Chapter 15
STEVE
When Miles rounded the corner, Steve let out a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding. He immediately sat back down on the couch and leaned against the cushion as he focused on his breathing. His fists clenched and unclenched in his lap while he kept his eyes closed, remembering the possibility of losing his youngest.
Since he’d had to keep it together for the majority of the day, he was finally allowing himself to begin to fall apart. The blonde continued working on his breathing as he also continued reminding himself that Miles was safe and alive. After another moment, the super soldier rubbed his face with his hands as exhaustion won over his worry. He knew he was too tired to fight with Tony about sleeping, and opted to instead have JARVIS relay the message.
“JARVIS, tell Tony I’m going to bed and I love him and he should come to bed soon,” the blonde said as stood back up and slowly walked to the bedroom. The AI replied after a moment.
"He says he loves you too, Sir." Steve shook his head at the lack of response regarding sleep and proceeded to brush his teeth before climbing into bed.
He dreamt of losing his son and woke up with harsh breathing and a heaving chest. His eyes slowly adjusted to the low light of their bedroom and he took control of his breath. Steve looked to his side, setting his jaw at the realization he was alone. Meaning his husband was still in his lab...with a fat chance of getting any sleep himself. He turned his head back to his alarm clock, checking the time reading: three thirty four am.
Great.
Steve sat up slowly and took a moment to press the palms of his hands against his eyes, wishing his husband could actually read his mind and just come to bed. Make this so much easier. But they were both still human, after all, and he knew he couldn’t fall back asleep without dragging the man back to bed with him.
He threw the covers back before forcing himself to get up and march out of the room. Before he went to his husband’s lab, he found himself walking to his son’s room. The blonde paused just outside the door before cracking it open to peek inside.
It was silly, he knew, but he needed to check. He recognized the lump, one hand hanging off the bed and his son’s hair barely poking out from the covers and found himself smiling contently. With Miles safe and sound asleep, he quietly closed the door before heading down to the lab.
As he descended the stairs to his husband’s lab, another wave of exhaustion and crippling fear hit him. He took a moment after gripping the railing to run his hand across his face, steeling himself to keep going.
Even if he changed his mind about physically dragging Tony to bed, the man at least knew him well enough to calm Steve down.
Reminding himself of that, he finished descending the stairs and pressed the code to enter the lab. There was no music, which was a little unusual for his husband. He glanced around and saw the curly brown hair belonging to his love sitting far away. His back was to the super soldier as Steve made his way over to the genius, stopping a few feet away from him.
“If you’re here to drag me to bed, I’ve got bad news for you muffin,” the brunette said as he turned around, pausing when he sees Steve’s face. “Hey, what’s wrong?” Tony asked, demeanor changing as concern washed over his beautiful face. He watched his husband walk over to him as Steve felt unwanted tears begin burning his eyes.
Instead of answering him, Steve stood there silently, his tongue caught in his throat. Luckily his other half pulled him into a tight embrace that helped ground the man.
“Bad dream?” his love asked, causing the blonde to tighten his arms and bury his face in the man’s neck in response. Hugging that man always, always made Steve feel better. Like he was his anchor to the world; knowing he was safe and alive in his arms truly grounded him back to the moment.
Even going so far as to give him the strength to respond.
“Yes.” Tony hummed in their embrace before pulling back enough to caress the blonde’s cheek.
“Miles?” he asked quietly as Steve nodded in response. “Steve…” the genius said sadly as he pulled away from their hug.
“I’m not asking for a debate just...please come to bed,” the blonde sighed as he restrained himself from reaching out for the man. Tony turned to look at him, pain and hesitation on his face as he stared at the man for a long moment. When his gaze shifted to his feet, Steve couldn’t help but exhale in disappointment.
“Tones…”
“He’s too young to get involved, Steve,” his husband said firmly, looking like he was preparing to defend himself.
“I agree,” Steve said immediately, catching the genius off guard. The shorter man opened and closed his mouth a few times before eventually replying.
“You do? You didn’t secretly come down here to call me an ass for being a hypocrite?” Tony asked skeptically as he slowly crossed his arms in defiance. Steve couldn’t help smiling as he rolled his eyes fondly.
“Sounds like you already know,” he teased, enjoying the mock glare his husband was throwing at him. "Besides we both know this is about racial injustice and how very unprepared we were with our sweet boy."
They smiled at each other for a long moment before Steve tried asking again.
“Pretty please?” the centenarian pouted with his bottom lip out, giving the man his best puppy eyes as he continued. “We can talk about all of this tomorrow. Just...I need my Tony-bear to go back to sleep.”
He smiled triumphantly when his husband leaned his head back and groaned towards the ceiling.
“Fine,” his darling huffed out. “J, shut everything down. Come on, cheater,” Tony grumbled as he stomped past him.
“How was that cheating?” Steve asked coily, following his love up the stairs and down the hall to their bedroom.
“Forty years, Steven! Forty years I’ve known you and I still can’t resist your goddamn puppy eyes,” Tony spit out in fake offense as he stripped his clothes off. The genius pulled the covers back before climbing into bed, laying on his back. Steve followed suit and chuckled a little at the man. This ridiculous bastard who always made him feel better.
“Goes both ways, babydoll,” Steve said with a smile as he curled up on Tony’s chest, wrapping his arms around him again as he rested his chin between his pecs. He used his finger to trace where the arc reactor used to lay, bending down just slightly to press a kiss to the man’s sternum.
Tony ran his fingers through the blonde’s hair absently while his brown eyes stared up at the ceiling above their bed.
“Whatcha thinking about, baby?” Steve asked as he kissed his chest a few more times. He looked up in time to see a smile spread across his handsome face.
“I’m thinking about how I’m going to charge you a bj for dragging me out of my lab,” the man grumbled as Steve couldn’t help laughing.
“You’re ridiculous,” the blonde said fondly as he crawled forward to kiss the man on his perfect lips.
“That doesn’t sound like a no…” his husband pointed out before Steve silenced him in his favorite way possible. When he pulled back and looked his other half in the eye, a feeling of gratefulness washed over him.
“Thank you, Tony.”
“Of course, darling,” the man said with a smile as Steve placed a hand on the man’s cheek and stroked his thumb.
“How about,” Steve began as he leaned forward to nibble the man’s ear, “I wake you up with one tomorrow morning?”
He didn’t hear any objections.