Disclaimer: I wish I owned Stony. But I don't. Poop. I just typed this whole disclaimer without looking. I'm so talented.

A/N: Not a lot of plot in this, just a lot of fluff. (I say this as if that isn't what most of my stories are.)

Chapter 12

Tony hated emotional upheavals. They made him exhausted. Right now he wanted nothing more than to curl up on his large and comfortable bed, have Steve wrap his arms around him, and fall asleep. He missed sleeping with Steve. Well, he missed everything with Steve. But he missed sleeping the most, and not even the acts that lead up to sleeping, though those were enjoyable.

Even when Steve had been skinny and lanky he had a sort of solidness to him, enough to make Tony feel safe and warm. And once he was exposed to the sleep incentive that was Steve cuddling he never wanted to go back to the way things once were.

Tony really, really missed cuddling with Steve.

Steve carefully brushed back Tony's hair, pressing a kiss to the dark strands. Tony was warm and pliant against his chest, despite the fact that their teammates were still bickering around them. Steve looked down, unsurprised to find that Tony's eyes were drifting shut, his breath evening out. He looked exhausted, dark shadows under his eyes and drooping eyelids.

Steve pressed a kiss to his cheek and scooped him smoothly against his chest. It still amazed him that their roles were so switched, that Steve was now the one who could easily lift instead of being easily lifted. There hadn't been much time, before he was frozen, to discover this new aspect in their relationship.

Their teammates stopped talking abruptly and Tony's beautiful brown eyes flew open. He smiled gently at Steve and curled closer, clearly too tired to argue that he was not a girl, thank you very much.

"We're going to bed," Steve told the team, daring them silently to argue. They didn't, and Steve nodded at Bucky before starting up to Tony's bedroom.

Steve dumped Tony gently down on the bed and Tony gratefully curled around his pillow. Tony stared at him through half slitted eyelids as Steve paced at the bottom of the bed.

"Steve," He whined, his hand reaching.

"You want me to come in?" Steve asked. Tony, shocked that he would even have to ask, rolled over.

"Of course I want you to come in," Tony said, grabbing Steve's shirt as he passed by and yanking. He wasn't nearly strong enough anymore to actually move Steve, but Steve submitted easily, rolling gently over Tony and sliding under the blanket, holding it up so Tony could do the same. "Why wouldn't I want you to come in?"

"Well, I forgot about you," Steve said, like it was a horrible sin that he had committed. "And then those awful things I said when we first met again."

Tony fell silent as Steve's words echoed through his head.

Big man in a suit of armor, take that off and what are you? I know guys worth ten of you.

"That was the tesseract," He said firmly, much more sure of himself when he was assuring Steve than when he was thinking to himself. "I certainly didn't mean what I said."

"I didn't mean what I said, but that doesn't change the fact that I still said it to you," Steve said. Tony huffed, curling impossible closer to Steve's warmth and pressed a kiss to the arm he was closest to.

"I forgive you," Tony said generously. Steve shifted, putting an arm around Tony and sliding his back down on the pillows. Tony reached down and wiggled for a little bit before coming up with his jeans and tossing them to the ground before closing his eyes and pressing his face into Steve. "I missed you," He admitted, his voice fragile.

"I missed you too," Steve said. Tony turned his incredulous eyes on him and he rushed to elaborate. "I did. I obviously didn't know it was you I was missing, but I could tell that there was a huge part missing in my life. It was like when you're missing something when you get in your car, and you can't remember what it is, but you know that it's important."

"I'm important?" Tony asked in that same fragile voice, the one that broke Steve's heart.

"You're the most important thing to me ever," Steve promised, placing a kiss on Tony's forehead.

"More important than American freedom?" Tony asked.

"Yes," Steve answered, though he knew that he probably shouldn't think that way.

"More important than the team working together?"

"Yes,"

"More important than your food?"

"Tough decision, but yes," Steve said, laughing. Tony reached up and tangled their hands.

"Love you," He said.

"Love you too," Steve said, smiling softly. Tony stared at him for a couple of seconds. "What baby?"

"You're going to be here when I wake up, right?" Tony asked.

"I'm not going anywhere," Steve promised.