Rating: PG-13

Summery:'Tony Stark has invited the Avengers to come stay at the newly rebuilt Stark Tower. Little did he know when he invited them that it would lead to Captain America hunting, hot pockets exploding, S'mores, Titanic Rants, Harry Potter movie Marathons, and most importantly...his feelings for Steve.'
A roleplay between two SBFF's (Stony Best Friends Forever) that went on much longer then we thought it would! XD

Couple: Steve/Tony, mention of past Tony/Pepper

Authors: TeamLadyCay (caycullen: Cayla and ladyofgeekdom: Nicole)

Cayla's AN: Where to begin explaining this marvelous masterpiece...well, I think I should start up with how it came about. Nicole and I met on Omegle (A place to chat online) wanting to do Tony/Steve roleplay. And we hit it off the second we started talking. We have everything in common and we think we may be long lost sisters or clones or something because there is hardly anything we don't have in common. Nicole is the sweetest roleplayer and person I have ever met online and I love her so much, she's like a sister to me. Anyway, once we started the roleplay we thought it was amazing and other people should get to read it's awesomeness as well. In this roleplay, you get a little bit of everything, some action, lots of humor, lots of fulff and even a little angst. Anyway, we both hope you guys have as much fun reading this as we did writing it. Enjoy! :)

Branching Towards You

By:

Cayla & Nicole

Chapter Four: Hawkeye likes hawks too much, the Titanic set sails, then sinks, and then we set out on a quest for The Harry Potter DVD's.

"Doors open!" Tony called, thinking it was Bruce. Tony had finally got the power running normally again. He was now trying to prevent anymore Thor-related accidents.

Steve hesitated and then walked inside. He saw Tony wearing a welding mask. He must have fixed the problem. Steve glanced around the lab, feeling uncomfortable by all the unfamiliar technology.

"Stark, I need to talk with you." Steve said finally.

Tony stopped welding the second he heard that voice. He looked up to see Steve, standing there, upright and tall, like a soldier. The way he stood was even pissing Tony off. 'That damned stance!' His mind complained.

"What, Rogers?" Tony spat and went back to welding.

"Stark..." he began and then realized that the welding was too loud for Tony to hear him.

"STARK!" He shouted as he got closer to him. "Can it wait? I'm trying to talk to you!" He shouted, getting slightly angry himself.

Tony stopped welding and lifted the welding mask, giving Steve a dirty look. "I can hear you fine, more then I'd like to actually. So, talk Captain." Tony snapped and pulled the welding mask back down. He was about to start welding again, but Steve grabbed the welder from him in one quick movement and set it on the table.

Steve took in a deep breath and stared Tony in the eyes.

"Okay, Stark." Steve began. "I crossed the line. It's your house. You're the person in charge. Not me." He stopped to take in another breath. "I guess I'm just used to being the one who makes sure things are in order. I'm...uh...I'm sorry I took control." He said, feeling his heart beat faster. He felt nervous, not knowing how Tony was going to react.

"I'm really sorry." Steve said again.

Tony felt a little bit better hearing that, a small weight had been lifted off his shoulders, but he was still angry. Steve taking control was not what really bothered him. It was what Steve said, about how he should have done this and should have done that. Steve had insulted his intelligence which meant a lot to him.

"Well, that's good to hear...but do I get an apology for you telling me what I should have done? How I should have watched two grown men? How I should have prepared for Thor to zap my microwave and knock out the power? That doesn't deserve an apology? All of your opinions on how I should do things, and how I should update my house…that was a bit out of line too, right? Or do you just honestly think I'm just incapable of preparing for something and I don't deserve your patriotic apology?" Tony said very angrily, he could psychically feel the anger rushing through his body.

At first, Steve had every urge to fight back. He opened his mouth, but before the words spilled out, Natasha's voice came to mind:

'They broke up a few weeks ago.' her voice echoed.

Steve froze in his place. He reconsidered his argument and decided that he was wrong and Tony had the wrong idea. It almost broke his heart.

"Stark...I didn't mean to give you the impression that I doubted your intelligence." He said, looking down at the ground. "If there's one thing that I've learned in my life, it's that I can trust any member of the Stark family with my life." He said softly. "It was wrong of me to accuse you of not handling things correctly. I apologize, Stark." He finished, meeting his gaze lightly.

Tony wanted to be angry, hell, he wanted to be furious, he wanted to tell Steve his apology meant nothing to him and to get the hell out. But he honestly couldn't because, the second Steve apologized for everything that was making Tony so mad, he forgave him. If it was anyone else, he wouldn't accept the apology that simply, but this was Captain America. If anyone was honest and upfront about things, it was him.

"Um...I...um," Tony stuttered a little, trying to think of the right words to say and how to say them, "Thank you." He said hesitantly and had started looking at Steve's eyes again.

Those eyes were so blue, and Tony felt like they were tearing through him. Apparently, Steve was still affecting him in ways he didn't want to admit.

"You're welcome." Steve answered with a faint smile. He felt the tension in the air disperse and his body relaxed. It was nice to hear Tony accept his apology. "Also, the others ordered pizza. There's plenty available if you're hungry." Steve added, nodding towards the hall.

"They used my credit card, didn't they?" Tony assumed with a smile as he grabbed his the welding tool again.

"Yeah." Steve admitted. "Barton thought it would be funny to creep out the delivery guy."

"Well, figures. It's Barton. If you can't scare the pizza guy, what fun have you really had in life?" Tony asked rhetorically and was about to start welding again, but noticed Steve was still watching him. "I'll be up soon; I just have to add some more Thor-proofed things to the wiring of the house." Tony said with a slight smile.

Steve found himself laughing. "Okay, Stark." He said, leaving the room. The door closed behind him and he walked out to the kitchen.

oOo

Tony found himself working a little faster than he had been. He now felt as if a ton of weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He wasn't angry anymore and that made him feel extremely better.

As he worked, Steve's smile, eyes, and laugh kept coming back to his mind...he tried to stop the thoughts, but after a long time, he simply let the thoughts have him.

When Steve got to the kitchen, everyone was already eating pizza. Thor had two whole boxes to himself.

"How did it go? He still bitching?" Clint asked as Steve entered the room. Clint was sitting on the counter with a plate of pizza in his hand. Bruce, Natasha, and Thor sat at the table.

Steve smiled at the sight of Thor with two pizza boxes. "He yelled at me, I apologized, and then he forgave me." Steve stated. He grabbed one of the boxes of pizza and shoved it into the oven. He figured it would be good to have a back-up in case Stark took longer than he thought. He also knew that Thor would be wanting the scraps.

He sighed. Since when did he start caring about Tony's needs so much lately? He grabbed a slice from another box and put it on the plate and sat down at the table with the others. "Typical Stark." he said, taking a bite.

"Doesn't sound like Typical Tony. He never forgives people that easily. I mean, he's still pissed about what happened yesterday." Bruce said.

"You said he forgave you for that." Thor said with confusion.

"Yes, but only because I was pestering him about something else." Bruce explained. He hadn't thought Tony had really forgive him about it.

"Yeah, about what exactly?" Clint asked curiously.

"Nothing, just...getting him to show me which room was the biggest." Bruce lied. He wasn't going to rat Tony's out for possibly having feelings for Steve.

Clint just nodded. "He doesn't usually forgive people though?" Steve asked curiously and Bruce shrugged.

"He does, just later rather than sooner. I don't think he's ever accepted my apologies for something that happened on the spot like that." Bruce said. He couldn't help but give Steve a small smile. "You must be special." Bruce suggested, his own clever way of giving a very difficult hint that no one would ever get.

"I doubt it." Steve said. "I think I just annoy him so much that it's easier to say he forgives me than it is to hear me trying to reason with him." He explained.

Natasha nodded. "That could be. No offense, Cap, but you do know how to use that mouth of yours." She said, taking a large bite out of her slice of pizza.

"No offense taken." Steve said and started eating his pizza.

Tony finally came back up stairs around 3 in the afternoon and saw Thor, Clint and Steve in the living room. "Good news!" He began as he entered the room. They all looked at him.

"If Mr. Trigger Happy Hammer here," Tony said and pointed at Thor, "uses lighting in the house again," he stopped and gave Thor a somewhat angry look "which he better not," He said firmly and looked at Clint and Steve, "We'll still have power." He said proudly but then thought, "Well, at least we should. I don't know what would happen if you put that baby on full blast." Tony said and looked around the living room.

"Where's Bruce and Natasha?" He asked curiously.

"Natasha, who hasn't been shopping in at least 5 years, has gone shopping by herself for once in her life. And Brucey, is in that other lab that you built. Probably playing with science things." Clint said.

"I apologize for the destruction of your home." Thor boomed from the couch. He reached for the remote. "Can we not watch something of higher interest?" he whined.

"NO!"Clint cried, cradling the remote to his face.

Steve cocked an eyebrow and looked up from his book. They were watching the National Geographic of hawks. He burst into a fit of uncontrollable laughter.

Tony has only loved the sound of three laughs in his whole life. First, his mom's laugh. Second, was Pepper's laugh. And, now, Steve's laugh. He thinks that Steve's laugh could possibly be his favorite just because of the way it made him feel. It never ceased to fail to cause him to burst into laughter as well.

"Hawkeye, I believe you have an obsession with Hawks." Steve said while he laughed.

"Hey! Hawks are cool!" Clint defended himself seriously.

"They're just birds. And not even big birds. I have seen birds ten times the size of these puny creatures." Thor pointed out.

Tony, after he found the strength to stop laughing, looked up at the TV. "You want to see hawks, go to the zoo. JARVIS turn the channel to something decent and keep the channel locked there—"

"-Hey!" Clint complained.

But it was too late, the channel was now on some cartoons and when he tried to turn the channel it wouldn't go. "Damn you, Stark!" Clint hissed.

Tony walked behind the couch and put his hand on Clint's shoulder. "Don't worry. The hawks will return to their master someday." Tony teased. Clint shoved his hand away angrily, which only caused Tony to laugh as he walked into the kitchen.

"Check the oven." Steve told Tony. He lowered his head and flipped open his book again.

JARVIS took charge of the channels and had started surfing through the thousands of channels the TV had.

"WAIT! GO BACK!" Thor shouted.

JARVIS stopped scrolling through the channels and backed up a few channels.

"THERE! THERE! With the beautiful woman!" Thor exclaimed.

Steve perked his head up from his book and turned his attention to the TV screen.

The screen held the image of a woman with red hair, stepping out of a car. She was wearing a white pinstripe outfit with a large hat with a bow on it. The scene changed to the view of a large boat with a large crowd waiting to board it. Steve squinted, he noticed something familiar about the scene.

"REALLY! You don't want to watch hawks being awesome, but you do want to watch Titanic!" Clint fumed. "A.K.A the sappiest love movie of all time!"

"...No way!" Steve gasped. "Titanic as in the Royal Mail Ship Titanic? The one that sunk April 15, 1912?" He asked with a growing excitement.

"I take that as you know what it is." Clint said with disappointment.

"Of course I know! That was a huge thing! Even in the 40's people still talked about it! I knew a guy in the war whose aunt was on it and she lived. She even saved the dog she had brought on board with her." Steve said with a bright smile.

Clint, thought that was pretty cool, but the movie wasn't what Steve thought it was. "That's very cool, but you two don't get that this movie isn't a happy one." Clint said.

"Why wouldn't it be? There is very pretty woman here, she has lots of money and a husband." Thor said with confusion.

"Of course it's not. A lot of people died and they never even found the ship..." Steve stopped once he saw Clint's face.

"Wait…They found it? When?" Steve asked.

"A lot of people died? Why their just one some very large boat." Thor said, even more confused. Clint and Steve ignored him.

"I don't remember the year." Clint said.

"The year the Titanic was discovered was 1985." JARVIS interrupted, bringing a large smile to Steve's face. It wasn't that long ago.

"Let's watch the movie, I want to see how they made the ship look, with the technology people have now-"

"Yeah, it's great, the acting is awesome, the effects are cool, but everyone dies in the end!" Clint said trying to point that out.

"Why? Why would all these people die?" Thor asked again.

"The boat sinks." Clint answered quickly.

"What? Why? It's huge?" Thor said and Clint groaned.

"They hit an iceberg." Steve said, happy to be the one explaining something for once.

"Fine. But you two are going to regret watching this. You'll be sad for the rest of the day." Clint announced simply.

"It's just a movie." Steve said.

Clint scoffed. "You've never seen a movie like this, Cap." Clint warned.

So just like that, the three men were hypnotized by Titanic. Even Clint, who was complaining about watching it, found himself glued to his seat.

"This woman is very pleasing to the eyes!" Thor said as Rose walked in wearing a dark, lacy dress.

Steve related to Jack. They both were poor, optimistic, passionate, and they both liked to draw. He felt a smile grow as he watched Jack prepare the drawing.

"Paint me like one of your French girls." Rose said.

Tony walked in from kitchen, he had taken his time eating and even called Rhodey. However, when he came in, the last thing he ever expected to see on the TV was Titanic, but not only was it Titanic, it was the freaking nude sketching scene.

"You have got to be kidding me." Tony said.

No one even spared him a glance. They were all fixated on the screen.

Tony thought the movie was good, but he hated how long it was and, personally, hated the ending of the movie. To this very day, he still thinks that there was enough room on the head board for two people. Jack and Rose both could have lived, but no. They made it a tragic love story.

Tony walked into the living room and sat on the couch, and started watching everyone else.
They were lost in the movie. He couldn't help but notice Steve turning a little red with the site of Rose like this. As funny as this was, Tony couldn't believe it was happening.

'How were these three guys so entertained by this?' Tony thought. He has seen it five times and once was enough for him.

"This-this is not happening. I'm having some sort of horrible nightmare; you guys seriously aren't watching this!" Tony whined. Again, nothing.

"You guys are watching a chick flick." He pointed out. Again, they ignored him. Tony hated being ignored.

"Okay, do I have to get naked for all of you to pay attention to me?" Tony asked.

"Maybe." Clint mumbled.

Tony rolled his eyes and looked at the screen. Rose had finally put her clothes back on.

"Jack's an amazing artist." Steve said with a faint blush.

Tony scoffed. "He just drew a nude woman and your first thought is how talented he is?" Tony asked with a smirk.

Steve's blush darkened and he looked back at the screen.

"You all know how this ends, right-

"SHH!" They all shouted in unison.

"I'm going to go find some tissues. One of you in this room will cry; I just don't know which one." Tony said with a laugh and stood up from his seat.

"They don't die do they?" Thor asked sadly.

"No." Tony answered simply as he left the room. In a way, he wasn't lying. Thor had asked if 'they' died. Not if one of them did.

An hour or so later, the three were still watching the movie. The boat was slowly sinking and Jack was hand-cuffed to the railing and Rose had just gotten the axe. Thor gripped the couch and Clint and Steve continued to stare at the TV, waiting to see what would happen next.

Tony had come back with a box tissues. He was not betting that it was going to be Thor that would cry. He had entered the room when Jack and Rose were now sinking with the gigantic ship.

Thor had covered his eyes with one hand as a vicious sob escaped his throat. Clint and Steve were watching with complete and full attention. The ship sank and now Rose was looking for Jack in the freezing water.

"Now here is where I get angry." Tony said, as Jack finds the head board to get on. Tony being the genius scientist that he was, was more than positive that both of them could have fit on that thing. He just thought Jack gave up too easily.

"Wait...she just promised that she wouldn't let go." Steve pointed out. "Isn't that a little selfish? Shouldn't she be asking the same from him?" He asked, feeling slightly bothered. He found himself disliking Rose a great deal and wishing that she was the one in the freezing water and Jack be the one sprawled out on top of the board. However, he admired Jack's chivalrous side.

"SHH! MOVIE." Clint shouted.

"I hate the images this story has given us" Thor said, blowing his nose with a tissue as Rose was being rescued. Tears were streaming down his face. Steve was more angry than anything, and Clint was still fixated on the screen.

"It's called a movie, Thor." Clint said.

"I still hate it!" Thor cried.

"You and me both." Tony retorted. He hates it even more now because as he watched, he could see bits of Steve in Jack. And if Steve was Jack, Tony was positive that he would have made more an effort to save him.

"Oh god. I forgot about this part." Clint said, motioning towards the screen.

Old Rose was standing on the ledge holding the heart pendant over the ocean. She made a strange sound and tossed it into the ocean.

"WHAT!" Thor and Steve shouted.

"Wench!" Thor added, shaking his head.

"Wouldn't that be considered letting go?" Steve asked, tilting his head slightly to examine the screen in a different angle.

"I KNOW. RIGHT!" Clint said, waving his arms in frustration.

"The woman is a selfish bitch and she's about to die." Tony mumbled and Thor gasped.

"She dies?" Thor asked.

"She's old, Thor. She dies in her sleep." Clint said simply. They watched the aged Rose go back to her room and die peacefully in her sleep.

"That's how it ends?" Steve asked, a little disappointed.

"No. Now since we've given everyone sad reasons to cry, we must give them a happy reason to cry." Tony mumbled with disgust as they watched Rose and Jack reunited in death on the Titanic with all the other passengers.

"Okay, I admit. That's pretty amazing." Steve said. He liked the way everything was broken and destroyed and then transformed into something beautiful and perfect. It kind of reminded him of the day Howard Stark injected the serum into his body and he went from being just a kid from Brooklyn to being Captain America. A small smile flickered across his face.

Thor shook his head. "Woman is still a wench!" He said in anger.

Clint smiled. "Actually, this was a good idea. We should watch another movie." He suggested with a large grin.

Tony groaned. "No! You guys get way too into them. I'm also a little worried that Thor thinks the movies are real." Tony said, placing a palm to his forehead.

Thor looked at him with confusion. "Are they not?" He asked.

Tony gave a satisfied smirk. "My point exactly." Tony said.

Clint rolled his eyes before looking at Thor. "Just because it's happening on a screen, doesn't make it real. They were just acting out a story." Clint explained.

Thor seemed to like this fact. "Good! A wench like that never existed then." Thor said happily.

"And what would guys watch next? Another big time movie? Harry Potter?" Tony said with a laugh. He didn't think Clint would want to watch Harry Potter, but oh was he wrong. Tony stopped laughing when he saw Clint grin at him. Tony grabbed a pillow off the couch and buried his face in it.

"It never ends." Tony mumbled. If they watched the first, they would be watching all the way up until the end.

"Please tell me you have the movies!" Clint begged, jumping onto the couch Tony was sitting on.

"What's Harry Potter?" Steve asked.

"It's a movie about a kid wizard who saves the world from this evil dictator wizard, who wants to take over the whole world." Tony explained with a roll of the eyes.

"So you have seen the movies?" Clint said with a bright smile.

"Pepper liked them." Tony replied simply. He hadn't even spoke her name in weeks, but it didn't hurt him as much he thought it would. "So, yeah. I have them. And the books too. Never read them, though." Tony said.

"Where are the movies?" Clint asked seriously.

"I'm not telling you." Tony answered. He wasn't having everyone getting lost in Harry Potter's world until the wee hours of the morning.

"I'll find them. And I don't care if I have to wreck your house to do so." Clint said and got off the couch quickly to search. "You've also seemed to forgotten the fact that I'm a master assassin." He bragged.

"I SHALL HELP YOU SEARCH FOR THESE HARRY OF POTTER DVDS!" Thor shouted as he jumped off the couch.

Steve frowned. Titanic was a story he grew up with. He felt Harry Potter sounded like it would be too much for him. "I think I will skip this one out." He said with a smile. He picked up his book and walked out onto the rooftop.

Tony, wanting to make sure Thor and Clint didn't destroy his house, said, "Look on the bookshelf with the actual books! You'll find them!" Tony said, getting up off the couch he was sitting on.

He wasn't in the mood for Harry Potter, it was always Pepper's thing. Tony had nothing else to do and because he wanted nothing more than to talk to Steve, he followed him out to the roof. He knows that he really shouldn't follow Steve around like he's got nothing better to do, but it was the truth. He had nothing to do and he wanted to be around Steve. He couldn't help it.

AN: Comments are loved and appreciated! :)