Chapter 1
“Tony and Steve, still together!? That’s hilarious!, no, they broke up long before the accords, if I was to speak on Steve’s behalf, which I am, Tony isn’t the genius everyone thinks he is, I mean come on-, the dude can barely handle the mention of 2012” Tony’s face twisted in horror as he watched the news, there he stood, Sam Wilson, throwing him under the bus to protect Steve and the rest of team cap.
Tony insides burned as he stood up, shutting off the tv before Sam could finish, he felt sick, had Steve really allowed Sam to say this stuff?, to lie on everything he and Tony had built?, Tony furiously marched towards the empty compound kitchen, throwing open a cupboard door, an anger bubbling inside him, his eyes brows furiously knitted together as he rummaged to the back of it.
“FRIDAY!, call Rhodes!” Tony slammed a shot class down, smashing it into shards as he did, he didn’t bother to clean it, he simply sauntered over to the cupboard and took out a whiskey tumbler, placing it down slightly more gently as he began to pour, just as he went to take the first sip, Rhodes voice flowed through the speakers
“Tony?, wassup?” James waited a few minutes but when no reply came through he switched to video, “Tony?”
Tony looked up, turning his video on, his face was pale and the bags under his eyes prominent as James sighed, “Did you see Sams press conference?” Tony’s voice was grovely as the words came out, “He swore!, he swore Rhodey! Not tell anyone about all the 2012 shit!!” Tony’s hand slammed down onto the counter, small shards of class entering his hand.
“He’s torn it apart!, he’s just sat idly somewhere, watching me burn!” Tony’s teeth gritted as tears formed slowly, “How do I come back from this Rhodes!?, I’m fucking Tony Stark and he thinks he can slander me!, I made those assholes!”
“To-“ Tony cut James off by ending the call, “I don’t need anyone’s help!, fuck them all!!,
Friday schedule a press conference, in two hours!”
Two hours came, and Tony had cleaned himself up, he looked like he hadn’t touched a drink in days and even better as if he’d actually slept, at least to those who didn’t know him.
He walked to the front of the compound, cameras flashing and a podium already set up for him, he approached it slowly, flexing his shoulders out, before tapping the mic, “I thought it was only appropriate that I speak out today, on behalf of my side of the accords, I know many of you will-“
“was what The Falcon said true!?” A reporter Tony knew all to well yelled out, she’d been attempting to push his buttons for years and unfortunately today was her lucky day.
“What Sam Wilson said was riddled with lies, I made him, I should know, the avengers would’ve been nothing without me, same with that fossil that they’re all blindly following!, he tore us all apart and is sitting somewhere watching the world burn, hes an Ikarus with no care for anyone!, there’s no way to redeem him, he forfeited all rights to the title ‘Captain America’ and to that fucking shield that MY FATHER MADE HIM!, THEN I DID!”
Tony’s hand slammed down on the podium, he shook slightly, it suddenly became hard to speak, his eyes watering and his throat tight.
“And if you’re out there, ‘Team Cap’, you’re all fucking shams, but you know congratulations, you’re that stupid that you’ve went and made yourselves enemies of not only the state but me!, good luck surviving and as for that comment about 2012, ask Steve about the 1940s! Ask that lying, science experiment about going on a fucking train! I CURED HIM! I SAVED HIM!, he was supposed to save me! He was supposed to protect me!”
And suddenly there was the tears, Tony stepped down from the podium and as the press yelled he walked away, everything becoming blurry and he swore the world was ringing as he clutched to his heart and crossed the threshold into the cold and lonely compound.
Suddenly he was on his knees, his heart feeling like it was exploding as he couldn’t control the tears.
“Tony!” Suddenly a familiar voice and grip was picking him up, leading him to the nearby sofa.
“FRIDAY!, what’s wrong with him!!”
Tony swore it was Steve’s voice and he wanted to pull away but he couldn’t, he wanted to embrace him but when he opened his eyes…
It was rhodey, “hey, hey, breathe man, come on-, don’t let him do this to you” rhodey was gripping onto Tony’s shoulder.
Tony pushed away from Rhodey, “I’m alright, just a little too much to drink-“ Tony let out a weak laugh as he stood up.
“This is sad Tony, this is nothing like you, you’re acting like you’re in some tragic fanfic, you’ve gotta let him go” Rhodey’s voice was soft and quiet as if Tony was a horse he’d spook
Tony nodded and took a deep breathe, “want a drink?” Tony smirked and sauntered towards the kitchen “or better yet, want to go out?”
“Tony-“ rhodey grabbed his arm, “no, Tony, don’t do this to yourself, you’re not that guy anymore” the two just looked at eachother
Rhodey suddenly sighed, “I know where he is..”, Tony pulled away from rhodey, the world felt like it was falling down.
“W-what” he didn’t meant to stutter but he did, his words catching in his throat along with possibly some vomit, “Where?”
Rhodey looked down and took a deep breath, “if I tell you this, you need to promise you’ll get some help, you need to move out of the compound and most importantly, You cannot go find him” Rhodey moved closer to Tony, placing his hand on the shorter man’s shoulder.
“Promise me Tones, it wont be good for you, this isn’t good for you”
Tony took a breath, “I promise, I just- as long as he’s okay.., and Nats okay..”
Rhodey took his phone out of his pocket and handed it to Tony with a text displayed on the screen from an unknown number but it was only unknown to Rhodey, Tony knew who it was, Steve had actually texted rhodey via his Stark issued phone, Tony had to laugh at that.
Tony read the text out loud but with a mumble, “Hello Rhodey, it’s Steve, I’ve called that cellphone I gave Tony a few times, he hasn’t picked up, is he okay?, I have not seen him on the news recently but the news says he is living at the compound and has not been seen out since the accords fight, please text back so I know he is okay, I’m currently out in Norway with Natasha, I’m sure you will be able to find our exact location using Tony’s technology,if we are desperately needed.”
Tony took a shakey breath before looking rhodey dead in the eyes, “Yours sincerely, Steven G Rogers”
Tony gave the phone back to rhodey, taking a step back from his friend, Tony sighed, “You knew where he was for a month!, that text is a month old rhodey and YOU’RE JUST NOW TELLING ME? Are you being serious?”
Tony turned away from Rhodey taking quick breaths
“It was for your bene-“ Rhodey tried to get close to Tony but he walks off.
“LEAVE NOW!” Is all Rhodey hears before Tony disappears to the bottom floor of the compound.
Rhodey leaves it as it, hoping his friend doesn’t do anything stupid but within a few hours he gets worried and returns to the compound.
Rhodey goes to knock for some reason but decides not to and just walks in, all the lights are off, “Jesus this is creepy-, FRIDAY!, lights on!”
Rhodey immediately heads for Tony’s workshop when the lights turn on, only to be met with an empty workshop,
“He better not-, FRIDAY! Where is he”
There’s silence before the AI responds, “Mr Stark has asked for me not to infrom you of his whereabouts and simply asked me to say ‘You made a mistake, Rhodes” the AI’s robotic voice pissed rhodey off more, he didn’t know why but he was just pissed now.
“I knew not to show him that stupid message!” Rhodey turned his phone on and attempted to call Tony, when the line rung out for the twelveth time he gave up, “guess I’m going to Norway”
NORWAY
When The Ironman suit landed down on dead grass, a mere mile away from where Steve supposedly was, Tony’s stomach turned, he knew this was stupid but rage blinded him to a new extreme so he folded the suit away and began his ‘sneak attack’ plan.
When he spotted a caravan with a familiar Metal armed monster outside reading, he knew he’d found the place and just as he went to put the suit on, he was on the ground.
“What do Yo- Tony?” Steve’s eyes softened suddenly and gazed into Tony’s, the two stayed frozen like that, Steve ontop of Tony, trapping the smaller man beneath him with his thighs.
After what felt like an eternity, Tony began thrashing about, “Get off of me!”, Steve stood up allowing Tony to stumble to his feet and take a few steps back
“what are you doing here?” Steve seemed tense, his shoulders were broad and his eyes narrowed as he waited for Tony to say something
Tony took a step back, gulping and gazing down at the watch on his wrist that would tuck him away safely at any moment, his eyes came up to meet Steve’s and he opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out
“I called you” Steve moved forward slowly as if once more, Tony was a horse that would be spooked.
“I know” Tony didn’t move, frozen in his spot as words finally fell out, “You ado texted Rhodey which wow, bold move especially since you’re little lyi-“ Tony’s hands burrowed into fists but he stopped himself a sighed, unclenching his fists to rub his forehead, “look- just, I just-“ Tony couldn’t seem to speak as Steve moved closer
Suddenly Tony felt like a stupid lovesick puppy, the smell of Steve was welcoming in a way, the ruff beard that was beginning to grow only adding to his ridiculous good looks and when he noticed that he was wearing a hoodie that he’d once gave Tony, he felt weak.
“Tony…” Steve’s hand came out, there was a tremble to it, Tony noticed it, and when Steve’s hand found Tony’s arm, Tony swore he lost any sort of air in his lungs.
But then he remembered that stupid press conference and that final battle and Tony sharply pulled away, his eye brows falling in fury and his gaze hardening at he stepped away.
“I didn’t come here to fix what you broke, I just came here to-, to-“ and suddenly Tony didn’t know what to say once more, he was speechless, what was he here to do?
“Are you here cause of what Sam did?” Steve gulped and looked to the ground, never once had Tony seen Steve look so small and vulnerable.
“Yeah!, how dare you let the world into OUR bed!, and even worse, it wasn’t you that said it!, it was that weasel!, You let the person who crippled my bestfriend, lie on my name!, lie on what we had!” Tony’s fists clenched again and his teeth gritted, “WAS IT ALL A LIE!”
Tony didn’t mean to yell as loud as he did and when it came out, he stumbled back, surprising himself and Steve who just looked away, head lowering to stare into the ground.
“I- I didn’t know he was going to do that, I swear Tony…, since we uhm left, I struggled to move on from you? Okay?, it was hard to just pretend that I was okay with letting what we had burn away…” Steve breathing was uneven and Tony could tell he was nervous, Steve’s trembling hand reached out for Tony’s and suddenly they were hand in hand.
“I don’t know what to say” Tony’s mouth felt dry and his heart felt like it was pounding out of his chest and the world was once again ringing.
“If I could fix all of this, if I could fix us…, I would” Steve moved closer, resting his forehead against the shorter man’s, smiling to himself as they made contact.
“Steve?, did you get more Gas?, Steve! Is that you?” Suddenly Sam appeared in the woods next to the two, they quickly moved back from eachother
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!, what are you doing here” Sam hastily moved towards Tony, Steve quickly moved to be infront of Tony, acting as a shield
“are you behind serious Steve!?, you’re protecting this asshole!” Sam seemed more pissed than Tony had been
“It’s not like that Sam!, he didn’t come here to fight, he just- well he came here-, he- look he hasn’t done anything okay?” Steve attempted to act as a barrier between the two, dropping Sam from getting any closer to Tony.
“Are you serious Steve!?, I just risked my freedom to protect your name from him!, I could’ve been arrested Steve!, and now you’re going to protect that scumbag”
Sam was furious, his eyes brows were knitted and his teeth gritted, his fists clenched and Tony honestly thought he might hit him.
“Sam!, enough, step back before I make you” Steve got a little closer to Sam, to enhance his ‘threat’.
“You’re an idiot man!” Sam pushed Steve back, anger burning in his eyes, “Why do you do this to yourself!?, he fucked you over once and he’ll do it again!” Sam walked away from the two, arms folded over one another.
Tony just stood behind Steve, silent and staring at the ground till Steve turned around, “Tony..”
“No- no I should uhm- I should go, just please be safe” Tony reactivated the suit, taking off as quickly as he’d arrived.
And for once it was Steve who was left to think of Tony and to think of what they’d been.