"Aw, Tony," Steve has to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from grinning, because it's both endearing and hilarious that Tony would interpret his question as implicit criticism of his security techniques. "It was an honest-to-god question. I wasn't trying to give you a hard time. None of us were prepared for magical Norse god aliens."

He slides into bed next to him, folding his arm under his head. His gaze flicks lazily over the prone body beside him, like sex-brain hasn't quite given full control back to strategy-brain. Stark really is nice to look at.

He brightens at the reminder of Tony's hacking skills. "Of course. You were in their files before we even started arguing. Leaving yourself breadcrumbs is perfect. Anything we need filled in, the younger Steve can handle."

"Mind you, younger-Tony is going to be annoyed with you." Assuming both survive, which they will if Steve has anything to say about it.

"...on that note, I'm wondering if disrupting some of the communications on the Helicarrier would be worth it. If we can keep that nuke from going live, it would be one less complication." He reaches out and cups his hand around the back of Tony's head, gentle and subtly affectionate.

"And one less danger for me to worry about you getting into." No Tony, you are not expendable. You're essential.