Chapter Text
Two weeks. Tony had been to Beijing, Brazil, Mexico City, Rome, and Moscow for business meetings. And now he was finally home.
Home, as in his California beach house, not his penthouse in New York. Honestly, he just wanted a break from the same scenery in New York, and Pepper barging into his lab ever so often with something for SI.
At least here she couldn’t do that, she’d have to call first. And he was most likely not gonna answer if she did.
Something else had been nagging him too.
The fact that he hadn’t seen Rogers for the last three trips he’d taken. He didn’t think Rogers would have actually taken his advice, the man was stubborn as a mule, but then again he had thrown a drink in his face.
Maybe his point had gotten across after all.
Whatever it didn’t matter, he was going to spend the next three days holed up in his lab, forgetting about everything and everyone.
And he did just that, or tried to, by the second day he was too frustrated to try and build anything.
The cause of his frustration was Rogers, as usual, these days. But not because the super-soldier had shown up at his house, no he was angry because he hadn’t.
He wanted to know why. Why of all times did Rogers decide to listen to him now? He didn’t listen when Tony begged him not to tear apart their family, or when he told him not to meddle with government affairs, so why listen now?
Honestly, it was starting to drive him a little crazy
Knowing he wouldn’t find the answer in his lab, he headed to the beach, where the sun was minutes away from setting.
He wanted to clear his head before he went back to New York. He needed to get Steve out of his head.
“Tony”
It felt as if his presence was right beside him,
“Tony”
As if he could almost hear him
Tony snapped out of his trance the moment he felt a hand land on his shoulder, only to see Steve kneeling next to him, a worried look on his face.
“Tony, are you okay? I’ve been calling you for the last ten minutes”, Steve looked him over as he talked.
Tony finally realized the sun had set and the sky was dark, how long had he been out here? More importantly, how long had Steve been here?
He shook off the other’s hands and started to get up, “How long have you been here?”, he put some space between the two of them.
Steve was still looking worriedly at him, but he didn’t try to come closer. “Uh, not long. I didn’t even know if you’d be here, it was a long shot after I heard you weren’t going back to New York”
‘After I heard you weren’t going back to New York’
How had he known that? Pepper hadn’t even known he was going to California until he was already there. It was a spur-of-the-moment decision he’d made and was now starting to regret it.
“And how’d you hear that?”, he was going for casual but his voice came out shaky, he took another step back but this time Steve took one forward
“I-I just needed to see you, Tones”, even though Steve’s voice sounded soft and welcoming, his eyes were sharp and following Tony’s every move
Tony felt like his heart could beat out of his chest, “How’d you know, Steve?”, this time his voice came out stern, even though he felt himself shaking.
Steve sighed and clenched his jaw, “God, Tony you really just couldn’t let this be a nice visit”
Tony saw the moment those blue eyes hardened, “Steve”, he started backing up slowly and glanced back at the mansion.
Steve's eyes followed his, “We both know you can’t outrun me Tones”
Tony balled his fist, “Oh fuck you, Rogers”, and then he started running, of course, he didn’t get far. Steve cleared the short distance between them in no time, and tackled Tony from behind.
“You know, Tones, I really tried to fix this. I tried to fix us”, Steve grabbed Tony and flipped him over on his back before straddling his things and binding his wrists with one of his own hands.
“But you just had to make it difficult”, Tony struggled under the other, twisting this way and that, but it was no use, Steve had him completely pinned.
Steve’s free hand clamped loosely around his throat, and he immediately went still
“Steve”, he whimpered, there were tears flowing freely from his eyes, and his chest felt too tight, “Steve, Steve please!”
Steve shushed him, and bent down to brush a kiss behind his ear, “It’s okay, sweetheart. I know, don’t worry I'll make it quick”
Steve’s hand tightened around his neck, and Tony started to struggle again once he couldn’t breathe. But it was no use Steve only squeezed harder until Tony’s vision started swimming with black spots.
Steve’s mouth was still moving but Tony couldn’t make anything out anymore, he gave one last futile twist before letting the darkness consume him.
Tony woke with a start, his hand immediately going for his throat. His breathing was erratic as he looked around finally recognizing he was still in his lab.
Had he ever left?
He dragged a hand over his face, trying to get his breathing under control. He’d had nightmares before, even more since Siberia happened, but none of them were ever that bad. None of them had Steve trying to kill him.
His nightmares of Captain America driving a shield through his chest were Captain America, not Steve Rogers.
Steve, his beautiful, kind Steve, who always had the right intentions would never do that. Not to him.
He felt a sob rack his still-shaking body, he felt tired. Not just the regular type of tired, no he felt as if he could just end it all. He was tired of pretending to not want to see Steve, not wanting him in his arms every time he showed up wherever he was.
He just wanted everything to go back to normal, he didn’t want to have to talk about what happened, he wanted Steve just to know. But the rational part of his mind knew they would have to talk and figure everything out before they could go back to even a fraction of what they once were.
Tony wiped the tears off his face, before reaching over into one of his lab drawers and pulling out the flip phone Steve had mailed him months ago. He was finally ready to use it.
He was ready to fix them.