Disclaimer - I own nothing you recognise.

Challenges listed at the bottom.

Word Count - 5136

Fic Detail - TonySteve

It's A Date

Tony was having a terrible day. It had started badly, with a meeting at SI at the very same time as an attack on New York in which Iron Man was desperately needed, and it had only gotten worse since then.

When he'd finally managed to escape the Board of Directors and suited up in an unused room of the tower, the battle was almost over and Steve was looking at him like he'd just kicked ten puppies.

"Sorry, Cap," he muttered through the voice modulator that guarded his real voice. "Mr Stark needed me on something, I've only just got away."

Steve's frown only deepened. "We really do need to sit down with Mr Stark. I know he's doing us a favour by letting you help us out, but there's not much point if he's going to keep you busy when we actually need you."

Tony barely held back a sigh. The stupid thing was that he actually agreed with him. The whole hidden identity thing was great back when he'd first decided on it, but it was getting worse and worse as time passed by.

Not least because he had to listen to the team slate him constantly and pretend as though he wasn't hurt by every comment they made.

Sure, he could be an abrasive asshole, and sure, he'd done some things he really wasn't proud of in his life, but he'd been doing better lately. In the two years since he'd been kidnapped and betrayed by Obadiah, Tony had been trying his best to make up for the mistakes he'd made in his youth.

Not only that, but he housed the team in his tower. He made the equipment and funded their every want… only to have the words selfish and ignorant and narcissistic thrown echoed in his comms all the damn time.

What more did they want from him?

"Iron Man?"

"Hmm? Oh, sorry, Cap. I'll talk to Mr Stark and ask him to set up a meeting for you."

"I want you there too," Steve said firmly. "It involves you, you have the right to be there."

Fuck it all to hell.

"I'd rather not, Steve, if it's all the same to you. I have to, uh, go. So. Mr Stark will be in touch, I'm sure."

Tony took off before Steve could argue and made his way back to the tower, to the secret entrance that took him straight down into his lab so he could get the armour off without the chance of anyone seeing him.

Well, that was going to be a fun meeting. He stripped his suit jacket off and threw it haphazardly over the desk. God, he needed a drink.

Probably wasn't a good idea though, if he had to speak to Captain Judgemental. No point starting the meeting off with him looking down on Tony, though undoubtedly that would be how it ended.

It was just… the way it was.

...

Steve entered the lab, looking around with interest. He'd never been allowed down there before, never really had a reason to want to go down there.

Stark stood in the middle, blue holograms all around him. Steve recognised parts of the armour, and was about to ask when Stark spotted him and waved them all away.

"Iron Man said you wanted to talk to me about something," he said, and to Steve's ears he sounded exhausted, even as he gave his trademark smirk. "So talk."

Steve took a breath and nodded. "We could have used him in the battle today. I know that he's your employee, first and foremost, but he's an Avenger."

"He's a consultant Avenger," Stark corrected, "and he was needed elsewhere. You always knew that there was a possibility that he wouldn't make some battles for various reasons and you agreed to that."

"He's an Avenger," Steve snapped. "Not a consultant, and whatever you needed him for couldn't have been more important than him being at that battle today."

"You've got no idea what I use Iron Man for," Stark replied.

The wording didn't sit well with Steve at all, and he glared at the genius. "You might well 'use' him for whatever you find important, but there were lives at risk today."

"We're going around in circles, Captain," Stark said, rolling his eyes. "Iron Man is, first and foremost, a Stark Industries employee, and I'll have him do whatever I see fit at any given moment. Yes, he's a consultant for the Avengers, but that doesn't make him your property. So if that's all?"

"I know it's probably fine to you if we lose nameless and faceless civilians, but it's not okay with me, and I'm sure it's not okay with Iron Man! He's a good man!" Steve shouted, losing his temper.

He expected Stark to shout back, for their argument to heat up the same way it always seemed to when the two of them had to talk about anything, but when he replied, it was in a quiet voice that seemed almost worse than him shouting.

"I need you to leave," Stark said, his face shutting down instantly.

"But I—"

"Leave!" Stark shouted, twirling away from Steve. A little robot seemed to understand Stark, and Steve found himself being pushed backwards by a rather aggressive claw.

He only realised he'd been pushed out of the lab when the glass door slid firmly across and darkened until Steve couldn't see inside.

He glared at the door for a long moment before he turned on his heel and stomped up the stairs.

"What's the matter with you?" Nat asked, when Steve stalked into the kitchen a few minutes later. He wouldn't be surprised if he had steam coming out of his ears he was so angry, and Natasha hardly needed anything so unsubtle to read someone's mood.

"Stark," he spat out. "I met with him to speak about Iron Man, and making it easier for him to assist us on our missions, but of course he didn't care about it. We could have used Iron Man today!"

"We could have," Natasha said softly. "But you've always known that Iron Man had other commitments."

Steve sighed and sat down at the breakfast bar. "I know that. I just… it infuriates me that Stark can't seem to understand that protecting the city is more than likely more important that whatever jobs he sends Iron Man on."

"That's not all," Natasha said, when Steve didn't continue. "He frustrates you, yes, but he doesn't normally get you this angry. What happened, Steve?"

"He threw me out of the lab," Steve admitted. "Just… we were arguing, but he just stopped it right in its tracks. I thought maybe I was getting somewhere with him for once, and then. He just threw me out. He's… he's selfish, Nat. I don't know why I ever expect anything different from him."

Natasha looked at him for a long moment, her lips twisting thoughtfully. "We only see two things in people. What we want to see, and what they want to show us. Maybe, with Tony, you need to look deeper than you are doing. And maybe, you need to look back at your argument with him and see what made him throw you out. Tony Stark is a lot of things, Steve, but he doesn't often back down from an argument."

She walked out of the kitchen, patting his shoulder as she passed him.

Steve watched her go, his brow furrowing. He didn't think he'd said anything particularly worse than he usually did when arguing with Stark but then… that didn't really make it better.

A feeling of shame washed over him, and he sighed, rubbing his face. He didn't know what it was, but there was just something about Tony Stark that rubbed him the wrong way.

He got up, unable to just sit there and wallow on the conversation. The gym would, hopefully, help him get out what remained of his anger, and then… he supposed that then, he should think about trying to apologise to Stark.

...

Tony couldn't concentrate, and he threw his screwdriver on the desk with a huff of disgust.

Cap and his self righteous ranting had thrown Tony entirely off his game.

He hated that people still saw him the way that Steve clearly did. A selfish asshole who didn't care about the lives of those around him.

Sure, he'd made a lot of mistakes, but even taking Iron Man out of the equation, he'd been trying. He'd gotten rid of the weapons department of SI entirely, turning the focus to technology that could be used by the masses, and clean energy that would, eventually, help the planet as a whole.

Didn't that prove that he was trying to do better?

Tony shoved a hand through his hair and sighed to himself, because he knew it didn't prove anything. Nothing ever would, because the world knew who Tony Stark was, didn't they?

It didn't matter what he did now, not really. Nothing was ever going to change these people's minds.

Maybe it would be better if he just left. Left the tower to the Avengers and left for Malibu. He'd been happy in Malibu, as happy as he'd ever been anyway.

He'd still have Iron Man, just… without the team. Without having to try so hard to hide his identity. Without having to disappoint Captain America more than he already had.

"What do you think, J?" He asked. "Should we relocate to Malibu and live in peace?"

There was a pause for a moment, and then JARVIS replied, "whatever will make you happier, Sir."

Well. At least his AI cared if he was happy. In all honesty, Pepper and Rhodey notwithstanding, JARVIS was probably the only one who did care.

...

Steve returned from his run and was surprised to find the team, sans Iron Man and Thor, who was back on Asgard, gathered in the kitchen.

"What's going on?"

"Just looking at the new security protocols for the Tower," Bruce replied, glancing up from the tablet they had settled on the table between them.

"New protocols?" Steve asked, crossing to the fridge for a bottle of water.

"You know, since Stark is moving out," Clint replied. "Obviously he's taking JARVIS with him, but he's installed a slightly more limited AI called FRIDAY that will still help out if we need anything. There's going to be a new biometric scanning system set up too, so we all need too—"

"What do you mean, since Stark is moving out?"

"You didn't get the email?" Bruce asked, frowning. "Your email address is on the list for all of the Iron Man updates."

"I." Steve blinked and felt his cheeks heat up. "I don't look at my email?"

Natasha groaned and slumped in her chair. "See, now that makes sense," she said waving her hand at him. "Steve, Stark has been emailing us Iron Man's schedule since he agreed to the consultant status, so we'd know when he'd be available to help out. Of course, since you clearly haven't been looking at them…. it makes more sense why you're always so angry when Iron Man doesn't turn up."

She shook her head.

"Did SHIELD not go over email and basic tech with you when you were first found?" Clint asked, head tilting slightly.

"They did," Steve said, frowning as he pulled his phone from his pocket. "But I guess I just… didn't think about it? I'd much rather speak to people in person about anything of import."

Bruce rubbed a hand over his tired face. "That's all well and good, Steve, but people email these days. For literally everything."

Steve clicked on his little email icon and blinked when he saw the sheer amount of emails awaiting him.

"I have over ten thousand emails," he muttered, staring down at his phone in shock. He looked at Natasha, and she closed her eyes for a moment before nodding to the seat beside her.

"Come and sit, and we'll go over them. JARVIS? Can you access Steve's email for me and delete all of the junk mail."

"Of course, Agent Romanoff," The AI replied. Steve watched as the numbers trickled down, but it still left over four thousand emails in his inbox.

"Should I also delete the ones from Sir that no longer matter?" JARVIS asked, and Steve didn't think he was imagining the hint of disapproval in his tone.

"I. No. No, I'd like to look at them," Steve said, shaking his head. "I'll do this later. Can we… when is Stark moving?"

"Next week," Bruce said, his lips downturned.

"What about Iron Man?" Steve asked, glancing at the tablet on the table.

"He'll be going with Tony, of course," Natasha said. "And before you say that it's not right, please do try and remember that Iron Man is and always has been Tony Stark's intellectual property and you don't actually have the right to make any demands of him."

Steve looked down and his fists clenched in his lap. This was his fault. He still didn't know what he'd done to make Tony shut down so fast, but whatever it was, Tony had certainly took it to heart.

"I, uh. I'm going to try and talk to him," Steve said, wrinkling his nose slightly. He had to fix this.

Beyond Iron Man being an asset to the Avengers, he was Steve's friend.

…

JARVIS alerted Tony to Steve being outside the door to the lab before the man even had a chance to knock.

"Do you know what he wants, J?" Tony asked, looking up from the box of tools he'd been packing.

Usually, he'd have a team in to pack for him—and for the penthouse, he would—but his workshop was far too important to let random people in to it.

"I believe he wishes to talk you out of moving to Malibu," JARVIS replied flatly, and Tony's lips quirked at the tone.

Tony snorted. "Of course he does. Wouldn't want to lose his precious Iron Man, would he?"

"Should I allow him entry, Sir?"

Shrugging, Tony nodded and turned his attention back to what he was doing. It didn't matter what Steve said, he'd made his mind up and he wasn't going to change it. Hiding his identity in his own home was too much stress.

The door slid open a few seconds later, and Tony heard Steve approach. His footsteps were cautious and measured, as though he was trying to keep every inch of himself in control. Tony twisted to look over his shoulder.

"What do you want, Cap?"

"I uh, heard you were leaving."

"Yep."

"I just… I guess I wanted to… I know that I um…" Steve cut himself off, looking frustrated. Tony didn't find the look on his face adorable. Honestly. "I wanted to make sure that you're not leaving because of something I said. I know that I managed to offend you somehow during our last… conversation and, well."

Tony watched him for a few seconds. "You came down to assuage your guilt at offending me?"

"No," Steve protested, though he looked unsure. "No. I just… don't want you to leave because of me. I'm sorry for whatever it is that I said that offended you and—"

"Don't worry about it, Cap," Tony said flatly, turning back to his box. "It wasn't you. You can go now."

"Mr Stark, please. I'm… I'm sorry, truly sorry. I don't… I don't want you to leave."

"You don't want Iron Man to leave," Tony corrected.

"That too, of course, but… your whole life is here. Your work, your friends… you shouldn't leave because of a comment I made when I was angry."

"I just told you it wasn't you, I'm not sure what about that—"

"But it was," Steve interrupted. "I'm not stupid, okay? I… wasn't getting your emails. I didn't realise you were trying to keep us—me—in the loop about Iron Man's schedule and—"

Tony frowned and turned back to Steve. "You weren't getting the emails? JARVIS, what—"

"I wasn't checking my email," Steve admitted, a light flush colouring his cheeks. "I know better now. I'll do better. Just… please don't leave."

"It's not as easy as that, Cap," Tony said, frustrated as he rubbed a hand through his hair. He could feel himself wavering, but he knew that something had to give. He couldn't keep living a lie, it was too much. "There are reasons that I need to leave, beyond whatever offence you're worried that you caused and—"

Before Tony could drop himself into any trouble by rambling, the Avenger Alert sounded through the workshop.

The two of them froze.

Steve straightened up his Captain America stance immediate and a little disconcerting to Tony.

"I need to go."

Tony nodded. "JARVIS, prep the suit for Iron Man."

"He's here?" Steve asked, the alert momentarily forgotten. "Where—"

"You need to go and suit up," Tony reminded him unsubtly.

Steve hesitated for a moment before he nodded and turned on his heel, racing out of the lab.

…

The fight should have been an easy one.

Shoulda, Woulda, Coulda.

It wasn't. Tony flew the suit through the fray, blocking one of Doom's robots from dislodging Hawkeye from his perch on top of a building. The impact damaged the chest plate, and he winced.

His mind hadn't been in the game, and he was paying the price for it. He needed them to wrap the fight up quickly, or his suit was going to take more damage than it could sustain.

As he was about to tell Cap as much, he saw the larger bot heading straight towards Cap and he pushed the suit without thinking.

He absorbed the impact, knocking the soldier out of the way just in time, but it was the last blow for the suit, and Tony was knocked back, unable to control his repulsors before he landed painfully on the ground.

"J—"

"Sir, stay still," JARVIS said urgently, his tone panicked. "I'm calling in medics, please Sir, stay where you are."

"What's—Oh, Jesus."

Tony didn't know what was happening, but the light was fading and he slipped into blackness before he could find out.

…

Steve watched through the window of the hospital room as Stark talked animatedly to Miss Potts and Colonel Rhodes. They were both watching him with fond amusement and it was a wonder to Steve, who'd never seen Stark look so… relaxed.

Guilt shot through him at that, but he tried to ignore it.

The medical team—Stark's private team—had picked him up from the battlefield, leaving the rest of the team to finish the fight and rush to the tower. They'd tried to keep the team out, but Steve was nothing if not determined, and eventually, he'd gotten into the medical wing of the tower.

What he'd found hadn't been what he'd expected.

While he'd never known Iron Man's identity, it hadn't even crossed his mind that Stark himself could have been the man in the suit.

Stupid, he knew, but Stark… just didn't seem the type.

Lost in his musings as he was, he was surprised when a hand landed on his shoulder. Startled, he turned to look and saw Colonel Rhodes watching him.

"You can go in when Pepper comes out. Tony knows that you're here."

Steve nodded mutely. He didn't even know if he wanted to go in; he had no idea what he was supposed to say.

"Before that though, I need to know that you're not going to be too hard on him," Rhodes continued. "Tony had good reasons for hiding his identity. I won't share them with you, it's up to him if he wants you to know, but his reasons are valid and real. Even if you choose not to accept them, I have to ask that you keep his secret for as long as he chooses to keep it that way."

"Of course I will," Steve said immediately.

That was something he didn't need to think about, regardless of whether Stark decided to share his reasons or not. He wouldn't out his teammate.

Rhodes nodded and walked off down the corridor. A few moments later, Miss Potts followed him, though she did take the time to give Steve a rather distrustful look on her way past.

In the room, Stark was sat up in the bed, propped up by pillows. His relaxed demeanor was gone, and he was twisting his hands nervously.

Steve swallowed hard and steeled himself, before he gently knocked on the door and pushed it open, slipping into the room. Unsure what to do with himself, Steve took the seat on Stark's left which Miss Potts had vacated, and simply looked at the genius.

When it became clear that Stark wasn't going to talk first, Steve sighed.

"It was all a lie."

Stark's brow furrowed. "I… didn't lie. I just, uh, omitted the truth."

"No," Steve shook his head. "I mean, I thought… I thought Iron Man was my friend. And now—"

"Iron Man was your friend," Stark said quietly. "That wasn't a lie, Cap."

Steve nodded, glad of that if nothing else. "I guess I don't understand why you felt the need to hide from us. It… it makes a stupid amount of sense that it's you, now that I know, though I had no idea before."

"It wasn't personal," Stark replied, and Steve believed that too. "It was never personal. It wasn't you specifically that I was hiding from, rather it was everyone. The world, I guess."

"Why?"

Stark hesitated. He looked… sad, and Steve found that he didn't like seeing such a look on him.

"To begin with, I suppose you'd have to know that the, uh. The arc reactor…" Stark shifted and pulled down the nightshirt we was wearing to reveal the reactor sitting in his chest.

Steve's eyes widened. "What..? I don't understand."

"You know I was kidnapped in Afghanistan," Stark said, and Steve nodded, because it was common knowledge. "This keeps shrapnel from reaching my heart. At its basest explanation, it's a magnet that keeps the shrapnel in place. And if I take it out, I die."

Whatever he'd been expecting, it certainly hadn't been this. Steve kept silent, waiting for Stark to continue talking.

"When I got back from Afghanistan, I shut down the weapons production at SI. I… They had my weapons. In Afghanistan. I thought that—" he cut himself off and shook his head. "My business partner at the time, he'd been double dealing. There was a scene. He tore the reactor from my chest and—"

"Bloody hell," Steve muttered.

Stark nodded, fiddling with the hem of the cover.

Steve didn't know what to do with what he was hearing. And Stark… he was so different from the cocksure asshole Steve thought he knew.

"So I guess you could say that his betrayal kinda screwed me up for a while," Stark confessed. "And I didn't want to give anyone else the power over me that he had. So… I hid everything. The reactor, Iron Man… I hid all of it, and I can't be sorry that I did. Please don't ask me to be."

Steve shook his head. He wouldn't ask that of Stark, couldn't, after hearing his story. Steve couldn't imagine how it must have felt; he'd always been himself, be that as Steve Rogers or Captain America, without any fear.

"So, uh…"

"Ask your questions, Cap."

"Why the candy red and gold?"

Stark blinked.

"It's not candy red," he exclaimed after a beat. "It's hot-rod red, you heathen!"

Steve chuckled. "My mistake. "Why the hot-rod red and gold?"

Stark wrinkled his nose. "I thought the gold suit was a little ostentatious."

Steve's chuckled turned into a full on belly laugh.

Part of him knew it was because if he didn't laugh, he'd cry.

…

"You should join us for dinner."

Stark, caught at the coffee maker, blinked at Steve. "It's a team dinner."

"Right. You should join us."

"Cap, you said you wouldn't—"

"You make our uniforms, and our weapons, and you let us live here free of charge. You're as much a part of the team as Iron Man is. I… I'm sorry it took me so long to realise that."

"You don't have to do this."

Steve nodded. "I really do."

…

Tony was… baffled.

Following Rogers discovery of Iron Man's identity, he'd been encouraging Tony to join them for team dinners, movie nights and even the occasional outing. Of course, he'd always asked Iron Man to join them, but this… it was different.

Because he was inviting Tony.

Obviously, Tony was aware that the Captain was only making the effort because of Iron Man, and because he wanted Tony to remain in New York so that Iron Man could continue to fight with them, but…

It was still weird.

The workshop was still half packed, and Tony was undecided on his course of action. Now that Rogers was aware of why Iron Man couldn't always get to the battles in a timely manner, he'd backed off considerably, but Tony was still having to tread very carefully.

In fact, in some ways, it was harder now that Roger's knew the truth, because the rest of the team were still in the dark about Iron Man's identity. While they'd all been accepting of Tony's occasional presence at team things, Tony saw their curious looks, and he hated it.

Hated it because he was starting to like them.

And liking them was leading him to ridiculous thoughts of telling them the truth.

Which was obviously a stupid idea. Colossally stupid even.

Oddly, Pep and Rhodey were both all for it. They wanted Tony to have the full support of the team, and more importantly—to them at least—they wanted Tony to be happy. They thought that the team accepting him as Iron Man could help towards that.

Tony had doubts. Huge ones.

But Pepper was rarely wrong about these things.

…

Steve had dropped his fork. He hadn't expected Tony to just… announce that he was Iron Man at the table, but what was worse, was that the rest of the team already knew.

Which just made Steve feel stupid.

Natasha went as far as to say that she'd always known.

That was how he'd found himself on the roof alone, the starless night sky his only companion.

Well, until he was joined by the silent assassin.

"I think you didn't see because you didn't want to see," Natasha said softly. "Because I think you were falling in love with Iron Man, while you still disliked Tony Stark, and you didn't want him to be the same person."

"Nat—"

"Steve. Just… think about it, okay? And please, don't run away from this. I know he's a lot but Tony could be the one to make you happy. And I think… you could make him happy too. Just think about it."

As quietly as she'd arrived, she was gone, leaving Steve with a jumbled mind and a heavy heart.

He wasn't in love with Iron Man. He really wasn't. He couldn't, however, deny that there were feelings involved.

Natasha had been wrong about one thing though.

The past few weeks, spending time with Tony, getting to know Tony instead of believing he knew Tony Stark, had shown him that he did actually really like the genius.

Oh, he had his faults, but who didn't? There was just something so… real about him, when he dropped his guards, that Steve gravitated towards.

He enjoyed the man's company and he'd known that he was in trouble long before Natasha had said as much.

He just… didn't know what to do with it.

Beyond the friendship he'd had with Iron Man, and the one he was building now with Tony, he found that he didn't want to jeopardise anything by making his desires clearer.

He was fine with things as they were. He didn't need to change anything.

The sound of the repulsors warned Steve of the next arrival, and he turned to find Tony in the suit, the helmet retracted.

"Are you okay?"

Steve nodded. "Of course. I just… I suppose I was a little taken aback that you announced it like that. And that they knew already."

Tony's lips titled up apologetically. "Pep tells me I'm too impulsive."

"Reckless," Steve corrected fondly. "But in this case at least, I'm glad. You deserve to have the team know who you are and that it's you saving them when they fall."

Tony shrugged, and it looked decidedly uncomfortable in the suit. Steve had noticed that the man seemed to have difficulty accepting anything resembling a compliment.

"I, uh. I was just going to go for a flight," Tony said, tilting his head slightly.

Steve nodded and smiled. "Have fun."

Tony was about to take off when he paused. "Do you want to come with me?"

Steve blinked. "What?"

"Do you… I could take you flying? If you wanted?"

"Are you sure?"

Tony held his hand out to Steve as the helmet folded over his face. It was Iron Man's voice that asked, "Trust me?"

Steve didn't hesitate.

…

Carrying a passenger wasn't something Tony did much of, but Steve's whoops of happiness had him grinning behind the helmet. He kept them in the air for almost an hour before he finally landed on the landing pad of the tower, setting Steve gently back on his feet.

"That was amazing!"

Tony let JARVIS pull the suit away from him and grinned.

Steve returned the grin. "Thank you."

"Anytime," Tony replied quietly.

Before the two stepped back into the welcoming warmth of the tower, Steve caught Tony's arm in his hand, holding him gently.

"Can I take you out for dinner?"

Tony stared at him for a long moment. "You know you don't have to do this, right? I don't expect you to… I'm not leaving, Steve. I wouldn't have told the team if I still planned on going to Malibu."

Steve shook his head. "It's not about that. It's… I'd really like to take you to dinner. You don't have to, if you don't want to I just, I thought it was worth asking. I like you. As Tony or as Iron Man."

"You didn't like me before."

"I didn't know you," Steve admitted. "I thought I knew Tony Stark. I never took the time to get to know you. Now… I'd really like too."

"Dinner sounds," Tony hesitated for a moment before he nodded. "Dinner sounds good. I'd like that."

Steve smiled. "Friday?"

"It's a date."

Steve watched Tony walk inside and towards the elevator and he nodded to himself. "Yes. Yes it is."

Written for:

Disney S3 - Write about someone confessing something.

Angel's Archive - 15. Hot Cocoa Cookie Cups - (trait) relaxed

Basement - 19. "It was all a lie."

Marvel - 11. Red

Lyric Alley - 11. Without any fear.

Funfair, East - Snow Art - Blue: Relaxed / Pink: Blocking an incoming impact / Gray: Candy Red

Sticker - Standard Book Of Spells - 2. Wingardium Leviosa - Write about an alternative way to fly (not brooms).

Days of the Year - 63. Have A Bad Day Day: Write about someone having a bad day.

365. 302. Offend