Never Doubt Me, My Love
A.N: Goddamn I am on fire! Three stories in two days?! Never in my life have I done this! IS THIS WHAT IT MEANS TO BE INVINCIBLE?!
Anywhoo…yay my first Stony fanfic! I decided to not go through the headache of Civil War and plus I missed Jarvis so let's place this before Age of Ultron. Read and enjoy and don't forget to drop a review! They make my day!
Disclaimer: I do not own Avengers…god I wish I did. I also don't own the cover art; that belongs to Daeshikoba...would you believe there isn't much pre-serum Stony fanart?
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"Jarvis, where is he?"
When no answer comes from the familiar British voice, Tony turns a questioning eye upwards. In all his years, JARVIS has never denied Tony anything and so the lack of a response is surprising.
"Jarvis?"
"I'm sorry sir." And the AI does sound genuinely remorseful, "But Captain Rogers has requested that he be left alone. He does not wish to speak to anyone."
Tony has been called many things and patient is definitely not one of them. Then again, the people who call him these names don't actually live with him so they can go fuck off.
Running a hand through his hair, Tony sighs, "Monitor him. And let him know I will be coming to him in two hours; I'm not leaving him up there by himself."
"Will do, sir."
Two hours later, Tony's knocking on their bedroom door. With no response forthcoming, he eases the door open and slips inside. The room is dark, save for the city lights that blink through the floor to ceiling windows.
Despite the darkness, Tony finds Steve easily…even if he is drastically different. Breathing in deep, Tony makes his way across the room and sets himself on the bed next to the blonde.
Neither speaks for a few minutes and the quietness of the room is broken by the sounds of their soft breathing.
And then finally Steve speaks.
"I never wanted to feel like this again."
"Small and adorable?" Tony winces as the joke fall flat.
"Weak and pathetic. And I am Tony- don't deny it." With that, Steve pushes off from the bed and goes to stand in front of the windows and the difference in his stature is highlighted by the city lights.
Instead of the 6 ft 240 lbs frame Tony has come to know and love, Steve has regressed to his old lanky frame of 4 ft 90 lbs; all thanks to Doctor Doom and some stupid time reversal ray gun thing that he stole from Richards that Bruce is now trying to reverse engineer. Honestly, Tony is going to throttle Richards the next time he sees him; Sue be damned.
Seeing Steve drop like that, his comms going silent; Tony's chest had constricted to the point where he couldn't breathe. JARVIS' urgent voice alerting him that he was still getting vital signs from Steve was the only reason that Tony hadn't all together collapsed.
Still, the sight of a de-serumed Steve, swimming in the familiar uniform and unable to lift his shield was enough to drop more than a few jaws. Doom had been put down quickly enough by Hulk (who was ridiculously protective of Steve) and they'd all headed straight back to the Tower where Bruce put Steve through a number of tests.
They all had the same result: all the powers that the serum has given Rogers was gone and until they could reverse the effects, Steve was staying as a 90lb asthmatic man.
Tony isn't going to deny it but he's also not going to let the man wallow in self pity. Despite the massive loss of muscle mass, Steve is still the same man he fell in love with and it's time the blonde understood that.
"Not gonna deny it, mon Capitan. You are undoubtedly weak and puny-" This earns him a glare from the shorter man but Tony just smirks, "-but you are still the same man I fell in love with."
Tony sees Steve fidget with his shirt that now hangs loosely off him like a tent. He reaches out a hand, "Come here, sweetheart."
Steve hesitates for all of a second before he moves towards Tony who pulls him into a hug. Almost immediately, Steve melts into him; the tension eases out of his shoulders and he settles comfortably against Tony's neck. This is familiar ground to them both and the intimacy of the gesture makes them both relax.
Tony pulls back first and he holds Steve's face in his hands, "You're smaller but you still have the same blue eyes that looked at me and decided I was worth falling in love with." And before Steve can respond, Tony leans in and presses a soft kiss to each of his eyes.
"You're turning into a sap Stark." Steve teases but his cheeks are reddening and there's a hint of a smile on his lips. Tony's taking that as a win.
"I'm turning into you Rogers. Now hush up and let me continue." His calloused fingers strokes Steve's jaw, "You've lost muscle mass but you haven't lost that stubborn edge that made you try out for the army thirteen times. You're still kind, you still bring hope to mankind, you still give me heart attacks by jumping off planes without a parachute even though I told you I could easily add one to the suit that wouldn't compromise your balance- Jarvis make a note of that will you? I need to get on that-"
Jarvis's cool voice cuts through the rant, "Sir? Your point?"
Steve is opening grinning now as Tony shakes his head, "Yes, thank you J; my point is, you are no different to me today than you were yesterday."
And then all joking aside, Tony picks up Steve's left hand with his own and strokes the silver band nestled on the fourth finger. He lets his forehead rest against his husband's, "You are still the same man who I agreed to spend the rest of my life with. I love you Steven Grant Rogers; all 90 lbs of you and I will love you till the day you decide you don't love me anymore. And maybe even after that."
Steve just breathes with him and then there is a small hand tipping Tony's chin up and soft lips press onto his. It's soft and sweet; heated in its own way but loving. With a swipe of his bottom lip, Steve pulls back and grins at Tony.
"You are such a sap."
Tony pulls a face, "I am hurt! Here I am trying to make my baby feel better like a good little wife and all I get is sass. Wives are underappreciated I tell you! Underappreciated!"
Steve throws his head back in a laugh and Tony smiles.
Smaller but still his Steve. And that's all that matters.
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Steve changes back within a week thanks to Bruce. Tony sends Richards a strongly worded email to keep his fucking experiments under lock and key goddamnit. Steve sends one right after apologizing about Tony's language. Richards does not respond to either one…which Tony thinks is just plain rude. Steve agrees.
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A.N: And there you have it! Liked it? Hated it? Let me know in a review!