A week later...

"Would Miss Short Stuff Barton join her fabulous, genius Tony in his lab?" Tony voice rang out through Evie's kitchen.

"If you wait fifteen minutes, I'll bring you lunch, Tony. I know you haven't eaten yet."

"Now what would make you think that?"

"Your track record, Tin Man.

"Okay, okay, okay, you got me. What's on the menu?"

"Grilled cheese and tomato soup."

A moment of silence met her answer, then he replied, "I'll be there in less than five."

"Figured."

Four minutes later, Tony entered the kitchen as Evie put two bowls of soup on table. He plopped down as she set a plate of sandwiches on the table. "I take it whatever you wanted me for in your lab wasn't terribly important," she giggled as he began to dig in with gusto.

"Not when your soup and sandwiches are part of the equation," he answered. "besides what I wanted to ask you about was not actually science related."

"Oh?"

"Halloween is two days way, Missy, and Pepper says you didn't get a costume when she and Nat went shopping."

"Oh, my costume was ready two weeks ago." Evie dismissively waved her hand.

"Is that so?" Tony asked, giving Evie a pointed look over his bowl of soup.

"What?"

"Well, what is it? Where's my sneak peek?"

"Who said you'd get a sneak peek?" Evie answered, hands on her hips.

"Because, one, it's me; two, it's my party; and, three, I'm asking," Tony flippantly replied.

"Too bad, so sad, Tin Man."

"Aw, come on, Short Stuff, please?" He pulled his best puppy dog face.

"Nope," Evie denied. "I don't give sneak peeks of a costume for a masked costume party where no one is supposed to know what the others are wearing."

"Who said all that?"

"You did, oh 'King of Parties'."

"Darn." Tony slumped in his chair. Evie teasing stuck her tongue out at him as she rose to grab the iced tea pitcher from the counter. "Hey, I saw that!" he pointed at her.

"And whatcha gonna do about it?" Evie countered with a sunny smile.

Tony stood with his hands on his hips as he sauntered over to the counter, then reached a glass down from the cabinet. "Well, I might blast it off with my suit gauntlet next time you stick that tongue out at me."

"You wouldn't do that, Tony," Evie rolled her eyes as she poured his tea.

"Watch me, Short Stuff." Tony retorted, hands on his hips again

"You sure about that?" Evie asked sweetly, facing him with hands on her own hips. "'Cuz you know if you hurt me, not only will you be dodging Clint's arrows, but also Steve's shield, right?"

Tony paused, then hung his head in defeat. "You are too smart for your own good, Miss Barton."

"And you, Mister Stark, have too big of a mouth for your own good."

"Is that so?"

Suddenly, Steve's voice sounded through the apartment. "Evie Doll, you here?"

"In the kitchen, Soldier Boy," she called, never breaking eye contact with Tony.

Steve entered the kitchen to find his teammate and his best girl apparently having a staring contest. "Everything alright?" he asked in confusion.

"Oh yes, everything's fine." Evie finally turned to greet Steve with a smile. "Tony's joining us for lunch, so no trying to kill each other, boys."

"I'd never try to kill Spangles," Tony snarked as he returned his seat with his glass of tea. "I mean, who would be our Capsicle if I did that?"

Steve just shook his head as he took seat between Evie and Tony. Evie pressed a kiss to his cheek as she place bowl of soup in front of him, and, of course, Tony whistled, causing Steve to blush faintly.

"Tony," Evie shot the genius a warning look.

"Do I even want to know what the staring contest was about?" Steve asked to cover his blushing.

"Halloween costumes," Tony answered. "Short stuff refuses to give me a sneak peek," he whined. "She won't even tell me what it is."

"Well, if you wanted to know in advanced, you shouldn't have made it a masked party where no one is supposed see anyone's costume in advance." Evie answered with shrug.

"She's got a point, Stark."

"No comment from the peanut gallery, Gramps,"

"Hey, be nice, Tony," Evie intervened. "I'm being nice and letting you crash Steve and my lunch. You can be nice and not pull names like that."

"And what are you gonna do about it, Short Stuff?"

Without a word, Evie stood, took Tony's bowl from in front of him and moved it to the counter. He stared at her for a whole minute before he had the presence of mind to reach for a grilled cheese sandwich to replace his soup. However, a lightning fast wooden spoon blocked his hand from the sandwiches.

"No food until you promise to be nice."

"But…."

"No buts."

"Evieeeeeeee…."

"Tonyyyyyyyyy…"

"But it's my building!"

"And this is my lunch in my kitchen."

Steve did his best to cover his grin by very deliberately chewing his grilled cheese, but his blue eyes shone with mirth and pride in his girl's handling of Stark.

"Fine, I promise to behave," Tony huffed at Evie's unmoving face.

"See how easy that was?" Evie answered brightly. She brought his bowl back to him and kissed the top of his head. "Didn't hurt too much, did it?"

Tony shot her a deadpan look. "Oh, the agony."