When he goes down to the lab, it's dark; not unusual, since JARVIS shuts off the lights to save power, but it's a bit inconvenient right now because he's clumsy and he runs into literally everything. Eventually he finds the light switch and flicks it on, only to see Steve sitting on his couch with the tv on low.
"Steve?" Tony blinked. "What are you doing down here at..." he strained to remember what time Sam said it was. "Five AM?"
"Tony?" Steve asked. He had a deer caught in the headlights look that was unfairly cute.
"That's me," Tony confirmed, draping himself over the cushions next to the other man. "Haven't slept in a while, bad day- I'm an eccentric genius. And this is my lab. What's your excuse?"
"I've been frozen in time for eighty years," Steve offered drily, and Tony barked a laugh. Steve had only been frozen for 70 years. Tony decided not to correct him.
"Right," he said. "I guess that would give you a bit of a free pass, huh?"
"I only use it for good," Steve promised solemnly, and then broke into a grin. They leaned into each other almost by accident.
The lull of the tv and the warmth of another body was enough to get them both to drift off.
"Why'd you come down here to sleep?" Tony asked sleepily when they were both almost asleep.
"It's like you down here," Steve mumbled almost incoherently.
"What's that mean?" Tony half laughed and half slurred into Steve's shoulder.
"Safe cos you," Steve breathed into Tony's hair. "It's you,"
Tony never slept better in his life.
"Aughstffshtmuph," Tony said when a decidedly high-pitched squeal woke him up. "Mfwhat? JARVIS?"
JARVIS' "Good morning, Sir," was nearly lost under a whoop of glee and a female (Natasha?) voice telling Clint to calm down. The flash of a camera is what woke Tony up the rest of the way.
"What?" he repeated, finally opening his eyes. For a moment nothing made sense, until he realized that his face was mashed half in Steve's neck and half in Steve's chest.
"What?!" he said again, more frantically, and jerked away. Steve started blinking, confused, with a cushion crease along one side of his face. Don't think he's adorable, but how can I not he's so cute holy fuck i'm so far gone this is a lost cause. "This isn't what it looks like! Or, you know, it is, if what it looks like is that we fell asleep watching teevee. Because that is. What happened. Um," he rubbed his face. "Coffee,"
"I'm sending this to Virginia," Natasha said. Fuck, Pepper. And Rhodeys going to know about it by the end of the day. Maybe he can hack his phone...
"Oh man, wait 'till Fury hears about this,"
"They are adorable, aren't they?"
"What's going on?" That's Steve, still hazy from sleep, hair mashed flat on one side. "Is there trouble?"
"No," and that's Bruce, what the Hell, is the entire tower here? Why do they only show up when Tony's embarrasing himself? "Nat was just chatting up Tony's Artificial Intelligence and he mentioned you two were down here," Bruce continued. At least he didn't sound smug like Clint or Natasha. Those evil ninjas.
"Coffee," Tony repeated, too tired to care that JARVIS told them he was sleeping with Captain America and not that kind of sleeping with him don't imagine it Tony don't you fucking do it oops too late it's too early for this get some freaking "Coffee?"
"Oh," he heard from Steve as he stood up, but he was already halfway upstairs. "JARVIS, just so you know, if there isn't coffee when I get up there, i'm disabling you,"
"Of course, Sir," JARVIS remarked and Tony swears to God he sounds so fucking proud, and he really should reprogram the thing to be less sarcastic.
When he reached the coffee maker, the last bit of Italian Roast had just dripped into a pot.
He drinks the entire pot all at once, in six long swallows, and sticks it back under the percolator as soon as he's done.
"Wow," Clint says, but where the fuck did he come from, leaning against the doorway looking languorously evil and smug. "That amount of muscle control is impressive. Can you do that with an entire liter of Sprite?"
"College," Tony offered as an explanation. "Also, yes." There's other things he can swallow too, with his gag reflex beaten into submission in his teens, but he wasn't going to mention that.
"Bet you were a hit at frat parties," Clint said, and he sounded actually impressed. Like, really, Tony is Iron man and a billionaire and this is the thing that impresses him?
...Well, yeah, it's pretty cool.
"Mhm," Tony shrugged, because he forgot what was just said and his brain needed more coffee fuel. It's not used to sleeping for a whole eight hours at one time.
When Tony paid attention again, he was alone but for Steve, who was sitting on his counter with an adorable grin, just staring at Tony like he's the bees knees.
"Um. Hey, Cap,"
"Morning, Tony," oh God, why is he still cheerful?
"...Hi?" He said because he's an idiot and Steve is too cute. "Where'd everyone go?"
"They went to breakfast. Didn't you hear Clint?"
"Nah. Guy never hears me either," which, as soon as he said it, Tony internally winced, because Clint was deaf and that was an unintentional joke.
"They left. Something about iHop,"
"Did they take Thor?"
"Yeah, and Loki, to supervise him,"
Tony thought about Thor at iHop for a minute.
"That sounds terrifying. That why you're here?"
"I wanted to go catch up with Buck- Moron's still with Fury-"
"Shit! Shit! What day is it!?"
Tony racked his brain. Sam texted him before he fell asleep on Steve that Bucky would be completed tomorrow which means tomorrow is today and Steve cannot see Bucky.
"What? Why?" Steve asked with concern. "It's Tuesday,"
"No- It's fine. But you should go to iHop, you don't have to keep an eye on me,"
Steve looked almost bashful, like he actually had been waiting for Tony to wake up and that was too cute to be acceptable. No.
"I'm gonna head downstairs, work on a flyer texting program for my favourite Falcon,"
Steve laughed a little and started to leave.
"You sure you don't wanna come?"
"Uh huh," Tony nodded, not looking at Steve's hair falling over his face. He wasn't looking.
"Okay,"
"Alsosorryforfallingasleeponyou," he called as he ran downstairs. Nobody to bother him down here... Just JARVIS and Dum-E. The way he liked it.
Except.
Except for the supersoldier sized dent in his couch.
And the way he could totally see Steve sitting on his counter, because that man was a counter sitter, God help him, and every time he brought Tony food he sat all up in his work.
And he felt like maybe it was a little empty without Steve's presence.
But that was ridiculous.
People don't make Tony feel like that, like he needs them. People don't matter.
People can't matter.
People are bad for you, you always ruin them. Pepper left for a reason. Don't get attached to Steve. Don't need him. Please, for the love of God, Tony, don't need him. Don't do this to yourself.
But the fact remained that the couch looked bare and the counter looked naked and the lab seemed so much colder than before.