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Tony doesn’t exactly rush back to his hotel. Now that he’s confronted Stephen, he’s got nothing to do but sit there and obsess over what might happen next. So he takes his time, wanders Kathmandu for a while. He’s never actually been here before. There aren’t too many places he can say that about, these days.
When he does finally return to his room, Stephen is waiting for him.
The rush of relief he feels damn near makes him dizzy. As angry as he is—the yelling he’d done hadn’t relieved much of his anger—Tony still loves Stephen. He suspects he always will. Tony is prepared to leave, but he doesn’t want to.
He’s sure as hell going to make Stephen work for it, though.
Closing the door behind himself, Tony waits silently. Stephen looks up at him from where he’s sitting on the bed. “I used to think I understood, you know,” Stephen says. “How you felt after Afghanistan, I mean. I thought I understood.” He shakes his head. “I was wrong. I don’t think it’s possible for anyone to understand what it’s like to have one of the foundations on which they’ve built their entire personality ripped away until it happens.”
Stephen looks down at his hands, stretching out his fingers and examining them for a minute before meeting Tony’s gaze again. “I didn’t intend to leave you. I didn’t think about you at all. I was only thinking about myself.”
“Not making a great case for yourself, here,” Tony says, throat tight.
“I could give you pretty words,” Stephen replies. “I thought the truth would serve us better.”
If he’s telling the truth, there’s one Tony wants most of all: “Why hide?”
“I thought you’d drag me home.” Stephen snorts. “How could I tell you I was chasing a literal miracle cure? I assumed once I knew if it was a sham or not, you’d be waiting.”
“And I assumed that you’d never abandon me,” Tony says. “I guess we were both wrong.”
“This place tore apart a lot of my assumptions,” Stephen stands and crosses the space between them, “and revealed something remarkable on the other side. Maybe the same can be true for us.”
Tony swallows hard. “You’ve got a lot of trust to rebuild.”
“I know.” Stephen holds out a hand, scarred and trembling. He hasn’t let Tony touch his hands even once since his accident. “Come with me? I think I have to start with showing you Kamar-Taj properly.”
Tony takes his hand very carefully.
For both their sakes.