Steve and Tony (*****%^)

A/N: Okay, this is not a slash or pairing thingy. I just thought about combining the two together because I could not come up with a good idea for them to stand by themselves. As you have noticed, everyone calls Steve at the very end of each story. So let us see how that turned out for him and the other Avengers in the Tower. *Smiles and rubs hands together plotting*

P.S. Sorry it took so long. (Smiles sheepishly and scratches the back of neck) I had a lot of work to do…

Disclaimer: I still do not own the Avengers….life sucks.

Normally, Steve has more patience than this. But due to the events that have lead up to this moment in the past month or two, it's a miracle that he has been able to keep a clear head for this long.

This is why Steve Rogers, otherwise known as Captain America to the city of New York, was stalking down Tony Stark like he was a top secret file in a Hydra data base in the Avenger's Tower. This moment could have been avoided if one of two things happened. 1) Tony didn't annoy everyone in the Tower, or 2) Tony wasn't being cocky. Of course, the latter would have been difficult for the naturally snarky man, but one could only hope right?

The rest of the team, besides the hiding Tony, were worried for the two. Steve is practically the definition of patience as Bruce is for anger management! Look up the definition of the word patience in the dictionary and you'd find a picture of Captain America saluting you on the page in his full red, white, and blue glory. In any other situation, the team would bless the man for putting up with them for so long! He was practically oozing the quality! Steve has been the butt of many of Clint's pranks, has eyed the barrel of Natasha's guns, listens and tries his hardest to understand the rapid fire science talk that Bruce puts on him, and even sits and listens to Pepper rant about Tony. Heck! He even deals with Tony! Most people would have shoved them in a shrink office or ran for the hills to get out of the Avengers band of misfits.

But not Steve, well, until today that is.

He may be the most forgiving and self-sacrificing man in the world, but when you push his buttons to much and he lost his cool? Even the top S.H.I.E.L.D. spies didn't want to get in his way.

Everyone was still trying to piece together what had happened to actually cause this, and there efforts became even more frantic at Steve's ear splitting shout from one of the higher floors. At first no one seemed to realize that his shout was actually a word, and that word was Tony.

~FLASHBACK~

"This is ridiculous! How the heck did he get out?"

"I have no inkly as to who let out Loki, but when I find whoever is responsible for this fowl prank, they will pay!"

Steve listened half-heartedly to who he had recognized as Tony and Thor complaining over the earcomm. This would not help the situation that they were currently in, so why were they fussing? Yet, all points considered, he was just as curious as to how the Norse god of mischief had managed to get back to earth. After the first alien invasion, the world opened up for Steve on a much bigger scale. Confusing the already out of time man even more with the potential of things much bigger and smarter than human beings outside of this galaxy.

In the 1940s, the idea of UFOs and other intelligent beings were things that only attention loving people chased. But as Steve was jumping over a smoldering ruin of a Honda Element that Loki blew it up with an energy ball, he was no longer calling them crazy. It was moments like these that made Steve wonder just what happened when he was under the ice. When did all of these things come up? How long have they been where they were? Heck! If it weren't for the supposedly fictional god flying over Times Square, Steve would still refuse to believe it!

"Thor, how the heck did you not know that Loki was out of his cell?! Weren't you just on Asgard last week?" Clint was shouting now, when had he started talking?

"He must have used a cloaking magic to disguise his absence. I went to see that he was still there, I swear it!" Thor said desperately. He honestly did, it was still a surprise to him as it was to the rest of the Avengers.

"Well, some check you did there Goldilocks! Hey! Watch it Loki! You are not the one who has to pay for the damage done to the city! I already have to pay for everything that Point Break over here demolishes, and New York is NOT one of them!?"

Then another explosion went off followed by evil laughter. "Aargh! Steve, I hope you have a better plan than jumping over hurdles!?"

Steve bit his tongue, cutting back the snarky remark about how he wouldn't have to jump over things if they stopped giving Loki stuff to set on fire in favor of saying, "I'm working on it, Stark."

Steve stopped midstride to catch his breath and remember the arrangements set prior to landing. Clint was stationed at the top of one of the building on 7th Avenue closest to the fight. Bruce and Tasha were flying the quinjet as close to the fight as possible to keep Loki in one general area. Thor and Tony were in the heat of the battle trying to tire Loki out. And he was coming off of 46th Street to meet the team. He would have been there sooner if it weren't for the fact that there were flying object being hurtled over building and almost crushing him. Another explosion went off, shaking Steve out of his two second trance.

"Cli- er, uhm, Hawkeye, how's the view?"

Clint took a second to respond. After all, he was talking to more than just the Avengers over the comm link. "Sorry, Cap, Fury yelling in my ear. Okay, Loki is being relentless. Tony has his butt stuck in an office building. Thor just hit Loki with lightning,' a loud crack followed by crashing and banging of a sort,' and Black Widow and Bruce are still in the quinjet. Where are you? Loki just got up again and looks pissed!"

Steve sighed and went back to running. "I'm rounding the bend now. There are just way to many cars here."

Clint laughed and Steve could hear the sharp thwip of his arrows leaving his bow.

"Wow, Gramps. You're still using terms like "round the bend"? Next you're going to be sing "She'll be coming around the Mountain"! I need to teach you 21st century metaphors. Ouch- why does have to be so pointy?! Crap! He chipped my paint! Loki you sick cackling green Tellytubby! How dare you scratch my paint! Do you have any idea as to how expensive this is?! Wait, don't answer that. STEVE! Get you spangled tights over here!"

Steve grunted at Tony's antics and complains over his supposedly 'chipped' armor. When everybody knew good and well that the man could pay for it. For a billionaire/genius/playboy/philanthropist, Tony was probably one of the whiniest men that Steve ever met! He was still wondering to this day how they managed to stay a team for so long, or how Natasha hadn't tried to kill him yet. Steve made a hard left from what looked like a coffee house with a huge chunk of concrete shoved through the front entrance, never breaking stride. Steve silently hoped that the people inside had managed to evacuate the store before the rock went through.

"Don't worry Cap, the police and S.H.I.E.L.D. have managed to get most of the area evacuated." Clint replied as if reading Steve's mind.

Steve nodded his head in the direction of the building he knew Clint was stationed and continued running down the street. His serum enhanced sense determined the extent of the damage before his arrival.

Huge craters littered the streets all around the Times Square roads. Cars, thankfully unoccupied, were turned over and covered in soot and char if they weren't already on fire. Broken glass and telephone poles also covered the ground and live wires lay spazzing out on the street. Once decent looking building, were in shambles due to the fight against two gods, a man in iron and an archer's arrows. Fury was going to have a Field Day when he seeing the extent of the damage, but it's not like they could really help it!

Captain America reached back and retrieved his shield from the leather straps holding it in place along his spine. Yep, this was going to be a long day.

The fight ended up lasting another two hours once Steve arrived. And the outcome left only a few of them untouched. Around the end, Bruce was unfortunately asked to bring out the Hulk which turned out to be just the person- or thing? Steve didn't exactly know- that the Avengers needed. As soon as the green giant made his entrance known, Loki's paled by at least five shades and began flying for his life. Hulk had jumped up and scaled the nearest building- Tony had made some comment about him being Donkey Kong and when Steve asked about it, Tony told Jarvis to make a note to have Steve play something called Mario Kart- before launching himself in the air and tackling the god of mischief to the ground. Where he proceeded to do what he did to Loki at the battle against the Chitari.

Thor went over and placed his hammer directly over Loki's stomach to hold him in place until S.H.I.E.L.D. could arrive and take him while bringing in a cleanup crew. The Hulk then roared in Loki's face yelling, "PUNY GOD NO COME BACK!" then he let Bruce take control. Natasha approached the nude man with a pair of pants and a random t-shirt she had grabbed from a destroyed department store, which he accepted gratefully. Once Loki was contained, Steve did a once over of everyone and catalogued their injuries.

Natasha had a bright red line across her neck. That was probably from the whiplash she received when Tony ungracefully crashed into the jet when Loki shot at him, but other than that she was fine. Bruce looked exhausted, but then again he usually was after he let the Hulk take over. So that was something that a little sleep could fix. Thor was breathing heavy and favored his right leg slightly, but upon Steve's examining gaze shook his head as if saying he was fine. Tony was fine, with the exception of the dents and scratches on his suite. And Clint didn't seem to have a scratch on him! So to chalk things up, everyone just needed some food and sleep and they should be good as new.

Steve drew closer to his team just as Tony was taking off his face plate.

"Wow, Steve, how are you even walking?!" Steve cursed silently under his breath when everyone turned a questioning eye on their captain. He knew he didn't look good, but it was still odd to see the various looks on each of the other Avengers' faces. Steve's uniform was ripped and torn in several places, blood oozing from various cuts and burns. More than one area on the uniform was charred and upon closer inspection, Steve believed that there was glass shards in at least one of his cuts. Steve shrugged, fighting back a wince as he moved his tight shoulders.

"I'm fine, Tony. Just worry about your suite and what we are going to have for dinner." Steve wasn't in the mood to deal with the stubborn man as he swung his shield back onto his back ,groaned, and stood between Natasha and Thor.

"Tis not fine, Friend Steve! You are injured and require a healer! What all happened to you during the duration of the battle?" Steve tried to ignore Thor, but the man had the most compelling puppy dog face on at the moment as he took a much closer look at his injured Captain. Steve attempted to back up a step as Thor came a little too close for his comfort zone and looked down.

"I'm fine Thor, I just need to sle- Ahh! Natasha!?" Steve yelped as the black clad assassin poked his ribs. How did she even know they hurt?

"No, you're not fine Steve' she replied continuing to poke his side only getting the same response,' tell us what happened to your ribs, then I'll stop." She fixed Steve with her Don't-give-me-crap-look and folded her arms around her chest waiting. Steve still wanted to remain silent, but Clint, living up to his name sake, spoke for him.

"Loki used his septor and rammed Steve into the big screen a few times before tossing him into that office building." Everyone followed Clint's finger and were not surprised to find a Steve shaped hole in the brick building. Everyone let out a various sounds of acceptance before turning back to Steve.

The man tried to let out an exasperated sigh, but caught himself midway when his ribs protested violently. He clinched his eyes shut and waited for the hot pain to settle before meeting the archer's gaze.

"Traitor," Steve said as he watch the other blue eyed man chuckle step toward him. Taking off Steve's shiled, Clint took Steve's arm- that had somehow found its way around his torso- and gently placed it over his shoulders. Clint's right arm was wrapped around the middle of Steve's back to avoid the burn that resided in between his shoulder blades. Thor moved to take his other side. Natasha took Steve's shield from Clint so that he could have a better grip on the injured man, and followed behind the trio. Leaving Tony and Bruce to bringing up the rear and glaring at anyone who came to close.

~END FLASHBACK~

Thor and Clint deposited Steve on one of the closest bed to the entrance of the infirmary in the Tower and Bruce went right to work. When he was in doctor mode, he required all none essentials out of the room. So the rest of the team went to their separate apartments to change into some comfortable clothes before meeting back up in the Avengers' living room. Everyone was in various forms of comfort when Bruce came in. He plopped down on one the plush loveseats and closed his eyes before telling everyone Steve's grocery list.

"He didn't get to badly hurt this time. He's got a couple stitches on his arms and chest, a few burns (they are all minor) on his back and front, and three cracked ribs. He'll be fine, he's in his room changing now." Whatever tension in the room diminished after hearing their unofficial/official doctor tell them the extent of Steve's injures. They all knew that he didn't like them worrying over him, but the man dealt with them on an almost daily bases. So it almost worried them whenever he shrugged off an injury or tried to hide them. That was when Tony decided to come into the room fiddling with one of his suite's gauntlets. Tony decided to do a manual take off today, to let the adrenaline slowly fade on its own.

"How's Spangles?" he asked, not looking up while digging the screw driver in one of the support ports.

Bruce opened his eyes and sat up just enough to see Stark from the back of the loveseat. "He'll live. Decided to go with a manual approach today?" Bruce raised an eyebrow.

"Yep."

Banner replied with an "hm" before flopping back down. Tony put the screwdriver on the hallway table and tried to pry off his gauntlet.

"D— that stupid Reindeer, he dented my gauntlet!?" Tony shouted and resorted to banging it against the marble table only making matters worse. Thor watched from his spot at the dining table next to Natasha.

"Do you require assistance, Son of Stark?" Thor asked, making a move to get up.

Tony stopped fiddling with a look of horror on his face that stilled the Asgardians efforts. "NO! I like my arm exactly where it is on my body with nothing broken! I already have to repaint the suite! No need to remake an entire hand!" Thor looked hurt at the accusation and stood up the rest of the way and proceeded to limping toward Tony. Stark took a step back into the hall way and held up both his protected and fleshy hands.

"Whoa, there Goldilocks! Don't get your cape in a twist." Now Thor was upset.

"I was only trying to assist you, Friend Stark! Why must you be as stubborn as an ox?" Tony looked half ready to laugh.

"I'm sorry, Shakespeare, but the last time you help me take a piece off my suite, and you ripped the entire face plate OFF! So, forgive me for not wanting any more of my toys broken! I have Dummy and Butterfingers for that!" Tony's arms were flying everywhere in his rant, not really paying attention to where they may land.

Natasha, who was watching the scene unfold from something amusing to a deadly ordeal tried to interfere," Careful Stark, you don't want to break something."

Tony tilted to the left of Thor to get a better view of the assassin as she watched the two men. "Oh really! Now you're on Hammer head's side! How dare you!" Just to make a point, Tony straightened and started to swing his arms all over the place in every which way he pleased. All the while giving Natasha an I'll-do-what-I-want face. He even went as far as doing the YMCA motions! "Look at me now, Nat! Oh wait the windmill!"

Tony was moving his arms in a circular motion.

"I wouldn't do that Stark…" Clint's eye widened at the sound of footsteps coming in through the halls. "You could hit somebo-"

But Tony interrupted him, "Look at this face Barton! I'LL DO WHAT I W-"A loud crunch followed by someone's yelp stopped the billionaire midsentence. Tony froze and whipped around to see who he hit, only to turn and book it to the other hallway on the other side of the living room.

Steve titled his head up, eyes shut tight with the new pain that blossomed in his face. What the heck was that?! He thought as he opened one eye to look at the cause of the pain. Everyone in the room before him looked like deer in the head lights of a car. Thor took a few steps back at the sight of the crimson river flowing down Steve's face, staining his lips and teeth. Natasha dropped her legs from the table and looked she was bracing to stand, Clint sat plank straight on the leather couch and Bruce was once again looking up over the back of the loveseat. But there was one person that wasn't in the room. One snarky, obnoxious, stubborn, playboy, genius that the Captain did not see.

"Where's Stark?" Everyone cringed at the venom that was laced in Steve's voice. No one had ever know their patient and polite Steve Rogers had a voice so scary. Steve's lip pulled back from his pink teeth as he snarled, "Where is he?!"

Every hand in the room pointed to the second hallway and faster that Thor's lightning, Steve was down the hall. Never had the Avengers seen a man that injured run that fast. It was that moment that Pepper came in from the elevator doors texting on her phone and purse draped over her shoulder. She looked up from her phone and at the startled expressions adorning everyone's faces. She frowned and looked around the room, only to find a few drops of blood splattered in a line across the carpet. "What did Tony do?" was her only reply just as Steve yelled for man of the hour…

"TONY!?"

A/N: Alright! This is the end of the story! Was it good? Should I make more for the Avengers or move on? Please review!