Chapter Text
Counter to Steve's expectations, there was never a repeat of Let's-Make-Cap-Really-Uncomfortable Night. In fact, his teammates seemed to have used up all their ammunition that first day post-mission and subsequently become downright considerate. Steve didn't notice it at first, but over time the clues piled up and the picture they formed made Steve's mind go soft and quiet.
"No need to go check, Captain. Tony's repulsors made an impressive mess of that creature, it is most definitely dead." Once he was done looking down at the street from their rooftop, Thor proceeded to scrutinize him in a way Steve couldn't place. He'd expected Thor to grin and poke fun at Steve's queasiness in the face of ugly sights, but no. Steve was grateful for Tony's confirmation that the odd giant cockroach was very definitely dead and they wouldn't need Steve's help to clean up the mess. Thor's behaviour was a little odd, though.
"This is Lucky. Lucky, say hello!" The happy-looking yellow dog panted up at Steve and raised a front leg for Steve to shake. "You can pet him, Steve, go ahead."
Steve did. The soft fur felt wonderful under his calloused fingers. "Hello, Lucky," he said softly, storing the memory in the treasure box deep inside his mind.
"No," Natasha said decisively, looking Fury straight in the eye. "We won't gather the dead. Our team consists largely of people with enhanced physical strength, we're much better suited to cleaning the streets of large rubble and helping with the rebuilding effort."
It wasn't that Steve was unwilling to help lay the fallen civilians to rest. But hearing Natasha say that it made more sense for them to bring their strength to bear on other tasks, Steve felt relief flood his chest like a warm, gentle river. It almost didn't feel strange, this time.
"That's the beauty of it, see?" Bruce explained, pointing out the diagram of an arc reactor powering the mobile Doctors Without Borders unit. "This will allow them to help with much less of an environmental impact."
Steve looked over at Tony, who was unusually quiet. The man never missed a chance to boast of his own accomplishments and intelligence, Tony loved being the center of attention. Not for the first time, however, Steve noticed that this only held true with strangers. Among friends, Tony could be downright shy about his many contributions to the world.
Something to think about.
"How about The Song of the Sea?" Tony suggested. "I think you're going to appreciate the artistic style as well as the plot, Cap. Or maybe a Ghibli movie. Most of them are incredibly charming, and while some are a bit violent, they usually depict it in a way that's easy to look at."
"Better skip Grave of the Fireflies, though," Natasha opined in a level voice.
Tony looked unsettled by the very idea. "Yeah, good call."
Steve resolved never to research the title.
The films Natasha and Tony had agreed were 'Steve-friendly', however, were all truly wonderful. Steve hadthe ending theme from Howl's Moving Castle stuck in his head for weeks.
There were definitely worse things stuck in there and Steve enjoyed the beautiful new addition.
"...think Asgardian mead would help?" Steve heard Natasha's voice long before he reached the communal kitchen.
"I dare not promise anything, but it appears likely," Thor's booming voice answered her. "Only temporarily, though."
"Better than nothing," was Bruce's soft reply.
"You can only get it in Asgard, right? So it would be a while until we could test that theory." Tony, of course, thinking about the practicality of whatever shenanigans they were all planning. Steve smiled to himself as he rounded the corner.
"Help with what?" Steve asked. Thor, Tony, Bruce and Clint's heads swiveled toward him like kids keeping secrets. Interesting.
Natasha, of course, was too much of a professional spy for such an obvious display. When her head turned toward him, it was a beat after everyone else's and at a much more relaxed speed.
"Cap, hey! Good to see you," Clint exclaimed, a bit too loudly and with the enthusiasm of an over-eager puppy. If Steve hadn't known before that they were hiding something from him, he certainly would've figured it out now.
"Our friend Tony has asked us for ways to counter -" Thor abruptly fell silent, his head cocked and a frown marring his forehead at Natasha's silent glare of impending doom.
"We're just talking about the best way to get well and truly smashed," Clint supplied happily. Steve couldn't actually tell whether Clint was lying or not. The man always seemed so eager and carefree when talking about any kind of party, alcohol or no.
"Are we celebrating anything in particular?" Steve asked, curious whether he would get an honest reply.
His teammates exchanged a series of looks that informed Steve quite firmly that no, honesty was not happening. Tony settled for, "Us! We are celebrating out team and how far we've come since Fury threw us together."
That actually sounded good to Steve. No matter their actual designs, celebrating the Avengers felt like something he could get behind. "Great idea, let's do it."
"Which brings us back to the question at hand," Tony said, gesturing grandly at Steve. "How do we get you drunk?"
Natasha wasn't glaring at Tony, meaning this wasn't the real reason why they had been discussing Asgardian mead. Steve really wondered what else the alien liquor might be good for. "Tony? Are you fiddling with weapons of mass destruction again?"
Tony's look of outrage was great. Steve knew it was a bit mean, but he so loved putting it on Tony's face. Every time he'd seen Tony looking like that had gone straight to Steve's box of happy memories and he didn't feel one lick of shame about that.
"You're a weapon of mass destruction," Tony hissed, which was a childish reply but also sort of true.
"Your face is a weapon of mass destruction," Steve replied, not missing a beat.
Tony gasped and the outraged look returned, stronger than before. Steve loved it. Tony looked like a cat that had misjudged its landing and ended up clawing its way out of a wet, cold bath. Steve kept his face neutral, which seemed to delight Clint to no end. Even Natasha looked like she might be holding back a smile.
But Natasha was never content to let Tony suffer alone when she could make Steve join him. "If Steve's a weapon of mass destruction, does that mean that Tony wants to fiddle with Steve?"
Steve's cheeks heated at the thought. He suddenly found himself unable to look in Tony's direction. "Nat, please," he groaned.
Natasha looked chagrined. "I'm sorry, Steve. I didn't think the idea would be so abhorrent to you."
Tony made an odd noise at that and now Steve couldn't not look. He immediately wished he hadn't. Tony looked stricken, like Natasha's words had dealt him a fatal blow.
That look went straight to the very, very bad memory pile.
"I never said that," Steve blurted out, desperate to say something, anything, to get that horrible look off Tony's face. "Tony's great! I have nothing against Tony! If he wants to fiddle with – uh." Suddenly aware of what he was saying, Steve felt the heat in his cheeks increase to full blast. "I'll shut up now."
On the bright side, Tony no longer looked like his AI just died.