Clint stealthily prowled through the Avengers Tower slowly collecting select members of the Avengers Team for a meeting. Once they were all gathered in the game room slouched across every available piece of furniture, in various states of undress, Clint raised his hand. "Alright I have some news."

"This better be good, Barton. I was having an amazing dream." Natasha glared at him as she crossed her arms; those sharp eyes were locked on her partner. Peter's face turned slightly red as he ducked further into his chair trying to shrink.

Thor grinned over at him, "It is ok young Peter."

A groan escaped the teenager, "I just want to sleep. That's all I want in this world right now is sleep. Blissful, merciful sleep."

"Steve made a move on Tony last night in the back of a limo!" Clint's voice cut through all the chatter and distracted minds.

Bruce choked, "What?" he stared at Clint incredulously, "We're talking about Steve Rogers…Captain America. That Steve Rogers?"

"Yep." Clint grinned unrepentant as Coulson shook his head at Clint's absolute lack of tact or ability to keep someone else's privacy.

"And?" Natasha raised an eyebrow, "You would not have that look on your face if there wasn't something more. Especially since I won the bet."

"I'm not saying." Clint looked away; as much as he wanted to razz Tony for showing up outside of his room basically asking for relationship advice he was very hesitant about mentioning that Steve was actually the first male to make a move on Tony Stark. Ever. But Tony's concerns seemed to be more important to keep to himself. It was only fair.

Peter stood up, "Well this was informative. I'm going back to bed." He turned and left the room slowly.

Thor glanced at the others; "So Steven is courting the Man of Iron?" he looked around, understanding the various differences between Midgard and Asgard had become quite important to him lately. Especially the courtship rituals.

"I suppose you could say that." Bruce drummed his fingers on the arm of his chair. "All we know, thanks to Clint, is that Steve apparently made a move on Tony. Not the outcome or reactions."

Every eye turned to Clint who stared back blankly, "What?"

"Well? Did that end poorly or was there a good result?"

Clint thought what the best course of action would be and what he could mention without having Stark gunning for him, "Stark didn't reject him if that's what you're wondering."

"But…" Natasha stared at him and Clint could practically hear the death threats. She'd spent more time around Tony Stark than they had so she knew there was something more.

"Steve might be the first guy who has ever actually made a move on him…" Silence met the statement.

"The first?" Bruce questioned.

"I'm surprised. The Man of Iron is a highly desirable companion. I would believe he would have far more suitors of both sexes."

"Don't tell me you're attracted to him too!" Clint laughed.

"I am quite happy with Lady Jane, but even I am able to recognize it. On Asgard he would have many suitors. There were many who were interested in him on our last visit."

Natasha lost it and couldn't help the laughter escaping her; a hand flew up to her mouth as she tried to quell the unrestrained response. "Thanks, Thor. That was perfect."

He looked confused but nonetheless beamed back at her in pleasure, "You're welcome, Natasha." He'd long since learned not to refer to her as 'Lady' anything. She didn't seem to take it too well.

"Fury is going to believe that Tony Stark corrupted a national icon…but if anything it would be the opposite way around." Bruce shook his head laughing. "I never would have guessed that Steve would make a move, but I guess it makes sense in a weird way."

Everything was going fine for the first few days. No comments. No jokes. No hints of anything. Tony was a man on edge because with Clint there was always another shoe to drop. The man had been handed something on what was essentially a silver platter and he'd yet to act which meant something was coming. Tony kept throwing suspicious glances in his direction.

Clint stared at him and looked down at his nightpants before raising an eyebrow, "Just because you were injured does not mean you're getting out of grocery shopping this week, Stark. Go shower and change."

Tony scowled at him, "In case you failed to notice, Barton, I only have the use of ONE arm and even then I can't lift any fucking thing!"

Steve glanced up and shook his head at Clint, "He'll rip his stitches. You know this, Clint." A sigh escaped.

Clint stood up, "Obviously I had planned on going with him to help, but he isn't getting out of it. I still went after that mission that ended up with me unconscious for two days. This will just count as mine for next week or Tony can just come with me next week to make it even."

"Fine." Tony wandered out of the kitchen muttering under his breath about evil archers and he just knew something was coming. Fortunately for him it wasn't directed in his direction. Unfortunately for Steve, it was all focused on him.

"So I heard you made a move on Tony after visiting the Met." Clint didn't even bother segueing into it. He just threw down all of his cards at once.

Steve choked on his orange juice, eyes watering as he looked up to meet Clint's eyes which were flat. There wasn't a sign of teasing in them…not even a hint. "What?"

"I wanted to let you know that if you do anything to Tony I will make it my mission in life to destroy yours. I've watched Tony prior to Natasha being stationed at Stark Industries to keep an eye on him. He has never gone into a relationship with everything on the line like this one and he will self-destruct if this fails horribly. So I wanted to warn you that if you break Tony we're going to have a problem." There was nothing of a joke in his eyes, no hint of amusement. Clint's voice was level, serious and everything about the archer was focused in on Steve in that moment. His point would get across.

"You think I'm going to hurt Tony?" those blue eyes were confused, "Why would I ever do that, Clint? I've been in love with him for months." Steve leaned forward, "Have I ever given the impression that I would do something like that?"

Clint crossed his arms feeling slightly better at Steve's reaction, but he'd seen Tony at some low points so he knew that despite that arrogant and cocky personality he showed off in public the other man had never really had an actual, stable relationship because the thing with Pepper was confused with her being his CEO. "I've seen people destroy those they love without realizing it, Cap just as I have seen them destroy them knowingly. I know you're a great guy and that of all of us in the tower you are probably the most morally sound individual. But I know about Tony's self-destructive tendencies and considering how he'd tried to act when the relationship with Pepper ended on 'mutual' grounds I can only hazard a guess on what would happen if this relationship went south. Especially since he has never even had another guy make a pass at him before."

A pained sigh, "Has it really been that bad in the past?" he was staring at Clint, "How do you know all of this?"

"SHIELD has been watching Tony Stark since he was fifteen."

A shudder went through Steve Rogers as he looked at Clint, "Fifteen?"

"That is what Phil told me. The official file on Tony is enormous. The one you were given on the team is the base facts on him. Fury's interest in him was spiked once again after Tony was kidnapped and came back home with an Arc Reactor in his chest. No one really knows that Tony has been basically under surveillance for so long."

"Clint! My nanny for the day! Where the hell are you?" Tony swung around the door frame into the kitchen to stare at the two men who were staring at each other. "Do I need to give you two a moment?" he snarked with a cocked eyebrow, a smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth.

"Nope." Clint popped the 'p' and turned his attention to his other teammate, "I was just curious how long it took you to primp in front of the mirror."

Tony rolled his eyes, "Kind of hard to take my clothes off and pull them back on with only one arm, Barton. I'm just glad I gave JARVIS access to doors, lights and showers because that saves some time. Let's get this done with, where is the damn list?"

Clint wandered over towards the fridge and pulled off the small Starktech device. "Here." He walked out of the kitchen towards the elevator without a glance back at Steve.

A grin took over Tony's face as he closed the distance between Steve and himself, "What's with the face?" he looked at Steve who moved his eyes from the doorway towards Tony. Steve pulled Tony closer and kissed him deeply, putting all of his feelings into the kiss and trying not to think about Clint's words. He wouldn't hurt Tony, he couldn't and he was glad that someone else had Tony's back in such a way. "Wow. I'm trying to figure out how you do that."

"Do what?"

"Keep kissing me like it's the first time." Tony stared at him and stepped back, "I better go; wouldn't want Barton having a conniption would I?"

"Clint's a good friend."

An eyebrow rose up at the unexpected response, "Yeah." Tony have him an incredulous look, "I'll keep him." It was said jokingly as Tony headed out of the kitchen leaving Steve behind.

"Where did all of that come from?" Steve muttered to himself before collecting all of the plates for the dishwasher. He looked once more over at the doorway before heading in the direction of the gym. A good workout sounded like an excellent idea.

"You're getting your own damn cereal, Barton. I'll not have you raiding my stash!" Tony glared at him sideways as they went down the aisles. "And this list is ridiculous! Ten boxes of Poptarts? Seriously?"

"You've gone grocery shopping for the Tower before, Stark. I know you have."

"It's called ordering everything to have it delivered, duh."

"You've been cheating this whole time!" Clint stared at him, "So not fair."

"Once. I went once and dragged Happy with me. Neither of us wanted a repeat. It was better for all involved."

"I call bullshit. There is no way it was that traumatic."

A raised eyebrow was the only response he received as Tony began to knock boxes of Poptarts into the cart before they began moving toward the next item. Everything was going fine. They had gotten everything except all of the refrigerator and freezer items. Happy had been more than happy, Tony snickered at that, to pack everything into the car. "Eggs…we need a fuckton of eggs." Clint muttered to himself.

"You're an egg." A chuckle escaped Tony's mouth when the three year old next to him started laughing at Clint who was staring at Tony with his eye twitching.

"An egg." The little boy giggled and Tony grinned as the mother of the little boy began to push the cart away from them.

"Oh really?" there was something in that voice that should have sent warning bells of in Tony Stark's head, but he'd been in the store for hours. He turned around and took an egg to the chest. Staring down he watched as the yolk made its descent towards the ground leaving a trail behind.

"No fucking way, Barton!" he reached over pulling open one of the containers before throwing it at Clint who dodged, but Tony was prepared as he began throwing them as best as he could with one arm and stitches. Clint was laughing until one hit his head and Tony choked on his own laugh as his eyes widened in slight horror. "Oh my God! I was not aiming—" an egg hit him right where the Arc Reactor was and exploded getting all over his face. "Fuck."

Thus began the Battle of the Grocery Store. There were many casualties.

Steve watched as the punching bag exploded and sent sand flying everywhere. He'd yet to try out the bag Tony had made for him as he didn't want to destroy something that the other man had worked so hard on.

"Hey Steve." Natasha was walking across the gym with an intent expression.

He grinned, "Hello Natasha." Steve tried not to focus on the huge mess he'd just made. "Thought you were at SHIELD today."

"I was, but I wanted to talk with you before the boys got back from shopping."

Now dread was filling Steve, she had wanted to corner him when there were no witnesses, "Oh." It was said faintly. What was with the two assassins and Tony Stark?

"Clint told me about an interesting conversation he had with Tony at four in the morning."

Steve's eyebrows raised, "What? When was this?" why on Earth was Tony up that early in the morning? He'd though the other was actually trying to sleep better so he'd have a better chance of recovery. Maybe JARVIS could figure out a way to lock Tony in his bedroom so he'd actually sleep. No…that probably wasn't safe.

"That day Director Fury came over and left in a rage. I'm sure Clint or someone else has already spoken to you, but I wanted to say something myself. While it may not appear as though I'm very fond of Tony Stark I have spent a lot of time observing him, studying him, interacting with him and trying to keep him alive. Unfortunately I did not expect to actually form any sort of attachment to him, but nonetheless it happened. Because of all of the things I have just mentioned I wanted to let you know if you do anything to Tony had damages him in any way there will be no place in any dimension that you will be able to hide from me." She smiled at him sweetly before patting his face, "But I know there is nothing to worry about because you're a good guy and you love him, right?"

Steve nodded dumbly still staring in shock at the tiny redhead in front of him. He knew her words to be completely true. "Nothing." He murmured, surprised at the reactions to him trying to start a relationship. It was weird, but nice to know others cared about Tony as well.

"On another note I wanted to thank you for helping me to win my bet." She flashed an entirely too pleased grin, "I knew you two wouldn't let me down."

"You bet on us?" he was going to focus on that because it was safer.

"Most of us bet on you. I won." She turned and headed towards the door casually before throwing over her shoulder, "Use the bag Tony built you!" the door shut behind her.

"JARVIS?"

"Yes, Captain?"

"Did that just happen?"

"Being threatened by Agent Romanov? Yes, that happened."

"Just checking."

"I will echo her sentiment. Though Sir exasperates me I do not want any harm to come to him. Please ensure that it stays that way when it comes to your relationship." Steve sat down on the ground in the sand.

"Wow."

Instead of calling the police the manager called the Stark Industries CEO. And said CEO was not happy to be called about Tony Stark having a food fight in a grocery store. No she really was not. Pepper Potts found Tony Stark hiding behind a shelf with two eggs in his hand; he was covered in egg, cereal, flour and what appeared to be rice. At least she hoped it was.

"What. Are. You. DOING?" her voice boomed and caused a strangled yell to escape Tony's mouth as he spun around almost losing his footing.

"Pepper?" he gulped because the look on her face did not bode well for him. "What brings you to…here?" Tony tried for charming because Pepper was in scary mode. It failed horribly.

"You are still recovering from severe injuries! And you're in a grocery store Tony! What were you thinking?"

Wildly Tony flung his good arm out to point in Clint's basic direction accidently letting go of the eggs which hit a wall. "Oops. Clint started it! I was merely defending myself." He fought back a wince because that had hurt…badly. A stitch or two might have been pulled, but he wouldn't say a word.

"You were not near this bad as a child Tony! Honestly who has a food fight in a grocery store? I've already called someone to come clean this up and have written out a check for the manager to cover any possible damage. Have you gotten everything you needed before this started?" her eye was not twitching, nope, Tony would not acknowledge that. "CLINT!" her voice reverberated down the aisle. The archer slowly slunk around the corner holding onto an open box of rice with a slightly sheepish expression.

"Hello Pepper."

"It won't work." Tony muttered under his breath, but stopped when those eyes snapped back to him.

"Don't 'Hello Pepper' me! Did you throw the first thing?" she demanded tapping her foot.

"Maybe?"

"That would be a yes." Tony piped up before shrinking slightly under her glare. "I'm injured." It was said pitifully as he tried to give her puppy dog eyes. Pepper sighed.

"You're so lucky you have me, Tony." She muttered before looking around once more and spotting a little child watching them from around a corner. "Just great. The corruption of America's Youth."

The little boy who ventured out was clutching an Iron Man plushie in one hand and staring at the carnage in slight awe. He made his way towards Tony who was grinning slightly now that Pepper's ire had dissipated, somewhat. "Are you really Iron Man?" he asked carefully staring at the adults in front of him.

Clint pouted. "No one recognizes me." He muttered.

"Well if you had a big bright flashy gold and red suit it would be pretty hard to miss you." Pepper shook her head as Tony lifted his chin.

"Those colors are amazing. You're just jealous. Does Pepper want her own suit?" he grinned and waggled his eyebrows. "Then you could come to the rescue of poor billionaires everywhere! We could call you…Rescue!"

Pepper's eyebrow twitched as she stared at him, "And in what universe would that happen? Honestly, Tony. I worry about you."

Tony just flashed a grin before carefully squatting down to the kid's height. "Yeah. I'm Iron Man." He smiled at the kid not even acknowledging the food covering him from head to toe. "What do you have there?"

The boy looked at his plushie and held it up for examination, "My Iron Man toy." A shy smile accompanied the words as Tony wiped his hand off on a clean part of his pants before looking the toy over.

"Excellent choice. You should get a little Captain America toy so he won't be lonely." Clint smirked as Tony choked and Pepper's head snapped in his direction as she stared at him in shock.

It didn't appear as though the kid realized what was happening as he beamed. "I have Cap as well." His little chest puffed out in pride, "I have all of the Avengers."

Pepper turned her attention from Clint to Tony and the little Avengers fan. "I have all of them as well." She enjoyed the widened eyes that comment got her. "I started off with Iron Man and have slowly been collecting them ever since."

The image of Tony's face in that moment would be forever imprinted in Pepper's mind and made the whole destruction of a grocery store worth it.

Bruce headed towards the movie room and dropped into one of the plush chairs with an exhausted sigh. He closed his eyes and focused on his breathing before noticing that he wasn't the only one in the room. Steve Rogers was stretched out on the couch with a sketch pad and pencil. "Be careful with Tony." He said softly watching as Steve stared at him disbelievingly. "I've seen the looks you've given him when you thought no one was looking, but he doesn't let many people in as I'm sure you know. Getting as close as you have given you the power to cause some serious damage." Bruce leaned further back in the chair as he pulled his legs up. "But then again isn't that what you do when you love someone? You give them the power to destroy you and trust that they won't."

Steve offered a slight grin, "Yeah. That sounds about right." He placed his pencil down before looking at the half finished sketch. Carefully he turned the book so Bruce could see the drawing. It was of Tony standing in front of Dummy; every line of his body screamed of a protective instinct and the expression on his face was solid determination. The Tony in the picture looked like a force to be reckoned with and Bruce found a grin taking over his face despite the seriousness of the image.

"Is that from—"

"Yeah. I could see him from the door when I was keying in. Had I not known that at one point Tony was actually staring down the barrel of Director Fury's gun I would have been better off." Steve stared down at the picture; it didn't matter that Tony's arm was in a sling in the image because the power he was radiating more than compensated for it.

Bruce leaned closer staring at it. "You're a great artist. It is a great likeness of Tony and Dummy. The workshop is also perfect. Why don't you have Fury in the picture?"

"Because the focus is Tony." A blush covered Steve's cheeks, "It seems to be the main focus of most of my drawings over the past few months."

Crinkles formed slightly at the corners of Bruce's eyes as he grinned at Steve, "Good for you. I hope you understand why I felt the need to say something." He glanced away and tugged on the sleeve of his shirt. "Tony was completely unafraid of the Hulk. That is rarer than I can tell you. On some level everyone is afraid of him, but not Tony. He didn't even know me all that well and had completely accepted me. Invited me to Stark Tower to visit the R&D Department. He didn't treat the Hulk like a disease or something horrible." Bruce now looked at Steve, "He called the Hulk "my big green friend" who could take care of me when I was in trouble. That the Other Guy saved my life."

Steve stared at him and gazed down at the book in his hand, "Was this while I was looking around?"

"Yeah. We were talking about learning control over the hands we have been dealt in life. Tony said his Arc Reactor was a terrible privilege."

"He would." A sigh now, "I was very wrong with my initial assessment of Tony. I'll be kicking myself for that for a long time."

"You both were at each other's throats, but it was the scepter that was messing with everyone."

The book was closed now and resting in Steve's lap as his fingers traced over it idly, "I guess I was still so upset about waking up almost 70 years in the future and then to have someone linked to my time…poking at me like that didn't help. I shouldn't have taken it out on Tony. It would have been better if I'd not risen to the bait."

"Hindsight is 20/20." Bruce glanced around before looking over at Steve, "Have you seen The Hunchback of Notre Dame?" Steve had slowly been working his way through all of the Disney movies. Tony had strictly banned movies about time travel until further notice. So far JARVIS had been the main one enforcing the ban. Bruce could still remember the rant that had lasted over thirty minutes about why no one could even mention time travel around the supersoldier. We don't want him getting any ideas, do we? That had been Tony's main focus. The other Avengers, especially Coulson, had agreed that it would probably be for the best. Coulson had further explained that whoever mentioned those words around Captain America would be doing every single mission status report for Fury until the end of time. The two words together had become a taboo in the Tower or anywhere that Steve Rogers was near.

"No."

"Alright, JARVIS? Can you play the movie?"

Tony Stark had gotten the name of the little Iron Man fan and promised that when he was better he'd make a special trip to the little boy's school with Captain America. Possibly another Avenger or two depending on their schedules. The child, Tom, had grinned widely before scurrying off to his mother who had been staring at them in stunned surprise.

"What else did you two still need to get on the list?"

Tony wordlessly handed over the Starktech that displayed the remaining items. "We have everything else." Clint piped up as he moved closer to Tony after sitting down his 'weapons'.

"I'll take care of it. You two go home, shower and change. If you still have medicine to take make sure you're still taking it." Pepper shook her head as Clint tried to give a kicked puppy look, but it didn't faze her. She worked for and with Tony Stark.

"I'm sorry, Pepper." Tony actually sounded repentant. Her eyes softened as she looked at him and crossed the space between them.

"You're still healing, Tony. What if you'd pulled your stitches or slipped and caused further damage? Do you have any idea how I felt when I got the call that your Arc Reactor had gone out during that last fight and had Thor not been present you wouldn't have gotten the replacement in time? I would have been on the first plane back to New York had that meeting not been so important and if Phil hadn't personally called me to let me know your status. That you were fine, essentially." She reached up and carefully removed a bit of eggshell from his hair. The fondness she couldn't help shone in her eyes; "Is there something you want to tell me?" the two of them were slowly moving outside towards the waiting vehicle. Happy had already prepared for the mess that his boss and his fellow Avenger had made of themselves.

Tony lit up, "I think I might be in a relationship with Steve."

Pepper grinned, "You think? Tony Stark doesn't know?"

"Well so far it has mostly been him kissing me and I want to see if it goes somewhere. It's only been a few days." Tony's free hand came up and tapped on his Arc Reactor absent-mindedly. "I'm worried I'm going to fuck this up too, Pepper. I couldn't even make a relationship with you work and one would think there was almost nothing I could do to scare you off. I've never had a relationship with a guy…I'm going to ruin this and then all of them will leave me. They would pick him because who wouldn't choose Steve Rogers over Tony Stark?"

"I wouldn't."

Tony cocked an eyebrow at her, "Honestly?"

"Honestly." Pepper wasn't prepared for the messy egg covered arm to wrap around her because Tony Stark had never been overly big on affection of this kind; especially in public. Usually hugs or an arm around someone in public was for pictures or journalists.

"Thank you." And it was moments like this that Pepper knew sticking with Tony Stark had been one of the best choices she'd made. If only because she knew the true Tony Stark and that Tony had seen the nervous young woman who had been looking for a part time job while in school; he'd kept her on because she'd smarted off to him without a thought. Eventually he'd made her CEO of his company. He was pretty much one of the only people she had in the world.

"Steven! I hear you may need advice on courting the Man of Iron." Thor beamed wildly at Steve who was lying on the couch staring up at him in mounting horror.

"NO!" it ripped its way from his lips before he'd even registered what was happening, "I mean…no thank you. I think I have a handle on it."

"Are you sure?" Thor was not pouting.

Steve stared at him closely; Thor was totally pouting. "If I ever need any advice I'll be sure to ask, Thor. Thank you." And the pout was gone once more replaced by a wide smile.

"That is an honor, Steven!" Thor was quickly moving around the couch to find his own spot in a chair, "What are we viewing?"

"We'll have to start over as you've already missed fifteen minutes." Bruce stood up, "Anyone want anything before it starts over?"

"You threatened Captain America?" Pepper asked as she stared at Natasha who was lounging across from her in one of the sitting rooms she had for her floor. "For Tony?"

The spy shrugged, "I'm well aware that between the two of them Tony is more broken. I know that Steve wouldn't hurt him, but I felt the need to impress upon him the importance of that."

A slight grin took over Pepper's face, "Serves Captain America right. He came into my office and was questioning me about the end of my relationship with Tony. I could understand where he was coming from, but still it's nice to see Steve getting one of those visits himself."

The look on Natasha's face was almost predatory, "I'm quite sure I have not been the only one to pay the good Captain a visit. We thought it might be best to pick a day Tony was out of the Tower." She leaned back in her chair casually, "An outsider would think that Tony would be the one receiving the threats, but everyone always seems to blame Tony. I've watched him for months when it was my job, I've reviewed everything I could find about him and now I've worked with him as part of a team. We live in the same building and I have observed his reactions to dissolutions of relationships. Tony will take all of the blame regardless and expects to be left in the end. If he pursues this relationship with Steve he won't be the one ending it. It doesn't seem to be in his character to let something like that go."

Pepper nodded, "I think he would have probably kept trying to fix ours had we not come to the same conclusion at the same time. That it wasn't working. We weren't right for each other. And we were drifting apart…"

"No. You weren't a good fit, but you're a great friend for him. I could see that as plain as day while I worked here." Natasha smiled softly, "He'd be lost without you."

"He wouldn't know his Social Security number that's for sure."

"JARVIS I don't think I can remember a bath that felt this good before in my entire life." Tony had already stepped out of the shower from washing the egg and other debris off before deciding that soaking was the only answer to a food fight.

"Might I advise you to slow down, Sir?"

"I know…" Tony sank slightly into the water staring at the 'cast' submerged in the water. He'd had to cover it so it wouldn't get 'wet'. A snort escaped. The damn thing was horribly inconvenient. He had to resist the temptation to try breaking the thing so he could pry it off. Tony raised his arm slightly.

"Sir. Might I suggest not removing your cast?"

Tony scowled before sinking into the water while muttering under his breath. "But I want to."

"Captain Rogers would not be happy." It was a low blow, but it worked.

"Fine. I'm starving." Tony began to actually move about carefully so as to eventually join the others.

Phil sighed against the phone. "You're sure it was them?" the affirmative on the other end of the line only caused him to close his eyes briefly. "Alright. Thank you." He hung up before staring at Clint who was scrubbing a towel through his wet hair with another towel hanging low on his hips. The archer was grinning at him in his usual way that said he knew Phil was aware of the chaos he'd caused.

"Hey Phil. How was your day?" it was said innocently enough, but Clint's intelligent eyes would give him away to a junior agent.

"I mentioned something about you helping Stark with grocery shopping today. Never was it mentioned that you should throw eggs at him." not once did that expression change. Clint was waiting for an eye to twitch; Phil shook his head and headed out of the door.

Pepper stopped in the movie room to see several Avengers watching what appeared to be a Disney movie, but the one she wanted was right there on the couch. Leaning down carefully she whispered into Steve's ear, "You better protect him. I've helped to keep him alive for a decade and if you swoop in to screw that up no one will like the consequences." She stood carefully and gave a slight wave before heading out the door.

"All I did was kiss him!" Steve protested, "Honestly everyone is acting like I'm stealing Tony's virtue!" he sounded disbelieving.

"And what a spectacular kiss it was! Alas…Steve has yet to steal anything, but kisses from me." Tony flashed a bright grin as he sat down on the couch with a huge sandwich. Thor eyed it from his spot on a nearby chair. "Mine." His eyes narrowed as he took a huge bite and moaned around it. "Yum."

"That is cruel, Tony." Thor sighed mournfully.

Now there was a smug expression on Tony's face as he swallowed before carefully bringing the sandwich backup to his mouth not breaking eye contact with Thor as he took another bite. "So good."

"No one wants to see your food Stark! Close your mouth." Natasha bopped him on the head as she moved to drop into the open spot next to Bruce who was still in the biggest chair in the room. "Scoot Banner…you've taken my favorite spot." Her legs ended up over his lap causing him to stare at her in surprise.

A figure moved into the room and blocked the TV. All eyes turned to the man standing before them, "Captain. You have now been officially assigned Stark duty. He is all yours; your responsibility. Try to keep him intact as he is actually a functioning member of the Avengers. That also means that the mess he made at the grocery store…that's yours. I've already got my own to deal with."

Now all eyes were turned on Tony who was the picture of innocence. Tony held the sandwich closer to him and hunched his shoulders slightly or as much as he could with his injuries. "What?"

"Tony." So much was put into that one word and it earned a defensive sound from the genius.

"No. It was Clint's fault! He threw the first egg I was merely retaliating and then it got out of hand…" Tony's Starkphone signaled an incoming text from Pepper. He glanced down to read the message: Take good care of Steve. I know he means a lot to you so make sure he knows that.-P

"Oh Tony…you threw eggs in a grocery store?" Steve sounded slightly disappointed, but not completely surprised.

"And flour. Oh and rice!" Clint chimed from behind the couch. "Lots of rice!"