(no subject)

[a_pious_cruelty]

Title: For Science!
Pairing: Steve/Tony
Rating: NC-17
Summary: from a prompt at the kinkmeme: Weird Science AU. Tony attempts to create the perfect specimen via his computer, but Steve turns out to be more than he expected.
Word count: 5000
Warnings: homophobia, slur
Disclaimer: not mine


Pepper leans over him and says, “Stop feeling sorry for yourself.”

Tony had in fact been lying peacefully in his bed until Pepper had barged in. He knew he shouldn’t have given her a key to his apartment. “I’m not feeling sorry for myself,” he says.

“Yeah, you are,” she says. “You’re moping.”

Tony sits up. “I’m brooding. There’s a difference.”

Pepper sits next to him on the bed. “So you’re just going to brood all night?”

“Well,” he says, looking her up and down, “what did you have in mind?”

“Let’s see,” Pepper says. “Awkward sex with a gay boy who’s still trying desperately to convince himself he’s straight. I think I’ll pass.”

“I could be bisexual,” he says. “It’s all the rage these days.”

“Tony, you are a gay homosexual.”

“Redundant,” he says, and Pepper rolls her eyes.

“I’m way too sober for this discussion,” she says and slides down on to the floor to start looking for his stash under the bed.

“Careful,” he warns.

“Oh God!” She’s pulled out one of his favorite PlayGirl magazines, the one featuring Bobby Sands. “Gross, Tony.”

He shrugs. “A man has needs, Pep.”

Disgusted, she drops the magazine back under the bed. “Aha,” she says, as she pulls out a half-full bottle of vodka. “Too much to hope you’ve got clean shot glasses?”

He triumphantly holds up two shot glasses, then gets down on the floor next to Pepper. “We really should have sex.”

Pepper groans and tosses back her first shot. “Seriously, way too sober for this.”

“For science,” he continues. “Just so that I can be sure that I’m gay.”

“Shut up and drink,” she says, pouring him a shot. She takes another shot-and really, that’s one of the reasons why Tony likes Pepper so much. She doesn’t drink like a girl. That, and she’s one of the few girls at MIT who doesn’t act like he’s a kid.

“Okay,” Pepper says, “let’s try this. Describe your perfect sex partner. Who do you picture?”

“Blond,” he says, mostly without thinking. “Muscular. He’s got to be fit-”

“Oh so it’s got to be a he?” she says, looking all too smug.

“Slip of the tongue,” he says. “Great ass. And not dumb. Not like me, but not a complete moron.” He takes another shot and rolls the shot glass between his hands. “Knows French.”

“Why? You suck at French,” Pepper says.

“It’s a sexy language.” Tony’s trying really hard to not think about the length of the person’s hair-short-or the person’s chest-flat and muscular-or crotch, because then he can’t avoid the fact that the perfect person is a man. “All right,” he mutters. “I may be a little gay.”

To her credit, Pepper doesn’t say anything obnoxious like “I told you so.” She just pours him another shot and takes her third. “Get me drunk enough,” she says, “and maybe I’ll let you touch my boob.”

“Uncharted territory,” he says. “Where no man has gone before.”

Pepper snorts a laugh. “Yeah, not exactly.”

He badgers her for further details on her sex life, but she remains stubbornly close-lipped.

“Come on, Pepper,” he says. “I’m trying to live through you.”

“You don’t have to,” she says. She’s fairly tipsy by now, and Tony’s hopeful for his chance at boob touching. “You’re hot. You could totally get a guy.”

And yeah, maybe he could, but even thinking about actively pursuing a guy terrifies him. Right now, he’s happy to be in vague denial of his sexuality. It’s safer. “How drunk are you?” he asks.

“Not enough to let you feel me up,” Pepper says. “But honestly, Tony, what are you going to do? Just build yourself a man bot so you don’t ever have to put yourself out there?”

“Huh,” he says. “That’s not a bad idea.” He gets up and goes over to his computer. “Not a bad idea at all.”

“I was kidding,” Pepper says.

“No, I’m working on an artificial intelligence system,” he says, booting up the program. “I’ve been approaching it like a computer program, but what if treated it more like a human?” He’s halfway to drunk and he’s not exactly thinking clearly, but it’s worth a try. “I just need to feed it more information.”

“Like what?” Pepper’s up and peering over his shoulder.

“Stats, to start with,” he says. “I want a complete picture of a man.”

“Tony, this is crazy.”

But Tony’s too engaged in what he’s doing to respond to her. He crosses the room to pull out some magazines from under the bed. He needs a base structure for the body, and then he’ll build up the details. He starts ripping out pages and scanning the information into the system. A basic model of the body comes up on the screen, and he starts scanning in details. Eye color, hair color, height, and-

“Make his dick huge!” Pepper says and giggles.

“So immature, Pepper.” Tony gives him a respectable cock, not monstrously huge, but with some girth.

Pepper grabs his French textbook and hands it to him. “You wanted him to speak French.”

And soon enough, they both tearing his books apart and feeding information into the computer, developing this man. He speaks French. He’s well read-most of Tony’s lit class books get torn up, but Tony doesn’t think he’ll miss them. He’s strong, likes to work out.

“What are you going to name him?” Pepper asks, when they’re more or less done inputting information.

He hadn’t thought about that. He gets up, starts looking through some drawers. Did he bring it with him? Probably not, it never was that important to him-but there it is. Somehow it’s made its way here with him.

“Captain America?”

“Steve,” Tony says. “That’s his name.” On a whim, he hooks up the action figure to the computer. “And he we go.” He hits enter to initialize the program.

And it’s like a goddamn tornado, except it’s in his bedroom and what the fuck, how is this happening? All the loose papers fly around the room, and outside it’s lightning and thunder, even though moments earlier it was a clear night.

“What did you do?” Pepper shouts.

“I don’t know!” His computer’s going nuts, codes and images flashing on the screen, too quick for Tony to process. He dives for the power cord and yanks it out-but the computer keeps going.

“Turn it off!”

“It is off!” He holds up the power cord as proof, and yeah, maybe it’s time to get the fuck out of there. He’s trying to tug Pepper towards the door, but then he notices a light shining from under the door.

And suddenly it’s over, and the only evidence that something happened is the mess of papers spread around the room.

But the door. It’s bulging.

“This is a hallucination,” he says, mostly to himself.

“No, it’s not,” Pepper says. She’s clinging to his arm, like he can protect her from whatever hell he’s unleashed.

The door bursts open, and a man walks into the room.

Tall. Blond. Muscular. And dressed in the goddamn Captain America uniform.

Tony starts laughing, a little hysterically.

“What is wrong with you?” Pepper hisses, equally hysterical. “Who is this?”

The man smiles at them. “I’m Steve, of course.”

“Of course,” Tony echoes. “He’s Steve. The computer program.” He presses his hands over his eyes. “Okay, this is not happening. I’m having a nervous breakdown or delirium tremens or something.”

“Hey!” Pepper shouts. “You just stay there.”

Tony uncovers his eyes. The man-Steve-has taken a step forward, but he doesn’t try to come any closer.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” Steve says.

“Where did you come from?” she demands.

Steve gestures at Tony. “From his mind. He made me.”

It’s impossible. There’s no way he could create a human from nothing. But then, he didn’t start with nothing. Tony turns around, trying to find the Captain America action figure, but it’s gone. “Now that’s interesting,” he says, turning back to face Steve. He walks up to the man, examining him closely. He hesitates, then reaches out and touches him. Yeah, he’s real. And really attractive.

“Tony,” Pepper says, “do you believe this?”

“I don’t,” he says, walking a circle around Steve. “Can’t really deny what we’re seeing, though.” He stops. “Maybe I’m a god.”

Steve laughs. “Not exactly,” he says. “You got lucky. The conditions were just right.”

“What conditions?” Tony asks.

“The stars were in the right place,” Steve says with a shrug.

It’s not a satisfying answer, but Steve doesn’t seem to understand exactly what forces brought him into being. “Should have made you better at science,” Tony says.

Other than that slight flaw, Steve is-well, he’s perfect. He’s just what Tony pictured, and Tony’s having a hard time concentrating on how Steve got here when what he’d like to do is rip off that ridiculous uniform and see how good Steve looks naked.

Steve gives him a sly smile, like he knows exactly what Tony’s thinking. “Listen,” he says, “you’ve both had a long night. Why don’t you go to sleep for now, and we’ll talk in the morning?”

“Uh, yeah, not happening,” Tony says. Like he could sleep now. He made a man-he made the perfect man. He has to study him, has to figure him out.

Steve touches the tips of his fingers to Tony’s cheek, and, oh, that’s nice. “Sleep,” he says, and yes, sleep sounds like a good idea. Pepper’s already getting into his bed, and he finds himself walking over to join her.

“Wait,” he says, trying to fight his sudden exhaustion. “You’re doing something. Stop.” But he’s lying down, and his eyes are starting to close. “Made a magic man,” he mutters, before he falls asleep.

The next thing he knows, the sun’s shining into his room. Tony sits up and takes stock of his surroundings. Last night, it was mess, but everything’s neat and in order now.

Pepper’s asleep next to him. Tony pokes her. “Pepper. Wake up.”

Pepper groans and opens her eyes. “What?”

“Did I make some kind of magic man last night?” he asks.

Pepper sits up, eyes wide. “Oh my God,” she says. “I thought that was a dream.”

Tony can hear someone in the kitchen. He slides out of bed and cautiously walks over to the door. Pepper follows.

“That wasn’t real, what happened,” she whispers. “I mean, it can’t be real.”

“We’re about to find out.”

Tony doesn’t know what to expect when he turns the corner, but it’s not what he sees.

“Morning,” Steve says, flashing a brilliant smile. He’s making breakfast. He’s not wearing the Captain America uniform anymore. Now he’s in a sinfully tight black t-shirt and jeans. It’s kind of distracting.

But how is he making eggs and bacon? All Tony has in his fridge is some beer and a bottle of mustard. “How did you get this stuff?” he asks.

“I wanted it,” Steve says. “I can pretty much have whatever I want.”

This is an interesting development. “Pretty much?”

“Well, people have free will,” Steve says. “So I can’t really have everything I want.” And he gives Tony a lingering look.

Tony looks away. He’s never had a problem flirting with girls. With Pepper, it’s just habit. But this is different. Steve’s hot and he seems to be into Tony, and Tony really doesn’t know what to do with that.

Pepper snickers. “You know what, screw it,” she says. “I’m just going to go with this. It’s great to meet you, Steve.”

Tony mostly just stares at Steve throughout breakfast, half studying him, half admiring him. He can’t help but feel kind of proud of himself. He’s developed a lot of computer programs and is working on advanced technology, but all of his previous work seems like nothing compared to Steve. He made a human--and not an ordinary human. Steve’s got some kind of magical power, and there’s got to be some science behind it. Tony just needs to figure it out.

“Übermensch,” he says. “You’re the übermensch.”

Steve frowns. “No, Tony,” he says. “And I know what you’re thinking, but you’re dealing with forces you can’t possibly fully understand.”

“Yet,” Tony says.

“There are some things you don’t want to mess with,” Steve says.

He won’t say anything more than that, which is Tony finds unacceptable. He’s Tony’s creation; he should be obligated to tell Tony what he needs to know.

“You created me, but I’m still a human,” Steve says. “You know, free will and all.”

Tony thinks this must be what God felt like when Adam and Eve disobeyed him.

“And stop thinking of yourself as a god,” Steve adds.

“That’s getting really annoying,” Tony says. “Do you read my mind or something?”

“I know you very well,” Steve says.

Pepper seems a little lost, understandably so, but she gets involved anyway. “Tony, are you really thinking science when you have this?” She gestures at Steve. “I’m going to leave, and I hope you do the right thing.”

Steve watches her go. “Well,” he says, standing, “you can screw around with your computer and try to replicate what happened last night. You won’t, by the way.”

“Or?”

“You could come watch me work out.”

Tony tries to think of a witty response, but all he can think of is how awesome it would be to watch Steve lifting things. “Uh, yeah,” he says, swallowing. “Sounds good.”

At some point, Steve’s jeans turn into shorts that don’t leave much to the imagination. As they walk to the gym on campus, Tony notices all the people-mostly girls-looking at Steve, and he feels an irrational urge to grab Steve, to make all those girls understand that Steve is his.

Steve slides his arm around Tony’s waist.

“Whoa,” Tony says, moving away. “What are you doing?”

“Just what you want,” Steve says.

“Let’s not, okay?” And Tony feels like a total dick because Steve actually looks a little hurt by that. But what can Tony do? It’s a complication he doesn’t need in his life. Steve doesn’t push it.

It is really awesome to watch Steve lift things. Tony’s glad there aren’t many people at the gym, because he’s just sitting there, watching Steve bench press weights and trying not to drool too much. Oh God, those muscles. He’s beginning to forget why it’s not a good idea to just jump Steve right there.

Steve smirks at him. “I knew you’d like this.”

“I’m still going to, you know, do stuff,” Tony says, trying to put together a coherent sentence. “To you. Scientifically. Experiments and such.” He vaguely gestures and then, without thinking about it, reaches out and touches Steve’s bicep.

Steve sits up and flexes his muscle for Tony, and Tony’s really getting into this until some people walk by. He jerks his hand back and clears his throat.

“Yeah, so don’t think you can distract me from my purpose,” Tony says.

Steve’s kind enough to not laugh at him. He does stand up and tug Tony to his feet, leading the way to the showers.

“Uh,” Tony says. Locker rooms were a source of terror for Tony, the one year he spent in high school. He was always caught between wanting to look at other boys’ bodies and being afraid he’d be caught looking and be called a fag.

Steve doesn’t notice his hesitance. He’s shedding his clothes. And Tony can’t help it, he stares, taking in every delicious detail of Steve’s body. Steve gets into the shower and Tony thinks that’s it, but then Steve’s dragging him into the shower. And he turns the shower on.

“Dude!” Tony sputters as the water pours down. “You could have warned me.”

“Well I figured you’d say no to a shared shower,” Steve says. “This was easier than arguing with you.”

Tony’s getting soaked, and Steve had better magic him dry before they leave, because Tony’s not walking home like this.

But then, he’s starting to not care about being soaked, because Steve’s lathering up and Tony’s finding it hard to swallow. His first instinct is to look away, but it’s not like Steve cares about him looking. Obviously, since Steve’s just turned around to let Tony have a full view.

So he looks. There’s a fine trail of hair leading from Steve’s navel down to a thicker patch of hair at the base of his dick. Tony only just represses the urge to reach out and follow that trail down. And okay, Tony’s a virgin, but he’s pretty sure Steve’s cock is perfect. He wants to touch it, but they’re not alone in here, and he doesn’t think jerking a guy off in a public place is a good idea. Still, the thought of touching Steve like that is making him get hard.

He closes his eyes, trying to think unsexy thoughts before things get out of hand.

Tony feels Steve’s hand on his cheek. “What are you so afraid of?” Steve asks. His mouth is right next to Tony’s ear.

And there’s only one thing Tony can do. He pushes Steve away and hurdles out of the shower, half-hard and still soaking wet.

Steve emerges from the shower dry and fully dressed. He shakes his head, but doesn’t say anything.

Somewhere between then and leaving, Tony ends up dry.

“I’m sorry,” he says, as they’re walking out. “I just. I don’t know. I mean, of course I want you.”

Steve shrugs. “You’re afraid.”

“I’m not afraid,” Tony says.

“Good,” Steve says, cheerfully. “Then you won’t mind going to the gay bar tonight.”

Tony stops, but Steve keeps walking.

“Hold up,” Tony says, jogging a little to catch up with him. “The gay bar?”

“Yeah,” Steve says. “The one you’ve always wanted to go to.”

“I-I can’t,” Tony says. “I’m only sixteen.”

“Like that’s ever stopped you from getting what you want,” Steve says. “You have a fake ID. But hey, if you’re too scared-”

“I’m not scared,” Tony snaps. He’s quiet for a while. Yeah, he wants to go. But if someone sees him going in there, if word gets out… “Can we just be discreet?”

Steve soothes him with assurances that he’ll be absolutely discreet. Somehow, Tony doesn’t quite believe him.

For the rest of the day, Steve allows Tony to examine him. Tony just wishes he had more equipment. He mutters about having to break into one of the science labs later.

“But not tonight,” Steve says. “We’re going out now.”

“Yeah,” Tony says. He’s starting to have second thoughts about that.

“We’re going,” Steve says, obviously sensing Tony’s reluctance.

Tony expects him to change into something ridiculous and revealing, but he sticks with the tight t-shirt and jeans. Maybe he will be showing some discretion.

Outside, there’s a motorcycle that wasn’t there before. “I assume this is yours,” Tony says.

Steve nods and tosses Tony a helmet. “Nice, isn’t it? It’s vintage.”

Tony gets on to the bike behind Steve, and he’s not going to cling to Steve, because he’s not a girl-but once they get going, he doesn’t really have a choice. He holds tight to Steve’s waist, his chest pressed to Steve’s back. It’s nice, being this close to him. He tells himself to just let go and enjoy this.

Once they arrive at the bar, Tony takes a deep breath and follows Steve inside. It’s pretty much what Tony thought it would be: dim lights, loud music, men. He decides he likes it.

The first thing Steve does is buy Tony a beer. They sit together, and Tony wonders if they’re just going to spend the night getting drunk.

Steve gives him a look that suggests he has more in mind, and when Tony’s half finished with his beer, Steve leads him out on to the dance floor.

Tony Stark is not awkward. He is charming, witty, and above all, not awkward. And still, he’s not quite sure what to do with himself when Steve starts dancing with him. Should he touch Steve? Of course he wants to, but he feels a little helpless right now, doesn’t know what to do with his hands.

Steve smiles, and Tony melts. “Calm down,” he says, and though the music is loud, Tony hears him clearly. He grabs Tony by the hips and pulls him closer, so that their bodies are touching.

At some point Tony’s beer bottle disappears, and he wraps his arms around Steve’s body, resting his head on Steve’s shoulder. He feels unburdened for the first time since he started to realize he was gay. No one’s going to hurt him; he knows Steve wouldn’t allow that. He feels safe.

Steve turns his head to brush his lips over Tony’s neck, and Tony shivers. His heart speeds up. He’s been kissed before-after he wore Pepper down enough-but it was mostly a boring experience. But just feeling Steve’s lips on his neck is electric. He wants more.

Tony pulls back a little. “Um,” he says, intelligently, but it doesn’t matter, because then Steve is leaning in and kissing him.

And Howard Stark could walk in right now and Tony wouldn’t give a damn, because there’s nothing that could make Tony stop kissing Steve right now. Steve’s sucking on his bottom lip, and Tony opens his mouth so their tongues can meet, and oh God this is good. Tony grabs fistfuls of Steve’s shirt and tips his head to get a better angle.

And Tony is so, so stupid, because he could have been doing this all day. He could have been doing more. He thinks of Steve’s naked body and all the things he could do to it.

Steve slides his hands down and squeezes Tony’s ass, and Tony’s dick is really starting to take an interest in all of this. Time to get out of here.

But Steve seems content to just keep kissing him, and Tony can’t bring himself to break the kiss, even though he wants to get off.

Steve gets his thigh between Tony’s legs. Tony groans, “Oh God,” against his mouth. He’s not going to hump Steve’s leg here, no way. But his hips start moving anyway, and fuck, this is really happening. Tony touches Steve anywhere, everywhere, still kissing him sloppily.

Someone’s got to notice what they’re doing, but somehow they’re not being kicked out. Magic, maybe. Tony doesn’t care, because Steve’s kissing him and touching him and he’s humping Steve’s leg like a dog.

Fuck, fuck, he’s going to come in his pants and even though he’s only sixteen, there’s no excuse for that. But too late, Tony finally breaks the kiss and gasps, eyes shut tight as he comes. Steve holds him close through it.

Goddammit. He came in his pants. Humiliated, he opens his eyes, feeling like he should apologize to Steve.

Steve’s eyes are dark with unshielded lust. “Let’s get out of here,” he says, and leads a stumbling Tony out of the bar.

Steve must have done something, because Tony doesn’t feel any come in his pants. He gets on the motorcycle, not even hesitating to grab on to Steve. And it feels like it takes forever to get back to Tony’s place, to unlock the door, to get inside.

They’re all over each other, kissing and grabbing at each other. It makes the process of getting undressed more difficult, but Tony can’t stop touching Steve. They make it to the bedroom, somehow. Steve and Tony are both shirtless, and Tony can’t help but feel a little bit inadequate next to Steve.

Steve seems to sense this and pulls Tony close. “You’re beautiful,” he murmurs.

Tony’s going to protest this-handsome, maybe, but not beautiful-but then Steve starts taking off Tony’s pants. Tony moves back, falling on to the bed. Steve pulls off Tony’s pants and underwear and then just looks over Tony’s body.

“Beautiful,” he says again. He gets on top of Tony, and they return to kissing, which is nice, but Tony would like to be doing something more.

He slides his hands down the back of Steve’s pants. “Fucking hell,” Tony groans, “please take these off.”

Steve chuckles and rolls to the side, slipping out of his jeans. Tony reaches over, flattening his palm against Steve’s belly and moving his hand down until he’s reached the base of Steve’s erection. Steve’s hard, because of Tony. Tony licks his lips, considering.

“Later,” Steve says and gets on his side. “Turn over.” Tony does.

Tony hears a bottle being opened and then feels a single slicked up finger sliding inside him. He’s tried this before, but never could seem to find-

“God!” Tony thrusts into the mattress, pleasure exploding inside him.

Steve hums and slides another finger inside him, and then another, stretching Tony wide. He finds that spot again. “Uhh-fuck, wait,” Tony pants, trying to not writhe, afraid that if he moves at all he’ll come.

“Ready?”

“Yes,” Tony hisses. He’s got to have Steve inside him, now.

There’s some shifting and then something much thicker than Steve’s fingers is sliding inside Tony. It hurts, a little, but overwhelming is the feeling of being so full. “Okay?” Steve says, and his voice is a little strained, like he’s trying hard to maintain control.

Tony wants Steve to lose control, to just fuck him. “Do it,” he says.

Steve pulls back, thrusts shallowly into Tony.

“Oh come on,” Tony says. “Fuck me, Steve.”

“Pushy bottom,” Steve says. Then he grabs Tony by the hips and gets him up on his knees. Tony tries to get up on his hands, but Steve holds him down. He starts fucking into Tony like he means it, and all Tony can do is pant out nonsense and squirm, gasping, every time Steve hits that spot inside him.

Tony knows he’s not going to last long. It’s too much, too good, too hot for him to last. When Steve starts stroking Tony’s cock, that’s it, Tony’s coming hard. He groans into the pillow while Steve thrusts once, twice more into him before he goes still.

They collapse together, breathing hard. Steve’s landed so that he’s only partially on Tony, which Tony appreciates.

Steve kisses the base of Tony’s neck and then rolls off him. They don’t say anything for a long time.

Tony turns over and looks at Steve. Before he can stop himself, he’s asking, “Are you going to leave?”

“No,” Steve says. “Why would I?”

Tony shrugs. “I don’t know. It’s just, I’ve learned my lesson about not denying my sexuality.”

“This isn’t a movie,” Steve says. “I’m not your gay fairy godmother or something.” He brushes a lock of hair out of Tony’s eyes. “You’re stuck with me.” He pulls Tony into his arms, with Tony protesting that cuddling is for girls. Secretly, though, Tony likes it.

They fall asleep together, and when Tony wakes up, he’s still in Steve’s arms.

Pepper is standing at the end of the bed, smirking. “I see you did the right thing.”

“What the hell,” Tony says. “Pepper, I’m naked. With a man.”

“I know.” Pepper nods approvingly. “I like it.”

“Morning, Pepper,” Steve says.

Pepper smiles at Steve. “Morning, Steve. I see you had a good night.”

“We did.”

Tony sits up. “Out,” he says. “Get out.”

Pepper puts up her hands in surrender. “All right, I’m going. But I’m so getting the details out of you later.” She turns and leaves the bedroom, but Tony has a feeling she’s going to linger in the living room until he gets up to kick her out.

“That woman,” Tony mutters.

“I like her,” Steve says.

“You would.”

Steve gets out of bed, stretching. Tony’s pretty sure he’s showing off his body. He’s not complaining.

“So what do we do now?” Tony asks.

“Whatever we want.”

--------

It’s not that hard to set up a past for Steve. Tony gets him a birth certificate, a social security number, a driver’s license, the works. Steve doesn’t need much more than that. He’s magic, so money isn’t a problem. To Tony’s dismay, Steve decides to head off to Harvard to study English literature, of all things. He’ll never admit it, but Tony sort of likes when Steve recites poetry to him. Half the time he doesn’t understand what it’s about, but it’s usually romantic.

Steve says sexy things in French to Tony in bed. He’s learning how to cook, and everything he makes is delicious. For reasons Tony doesn’t understand, he mostly refrains from using his magic. He likes to do things the hard way, he says. It’s more fun.

They have lots of sex. All over Tony’s apartment, and that one time in one of Harvard’s libraries. And though Tony’s reluctant at first, they start doing other things, in public. Holding hands. Sometimes even kissing. The world doesn’t end. Some people make less than positive comments, but Tony shrugs them off.

As it turns out, Steve’s not perfect. In addition to not being great at science, he kind of sucks at using technology. Tony bans him from touching his equipment, just in case. Steve’s afraid of spiders, which is hilarious, but whenever Tony laughs at him for it, Steve denies him sex. So Tony tries his best to suppress his laughter every time Steve leaps on to the couch to escape a daddy long legs.

Tony’s dreading introducing Steve to Howard, but he’s promised Steve he’s going to come out to his father. He’s already got that dinner planned out. He’s even considering letting his father know that Steve’s a science experiment gone very right. Hopefully his father will believe him and not try to have him committed.

Life is good. Tony’s happy-how could he not be, with Steve? Every now and then he hooks Steve up to a machine to try to figure him out, but mostly, he’s just content that he has Steve in his life.

One day, he finally brings himself to thank Pepper for inspiring him to make Steve. She doesn’t act too smug about it.

She’s happy for him, happy to see him with Steve. “It’s weird,” she says. “It’s very weird, and I can’t explain it, but it’s obviously working for you.”

So despite his burning need for truth and science, Tony forgets about figuring out what happened that night. The stars were in the right place. Whatever. All that matters is it worked once, and he got Steve.