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Requested by Wildfire2 on , who wanted wonderful Steve/Tony/Bruce fluffiness :)

Beta'd by WithinHerHeart

It had been nearly eight months since the beginning of their, frankly, unorthodox relationship. It wasn't something that any of them had planned. There wasn't some long build up of rising lust and longing glances that had lead to their union. In fact, when asked, their reply was "it just…happened, I guess" – unless it's Tony, then he probably said something along the lines of "who wouldn't want two gorgeous superheroes in their bed?" Steve and Bruce would then roll their eyes with affectionate exasperation and gently led him away from the rather scandalised investors and public figures. It was a well perfected cycle, to say the least.

However it happened, no one could deny that they weren't good for each other. The scars that had been left behind by their own experiences seemed virtually non-existent when Tony began his excited rambles about his next project; or Bruce would delight them all with the unexpected cooking skills and would beam this wonderfully self-conscious smile; or when Steve would curl into a corner of the lab, or the living room, and sketch the attractive contours of the intelligent faces which would cause a mock battle as Bruce and Tony struggled to get a hold of the picture the blond had initially refused to let them see, but always ended up allowing it anyway.

Although, Steve supposed there were some downsides to the arrangement as he peered beadily around the empty master bedroom.

The bed seemed empty without the warmth and pressure of the two bodies – it was too cold, too big for just him. Tony and Bruce had been working on project after project for the reconstruction of Stark Tower into the Avengers headquarters, and seemed to be spending more and more nights in the basement workshops that had been untouched during the attack on Mid-town Manhattan – and it just wasn't comfortable, just wasn't safe, without them beside him.

So, for the fourth time that week, Steve forced himself out of the warmth of the bed – although he did have the mind to wrap the throw blanket from the end of the mattress over himself, lesson learnt from the night before – and went in search of his men in their natural habit, as Clint called it.

He padded quietly, on bare feet, down the long hallway. The cold night air circled around him, bringing shivers to his skin, and he pulled the blanket around his shoulders tightly, clutched at his neck. The route was familiar to him, even though his mind was still hazed with sleep, and, as usual, JARVIS lit the way to the lower labs.

As he expected, Bruce and Tony were working, heads close together and mumbling to themselves. A hologram hovered above the work surface, and Steve did not have enough active brain cells to even try and guess what his men were designing. He paused at the edge of the room for a moment, just watching them fondly for a moment, before he continued into the room.

Automatically, he moved towards the leather sofa, taking the place in the centre of the cushions out of habit more than anything else and pulling his legs up to rest against his chest. Resting his chin on his knees, he watched the two brunets talk and vaguely wondered how long it would take them to realise he was sitting there.

"I know what it's missing!" Tony announced, snapping his fingers, "It needs racing stripes."

Bruce arched an eyebrow. "Racing stripes, really?"

"Everything looks cool with racing stripes Bruce," Tony insisted, his voice as if he was speaking to a young child.

"Tony, it's a toaster, not a car…"

"And your point is?" he inclined his head upwards slightly, "JARVIS, add the stripes – red and yellow I think."

"Certainly sir," the polite voice of the AI replied and automatically the hologram spun, a faint outline of a stripe running along what would be sleek metal.

"You said the same thing about the speakers," Bruce reminded.

"And that is cool. What's wrong with a toaster playing AC/DC while it does its job?" Tony demanded the answer.

"Nothing, but the whole point of this was to stop Thor from breaking them, remember?"

"And I'm sure he'll be less inclined to break it when he sees the racing stripes," Tony argued, "We're keeping the stripes."

Bruce smiled fondly, reaching up to push a hand through the already chaotic mass of hair, tugging on the edges lightly. He pressed a kiss to the revealed temple. "Whatever you want Tony." He agreed dutifully.

He grinned almost smugly at his fellow scientist, leaning into his side and sighing contently when Bruce slide an arm around his waist to pull him closer.

"Okay, I'm starting to feel a little left out over here," Steve's amused voice broke through the bubble the two science obsessed men had created around themselves.

A grin broke across Tony's face. "Steve, when did you get here?"

Bruce looked concerned. "I thought you were asleep…"

The blond smiled slightly. "I did, at least for a little while, but then I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep so I came to find you."

Bruce pulled away from Tony and approached the other man. "That's shorter than yesterday. Are you sure nothing's wrong?"

The smile widened at the concern in his voice. "Yeah, I'm sure…I guess, the bed's just empty while you're down here," he shrugged.

Tony sat down next to him, and Steve shifted so he could fit against him. "Awh, you missed us," he teased.

A pink tint appeared across his skin and he mumbled something incoherent under his breath, although he did pull Tony closer to him, relishing in the heat. Looking to Bruce, he held out his hand as a silent wish to join them. He seemed to hesitate for a moment before that adorable smile that Steve loved broke across his face as he accepted the hand. He allowed himself to be lead into the free space on Steve's right, his body relaxing as soon as the strong arm closed around him to bring him closer. The blanket was shifted to cover the three of them, Tony and Bruce's feet peeking out from beneath the hem of the fabric, Steve's protected by being tucked underneath Tony's leaning body.

Steve's fingers caressed unrecognisable patterns across Tony's revealed collarbone and he nuzzled the skin behind Bruce's ear. The scientist shivered involuntarily and jerked away from the touch.

"…It tickles," he admitted almost bashfully.

A knowing grin crossed his face as Steve was persistent in his assault, dragging the tip of his noses cross the arch of his ear. Bruce whined under his breath, but didn't try to pull away again. Tony chuckled under his breath and reached out to grab Bruce's hand, raising it so he could press sleep-ridden kisses to the knuckles. He sighed contently, snuggling closer.

"You know this would probably be much more comfortable in our bed," Steve pointed out absentmindedly.

"Do you want to move?" Tony questioned, arching an eyebrow.

"No…not really…"

"I'm happy here," Bruce mumbled his reply, watching Stark through half lidded eyes.

"Good, glad that's settled," he nodded happily, tugging on the hand in his own to pull them closer, "JARVIS, save file before closing, and dim the lights."

"Of course sir,"

The program flashed out of existence and a veil of darkness filled the room, so only the lights that decorated the edges of the room were able to case a glow on their faces.

Steve felt the security of the bodies that surrounded him and finally felt he could breathe easily. Yes, it was strange and yes, a lot people didn't understand, but Steve found that he didn't care about the public image that Fury seemed to be so worried about portraying to keep the world happy. He didn't care if everyone hated him, because he would live with all the abuse happily, as long as he had them.

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