A/N: Well, I'm back! And I come bearing fanfiction! You asked for more and here it is! I hope you like it. ^_^
Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING!
Steve pressed Stark against the wall, pinning him with his body…
Jab, jab, cross. Jab, jab, cross.
Hands grasped at his hair, pulling him forward. Their lips met in a velvet soft kiss…
Left, right, left, right, left, BAM!
Darn it, thought Steve. He had not meant to knock another punching bag off the chains that held it up. The soldier had let his mind wander again as he worked out. Why was the scene in the elevator the only thing on his mind?
Since he had already been working out for the last few hours, Steve had developed a light coating of sweat on his skin. He glanced over at the clock on the wall of the training area.
8:24 a.m.
Maybe he had been down here longer than he thought. Steve picked up the broken punching bag carefully and cradled it under his arm to dispose of it. He knew one of the maintenance people would take care of it, but he figured it was the least he could do to pick up his own messes. Stopping only to toss the piece of equipment down the chute in the wall, Steve made his way to the elevator and pushed the button.
He remembered the last time he had used the elevator and opted for the stairs instead before the doors could even open. Creating another workout, Steve took the steps three at a time in rapid succession. Before he was even winded, he had made it up 10 floors and had to slow down. He only had one more floor to go, anyway.
Steve stepped out of the stairwell onto the residential floor of the Tower and made a bee line for the fridge to grab a bottle of water. Twisting the cap off, he downed the liquid in one sitting and grabbed another. As he turned to head back to his room, the elevator gave an alarming ding.
Pepper Potts and Bruce Banner stepped off the machine, looking rather awkward. Pepper saw Steve first and walked over to him with a smile. Bruce was content to glance around the entire room, most likely looking for the best possible escape routes.
"Hello, Steve," Pepper said brightly. "Have you seen Tony around? We checked the workshop already and he wasn't there."
"Uhh, yes ma'am. He's in his room sleeping. I had to drag him up here early this morning so he would get some rest," he replied.
Pepper groaned dramatically and threw her hands up in the air. "Great! Now we're going to be late, as usual."
Bruce cautiously made his way over and gave Pepper a calm look. "Give him some slack, Ms. Potts. You know how he gets when he works on something."
She just rolled her eyes and turned towards the hall to go wake Stark. Pepper was stopped short when she saw him standing there, rubbing the sleep from his eyes with a huge yawn.
"I'm awake, I'm awake," Tony said with a lazy grin, walking over to them and ignoring Pepper's glare. "Let me get my case at least, and then we can get the hell out of here." He added with a friendly nod to Bruce, who smiled back vigilantly.
"Think you can hold down the fort all by yourself?" Tony teased Steve with a clasp on the shoulder as he shuffled his way back to his room to fetch his things.
Steve just looked quizzically at the back of Tony's shirt as he went back into his room. With a slight shake of his head, he glanced back over to Pepper to ask, "What's going on? Business trip?" Tony had not mentioned anything of the sort. Then again, he was working on a new toy. That would also explain why Dr. Banner was here. Two Avengers should be at the Tower at all times or at least in the general vicinity, as per Director Fury's suggestion.
Ms. Potts brightened and replied, "No. Actually, he's taking me to Paris for the weekend on a romantic getaway." The lines around her eyes deepened as she said this, betraying her stress despite the smile.
Genuinely concerned, Steve asked, "Are you all right, Ms. Potts? You look… tired." He did not want to overstep his boundaries in any way. Women were strange, unpredictable creatures.
"Oh, I'm fine." She waved away his concerns and softened her features to something more believable. Steve was not fooled.
It was not long before Tony emerged from the hallway with a wide smile. His attire was adequately appropriate for the occasion: dark slacks and a leather jacket. In his left hand, his fingers clutched a large metallic briefcase. The tendons stood out as his muscles contracted and relaxed on the handle. The Stark International Logo shimmered brilliantly against the reflective surface.
"Alright, let's get this rolling," Tony said enthusiastically, passing by Steve and stepping between Bruce and the elevator. "Jarvis, make sure Steve thoroughly understands the concept of cell phones and laptops," he commented, his smile flashing white teeth.
"Of course, sir," Jarvis responded immediately. Tony leaned over and kissed Pepper on the cheek while she was not paying attention before strolling into the elevator.
"Try not to miss me," he said aloud. It was unclear if that statement was directed towards Jarvis or Steve… or both.
Pepper just shook her head in mild exasperation and offered Steve an amused smile. "Always such a diva," she said, pretending to hide the remark behind her hand.
"Heard that," Tony's voice replied dryly from the elevator. Pepper sighed and turned to follow her boyfriend.
"Have a good weekend, Ms. Potts," Steve called as she stepped in. He was not sure if it was his imagination or not, but he thought he saw her shoulders slump slightly before she corrected her posture. The doors closed before he could be sure.
Steve and Bruce stood in an uncomfortable silence for a few more moments before Steve broke it. "So," he began, "care to show me which remote does what for the T.V.? I keep getting them all mixed up."
Bruce chuckled and nodded his head. Steve joined in his quiet laughter and sat down on the couch. He diligently listened to Dr. Banner's explanation of the difference between the television remote, DVD remote, and surround sound remote. Unfortunately, he was still lost before the doctor even began. His thoughts were about what would be happening in Paris.
Steve pulled his motorcycle into the underground garage of the Tower and cut the engine. After Bruce had finished his futile attempt at showing Steve the difference between all of the remotes, he had wandered off to his lab to arrange things. That had left Steve with nothing to do.
He would have asked the doctor what he was working on, but he had not been sure if he wanted to know or would even understand his explanation. Instead, he had gotten on his bike and drove around the city. It had changed so much from what he remembered.
The buildings were larger and sharper. The names across the entrances were none that he recognized. The cars that roared around him looked like nothing he could have imagined evolving from the cars of his day.
His musings had been rudely interrupted when he had seen someone get dragged down an alley.
He had immediately stopped his motorcycle near the curb, not caring if he could park there or not, and rushed to help the civilian. It was a teenage boy who was cornered by three thugs demanding he empty his pockets. The scrawny kid had been trembling in horror, but refused. He reminded Steve of himself before the procedure had changed his life.
Steve stepped forward, his temper easily seen in the set of his shoulders and the muscles twitching in his jaw. "Hey! Pick on someone your own size!" he called. All three thugs whipped around, their attention fully on the Captain. The kid took his chance and ran through the other end of the alley, wide eyed with fear mixed with relief.
"Mind your own business!" one of them yelled back. The muggers looked Steve up and down, appraising the possibility of being able to take him. They decided to go for it and surrounded Steve.
He remained still and simply said, "You really don't want to do this. Why don't you go back home and—" One of the muggers cut him off with a swipe of a pocket knife. Steve easily dodged it and grabbed his wrist in a firm grip, swinging him into his companions with a quick movement. He grimaced inwardly as he felt the joint come out of place beneath his fingers with a sickening pop! As they tumbled to the ground, the soldier crossed his arms over his chest and finished his sentence as if he had never been interrupted, "—be with your families. I'm sure they would miss you if anything happened to you."
The injured mugger cradled the wrist to his chest and looked at Steve with pure hatred before stalking off without another word. Just as the muggers turned to follow their leader, two police officers rounded the corner into the other end of the alley, followed by the boy from earlier. The muggers tried to backtrack, but Steve had blocked their way.
They were arrested without any further struggle, the one with the dislocated wrist swore at the officer when they handled him too roughly. Seeing his work as done, Steve left the alley unnoticed and drove away on his motorcycle. The sun was setting when he made his way back to the Tower to rest.
It was somewhere around 3 a.m. when Steve awoke from another nightmare. Again, he decided that he was unable to sleep soundly. Needing something simple to calm his mind to keep it from reeling back to the horrors of war, he left his room to find something to distract him.
Steve pressed the button to reveal the keypad to unlock the door to the staircase. Steve punched in the code and made his way up the stairs at a slow pace. He wanted to go to the balcony near the top of the Tower. His boots echoed on the walls with every step he took.
He stepped into the lounge area of the Tower. The view from the wide paneled windows was breathtaking. The sky had darkened with nightfall while he was coming up the stairs; the lights below made it look like Christmas all year round.
Steve stepped to the door of the huge balcony that overlooked the city and was surprised to see Tony standing there with his back to him. There were unlabeled bottles of liquor clustered around his feet. Steve counted five of them, not counting the one Tony had in his hand. This was not good.
"You're back early. I thought you were going to be in Paris all weekend," Steve said quietly, not wanting to startle the obviously drunk Avenger.
"I messed up." Tony's voice cracked as he called out to Steve. He did not bother turning around as he spoke, he only took another swig of his alcohol. The edge of his shoulders slouched as he ducked his head down to rest against his arm on the balcony railing. After a moment of silence with the soft shudder of breathing, Stark let out a long sigh.
"Pepper… she left me," he said solemnly, finally turning to stare through Steve. He swayed slightly and gripped the railing with the hand holding the bottle for balance. His other hand was flexing into a fist, the curve of his fingers fiddling with something that shimmered in the moonlight.
Steve walked over to his best friend and put his hand on his shoulder to offer what comfort he could. He had the urge to put his arms around Tony and tell him things would be all right, but the soldier restrained himself and calmly looked at Tony. Concern radiated from the Captain as he asked, "What happened?"
Tony visibly caught himself before he said anything. Steve squeezed Tony's shoulder lightly and inched closer to him, leaning his hip against the railing. "You're doing that worried, crinkly eyebrow thing again," he said with a slight chuckle, leaning away from the railing with minimum struggle. He gave the captain a forced smile, something that looked practiced.
"Well, I took her around Paris. We went sightseeing and shopping. She certainly enjoyed herself when she was spending our money –err… my money." He began with great enthusiasm, delicately setting down his bottle of liquor like it was his child. "I took her to the most expensive restaurant there. It was right next to the Eiffel Tower. Au Bon Accueil…" Tony's voice slowly drifted into silence, but was quickly broken by another solid laugh. "Ah, I don't know. I guess she couldn't handle me."
There was a pause.
"I don't understand how; I'm too damn irresistible!" He said with a wide gesture of his arms, a hand catching on the alcohol bottle. It was sent careening off of the balcony and into the night. Tony watched nonchalantly. "Well shit."
Steve leaned both of his elbows onto the balcony railing and gave Tony a measured look. He wasn't buying any of it. He knew Stark too well. "And how do you really feel about it, Stark?" he said simply, keeping his face blank.
Tony gave another heavyhearted snicker. "Now you're starting to sound like a therapist," he accused Steve with a wave of his hand, those brown eyes gauging his concern. When Steve did not budge, Tony playfully groaned.
"Everything was going perfect. I did everything right, or at least I thought I did," he began in a low tone, his face knitting itself into a drunken scowl. "We talked, we laughed…" He stopped for a moment and forced himself to continue. "And then I was going to propose to her. I ordered champagne, and told the waiter to put the ring in her glass," he said, subconsciously looking down to his hand and then back out to the sky.
"But then… then she said something to me." Tony scoffed to hide the waver in his voice as he turned to Steve. His faced displayed his exhausted sadness.
Tony's lips curved up in a dark smile as he said in his defense, "I know I'm not the best at being romantic, but… this was just unexpected.
"'I've noticed that you have eyes for someone else... and that someone has eyes for you, too,' she said, just as the waiter was coming up behind her." Stark paused for a breath, licking his dry lips as he glanced away from Steve. His eyes were glassy, and he squinted away the moisture.
Tony's hand came into view, slowly opening to reveal an ornate band. The glimmer of the diamond sparkled against his palm, and there were imprints from where he had held the ring too tight. Without warning, he spun around and whipped the band over the balcony with a snarl. "That's going to make someone happy in the morning," he spat.
"Stark," Steve whispered, turning to his friend and standing to his full height. Seeing Tony hurt like this tugged at Steve's heart. He grabbed both of Tony's shoulders and turned him to see his face before wrapping his muscular arms around the shorter man in a gentle embrace.
Steve did not know what hurt more; the fact that Tony was hurt or that he "had eyes for someone else." For some reason, those words had struck home for the soldier.
Before he stepped over some social boundary about men hugging, he took a step back and looked Tony in the eye. Their faces were only inches apart. His hands tightened on the shorter man's shoulders and whispered the only words he could think of. "Everything is going to be all right."
Tony shrugged away from Steve's grip, pinching the bridge of his nose. "No. No, it's not going to be all right. It's never going to be all right." Tony snapped, staring into Steve's eyes defiantly.
Steve stared back into the blazing eyes of his friend and he felt the muscles in his jaw tighten as his instinct to protect kicked in. He wanted to protect Tony from his pain and it killed him that his efforts were not working. Steve raised his hand to reach out for Tony again, but stopped himself and let it fall back to his side.
"I refuse to believe that." His voice was barely above a whisper. Tony snorted. Leaning down so he could level his gaze with Stark's, he repeated in a stronger voice, "I refuse to believe that." His eyes blazed just as bright as Tony's, conveying the pain and understanding he felt for the man.
Tony murmured something inaudible under his breath with a frown, his eyes flicking down to take in the curve of Steve's lips. Before the captain had a chance to comment further, Tony captured those lips with his own in a soft kiss. His body pressed heavily against Steve's chest, and an arm came up to snake around Steve's neck.
Shock flooded the Captain's system as their lips met. His heart beat heavily as he felt Tony's warm body press against him. Steve's arms automatically circled Tony's waist and he shifted his weight to his other foot, nudging something glass with his toe by accident.
One of Tony's bottles.
Steve took Tony's shoulders one last time and pushed him back gently. "You're drunk," he said. "It's time for you to rest and sleep this off."
When Tony made no move to go anywhere, Steve sighed quietly and scooped up his friend bridal style. Surprisingly, Tony went limp and let himself be carried with only a few whiny protests. Steve toed open the doors and laid his drunken friend on the bed slowly.
He moved lower to remove Stark's shoes and maneuvered the sheets out from under him to cover him up. "Good night, Tony," he whispered.
Tony's arm flashed out to catch Steve's wrist, but he fell short and his hand slapped the sheets instead. Turning on his side, Tony looked at Steve and offered an odd grin before closing his eyes. "Don't leave me…" he protested before rolling onto his face to rest. His breathing immediately evened out to one of deep slumber.
The words Tony said sank in and made Steve sigh wistfully. Tony was drunk. By the look of how many bottles he had had, it wasn't likely for Stark to remember much about tonight. Steve couldn't contain the second sigh as he ran his fingers over the sleeping man's hair affectionately.
He thought of what Pepper had said to Tony and removed his fingers guiltily. Tony had feelings for someone else. It hurt him to acknowledge it, but the Captain decided then and there to keep his own feelings a secret. He would remain Stark's friend and be there for him in any way he could.
A/N: BAM! There ya go, another Chapter down! While I have your attention, REVIEW! I love getting reviews and hearing from my readers! And hey, don't be afraid to give me ideas! Don't be offended if I don't use them though, I have a plot to follow xD.
Credit for anything Tony says or does goes to my best friend ever, Zeirna! You help me out soo much!