Archive of Our Own ^beta

Like so many other things, it all started small.

A cup of coffee all but materializing itself on the side of his work bench when he had his back to it.

Waking up on the couch covered with a soft blanket when he definitely knows he didn’t have one in the workshop.

A plate of sandwiches on the small table right next to the door.

At first, Tony thought it was Pepper or Rhodey, but then, it happened when the CEO was in California and his oldest friend was back in Washington.

Still, there were some “usual suspects” around the Tower to be a viable option.

Surprisingly, though, and even a bit frustrating was the fact that J.A.R.V.I.S., usually a chatterbox when it came to Tony’s personal affairs, kept his virtual mouth shut whenever Tony tried to find out the “real culprit” behind these strange happenings.

And not even reviving the old threat of dismantling and donating it to some less desirable places in pieces made the AI talk.

So, instead of snooping it out the usual way, Tony had to resort to something he wasn’t quite as fond of – talking to people.

Bruce was his first stop, but while the fellow scientist was visibly happy about someone taking care of Tony, he flat out denied having anything to do with it.

The talks to both Clint and Natasha, once they had returned from wherever they had vanished to after sending the Norse Gods off, yielded the same results, but probably with less words altogether than Bruce had used.

And Bruce wasn’t a chatterbox either, on a good day.

Over the next few days, Tony was on full alert, besides talking to even Fury and Hill, but no matter how hard he tried, whoever was his “caretaker” knew exactly how to evade both him and all the security measures around Tony’s workshop.

And managed to leave even more small tokens, like a small technical drawing to a device Tony was currently working on, or a small box of mixed baked goods from Tony’s favorite bakery.

Which might be the vital and most important clue that Tony would need to solve this mystery, once and for all.

There were, by now, only two other people living on the whole planet who knew where to find his favorite bakery – Pepper and Rhodey.

Sure, J.A.R.V.I.S. also knew about it, and while Tony wouldn’t put it behind any of the three of spilling this proverbial bean to anyone, he had trouble to narrow it down to who exactly would be that person.

Coulson was a good candidate, as it was both Tony’s machinery and money that actually saved his life after Loki tried to turn him into a human kabob, but between setting up the Avengers as a working team, hiring new agents and overseeing the reconstruction of the Tower, Tony suspected that the agent barely had time for anything else.

Well, that only left one other person currently living in the Tower to be the source of the mystery.

And it was the most unlikely person of all.

Steve Rogers.

Tony’s “crush” ever since his father first told him about him all those years ago.

A walking, talking God with so much goodness in his heart that Tony was surprised the man wasn’t glowing at all.

And, most important, straight as one of the arrows in Clint’s quiver.

So, that left the question, was Steve mocking him? But if he did, for what? Tony kept a tight lid on his true feelings for the Capsicle, even to the innermost circle of his trusted people, and also to J.A.R.V.I.S.

Was it Steve’s equivalent of the proverbial olive branch after their verbal battles during Clint’s attack on the Helicarrier? If it was, Tony had already forgiven the other man any heated word he might have said. It was a tough situation up there, and them working together in getting the one engine restarted really showed that they could work as a team, to everyone.

Maybe he should tell Steve again, making sure the blond had understand him properly.

Glancing at the digital clock in the corner of his computer screen, Tony realized that he had spent the last few hours in here, again.

But to be honest to himself for once, he also knew that he didn’t have it in him to turn everything off, walk out of the workshop, into the elevator and into his private penthouse on top of the Tower at this point of time.

Every single fiber in his body felt like being covered in lead, and on the contrary, his mind was racing a mile a minute or so, alternating between the quirks of the machine he was working on and the conundrum of his mysterious benefactor.

And so, this left the couch as the only real option, and while sitting down, Tony already felt his eyes falling closed – yet he promised himself that he would wake up should he sense someone else being in the room with him.

He was fast asleep within a few heartbeats.

Several floors above Tony’s workshop

“Apologies for the intrusion, Captain Rogers,” J.A.R.V.I.S. began, somehow trying to keep his voice calm and collected (which was somewhat mind-blowing, considering it was an AI), “but Sir has fallen asleep on the couch in his workshop, again.”

Towards the end, Steve even could detect the hint of a sigh, and with the same sound, he got up from the couch, putting down the book he wasn’t really reading right now.

Too much of his mind was occupied by different thoughts.

Sure, some of them were still attached to the Chitauri attack. Steve couldn’t help but wonder that Loki, as powerful as the Norse God might have been, couldn’t have orchestrated it all by himself. And even though Fury and others at S.H.I.E.L.D. tried to tell him otherwise, he was firm in his belief. But he also knew that only time would tell which side was correct.

Most of his current thoughts, though, were focused on Tony. Not only did the resemblance the genius had to his late father Howard stir up some feelings Steve thought he had buried in the Arctic ice decades ago, the other man also had a somewhat frustrating knack for finding Steve’s buttons and pressing them with an uncanny precision when Steve expected it the least.

Still, he couldn’t help but look out for Tony, especially once he found out that him spending days all but locked into his workshop was a common occurrence, at least to both Pepper and Rhodey. In the first moment, Steve was tempted to give both of them a lecture, but then he remembered that he wasn’t that better back in the day and that it fell to Bucky to pull him back into the land of the living, so to speak, whenever he escaped into whatever he was drawing at the moment.

And so, Steve came up with a plan.

They didn’t call him “The Man With The Plan” for nothing in the USO tours.

He started small, making sure that Tony had coffee and snacks at his disposal at almost any given time.

Then one night, when Tony apparently had fallen asleep, J.A.R.V.I.S., his partner in crime in this whole endeavor, led him to a small cupboard outside the workshop where Steve found some blankets.

Another time, when he found Tony asleep again, he chanced a look at the machinery the genius was working on, and after realizing that he had seen something similar with Howard back in the day, Steve left a small drawing with some suggestions next to a cup of coffee.

“J.A.R.V.I.S., has Tony drunk the cup of coffee Nat had brought him?”

“Yes,” the AI answered, again with a heavy sigh, “and several more in the hours since then.”

“And yet, he’s dead asleep,” Steve muttered to himself while fixing some simple sandwiches.

Grabbing the plate, he made two more stops, one at the fridge for a bottle of water and another for a blanket, before Steve headed into the elevator, not even bothering with punching any button.

J.A.R.V.I.S. knew exactly where to stop him.

For once, it wasn’t the typical mix of coffee, oil and other liquids in the air that woke Tony up.

No, this time it was both the additional weight on the sofa, the fact that he was, once again, covered with a soft blanket, the almost rhythmical “scritch-scratch” of a pencil against paper – and the most surprising fact that his head was actually lying on a pair of quite sturdy thighs.

“Morning,” came from the body attached to those thighs, and if not for the quick reaction of its owner and the strength in the arm, Tony might have ended up in an embarrassing heap on the floor once he realized whose lap he was lying in.

Steve all but pulled him back to the other end of the couch, a soft smile gracing his features.

“What… what are you doing here, Steve? In my workshop?”

“Making sure you don’t have any accidents,” Steve told him with a smug edge in his voice, letting his eyes drift over to where he was still holding Tony. “Looks like it was a good call, if you ask me.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Tony replied, trying to extract himself from Steve’s arm, with little to no success so far. “But, as you can see, I’m awake now, so your babysitting talents are no longer needed.”

“Well, maybe I also happen to like to spend some time with you, even when you’re asleep, Tony,” Steve gave back, finally lifting the arm from Tony’s body (and trying not to mourn the loss of it). “Look, Tony, we got off the wrong foot on the way back from Stuttgart. Yeah, we managed to prevent New York from being obliterated and annihilated, but still, I’m not sure how we are doing on a more personal level. Sure, you tolerate me living in the Tower, but…”

“Oh, for Pete’s sake, do you ever shut up, Rogers?” Tony asked, but Steve was too lost in his words to even take notice of the question.

And so, Tony had to resort to, once again, more desperate measures.

Which in this case was the most daring thing he had to do since escaping the cave in Afghanistan in a uniform made of scrap parts.

He kissed Steve.

It definitely wasn’t the most romantic kiss he ever had laid on someone else, but it not only had the desired effect of shutting Steve up, it also gave Tony the opportunity to see the other man’s eyes really up close and personal.

And for all that was holy, these two orbs were the most mesmerizing blue hue he had ever seen in his life, conjuring up an immediate and intense desire to drown in them, preferably for all eternity.

At some point, breathing became a matter, at least for Tony, and so, he pulled back with a slight reluctance, putting in some distance between him and Steve in the most likely case the Capsicle wasn’t happy about this turn of events.

But then again, his brain pointed out, Steve hadn’t tried to push him away in the first moment, either, right?

“Tony? Are you okay?”

Of course, Steve was still more worried about him than about the fact that Tony had crossed every possible line between them, most likely in a manner with no point of return at all. Not to mention of, more or less, forcing himself on the other man.

“What? Yeah, I’m fine, just realizing that apparently my biggest talent is destroying every relationship I have in my life. You offer me friendship, even after I treat you like I did on the Helicarrier, only for me to go and kiss you, when you’re the straightest man ever known to humanity.”

Steve didn’t say anything at first, just kept his blue eyes trained on Tony, constantly making sure he really was okay.

But then, once Tony’s words had sunk in properly, he threw his head back on the top of the couch, letting out a laugh that shook his whole body.

And that left Tony quite confused.

“Steve, are you okay? To be honest, that wasn’t the reaction I was expecting at all.”

“You… you probably expected that I was disgusted, maybe even throw a punch at you, right?”

“Yeah, something like that.”

Steve heaved a sigh before sitting up straight and turning slightly to face Tony, who had all but slumped into the couch, almost appearing as if he was trying to vanish between the cushions.

“Tony, the first thing that history got absolutely wrong about me is – I’m not straight at all. In fact, I never was interested in gals at all, but back in the day, you had to be careful. Probably even more than these days. So, Bucky set me up with women, just to help me keep my face.”

“So, my Dad was right when he told me that he had sensed something special between you and Barnes?”

“Yeah, we were, by all means, a couple. We already lived together, and it was safer to try something with someone you knew than trying to find your luck in certain parts of Brooklyn.”

“But you’re still mourning him, right?”

“Not exactly. Sure, part of me will, probably forever, but I don’t want to condemn myself to a life of solitude when I know this isn’t what he wanted for me.”

“So, Tony began, drawing the word out, “you were the one who left those little trinkets for me? The coffee, the sandwiches, the drawing?”

“Guilty as charged, Tony. I thought this was the only way for me to show how I truly feel about you, especially after seeing you with Miss Potts…”

“Hold on, Steve, you thought me and Pepper?” Now it was Tony’s turn to chuckle. “Sure, I do love her, but not as a lover. She’s one of the few people in this world who can be absolutely frank with me and in the same moment try to protect me, even from myself. Besides,” he added with a wink, “Redheads aren’t my type.”

“And how about blondes?” Steve asked while scooting a bit closer to Tony.

“Well, the jury’s still out on them, but they are definitely higher up on that list than Redheads.”

“So, there’s still hope for me.”

“Yup. What do you say we ditch this place and head up to my penthouse, continuing there?”

“Lead the way, Tony. And just so you know, no limits. In everything.”

“Good to know.”

The two men made their way into the private elevator, but the doors barely had closed on them when both Dum-E and You came to life, chattering away.

“Silence, you two,” J.A.R.V.I.S admonished them. “We have to keep our involvement a secret. Who knows what Sir would do to us, should he ever learn about it.”

Both Dum-E and You exchanged a look before falling silent again, but before J.A.R.V.I.S. followed them into their nightly silence, he let out a happy sigh.

If anyone deserved some happiness, it was Sir. He always took so good care of them all, even Dum-E, so it was only fair that they would work together with Captain Rogers to make Sir happy as well. Only time would tell if their actions proved them right, but for now, evaluation could wait until they had more data to work with. Powering down slowly, the AI had one last thought before proverbially falling asleep: