"I gotta nuke coming in. It's going to blow in less than a minute, and I know just where to put it."
"Stark, you know that's a one way trip."
"Save the rest for the turn, J."
Steve gritted his teeth as he was ignored by the other man, his hand tightening tightly around the shield clenched in his hand. He felt Thor stiffen beside him, glancing briefly at him just as Steve raised his hand up towards his ear, as if pushing the communicator in would encourage Tony to listen and hear him.
"Stark? Stark! Don't do this!"
There was again no reply, and Steve couldn't stop the worried glance he sent in Thor's direction. Seeming to understand his Captain's plight, Thor instantly picked up the pace and began dealing to the enemy Steve was supposed to be taking out.
"Stark! Tony!"
"Sorry Cap, but I'm gonna have to get a rain check on that date we had. You know, the one when we planned on killing each other in our suits and everything?"
Steve's blood ran cold.
"Tony, don't you dare do this! Don't you bloody dare!"
Even the chorus of everybody crying out, even Nick bloody Fury, and telling him to stop was ignored by Tony as he kept speeding towards the portal, skimming over the rooftops and Steve swore he was going to clip himself. He took a trembling step forward, as if his body was just going to jump up and tackle Tony to the ground. There had to be some other alternative, some other place they could take the bomb, some way it could be disarmed in the next minute or so.
"Sorry Cap, but someones got to do it."
"Don't try and be the hero!" Steve all but screamed, his knees shaking as the thought of Tony sacrificing himself spun through his mind.
"I'm not, even you said I wasn't a hero. I prefer to think of myself as… as your savior."
Even in the face of death he was still making jokes, and Steve choked on a breath at the thought and it came out in a ragged sob. He heard the small "don't cry" from Tony but pushed it aside, stumbling forward even more as he glanced up in time to see Tony drop for a second before even more thrusters were pushing him up to the portal. There was silence on the line, only the batted breath of everyone as they waited to see what would happen.
"Tony… please."
"Sorry Cap, you know I'd find the way out if there was one."
Steve hated the fact his words were being used against him. "Tony, don't. Just don't."
"I'm sorry Steve."
He choked again on his bitter laugh, a hand coming back up again to repress against the communicator, Tony was almost at the portal, almost flying right past Natasha.
"Two o'clock."
"What?'
"Two o'clock on friday, you wanted the rain check."
His laugh was strained, "I say we do it on the Helicarrier. Make Fury pay for this shit."
Steve just whispered a quiet "affirmative" as Tony's head disappeared through the portal. "It's a date."
"Steve-"
All communications were dropped as Tony disappeared completely, leaving Steve to finally release the stream of sobs as the communicator fell from his ear, crushed by his fist. Thor was instantly beside him, holding him up as he flung out his hammer in an attempt to keep them safe. Arrows rained down around them and the roar of the Hulk could be heard in the distance. Steve shut it all out as his eyes, despite making his vision blurry and unclear, locked on the portal, hoping for the man to come tumbling back through. A flash of motion out of the corner of his eyes made him glance around to see that everything was falling dead, the huge leviathans crashing into buildings and the chuitari were falling to the ground.
Everyone was looking now, hoping, praying, all but begging for Tony to come down.
Natasha's voice flooded out from the comm on Thor, "Come on Stark."
Steve's heart twisted.
And it wasn't until Thor gentle squeezed Steve's arm did he force out the dreaded words.
"Close it."
He wanted to squeeze his eyes shut, to hide from the image of the closing portal that Tony was still in, whether dead or alive. But he couldn't, he just couldn't look away from the sight as it closed metre by metre. A fleeting thought flicker through his head when he wondered if this was how Peggy felt so long ago, trying desperately to contact Steve as he flew the ship into the ground at breakneck speed. A feeling of self-loathing overtook him when he realised what he'd put Peggy through but it was pushed aside by looking up and seeing the portal slip shut.
"Son of a gun…" he whispered as the figure dropped through at the last second, his knees going weak as relief flooded through him at the sight of Tony falling through the sky. A smile tore out on his face, the obscuring tears disappeared, his whole body felt lighter than it was two seconds ago.
"He's not slowing down."
Thor's words crushed him more than his hammer ever would, and Steve realised that Tony indeed wasn't slowing down. The whirling of Thor's hammer beside him as the other prepared to go catch him infiltrated his ear drums, the only sound he could hear being the woosh woosh woosh as it broke through the sound barrier over and over again. Steve felt useless, watching as Tony's body flew through the air and he wished he had some other super besides this super solider crap, something that could enable him to catch Tony.
The flying green mass that caught him though was enough, and Steve was instantly sprinting towards where the Hulk was tearing down the buildings with Tony in hand. He faltered for a moment, seeing Tony lying limp and unresponsive, but it didn't stop him from skidding to a stop and crashing to his knees beside him as Thor ripped off his faceplate.
"Tony? Tony you there? Say something?" Steve all but begged as he threw himself forward, hands scrabbling over the chest plate as he placed his ear by Tony's mouth, waiting for it to release a stream of hot breath onto his skin. But there was nothing, not even a small exhale. Steve was slow as he pulled back, disheartened, destroyed, his hands slowly trailed over the extinguished arc reactor and his heart was instantly in his throat. A quick glance up at Thor confirmed the thought he so viciously wanted to deny and he slowly bowed his head forward until his forehead was pressed against the battered metal below the arc reactor.
Hulk roared as tears slid down over Steve's nose and cheeks, dripping onto Tony.
Then suddenly bright, blinding blue was burning through his closed eyelids and he was opening them to see a flickering and slowly stabilizing arc reactor blind back at him. His head snapped up quickly, a hand flying to brush away tears as he saw wonderful, gorgeous brown eyes staring at him in shock.
"What just happened?" were the first words out of Tony's mouth, eyes wide as he flicked them over everybody's faces before they landed and stayed on Steve's face. "Please tell me nobody kissed me."
Was that a flicker of… hope in his voice? Steve pushed it aside before he pulled himself off the man, shooting him a dirty look.
"Hulk did. Was babbling on about some fairy tales that Bruce has read," he lied, his voice completely deadpan as he stood up. Tony paled, his eyes flicking up to look at Hulk who chose that point to grin rather maniacally and instantly Tony was wiping his mouth as he stood up with the help of Thor.
"Thats disgusting! Why didn't you stop…" he trailed off as he saw Steve beginning to walk away, his shoulders slightly hunched and whole demeanor just rejected looking. Tony exchanged a look with Thor who just smiled.
"He was truly worried, Man of Iron. Deeply so."
Tony just raised an eyebrow before reaching up to tug off the last of his helmet before following Steve.
"Cap! Captain! Rogers! Steve!" he yelled out each name, but Steve ignored it each time until Tony finally caught up to the him and pressed him up against a wall. Obviously Tony was ignoring the fact that Thor and Hulk weren't far behind them as he grabbed Steve's chin and forced him to look him in the eye.
"Stark."
"Were you really that worried?"
"No way out you said."
"Clearly," Tony began, leaning forward to brush their lips and bump their noses, his brown eyes wide with excitement and Steve felt a small tingle run down his spine. "Clearly there was. Don't doubt I won't find one. I have this annoying habit of not dying."
"Not that annoying," Steve breathed right before Tony slammed their lips together tightly and Steve was gasping in shock. He felt Tony's lips curl up into a smirk against his own, and a flash of annoyance flickered through him before he was turning them around and slamming Tony against the wall, hand in hair while the other was on Tony's hip.
The sound of Thor's approving yells followed by what sounded like gags from Clint fell deaf on their ears as they kissed, Tony grinning madly as his hand's slid up to grab onto Steve's arms, not feeling bad when he clutched the wound on Steve's shoulder and instead used the hissed he released to deepen the kiss with a flick of tongue. Steve stiffened for a moment, the feeling a bit unfamiliar and Tony thought he was going to pull away for a long minute, but was relieved when Steve just pushed against him harder, dominating the kiss. Tony felt himself grin at how easily Steve was pushing him around, despite him being the more… experienced one and after he nibbled lightly on Steve's lip, he was rewarded when he let out a small noise, much like a small mewl, before pushing Tony away and panting slowly.
"Didn't know Captain America could run out of breath," Tony chuckled and Steve grinned, feeling even more lighter than before as his hand tightened in Tony's hair and drew him closer.
"Shut up Tony," he mumbled before kissing the other again.
"Hey! Guys!" Clint bellowed, elbowing Thor as he laughed at the two up against the wall. "We still have a job to do!"
He let out a huff as they ignored him.
A little rushed, but I'm still proud :D