God if Steve knew what Tony thought he’d be so outraged and sad like HIS BABY HAS NO REASON TO BE INSECURE!!! And he’d probably pour all of his energy into giving Tony EVEN MORE love once he knew. ;-; in other words your most recent tattoo au snippet gave me Feelings as a fellow insecure person and I’m soft
Sorry this took like 10 years but I finally ran with these two messages and kind of mashed them together for a one-shot. I’m like the monkey paw of this fandom. You send me innocuous asks like “hey how about some mirror sex” and I’m just like Aww yeah get ready to suffer. You think you’re asking for something cute and sexy but think again!!!
Based on this set of drawings.
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“Please. Do you trust me?”
“I do,” Tony says immediately with no hesitation in his voice, and Steve’s heart clenches painfully between his ribs from the look he sees in Tony’s eyes.
Steve leans his cheek against the side of Tony’s temple, and takes him gently by the chin to tilt his head up until they’re staring back at each other through the mirror. He doesn’t move his hand until Tony stops trying to avert his gaze.
“I love every part of you, sweetheart, so much,” Steve says, “but these are some of my favorites. Because this,” he begins, stroking tender fingertips along the crows feet at Tony’s eyes, “is love and laughter. I want you to be happy always, beloved, and I never want you to know another day of pain.”
Tony makes a small noise of disagreement.
Steve presses a soft kiss to Tony's temple. “Please let me finish. I’m going somewhere with this, I promise,” and he waits for Tonys halting nod before he continues, “This,” Steve says, raking gentle fingers through Tony's greying hair, salt and pepper between warm mahogany brown, “is a life well lived. You experienced so much and it’s only made you stronger and better. Gold might be your color, but silver is beautiful on you.”
“This,” Steve says, cupping the side of Tony’s jaw where the Infinity Stones had done irreparable damage and taken his right eye, now milky white and sightless, “this is the receipt from when the universe owes you a debt. You gave everything for us, to give the world a fighting chance.”
“This,” Steve says, skimming along the jagged horizontal line in Tony's side below his ribs, a facsimile of a cruel smile, “was when you fought a Titan, and lived. You challenged a creature powerful enough to bring a moon down on you. He did that because you were winning, and that was his only way to stop you.”
“This,” Steve says, gently trailing his hand over the scars on Tony’s collarbone, topographical tales of his sacrifice, “means you got to come home to me. You saved the universe because you were so strong and brave and selfless. You saved us all.”
“This,” Steve says, following the path down his prosthetic arm, skin warmed metal and gently humming circuits, “is your brilliance. Your incredible mind and your perseverance. Nothing can stop you.”
“This,” Steve says, tracing the three inked Ms on Tony's chest, right beneath his heart, “is for our daughter. Our baby girl, who loves you so much. She gets to grow up in a safe world because of you. You’re the best dad in the world, and she loves you three thousand, Tony.”
“This,” Steve says, brushing his hand down the red and gold peonies on his flesh arm, romance and prosperity, “is for us, our marriage. We beat the impossible odds and overcame everything to be together. We fought so hard for each other, my love, so I can hold you now.”
“This,” Steve says, resting his palm against Tony’s sternum, feeling the bumps and ridges of the scarring beneath his hand, and the steady beat of the heart below his skin, “is you. Your heart that I love so much. A heart big enough for everyone.”
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