It was six in the morning when Pepper entered the mansion, "Jarvis, where's Tony?"
"In his lab, Miss Potts."
She frowned, "I hope that's a good sign."
"I think you will find that it is."
Pepper walked briskly to the stairs that led to Tony's lab, entering the code at the glass doors, feeling them vibrate to the cacophony of noise taking place on the other side.
Tony was blasting ZZ Top, singing along to the words of "Sharp Dressed Man" at the top of his lungs and dreadfully off-key. She saw that he was wearing a thick set of noise-canceling headphones, and she strode up to him, yanking them off his head.
Tony shouted and spun around, covering his ears against the onslaught of noise, "Jarvis! Music, down!"
The music faded and Pepper spoke, "Your logic baffles me."
Tony shrugged and tossed the headphones onto the nearest table, where some sort of laser mechanism was blinking at them, "I need to block the noise of my tech, but I still want to listen to my tunes. Hence, the phones."
"Uh-huh." Pepper lifted one eyebrow and grinned, "Well, you look normal, Tony."
Tony swatted at Dummy, who was trying to give him the same pair of headphones he had just taken off, and then shrugged again.
Pepper decided on a different course of action, "So, how's it going with the bodyguard?" She couldn't help but notice the way Tony fidgeted uncomfortably and a small grin briefly quirked his lips. "That good, huh?"
He grinned fully and mischievously this time, "We've had wild, passionate animal sex so many times I can barely walk."
Pepper smiled, happy to see Tony's sense of humor make an appearance, "I'm just glad to see you looking like your usual self again." There was a pause, where they both shifted, waiting for the other to speak.
They opened their mouths at the same time, Tony blurting: "I wanted to apologize," and Pepper questioning: "Can I ask you something?"
They both looked taken aback.
"You wanted to apologize?"
Tony slouched against the desk behind him, then thought better of it and stood up straight. He picked up a laser pointer and clicked it a couple of times, tossing it up in the air a few feet and catching it.
"Out with it, Tony."
He briefly looked her in the eye, then focused on a point past her shoulder, "I've been a dick. You don't deserve that, and I'm sorry."
She nodded, "You have been, but you also have every right to be angry with me."
"What?" Tony looked at her in bafflement, "No I don't."
"You're not angry with me?"
"No! I was just misplacing my frustration on you. Like I said, I was being a dick."
Pepper gave a small smile, "Well, all is forgiven."
Tony grinned peevishly, "And I forgive you, for whatever sinful thing you did."
Pepper hesitated, not wanting to ruin the moment, but then she decided to go ahead, handing a small file to Tony, "Just...look at these, okay? Please?"
Tony flicked open the file, then closed it a second later, looking down at her with his mouth slightly pinched, "I will."
She smiled and gripped his hand briefly in hers, "Thank you."
She left him to it, letting herself out of the lab and heading to the kitchen to get something decent to eat before leaving. She didn't see Tony glare down at the medical file of his condition and toss it onto a work bench, where the folder lay open, the pages scattered.
It was a couple of hours later and Steve was entering the security code that Tony had given him to his lab. Tony glanced at one of the monitors, and called over his shoulder to Steve, "I'm just finishing up here, I'll be another minute, then we can head down to the gym."
Steve nodded and then walked slowly around Tony's lab, taking in all the fascinating technology and gear that he would never get tired of looking at. His eyes were caught by a blinking laser machine and he walked over to see what it was. What he saw instead was a file, half-hazardly tossed on the work bench, with a few papers strewn on the floor. Steve bent down to pick up the documents lying on the ground, worrying they would get lost if they were left there, but his keen eyes noticed the information printed on the page. He glanced over at Tony, who was still tinkering away, then turned back to the papers, not understanding why he was so willing to violate the other mans privacy. He used his speed-reading skills to quickly take in the most important information, then he stacked the papers and tucked them neatly into the folder, placing it back on the bench.
Steve's frown had grown as he read through Tony's file. The man was more sick than he led on, and he was only making himself sicker. He needed more than exercise to get back into shape.
A loud clang made him turn around. Tony had tossed some sort of wrench onto a table that was pilled with what looked like scrap metal, and then he was taking off his goggles, shaking out his sweaty hair almost like a dog. Steve had a strange moment, where he was caught staring at a man who he had once seen as all-powerful and dominating in every sense of the word. But the man standing before him was vulnerable and lonely and so different from what Steve could have ever imagined. He could feel his strong, protective instincts kicking into gear, and before he knew what he was doing, he was reaching out and ruffling Tony's hair. Tony looked up at him with large, brown eyes, giving him a huge grin that had Steve grinning back, his dimples showing.
The two of them left the lab and headed towards the gym in silence. It was only then that Steve realized he had acted overly familiar to Tony, and he was left wondering why, after only four days of knowing the man, he didn't think that was strange at all.
He blurted out, blushing slightly in embarrassment, "Can I call you Tony?"
Tony gave him a look like he was crazy, " I've been trying to get you to do that since we met."
Steve looked at him, his eyes still overly questioning, and Tony sighed, chuckling, "Okay, you need a direct order? I not only give you permission, I command you to call me Tony. That's an order, Captain."
Steve grinned again, quipping, "Yes Sir."
Notes: I'm worried that the end of this chapter is overly corny. Please let me know what you think and I'll adjust it accordingly!
And perhaps Tony's statement about the animal sex is a foreshadowing of sorts? *evil grin*