A/N: I think some of you were onto me,... so much happiness... can't last. Not when an evil author has a plot to progress!
Also, this takes place roughly two weeks after last chapter.
I've posted relevant pictures for visuals on my Pinterest board. :)
Unbeta'd, and Marvel owns more of this than I do. Also, all music/movies/tv shows belongs to those that wrote/performed/produced/etc them. I use them for humor and good times.
Also, if you go to my Tubmlr page (megaranoelle. tumblr. com) you can catch some behinds the scene stuff about the fic. No spoilers, promise. Maybe you can influence the story.
Tony rubbed the spot of his nose between his eyes, pushing his new glasses up out of the way, and groaned a little. He was rapidly remembering why he preferred contacts to glasses, even if he had only been wearing them for less than a day. Or perhaps it was because he had been staring for too long at holographic screens and tablets. He was going to blame the glasses.
The day after getting back from a surprisingly enjoyable vacation, he and Bruce had jumped into the test results of Jamie's aging, and the Serum that Tony had made during his stay with Hydra. They needed to create the item that would 'activate' the serum, if only so they could understand if they could make something to counter the effects of the serum. Tony wasn't convinced that there would be anything, else Bruce would have found it to try and reverse the effects of his own Gamma accident, but Bruce was convinced that any research was good research, and Tony never disagreed with that. It would also help put Tony's mind at ease if they had something that might stop something from happen if Steve or Jamie ever came into contact with the second-rate serum.
When he wasn't in the lab with Bruce, Tony was going through Howard's journal, and reading that was enough to give him a migraine. As he read through everything he had Jarvis scant he pages, comparing them to other journals and notes that Tony'd always had access too. Howard had been a very active supporter of Hydra, that much was becoming obvious. It was made clear that his mom, Maria, had no idea of her husband's loyalties, thinking that he was firmly on the side of good, working with SHIELD and his Aunt Peggy. When Tony was a teenager, getting ready to go to MIT, she had started to become a bit suspicious of Howard's activities.
"Sir, Captain Rogers is on his way down, with Young Lady Jamie." Jarvis' voice brought his out of his thoughts and he grunted a little in the affirmative. Tony leaned back, stretching his arms, and listened to the carious joints cracking as he did so. He was pretty sure that he had missed breakfast and lunch, and it was probably getting close to dinner.
He turned around, slipping out of the chair when he heard the workshop doors opening and he smiled. Steve had trimmed his beard a bit closer to his face, not nearly as full as a couple weeks ago on their vacation, but it wasn't completely gone either. Steve was holding onto it as long as he could. He had Jamie balanced on his hip with one arm, and a tray with food balanced in his other hand. Jarvis had swung the door open for them.
"Hey!" Tony greeted with a smile, making Jamie clap happily, babbling softly. "How are my two favorite blondes?"
"You're wearing glasses," Steve observed as he set the tray down on a clear (enough) table. Tony leaned in for a quick kiss, then planted a kiss on Jamie's nose. "When did you get glasses?"
"They came in this morning," Tony told him, attempting to take Jamie from him. Steve moved to the side a little and motioned down to the plate that had a several sandwiches on it, and a couple of containers with some side dishes. "Sadly, my poor excuse of a non-activated serum does not give me perfect vision." Steve tilted his head a little, slowly eyeing him. Tony raised an eyebrow. "I was never a huge fan of frames, and it was easier to just wear contacts for all the SI public events. It was never a good look when glasses got covered in dust and dirt after a weapons display." He grabbed half of a sandwich and flopped down onto the couch, pushing his glasses up on the top of his head. "I've been wearing contacts for almost two decades."
"You look good in them, really good." Tony smirked at Steve's admission as he sat down next to him. "Unfairly good." Tony snorted softly. "I never knew that you had prescriptions, but why make the change now?"
"Peter might need glasses in a year or so," he told him, finishing the food then leaning over and stealing Jamie from him, successfully this time. He set her down in his lap, holding onto her hands. "I know that kids can get weird about needing glasses, so I'm trying to head off the possibility of a big negative reaction."
Steve leaned over to kiss his cheek, smiling, grabbing some food for himself this time. "That might some of the most planning you've put into action, so far."
"Ouch," Tony feigned a wince, putting a hand over his chest. "Right there, Steven, right there." Steve hummed a little with a smirk. "You had better like the glasses, because do you know how long I spent picking these out?" Steve silently stared at him, silently chewing his food. "Okay, too long, specially for just a pair of black plastic frames, but-"
"You only got one pair?" Steve asked, pretty sure he already knew the answer.
Tony's nose twitched a little as he didn't answer right away. "These were the first pair to arrive. They've been designated the workshop glasses."
"Actually, Sir," Jarvis spoke up and Tony's eye twitched slightly. "These specific frames were the indoor frames. The workshop frames were the two-tone square frames." Steve smirked a little at him, still not saying anything. He pulled off a piece of bread and handed it over to Jamie when she glanced over at him, and she diligently started to nibble on it. "There were also the two pair of solid color squares frames, one in black, the other in white, that you declared to be used for social events. You also ordered one pair of round rimmed glasses, as you stated, to break up the monotony."
"So, five pairs?" Steve finally spoke up, finishing the sandwich. Tony narrowed his eyes at him.
"You had better think I look good," Tony reiterated. "Because you are stuck with this." He motioned his hand up and down his body. Jamie grabbed his hand and set it back down on his leg.
"She doesn't like big sweeping movements right now," Steve explained to him, leaning forward to grab another sandwich to hand it to Tony, then grabbed a container and a small spoon. "It just started yesterday, that I noticed. Hey, can Papa feed you come applesauce?"
Tony turned her so she was facing Steve now, but was still sitting on his leg. "Oh, it's going to be very unhappy for her growing up if she doesn't break out of the sweeping movements phase," Tony commented. "Seriously baby girl, that's most of my life. I'm an active talker."
Jamie was trying to take the spoon from Steve's hand as she saw the applesauce. He relented and held the container as close to her as possible where she could still reach it. "Her dexterity with utensils is get a lot better," Tony said as he observed her mostly succeeding in feeding herself.
"She's really good with spoons," Steve corrected. "Knives are still a mystery, specially when she just rip things up with her fingers. We're still working on the stabbing motion of forks, and I'm not looking forward to when she tries to eat spaghetti. I'm predicting sauce everywhere."
"We'll started with just buttered noodles," Tony countered. "I don't feel like coating the new kitchen in plastic tarps when she starts actually spaghetti sauce."
"Speaking of the new kitchen," Steve quickly grabbed a rag to try and grab the dollop of applesauce that was falling from the spoon, and missing. Tony made a face when he felt the room temperature food hit his leg. "I thought you said that the Penthouse was only going to be two floors."
Construction on Tony's, and now Steve's, Penthouse had started when they left for California. Since getting back they had temporarily relocated down to Steve's former floor, that seemed to be becoming Sam Wilson's floor when he was in town. The floor just above Tony's workshop was also being worked on, but Tony was hoping to keep that secret from Steve at the moment. He was turning it in the Studio that he had mentioned to Steve a month ago. Construction in the Penthouse was coming to an end though, just finishing touches on the floors and coats of paint were going up. Steve had insisted that they go out to some furniture stores in the next couple days, because he refused to all the shopping online, much to Tony's chagrin.
"The kitchen is only one story," Tony told him as Steve wiped off his pants.
"The Penthouse is now three floors," Steve countered, eyes narrowing slightly to stop Tony from responding. "Three huge floors."
"Technically, two floors with a loft area," Tony corrected. "Most of the ceilings are vaulted and opened, to accommodate the glass windows." Tony turned on a little pout. "We need all the room we can get, it's almost like buying a very large house, of which we would need if we lived anywhere else. There's four of us, two under the age of ten, and we both need offices to work out of, and places for our non-avenging, and non-company-owning jobs." Tony made an aborted motion with one hand, behind Jamie's back. "I need space, lots of space."
"One day, you might find yourself in a house," Steve said, looking at him briefly, before looking back down at Jamie. "Not a mansion, or a Penthouse a thousand feet from the ground."
"A house?" Tony raised an eyebrow at him skeptically. "Something with less space? Like, on the ground, with a yard and all of that?"
"And a kitchen that isn't the same size as the whole apartment that Bucky and I shared before the war," Steve nodded. "Where the living room and dining room combined would be the same size of the living room upstairs." Tony mock gasped, eyes going big. "I know! Shocking, that that's how other people live!" He chuckled softly.
"Can you imagine trying to cook in such a kitchen?" Tony shivered a little and closed his eyes. "With two kids running around? There'd be no where to walk, things would be falling constantly. And if there were pets! You're a barbarian, Rogers." Steve snorted. "If I didn't know better, it'd sound like you were trying to domesticate me."
"Let's not get too crazy," Steve said, snatching the plastic spoon out of the air when Jamie let it slip from her hand. She pushed at the container of applesauce and Steve put it down by the plate.
"You had me worried for a second." Tony leaned over Jamie a little to kiss Steve. "But, I was thinking that we could do that whole, normal, thing you wanted to do."
"Buying furniture?"
"Yeah, that thing, with the not doing it online."
"I want to know that anything that I'm going to sit on is going to feel good, or that I'm not going to slip off of it, or even break it," Steve argued. "Also we'll need rugs, lots of rugs. With Jamie probably days away from walking on her own, there are bound to be a lot of stumbling, or falling, and I don't want the stone and tile hurting. Also, Peter and Wade."
"You could have just said Peter and Wade," Tony told him. "With all their training," he said, eyeing Steve a little. "They're going to be practicing that everywhere." He gently started to rock his leg up and down with Jamie sitting on it, hand around her side. "Anyway, I'm spending too much time locked away in some windowless room, and I figured we could go out and get all the furniture bought. We can take Wade with us, and then just, make a day of it."
"And to have Wade pick out some furniture?" Steve asked knowingly as he grabbed a little bowl of goldfish crackers. Jamie made a squeak and reached for them immediately.
"Seems like it would just make sense," Tony said with a little shrugs, trying to stay casual about it. "Julie'll be in the hospital for nearly a week this time, so he should just have his own room with us. Plus, there's some kind of kid friendly art market some or other happening upstate. Should be relatively paparazzi free, for the most part."
"You must be all worked out if you're finding these things to do before I am."
"Shush you." Tony reached out to scratche Steve's bearded jaw. "I wanna get the mileage out of this beard before it goes away."
"Gonna be clean shaven by my birthday at the latest," Steve murmured, eyes closed and smiling. "Although, this is making a strong argument to keep it." Tony hummed, then bit his lip when Jamie leaned forward, reaching her arms up, wanting to scratched Steve's face too. He grinned and lifted up his leg so she could get the height. Steve startled a little, opening his eyes when Jamie's sharp little nails started to drag on his skin. He glanced down and smiled at her. "Still very, monkey-see monkey-do."
"Don't you dare!" Steve pointed at Wade who was standing in front of him, Jamie in Steve's lap. He was sitting on one of the benches to a picnic table while Tony had taken Wade and Peter to some of the food trucks. Steve was sure that the boys were going to be hyper from a sugar rush later, but even Steve had enjoyed elephant ears, and funnel cakes at Coney-Island before the serum.
Wade had been steadily creeping closer, his hands behind his back, but Steve had seen the bag of cotton candy there already. Fortunately, Jamie had not. "Why not?" Wade asked with a grin. Jamie was looking back and forth between Steve and Wade. "Peter told me she likes cotton candy."
"And it's a lot of sugar for her," Steve told him, eyes narrowing slightly when Wade shuffled forward. "She'll never go to sleep."
"But, if she has a metabolism like yours, then one little bite won't last long," Wade argued. Steve blinked a couple of time, not expecting it. "I'm about as smart as Peter," Wade added at Steve's look. "Plus, I knew everything about Captain America before I met you."
Steve glanced around, discreetly checking to see if anyone had actually paid attention to the boy's words. "No cotton candy," he said. Suddenly Wade was grinning, and then Jamie was gasping. Steve turned his head and Peter was leaning over the table, reaching forward with a small tuft of cotton candy. Jamie reached for it with her whole body, eyes bright as she recognized what it was, and Peter was popping it in her mouth. Wade had hurried forward as Jamie closed her mouth, squealing with her mouth closed as it melted in her mouth.
"Whoa! Look at her face!"
"I told you!" Peter said with a grin. Jamie's face had lit up, her eyes wide, and a huge grin was bunching up her chubby little cheeks.
"Mo! Mo!" She waved her hands, looking at Peter's hands.
"See, now you've done it," Steve murmured, not unkindly.
"Are those her first words?" Wade asked carefully, sneaking his own tuft over to Jamie. Her little hands latched onto his fingers as tried to shove the cotton candy into her mouth.
"No, those are just babblings," Tony said as he dropped next to Steve on the bench, setting down two trays with several paper plates on them. "They're on their way to becoming words, but we aren't counting those yet. I'm personally hoping that she'll follow in her brother's steps, and her first word will be Stark."
Steve had shooed Peter and Wade over to the other bench, keeping the cotton candy away from Jamie, much to her pouting displeasure. "My first word was Stark?" Peter asked, a skeptical look in his eyes.
"Your Mama would usually call me by my last name when she didn't like what I was doing," Tony explained, divvying out the plates. "Which was, a decent amount of the time." Peter and Wade both got an elephant ear covered in cinnamon sugar, and funnel cake plate with fruit covered with whip cream, and powdered sugar. Peter had requested strawberries, while Wade had gotten raspberries. Two cups of lemonade were set in front of them as well. Most of the food was set in front Tony and Steve, and Steve knew that he would eat most of it, followed up by a late night gym visit. Three elephant ears were in front of them, two funnel cakes with just blueberries, and one funnel cake with strawberries. Tony had also gotten a plate of at least half a dozen corn dogs, setting that one in the middle of the table.
"I don't think she'll be saying Stark," Steve told him, grabbing a fork from the utensils pile. Tony was already cutting up pieces, knowing Steve couldn't with one arm around Jamie. She was trying to find the cotton candy.
"Well, a man can dream," Tony said with a smirk. "Now, we never tell Mama how much I got you guys to eat." Tony pointed at the two boys with his fork. "They'll both have my butt for giving you so much unhealthy stuff."
"And Mr Steve won't?" Wade asked before he put a big piece of the elephant ear in his mouth. He moaned a little, grinning at the taste. "This is amazing!"
"Mr Steve has a secret sweet tooth," Tony countered, ripping off a couple pieces of the elephant ear before eating one himself.
"Mr Steve will having a workout afterwards," Steve told him. "And I should be dragging you down with me," he poked Tony's side. Tony nearly jumped and shifted to get away from his finger.
"Don't be mean," Tony pouted a little. Steve rolled his eyes watching the boys devour the food. "Now put that super metabolism to work and help me finish this food."
When they finally called it a day and headed for the emptying parking garage, Jamie was still Hyper while the boys were starting to run out of steam. The art fair had been full of games for the boys to play, and Steve had gotten a few ideas for some new art techniques he'd like to try. Steve noted that Tony looked a little lighter, not as stressed as he had since they had gotten back to the Tower. He resigned to making sure Tony got out of his workshop more often, to destress.
Tony buckled Jamie into her car seat in the middle, then helped Peter up into his on the side, while Steve lifted Wade on the side. "You're looking about as whipped as the boys," he said to Tony as they headed for the front of the SUV. "I can take the drive from here."
"You sure? There's a lot of traffic around, we're probably at least forty minutes from the Tower with no traffic," Tony said, stopping by the door.
"You've got GPS installed with Jarvis," Steve said. "I think I'll manage to get us back home." Tony smiled and shrugged, sliding in on the passenger side.
"All yours then, Prince Charming." Steve couldn't help but roll his eyes a little when Tony winked at him.
"As you wish." Steve gave a little bow that Tony could see through the windows before climbing in behind the wheel. Tony snorted softly and leaned his head back.
Steve was buckling in and Tony turned to check on the kids, making sure that Peter and Wade had properly buckled themselves in. He went to reach for his own seat belt as he turned around, then frowned when something caught his attention in the side mirror. A horrid yellow suit, and something pointed at their car. "Steve!" Tony shouted, turning to lunge for the backseat. "AIM!" The back of the SUV lifted up as a sonic blast hit the back tires, throwing Tony back and out his seat, colliding with the windshield. He groaned when the airbags were triggered, the one in the passenger side exploding to life against his back and pushing his head up into the already cracked glass. His glasses cracked and shifted further up, a piece of lens scraping along his forehead for a second before he moved. He felt himself tugged out, collapsing against the seat as the bags deflated.
"Tony?" Steve called, trying to draw his attention back up. Tony could hear Jamie crying in the back. "Tony are you alright?" Steve asked more urgently.
"Fine," he breathed out, waving his hand. "I'm fine. The shield is on the bottom of the car, hidden compartment. It should have popped by now. I've got the kids." He thought Steve nodded, but he was moving from the car, and Tony wasn't going to tell him that his vision was swimming and his head was throbbing. He suspected it was a concussion.
"Peter? Wade?" He called out as he pulled himself up, swallowing when his stomach roiled. Definitely a concussion.
"We're okay," Wade replied, a little shakily. Tony started to pull himself over the center console towards the back, noticing how both boys were unbuckling themselves and moving closer to Jamie. Tony had never heard her cry so loud, but he figured she'd never been involved in something as physically jarring. Their daring escape from Hydra had her cushioned and sheltered in his arms, not bouncing around in the back of a car.
"Daddy?" Peter asked, and Tony tried to put on a smile.
"No need to worry, bud," Tony said, taking care not to slur his words. "Pops is out there, so we'll be safe." Tony could hear the tell tale clang of the shield outside the car. Jarvis would have alerted the others in the Tower by now, and he thought they could use the backup when he saw the crowd of yellow AIM suits gathering outside the SUV. He was out for the count as Iron Man.
"Alright, we're gonna try and sneak away, okay?" He said as he started to unbuckled Jamie from her seat. As he moved to lift her out something grasped his ankle and he was pulled back and out the front door. He let out a shout when the front of his head bounced against the center dash, cries of his name ringing in his ears.
Tony tumbled to the ground, fighting back the dizziness in his head, and tried to push himself back up. A hand gripped his arm and hauled him to his feet, making his head spin. "Mr Stark, we have need of you." He looked towards the voice, the person holding him up, and nothing could stop the yellow color even through his double vision. Wade and Peter were shouting from the car as another AIM agent was opening the back door.
"Get away from my kids," Tony growled, free hand gripping the one attached to his arm.
"We only need the one," the man said, not looking at Tony. The agent at the door stumbled back with a growl, arms up to defend his head. Tony smirked a little. "What's taking so long! They're kids!"
"You think I'd let me kids travel without protection?" Tony kicked the man's knee, and he stumbled, but didn't let go of Tony.
"Grab the clone, I don't care what you do to get it!" A second agent joined the first and they went back in towards the door. "We did all the work, and Hydra stole it from us," the man was turning his attention back to Tony. Tony grunted when the man slipped something around his wrist, then the other. A faint whine of something powering up and Tony's wrists were locked together in cuffs. "But, you also perfected the formula. We'll take you, and the clone back, and you can help us recover what we lost."
"This was your big plan?" Tony huffed out. He could easily overpower the man at just the right angle, he needed to get to the car. Steve was still fighting behind him, unaware of what was happening. They were keeping him well distracted. "Kidnap me and expect me to re-create your flawed research? I don't think so," Tony shook his head. "There's a history of people blowing up when they capture me, you know."
"There are ways of giving incentive to make your work." The man growled and walked over towards the car, dragging an unstable Tony with him. "We should have left by-" he grunted when he was thrown back suddenly, losing his grip on Tony finally, but Tony was also falling to the ground. He moved his arms quickly to cushion his head before it could smack against the concrete. The last thing Tony needed was to put himself in a coma as well.
Black clad shoes hit the ground just in front of Tony's face and they were off again, jumping at the agents at the SUV's door, a soft female grunt reaching his ears. "Need a little help?" The cuffs fell off of Tony's wrists as one of his briefcase suits landed on the ground.
"Took you long enough to get here, Hawkeye," Tony mumbled as he grabbed Barton's hand to pull him up. He swallowed deeply, ignoring the stirring in his stomach. Black Widow landed back on the ground, the second AIM agent falling behind her. "I need you two to get the kids out of here. I assume you both didn't run here." Barton jerked a thumb back at a black SHIELD truck not too far away. "Perfect, get them back to the Tower."
"Daddy!" Peter called from the SUV and Tony was nearly running, trying not to stumble, for the door. Widow steadied him with a hand to his shoulder briefly before Tony was leaning inside the car. Peter had his arms wrapped around Jamie as he held her close, Wade in front of them with his arms up, hands clenched into fists.
"You two were perfect," Tony reassured them. "Clint and Natasha are gonna get you away from the fight, alright? I'm gonna help Pops clean this up real quick, and then we can go home."
"You sure, Mr Tony?" Wade asked him, frowning a little. "You're hurt."
"I'm okay, I got a suit here." He reached out an arm and Wade pushed Peter and Jamie towards him first. Jamie wasn't crying, at least not out loud anymore, and she had her face pushed against Peter's shirt, sniffling. Tony dropped a kiss on both their heads before handing them over to Clint first. He reached back for Wade, giving him a little squeeze, before Natasha took him. "Give us just a couple minutes."
"They don't stand a chance against Iron Man and Captain America," Tony heard Peter telling Jamie. Wade was running after Clint to the other car, and Natasha was giving him a pointed look.
"If you don't go and protect my kids, I'm gonna blast you with the unibeam," Tony told her quietly as he carefully stepped back over to the suit. He unlocked it and lifted it, closing his eyes as it formed around him, trying to ground himself.
"Will you be able to see me?" She asked.
"I'll let Jarvis doing the aiming," he bit back. The faceplate slid over his head. "Go." Tony turned towards where Steve was fighting, letting Jarvis take a lot of the controls. "Run scan, J," he said quietly as the suit landed on two of the AIM agents. Steve glanced over at him, and Tony motioned back towards the car Natasha was running back too. He nodded before he threw the shield again, ricocheting it off of two pillars in the parking garage.
"I would advise against continued use of the suit, Sir," Jarvis said in his ear. "But, taking into account your propensity of stubbornness, I would suggest staying upright." Tony made to roll his eyes, but took a sharp breath when it caused a painful spike, and a roll of his uneasy stomach. "You have a severe concussion, Sir, please do refrain from making sarcastic gesture with your eyes."
"You are so getting rewired," Tony muttered.
It didn't take long for them to clear up the rest of the agents, and the backup that Clint and Natasha had called in, (remnants of SHIELD), were already rolling in, cuffing them and clearing them out of the garage. Tony noted the line of citizens leaning over from the upper floors, and watching from several rows back, and he knew that there was no more privacy for him and Steve. Cell phones were still out, and Steve was still holding onto the shield.
The faceplate lifted and Steve was moving to remove it. "Wait," Tony said softly. He bit back a wave of nausea as he gave the command for the suit to retract, folding back up into his case. He stumbled and Steve wrapped his arm around his waist, letting him lean against his side.
"Tony, we need to get you out of here," Steve said quietly, and Tony was thankful. "You're heading is still bleeding, front and back, and you look like death warmed over."
"There's uh, there's a dirty joke in, in there." Tony's words were a little jumbled as he closed his eyes, letting Steve do most of the leading. "M'head."
"Keep your eyes open Tony." Steve slid his arm under Tony's knees and lifted him up, the hand holding the shield at his back. "Need you to say awake until we get back to medical."
"At Tower?" Tony asked and he felt Steve nod. "Shit," he breathed out. "Don't move so fast."
"Sorry, baby," Steve pressed a gentle kiss to his temple. "I don't wanna wait too long though. You shouldn't have used the suit."
"Had to, kids safe," Tony said as he leaned his head against Steve's shoulder.
"I know, and you did it." Steve praised, and Tony relaxed in his arms. His whole body felt sluggish, and his brain was having a hard time keeping up. He was just so tired, and he hurt. "Stay awake, Tony," Steve's voice seemed to bounce around his ears. "Come on, stay with me." He was shifting again, and he though he felt other hands, smaller hands, on his arm before blacking out.
Tony took a breath and opened his eyes. His tablet was still resting on his chest, but his glasses weren't on his nose. "You're not supposed to be working." Tony turned his head a little to see Steve walking in the room with a tray of food. "I moved your glasses for a reason."
"Spoilsport." Tony sat up a little further in the bed, putting his tablet by his glasses on the bedside table.
"Strain on your eyes will make that headache worse." Steve put the tray down on the end of the bed, hands on his hips. "You already pushed it by using the suit."
"Necessary risk." Tony rubbed his temples a little, and glanced over at the other side of the bed. Jamie was asleep between a sleeping Wade and Peter. The two boys didn't want to leave Tony alone until they knew that he was going to be alright, specially after Steve had gotten him back in the car completely not conscious.
"Coulson's team rounded up the AIM agents from the parking garage," Steve said as he took a seat on the edge of the bed by Tony. "They're not talking, though."
"They wanted Jamie and me," Tony told him. "That's why they distracted you with that fight." Steve frowned, reaching up, fingers hovering over the bandage on the side of Tony's head. "We're all focused on looking for the rest of Hydra, and they make their move to try and round up the research on cloning, and the serum."
"And the best source would be the one that stabilized it." Steve let out a sigh, glancing over at the bundle of kids.
"AIM has never been very high on my list," Tony said, pressing Steve's fingers gently to the bandage. "They're not very bright, and I'm not surprised that they weren't the ones who got the most out of the research that they had. Of course they'd have to settle for petty crime, kidnapping and stealing. I'm still not worried about them."
"They're a little higher on my list," Steve said softly before pulling his hand back. "It's got you on bedrest for at least three days, and constant monitoring for a week. They got too close to them," he said with a motion to the three kids. "They go too close to doing what they wanted for my comfort."
"I'm pissed because they exposed my boyfriend to the public." Steve sighed and shook his head. Tony reached over, gently scratching his beard. "Means that goes away sooner than we'd like."
"Jarvis is already screening all my calls, texts, and emails," Steve admitted. "And Pepper is making good on that promise to get us our own PR team."
"The Tony Stark name is already starting to corrupt yours." Tony patted Steve's arm. "First thing they'll focus on, after finding out what you look like finally, is that Tony Stark is corrupting an American symbol of wholesomeness. Captain America, no matter who is, shouldn't be gay, that's blasphemous. And he shouldn't be dating the infamous playboy Tony Stark." Steve pursed his lips a little. "This is of course coming right along the heels of who would possibly find it okay to let someone else take the sacred mantle of Captain America, and then they'll find out that you're still the original, and we're right back to defacing the perfect Christian ideal of America."
"There's a lot of different Christian ideals," Steve told him. "I'm a Protestant," he said with a shrug. "I've got different ideals than most others, including the Pope."
"And you're dating an Atheist." Tony spread his hands to give weak jazz hands.
"I see nothing wrong with the way I'm living my life right now, so I don't care what anyone else has to say about it," Steve said, conviction strong in his voice. "Only thing I care about is keeping my family safe. I lost a lot when I woke up from the ice, but I found more than I thought would be possible. I'm not losing anything else, not if I can put a stop to it."
"You are too good for this world, much less me." Tony leaned forward to kiss him gently. "Well, you can keep AIM on your own list, but they're still pretty far down on mine. But I'll feel better knowing you've always got our backs." Steve smiled against his lips. "You'd have been proud of the boys though, they've been putting those lessons you and Barnes have been giving them to good use. They protected Jamie like experts."
"I don't like that they were in that position to begin with," Steve grouched a little. "But, I'm glad that they had a little of the training. I feel better about it, now."
"My precious puppy." Tony grinned at him. "Also, you should start thinking about what you want to do for your birthday." Steve was about to protest but Tony put a finger on his lips. "Nope, if I had to do something, so do you. You're still young enough to enjoy doing things on your birthday, despite the two and a half kids that you've acquired."
"Half?" Steve questioned with a raised eyebrow. "Wade?" Tony nodded. "And you're not that much older than me."
"You're going to be, what? Twenty-eight?"
"And you're only Thirty-five," Steve told him. "Only seven years older than me."
"That's the length of a Peter," Tony said with a smirk. "But, still in your twenty's, so still time to enjoy the little bits of life that aren't dedicated to a kid."
"You spent your birthday at an amusement park meant for children," Steve pointed out. "I doubt that was your ideal plan."
"I've also been a father for a while-"
"At twenty-seven," Steve pointed out, and he had a look that meant that he was about to shoot Tony's point into a thousand pieces. "The same age that I am right now." Tony groaned a little, letting his head drop back onto a pillow. He winced gently, and Steve's hand was carding through his hair. "So, before you say anything else about wasting my youth, of which I'll probably have a lot of, just know that I can say everything right back to you."
"Stop making sense," Tony whined softly, then opened his eyes to look at him. "Help me move over, I want you laying down next to me. I'm hurt, I'm allowed to make demands."
"I can't, Tony," Steve said with a chuckle. "I'm debriefing with Coulson's team in twenty, and then I have to meet with someone from PR about getting on top of the Captain America reveal."
"By yourself?" Tony raised an eyebrow. "The press is a monster, Steve, you've seen that with me."
"I trust your team," Steve told him. "If I have questions though, I'll be sure to bring them to you."
"Look at you, jumping into a whole new war." Tony let out a sigh. "Alright, but when you're done, you'd better get back here and cuddle with me. That's my demand for being hurt, and my demand for making me go out furniture shopping."
"Thanks for reminding me," Steve said as he stood up. "I need to meet some of the delivery men downstairs in a couple hours. Don't worry, I'll take over the rest of that 'domestic' necessity."
"We're not getting a house," Tony pointed at him with little glare.
"Then I want a dog," Steve retaliated, backing up slowly towards the door.
"Then I want a cat," Tony threw back, making Steve laugh and shake his head.
"Of course you want a cat, why does that not surprise me."
"Cats can take care of themselves, and they make for great companions," Tony argued.
"Sure, on their time- oh."
"Oh? Oh what?" Tony raised an eyebrow at him.
"Cats are almost like you," Steve smirked. "You want a you, in animal form."
"Get out of our room, Rogers." Tony pointed at the door, and Steve left, his laughter echoing in the hallway.
Also, can you imagine the fanart of Tony and Steve posing with their actor counterparts?
I have pictures up on my Pinterest of the outfits that they wear.
pinterest. com megaranoelle/ proof-positive-series/