymore! Person I care the most about in this whole damn place wants me to get fucking angry! God damn it!" He punched a massive hole in the wall, then bent over, picking up Tony by the collar of his shirt. "Are you happy?" he growled. "Does this make you happy? Does this excite you? To see me so angry? Am I fake now? Just because I like being nice and showing self-restraint you hate me? Fuck you." He released Tony back onto the bed. "If you can take care of yourself, then do it. I'm not going to wipe your ass."

And then Steve was gone, an angry rage monster of his own. Tony was left bewildered. That was a bigger explosion than what he'd anticipated. He just laid there quietly, not saying anything as he thought. Tony kept his eyes on the door, part of him hoping that Steve would come back so they could apologize to each other. Tony didn't want to be mean; he didn't know what was wrong with him. It just pissed him off how happy Steve always seemed to be. Was he jealous? Was that it? Jealous of Steve?

When Pepper came back, she was freaking out, asking Tony what happened, but he just ignored her. She checked his bandages, to make sure he was alright, then she kept asking where Steve was and why he wasn't watching him. Tony didn't want to listen to her. "Pepper- Pepper!" Finally the woman stopped talking. "Can I…" he sighed, "can I just be alone for a little bit?

She was quiet for a second before saying, "But Tony, you've been alone this entire time. I need to take care of you."

"Pepper, please? I'm fine, really."

She was quiet before nodding. Pepper leaned down and kissed his forehead through the gauze. "If you need me, call for me, okay?" Then she stood and walked out, closing the door behind her.

When she was gone, Tony sat up and unraveled the gauze from his head as he shuffled to his bathroom. There were imprints on his forehead of where the gauze had been, and by using two mirrors, he could see ugly, dark purple scars on the back of his head. It was enough to make him groan in disgust. Tony put down the mirror he held in his hand and sighed.

Tony drug his feet back into his room, rubbing the back of his head. He looked up and saw Steve standing in his room and it almost gave him a heart attack. It was enough to make him stumble backwards and gasp. "Jesus Christ, Steve, what are you doing in here? You nearly scared the shit out of me."

Steve stepped over and turned Tony's nightstand back onto its legs. Then he was looking down at the floor. After Tony's mini freak-out, he hesitated then looked up and connected eyes with the startled man. "Tony…I'm sorry."

Tony's face softened as he calmed down, then he swallowed, regaining his posture. "Do you mean about scaring me just then or about what happened a few hours ago?" This could be taken as a sarcastic joke or a serious question.

Steve cleared his throat nervously. "Both, I guess." It was almost funny to Tony, seeing him this way. But he was still upset about before.

Tony looked down at the floor. "It was my fault. I'm the one that told you-"

"Please, Tony," Steve interrupted him, "don't blame yourself like that. I should've kept my cool. It's just," with one long stride he was a few feet from Tony, Tony taking in a sharp breath and looking up at the super soldier, "it bothers me that you don't want me to help you with anything. I feel like you hate me. …I know that we didn't get along in the beginning of the Avengers Initiative, but I thought that was all behind us. I thought we were actually friends now."

Tony shook his head lightly, swallowing a bit as he tried to muster the right words that he wanted. "That's crazy. I don't mean you're crazy. I don't hate you. We worked together and fought Loki together. You're my teammate; I don't hate any of my teammates."

Steve was confused and still a bit sad. "But what about what you said before, about the others being your friends and how you didn't like me?"

Tony shook his head. "No, I didn't mean any of that. I swear. I mean the others are my friends, but you are too."

"Then why don't you ever want my help?"

Tony sighed, running his hand through his hair. He paused after he remembered there wasn't gauze on his head. His eyes drifted up to meet Cap's, then he pursed his lips as he thought. "Okay, you want to help me? I'll let you rewrap my head." He walked over to the bed and sat down so he could get the gauze from the nightstand drawer.

With no hesitation, Steve sat next to Tony on the bed and waited to intercept the gauze. Tony looked him over then placed the bandages in his palm. Steve commenced wrapping the gauze around Tony's head, unconsciously running his fingers through Tony's hair in the first round. Tony closed his eyes, feeling somehow completely relaxed. Usually when people other than Pepper – especially doctors – tended to him, he was on edge, which was another reason he never liked being helped in such ways, but with Steve it was different, especially when he was brushing his fingers through Tony's hair. A small sound of approval escaped Tony, and it made Steve half smile gladly.

"How much longer do you think I'll have to wear these bandages?" Tony asked, almost pitifully, with his eyes still closed to the super soldier.

Steve shrugged a bit and sighed. "There's no telling on my part, Tony. Like I said, I don't know anything medical. But maybe this time in bed is good for you. These have been days we didn't have to worry about you blowing up again." He let a small smile escape his lips.

Tony peeked at him with one eye. "But what if I like getting blown up?"

Steve cocked an eyebrow at him. "You like having a concussion and almost having your head split in half?" He paused and swallowed. "You like me taking care of you like this?"

Tony opened both his eyes a bit widely. He curled in his lips and wet them anxiously. "I never said that."

Steve half smiled then pursed his lips. "I know." His voice was lower, like a whisper, and he sighed through his nose. "I was only asking a rhetorical question."

When Tony oddly got chills from that, he turned his eyes away. Steve tied off the bandage then leaned over Tony to put the gauze back in the nightstand drawer. Tony held his breath with having the Captain so close to him. When Cap sat back up straight, leaned away from him, Tony was able to breathe again. He had no idea what had just happened, why he'd had that reaction.

Steve looked down at the floor. He wanted to say something, but he didn't know what. His feelings weren't completely clear yet, but part of him was wanting to spontaneously burst out and admit feelings that might not even be true just to take a chance. The rest of him was thinking about Peggy….

Tony decided to be the one to break the silence. "Thank you for doing my head." Steve looked at him, a slight pink blush jumping to his cheeks, and Tony turned his head away, red covering to his face as well. "I mean, my uh…" he pointed at the gauze on his head, "b-bandages. …Not my head."

Steve was still blushing at what the man said, but then he smiled. With a small laugh in his voice he said, "Yeah, no problem."

Tony looked at him a bit frustrated but still blushing. It was adorable. "What?"

Steve laughed again and waved a hand like he was waving it all away. "No, it's nothing. I'm just being immature. It's fine." He smiled, laughing again.

Tony's heart fluttered, and he almost punched himself in the arc reactor to make it stop. It was just…that smile of Steve's. Hearing him laugh – it made him happy. Tony smiled and laughed a bit too, his blush going down to just a moderate pink - even more adorable then before. "Yeah, well, I guess I did sort of accidentally set myself up there."

As they laughed together, Pepper entered the doorway. She smiled at them and walked in. "Hey guys." She looked at Tony's head then at Steve. "Did you rewrap his head?"

They both ceased in laughter, but while Tony still smiled, Steve lost all happiness on his face. He cleared his throat. "Umm, yeah, I did. I'm sorry."

She shook her head, no happiness on her face either. "No, it's fine." Her eyes glanced at the nightstand now back on its legs but still broken up, and the fist-sized indention in the wall, then she looked back to Steve. These things had been here before, but now it clicked in her mind that he must've done those things and came back to apologize. "Am I interrupting anything?" she asked.

Tony pursed his lips and shook his head. "No, because there's nothing going on. He wrapped my head and he was just about to leave." He seemed defensive. Maybe even angry.

Steve looked down at the floor then back up at Pepper and nodded. "Yeah, I was, actually." He stood. "I'll leave you two." He glanced at Tony one last time and they connected eyes. After a shock of something electric, he hurried out of there.

Again, Tony found himself in a situation where he couldn't even listen to Pepper as she asked questions. He only thought about Steve, and if he'd been rude. 'Damn, why am I always such a jackass to that guy?' he wondered. He thought about Steve smiling and laughing and how it'd really made his heart dance.

"Pepper…can I have some privacy again? Last time I didn't really get it. Steve came in like right after you left. So it was more like company changed rather than privacy was granted." He felt awful about having to ask her for privacy again.

She looked at the floor and made out a single, sort of aggravated laugh. "Yeah, I get it. I've been with you for almost a week now. You must be tired of me. It's totally fine." When Tony didn't say anything, she laughed angrily, nodding and standing. "Alright, I'll go. I'll see you tomorrow." With that, she was gone in a poorly masked rage.

Tony frowned at the door. Was that the third time today he'd made someone leave completely pissed at him, or just the second? He didn't even want to think about it. Surprisingly, he didn't even want to think about Pepper. His mind drifted back to Steve. Steve. Why Steve?

Of all people, why did it have to be Steve?

And then Tony realized there was something more to this than he'd originally thought. The masquerade of thoughts in his head finally cleared out into something less vague, and his mind turned to his memories.

After he had traveled that nuke through the portal over Manhattan and killed all the Chitauri, and he was sure he would die… How he woke up to something loud, and it was like his heart exploded. Over him stood the Hulk and Thor, but by his side, with a hand on his chest, was Steve. And though at first he looked around, confused and rambling, when he looked back up at Steve, they connected eyes. And he asked, "Please tell me no one kissed me," with a joking smile. Steve just looked into his eyes, then away, somewhere distant, and said, "We won." The look that had once been on Steve's face, before he announced the victory, that look was something Tony couldn't decode. It was worry but relief, grief turned to joy, and remorse morphed into shock, all with a twinkle in his eye. Had Steve really thought that Tony was dead?

He thought about when the Avengers moved into Stark Tower after it was done being fixed up. Everyone else marveled at the place, but Steve's expression held something more. It was a jumbled mess of confusion and astonishment. He was the only person who was even impressed with the microwave. And it was so cute.

That's when Tony made sense of some of these feelings.

He thought that Steve was cute.

That was a bearable thought. That was okay. Who wouldn't think that Steve was cute? The man was just oozing with charm.

Something started to come over Tony. He slipped into thoughts like he'd never known. There was an incredible heat that radiated from his core and burned in his brain. He felt like he was melting - seeping away like an ooze from his former self. And as he closed his eyes, he entered a part of his mind that he hadn't ventured to before. Steve was there, waiting for him. He'd been waiting along.

"Tony…"

He tried furiously to hold in his voice as these feelings were overwhelming him. Steve pulled the hand from Tony's mouth, hovering over him so closely. "Don't do that." Steve's voice was so low and harmonic and…seductive.

Tony couldn't hold it in anymore, and with a gasp he let out his voice.

"Steve…"

He sounded so strained and innocent, like a whipped pup with his tail between his legs, but he kept coming back, begging and licking Steve's hand for more attention. For more of everything. He wanted all of it.

"Steve…!"

His body writhed in feelings of extreme heat and ecstasy. He could feel Steve's breath on him, and it only made things hotter.

"Tony…"

"Steve…"

"Say it again, Tony."

"Steve!"

Tony shot up in a cold sweat. Steve was gone. The heat was fading. But the feeling in his hand remained ever present. In a flash he was in the bathroom, washing away the filth from his palm, disgust written in the stress wrinkles on his face.

"Oh god what did I do?"