Chapter 7
Tony woke up, sweaty and shivering.
He looked at the man besides him, who was asleep, thanks god.
He sighed and rose from the bed.
After his 'small incident' in the afternoon, Jarvis decided that he needed someone to watch over him. Somehow, with the help of Howard's charming tongue, Tony found himself agreeing, which means he needed to choose one person that will be next to him.
So yeah, he was sleeping next to Jarvis the only one he wasn't having any nightmares on except Peggy and Daniel.
Jarvis' presence made it better in the beginning, but the rest of the night was worse than the usual- his brain decided that the one thing he needed the most right now was to worry about Steve or Howard finding the shield, murdering him in his sleep. He knew it was stupid, but... He couldn't get it out of his mind.
Tony walked quietly through the door, making sure that he still hadn't woke Jarvis up by mistake. The tower wasn't ready to host nine guests at the same time (Natasha had a room of her own), and since he was absolutely not going to let his guests be anywhere near the kids' rooms or one of his labs, he had to find... creative solutions.
Since they were a married couple that Tony liked, Peggy and Daniel got a very nice guests room just for themselves, and he hoped that they were comfortable with that. Young-Howard was... Tony didn't knew where to place him in his priority list, but he wasn't that bad and Tony felt guilty for blaming him in his crappy life for 25 years so he got a small room for himself ( JARVIS made sure that there were not any science stuff in the room).
That left Team Cap, but fortunately Natasha took care of them. She told him that she put Steve, Clint and Sam together, which left Wanda and Scott.
Great.
He sighed and went inside his workshop, his eyes slowly getting used to the bright lights. "JARVIS, pull the schemes of Mark 52." he ordered, and holograms began popping in front of him. He zoomed on the hidden arc reactor. "Start recording, J." he took a deep breath, and separated the covering-shield from the arc reactor itself. "The vibrenium-steel alloy that I've used to make the cover doesn't conduct heat very well, which wasted 1.42% of our energy while trying to cool Mark 52 in the last fight.
"The arc reactor should have access to the open air, and yet, be protected. I think about making vibrenium-steel-aluminium, in the ratio of 42%-23%-35%. The arc reactor will be isolated by air, which will be replaced using a cooling system that passes from one hand to the another. The system will be backed up by another system which will emit the cover-shield in case of any mishap. Stop the rec, J." Tony smiled for a moment. This went off from his to-do list. Now all he had to do was check Pepper's draft, made new bites, avoid the ex-Avengers, find Bruce, update pRhode- Oh, god, Rhodey knew nothing. His teraphist made him avoid stress, which includes finding out that his best friend has a part of the invention of time travel.
Crap.
A soft cough from the other side of the workshop caught his attention. "Who is there?" he asked loudly, slowly stepping towards the source of the noise. A big character suddenly appeard from his couch, and he flinched, ready to call the-
"Oh, god, Tony, I'm sorry." said Steve, who looked like Tony had woke him up. "Jesus, Rogers, I'm with a heart condition. You can't do that-" he suddenly noticed the situation. Steve Rogers was in front of him, apologizing one of his stupid 'sorry', again.
"Get out." he said coldly, straightening up.
"Tony, I-"
"Out."
"I didn't come for a fight, okay?"
"Out."
"I came to-"
"Out."
Steve seemed like he was going to snap, but then another character rose from the couch. Daniel Sousa rested his hand on Steve's shoulder. "Tony, please listen." his uncle asked. Steve took a deep breath, and Tony was surprised to see that he managed not to shout. If Daniel was here back then, Civil War probably wouldn't happen at all. "I came here to give you this." Steve handed Tony a folder.
"I don't like being handed things." Tony answered automatically. Steve sighed and put the folder on the table. After a few seconds, Tony picked it up. "Care to tell me what is inside?" he asked, before opening. "Because my schedule is too loaded for another apocalypse, but maybe I'll have time... is two months from now okay?" Steve opened his mouth, but no words came out. Another deep breath.
"Those are the Accords, signed." Steve answered, simply. "I signed the Accords."
Tony looked at him, shocked, his mouth open. "I'll leave you two here." mumbled Steve, embarrassed, and quickly disappeard from the lab.
A few minutes passed.
"Tony, if you won't close your mouth, a fly will decide to make it his home." Daniel said with a smile, and Tony grinned.
"Good for him." he answered, not sure if he's talking about the fly or Steve. "Thank you." he added, after a second thought.
"No problem." Daniel answered, lightly. "You have a good fella here, he just needs sometimes-"
"Someone that will drill wisdom into his brain?" Tony offered.
"Well, I wasn't going to use the exact same words, but... yes." answered his uncle. Suddenly, his face went bright. "OH! And he told me to ask you about 'pRhodey', or something?"
Tony stared at him. "...That's the first good idea of him in a few good years. How haven't I thought about that before?" a smile widened on his face. "It's going to be easy with you, you're not even paralyzed in one leg! Come! I'll show you!"
An amused (and hopeful) Daniel followed the rambling genius, a big smile smudged on both of their faces, and the same thought in their brains.
'Maybe Steve isn't that bad.' but Tony's mind mainly screamed TECHNOLOGY
Meanwhile, in the guests' quarters...
Steve walked up the stairs, his heart racing.
He had agreed to sign the Accords.
He signed the Accords, those he fought about. The same thing that destroyed the Avengers, that made Rhodey paralyzed, the cause for the fact that Cooper, Nathan, Lila and Cassie have grown up for over a year without a father. The thing that put Bucky back in the ice, that ruined his name, that made Steve separate from Captain America, his identity for a lifetime (even if most of it was under the ice).
And was that worth it?
He should've signed.
Steve quickly removed this thought from his brain. He was right about his desicion- as much as he appreciated Tony's efforts and promises, he knew that Bucky wouldn't be safe with the government- sooner or later, something like in Germany would've happened- someone activates the Winter Solider, which ends with Bucky dying or killing many people. More than that- he read parts of the Accords back then, and they were much different then how Tony had written them, far worse.
Steve admitted to himself that his main mistake was the fact that he didn't trust Tony. Sure, the man flied a nuke inside the space, but since Ultron, Steve found himself doubting Tony's capability in the team, which ended up later as Civil War. If he could've just trusted Tony with the information about his parents, or with the case of Zemo, or even just trust him that he'll polish the Accords- nothing would've happened.
He owes Tony another apology.
With the final decision to apologize to Tony in the morning, he stepped into the room, climbed into his bed, and slept like a baby.
He woke up at 7:00am, and was surprised to see Clint awake, a folder in his hands, his head resting on his knees.
Clint wasn't a morning person.
"What's wrong?" he asked quietly, sitting next to Clint. Sam snored slightly, and Clint raised his head, gesturing towards the door.
After both of them were outside the room, Clint clenched his palm around Steve's shirt. "Look, man, it's not because of you, it's because of me, because I need to. Please listen to me. I'm sorry, but I have to move to-" his mouth twisted a little when he said the name. "-Tony's side. The UN is paradoning me, man. Just got an SMS from Laura 3 minutes ago. I have to do this for my children. Just a year of house arrest at the compound, and I'm a free man, but I have to work under Tony's orders, and sign the Accords. Please, Steve, I'm sorry, man, I just-" he was now clinging to Steve, his hands on Steve's shoulders.
"I've signed the Accords tonight, Clint." he answered.
"They offered me a deal... because of you?" Clint asked, slowly.
"No." both of them turned to the source of the voice, seeing Natasha. "Because of Tony." She sat on the edge of a couch which was there. "Tony worked all night to get you this deal. He cheated them. He told them that Steve will sign only if all of the ex-members will get better conditions, and it worked. The most severe punishment is Steve's." Steve looked at her, not surprised. "What is it?" he asked, anxious.
Natasha's lips curved upwards. "Slip that face off, you only got house arrest for a year and a half. Although, being responsible for the paperwork, which is now part of your job, will be much more of a punishment, if you ask me. Oh, yeah, congratulations, by the way. You are now back as Captain America, one of the New Avengers. You're in charge of training the young recruits, which includes-" she stopped talking and looked at her phone. "Oh, they are coming."
Steve sighed with relief. "Thank you." he said, hugging her.
"Don't thank me." she answered. He let her go and she began walking away. "You owe a very big thank you for the man who is a few floors below us." she told him behind her back, and disappeard.
Steve nodded. "Well, here I go." he told Clint, gesturing to the stairs. "Don't think for one second that I'm ain't coming." laughed Clint, and both of them went towards the lowest floor.
After a few minutes of walking, they entered the workshop, surprised to see Tony with many papers and folders scattered in front of him. "Howard, do me a favour and-" he raised his head. When he saw them, he froze mid-sentence. Suddenly, Clint was all over him, hugging him tight.
"Thank you so much." he said to the genius. "Thanks and sorry." added Steve. It was short, but honest.
Before Tony managed to respond, Wanda, Scott and Sam walked through the door. "Hey, Stark, where is Ste-" Scott stopped talking when he saw Steve.
"Well?" Steve asked.
"Well what?"
"Did you sign?"
"Did you sign?" Wanda fired back, and he nodded.
"Great. Because I did." Sam said, a huge grin on his face, and threw a folder on Tony's desk.
Before anyone could say something, Steve and Sam were hugging Tony too, probably crashing him with all of their mascular weight. Wanda and Scott took copies of the Accords, and began reading them.
"ANTHONY EDWARD STARK, YOU'RE A GENIUS!" they heard a shout from the door. Tony managed to stand up, seeing Howard fangirling over Daniel's not-anymore-injured leg, while Jarvis and Peggy were smiling widely, and Natasha was helping Daniel adjusting the device. Harley, Peter and Kamala, also known as the young recruits, ran into the lab, racing to Tony. "Kids!" Tony called, happily.
Daniel was the first one to jump over Tony, who was now sitting on the couch, hugging him tight. After him came Steve, Sam and clint. Behind the couch were Peggy, Howard and Jarvis, getting a grip of the genius. The boys comfortably sit on the couch. Peter's and Harley's heads was over Tony's chest, while Kamala and Natasha lay on the couch, their heads on Tony's lap.
Before Tony knew what's happening, he was covered with men and women, full of love for him.
He smiled, as his small family became suddenly bigger.
And he liked that.