[A/N ehhehe. 'Tony', who in this case isn't our beloved main character, but my laptop (I named it after Tony, and my mouse is Steve, and connected by USB, so Steve is always 'in' Tony), hasn't been turned off (he's turned ON.. heheeh. OK, I'll stop.) in the past couple of days because I have been so busy with Stark Spangled and everything that came with it. Thank you guys so much for everything ^^]

Part 29

I half walked, half limped into the common S.H.I.E.L.D. dining area, where all the agents were looking strangely domestic while drinking their fruit juices and eating their toasts. I sat down next to Clint with a jolt of pain shooting up my back.

"What crawled up your ass and bit you?" He asked, unaware of the amazing pun he'd just made. I narrowed my gaze and glanced sideways at the goofy-looking Steve who was chatting animatedly with Natasha. He was looking thoroughly fucked and deflowered and grinning like a madman. Clint followed my gaze uncertainly. "Nooooo, really?"

"Yes." I said grimly, while secretly, I was having a hard time suppressing my own satisfied smirk. Clint lowered his gaze until it landed on the intensely prominent crotch of Steve, who was wearing puhritty tight jeans.

"You had that monster up your ass?"

"Why do you think I'm limping. Besides, it wasn't exactly planned. The guy just topped me like it was nobody's business. I suppose I should change the password.. he is definitely not Steve The Virgin anymore, for your information." I answered, scanning the dining room as if food would appear in front of me. I groaned when I saw there was an actual food-court look-a-like where you had to get your own food. "They are making me walk to get food? In this state?" Steve crouched down next to me then, kissing me on the lips spontaneously like he usually never did in public.

"I will get you some food, OK?" He said, stretching out before making his way to the food court in a gay and jumping matter. I turned around to look at Clint with a smirk.

"Yup, he does that now." I told him. Bruce came around too, sitting opposite of Clint and me, while Natasha and Steve were getting food for us.

"Hey, did you hear, Tony got laid last night." Clint whistled as way of greeting Bruce. Bruce grimaced at us before placing his laptop down on the table.

"Yes, I most definitely heard. Literally. I was in the room next to them." Bruce looked at me, considering. "Next time you plan on going at it, keep your screams to yourself. It almost made me Hulk out." He said, but he did give me a tiny smile, which meant that all was well. Everything seemed to be good (apart from the fact that there was still a maniac with a deathly weapon in our midst). After waiting a few minutes, I started drumming my fingers on the table impatiently, looking around to see if I could spot Steve or Natasha anywhere. Hmm. Nowhere to be seen. Suspicious.

"I'm eh, just, getting some food." I mumbled at Bruce and Clint, who were talking about God knows what and not paying attention to me anyway. Clint waved a hand at me, distracted by whatever Bruce was saying and not even noticing that I had complained about having to walk just a moment ago.

Curiously, I walked over to one of the counters, behind which a man was standing, ready to hand me cooked potatoes if I so desired. He was looking strangely muscular and scary for somebody who handed people potatoes for a job. I coughed loudly, and the man in question looked up from his pan, raising an eyebrow.

"Have you maybe seen Captain American skipping about?" The man grinned as if he knew exactly what the 'skipping' part had been about, then pointed in the direction of a suspicious looking hallway. I wished I had JARVIS with me to tell me where the hell Steve was, but Loki had destroyed the watch I had been wearing at the time of my kidnapping. I had planned on getting a few of my gadgets from my workshop as soon as I was released by those damn nurses, but I had been… unintentionally otherwise occupied.

I found Natasha and Steve in a room, cosily chatting their heads off while I was waiting for my food. Curious, I pressed myself against the wall out of their range of view to hear what they were saying.

"I don't know how to deal with it." Steve sounded worried, and I was immensely pissed that whatever he was talking about, was something he couldn't discuss with me. His so called lover.

"Steve, none of us do. We will find a way, eventually." A pause ensued. "The erhm.. The funeral is tomorrow. They decided to do it on Earth because this planet had become his home over the last few months." Funeral?

"I don't know if I can handle it. Seeing him lying there. The once mighty God now fallen, cold, lifeless…" .. Loki hadn't died when they came to save me, had he. So what- No. Why would they not have told me such a thing. It couldn't be true, could it? Steve and his always present moral principles would have told me. But while trying to remember when the last time was that I'd seen Thor, I realized that I hadn't seen him since I was abducted. The realization hit me so hard that I fell to the ground without my body protesting against it.

Thor. I could hardly believe it. He was a God, and last time I checked, these don't die. Apparently, the fist that I slammed against the wall made enough noise for Steve and Natasha to poke their head out the door to see what was happening. And before I could stare into Steve's shocked eyes for too long, I quickly ran away towards the nearest bathroom, locking myself in. I sat down on the floor, back resting against the door and head resting on my knees.

"Tony?" There was a soft knock on the door, followed by Steve's voice. I didn't know why, and how it happened, but quite an amount of sobs suddenly heaved my body, and I desperately tried to keep my tears and sounds to myself. "Tony, baby, please don't cry.."

"I'm not crying." I shot back, displeased that my voice wasn't as steady as I hoped it would be, and that I was being called a baby.

"Would you let me in and explain myself? I think I kind of deserved that after saving you." He knocked a few times, but after a minute just gave up, and I heard him slid down the door and land on the ground with a thud.

"What, so you can try to cover up more stuff?" I asked.

"I was just trying to protect you." He answered, and that did it.

"Oh, and look how well it worked out, huh! Do you know how much it hurts to know that you made love to me while hiding something so freaking big? We could have talked about it, we could have mourned together. But now you and the others have already started and I will end up doing everything alone. And contrary to popular believe, I do not always like to do thing alone, Steve." Steve didn't answer, but after a few minutes, I felt something prod at my ass. I moved away to see a piece of paper shoved through the little bit op space between the door and the ground.

There was a drawing on it, of me laying on the bed without clothes. Written above it, in a strangely female handwriting, was 'This is how I saw you. Now tell me how to refuse that on my best day'. Despite all the frustrations, this made me smile.

"Too shy to say it out loud, are you."

"Nah, words just can't describe h-"

"Shut up." I said before he could try to distract me any further. "I want to come to the funeral." I said.

"So let me in, so we can talk."

"I'm too frustrated. I want to kill that reindeer son of a fucking bitch. And honestly, right now, I'd like to send you flying to Asgard with him."

"You know, Tony. 70 years ago, when I was in the army, my best friend Bucky died. There was really nothing like losing my best friend like that. But then, when I woke up 70 years later, I realized that I had lost Peggy too, in a way. I thought that was even worse. Then Thor died and I thought- OK, now I've encountered about every disaster possible.

And when I saw you, broken, sad, hurt.. When I saw how insecure you had suddenly become.. There was nothing else that I wanted to do than cheer you up, show you how much I really do love you. I didn't want you to feel the way I did when I lost Bucky. I wanted you to feel loved and happy. I'm sorry it didn't turn out the way I'd hoped."

"I'm sad." I concluded.

"Yes. So let me make you feel better."

"Oh, no, don't even go there. That won't work twice, you know." I answered. Steve slammed his head against the door, making it tremble slightly.

"That's not what I was suggesting. Hey Tony?"

"Hmm?"

"I never actually learned to dance. Peggy was going to teach me, but.. well."

"You want to dance, to make me feel better?" I asked, standing up and resting my hand on the doorknob. Steve made a sound of confirmation, and I unlocked the door. "Alright." I said, trying to open the door but not succeeding with Steve still sitting against it. "If you will let me open the fucking door." I added, and when he was finally standing in front of me, I fell into his waiting arms for a hug that promised everything would be alright in the end.

[A/N Sorry it's taken so long. I was drawing. I can't actually draw, and my tablet is crappy, and is definitely not where you want to be drawing. Anyhow, there is some Steve x Tony on my deviart. I HAD posted a link.. with spaces inbetween, but WELL. .]