Once Steve had finished the headache of dealing with the aftermath of arresting the Mandarin, who really was an idiot, and explaining to the SHIELD drones the failed coup by AIM, Steve checked up on Tony, only to learn Rhodey had to get back to his superiors to announce the loss of his armor. Something he was not looking forward to, apparently, knowing all the blame would lay on his shoulders, and that he might get demoted for it. Tony, generous as always, had comforted him by promising he had other armors he could choose from, but only for private use. Count on Tony to blackmail his friend out of the army, but from what Steve gathered, he had been having beef with them for a while now.

So, with the support of his friend gone, and his own off on a rescue mission, Steve decided to hitch a ride with SHIELD to get back to New York and stay with Tony at the tower until they heard news from Pepper, Hermione, and Bucky. Tony was twiddling with the mirror as they sat at the counter. Even if his girlfriend had not been sucked into the whole Mandarin mess, Steve would not have left him alone after he had been held prisoner by AIM. It sounded too much like what he had gone through when kidnapped in Afghanistan. Steve had to wonder what Rhodey was thinking… Sure, his job was important, but shouldn't his best friend be just as important? What did it matter if the army was informed a few hours later about the destruction of his armor? Tony deserved better friends.

"I would be taking this thing apart if I wasn't waiting for an important call," Tony said, but his joke fell flat.

"You'd only find a mirror. You can't dismantle magic into spare parts," Steve replied, knowing from experience a banana portkey was just a banana that had been charmed to serve another purpose.

"Look at you, Mr Magic Expert!"

Steve ignored the obvious sarcasm, and grinned instead, flaunting his all American aw-shucks smile, which at least made Tony laugh it was so fake. Mission accomplished.

"You fraud!"

"Don't tell the general public. I'm told they would be crushed," Steve mock-whispered.

The look Tony gave him reminded him of his father, sparkling with malice and amusement. The resemblance was even more startling in that short instant.

"I can't believe I bought into the Captain Perfect bullshit."

"I do make a good impression of him, but I'm only human, as we all are."

"Except Thor."

"And all the other aliens," Steve conceded, "But you get my drift."

"Yeah," Tony said, turning the mirror over in his hands once more.

"Don't worry. Hermione will move mountains to help Pepper."

Tony nodded, but soon, he began fidgeting again.

"You know, sometimes I wish Pepper had powers so I wouldn't worry about her all the time, but then I see you agonizing over Hermione and even your creepy boyfriend during missions, and I realize that's not the solution either, so maybe if I was normal… Yeah, she wouldn't be in danger all the time if I was normal, right? But that's not me, you know? Can't do normal. Never have. There's gotta be another way…"

"Well, for starters, we're all here to help you when you need us, whatever it is, so maybe don't leave us in the dark next time? We wasted a lot of time running around just looking for you," Steve replied.

"Guess I'm still not used to the whole team thing," Tony admitted. "I've been doing this shit solo for so long, it honestly didn't even cross my mind."

"Yeah? Well get used to it," Steve admonished. "Because we're never letting you fight alone."

Tony's fidgeting stopped, for only a few seconds, but given the man was constantly in movement, Steve noticed immediately. However, by the time Steve tried to catch Tony's eyes to ask if he was alright, they both startled when the mirror suddenly began talking, the sound muffled in his hands. Tony almost dropped it on the counter between them before holding it out in front of him, and Steve shuffled over to his side.

"Oh, thank Merlin. I thought you'd broken it," Hermione said, her face very close to the mirror before she held it out at arm's length. "I have someone who wants to speak to you."

The mirror flipped around, and Steve could see Pepper, her skin splotchy red and covered in a sheen of sweat, Bucky packing ice around her. But Pepper was smiling as best as she could through her obvious pain. For Tony.

"I'm alright, Tony. I'll be alright, I promise," she was quick to reassure him. "Don't go doing anything stupid now. Just wait for me, okay?"

Tony seemed to deflate, all the nervous energy that had been building inside him leaving him with those few simple words.

"Okay, Peps. When are you coming home?"

"I'm not sure," she admitted, biting her bottom lip before the mirror shifted back around to show Hermione.

"We're keeping her here to monitor her condition. I'm trying to siphon out whatever they injected her with. That syringe you gave me helped me isolate the components, but they've already been absorbed by her metabolism and are compounding with-"

Hermione went on, but it was starting to sound like white noise to him. Tony, on the other hand, was nodding here and there, arguing about the best course of action to settle on until they came to an agreement.

"Treat it like a poison, then. You said you had several magical solutions to that, right?"

"Well…"

"It's a simple yes or no question," Tony snapped, and Steve almost rapped his knuckles over his thick skull, but knew it was just stress making him so irate.

"Yes. Several," Hermione hurried to add, but it's possible none of them work. This world isn't magical. Its plants aren't magical. I could try brewing all the counter-poison potions I know to perfection, and still get no results."

"Try," Tony pleaded.

"Fine," she muttered before turning around to speak to Bucky. "Look after her, Buck. I gotta find myself a goat." She glanced back at them. "I'll get back to you."

Steve could swear he heard Hermione mutter "A goat is a goat." before the connection was cut. Tony stared at him.

"A… goat? Did I hear that right?"

"Afraid so," Steve replied, equally as puzzled. "Don't question it too much, just trust the process."

So they did, sitting in companionable silence, although Tony's anxiety was still palpable. Not that he blamed him. Steve would be worse. Probably taking out his frustration on punching bags until they burst. In comparison, Tony merely fiddled with whatever his hands found, shifted where he sat and jiggled his knees, before finally jumping out of his seat to pace back and forth… until he finally burst too.

"If only I didn't have this damn thing," Tony exclaimed, hitting his closed fist against the faint light shining through his tee-shirt.

"Your reactor?"

Tony grunted, paced some more, then stopped to face him again.

"If I didn't have this damn thing, I could be with Pepper right now instead of that… him. It should be me. I should be with her."

"Bucky will do his best to help her. I know you don't trust him, but-"

"It's not even that," Tony cut him off, then laughed self-deprecatingly. "Can't believe I trust that murderous creep with the love of my life…" he muttered. "But that's beside the point. Somehow. If anyone told me I'd entrust Pepper to him just yesterday, I would have called them mad." He shook his head and rubbed at the light in his chest as if he could erase it from existence. "But it wouldn't even be an issue if I wasn't being held back by this thing."

Steve bit his bottom lip, unsure of what to say because he was not sure what the reactor did exactly.

"Does it hurt?" Steve asked.

Tony freezes for a second before resuming his manic fidgeting.

"Does it matter?" Tony replied instead of answering, so Steve took that as a yes.

Of course it had to hurt. It probably looked as bad as Bucky's arm, and he knew Buck was in constant pain because of it. And that was "just' an arm. Tony's reactor was embedded in the middle his godamned chest, right by his heart. It had to be torturous having that thing in him. Steve couldn't take his eyes off the faint light.

"You're staring," Tony pointed out, his head cocked to the side as he suddenly focused on him instead of Pepper.

"Ah. Sorry," Steve hurried to say, feeling himself blush in embarrassment as he looked away.

For someone who had hated being the freak lab-created trophy the military paraded proudly around, he sure was not being subtle about staring at Tony's glowing heart.

"You want to see it?" Tony asked with a smirk.

Steve wasn't sure whether he was teasing or mocking him, so Steve got up the courage to look back at him, frowning.

"I said I'm sorry and I meant it. I just don't know much about your reactor except that you need it to stay alive… right?"

He'd been given everyone's files but he never found the time to go through them in detail and then the helicarrier was attacked and everything went to hell, his files included.

"Right in one, Cap. Or I did up to now. There's this doctor who thinks he can remove it with the pieces of shrapnel still in me. I would have done it in a heartbeat if I'd known…"

Oh. Steve gets it now. Why Tony was so angry with himself, even if he could not have known it would prevent him from being by Pepper's side one day.

"I guess the rate of success is not that great if you didn't go through with it?" Steve offered so Tony would stop beating himself up about it.

"It would be worth it," Tony replied before slumping on the sofa next to him, turning his head at an uncomfortable angle to meet his eyes.

"Think your witch could do better?"

"She's no surgeon," Steve chuckled, shaking his head. "You saw her heal me when Killian shot me…"

"Yeah," Tony agreed with a chuckle. "Efficient, but not exactly tender or precise." He sighed. "I think I'll do it. When Pepper's back and this mess blows over, I'll do it. I'll get the surgery."

Steve smiled, not knowing what to say. It was a big deal for Tony, and a dangerous surgery ahead. Tony seemed proud and content with his decision too, so he left it at that and not long after, the mirror called.

"Got your goat?" Tony asked, hiding his worry behind humor once more.

Hermione rolled her eyes.

"There are surprisingly few goats around here, but I found a petting zoo and got what I wanted, yes. I'm still tinkering with the bezoar, and Bucky's scarily good at using the medical equipment here, so I think between us, we can get Pepper stable enough to move to a hospital if you've got a preference for one?"

Tony gave her the address then left him the mirror to make arrangements for a private room and calling in all kinds of doctors from around the country and, he was pretty sure, even from out of the country. He ignored the background chatter to catch up with Hermione and Bucky, and he was kind of glad he got left behind with Tony, because he would have been completely useless in helping Pepper, so it all worked out in the end.

"You can't go to the hospital in your Ironman suit," Steve scolded.

"Why not? It's faster."

Tony was doing a pretty good impression of a spoiled kid pouting. He half expected him to stomp his foot.

"Because we have ample time to get there like normal people, because you're not in your right state of mind to be flying right now, and I'm pretty sure most of the world still thinks you're dead from that attack on your Malibu house. The last thing you want is the press hounding you at the hospital."

"Oh… right. That. I should probably make a press release about me still not dying though. Pepper usually takes care of that… I think I deserve a cool nickname this time. Tony Stark the Undying. The Unkillable? Invincible Ironman? Oh yeah, that sounds pretty good, right?"

"Just sounds like a challenge, and we've got enough people trying to kill you already."

They bickered all the way to the hospital in one of Tony's ridiculously expensive cars, but it did not annoy him as it did in the beginning. It was just how Tony bonded, and Steve now gave as good as he got, which only seemed to spur Tony on.

Their interaction did garner him raised eyebrows from his lovers when they met up in the lobby of the hospital.

"See? Now we're late, Captain Slowpoke. You and your civilian ways," Tony scoffed before latching onto one of the nurses bustling through the hall and charming her to lead him to Pepper.

"You two look chummy," Bucky muttered, glaring at Tony's retreating back.

Steve tried not to grim in return. He tried, but Bucky's jealousy was kind of cute, even if it shouldn't be.

"I think our work here is done," Hermione said, linking an arm with each of them to tug them towards the exit.

The notion she could drag them anywhere without her magic was laughable, but they gladly followed her lead. It had been a long day. Steve only realized how much of a rough day it had been when Hermione fell asleep as soon as she reached the oversized couch at home. Bucky shrugged and went to pick her up to put her in bed so she would be more comfortable, but he stopped right before reaching her.

"Maybe you should do it. I'm gonna take a shower."

Steve felt a bit wrongfooted by the sudden change of plans, sure he was missing an important piece of the puzzle. That Hermione passed out from exhaustion was nothing new to them. She did her utmost to keep up with them, but she had not been injected with the supersoldier serum contrary to them. And he'd say they had an unfair advantage, but she had magic instead. However, Bucky never passed up an opportunity to take care of their witch. Steve sometimes wondered if it was because he missed taking care of his old skinny self. Hermione was about the same built he used to be after all.

So why the hesitation? Why ask him to take care of her instead?

Steve gathered Hermione in him arm, then laid her in bed, peeling her out of her clothes before settling the warm comforter over her. One down, one to go. He joined Bucky in the bathroom, the air already thick with steam from his shower.

"Take a picture, it'll last longer," Bucky said when he noticed him staring.

Observing, to be more precise. Something was a bit off with him. His voice too clipped despite the quip. His posture too rigid for what should be a relaxing post-mission shower.

"Oh, I will. Wait till I get a camera."

"You do know there's a camera on your phone, right?"

Oh. Right. Steve had forgotten, to be honest. Phones nowadays were like a Swiss army knife, but since he couldn't use it much around Hermione, he usually forgot about it. He was pretty sure the last one had fried again, and he couldn't, for the life of him, remember where he had left it.

Bucky leaned his head into the stream of hot water overhead, then began to lather shampoo into his hair, when he cursed and a lock of dark hair fell at his feet. It took Steve a few seconds to realize it was the sharp edges of his severed metal fingers which had cut it. Without his glove on, Bucky was basically walking around with blades for fingers.

That might have explained his reluctance to carry Hermione, but Steve set that thought aside for later, and stepped into the shower.

"Stevie! What are you doing? Your clothes!" Bucky protested.

"Fuck my clothes," Steve said and tangled his fingers in Bucky's dark hair while Bucky was carefully pulling his own hands away lest he accidentally give himself a new haircut.

Steve lathered the shampoo in, Bucky relaxing under his touch after a minute, letting his shoulders drop and leaning into his touch, entrusting his body to him despite not trusting it himself. Yet, Steve still found himself surprised when agile fingers began undressing him, peeling soaked cloth away from his skin. He was bare chested and all the better for it when he told Bucky to tip his head back so Steve could rinse out the shampoo, and he did, but kept his eyes full of what he could only call adoration on him. Steve positively preened under such a gaze.

"Damn Bucky, stop looking at me like that," he groused.

"Or what?" Bucky replied huskily.

"Or I won't be able to put in your conditioner."

Bucky snorted then leaned closer to kiss him, his good hand taking advantage of the distraction to undo his pants pushing them down past his hips.

"Get out of those," Bucky said before he turned to grab his bottle of conditioner.

Again, Steve did not need to be asked twice. Wet clothes were one of the most uncomfortable things in existence, especially when his cock was stiff and straining against the coarse material. He gathered his wet clothes and threw them into the sink, before shifting back towards Bucky to accept the bottle. Bucky turned it upside down, smirked, and squirted a good nut of the whitish conditioner in his hand instead before turning around, offering his hair and showing off his ass.

Steve bit his lip, forcing his eyes up, and got to work applying the product in the long, dark locks, but Bucky wasn't making it easy, shifting flush against him.

"Jesus," Steve bit out, getting even harder when his cock slid against Bucky's ass, and then again, slipping between his cheeks and thighs, but the friction was enough to make him forget all about his hair duty, his hands falling down and around Bucky, sliding against his dick and balls.

"Oh, fuck, Stevie, please," Bucky moaned, head flung back against his shoulder.

They must have both been already on edge, because it didn't take many strokes on one side, or rubs on the other for them to come.

"That was embarrassing," Bucky murmured, turning around in his arms.

"Yeah, we didn't even use up all the hot water."

"Let's not tell Hermione?"

"She doesn't need the details," Steve agreed.