Chapter Text
“Glad you thought to call me in. Oh wait! You didn’t. Good thing you purposefully tried to keep me away from your brand-new hidey-hole, Nicky, or I wouldn’t be here to save your collective asses. Some of which are stellar, by the way.”
Steve knew he should be irritated by one Tony Stark – Clint sure looked ready to shoot him – but when the handsome man looked to him and winked, will. A blush rose to his cheeks and he had to turn his head away, heart thumping loudly in his chest. If he looked over, he knew Tony would be wearing his trademark smirk, and seeing it might prompt him to do something reckless.
Something like push Tony against the wall and shove his tongue down his throat.
To keep himself under control, Steve focused his attention on Director Fury instead. He was very obviously furious at Stark – it wasn’t clear if it was because of the quips or because he hadn’t wanted Tony anywhere near this place and now needed the genius to help save it. “Just fix it, Stark, then get out of my facility. You leave any bugs in my system or my office and I’ll haul you back here and put you up on charge. I will be your judge, jury, and executioner. If you don’t want to disappear, stick to tracking down the motherfuckers who got this virus in my system.” The growl rising in Steve’s throat would give him away, and he knew it. So he battled it back, feeling his expression shift to a scowl as he did.
“I am wounded, Fury. I can’t believe you think I’d leave anything in your network that you could actually find. It would be adorable if I wasn’t so hurt.” Tony wasn’t looking at any of them now, seemingly absorbed in the holographic display before him. That meant it was safe for Steve to watch him work, which was always a pleasure. Except for that slight furrow in Tony’s brow, the one that Steve wanted to smooth away with his thumb every time it appeared. To hide the way he had to curl his hand into a fist to prevent himself from doing just that, Steve shifted his shield as if it had slipped from its optimal position and needed to be righted ASAP.
“Got ants in your pants, Cap?” Steve’s gaze snapped back to the amused-sounding Tony, surprise racing through him. Competing with that feeling was a sense of dread – he’d thought he was safe, that Tony wasn’t looking, wasn’t paying him any attention. Had Tony noticed him watching? No. Nonono. Not like this! Tony wouldn’t want him, no way. He’d turn it into a joke to try and ease the tension, and Steve couldn’t bear the thought. “Just sit tight, okay? What I’m doing is so utterly beyond you, so you must be bored. If you want, after I finish I can try to explain it to you. I mean, I’ll have to dumb it down a lot, since you can’t even figure out the Stark phone I gave you.”
It wasn’t fair, Steve thought as he fought another blush. It wasn’t fair that Tony always found teasing him so easy while he could hardly string two words together in front of him sometimes. It wasn’t fair that he wore fancy, expensive suits with an effortless grace – even with a rumpled jacket, an absolutely obnoxious tie that was askew and the top three buttons of his shirt popped open, he still looked good. Really good. Amazing, really, and it wasn’t fair of him to look that way. It wasn’t fair that his artfully messy hair made Steve want to comb his fingers through the strands, and it wasn’t fair to expose his collarbone like that and not let Steve explore it with his tongue. It just wasn’t fair.
“Enough with the chatter.” Can you fix this or not, Mr. Stark?” Even before he finished talking, Steve was cringing internally. Tony hated being called that, and his tone had been much too harsh. Why did he always do that? Why did everything always come out so… so wrong?
As his suddenly slow mind fumbled for a way to fix this, he saw something flash through Tony’s eyes, but it was gone before he could interpret it. And before he could say something, anything, to backpedal or apologize, Tony grabbed his atrocious, orange-tinted sunglasses and slipped them on. Even though Tony could wear them and manage to make them look attractive, Steve hated them. Tony’s mouth lied all the time, but occasionally Steve could see hints of the truth in his eyes – now that avenue was cut off completely.
“Get the peanut gallery out of here, Fury. I don’t need any distractions while I work. Especially not science experiments approaching their centennial celebration.” Dammit, playful Tony had retreated, leaving the Tony that could rip you apart with words in his place. Steve mostly didn’t mind this Tony, when he wasn’t the one in the line of fire anyway. It was fun, sexy even, when the billionaire eviscerated those he took exception to with a verbal sword. He especially liked watching Tony lay into anyone (but especially Fury) who spoke poorly of any Avenger or tried to butt into their business. When he was defending them, Tony was magnificent.
Being the reason for the shift in mood? Not fun or sexy – it was terrible, in fact. Heart-clenchingly, stomach-droppingly awful.
“Tony, I-”
“Shush Cap. I’m busy with – oh. Huh. Look at that.” Steve saw a look of consternation n Tony’s face, his fingers stilling and looking wrong that way. Not that Steve thought a lot about how Tony’s hands looked, or tried over and over and over to get them just right on paper. Nor had he gone through an entire sketchbook in the process. No, definitely not… it had been one and a half books, and he still didn’t have those hands right.)
“Dammit Stark! Don’t just stand there. What does ‘huh’ mean?”
“Well, Fury, it means I just found something more Cap’s speed, now that he’s all thawed out and everything. The birdbrain’ll probably have trouble keeping up still.”
“Fuck you, Stark. I am a master archer. If there’s baddies out there, I-”
“Anything Cap can do, you can do better.” Tony even sung the line, forcing Steve to hide a chuckle and his smile behind one hand. “Got the memo, thanks. Did you get the one about how nobody says ‘baddies’ anymore? Because they don’t.”
“Even I knew that.” Steve added helpfully, encouraging the return of playful Tony. Sure Clint shot him a betrayed look, but Tony sent a grin his way – a more than acceptable trade-off. Steve gave an answering smile, and for a moment, Tony paused – staring at him from behind those awful glasses maybe, before he turned back to the display.
“See? Steve knows.” Tony’s use of his actual name had his stupid heart fluttering in his chest. “You have no excuse for not knowing too, birdbrain.”
“GODDAMMIT!” Fury’s shout was underscored by the sound of both fists slamming against the table. “Could you all be serious for one second. Stark!” The name was practically barked, and it would have brought most people to heel. Tony only yawned, looking almost bored. “Do we have intruders? If so, could you get off your ass and tell us where they are so we can take the motherfuckers out?”
“Don’t get your panties in a bunch, Nicky. There’s only a handful of them, and this attack on your system is pathetic too. I think this might be a practice run, or maybe just a nice ‘happy opening’ party for your facility.” Turning away from the screens again, Tony looked to Steve and Clint. “Looks like maybe thirty of ‘em. Don’t know who they are, don’t care. Only I’m allowed to look through SHIELD’s dirty laundry. They’re in the south quadrant.” As he moved one hand in an absent wave, part of the holograph broke off – it was a map, showing Steve exactly where the enemy was.
“Got it. Hawkeye and I will handle them. You monitor the situation from here, and let us know if any more of them show up, or if whatever is in the system gets nastier.” As he spoke, Steve felt himself settle in the role of Captain America. Even Tony responded to that shift, though his response was almost always paired with a snort and an eye roll. “No chance of Iron Man making an appearance?”
“No. Like I said earlier, he’s taking care of something for me. We thought I’d be safe here with all you superhero-types. All you get today is Tony Stark – sorry to disappoint.”
“You aren’t disappointing anyone, Tony.” Damn, even to himself Steve sounded far too earnest and way too invested in this conversation, but he didn’t know how to stop himself. “I’m glad you’re here to help us – we need someone figuring out all that computer stuff more’n we need another fighter. And you’re the best, so I’m really glad you’re here, Tony.” For a second there was silence, thick and sudden enough that Steve looked around the small group, worried something new and exciting was going wrong. Hawkeye – not Clint, not until the enemy was defeated – was goggling at him like he’d gone insane. Fury was glaring at him extra hard, and even Tony looked just a little slack jawed.
Reviewing his words, Steve realized that he might have tipped his hand – he usually didn’t praise or even thank Tony too much, afraid his crush would make itself known. He’d practically just spouted an ode to the genius, and holy mother of Christ, why couldn’t he ever just be normal around Tony? Feeling the tips of his ears and his cheeks grow warm, he cleared his throat and tried hard not to squirm, looking anywhere but at Tony. “Well it’s true,” he muttered defiantly, one step away from crossing his arms over his chest in a sulky pose.
“Huh.” Tony was using the same tone of voice as when the intruders were discovered, and that was probably not a good sign.
“If it helps, Stark, I still think you’re an ass.” Smothering the urge to strangle Hawkeye, Steve turned a cutting glare his way, pointing to the door.
“Get a move on, soldier. We’ve wasted enough time.”
“Jeez. Fine. But he is an ass. Not even really an Avenger. We just let him hang around because he pays for all the things we blow up. And ‘cause he makes cool weapons. It’s not like he… Iron M… can’t even fight…” as Hawkeye left the room, his cross grumbling faded, but Steve was pretty sure the damage was already done. Tony’s face had frozen into his best press smile, and his shoulders were tight with tension and nearly up to his ears. Damn Hawkeye!
“He’s wrong, Tony.” That softly spoken statement was all Steve could allow himself, because the map showed the intruders had gotten past the first line of defense. “I’m counting on you to keep us updated. Use the coms to let me know if any more come in, or if there are any other surprises. I’m sure you’ll have the computer… network… stuff clear before we even engage in combat. Fury.”
Sure, Steve knew a lot more about modern tech than he usually let on… but he liked the way his fumbling made Tony smile. With a nod to the director, he left the room to Fury and the snarky, gorgeous genius.