Tony was carefully designing a new bow for Clint while Natasha warmed up in the practice range. Thor had been more than happy to move a couple work stations into the gym and shooting range rooms for Tony as it had been strongly suggested by his CEO that he take a break from the workshop. Tony was only listening because of the whole grocery store incident. That and Steve had been present when he'd agreed to Pepper's demands. It wouldn't do to get that disappointed look that Steve sometimes got when Tony was endangering himself or ignoring others. Pepper had also been very upset about him standing in front of Fury's gun for Dummy. He was still trying to figure out how she'd found out about that one. Tony suspected a spy in the Avengers.

He idly watched as Natasha moved on to some throwing stars. These were the moments that he was glad she liked him for some strange reason. Natasha could be scary. Tony enjoyed watching the other SHIELD agents squirm when she was around. They never seemed to know how to act. He used to be wary of her after the whole being stabbed in the neck thing and her basically lying to him, but he'd become oddly attached to her since he'd convinced her to live in Avengers' Tower. She was also one of his favorites to have test new weapons/items for the Avengers. Thor and Steve were his favorites to test out new technology; it always gave him an idea of how durable they were. "So what time did you manage to get Peter to agree to come in here willingly?"

She glanced over at him with a smirk, "8am."

"Impressed. Very impressed." Tony spun the hologram checking it over and having JARVIS save the bow design. "What exactly are you having him meet you in here for?" he needed to know because Peter was a teenager and Tony didn't want him to get hurt. He trusted Natasha not to maim the teen, but it never hurt to be cautious. Tony would not be one of those parents who were neglectful of their child. That didn't sit well with him.

"Peter needs to learn how to handle weapons. He lives in a Tower full of Avengers and there is always the likelihood that something could happen." Natasha spun around throwing a dagger into the head of her dummy. "Once you get back to 100% your ass is going to be in here bright and early. You can consider it physical therapy for being so inactive due to your injuries." The amusement was clear as day in her voice.

Tony stuck his tongue out at Natasha, "Try to keep him in one piece." He glanced at the hologram once more before turning his full attention of his fellow Avenger, "And if anyone harms a hair on my son's head they'll be dealing with me." His brown eyes were hard and his jaw was clenched at the very thought that someone might harm someone close to him. That was one thing he would not allow because there were so few who he truly cared about. No one messed with what was his.

"I'll be right there with you, Tony." She grinned wickedly now and walked over toward him before dropping down in another chair. "I'll try my hardest to keep him safe as well." Her hand reached out and moved the bow away from Tony so she could look at it. "Excellent work." She murmured looking over the features, the shape and the arrow ideas listed near it. "Clint will sleep with this. I can already see him holding on to the finished bow; looking at it lovingly and saying, 'My precious'. Possibly kissing it."

A snort escaped Tony as he grinned back, "Too much Lord of the Rings in this Tower. Clint needs to stop picking that movie." They shared an amused look. Clint was constantly supplying commentary whenever there was an archer of any kind in a movie. Comments on shots, targets, bows, arrows and how he could have done better. He had already explained to them that they would be watching Brave when it came out for movie night. There would be no negotiation. Steve and Thor were very interested in it as well.

Clint's arms were wrapped around Phil Coulson in a parody of an octopus. If octopuses were warm, firm and smelled good. Phil stared down at the top of Clint's head watching as it moved with the rise and fall of his chest. He looked over his lover, taking in the lean lines of Clint's body, the small scars healed from past missions and the muscles that spoke of strength. Part of him wanted to wake his partner up and continue their activities from the previous night, but he knew that Clint could use a few more hours of sleep. The archer had not been sleeping lately which had been evidenced by the slight dark circles under his eyes.

Carefully he moved himself from the bed before shifting his pillow close to Clint. Sure enough it was wrapped up in those grasping arms and Clint had his face buried into it; a sigh escaped and he dropped right back off into sleep. It was so rare to see him so relaxed and carefree because Clint was always on alert. Years of missions, attacks and fighting for his life caused Clint to be watchful. Phil moved his hand down and moved it carefully through Clint's short hair watching as it moved with his fingers. A soft smile graced his features because it was easier to just be Phil when it was only Clint and himself. He moved away from the bed and began to go through his morning routine. Today he had at least one thing that needed to be accomplished. Requesting the location of one of his Avengers had him heading towards the gym.

Phil Coulson stared at the figure of Steve Rogers doing sit-ups in the middle of the gym. The radio provided background noise so it wasn't completely silent. There were still moments when seeing Captain America right in front of him caused a small part of him to fanboy before he managed to push the need to freak out on Steve Rogers out of the way. Fortunately now was not one of those times. It had been a few days since the disaster that was Clint and Stark shopping which had given him plenty of time to hear about what the other Avengers had done to Steve. Clint had quite gleefully supplied the details as he'd found it amusing to give Phil's 'hero' a hard time even though he looked up to Steve as well.

"Captain?" he called out announcing his presence. The other man stopped his workout and turned his head to look over at Phil. It was hard to even tell that Steve had been working out in here for hours when the other man was not even close to winded or slowing down. "A word?"

"You can call me Steve." Steve Rogers flashed a charming smile and reached over to grab his towel to wipe his brow before turning his complete attention on Agent Phil Coulson. "What can I do for you?"

"It has come to my attention that your teammates, minus Stark, felt the need to essentially corner you shortly after it was made known that you are in a relationship with Stark." Phil wanted to sigh because really this should not be part of his job, but when it came to the Avengers there were a lot of things that he did that under normal circumstances would not be anywhere near his job description. Making sure all the 'kids were playing nice with each other' had rapidly become one of his top priorities. He tried not to think of the other mini jobs he'd rapidly acquired since he'd been officially assigned to them.

A blush stole over Steve's face as his blue eyes darted away for a second before glancing back; they were begging Phil to not go there, but Phil Coulson was already committed. "Yeah…"

"I felt compelled to explain to you the actual reasons for…that whole ordeal." Phil watched as Steve continued to stare at him clearly waiting for an explanation for why his teammates were insane. "Before that I want to say that I suggested to Director Fury that he should not bring Tony Stark into the Avengers Initiative. I did not say no to Tony Stark and that Iron Man was recommended…I simply told the Director that he should find others for the Initiative. That it might be in his best interest to not even mention the Initiative."

"Why? He hasn't forgotten that." Steve was giving him this confused puppy look that was killing Phil because causing Steve Rogers to look like that was probably a crime somewhere. And if it wasn't then it should be.

"Mostly because of you." Phil looked away and sighed softly to himself. He preferred to keep these things to himself, but Steve Rogers was the leader of the Avengers and sometimes knowing these things helped to make a better leader. To further improve. "Due to the fact that I am a member of SHIELD I was made aware of the circumstances behind your 'death'. You saw no other way and sacrificed yourself for everyone else. When looking at the names of those who Director Fury planned to bring in to the Avengers Initiative I could agree on all of them except Stark. Natasha had everything we were looking for and a need to make things right in her own way. Or as she likes to point out; she has a lot of red in her ledger. Clint is much the same and when you point him in the direction of a target he'll take it out. Bruce has the intelligence, research ability and guilt because of the destruction that the Hulk has caused. But the Hulk is damn near indestructible which is the perfect thing to throw at opponents who are likewise indestructible.

"You were not in the picture at this point and later on we found Thor who had the raw power that we were looking for and essentially crashed into our laps. But I noticed something different about Tony Stark. Don't get me wrong, Tony is a hero. There is no question about that and he fits perfectly into the team. Tony was in fact the third person that I became a handler for since working at SHIELD which makes him mine. All of you are mine. I was first given Clint and he brought along Natasha after a mission, but the responsibility for Stark came out of nowhere. I'm not even sure why Director Fury gave him to me; I would have thought he might shove Stark off onto Agent Hill." Phil shook his head and thought back to the beginning of his interactions with Tony before continuing, "However, during my observations, looking over his SHIELD files, speaking with Natasha and getting an idea of his character I could not in good conscience recommend him. The others would do everything they could, put everything on the line and know when a mission is going south. They will retreat to regroup or figure out another way. But Stark would be unpredictable and if he believed it was the only way he would sacrifice himself without a thought. He wouldn't back off. I've noticed that stubborn streak."

Steve stared down at his lap seeing his whitened knuckles on the towel as he twisted it between his hands. "You thought he would pull a Captain America and crash a plane into the ice."

Phil scowled at himself, "Essentially, yes. I read his whole file, I saw the videos of that little boy trying so hard to impress his father and no matter what he did Howard Stark never saw Tony for what he was…a true genius who had surpassed his father. Tony is the future. Then he was lost in the desert, he was recovered and Iron Man surfaced. Stark tried to sacrifice himself to stop Stane and close to six months go by when he discovers that he is dying, but he keeps going and I knew what would happen if he was in the Avengers Initiative. I believed that Tony Stark, Iron Man, would be better off as a lone hero than part of a team." A sigh escaped now, "But when Loki showed up and Clint was compromised I knew we needed him. I personally took the files and information to him at Stark Tower. Then after I woke up I saw the video of the battle, heard the communications going over the comms and read the reports. He flew a nuke into another dimension without a thought of coming back. The others are so protective of him because of the nuke incident and because despite Stark not being brought into the Initiative with them he fought so hard to preserve his teammates without expecting to survive. All of you fought as hard as you could and did everything in your powers to stop Loki."

"That's one of the reasons I'm so protective of him as well. He doesn't seem to think; Tony just reacts and throws himself into the line of fire." The towel was shredded now, "Bruce explained some of his reasons though his seem to come from before the nuke incident."

"From what I have gathered from Bruce Banner it would be acceptance more than sacrifice that would earn his respect and loyalty. Clint has only had two people prior to Tony willing to sacrifice themselves for him. Stark was unknowingly acquired by Clint as someone he'd go to any lengths for…I believe the same might be said of Natasha. Once you have their loyalty they'll have your back."

Steve slowly stood leaving the shredded towel on the floor as he began pacing. "SHIELD managed to bring together a team of people who shouldn't be able to work together…shouldn't be able to live together." He folded his arms over his chest and stopped before Phil Coulson with honestly filling his eyes, "If Tony ever succeeds in one of his stunts I don't know that I would be able to continue…"

"I'm not sure if any of us would be able to. How Stark managed to wriggle his way into everyone's hearts is beyond me, but he succeeded. I should have known when Director Fury came to me about Stark that my saying anything to have Iron Man rejected would become null later on." A slightly amused grin crossed Phil's face and caused Steve to blink in surprise. "I've never seen someone work so hard to be unaffected and fail so miserably."

This earned a genuine smile from Steve, "He does, but he's more Tony around the Avengers. Tony was the one who found out you were alive and stormed SHIELD HQ to get you. He was fired up and furious."

Phil shook his head and started towards the door with Steve trailing behind him, "I think Stark just loves to get under the Director's skin. I keep getting calls from him about Stark threatening him down in his workshop and about how Stark is corrupting Captain America. How I need to do something about it."

"No. I've always had a bit of a rebellious streak before Tony was even born. I usually try to rein it in around others." They made it to the hallway and the obvious separate paths they would be taking. Peter was walking by and stared at them suspiciously. Steve found it suspicious that the teen was up this early in the morning on the floor with the gym and shooting range.

"Good to know." Phil took a few steps away, "According to Clint I'm supposed to 'support' his threats." A bemused expression crossed his face, "Try not to break Stark. For some strange reason he seems to keep all of you together. The two of you make a great team." Phil looked to the side, "I've unfortunately become attached to him; I'll deny that with my dying breath should you say anything. I'll deny most of what I just said."

Steve nodded with a grin as he turned to head the opposite way and had to force down a startled scream when Peter seemed to appear out of nowhere. "I'm watching you." Brown eyes narrowed at Steve as the teenager looked at him and Steve kind of wanted to grin. Peter was quite protective of Tony and seeing the teenager standing before him in such a way made Steve want to hug him. He suppressed the urge. Tony had a nice family he'd acquired. Steve watched as the teenager watched him while walking backwards towards the shooting range before disappearing into the door. He could hear Natasha and Tony's voices when the door had opened. At least someone would be watching him while he was in there.

Steve did not get to take Tony on an 'official date' until the cast came off. Tony Stark was very explicit in that regard especially when he knew that Steve Rogers would be more traditional. There was no way he wanted to be prevented from doing anything because Steve was afraid he'd injure himself. No way in hell. He was beyond curious about how this whole relationship was going to go especially since Steve seemed to be taking the lead. It was odd and new and slightly refreshing. His other reason was that he was getting used to being in a relationship with another male. So far it hadn't been all that different and he couldn't figure out why some people would be freaked out about this kind of relationship. It seemed normal to him.

"I'M FREE!" it rang out through SHIELD Medical which Tony had freely walked into because that damn cast would be coming off. And because Steve wouldn't let him take a saw to it himself. Or let Dummy. Or Clint. Or Natasha. All of the saws disappeared over night after Tony had tried to make his case. You'll only injure yourself further had been the only verbal response. Tony dropped the remains of his cast onto the floor and stomped on them childishly before grinning widely. "Now I need to seriously scrub my arm because EW."

The SHIELD nurse was staring at Tony in mild horror, "You just stomped on it…" Tony wondered if she was new; he hadn't seen her before in all the forced trips he'd made to Medical.

"Only because they wouldn't let me bring in the blowtorch." It was reasonable. If he couldn't have fire why not physically stomp that damn thing into the ground? Tony Stark believed it was a compromise. The cast hadn't been turned to ashes…yet. He eyed its remains and thought maybe he could destroy it in his workshop?

Steve carefully wrapped an arm around Tony and steered him towards the exit, "Thank you for removing his cast." He grinned at her and shut the door behind them. "Fire? Really?"

"A repulsor glove seemed too extreme." The dead seriousness in Tony's voice worried Steve before the expression was wiped away with one of curiosity, "So where are you taking me today?" there was a slightly hopeful note in Tony's voice because Steve had been so adamant that Tony not know anything.

"Still not saying."

A groan escaped as Tony tried to refrain from pouting because with Steve it was a hit or miss on getting what he wanted with that look. Giving Fury visual evidence of him doing such a thing was not an option. Tony's eyes flicked up to where he knew a camera was before a slightly wicked look flashed across his features. So far he'd been getting the hang of Steve treating him slightly differently. And the kissing. That was definitely amazing. It was different from women and his past experiences, but he found he enjoyed it more with Steve. Especially since Steve had not stopped treating him like he was the most precious thing on the planet; like Tony was the only person in the world other than Steve. That was also quite amazing. He'd always wondered what it felt like to have such attention because he'd seen it with so many others. Caught a glimpse of it with Pepper. Steve was always so focused on him. Tony wondered if it might stop and if it did would he be able to handle losing it?

Carefully he reached up and grabbed the front of Steve's shirt. The other man stopped and froze staring down at Tony who jerked him forward into an unexpected kiss. Several SHIELD agents stopped what they were doing to gape at the display in front of them and one young woman actually let out a sound of despair. Tony was curious if it was because of Steve or him or if it might be both. He didn't really care and dragged Steve closer as he opened his mouth slightly deepening the kiss. Steve who had frozen at the unexpected action was quite quick to respond and soon Tony had a supersoldier basically wrapped around him with those strong hands holding him close. He broke the kiss with Steve, a grin on his features. "When did you have chocolate?"

A choked sound came from behind him and Steve's cheeks flushed slightly, "Before I got out of the car."

"And you didn't share…until just now." Tony grinned widely before heading towards the exit with Steve meeting his pace. "I take it that didn't persuade you to tell me either, huh?"

"Nope."

Up in his office Nick Fury stared at the screen in front of him before turning to Agent Maria Hill, "I just saw Stark kissing a national icon didn't I?" he was trying not to scream because when he had Captain America defrosted he'd never imagined that Tony Stark would make a move on him. Then again he should have. "Why wasn't I informed of this?"

Hill was still staring at the screen with a slight blush across her cheeks before seeming to snap out of it, "Maybe Stark was doing that to rile you up, Sir." Though she seriously doubted that. Steve Rogers was far to calm for that to have been anything but real. She often wondered if Captain Rogers could even think about lying. It seemed like the kind of thing that might signal an apocalypse. She also didn't believe her own words because Steve had dragged Tony far closer than Tony had dragged him. The roaming hands were also a hint. A big one.

Tony stared at Steve and then looked around at the place Steve had taken them to on his motorcycle. "Six Flags?" he questioned with a small smile. It wasn't big, it wasn't fancy and it wasn't somewhere that your average person would take Tony Stark because they were usually trying so hard to impress him. To get his attention, but it never really worked. This was unexpected. A good unexpected.

"Yeah." Steve shifted slightly with a nervous smile, "I have many fond memories of amusement parks and I figured it might be nice to get out of New York. New Jersey didn't seem like a bad idea…"

A startled laugh escaped Tony and caught the attention of a view people nearby as he shook his head in amazement, "Did you know that trip to Coney Island was the first time I went on a rollercoaster?" he wasn't sure about admitting that he could trace that day back to the first time he'd had that warm feeling in his chest. That feeling of genuine affection and care for Steve Rogers. He would save that for later if a chance appeared. Tony hoped it would.

It went much the same as before only Tony caught himself staring more at Steve and instead of grabbing onto his wrist Steve was holding onto Tony's hand. They went on every thrill ride available. But the look on Steve's face when they went down that first steep drop was perfect and Tony caught himself laughing as the rollercoaster flew down the track. He purchased every single picture after each ride that had one available. Some of those expressions were impossible to pass up especially when Steve wasn't actually looking for the camera.

The day was perfect. He'd gotten his cast removed, had an enjoyably chocolate kiss that probably gave Fury an aneurism and he'd been taken on a real date. It was vaguely surreal. "How do you even exist?" he found himself asking almost not realizing he'd questioned it out loud.

Steve stared at him in surprise before grinning. "What do you mean?"

Tony waved a hand around, "Of all the places you could have chosen for a date you picked an amusement park in New Jersey." Tony flashed him a grin, "And everything else. My dad would occasionally get nostalgic and tell me stories about Steve Rogers. How you were such a good and brave man; he'd never really seen one like you before. I used to think he was exaggerating."

"Oh."

"Yeah…but he wasn't." Tony struggled with his next comment because he was Tony Stark and this was unfamiliar territory. But he cared about Steve and wanted to see where this went. A small corner of his mind was wondering why he'd never thought about other men before Steve kissed him, but figured it wouldn't have been the same. He knew if he wanted this to work, if he didn't want to be a fuck up in another area of his life, that he would have to be honest with Steve Rogers. That he would need to actually try to be a somewhat normal human being…or at least as close as he could. But it made him feel a bit sappy and he'd always made fun of people like that. Oh well…being a hypocrite in this category wouldn't kill him. Hopefully. "I don't think I've had this much fun before. Ever."

It was worth it a million times over to see that smile light up the other man's face. To see those blue eyes flashing with pleasure and happiness. Tony wondered if he might be a little bit in love with Steve Rogers, but it was too early to tell. He was sure. Maybe.

The following kiss was full of feeling and happiness. Tony found himself leaning more into it and enjoying the strong hands pulling him closer. Idly he noted that a flash had gone off somewhere and he wondered if he could buy that picture because he was one hundred percent sure it was a picture of them. Steve broke the kiss with a grin and was dragging him towards the next ride all the while practically bubbling over with happiness. Tony wasn't sure if he'd ever felt this level of satisfaction from making another person so happy. It came close to showing up at events for children or children's hospitals in the Iron Man suit. Maybe bringing along Captain America next time might be a great idea. He was already bringing him along to Tom's school now that he was cleared by the doctor.

Steve continued to lead Tony around the park to various rides and attractions. There were several rides that Tony ended up dragging Steve back to because they were his favorite. And if the whoops they elicited from Steve made that warm feeling bloom in Tony's chest…well he wasn't going to say that out loud. Yet.

It was dark when they finally arrived back at Avengers Tower and Tony tried not to choke on a laugh when he noted that every single person in the Tower had waited up for them.

Peter stared at him, "Do you have any idea what time it is?" Tony was hard pressed to decide if it was the look on the teenager's face or the words he'd chosen to use that set them off. It might have been a combination of the two.

Natasha started laughing first which set Bruce off and Clint was quick to follow. Thor's booming laughs almost covered up the surprised laugh that escaped Coulson. Tony felt tears in his eyes because it was too funny. He crossed over to his son and ruffled his hair. "Waiting up for me?"

A sheepish expression took over Peter's face, "Wanted to make sure everything went alright this morning and then JARVIS told me you were out of state…"

Tony reached into his pocket and pulled out a stack of pictures before handing them to Peter to glance at. "Oh my God." It was choked as Peter took in the expressions on the faces in the pictures before handing them back. He was curious if he'd ever seen something so funny. "That was great."

"It was." Tony nodded. Had he looked back he would have seen the fond expression on Steve's face and the absolute happiness that was being observed by the other Avengers. Tony glanced at the clock. "Who wants to watch a movie?"

The question started off a quick debate and argument over choices. But the end result was that each Avenger was asleep in various positions in the movie room. Only this time Tony and Steve were curled up together on the couch, legs tangled together, with Tony's head laying right above Steve's heart. The beat put him to sleep only twenty minutes into the movie.

I feel the need to explain something. It took me forever to decide how I wanted to write that scene between Steve and Phil. I knew what I wanted to say, where I wanted to go, but it wasn't coming out right. I made it that Phil Coulson suggested to Fury that Tony be left out of the Avengers (he did NOT say yes to Iron Man...Fury did that because he is an ass most of the time) because Phil didn't want to be responsible for someone sacrificing themselves. It still bothers him that that is the reason for Captain America being lost for so long. So that is why I did that...all of the Avengers risk themselves, but Phil was focusing on Tony's self sacrificing ways because he noticed them even though Tony tries not to show that side of himself. He cares about all of them.

Oh yeah...kudos for those who spotted the comic book reference! Sometimes I can't help myself and love to slip something from the comic-verse into my story even though I'm writing from the movie-verse. Thanks for the feedback, reviews and comments! I enjoy each and every one of them.