Thanks to an awesome person who helped me with my spelling and grammar I can finall post my first ever Avenger story. There will be a lot of "Hurt/Comfort as well as suffering in this one.

If you wanna see a particular suffering..leave a comment and I see what I can do ;) Thank you very much for reading!

PROLOGUE

He should have seen it coming.

Laying in the darkness of their bedroom, spooned up behind Steve, holding him tightly against his own body, Tony asked himself how it could have gotten that far. His fingers were entwined with Steve's, holding them through the occasional twitch that went through his arm and hand, continuously indicating the challenge his body faced as it tried to come down from the level of stress it had been functioning under for God knew how long.

I am fine, Tony, it's just the aftermath of a tough mission...nothing a hot shower won't cure.

A shiver ran through the larger man's body and Tony softly kissed Steve's shoulder in an attempt to offer some silent comfort to keep his lover asleep and finally relaxed. In the total darkness of their shared bedroom he couldn't see anything- and he didn't have to. By this point Steve's body spoke to him more than the super soldier had voluntarily done lately- when regarding the aspect of honesty.

Under the pile of blankets that covered them Tony was uncomfortably warm despite only wearing a pair of tight fitting boxers. Steve's back against his front though felt chilled and this was the reason he didn't dare to move an inch. At no cost did he want to wake him as he was too relieved to hear his steady breathing and could slowly feel his body relax in their embrace. Again, he wished Steve was just a bit more selfish, not over protective of anything but his own body and most of all Tony wished he would have seen the signs sooner and had taken action, before it had been almost too late.

It's ME who should worry about YOU, Tony. You took the beating when I should have been there for back up...

He was torn between blaming himself for not noticing how far it had went already. He had the urge to rip whoever sent Steve on the last mission a new one and also to storm right into Fury's office to tell him to stop testing to see how far he could push Steve before even his serum upgraded body gave up on him. All these thoughts of revenge were only over the physical effects on Steve in the last week. When he thought about his boyfriend's emotional state right now, he simply wanted to use the repulsors of his armour to blow up whatever or whoever got in his way.

You hopefully know that you are getting away with it for the simple fact that you are still uprightand manipulating my brain with that smile I can't resist...

He closed his eyes and sighed deeply before burying his face between the blanket and Steve's

shoulder. He needed to pay more attention to Steve's well-being, nag him more to be honest about how he was doing and not let him get away with that damn charming smile of his. Slowly exhaustion crept over him, making his eyelids heavy. He fought sleep for a moment again, focusing on Steve but his breathing remained even and deep, his hand had relaxed in Tony's and the muscles of his shoulders were soft with no indication of the constant tension he tried to work out of them just an hour before.

He would have whispered an apology into the darkness if he hadn't been too afraid to wake him. Instead he planted a last feather light kiss on his shoulder before giving in to sleep himself.