#syriala

“The stupidcat hates me,” Sam mutters as he flops down on the couch and Bucky, onlynarrowly avoiding Bucky’s metal arm in the process.

“It reallydoes,” Bucky agrees and pats Sam’s head.

“You’resupposed to tell me I’m seeing things, that it’s my imagination. This is nothelping,” Sam groans.

“And lyingto you is somehow going to help? Sorry, Sam, but the cat does hate you.Everyone knows it. Except maybe Tony. Even Thor noticed and he is not here halfthe time.”

“What did Iever do to the cat?” Sam asks and buries his face further in Bucky’s chest.

“I wouldguess you are trying to woo Tony and the cat doesn’t like it.”

“But how?”Sam whined. “How the fuck does the stupid cat even know what I am trying to do.It’s just a cat.” Sam paused for a second. “And I don’t even know if it has aname. Tony has so many nicknames for the cat it’s impossible to make out if oneof it could be really the name.”

“Why don’tyou ask him?”

“I did, andhe just laughed in my face,” Sam grumbled and then pushed himself up. “I am notgonna be defeated by a stupid cat. I will ask Tony out today and if I have todo it with the beast hanging from my face then I will,” Sam declared and Buckyactually looked proud.

“You go getyour man, bird boy. I’ll cheer you on.”

“From thesafety of this couch, right?” Sam asked with an eye roll and Bucky laughed.

“You knowme entirely too well.”

“I won’ttell you how it went then.”

“As if youhad to. If he says yes, you’re gonna walk around like you’re high, don’tpretend. Now shoo and get him.”

Sam flippedBucky the bird before he left but Bucky didn’t even respond to that. Samimmediately went to find Tony, who was on the couch, cuddling the littlemonster but who also seemed really pleased to see Sam.

The cat onthe other hand, was not pleased at all, going by the growling and hissing.

“What’s upwith you, buttercup?” Tony asked and stroke his fingers through the probablyreally soft fur. Not that Sam would know.

“The catdoesn’t like me,” Sam told Tony, who looked surprised at that.

“But helikes you just fine,” Tony said with a little frown. “I saw you two spendingtime together and getting along.”

Samactually had the urge to check Tony for a fever. “What the hell are you talkingabout? The little beast does nothing but attack me.” He didn’t mention the partwhere he also effectively cockblocked Sam.

“ButT’Challa and you are friends?” Tony uncertainly asked and now Sam really neededto know if he was sick.

“Do youhave a fever? What does T’Challa have to do with anything?”

Instead ofan answer from Tony the cat gracefully got up and jumped down to the ground.Even before it touched down something blurry went on and suddenly T’Challa wasstanding in front of Sam.

“And youlaughed when I asked you if you liked to dress as a cat,” Sam weakly managedand Tony burst out laughing.

“I thoughtyou knew,” Tony wheezed through another fit of laughter.

“How wouldI have known, if no one ever brought that up?” Sam asked incredulous and thenglared at T’Challa.

“And whatthe fuck is your problem. You said you liked me! How does that translate tonearly clawing my eyes out when I attempt to ask Tony out?”

“You weretrying to ask me out?” Tony asked, suddenly serious again and eyes huge in hisbeautiful face.

“You andBarnes seem awfully close,” T’Challa said. “I was just trying to make sure youare serious about this.”

“And youdon’t think coming up to me and asking ‘Hey, Sam, I noticed you have a thingfor Tony. Aren’t you with Bucky? How does this work? Are you serious aboutTony?’ would have done the trick?”

“This wasmore fun,” T’Challa admitted with a cheeky grin and then bent down to kiss Tonyon the head. “I approve,” he whispered loud enough that Sam could hear him.

“What thefuck,” Sam said because he felt like he hadn’t properly translated hisdisbelieve at this whole situation.

“He knowsme for almost as long as Rhodey does,” Tony admitted after T’Challa left. “Heis a little overprotective sometimes.” Tony turned a thoughtful glance at Sam.“And you and Bucky do seem awfully close,” he lowly admitted and Sam sighedwhile he sat down next to Tony.

“As do youand Rhodey, to be honest. I caught you sleeping in the same bed,” Sam remindedhim.

“We’refriends! He’s like my brother. There’s nothing going on!” Tony quickly declaredand Sam shrugged.

“Same withme and Bucky.”

“So, whatare you saying?” Tony asked him, but he was already leaning into Sam.

“I’m sayingthat I like you and I wanted to ask you out on a date for almost four monthsnow.”

Tonysnorted. “That’s how long T’Challa has been an ass to you?”

“Yeah,” Samadmitted.

“Hedefinitely needs to make up for that lost time,” Tony decided. “And since weboth waited entirely too long for this date to finally happen, how about we goright now, before something else comes up?”

“Soundslike the perfect plan. But I tell you right now, no more cats when we aretogether. I don’t want T’Challa to be snuggled up to you real close while Ihave to take what’s left.”

“Honey, Ipromise, from now on T’Challa can go look for someone else to cuddle. I’m allyours now,” Tony promised.

But now that Rhodey was going to be back for at least a few weeks, Tony could whisk him away for dinner and business whenever team dinner came around, so he wouldn’t have to spent so much time around Sam.

Tony was prowling up and down in his workshop when Jarvis announced “Colonel Rhodes has landed on the pad.”

Tony was out of the workshop in a second and Jarvis was moving the elevator as fast as he could but it still felt too slowly for Tony.

When he finally arrived, Rhodey was already out of his suit and walking towards the elevator.

Before Tony could even fully take in if Rhodey looked healthy or not, he was soaked up in so much love that it nearly knocked the wind out of him.

Tony was still sometimes surprised by the amount of love Rhodey had for him, but it was always a welcome surprise nowadays and Tony laughed as he wrapped Rhodey up in a hug.

“Oh, how I missed you, platypus,” he said and Rhodey chuckled but he squeezed him just as tight.

“Missed you too, Tones. Even though I still think you only miss me for my love,” he said teasingly, knowing full well that Tony never needed to worry about a thing when Rhodey was around.

“Oh, honey, I am sorry to inform you that I don’t need you anymore for food purposes,” Tony said with a wink when he pulled back and Rhodey’s eyebrow shot up in surprise.

“Found someone else to love you, huh?” he asked while they stepped into the elevator.

“Not precisely. Found someone else who loves is more like it.”

“You’re leeching again, aren’t you?”

“Maybe,” Tony said and got a poke to his side for that. “Okay, yes I am. But it’s not like I am actively searching him out. Sam always comes to my workshop and he insists I attend team dinner, even though I never eat anything and he knows that, and it’s just really convenient?”

“I’m glad you’re getting enough food,” Rhodey said in answer to that and pulled Tony in for a kiss to his temple.

“But,” Tony said and slightly pulled away from Rhodey, “you can’t leave again, don’t leave me here on my own again, I cannot feed from Sam anymore.” Tony practically whined at the end and Rhodey furrowed his brows at him.

“And why is that?” he asked.

“I feel dirty,” Tony admitted. “I lied to him when he figured out that something’s going on with my eating habits and then still leech off him even though his love is not for me, and I just feel dirty. Don’t leave again, please.”

“You never felt guilty about using love not meant for you,” Rhodey mused and scrutinized Tony.

Tony squirmed under his gaze and then realized that they should have long reached Rhodey’s floor.

“Jarvis, why is this elevator not opening?” he asked in an attempt to get out of answering Rhodey’s implied question.

“I felt that it was crucial for Colonel Rhodes to talk to you,” Jarvis smoothly replied and Tony cursed his own invention.

“Fine, we talked, we can leave now.”

“No, we didn’t. Why do you feel guilty about using Sam’s love to keep you healthy?” Rhodey asked and now that there was finally a question for Tony, he knew Jarvis wouldn’t let them leave.

“Come on,” Tony tried to deflect nonetheless. “Let’s get out of here, you must be starving.”

“Tony,” Rhodey said, very obviously unimpressed by Tony’s attempt at a diversion.

“Fine,” Tony sighed. “I may have done the dumb thing and fallen in love with Sam.”

Rhodey didn’t even seem surprised. “And why does feeding off him make you guilty?”

“Because his love is not for me, and therefore I shouldn’t use something he doesn’t want to give me freely and it just feels wrong. Like I’m betraying him somehow.”

“You’re not betraying him, Tony,” Rhodey said and pulled Tony into his side. “And if it bothers you so much tell him, and then you can ask if it’s still alright for you to feed off his love. If he tells you no, then you stop. If he says it’s okay, no problem. If he tells you he loves you back, even better.”

Tony groaned. “Not happening, Rhodey. He loves one or even both of the soldier boys. There is no place for little old me.”

Tony turned to look at Rhodey and went on before he even could respond to that. “And what do you mean ‘tell him’? As if I can just go up to Sam and say, ‘Hey, by the way, I am not fully human and feed off love and your love for the soldiers has been keeping me alive for the past few months, so thanks for that’?”

Rhodey shrugged. “Sure, why not. Maybe give him some time to process it but yeah. That sounds like a solid plan.”

“You gotta be joking,” Tony said but Rhodey seemed dead serious.

“You are insane!” Tony exclaimed and threw his hands in the air. “Jarvis, get me out of here, maybe his stupid is contagious.”

To his immense surprise Jarvis opened the doors and Tony quickly stepped out into the living room of Rhodey’s suite.

“Tony, why wouldn’t you tell him. He is your friend, he likes you, and to be honest, he seems like the most accepting person in your team. If you can’t tell him, you will never be able to tell the others.”

“Who said I am going to tell the others,” Tony said and busied himself with getting some water for the both of them.

“We talked about this. You said you would tell your team if you ever feel completely comfortable with them. Since that still isn’t the case, I have not been pressuring you, but you are comfortable around Sam. You just said he comes to your workshop all the time. Name three other people who are allowed in whenever.”

Rhodey looked at him and Tony cursed. “You know damn well I can only name two, honeybear. That is not playing fair.”

Rhodey shrugged as if he couldn’t care less. “Maybe it means something then, that Sam is allowed in. Maybe it means you should trust him.”

“Maybe it means you can leave right now if you keep this up,” Tony grumbled and then immediately bit his lip.

He didn’t want Rhodey to leave, he just came back after all, and he was about to apologize when Rhodey stepped close and ruffled his hair.

“Not leaving, and you know that. Now come on, I am actually really hungry, the pizza should arrive soon and I heard there is a new movie I haven’t seen yet.”

“You ordered pizza on your way here,” Tony said and leaned into the contact. “Sneaky, I like,” he went on when Rhodey nodded and then dragged him onto the couch.

“And you’re right, there is this one movie with horrible science in it, I want you to suffer with me,” Tony told Rhodey while Jarvis was already starting the movie.

They ended up on the couch, snuggled together since they long abandoned personal space with each other. The pizza was good, the movie was horrible and Rhodey agreed with him there, and the evening was just perfect.

~*~*~

Tony managed to avoid team dinner for almost a week, always claiming to show Rhodey a new movie or dragging him off to yet another work binge in the shop but eventually Rhodey called him out on his bullshit.

The team was very understanding, even Sam, though he had looked a tad sadder than usual, and so Tony hadn’t expected the protest to come from Rhodey himself.

“Tony, come on. They are your friends, and I like them too, and team dinner sounds nice actually.”

“But Sam…” Tony started and Rhodey rolled his eyes at him.

“I will be there, you can eat my love, you don’t have to leech off him and you know it. Come on, just admit it, it would be nice to spend some time with him again, don’t tell me otherwise. Now you can finally enjoy your time with him without feeling guilty about it.”

Tony groaned, because Rhodey actually had a point there, though he is not about to admit that.

“Fine, fine. You win. One evening.”

“Three, and no complain about that,” Rhodey shot back and Tony wanted to protest, he really wanted to, but Rhodey actually seemed to look forward to eat with the team and Tony immediately felt bad about keeping him from them.

“Don’t do this,” Rhodey said and pulled him close. “I can see that you worked yourself into some unnecessary guilt and I am not having it. So either spill or let it go.”

“You know me too well, platypus,” Tony mumbled, but didn’t explain anything.

“You idiot,” Rhodey fondly said and then dragged him up for dinner.

It went fine, as good as ever, even though Tony didn’t even pretend to eat today, too busy catching up with everyone and listening to their stories.

It brought him some concerned glances from Natasha, and even Steve seemed to have caught up on the fact that something was wrong, but Sam determinedly kept his glance away from Tony’s plate as it seemed.

When Tony fell silent Rhodey nudged him in the side to get his attention and drag him back into the conversation and Tony was so lucky to have Rhodey, he sometimes didn’t know what he would do without him.

The dinner went fine, so fine in fact that Tony forgot to worry about it on the next evening and of course that was when Clint decided to call him out on his lack of eating.

“Tony, come on, you never eat enough, you’re not eating at all right now, don’t you like Sam’s food?” he asked and Tony went stiff all over when everyone looked at him.

“I don’t… I’m not…” Tony stuttered out but he couldn’t finish the sentence, too afraid that he would have to admit to everything right now but it was actually Natasha who saved him.

“Maybe he lives off love and air,” she joked when it became clear that Tony wouldn’t say anything.

Tony flinched at that, it was too close to the truth, but Rhodey put a steading hand on his thigh.

“That would be…kind of creepy actually. Like a violation, taking things no one wants to give him, like a kind of monster” Clint commented with worry in his voice and Tony’s eyes shot up to look at Sam.

If he would see the same worry and disgust he could hear in Clint’s voice on Sam’s face he wouldn’t be able to stand it.

But Sam’s face was carefully blank, eyes fixed on a point on the table and Tony couldn’t stand that for another second either.

He shot up and practically fled from the kitchen, Rhodey closely in tow, but he didn’t stop until they reached the workshop.

“What do I do now?” he frantically asked and paced in front of Rhodey, who just stood there and watched him. “What do I do, what do I do, they are gonna figure it out, they are gonna hunt me like I’m one of the monsters we fight on a regular basis, did you see their look, what am I gonna do?”

“You’re not gonna do anything, Tony,” Rhodey told him. “They won’t hunt you down and you know it, they don’t even know the truth and they will never figure it out if you don’t tell them. I need you to calm down.”

Tony realized that he had started to hyperventilate and he tried to take deep breaths but it wasn’t working so much and in the end Rhodey had to coach his breathing.

When Tony was calm again he noticed that they were on the couch now, Tony with his back to Rhodey’s chest so that he could feel him breathing and Tony slumped against him.

“Back with me again?” Rhodey asked and Tony nodded.

“Good, because Sam is asking to come in,” Rhodey went on and Tony went cold all over again.

“What does he want?” he lowly asked and Rhodey shrugged beneath him.

“I don’t know but I’m guessing it has something to do with dinner.”

“Don’t leave me,” Tony pleaded but Rhodey was already getting up.

“I don’t think he wants me here for this.”

“But I, I need you here for this,” Tony pleaded. “Don’t leave me alone with him, Rhodey, please don’t.”

“It will be alright,” Rhodey said and bend down to kiss him on the head. “Jarvis will call me the moment you need me, won’t you, buddy?”

“Of course, Colonel.”

“See. I won’t even go far, I’ll stay on this floor. So I’ll be back in a second if you need me to.”

Tony felt unsteady even sitting down but Rhodey wasn’t swayed and in the next second he left the shop while Sam came in.

Tony put his arms around his middle, trying to keep himself together somehow, even before Sam started to talk.

“So,” Sam began and Tony was too afraid to even look at him.

Tony didn’t say anything and eventually Sam sat down on a chair opposite of the couch. “I am guessing Natasha hit kind of a sore spot with what she said,” Sam mused and Tony shrugged.

“Maybe?” he carefully asked, still keeping his gaze low.

“Air, love or both?” Sam asked him and Tony felt himself starting to shake.

He had never told anyone besides Jarvis and Rhodey, and he didn’t know how to do this, how to tell him the truth and not make Sam hate him.

“Love,” he eventually whispered, when Sam stayed silent to give him time to answer.

The reaction he got was exactly how he had expected this to go. Sam’s face got hard and he stood up, taking a few steps away from Tony.

“Why did you never say anything?” he asked, and he sounded hurt.

“I never wanted anyone to know,” Tony whispered.

“But I could have stayed away. If only you had said something, I would have stayed away, Tony,” Sam said and he sounded hurt.

“You are the only one who feeds me when Rhodey isn’t here, why would I have told you to stay away?” Tony ask, painfully aware that he admitted to leeching off Sam right then and there.

“Because clearly it’s not reciprocated. You never acknowledged it, and I wouldn’t have bothered you with it, never, there has to be someone else you can feed off.”

“How…would I know if it’s not reciprocated?” Tony asked, unsure about what they were talking about now.

“Because you never said anything! If you would feel the same you surely would have said something, so I am guessing you don’t feel the same.”

Tony’s head snapped up at that only to see Sam’s eyes get wide.

“Am I your only source of food? Is that why you endured it? Because there is nothing else for you to eat here? Is that why you kept me and my unwanted feelings around?”

“I….you’re in love with the supersoldiers,” Tony eventually managed and Sam actually seemed surprised by that.

“Why the hell would you think that?”

“Because it makes sense?” Tony asked and Sam shook his head.

“How can you live off love and be so oblivious?” Sam asked him.

“It’s not like I know who the love is for!” Tony almost yelled at Sam.

“But you know Rhodey loves you,” Sam said with a frown.

“Because I have known him for almost all my life. Because I know by now that his love for someone else feels, tastes, different than his love for me. But it took me a damn long time to figure that one out.”

“What does his love taste like?” Sam asked, voice quiet and Tony couldn’t look at him any longer.

“It’s fierce and soothing all at once; it feels like reassurance and stability, endless and sweet.”

Sam nodded once. “What does my love taste like?”

It tastes like home, Tony didn’t say.

“It’s warm and comforting, deep and steady,” Tony said instead.

“And it’s not for them,” Sam added to Tony’s description.

“But it started during team dinner. And they are always there, you spend most of your time with them, it just makes sense.”

Before Sam could say anything to that, Tony continued.

“That’s the reason I stopped coming. I know it wasn’t for me and I still took it like I had any right to it. I felt bad for that, I still do, and I am so sorry I took your love for them and twisted it into something for me, but, it’s just, you have so much, I figured it wouldn’t hurt you. But I won’t be doing it again, I can’t apologize enough.”

“The only one it hurt was you,” Sam gave back. “And you didn’t twist it into anything, it was yours to begin with.”

Tony drew back into himself even more. “You don’t have to give it to me. It’s fine. I can live without it for a long time. Rhodey will be by more regularly now, it’s okay, you don’t have to offer this to me.”

“Tony,” Sam said and his voice was soft and much closer than Tony had expected.

“My love has been for you from the beginning. I’m not in love with Steve and Bucky. I love you.”

Tony’s head snapped up at that, disbelieve clear on his face, going by the pained expression on Sam’s face.

“I have been in love with you for a very long time,” Sam told him and Tony weakly shook his head.

“But you didn’t say anything.”

“I thought it was not reciprocated. Is it? Not reciprocated? Do you want me to leave?”

Tony quickly reached out to grab Sam’s hand.

“Your love tastes like home,” Tony mumbled and Sam laughed and pulled him up.

“What does your love taste like?” Sam asked him and pulled him closer.

Burnt and broken, like it can destroy everything, Tony thought, thinking back to the previous times his love had ruined everything.

“I don’t know,” he mumbled, honestly too, because he couldn’t place the sunshine and sweetness that accompanied his own love now.

“Why don’t we find out together?” Sam asked him and Tony smiled cautiously.

“I would like that.”

“Good,” Sam whispered and drew him in for a soft kiss.

He hadnever found a really good way to describe what he was doing with the love hesoaked up, it fueled him like food fueled normal people, but Rhodey had oncecompared him to a succubus and after some mostly bad fantasy novels Tony had toadmit that he had a point.

Tony hadmostly accepted that he was like that, different, and since Rhodey loved himwith a ferocity that sometimes surprised him, it wasn’t usually that difficultto get the food he needed.

But nowRhodey was on a long term deployment with the army and Tony was left withJarvis love, which never felt quite right, and so he had no other choice but touse other sources if he didn’t want to make anyone suspicious or worried abouthim.

And really,Sam had so much love, it would be harder for Tony to not feed off it, or so he told himself so that he could keep hisbad conscience in check.

It wasjust, ever since the team had begun to really come together, and team dinnershad started, Sam’s love had grown and grown and then finally, some of it tippedover into the romantic part.

Tony couldsee that happening, Steve didn’t only have the perfect body, he also was Captain America and Bucky, well, hecertainly had come around once they worked on his triggers. He was charming ifhe wanted to be and otherwise a pretty hilarious, sarcastic guy and Tony wasn’tsurprised at all that Sam would fall for them. Hurt maybe, but not surprised.

Becausewhile Steve and Bucky certainly where a catch everyone would be happy to make,Sam was even more so, at least in Tony’s eyes. The guy was compassionate,funny, outright adorable, still packed a healthy dose of sarcasm and he wasjust overall perfect. Just not for Tony.

~*~*~

Sam didn’tknow how he ended up being the designated cook of the Avengers but that didn’thelp the fact that he was cooking almost every evening. He was pretty sure hehad never eaten that regularly or that healthy before.

But feedingsomeone else than him had inspired him to do better with his food and noweverything was very well balanced and almost healthy to the point where Clintwouldn’t eat it anymore.

Sam wasdoing this long enough to know at least one favourite dish of each of his teammates. Except Tony Stark.

The guy hadshown up to almost all the meals, but he always pushed his food around, takingvery few bites here and there, and when he left, it looked like nothing evenleft the plate.

Sam hadtried to figure out what he might like, he went through pasta and rice,potatoes and vegetarian meals but nothing seemed to stick. He had even tried tolure him out with desserts but even those Tony barely touched.

Sam wasn’tonly hurt in his pride; he was also starting to get really concerned aboutTony.

Sure, healways claimed that he ate in the workshop, snacks all over the place andbullshit like that, but the truth was, Sam had never seen him eat somethingwith gusto. Or even seen him eat at all, if one didn’t count the team dinners.

Sam wantedto bring it up, he really did, but Tony didn’t look unhealthy, or underweight,and so he always held his tongue. Tony could be telling the truth about thesnacks after all. Maybe it was just one of his many quirks, that he didn’t eatin front of anyone.

Though whythat might be the case, opened up a whole new can of worry for Sam so he optedto not think about it too much.

What he didinstead was cooking like always. He still had hope that one day he would dishout Tony’s favourite meal and Tony would finally eat like a normal person.

Another fewweeks passed, without Sam getting lucky and in the end he was man enough toadmit that he was defeated. There were no new dishes he could think of thatweren’t another variety of something he already made and so there were no morechances to find out if there was something he missed.

He circledthrough another set of favourite dishes for the others and he watched Tonyclosely, but while he pushed around his food like always, he also seemed happyand very engaged in a conversation with Bucky, so Sam figured it wasn’t becausehe was unhappy with being there.

In the end,curiosity won out and Sam asked.

He went tothe workshop and watched Tony working on hammering a few kinks out of thearmour before he cleared his throat and stepped into his sight.

“Tony,hey,” he awkwardly started and cursed himself.

He and Tonywere friends, he came down to the workshop more regularly than anyone else did,and there was absolutely no need to feel this awkward about a justifiedquestion.

“Sam,” Tonypanted and put the hammer down. “What can I do for you?” he asked and turnedhis whole concentration on Sam.

Sam reallyliked that about Tony; when he was with him, he always felt like he was themost important thing Tony could spend his time on right now and it made a guyfeel hella special.

“I’ve beenwondering,” Sam started and Tony’s shoulders immediately came up.

“It’snothing bad, Tony, I promise,” Sam was quick to reassure him but Tony eyed himsuspiciously.

“Okay,shoot,” Tony said, arms crossed in front of his chest now.

“I havejust been wondering… You always come to team dinner but you never eat anything.Is it my cooking? Do you want me to make you something else?” Sam quicklyasked, because he was honestly afraid he would lose his nerve if he beat aroundthe bush with this.

Sam hadhoped, expected honestly, that the questions would put Tony at ease, that hewould laugh and dish out some very mundane explanation for it, but instead Tonyretreated even further. And wasn’t that reason enough to worry, Sam thought.

“I don’tmean to make you uncomfortable,” Sam rushed out, “I just worry, you know?”

“I know,”Tony said and he sounded very closed off right now. “But it’s none of yourbusiness.”

“Fairenough,” Sam agreed, though he couldn’t help the sting of disappointment. “I’llleave you to it then.”

Tony noddedcourtly at him and then turned around, clearly dismissing Sam and Sam sighed.That was not the outcome he had expected and it also just fueled his worry.

The nexttime team dinner rolled around Tony didn’t attend. Sam was torn betweenberating himself for ruining a perfectly good situation and worrying aboutTony. But when he brought the latter up with the team, no one else seemedconcerned.

Teamdinners continued to take place without Tony and after two weeks, Sam was fedup.

He marcheddown to the workshop again, openly glaring at Jarvis when he wouldn’t open thedamn door for him and in the end it was Tony who came out to him.

“What?” heroughly asked and Sam couldn’t help but notice the dark circles under his eyes,or the unhealthy colour of his skin.

“Pleasecome back to team dinners,” Sam told him and Tony narrowed his eyes.

“What, soyou can watch my eating habits?”

“No! I amsorry I brought it up, I shouldn’t have asked, it’s none of my business, but Iwas worried. And I am even more worried now, so please come back. I know youenjoyed them, I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable. I never meant to takethat from you.”

Tony eyedhim suspiciously but in the end his shoulders slumped.

“Okayfine,” he gave in and if Sam wasn’t so worried he would have thought there wasa note of relieve in Tony’s voice.

“I’ll cometo the next one again.”

“Thank you,Tony,” Sam said sincerely and Tony gave him a little smile.

“No promiseon the food eating though,” he said and Sam laughed.

“If you aremore comfortable with having no food in front of you, I am totally willing todo that too if it only brings you back,” Sam honestly said and Tony’s eyeswidened in surprise.

“Nah,” hesaid after a few seconds of stunned silence. “It’s fine.”

“Okay.Tomorrow evening then,” Sam told him and Tony nodded.

“I’ll bethere.”

Tony showedup the next day as promised.

Sam gavehim some food, like Tony had wanted, but he kept the portion small, and Tonyshot him a quick glance.

He didn’treally eat anything that night, but Sam could swear that Tony was alreadylooking better, healthier again, as if being with the team somehow refueled hisenergy.

Sam hadn’treally thought about the amount of feelings he had for Tony, but when Tonylaughed out loud, obviously happy and very amused, it was like a punch to thegut, robbing Sam of all breath and it was also the moment Sam thought ‘Oh,fuck’. He had not counted on being in love with Tony Stark.

Sam neededa second to recollect himself after that revelation, but luckily everyone wastoo engaged in conversation to notice anything strange.

That night,Sam revalued every interaction he had with Tony so far, and now it wasblatantly obvious that he was in love. He honestly questioned how he could havemissed it until now.

When Samgot up the next morning, he hadn’t really slept, he was determined to not letit change anything between him and Tony, mostly because Tony was probably notfeeling the same and also they were friends and Tony deserved better.

But whenSam ran into Tony it was like nothing had even changed. Tony was still hisfriends and the fact that Sam was now aware of his feelings didn’t changeanything.

Ifanything, his love had dictated his every move so far, only without Sam beingaware of it. It would probably be more suspicious to pull back now, and so Samdidn’t.