-The next night-

The car was silent as even the wind had died down as though mocking their inability to hold conversation. Only the rise and fall of their breathing even proved that they were still alive. Shadows shrouded the car making it harder for their suspect to spot them in their stakeout spot. Steve fiddled with a case file on his lap as a way to dispel nervous energy. Every few minutes Tony glanced across at the other detective's moving fingers and would open his mouth to make a snide comment before having to begrudgingly stop himself. Fury's lecture was still spinning around his head reminding him that they'd be working together for the next few weeks until they close up this file so at least some civility would have to suffice.

Suddenly, the taller man's fingers froze and he moved his head slightly to the left as though to observe Tony through his peripheral vision. Like a goldfish, he opened and closed his mouth several times before the fully phrased sentence tumbled out with less grace than usual.

"D'you think Captain Fury was serious when he said we are the team's best detectives?" His voice was low and tense. The opinion of his Captain had always meant a lot to him; a habit which had stuck from his military days. It didn't help that he was hoping to become a Captain someday too.

"I mean… I clearly am. I can't speak for yo-"

"Stark!" Steve snapped, Tony turning everything into a joke or an opportunity to make a jab was one of Steve's greatest pet peeves about the other detective. H crossed his arms and leant back further into his seat.

"Fine. Yes, I'm pretty sure he meant it considering how if you put our arrest numbers together it's higher than the rest of the team's put together… But you're still a couple behind me, for the record." He added the second bit afterwards as though it was merely an afterthought and not something constantly spinning around his mind; Steve was always doing better so Tony would jump and any evidence which proved they were equals.

"Grow up will you, Stark." Steve huffed, wishing he had never brought up a subject which allowed Stark to go on a boasting spree. As if his ego needed boosting any more.

"Wait, shut up!"

"Excuse you?!"

"No seriously, look." Stark pointed in the direction of the bar they were scouting out. They both watched as the old man with white hair spoke the secret entry password and entered the bar. They shared a look before jumping out of the car and running as fast as they could after the man.

Steve kicked down the door, sending it reeling back into the wall, and they shot inside both shouting, "NYPD! Stay where you are and drop your weapons!"

The old man tried to run but Steve was quickly on his tail. A thug aimed for Steve to stop his pursuit but Tony shot at his arm causing the man to drop the gun. This allowed the taller detective to grab the drug lord and handcuff him in mere seconds. Once the commotion was over the two boys peered around the bar and suddenly Stark scoffed a laugh.

"Hey look, Rogers. Looks like there's no shortage of evidence after all."

Steve frowned but it transformed into a slight smile as he followed Tony's gesture to the piles of cocaine and drug money stacked up on a table. Some of it was scattered on the floor from the raid but there was certainly hundreds of thousands of dollars strewn around the area.

They met eyes and smirked, "Looks as though you're right, Stark."

It was over an hour later when the last criminal had been taken off the scene in the police van and the injured thug had been transported to hospital. Rogers and Stark were left behind and began making their way over to the unmarked police car they'd been staking out in. It was once they got there that Steve spoke.

"I really appreciate what you did back there, Stark."

The older man leant against the door of the car with a soft look on his features, "You're my partner. It's my job."

"Yes, that might be the case but you could have just saved my life so… Thank you, Tony." He admitted rubbing the back of his neck. He believed in giving people recognition when that recognition was deserved even if the individual was pretty much insufferable.

The other detective acted flirty and put on doe eyes, "Did you just call me 'Tony'? You've never actually called me by my first name. Does this mean we're official? Wait, on the marriage certificate are we going for my last name or yours because quite frankly Mr Stark-Rogers is obscene." He didn't want to try and figure out how he knew Steve had never used his first name but hearing him say 'Tony' felt right.

Steve shot him a look that read 'Don't push it' with a raised eyebrow before turning and strolling off in the opposite direction, "Goodnight, Detective Stark."

"Wait! Is that a break up?" He shouted after the man, raising his voice to ensure the leaving man could still hear him. His arch-nemesis just addressed him by his name and he wasn't about to let that be ignored, "I'll just set my Facebook profile to 'it's complicated'! ... Yeah? Steve?" It was only when he turned to get into the car that he realised he'd driven them both there, "Do you not want a lift?" After a few moments of silence he murmured to himself, "Okay, a clean break. I totally get it."

He smiled in the direction of his colleague's retreating figure and shook his head with a newly developed fondness.


A couple of mornings later, Tony was actually on time for the first time in his entire career. He sat at his desk waiting for praise from his co-workers. Despite this, they ignored him in an attempt to deflate his over-inflated ego. He crossed his arms and pouted in defiance.

He spotted the moment Steve slunk into the precinct and couldn't help but grin at the fact that he had beaten the man into work for the first time, "Ah! Rogers, I have the file for that arrest we did the other night. I need you to sign it for me." He watched closely as the man dumped his bag by his desk and dragged his feet across the room to Stark's desk. He signed lazily which was unusual for the tall and obsessive man.

"Late night?" He hypothesised out loud, to which Steve gave him a half-nod half-shrug.

Minutes later, Stark was still trying, unsuccessfully, to extract information from Steve about his late night antics. However, he was secretly sure the man probably just got too engrossed in searching for mistakes in the crossword puzzle until 2am… it had happened before. They both jumped as Fury's office door was thrown open, threatening to smash the glass panelling, and the man marched out with a look of utter rage carved into his face.

"THE BREIFING ROOM… NOW!"