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Tony loved designing and building new suits. Lovely, sleek, beautifully designed suits made for flight and fighting. He was a preeminent applied engineering scientist and built suits for the job, not vanity. And he did a damn good job.
He was inordinately proud of the suit he just finished. Time to take it out for a spin.
Steve was coming in through the front door back from an errand. “New suit?” he asked with an admiring smile.
Cap always liked the suits and smiles always looked great on Cap. “Fresh off the assembly line,” Tony replied brightly.
“Looks swell.”
“Swell?” Tony laughed. “Or a marvel of the modern age?”
“If you say so, Iron Man. Mr. Stark always does a bang-up job with the armor.”
“I’m heading out to try out the suit,” Tony replied. For one thing, he had used new hinges on the helmet and if he was being honest about it, he thought that they were iffy at the weak spot.
“Good luck!”
Tony passed by Steve and snuck in a glance at Steve’s handsome face. He shouldn’t do this, indulging his hopeless crush. But he’d loved Steve since he opened his eyes in the Avengers submarine over a year ago. He didn’t know if Steve would ever return his feelings. And it all might be easier if Steve knew that the Avengers benefactor and Iron Man were in fact the same man, considering that Tony Stark and Iron Man came as a package deal.
Not that it mattered, Steve was straighter than a ruler and Tony wasn’t. Tony’s terrible crush wasn’t going to go anywhere.
This time, Tony realized that he had to look slightly down to see Steve’s sky blue eyes, instead of looking slightly up into them.
Oh, that was something new and fun. He liked that. “Wait, I think I’m taller than you in this suit,” Tony replied.
“Sure are,” Steve replied,
Tony held out a hand to measure, but he couldn’t really see it from this angle. “I’ll have to check when I’m back.”
“If you don’t get going, it’ll be dark soon and you’ll want to get back for dinner.”
“Who’s on duty?” Tony asked, immediately wary of the answer. The team had to cover dinner when Jarvis was out for whomever was around. Dinner could range anywhere from great to miserable, depending on the team member.
“I am – but we’re ordering in pizza.”
“We?”
“Wasp, Thor, and Ant-Man said that they would be here.”
“Can’t miss that,” Tony replied cheerfully, even though he felt anything but that. He couldn’t actually eat normally in front of the team and drinking soda through a straw in the face slit wasn’t as fun as it might look. Still Steve and dinner, though. Tony was willing to take any scrap of time he could spend with Steve.
~~~~~
When he got back to the mansion, Steve was putting together the dinner order, a long list in his neat handwriting. He was still in the uniform, the cowl down, his unruly hair a blond cloud. The rest of the team would show up soon, filling up the room with conversation and movement. But right now everything was peaceful with Steve and his list and his careful use of his StarkPhone.
“Want me to do that?” Tony asked
“I’m getting it,” Steve replied with a self-deprecating tone. Actually Steve had caught onto modern technology far faster than anyone could have guessed. “Thor eats a lot.”
“So do you, Winghead.” Tony headed over to a draw to get a straw. The straws weren’t in a drawer, so Tony looked through the cabinets.
That’s when Steve said, “Do you need help with that?”
“No,” Tony replied. He opened the last cabinet and saw the box on the top shelf. “Because I am the taller one, I will fetch the straws.” He hovered a little higher, just perfect to snatch the straws. “Why are these here? Don’t we keep them in a drawer?”
“Jarvis was doing some reorganizing the other day.”
Tony bent over slightly to put the straws on the table. “Anything else you need from a high shelf? The tall guy is here.”
Steve just smiled at him. “Not taller than Thor.”
“I can be taller than Thor,” Tony said.
Steve hit a few buttons on his phone and then pushed back from the table. “Pizza’s on it’s way.” He stood up and put his glass in the sink.
Tony hovered next to him. “Thor is what?”
“Six feet, six inches,” Steve said. He turned around and leaned against the counter.
“I can be even taller,” Tony said as he floated a few inches higher.
Steve arched an eyebrow. “Are you going to do that all day?”
“I can see better up here. You would know if you were this tall. Jarvis would be heartbroken if he knew how many dead bugs were on top of the refrigerator.”
Tony hovered a bit higher. “You’ll hit the ceiling at that rate,” Steve warned.
“I’ll be fine,” Tony retorted.
That’s when his left boot jet misfired. Tony felt the misfire rock his foot before the report came through the HUD. He wobbled back and forth in the air, the suit destabilized by the loss of one jet. He pitched forward and hit a cabinet face forward.
“Iron Man!” Steve said as he reached for the careening Tony.
Tony heard the hinges crack and the face place fell right off, landing in Steve’s outreached hands. Before anyone could say something, his right boot jet sputtered out and Tony tipped backward into the kitchen island. He bounced back right into Steve.
Steve caught him. Tony was very much aware of how close their faces were. All he could see were Steve’s very alarmed blue eyes.
“Are you okay?” Steve asked.
“Eh, I’ve been through worse.” Except Tony was now very much aware of the air on his very bare face. He couldn’t do a thing about it since he was trapped in Steve’s arms. “Um …”
“You can eat pizza with us instead of sneaking off to the bathroom or closet,” Steve immediately replied.
Tony noticed three things – one, Steve was not the least bit fazed that Iron Man was Tony Stark; two, Steve was still holding him longer than was strictly necessary; and three, Tony was not inclined to free himself.
“You’re not shocked at my secret identity?”
Steve laughed. “I kind of guessed already.” He reached out to touch Tony’s face. “Is it – is it okay to –”
Tony leaned in and could feel Steve’s breath on his skin and could almost feel his lips.
“Hey everyone! We’re here for the pizza!” Wasp shouted as she came into the kitchen.
Ant-man slammed in her back. “What –”
“Cap and Iron Man!” she gasped.
“It’s not what you think,” Tony replied.
“It’s exactly what you think,” Steve corrected.
As Tony stepped back from Steve, ready to tell the team his secret identity and help with the pizza, Steve whispered, “You owe me a kiss, Shellhead.”
“After dinner, I’m still going to wear the boots,” Tony whispered back.