Pairing: Tony Stark/Steve RogersWarnings: post civil war, cellphone scene references, some angst, hurt/comfort, mort comfort than hurt tho :)
Tony walked through the empty penthouse in the Avengers Tower and tried to decide if he should add the missing S, T, R and K letters again. He was on his own once again in his life. Just when he was opening the door to The Bedroom, staring at the sterile, not at all lived-in looking space, he heard a weird noise. It sounded like a bird had flown against one of the glass panels - but it must have been a gigantic bird according to the dull but still loud bang the impact made. “FRIDAY?”, Tony asked immediately, his hand already stretched out so the arriving armour pieces could wrap themselves around his body. “Unidentified intruder on window 1783-D, Boss. Approximately 6′2′‘, 240lbs, heavy impact force. Facial recognition is rolling.” Tony immediately closed his eyes. “It’s okay, stop the alarm. And stop the armour from hitting me in the face!” He took a deep breath. He wasn’t prepared for a meeting with Steve. Not now. Not when he just spent five minutes staring at his bed and not, definitely not thinking about Steve. But apparently he didn’t have a choice because Tony was pretty sure that there weren’t 240lbs birds around New York City. And there was also only one face he had deleted out of the database and it belonged to a certain blonde super soldier. Steeling himself, Tony started to approach the window and was greeted with the sight of Steve’s face pressed against the glass, suction cups in his hands and holding onto the glass cladding for dear life. “Oh, for fuck’s sake!”Tony opened the window next to the one Steve was hanging at, grabbed Steve’s leg and pulled him in when Steve let go of the suction cups and jumped at the opening. “Hello there, asshole”, Tony greeted him and was secretly proud of himself for this very eloquent line. “What the hell are you doing on the outside of my tower? Shouldn’t you be in prison? Or at least very far away?”Steve was actually breathing quite heavy from the exertion, but he smiled. He smiled at Tony like Tony was his sun and Tony could feel his heart breaking all over again. He wasn’t sure if he would survive another round of this. “Hi, Tony. I missed you.”, Steve said when his breathing had levelled down. Tony snorted and crossed his arms, staring down at the supersoldier sitting on his floor in just a shirt and his jeans and a tiny duffle bag on his back. “Are you here to get your shield back?”, Tony asked hostilely. But Steve shook his head and stood up. “No. I’m here to apologize.” Incredulously, Tony raised his eyebrow. “Sure you are”, he snarked. “I’m not lying, I promise.” Steve started to fumble with the seam of his shirt and dropped his gaze for a moment, before he took a deep breath and looked straight into Tony’s eyes. “I was a real asshole to you. For not telling you about your parents, for… fighting you, twice. For ignoring you. For sending you that cowardly letter. For messing the Avengers up. I could understand it and would accept it if you chose that I’ve hurt you too much to ever be forgiven. But I need you to know that… Tony, you’re so important to me. I am so very sorry for what I’ve done. I hope you can believe me.” After this small speech Steve exhaled and took a tiny step back, waiting for Tony’s answer. “People lie all the time”, Tony croaked. “And you’ve lied to me several times. Why should I believe you now?” Steve threaded his hand through his hair. “There’s nothing I can say that will make you believe me, Tony. I would never try to force this on you. Not after what I’ve done. But, when I was sitting there away from you, away from the Avengers I realised… nothing matters anymore to me. Except you.” Steve looked at Tony with wide open, honest eyes, but Tony could only gulp. “Is this… is this a love declaration or what?!” Tony could feel himself getting angry, he wasn’t ready to deal with this. It had taken him long enough to get through the mess of feelings the fight with Steve and Barnes had left him in; and Rhodey and his parents and the Avengers… he really didn’t need another asshole move from Steve. (He just needed some comfort. He craved it. He craved a hug from Steve’s strong warm arms and to not think about all the shit that happened to him all the time, to just pretend that for once in his life he didn’t have to fight tooth and nail for a tiny splint of happiness that would be ripped away again anyway.) “If I wanted to hug you, would you be okay with that?”, Steve asked quietly. “You look like you could need one.” Tony shook his head and prepared his mouth to say ‘No fuck off’ but the next thing he knew was that he had basically jumped into Steve’s arms. patheticpatheticpathetic was all his brain screamed at him, but then he heard Steve whisper into his ear: “I’m so sorry Tony. I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to make it up to you. You deserve so much better than me but I needed to feel you in my arms for one last time.” “Doesn’t have to be the last time”, Tony slurred; confused and angry and happy all at the same time, ignoring that a tear was finding its way down his cheek.~
