If They Knew All About You

Kids Love Me

Tony picked up a piece of the random pile of parts that he had scattered all over his workbench. He quickly went to unscrew the first screw he could find. It wasn't like Rogers would be able to tell that the parts in front of him didn't belong to each other at all, some old armor, some old tablet, he might actually recognize the engine piece that lay smack in the middle of the heap, so Tony quickly put it back into the drawer.

The elevator doors buzzed open. At least he wasn't in full Captain America uniform. He had changed into jeans and a tight workout shirt. Tony wouldn't be surprised if he had actually jogged from the Compound to the Tower. His eyes went down to the piece of junk in his hand again.

"What up, Cap?"

Rogers stepped up all the way to Tony's workbench before he spoke up. "I was looking for you at the Compound. We need to talk."

"Can't Cap. Little busy. I can drop by the Compound later tonight."

"This is urgent."

"Then I'll drop by urgently. Tonight."

Rogers huffed and shifted his stance from one foot to the other. His voice was low and Tony tried to ignore the short looks that the Captain sent into the corner where Peter sat and made himself look busy typing on the tablet.

"There's a kid sitting in your lab, Tony," he said, his voice low.

"I'm aware."

"I mean, Nat mentioned an intern, but I thought... Did you get a kid in here just to prove a point?"

Tony rolled his eyes at him. "Seriously, Cap?"

Rogers had the good manners to look embarrassed by his own question. "Sorry, it's just... I've never seen you with an intern and this... This doesn't seem safe. You're usually so careful to keep your Iron Man technology out of other people's hands."

"That's not what we're working on. It might shock you, Cap, but the Avengers are not actually my day job. It's more of a hobby really."

"Don't be an ass."

Tony dropped his hands and both the screwdriver and the piece of tablet landed on the tabletop with a low bang. "I'm being an ass? You just accused me of dragging a kid off the street and into my lab to prove a point to Nat," he whispered completely ignoring the fact that Peter would likely be able to hear them either way. He could only hope that the kid was so paralyzed that he would try to drown out their voices.

"Right." Rogers bit his lip. Then he cleared his throat and called out, "Hi, there."

Tony swallowed deep and shot a quick look over his shoulder in Peter's direction, who had frozen stiff in his seat.

"The kid's working, Cap. Let him be."

Rogers frowned at him. "I'm just being polite." He looked back over to Peter. "Hi. I'm Steve."

Tony turned again and found the kid staring, mouth soundlessly gaping open. He cleared his throat again. "Listen, we're in the middle of—"

He turned to the Captain who had a brilliant smile plastered on his face, nodding encouragingly before he dropped his voice to interrupt Tony. "What's wrong with him? He looks freaked out. Did you like ground him or something?"

"What?" Tony whispered back out of reflex. "Of course not. Nothing's wrong with him."

"How you doing? Learning a lot?" Steve called out louder in Peter's direction.

Oh, this was so not how Tony wanted things to go. Peter was still cowering in his chair, spooked by the sheer presence of Captain America.

"Come on, Cap. You intimidate him."