"Thanks, Jarvis," Steve said, turning on his heel to head for the fridge and then the -- well, unusual haunt. "It's good to be back."
Tony's laugh garned a tiny smirk out of the blond as he approached him. He was silently grateful for the unsolicited information Jarvis gave him, those few words telling him exactly what he needed to know.
"Hey, handsome," he said gently as he squatted down beside Tony, unslinging the bag off his shoulder and setting the bottle of water on the floor. He reached out to brush the dark bangs out of the engineer's eyes. "It's time to come back up to the light." He couldn't help but lean in to press a kiss to the man's forehead. God, he'd missed him so. "I have something to show you before that, though, if you'll let me?"
Rather than wait for permission, he dropped onto the floor beside Tony, pulling out his tablet from the bag and bringing up a program with a few flicks of his fingertips. "Jarvis, if you can pull up a bigger version of this in front of us, I'd appreciate it."
He sat back against the wall as the video began to play. It was of him, holding the camera out at arm's length, standing outside somewhere. "Hey, darling," the recorded version of him piped up, "it's me. You're probably wondering where I am and where I've disappeared to, again, and I promise, it's nothing that involves airships and the Arctic, this time." He grinned at his weak joke, beginning to walk. "Well, the truth is, I built a house! ... Okay, actually, I've been working on building a lot of houses lately to help folks who've been hardest hit by the forest fires out here. The difference about this house is that it's ours. Now, I love your house, don't get me wrong, it's beautiful. But it's always felt like just that -- your house. So, I drew up a new one, taking some of the things we love about your house and adding a few things to it, then I hired a team to help me bring those drawings to life."
He and the camera swung around to bring the outside of the building into view. It had some of the same modern features of the Malibu house, but there were already some distinct differences in the facade. "Tadaa~" recorded-Steve said with a grin. "Okay, before we go in, I also want to show you the 'yard.'" He swung out of view and turned the camera around to survey the property, which included acres of green grass in all directions bordered by trees. There were still a few trees here and there on the property, including around the house itself; there were mountains in the distance, giving the property a feel of seclusion. "And, oh, yeah, to help us make use of all this space, there are a couple of new residents already here waiting for you--" The camera panned around as a whistle sounded over the microphone. Two pitbulls came barreling around the house and bounding toward him -- one of which was the disabled rescue dog Tony had shown him weeks ago. A broad hand reached down to scratch their heads as the dogs panted and sniffed and tried to get a better look at the camera in Steve's hand. "They're all settled in and waiting for Daddy to come home."
As the camera swung around again, Steve paused the recording, giving Tony a sideways glance out of the corner of his eye. Clearing his throat, he murmured, "This is actually from almost a couple of weeks ago, now. I was supposed to show you this sooner, but an international emergency came up. SHIELD whisked me off, again, and I couldn't get the video delivered to you. They have literally been up my ass for months with missions that have kept me out of California and from being able to tell you anything about where I've been and what I've been doing. So while that doesn't excuse the complete and total radio silence on my end... I hope you'll come to forgive me. I never, ever meant to be gone this long without telling you, and I'm sorry. I am so, so sorry, Tony."
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