They'd stayed mostly quiet after that, with Steve making a sling for Tony out of one of the jackets in the trunk of the car and Tony balling up a shirt and making Steve press it to his side. Steve wouldn't let him get a good look at the wound, but it didn't seem life threatening. Tony carefully drove them back, having perfected the one armed driving technique a few injuries ago. Steve was staring down at his lap, avoiding all of Tony's attempts to make casual eye contact.

When they got back to the tower, they went straight to the infirmary. Tony was swarmed by doctors and they tried to do the same with Steve, but he shrugged them off, directing them toward Tony and escaping with a handful of bandages. Tony tried to follow, but an accidental bump to his shoulder whited out his vision long enough for them to get him down on a bed and by then it was too late to stop Steve. Jarvis let him know that Steve went to his floor and was okay and Tony spent the longest hour of his life getting tests done and his shoulder reset. But now he was finally able to check on the super soldier himself.

Jarvis would've said something if Steve wasn't okay, so he wasn't too worried about the physical wounds. Tony was worried about the emotional repercussions from their ordeal. He'd never seen Steve break down like that, and while it was understandable, it couldn't be ignored. They needed to talk about this because Tony cared about Steve too much.

All the time they'd been spending together had quickly become the highlight of Tony's life. After they'd put aside their initial differences and talked things through, they'd become extremely close. Maybe not as close in the way Tony wanted, but he'd take what he could get to have Steve in his life.

When Tony got to Steve's floor, he quietly crept along until he found him. Steve had a habit of going to the same place to think after a tough mission or the anniversary of something from his past. Tony had set up a room for Steve full of things from his time, where he kept every piece of memorabilia he could find on the people he missed. He kept it separate from everything else, not wanting the pain of the past to encroach on every part of his life now. But Tony knew he would need to be there now, especially with who Steve cried out for earlier.

Tony knew the story of that mission with Bucky from the stories his father would tell. That story and the one where Steve was lost didn't come up as often as the others, since Howard wasn't too keen to talk about failures. But when the booze came out, those stories did too. Of course all of his information was secondhand, since he hadn't gone along on the missions. And Steve wasn't the type to open up about his past. But Tony didn't really need to know all the details to know why Steve would've flashed back to that moment.

"Steve, can I come in?" Tony asked, gently tapping on the outside of the door. As much as he wanted to barge in and scoop Steve up to make everything better, he knew to respect his privacy. Tony wasn't even sure if the other Avengers knew about this room, that's how sacred it was to Steve. He probably only knew because he'd help set it up. And he pretty much never went in anymore.

"Yes," came Steve's soft reply. Tony carefully opened the door, scanning the room to look for his dejected friend. Steve was sitting on a stool in the middle of the room with his back to the door. He was wearing a white tank top, but Tony could see the scrapes along his back where the shirt didn't cover. Nothing that wouldn't be gone by probably the next day, but still painful looking.

"Are you okay?" Tony asked as he walked over to stand in front of Steve. He was still looking down like he had in the car, wringing his hands in a way that wasn't really like him. "I mean, do you need help cleaning up?"

"I took a shower," Steve murmured, running a hand through his still wet hair.

"And you didn't wait for me to join you?" Tony joked, hoping for a small smile in response. In normal circumstances, that would get at least a blush and exasperated noise. He got neither.

"Are you okay?" Steve asked, reaching out as if to touch the sling, but dropping his hand before it made contact.

"Just a dislocated shoulder, no big deal," Tony brushed off. Compared to what could've happened, this was a papercut.

"I'm sorry," Steve whispered.

"Sorry for what? Sorry you saved my life? I'm pretty sure there wasn't a better way to do it. Anything is better than falling."

"But you almost did fall. It almost happened again and it would be all my fault."

"Don't you dare say that. Even if I had fallen, it wouldn't have been your fault. Just like I know it wasn't your fault with Bucky," Tony insisted.

"How would you know that? You weren't even there!" Steve shouted, although there was more anguish than anger in his voice.

"Because I know you and I have faith in you!" Tony shot back. He wasn't going to stand by and let Steve beat himself up over something he had no control over. Especially when it had to do with Tony. "I didn't think for a second today that you would drop me."

"I almost did," Steve whispered, his face twisting in sorrow. "I completely lost myself for a moment out there and I don't know what would've happened if you hadn't pulled me back."

"But I did, so it's okay. We helped each other. As long as we stick together, we'll be okay," Tony said firmly.

"How can you trust me? What if something like this happens again?" Steve asked, staring back down at his hands. "What good am I if I can barely hold on?"

Tony couldn't accept the idea of Steve questioning his abilities. He had to do something to convince Steve that there was no one in the world who Tony wanted to be by his side more than him. So he grabbed Steve's hand and poured his heart out.