Tony wasn't afraid of heights. He couldn't be, with the whole flying thing he did on a regular basis. It was a little different the time Loki threw him out of that window, but he'd gotten the suit on him in time. This time was very different, because there was no suit coming to save him. That thing about the building not being excessively tall sounded like a load of bullshit right now. It was surely tall enough to leave him splattered on the ground.

The pain came sooner than expected, but it wasn't the brief feeling of all his bones shattering before he died. It was a sudden sharp pain in his left arm. The most beautiful man he'd ever seen in his life was hanging over the edge of the building, gripping him by the wrist.

"Hold on!" Steve shouted, wincing as the building continued to shake. Pieces of the broken rail started to rain down around Tony from the violence of the tremors and he ducked his head to protect his eyes. Of all the times for an earthquake to hit the city, it had to be now. Luckily it didn't feel strong enough to bring down the entire building. They could just ride this out and then Steve could pull him up, say something about him watching his step or something else just shy of humorous, and they would be on their way. At least that would've been the plan if a big chunk of building didn't fall square on Steve's back.

"Steve!" Tony shrieked, looking up in terror at the sight of the other man crushed under a slab of concrete.

"I'm okay," Steve wheezed, tipping his head to the side to try to get a better look at his situation. From what Tony could see, which wasn't much, Steve was completely pinned across his back.

"If this is how you look when you're okay, I'd hate to see what constitutes as a bad situation!" Tony shouted, whimpering when another shake jostled his arm. Past experience told him that his shoulder was dislocated and hanging from it was pure agony. Steve would be able to figure a way out of this. He was the man with the plan.

"Can- can you climb back up?" Steve gasped, shaking his free hand toward Tony's.

"Climb? My left arm is essentially useless," Tony panted, looking around for any signs of life. Shouldn't people be pouring into the streets after an earthquake? "Can you slide back a little? I know that's asking a lot, but super serum perks?"

"I had to lay across the broken rail to get to you. The concrete kind of shoved me down on it," Steve muttered, grimacing as he rolled his shoulders a bit.

"You've been impaled!" Tony screeched, feeling himself start to hyperventilate. This couldn't be happening right now. He was supposed to show off for Steve a little bit, then take him to this old timey diner he would pretend to happen upon. Steve having a piece of building shoved into his body was not on the agenda.

"Tony! Calm down, please," Steve called out, breaking him from his growing panic. "It's not bad, I just can't slide."

"Do you promise?" Tony whined, needing to know if Steve was downplaying things like he was known to do.

"I wouldn't lie to you," Steve whispered, carefully adjusting his grip on his wrist. And Tony knew he really wouldn't.

"Okay, here's what we're gonna do. I'm gonna grab my phone from my pocket and call Jarvis. He'll be able to send a suit for me and then everything will be okay. We'll just hang out, quite literally, until help arrives. Shouldn't be more than a couple minutes," Tony said, taking a determined breath. This would be easy. Just a few more minutes and Tony could get that thing off of Steve's back and take care of him.

"I'm sorry I couldn't save you myself," Steve murmured, closing his eyes in resignation.

"I'm only alive to make this call because of you," Tony insisted, because that was the whole truth. He would've been a goner if it weren't for Steve, on more than one occasion. Tony slowly moved his free hand toward his pants pocket. He didn't know why his phone was in his left front pocket, but that's where it was right now. All he had to do was be careful and it would be all good. He used his phone one handed all the time, being suspended in the air didn't change anything.

Tony Stark had the steadiest hands in the game. Neurosurgeons wept at the sight of them. He could put together and take apart a bomb without breaking a sweat. The charley horse piece in the Operation game was his bitch. But right now, because of course right now, his hands were shaking more than Shakira's hips. It was like he was outside of his body and watching helplessly as the phone slid from his fingers like it was covered in butter. Tony watched it fall, taking the journey he was slated for not more than five minutes prior.

He had no words. But Steve did. Well, Steve had one word, and it wasn't what Tony was expecting.

"Bucky!" Steve choked out, staring past Tony and toward the ground.

"Steve!" Tony yelled, not fully comprehending what was going on. He was too caught up in his own trauma at the moment.

"Bucky!" Steve cried, gripping Tony's arm to the point of painful. Tony could see his eyes going unfocused as his mouth gaped in horror and anguish. Bucky was Steve's friend from the war, he knew that. Tony heard all about that final mission from his dad and how he'd died and…

Oh no.