Steve's Secret

Steve had been acting strange lately, well stranger than usual. He always acted strange compared to others because of the whole raised-in-the-40s thing, but this was a different kind of strange. There was something that Steve was hiding and whatever it was that he was hiding, he was hiding it really, really, well. Tony couldn't even figure it out with the help of Jarvis, his personal AI. Well, at least if Jarvis did know something, he sure as hell wasn't helping Tony find out what it was.

It was like Steve's demeanor had changed completely. He used to hang out with Tony most of the day, helping lift things in the lab, watching TV in the living room with Tony, or asking Tony for the fiftieth time how to use the coffee maker or his cell phone or computer or well, really anything that wasn't circa 1940. But now? He avoided Tony as much as possible and on the rare occasions that Steve actually did run into Tony, he acted awkward, his face got all red, and he quickly made up some outrageous excuse to leave.

Tony hadn't worried about it too much when Steve first started to avoid him because this happened pretty regularly whenever Steve and Tony got into a fight about something, though usually it was about something really stupid or trivial (they once didn't talk for three weeks because they couldn't agree whether Dominoes or Papa John's Pizza was better). But now that Tony thought about it, he hadn't really done anything that would upset Steve. He didn't think he had at least. Yeah, on second thought, I better check on that one with him, Tony thought as he sat down at the breakfast bar waiting for Steve to appear, knowing he would have to come this way to get to his usual hiding spot, the gym.

After a good fifteen minutes or so of waiting, Tony was about to give up when Steve finally appeared, making a beeline to the gym.

Here's my chance, thought Tony. "Hey!" Steve didn't stop walking or even slow down, "Hey, Steve, Wait up!" He yelled getting up and going after Steve, who only stopped when Tony grabbed his arm. "Hey, Cap, I was talking to you," Tony said teasingly, looking up at Steve, who looked less than amused.

Noticing this, Tony quickly sobered up and cleared his throat. "Anyway, can I talk to you about something for a sec?" He asked, hopeful.

Steve took a minute to respond and then gave a very hesitant "Yes," knowing any other response would be rude and raise suspicion.

"Good," Tony said, relieved, pulling him to the breakfast bar to sit down, "Let's talk."

*****

Great, Steve thought, Jarvis probably told him that I have feelings for him and now he wants to make fun of me. Steve didn't have too much time to think really depressing, heart wrenching thoughts, before he was pulled into a seat beside Tony at the breakfast bar.

There was a short pause in the conversation where Tony didn't speak and Steve just wanted to die of embarrassment or just run away from the Stark tower and never return.

Finally, Tony looked up at Steve and attempted to speak. "Well...Umm...Yeah," Tony stuttered trying to form an actual sentence, but just fell silent again. Under any other circumstances, Steve would have been patient and would have waited for him to answer, but right now, Steve was really short-fused and impatient. Steve began to get up to leave, when Tony grabbed his wrist once again, making both of their hearts flutter. "Wait, Steve, Do you-Are you mad at me?" Tony blurted out, looking uncomfortable.

Steve gave Tony a funny look that quickly turned into his goofy did-you-really-just-ask-me-that smile that was only for Tony. "No, I'm not mad at you. Why would you even think that?" Steve asked, knowing very well why Tony would think he was mad at him, but it was Tony's fault to begin with. It's not like Steve had wanted to fall in love with Tony, it had just...happened. Not that what he felt mattered, Steve knew that Tony was straight and would hate him if he knew that Steve liked him. "Oh, well, it's just that you've been ignoring me lately and you never do that unless you're mad at me," Tony replied still confused.