When Steve was invited to live with the team in Avengers Tower, he feels relieved. He had been getting sick of being Fury’s lap dog, so he said goodbye to his shitty SHIELD apartment and packed his bags. Well, more like his one bag and his shield. Showing up at the Tower, he gave his name at the front desk and was shown to the private elevator.
“Hello, Captain.” Steve jumped. “I am JARVIS, sir’s personal artificial intelligence. Mr. Stark has requested that I bring you to the communal floor where the rest of the team is.”
“Thank you?” Unsure of what to think he left it at that and stayed quiet the rest of the ride up to the ‘communal floor’. When the elevator doors opened he stepped out and followed the sound of voices into what he found to be the kitchen.
“Mon Capitan! Welcome to our casa!” Tony exclaimed, “You’re the last one to show up, rude by the way, we were just trying to decide what to get for lunch. Have a preference?”
Steve didn’t think he’d ever seem Tony so energetic. Although he could also count the amount of times he’d been around the genius on one hand, so there was probably a lot he didn’t know about him. Looking around the kitchen he saw Natasha and Clint sitting next to each other at the island, Clint with his feet in her lap and Natasha looking through menus on the counter. They both smiled and waved at him and he returned the gesture. Bruce was standing at the stove pouring hot water into a mug with a little tea packet in his hand. Thor was nowhere to be found, so Steve just assumed that he was either back in Asgard or maybe in New Mexico with the girl he’d told stories of when the team had gone for shawarma after the Battle of New York. Lastly, he looked back at Tony. The man was sitting up on the counter next to where Bruce was still at the stove. He was wearing the same faded band tee he had worn on the helicarrier as well as some ratty grey sweatpants.
“Uh, I’m sorry for being late, I didn’t know there was an expected time,” he chuckled shyly. “I don’t really care what we get, I’ll eat pretty much anything.”
“How about Thai? I haven’t had that in a while.” Natasha suggested. When everyone nodded or shrugged their shoulders she got up. “I’ll go make the call, is there anything specific anyone wants?” Nobody spoke up, so she pulled her cell phone out of her back pocket and walked out of the room.
“Well, Cap, want the grand tour? I’ll take you to your floor afterward.” Tony asked with a big smile on his face.
“My floor? Like a whole floor?” Steve’s brow furrowed.
“Yes of course, I designed one for everyone!” Tony rolled his eyes, “There’s more than enough room in this tower for all of us.”
“Tony, I can’t accept that. It’s too much! I really only need a room.” Steve told him.
“Too late! It’s already all renovated and everything. At this point it would be rude to turn it down,” He stated with amusement in his eyes. “Come on, Steve, I insist.” Steve wanted to argue, but he was caught up on the fact that Tony had called him by his actual name. That was the first time he’d heard it come out of Tony’s mouth.
Steve sighed. “Alright then, I appreciate it Tony, really. Thank you.” With that Tony whisked him off to show him around. On the communal floor there was the kitchen and the living room, along with a bathroom, a library and two spare bedrooms. Every room was beautiful and pristine, but they didn’t look very lived in. He wondered if Tony had even used this floor at all before he invited the team to live here.
“My floor is the penthouse, obviously. You’re welcome there whenever, just make sure you give me some notice.” Under the penthouse was the communal floor, and below that was a floor that had a gym (complete with reinforced punching bags for Steve), and a pool.
“This is amazing Tony; did you do all this for the team?” Steve was quite frankly blown away. He began to feel awful for judging the man so harshly when they had first met. After Tony had taken the nuke through the portal during the battle it had become evident that he was much less selfish than Steve had originally thought. All this being put together for the team only solidified that.
“Yeah, well I don’t know, I just thought we could all use a place to call home. Not shitty SHIELD apartments and barracks. I think we’ve earned the right to be able to relax for a while and have a secure place to stay.” Tony rubbed the back of his neck and had a faint blush on his cheeks.
“It’s great Tony, I mean it. I’m sure everyone else is just as grateful at I am.” Tony just shrugged and looked away, chuckling.
Getting to Steve’s floor Tony invited him to unpack and told him he would have JARVIS let him know when the food got to the Tower.
After a couple of weeks at the Tower everyone was settling in nicely. Occasionally Clint and Natasha would disappear for days at a time on super-secret missions, but when everyone was home the movie nights began. The team had decided sometime in the first few days living together that they needed to start catching Steve up on movies and TV shows. They had only had three so far, as they didn’t have a set schedule, they just kind of happened when everyone was home at the same time.
Over the last couple of weeks Steve had noticed something. At first he had wondered where Tony was all the time because besides movie nights he wasn’t around very much.
“JARVIS?” Steve asked.
“Yes, Captain?” JARVIS responded.
“Can I ask you a question about Tony?” Steve wondered if Tony would be upset that he was keeping tabs on him, but that thought quickly left as he was sure Tony wouldn’t mind.
“How may I assist you?” Steve paused again, unsure.
“Where does Tony disappear to all the time? We never really see him around except for movie nights.”
“Sir spends most of his time in his workshop, he enjoys tinkering with his designs and has a hobby of working on cars. When he is not in the workshop, he can normally be found on the Stark Industries Research and Development floor.” Ah, Steve understood now.
“What is he doing now?”
“At the moment Sir is working on improving Miss Romanov’s widow’s bite and Mr. Barton’s arrows.” JARVIS said. “He has been working on this since about four in the morning.”
Steve’s brow furrowed, “Four in the morning? It’s nearly six in the evening.”
“Yes, Sir tends to work an excessive number of hours. He describes it as getting lost his head.” Interesting.
“Do you think he’s hungry?” Steve was thinking of making himself something to eat, and figured he could make something for Tony, too.
“Sir has not eaten since approximately five-fifteen this morning and has had at least eight cups of coffee.”
“Holy cow,” Steve said, eyes wide. He was definitely going to make something for Tony too, “Do you think he’d mind if I brought him some dinner?”
“I think he would be delighted by having food brought to him.”
After making dinner for the two of them, a BLT with some potato chips on the side, Steve made his way down to the shop. As he descended the stairs, he could hear some loud music that he didn’t recognize. “JARVIS, would you let Tony know I’m outside?” The music stopped abruptly, and Tony looked up at the ceiling. After a second, he turned toward the door with an eyebrow raised. He said something Steve could not hear and then the glass door opened.
“Hey Capsicle, what can I do for you?” Tony asked, confused.
“Actually it’s what I can do for you,” Steve started, “I was asking JARVIS a little while ago where you always disappear to and it eventually came up that you had not eaten in almost twelve hours, so I come bearing food.”
“Really?” Tony wondered, a small smile on his face.
“Here, I made us both BLTs.” He handed him the plate and Tony gestured over to the comfortable looking futon over in front of a wall mounted TV.
The two men sat down near each other and Tony stared at him for a minute. “What? Do I have something on my face?” Steve ran his hand over his mouth and chin, but didn’t find anything weird.
“No, it’s just been a long time since anyone has done anything like this for me. Not since Pepper and I were together. I just appreciate it, that’s all.” He shrugged.
“You and Pepper aren’t together anymore?” Steve inquired, and then immediately regretted it when he saw Tony’s face drop. “Hey, I’m sorry, that’s really none of my business. I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“No, no, it’s okay. No, we’re not together anymore, she broke up with me after the nuke incident during the Battle.” Tony sighed, scrubbing a hand over his face and blowing out a deep breath. “She told me she couldn’t handle being with someone who constantly put his life on the line and made her worry all the time. I understand though, and it makes sense. We’ve been very close for a long time, but I don’t think we were meant to last in the long run.
She wanted me to change who I am and to give up Iron Man, but I can’t do that when there’s still people who need him. I, myself, don’t think I’m really cut out for relationships anyway, I always mess them up somehow and they always leave.” Tony looked sad, and Steve just wanted to make him smile again.
“I’m sure that’s not true, Tony,” Steve began. “I’ve always believed that everything happens for a reason, maybe you just haven’t met the right person yet.” The right partner, he thought to himself. “You shouldn’t be with someone who wants to change something so big about you.” He looked Tony in the eye, “You deserve someone who will accept you for who you are.”
Tony did smile, but it was still tinged with sadness and his smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Thanks Steve, I appreciate it. I just don’t know if I’ll ever be that lucky.” He blew out another breath and looked around, “I’m sorry, that got unexpectedly heavy, we can move on to lighter topics.” Steve looked at him for another moment.
“Okay, Tony.” He murmured. After that they spent the next few hours just talking and laughing together, and when Steve left, he found himself feeling lighter than he had since he’d woken up in this time.
Over the next few months, Steve and Tony continued to get closer, and Steve couldn’t believe he’d ever thought ill of the man. Every day he found another thing that proved how wrong he’d been about him. Right now, he and Tony were sitting in the kitchen while Tony snacked on cheese and crackers, and Steve worked on making chicken stir fry. Steve had noticed lately that Tony’s appetite had grown because of getting a good meal at least two times a day, and he was pleased with this. Tony hadn’t been eating enough before the team moved in. It had become a routine for them to eat together when they could.
Normally Steve would wake up, go for his run, and come home to make breakfast that he would take down to Tony. He also made lunch for him when he could. When he would take food down to Tony, occasionally they’d would sit and talk like they did the first time, other times they would turn on a TV show they had been watching and eat in silence. Usually though, Tony would eat while he worked, and Steve would sit on the futon and read or draw. He’d quickly begun to sketch scenes from the workshop. He had drawn Dum-E and the other bots and man did he love those bots, but mostly he sketched Tony. Tony with his safety goggles resting above his forehead, Tony underneath a car or taking apart the motor, Tony with grease on his clothes and face.
Yeah, he’d realized he was thinking about Tony very often. Little things, like wondering if he was having a good day at work, or hoping he was feeding himself when he was gone on business trips. At some point in their friendship Steve had developed feelings. Feelings for Tony. Feelings for his best friend. Natasha had confronted him about it two weeks ago when Tony had come into the kitchen at eleven in the morning, he’d turned on the coffee pot and while he waited for it to start brewing, he stretched his back with his arms over his head.
Steve had already been looking at him, it seemed like he always was, but he watched intently as Tony’s shirt came up a bit and exposed his lower back and shown off the low-riding sweatpants he was wearing. After he had stretched, Tony came straight over to Steve and stood behind him, leaning forward so his forehead was resting in between Steve’s shoulder blades, not saying anything. Steve had looked down at the counter he was in front of and smiled to himself. When the coffee was done brewing Tony had straightened up and went to get a cup. On his way out of the kitchen he had given Nat a kiss on the cheek and headed down to the workshop.
Steve tried to avoid the stare he knew Natasha was giving him, but when she cleared her throat he finally looked up. She didn’t say anything, just looked at him with one perfect eyebrow raised.
Steve sighed. “What?”
“Are you going to tell him?” She asked.
“No, why would I do that? We’re friends and I don’t want to potentially ruin that. I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t have that anymore.” He looked down.
“’Potentially’.” She murmured.
“What?” He asked, confused.
“You said potentially, which implies that you know that there’s also potentially a chance that he would return your feelings. You should tell him Steve; I don’t think you’ll ruin anything. And believe me, I know things.” She smirked and hopped down off the stool she was occupying. “I’ll see you later, Clint and I are going to spar.”
After she left the kitchen Steve sat, contemplating what she’d said. He could tell Tony how he feels and chance making things weird, but that would also chance Tony returning his feelings. The thought of that happening made him feel all warm inside and he smiled to himself again.
Steve was a coward. At this point it had been three months since his talk with Nat, and Steve still had not come clean to Tony. In that time though he and his favorite genius had continued getting closer. During movie nights Steve noticed that Tony had been sitting right up against his side, and sometimes even curled up against him. He had continued making food for Tony and their routine had stayed the same. Every time Natasha or Clint (yes he’d caught on too) witnessed anything that had to do with Steve and Tony, both of them would pointedly stare at Steve, and after Tony left the room Clint would comment on how disgustingly domestic they were and the two of them would giggle together.
During those last months Steve had noticed more changes in Tony. His appetite had continued growing a little bit, slowly but surely, and Tony began taking snacks with him when he’d go down to the lab or stealing food off Steve’s plate when Tony was on his way out the door. He took note of the fact that Tony had been getting seconds and sometimes thirds at dinner when it was something he especially enjoyed. Steve tried to make things he enjoyed more often than he probably should have, but he was happy with how healthy Tony’s appetite had become.
Everything changed though when one day Steve had made lunch for them, Steve had been gone during breakfast because of an appointment with Fury. As he started to make his way to the elevator JARVIS spoke up. “Captain Rogers, I’m afraid Sir had initiated a black out in his lab and is not allowing anyone in or answering phone calls.”
Steve looked up. “What? Do you know why? Is he okay?”
“I am sorry, when I asked him if he was alright, he muted me, and I cannot speak to him until he unmutes me.” JARVIS said. “I am unsure if he will respond to you or not.”
Steve became worried, wondering if something had happened at work or if something happened with Pepper or Rhodey. As he came to the glass door of the workshop it was indeed blacked out and there was no music playing. He knocked against the glass and waited a moment, but there was no answer. “Tony?” He knocked again. “Tony are you okay? Can I come in?” Still no answer. “Tony if you don’t respond that you’re okay I will not hesitate to break this door down to check on you.”
He waited again, and finally there was a quiet, “I’m fine, go away.” Steve couldn’t tell whether Tony sounded sad or mad, but he knew it was one of the two.
“Tony, please let me in, I just want to help.” He stated.
“Believe me, you’ve helped enough.” So, it was mad then. Steve was just confused, what had he done? Was this because he had missed breakfast? That was the only thing coming to mind in terms of how he could’ve upset Tony.
“I don’t understand, is this because I missed breakfast? I’m sorry Tony, Fury needed my help planning a mission.” He said, hoping the apology would at least get him to lift the blackout.
“I don’t fucking care that you missed breakfast, I didn’t even want anything. Please just go the hell away. I don’t want to see you right now.” Steve pinched the bridge of his nose.
“Tony I’m not going to go away, I want to know what’s wrong? What did I do? Please let me help. I don’t want you mad at me.” He begged. “Please just let me in.” Steve felt like the air was knocked out of him.
There was a pause and then, thankfully, the glass became clear again and the door slid open. Tony continued working with his back to Steve and that just wasn’t going to do. Steve walked to Tony and put his hand on his shoulder slowly, and he felt him tense up. “Tony, please talk to me, I don’t even know what I did. What’s wrong?” Tony spun around and angrily looked at Steve.
“You want to know what’s wrong?” He all but growled. “This is what’s fucking wrong,” He began to pull off the baggy MIT sweater Steve had just noticed he was wearing. Once he had it off, he was still wearing a black wifebeater tank top. He stared at Steve and put his hands on his hips. “I had to order bigger clothes today, Steve. I have been the same god damn size since I was nineteen years old. This is your fault, you and your shitty decision to make me fat.”
Still confused, Steve said “Tony you are not fat, what are you even talking about?”
This only served to make Tony angrier. “I weighed myself this morning when I noticed that all my t-shirts were feeling tighter than normal. I have gained thirty fucking pounds since you moved in.”
Steve took a moment to really study Tony. Now that he was looking he could kind of see what Tony was talking about. Tony’s face was a bit more round, and when he crossed his arms it was easy to see that his biceps were bigger and a little less defined than they had been. The biggest thing Steve noticed though was that Tony’s belly curved out maybe three inches farther than it used to. He looked back up at Tony’s face and looked him in the eye.
“Tony. You are not fat.” He insisted.
“Yes, I fucking am Steve are you blind? I have a belly. A belly Steve. I’m disgusting, why can’t you see that?” The statement had started out angry, but the question came out in a broken whisper. I weigh over two hundred pounds. I have been one-hundred and eighty pounds almost my whole life. I’m gross.”
Steve took a angry step forward and grabbed Tony’s chin to make him look at Steve. “Now you listen to me Tony Stark. You are not disgusting or gross. You will never be either of those things and I don’t ever want to hear those words out of your mouth again.” Steve sighed and looked down for a minute. When he looked back up at Tony’s face, he was sad to see unshed tears just waiting to fall. “Tony, I don’t ever want you to think those things about yourself,” He said softly. “They are the farthest thing from the truth.”
A couple of tears fell. “I just don’t know what to do, what are people going to think?” Tony closed his eyes. “I’m ugly.” As more tears fell Steve wrapped Tony up in his arms and rested his chin on top of his head.
“Tony,” He said, “You’ve never cared what people think. Don’t start now. There is absolutely nothing wrong with you.” He leaned back and cupped Tony’s face in his hand. Tony looked up and leaned his cheek into Steve’s hand.
“You mean it?” He whispered.
“Of course.” He leaned his forehead against Tony’s. “You want to know something?”
“What is it?” Tony asked, looking back.
Steve smiled at him softly. “I think you’re beautiful.”
Tony’s eyes widened and he looked at Steve, his big brown eyes looked almost hopeful. “What did you say?”
“You’re gorgeous Tony. You had to have noticed how I feel about you.” Steve chuckled, “I know I didn’t outright tell you, which I should’ve, but I think everyone else knows. I’ve been trying to figure out how to tell you for months now. I just didn’t want to risk losing you as my best friend if you didn’t feel the same.”
“I don’t know what to say,” Tony whispered.
“You don’t have to say anything. If you don’t feel the same, I’ll understand. I don’t want you to feel pressured. I can leave if you want me to, I’ll give you some space.” Steve said as he dropped his hands and took a step back. Tony still just looked shocked and seemed to be searching Steve’s face for something. “If you want to talk, I’ll be upstairs on my floor.” He leaned forward cautiously and kissed Tony’s forehead. He turned around to leave the shop, and was almost to the door when he heard a small “wait!”
Steve turned around and Tony was walking toward him, Tony looked like he was on a mission. He stalked right up to Steve and reached up to grab his face, he pulled Steve’s mouth straight down to his. The kiss was chaste and sweet, and Tony reached up to put one of his hands on the back of Steve’s neck to hold him there. “I have feelings for you, too. I had just kind of accepted that you wouldn’t feel the same.”
They both laughed with one another. “We’re pretty dumb, huh?” Tony giggled.
“I guess so.” Steve paused and then smiled wide at Tony again, and without any hesitation suddenly grabbed Tony by the waist and hauled him up. Tony yelped and quickly wrapped his arms around Steve’s neck and simultaneously closed his legs around Steve’s waist. He laughed loudly and rested his head in the crook between Steve’s neck and shoulder.
Eventually Tony looked up, uncertain again. “Are you sure you want this? I’m not good at relationships. And now I have all this extra weight, I won’t hold it against you if you change your mind. O-or I could even try to lose it, if you want that.”
“Tony no,” Steve laughed, “Do you remember, all those months ago when I told you that you deserved someone who wouldn’t want to change everything about you? Tony, I want to be that person. I don’t want you to change anything about you. I want you as you are.” He paused. “And besides I kind of like the extra weight… I think it’s sexy. Is that weird?”
“Yes, it is,” Tony laughed, “But it’s alright because I’m grateful for it.” They just smiled at each other for a minute.
Eventually Steve looked around the lab until he saw the food he’d made. “That food is cold, but how do you feel about coming to my floor to have some lunch? I know you didn’t eat breakfast, so you have to be hungry.”
Tony hesitated, “What if I keep gaining? You’re bound to think it’s gross and want to leave at some point.”
“I thought you just heard me, Tony I think it’s very attractive on you. Like very. In fact if you want to come up to my floor, I’d be very happy to show you just how attractive I think it is.” He looked at Tony hungrily. “I promise, I will never think you’re gross. Ever.”
Tony finally seemed to relax, and he melted against Steve’s chest. “Okay, I guess you can show me,” he teased. Let’s go, big guy. I’m eager to see just how you feel.”
Tony laughed when Steve turned around a hurried out the door to the elevator.
“Man, Natasha’s going to be so proud!” Steve exclaimed, and both of them lost it, laughing so hard they had tears in their eyes.
“I’m ready, handsome,” Tony said, much softer, and kissed Steve’s cheek before slowly making his way down Steve’s neck. “…Can we maybe have dessert before lunch?”