"I've never believed in the fact that true love existed until it shot me in the chest."

-Unknown

After that movie, Steve had been trying to spend his every waking moment with Tony. He had even made his runs to where they ended right as Tony was waking up- which was usually around 10-11 AM. Steve wasn't going to lie, he was really glad that Tony was finally starting to sleep, but he couldn't help but feel a little sad that he didn't get to spend every second with Tony watching movies or just doing fun things. Steve wiped his brow as the elevator opened on the Avengers's floor and he stepped off, looking around to see Tony sitting in his big, plush maroon robe, sipping on coffee. Steve smiled when Tony looked over. "I'm not gonna lie, Capsicle. It's kinda creepy that your run always seems to end just as I'm waking up." He gave Steve a studious look. Steve only shrugged. "I've always run at this time." He commented. "No you haven't. When I was awake all night and day, I heard you go out way earlier and come back way earlier than you are now. What are you up to, Rogers?" Steve immediately felt his face heat up a little and he quickly yanked his sweaty hoodie over his head. The room had suddenly gotten much hotter than the 60 degrees Tony insisted it ALWAYS stay at. He pulled at his shirt collar and took a quick pace as he walked away.

Tony wasn't sure what had actually happened in the kitchen that morning. Had he unnerved Steve? Said something wrong that made Steve get extremely uncomfortable around him? He couldn't figure it out. If there was one thing in the world that seemed to completely stump the billionaire, it was Steve Rogers. Tony could never figure out exactly what was going through his mind, and that was saying something, because Tony Stark was VERY good at reading people. Tony decided that a much needed trip to his shop was in hand that day. It had been almost two weeks since the Avengers had cleaned up Tony's shop and almost that long since Tony had stepped a foot in. He instinctively braced himself for the disgusting smell that was always in there, but when only good smells and fresh air hit his nose and mouth, he couldn't help but sigh deeply and think of Steve. Wait. Hold up. Was that right? He was now thinking of Steve? He must have still been sleep deprived. Tony shook his head once and walked into the lab. "Wake up, daddy's back." He said like always and snapped his fingers at his computers, suits and holograms. He plopped down in the rolly chair he loved so much, spinning slightly and coming up to one of his desks. Tony quickly typed something out and watched as several holograms popped up. "Jarvis, how is the progress on Storm?"

"About 75%, Sir."

"Alright, great. Get the pieces ready for paint, then get it up for a test run."

"Estimated time: about seven hours. Do you want to be notified when it is done?"

"You know me so well. Of course." Tony smiled at his holograms and waved his hand, the holograms slowly flickering off. Tony shut down the shop and bounded up the stairs and into the movie room. He patiently waited for Steve. Steve was never late for a movie day, Tony himself was sometimes, but he was getting better. After almost ten minutes, Tony looked around and saw that Steve was no were. Not even getting popcorn like he usually did. Everything was quiet. Tony slowly crawled off the bean bags and walked around the Avenger's apartment, looking for his missing Super Soldier.

Steve couldn't face Tony right now. He sat on the roof of the Stark Towers, looking as the sun set. He felt so bad for ditching out on Tony and leaving him there, probably pissed off and sad that Steve hadn't come to watch a movie with him, but he just couldn't do it. Tony had basically caught him red handed, and there was nothing he could say to that, I mean, what was he supposed to say? "Oh, hi, I'm Steve Rogers and when we happened to be watching a movie, you bumped into me and it felt like lightning struck me and now I'm undeniably in love with you?" Yea, that was never going to happen. Tony was his /friend/. Nothing less, nothing more. Tony would never be his nothing more. Steve needed to stop letting Tony take over his mind like this, and infect his thoughts as badly as he did. He let out a soft sigh. Steve heard the elevator ding and quickly turned around, expecting Natasha, or even Bruce. They always seemed to find out where the soldier seemed to go to think, but the person that stepped from the elevator was none other than Tony Stark. Red instantly creeped onto Steve's face and his eyes got a little wide. "What the hell Steve?" Tony said heatedly. "Tony.. Don't." He responded with, actually seeing how mad he had made Tony, he wasn't going to lie, but it really shocked him that Tony was THIS worked up over just skipping a movie. "Like, what the hell do you think you're doing!? Like, do you think just because I fucking confronted you on your stupid workout schedule, you can just go and fucking ignore me!? Like come on Steve! I thought we were friends!" Steve noted that when Tony got mad, he seriously used his hands to talk. "Tony I-"

"-No, you know what Steve. Whatever. Skip out on me every day if you want, I don't give a fuck anymore. I'm going down to the shop. Don't even bother of trying to get in." Tony gave Steve a cold look before walking back into the elevator. Steve could have sworn to God that when that elevator was almost closed, he saw tears streaming down Tony's face.

Tony couldn't believe that he had said all that to Steve. He didn't know where it came from, but it just like came out, and it kinda scared Tony that he had blown up that bad and that he might end up like his father. /No. I am not going to end up like Howard./ He snarled in his mind. He slammed the delicate motherboard he had been working on, it breaking to millions of pieces. Tony stared at it for what seemed like hours until he heard a knock on the glass door, seeing none other than Steve standing there, holding one of those damn books that he always seemed to have with him. Maybe he just pulled books out of his ass or something. Tony gave Steve a cold look and just shook his head and waved his hand at the glass door. It immediately tinted and Steve nor Tony could no longer be seen through it. Tony looked back at the glass, feeling the tears stream down his face just like they had when he was on the elevator. "Dammit!" He shouted and pushed a little table down. Tony went on a complete rampage, destroying his ship, He just couldn't help it. These feelings where so foreign and he didn't know how to deal with them, so the only thing he know to do was destroy. That seemed to be the only thing he was good at lately. He couldn't even build a OK looking Iron Man suit. Storm has failed drastically after being painted, and had to be destroyed immediately in the furnace that laid in the basement of the Stark Towers. After Tony's rampage ended, his back slammed against the wall and then slid down slowly, leaving his knees pulled up to his chest and his thoughts tearing his mind to shreds.

After the door tinted to a murky brown, making it impossible for him to see Tony, Steve's heart dropped drastically. He put his hand up to the glass, resting his forehead on it. Steve felt the tears sting his eyes and wiped at them. "Oh Tony." He whispered, hearing as the shop was destroyed. "Tony. Tony, please let me in." Steve hit against the glass a little. "Tony, I'm serious. Please let me in." When he didn't hear anything but silence, Steve felt his mind instantly kick into hyper drive and his breath seemed to be harder to catch and the worst case scenario bled into his vision. "Tony! Tony, please! Let me in!" Steve beat hard against the glass now. "Tony!? Tony are you okay!?" His voice had a highly noticeable panicked tone in it, and he didn't even try to fight it anymore. Steve was about to knock the damn door down just to make sure that Tony was OK. He didn't care anymore about Tony's privacy. "Goddammit, Tony! Please!" He said, his beating and shouting getting louder, it stirred the other Avengers and they slowly started migrating down to the door where Steve was. None went down the stairs, but instead just watched from the top, concern filling all their faces. Steve hit the door once more with all his strength, and then heard it hiss. Jarvis had opened it for him. Steve flew into the shop like a bat out of hell, wildly looking for where the Stark had gone. The one thing that seemed to register in his mind was, /Where's the Arc glow. Oh my god, where's the Arc glow!/ He spotted Tony curled up on the floor, the arc laying just feet from his reach. Tony was a nasty pale, sweat soaking the white shirt he wore. His brown eyes where clouded and confused and Tony weakly reached for the Arc once more before his hand just dropped from the ground as he ran out of strength to even try anymore. Steve felt his world stop, his heart shatter and just everything around him collapse. "TONY!" He faintly heard himself shriek as he rushed to the billionaire's side and collapsed beside him. "Oh my god. No. No, Tony. No no no no . Tony, don't you dare do this to me." Steve picked up the glowing Arc from the ground and pushed him gently to his back. Steve looked from the Arc to Tony's chest and stumbled with his hands as he tried to figure out what to do. "Captain Rogers, press it into the hole and turn it until you hear a click." Jarvis quipped in, the hint of fear in the AI's voice. Steve quickly did as he told, rotating the Arc until it was the right way and then he pressed it in and turned, hearing that click. He caressed Tony in his arms, burying his face in his shoulder. Steve let the tears fall, he didn't care anymore. He had probably just lost Tony and he didn't even know what to do anymore. Nothing felt right. Everything felt wrong. Everything WAS wrong. "Tony.. Please. Please come back to me. Please." Steve begged. He needed some mercy in his life, He had lost everyone from the 40's and now he was going to lose the one person he loved in this century. "Tony please!" He cried out. He pulled away from Tony's shoulder and gently brushed that chocolate brown hair from his face, running his thumb over Tony's aged features and a sad smile came to his face. "You know, I loved you. A lot. From the first day we met. I thought it was only a friendship kind of love, but that movie we watched that one night, what was it? Oh, Buffy. You were introducing me to Buffy and you rolled close to me, and all of a sudden it felt like lightning hit me, and god, I knew right then and there it was more than just a friendship I wanted with you, but I knew it'd never happen, so I respected your choice and didn't tell you.. And now.." Steve choked. "And now you've gone and left me, you damn Stark. You left me here alone to try and figure out this dammed 21st century by myself. Damn you Tony Stark. Damn you for leaving me." He stroked his cheek softly, and leaned down, pressing a gentle kiss to Tony's forehead. Steve rested his own forehead on Tony's after the kiss, feeling the sobs wrack his body. His tears dotted Tony's face and gave it the illusion that Tony was crying with him. Steve wanted to kiss those aged lips so bad, it wasn't even funny anymore. He looked down at them, seeing as they parted slightly, how inviting and comforting they looked. /Oh what the hell. It's the last time I'll ever get to do this./ He thought in his broken and distressed mind. Steve moved down slowly, pressing his lips gently to Tony's. It was nothing more than a beautiful kiss. A beautiful kiss Steve tried to hold out as long as he could without it seeming weird he was kissing a dead man, but that actually didn't matter to him. He'd sit here all day long with his lips pressed to Tony's if he had to. If that would bring him back. Steve deepened the kiss slightly, pulling Tony closer. It was like Snow White and her Prince, but much more tragic. Steve finally parted their lips, numbly tasting the whiskey taste Tony's lips had left on his own. He gently ran the back of his hand over the side of Tony's face. Steve bent down so his lips where only millimeters from Tony's ear and his hot and heavy breath could be felt"I love you, Anthony Edward Stark." He whispered with a broken tone in his ear. Steve pulled away from Tony's ear, just looking at that peaceful face. He just couldn't believe it. Tony was gone.

It wasn't until Tony felt Steve's lips pressed against his that he knew his true feelings, and he finally knew that he couldn't be scared of those feelings anymore. He had to face them, and that he was ready for face them. To face Steve. /Come on lungs, breath./ He urged in his mind, trying to get the rest of his body to react. Finally. Tony gasped for air, his eyes opening wide. He saw Steve's shocked and ecstatic face and just acted on instinct. He grabbed Steve's shirt and pulled him down, meeting him halfway for an extremely heated kiss. He felt Steve's hands run across his back and pull him closer. His eyes shut slowly, the last thing on his eyes, Steve's gorgeous face.