When he gets the go-ahead, Tony starts work on the pancakes. They don’t have milk, and he’s hardly the pro with powder that Steve apparently is, so he does without it, using plain water instead. Without JARVIS there to point out where he’s going wrong, he has to pay more attention to what he’s doing than he usually would. He even goes so far as to read the instructions on the box, instead of making up his own as he goes along.

Yet despite his lack of culinary skill, the batter is smooth when he pours it into the pan and the pancakes are almost perfect circles. There’s a small pile of finished pancakes gradually growing larger on a plate on the counter when Steve emerges from his shower, looking more like himself than he did when Tony found him. He’s even got coffee brewing, but by this point in his life, he can make coffee in his sleep.

“Well, now you look like the Steve Rogers I know,” he comments casually, giving Steve a brief once over to make sure there’s nothing visibly wrong with him. “Much better, by the way. The beard doesn’t really work for you. It’s too… busy. How do you feel?”