So What If We Grow Old Together?
Tony is insecure about his age after Stephen returns from the Snap and no longer seems attracted to him. Stephen sets it right.
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Tony dipped his razor into the cool stream of water, shaking it off. "Doc, you wanna hurry up? There's an Avengers meeting we have to be at in twenty minutes, and you're usually the one telling me to get ready. Are we in the Upside Down?"
Stephen huffed from the shower. "As soon as I get out, I'm going to dry and dress myself and five seconds then portal us over in less than a minute. I have plenty of time."
"Since when do you even take long showers?"
"Since my entire body is sore from fighting interdimensional monsters all the time. I get as much hot water as I want."
Tony chuckled. "Fine, you win this one." He finished his morning routine, applying deodorant and aftershave and the cologne that Stephen liked. It was amazing the difference that having his husband back had made. During the five years after the Snap, it had been a chore just to get out of bed in the morning, nevermind put in effort. Now he did it happily. The other day, he even hummed.
When Stephen got out of the shower, absently wrapping a towel around his waist, he thought that there was something else he would do happily.
Before Stephen could magic his clothes on, Tony stepped up behind him, wrapping his arms around the sorcerer's waist and kissing his neck. "Well, if we still have fifteen minutes . . ."
Stephen moved his hand away. "You were just telling me to hurry up."
Tony shrugged. "We saved the universe, we can be late if we want."
In the next moment, Stephen was a foot away from and completely dressed (He even coiffed his hair, that dick). "I don't want." He opened the bathroom door so the Cloak could fly to him. "Come on."
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Tony picked his starkpad up, tried to read the article he was on for five seconds, then put it back down. He couldn't concentrate. Well, no, that wasn't accurate. He could concentrate, just not on what he was supposed to.
He didn't know why he was so stuck on what happened that morning. It was nothing, really. Stephen probably hadn't even thought about it.
But still . . .
"Hey, gummy bear?" Tony began when meeting with Rhodey later in the day to work on upgrades for his leg braces.
Rhodey immediately had his put-upon-but-ready expression on. "Something going on, Tones?"
Tony hesitated before voicing his fears. "Do you think things are different between Stephen and me?"
Rhodey looked at him like he was stupid. "Damn, considering he died for five years then immediately went to being in a coma for five months, I'd expect so."
"That's not what I meant! It's just . . ." It’s just that lately Tony had become more aware of his graying hair and the wrinkles around his eyes.
He shook his head, deciding to bring it up with Stephen later. No point in raking himself over the coals in the meantime. "You're probably right."
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When Tony saw his husband that night, he made sure he was wearing the cologne Stephen liked and the outfit — blue shirt, cardigan, reading glasses — that Stephen deemed his 'sexy professor look'. By all accounts, he should be utterly irresistible.
So it was kind of disheartening when Stephen found him resistible.
He thought they might be getting somewhere when he started kissing Stephen's neck, gently sucking hickies into the pale skin and running a hand over his thigh.
Stephen smiled. "Oh, hello."
"Hi." He played with the hem of Stephen's tunic. "Wanna get out of these stuffy clothes?"
Stephen paused before shrugging. "Sure." He reached to take off his husband's shirt, but Tony grabbed his hand to stop him. "What?"
Tony stared at him. "Sure?"
Stephen frowned. "What?"
"Sure. Just sure. Like, yeah, okay, if you want, I mean I'm not really into it, but whatever . . ."
Stephen rolled his eyes. "Okay, now it's a thing."
"Yeah, it's a thing!" He tried moving away, but since they were still on the same bed, it didn't have the dramatic effect he wanted. "Is it the hair? Because I can fix that, but I'm not getting Botox! It's not happening!"
"Okay, I think I get what's happening." Stephen took Tony's hand, holding onto it despite Tony's attempts to wrest it away. "Tony—"
"No, I get it," Tony lied. "You think I don't know I'm in my fifties now? Technically, you're fifteen years younger than me now! I could be your dad! I could be on 15 And A Baby Daddy!"
"Please tell me that's not a thing."
"God, we never even had so-glad-you're-alive-sex after your came back! We've only had sex TWICE since you got back!"
Stephen blinked, for once seeming genuinely "Oh. I . . . actually hadn't thought of it."
"That's worse!"
To his irritation, Stephen smiled. "Tony, I know that 'it's not you, it's me' is a joke at this point—"
"Oh my God, are we getting divorced?"
"—but this actually is my problem, not yours." He sat up some more, crossing his legs. "Tony, after using the Time Stone so much, things are just . . . different for me now."
Tony stared at him. "Is your dick different?" A beat passed. "I can work with that."
"Tony, I promise you it's not that. But I use a lot of magic and I've seen millions of timelines and possible futures. And it's affecting me. Beetroot tastes delicious to me now and I used to hate it. I hear so many high-pitched sounds I didn't before. My perception of time is shot to Hell. I keep thinking it's next year. We're in Spring."
It was more like late-Winter, but Tony let him have that one.
"And this . . ." He took Tony's hand and covered it with both of his own. "This is different. I love you just the same, and you are as beautiful to me as the night we met. I hardly see the change."
Tony nodded along, still a little confused. "Then what . . ."
Stephen sighed. "It's not the . . . aesthetic attraction, I guess, that's different. It's sex. I just don't get aroused on my own anymore. It's like it just doesn't occur to me."
Tony thought about it. "So, what, you don't want to have sex anymore? You could've told me that instead of making me think I had a problem—"
"I still enjoy sex. I just have to think about it more now. It doesn't just happen."
Tony looked at him. "You've gotta give me more information than that."
Stephen rolled his eyes. "Like, maybe we'll have an hour or so where we don't have anything we need to do, and you'll be looking at me like you want to read my clothes off with your teeth, and I'll think, 'Oh, now is a good time'. I never feel like I should need to, but I can still want to." He pulled Tony closer, pressing their foreheads together. "And even if it had been you, isn't it 'til death do us part'? Not 'perfectly normal and natural aging causes a change in appearance that you find unattractive?"
"Technically that wasn't in our vows—"
Stephen kissed him to shut him up, then kept kissing him because he wanted to.
Tony ran a hand through his husband's hair, caressing his face and idly running his thumb over the soft skin under his ear. "Is, um . . . is this a good time?"
Stephen chuckled. "Yeah, why not."
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Part of the From the Top au, also on ao3
