Chapter 14: Crazy Little Thing Called Love

S.H.I.E.L.D.'S NEW BUILDING. PRESENT TIME

Steve emerged from the time machine and he smiled at Maria Hill.
"Bet you're thrilled to be back." She commented to him and he nodded for his response. Steve was very happy to be back.

She noticed his wet clothes immediately. They dried at a slow pace and wrinkled horribly.

"Fury would like to talk to you when you are ready. It appears Tony Stark has created his own time machine and he's taken matters into his own hands. He has Bucky but, I'm sure you're aware of that."

Steve just nodded again. That was just typical of Tony. He didn't have the patience to wait around for Fury and his people. When Tony wanted answers his determination to get what he wanted was almost scary.
Steve was pretty impressed that Tony could build his own time machine. S.H.I.E.L.D. often underestimated Tony's capabilities.

Steve was going off on a tangent in his head and he tried to stop.

"I need a change of clothes." He spoke quietly to Maria and she smiled.

"You got it. Just go see Fury and I'll have someone bring you some clothes." She started to head away from him before he had the chance to thank her.

Steve felt bad and made a mental note to tell her thank you later on when he had the chance.
He headed straight for Fury's office. Steve needed to have a long chat with him before he headed over to see Bucky.

TONY'S MANCAVE PRESENT TIME

Tony made his way back to his lab after he got himself some coffee to eat. Tony wasn't hungry for anything he saw in the kitchen so he decided coffee would fill up his stomach.
Clint still hung out in the lab and continued to be a pest, Bruce wrapped up the work he did on Bucky, and Tony resumed his work on the arm.

Bruce tested his skin and discovered that Bucky had traces of liquid nitrogen swimming around in his skin cells. That meant those HYDRA freaks were put him on ice then defrosted the poor guy over and over.

Tony wondered what kind of neurological damage Bucky could have because of it. He began to add his own Stark flare to Bucky's arm when his thoughts were interrupted.

"Sir, you have another phone call from Director Fury."
"He just can't get enough of me can he? Accept the call. Thank you." Jarvis put the call through and Fury's face appeared.

"Hello again everyone. I'm calling to inform you that Captain Rogers has returned from the mission. Tony we're already inside the tower now because we need to speak with you. You need to give us access to your work area."

Uh..what? S.H.I.E.L.D. people were gunna flood his Avenger Tower? What the fuck..

"I'm working on Bucky's arm and I've finally made him a secure little home so if you guys would just stop by later that would be great. Or stop by never, that would be even better."

There was a long silence from Fury. Tony continued his modifications and then he heard his voice again.

"Steve requests that you grant us access to your floor before he is forced to destroy it." Clint got up on his feet and Tony stopped his work.

What was hell was Steve doing? Did he run S.H.I.E.L.D. now or some shit?
And why the hell did he bring Fury to the Tower? grrrr Tony didn't know which route to take. He didn't want to see Steve.

Tony scratched his head and looked at Bucky.

"WELL since you're already at the damn door what choice do I have? Jarvis open up my shop. Let them in."
Tony was annoyed.

They were granted access to his work area floor and the door was unlocked. He saw Fury as he walked down the stairs to his secret laboratory of awesome. The door was opened and Fury walked in like he owned the place. Tony watched him as he walked straight over to the cryo tube that had Bucky within it.

"You stole my tube."
"Well you just left it out there so sue me." Tony didn't care if he took the tube he knew it would come in handy at some point.

Clint slid over to Fury and immediately started to show him something on his phone.

"Fury can you tell who this is?" Fury used his good eye to look at the screen. The older man didn't answer and he looked at the cryo tube.

"It's you with an afro AHAHAHAAAAAAaaa..." Clint's laugh was loud and Fury stood unaffected.
Tony just rolled his eyes.

He heard the door to his shop open again. Then he heard familiar footsteps.

"Hello Tony." Steve's voice reached his ears. Uhh Tony turned around clumsily and stared at his face.
He really really really REALLY did not want to see him. Tony felt self-conscious all of a sudden and he uncomfortably responded.

"Ha..." Tony went to scratch his head and almost knocked Bucky's arm off the table when he saw Steve in front of him.

Tony hurried to the arm and caught it before it hit the ground. Tony cleared his throat and awkwardly tried to put it back where it originally was. OF COURSE it wouldn't go back on correctly. Steve watched as Tony struggled with the arm.

"..Hi." He said as they made eye contact briefly.
Tony turned away immediately and stared at the arm. He steadied the stupid arm on the, thing he had that held it up.

"How are you?" Steve asked him as Tony crossed his arms behind his back. How was he? Steve always friggen asked him that! How was he? really uhmmmm...

"Oh, I'm just great!" Tony's eyes could have burned a hole in the arm because he stared at it with such a fiery glare. Steve took a moment to look at Tony. He looked exhausted and had obviously been awake for a long time.

GAHH that was just TYPICAL OF STEVE. He just waltzes into the room and thinks it's ok to just ask if he was ok.
Tony turned his back to Steve because he didn't want to be STARED AT. Tony took a seat back at his work area.

Jesus Christ.

"He's still unconscious?" Steve said as he headed straight for Bucky's new little home. Steve had a very guilt stricken look on his face.

Tony decided to act like everything was cool and just ignore him. Luckily, Bruce started to talk about Bucky.

"We think that Hydra might have been putting him in some sort of a cryopreservation tank or something each and every time they woke him up or put him down. I tested his skin and he has a lot of chemicals in his system that made us think that way."

Steve stood tall and had his focus strictly on Bucky. Everyone in the room had their focus on Bucky. Tony took the opportunity to glance over at Steve. It felt like it had been years since he'd seen him.

Bruce was the only one that spoke so Tony just continued to stare. He began to wonder about

Steve and his younger self.
He hated to think it, a horrible feeling washed over him and it wouldn't leave his system.

"I think it's become a habit for his body to enter a comatose state. I checked his vitals he's still alive. In fact, I think he's sleeping." Bruce spoke to Steve and Fury.

Well Tony was lost in thought. He only thought about how "genteel" Steve's appearance was. His clothes were all nice and clean.

Tony immediately started to think about what he must have looked like. He had been awake for days, had messed up hair, and probably looked like a dirty urchin or something.

Wow it was awkward. Tony just chilled in his work space and wore his comfy pants and one of his black tank tops he always wore when he worked.

Everyone else was all dressed for success. Well, except for Clint. He looked like shit. But Tony felt out of place and really insecure for some reason. Which was something he felt, never.

He sighed and tried to ignore all the people in his mancave. He tried to ignore how insecure he felt.

"Tony, I really appreciate you helping me get Bucky. I would not have succeeded if you hadn't of shown up." Steve turned in Tony's direction and had a tired looking smile.

Tony froze for a moment. He just nodded his head and scratched at his neck. He had worked on his time machine for DAYS and he had modified Bucky's arm for hours. Tony needed a hot shower.
And Tony also felt very NOT was an odd feeling.

"Skip the formalities Cap. It's all good, there's no need to thank me." Now if they all could just NOT talk about what had been going on the last few days Tony would be very pleased with that.

He was actually glad that they all had Bucky to distract them and take the focus off of him. THANK YOU LORD.

"Dr. Banner, I hate to ask this from you since you're working but can you give the four of us a minute?"

Uh say whut?
Steve asked Bruce to leave?

Tony's eyes lit up and he almost burst into flames. Why the hell did Bruce have to leave?
Bruce just smiled and complied.

"Ok. Sure, no problem you guys just let me know if you need my help." Bruce definitely did not want to be involved with whatever mess went on.

That was for sure, he was more than happy to leave.

"Tony let me know when you want me to come back ok?" "Yeah. Thanks .." Tony had a glare on his face.

He heard Bruce leave and then he cleared his throat. GGGGGGGRRRRRRREEEEEAAAATTTT here we go. Tony looked at Bucky's arm and then he started to wipe his hands off on one of the work rags he had on the table.

His hands itched because he wanted to get the hell out of there.
Clint took a seat at the table where Tony worked. He caught on immediately and knew where it was headed. Steve sat down beside Clint and Fury sat next to Tony.

Uhhhhh...Tony was not ok with any of it. Fury had his serious pants on and he looked right a Tony.

"Tony I've got two things that I need to say to you. FIRST thing I want to say is that I am sorry we didn't include you on this mission. We were trying to keep you out of it in the beginning because we knew you'd go all crazy if you knew what we were doing. So, I apologize for that." Fury acted all nice and Tony just rolled his eyes.

"Pshh save it. I don't care.." Tony's attitude was probably annoying. But WHATEVER. Fury didn't give a crap about him. Tony would never think otherwise. Fury only thought about himself and ways to advance his super-hero boy band.

"THE SECOND thing I want to bring to this table is about what you told me at the new facility. You said that you were involved with Captain Rogers. I think we need to get that sorted out and out of the way."

Tony was pretty much as tense as he could be. Really? These guys wanted to discuss that NOW? What the hell was Tony supposed to say? He just looked at each of them (except Steve )

Steve's voice flooded his ear drums again and it made Tony look down at the table. He absolutely could not look at him in any way.

"I don't think now is a good time to discuss that so I'll only comment on it a little. I do however want to apologize for how I behaved during this mission." Steve looked at Clint because what he said was directed to him.

"Clint told me that I should have left the mission because I wasn't thinking objectively and I honestly think that I should have left. I put him in danger and I got to a point where I wasn't even communicating with him. Luckily, in the end everything turned out ok but I feel we only have Tony to thank for that."
Steve had his head down as well. He felt like shit and he honestly felt like he was defeated during that mission.

If Tony hadn't of intervened he would have lost to Bucky. He went in completely unprepared and he spent most of his time trying to understand Tony.
It was a huge problem for him.

Tony listened to what Steve said and he started to rub his face with his hands.
Why why why why why were they having that discussion now? And what the hell DID STEVE DO DURING THAT MISSION?

"I'm sorry Clint. I was completely lost during our mission." Steve looked at the archer with a sad expression. Clint did nothing but smile at Steve. His face was bandaged up and he looked like he had just been run over by a car but, he smiled regardless.

"It's ok Steve-"
"That is EXACTLY why I want to be having this conversation. If you two are in some sort of a relationship I absolutely cannot have it affecting the Avengers. SO I suggest the two of you break off into SEPARATE LOCATIONS." Fury was very direct with his words and they registered very loudly in Tony's head.

Clint sat up straight. WHAT?
"You want to split them up? Fuck that. I am not ok with that at all." Clint wasn't ok with just separating people that were obviously into each other.

"They can do whatever the hell they want outside the Avengers. I'm just saying that I don't want them working together. Think it over. You two can do an East Coast and West Coast thing or something."

Tony felt like he had been put on the spot. He remained quiet long enough but he couldn't contain it any longer.

"Avengers business is no longer S.H.I.E.L.D. business. Meaning our supposed relationship is NONE of your damn business. All my life you guys have been documenting and watching my every move. I don't. You had no RIGHT.." Tony became frustrated. He didn't know how to express what he felt inside.

An immense rush of anger had built up. He couldn't get away from all those eyes that always watched him.
Tony was sick of people being in his life. He wanted to be free from them.

So Tony just started to vent his frustrations that were directed to Nick Fury.

"I just want to be left alone! I want to do whatever the hell I want to do and be left ALONE! You guys find out that someone is threatening to kill me? Fine! JUST TELL me and I will handle it MYSELF. I don't need you! I built my own fucking time machine and took care of it on my own. If someone tries to steal my tech, murder me, kill my family, and destroy my home WELL I WILL TAKE CARE OF IT."

"Look Hollywood you can get mad all you want. I understand that you are capable of defending yourself and I'm not disputing that. But you need to understand that we are trying to help you Tony. We want to help you and keep you alive. You're a pressure cooker that's about to burst."

"My father and my mother trusted YOU. Look where that got them. I don't need you and I don't answer to you. END OF STORY."

Fury and Tony had an argument between them that was a long time coming.
"YOU had no RIGHT sending your chess pawns into my past without consulting me."

"You're only mad about it because of how you were. Well, that's your problem it's not my fault you were a manipulative junkie. I needed my "chess pawns" to save your life and I didn't want to deal with your attitude. Steve Rogers is the only one I deem fit to actually deal with your attitude whether you two are "involved" or NOT."

WOW RUDE. Tony's jaw dropped.
Fury had a difficult time with Tony but he actually did care for him. He always cared about him he just knew that he was the type that needed tough love.

Tony just glared at Fury and then looked away. TCH he was so pissed off and his brain really hurt. Tony just shut his mouth. He was done with the ridiculous conversation.

"We are getting a bit off track. The reason we are having this discussion is because I want to know if this alliance between the Avengers needs to break into two groups. THAT IS ALL I WANGT TO KNOW. Now, are you two in a relationship or not?" Fury needed to know so they could get shit accomplished and he could move on with his life.

He didn't care if Steve and Tony were, whatever. All he cared about was making the Avengers sail like a smooth ship.

If they were TOGETHER it was absolutely 100% NOT. GOING. TO. WORK. And he planned to strongly encourage them to break up the team. Steve and Tony looked at each other. It was kind of a big question for Fury to ask. Tony's skin was on fire and ...

Clint looked at Steve. He looked at Fury and then he looked at Tony. Then he looked back at Steve and then he glanced back over at Tony again.

Whoo hooo things were heated up in the room ! Clint secretly enjoyed it.
They all knew where Steve stood on the subject. He had been the one that showed the most emotion and admitted his feelings for Tony first.

Steve was in love with him. That was more than obvious. Actually the guy was borderline CRAZY in Clint's opinion.
He eagerly awaited Tony's response because at that point no one knew where he was at with all of it. Haaa Tony was about to speak. Clint could see it in his face. He felt so happy.

"I CAN'T ANSWER THAT." Tony stood up and he tried not to look at Steve. He turned on his heel and accidentally hit the STUPID ARM again. He quickly caught it before it hit the damn floor (AGAIN).

WOW! ok he fixed it back onto the stupid holder. Fury's eyebrow arched as he watched Tony struggle with Bucky's arm.

Clint was about to laugh at him but he controlled himself. Tony was obviously stressed out and Clint understood why. Poor guy.
Tony stood up straight and made sure the arm didn't fall down again. He cleared his throat and uneasily spoke to the three.

"Like I said I can't answer that so I declare this meeting adjourned. Bucky should be fine in here just don't touch any of my things. I'm going, going to go away now so just leave my shit exactly where it currently is." Tony needed to shower and drop dead. He couldn't take Steve STARING AT HIM any longer so he left the room.

Steve watched him leave. He felt a nasty sting in his chest and he tried to ignore it.

"I don't think we should focus on that right now Fury. I understand your need to ask but I'd rather focus on Bucky's recuperation then on, Tony."
Steve changed the subject to Bucky and decided it was best to only focus on that.

"I can try to talk to Tony later. He's really overwhelmed right now so I think we should give him some space."
"That's fine Captain. Now that we have access to Tony's shop I can give you however many people you need to look after Bucky."

Steve thought about it as he looked over at his friend.
It made him feel nervous that he was still unconscious. But to bring Fury's people into Tony's shop was a bad idea.
Tony would be even more upset.

"No. We'll take care of Bucky on our own. I think it's best to keep S.H.I.E.L.D. and Tony far apart for a few days. He needs to calm down before you start bringing suits into his work space." Fury just nodded. Clint rocked back in his seat a few times then eventually stood up.

"Well, I'm going to go pass out now. It's been a looooonnnggg few days and my bed is calling me." Clint headed towards the exit with a yawn.

"Cap if you need me to watch Bucky or something let me know."

The archer left the work area and took the elevator to his private floor. He walked right by his bed and then crawled up to one of his nests.
He was much more comfortable there.

Steve pulled his chair over to the cryo tube. He planned on staying beside Bucky until he woke up.

"Just let us know when you need us. You're no chess pawn I hope you know that." Fury gave Steve some kind words and he smiled at the older man.

Or technically younger man to Steve? ugh he could never get his time difference right.
Fury left and the door closed behind him. As soon as Steve was alone in Tony's shop he started to look around.

Tony had a lot of stuff.
"Jarvis?" Steve spoke to the artificial person and he looked up at the high ceiling.
"Yes Captain Rogers?" It was soooo bizarre to hear his voice Steve could never get used to it.

"Where is Tony?" He asked him as he stood up and walked over to the cryo tube.
"He is currently in the shower. Would you like to be granted access to his living quarters sir?"

Steve started to chew on a small section of his lip.
He really wanted to talk to Tony. He wanted to talk to him and actually have a chance to be alone with him.

"Ask him. Please ask him if he would grant me access to his floor."
"Sir, he's given you permission many times and you already have access to his floor."
"I know. But, I need you to ask anyway." Steve would never just go up to Tony's floor. In his mind that was very disrespectful.

Steve waited for Jarvis's response.
Tony ran some shampoo all over his hair when he heard Jarvis's voice.

"Sir Captain Rogers is requesting access to your floor. Shall I grant it?" Tony listened but he took a long time to form an answer.

Actually he didn't form an answer Tony just ran the hot water over his face.
Steve probably wanted to talk. Talk about things that Tony absolutely NEVERRR wanted to talk about.
He hesitated for a moment and then grabbed the conditioner.

"Deny his access." Tony did not want to see him and he definitely did not want to talk to him. His mind constantly contradicted itself because Tony really did want to see him.
ARGHHH He tried not to think about it and he roughly conditioned his stupid hair.

"Captain Rogers, your access to the floor has been denied."
"That's, that's what I was expecting." Steve felt that pain that nagged in his chest. He figured that Tony was going to be like that for a while. He was discouraged and tried hard to not take it personally.

He noticed no movement from Bucky. That also discouraged him. Steve's evening was just full of discouragement it seemed.

OBADIAH STANE'S HOUSE IN THE PAST.

The younger Tony was in his room. He was undressed. Obadiah told him to keep his door open so he would know if he tried to run away.
Tony found it irritating because he was forming an escape plan in his head.

Tony changed out of his wet clothes and he didn't care if his guardian snooped around and watched.
He had a plan and it was a perfect plan.

Tony headed to his closet and he dug out one of his stashes of drugs.
He snuck some Rohypnol in his pants pocket and he threw on a t-shirt. His plan was to roofie the shit out of Obadiah, steal his car, go to the place where that asshole Fury worked, and find the Yankee.

He couldn't just tell him all that shit and then dump him off. Tony absolutely refused to accept that.
So, Tony devised a plan to find him and he wasn't going to let anything get in his way.
His first obstacle was Obadiah.

He smiled to himself and he wandered into the living room where Obadiah was.

"Yo Obi.." He said as he headed in his direction. Obadiah didn't respond. He started to do something with the television.

Tony looked around the room and noticed a glass of scotch beside the recliner. PERFECCCCTTTTT... All Tony had to do was slip it in his drink.

"Did your Yankee feed you?" Obadiah asked as he looked Tony's way.

Tony just shrugged his shoulders and sat down on the living room floor.

He often sat there because chairs were overrated.
Tony watched Obadiah take a seat on the recliner and the wheels in his head started to spin. His devious little mind started to work on his plan and he looked over at the TV.

"Have you heard anything about my mom?" Tony asked as his guardian shook his head no. "Nah, your dad is with her so she should be fine. Stop worrying so much kid. It's annoying." Tony glared a bit and hugged one of his knees.

TCH...he only asked one damn question. Ok. Time was up. Tony was ready to get the hell out of there.
He looked over at Obadiah with a playful grin. Obadiah saw his look and he ignored it. In fact he started to look around for one of his cigars.

Tony rocked up from the floor and stood on his feet. He headed over to Obadiah and he climbed onto his lap.

"What the hell are you doing kid. Haven't you played enough games?" His guardian asked him as Tony silenced him with a kiss.

He wanted to kiss the Yankee so he imagined that it was him. It made it easier and more believable.

Obadiah forced his face away.
"You must want something. WHAT is it?" Tony often used sex to get something he wanted. Obadiah wasn't a fool.

Tony grinned and moved over him. He started to straddle the older man and he glanced at the glass that was beside them.
"I, really wanted the Yankee to fuck me. But you were right he was way out of my league." Tony even frowned when he said it.

Obadiah took the bait with a broad smile.

"So now you plan on settling for me? Aww I don't know how to take that Tony." The older man pulled Tony's lips to his.
Tony normally didn't kiss Obadiah that much. But, for his plan to work he wanted him to be very engaged and distracted.

He needed to slip the Rohypnol into his drink before things got too heated between them. Gahhh Tony tried to get the drug from his pocket but he didn't want to look too suspicious. Obadiah was a really strong man. Tony didn't want to fuck it up and have to deal with him on a physical level.

That would really really really suck.

Notes: HALLO I have returned! with a surprise! I bring you a rather wordy chapter (which leaves you hanging in two spots) and teenage Tony is again up to no good (I couldn't let him go) ahahah More to come.
Please please please comment! Thanks for reading!