Chapter Text
The Avengers knew absolutely nothing about Tony Stark. They read the stories, the files, and heard all about him, but they knew nothing that was real about him.
Once taking up his invite to live in the Stark Tower, now named Avengers Tower, they expected Tony to be loud, annoying and over the top.
Surprisingly they got none of that.
Once given the tour, Tony had disappeared from sight. They never saw him eat, sleep or just chill. Catching a glance of him through the day was rare.
They didn’t care what he was doing or where he went, but they were curious.
“We should have a contest. See whoever knows the most about Stark.” Clint suggested one movie night when Tony wasn’t present. But he was never there anyway.
“And what would we win?” Steve sighed. This was stupid, and he knew that, but it seemed worth a try. Tony just confused Steve to a point that it was impossible to be near him. They always fought over something stupid or the fight the team had, but it was horrible. After each fight Tony would disappear for a few days and no one would see him. Steve had no idea what he was going during those disappearing acts but he wanted it to end.
And he was willing to admit that there was some attraction involved to the smaller man. But just a bit.
Just a bit.
“Everyones movie night choice. Since Bruce isn’t here, that’s four movies night for one of us to pick. Pretty good prize huh?” Clint answered with a smirk.
Ok, that was good prize. Movie nights could be pretty monstrous if a specific person got to choose the movie. Such as when Bruce picked some documentary and a pillow fight was thrown out of the boredom. Then the hulk came for a visit. Then, the hulk forced them to sit down and watch quietly.
It was wild.
“Ok, so what are the rules?” Natasha edged on. She was eating popcorn while laying her head in Steve’s lap. Steve kinda wished it was Tony but Natasha was ok.
No, he wanted it to be Tony.
“Ok,“ said Clint, his voice raising in excitement, “we have a whole week to learn as much about Tony as we can. But nothing we already know counts, so no cheating. And you can’t ask Jarvis. Whoever learns the most wins.”
“That’s oddly simple coming from you.” Bruce announced as he walked into the room. He wore a T-shirt and pajama pants other than he scientists cloak despite from coming from the lab. He sat on the floor next to Natasha, trying to get some popcorn from the redhead.
“Well that’s me, Mr. Simple. So are you guys in?”
Everyone took part except Bruce. Thor could be having a difficult time for his disability to be subtle but he was ready to compete.
The next morning, the game plan was a go when they saw Tony asleep on the couch.
Now this was wild.
They knew Tony didn’t sleep. Especially not in front of anyone. But here he was, sleeping peacefully. They all stared at his small body curled up into itself. He looked like a small black cat who was tired of spreading bad luck all the time. Tony looked years younger in his sleep, when their wasn’t something always on his mind.
“What shall we do?” Thor asked quietly. But it still caused Tony to move and his brows to cease. They all were still until he returned back to his stance.
Steve moved towards the blanket and threw it over Tony. The man snuggled into the warmth the blanket brought, and Steve heart just about burst. Now he really looked like a cat.
After glancing at Tony one last time, he joined the rest of the team in the kitchen. They all had started on breakfast, Natasha making bacon, Thor with the cinnamon rolls (which they found out Tony likes) and Clint working the coffee.
“We’re making Anthony breakfast and you can ice the rolls of cinnamon!” Thor said loudly with a smile. Natasha shushed him.
Steve smiles back and thought it was a great idea. Give them all a chance to actually talk to Tony. To actually do something with him. Or see his smile or see his eyes glimmer. To notice if he had dimples are not. Or- no, Steve shook his head. He couldn’t be thinking like that right now.
Tony probably wouldn’t feel the same anyway.
Soon breakfast was done and they had made a tray. They made their way to the living room but saw that Tony might not be eating breakfast this morning. He was clutching the blanket with his face scrunched up.
He was moving every few seconds, clearly in distress. Tony was having a nightmare and they didn’t know what to do.
“We should wake him up. Right?” Clint asked. He set the tray down and lead over the smaller man.
“Yeah sure, I guess.” Steve answered, although it sounded like a question. He started to shake Tony gently on the arm. Should he actually be waking up someone from a nightmare? Is that actually ok? Does that cause some type of damage? Is it safe?
All Tony did was clutch the blanket harder.
Steve looked back towards the team. Then back at Tony. “What do I do?” repeated in his mind, “Oh what do I do” He continued to lightly shake Tony, until he popped up real fast. The whiplash could have knocked Steve out.
It was all very quick as Steve fell back on his ass.
His eyes were frantic, trying to figure out where he was. Tony was breathing hard and trying to calm down, as he held the arc reactor. He didn’t make eye contact with the team.
Steve saw the red embarrassment rise to Tony’s ears. “Sorry” was all Tony whispered. He didn’t know why Tony was embarrassed, it was just them, his team. He thought they had just a little bit of trust between the man.
Natasha sat next to him and began to rub his arm, “It’s no problem, so don’t apologize.”
“Yeah sure. And what were you all doing watching me sleep? Trying to sneak up on me or something.” He reflected.
“No, we made you breakfast! Steven and I made the rolls of cinnamon.” Thor answered and he brought the tray. Steve was amazed that he didn’t drop it since he was radiating excitement.
Tony eyes grew in disbelief.
“Wh- Well, no, thanks and all but umm, I just-“
“We did it because were a team and we wanted to do something nice for you. No catch.” Bruce said sternly. Well, sternly enough for Tony to actually listen and not go into his pit of overthinking.
They left Tony to his clueless thoughts as they settled in the couch’s to watch cartoons.
“Thanks.” Tony finally whispered, a small blush creeping up to his ears. He began to share the breakfast with Nat as she laid on his shoulder.
It was cute.
Yeah, Steve thought, this contest was going to be worth it.