Chapter Text
It had been a week since Tony and Steve had been rescued and both men were finally beginning to settle down. Of course, they were both still on edge, what with everything that had happened, but they were beginning to mend. Slowly.
The entire team had been great, making sure to not make any loud noises that could trigger Tony into a panic attack – Steve had told them on the sly to be careful of startling him, and although Clint was messing around with Tony as usual, he and Thor had definitely both turned things down. Including Thor’s volume settings, for which Tony was very thankful for. The only time that Tony had panicked in front of the team was when Natasha had accidentally dropped a mug. It had shattered upon impact with the floor and the loud noise was enough to make Tony jump so much that he poured a load of his own coffee down himself.
All things considered, things were beginning to return to normal. Or at least as normal as they could be when a team of badass super heroes were living and fighting enemies together!
"Morning handsome…” Steve leant forward and massaged Tony’s shoulders gently until the older man peeled an eye open and grumbled something unintelligible.
“C’mon Tony, it’s time to wake me up, I have some new recruits to train in a bit and you wanted to get some upgrades done on the suit!”
“Just ten more minutes…”
“Tony we both know that if I leave you now, you will fall fast asleep again and then you will be mad at me later for not getting you up. I’ll make it worth your while! I was thinking pre-training bacon pancakes…although if you aren’t interested, I guess I’ll just have to eat them all on my own!”
That got Tony’s attention.
In their short time together both men were finding out a lot about each other. For example, Steve often talks during his sleep, Tony likes to hang up all of his clothes in colour order and Tony has a secret love of Kylie Minogue – who knew? Well, nobody knew except for Steve because Tony had sworn him to secrecy on pain of death…oh and there was the fact that Tony would do almost anything for bacon pancakes. Including getting out of bed. Although it was a near thing.
Tony groaned after finishing his seventh pancake, staring longingly at the remaining pile in the centre of the table. Logically, Tony knew that there was no way he could eat anymore if he tried, but still, they were damn good pancakes.
“Well, I guess it’s time that I head off!” Steve stood from his chair, pushing it back and kissing Tony on the top of his head before grabbing their plates and putting the remaining pancakes in the fridge.
“Are you sure you can’t get out of it?”
“Sadly not, recruits to train, punches to throw and all that. I’ll see you later, Tony. Love you.”
“Love you too, Beefcake.”
Tony smiled softly to himself as Steve left the room. He had plenty of work to be getting on with, so he wandered down the hallway, humming to himself cheerfully and finger drumming all the way. As soon as he got to the lab he began blasting out AC/DC, singing along to himself as he worked and became absorbed in his work.
He would have happily spent his entire day working on various projects, but all of a sudden the alarm system that Tony had installed throughout the tower went off. The Avengers Assembly Alarm.
As for having a peaceful day…
“JARVIS, what’s happening?”
“There has been an attack three blocks away, a potential terrorist threat. Captain Rogers is already at the scene.”
“At the scene? How the hell did he get there already?”
“Captain America was already near the scene with a few new recruits, I believe that they had decided to have a strategy meeting at a nearby coffee shop.”
“And he’s there without backup? Shit.”
“Hawkeye and Miss Romanoff have both left to attend the scene, Sir. You must try to relax, they will get everything under control.”
“You’ve got to be joking, I need to go, now!” Tony could feel his heartrate accelerating and did his best to steady his hands by leaning on the back of his chair.
“Sir, you are still recovering from your injuries. You still have extensive bruising and your ribs are fractured!”
“JARVIS, deploy my suit!”
“Sir, I do not believe that you are ready to fight yet. The Captain will be most upset with me if he believes that I have enabled you to put yourself in harm’s way.”
“JARVIS, the team needs me! I am fine, look!” Tony motioned to himself, perhaps implying that he was up and about, and could therefore function well enough to be able to resume his position on the team.
“Sir, your heartrate is dangerously elevated, you are in a cold sweat and you are shaking violently, I am not going to put you in your suit.”
“JARVIS, you traitor,” Tony muttered, making his way over to his suits and stubbornly beginning to dress himself in his most up-to-date model. If JARVIS wasn’t going to help him, he’d put it on himself, even if it was going to take far longer than usual.
“Don’t know why I bothered inventing you if you won’t even do as I say. You’d have been better off as a vacuum cleaner or something!”
“Yes, insulting me will make it better, Sir.”
Remind Tony when he programmed sarcasm into JARVIS – he’s pretty sure that it isn’t the most becoming trait for an AI.
“It’s not too late to reprogram you,” Tony threatens. They both know it’s a hollow threat, because any man who builds himself friends to conquer loneliness isn’t’ going to turn down any affection that they can get. But JARVIS won’t hold a grudge and to be honest their usual sparring is helping Tony to calm down a little.
“Sir, I really do not believe that this is a wise course of action, you are putting yourself in danger, and you are in no fit state to be airborne.”
“When have I ever played it safe?”
“As you wish, Sir. Come home safe.”
“Awww, you really do care. Seya later JARVIS.”
Tony opened his eyes and took in the scene around him. He was in a building – right, that made sense considering that he had entered the office block in order to take down the man who was threatening to blow up the entire building. Yes, that was right – he wasn’t a terrorist – this was all some sort of domestic gone wild, and the man was threatening to blow up his girlfriend, who had cheated on him.
Which ok, not cool, but still, blowing up a building full of hundreds of people really isn’t the best way of dealing with your heartache.
Clint had managed to take the guy down with a single arrow to the shoulder and Natasha had followed up by knocking him out with a single punch, but not before the guy had set his bomb off. Luckily for the Avengers, and everyone else for that matter, the guy was just some idiot who had no idea how to make a bomb. If Tony had to hazard a guess the man had probably looked up how to make explosives on WikiHow or something.
To be frank, the explosion had been pathetic, but it had been enough to set the nearby curtains on fire. And the paperwork. And pretty much everything else flammable. Everything happened so fast. The Avengers were well equipped to take down Doombots and psychotic killers, but they weren’t firefighters!
In no time at all the team had managed to get almost everyone out of the building, everyone except a young man who had fallen unconscious and been trapped by a fallen girder. Of course, Steve had run straight back into the building when a sobbing receptionist realised that one of her friends was missing.
And, obviously, Tony had run straight in after him. His suit protected him from most of the heat and the ventilation system that he had installed meant that breathing was no problem, but Steve on the other hand had no such protection.
He’d hauled the girder off the unconscious man, lifting it like it was nothing more than a crate of beer, but the smoke was overcoming him and despite the serum running through his veins, he was struggling to breathe.
Tony grabbed the man and flew him out of the building before turning and sprinting back into the fire again. By the time he got back Steve had collapsed onto the ground, barely breathing from the amount of smoke he had inhaled.
It took all of Tony’s willpower not to completely freak out.
He grabbed Steve and hauled him into a firefighter's lift, inwardly cursing that Steve was pretty much pure muscle and therefore weighed what felt like a tonne.
“C’mon Steve, don’t give up on me now!” Tony sprinted as fast as he could, inwardly gasping with relief when he heard the familiar sirens of the fire engines that had been called to the scene. The fire was almost out of control now, flames raging around both men as Tony forced himself onwards. Without any warning a huge chunk of ceiling fell down and hit Tony square on the head, snapping the metal of his helmet with the sheer force and momentum. Shit.
Tony grimaced as smoke and heat began coursing through his suit and he began to cough violently. His lungs already worked at a reduced capacity due to his arc reactor, often making it difficult for Tony to breathe through intense exercise, let along through heavy smoke. His vision was already beginning to swirl and flames began licking at his ankles. Time was running out, and fast.
Just when Tony thought that it was the end, and that he had failed Steve, he saw a figure in the distance. He called out frantically, choking on smoke as the firefighter ran over and took hold of Steve.
The last thing Tony saw before blacked out was the firefighter running with Steve in his arms, and another firefighter coming over to him. Oh, and the second girder that fell…right on top of him.
Tony was aware of someone screaming. The noise was rough and ragged, animalistic and clearly a sign of pure unadulterated agony.
Stark wished that the person, whoever it was, would stop because the noise was making Tony’s head feel like it was about to explode.
In fact everything was agony.
And…oh, he was screaming.
He was the one making that godawful noise.
Right.
Tony looked around frantically, panicking when he couldn’t move his body. Everything felt heavy and when Tony looked down at his body he was horrified to see the giant girder pinning him down. The fire in the room had been put out and there was someone leaning over him, placing an oxygen mask over his face.
He tried to talk, to ask if Steve was ok, but the firefighters were far too busy with the steel girder.
Tony blacked out again.
“-he’s coming around.” Tony groaned when he came to, his head throbbing and everything aching as he opened his eyes.
“Steve?”
“Hey Stark, you had us worried there for a moment, you shouldn’t have gone all night-in-shining-armour like that!”
“Clint? Where’s Steve, is he-?” Tony tried to sit up and instantly regretted his decision when agony shot through his stomach.
“Whoa, no moving for you buddy! Relax, Steve’s ok. He’s still unconscious from the smoke inhalation, but he’s going to be fine. You are far worse off. You need to look after yourself more Tony! That was practically a suicide attempt!”
“But Steve, he’s going to be alright? He wasn’t h-hurt?” Tony’s voice was raw from inhaling so much throat and with each word Tony felt like he was swallowing razors.
“I promise you, Tony, he’s fine. You got him out in time. Everyone made it out and the man has been arrested. You did good, just get some rest. Natasha and Bruce are both with him, he’ll be fine.”
“No, n-need to see him!”
“The nurses are so not going to let that happen.”
“Don’t care, I’m going.”
“And how do you suggest you are going to do that, Shellhead, in case you haven’t noticed, you are in no fit state to be walking.”
“Just get me a wheelchair or something, Birdbrain. It shouldn’t take a genius to figure that out.”
“No can do, you need bedrest buddy.”
“Fine, wheel my bed to him then!”
“Sure, because nobody will notice someone with a bow and arrow wheeling Ironman through a hospital in a bed. We are trying to keep a low profile!”
“Please Clint…”
“Fine. But if I get in trouble with Coulson you are taking full responsibility.”
“Fair enough, now giddy up.”
Ok, so that probably wasn’t the best idea that Tony had ever had. He and Clint had just been shouted at for a good five minutes – something about Tony taking responsibility for his own heath and Clint being an enabler, but Tony only had time for Steve.
With a sigh and a threat of additional paperwork Coulson had let them into Steve’s room, where Tony finally broke down. Steve was hooked up to at least three various machines that were monitoring his heart rate, breathing and he was wearing an oxygen mask. His face was gaunt and there were still a few smears of soot on his face.
Tears streamed down Tony’s face as he reached out a hand to touch Steve’s arm. He didn’t care that the rest of the team were staring at him incredulously – they all knew that he and Steve had grown close, spent a few nights together even, but they had all assumed that it was a one-off kind of thing, a response to the emotional trauma of their kidnapping.
Who knew, Tony Stark had a heart after all!
“He’s going to be alright, Tony.” Bruce did his best at consoling Tony, gingerly patting him on the arm and shushing him gently. “Try to get some rest, we will wake you when he stirs.”
Tony nodded weakly, burying his head into the scratchy pillow provided by the hospital and thanking Clint when he parked up his hospital bed next to Steve’s.
It was a few hours before Steve finally stirred, momentarily alarmed when he was assaulted by bright white hospital lights and the strong smell of bleach and antiseptic. However, he was immediately calmed when he realised that the weight on his arm was Tony’s hand.
“What happened?” Steve croaked, pulling the mask off of his face and turning to Clint and Natasha, who were both peering at him anxiously.
“You passed out in the fire, smoke inhalation and all that. Tony saved you in the nick of time.”
“Is he ok?” Steve whispered, trying not to wake his partner.
“He’ll be fine. He should be in his room getting some rest but you know how stubborn Stark is. You should be as right as rain in a few hours, what with the serum, but Tony is going to need some r&r. His ribs have been re-broken and although there is no internal damage, he was crushed under a girder so he has some pretty extensive bruising across his stomach and chest. If it wasn’t for the suit…” Natasha left the rest unspoken, a rare flicker of emotion crossing her face.
“Oh god, this is all my fault!” Steve moaned into his arm, fear hitching in his throat. He could have gotten Tony killed by acting rashly and putting himself in danger, fully knowing that Tony would follow him back into that burning building.
“No, Steve, you saved a civilians life, both of you did! It was Tony’s decision to go back in, and we are all glad that he did. It’s good to have you back.” Steve nodded weakly, rolling over and gently rubbing Tony’s shoulder until the older man woke up.
“Steve? Are you-” Tony was cut off by Steve moving in and kissing him frantically, cradling the other man’s head in his hands and threading his fingers through his hair. They both tasted faintly like smoke and the kiss was awkward and sloppy due to the angle they were both at, but it filled both men with love.
“Woah guys, get a room!” Clint smirked, only to be punched in the shoulder by Natasha.
“Don’t you ever do that again Tony. If you’d have gotten yourself killed I’d -”
“I’m ok, we’re both ok. I love you Steve, I’m not going anywhere.”
“I love you too Tony, with all of my heart.”
The unlikely pair of lovers were pretty much inseparable after that. Steve would spend all of his spare time with Tony in the lab, showering his lover with kisses and massagers as he got on with work. Whenever he had to go and train the new recruits, Tony would come out from his lab and watch from the sidelines, just in case.
It was clear that no matter what, both men would do anything for each other. Although Tony was under strict instruction to not put his life on the line again to save Steve.
Everyone knew that Tony would do just that if ever he thought that Steve was in danger. But the same thing could be said about Steve, who had sworn that he would never let any harm come to his lover ever again.
So far, they were both doing a good job at looking after each other. One step at a time.