Cinnamon Rolls and Conversations
Tony stood half bent over the kitchen counter, elbows propped and chin in his hands and eyes narrowed in concentration as he stared at the slowly bubbling mixture in the glass cup.
“Activate, damn you.” he muttered crossly. “I don’t have all damn day for this.”
“Tony.” Sam appeared at his elbow and sighed loud at him. “You ever heard the saying ‘a watched pot never boils’?”
“Yes.” Tony didn’t look away from the yeast and sugar mixture. “Why?”
Sam sighed louder when it became obvious his favorite genius was entirely missing the point. “Staring at the yeast isn’t going to make it activate any faster! It grows as it grows! Stop making it self conscious and come start on the rest of the recipe!”
“You said this was quick rise yeast!” Tony protested as Sam gently but purposefully dragged him away from the cup and back towards a set of mixing bowls. “I expected it to puff up really fast!”
“Look.” Sam tied a delightfully predictable ‘kiss the cook’ apron around his waist. “I know people say cooking is a science and that you should experiment in the kitchen and everything, but I know you and I know how your experiments usually end up exploding and I’m telling you that the yeast isn’t going to explode. And if you ever find yourself in a situation where your activated yeast does explode? You have done something very wrong.”
“Fine.” Tony smiled begrudgingly, then bigger when Sam tugged at one of the ruffles at his apron and dragged him in closer. “What’s going on over here?”
“Nothing as exciting as exploding yeast, but we’ll make it work.” Sam tossed Tony a package of vanilla pudding mix, then turned to tear the seal off a gallon of milk. “Most important thing about cinnamon rolls is the dough, so we gotta take good care of it.”
“I disagree.” Tony handed back the open pudding box. “The most important part is unequivocally the frosting.”
“Huh.” Sam huffed a laugh at him. “I’ll let that absolute buffoonery slide but only cos you’re beautiful.”
“Um.” Tony blinked. “What did you just say?”
“My granny always said, the most important thing is the dough.” Sam kept talking, ignoring Tony’s surprise over being called beautiful. “She always said if something was only delicious with frosting-- cake, cinnamon rolls, whatever-- then it wasn’t actually delicious, it was just sweet. Doesn’t take any skill to slap frosting on a sub-par product. Takes real skill to make something so good, frosting isn’t needed. Besides, a good dough can be the basis for a bunch of different things, so if you get at least one recipe down, you can sub in other ingredients for the filling.”
“Um.” Tony was still stuck on Sam so casually calling him beautiful, and his hand flattened just briefly, just out of habit, just self consciously to the scars at his chest before he managed to clear his throat and ask,. “Okay so-- so good dough. This is your granny’s cinnamon roll recipe?”
“She’s who I remember making them, so I consider it her recipe.” Sam’s smile was sweetly fond. “Every single time we went over to Granny’s she was pullin’ something out of the oven. Cinnamon rolls, dinner rolls, cornbread, fresh baked sandwich bread, a pie for after church-- whatever it was, we’d walk through the door and she’d turn around with a big smile and tell us to come get some food. ‘C’mon and get some food baby’ and no matter what, there was always enough to eat. We didn’t always have much money but Granny always had enough food.”
“I think it’s like a Grandma super power, to always have food right when people come over.” Tony took the offered whisk from Sam and mixed the pudding with a couple cups of milk, pausing long enough for Sam to crack two eggs into the liquid and then going back to work. “I only met Grandma Carbonell one time, but she had enough food to feed an army immediately prepared and kept telling me to eat cos I was nothing but skin and bones.”
“Maybe it is a Grandma super power.” Sam grinned at the thought. “ Either way, we’re all real grateful for it. Go grab the butter out of the microwave for me.”
“Why pudding in the dough?” Tony wanted to know. “Did your Granny use pudding?”
“Granny used dry milk mostly, a little cocoa if she had it, and a little sugar if it didn’t taste just right.” Sam motioned for Tony to add the melted butter to the bowl. “She said the milk powder helped the dough rise better and kept it sweeter, added flavor without having to use too many other ingredients.”
“...and pudding?”
“Ma started using pudding mix.” Sam clarified. “Gettin’ an actual recipe from Granny was a chore and a half cos she measured everything by feel and taste, and pudding mix was a quick substitute for the dry milk and cocoa and sugar. Sometimes Granny used cornstarch too, it depended on what she had on hand. Pudding is just easier.”
“Hmmm.” Tony hummed in agreement. “J? We need additional dry pudding mix in the house.”
“I’ll add it to the grocery order, sir.”
“Go get your non exploding yeast and bring it over here.” Sam passed behind Tony on his way to grab a big spoon, his hand resting steady and warm at Tony’s waist for a few seconds as he went. “Careful not to jostle it, we don’t want it to deflate.”
“Oh look!” Tony’s gaze went hilariously wide when he retrieved the almost overfull cup. “It’s so tall and fluffy!”
“There’s a method to my madness.” Sam chuckled at him. “Start the yeast early and then by the time you’re done with the base of the dough, it’s ready to add. See how big it got? Should be about a cup and a half, maybe two cups tall now. That’s what you want. Dump it in the bowl and whisk it through.”
“And then… flour?”
“And then a whole bunch of flour.” Sam thudded the container of flour onto the counter. “We add this in a cup at a time, mixing with the spoon for about five cups, then add three or four more with our hands.”
“So eight or nine cups worth?” Tony eyed the flour in trepidation. “I dunno if I have the arm muscles for kneading bread. Maybe you and your biceps of glory should do that part.”
“My biceps are very nice, yes, but I’ve seen the video footage of you turning your lab into a particle accelerator so you could create a new element and full on heal yourself from all that palladium crap.” The blatant admiration in Sam’s dark gaze made Tony blush. “I’m pretty sure you can handle kneading some dough, alright? Quit bitchin’ and get to work.”
“You’re bossy in the kitchen.” Tony pushed his sleeves up and scooped out a cup of flour, dumping it through the sifter before adding it to the liquid mix. “What’s that all about?”
“I grew up with a Granny, my Ma and my sister all over my shoulder tellin’ me how to cook.” Sam snorted. “It feels good to boss someone else around.”
And then with a wink that sent Tony’s heart fluttering, “Don’t pretend like you don’t like it. I’ve seen you get all smitten when Pepper puts on her CEO voice and orders you around.”
“Okay but---” Tony’s ears burned in embarrassment. “But everyone likes to be ordered around by Pepper. Especially when she taps one of her high heels while doing it. That’s not-- that’s not weird. I’m not the only one that likes that.”
“Regarding Pepper? That is absolute truth. Regarding you just liking to be bossed around? Well I guess we’ll have to fool around and see.” Sam’s laugh was low and knowing, teasing as he crowded in close to sift another cup of flour for their cinnamon rolls. “Hey now, don’t add any more flour until the previous cup is all the way mixed in. You don’t want weird clumps. But hey hey hey--”
His voice pitched warning when Tony mixed too vigorously. “Don’t over mix it either! Overmixed dough is tough dough!”
“What’s the difference between undermixing and overmixing!” Tony was flustered flustered flustered after Sam’s comment about fooling around. What the hell was going with him lately? “I need better directions than this, did you hear the part about how I order in pancakes for breakfast?”
“I heard it.” Sam’s mouth nearly touched Tony’s hair when he leaned further in than necessary to inspect the bowl. “And hell, I don’t actually know the difference between under and over mixing. I just know you shouldn’t do either.”
“Your recipe is crap.”
“Whoa!” Sam pointed a finger at him. “Don’t talk about my Granny’s recipe like that!”
“Fine!” Tony scowled. “The way you’re telling me this recipe is crap! Talk better Sam!”
“Okay! I’ll try to talk better!”
Kneading dough was predictably tiring work and eventually even Tony’s sass fell by the wayside as he concentrated wholly on molding and shaping the dough under Sam’s bossy careful supervision. Once it was dubbed round enough and apparently neither under nor over mixed, Sam switched the whole mass to a greased bowl and popped it in a barely warm oven to rise in peace while they cleaned up.
“Tell me about your boyfriend.” Sam rolled his sleeves up to his elbows and tackled the dishes. “Tash says you won’t give any hints about how he is in bed and Clint said you accused him of nefarious deeds when he innocently asked about a potential tattoo.”
“First of all.” Tony inwardly groaned, because of course everyone was gossiping about the cooking sessions, the team gossiped about everything. “First of all, Tasha was trying to use both Thor and Clint as a measuring device so I could tell her how big he was--”
Sam cackled and Tony groaned out loud this time. “And then yes, I absolutely accused Clint of nefarious deeds cos the last time he and Tasha found out anything about who I was dating, they ran him off.”
“Uh huh.” Sam put the clean bowl on the drying rack. “I remember hearing about that dinner. Nat and Clint interrogating the guy, Bucky using one of his goddamn daggers to cut his steak just so Ty had to look at a big ol’ blade the entire meal. Steve with that patented Captain America Scowl of Disapproval on his face and Thor…”
“Thor set his hair on fire.” Tony finished flatly. “Thor snapped lightning at him and set his hair on fire.”
“Which rumour has it, wouldn’t have happened quite so fast if it had been natural blond and not chemically treated blond.” Sam ducked a spoon that came winging at him from the other side of the kitchen. “Tony! Don’t throw shit at me! I didn’t even do anything that night!”
“No you didn’t, but I feel like that was only because you happened to be out saving the world.” Tony snapped, and after a few seconds, Sam admitted, “Yeah okay, that’s true. Otherwise I would’a been right there next to Bucky.”
“You all are like the world’s worst older siblings.” Tony groused, scrubbing at the counter to get rid of egg residue. “And those of you that are younger than me are like bratty, nosy, little siblings who would gleefully ruin my chances at happiness cos you’re fucking gremlins.”
“Damn Tony.” Sam whistled under his breath. “You’re a single child, how the hell are you so bitter towards siblings?”
“Because I live with a feral pack of forever adolescents.” Tony was frowning, but the heat was gone from his words. “I know you all care about me and that’s why you’re chasing off the bad boyfriends but--”
“Tony,”
“--all I’m saying is I just want to have one relationship that doesn’t directly involve--”
“Tony?”
“--the Avengers in some way, whether it’s you all meddling or my partner getting all starry eyed over Thor’s biceps or Steve’s--”
“Tony.” Sam wiped his hands down his jeans and reached to grasp at Tony’s wrist, slowly but steadily pulling the still grumbling genius into his space and then right up into his body. “Stop talking for two seconds.”
“Sam?” Tony gaped down at the absolute lack of space between their bodies and then up in confusion at Sam. “What are you doing?”
“This.” Sam let go of Tony’s wrist only so he could frame Tony’s face in both his big hands, calloused finger tips gentle sweeping at Tony’s hair line, his thumbs brushing over the ridge of Tony’s cheekbones almost tenderly before he bent to touch their mouths together.
…Tony went blank for one, two, three seconds…
…and then he kissed Sam back.
******
“You did what?!” The tip of the pool cue tore right through the felt and splintered against the surface below when Steve miscalculated his shot and thoroughly ruined the pool table in the game room. “Sam! You kissed Tony?!”
“Uh yep.” Sam nodded a few times. “Sure did. Literally couldn’t help myself.”
“Damn you, Sam.” Natasha aggressively chalked her own pool cue, alternating between glaring daggers at Steve for fucking up the table and practically snarling at Sam for the information he’d just dropped. “I thought we were trying to help Tony with his boyfriend, not seduce him away from his boyfriend!”
“I was trying to help!” Sam protested loudly. “But you know-- it’s Tony! He was wearing ruffles! What was I supposed to do?”
“You could’a not kissed him.” Bucky grimaced down at the torn table in distaste. “Man, Pep’s gonna kill you for that Stevie. That’s the second pool table we messed up in six months.”
“What happened to the first one?” Bruce looked up from his tablet, then almost immediately put his hands up and shook his head, “Actually never mind. I don’t want to know about your activities. Forget I asked.”
“Calm down Bruce, it wasn’t like that.” Steve tsked at the Doctor, as if there hadn’t been several times various furniture around the Tower had been ruined because he and Bucky were being active. “We tried to move it and ended up cracking it, it wasn’t anything inappropriate.”
“Inappropriate.” Clint mocked high pitched. “Sure it wasn’t. Just two of the beefiest beefcakes ever ‘moving a pool table’. Is that what you old guys call it these days?”
“Stop.” Bucky shook a silver finger warningly at the archer. “Tasha, are you mad cos Sam’s playing tonsil tennis with Tony or are ya mad cos he got to kiss Tony before you?”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” Natasha put her nose in the air. “I thought our intentions were well placed to help our teammate and friend have a good date with his current boyfriend.”
Everyone just looked at her, and after a moment Nat groaned and added, “And because Tony batted those stupid long eyelashes at me as he explained that he couldn’t cook worth a damn and needed help! Of course we had to help him! But that doesn’t mean Sam had to kiss him!”
“Oh no, it absolutely did.” Sam shrugged off her glare. “We were making cinnamon rolls, he was being fussy about how we chased off his last boyfriend…absolutely needed to be kissed.”
“I agree with Samuel, Widow.” Thor didn’t play pool, but he was happy to watch the team play so long as it kept them away from the tray of cinnamon rolls that was left over from Sam and Tony’s baking spree that morning. The huge blond had already eaten six and was halfway through his seventh sweet pastry, but paused long enough to flash Sam a thoroughly understanding smile. “I too would kiss our Anthony if given the chance, especially if he was wearing ruffles.”
“Oh absolutely.” Clint was on his third cinnamon roll, posted up across the small table from Thor and licking his fingers in satisfaction to get every bit of the cream cheese frosting. “Chance to kiss Tony? Especially when he’s makin’ good stuff like this? Anytime.”
“I didn’t know kissing Tony was part of the deal.” Steve looked more upset about missing a chance at a kiss than he was at the ruined pool table. “Me and Bucky damn near kept our hands to ourselves the entire time! Only slipped up and called him sweetheart once or twice!”
“And I wasn’t grabby with him.” Clint agreed. “We just found other stuff to do while the cake was baking.”
“Like what?” Sam threw his hands up. “What else could I possibly have done for the forty five minutes the dough was rising and Tony was looking at me?”
“Dishes!”
“Gossip!”
“Clean!”
“At the very least you could have asked him about his boyfriend.” Bruce added after everyone else had yelled. “Isn’t that the whole point of this?”
“I asked him about his boyfriend.” Sam countered stubbornly, and Thor clarified, “And then kissed him anyway? You are a bold man, Samuel.”
“Is bold the right word?” Nat huffed. “Presumptuous is more like it. Reckless. Rude--”
“Yeah, you’re just pissed you didn’t get to kiss him first.” Sam waved her off uncaringly. “And here’s the thing-- not one of you have asked if Tony kissed me back.”
Absolute silence in the game room, and even Bruce’s jaw dropped in shock before he gathered himself enough to ask, “Sam. Did Tony kiss you back?”
“...yeah.” Sam’s smile was a little goofy. “Yeah, he sure did.”
“Anthony is not in love with his current partner then?” Thor suggest almost hopefully, but Bucky disagreed, “Nah, he could still be in love with that guy. Kissin’ Sam doesn’t mean half of anything.”
“Rude.” Sam slanted an annoyed glance at the super soldier. “Kissing me means lots of things.”
“No it doesn’t.” Steve agreed with his boyfriend. “It doesn’t, because lots of people would kiss you Sam. You’re a great looking guy, you’re charming, stable… Lots of people would kiss you. I would kiss you. Doesn’t mean I love Bucky any less.”
“Ohhhhhkay.” Sam cocked his head curiously at the Captain then turned back to the others. “Well I’m telling you Tony kissed me back. He looked just as surprised as me afterwards and we didn’t talk about it, just sorta laughed it off and went back to cooking, but he definitely kissed me back. Got all blushy and cute about it too.”
“Well…” Nat tapped the point of the pool cue into her hand. “I suppose that changes things. Less about you just laying one on him and potentially ruining things for everyone and more about Tony maybe… maybe being into us?”
“So maybe we up the ante a little bit?” Clint suggested when no one answered Natasha. “Tash, you said he was flustered around you when you flirted with him. Steve and Bucky called him all sorts of sweet names. I didn’t kiss the guy but I wasn’t exactly platonic either and Sam just straight up laid one on him and Tony hasn’t run away yet.”
“Perhaps our little love carries feelings for us but doubts we feel the same for him.” Thor pulled the center of a cinnamon roll out and popped it into his mouth. “His looking for companionship outside these walls could be a result of his own insecurities, we all see the way he carries all the negative comments from the press and the papers into his heart.”
“How he pretends he ain’t sad even though he is.” Bucky spoke up, and Bruce commented quiet, “The way he defends all of us but brushes off our attempts to defend him.”
“He seemed surprised I was willing to help him cook, almost seemed shocked I thought he was worth the time.” Natasha finally set her pool cue down and went to sit neatly on Thor’s lap, peeling off the edges of his current cinnamon roll and chewing at them slowly. “Does Tony think we don’t think he’s worth the time?”
“I know he struggles with being human.” Steve said then. “And not human like you are, Nat, or the way Clint is. Tony’s got a compromised heart, scars, has to suit up to fight the battles… have we made him feel like he wasn’t enough so he’s looking for love somewhere else?”
“I think it just doesn’t occur to Tony that we would love him.” Sam was glad he’d eaten two cinnamon rolls that morning with Tony as he watched the rest of the treats disappear when the super soldiers wandered over and Bruce finally put his tablet down to get some as well. “We all know his previous track record at dating isn’t great and uh-- we haven’t exactly made it easy for him to date since we all moved in. He spent most of his life never measuring up to Howard’s expectations, as the patron for the Avengers he gets the brunt of all our bad press and negative rap, and it took a while for all of us to gel together and he took the brunt of a lot of that too. Maybe-- maybe it just doesn’t occur to Tony that we could love him. That we do love him.”
“Cos what would a set of super soldiers and two super spies,” Clint pointed at Steve and Bucky, then at himself and Tasha. “The smartest guy in any room,” at Bruce, “the hottest guy in any room,” Thor, “and Chocolate Adonis over there, “ Sam, “ want with a mid forties dude with boat loads of trauma, right? That’s what Tony is thinking?”
“...that makes me really sad.” Bruce scrubbed at his face wearily. “I understand it on all points, I would feel the exact same way if I was in Tony’s shoes, but it still makes me really sad.”
“I think we’d all feel the exact same way if we were in Tony’s shoes.” Nat’s full lips twisted in half a smile. “Why on earth would a roomful of people all love any of us? Even Captain America’s got some smudges on that shining golden visage.”
“Ain’t that the truth?” Steve nodded a few times. “I think Clint’s right. If Tony hasn’t gone running from all our flirting yet, if Sam kissed him and he kissed Sam back, I vote we say to hell with helping Tony with the new guy and we should start just being upfront and real with him. Up the ante. Bruce--”
“Kissing isn’t my thing.” Bruce interjected before Steve could suggest anything down that avenue. “I love Tony just as much as the rest of you, but kissing and uh-- scenarios with less clothing are not my thing.”
“I’ve seen the way his eyes light up when you and him spend time in the lab.” Clint patted Bruce on the shoulder. “More than one way to seduce a fella. You seduce him with the sciency shit and kindred spirits stuff and Thor can do what he does best.”
Thor waggled his eyebrows and grinned, flexing one of those massive arms.
“Yep.” Clint laughed. “Yep, do exactly that. Tomorrow’s Friday and date night’s Saturday so if we’re gonna do it, you two gotta bring your A-game.”
“If we do this, we’ll be actively tryna break Tony and his boyfriend up.” Bucky muttered. “You know if it backfires, it’ll break Tony’s heart? He’d probably never trust us again and we’d lose what we already got. You willin’ to take that risk?”
The group was quiet, sober, then Thor broke the silence with a confident, “My muscles never backfire. Anthony will be ours by the weeks end. Just wait and see.”
“Guess we will.” Sam shot a look at Clint. “Did you call me Chocolate Adonis?”
“Meh. Steve isn’t the only one who’d lay one on you if he could.” Clint crammed another cinnamon roll into his mouth. “Take it as a compliment.”
********
Chapter Notes:
My favorite thing about baking with my Grandma and my Aunties was always the most frustrating thing-- and that is that old women literally just don’t have recipes. You measure it with your soul. You listen to what your ancestors tell you. It just ‘feels’ right. You’ll know when you know. Like, give me a goddamn recipe PLEASE.
However, all the best memories came from all those moments too, so I guess I’ll take a recipe with measurements like “a pinch” or a “toss” and just be glad I got to drink wine and laugh with my Aunties while making delicious things.
Also I love the casual way Steve’s like “hell I’d kiss Sam!” and how Thor is so convinced that his muscles will never fail when it comes to seduction. I miss ‘team as family’ fics and would honestly give my left arm (see what I did there?) for Marvel to give us just a five minute movie of Domestic Avengers Shenanigans either in the Tower or in the Compound.
LINK to my Cinnamon Roll Recipe! It’s way too long to copy paste here, and the Tumblr post has step by step directions!
Next Up! Bruce and Thor!