Chapter Text
It was too loud.
Pepper anxiously paced behind him, screaming wavering expletives into her phone. Steve sensed her scratching at her forehead like she does when she is in typical panic mode, yet this instance was different than any other media coverup she’d had to handle before.
Everything was too loud, too much.
Steve’s phone buzzed in his pocket, the obnoxious swell of ringing and the vibration on his leg only increasing his unease. His heart continued to sink even further in his stomach along with the wave of nausea that spread across his body. His head was too heavy and the air in his lungs was slowly being pulled out as if through a tube. Rhodey rubbed Steve’s left shoulder, hanging his head.
It was all too much.
Sounds of cameras and reporters outside of the tower sneaked its way into the living room. The television volume was low but the talks of reporters boomed in his eardrums, and the loudest thing of all was the picture plastered across Tony’s 65” screen. His arm around Tony’s waist, pressed up against the back alley of Stark Tower. Their lips intertwined. He remembered the exact moment too, it came to life in his head. It was just two days ago, a particularly warm and sunny day in New York, the birds were out chirping and the wind swept through them enough for Steve to catch a scent of his boyfriend’s entrancing cologne.
They never kissed outside of one of their apartments or in complete solitude, never even embraced in public. The one time they broke the rules, the one time. It hurt that staring at this sweet photo of him and Tony embracing was one of the worst nightmares of his life.
“Put me in contact with the paparazzi that leaked those photos or I’ll find him myself and trust me, you don’t want that,” Pepper threatened through gritted teeth. After angrily cursing, Pepper threw her phone onto the ground. She plopped herself down in exhaustion on the armrest of Steve’s chair.
“I’m so sorry, I should’ve been on top of this…” Pepper trailed off, her voice wavering.
Steve shook his head. The thought of speaking out loud sounded impossible at this moment. The thoughts in his mind ran rampant. The thing was, none of his thoughts revolved around his own reputation, only Tony’s.
They never wanted to keep their relationship a secret for the sake of no being proud of each other. There was nothing Steve was more proud of than having Tony as his boyfriend. Every day he woke up and wondered what made him deserving of the most perfect partner. They did it to avoid this — the things the reporters were saying on the news.
“Tony Stark, bisexual?” A woman with long blonde hair remarked with a large question mark over their picture. “New viral photograph shows the famously womanizing playboy, landing one on Captain America.”
The way the media portrayed him always made him out to be nothing more than a smarmy bastard, and while it could be true, Tony was so much more than that. Seeing the news tarnish him everyday was like a constant stab in the gut, and now it was being dialed up to an 11. Every news channel was covering the pictures, and needless to say, Twitter was completely broken.
Pepper put her hand on Steve’s knee, “Listen, I’ll contact all the media outlets I can, tell them to report that it’s photoshopped or we make them go bankrupt—”
“That won’t be necessary,” Tony slipped into the living room, speaking with such casualness that it was as if nothing out of the norm was even going on. Steve, Pepper, and Rhodey jumped up to face him in unison.
“Tony…” Steve walked towards his boyfriend, wrapping his arm around his waist just as he had in the now infamous picture. Pepper turned off the television in the background. Tony looked up at Steve and smiled, and somehow through it all he had one millisecond of calm staring at the creases in Tony’s cheeks and his sparkling eyes that looked up at him with so much love.
“Hi love,” he responded, sinking into Steve’s touch.
“What do you mean that won’t be necessary?” Pepper interrupted.
“I mean it won’t be necessary. The picture is real, why should we lie?”
Steve slanted his eyes at Tony in confusion, adjusting his body so they were standing face to face. His hands remained on Tony’s shoulders.
“Tony, what are you insinuating?”
Tony rolled his eyes. “Must I always have to explain to you people? Maybe I’m saying I’m ready for us to become...Facebook official as the kids would say.”
“Kids definitely don’t say that,” Rhodey interjected.
Steve slipped his hand over Tony’s cheek, his large palm covering the whole surface. The pad of his thumb rubbed Tony’s soft temple. “Are we not already official?” Steve whispered.
Tony pulled Steve in slightly closer. “Honey, of course we are. I’m just saying…”
“You want to come out to the public.”
Tony breathed out of his nose. “Yes.”
The room went quiet for a moment, with the exception of the snapshots being taken outside. Steve thought through all the possible scenarios that could result from something as drastic as publicly coming out, particularly with their status as the world’s Avengers. Would people stop supporting the Avengers? Would people boycott SI? Would he even care?
Keeping the secret from everyone was beyond a struggle, especially when all Steve ever wanted to do was hold on as tight as possible to his sweet boyfriend. Banner, Nat, Clint, and Thor knew already, in fact they knew before they even properly came out to them. But keeping it from SHIELD agents, assistants, and the general public was a constant pain in the ass. Still, he did it all for Tony’s sake. Keeping up his status as an arrogant, egotistical billionaire wasn’t ideal, but it was easier.
“And you guys are ready for that?” Rhodey prodded.
“Well...I don’t know if I’ll ever be ready,” Tony said honestly, staring into Steve’s eyes, “But I do know that I am hopelessly in love with you, and this seems like the perfect opportunity to show that off.”
Steve couldn’t hold back his smile. His cheeks blushed warm and bright pink as he held both sides of Tony’s face in his hands and leaned in to kiss him, hard and passionately.
“I want to show you off too, I want to show everyone how proud I am that you’re mine.”
Tony grinned with a slight wink — the playboy smarminess in him making an appearance — and turned around to face his friends.
“Pepper, call for a press conference.”