Rating: PG-13
Summery: AU where Steve Rogers was Tony Stark's babysitter while Maria and Howard were busy with the war. But now Tony is all grown up. Claiming to hate the man who abandoned him like everyone else. Steve just wants to be Tony's friend. He just wants to connect with someone he really knows (used to know) how is fighting along someone who has every right to hate him go?
Couple: Tony/Steve
Authors: Cayla and Nicole.
AN: I can't believe how many of you like this fic so much, wow. I'm so glad you're all enjoying it.
Steve, Thor, Bruce, and Natasha all sat in the HQ of the SHIELD helicarrier, listening to Loki talk to Nick in his glass cell. Steve hopped it would hold him. But something about this didn't seem right. It all wasn't adding up. "How desperate are you? You call on such lost creatures to defend you." Loki says and Steve wonders why the man thinks they are lost.
It's the truth though, for himself anyway, he feels more lost then he ever has in his life. Loki went on to tease Fury. Saying it must burn him to come so close having the tesseract. He also said something about using it for a warm light for all mankind. Steve's not sure what that means but doesn't think it's important.
"He grows on you doesn't he?" Bruce said with a smile, joking of course.
Steve gave a sign trying to understand everything the best he could. All he could really see is that Loki was going to play games with them for as long as he could. But Thor would know why and what exactly Loki was up to.
"Loki is going to drag this out. So, Thor, what's his play?"
Thor explains that Loki has an army, and they will most likely win him the earth.
"An Army...from outer space?" Steve asked.
Things keep getting more crazy by the second. What's next? Talking animals?
Then, Tony being himself, finally deiced to show up, being a know it all. Steve's annoyed with how much he knows, but...in a way he's also proud. He always knew Tony would grow up to be some sort of genius. He was so smart that He didn't understand half of what Tony was saying. Then Tony says something about a man playing a game on the ship? Steve thinks it's a game. He's not sure what's going on to be honest.
"That man is playing Galaga! Thought we wouldn't notice, but we did." Tony's eyebrows furrowed as he covered one of his eyes. "How does Fury even see these?" He asked. "He turns," Maria Hill responded. "Sounds exhausting," Tony remarked, implying that he had a better and more advanced way of seeing screens. He continued fiddling with the machines and explaining the obvious. "The major component he still needs is a power source. High energy density. Something to...kickstart the cube," he finished. "When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?" Hill inquired. "Last night," Tony stated.
Steve rolls his eyes. He didn't know when Tony became so cocky. When he was little, he was somewhat cocky, but it was cute then. It's...mostly annoying now. But a small part of Steve thinks it's cute because it's familiar to him.
"Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?" Steve asked, Tony.
He had avoided asking him questions and Tony didn't even answer him. It was Bruce. And apparently he was right because he and Tony started speaking in Science terms and Steve didn't understand a damn word. It angers him because he remembers a time when he was the only one who could understand Tony's baby talk. It makes Steve jealous which he hates to admit. It was like Tony could get along with anyone in the world except him.
"Finally, someone who speaks, English." Tony had said. "Is that what just happened?" Steve asked, mostly himself.
"It's good to meet you, Doctor Banner. Your work on anti-electron collisions is unparalleled." Tony said as if he were talking to his best friend. "And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster," he added. "...Thanks," Bruce replied.
Just then, Fury walked in. "Doctor Banner is only here to track the cube. I was hoping you might join him."
'Of course, put Bruce and Tony in a room together, they can work magic,' Steve thinks, a lot more jealous then he likes.
He sighs, "I'd start with that stick of his." Steve offered. "It may be magical but it works a lot like a Hydra weapon." He turns in his chair to look at Tony but Tony is looking at the floor. Bruce nodded at him, saying that he heard his idea.
"I don't know about that, but it's powered by the cube." Fury explained. "And, I would like to know how Loki turned two of the sharpest men I know into his personally flying monkeys." Steve frowns at this at first.
All the book references Fury could make and he chooses that one? The one book he and Tony have in common. Steve looks over at Tony who is suddenly staring up at the ceiling, as if he's bored.
"Monkeys? I do not understand-
"I do!" Steve said, suddenly a bit more happy then before.
He was proud he was in the loop for once. He always felt like he was out of the loop when it came to culture. He blushes just a tiny bit at how everyone is looking at him. He looks over at Tony who is glaring at him.
"I understood that reference...Tony did too." He added, the last part it bit more quiet and shy.
Tony rolled his eyes at Steve. Was the man trying to advertise their past relations to the world? He was doing a damn good job if that was his intention.
Steve thinks Tony may actually murder him for making that comment. Steve doesn't realize until he watches the Scientist leave that he really had gone too far. But he hadn't done that to embarrassed Tony, he was just being honest. He couldn't help it.
As Tony and Bruce worked in the lab, generally getting to know each other and talking about their progress and how they would go about calculating the cube's whereabouts, they came to a point where personal discussion would be appropriate.
"So, what's the deal with you and the Captain?" Bruce asked.
"It's no big deal," Tony sighed, as he tapped away on the monitor.
He was embarrassed that people could easily deduce that he and Steve had a connection.
"Used to be my dad's best friend," he said. Bruce knew that there was more to it, but decided, for the mission's sake, to leave it at that.
Steve had some free time, there was nothing to do and he happened to be walking by the lab when he saw Tony poking Bruce, the man who turns into a giant green monster when angered, with some sort of sharp electric stick.
"Hey!" He yelled, trying to stop Tony as he walked into the lab. Tony had lost his damn mind! Was he trying to get himself and everyone else killed?!
"Are you nuts!?" Steve demanded.
Tony ignored Steve with great ease.
"Nothing? You've really got a lid on it," he told Bruce. "What's your secret? Relaxing jazz, bongo drums, huge bag of weed?"
"Is everything a joke to you?" Steve demanded.
He didn't know why Tony didn't seem to give a damn about anything anymore. It was like he was just looking for a source of entertainment and right now it was in Bruce. Seeing if he could get him to turn into the Hulk.
Tony pointed the tool at Steve. "Funny things are," he said.
"Threatening the lives of everyone on this ship isn't funny, Tony!" Steve scolded him and then he thinks he may have been rude to Doctor Banner.
"No offence, Doctor." He added and thankfully Bruce assures him he's not offend at all.
Then Steve is positive Tony has lost his mind because he's urging Bruce to stop 'tiptoeing' and 'strut.'
"And you need to stay focus on the problem here, Mr. Stark." He hates calling Tony that. But he thinks it would be easier for Tony if he does. Maybe if he just tries to focus on the work, this would all be easier.
"You think I'm not? Why did Fury call us in? Why now? Why not before? What isn't he telling us? Can't do the equation, unless I have all the variables," Tony said with a smirk.
"Jesus, You're such a know it all now," Steve muttered and it's without a doubt the most childish thing he's ever said in his life. He sounded like a jealous child.
"You think Fury's hiding something?" He forces himself to ask and hopes Tony would ignore his childish outburst.
"Wake up and smell the roses, Cap. Times have changed," Tony said, munching on a blueberry.
"He's a spy. Captain, he's the spy. The secrets have secrets. It's bugging him too," Tony said, motioning to Bruce.
"Umm...I just want to finish my work here and..." Eventually, after coxing looks from Tony, he explained.
"A warm light for all mankind to share', Loki's jab at Fury about the cube." Bruce gestured to Tony. "Well, I think that was meant for you." Tony offered Bruce a blueberry from his bag, which Bruce greatly accepted. "Even if Barton didn't tell Loki about the Tower, it was all over the news."
"The Tower? Stark Tower?" Steve asked, smiling because he knew what it was. He knew it very well. Because he had seen it and drew in fine detail.
"That big ugly..." Steve stops when Tony shoots him a glare.
"Building in new York?" Steve finished and hoped he hadn't hurt Tony's feelings. It wasn't that the building was ugly it was just...too much for Steve. There was just too much going on with it.
"This is why we can't have nice things," Tony mumbled.
Bruce continued, "It's powered by an arc reactor, a self sustaining energy source. That building will run itself for what, a year?" He asked.
"It's just prototype. I'm kind of the only name in clean energy right now. It's what he's getting at." Tony explained.
He figured that Steve would need things explained to him. The thought of him babysitting Steve now humored Tony.
"So, why didn't S.H.I.E.L.D. bring him in on the Tesseract project? I mean, What are they doing in the energy business in the first place?" Bruce asked.
Then it hit Tony. "I should probably look into that once my decryption program finishes breaking into all of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secure files."
Steve started to say something, but Tony interrupted.
"JARVIS has been running it since I hit the bridge. In a few hours we'll know every dirty secret S.H.I.E.L.D. has ever tried to hide."
Tony extended his arm and pointed his bag of blueberries in Steve's direction. "Blueberry?"
Steve gives a glare at the blueberry bag. Tony was just pushing all the wrong buttons here. It was really pissing him off, he wasn't following the orders they were given. He was breaking into privet files and acting smug and casual like being in the same room with each other was okay. It wasn't okay! It would never be okay.
"And yet you're confused as to why they don't want you around." Steve hisses.
Hell, he was getting the point where he didn't want Tony around.
"There was a time where I used to care when someone wanted me around," Tony said. "Not so much anymore," he said, looking directly at Steve.
"Also, an intelligence organization that fears intelligence? Historically, not awesome."
Steve wishes he could take what he said back. It was just...wrong. He keeps forgetting that Tony may be a grown man who is really annoying and rude, but he used to be that cute 5 year old who wanted everyone's attention. He wants to apologize, but he knows Tony will chew him out for it if he tries.
"I think Loki is trying to wind us up." Steve said, choosing to pretend Tony had never said anything.
"This is a man who means to start a war and if we don't stay focused, he'll succeed." He said, looking over at Bruce that time.
Everyone needed to stay focused. This wasn't a game. This was a mission.
"We have orders, we should follow them." Steve said, looking at Tony that time. Almost pleading for Tony do what he's told. He used to do everything Steve asked him to do.
Tony decided to make his point clear. Steve Rogers was no longer the boss of him. "Following's not really my style," Tony said.
That's it. Tony had finally pushed the wrong button. Tony couldn't always be smug, couldn't always be the know it all in the room.
"And your all about style? You know, it's funny. I remember a time when following was your style. I remember when you would do anything I wanted. The last time I saw you, you told me you would go as far as being evil if I was." Steve said.
"You followed my orders once." Steve said and he hates himself for losing control like this but he's been holding back everything for too long. He shouldn't talking about this. Not with Tony and especially with Doctor Banner here.
"Er...What's all this about?" Bruce asked, genuinely confused.
Tony swallowed. He remembered making that vow to Steve. He remembered when he would lay in his bed awake, wondering where Steve and his troops were. He could remember the times that he wondered if Steve joined with the enemy and how he would plan sneaking into the enemy's country so he and Steve could finish the book. Tony also pictured him fixing up old plane engines so Steve could have back-up. That was ages ago. Painful ages ago. Ages that were meant to be forgotten.
"News flash, Captain," Tony said. "Times have changed," he said in a low growl. "You can't expect the world to wait for you to catch up, you need to start looking at things in a new way."
"It's not easy, Tony. It's not easy seeing you in front of me. My brain is still having trouble accepting the fact that you're night five anymore. Hell, I almost want to hear you pronounce my my name wrong! Just so I could feel like I'm not insane." Steve said, staring into those dark eyes. Searching for that 5 year old.
"I never expected for you to wait for me...I also never expected that I would be standing in front of you again. I'm supposed to be dead, I know that. I know I don't belong here." Steve said and there's an ache in his chest like he's about to cry.
He swallows hard and decided to see if he could find what Fury's been hiding. "Just find the damn cube." He hissed and leaves before Tony could say another word.
"Just find the damn cube," Tony mimicked once Steve was gone.
He rolled his eyes and went back to the screen. "So stupid. Can't believe I actually liked him," he said to Bruce.
Bruce sighed. He didn't want to get involved and now he was caught up in the middle of a situation that clearly didn't need him.
"He doesn't seem bad," Bruce said. "He's not wrong about Loki. He does have the jump on us." Tony scoffed at Bruce's words.
"What he's got is an ACME dynamite kit. It's gonna blow up right in his face," he said, clicking through the different panels. "And I'm gonna be there when it does."
Steve went searching for whatever Fury was hiding. He bets he can do it faster then Tony can do. That's why he really went looking. He wanted to prove that he didn't need Tony's super genius help. Sometimes it paid off to go look for things the old fashioned way. Still, he can't help but wish he had a little eager five-year-old at his side.
He sighs. That will never happen. Tony was right about one thing, he did need to move on. Times have changed. Steve goes looking in places no one is allowed and he did find something. And it was exactly what he feared. He grabbed the weapon and began heading back toward the lab. As he's on the way there he hears Natasha in his SHIELD ear piece to get to the lab because Loki plans to unleash the Hulk.
He hurries even faster and when he gets there, Tony is sitting on the table like he owns the place, staring at computer screens with a smug smile. Nick was here too so clearly someone had told him what Tony had done.
"What is faze two?" Steve hears Tony ask when he walks in.
He slams the weapon down on the table and smirks just a tiny bit.
"Faze two is where SHIELD uses the cube to make weapons," he's glaring at Fury because none of them had been told this.
And personally, Steve didn't think something Hydra used should be used by other people. It's too dangerous. He looks over at Tony who's rolling at his eyes.
"Sorry, the computer was running a little slow for me." He snapped.
Fury spoke before Tony could respond.
"Rogers, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract. This does not mean that we're-"
"-I'm sorry, Nick," Tony said, revealing the screen that showed detailed blueprints of the weapon. "What? Were you lying?"
"I was wrong, Director. The world hasn't changed a bit." Steve said, he feels like he was wrong about SHIELD, wrong about the world.
It was the same, everyone was still after power.
"Did you know about this?" Bruce asked Natasha who walked in with Thor.
"You want to think about removing yourself from this environment, Doctor?" She responded and Steve just now remembered that it wasn't good if Bruce got angry, and it looked like this whole room was about to get angry because what they found out.
"Ohhh, I was in Calcutta, I was pretty well removed," Bruce insisted and it kept getting worse.
Natasha would try to calm in down, try to explain that Loki was making him angry but he wouldn't hear it.
"Yes, and I'm not leaving because you're getting a little twitchy." Bruce snapped at her, pulling a screen out and pointing at it.
"I'd like to know, why SHIELD is using the tesseract to build weapons of mass distraction." He said firmly.
"Because of him!" Fury said, pointing at Thor.
"Me?" Thor asked, confused and hurt.
"Last year, earth had a visitor from another planet who had a grudge mass that leveled a small town. We learned that not only are we not alone, but we are hopelessly, hilariously, out gunned," Fury admitted.
"My people want nothing, but peace with your planet," Thor said honestly.
"But you're not the only people out there, are you? And, you're not the only threat. The world's filling up with people who can't be matched. They can't be controlled."
"Like you controlled the cube?" Steve questioned.
Thor went on to say that it was Fury's work with the tesseract that drew Loki to it. Earth having it is a sign that there ready for a higher form of war.
"A higher form"?" He asked, wondering what in the hell that could mean.
"You forced our hand, we had to come up with something-" Fury began but Tony cut him off.
"A nuclear deterrent. Cause that always calms everything right down," Tony said sarcastically.
"Remind me again how you made your fortune, Mr. Stark," Fury retorted.
Tony was just glaring at Fury at first, and Steve sighs, Tony was too damn suborn to even defend himself. Steve felt like he had to do it for him.
"I'm sure if he still made weapons, Stark would be neck deep-" Steve was cut off when Tony interrupted him, not even letting him finish to explain that he didn't think Tony would go as far as using the cube.
Tony couldn't believe how quickly Steve was getting used to the new him. He almost was proud of himself for making Captain Sweetheart turn sour. Hell, he was pretty damn proud of it. Now the real fun could begin.
"Wait! Wait! Hold on! How is this now about me?" Tony asked, half serious and half jokingly.
Steve glares at him. All the while thinking, 'I'm trying to defend you and this is how you choose to act?'
"Oh, I'm sorry," he said sarcastically. "Isn't everything?" He challenged.
The room irrupted into chaos. Everyone was screaming and fighting and he looked over at Bruce when he heard him say, "Captain America is on the potential threat watch list?"
Steve's eyes went wide.
"What?" He asked with disbelief. That was honestly a little hurtful considering he had done nothing but good in his life. How was he threat?
"Why?" He asked with confusion.
"You're on that list? Are you above or bellow angry bees?" Tony said with a smirk.
Steve looked over at him with a heavy sigh and a roll of his eyes. This was getting old. Very old and his temper was starting to wear thin.
"Stark, I swear to God, one more wise crack-
"Threatened! I feel threatened!
Steve glared at Tony. Was this really happening? Could the other not be serious for just minute?
"You didn't use to be so self obsessed." He said, disgust in his tone.
He didn't care how young Tony had been, he never pictured Tony growing up and turning into this man.
"How many times do I have to remind you?" Tony snapped back.
"I wasn't frozen in the fucking ice with you! I had to go on without you. It was easy going on without my dad because I learned from the start how to deal without him, but I thought I could rely on you, but you did the same thing Howard did!" Tony's eyebrows furrowed. "So, you know what? Maybe things being about me isn't a bad thing!"
"You think I wanted to leave you? You think I wanted to go down in a plane into freezing water? Hell no, Tony! Do you not remember the last time we talked?" He hissed and Steve is thankful everyone else is too busy fighting with each other to notice the two of them.
"Couldn't you tell that I was upset?" He demanded.
Tony stepped forward, getting in Steve's face.
"I don't care if you were upset or not! You planted this idea that everything would be alright. You told me that. You said things would be okay. You were such a fucking coward and I don't think I can ever forgive you for that. Because, news flash, Steve! It was a living hell. My parents died not too long after and that was the day that I had to accept that you were gone. I did fine after that. I was more than fine. I was spec-fucking-tacular! And now you're back and just...fuck, Steve! You're like some imaginary friend or something."
Steve's heart is aching in his chest because Tony's eyes look teary.
"I planted that idea because I didn't have the heart to tell a six your old child that I was about to die," Steve hissed.
"And I told you that because I had every intention on coming back to you. I was going to try my damnedest Tony to come back...it just took me a while." He sighed.
"And I'm not imaginary, I'm real. I may not belong here, but this is where I am. I'm here with you, and I'm trying to work things out with you but you won't let me." Steve said, not even raising his voice anymore, he was honestly trying to just talk to Tony.
Steve was going to continue but suddenly he noticed the room went quite and he heard Fury say, "You need to step away."
He was talking to Banner. Steve turned to look and it was obvious by the Doctor's body language that he was growing angrier by the second.
"Why shouldn't the guy let off a little steam?" Tony asked with a smirk over at Steve as he slapped him on the shoulder.
Steve snapped. He physically felt something inside him, snap. It must have been his temper because he smacks Tony's arms away.
"You know damn well why, now back off." He ordered. It was insane how stupid Tony was being. Did he not understand how dangerous that would be? Was he trying to get them all killed?
After he said it, his heart sank with guilt. Since when did he have such temper? He can usually control his anger but...Tony was acting like a child!
Tony's face grew cold but smirk came to his lips. Now this is what he wanted. He wanted to fight with Steve. This Steve. The Steve that had abandoned him.
"Ohhh I'm starting to want you to make me."
Now Steve didn't feel guilty one bit. Steve gave a smirk as well. If Tony wanted to fight that's what he was going to get. If his obnoxious ass wanted a screaming match he'd give him one.
"Right," he said circling Tony to stand in front of him, "Big man in a suit of armor, take that off what are you?" He challenged.
He was Tony. His Tony. That little 5 year old was inside the mask of the suit and armor. He was there. A kind person was there. This wasn't Tony. This was a arrogant, obnoxious, asshole. That wasn't Tony.
Tony almost laughed, "Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist."
"I know guys with none of that and they're worth ten of you."
He didn't mean Tony as person. He meant Iron Man. The person Tony was hiding behind, this snarky, sarcastic jerk he pretends to be. He was speaking to the person he hated. The person Tony claims to be.
"I've seen the footage. The only thing you really fight for is yourself," the Tony he knows would never do that.
But out of all the footage he had seen, it always seemed like Iron Man was fighting his own battles. Fixing chaos that he had created.
"You're not the guy to make the sacrifice play," in Steve's mind...that made you a hero. Willing to sacrifice you're own life to save everyone else.
He was willing to do that. He did do that. He did that for everyone and Tony.
"To do what I did for you, to lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you."
Tony looked up, his eyes blurring with tears that were not allowed to fall.
"Unlike you, I'd rather just cut the wire."
He wished Steve would have done that. Cut the wire. Instead of that damn plane going down he wishes he would have just blown up the plane and jumped out. There was no point in sacrifice. There could have been some sort of way for Steve to save himself and he didn't do it.
"Always the way out," Steve said with an amused smile.
It was sad to think Tony thought there was always a way out. Sometimes there weren't and once Tony understood that, Iron Man would be hero.
"You know what, you may not be a threat but you better stop pretending to be a hero."
He needed to stop being like this. Stop pretending that all a hero was saving the day and making sure he appear on the news every night.
Tony hated this. Hated Steve. He hated everything and every word coming out of that all american boy's mouth proved he had spent years hating the right person.
Then why did it hurt? Why did every word of that make him want to curl up in a ball and die? Why was he so close to crying?
...Because regardless of how much he hated Steve, that little boy in him is crying his eyes out to think his favorite person didn't like him anymore. Steve hated him. Steve didn't think he had done a good job. He wasn't enough for him. Tony would never be good enough for anyone. Not his father, his the world...not even his best friend.
He couldn't do this. He couldn't let this hurt him. He wasn't 5 anymore. He was a grown man. A man who didn't need his stupid childhood friend.
"A hero? Like you?" Tony asked with disbelief.
He stepped closer, getting in the other's face in hopes to intimate him.
"You're a lab experiment, Rogers. Everything special about you came out of bottle," he hissed.
That cut Steve. It cut him deep. It felt as if he had been stabbed in the chest with a blade made of ice.
This was Tony? This was who he had became? He was nothing to him? Just a lab experiment his dad created? Where did that little boy who thought the world of him go?
"And if you think you're a hero, you need to take a fucking look in the mirror Cap because you're no hero to me. A hero doesn't lie to a six year old child just to make himself feel better. You were selfish. You lied to me and you destroyed my life."
Steve's face softened and he reached out a hand to touch Tony but it was quickly slapped away.
"I'm not asking for your forgiveness, I ruined your life, you shouldn't forgive me, but...can't you at least try to stop pretending that I don't mean anything to you anymore? You may be grown up but you remember me. You remember how much fun we had together." Steve insisted.
When the billionaire didn't speak he frowned.
"You're my best friend-or...were my best friend. We may not be friends now but you need to stop acting like this. Stop acting like this...terrible person. You're not. I know you're not." Steve said, almost pleading with Tony.
"You don't know anything about me!" Tony shouted. "I grew up. This is who I am if you don't like oh fucking well because I'm not too fond of you either!"
It was scary how quite the room was. They were all listening to them.
"And you want to know what you really mean to me?" Tony asked, amused.
"You really want to know how I remember you?" He laughed, even though there was nothing funny about the conversation in the slightest.
"You mean-" Tony was cut off by the voice of Bruce Banner.
"In case you needed to kill me! You can't! I've tried!"
Everyone looked to Bruce as he talked about how depressed he got, how he attempted to kill himself but it failed. He told everyone how he had been fine and he wasn't bothering anyone. He had kept a lid a on everything until they dragged him here.
Tony's heart stopped once he watched Bruce pick up the scepter. No. This couldn't happen. Bruce was a good person and if he wasn't careful Fury was going to shoot him.
"Doctor Banner, put down the scepter." Steven said firmly, trying to sound calm and not make things any worse.
A long scary pause happened where no one was sure what was about to happen, and they all jumped just a little when the computer starting beeping. A sign that they had located the tesseract.
"We got it," Fury said.
"Sorry Kids, looks like you want get to see my party trick." Bruce muttered as he walked over to the computer
Suddenly the room got louder with people insisting they go get it. Personally, Steve thought Thor should go after it but then of course Tony said he wanted to.
"I can get there faster than anyone else."
"Stark, don't you dare," Fury order but Tony was already starting to walk away.
Again, it was all acting, no thinking, he was doing things on a whim. If Tony would just stop to think he would see that this could be dangerous.
Steve grabbed Tony by the arm, feeling like he was taking care of a 5 year old again. Tony actually used to do this all the time. Steve can actually remember when Tony was about four years old and it was pouring down rain and suddenly his current obsession was wanting to go outside.
"I want to go outside, Stebe!"
"No, Tony it's raining," Steve chuckled.
"But I want to play in the rain!" The younger insisted and started running toward the door.
Steve grabbed Tony by the arm and lifted the giggle boy into his arms. "You stay here, Mister. Okay? You could catch a cold."
Sadly, it wasn't anything like that now. What was happening now was filled with anger and hatred.
"You're not going alone!" Steve shouted and was actually a little shocked when Tony slapped his hand away.
"You're going to stop me?" Tony said with anger and amusement because Steve wasn't his babysitter anymore he couldn't control him.
Yes. He was going to stop him. Even if it involved having to physically fight him.
"Put on the suit and let's find out." Without that suit Tony wouldn't' stand a chance and Steve would at least make it a fair fight.
Tony grinned, "I'm not afraid of hitting an old man."
Steve stepped closer, glaring back at Tony.
"Put on the suit." Steve ordered firmly.
All of a sudden, a huge explosion erupted throughout the lab, causing the heroes to fly in different directions.
Tony collapsed on top of Steve when they fell. Steve's ears were ringing from the loud explosion but he looked over to see that some of the floor caved in. They were being attacked. He looked up to Tony on top of him.
"Put on the suit." He told the other breathlessly.
Tony's eyes were wide with fear and he nodded quickly.
"Yep!" Tony yelled, springing to his feet.
As he got up he was weak in the knees and he started to trip. Out of instinct, Steve reached out and held Tony by the waist in hopes to steady him.
"Stop babying me! I'm fine!" Tony shouted as he pushed Steve's hands away.
Steve frowned a bit but he nodded as he followed Tony. He wasn't trying to 'baby' Tony. He was just worried about him.
How could he not worry? Despite everything he still cared about Tony. He would always care about him.
AN: Please, Review!