Take This Ordinary Song
Day 71
“Good morning, sweetheart,” Steve kisses the back of Tony’s head, one hand wrapping Tony’s chest from behind, the other waving a cup of coffee under Tony’s nose.
Tony tilts his head up, pressing a kiss beneath Steve’s jaw, leaning back into the warmth of Tony’s chest. It’s easy to relish these little acts of kindness. Bruce and Helen have taken to blacking out the glass panes separating their labs, unable to bear watching Steve and Tony.
By silent mutual agreement, though, they haven’t gone further than kisses. For all his promiscuity in his younger days, Tony doesn’t think he’s ready yet, and Steve wants to wait before they go any further. To Steve, it’s his heart and Peter’s that is on the line, and Tony understands.
This intimacy between the two of them is dizzying enough. Tony feels like a teenager again, heart racing from just one of Steve’s looks. Yet, it’s wonderful. He wakes up every morning looking forward to work (and Pepper spent days teasing him about that), he spends hours calling Steve at night, one of JARVIS’ holograms specially designated to channel video feed of whatever it is Steve’s doing.
Sometimes, Steve is bowed over his office table, rubbing tiredly at his eyes. Other times, Peter hogs the screen, showing off his latest grades to Tony, who rewards him with details of the designs he’s current working on. Steve would just smile indulgently, and Tony’s fingers would itch to reach through the light to touch and hold.
While Tony’s given control of his company to Pepper, it’s still Tony’s name on the buildings, and between their lives, their busy schedule healing people, taking care of Peter, and handling Stark Industries, it’s hard to find time to spend together.
But they squeeze in these little moments, and it’s enough. It has to be.
Day 90
“So you take this wire and clip it to this rod, here,” Tony patiently explains. He’s lying down on his stomach, face propped up by his elbows, the carpet of Steve’s living room keeping the chill of the floor away.
Peter is sitting cross-legged in front of him, a frown on his face as he concentrates on the mess of wires and metal. Steve is stuck at the hospital giving the new attendings under his command an orientation, so Tony happily volunteered to pick Peter up from school and watch over him for a bit. The way Peter had pushed through a sea of kids to rush to him brought a twinge to Tony’s heart, and he’d let Peter’s small hands latch onto his for the short walk to the car.
With the promise of building a robot, Peter had eagerly agreed to shower, finishing his homework in record time. Luckily, Tony always had a toolkit stashed in his car, and it had enough nuts and bolts to build a very deformed but functioning spider-bot. Peter, apparently, loved those creepy crawlers.
Steve comes home a few hours later to the sound of laughter, a robot pet he’s wholly unprepared for, his living room like a shipwreck, and two sheepish faces blinking up at him.
Day 107
“How’s Steve?” Peggy asks as she places the plate of fruitcakes on the patio table in front of Tony.
Not bothering to hide from her, Tony lets himself smile, “I think I love him.”
Peggy hums, the look in her eyes knowing and kind. “Did you tell him yet?”
“No,” Tony admits, and then pouts, “when you said that man spews rainbows out of his mouth, I thought that you were exaggerating! But no! Have you seen him with the children? Giving out free lollipops and trying to make himself smaller? And him carrying Peter like he weighs nothing?”
Laughing, Peggy snipes back, “Steve carrying you like you weigh nothing, you mean?”
Tony sputters into his cup of tea.
“I’m the Director, dear, it was me who put Steve in charge of the children.”
Placing his cup back down to grab one of the fruitcakes topped with blueberry, Tony huffs. “Yes, but how did you even find a man like that? He tries to open the doors for me. The doors. Which are automated sliding doors and therefore do not need to be opened. And he’s somehow memorised all my favorite food orders. He doesn’t even have JARVIS cheat for him, he just remembers it! You know he’s secretly started reading physics books just to try and keep up with me and Peter? He’s insane.”
When Tony pauses his rant to take a breath, he notices Peggy smiling a smile he hasn’t seen on her for years.
“What?” Tony asks a bit defensively.
Peggy closes her eyes, shaking her head slightly.
“Nothing. I’m just happy for you.”