Happy Tuesday! Have a new chapter ;)

Chapter 19:

Steve scowled, having a sense of deja vu. When they first met, they'd been constantly at each other throats but still working together with a decent amount of professionalization, mostly Tony mocking Steve and Steve insulting his bravado. They hadn't even become friends until a fateful mission that Fury ordered that only Steve and Tony go on, and had crash landed in a field in rural Germany. Waiting for rescue in a abandoned barn in the rain while a concussed Tony spilled his guts to Steve had changed their relationship dramatically, and he tried to remember that as he looked into the familiar dark brown eyes filled with an unspoken challenge. "Knock it off, Tony. You're being low."

"I'm not being low. I'm stating the truth." Tony quipped. "Also, don't tell me what to do. I thought we'd been over this, Captain."

"Tony..." Steve let out a low, frustrated breath. "Don't start this. It's unnecessary." He turned his back on the man, now trying to focus on getting himself something to eat.

Tony, however, didn't stop. "But you know that I'm making a point. What would the public say if they knew their beloved hero made such big mistakes?"

"I don't know, why don't you ask yourself? You ought to know." Shit. Shit, shit! That wasn't supposed to come out. Steve mentally cursed himself and bit his lip, continuing to the kitchen counter. Seeing the two banter, Bruce must have slipped out. Thanks for the backup, Banner...

"Wow," Tony said, chuckling. "Whaddya know. Steve Rogers can make good comebacks."

Tony didn't want to fight with Steve. He really didn't. But he found, crazy as it sounds, that it helped his nerves. Something was pressing inside his mind; a memory again. A long one maybe. He couldn't let Steve get suspicious, so he stood up quickly and tried to get to the door, at least...his brain didn't follow his wishes and white took over his vision.


There was a smell of smoke, a burning sensation, and someone was dragging him on a hard ground. That someone was speaking, but he couldn't understand. It was garbled and broken. He could only make out "Tony" and "stay awake". He must not have been able to, because the next thing he saw was Steve, dirty and weary, looking down at him.

"Stark, you back with me?"

It was dark and a small fire was next him, making his cold fingers tingle with the warmth. He blinked and tried to answer, "'M fine..." but it was so slurred he doubted Steve could understand. "Wha...?"

"We crashed." Now that Tony could see better, he noticed a side of the captain's face was caked with dried and new blood. He frowned.

"You 'kay?"

He looked surprised that he asked. "Yeah, I'm good."

"Dun believe that."

"Tony Stark concerned for anyone other than himself? You must've hit your head hard." Steve retorted, gingerly probing his own head.

"Shuddup, Cap...sicle." Tony snapped drowsily. "Lemme say something. I...I wanna say sorry..."

"It can wait..."


Steve had immediately spun around when he heard a thump. Tony was sprawled on the floor, staring up at the ceiling, yet his eyes were glazed and his mouth was open slightly. "Tony!" he shouted, rushing over to him. He crouched down beside Tony, his gaze frantically scanning over his body to make sure he couldn't see any immediate injuries from the fall. "Tony? Tony!" He placed his hands on the other man's face, trying to catch his gaze. "Look at me, okay? Hey!"

Tony suddenly snapped back to reality, blinking rapidly. "What...?" he groaned before closing his eyes. "Fuuuck." His ribs were on fire and he didn't even protest as he felt Steve scooping him up, mumbling something in a worried tone.

Steve, with his heart in his throat, began carrying a very woozy Tony to their floor, but he gripped Steve's sleeve suddenly and shook his head. "What? Tony, you need to-"

"Couch," he said quietly. "It's comfy."

He looked down at him skeptically, but accepted as he went to main living room and placed him on the long couch. Tony sighed in relief and when Steve started to fuss over him he waved his hand off.

"I'm okay."

"You just collapsed in the middle of the kitchen!" Steve said, exasperated.

"I'm okay," the billionaire insisted as he waved a hand. "Really.." His expression, however, said another thing. His eyes were squeezed shut and he was pinching the bridge of his nose, sucking in deep breaths.

"Tony..." Steve crouched down by the couch. "Let me help you. What do you need?"

"I..." he needed to think. "I just want to be left alone."

He was sure Steve would protest, but instead he hovered for a second before backing away. His lips were pursed tightly and his hands were clenched at his sides.

"Um, actually, Steve...can...can you explain something to me?" Tony asked hesitantly, pushing down his pain. "What happened to me?"

"What do you mean?"

"For one, I'm working for Fury. What the actual fuck? I was planning to ditch him completely from my life. Two, I joined a superhero squad. Three, I built a damn tower for the heroes, and four, I'm married to Captain freaking America."

Steve frowned slightly. "When the opportunity arose for the Avengers to actually be assembled to stop Loki, you were reeled in." He gave a shrug. "But of course you wanted to do it. You're Tony Stark, Iron Man. Why wouldn't you? Then of course it was agreed it'd be beneficial for all of us to live together, and who better to design and create the tower for it than you." He paused there to just look at Tony, who was still staring up at him.

"You still haven't explained to me why I'm married to Captain freaking America."

When Steve spoke this time, his voice was nearly flat. "Because we fell in love. You proposed. I said yes." He glanced down to his wedding ring on his left hand for just a moment, before dropping his gaze to the floor.

Tony blinked a few times at that. "Right. Well."

He thought of the vision and how different Steve had acted. Authoritive, almost cold. Nothing compared to the Steve now. "We...we didn't get along very well back then, did we?"

Steve regarded him carefully. "No. We didn't."

Tony looked away then, and Steve knew he was done talking. "I'll leave you for a bit."

"No."

"What?" he started in surprise.

"Just...stay. We don't have to talk. Do your sketching thing or whatever." he said quietly, huddling in to the couch and draping a blanket over himself.

"You want me to stay?" Steve was bewildered still.

"Yes. God, how many times must I tell you?" Tony snapped, but it was gentle. Steve sat down in an recliner armchair across from him and he nodded, satisfied. Then he leaned back and closed his eyes. "It can wait..." What had he said to Cap that he felt so important? He winced, knowing how his concussed states could make him very emotional and maybe even cause him to ramble. He hoped that wasn't the case, but nothing supported it. He found himself needing to know, and peeked one eye open to see Steve now completely zoned out in his sketching on a notebook. Good. Really, Tony? After spending days trying to get rid of the memories, you want to trigger one manually?

He eyed Steve for a moment as he continued to think, wondering how the hell he could actually trigger this memory. Most of the time they came randomly and knocked him for a loop, leaving him feeling woozy and wobbly on his feet. Groaning, he rubbed a hand over his eyes.

That caught Steve's attention and he glanced up, brow already furrowed. "Are you alright?" He'd thought that maybe Tony had somehow hurt himself even worse after his fall in the kitchen and he couldn't help but worry.

"Fine, fine," Tony muttered and waved a hand.

Steve watched him for a just a moment longer before he looked down to his sketch again. "Well, alright.." He bit back a sigh and returned to work. What he was currently drawing was something he had started as a gift for Tony before the accident, and even though he wasn't sure that he was going to give it to the other man now, he wanted to continue it. It was a sketch of the two of them on their wedding day. Both were dressed in their tuxedos and were grinning madly as they held out their left hands, seemingly showing off their new wedding rings. It was based off of a picture that Clint had taken when the archer had walked up with his camera, demanding they prove that they "finally had a ring on it." Steve absolutely loved the photo and even though Tony had never actually told him himself, he knew for a fact that the genius had kept a tiny copy of it in his wallet. He'd seen it a time or two when they'd been out somewhere. As he remembered it, a very small smile slid over his face and his eyes flickered to his left hand, where the ring still sat. He looked at it for a just a moment, until wondering about something. Did Tony still have his on now? He bit his lower lip and tried to sneak a look at Tony's left hand, but it was covered by the blanket. He made a mental note to himself to check later. He did notice that the area was shaking, like his hands were trembling. "Tony, your hand is shaking. Calm down."

Tony seemed to snap out of his thoughts. "Hmm?"

"Your hand, Tony. It shakes when your anxious, remember?"

"How-" Tony was about to ask, but he shook his head. "Never mind. I'm good now."

The shaking had stopped. Steve's known about Tony's PTSD causing hand tremors for a long while now. He watched as Tony took out his hand and felt a pang of hurt when he saw that the ring was absent. He swallowed thickly and went back to his drawing. He wanted to give the finished sketch to Tony when he had his memories again and things between them had soothed. He just hoped that Tony would admit he was remembering anything at all.

Tony was silent for a little while until he looked back towards Steve. "What're you drawing over there?" he asked.

Steve shrugged. "Nothing, really," he stated, as he didn't want to show him. Not now, anyways.

"I'm sure it's more than nothing." He pressed. He raised his eyebrows. "Hmm?"

Steve didn't look up from his drawing. "It's just something I started before...you know. I want to finish it soon."

"Oh." Tony knew that he didn't like people prying in on his own projects, so he didn't question it further, though he kept trying to peek over the drawing. Steve seemed to notice, because a hint of a smile was playing at his lips and he turned his position. Pouting, he went back to the dead-end task of trying to trigger a memory. Which was going just peachy. He should look around; maybe touch things he may have touched before? He didn't know. But he was already bored sitting here now that the wooziness had passed. "That was a fun rest. Now if you'll excuse me..."

Steve glanced up when he heard Tony. "Oh, alright," he said with a small nod, wondering if the man was going to go work in the lab or what and too tired to argue with him otherwise. "Just let me know if you need anything," he offered a small smile and then looked back to his drawing so he could continue his work.

"Right," the billionaire mumbled as he pushed himself up from the couch. He slowly stood up, groaning at his aching body, before trying to sneak another glance at whatever Steve was drawing.

He huffed slightly as Steve once again turned his position, blocking the view of his drawing and landing him a triumphant smile. The genius promised to remind himself to keep trying. Tony shuffled down to his lab, a little unsteady but otherwise all right. He breathed in the air of lab, closing his eyes. It smelled of motor charge and a hint of stale coffee. "Daddy's home." he announced, grinning slightly.

Dum-E "Dummy", one of Tony's first robots that he built back at MIT, chirped its delight and Jarvis greeted with an ever polite, "Welcome back, sir."

"Okay, we got some experimenting to do."

"As assured that your recovery is going well, should I even bother to ask if you plan to hazard your health yet again?" Jarvis intermingled, and Tony wrinkled his nose.

"Relax. It has something to do with my condition." Tony told the AI, and plopped down in his spinny chair next to his desk, which was cluttered still with things he hadn't re-figured out yet. He tossed it all to the floor, making Dummy make a groaning noise in annoyance, as it was his job to pick up scattered papers. "I'm going to get some information from the deep and dark abyss that's my brain."

I was going to wait until Thursday, but I decided to be nice :) Once again, a THANKS TO EVERYONE FOR THE REVIEWS, FOLLOWS, AND FAVORITES. Its lovely to wake up in the morning and see that people are reading what we've been working on. Feel free to review or PM for questions, comments, and requests (note for requests: most of the time, we will take note of your request and TRY to stick it into the story, such as Lil'LillyLuvsFanfic's request for more Thor appearances, but if its too big of a change to what we're planning, we'll have to disregard it respectfully.) Love you guys! x3 *hands out cookies*