tony knows.
a short one-shot. hurt/no comfort.
tw(s): none? cheating ig?
Now on ao3
———————
tony knows.
he’s dealt with things like this before.
he sees the way his lips are always chapped, when he gets home.
he sees how he try’s to hide his neck, he’s 90% sure he saw a mark hidden there.
he sees him leaving late and coming back early, as if he wouldn’t notice
he sees the way he’s been avoiding his hugs and kisses, and doesn’t say i love you back anymore.
he sees. of course he sees.
he’s a fucking genius. why wouldn’t he notice?
he just didn’t want to admit he was wrong about sam.
“he’s a good one, Hap!”
“he wont break my heart, Honeybear!”
“what did i do in life, to deserve someone like sam, Jarvis?”
He knows sam is cheating, he knows it’s been going on for a while, too.
he can do one of two things
1. he can start a screaming match, and hear all the ways he’s failed Sam as a husband
or
2. pretend he doesn’t notice. the lingering looks Sam throws at Bucky, the leaving all the time, the hiding of their 12 year-long marriage, he can just pretend that everything is okay
Tony wants to blame Bucky, of course, but it isn’t his fault. he knows that, if anyone is to blame, it’s tony. he got severely hurt, took too long to recover, and indirectly drove Sam into Buckys arms.
Sam can’t even look into his eyes anymore. After 12 years of Marriage, Sam couldn’t look into his own husbands eyes.
Tony deserves this.
All the pain and death and hurt he’s caused? The least he deserves is to be cheated on.
“hey, Steve, can you schedule a thing with Sam? i need to upgrade his Redwing AI” that’s the only way tony even sees Sam anymore, by pretending it’s ‘avengers’ business.
Sometimes Tony finds himself thinks that maybe if Sam got hurt, that e would actually prove if he really loves Tony or not
No matter, the papers are ready, both lawyers are called, Sam didn’t have one, so tony did him a solid and called and paid for one for him.
Sam walked into the room ,sees tony, with two men he didn’t recognize and a stack of paper on the table, and he stops. why would Tony have a meeting when he was supposed to be upgrading Sams AI?
“Samuel, wonderful for you to join us, I’m Matthew Murdock, Anthony’s lawyer, and he is Franklin Nelson, he is your legal council, no fees at your charge, of course”
“Tony? Baby, what’s happening, why are there lawyers here?”
Tony is trying to hold back tears while seeing Sam look so confused, as if he didnt see anything like this happening, and Matt is trying to calm him down.
“Mr. Stark has known the whole time Samuel, he knows about your whole affair with your co-worker, you can go over the papers with Franklin, but please, be sure to have them signed within the next week or so.”
“what are you taking about? Affair? Tony? I thought we were supposed to talk and communicate in the relationship.”
“it’s easier to pretend it’s okay, that i don’t notice, Sam. i’m an observer, of course i noticed, as soon as i was fully recovered, i noticed immediately.”
“what are you talking about, Tones? noticed what? you think i had an affair?”
“i don’t think. i know Sam. i’ve been cheated on before, it’s nothing new. so please save me the whole ‘but i didn’t cheat!’ speech, im tired and hungover and i don’t want to be alive right now, okay?”
“you’re drinking again? tony i thought we agreed you’d stop, for your health” Sam was confused, why did Tones start drinking again...
“you didn’t seem to care about my being drunk when you missed our anniversary last month” Tony is staring at the table, basically refusing to look Sam in the eye.
“anniversary? i missed that?” Sam is once again confused, he missed their anniversary? how shitty a husband is he? He’s usually the one who has to remind Tony about the dates.
“Yes. Sam, you missed our 12 year anniversary. please sign the papers. i just want to get this over with.” Tony now has tears streaming out his eyes, Matt is trying to calm him down, but its not working.
The room fills with the sound of Tonys suppressed sobs.
“i’m not signing shit, not until you tell me what your asking for right now.
“Really? you wanna do this whole thing? alright then.” Tony finally looks him in the eyes, and Sam now realizes how much hurt he sees, not one ounce of love anywhere, only hurt.
“I, Anthony Stark, have known about your affair with your coworker James ‘Bucky’ Barnes since i was fully recovered, after the snap. i’m not sure when it started, but it was already happening when i woke up 2 months later. I want to live my life, without constantly worrying about how much i failed as a husband, so i am divorcing you, Sam Wilson.” Tony stands, not wanting to seem weak by saying all this while curling into a ball in his chair.
He looks and feels powerful, suprising Foggy and Sam, Matt looks proud.
“you,,,think i’m cheating on you with Bucky?” Sam has never been able to lie, everyone in Sams life knows that, Tony can see through how he just tried to lie and failed.
“don’t. dont. just sign the damn papers and let me leave.” Tony sounds broken, but maybe you need to break before you get better?
“please, just explain why you think i would cheat on you, with Bucky of all people.” Sam just keeps trying to lie, Foggy and Matt see right through that shit, they both know Sam cheated, its obvious
“when’s the last time you said i love you to me? answer that.” tony starts questioning him, as if he needs to prove to Sam that hes smart enough to see through the lie.
“...i’m not sure” Sam has to be honest, he thought he had hidden it pretty well, but he is married to a genius.
“it was over 6 months ago. and i’m sure you didn’t even mean it.”
“of course i meant it!” Sam loves Tony, just not the same way he loves Bucky
Holy shit he loves bucky
“What are you always leaving late at night, and coming home, early so i won’t notice?” Tony had always been a light sleeper, especially after Afghanistan.
“i-um,” Sams at a loss, maybe he should just sing the papers and stop hurting Tony.
“why are you now so overprotective of your phone? i cant even look in your direction when your on your phone, or you’ll explode at me”
“tony-“
“No. answer this, why doesn’t bucky know we’re married? why doesn’t ANY ONE of your friends know that you’ve been married for 12 years?” He has a point.
“i fucked up okay? im sorry” Sam finally admits it.
“Sorry doesn’t fix over a year of cheating, Sam. you know how fucking hard it is for me to trust anyone, and i thought you were a good one, but i guess you played to long-con, huh? pretend you love me, and then divorce me to get half of my wealth? is that what you want? or were you hoping i would have died during the snap, so you could inherit everything?” Sam feels hurt, Tony should know he doesnt care about money...
“you, of all people know that money isn’t important to me.” he voices, as if it’ll change anything.
“then why? why cheat on me? why not divorce me before you seemingly fell in love with Barnes?”
“what?”
“Even Steve thinks you two are dating. i have to sit by and watch, as my own friends and family think that my husband is dating someone else. the only one on our team to know we’re married is Barton, and even he knows your cheating on me.” Clint has been angry and snappy with him, maybe because of that?
“i didn’t mean for it to happen, okay? i thought you were going to die, and bucky was there to help me through it, and after, he just stayed around, i didn’t mean for it to go this far.” Sam started liking him way before the snap, but another lie wont hurt anything.
“i wish i did die. i wish that the stones had killed me. i wish i had fucking died, so you could have an ideal love-life with someone you actually love.” Matt is comforting Tony again, rubbing his back, and trying to calm him down.
“i do love you. you know that” Sam really did, love him, but just not now, i guess.
“yeah, well cheating me on me gives a different impression.”
“you cheated too! all the fucking time before ironman, while i was on deployment!” Sam knows bringing up decade old news up wont stop the divorce, but its worth a try.
“all those girls that claimed to sleep with me are full of shit, sam. i would never cheat. you know i wouldn’t. because you were there with me after Tiberius cheated on me and i was suicidal, why would i put you through all that? i loved you too much” there it is. loved. Tony doesnt love him anymore too, but still didnt want to hurt Sam by cheating or having and affair.
“loved? so you don’t love me anymore?”
“i do love you but what am i supposed to think, huh? i’m done, Franklin, you can go over all the papers with him, Matt, you wanna get some food or something? i’ll pay” Tony gets up again, starting to walk to the door.
“Tony-“ Sam goes to grab tonys arm to stop him from leaving, but Matt stops him before he can even reach his arm.
“Yeah, i could eat, Foggy, i’ll bring you something” Matt pushes Sam towards the chairs.
“Thanks Matt, anyways, Sam, the papers state-“
