Chapter 9
the family ate in silence for a while. “so when do we get to meet him?” howard asked then.
“tonight?”
“very well,” the man smiled.
when they were done with breakfast, tony lay down on the couch between his parents, head in howard’s lap and legs in his mom’s.
they spent their day like that: watching movies, enjoying each other’s presence and physical touch although they weren’t used to these things. tony enjoyed his mom so sober and his dad so affectionate. they brought him lunch and the pill when it was time, and tony fell asleep right after.
he was woken by howard a few hours later. “hey kid, it’s probably time to get ready. steve will be here in a half an hour.”
“steve, this is my dad.”
“mr. stark, it’s nice to meet you,” steve said as he shook howard’s hand with a strong grip.
“please, call me howard or i’ll have to call you dr. rogers,” the man smiled and tony’s heart lightened.
“howard it is then.”
“i’m maria,” tony’s mom approached steve and hugged him right away, just like sarah had hugged tony when they’d first met.
“it’s a pleasure. these are for you.” steve handed maria a bouquet of white roses, having remember tony tell him her preference. “and of course, for the father we’ve got some cigars.” and steve pulled out a pack of five very rare cuban cigars after checking with tony if it would be okay.
howard and maria thanked steve for the gifts and then showed him to the table, where he took off his dinner jacket, showing his muscular shape through a tight white shirt. tony knew they would have to end the night with something, steve looked way too good for them not to.
dinner went well; howard and maria loved steve and tony was over the moon about it. coming to think of it, steve could have been howard’s friend just as well.
the night was perfect; the meds didn’t make tony as tired as they would usually and he even felt energized enough to take a shower before bed. little did he know that steve would slip in there before he could finish.
“i want you,” tony said and turned the shower off before steve could step in fully.
“are you aware of your surroundings?” steve asked carefully. he wasn’t too keen on taking advantage of tony’s medicine induced lust that might just be need for physical touch.
the teenager sighed in response. “does it matter?”
steve nodded slowly and lifted tony’s chin up so he could look him in the eyes. “yes. if you want to get off, i’ll do you the pleasure, but i want you to be fully there when…”
tony shrugged at that. “okay.”
“yeah?” steve asked then and tony knew he was waiting for an actual response, he needed to know that tony was there and actually wanting to take part in an act.
“yes. i would love for you to blow me.” the teenager smiled slightly at his choice of words.
“okay,” the man said then. “in bed?”
tony nodded and exited the shower, getting himself ready while steve washed off. “put on one of your kiddie boxers,” steve suggested through the stream of water. and so tony did; a pair of white boxers with a picture of sheriff woodie at the front.
tony was typing something on his phone, assuring pepper he was okay to be exact, when steve entered wearing only a pair of black boxers.
tony never ended up sending that message because once his boyfriend walked in and pulled down the toy story boxers enough to take the teenager into his warm mouth, he effectively took his attention off the phone.
steve’s full weight was crushed against tony’s legs, his hands reaching around the boy’s back, fingernails digging into the skin. it took tony longer than it ever had, making steve glad he wasn’t taking advantage of this vulnerability.
tony ejaculated into steve’s mouth, moaning up against the ceiling when he pulled at the blonde’s hair. steve gently pulled tony’s boxers back up and lay his cheek against the soft skin of his lower stomach and tony lay his head back down against the pillow, commanding his house system to shut the blinds and project the night sky against his ceiling.
“you okay?” steve asked after a while, when tony was softly caressing the strands of blond on top of his head.
“yeah, thank you,” tony said in all honesty. “as okay as one gets anyway.”
“your parents are different to what i expected.” he meant nicer, tony was sure about that.
“me too,” tony laughed. “i’ve liked things like this though.”
“reconciliation can fix a lot,” steve commented but by then, tony was already out like a light.
steve stayed at tony’s apartment most of the week, and he would for longer after howard and maria were going to leave that friday afternoon.
the counsellor had sessions with students each morning, but no on campus work to do in the afternoon, so he kept tony entertained while the teenager threw up from time to time and lay on the couch, not moving most of the day. they had told him that tony would be better, the first week was always hard and steve tried hard not to be worried.
pepper potts was steve’s last appointment for the day before he’d have lunch with the starks and drop them off at the airport together with tony.
the ginger haired girl looked exhausted as she sat down on the couch across from steve.
“thank you for squeezing me in on such short notice.”
“of course,” steve said and crossed his legs. “what did you want to talk to me about?”
“i uh… nothing i say will leave this room, right?”
after being assured that that was in fact the case, pepper took a shuddery breath. “i’m not really supposed to tell anyone but tony, you know, the kid from human factors?”
steve nodded in response, heart rate picking up on speed.
“he’s uh… he’s got cancer and i’m worried because he hasn’t been here all week and he’s not answering my texts or calls.”
“i’m aware of the situation. tony is going through an exhausting sort of treatment that makes him sleep most of the day.”
he could tell pepper was shocked that steve was in the know; tony mustn’t have shared a lot before his counselling had started, which didn’t come as much of a surprise really.
“is he dying?” tears fell from pepper’s eyes and steve handed her the always ready box of tissues.
steve shook his head no, careful not to get himself too worked up into this.
it was later that afternoon when steve and tony were on the way back from dropping howard and maria off at the airport. tony had insisted he needed a change of scenery and so he was going to spend a few days in steve’s apartment. he had yet to meet bucky as well and that made him nervous.
“hey, how’s that redhead friend of yours?”
“pepper? i don’t know, haven’t talked to her much.”
“maybe you should ask her for some help.”
“i don’t need help,” tony shrugged in response.
“yes but it’s hard being friends with someone who’s sick and ignores you when you’re worried.”
tony frowned at that. “did she talk to you or something?”
“yeah, so? would still be nice to do something for your friends, wouldn’t it?”
“i guess. okay i’ll ask her to come stay with me for a few days?”
steve nodded his head in response and by the time they arrived at his apartment, tony had already arranged for pepper to stay with him for a while the week after so he wouldn’t be alone. not that he would have been, but pepper didn’t need to know that.
bucky took tony’s bags from steve at the door of their apartment while steve ran back down to the car to get the rest of his own things.
“follow me,” bucky told tony and led him down a corridor into steve’s bedroom. paintings were hung over most of the wall and he too had an ensuite bathroom, something always appreciated by cancer patients.
tony sat down in an armchair in the corner of steve’s room, feeling dizzy from the exhaustion of climbing up five flights of stairs to get there.
“you okay?” bucky asked after having placed the bags on the bed.
“yeah, just gotta catch my breath.”
“alright,” bucky smiled and something about that told tony that he didn’t know about his health situation.
but he didn’t really want to crowd bucky during their first encounter and then steve walked in anyway.
steve and bucky’s apartment was small, maybe half of the size of tony’s but the teenager loved how personal it looked. there were pictures of them as babies and then all of the pictures from kindergarten age on were of the two together.
the three of them sat out on the balcony with a beer when finally, tony could ask bucky what he did.
it turned out that the man had studied marketing and worked at a small startup in the city but was hoping to get into a big firm someday.
“maybe you can talk to my dad sometime, i’m sure he could put in a good word for you with a few people. you guys can come to one of our summer parties,” tony suggested. this was normal talk for the kids he grew up with in all those boarding schools. money stayed within those families through a lot of networking, and it seemed like every millionaire knew twelve others, and so on, and that environment was very familiar to tony, it was where he felt most homey.
“who’s your dad?” bucky asked. wow, steve really hadn’t told bucky a thing but again, it seemed like the man was just respecting his privacy.
“howard stark,” the teenager said then and took a sip from his beer.
“w-… well that would be great,” bucky said, not believing his ears. “isn’t howard stark’s son still a kid though?”
steve laughed out loudly at that, almost spitting out his beer. tony took a pack of cigarettes from his fleece jacket and lit one, glaring at steve while at it.
“i’m sixteen. but hey, i’m more mature than steve,” the teenager said with a smile and took a long drag from his cigarette.
“that’s not hard,” bucky laughed but both tony and steve could tell that he’d been surprised.
the talk got a little awkward then, but nothing a counsellor with a psychology degree couldn’t fix.
“your pill babe,” steve brought to tony’s attention when they were settling onto the couch with pizza.
bucky didn’t ask questions when tony got up to take the pill, or when the teenager only ate a piece of his pizza and left the rest to them.
tony passed out against steve’s side at nine in the evening. “great guy,” bucky said with a smile.
“yeah, he’s really mature.”
“sure is. do you know what the meds are for?”
“yeah,” steve responded. when bucky had gotten up before to change into sweats, tony had told his boyfriend that he could tell him about his cancer when the timing was right. he didn’t want bucky to see him bleed buckets from his nose or throw up for an entire day or pass out in the middle of a room without knowing it wasn’t his own fault. “tony has a rare form of leukaemia. well, it’s rare for people his age. it’s called chronic lymphocytic leukaemia.”
“i’m so sorry steve,” bucky said then, placing a hand on his best friend’s shoulder. “is he…?”
“yeah. likely won’t reach midlife,” steve whispered, his eyes filling with tears that he blinked right away.
“i always thought sick kids were more kid. like, obviously mature in some aspects but more dependent on their parents.”
“well tony is… special. he’s only just getting to know his parents. they sent him off to boarding schools for most his life and he started out here before he was diagnosed.”
“hm,” bucky hummed then.
“i know what you’re thinking. and no, i don’t have a messias complex. he’s not bound to die soon so i’m just trying to enjoy and live in the moment.” but then tears started to fall from steve’s eyes and bucky looked over at him in concern. “he’s just a kid but his mind is that of a beautiful and challenging man and i-“ steve broke off, couldn’t grasp his emotions properly and didn’t even know why he was crying right then.
“i know,” bucky said softly. “you guys are young though and there’s cancer research so please stevie, just stop worrying about the future too much and enjoy, okay?”
steve nodded in response, using the back of his hand to wipe away the tears on his face.
the two watched movies until late at night when bucky decided to call it a night. steve woke tony up so he could brush his teeth and change into something more comfortable.
“you okay?” tony asked when he climbed into bed next to steve, wearing only the toy story boxers steve so loved on him. steve on the other hand, was nude.
“yeah.”
“you seem upset,” tony stated and moved a little closer.
“i’m confused and i’m not sure about what yet. i’ll tell you when it hits me,” steve smiled and tony climbed on top of him, head on his chest and their legs intertwined.
as soon as steve felt how close the boy was to him, their body heats seeping into each other and tony’s soft stroking of his torso, his tears started falling again.
tony looked up at steve, for some reason not at all surprised by the tears. “sorry,” steve whispered and tony gave him a sad smile.
“don’t apologize for having feelings rogers,” tony said softly and turned back around closing his eyes.