heroic_jawline | Not even sunrise, Wednesday morning

Tony eyed the faintest sliver of sunlight just starting to creep up on the horizon with suspicion and pulled the zipper on his jacket up.

"Are you singing?" If he had to be awake, he was going to point that out.

"Yeah," Steve said. "The Army was big into singing as we ran. Helped keep rhythm." He smiled. "Though I was always about a hundred feet behind everyone else..."

"And then a hundred feet ahead after?" Tony asked, yawning and stetching his arms out over his head.

"Yeah," Steve said. "The Commandos hated running with me."

"And now I get to share their pain," Tony replied dryly.

But on the plus side, he wouldn't have to deal with the whole nasty business of diminished lung capacity anymore.

"It'll be fun," Steve promised. "And we'll get breakfast after."

When the stores opened, because it was currently Ass O'Clock in the morning.

The coffee shop might just be open. But that could have been just a pipe dream.

"Alright, lead on. Oh captain, my captain."

Depended if the barista was done with her epic poem devoted to Tino's ears yet.

"I generally warm up with a loop around town, then down to the beach and up the cliffs," Steve said, starting up the steps.

One day they'd sort through all the tragic misunderstandings that kept them apart. One day...

"You're the boss," Tony replied with as much cheer as he could muster, keeping up easily enough. For now. Just be glad by the time they'd get to jogging on the sand, he'd be too distracted to comment on the romance just to make Steve blush. Maybe.

Well it was either the romance angle or a ~~Baywatch~~ Lakelookers reference Steve wouldn't understand...

"Guess I am," Steve said with a little grin, picking up the pace.

Hey, they were doing a movie reboot. He'd learn then.

Tony frowned and picked up his pace, trying not to get left behind here. "It's quiet out."

"Nice, huh?" Steve said. "No one out with their smart phones, other than the squirrels."

"Hey, nothing wrong with a smart phone." He built smart phones. He was still rich because of smart phones. "Can't think of a time it's this quiet back in the city."

"Yeah, that kept me awake on the war bond tour--going to a smaller town and not having the noise," Steve said. "Couldn't sleep without the honking and the yelling and the sirens."

"The country," Tony said with the mock horror of a city person. "How did you survive it?"

"It was terrible," Steve said, heading towards another flight of stairs. "I made the guy who played Hitler pretend to be a cabbie for the first two weeks. He'd yell obscenities until I fell asleep."

That wasn't close to being true.

But it sounded so realistic!

Tony made a face at the stairs, but was too stubborn to slow down now. "I could ask JARVIS to do that for you. Since it helps."

"I don't know," Steve said. "Can he do a Brooklyn accent?"

"Sorry, I just tried to imagine him speaking with that accent and I had to reboot my brain," Tony said after a pause.

"Get outta duh middle of duh road, ya chump!" Steve said in an extremely thick Brooklyn accent. "Jesus. My dead grandma drives better, god rest her!"

You know what didn't help Tony keep up with the jogging? Making him laugh with that.

"Oh god, why would you give up that accent for the bland Mid-America one?" Tony asked between snickers.

"Because people in St. Louis wouldn't buy war bonds from someone who sounded like James Cagney and didn't look like James Cagney," Steve said. "So there were lessons."

"I would have bought all the bonds from Cap'n Brooklyn, ey!" His imitation of the accent at the end wasn't terrible, but it ventured into Boston a little.

Steve laughed. "Not bad," he said, heading for yet another flight of stairs. "Not great, but..."

Just ignore Tony's annoyed little huff at more stairs. And how he was starting to get a little winded. "Hey, I'm from Manhattan, what'd you expect? You're lucky I never kept that awful country club accent."

"Oh, where everyone talks through their noses?" Steve made a face. "Ugh."

"Find myself a butler and a bodyguard," Tony suggested, doing a much better job with this accent. "Add a 'the third' to my name as well."

"You're Iron Man," Steve said, running down the stairs for a change of pace. "What would you do with a bodyguard?"

Which was a godsend, to be honest. Tony was able to start catching his breath. "Technically I do have one."

"A bodyguard?" Steve laughed. "I don't think I've met him or her."

"Him," Tony replied. "He's been head of security at my main office of Stark Industries since a little after I became Iron Man. Happy Hogan, only reason I lived past twenty."

"What were you doing? I got into a lot of fights, myself."

"You? Can't see that at all," Tony teased. "No, nothing that exciting for me. Just a lot of stupidity and alcohol."

He made a face thinking back to that time.

"Can't see that either," Steve teased back. "Okay, along the dock then down to the beach, then we repeat it three more times!"

Steve wasn't even breathing hard.

"Wait, what?" Tony asked, looking positively stricken by the thought. "Three more times?"

He'd been thinking he was going to make it just fine. He'd been so, so very wrong.

"Sure," Steve said. "I normally go five, but I'll cut back for ya."

"Five?!" Steve, why? Why did you have to do this to him? "That's. That's just fine. I can do three."

He was going to end up wheezing in a heap.

And Steve would not even feel badly about it.

"I know you can," he said, relentlessly chipper.

You know what happens when you say things like that to Tony? He does stupid things to try and prove you right.

"Christ, no wonder you eat so much," he muttered, head down in stubborn determination.

"Thank the Vita-Rays for that," Steve said, increasing his own pace as they hit the docks. He always went faster on the flat spaces.

Which would by why Tony was lagging behind. Which was totally weird. Because clearly he should have been able to keep up.

"Not the--black hole--in your stomach?"

Steve was unintentionally doing an impression of a puppy with too much energy to spare as he looped back to talk with Tony. "Nope," he said, grinning. "I had to eat twice as many rations as the rest of the Commandos, which Buck said served at its own form of punishment."

It was both adorable and super obnoxious.

"I'm really not surprised by that," Tony replied, managing to get that out without gasping. Much. "I fed you--Thor--"

Damn it, why did he need to keep up.

"--and Hulk. I felt dainty."

"You don't have to keep up," Steve said, frowning thoughtfully. "I'll come back around."

That won't be less obnoxious, Steve.

Not in the slightest.

"Oh, that's so much better," Tony muttered sarcastically.

"Or I could slow down, but I feel like that might come across condescending," Steve said.

Too late.

"You think? Maybe?" Tony asked, hand on his side as that terrible stitch there started up. "Do your thing. I'll catch up."

In no way would he manage to catch up. He would pray for the sweet embrace of death while still jogging along on this awful path he'd chosen. Because he wasn't a quitter, damn it.

"You're doing great," Steve said with his bright, beaming smile, and then took off at a full sprint because he was a super-enhanced super ass.

Tony was going to end up designing a treadmill to see if Steve could break it. He really was.

"Coming jogging with me, Tony," he muttered to himself, weakly waving at Steve's rapidly disappearing form. "It'll be fun, Tony."

This was some straight up bullshit.

Steve caught back up another twenty minutes later. "On your left," he called out politely.

"Seriously?" Tony called after him. "We're the only people out here! And superheoes!"

He didn't need to be warned about that. At all.

And was now sweatier than he ever wanted to be. Fuck. Running.

"Didn't want to run up your heels!" Steve called back, waving.

Jackass.

Huge jackass. Huge, tangle shaped jackass.

"I know where you sleep, Rogers!"

"You're doing great, Stark! Halfway done now!"

Shut up, Steve.

"It's also torture!" Tony snapped. Because yes. Shut up, Steve.

And he was still trudging along. Maybe attempting to pick up the pace a little to not be completely behind. You would think he'd know better than to try to keep up with any version of Steve Rogers. But nooooo.

"Builds character!" Steve yelled back before disappearing around a corner.

Which was when Tony gave him the finger.

"Builds character," he mimicked. "I build him some character."

It didn't make sense, but in his defense... he was tired and surly. Not his best for wit.

Steve caught back up another twenty minutes later. "On your left!"

You're going to get tripped, Rogers, and have no one to blame but yourself.

"I swear to god, Rogers!" Really, you were just giving him time to stew. And plan.

Steve waved over his head. "Almost breakfast time!"

Tony bared his teeth and tried really hard to catch up to him. "I'm telling JARVIS to only play death metal to wake you up now!"

JARVIS would do no such thing.

"Sounds real bracing," Steve said, heading towards the Perk.

Once it became clear that coffee was in his future, Tony hobbled a little faster. He was just going to be walking like an old man until the Extremis took care of this. Which was always fun.

"You'll like it," Tony lied through his teeth. "Really your type."

"Oh, I'm sure," Steve agreed easily. "I've been enjoying catching up on music. Gangster rap kind of confuses me, though."

Oh, Steve, no.

"Which is so strange since you're the OG," Tony said, using nearby buildings to stay upright. His legs felt wobbly, okay? This was new and terrible.

"The what?" Steve repeated, frowning.

"Original gangster," Tony replied dryly. "So, if the original American gangster could get me half that pastry case and a coffee while I collapse on a table, that'd be great."

"Coming right up," Steve said. "Anything in the coffee other than more coffee?"

"If the barista tries to trick you into a latte, I'm turning villain."

"So that's a definite no to the green tea, then," Steve said.

"World domination," Tony replied. "I will conquer the planet and hoard all the coffee."

"And that would be terrible," Steve agreed. "Massive coffee and all the carbs coming right up."

Tony let his head drop on the table again, giving him a thumbs up. "You can live in my utopia."

"Will there be running there?" Steve teased before placing his order for large coffees and most of the bakery display.

"My benevolence may allow it," Tony granted him. "How do people do this every day?"

"We get used to it," Steve said, returning with the coffees and sitting down. "It's nice to not feel penned inside."

"Oh god, marry me," Tony said, pulling the coffee close. His precious.

"It's progressive now, but I'm not sure you can marry coffee just yet," Steve teased.

"People just don't understand our love," Tony whispered to the coffee.

"That's pretty disturbing," Steve said, arching an eyebrow as he took his sip from his own, strictly platonic, coffee.

"Coffee has gotten me through some hard times," Tony replied, digging into one of the sweets.

"So has my shield," Steve said, "but we're just pals."

"Oh please. My Steve's shield broke and I think he almost cried."

And then he was replaced by a Skrull. Which was awkward.

"We're close pals," Steve amended. "How did it break? Peggy shot at me point blank and it just left small marks."

"Loki, the Odin-Force," Tony replied, shamelessly licking powdered sugar off his thumb. Because food. "Shattered it. We got it fixed in Wakanda, but it took a little while."

Also, could Odin be more pretentious? Odin-Force. Christ.

"Odin-Force?" Steve repeated, making a face. "He named it after himself?"

Odin did fluctuate between 'cool dad' who would embarrass you in public and cruel, calculating god who once pimped out his kid to build a wall.

Because mythology was hilarious like that.

"Right? If I ever think I'm being too dramatic, I just remember that." And keep being dramatic. Damn it, Tony.

Steve snickered. "Well, you do have a massive, ugly building in Midtown with your name on it which is plenty dramatic," he teased.

"Hey, that's expected!" Just ask all the other billionaires.

"I don't know anyone else with their name on a building," Steve said.

"You know two people with their names on a building." They just happened to both be the same person.

"I know two yous with their name on a building," Steve said, "so I'm thinking this might be limited to you and that guy running for president."

"Wow, comparing me to corporate Hitler. That hurts."

If Trump won, he really would turn super villain.

"Think if I socked ol' Donald on the jaw I'd get a lecture or a medal of commendation?" Steve asked. "I found some interesting web pages. I've been educating them on how World War II really worked."

He'd been starting internet flamewars, Tony.

Which probably meant JARVIS was busy trying to hide the IP address to keep things from coming back to the shop. He worried like that.

"Probably both," Tony replied dryly. "Oh god, did you find Neo-Nazi sites?"

"Yeah," Steve said. "They're just so wrong."

And on the internet! They are wrong on the internet, Tony.

"Yes they are," Tony assured him. "And anyone with a brain knows it. Just promise me to not read the comment section on any website."

The genie was already out of the bottle, Tony.

"Too late," Steve said, wincing. "It's also too late to tell me about SafeSearch on Google before looking myself up."

"Damn it, JARVIS." Worst net nanny ever. It probably didn't help that he measured levels of internet wrong with Tony. "If you start sending me cat memes, I'm going to be both proud and frightened."

A beat.

"Oh god, send them to SHIELD."

TONY NO.

Steve smirked. "Too late. Hill isn't that amused by a cat playing a piano. Natasha sent back a guinea pig with a pancake on its head."

"I don't think Hill has any sense of humor," Tony replied with a sigh. "And you've completely ruined the Black Widow's mystique there."

He'd always picture that guinea pig now. Instead of being a little scared and into it.

"Then she sent me a Buzzfeed list of '27 Ways the Black Widow Could Kill You Using Just This Desk Drawer' and added twenty more," Steve added.

"I'm almost surprised there aren't more," Tony said. "So you and Ms. Romanoff, huh?"

And he had to say it with a terrible Russian accent too.

Steve's ears went red. "No, nothing like that. I think we're friends. Kind of."

Consider it Tony's revenge for the morning.

"Friends are good," Tony granted him, grinning with pride. "You not sure?"

"Well, it's Natasha," Steve said with a little shrug. "She's never really playing it straight, is she?"

"Point." And she wasn't even a double agent with HYDRA in Steve's universe! "Clint knows her best. At least where I'm from they were partners."

A beat.

"Of course, that's why he ended up in prison..."

"Clint went to prison?" Steve gaped.

"He was framed," Tony readily admitted in Clint's defense. "But yeah. I shot him while he was escaping. Good times."

"Oh, you told me about that when we first met. I was a little shell-shocked at the time," Steve said, biting into a jelly donut.

"Can't guess why," Tony teased, taking another pastry to keep Steve from eating all of it.

He was making a pretty sizable dent in the pile, true.

"It was a very long...month," Steve said with a rueful laugh.

One if these days Tony was going to take him to a buffet to watch how it went.

"Weird," Tony agreed. "And now look at you. Yelling at Nazis online and finding porn."

His little Steve was growing up!

"I'm becoming very 21st Century," Steve said.

Tony laughed at that, snagging another pastry to just keep close while he finished the one he had. "You're still you. It's just catching up, not changing you into something else."

"Well, arguing on the internet definitely cuts down on the black eyes and bloody noses," Steve said. "Bucky'll be happy."

"I would hate to see the person capable of doing that to you now," Tony admitted. "Try not to fight anymore gods if you can help it."

Since this Steve managed to avoid so many of the one back home's many, many self appointed arch-nemesis.

"Or ask for backup when you do."

"It definitely wasn't on the list," Steve said, "but it wasn't there to start with. I learn to adapt pretty quick."

Note how he wasn't talking about back-up.

So help him, Steve. He was going to be a giant hypocrite about this.

"No one ever expects the Spanish Inquisition," Tony replied, starting on the next pastry.

Steve blinked. "I don't think I understand that reference."

"Oh, there are so many movies and shows I need to show you for these things," Tony said, smiling in a way that could be terrifying if you knew him. "Are you in the 70's yet?"

"The history, yeah, but not movies or music or anything," Steve said.

"Pop culture and history are intertwined, so it'll be good to check out some of that," Tony replied.

And it meant Tony got to take a break from work to watch bad science fiction.

"That'd be fun," Steve agreed, smiling.

"Great! You'll like it, I promise." Debatable.

"Oh, I'm sure I will," Steve said.

Oh, poor, naive Steve.

Not even sunrise, Wednesday morning

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