"Sir, Captain Rogers appears to have fallen out of his bed-" JARVIS didn't even really finish the sentence before Tony was tripping over himself and the equipment to get out to the door of Steve's guest room.
Once there, brain kicking on fully from the state of completely lost he'd been in, though, Tony didn't know whether or not to knock.
The door slid open before he could, and Tony was met with the sight of a frightened, half-crazed Steve, half-crouched at the other end of the room, hands outstretched and shaking slightly with terror in his eyes, "Steve? Steve, you're in Stark Tower; you're safe." Tony said calmly, dodging the alarm clock flung at him in self-defence from a mind still half-trapped in the night-terrors he'd been having. "Relax, you know me." Tony soothed, daring small inches closer and closer before he could take Steve's SHIELD-issued cell phone from the death grip it was protesting under, Steve's body rising up in protest before the blue eyes cleared, and Steve slumped down to the floor fully, his face scrunching up in tears. Tony collapsed with him, pulling Steve's head against his shoulder, "O-okay, you're okay." Tony wasn't exactly known for his abilities to comfort the crying. Then again, he also wasn't exactly known for his ability to woo a supersoldier, so maybe it was Steve just bringing out the best in him.
Steve's arms closed around him shakily, too loose to really be a hug, but too desperate for Tony to think of anything but holding the shaking superhero. Tony's fingers curled in the short hair at the back of Steve's head, holding him fiercely, as if there was something real to protect him against besides his own mind; his own memories.
Carefully, Tony half-lifted Steve, keeping him steady and propelling him along beside him, sitting him down on the bed and pulling him into his arms securely, tucking his head under Tony's chin, rocking him gently back and forth. Tony started running his fingers through Steve's hair, "I've got you, Steve, you're safe." He was shivering so hard that Tony was worried he'd shake apart. Steve whined, curling up against Tony's side, "You're safe with me." Tony murmured: words he'd honestly never really meant like he meant them now.
"Cold-" Was the only word Steve managed before Tony was scooping his arm under Steve's legs, using strength he'd never thought he'd have to lay the supersoldier out over the bed, enfolding him in his arms as he laid down beside him, pressed as close as possible in as many places as possible. Steve's grip on him tightened, and Tony grunted as he was suddenly flattened against Steve's muscular form, one large, unsteady hand on his back. Steve turned his face into Tony's neck, and Tony realized that this was probably the closest he'd been to someone since he'd been frozen.
It made Tony hold on to him tighter; made him curse out anything he could think of; made him press his lips to Steve's forehead and close his eyes. "I'll warm you up, Steve, just relax."
"K-Keep talking to me?"
Tony had never been more at a loss for words in his life, but he picked up his leaden tongue and made it gold again, "During the war, a secret operation known as the SSR was scouting for the best candidate for a very special, top-secret program. A brilliant scientist named Abraham Erskine had created a serum to elevate a man's potential, and had enlisted Howard Stark as help to make the transformation of a man into a superman.
"Howard didn't get the pleasure of meeting their first test subject until it was time to light that candle. His exact words, ten years later, to describe meeting the bravest man he'd ever met were 'if he'd been any thinner and any more transparent, we would have been able to see his internal organs like a guppy.'" Tony snickered and Steve smiled, his eyes closed and his breathing catching in a silent chuckle against Tony's chest.
"I'd ask you to skip all the bad parts-"
Tony kissed Steve's lips to quiet him again, "The bad parts are what got us here." Tony whispered, thinking of his own bad parts. Tony took a deep breath and began the narrative again, "The experiment produced the most amazing man any of them had ever seen. Fast, strong, determined…good. Above all else, he was a good man…" Steve was calm against his side now, the shivers gone even when Tony ran his hand over Steve's bare arm. "But a German spy had been witness to the experiment, and the spy killed Dr. Erskine, and the knowledge of how to create that formula with him. An American hero was born as the man chased after the spy; a star-centred taxi cab door was used as a shield against the spy's bullets, and it became an iconic image of the war…" Tony ran his hand down Steve's back, kissing his golden hair, "But the men behind the experiment; the government that had created this perfect man, wanted to confine perfection, to take it into a lab so that the formula could be found again…" Steve squirmed a little, and Tony rubbed soothingly at the back of Steve's neck, "but there was another official; a senator, who gave him the chance to live up to the potential he'd been given. It...wasn't exactly the way Captain America wanted to be bourn into the world, but it was the way it had to be.
"It took a long time...but Captain America finally had his chance to shine: His best friend had been captured by the Nazis, and the Captain would have risked everything to get him back. The Cap had made a good friend: An agent named Peggy Carter asked Howard Stark for a favour; to fly the plane that could be delivering Captain America to his death. Even if it risked everything for Howard, he would've said yes, he believed in the kid that much." Steve pulled himself up a little, kissing at the corner of Tony's mouth to stop the story.
Tony looked up at Steve as he lowered himself to rest against Tony's chest, not letting his full weight press down, but letting them press together as he kissed Tony full on the mouth. He chuckled darkly at the dry rasp of Tony's beard against his clean-shaven skin, pulling off of his mouth and resting into a hug. "I don't want to hear this story."
Tony's arms rubbed up the firm, muscular back, "It's not the story you think it is." Steve looked at him in the eyes, studying the playful glint of amusement, "Do you still want me to stop?" Steve looked down, biting his lip as he shook his head. Tony groaned gently, sucking Steve's lip from his care into Tony's, "Mmm...where was I? Yeah, right, the plane. ...Howard, Peggy, and Captain America snuck off in the dead of night, taking Howard's private plane and crossing enemy lines. Howard was the best civilian pilot that they had, and he was insane enough to do what they needed him to." Steve began to idly play with his hand, and Tony was almost completely distracted as Steve traced the rough patches of his hand. "That tickles." Tony laughed, and Steve hummed an apology, distractedly playing with Tony's hand again. "Howard didn't get to see the man that would become a good friend to him jump out of an airplane, but he was insanely worried when his friend never called for his pick-up. Between the time he'd flown over that dangerous terrain and the time Captain America had come back, Howard had talked Peggy out of several panic attacks, and had met the love of his life, Maria, in a trip to medical for a cut to his arm."
"A cut?" Steve asked, tracing one finger in a line over Tony's arm.
"One of the bullets grazed him while he was flying Peggy back to the base." Steve stiffened and sat up, looking down and around at the billionaire. "He was okay. He actually would've thanked you." Steve scowled a little, laying down with his chin resting against Tony's chest, looking up at him with expectant eyes.
"He shouldn't be thanking me. I think I got the real prize out of the deal." Tony threw his head back and laughed, eyes shut and a full, real grin broken out over his features. "Now, I wanna hear the rest of the story."
Tony accepted him back into his arms, rubbing his back and pressing his lips to Steve's forehead. "Maria and Howard were fast friends, and fast becoming more than that to each other. Captain America came back from his first mission, and Howard was relieved that the kid from Brooklyn who'd already meant so much to them all was safe once more. He was so happy, in fact, that Howard constructed a shield for the young man out of the rarest metal in the world, one that would be bullet proof; both a weapon and a protector from all that he'd face." Steve was idly playing with his shirt sleeve, a little more bored with this part of the story, and the good storyteller in Tony knew he had to sweeten the pot here. "The young Captain fought with more goodness and bravery than any man that the world had ever seen before, and Howard and the Captain became friends. But there came a time when the Captain had to make the ultimate sacrifice to save his country and the free world from a madman...and he did what he had to. Howard became obsessed for years, trying to find him. One day, Peggy came to him, and asked him, for the good of himself and his family, to stop looking so hard, before he lost everything that the Captain had fought for him to be able to keep. Howard soon married Maria, who had been with him through it all...but he would never trust anyone again; would never get close, for fear that being close to anyone would end up in loss and pain. A few years later, Maria had a child. Anthony Stark was quickly discovered as a child prodigy. He was smarter than everyone else; more determined; more ill-tempered...and more alone. Even the worst of beatings didn't hurt as much as the solitary birthdays when fifty other children had been invited; his father too busy to care, and his mother too alone to notice her son's own loneliness.
"The Captain became a bedtime story, and then an imaginary friend. Because of the Captain, the young Stark found out when and how to pick a fight; how to be strong and brave; and how to be good. Always good. Because then he could have friends like the Captain had. Friends that would fight for him; die for him; go mad if he was lost…" Tony's chest felt tight, but his throat was thankfully free. Steve was tense as Hawkeye's drawn bow, his breathing stuttering, and Tony realized he'd never told anyone this. Not even JARVIS, "but the little boy's only friend came from his mind. And for a long time, the mirage of a star-spangled man was all that he needed. Then, as he grew, he began to make friends...robotic creations that would talk to him; tell him stories; make him laugh...But, as much as he wanted it to make his father proud, nothing seemed to break the wall between them." Steve's arms were holding on tight to Tony, unwittingly keeping him in the moment, and Tony was thankful for that. "By fifteen, the boy was attending the most prestigeous technological school in the world; and by nineteen, he'd gotten two doctorates, graduating…But Howard and Maria never got to see enough of his life to ever find any saving grace to the party animal that had fallen out of the light of the Captain's imaginary friendship...they never got to see him beyond the successful failure he was making of himself...They died when he was twenty-one, leaving him really, hopelessly alone in the world…"
"Skip this part." Steve whispered roughly, his voice strained with emotion, "Tell me how that boy became a superhero; became a man to look up to by everyone. Tell me how he saved his imaginary friend's life...how he beat a god...tell me...tell me how he's not alone anymore. How he won't ever be alone anymore."
Tony held on to Steve tighter, resting his chin on the blond hair, "He's happy now...very happy. He's with someone who he's loved all his life, even when he got jealous of him, and he's safe. Safer and happier than he's ever been." Steve tucked himself down against Tony Stark's heart, listening to it beating, fighting away the thought that that heart would stop if the small white light shining like a beacon from Tony's chest ever went out. "It's Steve Rogers that deserves the happy ending, though. Not Tony Stark."
A/N: Thank you so much to all the reviewers and everyone who's read the story. I'm completely ecstatic, thank you, guys.
Sorry for the kinks, but I'm still trying to work out how to use , so please bear with me.