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Fury and Hill had teamed up in the debrief that quickly devolved into a dressing down of all of them, several arguments, a few threats, a thrown-together statement for the media and about three hours of their lives gone.
An alien from the 31st century had come back to yell at and kill all of the Avengers, bringing an invasion force twice as big as the Chitauri’s to New York.
Tony had tried to reverse the time jump they had made to arrive, happy to find a base of his own code, but this Kang must have foreseen that because suddenly a T-Rex had started rampaging New York on top of the invasion. Tony had been able to send it back, but not before becoming a chew toy. His armor had been forced inward, forcing his ribs in, and Tony had passed out right after he sent it back.
He had come back to in a small crater, wheezing and coughing, trying to get the armor off through a brain fog, feeling like he was suffocating. His HUD and Jarvis were trying to tell him he was okay. His ribs had amazingly not broken, although his midriff was severally bruised. As they didn’t break, his lungs were at full capacity. Depending on what else happened, he’d be fine after some bed rest.
Some civilians ran up to him when he didn’t move, Clint behind them on evacuation duty to clear the area, only for him to scream, making the civilian scream which did not help Tony’s conviction he was suffocating to death. If Clint’s scream was the last thing he heard, he’d come back to life out of spite that the universe would do that to him.
“There’s a manual unlock somewhere-” Clint and several of the civilian hauled him up into a sitting position. Tony could barely stay awake, much less hope to communicate. “Jarvis, where is it?”
“Clint, it should be under the aft projectile storage on his left side.”
“Aft projectile storage-”
“Approximately T1 to T5 of his thoracic vertebrae.”
“T15 thora-what?”
They finally got him out, Clint throwing Tony’s arm around his shoulders, herding the civilians to the evacuation point, pulling Tony along. He was left there with a comm the civilians were trusted with as he was given water and room in a small office building.
SHIELD had found him there three hours later when medics were able to arrive. He was taken to the other Avengers, Steve becoming responsible for him as he continued in the daze.
Tony vaguely wondered if Natasha knew they were- not seeing each other, but were something- although he heard her distantly reasoning it was because Steve was in the best shape out of all of them.
Steve had grabbed his hand, grounding him, and Tony accepted it as it led him to the debrief.
And yes, Tony continued to act like he was in a daze long past the shock wearing off, and not only to get out of getting yelled at about the dinosaur.
Steve had been hanging out more and more in his workshop, and Tony had taken the chance to talk to someone beside Jarvis or his robots, someone to bounce ideas off of. Tony had started to see more smiles and hear more laughter from him, which he had thought was impossible. Steve was more patient on missions, listening to him instead of dismissing him.
So it was weeks of Steve being like this, supporting himself against Tony when he laughed, steady reassurances when Tony was going crazy over something-
Tony was working in his workshop, elbow-deep in a new suit of armor, tuning out Jarvis and batting away Dum-E as they tried to make him stop to eat and sleep. He didn’t hear the door to the workshop open and didn’t know Steve was in the room until he sat by him.
“Jarvis says you’ve gone three days without sleep.”
Tony stopped, extracting his arms from the torso of the armor. “It’s been three days?”
“Longer since you’ve eaten properly.”
“I’m also done with this suit and then I’ll do human stuff.”
Steve sighed, trying to take the tools out of Tony’s hands, his warm skin burning against Tony’s.
“Another hour, Steve. That’s all I need.” Tony grabbed Steve’s arm to get him to stop, leaving black grease hand-shaped stains on him. “Shit.”
“It’s okay. But you need to eat and sleep before you pass out.”
“I’ve stayed up longer, gone longer.” He turned back to the suit.
“Tony-”
He was feeling light-headed now that he’d been pulled out of his focus, but one final push would finish this armor. “Nope.”
Steve stood up, Tony realizing it was only so Steve could have an angle to pull him bodily off the workbench.
Tony just fell backwards off of it, his legs deciding to not function properly, Steve trying to catch him.
He wasn’t sure who kissed who first, or how it happened, but his hands were in Steve’s hair, leaving black marks throughout the golden strands. One incredibly large hand cupped Tony’s cheek, the other by his shoulder to prop him up as he hung over Tony.
Tony had flipped them over as they continued to make out. Now that he wasn’t holding himself up, Steve started exploring Tony’s body with his hands, his warmth burning into Tony everywhere he touched.
Tony had his hands under Steve’s shirt when two hands stopped him. Tony pulled back from kissing him to see Steve’s face flushed red, his eyes wide as his mind processed.
Tony all but ran- or tried to, at least- to the door of his workshop as Steve stayed frozen, only to fall over when his head decided he was too tired for that.
A throat was awkwardly cleared behind him before he was hauled up, hands supporting him and helping him to the lift.
Steve had left him alone in his room when he muttered something along the lines of being able to take care of himself.
“Jarvis?”
“That really did happen, Sir. It was not a product of your wearied state.”
“Are you sure?”
“Indeed. Perhaps you should sleep.”
Tony had nodded, falling face first into bed, hoping Jarvis didn’t see the blush blooming across his cheeks.
Needless to say, Steve and Tony avoided each other as much as they could after that, falling into awkward friends out of necessity for missions.
So Tony was going to enjoy Steve holding his hand as long as he could because he liked Steve a lot and hadn’t gotten that kiss off his mind.
“Tony, I let it slide while we were getting debriefed, but I know the shock’s worn off. You can stop holding Steve’s hand.”
Tony looked up at Natasha, blushing as he pulled his hand back to him. She looked between the two of them before rolling her eyes, starting the Avenjet to take them back to the tower.
Once again, he ended up in his rooms alone, staring around at the empty space. Tony braced himself against a wall as his head spun, the air pushing in on him.
“Oh god.”
“Sir, you are safe.”
“A freaking T-Rex-”
“I know. You need to breathe.”
Tony shook his head, his blood running cold as the room continued to press in on him, falling to his knees.
“Jarvis?”
“Sir is having a panic attack, Captain.”
Steve sat down, reaching for Tony’s face, only for him to tense up, his breath growing shorter and faster.
“Tony, listen to me. You’re safe. You’re alive.”
“Can’t breathe-”
Steve reached for him again, taking Tony’s hand and placing it on his chest. “Breathe with me, Tony.”
“Can’t-”
“You can just-” Steve inhaled deeply, Tony wheezing in a small breath. “See, you can breathe, just try to make it deeper-”
Tony breathed in, the spinning stopping as he calmed down, his hand still pressed onto Steve’s chest.
“Where-”
“Jarvis was worried and suggested I take the stairs to keep an eye on you.”
Tony nodded, shutting his eyes as he retracted his hand, Steve letting go. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize. You’re okay.”
“I- I think I’m good now. You can leave.”
There was a silence, neither of them moving.
“Tony?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m sorry.”
“Why are you sorry? I was the one having a stupid panic attack.”
“For- freaking out the other week when we canoodled.”
That got Tony to open his eyes as he looked at Steve like he was an alien. “Canoodled?”
“Sir, canoodle was a common word in the early to mid-twentieth century. It means-”
“I know what it means, Jarvis.”
“Again, I’m sorry, I didn’t see it coming-” he looked down nervously, picking at his hand “-and freaked out.”
“God no, it was my fault, I never should have kissed a- friend, in the first place.”
Another silence stretched out.
“Why aren’t you leaving?”
“Because- because I saw the man I like almost get eaten by a dinosaur today, and I’m worried.”
“Wait, back up.”
“If it was just an accidental kiss, that’s okay, ignore me saying I like you.”
“It wasn’t an accident- okay, it was, but- I like you too.”
Steve’s face broke into one of those bright smiles as he looked back down, embarrassed, Tony’s heart skipping a beat.
“If you want me to leave, I’ll leave you alone, or I’ll sleep on the couch in case you-”
“Sleep with me. I mean, not like that, my body is too bruised, but the room feels too big and-” Tony trailed off as he realized just how stupid that sounded.
“I’ll stay.”
The tension dropped from Tony’s body, and he worked himself to a standing position, offering his hand to Steve, who kissed him as soon as he was up.
Steve ended up wrapped around Tony, one arm carefully draped across his rib cage, pressing kisses into Tony’s spine as he slowly relaxed, falling asleep with a smile on his face.