Lab Beneath Stark Industries, Wednesday Afternoon

[imafuturist]

With more than enough distance from that nightmare week and some actually healthy communication following it, Tony was actually in a good mood in the lab. For reasons other than just science.

He had, however, been tweaking a thruster on the armor for the past three hours, making it just a little more efficient with each little fix.

Other people had their hobbies, this one was his.

[for the guy!]

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[heroic_jawline]

Steve came ambling in and loitered at the doorway, smiling. He loved watching Tony work.

[imafuturist]

It took probably more time than it honestly should have for Tony to notice him with almost all his focus being shoved into a space that was barely more than a centimetre. Once he realized he was going cross-eyed, he pulled back and stretched out his sore back.

"Steve! When did you show up?"

[heroic_jawline]

"A while," Steve said. "Didn't want to interrupt, and you haven't been down here long enough for it to be a concern."

[imafuturist]

"Good," he sighed, back cracking a little. "I'm trying not to do that as much."

He was getting too old for it.

[heroic_jawline]

Steve came into the room and gave his shoulders a little squeeze. "That's good," he said. "I miss you when it happens."

[imafuturist]

Tony hummed, letting Steve squeeze sore muscles there. "You can always lure me away with food."

Because someone forgot to eat.

[heroic_jawline]

"JARVIS," Steve said, sounding disappointed, "has Tony had anything but coffee today?"

[imafuturist]

Tony made a face as JARVIS chimed in with a dry, "Sir has eaten one candy bar and drunk two pots of coffee."

[heroic_jawline]

"Tony," Steve said, frowning. "Do you want Thai or Chinese?"

Because those had vegetables in it.

[imafuturist]

"Thai," he sighed.

[heroic_jawline]

Steve kissed his cheek. "I'll share my satay," he promised, hugging him from behind. "And that green papaya salad."

[imafuturist]

He sighed again, relaxing into Steve. "Make sure to get the coconut rice for dessert."

[heroic_jawline]

"Of course," Steve said. "Soup, too?"

[imafuturist]

"Soup sounds amazing," Tony replied brightly. "Aren't you glad you learned about Thai food?"

[heroic_jawline]

"I am," Steve said, smiling back. "JARVIS, make the order, please?"

[imafuturist]

Tony stretched out again. "Wow, I did not realize how long I'd been focusing on that."

[heroic_jawline]

"What were you fixing?" Steve asked, interested.

[imafuturist]

"Tweaking," he corrected. "Just one of the thrusters on the boot. I had an idea to cut down on energy waste."

[heroic_jawline]

"Did it work?" Steve asked.

[imafuturist]

"It did," Tony said proudly. "3.8% increase in efficiency!"

Woooooow.

[heroic_jawline]

"Good job," Steve praised, kissing him again.

[imafuturist]

Tony shamelessly preened at that. "It'll make a difference in longer missions."

[heroic_jawline]

"How much more time will it give you?" Steve asked.

[imafuturist]

"About half an hour," Tony said, obviously pleased to have Steve take an interest in the little things that went into the armor. "27 and a half minutes, to be exact."

[heroic_jawline]

"That's more than enough time to get Clint down from whatever trouble he's found himself in," Steve said.