Chapter 7
“when did you get diagnosed?” steve asked after a while of silence.
tony sat up a little, then turned around, kneeling with steve’s legs between his and thanking himself for getting the big armchair when he furnished the apartment. steve reached around tony and held the small of his back so tony wouldn’t roll back; it’s what he did when his niece or nephew sat on his lap like that.
“i had just moved here. during my first week someone pointed out a big bruise on my upper arm. i hadn’t realised the bigger, black ones on my back because i never look at my back.” tony shrugged then. “and it’s not like i was seeing anyone at the time who could’ve pointed them out to me. i had turned fourteen only two months before.”
steve took a deep breath and tony placed his hands onto the tight shirt around his abs. “did your parents have to fly in?”
tony shook his head. “the doctor agreed to see me alone because i just took off my shirt to show the nurse at the reception, and she thought i was being abused at home. i didn’t tell her i wasn’t, just didn’t object. once i’d filled in my forms, the doctor sent me straight to an oncologist when i told him there was no reason for the bruises. so yeah, i was the one who got to tell my parents once i had it confirmed.”
“were you scared?” steve asked carefully.
“honestly?” tony asked. and when steve nodded he took a deep breath. “i was scared out of my mind. i was alone, 3000 miles away from my parents.”
“how did you deal?” steve pulled tony a bit closer then.
“i called my parents, told them i needed them to be parents for a bit.” steve’s eyes filled with tears of hurt and sympathy for the boy sitting on his lap. “i asked them if they could stay with me for a few days,” tony explained. “amazingly, they dropped everything and flew in that night.”
“did they think you were homesick?” steve wondered because from how tony’s relationship with howard and maria seemed, this didn’t sound like a typical thing in their relationship.
tony shrugged in response. “i’m not sure. i never was homesick even at the boarding school in switzerland. and i lived there for three years.” steve decided he’d have to get back on that one.
“how did they react when you told them?”
tony took a deep breath. “they held me for a long time. they cried, i did too. was the first time i saw my father cry.” steve was a little shocked when he saw a few tears fall from tony’s eyes. the teenager didn’t seem very hung up on these things. however, it seemed like seeing his father cry didn’t even leave tony’s heart unmoved. “that night, i slept between my parents for the first time since i can think and it didn’t even feel wrong. they cancelled every single appointment for two weeks and stayed with me. they were home when i got home from school, cooked for me and talked me through my fears.”
“did you get chemo?” steve asked because he didn’t know much about this.
tony shook his head in response. “chemo is for when you’ve tried everything and things don’t get better. well, it is for chronic leukaemia, anyway. i wasn’t given a treatment until a few months later. what they do is keep your blood cell count supervised and when the cancerous cells spike and your general well-being gets worse, they’ll try a treatment to make it go back down. chemo is more for acute danger of death,” the boy explained and steve’s tears were back. tony was so well spoken, so mature and it hit him way harder than it should have. “the five year chance of survival is 83 percent, but that’s mainly because most people who get diagnosed are seventy or older.”
“so what’s the verdict?” steve asked with a shuttered voice. “are you going to die?”
tony nodded. “yeah.” he slid his hands up onto steve’s chest. “they give you ten to twenty years. it’s hard to make estimates.”
“oh,” steve said and stared at tony for a bit, trying to get his emotions under control but failing miserably. tony was going through this, he had no right to burden him with his tears, but he couldn’t hold them back. and steve started to cry, his hands still around tony’s back, who didn’t move in response to the tears.
the blond man cried for a few minutes while tony sat there, looking at his face and not saying a word. steve thought this so unfair; all tony got to have was a fight for survival for hopefully twenty years and he would lose no matter what. the teenager deserved the world, that was for sure.
when finally the tears ceased, steve picked up the hem of his shirt and used it to wipe his face. “sorry,” he said and before he could pull the shirt back down, tony stopped him, and steve’s hands went around tony again while his torso was being admired.
“don’t apologize,” tony said softly. he was used to reactions by now but that one moved him too. steve really cared about his skinny balls. “may i?” the boy asked and upon steve’s nod pulled the grey shirt he was still holding over the man’s head.
steve’s torso was so perfect tony could feel an erection build against the man’s legs. steve chuckled. “you’re easy to please,” he commented.
“well you dr. rogers are fucking gorgeous,” tony declared and leaned in to kiss him. “tell me what to do,” tony commanded.
steve pulled tony up by his hips so the erection sprung at him just in front of his face. he unbuckled the boy’s belt, removing his pants and briefs without commenting on the latter; they had a toy story print on them. “take care of yourself first,” steve whispered.
tony sat back down and took himself into his hands. then he did take care of himself, and when he was done spluttered all over steve’s beautiful torso.
the teenager looked down at steve’s crotch, where he saw him bulging against the fabric of his jeans. “can i take care of this?”
“please,” steve panted.
so tony slid off the armchair, kneeling in front of it while steve moved to the edge. the teenager pulled steve’s pants off and found no boxers, making him look gleefully at steve before sliding him into his mouth.
tony took care of steve’s erection while digging his fingernails into the man’s back. steve himself was pulling tony’s hair like they were a handle.
the counsellor lasted longer than tony had, for he also had to direct the boy with what to do from time to time, but he loved it considering it was tony’s first time doing this.
when they were both done, tony having swallowed the load, the teenager sat back up on steve’s lap. the man was completely naked aside from his socks now. he pulled the hem of tony’s sweater up as well, looking at the thin torso in front of him with affection.
and then he pulled tony into his chest, enjoying their skin to skin contact with love rather than lust.
after a while, tony moved to sit back up and steve whimpered in response to the touch lost. “sorry stevie, i gotta pee,” tony smiled and got up, walking to the bathroom while steve watched him from behind.
the bruises on tony’s back weren’t too bad at that moment. his ribs were a bit protruding and most of the bruises formed their outline a little for even lying down in one position for too long could get tony to bruise.
the skinny type was steve’s type to some extent but usually it had always been with men his age, not teenager. so the man tried to think of tony’s body as just tony, not as a sixteen-year-old’s body in order not to feel like a predator. and besides, tony was a 12 intellectually.
tony himself loved steve’s body, obviously. but he also loved the sense of protection he got around the man, the adult guidance. and at the same time steve was so sensitive and unafraid to show his emotions and that the teenager loved too.
tony came back outside with a pair of black boxers and a shirt on he would sleep in. his naked mood had disappeared when he had seen that he’d had blood in his urine, meaning he’d have to go see his doctor the next day.
“hey, you got dressed,” steve pouted but then he looked down at himself with a smirk. he was wearing tony’s briefs plastered in toy story characters.
tony laughed. “oh my god steve.” the man was definitely way too big for them, the fabric stretched around his crotch, buzz lightyear’s face looking distorted
steve laughed too. “what size are these?”
the teenager blushed red as he sat down on steve’s lap again. “i’ve had them for a while, they’re kids underwear.”
“cute,” was all steve could say. “why are you wearing clothes?”
“i uh…” tony leaned in against steve’s chest. “i peed blood, i have to go see my doctor first thing tomorrow morning.”
steve didn’t know what to say. “do you want me to come along?”
“you’d do that?”
the man nodded in response. “you probably shouldn’t be driving anyway, right?”
tony nodded his head yes, then got up to sit on the couch across from the two. he was becoming anxious. “we can take the lamborghini,” he said with a smile because who wouldn’t love to drive that. steve smiled, too.
tony fell asleep in steve’s arms that night. steve didn’t wear a thing while tony stuck with his boxers and t-shirt.
the teenager woke up when steve got out of bed to head to the ensuite bathroom stark naked. “nice ass,” tony called after his boyfriend before lifting the blanket off himself.
it was eight in the morning, and tony quickly called his doctor to let him know he was due for a checkup, receiving an appointment only an hour later.
steve came back into the room, still naked of course. he rummaged through his bag, finding a new pair of jeans and a t-shirt that he put on right there. “do you want to eat breakfast?” he asked tony.
“no, i’ll grab something after. it’s better to have a blood check when you haven’t eaten in a while.”