Steve

"Attention all residents, criminal or otherwise, of the Avengers Compound. All meals are now mandatory. Breakfast will be served at 8am, Lunch at 12:30pm, and Dinner at 6pm."

I can hear Sam's groan through the wall. Tony's AI sure knows how to wake people up at 6:30 in the morning. But he doesn't have to wake me up. I'm always awake. I can't remember the last time I slept, not even a short nap.

I read during the night. Which is what I was doing this morning when Tony came in. Once he left, I felt weaker than I had ever felt. I yelled that I hated him when I climaxed, but I don't think that's entirely true. I can't hate him more than I love him, even after all that we've been through.

I'm laying in bed, though I did get up to shower and replace the bed sheets. My whole body aches with every movement, and there are dark bruises on my hips from where he gripped me. I hurt, both physically and emotionally, but, surprisingly, I'm not that upset about what happened.

It's been so long since we made love, this fucking was an intense release.
It wasn't making love though. He says he's still in love with me, but what kind of relationship can we have now? I'm a criminal, and he has me and my team locked up in the compound… and now we have to eat meals together.

When 8:00 rolls around, I walk down the too-familiar halls, trying to keep my balance and not show that my whole body, especially my lower half, is in screaming pain. When I make it to the kitchen, I see Tony flipping pancakes, and some of the others are already sitting at the table. Peter, the spiderling, already has three pancakes in front of him and is eating like he hasn't had a decent meal in three weeks. Rhodes is also sitting there, but he's slowly sipping from a mug of coffee. Natasha is leaning against the wall nearby, eyes down. Knowing her, she's sleeping standing up.

I pull out a chair and sit down quietly, and I know Peter's eyes are on me. He seems like a good kid, even though he's from Queens. I pour some orange juice into the glass in front of my seat, but I don't drink it. There's coffee, orange juice, scrambled eggs, hash browns, toast, and a stack of cooling pancakes on the long table. I grab a piece of toast and take a scoop of scrambled eggs.

"More pancakes, kiddo?" Tony's voice sounds sweet when he addresses the boy. I glance over and the three that he was eating when he arrived are quickly replaced by four more. "How many is that now, 300?"

"10, Mr. Stark." Peter responds, his mouth full of syrupy and buttery pancakes. "Thank you, sir."

"No problem, kiddo. You have to leave for school in 10 minutes, and Happy is already waiting outside with the car." Tony informs him, and the kid just shovels even more pancakes into his mouth, taking breaks to drink some orange juice. "Rhodes, do you need anything?"

"Nah, Tony, I'm good with the coffee for now." He responds, his eyes focused on his Stark phone, probably reading the news or something. Whatever happened to physical newspapers?

I hear long steps behind me and glance over the shoulder to see Sam, still wearing his disheveled pajamas. He sits beside me and pours himself a large mug of coffee and drinks in long gulps, and heaps scrambled eggs and pancakes onto his plate. I gnaw at my toast.

Not long after, Wanda comes into the kitchen, not in her pajamas but looking as though she hasn't slept, either. She sits down and makes no move to get food of any kind. Her eyes have deep bags that could rival Tony's.

There is silence at the table, only the sounds of Peter shoveling in more pancakes, and Sam eating slowly. Tony grumbles from behind us, and finally the silence is broken.

"F.R.I.D.A.Y., tell the Vision that he's not excused from meals just because he doesn't have to eat." He orders, and the AI responds with an affirmation that the android will be down in a moment.

Ten minutes must have passed because Peter rises from the table, takes his plate and glass into the kitchen and rinses them off, washes his hands, and says a quick goodbye to Tony. He grabs his backpack and is out the door, and now it's even more quiet than before.

The Vision enters the room, donned in his usual sweater and slacks, and he sits beside Wanda, looking eager. She pays him no mind and grabs a single hash brown from the table, taking small bites. He looks happy, maybe just because she's eating.

Tony finally sits down at the table, dropping off the last of the pancakes, and drinks a long gulp of coffee. Nat finally sits down, too, but only takes one pancake. We all eat whatever amount of food we've grabbed slowly, and there are no conversations. Rhodes is the first to rise from the table and exit, muttering something about a call to update Secretary Ross.

"What's for lunch, Stark?" Natasha asks, rising from the table and clearing any empty plates and cups.

"I was thinking I order from that Japanese place down the street. Tons of ramen, clear onion soup, sushi, tempura, and so on." Tony responds, pausing a moment, "And Pepper wants to make her famous Pepper Steak for dinner. Steak cooked with bell peppers."

"Sounds chill." Sam mutters, rising from the table. "Thanks for the grub, chubs." He waves a hand and saunters back down the hall, either to go back to bed or to workout quietly in his rooms. Natasha invites Wanda to workout in one of the training rooms, and the two exit swiftly, Natasha mumbling something to Wanda. The Vision sits for just a moment, but then follows them.

Leaving me with Tony. I clear the rest of the plates, even the ones with food, and begin to store the leftovers into tupperware dishes. Once I'm done with that, I load them into the fridge and then begin to hand wash the dishes. Tony comes up to the breakfast bar and sits there, eyes focused on my hand movements. I notice the dark bruises on his neck, peeking out from under his Black Sabbath shirt.

"You could've just loaded them into the dishwasher, you know." He points out, leaning his cheek on his hand. "But thanks."

"It's the least I could do. Breakfast was good." I respond, my eyes focused on the scrubbing and rinsing of the plates in my hands.

"Was it? You hardly ate." He noticed. Of course he fucking noticed. But he barely ate as well, only downing his coffee and maybe eating one pancake. Not that I was observing him or anything. I dry off my hands quickly and hang the towel to dry. "What are your plans for today? More reading? More working out?"

"Actually, I was planning on escaping," I deadpan, rolling my eyes. He scoffs in response. "Have you been spying on me, Stark?" Oh fuck. I haven't called him Stark in years. Not since… since we became more than teammates.

~flashback~

"We won." I announce when Stark asks what happened. We actually won. As a team. I don't know how we did it, and there were many losses, but we did it.

And now we are the Avengers.

Weeks pass after the battle. We help with cleanup, Stark more than anyone. He gives us each apartments in Stark Tower. Avengers Tower. We train together. We go on missions together. But something has changed in our interactions.

One morning, as we are working with a cleanup crew near the subway station, Stark suggests we get some lunch, just him and I. I agree, and we head over to a Japanese restaurant. He introduces me to all kinds of new foods, ramen, clear onion soup, sushi. Things that weren't that common when I was a young kid, especially for a lower class family from Brooklyn.

"So, what'd you think, Capsicle?" He asks me as we are walking back to the cleanup site. He could've flown, but he chose to walk with me.

"It was good," I pause, looking up to the sky, where helicopters, cranes, and even Thor and the Hulk are working together to clean up the city. "Thanks, Tony." I stumble. I've only ever called him Stark. He seems to pause over his name, as well.

"No problem, Steve." He smiles over at me, and my face heats up. He stops walking, and looks around. I stop beside him. "You know, I always wondered why my dad was so obsessed with Captain America. I think I know why, now." He states plainly, turning to look at me. His eyes look happy.

"Oh? And why is that?" I ask, feeling my face still warm. He moves his hand, still in the armor, over my face, and it cools me down.

"Because you're the epitome of what a man should be. Kind, gentlemanly… and fucking handsome." He responds. I open my mouth to berate him for his language choice, but instead lips crash into mine and a hard suit presses against my body.

Finally.

~end flashback~

Tony's face is pale. I can't believe I just called him Stark. I want to apologize, I need to apologize to him, but my mouth is gaped open and words won't come out. He storms off, heading to the elevators. I run after him, and he presses the close button quickly, but I stop the door with my hand and force myself in with him. He cowers in the corner, but his face is still showing hurt. Instead of speaking, I corner him and forcefully kiss him, and he pushes back against me, clawing at the back of my shirt.

"Cap…" He whines, bringing me back down to earth. The elevator doors open and I drag my fingers through his belt loop and pull him behind me out of the elevator. We are at the lab, so I push him in and lock the doors behind us, and lift him onto one of the empty lab tables, attacking his lips again with my own. His legs wrap around my waist, pulling me closer against his crotch, and his hands trail under my shirt, and press against my abdomen, before lifting the shirt over my head.

I pull his shirt off roughly and pepper kisses down his chest before undoing his jeans and pulling them and his underwear off in one fell swoop. My fingers trail back up towards his mouth and he sucks relentlessly on them, biting, scraping, and looping his tongue around them. Once they are slick enough, I spread his legs a bit more in front of me, and he adjusts his legs so that his ankles are on my shoulders. I tease around his hole a bit before pushing two fingers into him and scissoring quickly, moans eliciting from his mouth.

"Language, Stark," I groan, curling the fingers against his walls except for where his prostate is. He buries his face in my neck, nails digging deeper into my back as I thrust my fingers inside him until he feels stretched out enough for me. I pull my jeans and underwear off, pull my fingers out of him, and slowly push my cock into his ass.

"Fuck…" His head lolls back but he pulls me closer to him, forcing me to bottom out inside him, and I let out a loud moan. "Move. Please. Steve, I need you…" I obey, thrusting at a tauntingly slow pace, remembering the feeling of being inside him. Tears prick at the corners of his eyes, but I get the feeling that it's not for pain. I move faster, his ankles bouncing on my shoulders, and his nails dig even deeper down my back. "Fuck, fuck, please Steve, please go harder, I need to feel more of you, please please…"

His begging sets me off and I thrust roughly into him, our bodies slapping against each other with sweat and his precum. I grip his ass with one of my hands and move my other hand to his swollen cock and hold my thumb over the slit.

"No coming until I do." I growl into his ear, and he whines in response but nods, capturing my lips with his own, our tongues swirling together as I continue to thrust relentlessly into him.

"Steve, please, I'm so fucking close, please, fuck, please let me come…" He moans, breath shaky. I slide my thumb off of the slit and pump his cock at the same rate as I'm thrusting into him, and my thrusts and his breaths become more ragged, and soon he's coming hard between our chests, and I'm coming hard into his ass. "Fuck, yes, Steve, fuck, I miss this, I miss you, please, don't leave, don't…" His eyes are shut tight as I let myself empty inside him. He's delirious. When I feel soft enough, I gingerly slide out, and lower his legs back down so they are hanging over the side of the table. His hands are pressed into my chest, and he lets out a low whine.

"Where do you keep towels around here?" I ask, looking around. He doesn't respond, so I go to a nearby cabinet and find a few towels. I wipe him off first, but he's still out of it. I wipe myself off and start to get dressed, but he grabs my wrist. "Tony…"

"I fucking miss you, Steve." He finally speaks, and now he's crying. He's tired, he needs sleep. "But we can't… we can't keep doing this, this isn't a relationship, this isn't us…" I continue to pull on my clothes and stand in front of him for a moment, waiting for him to finish his mini-speech. "This isn't going to work, I thought I could handle it, but last night was just an anger-fucking and I'm sorry if I hurt you. But this, what you just fucking did to me… it felt like before. And I can't fucking handle it, Steve."

"I just didn't want to hurt you like you hurt me last night," I respond plainly, buttoning my jeans and looking at him, and sigh. "We won't do this again." I turn around and exit the lab, running a hand through my hair. I head straight for the gym and until they call for lunch, I'm breaking sandbags.

At lunch, I enter the kitchen to see pizzas on the counter. Sam has a few pieces in front of him, Natasha is eating as well. Rhodes is out, Peter is at school. Wanda is once again sitting with no food in front of her, and the Vision sits beside her. No Tony, though.

"Where's Tony?" I ask, picking up a slice of the margherita pizza and putting it on a plate, sitting next to Sam.

"Mr. Stark said he is feeling unwell at the moment," Vision responds. "He says he will join us at dinner time, though."

"He's the one who wants us to try and be normal again with these meals, and yet on the second meal he doesn't even show?" Sam grumbles, mouth full of pizza.

"Let it be, Sam." I warn, meeting his eyes. He lowers his head and nods, continuing to eat his pizza. Natasha watches me carefully, and once I finish eating two slices of pizza, I return to my room.

Tony was right. What we've done today and last night… we can't do again. It's not us, and it's not like things used to be between us. Now, there's too much pain there.

We can't continue on this path.