Apartment Above Stark Industries, Sunday early evening

[heroic_jawline]

Steve had been called into work by Fury right after his and Tony's class on Friday to chase down a lead on a Hydra base alone: his Tony, Fury told him, had been sending everyone to voicemail for almost a month, Bruce was working on some kind of program in India, Thor was back on Asgard, and Natasha and Clint were on a different assignment.

Steve tried not to miss them all (especially Tony) too much. The lead turned out to be a heavily-armed fortress with lots of goons but no useful intel on either Bucky or the stash of SHIELD artifacts Hydra had stolen when SHIELD fell.

Imploded.

Was crushed under the weight of its own secrets.

Whatever it was, Steve didn't feel bad about it happening, though he did regret the loss of the weapons.

He was back home again, now: dirty, slightly banged up, and more than ready for a long, hot soak in his birthday bathtub. (Because Tony had given him a bathroom renovation for his birthday and he'd realized that was just Tony years ago.)

"JARVIS, I'm back," he said, pulling the cowl down from his face with a tired sigh. "Tell Tony I have all limbs present and accounted for."

Comments

[imafuturist]

"A red letter day, Captain," JARVIS replied dryly. But was kind enough to relay the message onto Tony.

Who stumbled out of the lab, looking a little like he'd been on a bender. But a bender of science. "Hey."

[heroic_jawline]

Steve smiled at him, then leaned in to give him a thorough kissing. "Hey."

[imafuturist]

Tony hummed, clutching at those ridiculous and very much appreciated for moments like this shoulder straps. "Rough mission?"

[heroic_jawline]

"Frustrating," Steve admitted. "But I got to throw things, so that helped?"

Sorry about that, motorcycle.

[imafuturist]

"How much property damage?" he asked dryly, leaning back to give Steve an amused look.

[heroic_jawline]

"On a scale of one to ten...about a 13," Steve admitted.

[imafuturist]

Tony hummed like he expected nothing else, but was still somehow surprised by it. "C'mon. Lets get you out of that uniform."

[heroic_jawline]

Steve kissed him again. "Bathtub?" he suggested eagerly.

He could stretch his legs out in it! It was so exciting.

[imafuturist]

"Bathtub," he agreed. "I'll get it started so it's 'boil a lobster' hot for you."

[heroic_jawline]

"I'll go take off the uniform," he said. "Your upgrades to it worked really well--very few bruises to the soft parts this time."

[imafuturist]

Tony beamed at that, tugging him into another kiss. "Good."

[heroic_jawline]

"You're excellent at taking care of me," Steve murmured, nipping his lower lip.

[imafuturist]

"You know how I am," Tony said, smiling against his lips before giving him a little shove. "Got to keep everyone safe."

[heroic_jawline]

"You do it very well," Steve said, though something about that rang in his head. He really wished the other Tony would pick up his damn phone.

"Back in a minute," he promised. "You can tell me what you were working on."

[imafuturist]

"Yes, dear!" Tony called over his shoulder, heading to the new bathroom to do as he'd said he would. Even broke out some of the fancy bubble bath for it.

[heroic_jawline]

Steve joined him a few minutes later wearing nothing but a tired smile, grimy and a little bruised.

[imafuturist]

Which meant Tony was just forced to check him over in case he was doing his usual super soldier downplaying of injuries. "You get it and once you get a little less gross, I'll refill the tub for us both."

[heroic_jawline]

He was actually pretty good today! The Hydra goons hadn't been so lucky.

"Roger that," Steve murmured, sliding into the water with a slow, contented sigh. "Stay and keep me company."

[imafuturist]

"That's the plan," Tony replied, dragging his fingers through sweat damp hair to scratch gently at Steve's scalp.

[heroic_jawline]

Steve's eyes closed and he let out a low moan. "Missed you."

[imafuturist]

"I missed you too," he replied, leaning down to kiss Steve's temple before getting back to that head massage.

[heroic_jawline]

"Tell me what you were working on," Steve murmured. "It's more interesting than what I was up to."

[imafuturist]

The explanation of a new variety of steel included probably more details on the chemical components therein for Steve, but Tony had A Lot to,say on the matter.

Which was hopefully soothing.

[heroic_jawline]

It was very soothing and Steve let himself just drift a bit, listening to Tony's voice.

"Think I'm not as grubby now," he finally said. "Wanna join me?"

[imafuturist]

"Refill the tub and I'll join you," Tony said, pressing his thumb into the knotted up muscles at the base of Steve's neck.