Sometime after Tony's middle of the night shower, but before Steve's eight a.m. alarm, the super soldier awakes to the sleeping genius still wrapped in his arms, face pressed into his chest. Noticing that it's now about half past seven, Steve happily realizes Tony has managed to sneak in a few extra hours of sleep.

Very carefully, and without waking Tony, Steve manages to untangle himself from the other man, and makes his way to the shower. After taking his time shaving, washing his short blonde hair, and scrubbing his body, he returns to the bedroom. Laughing softly to himself, he sees that Tony is gone, and left in his place is a scribbled note that simply reads "coffee."

Tossing his towel over the desk chair with Tony's previously discarded one, Steve tugs on a hoodie and a pair of jeans before making his way to the kitchen. Natasha is already there, sipping from a mug of tea, and Bruce is fidgeting with his toast as he watches Tony tinker with the coffee maker.

"Morning," Steve says, as he walks over to Tony, and places a kiss on his shoulder. "What's wrong with the coffee machine?"

"Nothing," Bruce says flatly, "Tony just thinks it should work faster."

"No," Tony defends, "I know it should work faster. I can make it work faster."

"Yeah well, you could've started this little project after we got our coffee from it," Bruce argues indignantly.

Hoping to ease the tension between the two caffeine-deprived geniuses, Steve rummages through the fridge until he finds a bottle of some pre-packaged Starbucks drink he's recently discovered he likes. Handing it to Banner, and ignoring Tony's scoffs, he also grabs one for himself.

"I still don't understand how you even drink those," Tony begins before Steve cuts him off.

"Because despite the fact that they're 'overly sweet' and 'are hardly even coffee,'" Steve mocks, "They are delicious."

"And there's nothing you can do to try and 'fix' them," Bruce mutters, "at eight in the morning."

Tony appears like he's about to retort, but Steve stops him with a kiss, "Just hurry up with the coffee maker," he murmurs against the other man's mouth.

At that point the others start to shuffle in sleepily, all groaning when they realize that Tony has taken apart the machine by that time. Steve thinks he hears something from Clint about "this is why we can't have nice things," and laughs.

Finishing the last swallow from the small, glass bottle Steve relocates from the now-crowded kitchen to the living room. After staring at the complicated set of remotes on the coffee table in front of him, Steve figures he should just forgo the trouble, and asks JARVIS to help get him started instead.

"JARVIS?" He asks tentatively, still not used to the AI.

"Yes, sir?" JARVIS replies in his typical, cool voice.

"Can you turn on the television? I-I'm not sure which remote to use," he answers, only slightly embarrassed.

"Certainly, Captain Rogers. Is there any program in particular you wish to view?"

"Um, just the news is fine," Steve says as the television instantly switches on to one of the Fox News morning programs.

Steve doesn't think he'll ever get used to the TVs they have now, with how large, colorful, and bright they are, it almost feels like he could reach out and tap the anchor on the shoulder. This would've floored everyone he knew back when he was still the scrawny Steve Rogers kid who never quit while he was ahead. Now, however, it's just common place; there's one of these screens in practically every room of every place he's ever been. Even the mall Tony took him to, to find an "updated look," had them hanging from the ceilings; as if there weren't enough things to look at already.

Steve is startled from his thoughts when Thor drops down next to him on the couch, with quite possibly the largest bowl of cereal Steve could imagine.

"Why not just pour the milk straight into the box?" Steve asks humorously, to let Thor know it isn't to make him feel bad.

"That is something I have tried and considered," the Asgardian god replies seriously, "however, the milk merely created a mess on the counter after seeping its way through the box."

Steve just chuckles at him, conceding. "That does seem like a fatal flaw in the plan."

"Or perhaps in the flimsy, Midgardian box," Thor says through a massive mouthful of the Cocoa Crispies.

Steve rolls his eyes, and partially refocuses his attention on the program in front of him, which Thor had changed to some useless show about celebrity gossip.

By this time, everyone else has regrouped on the couches to eat their breakfasts and watch TV in peace for a while. Natasha begins picking apart some actress's wardrobe, which Steve doesn't understand, and only Clint listens to. Meanwhile, Thor starts in on a box of Pop Tarts, Tony is squished against Steve with a part of the coffee maker in his hands, and Bruce is still glaring at him from the chair he's in. Overall, things are fairly peaceful. Which is saying something for their little make-shift family.

As soon as he hears Tony's name on the television, though, Steve starts giving the show his full attention. Tony, however, just freezes; a look of fear, and possibly pain, flashing across his face.

A/N: Okay, now we're going to make our way in to the story :) Let me know what you think!

Next chapter is coming up right away!