Work Text:
There is little satisfaction that comes from fighting your former lover. For most people, that is. Tony Stark is not most people. This match right here? It’s what he’s been waiting for. For years it's been the only thing he's craved and hoped for. Though as those years passed, the thought of the match happening started to cease in Tony’s mind, almost as if something was telling him to forget about it. He probably should’ve. Continuing to wait around for him to return was not an option, because Tony wouldn’t be wrestling forever. So, with each turn of his calendar, Tony was hit with the realization that the very hope he had built his career on was dwindling into nothingness by the second. And of course, it hurt, though there wasn’t a thing he could do about it.
But then all that hoping he had been doing paid off. All the badgering to journalists about who he wished he could wrestle the most, and the not so subtle messages he sent in his interviews. They had worked and Tony was gifted the match he had wanted most in life for the past few years:
Tony Stark vs. Steve Rogers
This wasn’t a dream match, however. No. The fans and viewers would call it that, but to Tony it was so much more. You see, Tony didn’t want to refer to this as a dream match any longer because it had become reality. In his dreams, Steve always walked away victorious. He hoped to change that outcome.
It was well-documented that Tony Stark didn’t have the best record against Steve Rogers in singles competition, and this match was more than just a shot at redemption. It was his chance to prove that he belonged at the top. His chance to show the wrestling industry and the world why he could lead them to heights they had never seen. His chance to have Steve come home.
If Steve saw how much Tony had improved in the time he’d been gone, it would be enough to make him forget why he left in the first place. That’s why this match had been so important to Tony for so long. Every interview, every televised event, every pay-per-view . . . they had all led right here, to this moment.
A gentle hand was placed on Tony’s back as he warmed up backstage. He glanced over his shoulder to see Pepper’s warm gaze. “Good luck,” she said, and nothing more. She didn’t have to. Her expression and touch spoke volumes.
Off to the side stood Rhodey, giving Tony a sad stare and sorrowful smile. “You ready, Tones?” Rhodey knew to a better extent everything that Tony had gone through to have Steve return. Everything he had sacrificed. His happiness, his chances at love. He had been so obsessed with having another match with Steve, it almost cost him everything. And it would’ve too, if Tony hadn’t finally stopped to ask himself: is it worth it? Is it worth losing it all?
He rose from the locker room floor, turning around and instantly smiling genuinely at the sight of his friends, who had unknowingly reminded him that their friendship would never be worth losing. “Yeah,” Tony nodded, accepting Pepper’s hug, then moving to hug Rhodey. “I was born ready.”
+
Tony hadn’t been able to catch his breath since the match started, and he hadn’t expected anything less with Steve. He was go go go all the time, something Tony had figured out in their first outing as a couple in Brooklyn. Steve wanted to show Tony all the sights and sounds of his home in the span of a couple hours; Tony wanted to sleep after hour one, exhausted from the pure energy Steve radiated. Though that was then, this is now. Now, here the two were, not sharing a nice meal on a Friday night, but throwing stiff forearms in the center of the ring, the crowd split down the middle when deciding who to cheer.
Then Steve ducked one of the forearms, causing Tony to stumble forward. He felt Steve’s arms wrap around his waist and he threw him overhead in a release German suplex. Tony took the hit but was back up on his feet in an instant, immediately following his recovery with an unforgiving knee to Steve’s head that sent a gasp through the sold-out crowd of thousands and Steve’s body slumping to the mat. He laughed sadistically, playing up to his villain character as he hooked his arms under Steve’s shoulders, dragging him over to the corner. Steve came to then, kicking his leg upwards, catching Tony in the nose with his knee and freeing himself in the process. Before Tony could regain his balance, he was kicked through the ropes, landing onto the cold, hard arena floor. No time to acknowledge his pain, Tony rebounded quickly to prevent Steve’s offense by wrapping an arm around his neck and landing on the floor with a brutal neckbreaker.
And there it was. The callback to their last singles match. A moment where Tony felt he had the upper hand and could run away with the victory. He had been drastically wrong. This was his opportunity to right his mistakes.
After the neckbreaker, the two kept fighting it out for what seemed like hours, neither of them knowing how long it had really been. Tony had hit his finishing move, but Steve kicked out; Steve hit his finishing move, yet Tony had kicked out. It was a stalemate and the crowd ate it up. Breathing heavy and completely spent, Tony found the strength to climb to the top turnbuckle, not even sure what he was going to do. Then he saw Steve charging for him and briefly flashed back to their last match, where Tony took an insane hurricanrana.
This time he was prepared, and this time – in the split second that Steve jumped up to fling Tony to the floor – Tony back flipped off the turnbuckle, landing on his feet with a slight loss of balance while Steve landed belly-first on the outside, emitting a low groan. Tony staggered over to him with a devilish smirk, he pulled him to his feet and rolled him back into the ring. Steve crawled over to the ropes and Tony didn’t waste a single second as he slid into the ring after him, hitting the opposite rope to give himself enough momentum to perform another vicious knee on Steve.
The merciless assault on Steve’s head only continued when Tony yanked him away from the ropes and hit a stiff clothesline.
Tony took a split second to catch his breath for what seemed like the first time in the match, then grabbed Steve to set him up for his finisher. He thought there would’ve been some fleeting hesitation but, surprisingly, there was none. Tony had come too far to back out now, so he relentlessly went through with the move for the second time in the match, and when Steve’s back hit the mat, hooked both of his legs for a deep cover.
1!
2!
3!
Tony rolled onto Steve’s chest, closing his eyes to take this moment in, because there would never be another one like it. “You did it,” Steve whispered, coughing. “I’m proud of you, Tony. Proud of what you’ve become.”
“Thank you.” Tony found the strength to roll off him as gingerly as he could, ringside personnel rushing towards both with ice packs. “So am I.”
+
Tony was greeted and congratulated by Pepper and Rhodey as soon as he pushed backstage, the loyal friends engulfing him in a group hug, them physically supporting his tired frame. “Tony,” he heard called out to him in that painfully familiar voice. Breaking away from the hug to turn around, he saw Steve approaching at a slow and steady pace.
As Tony shuffled over to Steve, he didn’t know what to expect. Maybe Steve would give an excuse as to why he had waited so long to return. Perhaps he’d just congratulate him on a job well done in the ring. But when he was close enough, Steve bent down to wrap his arms around Tony, burying his face into Tony’s neck. Tony, shocked at the sudden embrace, could only move his arms around Steve’s waist to return the hug. “I wish I would’ve come back sooner,” Steve mumbled against his skin. “I’m so sorry, Tony.”
Months ago, an apology wouldn’t have meant a thing to Tony. Though now, it means everything. Because Tony knows that this right here – being surrounded by his best friends after a victory that eluded him for so long and locked in Steve’s embrace – is what home feels like. Steve had found his way home, and really, what was there to be angry about anymore? “It’s okay,” Tony assured, hugging him tighter before they broke apart. He brushed Steve’s damp hair out of his eyes with a grin, cupping his face to take in a sight he hoped he would never lose again. “I saw you in my dreams.”