Nothing had blown up lately.

It's a good thing,Steve reminded himself constantly. Things aren't supposed to blow up. It's a good thing that there are no catastrophes for the Avengers to fix.

But in the back of his mind there was a dark voice that told Steve he was nothing without a war to fight. That he was nothing if he wasn't out there saving someone. Because Steve was a soldier, and what was a soldier without a fight? Steve pushed the thought away, ashamed that he would think something like that.

With no bad guys to kill or evil plan to thwart, Steve was left with too much time on his hands, and too much time to think about Tony. It was far from productive—and Steve hated it. Clint had dubbed him "Mother Hen" since he was always helping other people and running errands for them all.

The nickname had bothered him at first until he had realized it was kind of true. But so what? Taking care of people was what Steve did best. And how was he supposed to know what he liked? He had grown up too poor to afford any real hobbies besides sketching, and it wasn't like he could go paint the town with his old buddies.

Steve clenched his jaw and shoved his emotions away, choosing instead to focus on the meal he was preparing. He had tried cooking as a distraction when he had first gotten to the tower, and had found that he wasn't half bad at it.

Team dinner's had been his most recent hallmark. It combined his goal of team bonding with his love of all things uniting—nothing brought the team together like the smell of a barbecue. The dinners had been working marvelously too. Everyone seemed to be regaining their trust in each other—everyone but Tony.

Steve began chopping up lettuce with a bit more force than required. As usual, Tony was the exception. The billionaire always seemed to exempt himself from everything. Team dinner's included. Too important to come out of his lab and spend some time with us.

He stopped chopping, and sighed. The lettuce had become nothing but mush in his frustration.

Steve just couldn't understand Tony. The man was arrogant and immature; too sarcastic and self-assured for his own good. But he was also caring and thoughtful, a genius and a friend. One moment he'd act like he was the most important member of the team, but then spend an entire week working on an improvement for someone's gear. He'd insult Steve to his face, but would put himself in harm's way to save him in a battle.

It had been this way since the first time they had met.

Steve had looked forward to meeting Tony since the second Fury told him that Howard had a son. Tony would be his link to the past, a familiar friend in a new world. But that dream had shattered the instant he met the man. Sure, Tony was charming and good-looking, he certainly knew how to have a good time, but he was careless and arrogant. Never looking out for the little guy.

He put shame on the Stark name, and Howard deserved much more.

But despite the disappointment Tony caused him, Steve couldn't help but be intrigued by the man. He had tried not to be. He desperately wanted to ignore how his stomach fluttered every time he saw Tony. How his heart clenched with Tony's self-deprecating jokes or life threatening actions. But nothing had worked. He was in love with Tony—no matter how mad the other man could make him.

And it scared him. Because he didn't know why.

Steve's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of hungry Avengers filling the room. Clint and Natasha appeared, their voices bright, and their laughter echoing off of the walls, lightening Steve's mood.

Their faces fell when they saw that Steve had only made one sandwich. "Who's the sandwich for Steve?" Clint inquired, wanting to know if he could snatch up the meal.

Steve was hesitant to respond, knowing he would get hell: "Um…Tony"

"A lunch date? How cute!" Clint at Nat fist bumped in childish glee.

Steve's cheeks grew pink. "I don't—what?...People need to eat Clint."

Steve had been putting his mother hen and chef skills to use by fixing Tony lunch. He hadn't seen the mechanic since two nights ago and was starting to worry about him. From a strictly team-management point of view,he reminded himself.

Thor and Bruce rounded the corner, and took in the scene around them. Thor couldn't help but comment: "Ah! The good Captain is blushing!" He boomed with a grin. "Are we talking about Tony?"

Steve started to protest. "I can't stand Tony, he's—"

"—arrogant and narcissistic" they all finished together. Apparently Steve had been saying that for a while now. Clint continued the assault, "Come on Cap, even though you two thinkthat you hate each other, everyone else knows that you both have the hots for each other."

Steve groaned, it was obviously doing no good to avoid his crush, so he embraced it head on. "Fine, you're right, despite all that we've been through I like the guy—I want to know more. But he's Tony Stark, and he hates me—there's no way he'd ever feel the same."

Nat scoffed and the others shook their heads—"Steve you are so oblivious."

"I am not!"

Bruce piped in, "I bet you haven't noticed how you always light up when he enters the room, and how you blush when he catches you staring?" He took Steve's look of astonishment as a "no" and continued on, 'Sure, Tony thinks you're staring at him and judging him, but we all know you're just thinking he's cute."

Steve was speechless, but the others kept talking. It was like they had all come here for the explicit purpose of convincing Steve that he and Tony were meant to be. His eyes narrowed as he saw the mischievous glint in all of their expression. I'd bet that's exactly what they planned.

Nat pushed onward. "Steve, I can hear his breath change every time he sees you."

"You…you can?"

"It catches every time."

"Like he's never seen you before." Clint confirmed.

Despite his best attempts at hiding it, a grin broke across Steve's face. Thor clapped his shoulder and the others smiled.Steve took a deep breath and confessed: "Tony drives me insane guys. He's the scariest, most clever, bravest person I know, and sometimes I can't think straight because I'm trying so hard to keep up."

Everyone looked at him in a combination of cheerfulness and impatience. "God you're an idiot" Clint told him. Steve just looked at him in confusion. "You should be telling Tony that, not us."

Steve countered, in his own impatience: "It's not that easy! Every time I'm near him, something just gets in the way." The group looked at him and chimed in their thoughts:

"Raging hormones?"

"Giant egos?"

"Your blinding righteousness?"

"His daddy issues?"

The team tried to hold in their laughter—and failed miserably.

Daddy issues? Blinding righteousness? Steve shrugged off the comments with a chuckle. They were right, of course. There really wasn't any reason that he shouldn't just tell Tony how he felt. If Tony rejected him, then fine—their situation couldn't get much worse. But if he feels the same way… A tentative smile formed on his face as Steve thought of the wonderful possibilities.

"Okay, I'll do it."

The others looked at him in confusion. Bruce spoke up for all of them, "And what are you doing exactly?"

"I'm going to tell him. I'm going to tell him how I feel."

Everyone grinned in excitement and went on their merry way, confirming Steve's suspicions that they had only come to the kitchen for some type of intervention. When Steve looked up, only Clint remained.

"More advice, Barton?"

"Just a warning, Steve." Clint's tone had grown more serious, as if what he was about to say carried more weight than the whole preceding conversation. "I talked to Tony about you the other day, and he's not in a good place."

"Oh" Steve's voice was quiet.I guess that means I won't be telling Tony how I feel.

As if reading Steve's thoughts, Clint shook his head. "The way he was talking about you, the way he looks at you. I got it then. He loves you, and it is killing him. He won't get over you, Steve, he can't."

Though Steve felt as if he should be rejoicing that someone could truly confirm Tony loved him, instead he felt a deep sadness. I turned his love into pain. I did that. Steve nodded to Clint, and the archer left the room, leaving Steve with his thoughts.

Suddenly, his mind cleared. Like Nat had told him, it was up to Steve to get Tony's trust back, and to show him that he deserved to be loved. Steve was going to fix things. Maybe even have that lunch date. He would make things right.

At least, that was the plan, until the phone rang. Until Fury told him about Iron Man.

Until Steve saw red, and stormed down to set Tony straight, sandwich forgotten.