It began as something else and turned into something else.

First fic after a long time. Hope you guys enjoy it.

Nothing in the MCU is mine. But so glad I get to play in the sandbox.

Reviews makes my day and helps the Muses to make more words.

He found Tony seated on the stairs to the brownstone, waiting for him, the shield leaning against his knees. Steve had seen him when he turned the corner, and could have easily walked the other way, but...

It was Tony.

For better or for worse, and things have gotten worse, Tony was still Steve's friends.

There were opportunities for something else than friends, always had been, but...

Tony was still Steve's friend.

That alone meant a lot for Steve.

He did write him the letter and sent him the mobile phone.

Tony was here.

"The phone ran out of charge...?" Steve called out, coming to stand before Tony, minding the personal space.

If Tony noticed the gap between them, he held his peace. Tony was never one for things like personal space.

"All the tech in the world at your disposal and you send me a cheap ass flip phone," Tony commented.

"Language." Steve offered a hand to Tony to help him up.

Tony looked at Steve and then at his hand. And handed him the shield. Familiarity surged through Steve when he touched the shield, knowing that this was his own. The dents were there. As were the recent damages. It looks as if Tony had tried to fix it. Steve nearly forgot that he did not have his shield holster with him, and would have almost swung the shield to his back, but he remembered just in time. He put the shield down, leaning it against his leg.

And offered his hand again.

This time Tony took it and allowed Steve to help him up.

"Thank you," Steve said.

Tony waved it away. "Too much free time, too little to do."

"I have beer," Steve offered.

"Since you can't get drunk, I assume you bought them because they were giving it away at wherever is it that you shop?" Tony asked. A few months ago, every word Tony spoke would have grated at Steve. Not today. Steve found himself smiling, a genuine smile after so long.

"Yeah. Along with the blue pills that I conveniently forgot the name to," Steve replied, aware that Tony was now well in his personal space. Also aware that neither of them are doing anything to widen the gap to a more socially acceptable width.

"Captain, is that the beginning of a dirty joke?" Tony asked, and as usual, his snarky voice belied very little in his expression.

Steve had no answer to that, of course he did not. He felt a hot flush creeping up his neck and knew that he had bitten off more than he can chew. Things like these were not his particular skill sets. Things like flirting. But...

Tony Stark made him wish it were.

Tony Stark made him feel a lot of things.

Uncomfortable things.

But good things.

And Steve missed him.

As a friend, as a comrade, as the person who annoys him the most.

And lately, as the person he missed the most, and thought of the most.

"I..." Steve was stuck for words.

Tony was in a merciful mood that evening. "Maybe we should go inside. I am willing to risk my taste buds and good taste to sample the beer that you speak so highly of."

Again, Steve was lost for words, but that is usual. This was the usual between him and Tony. Battle-weary after so long, Steve felt rejuvenated. Maybe it was Tony, maybe it was holding his shield again. Whatever it was, it felt good. It felt good not to wonder about how things were between him and Tony again. It also felt good to have something familiar with him. Steve lost too much too soon...Peggy, Bucky going under again, his friends... This is a first step, a tentative step. Steve was not sure where it led...

"I missed you."
If Steve was anything, it was that he never minced words. He missed Tony. He missed on a lot of things in Tony's life and had spent an inordinate amount of time ruing those moments when he could not be there for Tony. He held his gaze on Tony, watching for any reaction at all from him. Steve would have been glad for a right hook.

"That's what you get when you go to war with your friends," Tony replied, stepping away from the shared space. He went to lean against the stone banister of the steps he had sat on not too long ago.

Steve closed his eyes. The bridge was here and it was time to cross it.

"You would have done the same," Steve said.

Tony laughed that stupid, stupid laugh he keeps for special occasions, like when talking about murderous AI robots he helped to create, or as a prologue to whatever game-changing, mind-blowing emotional nightmare. Now Steve felt delivering a right hook.

"I knew you were going to say that," Tony said, probably knowing full well the effect of his stupid laugh on Steve. "And yes, I would have. As fucked up as it sounds, I understand. Because I destroyed billions of dollars worth of tech just so that Pepper and I can have normal thing between us. To keep her safe. I thought it was the best move. You thought hiding the fact your best friend murdered my parents..."

"Tony, he was..."

"I know. Brainwashed. Whatever, man..."

That was it. The traction that got them this far was lost. One step forward, a thousand step back; freefalling back into the familiar anger and resentment. Tony, for the loss he suffered and the knowledge he gained. Steve, for protecting all those dear to him.

Tony took a deep breath, eyes closed. When he opened them again, Steve was taken aback by the raw emotion he saw behind them. He could read Tony's rigid posture and the fists clenching and unclenching, the set of his jaw. But not the storm within Tony.

It was all Steve could do to not reach out and just touch Tony.

"The Winter Soldier..."

"Bucky. His name..."
"I know what his name is. I have been to the Smithsonian. I have read the files. Every single one of them. I know what he is..."

"He is not..."

"I am not here to talk about him, Steve," Tony said, pushing away from the banister. He came to stand before Steve. This time the space between them felt...wrong. Like there was too much pushing instead of pulling.

"Maybe some other time, we will sit down and discuss your frozen buddy," Tony said. As he spoke, the space between them becomes less. There was also a shift, as if something has changed and Steve has missed it.

"Today, we talk about you and me..."

"Steve."

"Tony."

"Steve. Definitely."

"No. It only looks that way because Captain America is taller and has to lean in..."

Scott Lang looked away from the monitors and regarded his three companions; Wanda, Natasha and Rhodey. All three were intent on the visuals displayed in front of them, high-definition and running on real time.

"It was Mr. Stark." Parker's voice came through the speakers. Natasha looked at the monitors again, this time to confirm Spiderman's position, but she could not spot him. He was probably perched above one of the surveillance cameras. She was in the back of the black, unmarked van parked a block away from Steve's brownstone. Despite the tech they have and Rhodey seated in his wheelchair, the van was surprising comfortable; they declined Scott's insistence that he shrinks himself.

"Nope, Spiderling," Sam spoke. "Redwing has visuals. It's Steve."

Natasha knew there was only one way to settle this. "Clint?"

They still have no idea where Hawkeye was nesting for this particular surveillance. He was not too enthusiastic about it in the first place, anyway. Sure, everyone was positively buzzing with excitement when Tony picked up the shield that had lain in his workshop for the last four months. Rhodey saw it first and sent out a simple message to rest of them.

"Assemble."

A meeting should have happened a long time ago. More importantly, the reason for the meeting that should have happened a long time. It was already established within the collective that Steve and Tony where headed somewhere, professionally and personally. Of course, it totalled an airport, threw half the planet into chaos, and split the team. Everyone felt the 'it' they were headed to was particularly fatal and...

But Steve made the first move. He sent the letter. And Tony was Tony. He needed time. They both needed the time; to heal, to think, and in Tony's case, to find where Steve was. After The Raft, Steve disappeared. The formerly incarcerated Avengers regrouped with the rest of them in the Compound; riding out the media storm as well as the legal ramifications. Steve was conspicuously absent from everything and from everyone. Everyone was acquitted, everyone got cleared. Clean up was paid for (governments of nations concerned, plus the usual from Tony's foundations, and a generous donation from Wakanda) and done and the world went back to how it was. Bucky remains a wanted man, Wakanda kept its secrets and Steve returned Stateside, and rented a brownstone. It was almost as if Steve was signalling out his presence to his teammates. Tony found out and the rest of them waited, anticipating Tony's move.

It took him four months.

Clint won six hundred dollars.

Of course they had an office pool running.

It was just a matter of time. Natasha was willing to wait it out with them. She thought she would give it until Thanksgiving before she started punching some sense into them.

And of course they had to follow Tony when he went out to meet Steve for the first time after so long. Sam was dispatched first, and when the coordinates were established (meaning that the meeting was at the front steps of Steve's house), Clint took up position. Because real time, high – definition video was one thing, and Hawkeye's vision was another.

Though today, Clint seemed to be struggling.

"Sorry? What?"

"It was Steve, yeah? Steve kissed Tony first?" Wanda said, looking all eager.

"It happened too quickly." Clint's voice sounded too matter-of-fact to be anything but a cover up on the fact that he did not get a good look. "I'd say they both went for it at the same time."

"Pac-Man?" Lang asked.

"Minesweeper, man. It's owning me!"

"Clint!" Natasha cried. It came as a surprise for all of them that Natasha was heavily invested with the progress of Steve and Tony's relationship. She said she had money riding on it. Even if the rest of them figured she was a softie on the inside, no one is going to say it in front of her. Scott Lang has bruises to prove how unhealthy and unsafe it is to think it is, "cute to see Black Widow like this".

"Sorry, Nat. But..."

They could not hear what Clint said next because the van's back door was wrenched away with sudden force, the steel grating squeal from the force exerted excruciating their ears. A fireball was already formed in Wanda's palm when Tony and Steve appeared at the gaping hole where the door was supposed to be. Steve can be seen putting the aforementioned door down none too gently on the curb beside them.

"This is an inappropriate use if government facilities."
"Captain America is back, ladies and gentlemen," Scott announced. They could hear clapping, but it was from none of them in the van. Probably Clint or Peter, both of whom were safely outside.

"Nice to see everyone working together so cohesively," Tony remarked. If the hair at the back of his head looked a little messy, like Steve-ran-his-hand-over-it messy, none of them said a word. No one said anything about Steve's bruised lips either.

"We were worried..." Rhodey tried, but before he could finish that lame excuse, one of the monitors that Natasha had switched off flickered into life.

"They have kissed? Who kissed first? I will need updates..."

"Your Highness," Tony spoke, looking at the monitor. The four in the van were suddenly interested in the floor panels.

"Captain. Mr Stark." T'Challa was the epitome of ice cool. "So good to see you together. I have council meetings to attend." The screen went blank.

"What's going on here?" Steve looked calm. But they could not be sure. That door was wrenched away pretty violently.

Natasha feared nothing. "We want to know who kissed first."

"Guys..." Steve began.

"It was me." Tony sounded as smug as he looked.

Steve was left open mouthed for a minute. He was probably debating with himself if he ought to remind his teammates about spying on people or the correct answer to Natasha's query.

"I kissed you first."

Tony looked at Steve. He is probably contemplating a lifetime of this sort of quandaries, because, God help him, he was part of a collective of the most amazing and annoying beings on the planet and beyond. "Only one way to be sure, Captain."

The smile on Steve face was one that no one of them had ever seen before. Bashful and yet with its own bravado, it lit up Captain Rogers countenance.

"Captain again." Sam was trying not laugh as he spoke.

"Clint?" Natasha needed confirmation.

"Falcon's got it. It's Captain."
Tony and Steve came up for air after what seemed like a long, long time. They broke apart, but still held on to each other; Steve's arm around Tony's shoulder and Tony's hand on the small of Steve's back. "Go away all of you and leave me to my Steve," he said, unsuccessfully utilising a Stark-glare. Unsuccessful because he was grinning like the cat who got the milk.

"My Steve?" Wanda asked, an eyebrow raised.

"Your Steve?" Steve asked, looking at Tony, laughter in his eyes.

"He's our Steve. Right, guys?" Parker's voice sounded so earnest.

Tony groaned. "Spiderling. Don't you have homework?" He turned to the rest of them. "Go away."

"You think you know a guy..." Scott muttered as he moved towards the front of the van. He settled into the driver's seat before gunning the engine. Natasha, Wanda and Rhodey strapped themselves to their seat as Steve jammed the door back in. He caught a glimpse of Natasha. She smiled. He smiled back at her.

Steve and Tony stepped back as the van pulled away from the side of the road and onto the streets. Sam could be seen swooping down towards the van, just as Parker scored a beautiful perfect landing on the roof of the van, before crawling down the side, opening the passenger seat door and getting into the van with one fluid motion. The van stopped just before they turned at the corner; Clint jogged up to the van, and got in through the passenger side as well.

The evening was clear, the stars out, the chill just right. Tony turned to Steve, only to find Steve looking at him.

"My Steve?"

"Too soon?"

"Kind of thinking I don't mind."

"Good."

"And I did kiss you first."

"Captain, if this is a competition, I don't mind losing."

====THE END===