Thank you for continuing to read as I repost chapters. It really means a lot.

Wednesday, February 8th, 2012

Midtown, Manhattan, New York, New York

There was only one acceptable way of waking up in the morning in Tony Stark's humble opinion, and that was to a lustful Steve Rogers – still bed-addled and sweat-drenched from the night before – wrapped around him and up and ready to go for round two. …Or five. …Or twelve. However, in lieu of that, he could say that eating a blueberry yogurt bowl and in taking ungodly amounts of caffeine while he watched his boyfriend fry up eggs for everyone else was a rather nice one. The only change he would make to the scene would be to have Steve cook shirtless, but basic kitchen safety would not allow that. So, Tony would just have to settle for fantasies, again.

His stomach was starting to feel a bit better. Granted he did experience a setback in drinking the expired apple juice the night before. By the time he finished talking to Happy and Pepper and went to tell Steve what he decided on, his still-recovering stomach decided that it didn't like what he had done to it and inflicted the worst pain imaginable onto him. Nonetheless, Tony was not deterred from talking with Steve and managed to get him to a point where at least it seemed like he understood. That was a load off his mind considering that his next biggest issue was that he was completely unable to eat.

Steve managed to get him to eat a few crackers, but outside of that, Tony refused to eat. It was his own fault, but regardless he could not force anything more than that down. So, he ended up not eating dinner, instead opting to curl up in a ball on the bed and writhe in pain while Steve gently ran his fingers through his hair. That was nice enough, but it was somewhat soured by the fact that because of the pain, Tony had not gotten any sleep that night.

Well, that is an exaggeration. He got maybe one and a half to two hours of groggy, dreamless sleep, but obviously, the quality of it was not that good, so he might as well have not slept at all. On the upside, though, that meant that he did not have any nightmares. So, there was something good that came out of the ordeal.

On an unofficial basis, the Avengers had been taking turns making breakfast and dinner for everyone. There was no official order, it just went by whoever was up first for breakfast or got hungry first for dinner. Since Tony had not slept well and Steve usually got up at the crack of dawn, both were dressed and ready long before everyone else was and thus it ended up falling to them to make breakfast. Unfortunately, the only thing Steve knew how to cook – at least breakfast-food wise, he could make some dinner meals – was eggs.

Meanwhile, Tony did not know how to cook at all. He was never taught how when he was younger and did not bother to learn once he was older, seeing as he had enough money to pay someone to make his food for him. He tried to make an omelet once, but all he did nearly burn the plane he was on down and presented Pepper with a completely charred egg-triangle. So, he was off the cooking rotation completely.

So, this morning, the Avengers would be stuck with Steve's fried eggs again. Certainly, most of them would not mind, but this morning Tony just was not feeling it. Just looking at them frying in the pan made his stomach churn uneasily, so instead, he decided to make what he could out of what he found in the fridge. He ended up with a bowl of yogurt mixed with fresh blueberries. Steve asked him if he were sure that is what he wanted, given that dairy would probably be harder for his stomach to break down than eggs, but Tony assured him that he would be fine. After all, it was light Greek yogurt. That had to mean it was easier to break down, right? Steve seemed skeptical about that argument but given his unfamiliarity with modern food science and standards, he let it go.

So, for a little bit, it was just the two of them downstairs in the communal kitchen; Steve cooking while Tony ate and desperately hoping that his breakfast choice would not cause pain for him later. It was quiet, but not uncomfortable. Then Natasha came into the room.

"Oh, there you are," she said as she walked through the archway. "I was looking for you guys in the apartment, but you weren't there."

"That's breaking and entering," Tony pointed out. "You just confessed. Steve, arrest her." Steve snorted dismissively.

"I don't have the legal authority to arrest anyone," he explained.

"I do," Natasha said.

"Then arrest yourself." Natasha shook her head.

"It doesn't work like that," she said as she slid onto the barstool next to Tony.

"Pity." He raised his eyebrows as Natasha held out a packet of papers to him. "What is this?"

"It's the original copy of my report," she said. "I told you I would get it for you."

"I appreciate it," Tony said. "But you know my rules about being handed things." Natasha rolled her eyes but set the packet down on the counter in front of him.

"Your neurosis is concerning," she remarked.

"Did you note that in your report?" Tony asked. "No, wait, don't give me spoilers."

Tony started to rapidly flip through pages. He planned on reading the whole thing in-depth as soon as he got the chance to, but for right now he just wanted to skim and get a general idea of what to expect. The packet was much thicker than the "fake" one. Tony was not sure whether to take that as a good or bad thing. However, thus far in the skim-through, he had yet to see the words "narcissist" or "compulsive behavior" anywhere, so that was promising. Feeling the least bit reassured, he set the packet to the side and took a spoonful of yogurt on the bowl.

"I'll look through it later," he assured. "Thank you." Natasha nodded.

"It's the least I can do," she said. Tony hummed and nodded in agreement. An awkward silence then passed over the room, but it was not as bad as it could have been. Tony was not radiating anything but animosity towards Natasha anymore, and that was a major improvement.

Eventually, Natasha grew tired of the silence and engaged Steve in conversation. The slight tension in the room was dispelled and from what Tony could tell, the tone was very pleasant. Steve tried to bring him into the conversation a couple of times, but Tony just kept slipping out of it. It was not like he was avoiding anything, though. In truth, he was not really paying attention. He was more focused on finishing his breakfast so he could at least get started on the packet before the rest of the Mötley Crüe showed up.

Tony got about a fourth of the way through the packet and to that point he had not really seen anything truly negative. Granted, this section seemed mostly to address Natasha's time working in Stark Industries legal department and her observations of him from afar. So, he had not really hit the juicy parts yet. He was just starting to read about Nat's first meeting with him, Happy, and Pepper when his attention was successfully pulled away by Lara's aggravated voice.

"Don't tell me I need to change," she said. "I had a long day yesterday and I deserve to wear leggings and Sketchers."

Tony looked up just in time to see Lara sliding into the barstool on the other side of him. True to her word, she was wearing Sketchers and leggings, along with a blue tunic dress and her hair loose for once. Tony narrowed his eyes at her.

"You realize I'm the boss here, right?" he said. "I'm the one in charge of making the rules and the dress code, not you."

"Yes," she said. "But given that there are no meetings today and for you 'no meetings' means spending the whole day in ripped jeans and doing lab work, I figured I could get away with it." Tony raised a challenging eyebrow.

"How do you know I don't have any meetings today?" Lara gave him an incredulous look.

"What do you think you hired me for?"

"I'm not quite sure," Tony said. "But I know it wasn't to appoint people to your position – even on a temporary basis – without my knowledge or say so." Lara sighed.

"It was only one day," she said.

"Still not the point," Tony said.

"You lived."

"Still not the point." Lara groaned.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I should have consulted you before asking Natasha to fill in for me, but to be fair, I had other things on my mind and I just wanted to be certain you'd get to that board meeting."

"Eh," Tony said. "I'm going to have to take some points off for making excuses, but overall, good apology. Nice work." Lara opened her mouth to protest, but Tony held up a finger to silence her. "Hold that thought. You just reminded me of something."

He then turned to his left to look across the room. He was a little startled to see that people had moved since he last looked up from the packet. (He must have really been absorbed in it.) Steve was no longer cooking and had taken the seat Natasha had been sitting in before. Nat, meanwhile, had gotten behind the counter and appeared to be rinsing off the dishes and putting them in the dishwasher. Also, Bruce had joined them and was working on eating his own plate of eggs at the end of the counter.

No better time to do this than now.

"Hey, guys, listen up!" Tony waited for all eyes to be on him. "Team meeting after breakfast! Attendance is mandatory, no ifs, ands, or buts." Natasha was the first to react, raising her eyebrows.

"Excuse me?" she questioned. "Since when do we have team meetings?"

"Since now," Tony said. "I say so."

"And who put you in charge?" Natasha asked.

"No one did because I'm not." He looked over to his left. "Steve?"

Steve swallowed his bite of egg and did not look up from his plate before saying, "mandatory team meeting after breakfast."

That seemed to settle Natasha's dismissiveness, but it did not stop her from asking, "so what is this meeting about?" Cold nervousness hit Tony right in his gut.

"It's a surprise," was the best he could come up with. Natasha clearly looked skeptical but was not willing to push, so she let that point go.

"Alright," she said. "I'll be there as soon as I finish this."

"Actually, once you're done doing this, can you go and get Clint? He needs to hear this, too."

"Okay." Tony nodded.

"The meeting room's just over there." He gestured to a door in the far-right corner of the room.

"That's the meeting room?" Bruce questioned.

"Yeah." Bruce shrugged.

"I thought it was a pantry," he said as he went back to eating his eggs. Tony gave him an incredulous look, wondering how anyone could make that mistake, let alone Bruce. However, he just shook his head and decided not to question it. Instead, he focused his brain power on trying to figure out how to do this in the right way. He did not want to screw this up. If he did, there would not be any do-overs. No second chances. Nothing. That was it. To say that put some pressure on him would be a dramatic understatement.

Needing reassurance, Tony flipped his hand around to properly hold Steve's and gave it a squeeze. Steve squeezed back and Tony could not have felt more relieved. If he had Steve's support, Tony felt like he could do anything.

Thank you, my dear, Tony thought to himself, hoping that somehow, Steve would hear him. Thank you.

Steve stepped into the meeting room to see Tony sitting at the circular table, his chin resting on his hands and chin resting on his hands and eyes resting on some point thousands of miles away; clearly lost in thought. Natasha and Bruce went to go get Clint and Lara offered to take Lucky out for a walk so that way no one would be left waiting. This left the two of them alone for a moment, which in all honesty, they both needed.

Steve had to be honest, he was struggling with what Tony had decided. Everything inside of Steve was screaming that this was a bad idea and it was going to put Tony in danger. He could not help it. Years of living in a society that incarcerated people – or worse, killed them – for their sexualities made him wary of this kind of thing. However, he was coming to understand that things had changed. The world was more accepting. Homosexuality was not considered mental illness anymore. Mental health practices were not as arcane as they were ninety years ago. Tony was not going to get arrested or killed by doing this. No one would allow that to happen.

The fact that Pepper and Happy were going to be helping Tony to do this and were supportive of him went a long way to ease Steve's worries. By this point, Steve knew them well enough to know that they would never allow Tony to do something that would put himself in danger. (Well, outside of Iron Man.) He could not help but be thankful for that. Not only did Tony have two amazing friends that would help him through something like this, but they could be trusted to keep him safe. Steve missed having friends like that… A friend…

Rather than lose himself in useless melancholy, Steve walked over to the table and slid into the seat beside Tony. Slowly, he put a hand on his shoulder, causing Tony to look up.

"Hi," he whispered.

"Hey," Steve responded. "How are you feeling?" Tony frowned.

"Nervous," he said. "And also, a little achy, but mostly nervous." Steve rubbed his back sympathetically.

"I'm here." For a moment, a soft smile crossed Tony's lips.

"I know," he said. "And I'm glad. …Grateful, really. …More than grateful, I…" Tony locked eyes with Steve and by doing that, he must have seen all the nervous hesitation he was holding deep down inside. He moved to take Steve's hand, rubbing his thumb across the back of it much like Steve had done to his hand earlier. "I know this is scary for you." Steve snorted at the understatement.

"It's more than scary, it's…" Steve stopped himself before he could dump all his fears onto Tony. He did not need to be overwhelmed like that right now. Instead, he looked down at their joined hands and simplified it down to "I don't want you to get hurt." Steve did not have to look up to know that a sad glint had come over Tony's eyes.

"I know," he said. "But I won't get hurt. At least, not in the way that you think."

"I don't want you to get hurt in any way," Steve said. "Even in ways I can't imagine." Tony smiled a bit at that.

"Same here," he agreed before looking down. "You know I can't promise you anything with this; anything at all." Steve started to nod in agreement, until he thought of something.

"You can promise me that you'll be careful," he pointed out. Tony gave a short nod.

"Okay," he said before he started to lean in; practically pulling himself into Steve's lap and wrapping his arms around his neck to give him a hug. "I'll promise I'll be careful." Steve reciprocated the hug, wrapping his arms around Tony's shoulders and moving his mouth to speak into his ear.

"And I promise that I'll stay by your side, no matter what." Tony gave a contented hum.

"I like the sound of that." Steve's lips quirked upwards.

"So do I." Steve pressed his lips to Tony's cheek and gently rubbed a hand up and down his back. For about forty seconds, they enjoyed the soft comfort of the moment and the warm feeling of being in each other's arms. It was quiet; peaceful.

That was disrupted by the sound of Natasha shouting "for God's sake, Clint! Don't run!" Realizing that time was up, Tony pressed a quick, chaste kiss to Steve's lips before moving to settle back into his own chair. Seconds later, Clint appeared in the doorway, standing on his two feet and panting way more than he probably should have been.

"My God, it's so pretty in here," was the first thing he said. "I forgot how pretty it was."

"This is the first time you've been in this room," Tony pointed out.

"Whatever," Clint said. "It's not the ceiling or the walls of my bedroom, so it's prettier than anything I've seen in a long time." He walked over to the table and took the second seat to the left from Steve. Tony scoffed.

"Okay, well, I know not to hire that interior designer again." Clint huffed.

"Trust me," he said. "Anything would look horrible after you've spent five being forced to do nothing but stare at it; even the Sistine Chapel."

"I think that's called 'Cabin Fever,'" Tony said.

"No, it's not," Clint said. "I still have all my skin." Tony narrowed his eyes.

"What is with people today?" Before he could question him further, Natasha and Bruce walked into the room. Nat scowled at Clint as she took the seat between Clint and Steve. Bruce just shook his head, shut the door behind him, and took the seat to the right of Tony.

"Did you already forget that I only let you walk on your own as long as you promised to take it easy?" Clint did not even flinch.

"Come on, Nat," Clint said. "Freedom!" Natasha raised an eyebrow.

"Really?" she questioned. "That's your best argument?"

"Well, you try being stuck in a bed with nothing to do," Clint said. "Your brain turns to mush faster than you'd think."

"I don't think someone with a mush-brain would be able to consciously decide to do three laps through the kitchen and hallway," Natasha pointed out. "Especially not after they've been sick for over a week."

"I'm fine," Clint tried to dismiss, but Natasha did not look like she bought that even a single bit.

"I don't know what this meeting is for," she said. "But I would like to propose a ban on the use of the words 'I'm fine' when the person is clearly not." Tony frowned.

"First of all," he said. "The meeting hasn't started yet. Secondly…"

"I second the motion." Tony gaped at Steve.

"What?"

"All in favor, say 'aye.'" Natasha's instructions were followed by a chorus of ayes from her, Steve, and Bruce.

"Wait," Tony tried to cut in, but Natasha cut him off.

"The ayes have it," she said. "Motion carries."

"Wait," Tony said. "No, you can't do that."

"I'm sorry," Natasha said. "Did you miss the democratic election process?"

"The meeting hasn't even started yet," Tony tried to argue. "You can't vote on anything." Natasha raised an eyebrow.

"Really?" she said. "Why don't we ask the man in charge. Steve?"

"The meeting started as soon as all the participants entered the room." Tony looked at him with a mock-betrayed look.

"How could you?" he asked.

"If you don't like it, you shouldn't have put me in charge." Tony frowned.

"And to think, I was going to give you a blowjob later," he said.

"Awe, that's a shame," Steve said. "Good thing I still owe you one." Tony's face lit up with interest, much to everyone else at the table's chagrin.

"Alright," Bruce said. "I file a motion for no sexual talk during meetings."

"I second the motion," Clint added quickly.

"All those in favor, say 'aye.'" Again, a chorus of ayes followed, this time from Natasha, Bruce, and Clint. "The ayes have it. Motion carries."

"These rules are discriminatory," Tony protested.

"No, they're not," Natasha said. "We didn't do it on the basis of your sexualities."

"No, they're discriminating against me specifically," Tony said.

"They're not," Natasha said. "You just don't agree with them." Tony turned his gaze to Steve, giving him a pleading look.

"Steve." Steve raised his hands and shrugged while smirking.

"I'm sorry," he said. "But rules are rules and the majority agreed." Tony crossed his arms, pouting a bit, but clearly in an overly dramatic fashion.

"I don't like this," he said. "I hate whoever called this meeting." Those words stirred up a little more anxiety inside of Steve. Everyone else seemed to wave it off, though.

"Uh, you're the one who called this meeting," Natasha pointed out. "Which, by the way, you haven't told us what it's about." That made Steve's stomach drop further. He glanced over at Tony and saw that he was holding his hand out for him under the table. Steve took it without hesitation.

"Right," Tony said. "About that… Why don't I start off by saying I took your advice yesterday, Natasha?" She raised an eyebrow at that.

"And what would that be?" she asked, clearly more for Clint and Bruce's sakes than her own. Tony took a deep breath before continuing.

"I talked to Pepper and Happy about everything," he said. "What happened in D.C. and everything since… Specifically with the drinking…"

"Alright," Natasha said with a nod. "That's good. I'm glad you did that, Tony."

"Yeah," Tony said. "Well, we talked about all of that and… I came to the decision to stop drinking." Tony squeezed Steve's hand hard as he said that. Steve squeezed back and ran his thumb over his knuckles, trying to convey the words "I'm here, you're safe" as best he could non-verbally. From the way Tony spoke, it was clear (at least to Steve) that he was expecting an overwhelmingly negative reaction. Instead, it seemed as though the entire room breathed a sigh of relief.

"That's great, man," Clint immediately responded. "Congrats."

"I don't think this is the kind of thing you congratulate someone on." Despite trying to say the remark so quietly it was kept to himself, voices still tended to carry in that room and thus Clint heard him. He shook his head in disbelief.

"No," he said. "That is a big deal, especially when…"

"Clint." Natasha's warning tone cut him off and came along with a look that said "you're about to say the wrong thing. Stop now while you're ahead."

Getting the message, Clint swallowed and instead said "that's a good decision you made, Tony. I think I can say we're all proud of you for it."

Thankfully, the response was carefully worded enough to get Natasha's approval and it did not seem to cause Tony any emotional distress. A person who professionally treated drug addicts and alcoholics would probably find fault with it, but it was a nice save regardless.

"Thank you," Tony said. "I'm glad."

"So, what are you going to do?" Bruce carefully asked. "Have you looked into treatment options? Therapy? Rehab?"

"Oh God, no," Tony said. "I'm not doing rehab. …In-person rehab at least. You could not pay me enough to do that. Besides, it is not like it is really feasible for me. I mean, if something happens, I would not be able to do anything as Iron Man. Also, the press would probably have a field day with it…"

"Okay, so what's the plan then?" Natasha asked. "Because you need to be doing something."

"Yes," Tony said. "Yes, I do." He gave Steve's hand another squeeze, but it was not as hard as before. Steve turned and gave Tony the most reassuring look he could manage. Tony momentarily flashed an appreciative smile, before turning his attention to the rest of the group. "Well, the plan is that I'm going to do out-patient therapy. That way, I can still be Iron Man, work with you guys as part of the Avengers, and do my work for SI. At least, that's what the hope is."

Steve's heart stuttered at the slight note of despair that rang through Tony's voice at the end of that last sentence. It did not go unnoticed by the other Avengers, either.

"And if you can't?" Natasha asked slowly and carefully.

"Then I will go into in-patient rehab," Tony said. "I set that penalty myself, so there's no unlawful imprisonment there. Still, it's not something I want to have happen."

"And we're not going to let it happen," Bruce assured. "We'll help you. You have our support, right?"

Natasha and Clint gave quick assurances of agreement, with Natasha adding, "whatever you need, we'll help you." Tony blinked, not believing what he was hearing.

"Why?" he asked. "I mean, it's not like any of you know me. Not really."

"Because we're a team," Natasha said. "And if you really want to try to conquer this, we'll help you."

Tony shut his eyes and took a deep breath in. Steve let go of his hand so he could place it on his shoulder. Tony slowly smiled as he opened his eyes again.

"Thank you," he said. "That was… Hard…"

"We understand," Natasha assured.

"So," Bruce said. "If you don't mind me asking, when do you start therapy?"

"That's fine," Tony said. "Well, Happy, Pepper, Steve, and I were actually going to meet with someone on Saturday."

"Saturday?" Clint questioned. "Don't most doctors stay closed on Saturday?"

"Not if you're willing to pay five figures." Clint had to grab the table to keep from falling over.

"Five figures…" he muttered to himself.

"Yeah," Tony said, pulling the conversation back to the point. "So, we're going to see this person on Saturday and hopefully all will go well, and we'll be able to get a more solid plan from there."

"That's great," Bruce said.

"It really is, Tony," Natasha agreed.

"You have our support," Clint added.

Tony started to look like he might be starting to get overwhelmed, so Steve gave his shoulder a squeeze. Tony turned to look at Steve with glistening eyes.

"Hey," Steve said. "Are you okay?" Tony nodded.

"I'm great." Those words sounded genuine and made Steve reflect Tony's soft smile.

"Good," Steve said. "I'm glad." They held each other's gaze for another moment before Clint grabbed their attention by clearing his throat.

"Before you two start sucking face," he said. "Maybe we should move along with this meeting?" Steve gave him an inquisitive look.

"What do you mean?" he asked. "I thought this was the main point of the meeting."

"Yes," Natasha said. "But you know there are other things we should discuss, like running the team."

Steve looked over at Tony, trying to gauge his emotional state and whether he was okay enough to continue. Tony noticed this and gave him a reassuring smile.

"It's your call," he said. "You're the boss. I hand the reigns over to you, Winghead." Steve snorted at the use of the nickname but otherwise did not hesitate in getting down to business.

"Alright," he said. "What should we discuss first?"

Thank you to Codename_R for the comment on AO3! :)

Remember kids, comments and revies are very much appreciated.

Originally posted to FFN on 10/21/22.