You are absolutely amazing! I want to say thank you for every Review, PM, Follow and Favourite! I really appreciate all your support.
I will try to post every weekend- either Friday or Saturday.
I am also working on a series of OneShots so if you want to request a short story, just leave me a PM with what you want and I will happily try my best to fullfil your request!
And here we go:
GOOD DAYS, BAD MOMENTS
Time off is a rare thing when you belong to a small group of super heroes. It didn't happen as often as any of them wished it would, and usually not even at the same time. For all of them, they never knew how long the peace lasted before some new kind of villain would surface and attempt world domination, blow up a national symbol, or to simply raise hell for the sake of gaining attention for their twisted ideas.
That was probably the exact reason why they enjoyed their timeouts together. In the beginning, none of them would have voluntarily admitted the fact that they had grown closer and slowly but surely, became something like a dysfunctional family.
Although they had not all been convinced that moving into Stark Tower was a good idea, none of them had any thoughts of regret. With the space the tower offered, they had every possibility to avoid each other If desired-and they preferred the big communal rooms over their own floors, in order to enjoy "family time" which mostly included meals together or movie nights.
"Sir, Mister Rogers is awaiting your presence in the kitchen with the rest of the Avengers."
Jarics' voice cut through the silence of the workshop. It was dimly lit the only light coming from the various holograms Tony was surrounded by, as well as the brightly illuminated surface of his work table. Dum-E gave a light squeal and extended his arm to poke Tony in his side when he didn't react right away. Tony remained unmoving, with his head resting in his hands, continuing to stare down at the sketches on the table before him.
For Tony, time off had always meant free hours to spend on what he was best at: developing new armour for the team, upgrading their equipment, adding new features to his own suit or doing consultant work for S.H.I.E.L.D. . In his mind the helicarrier, as well as the quinjets, needed a makeover-better yesterday than tomorrow. It was a routine he had a hard time breaking away from. He simply didn't realise how time passed when he was totally spacing out from the world around him; sinking deeper and deeper into his own universe of codes, sketches and whatever work he was inspired to do.
"Dum-E, what did I tell you about poking?", he asked, pushing around a few elements on the sketch. The bot tilted it's camera to the side like it was thinking hard, and trying to remember. Abruptly, Tony straightened up and scrambled off the chair he had been sitting on, coming to a halt in front of his bot.
"I really thought by now, you would've grasped the meaning of ' "Learning Bot' because that's what you're designed to be...What I, myself, designed you to be. So if you could show some effort in following your assignment, that'd be great,", he scolded him, like a child, and the bot gave a low noise groan in defeat. "I see you get my point. No poking! Even when Steve is demanding something...understood? Now, get out of my way!"
The bot rolled a few feet backwards to make way for it's creator. Tony quickly turned back to the table and a sudden idea rushed to his mind. he leaped forward to trash a good part of the holographic sketch and inserted a new part-what felt like brief adjustments to him took another twenty-five minutes.
"Tony, don't make me come down there to get you."
This time, Tony jumped at the sudden voice. His head shot up, his gaze fixating on the hologram of Steve JARVIS had projected next to the table.
"Steve! Are you trying to kill me!? Give a man some time to follow your orders, which are actually not even justified since we are not in a battle right now, and this place belongs to me. So technically, you can't order me around here…," Tony trailed off.
"You've had thirty minutes And it wasn't an 'order', but a request-to join us for early dinner. You've been down there all day again. Your food is getting cold. Show some appreciation when one of us cooks," Steve reprimanded.
Tony sighed and pushed away from the work table. "Okay okay...on my way...make sure to have some coffee on hand."
"Make it here within the next five minutes and consider it a deal," he said before thanking JARVIS for the connection. His hologram disappeared and Tony let out a huff.
"Thank you JARVIS, for interrupting my work with an unannounced transmission...again."
"Your well-being is my highest concern, as well as Mister Roger's. Since your last nutritious meal had been more than nine hours ago, I assumed…," Jarvis' electronic, British-accented voice explained before he too, trailed off.
"Don't ever assume… It usually doesn't end well."
"Sir, may I inform you that the five minute time span is running out."
"Traitor!"
Tony took the direct way upstairs; he knew he could probably get coffee even if he were to arrive after the five minutes had run out. Hell, he didn't really have to follow the dinner invitation...not that Steve would actually do anything to him if he didn't. The problem was totally different- he simply couldn't resist Steve.
In some way, it was pathetic (at least that's what Tony would have called it). He had refused to listen to Pepper whenever she had tried to convince him to change his lifestyle to a healthier one, but with Steve it was different. In the seven months of their relationship, the super soldier had found a way to coax Tony to follow his words by simply using a special tone or giving him one of his stern looks: a disapproving glare or simply (and that was the cruelest thing to do) one of his smiles that Tony couldn't resist by any means. Also, those eyes...
The elevator doors opened after a 'bing' and he heard the team's laughter echo through the open space between the elevator and the kitchen. As he approached the group he saw Thor flinging his arms around in wild gestures while he told the rest about his latest adventures on Asgard, where he had returned from just the day before. He stopped when he saw the engineer coming for them. "Nice to get you to join us, brother Anthony," he greeted, making Tony wonder whether this man was ever in a bad mood.
When he sat down on the only free chair, Clint took an exaggerated look at his watch. "Seven minutes...I am impressed. Seems the good captain gets to order you around off the battlefields as well," he said, with a huge grin on his face.
His snarky comment earned him a stern look from Coulson, who sat across from him. When he caught it, he immediately lowered his head and went on eating, a grin still plastered on his face. How the Agent could put up with the immature archer was beyond Tony, but who was he to judge? No one had given him and Steve a chance either when they had first hooked up. There had been bets set on how long Steve would tolerate Tony's obnoxious personality.
"You skipped lunch again," Steve said simply, when he placed a plate in front of him before sitting down opposite of his lover. It wasn't a stern tone, just his usual casual speaking, but Tony got it. Steve hadn't been in the tower since late that morning, giving Tony no reason to be anywhere but in his workshop. Knowing his boyfriend, he had probably asked JARVIS about his day the second he had entered the private part of the tower. He needed to have a word with his AI about providing such info.
"Got a bit carried away. The quinjets needed some tweaking and most parts of the helicarrier are outdated as well. They probably haven't done much maintenance work on those metal wrecks since S.H.I.E.L.D started their questionable work. No wonder the jets crash that often," he rambled, still totally caught up in his work and design ideas.
"I hope you understand that, apart from the Avengers, who have managed to crash land every quinjet ever left to their use, those jets are very reliable and appreciated among the agents," Coulson calmly said, causing Tony to put his fork down again. He opened his mouth to throw out a smartass comment, but Steve was faster.
"Tony," he said, in that tone that immediately got his boyfriend's attention. Their eyes met across the counter. "Dinner! Leave your genius ideas in the workshop for now and eat, please."
Natasha laughed, and exchanged looks with Bruce who, as usual, was a silent witness to their teasing and debating. They both spared themselves a comment and finished their plates while Thor went back to his report about a fight with some Asgardian kind of elephant-tiger crossover, that none of them would be eager to meet, judging by their faces.
"Where are you going?" Steve asked, after they had cleared away the plates. The others had strolled off towards the big movie room that was basically a mini theatre. According to Clint, he had to use the time to show Thor 'milestones of cinematic history'. His definition of that was ridiculous to the engineer. Tony, in his usual manner, had planned to return to the workshop to focus on finishing his projects. Now, he looked down at his arm that Steve was holding by the wrist. He sighed, and turned looking at Steve.
"I intend to finish the sketches for the helicarrier."
"I think you've done enough today."
"It's not finished yet, so technically, I haven't."
Steve let go of his wrist and took a deep breath. Tony had already braced himself, expecting Steve to give him a lecture about working too much, not eating enough and only getting the minimum amount of sleep. In his mind, he started to work out arguments to convince him that he was doing just fine, and working made him happy, and how his mind couldn't handle any downtime. But the lecture never came.
"You should turn the lights on. Don't work in the dark."
Stunned at the sudden change of mind in the Captain, Tony only arched an eyebrow in response. That was it? No more trying to keep him upstairs, or convincing him to join the others for a movie?
"Your eyes are red, Tony. I can tell the difference between you being tired or straining your eyes too much by working in the dark down there. Besides, I know you had quite a lot of sleep last night...measured by your standards anyway."
"Oh you do, do you? Wonder where you got that info from, Cap?" he grinned, remembering a very long and highly enjoyable make out session topped with awesome sex, before a long shower and falling asleep beside each other.
Steve gave him a brief grin before stepping closer. He placed one hand on Tony's hip, his thumb slowly moving over one of his most sensitive spots right above the waistband of his jeans, and leaned in and kissed him. A shiver went through Tonys body as Steve's lips touched another highly sensitive spot on the side of his neck, close to his ear. His skin prickled from the touches, and warmth crept through his chest, spreading throughout his entire body. Right when he was ready to give in to his boyfriend, the touch was gone. Irritated, he looked at the super soldier in front of him.
"What? You playing dirty on me now? You had my attention before, no need to..."
"You were distracted," Steve stated. "I only worry about you and you hardly listen when I tell you anything. For a genius, you can be very slow in understanding sometimes, so I am saying it easy and straight for you this time: Stay with me for now. "Judging by the rising number of occurrences that S.H.I.E.L.D. has been tracking,", I don't know how much time we have together these days."
Silence. Two seconds passed, then three, four...Their eyes locked, nothing but honesty in Steve's, confusion, surprise and realisation in Tony's.
"JARVIS, save everything I've worked on and shut down the workshop for tonight. Make sure Dum-E doesn't try to clean again. I am finished for tonight," he commanded, without taking his eyes off his lover in front of him, or bothering to listen to the AI's confirmation.
It was like he snapped out of a trance when he took Steve's hand and turned around. Gently, but not giving in to any protest he pulled him towards the elevator, and pressed the button for the penthouse. He had to accept their time together could get interrupted by an incoming call any minute. He was not ready to spend the little time he and Steve had together with the others. He wanted Steve to himself.
Bright light blinded them in the penthouse. Outside, it was another cold but beautiful winter day. The sun shone straight into the wide living room.
"JARVIS, close the blinds. Half of the light is enough."
"Yes, Sir."
"Actually...leave them open," Steve interrupted, as the noise of the closing blinds started to hum through the air. He answered the questioning look from Tony with a simple, "I like the sun."
"Sir, do you want me to-"
"Leave them open, but dim the glass."
"As you wish, Sir."
A short while later, they were comfortably sitting on the sofa, closest to the glass window, two steaming mugs resting on the low table before them. Steve was obviously enjoying the day's last rays of sun on his skin with closed eyes. He leaned against Tony's chest. Propped into the corner of the sofa, the genius had one leg up leaned against the backrest, and the other over the edge with the foot still on the floor, his lover between his legs. His arm was draped over Steve's chest, who had relaxed into the loose hug, his hand held onto Tony his fingers losely closed around his wrist. He acted like he was afraid of his boyfriend leaving him any second.
It was strange. Not that Steve usually didn't like physical contact, but this was odd, even for him. Tony accepted it and leaned his head back. While Steve seemed to enjoy the silence, the engineer behind him was going crazy. Sitting down and doing nothing productive was something he was hardly able to do. Being with his lover...sure, it was great, since he knew he was safe and he was relaxing, but every passing minute was testing his patience. When Steve moved deeper into his embrace, his grip on Tony's wrist tightened and he took a deep breath, breaking the silence between them.
"Is everything okay?" Tony questioned.
"Hmm...why do you ask?"
Typical Steve. Whenever he got asked that question, an honest answer had to be coaxed out of him.
"Not that I mind but...you are very cuddly today, and you are holding my wrist like a vice."
Immediately, Steve let go and turned to look at Tony, his eyes wide.
"Did I hurt you? I am sorry, I didn't intend to."
"Woah woah…calm down. You didn't hurt me. Just want to know what's going on with you."
Steve lowered his eyes to the floor and shrugged.
"Nothing, I didn't realise I did it. Got a bit carried away, I guess."
He looked miserable at that second, making Tony's heart ache for him. Carried away in his case, usually meant memories...bad memories, that he would have loved to be able to take away from him. He hardly talked about it, usually when it was already too late, and his memories came crashing over him in the form of a nightmare or flashbacks.
He closed his hands into tight fists, tension spreading through his arms visibly, and Tony couldn't watch it anymore. He reached out and closed his hands around Steve's larger ones and ran a thumb over his knuckles.
"Relax, I am here. Not going anywhere," he said, in a low voice.
Steve took a deep breath and unclenched his fists slowly, flexing his fingers several times before the tension left him. He let himself fall back against the sofa and leaned his head back, with his eyes closed. He swallowed dryly, turning his hand around to entwine his fingers with Tony's. His behaviour was testing the genius' patience but Tony knew better than to push the issue.
He gently pulled his hand over and Steve followed without protest, taking his previous position again. When his head came to rest on Tony's chest, right over his heart and next to the arc reactor, he gave a content sigh. With the steady thumping sound of his lover's heart echoing in his ear, he raised his hand and placed it on the reactor, knowing he was the only person Tony allowed to do that.
He felt gentle hands run through his hair and down to his neck. With a audible exhale, he gave in, allowing himself to give control to Tony, who accepted the fact that he didn't want to talk at that point. He truly understood, and right at that moment, Steve greatly appreciated the silence-the only sound was his lover's heartbeat and the quiet hum of the arc reactor in his sensitive ears.
If Tony had known what was to follow, he would have forced Steve into talking right that second.
So..tell me what you think. Depending on your feedback I could also post the next chapter earlier ;)
Happy Weekend !