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“No, stop!” Steve screamed desperately, gritting his teeth against the pain going through his arm in the next second. Their captor laughed as he pressed the red-hot pipe against his arm again, slightly higher than the last spot, but Steve only had eyes for Tony.
Tony, strapped to a chair like him, directly across the room. Tony, who was writhing in pain. Tony, his soulmate, feeling Steve’s pain with him because he had been too slow to stop their capture.
The man finally lifted the pipe, and Steve heaved in deep breaths, slightly dizzy from the sudden absence of pain. Burns littered his arms and the tops of his legs, having been stripped down to his undershirt and boxers, shiny and red. Shaking it off quickly, he looked back up at Tony. His stomach dropped when he saw Tony’s body leaning to the right, eyes heavy as he fought to stay conscious. “Tony!”
Thankfully the other man had enough still in him to lift his head, brown pain-filled eyes meeting his. “Sweetheart, I’ll get us out of here, I promise. It-,” he was cut off, letting out a scream when the reheated pipe was placed against his pec. From in front of him, Tony’s scream echoed off the walls.
After what seemed like forever, the pipe was taken away from Steve’s skin. Ignoring the pain still rippling through his chest, Steve tried to make eye contact with Tony again. This time, his soulmate was barely able to nod his head, but still signaled to Steve that he was hanging on.
“Now,” the man said, stepping into Steve’s view. “Tell us what we want to know. Or we will adjust our methods.”
“Go to hell,” Steve spit out, chest still heaving from the agony of the burns. The sudden rapport of a gun going off shocked the hell out of Steve, but that was quickly overcome by the burning pain in Steve’s thigh. Looking down, he gaped at the new hole in his leg, almost unable to believe that he was shot despite the clear evidence.
As if in a daze, Steve heard Tony scream his name, and only due to the fact that he sounded angry was he able to look over at Tony. And he looked furious.
Straining against the ropes around his wrists and ankles, Tony was red in the face, chest heaving but pain supposedly forgotten as he kept screaming for Steve. “Steve! Honey, keep your eyes on me! Hey! Look at me! Steve!” Against his better judgment, Steve’s eyes were falling shut, but Tony sounded so scared….he managed to open his eyes back up. “There you go, just stay with me, I’ll get us out of here!”
“Oh, really? And how will y-” The man suddenly cut off, yelling angrily in the next second, and Steve realized his eyes had closed again. Dragging them open, he watched, confused, as Tony tackled their captor, somehow having ripped through his restraints.
Another gunshot went off, the man trying to shoot Tony as they grappled for the weapon. Tony groaned in frustration when the man pushed his face away, but managed to get an arm free in the next second. With an almighty yell, Tony threw one, two, three punches at the man’s face, and he finally went limp with a whimper. Then Tony fell to the ground beside him, and Steve’s heart leapt to his throat.
Before he could call over to him though, Tony started moving, pushing himself to his feet with a groan. Steve’s eyes started drooping again as Tony limped over to him, then he felt Tony start untying the ropes around his hands and feet. “Stay awake just a little longer honey, our team will be here any minute.”
Steve tried to respond, but barely managed to nod his head before letting it loll onto his chest. Warm hands cupped his cheeks in the next second, and his head was lifted so that he was looking into those lovely, brown eyes. They were red-rimmed, lingering pain swimming within them from the torture, but Tony only leaned forward so their foreheads were touching. “This’ll sting,” Tony murmured, before placing his hand firmly over the wound in Steve’s leg.
Steve hissed in pain, placing his hands around Tony’s waist, each movement agony yet needing to feel Tony safe and whole in his arms. They spent a couple minutes like that, just breathing together, recuperating after that ordeal.
The low rumble of thunder broke through the silence, and Steve shivered, groaning when the movement sent another shock of pain through him. Tony just held Steve closer, whispering with a small grin, “See? Thor’s here, so we’ll be out of here in no time.”
“Knew you’d save us,” Steve murmured, eyes becoming heavy with sleep.
Tony hummed, laughing softly in the next second. “I think we should keep exploring our bond, because I could have sworn I got a burst of super-soldier strength back there.” Steve just smiled, leaning into Tony’s embrace, finally succumbing to sleep.