Cuddling please? Maybe with an Ace character?
Sorry for the very long delay! I hope this works for you. :D
Steve massaged at his neck as he walked, digging hisfingertips in along his spine. He ached everywhere. It had been a long day oftraining, and then he’d devoted most of his afternoon to running and basketballgames with neighborhood kids. Most of them were the regular groups of kidswho’d gotten used to him, and Steve stopping by to play with them wasn’t acause for chaos. It was mostly the adults who made a fuss about him being onthe basketball court. They always ended up with an audience, dozens of cellphonesout, Twitter filling up with #CapHoldsCourt. Steve wished they’d leave himalone, but the kids loved it, and it got them some exposure, brought attentionto the neighborhoods. Steve didn’t get to be an anonymous citizen in a hoodiewith a basketball, but that was alright. He was used to it.
Chin drifting down toward his chest, Steve took one handaway from his neck and nudged the bedroom door open. The curtains had beendrawn across the floor to ceiling windows, blocking out the city lights. Thecorners of Steve’s lips drifted up. He’d never had to say anything, but Tonyhad somehow known that the cityscape made him feel untethered. One day Stevehad been standing at the window with his forehead pressed to the glass. He’dbeen watching the tail lights of the cars going by, thinking about how muchthey looked like toys from so far up. The next day, the curtains had been up.They were mostly sheer, gray, sleek and very Tony. They blocked out just enoughof the cityscape to make Steve feel comfortable. Insulated.
“You look very moist,” Tony said.
Steve turned to find him propped up in bed with the topsheet spread over his lap and a pillow pushed under his knees. He had a laptopon his thighs, his fingers poised over the keyboard. The screen highlighted hisface blue, and for a second Steve wondered what Tony’s skin had looked likehighlighted by the arc reactor.
“I am very moist,”Steve answered. He plucked his shirt away from his abs in illustration. Hisfingers left an impression in the wet fabric after he’d let it go.
Tony grinned at him. For whatever ridiculous reason, heliked it when Steve said moist, andSteve liked indulging him. He dropped his backpack by the closet and tugged hisshirt up over his head. The cool air lifted goose bumps on his skin. He wasconscious of Tony’s eyes on him as he dropped the shirt to the laundry hamperand toed off his shoes, but there was no hunger in it.
Slipping his shorts off, Steve glanced back. “I’m going totake a shower. Want to join me?”
“Hmm… freezing cold shower, or stay in the nice comfortablebed and just wait for you to come back all clean and cool?” He gave it his bestthinking face, turning his hands palms up and moving them up and down, weighingthe two options.
Steve laughed. “Alright. I’ll be back.” He heard the soft tap-tap-click-tap of Tony’s fingers onthe keyboard almost immediately. The sounds followed him into the bathroom, andSteve left the door open so he could still hear them while he brushed histeeth, used the toilet, and then finally turned on the shower. He always ran alittle hot, and cold showers felt so good after a long day of New York settlinginto his skin. Tony kept unscented everything for him on hand for the timeswhen he got over sensitive and strong scents gave him headaches, but Steveliked Tony’s body wash – rosemary, peppermint, and tea tree oil. It made hisskin tingle and left him with a chill for a while after he got out of thewater. Plus, it smelled like Tony. He took his time, scrubbing the washclothover his chest and down his arms, scrubbing every finger, cleaning under his nailswith the opposite thumb, rubbing the cloth at his cuticles. His toes got thesame treatment, and then the bottoms of his feet, the back of his knees, thespaces between his legs and over his ass. He even managed to stretch and twistenough to get his entire back. Even under the lukewarm water, the body washmade him feel cold, almost like his skin was vibrating.
By the time he made it back to the bedroom and into hisboxers, Tony had shut the laptop down and set it down beside the bed. He wasstill sitting up against the pillows, but he looked like he was starting todrift off. Steve flipped the light off and felt his way back to the bed,listening to Tony rustling around in the blankets to guide him while his visionadjusted.
The sheets were warm with Tony’s body, and soft on Steve’s buzzingskin. They rolled together without a word, Tony moving up the mattress andSteve squirming down so he could tuck his head under Tony’s chin. He liked theway it felt to have Tony’s arms draped around his head and shoulder, the steadythump of his heart close to Steve’s ears, the scent of his skin.
“Did you have a good day?” Tony asked, tipping his head toset this lips to Steve’s temple in a sideways kiss.
“Long,” Steve answered. He shrugged. “It was productive.Tomorrow will be worse.”
Tony hummed. “You have that embassy meeting tomorrow,” herecalled aloud. “Do you need moral support?”
“Don’t you have a shareholders call or investment somethingor other?”
Tony laughed. “I have a shareholders call and an investment something or other.But I can still be your moral support. I can multitask.”
Steve shifted to get comfortable, tucking his arm under thepillow and looking for that elusive position where his body and Tony’s bodylocked perfectly into place and they were both too comfortable to move again fora while. Tony shifted to let him move.
“I can handle the embassy,” Steve said finally, settlingdown again. It wasn’t exactly the right position, but pretty close. Closeenough for a while, anyway. He’d try again in a few minutes, or Tony would. They’dfigure it out, or they’d roll apart when limbs started falling asleep. Henuzzled into the underside of Tony’s chin, kissing idly at his throat.
Tony shifted against him. He threw a leg over Steve’s hip, andleaned back slightly against the pillows behind him. Steve sighed happily asthey fell into a comfortable sprawl.
“Do you need anything?” Steve asked after a moment of quiet.
“No, I’m alright. Thank you.” His fingers drifted across theback of Steve’s shoulders, and then down his spine.
Steve returned the favor, skating his free hand up Tony’sarm. He hooked a thumb under the strap of Tony’s tank top and let his knucklerub softly over his collarbone. Steve had never been with someone who was ascontent with touching and being touched without it leading to sex as Tony. Itwas a relief after a lifetime of anxiety and constantly having to be aware thathis partner might not interpret cuddling as just cuddling. He’d never feltbefore that he was free to just indulge in touch for the sake of touch. It wasn’tthat he disliked sex, and he really liked making Tony feel good, but he’d neverbeen drawn to it. Most of the time he was pretty sure that he got the sameenjoyment out of cuddling that other people got out of orgasms. When he’d wokenup in the new century and had the term ‘asexual’ defined for him the firsttime, he’d almost wept from relief. In his time, he would have just beenlabeled queer, and would have been in just as much danger from not having sexas having the wrong kind of sex.
Steve looked up. Tony had his eyes closed, but his fingerswere still brushing across Steve’s skin. The motions were growing slower,pauses between strokes growing longer. He was obviously drifting off to sleep. “Tony?”
“Hmm?”
“Do you really not mind that… well, we don’t have sex often?”
Tony cracked one eye open. They’d talked about it before –talked it to death, it felt like – but confirmation wasn’t a bad thing.Communication was important. Just because Tony hadn’t minded at one point, didn’tmean he wasn’t starting to mind six months later.
Rubbing at one eye with his knuckle, Tony managed to getboth eyes open. “When I was younger, I might have minded,” he confessedfinally. It could have just been the sleepiness, but he looked a little guilty.“No, I would have definitely minded. I would like to say that I would have seenyou for the prize you are and not let it get in the way, but it probably wouldhave. I’d like to think we would have worked it out anyways, but I was adifferent person then.” He put his hand on the side of Steve’s face and urgedhis chin up so he could see Steve’s eyes. “Darling. I am over fifty, and havean actual heart problem. I promiseyou, it does not bother me. I’ve never been with anyone I could just touchwithout having to put on a show all the time, and that’s nice.”
Feeling warm, Steve stretched up and kissed Tony gently onthe corner of his lips, and then rubbed their noses together. “You’ll tell meif it ever starts to bother you?”
“Cross my heart,” Tony said.
“And when you need it –”
“I will continue to communicate any needs with you as theyarise,” Tony interrupted, tucking Steve’s head under his chin and shiftingcloser so they were tangled up together. They wouldn’t stay like that for long –Tony kept the room cool to make cuddling more comfortable, but he’d get hoteventually and roll away.
Steve took advantage of it while his body heat was stillpleasant for Tony, wrapping his arms around Tony’s waist and holding him close.“I love you,” he said against Tony’s collarbone.
Humming, Tony said, “That is something I will never gettired of.” He leaned back so he kiss Steve’s forehead and then curled forwardagain, wrapping his free arm around Steve’s head and carding his fingersthrough Steve’s hair.
It was another position that wouldn’t last long – Steve likedfeeling cradled and sheltered, but it would eventually turn from sheltering tosmothering, and he would probably roll out of it even before Tony was drivenaway by his body heat.
Tony curled over a little further. He kissed the top ofSteve’s head and gently squeezed his neck. “I love you too.”
