Thanks for crashing
Morning or more so afternoon came and Tony sat up, alone in the cold room, the phone still clutched tightly in his hand and an empty bottle of whiskey on the floor next to his bed
His heart felt heavy as he stood, his eyes burning when he closed them, everything felt painful, the door opened slowly, the cold handle a chilling feeling, Tony’s head leaked out as if he was expecting someone but at last he was greeted by an empty penthouse
He slugged from his room to the workshop, a pitiful attempt to waste his day
And in his defence it was working, by the time he checked the clock it was 6pm, he could go back to bed or drown his sorrows once more or he could stay alone in the lab,
His mind whirred with thoughts till his phone rang, something inside him sparked at the thought it could be Steve’s till he processed the familiar ringtone, it was Pepper
“Tony!, where are you?” Peppers voice was like a parrots as she squealed down the phone at him
“What-?, I’m at home, working on uh” he looked down at the metal infront of him, dear god he’d unconsciously been working on a new shield for Steve, “what do you want” his tongue clicked before he spoke, his eyes closing for a moment as if that’d make Pepper go away
“You were supposed to be here 15 minutes ago!” Pepper was pissed, as per usual and when she was greeted by silence from Tony’s end, she felt her ears burn, “You forgot!?, it’s a charity gala for the rebuilding of the airport you destroyed!, I swear to god Tony get your ass down here in the 10 minutes or I-“ and Tony cut her off, he’d completely forgotten, all that wallowing in self pity truly does affect your memory
So he sighed and headed to his closet, picked out the first half decent suit he saw, combed his hair and attempted to hide the eye bags with some of Peppers left over concealer-, which he really should throw out given he’s had it since 2010, “FRIDAY!, I’m going out, get me a car that’ll make me look…, better!, and remind me to get rid of any of Peppers stuff!”
Tony rubbed his temples before heading down the his garage, sliding into his Audi R8, complimenting FRIDAY for her great choice before sped off
He hated going to these events alone, especially when him and Steve used to go together, arm and arm, but not he appeared alone and instead arm and arm with whatever would get him the drunkest.
He decided he’d take the back roads, the less time he spent there the better, no matter the scolding Pepper gave him, and speak of the devil, his hands free rang and rang before he begrudgingly answer
“Hello Dear” he forced his most cheerful voice, an attempt to possibly dwindle Peppers rage
“Anthony Edward Stark!, if one more person asks me where you are I’m going to send them to that ridiculous penthouse of yours!”
“Calm down, WOW what is this asshole doing!?” Tony’s thoughts were interrupted when someone in a BMW swerved infront of Tony in an attempt to over take him
“Tony?, what’s going on!?, where are you!” Peppers voice went from concerned straight back to annoyed
“Sorry Pep, I’ll be there in less than- IF THIS ASSHOLE stops trying to overtake me then I’ll be there i-“ suddenly the car turned straight into him, smashing into the side of Tony, forcing him to lose control of the wheel, “SHIT SHIT SHIT!, Pepper cal-“ and with that all Peter could hear was the sound of a car alarm and an echoing bang
“Tony!?, Tony!”
Tony swore his back felt broken as he went to unfasten his seatbelt that suddenly wasn’t there, his eyes narrowed then unnarrowed to reveal a hospital room, Tony’s throat was dry as he went to speak, “where-“
And that’s when Pepper rushed to his side, grasping onto his hand, “oh thank god Tony!, you were in an accident…”
Tony immediately looked at his hands, they were scarred and his left was bandaged but they felt fine, his right leg was elevated in a cast as his left lay to the side, he pulled his hand from Pepper to feel his face, he could actually feel his black eye and a scar on his cheek, his teeth had never hurt so much either but he could feel them all so that was good
“It’s okay man, you’ll be Fine” suddenly Rhodey was at his left, a hand gently against his shoulder, “few injuries but hey at least it’s not as bad as that Surgeon guy-, you remember him?, apparently he’ll never do surgery again..”
Tony didn’t care about anyone else right now, he was currently stuck in some shitty hospital bed with his ex girlfriend/assistant and ceo of his company at one side and his worry wart bestfriend at the other but for some reason he didn’t want them there he only wanted one person and he also wanted a drink…
“How uh.., how long was I out?” Tony moved his hand slowly to rub at the forming headache
“A day..” Rhodeys eyes fell to look at the watch on his wrist, a gift from Tony a few years ago, “or two.., give or take” Rhodey shrugged slightly
Pepper smiled at him, placing a hand on the base of the bed, “The doctor said you might be a little groggy or tired for a few days.., so if you want us to leav-“
“Please leave-, no offence, I love you guys and all that sappy stuff but my head feels like there’s a jackhammer in there…” Tony rubbed at his head a little, gazing up at his two friends
Pepper leaned over and placed a kiss on his forehead before whispering, “you still owe me for that gala”, Pepper stood back up tall, grabbing her purse from the chair and turning to give Tony a wave, “if you need just call!”
Rhodey patted Tony’s shoulder before pulling away, “Get better, dickhead” Rhodey smiled and walked out, closing the door on his way out.
So Tony was left alone in a room again but instead of feeling pitiful for himself like usual, he just closed his eyes and sunk into the weirdly comfortable hospital sheets.
The next time Tony’s eyes opened, it was pitch black outside and inside, he could hear some nurses talking but other than that, it was a silent night.
Tony groaned as he rolled over, looking to see if there was some water or something drinkable on one of the tables, but instead he was met with the sinking feeling he was being watched.
His eyes squinted as he searched for the switch to turn on the lamp on the table, and when it switched on Tony nearly died, again
“Jesus Steve!, what are you doing here-“ normally or well recently Tony would be stuttering up a storm but the pain meds were on his side
“I heard you were in an accident” Steve stood up slowly from the chair in the corner, walking closer to Tony’s bed, stopping just after the base of the board.
“So you decided to sit like a creep in the corner- wait how did you even find me?” Tony sat up slightly, bringing the bed up with him, he could probably make better adjustable beds but that was an idea for when he could actually use his left hand
Steve stood still for a moment before letting out a slight laugh, “well uhm, first I heard you were in an accident and so I flew out to the penthouse, with the uh help of Nat, she’s really worried by the way!, and then I figured out that you’d come here cause this is where you got the arc operation and you had that gala last y-“ Steve began to ramble on, nervously fidgeting with his hands as he spoke, something Tony had first seen when Steve asked him out what felt like years ago
“Yeah okay I get it- my head is pounding so let’s shhhh” Tony brought his fingers to his lips before going back to rubbing his head and suddenly Steve was right next to him
“Im really glad you’re okay Tony…” Steve’s voice was gravely, and Tony suddenly noticed the puff to Steves eyes
And suddenly his heart burned, he felt that same urge for a few days ago to grab onto Steve and never let go.
Steve looked at him and he looked at Steve and before he knew it, they were holding hands, Steve squeezing it gently and Tony just staring at Steve, in awe that they were doing this and also trying not to laugh at the baseball cap and the tiny sunglasses he was wearing.
“When the news came on, it said your car was ruined and they couldn’t give any update on you except that you were in hospital.. and so I woke Nat up, rushed her to this crappy broken down helicopter we’ve been using and-“ Steve squeezing Tony’s hand a little harder now, but contrasting it by softly rubbing his thumb back and forth across the back of Tony’s hand.
“Hey, hey-“ Tony’s voice came out much more soft and hesitant than he’d planned but it seemed to calm Steve, he stilled completely, letting go of Tony’s hand a little.
“Im okay Steve, look at me, a bandaged hand and a little leg cast isn’t gonna kill me, and hey the scratches and bruises on my face make it look like I battled yet another alien army” Tony let out a throaty chuckle, squeezing Steve’s hand as he did before he smiled and tilting his head back, closing his eyes, “I’m okay”, he said more to himself than anyone else.
“When you called me…, I wanted to scream yes.., I wanted to run right back to that penthouse, right back to the compound.., right back to our bed” Steve’s voice was quiet as he slowly sunk to sit on Tony’s bed, careful not to hit into his leg or any part of him , “and so when you were- when I thought you were dying my only thought was that you had to die alone and that was my fault and I couldn’t imagine not being here when you… when you needed me most…” Steve’s tongue poked out to lick his lips, a sigh escaping him as he spoke, his hands trembling as his gaze fought to meet Tony’s.
Tony laughed, he didn’t mean to but man were these painkillers good, “you know Steve as morbid as that is…, I want to fix this, I mean hey I’m an engineer that’s my job”
Steve leaned down slightly to rest his head softly on Tony’s, being as careful as possible before Tony leaned up and press their lips together
“Tony-“
“Steve-“ Was all that was said between the two as they pulled apart
“We can- we can fix this?” Steve’s voice held a question to it, his head pulling back to look down at Tony
Tony smiled slightly, and fought his heavy eyes lids to nod, “together”
And Tony had never once been so thankful to be in a hospital bed, he’d never been so grateful to someone for crashing into his car, oh god his car, “Oh god my car!” Suddenly the words spiked out of Tony’s mouth, earning a confused look from Steve
“What-?, Tony you’ve got like a million cars…, Howard would be jealous of your collection, I’m sure you’ll be fine”
And the two then fell into a peaceful silence, smiling at one another.