A/N: So I was watching a Tony Stark fanvid to the song Applause by Lady Gaga, and I couldn't help but think that that wasn't all Tony was about. I've also been in the mood to do a sort of fluffy fanfic in which Steve discovers something about Tony or vice versa, and I've been experiencing an overload of Bucky feels, and I really love that the Tony/Pepper ship is called Pepperony, so... this happened. Enjoy.

Steve and Bucky stood backstage, watching Tony soaking in the applause and cheers. "He's worse than Howard," Bucky whispered into Steve's ear. Steve grinned, nodding his agreement. Tony seemed to swell with each clap and cheer, his massive ego more than making up for what he lacked in physical size.

"He lives for the applause," Steve murmured in reply.

"That's all, folks!" Tony shouted, waving goodbye as he turned towards Steve and Bucky. Laughter rippled through the crowd. Steve and Bucky stood there, wondering what joke they had missed this time.

"Bugs Bunny, guys," Tony informed them once he had vanished out of the public eye. "Tell me you've heard of him?"

"Um… No," Steve replied.

"Dear God, you guys need to watch more TV," Tony groaned.

"Leave them alone, Tony. A cartoon character isn't high on anyone's priority list when they're catching up on 70 years of television," Pepper scolded Tony as she emerged from wherever she had been standing.

"Thank you, Pepper," Bucky said, shooting a pointed glance at Tony.

"I'm hurt, Pep," Tony pouted, making his lip quiver for effect. Pepper sighed that long-suffering sigh everyone who had to live in the same tower as Tony knew by heart, but only she could manage to also make affectionate. She stepped up to Tony's side and planted a light kiss on his cheek in apology. Tony grinned triumphantly, but this seemed softer, more… genuine, somehow, than the radiant grin he'd been showing off on the stage.

"We should get back home," Pepper pointed out. Tony slipped his arm protectively around her waist. This was why Steve and Bucky were here: Protection. This Stark Expo wasn't far from the Avengers Tower, too close for even Tony to care about wasting time in a car, so Pepper had insisted that they walk. Tony Stark without his suit in the middle of the night, though, made a very tempting target, so Steve and Bucky had agreed to accompany the pair for protection that was less obvious than official bodyguards, because they didn't need fancy equipment (Steve's shield had been left at home) to hold their own in a fight.

Tony, keeping his arm securely around Pepper's waist, took the lead, with Bucky and Steve walking shoulder-to-shoulder a step behind. They purposely walked so Bucky's prosthetic arm, the strongest limb between them, was on the outside and in the perfect position to protect Pepper.

"You need to sleep when we get back," Pepper murmured to Tony.

"But-" Tony began to protest.

"No buts," Pepper ordered. "You've been awake long enough."

"It's only been-"

"Two days, Tony. Two days." There was a darker hint in Pepper's tone that Steve didn't understand. "I'll be right beside you."

Tony sighed in a way that suggested he was giving in to something that he didn't want to give in to. But why wouldn't someone want to sleep after two days without it? "All right." Pepper ran her fingers through Tony's hair in a way that seemed designed to soothe him. Bucky and Steve exchanged a questioning glance, but neither one asked for confirmation, knowing they wouldn't get it.

Something clattered from a dark alley to their left, barely loud enough for Steve's serum-enhanced ears to detect. "Tony," Steve hissed. Tony stopped instantly, his free arm moving to cover his arc reactor before remembering that it was gone. Steve knew from the way the other three glanced around that they hadn't heard the noise, but, trusting Steve's instincts, they shifted closer together. A part of him sorely wishing he could pull out his shield, Steve edged around the corner of the alley.

The butt of a gun met his face. The staggering force behind the blow knocked him down. A vicious kick to his gut sent him rolling.

Bucky moved as soon as Steve was down. One blow from his prosthetic arm knocked the gun out of their attacker's hand, and a blow from his other hand knocked out their attacker.

"I had him on the ropes," Steve wheezed.

"I know ya did." Bucky held out a hand. Steve used it to pull himself back to his feet. Bucky turned and knelt beside their attacker while Steve picked up the gun. "What the he- Um, Tony…"

"What?" Tony said warily. He had placed himself between Pepper and the alley sometime during the brief fight.

Gingerly, Bucky pulled back their attacker's jacket. Red numbers shone from plastic device attached to a mess of wires.

"Well," Tony said. "Sh-"

"Run," Steve cut him off. Tony whirled, rigidly keeping himself between Pepper and the danger, and followed the command without protesting for once in his life. Steve and Bucky followed.

"You need to wear shorter heels," Tony grumbled to Pepper, who was struggling to manage even a slow jog in her ridiculous shoes. She shot a glare at him.

The numbers reached zero.

The world exploded.

The shockwave more than the blast blew Steve off his feet. He flew, landed, and rolled across the street, coming to a stop when he bumped into another building. He lifted his head instantly, scrambling to his feet.

Bucky groaned a few feet away, having come to a stop the same way Steve had. "I hate it when people do that," he complained.

"What, explode?"

"Yeah." Steve offered his hand, and Bucky took it.

"Pepper?"

Tony's voice was panicked.

Steve and Bucky whirled. Pepper lay sprawled on the ground, blood trickling down from her hairline. Tony knelt beside her, cradling her gently. He brushed stray locks of hair out of her face.

"Come on, baby," he pleaded. "Come on."

"I'm fine." Pepper's voice was quiet, but her eyes flickered open and met Tony's. Tony visibly slumped from relief and clutched her close to his chest. Pepper slipped one arm around Tony's back and rested her head on his shoulder.

Tony refused to let go of her until an ambulance arrived, and then he refused to leave her side. He waved off the doctors who attempted to treat his cuts and scrapes, as did Steve and Bucky, though the latter two didn't refuse the fresh clothes or the wipes provided at the hospital. Tony refused anything that would distract him from Pepper, even though the doctors said she was fine, though she had to stay overnight for observation.

Later that night, he ended up with his rear in a chair and his head and shoulders on Pepper's hospital bed. Their hands were twined together.

Steve amended his earlier statement.

Tony didn't live for the cheers and screams of strangers.

He lived for something much closer to home.

He lived for something much closer to his heart.

A/N: I know, I left some of that pretty open for interpretation. So have fun interpreting. I may expand this later, and I may not. It depends on how I feel, and the response this gets.