#capimalphabetchallenge

With the power levels dangerously low, it was exhausting to merely remove the faceplate and drop the heavy metal gauntlets that had been encasing his arms. With a last desperate effort he kicked off his repulsor boots and retracted the armoring from his legs, leaving his chestplate exposed and ready to charge.

He grabbed the power cord and connected it too fast, the force of the connection jarring his already aching chest further. The power arched into the chestplate, and finally he felt the plate humming back to life. His heart hammered brutally hard: that had been far too close a call for his liking.

He heaved in a few quick breaths from where he was slumped pathetically on the plush carpet. Just a few more minutes and he would be recharged and back to fighting fitness.

Unfortunately for Tony, his moment of relief was short lived. As he lay panting on the floor, he heard heavy footsteps in the corridor outside his office. If anyone were to walk in now, they’d be sure to learn his greatest secret: that he was both millionaire technology entrepreneur Tony Stark and the masked hero Iron Man!

He couldn’t risk being discovered. The footsteps were rapidly approaching and there was no time to hide. Tony hurriedly disconnected the charging cable and threw on a shirt to hide his chestplate from view, and he was just pulling on a pair of slacks when the door to his office swung open. He could only hope that he had disguised himself in time.

Steve had been knocking around the mansion all afternoon, having already filled his daily quota of exercise and training that morning. His mind was too scattered today to concentrate on painting, and Wanda had politely but firmly turned down his offer to cook for her. He’d been at a loose end until Jarvis has taken pity on him moping in the library and let him know that Iron Man was due back from his mission shortly.

That was just what he needed to hear, Steve thought cheerfully. His buddy Shellhead was always a blast to spend time with. Maybe they could spar together, or Iron Man would show him another of his favorite sci fi movies. That Barbarella flick had really been quite the show! Either way, Steve would sure be glad for the company of his good pal.

He sure did wish he knew more about who Iron Man was outside the suit though. They were the best of friends on the battlefield and Steve loved the time they spent together in the mansion. But to never see his face, and to know that he had a whole other life that Steve wasn’t a part of… well, it made Steve a little blue if he was honest. Steve sure would like to see his dear friend’s smile, to touch his skin, to hold his hand. Maybe someday Iron Man would trust him with his secret identity.

He headed up to the office of Iron Man’s boss Mr. Stark to see if Iron Man was there and if he wanted to go out for a milkshake. Iron Man always knew the best places to go. But as he rounded the corner of the corridor, he noted that the door of the office was closed. That was unusual - Mr. Stark typically kept his door open and encouraged the Avengers to drop in whenever they wanted.

As he pushed open the door, however, Steve suddenly realized why Mr. Stark had wanted privacy this time. He stepped into the office to see Mr. Stark frantically buttoning up his pants, his hair mussed and his shirt buttons done up incorrectly.

Steve paused in the doorway. He was clearly interrupting something.

“Cap,” Tony called, sounding somewhat short of breath. “Don’t mind me, I’m just. You know. Straightening my suit. So, uhh, what brings you here?”

Steve politely averted his eyes. “I was looking for Iron Man…” he began, but stopped when his eye was caught by pieces of distinctive shiny red and gold armor strewn across the floor of the office. What on earth was going on? “Jarvis said he was here.”

“Yes!” Tony said, a bit too quickly. “Iron Man was here. But now he has - er - left.”

“Oh,” Steve said, dumbly.

Steve looked again, and took in Tony’s breathlessness, his clothes in disarray, the pieces of the armor tossed to the floor. A realization hit him.

Oh. Oh.

It seemed obvious now - Iron Man and his boss had to be carrying on some kind of torrid affair - and they were trying to keep it a secret. And Steve had walked in at the worst possible moment.

“I’ll just…” Steve strained to think of something appropriate to say. Heat prickled up the back of his neck as he made a concerted effort not to think about Iron Man peeling off the armor, being held in Tony’s arms, gasping with pleasure…

Steve was no coward, but this was a topic he was not even slightly ready to broach with his best friend’s boss-slash-lover. “I’ll leave you to it,” he said frantically as he turned tail and fled from the office.

Tony blinked at Cap’s retreating figure. Steve hadn’t seemed to suspect that anything was amiss with Iron Man, which was a relief. He sure was acting funny though, running out like that. But hey, the upside was that Tony got to enjoy a fine view of the good Captain from behind, which was an angle not to be underestimated.

He savored the thought of Steve’s gently bobbing ass for a moment before shaking himself. What was it that he had been doing? Ahh yes, recharging. He plugged himself back in to the power and settled into his office chair.

As much as he enjoyed the view of Steve from behind, Tony mused, he sure would like to see Steve's face more often too. Though Steve and Iron Man had been inseparable since the day they met, Steve had remained considerably more reserved when it came to Tony. They’d barely exchanged more than a few sentences to each other when he was out of the armor.

And the frustrating thing was that Tony was sure that Steve would have fun spending time together. They got on so well as Iron Man and Captain America, surely they would bond just as well as Tony and Steve. It seemed only natural that they should go to dinner together, or to take a visit to the theater.

But he and Steve never seemed to have the time to get to know each other outside of work. Perhaps that was why Steve had been so jumpy earlier - he was still uncomfortable around Tony. Whether it was Tony’s money or his fame, he tried to be friendly but he knew that many people found him intimidating.

He would have to change that. He didn’t want Steve to feel uncertain around him when he was Tony Stark - he wanted them to be as comfortable together as they were when they were Winghead and Shellhead.

There was only one thing for it: he would have to befriend Steve and show him that they were just as compatible off the battlefield as they were on it.

Steve liked to think that he was a pretty open minded sort of fella. Whatever consenting adults wanted to do on their own time was their business, that had always been his motto.

But he had to admit, over the week since he walked into the office, the thought of Iron Man and Tony together had been bothering him. While he was glad that his Shellhead had someone to be with, Steve couldn’t deny the little pang of longing he felt when he imagined Iron Man trusting someone else with his identity. Steve was, perhaps, a little jealous.

It sure would be nice for him to be able to be something more to Iron Man. But even if it weren’t for the secret identity issue, it seemed like Iron Man was already involved with someone else. Steve supposed that it made sense that he would form a bond with Tony - he had protected him as his bodyguard for a long time, and they must have spent a lot of time together working on the suit over the years.

But… Tony Stark? Really? He was good looking, sure, and heavens knows he had plenty of money. But Steve couldn’t imagine Iron Man caring about that sort of thing. He had always thought that Iron Man would want someone more… simple. Homey. Someone who knew him and adored him, just as he was. Maybe even someone like Steve…

Perhaps all was not lost, Steve reasoned. After all, he didn’t know for sure what was going on between Iron Man and Tony. Perhaps their relationship was casual, or maybe it was coming to an end. That would explain why Shellhead hadn’t mentioned it to anyone. Perhaps Steve did still have a chance after all.

Only one way to find out, Steve thought gamely. The next time he and Iron Man were sparring, Steve dropped a few subtly innocuous questions.

“So… you and Mr. Stark… you two are close, huh?”

It was impossible to see Iron Man’s expression beneath the mask, but Steve knew him well enough to read the cock of his shoulder - currently expressing a blend of confusion and discomfort.

“Uh,” Iron Man sounded uncertain even through the voice modulator. “I suppose.”

“All the work you do together… you must have really bonded,” Steve pressed. “You must like him a lot, to have worked for him for so long.”

“Erm. Kind of. I’ve had worse bosses.”

“Yes, but it must be more than that, right? You risk your life for him. He must be special to you.”

A long pause. “Hrm… Look, I act as his bodyguard because someone has to. To be entirely honest with you, he’s kind of a pain in the ass. Sometimes I don’t know why the Avengers put up with him.”

That stopped Steve short. Iron Man certainly didn’t sound that keen on Tony. But then why would he be with him?

Steve reeled as a horrifying thought occurred to him. “Is he… Iron Man, is he forcing you to stay with him?”

A staticky noise that indicated Iron Man was laughing. “Nothing like that. I… Well, I guess you could say that I owe him a debt.”

A debt? What did that mean? Did Tony have some kind of financial hold over Iron Man? Steve’s head was filled with even more worries about indentured servitude, but he tried to keep calm for Iron Man’s sake.

“You know that I’ll always care about you, right, Shellhead? If Tony is important to you then I'd like to talk with him, to get to know him better.”

“You really don’t have to-” Iron Man hummed.

“No, I want to. There are a few words I want to share with Mr. Stark.”

Iron Man acquiesced and Steve began to form a plan. He would just have to see for himself what kind of man Tony was, and whether he was worthy to date someone as wonderful as Iron Man. Somehow, he doubted this assessment would reflect well on Tony.

Tony bounced excitedly on the balls of his repulsor boots as he left the gym. Steve wanted to talk with him - and as Tony Stark! He hadn’t expected his plan to befriend Steve to go so smoothly, but here Steve was wanting to spend time with him all on his own volition! It couldn’t have been better.

Now he just had to wait for Steve to come to see him.

Sure enough, Steve inquired after his schedule one morning at breakfast and they arranged a time for Steve to come to his office. Tony did, in fact, have a funding meeting at that time, but he canceled it without a second thought. After all, running a multimillion dollar company wasn’t even close to as interesting as spending half an hour chatting with Steve.

When Steve arrived, Tony was just finishing up combing his mustache and slicking his hair back. A quick glance in the mirror. Looking good, tiger, Tony thought with a smile.

“Cap! Come in. Can I offer you a coffee?”

“Thanks but no.” Steve sounded gruff, and flat.

“Suit yourself. You want a snack? I can have Jarvis bring us some muffins.”

“Not for me.”

“Okay then. How about an armor upgrade? I had a few ideas about your uniform-”

“Enough,” Steve snapped, suddenly furious. “You can’t buy me off that easily.”

Tony blinked. Perhaps he had misjudged this interaction with Steve a bit. He did tend to get effusive with the presents when he was feeling enthusiastic. “Oh. That wasn’t my intention. I had just thought that it would be nice if we could be friendly-”

“Friendly?” Steve’s eyes narrowed. “Is that what we are?”

Tony tried to hide how much that comment hurt him. This was not how he had imagined this conversation would go. He tried to rally himself. “I - I just thought - well, here we are, two fellas living together in the same house, and we barely know each other. I thought maybe we could watch a movie together, or catch a baseball game. You know.”

Steve was still squinting at him, a look that could either have been either thoughtful consideration or poorly disguised disgust forming on his face. Tony fervently hoped it was the former. He took a breath and plunged onward, determined to make good on his resolution to befriend Steve.

“Let me take you out to dinner some time, huh? I bet we’d get on real well without the Avengers around to distract us.” Tony smiled his most winning press smile and held out a hand to Steve. “What do you say, big guy?”

Steve could barely believe his ears. A dinner offer? Was Tony seriously hitting on him? Tony was already with Iron Man, and now he was casually asking out someone else for a date like it was nothing.

“And what,” Steve ground out, “do you think Iron Man would have to say about that?”

Tony waved a hand dismissively. “I’m sure he can entertain himself and leave us in peace for an evening.”

Steve was genuinely gobsmacked. Not only was Tony willing to cheat on Iron Man, he didn’t even give a second thought to the fact that word about his straying would inevitably get around. It was like he didn’t consider Iron Man’s feelings for a second.

Steve regarded Tony cooly, with his big fake smile and his stupidly fussed over mustache, offering to buy things for Steve as if that would impress him.

He would have no part of this heartless, petty man. And now he had no doubt that Tony was not even remotely deserving of a guy like Iron Man. Steve lifted his chin and stood up straight. “I’d rather share a dinner date with MODOK than with you, Tony,” he huffed. “And I’d infinitely rather spend time with a real guy like Iron Man.”

Steve took a small, mean pleasure in seeing the way Tony’s face crumpled. He looked genuinely ashen. But Steve couldn’t find it in himself to feel guilty - after all, Tony was the person who had the heart of the best man in the world, and he was making plans to step out on him.

Steve turned on his heel and stomped out of the office, thinking that he would certainly never treat Iron Man that way. He’d never dismiss his feelings, or make advances on someone else. He’d treat Iron Man like the wonderful, kind, warm person that he was.

He threw a last vindictive glance over his shoulder to see Tony slumped against the edge of his desk. Well then. If Tony felt bad, then that was the consequence for treating poor Iron Man so shamefully.

Suck it up, Stark, Tony kept repeating to himself. The weight of the armor dragged him down as he slunk around the mansion, but at least inside the suit he could hide his face. And that was necessary, because every time in the last few days that he had caught a glimpse of Steve and remembered the disgust on his face when he had asked to spend time with him, his lip started wobbling and he felt like he was going to cry.

But there was, as always, work to do. Superheroes didn’t get time off for heartache - not even when the object of their long-standing affection had expressed more interest in sharing dinner with an grotesque giant head than with them. Steve was, very obviously, not interested in being friends or anything else with Tony. That was just the way it was going to have to be.

Tony tried to take a little space, but it wasn’t easy when Steve was so delighted to see him - as long as he was hidden in his Iron Man gear.

“Shellhead!” A cheery voice carried over the kitchen. “C’mere, buddy!”

Tony gave up on his apparently ineffective attempt to sneak unnoticed past the open door of the kitchen. Damn his clanky repulsor boots. He sighed and went to sit at the kitchen table opposite a beaming Steve.

“How’s it going, old pal?”

Tony managed to choke out, “Fine,” and mercifully the audio modulator hid the crack in his voice.

“Say, there’s something I wanted to talk to you about. I know it might not be my business, but… Well, Shellhead, I’m worried about you. It’s because of Tony.”

Tony’s heart sank even lower. He was absolutely sure that he didn’t want to hear what Steve had to say about him right now.

“I know you feel connected to him, but Tony… he’s not a good man. You know you don’t have to spend time with him if you don't want to. I really think you can do better.”

Better, as in a better job? Now Steve wanted to be his career adviser too? Jesus. Why did Steve even care who employed him?

Steve reached over the table to hold his gauntlet, big warm hand wrapped around cold metal fingers. “I’m here for you,” he said, heartbreakingly earnest.

Steve certainly did seem real worried about his employment situation. Tony considered his position carefully. “I can see that you’re concerned, Cap. But listen. Tony isn’t as bad as they say. He… he actually likes you a lot.”

Steve’s lip curled. “The feeling is most certainly not mutual. I don’t like him one bit.”

And that hurt more than it should have. Tony felt his shoulders slump under the weight of armor and of misery. But Steve was still going, clutching his hand.

“The thing is, Shellhead, I don’t want you to feel like you have no other options. Because. Well. We spend a lot of time together, and I’d really like to get to know you even better. And we could, maybe, go on a date some time? And I know that you have to stay in the armor in public but I thought maybe… maybe you could trust me with your secret identity? Because I’d never tell anyone, and I’d really like… I’d really like to see your face, and hold your hand, and maybe even. Well, maybe even kiss you, if you’d like that. Because I like you a whole lot, and I know things are complicated with you and Tony, but if you’d give me a chance then I’d really like to prove how special you are to me.”

Tony’s jaw dropped open. That was… it was… Steve liked him? Steve wanted to date him? Waves of hope and spikes of panic crashed against each other inside his head and Tony could only stare while he tried to process.

The processing was immediately interrupted by the urgent beeping of his emergency communicator. Tony blinked down at it, his head spinning.

Stark Industries board meeting emergency session. Attendance essential. Final vote on the allocation of company shares.

Oh no. He couldn’t get out of this one. If he let the board sell the company shares, he’d never regain control of his company and they’d go right back to weapons manufacturing. And, most terrifying of all, his secretary Mrs. Arbogast would certainly kill him.

“Sorry, Steve, but I have to leave. It’s Mr. Stark. He has this meeting, it’s really urgent-”

Steve looked actually, literally like a kicked puppy. “Oh,” he said, sounding very small indeed. “If Tony needs you, then I guess you have to go.” He withdrew his hand from Tony’s and hung his head.

“But Steve, listen, about what you said-”

“No, forget it. I shouldn’t have said anything. You should go and be with Tony.”

Tony could have just kicked himself for ever having made Steve look that sad, but the urgent and continued beeping from his communicator said that now Pepper was getting on his case too, and it was time to leave before he ruined his company for good.

As he hurried out of the kitchen, clanging towards his office as fast as he could in the bulky armor, he looked back to see Steve who was staring down at the table and playing morosely with a paper napkin.

God, Tony had really messed this one up.

Steve was not moping. He was Captain America, hero of the people, and Captain America did not mope. He was simply in need of some quiet time… on his own… in the darkness…

Because Iron Man had the right to make his own decisions, Steve knew that. Iron Man had chosen Tony over Steve, and that was his right. Steve knew that he had to accept it, but that didn’t mean he had to be happy about it.

Still, as the weeks passed Steve didn’t feel any better. He tried to give Iron Man his space, and not to intrude on his personal life. The one bright spot in this sad situation was that at least he and Iron Man were still as effective as ever on missions together. On their way into battle, Iron Man would scoop Steve up and fly him overhead to asses the battlefield, and Steve’s heart would squeeze with fondness at being so close to his Shellhead.

But once the mission was done, Iron Man would disappear off… back to Tony, Steve thought sourly. And then Steve would see Tony swanning around the mansion like he didn’t have the best fella in the world waiting for him. Steve would never leave Iron Man hanging like that.

As if that wasn’t enough, Tony had Iron Man off on personal missions all the time - Stark Industries business was all he would say - and Steve and the rest of the Avengers were never invited on those missions. He tried not to fret, but Steve worried about Iron Man facing who knows what dangers alone.

Steve’s worries came to a head when Iron Man was sent to investigate the Serpent Society’s secret lair, and after a couple of hours he stopped checking in. There was nothing but horrible silence and sticky hisses over the communication channel.

It could be anything. Iron Man’s communicator could simply have been damaged, or he could be in a shielded room. Still, Steve couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. He resolved to go and find Tony - he didn’t much like talking to him, but he’d be glad to be able to check up on Iron Man.

But something strange was afoot. Tony wasn’t in his office, or in his workshop, and he didn’t respond to Pepper or Mrs. Arbogast’s messages either. Steve recruited Vision and the the twins to help him search the mansion, but with no success. By the time Steve had looked everywhere he could think of, both Iron Man and Tony had been missing for four hours and Steve was sliding into full blown panic.

Where was Shellhead? Was he hurt? Had Tony taken him somewhere? Why wasn’t he on his comms? Steve was approaching fully distraught when finally, a faint but familiar voice came over the comms system.

“... Avengers? Do you read? This is Tony Stark.”

“I’m here,” Steve enunciated into the comm system’s microphone, brisk and professional. “What happened? Where are you?”

Tony took a deep breath and forced his heart rate to slow. It was going to be alright now that he had Steve to help.

“I’m okay,” he said, not entirely truthfully. “I got captured by the Serpent Society. It turns out that these snakes have better hearing than most. They took my communicator and locked me in the basement, but I found an old ham radio and built a basic comms system.”

He heard Steve inhale through his nose. “And Iron Man? Is he with you?” he asked, a little pointedly. “He’s been missing for hours too.”

Shit. There was really no other way to explain where Iron Man was. “Uh - yes - Iron Man is. Uh. Right here.”

“I want to talk to him.”

“Now isn’t a great time, Cap.”

“I need to know that he’s okay.”

“I can assure you, he’s fine-”

“I want to talk to Iron Man right now, Mr. Stark.”

Tony rolled his eyes. God, Steve could be stubborn. “Fine,” he snapped, and stomped over to the corner of the room where he’d stashed his armor. He pulled on the helmet to modulate his voice and the boots to give his steps the right sound, and clanked back to the ham radio.

“Hi, Winghead.”

“Shellhead!” Steve’s voice immediately warmed. “Boy, am I glad to hear from you. Is everything okay with you?”

“We’ll be fine. I’m sure we can find our way out of here soon, but I need your help.”

“Anything you need, buddy.”

“I need you to pull out the plans of the Serpent Society’s not-so-top-secret lair that I drew up after our last encounter. It’s like a maze down here, so you’re going to have to guide us out.”

“I can do that.” Steve’s voice was firm and confident. “I’ll get the plans. Wait just a moment… and make sure Mr. Stark doesn’t do anything stupid in the mean time.”

Tony pinched the bridge of his brow, even though he couldn’t feel it through the faceplate. “Tony isn’t a total idiot, you know.”

He heard Steve huff. “If you say so. I’m going to find the plans - I’ll be right back.”

Tony heard Steve walk away, and he looked around to assess his situation once more. The basement he was in was cold and dark, deep below ground, and his captors had stripped him of his communicator and the few tools he had stashed in compartments in the armor. They had disabled the repulsors on his gauntlets and boots too… with hammers, by the look of it. Ugh, that was going to be a pain to fix. But they’d left him with the suit to wear, so at least he wasn’t naked.

It could, he thought with a wry smile, be worse.

It was going to be a challenge to find his way out though. He hadn’t been exaggerating to Steve - the compound was massive, and sprawling, and almost certainly full of whimsical snake pits should he make a wrong move. These people sure did love their snakes.

Thankfully, Tony heard Steve hurrying back to the communications desk. “I’ve got the plans,” he announced. “Now tell me everything you can remember about how you got to your current location.”

Steve frantically scribbled notes as Iron Man described the path that he and Tony had been led down when they were caught by the Serpents, and the view that they could currently see from the basement they were in. Eventually Steve managed to narrow down their location to sublevel 3B, marked on the map he was holding as an auxiliary storage area.

He identified the nearest exit that was likely to be unguarded, and plotted a route to take Iron Man and Tony safely there. There was just one small problem…

“Uh, Shellhead?”

“Yes?”

“Some of these routes you’re going to have to take - they’re pretty tight. Can you squeeze down a ventilation shaft that’s half a meter wide?”

Deep sighing from over the comms.

“Sure I can. I’ll manage.”

“And what about Tony? He’s probably not in the best shape.”

A little huff of offense. “Tony will manage just fine as well.”

Steve was distracted for a moment by the thought of Iron Man and Tony, squeezed together in a tight space, breath heaving, not an inch of air between them…

He wrenched his thoughts back to the mission at hand. Looking down at the map, he informed Iron Man where to find the grate for the ventilation system from the room he was in, and he heard a series of clanging and scraping sounds that indicated Shellhead was pulling himself up into the vents.

“Okay, I’m in. Tell me which way to go.”

“And Tony? How is he doing?” Steve might not have been a fan of the man, but it was still his job to protect civilians in danger.

More sighing over the line, and Steve heard a faint “Here you go, Mr. Stark, just take my hand,” as Iron Man banged around the ventilation shaft. When they were ready, Steve started directing them through the maze of shafts running through the compound.

They made good progress, until Steve spotted a corridor ahead that was marked on the map with jagged squiggly lines. He asked Iron Man to drop out of the vent and investigate.

“Urgh.” Iron Man sounded displeased. “There are… I’m not sure how to describe… there are giant garbage mashers in this corridor.”

“Garbage mashers?!”

“Yes, big heavy weights which slam down from the ceiling onto the floor every two seconds. You know, traditional evil lair stuff.”

Steve paused. “Ahh.” He investigated the plan of the base more carefully. “Okay!” he brightened. “Good news. There’s an override switch to turn off the mashers.”

“Phew.” Iron Man sounded relieved. Perhaps he had been worried about leading Tony through the stomping danger of the mashers.

“The override switch is near where you entered this room. It’s an ongoing switch though, so you’ll have to hold it down while Tony crosses to the other side of the room. Then there’s another override switch that he can hold down to let you pass.”

“Oh.” Iron Man sounded less than enthused about this plan. It should be easy, with Tony there to hold down the switch while Iron Man crossed the room. But Iron Man was so uncertain. Why? Was he worried about Tony freaking out? Was he feeling guilty about putting his employer in danger? Or maybe, just maybe, he didn’t want to risk anything happening to his boyfriend…

It wasn’t like Iron Man to be uncertain about anything when it came to missions. His relationship with Tony must have been really affecting his judgment, and that made Steve worry more than anything else.

“... Shellhead? You got this? You just need to hold down the switch while Tony crosses. It’ll be safe and easy, I promise.”

Eventually, after a long pause, he heard Iron Man say, “Alright, Cap, let’s do this,” in a firm tone.

Tony looked down the room at the row of vicious garbage mashers, each one rising slowly to the ceiling before slamming to the floor with tremendous force. He looked longingly at the override switch by the door, but that was of no use to him on his own.

He was just going to have to toughen up and face this.

Each masher took about two seconds between rising from the floor and slamming back down. It was just about enough time for him to squeeze through, as long as he kept his head.

Deep breaths, he reminded himself.

“It’s going to be easy,” Steve’s voice soothed over the comms.

Of course it is, Tony thought with gritted teeth. No problem at all.

“Is Mr. Stark ready?” Steve inquired politely.

With a sardonic raise of his eyebrows, Tony pulled up his faceplate to speak in his natural voice. “I’m here and I’m ready, Captain.”

“Alright, then as soon as you’re ready - go!”

Tony spared one last longing look at the override switch before steadying himself. He gauged the rhythm of the first masher: SLAM, one two, SLAM, one two, SLAM; and at the right moment he threw himself under the masher, rolling to safety on the other side just before the heavy weight smashed into the floor behind him.

Great, thought Tony. One down, only seven to go.

“You’re doing great, Shellhead!” Steve’s voice called over the comms. Not that Steve could see or tell what was going on, but Tony appreciated the vote of confidence anyway. With his heart in his mouth, he threw himself beneath each of the massive crushing blocks and rolled underneath before they could drop and crush him.

By the time he made it to the other side of the room, Tony’s chest was heaving and his whole body danced and buzzed with adrenaline.

“I made it!” he announced joyously over the comms.

“Oh.” Steve’s reply seemed taken aback. “That’s good, Shellhead. And what about Tony? Is he safe too?”

God, right, shit, he was supposed to be protecting Tony. He centered himself, flipped up his faceplate, and used his natural voice. “We’re all good here, Cap! Now, where to next?”

Steve felt some of his tension unwind as they worked their way through the mission. He was leading Iron Man and Tony closer and closer to the exit - surely they’d reach safety soon.

In between, they’d had to deal with booby traps, false floors, rope swings, giant boulders rolling down tight corridors, and the inevitable snake pits. Steve guided them through each one with patience and care, and it was almost nice to know that there were some villains out there who still appreciated the classic principles of evil lair design.

There were times when Iron Man seemed distracted - Steve worried that having Tony there was messing with his ability to stay on mission - but despite the awkwardness when Steve had to talk to Tony, to his surprise he had to admit that the three of them made a pretty good team.

He still felt a pang of jealousy every time he heard Iron Man panting, short of breath as he waited with care for Tony to catch up with him. What would it be like to have Iron Man show that much worry for him? To know that wherever he went, Iron Man would be there, watching over him?

But now was not the time for that. Right now, Steve had a mission: get his teammates home safe.

(Yes, even Tony, his subconscious sense of duty helpfully reminded him. He is technically a member of the team too.)

He guided Tony and Iron Man until they were almost at the exit. Iron Man was starting to sound wheezy, like he was struggling, and Steve’s heart squeezed with guilt that he wasn’t there to help in person. But at least now they were approaching safety.

Before they reached the exit, there was just one more obstacle: the anaconda pit. Marked as an inconspicuous circle on the map, Steve had a feeling that the reality would be less benign.

“Can you see it?” he asked, trying to disguise the concern in his voice.

“The giant swampy pit full of giant slithering monsters?” Iron Man conveyed weary pragmatism even through the modulator. “Yup, I can see it.”

Tony surveyed the gaping hole in the floor before him, the exit door tantalizingly out of reach beyond it. Just this one final obstacle to clear, and he could get out of this tedious dungeon of cliches.

“It’s going to be easy,” Steve’s voice carried soothingly over the comms. “You and Tony just need to work together!”

Oh joy, thought Tony resignedly. That was sure to go swimmingly.

The pit was about five meters wide, with the sloshing sound of anacondas moving through water emanating from its depths. Tony deliberately avoided look down as he sized up the route to the other side.

“Iron Man, I want you to help Tony across first. Get him to run towards the edge, then you lift his as he jumps. Between the two of you, he’ll make it across no problem. Then he can catch you from the other side when you jump. Okay?”

Steve sounded infuriatingly chirpy. Tony gritted his teeth and did his best to sound nonchalant. “Sure, Cap, that’ll be no problem.”

He glanced behind him, but he knew that the door he had come through only lead to more underground tunnels. The way out was forward, and that meant going over the pit. With his repulsors disabled, his only hope was to jump and hope for the best.

He moved back to get as big a run up as he could, and threw himself into as much of a run as he could in the ungainly suit. With a tremendous clang, he launched himself from the edge of the pit towards the door.

There was a moment as he sailed through the air, just a moment, where he thought he was going to make it clean to the other side. But then he was falling, far too hard, far too fast, and it was all he could do to reach out and catch the far edge of the pitch with his fingertips. His feet scrabbled uselessly at the side of the pit as the anacondas slithered and hissed beneath him.

His fingers screamed with pain, but he just had to pull himself up-

“You okay there, Shellhead?” Steve sounded worried.

Tony scrabbled more and kicked desperately, trying to find purchase in the rock. “Yep, all good!” He heaved in a breath. “I’m doing just fine! Give me… just.. one second...”

With the last of his strength he managed to heave himself up onto the floor at the far side of the pit, rolling safely onto the packed earth in front of the exit door. For a moment he laid still and simply breathed, listening to the disappointed hiss of the anacondas that were going to go hungry tonight.

“Iron Man? Iron Man, respond. Shellhead!”

“I’m here,” Tony wheezed. “We made it. We’re okay.” He looked up at the door. “I think I can make it outside of the base from here. Then you’ll be able to pick up the signal from Mr. Stark’s subcutaneous tracker.”

“You put a tracker on your boyfr- on your employer? Why am I not surprised.” Steve sounded fond though. “You need a ride? I’ll ready a Quinjet to pick you up as soon as we pinpoint your location.”

Tony was dragging himself through the door and up the steps, when he looked down at the power gauge on the chestplate. Uh oh. The power level was hovering at around 1%.

Tony pushed his way outside, finally freeing himself into a frigid grassy field. The weight of the suit pulled him down, exhaustion and cold hitting him hard.

“Uhh, Winghead, about that ride? Do you think you could, uhh, hurry, maybe? That would be real nice-”

With that, he passed out face first into the grass.

Steve was out of the communications room and into a Quinjet the moment that the signal of Tony’s tracker pinged his location. Iron Man wasn’t answering the home made comms system any more, and Steve could only guess what had happened to him.

At least Tony’s signal was coming through strong and clear, which meant that he at least was alive and findable. After all the cruel things that Steve had said and thought about Tony, he sure was glad to have his tracking technology on hand. And, now he thought about it, the plane he was currently flying in had been a gift from Tony too. And so had the uniform that he was wearing, and the house that he’d made his home.

Steve chewed over the thought as he flew. He’d been selfish with his feelings for Iron Man, he could see that now. Hearing Tony and Iron Man work together, he’d realized that it wasn’t fair for him to stand in the way if they wanted to be together. And Iron Man was such a great guy, if he saw something worthwhile in Tony, then Steve really should have tried harder to see it too.

All he wanted was for Iron Man to be safe and cared for and happy. And if being with Tony was what it took to make that happen, then Steve wasn’t going to stand in the way.

Even if it broke his heart a little bit, the only thing that mattered was making sure that Iron Man was safe.

Tony heard the vague impression of movement above him, of rustling sounds and a low, familiar voice.

“I’ve got you, Shellhead. Don’t worry. I’ll take you home.”

Tony relaxed into the lull of unconsciousness again. Steve was here. Steve would look after him and everything would be okay.

When Tony’s eyes flickered open again, he found that he was lying on a sofa in the mansion’s library, armor still on and chestplate recharging. He could feel the gentle thrum of electricity feeding his chestplate and restoring his strength.

He turned his head to see that Steve was sat next to him. Steve looked absolutely wretched. He was slumped in the chair next to Tony’s sofa and he was twisting his uniform gloves in his hands, eyes downcast.

“I’m so sorry about Tony. I thought he would be there with you, but he gave his tracker to you, didn’t he? And he stayed behind. That was a very selfless thing that he did.”

Tony’s head spun. Err, what? Oh, right, the tracker… the tracker that Tony Stark had implanted… the tracker that Steve had followed to Iron Man. Oh dear.

But Steve seemed too busy berating himself to notice. “I should have been there. I thought… I thought with the two of you there together, you’d be okay. But now Tony is still in the hands of those awful villains and it’s my fault for not giving you better information.”

Tony pushed himself onto his elbows, the mesh of his armor digging in to his arms. “I have to say, I’m surprised to hear you care about his safety. I thought you couldn’t stand Mr. Stark.”

Steve looked, if possible, even more distressed. “It’s not like that! Tony is one of us, a real Avenger, and if I’ve been cold to him it was just because… well, it was because I was jealous.”

Tony flinched back in surprise. That didn’t make sense. Why would Steve, human perfection incarnate, feel jealous of a schlub like him? “What reason would you have to be jealous of him? You’re ten times the man he’ll ever be.”

Steve looked up, a flash of hope appearing on his face before it was quickly washed away by guilt. “I was jealous of you and him. Jealous that you two are together, than he had you… and I didn’t.” The last part was spoken in almost a whisper.

Tony’s mind whirred. “You think… Mr. Stark and me? Are… together? Jesus, Steve, no, it’s not like that.”

Steve perked up, suddenly more engaged. “You’re not? You mean, you’re single?” He stopped himself sharply. “But that doesn’t matter now. Tony is still in terrible danger, and it’s all my fault.”

Steve hung his head, and looking at him, Tony was hit with the realization that there was only one thing he could do. He steadied himself. “Actually, Cap, Tony’s just fine. He’s right here, in fact.”

Steve stared at him uncomprehendingly.

Do or die time, Tony thought. He unclasped the clips holding his helmet in place and carefully removed it. He looked up at Steve through eyes that weren’t hidden behind a faceplate. “Hi, Winghead,” he said softly.

Steve’s jaw dropped, and Tony could almost see the gears furiously working in his brain. “You mean.. you… Tony, it’s you? You’re Iron Man?”

Tony felt a pang of guilt for deceiving Steve for so long. It had somehow seemed like a good idea at the time. “Surprise!” he tried, weakly.

Steve opened his mouth and shut it several times. Eventually, his face settled into a lopsided smile. “Hi, Shellhead,” he said with warmth.

“So, now we’ve established that there’s no imminent danger and that I am, erm, definitely single…” He gave a shy smile. “How about we have that dinner date you mentioned?”

Steve leveled a contemplative gaze at him, and Tony’s heart hammered beneath the chestplate. After a painfully long pause, Steve raised a curious eyebrow. “How do you feel about fondue?”