Time for a team movie night!

After a long day in the lab of running tests and simulations, digging deep down into the microscopic data of scan results and blood tests, Tony was coming up with a whole lot of nothing. He knew science tended to take time, but not even having a lead was discouraging. Even F.R.I.D.A.Y. and Vision were striking out on the portal searching, though there was still a lot of internet to cover yet.

The sounds and smells of dinner were drifting down from the main kitchen as he left the lab for the night, but Tony was tired and out of sorts after an unfruitful day, and he was already in the elevator and heading up to his floor when he remembered a conversation from that morning. He had actually pulled the 'Not now, kid, I'm busy,' schtick on Steve. Never mind that the work he was doing was to help him, he had actually said those words—God help him, he was turning into his father! The elevator was headed back down before he was entirely conscious of pushing the button, his guilty conscience replaying the crushed look on Steve's face when Tony brushed him off.

Tony stepped back into the kitchen where some sort of baked potato buffet seemed to be going on.

"Steve, make sure you get some of that broccoli," Barnes was saying, gesturing to a dish at the end of the counter.

"I don't like broccoli," Steve protested.

"Yes, you do," Barnes said. "Future broccoli's good—it tastes a lot better than you remember."

Steve eyed the greenery skeptically.

"You want to grow up to be big and strong, don't you?" Natasha coaxed.

"I don't wanna be rude, Miss Natasha, but I'm pretty sure it was super-soldier serum that made me big and strong, not vegetables," Steve said.

Sam snorted at the comment, and Clint laughed and choked and almost dropped his plate. Tony chuckled as he walked into the kitchen. Kid had a point.

"Eat the broccoli, Steve," Barnes commanded.

"Fine," Steve sighed dramatically, scooping broccoli onto his plate.

"Hey, look who's out of the lab!" Sam declared as Tony approached the food.

"A genius has got to eat, you know," Tony replied, grabbing a potato.

"Hi, Mr. Tony!" Steve greeted from his seat at the table.

"Hey, there, Cap," he replied, wondering if it was still okay if he called him that. "How's it going?"

"Good," Steve said, and he didn't seem to mind the nickname. "Did you get a lot of work done?"

"I did," Tony said, heaping toppings onto his potato. He snagged a soda and dropped down into an empty seat. "But you know? I couldn't help spending all that time I was working thinking about that fort you guys were building." That wasn't entirely true, but he was hoping to get another invitation to play so he could make a point of accepting.

Steve grinned. "It's a pretty cool fort. We fought off the Frost Giants! Mr. Thor got froze, but he's better now." He paused to wrinkle his nose and take a bite of broccoli, though his expression softened as he chewed and swallowed. Apparently, it did taste better than it did a century ago. "We did some other stuff this afternoon, but if you still wanna play, we could go back in the fort after dinner."

Tony smiled. "That sounds like fun." Something warmed in his heart as the kid grinned back happily. Natasha nodded across the table at him, smiling.

Having been in the lab for most of Tiny Steve's tininess, Tony wasn't sure if the lighter talk around the table was natural, or if it was an attempt to keep things a little more delicate for Steve. Whatever the reason, it was…It felt awfully domestic, but it was kind of nice. They hadn't hung out much as a group since Ultron, and there had been times where things felt kind of tense. No one was out-right blaming Tony, but he couldn't shake the feeling there was something there under the surface. They were getting past it, sure, but tonight was like it had never happened at all. It was nice.

As they all finished eating, Steve volunteered to cart all the dishes into the kitchen, and after a few minutes where he didn't come back, they peeked into the kitchen to see him on a stool by the sink, rinsing dishes as Thor washed. Thor was wearing a flowered apron that Tony didn't even know existed in his tower.

He made a move to go in and tell them there was a dishwasher, or even robots who could handle it, but a hand on his arm stopped him. He turned to see Barnes standing next to him. "Leave it," he instructed with a smile. He nodded into the kitchen. "They're having a good time." Steve was asking eager questions about traveling via BiFrost, and Thor was happily explaining the science behind it all.

Tony inclined his head in agreement. "It is awfully cute," he said. He was momentarily struck by a flashback of a small version of himself, standing on a stool and washing dishes with Edwin Jarvis, chattering away about the mechanics of the radio he'd taken apart as Jarvis smiled encouragingly. He swallowed down a sudden knot in his throat and left Steve to his chatting with the Asgardian.

Once the dishes were clean, Steve took Tony on a tour of the fort, proudly explaining its construction and features. "Very nice," Tony said approvingly. "I like it."

Steve grinned. "Thanks. We worked real hard on it. What do you think we should play?"

Tony paused. He had no idea. It had been a long time since he'd been a kid. He considered, then a slow smile crept across his face. He wasn't quite sure what a kid Steve's age would play, but he knew just the kind of thing to do in a fort with all these pillows and blankets at this time of evening. "Well, I saw you had a pretty impressive hookup in there," he said. "What if we had ice cream and watched a movie?"

"I like movies," Steve said. He looked over the fort, confused. "Are we going to the movie theater? I thought we were gonna play in the fort."

Oh, that's right. Steve was a 20's kid. Tony's grin got even wider. "You mean to tell me you've been in the future for a day and a half and no one's told you what a TV is?"

Steve shook his head.

Tony chuckled. "Oh, you're gonna think this is so cool. Here, come with me." He led him to the other side of the living room where the TV was still sitting on its stand, though all the furniture that should have been facing it was part of the fort. "Picture a movie theater, but in your house." He picked up the remote and placed it in Steve's hand. "Point it at that and press the red button."

Steve did so, and his jaw dropped open as the TV came to life. "Whoa," he breathed.

"Right?" Tony said, even though it was just a cereal commercial. "Now, check this out." He reached over and hit the button to change the channel, and Steve gasped and dropped the remote as a hockey game appeared on screen.

"That's so cool!" he said. "It's like a little movie screen. And it's…" He grinned. "It's in color."

Tony laughed. "Yeah, it's in color. All kinds of colors. So, I was thinking, we move this into the fort." He pointed back at the pile of couches and pillows. "Grab some ice cream, and watch a movie. What do you say?"

"Yeah, let's do that!" Steve enthused.

While Tony worked on moving the TV, Barnes sent Steve back to his room to get a bath and change into his pajamas, since it would be late once the movie was over. "He's seriously like his dad," Tony said to Sam.

"Yeah, well, he's used to taking care of him. It's probably good for him," Sam said, and even though it was a little unclear which of them he thought it was good for, he was probably right.

Tony browsed his selection of movies that were kid-appropriate while Natasha and Clint scooped ice cream. He almost went with Lion King—always a classic—but then reconsidered as the thought struck him that Steve was currently essentially an orphan, and while he was still finding his footing probably wasn't the time to be throwing dead parents at him. That ruled out a good chunk of the Disney movies, actually, so he had F.R.I.D.A.Y. cue up the Lego Movie.

"I had not thought to say this of our Captain, but he is cute, is he not?" Thor asked as Steve came back into the kitchen. Tony blushed as he realized something in his expression must have prompted Thor to say so, but he nodded. The kid was freaking adorable.

"It's the dinosaur pajamas," Tony said. "It's hard not to be cute in dinosaur pajamas." He wasn't sure how he'd ended up with those. F.R.I.D.A.Y. had taken measurements to get clothes for him, but Tony hadn't specified what she should get (Except for a couple of Captain America t-shirts. Tiny Cap in a Cap shirt? Couldn't pass that up.). There was a sense of fashion in the A.I.'s programming, or maybe it had something to do with Pepper's input, because the only way it could have been cuter was if the dinosaur pajamas were also footie pajamas, or maybe if the shirt had a hood with a little dinosaur face on it.

"Are you sure it's okay for me to have ice cream before bed?" Steve asked, keeping back from the ice cream until given explicit permission to take a bowl.

"It's not bedtime yet," Barnes pointed out. "And you're only getting a little bit."

"Can I put strawberries on it?" he asked quietly, eyeing the fruit Natasha was cutting up.

"I'm cutting them up just for you," she said.

"For me?" he asked, surprised.

"Yep. Bring your bowl over here."

Steve stepped forward, the ice cream in his bowl enough for his larger self to have finished in about three bites. His jaw dropped as Natasha deposited a heaping pile of strawberries on top of the frozen treat. "That's all for me?"

"It sure is. Strawberry's your favorite, right?"

"It is," Steve said, looking like he was trying very hard not to start drooling with anticipation. "But…" He looked up, more self-control on his little face than Tony had been able to muster in a while. "I don't want to take it all. I can share."

Natasha smiled warmly, reaching a hand down to ruffle his hair. "That's very thoughtful, Steve. But there's plenty more up here. You go ahead and enjoy those."

Steve beamed. "Thanks, Miss Natasha," he said in awe.

She stared after him as he followed Bucky to the fort, shaking her head. "I'm gonna call him 'sweetheart' one of these days," she sighed. "It's getting harder not to."

"He's got that effect, doesn't he?" Tony agreed, heaping chocolate sauce and M&M's onto his own ice cream. He noted that there was nary a bowl of peanuts or peanut butter-based treats in sight. Good. They could always eat that when the little guy wasn't around.

It was cozy inside the fort, and if not for the fact that there was a kid there, Tony might have felt a little silly, sitting in a pillow fort with his knees up against Barnes's. Though they had made an impressively large fort, there were a lot of them, so space was a little tight—Steve was sitting in Barnes's lap, Tony was sort of leaning on Thor, and Natasha was snuggled up against Clint. They all laughed along with the movie, especially whenever Steve would let out a burst of delighted laughter. Filled with ice cream and strawberries and warm and content, he shifted back against Barnes's chest with a sleepy sigh as they entered the final third of the movie. Barnes got up after a little while to get a drink, and Steve automatically crawled over into Tony's lap when he left. Tony looked down at him in surprise, but Steve didn't look up, merely curling up to get comfortable and leaning his head back on Tony's arm.

Tony wasn't sure what that was he was feeling, but it was kind of nice, and he smiled down fondly at the mop of blond hair and patted Steve's arm. Barnes smiled when he came back in, but shook his head when Tony nodded that he could take Steve back. When the movie was over and Steve did not start getting up with everyone else, Tony realized why.

"He's asleep," he whispered.

"Yeah," Barnes said. "That's why I didn't want to move him."

"He's asleep," Tony said again.

"It's very sweet," Wanda said, staring at the two of them with a sappy smile.

"He's asleep!" Tony said again.

"Why are you panicking?" Clint asked.

"I'm not panicking."

"Yes, you are," Natasha said.

"Okay, maybe a little," Tony conceded. "Captain America is asleep on my lap. I don't know what to do with that."

Barnes chuckled. "Just hang tight and we'll make an opening or something so you can stand up." He and Thor crawled outside and started moving one of the couches that made up the roof of the section they were in.

Steve sniffed and shifted, and Tony instinctively put a hand to the side of his head, covering his ear like he could shield him from the noise and patting his hair gently.

"Don't know what to do with that, huh?" Sam chuckled.

"Shut up, Wilson." Still. There was something…Tony didn't quite have the words for it, but there was something in the fact that Steve trusted him enough to fall asleep on him. Not that he didn't think Steve trusted him. Steve's trust in Tony's judgement might have been shaken during the Ultron incident, but Tony knew his trust in him as a person hadn't. And even what he had lost, it hadn't taken a long time to get it back. Steve was just like that. He offered chances where others wouldn't, never giving up his faith in your ability to become a better person, and something about that made you want to actually be a better person, and…

Tony shook his head. Look at him, getting all sappy over here, and just because the kid had fallen asleep in his lap. He was little and it was past his bedtime—he would have fallen asleep in anybody's lap. But he hadn't. He'd picked Tony. And that made Tony feel good, like someone had that little bit of faith in him. The way Cap was so good at making him feel.

"Alright, Steve," he said softly, cradling Steve's head against his chest with one hand and securing his grip on him with the other. He stood up in the space Barnes and Thor had created, edging out through the break in the wall. "Time for America's tiniest hero to go to bed." Steve nuzzled his head into the space between Tony's chin and shoulder with a sleepy sigh, and Tony pushed down the urge to plant a soft kiss on his head.

Barnes moved into Steve's room ahead of him and turned the covers of the bed down. Tony lowered him down to the mattress carefully, and Steve hugged a pillow to his chest and yawned and stretched, sleeping on. Tony just managed to stop himself again from kissing his forehead as he pulled the blanket up over him, and Natasha was right, what was that with the kid?

He reached down a hand and gently smoothed down his hair, brushing it away from his face. "Goodnight, Steve," he said softly.

So, Steve has learned that you can enjoy a movie in the comfort of your own home, and Tony might just have the makings of a good dad after all.

Up next, Steve has a bad day, and Sam, Thor and Bucky are all over that, because their little Captain is never going to be sad on their watch. Thor even sings a song.