Whenever Tony was being unreasonable, which was most of the time, Peter usually went to Steve next. Even though things had been strained for a while with the whole Bucky aspect, Thanos had kinda put things in perspective and they mellowed out. Mostly.
Steve had been staying at the tower for a while, sometimes staying away for a bit during missions, but technically he lived here too.
So the instant Peter had woken up, he tracked Steve down, finding him sitting at the kitchen island with a mouthful of cereal and looking like he had just crawled out of bed.
Peter wasted no time in launching straight into his speech, much to the surprise of the sleepy Captain, who sat staring at him in bewilderment as he continued to babble.
"But it's totally unfair! I helped fight Thanos, you really think I cant handle myself? Come on, I'm 19, I'm a full fledged superhero, an actual Avenger! I shouldn't be forbid from socializing with someone! If you guys can trust him to live here, you should be able to trust me to meet him!"
After Steve finally swallowed his cereal, he had to put his hands out in a calming gesture just to get a word in edgewise, "Slow down. Now what are you talking about?"
Peter looked up at the ceiling and groaned in exasperation, "Loki!" he said, as if Steve were dense.
"Oh, so you talked to Tony?" Steve asked mildly.
"Yeah, and he won't budge! He's being absurd here, right?" Peter asked hopefully, expecting some validation at the very least.
But Steve's face just looked kind of apologetic as he shoveled another bite into his mouth.
Peter squinted at the older man in suspicion. "You don't actually agree with Tony on this do you?"
When Steve sighed and set his spoon down in the bowl, Peter threw his hands up in exasperation, "Of course you do! The one time I actually need you two to be against each other and fighting over something, and you're siding with each other."
"Hey now, we don't fight." Steve said defensively, and when Peter only lifted his eyebrows in response, Steve fidgeted in his seat slightly, "I mean, not that often, and it's not fighting per se, just casual disagreements." He tried reasoning, looking awkward about the subject.
"Please," Peter said, still completely unconvinced, and a bit amused, "You guys are at each other's throats for everything. Just a week ago you were bickering about how to make a proper cup of coffee."
Steve looked indignant at that, instantly picking up the argument "That machine does not-" He cut off abruptly when he caught Peter's smug look, and he scowled at the younger man, good heartedly though. "Listen, Pete, I'm sorry but I kind of think I should stay out of this one. I know there's a lot going on with Loki and Thor right now, it might be the smart move keeping you out of the way."
"I'm not a kid anymore, I won't get in the way, hell I can even help!" Peter exclaimed passionately.
"Hey, easy on the language." Steve responded, earning an eye roll from Peter.
Steve studied Peter for a minute, "Why do you wanna meet him so badly anyway? He is kind of a…" he seemed to be searching for a delicate way to say it, "bad guy, ya know?"
Peter felt a bit awkward about his little idolization. Sure, he told himself it was perfectly normal all the time, he just has a really curious nature, and Loki is a god for crying out loud, why wouldn't he be dying to meet the man? But for some reason, explaining this to anyone, saying it out loud, made him feel small and awkward. So he ignored that question, and got a bit defensive. "Oh and Bucky never did anything wrong?"
A look of pain crossed over Steve's face and Peter was hit with instant guilt and regret. He quickly tried to mend it, scrambling over the words. "Wait, no, I didn't mean- That is, Bucky-"
Steve put up a hand to stop the babbling, a small sad smile on his face, "It's okay, Peter, I get what you mean." there was something unidentifiable in Steve's blue eyes which made Peter brim with nervous energy and he started bouncing his leg in its spot. "Meeting Loki is that important to you?"
Peter glanced back up into his friend's eyes, feeling a twist of anxiety in his chest, but he knows its his best chance of convincing Steve, which is his best chance of meeting Loki. So he takes a deep breath and pushes past his fear, "Yeah, you know, I just, he's a God, that's...That's crazy." Peter was trying for his usual flippant attitude, but he could tell it was falling a bit flat. "So I was hoping to meet the infamous, uh, God of Mischief." He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, and of course, Steve was picking up on it.
"Right." Steve looked at him oddly for a minute, his brow furrowed slightly. Then he sighed and rubbed a hand over his face and seemed to be thinking something over as he stared at Peter. "Alright, kid, I'll help you out."
"Really?" Peter's face lit up in a flash as he hopped up from his stool, and caught Captain America in a hug. "Thank you thank you thank you."
Steve chuckled in surprise and clapped his hand on the kid's back. "No problem, I'll just have to talk to Tony about it."
Peter pulled back from the hug, his excitement dampened just a bit, "Oh, I mean we could just keep it our little secret...?" He suggested with a feeble smile, but Steve wasn't buying it.
"No go, kid." Steve said, shaking his head as he picked up his empty cereal bowl and stood up, "I'm not starting another civil war over this. I'll go talk to Tony right now, okay? I'm sure I'll get him to come around." Steve squeezed Peter's shoulder affectionately and strode out of the room, leaving Peter alone with a stomach that wouldn't stop doing summersaults.
Steve walked out of the kitchen with an uneasy feeling in his stomach. Something about the expression on Peter's face set off alarms in his head, but he couldn't figure out why. Something familiar in those eyes when he stumbled over an explanation for his interest in Loki. Steve shook his head to try and clear the thoughts. He was getting entirely too old for this.
"FRIDAY, where's Tony?" Steve asked the empty room.
"Tony is in the basement workstation." The AI's voice rang out in the quiet room, and Steve made his way to the basement.
He walked down the stairs easily, though he could already feel the old tension forming in his shoulders as he looked through the windows of the workstation, scanning for the familiar face. Tony and him had been on pretty good terms since the Thanos attack, things kind of just went back to normal. Or, well, a version of normal.
They were friends, they ate and drank together, even worked on missions together, but it felt like something was missing. It wasn't quite the same, filled with tension and awkward silences, words never said and feelings ignored. And every interaction they had sent a fresh stab of pain into the old wound. It also didn't help that almost every interaction they had ended up turning into an argument. But Steve didn't expect forgiveness anytime soon, he didn't even think he deserved it, really, not after everything he put Tony through. The idea of losing Tony might make Steve's breath catch and his heart feel like its ripping in half, but he knew Tony would be better off without him, if Steve just faded from his life, leaving him to heal and move on and forget about him.
And as much as Steve told himself this, he could never find the strength to walk away, he was weak when it came to this, cutting himself out of his friend's life. So here he was, staying in the Tower for long periods at a time. Not leading the Avengers anymore, but still going on missions with some of the heroes now and again. He at least tried to stay out of Tony's way when he was around, as much as possible without it being obvious.
He couldn't remember the last time he had actually sought Tony out, and as he finally saw him leaning over the hood of one of his many cars, he realized he also couldn't remember the last time they had been alone together.
Steve opened the glass door into the garage, wincing slightly at the loud music playing over the sound system, and he hesitantly walked towards his old friend. Tony was wearing a tank top that had probably once been white, but it was covered in all kinds of dirt and grease from all the work he was doing. His hair was disheveled and likely dirty, his muscles were being worked as he did something to the inside of the car.
Steve watched him silently as he approached, and when Tony finally took notice, he did a double take in his direction. "FRIDAY, cut the music." The loud rock music ceased immediately, and Tony examined Steve silently for a minute, and it took all of the heroes strength to stand tall and not twitch under that scrutiny, and then he finally spoke, "Something tells me you're not here to help with the tune up." He nodded to the car as he straightened up, pulling a rag out of his back pocket to wipe his hands off.
"I'm pretty sure you don't want me anywhere near your car." He managed to respond lightly, even though his insides were still in knots. Tony just nodded at him, looking a bit wary at seeing Steve down here. "Actually, I'm here to talk about Peter."
Tony's face sobered up instantly, "What about Peter? Is he okay?" His voice was hard, but the worry in his eyes made Steve's heart twist.
"Yeah, yeah, he's fine, sorry. No he… Well he wanted me to talk to you about this whole Loki thing…" Steve knew this wasn't going to be an easy conversation, even ignoring all of their own history and complications, just the subject alone was going to be difficult.
And when Tony's face looked exasperated for a minute, then turned sarcastic, he bit back a dramatic sigh, "Oh he did now, did he?" Tony asked with his usual dry manner, not revealing any real emotions in it.
"Yeah, he just seems genuinely curious about Loki, and since we're letting Loki live-"
"We aren't doing anything here, Cap." Tony interrupted, and the words really hit Steve in the heart. He doesn't even know the last time he heard the nickname from Tony, and he definitely hadn't heard it in that sardonic tone.
"No, of course not. I just…" Steve could feel himself faltering, which irritated him, the way this man unnerved him sometimes. As Steve tried to reign his thoughts in, Tony continued, ignoring his stumbling words.
"Now, I appreciate you constantly thinking my way of running my own house and operations are wrong, but I assure you, I've managed to get by just fine without your input, and I certainly don't need it now." He picked up the wrench he'd been using, going back to the car.
"Hey, that's not what I was trying to do, Tony." The anger slipping through Tony's words sparked Steve back to life, and he tried for a soothing tone, attempting to smooth things back over as much as possible, "Look, Peter asked for my help, and I was just trying to lend a hand, maybe mediate a compromise."
Tony straightened back up, now using the wrench to punctuate his words, "Right, because Steve Rogers knows what's best for everyone, and is always the good guy."
"What is that supposed to mean?" Steve asked incredulously.
"You realize you just fell for the oldest trick in the book, right?" Tony asked, ignoring Steve's question.
"What are you talking about, Tony?" Steve asked exasperatedly and not without aggravation.
"I'm talking about Peter, Einstein, he just played the 'one parent said no let me ask the other one' gimmick?" Tony crossed his arms and stared at Steve expectantly as he waited for the words to sink in.
Steve's stomach clenched at the implication there, that they were Peter's parents. There was so much to process in that one sentence, it took Steve a while to focus his thoughts. Then he rubbed his chin lightly, ignoring the way his heart skipped at the thought, and admitted that they were both kind of caretakers to the boy these days, and the kid didn't have many others to look to. It made sense, and so did Tony's theory on Peter's plan here. But still, he couldn't shake the look in his eyes, and whether this had been a trick to get his way or not, meeting Loki was something he clearly wanted, so Steve pushed forward.
"Okay… You have a point, but, honestly? Even if he was just trying to get his way, you should've heard the way he talked about this, Tony, the way he talked about Loki. He seems to really need this, and maybe we should let them meet? He is a lot older now, and he can handle a lot. Could one supervised meeting with Loki be that bad?"
Tony threw his rag down on the car and marched away, grumbling under his breath, and Steve followed, ignoring the grumbling.
"Come on, Tony, why are you even letting Loki live here if you trust him so little?" Steve asked his retreating figure.
"Oh believe me, Loki living here is the last thing I wanted, okay? So, I took precautions, and one of them is that Peter isn't going anywhere near that villian."
Peter's words flashed across Steve's mind then, Cause Bucky never did anything wrong?
"Tony, you know the stories, Loki has come a long way from that attack on New York, not that I don't think he isn't still a troublemaker, but maybe he has grown up a bit. We've all done things we regret, right? Maybe we should at least try to give him the benefit of the doubt." Tony spun on his heel at that one, and Steve was worried he'd pushed him too far, they both just stood there, tension radiating around the room.
"You just really love to fight for whatever position I'm not on, don't you?" his words were angry, but Steve could pick up the pain in it to, and his heart was breaking all over again.
"No, Tony, its it's not like that at all." he took a few steps forward, desperate to reassure his friend. Steve let himself drown in his sorrows, but he never once wanted Tony to have to do that. When he was just a few feet away, completely unsure of what it was he planned on doing, a loud crash suddenly sounded upstairs.
Both of the men snapped to attention, their personal feelings sat aside as they looked at the staircase, their bodies tensed for action. They locked gazes and so much was said in so little time, and without wasting another second, they were both moving.