A/N: Sorry about the long wait, my beta went AWOL, and then it turned out she';d just lost internet access until last Wensday, and then it was tests - she is in collage - so here is the next chapter!
It had been a few days, and Tony's accidents in the workshop had toned down to small cuts on his fingers, and little zaps. He hadn't broken anything, set anything on fire, electrocuted or blown anything up, and he was completely smug about it. Pepper had stopped coming by, as she now had to run the company - until Tony remembered, of course - and he was thankful for the time alone. Don't get him wrong, he liked Pepper. She was nice, smart, and pretty, but she was worried. It was flattering, but it also meant that while she was in the workshop, Tony couldn't shake off the feeling of her eyes boring into the back of his head as she waited for him to mess up. It was hard to concentrate like that but he would send her some flowers and a thank-you card for her consideration.
He'd forgotten all about that within the first twenty-four hours as he continued to work on his, well, it looked like a boot. What type of boot it was, well, he didn't know, only that it was giving him a hard time. It turned out it wasn't just like riding a bicycle, and most of the time he was asking Jarvis questions or getting quizzed on things he should already know. It was frustrating, and meant this was taking forever - he hadn't slept in two days, but it seemed his body was used to it, and JARVIS made sure he at least had coffee - but it wasn't like he didn't have the time.
He rubbed a hand over his face and chuckled. He rubbed his grease-spotted hands on his jeans and pulled out a rag to wipe his face. He was pretty sure he was only accomplishing to spread it around, but he wanted to get in a few more things before JARVIS or Pepper nagged him about food.
He was in the middle of adding some side paneling for the finishing touch when JARVIS spoke up. "Someone is here to see you, sir."
Tony looked up towards his computers. "Is it Pepper?"
"No sir, he says his name is Steve Rogers."
"Oh, um, can you bring up a uh..." He trailed off, swinging his arms around - he'd put down the blow torch this time and shut it off. JARVIS seemed to know what he was talking about though, because on the biggest of the computer screens, feed came up showing a very built blond with gorgeous blue eyes. "Thank you." He smiled. It was him, the guy he'd met at S.H.E.I.L.D. He was wearing a pair of what could have been - nope it most defiantly was – honest-to-God army pants, the real type too, and a white t-shirt. "Okay, let him in and show him the way here."
He heard the click of the front door opening through the feed and bit his lip, considered it, shook his head and then though 'what the hell'. "Uh, JARVIS could you, uh, get a view of his backside?" he looked hopeful.
"Yes, sir." JARVIS responded in a dry tone, and as he did, the feed changed to show the back of Steve, and yes, those pants did show off his ass well, not as well as a good pair of jeans would, but Tony liked it. He opened his mouth to ask if JARVIS could follow him through the house, but the camera was already doing so. He wondered how often he'd used this to peek at people's backsides, or front-sides for that matter. He did consider asking if he'd zoom in, but he had a feeling he was already pushing it.
He relaxed back into his work, every once in a while glancing back up at the screen with a small smirk. He was so engrossed in both tasks that he hadn't noticed that Steve was here till, well, he was.
"Stark, you mi-" he called out, a little angrily and then cut of with an intake of breath that was bordering a squeak.
"JARVIS cut the feed!" Tony called out and spun around, almost setting his goatee on fire in the process.
Tony looked at the blonde man in the doorway, who had gone a beautiful shade of red, and his lips were parted. He turned back towards the screen, which was blissfully blank - not that it mattered, the damage was already done - and he had a feeling that JARVIS knew Steve was there, in the doorway, where he could get a good view of Tony watching his ass, and he hadn't turned it off. Traitor.
"Uh, hi." Tony smiled sheepishly and quickly turned off the blowtorch so he could set it down. "You were saying?" He really hoped Steve didn't storm off like before; he had a bad feeling he made the man do just that quite often. Which again made him think maybe they'd been dating, and it was a bad break-up.
Steve opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again, flushed harder and turned away from Tony. "You missed your meeting at S.H.E.I.L.D."
Meeting at S.H.E.I.L.D.? He blinked and oh, that meeting. The one where he was going to get poked and prodded with needles and metal objects so they could find out the reason behind his amnesia. He still suspected everyone though he was pulling their legs, but he only wished he was.
"Look, we got off on the wrong foot, don't go." Tony took a step towards Steve, who finally turned around to look at him. His cheeks were still pink - cute - but his eyes were set, and there was anger there and yeah, definitely the wrong foot. "Look it wasn't-" Steve raised an eyebrow and Tony sighed. "Ok, it was what it looked like. But really, it was for science!" Steve's other eyebrow raised and Tony continued on. "I was kind of hoping it would bring back some memories, some really, really good ones." And the flush was back again. Foot. Mouth. "I didn't mean to say that, okay yes I did but I shouldn't have, I'm sorry."
"What?"
"I'm... sorry?" Tony said again and Steve looked at him. "Oh, look what I've been working on, I have no idea what it is, I think it's a boot, but it's a cool boot." He was babbling, why was he babbling, he didn't seem like the kind of guy who babbled; if what he saw of himself on TV proved anything.
He slid over towards his mechanical boot and held it up, grinning. "What do you think?"
Steve sighed and turned to leave again and Tony took a few strides towards him. "Wait, I uh, have to get changed first, and then I'll go. I honestly forgot about it." Tony was being sincere, but he didn't think Steve believed him. "How'd you get here anyways?"
"I walked."
"You walked?"
"I walked."
"I..." Tony closed his mouth because holy fucking crap. That was... far. He eyed Steve who just shrugged his shoulders. "Right, so we're taking Happy." Tony nodded and then stopped. "I meant Happy will take us, Happy is my driver, not the name of my car, at least I don't think it is. I don't think I'd name a car Happy, let alone my kid." He was babbling again. "Okay, right, change of clothes, maybe a short shower, JARVIS can show you were the kitchen and living room are, make yourself at home." He hadn't noticed it at first, but... yes, Steve was laughing. He smiled, because that was better, no eyebrows raised, no blush - not that he didn't mind the blush, but that usually lead to anger - and no anger!
He decided he really liked Steve's laugh.
After his shower he found Steve walking around his living room, examining things, and JARVIS happily explaining anything that he didn't understand. He stood in the doorway and leaned against it, watching as Steve explored around. He didn't seem to understand much about technology, but if what Pepper told him was true - he didn't believe it at first, but he was starting to now - Steve was from the 1940's and had been on ice for the last seventy years.
"Ready to go?" He finally asked and Steve straightened up with a sheepish look on his face.
"Sorry," Steve murmured and Tony just shrugged. "Me casa su casa, or something like that." He waved a hand and made his way towards the front door. "Lock everything up for me, JARVIS?"
"Of course, sir."
"Thank you, JARVIS." He smiled and lead out of the house. He'd asked JARVIS to call Happy once he'd left the shower, and there he was, waiting for them by the car, a smile on his face. Tony would bet his entire house that Happy had come out of the womb smiling and laughing, instead of crying like most babies. That was the only explanation for why someone would name their kid Happy. "S.H.E.I.L.D. H.Q.."
"Of course Mr. Stark, Mr..."
"Rogers, Steve Rogers, you can just call me Steve."
"Steve." He nodded his head and opened the door for them.
The drive there was silent, and Tony found he didn't mind it. He did catch himself constantly sneaking quick glances at Steve, almost like he was worried he'd hulk out and throw him out of the car, or worse, give him one of those disapproving stares. He also wasn't looking forward to these tests, but if he would help him remember - and get rid of those god awful headaches - then he was willing to do just about anything. Still, for now he was getting a good very of a very handsome man and he planned on making the most of it. Little bumps here blamed on dips in the road, little brushes of arms and legs as he reached for things that he never intended to use.
He wondered if he'd been this infatuated with the man before he lost his memories, and more importantly he wondered what he did to make Steve hate him so much. Because he did seem to hate him, or at least really not like him. They hadn't been ex's - he'd kind of been hoping they were, and yet he was relived they weren't; it meant he still had a chance.
"What are you thinking about?" Tony jumped when Steve spoke, dragging him out of his thoughts. He quickly clamped down on his jaw to stop himself from speaking the first words that came out of his mouth - he was learning! - and thought carefully. "You don't have to tell me." Steve spoke again and looked out the window.
Steve confused him.
Tony looked back out the window, fidgeted with his cell phone before blurting out, "I was thinking about you," and then proceeded to hit his hand on the window.
He wasn't learning as well as he thought he was.
"What?" Steve looked at him, sounding surprised, and Tony mentally berated himself.
"Nothing, I was, uh, talking to myself." he mumbled and then jumped up as Happy pulled in. "Oh look, we're here." He quickly removed himself from the car. "I enjoyed the ride, thanks for reminding me, have a great day," and with that he jogged into S.H.I.E.L.D. HQ before Steve could say anything else.
It only took Tony five minutes to realize he was lost and that he had no idea where he was going.
It took ten minutes for him to finally ask someone which way to go, and another twenty to actually get to where he was supposed to be.
It only took two seconds for Fury to yell at him, and a minute later Fury finally handed him over to the medical staff to be poked, prodded, tested and studied. The whole process had taken several hours, and those were several hours he would never get back. Worst of all he had to come back and do the whole thing tomorrow. Even worse was that there would be no Steve to make the long drive comfortable, or maybe that was a good thing, considering the direction his thoughts had been running in.
All in all, by the time he got back home he was exhausted and ready to take a nap.
So when he walked into his living room and saw a bunch of people standing and sitting in it, he wasn't surprised. The way his day had been going so far, there was no way he'd catch a break now.
"You're our meal ticket, according to Fury," was the only explanation he got, from the light-brown haired man who was holding a bow and arrow at his side with dark expression like he was ready to spring up and kill someone.
Tony took one look at them, the only one looking less-than-annoyed and more concerned was the long blond-haired man who looked like he was on steroids and then there was Steve. He was frowning, but for once Tony doesn't think it was because of him. That didn't stop his hasty retreat to his bedroom where he made sure JARVIS engaged every deadbolt and password protection there was.
His day couldn't get any worse.
He was wrong.
Tony was enjoying a nice dream, a dream that involved blond hair and blue eyes and a nice ass. It was just getting to a good part, a part that involved kissing when he was ripped into consciousness by an explosion. He let out a cry as he struggled to get out from between the blankets, which only ended him on the floor, tangled in the sheets.
"JARVIS! What's happening, what's going on, are we under attack?"
"It seems Thor has just caused the microwave to explode, sir."
Very, very wrong.
Tony made his way to the kitchen - after finally freeing himself from the sheets - and stopped in his living room. The sprinklers were going off, soaking everything and he was pretty sure there was nothing left of his kitchen. The buff blond man - Thor he guessed - was standing off to the side looking sheepish, and the red-haired female was scolding bowman. Steve was standing in the entranceway to the kitchen with a stern look, as if he was willing the kitchen to fix itself. He couldn't help but smile at that, before he remembered that his kitchen was ruined and it was because of the people who'd invaded his house because of some orders from Fury.
"What the hell happened?" He asked, crossing his arms. Thor looked up and tried a weak smile before looking down with a serious look on his face.
"Clint told me the wonders of food-in-a-can, and I wished to try it for myself. I did not know that I was not supposed to put the can in the microwave. I am sorry." He scuffed his foot a little, and Tony was kind of reminded of a child, a large, over-grown child, who'd been caught with his fingers in the cookie jar and sighed. He ran a hand through his hair before throwing his hands up.
"Well, I'm rich, right? Won't take long for me to replace everything. And then I'm going to personally show you how to use everything." He wasn't going to chance Thor electrocuting himself with a fork in the toaster or something.
Steve gave him an approving smile, while the red-haired girl and bow-man just looked at him. He shrugged it off and led Thor - Steve at their heels - into the kitchen to start clean up.
It took a lot of his self-control, and a lot of mechanical tinkering to keep his mind off the almost-sex dream he'd had of Steve, and after a few hours of calling Clint Bow man and Natasha red-head, he's finally found out their names. He'd also found out that the quiet brunette was named Bruce. It didn't take very long for them to sort things into hopeless, recoverable and still intact. He made a mental note of what he'd have to buy - he'd talk to Pepper about it - and made a second mental note to have someone come clean his living room.
Tony fell onto his bed, tired and ready for some real sleep.
"Tony?" A voice called from his door way and he groaned, forcing himself into a sitting position. "Sorry to disturb you."
It was Steve, leaning against his doorframe with a look that was mix of calm-relaxation and serious. How he managed these looks was beyond even Tony's brain function.
"No, it's fine." He stretched some and rubbed his face. "What's wrong, did Thor put the whites in with the colors?" He grinned and Steve just tilted his head. "Never mind."
"Alright." He stood a little straighter. "The others all choose rooms, but I wanted to make sure that there wasn't anywhere specific you wanted us." He had that serious look on his face again, and Tony wanted to wipe it off, get him to relax a little.
"Not really, choose a room, make yourself at home. Just don't expect breakfast in bed." He smiled and Steve nodded, relaxing finally.
"Have a good night, Tony." Steve said before he turned to leave.
"You too, Steve."
Steve nodded and left, leaving Tony alone in the room. He stared at the ceiling for a while, before turning onto his side and closing his eyes. "Good night, JARVIS." He mumbled and got comfortable.
"Good night, sir."