It's five to seven in the morning when Steve arrives in the communal kitchen freshly showered after his run.
He makes himself some toast and pours some orange juice before sitting down at the table to read the newspaper that he picked up while he was out.
The sound of the lift opening again and the coffee machine starting is something of a surprise.
'Good morning, Tony,' he greets the other man in confusion.
There's no response initially; Tony is operating on autopilot as he continues to work on something on his tablet. He drinks some of his coffee and finally looks up and around.
'Cap?' he looks around again. 'Jarvis, why am I not in the penthouse?'
'Your desire for caffeine did not require you to go to the penthouse.'
Tony pulls a face and then shrugs,
'Fine, what time is it?'
'Three minutes past seven.'
'Have you been awake all night?' Steve blurts.
'Hmm?' Tony had turned back to his tablet but looks up again now. 'Yeah.'
'But what about Pete?'
Tony just stares at him.
'Won't you be tired?' Steve prompts.
Tony barks out a sudden laugh,
'I do this pretty regularly, sugar.'
Does Tony realise he saves all his sweetest nicknames for Steve?
'Well, ok,' Steve's flustered look is hidden when Tony just looks back down at his work. 'When do you want breakfast?'
'Whenever Pete wakes up,' Tony replies. 'Jarvis, bump it up half a percent and run the numbers again.'
'Additional strain to outer plating that would become disastrous at high altitudes,' Jarvis deadpans.
'Yeah, sure,' Tony nods, 'so increase outer plating thickness by a millimetre.'
'Additional weight will increase thrust requirements by...'
'Jay, you're such a ray of fucking sunshine.'
'Will Ms Potts be joining us for breakfast?' Steve asks.
'Probably,' Tony agrees as he flicks his fingers a few times. 'Enlarge, Jarvis,' a hologram appears between them which hopefully makes more sense to Tony than it does to Steve.
'Does she like waffles?'
'Everyone likes waffles,' Tony scoffs.
'Alright then' Steve smiles.
'Are you eating?' Tony suddenly flicks his entire attention to Steve.
'Yes?' Steve agrees.
'So waffles will be your,' Tony grins, 'second breakfast?'
'I get that reference,' Steve manages not to stick out his tongue. 'Clint showed me that movie and I'm much too tall to be a hobbit.'
'Hah,' Tony's still grinning at him, 'guess you are.'
Steve just smiles and turns back to his food.
The light show hovering over the table is a little distracting.
'What are you working on?' Steve asks as Tony continues to flick things around over his plate.
'Escape pod,' Tony mutters and moves something over.
'To escape what?'
'The tower.'
Steve waits but Tony doesn't elaborate.
'Sir, Peter is beginning to stir.'
'Right...' Tony replies distractedly and there's the smallest of pauses before his head snaps up, 'Right! Yes, ok.'
Steve smiles affectionately,
'I'll come up with you.'
'Yeah,' Tony's already heading for the lift. 'Save that, Jay.'
The lift starts upwards without them saying anything and Tony runs a hand through his hair. At the penthouse he's off and down the corridor towards his bedroom almost before the doors have opened all the way.
Steve takes in the colourful boxes along the way and moves to the kitchen.
'Oh,' that wasn't polite, 'sorry, good morning Ms Potts. I was going to make waffles?'
Pepper smiles at him across her tablet where she's sitting at a new round dining table,
'Call me Pepper,' she shifts her gown around her shoulders.
'Sure, ma'am,' Steve agrees and then his eyes widen, 'I mean Pepper.'
'You're sweet,' Pepper smiles at him.
'So I've been told,' Steve shakes his head and moves to the fridge, he smiles at the drawing stuck to the door. 'Would you like another coffee?'
'No, thank you,' she's watching him. 'Steve, I just want to thank you for looking out for Tony. He doesn't have many friends he can rely on for this sort of thing.'
'Oh, it's no problem, ma'a... Pepper,' he gets out the ingredients. 'Tony's great and Peter's amazing. I'm a little jealous really.'
'Jealous,' Pepper smiles, 'you'd like a family?'
'Yes, ma'am,' he smiles back before shrugging helplessly, 'sorry, Pepper. It's... It just seems nice, you know?'
'I do,' she's watching him like Natasha watches a target. Is it a woman thing?
'Look who's here Pete,' Tony reappears with his son freshly dressed and perched on his hip.
'Cap,' Pete beams at him.
'Hey, Pete,' Steve returns his smile.
'Pete, this is Auntie Pepper,' Tony adds. 'She organises your Dada's life.'
'Hello, sweetie,' Pepper stands up and moves to Tony. 'I brought you this,' she offers him a soft blue blanket.
'A blanky?' Tony cocks his head. 'I didn't think of that.'
Pete takes the blanket and pulls it to his chest as he tucks himself closer to Tony.
'It's alright, buddy,' Tony presses his cheek to his son's head.
'I want to stay with you.'
'You are staying with me,' Tony tells him. 'Look, Pepper got us a Pete sized chair! When did this arrive?'
He looks over his new table with four chairs, one of which has a booster cushion.
'Three thirty this morning,' Jarvis reports. 'I supervised the installation.'
'That's why Jarvis is our favourite, Pete,' Tony declares expansively.
'You're too kind, sir,' if Jarvis had eyes he'd clearly be rolling them. Tony just laughs.
'Here, Tony,' Steve waves him to a chair, 'coffee for you and milk for Pete.'
'My saviour,' Tony sits beside his son and pulls his coffee to his chest.
'Is that... an image of the arc reactor on the blanket?' Steve tries to get a better look without pulling it away from Pete.
'Yes,' Pepper sits down on Tony's other side. 'I had it commissioned.'
'Like Dada,' Pete pipes up, looking at his blanket.
'That's right,' Pepper agrees, 'like your Dada.'
'Do things always happen that quickly if you drop the name Stark?' Steve asks.
'Generally,' Tony grins at him.
Steve shakes his head with a smile and turns back to making breakfast.
'Tony, your conference call is at eleven,' Pepper gestures with her tablet. 'We should have the numbers in from California this afternoon and you know the Gala is a week tomorrow?'
'I'm not so interested in California's numbers as Florida's,' Tony replies. 'I want to know why they're behind.'
'Only by a day,' Pepper turns back to her tablet.
So much of this conversation makes no sense to Steve.
'Do I have a new suit for the Gala?'
'Yes, sir,' it's Jarvis that replies. 'It will arrive on the day in question.'
'I'm going to need Cap to come,' Tony adds. 'Get him a suit too.'
'Do I get a say?' Steve glances over his shoulder.
'No,' Tony smirks at him. 'I can't leave Pete with anyone so he'll have to come, so you'll have to be there to look after him.'
'Why do I need a suit if I'll be out the back playing with Pete?'
'Please,' Tony scoffs but doesn't respond further.
'Here,' Steve turns around with a plate stacked high with waffles, 'help yourselves.'
'Thank you, Steve,' Pepper smiles as Tony takes two from the top for his son before taking some for himself.
'Sir, the work force will arrive within the hour to install the carpet in Peter's room.'
Tony nods and takes a large swallow of coffee,
'We'll be out of here by then. Make sure they know they can help themselves to the kitchen.'
They eat in silence for a while.
'Will you be staying long, Pepper?' Steve asks.
'I'll be here for a few weeks,' Pepper tells him. 'Being in the same place as Tony means we can get some things sorted and I was planning to attend the Gala anyway.'
'And of course Pete has nothing to do with it,' Steve teases her nervously.
She laughs,
'He is the perfect excuse,' she admits with a fond glance at the boy. 'I do have a meeting of my own today though, so I'll have to leave you boys to it.'
'Don't do anything I wouldn't do,' Tony advises her.
'I plan to be quite a lot more restrained than that,' she stands up. 'Will that be all, Mister Stark?'
'That'll be all, Ms Potts,' they smiles affectionately at each other and Pepper goes so far as to press a kiss to Tony's hair before she retreats to her room.
'Will you go back to the workshop today, then?' Steve asks.
'I'm on a roll with the escape pod,' Tony nods. 'I have a few things to do this afternoon and that call at eleven. Can you have Pete for me for a few hours? I should really speak to those guys in DC.'
'Of course!' Steve may have been a little eager with that response. 'I could take him to the assault course a few floors down? It's basically a jungle gym...'
Tony laughs,
'Sure.'
'Is that alright, Pete?' Steve smiles. 'You can come and play with me when your Dada has his meeting?'
Pete glances at his father and swallows his mouthful of waffle,
'I like Cap.'
'Great,' Tony smiles at him. 'You know you can always tell Jarvis if you need me and I'll come straight there, ok?'
Pete nods and smiles a little shyly at Steve,
'Ok.'
'Perfect,' Tony claps his hands together. 'Few hours until then, but we still need to get out of here.'
'Pete can pick out some toys and we could go to my floor?' Steve suggests as he gets up to load Tony's dishwasher.
'Alright,' Tony agrees. 'Come on, Pete, let's see which boxes Auntie Pepper put everything in.'
