Final Part!

I hope you enjoyed reading it!

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Tony was careful not to let the information in his head take too much precedence over his walk back from the restaurant. He was finally getting the hang of processing SHIELD's entire information grid all at once.

Tony returned safely to the hotel room. He placed the Chinese food on a chair next to a table opposite his laptop.

He dropped the art supplies on the bed. The side that Steve had a tendency to sleep on. So he wouldn't have to go searching for it, Tony rationalized.

So he won't miss it. He thought.

Tony was almost surprised Steve wasn't back yet.

He must have really needed to get out.

Pangs of guilt that seemed too easily able to penetrate his defenses plagued Tony's mind. He drowned them out by swarming his mind with Extremis data instead.

His constant companion, the migraine, flared but Tony was going to get some work done. As much as possible before Steve returned. Not that "communications relay hub" really had a lull for things to do…

He flipped open his laptop to further process code he'd been compiling to take care of, and analyze, the reports he'd been getting from Washington.

Waking life didn't come back until he saw on the surveillance camera that Steve Rogers was walking down the street towards their hotel. He'd be back in a few minutes. Tony slowly started pulling himself out the data fields, wanting to be fully aware of Steve's return. He'd try really hard not to be a bad host tonight.

Steve opened the door.

Tony gently held his breath, turning his head nonchalantly and giving a smile he hoped wouldn't be too obvious. He'd really missed Steve's presence.

"Have a nice walk?" he offered, desperate not to sound desperate.

Steve replied that he'd had a good day and asked if Tony had been outside. "Uh-huh." Tony replied, looking at Steve walk towards the bed in the reflection of the laptop's screen.

He looked so good.

"Just to get a feel for the neighborhood. I have no idea why Fury thought this would be a good place for us to go to ground." Tony furrowed his brow, thinking of the man who'd knocked into him.

Steve said something about not bothering to figure out Fury, but Tony had stopped listening. Steve had found the art supplies on the bed. Tony felt his heart rate quicken.

Would he like them? Would he know Tony was sorry for sticking him with a babysitting job? Would he understand that these simple supplies were to make up for all the things left unspoken? Would he…?

"These cost a dollar each, and I can make them myself out of a folded piece of paper."

Tony eyed the art supplies that had failed him, and didn't miss a beat. "The clerk said you needed it for shading." He looked at the blending stump in contempt.

"Only if you don't know how to improvise," He heard Steve reply.

Oh, I'll improvise your face, Steve Rogers… Tony thought, staring at him blankly

"Bill Mauldin didn't use one," Steve said, folding his arms across his chest.

He looked so cute when he pouted.

"Are you going to quaff a glass of root beer in his memory, too?" Tony asked, hoping to get a rise out of him. The look in Steve's eyes was enough to make Tony smile. It was just what he'd been looking for.

"Oh! There's food." Tony remembered, trying another tactic to show how much he'd thought of Steve while he'd been out. He hoped it would make Steve happy if he ate with him. He was always going on about getting him to eat.

Even before… everything.

Steve wore an amused face as he sat across from Tony and the computer. Tony couldn't properly see Steve so he transferred the computer to the bed, and then realized that eating food with Steve contained eating food and took the containers Steve offered him.

Steve sat quietly eating and Tony couldn't tell if he was bored. Erring on the side of caution, Tony filled the silence with what was going on in his head.

He started with Doctor Strange having just reported in and then the conservation moved to the Winter Solider and even Mandy.

Tony hoped he was making sense. He felt the links from the Extremis pulling more of his attention away from waking life.

And then suddenly Steve was holding his hand.

Tony felt the Extremis fold neatly and quickly away and looked over into Steve's blue eyes.

They were transfixed upon his hand and Tony couldn't imagine why.

Steve removed the chopsticks Tony didn't even remember he was still holding and held on tighter to his hand.

"If you're going to keep working on that laptop, you could at least pretend to type," was all Steve would say. Tony wasn't sure what he'd done wrong. He hadn't been paying attention so he could pinpoint when Steve had gotten upset.

Stupid…

With his free hand Tony closed to laptop on the bed without looking at it.

Steve had been looking at Tony's wrist but he stopped when he heard the clack of the computer lid close.

Steve looked over at the computer. "Don't you need that?" He asked, still sounding hurt.

"Not tonight." Tony replied. Steve met his gaze, and then smiled.

"You shaved." He stated, his right hand reaching for Tony's chin. Tony frowned and grabbed Steve's hand away. He stared intently at it before fixing his gaze on Steve's azure eyes.

Tony could already feel all of the connections the Extremis held open for him vying for his attention. It would only be one or two more days before he wouldn't be able to ignore them like this without letting someone down.

But Steve was his main priority right now. He might not get a second chance at this.

He must have looked really serious, trying his best to keep the connections at bay, because Steve was frowning again.

"Tony are you ok?"

Tony didn't pause. "I'm fine." He answered, pulling the man into a kiss from across the table. Steve tensed at first, not expecting the move, but then he relaxed into it. Finally he pulled Tony in for more.

Tony felt frustrated with himself for not being able to say more. He knew he beat himself up about a lot of things that Steve wouldn't understand, but he refused to share them less Steve feel pressured into something relationship-wise that was more then what he really wanted, all for the fear that Tony would have another one of his infamous breakdowns.

Steve felt so warm.

Tony had almost forgotten how good warm felt.

They both gasped as they parted, together having run out of air.

Steve was already pulling up his shirt. Tony quickly set the laptop on the floor and had all of two seconds to turn around before Steve had him on the bed.

"I missed you." Tony let slip before he could control his mouth. Steve paused, looking down at him.

"You could've come with me." He said, lifting Tony's shirt up slowly. Tony raised his arms and said as it slipped over his head, "Shut up Steve."

They kissed again and Tony felt the world come together in a way he'd never experienced any other way. He felt safe and in control when he was with Steve. Steve's moral compass pretty much pointed true North and Tony felt the voices that had always found a way to hound him stay at bay when he was in Captain America's strong arms.

"I wished you had." Steve managed to say. This time Tony paused. Then he smiled.

"Shut up St--" Before Tony could finish Steve was kissing him again.

Tony woke to the smell of coffee.

It had been so relaxing to feel the gentle breathing of Captain America in his arms last night when he'd been once again engrossed in the Extremis data. Steve was like an anchor.

Now, though, Tony mostly felt like grumbling. Only four hours of sleep was… annoying.

His eyes didn't want to open but he forced them to accept his commands for alertness.

Almost immediately Tony felt the Extremis data swarm his senses.

He sighed and rolled over onto his back.

"You've been getting up really early lately." Steve's voice.

Tony made a grunting noise that was supposed to be, "Coffee now."

No coffee materialized so he tried again.

"I thought I smelled…" And there it was… salvation within arms reach.

Tony sat up slowly in bed and took the cup of coffee from Steve's outstretched hand.

"We have to leave in about two hours." Steve said, now sitting at the edge of the bed and untying his running shoes.

"Kay." Tony replied, leaning his head back against the bed's head rest.

"Gonna take a shower." He heard Steve say. The bed squeaked when Steve's weight was removed from it.

Tony leaned forward and took another sip of coffee.

Finally, he went to go and find where his laptop had run off to when a piece of paper on the end of the bed caught his eye.

Tony placed his coffee on the table and reached down to look at what he'd found.

Tony felt a smile spread across his face as he gazed upon the sketch Steve had drawn that morning. The clear outline of Snoopy's doghouse could be seen as well as the outlines of both himself and Steve in full Avengers attire. They both had drinks in their hands that were clearly labeled root beer.

A little caption read: Here's to us. I read you loud and clear.

Tony's mind fell into calmness.

He held the smile for the rest of the day.

The End. xoxo