Chapter 28
Steve was moving around the room restlessly, that it made Tony nervous.
After the soldier had hauled him into the room, after he tried to get out, he just kept moving around without pausing. Arranging and rearranging the clothes in their closet, kept making Tony hot drinks and unnecessarily large amount of food, ruffled Tony’s pillows every five minutes and just basically became a whirlwind of constant motion.
However, he did everything except touching Tony in any way. Hauling him back to bed didn’t count.
Tony knew that Steve was restless because of what happened. That demon locked him in and made him believe he was still frozen and never woke up. It was Steve’s worst fear, so the state he was in was understandable.
Not to mention the bucket load of guilt he was carrying around from the fact that his body was the one who hurt all of them, including Tony.
He probably thinks he should have been stronger. Should have been faster in breaking through the demon’s control.
He knew his husband long enough now to know exactly what he was thinking in any moment. They were together for years, including the time when they were just friends.
Tony had to smile at that last part. They were idiots back then. Knowing how they felt about each other, but kept dancing around their feelings for months. Tony because he never believed a man like Steve would ever love him, and Steve thinking Tony would reject him and push him away.
He really wondered if Steve didn’t make the first move then and just waited for Tony to do it instead, would they be married right now? Tony could have waited years, out of fear, to say anything about his feelings. They could have been dancing around each other until this very moment and that would have been a tragic torture.
He kept watching his husband from the bed. Yes, he was forced into the bed again by Steve and not in the sexy way, sadly. Steve would probably not touch him in any way sexual, until Tony was fully healed and back to his feet. Which was very frustrating and made the sounds coming from the Winchester couple’s room like they were taunting him.
Fucking cockblocking injuries.
He cursed the fact Steve will still look his hot, sexy self and Tony won’t be able to convince him to pull him out of his misery.
Tony watched Steve as he decided how interesting it was to arrange their clothes in the closet by color. It was both weird and entertaining to watch.
“Hey, color-matching man, didn’t you tell me you will let me blow something else?” Tony called out after a while, impatiently. Getting tired of watching the soldier do everything in the room, except getting closer to Tony like he desperately craved. “Or did you just say that so you could get me back to bed?”
“You could blow air.” Steve shrugged without turning towards Tony, but he could literally hear the smirk in his husband’s voice. “It is very healthy in your current state.”
“I am not dying from suffocation, Steve.” Tony raised an indignant eyebrow at him, getting more frustrated in every passing second at the distance between them. Seriously, this was stupid. There should never be any distance between them. Like at all.
“Tony, I will not let you blow me while you are injured.” Steve finally turned towards him to raise an eyebrow at him.
“How about you blow me then?”
“No, Tony.” He sighed and raised a hand to pinch the bridge of his nose in frustration. “You just have to keep it in your pants until you are back in full health.”
“Does that include you not touching me like I have the plague?” Tony asked bluntly, raising an eyebrow at Steve. “Because since we came back home, you avoided laying a hand on me and wouldn’t even come closer than three feet. What’s going on?”
Steve watched him silently for a few seconds. Seeming to try and find an answer that will not hurt Tony in any way.
“How can you even still want me near you?” Steve murmured so quietly, that Tony almost didn’t hear him. “After what happened?”
Tony blinked at the six feet of stupidity standing in front of him. So that’s what this was about? Seriously? He was surrounded by idiots. Like literal idiots. First, that fucking eldest Winchester thinks he was mad at him for not protecting his fully grown husband and brother, then that fucking angel actually apologies in the hospital for not being able to heal them all, and now this? It was so weird to see normally intelligent people, becoming dumbasses in each passing year.
“Come here.” He ordered firmly, while staring hard at the tall idiot.
“What?”
“Get your fucking ass right here, or I swear I will get up and break my ribs all over again to drag you here. You know that I am crazy enough to do it, so don’t test me.”
Steve stared at him nervously for a few seconds, he knew perfectly well that Tony could go through with his threat, so he just sighed and left the closet to sit on the bed besides Tony’s legs, still not trying to touch him and looked tense from how he was holding back from sitting a little closer.
God, what an idiot.
Tony reached forward to take Steve’s hand firmly in his, ignored his flinch at the sudden touch and just brought the hand towards his lips to kiss the knuckles gently.
“We have been together for years.” Tony started as he looked up to meet the idiot’s eyes, while holding his hand gently in his. “You became the most important person in my life. I will willingly die for you, and have no intention to outlive you in any way. And yet, you are still a fucking idiot, who thinks I will reject his touch because of something that was completely not his fault. Don’t you dare to reach towards that jar, Steve! We are having a moment here, don’t fucking ruin it!”
Steve immediately withdrew his free hand, that was indeed reaching towards the Swear Jar on the nightstand, with a sheepish smile on his face.
“Look, Steve.” Tony sat up more properly, and cupped Steve’s cheek gently. “What happened wasn’t your fault. No one is blaming you. Especially me. We never faced demons before. You were caught off-guard. There was no way for you to have predicted this. So don’t blame yourself for what happened, blame that fucking demon that took over your body and locked you away in your own head. Do you know what I am saying?”
“Well, I am awake and I speak English. So, yeah, I know what you are saying.” Steve smirked teasingly at him, but Tony could tell from how his tense shoulders relaxed, that he appreciated every word he just said.
“Don’t be a brat.” Tony rolled his eyes, before leaning forward to rest his forehead against Steve’s. Loving every second of being close to him again. “You are the love of my life, Steve. My soulmate. I will always want you close to me. I hate every second you are not plastered to my side. It’s like losing a six feet tall arm or something. Do you know what I am saying?”
“Again, I do know what you are saying. Thank you for keep checking on that.” The bastard again ruined the moment smugly.
“Okay, that’s it. Get out.” Tony groaned, as he pushed at a laughing Steve to get him out of the bed. “You can come back when you are not being a smug brat. Get out.”
“I thought you hate it when I am not plastered to your side.” Steve smiled smugly, not even deterred by Tony pushing at him. It was like pushing at a fucking unmovable wall. It was true that you could never move Steve unless he lets you, but it was annoying the hell out of him right now.
“I lied. I need my personal space to breathe without your smug ass in it. Out. Now.” He never stopped pushing at the soldier, even when he totally ignored him and just leaned forward to wrap his arms around him gently, careful for his still healing injuries.
“We are married, our personal spaces are one, Tony.” Steve murmured into his neck while placing small kisses there.
Tony stopped pushing at him and just went lax in his arms. He will blame his cracked ribs for giving in so fast.
“Then why did you try to separate them.” Tony muttered petulantly into Steve’s shoulder as he rested his head against it.
“I was an idiot.” He sighed tiredly, as he moved to lay Tony back on the bed carefully, then laid next to him to wrap his arm around his waist and pull him closer to his body. “I freaked out, Tony. I woke up after the fight with Castiel to find my hands covered in blood. My family’s blood. Your blood. I couldn’t handle it and to be fair, I thought that no one will be able to even look me in the eye after that.”
“It wasn’t you, Steve.” Tony murmured as he leaned his head against his husband’s as he laid on his side next to him. “Everyone knows that. You would never hurt any one of us on purpose. You managed to break through that demon’s control, you should give yourself some credit.”
“That was because of Charles’ help.” Steve murmured with a sigh. “If it wasn’t for him, I would still be trapped in my own head, thinking that I never got out of the ice. Never met my family. Never met you.”
“That damned badass telepath.” Tony chuckled with a shake of his head. “He will always be the strongest one in the both of us. Don’t let his adorable demeanor fool you, that guy is an evil genius under all of this sweet, puppy like looks.”
“Yeah, he is.” Steve agreed with a soft smile. “I owe him my life. And yours. I don’t know what would have happened if he didn’t fight his way out to reach me and Dean. If it wasn’t for him and Cas, who knows what would-”
“You will never have to know.” Tony reached up to trail his hand down Steve’s face gently. “It is over, Steve. We are fine. We are home. You can relax now.”
Steve sighed and leaned forward to press his lips gently against Tony’s.
“I love you, Tony.” Steve whispered against his lips, hand cupping his face sweetly. “I also can’t stand every second you are not plastered to my side.”
The genius sighed in bless, as he murmured what was probably an ‘Love you too’ against Steve’s lips. His husband was back to where he was supposed to be and not being an idiot.
***
Bruce was in the room he shared with Thor in the mansion, packing their stuff to get back to the Tower.
A few days had passed since the demons’ incident. They managed to fix the wall and the hole in the floor. Charles, Raven and Hank took care of making the students feel safe again, since they were still frantic. What helped calm them was the fact that their comatose friends finally woke up, as good as ever. Thankfully, when the demons were snuffed out, the life forces they stole returned to the children.
Erik, ignoring his injuries, kept walking around, helping in fixing up the mansion, completely denying the fact that he needs crutches to be able to walk on his injured knee. He just kept walking stubbornly, hiding his obvious limp and his bruised body.
Which put a strain between him and Charles. They fought several times in the few days Bruce was here. Charles screaming at Erik to stay put and rest or at least use his crutches, while the Metal Binder was shouting back that he was fine and that the telepath was the one who should be resting.
Basically, they were both worried about each other and they were expressing it by glaring and shouting at each other. Which was very unlike them. Usually, Erik was the one with the glaring and shouting, but it seemed that what happened frayed Charles’ nerves so bad that he was shouting back now.
No matter how many times Charles shouted that he was fine, no one really believed him, but they refrained from asking, until Tony himself could come and talk with the telepath, since Erik was failing to do that. The second line of defense here was Tony, but the genius wasn’t in a shape that allows him to come at the moment to handle all of that, no matter what he was saying to convince Steve.
They all need a moment to catch their breath, before they could fix whatever had broken.
Bruce was thinking about all of that while packing, until he finally noticed how quiet the room was and the empty space that was usually filled by the tall demigod.
He turned towards the bathroom door, which Thor disappeared behind a while ago to take a shower, but didn’t come out till now.
He approached the door to knock carefully.
“Thor, you've been in there for a long time... Is everything okay?” he called out, feeling worry rising inside him as the silence stretched on. “Honey? Are you alright?”
“Not really.” Came Thor’s quiet voice through the door.
Bruce entered the bathroom at that, and Thor was standing there naked, with his braided hair stuck in the shower curtain.
He stopped and looked at the scene, trying so hard to keep his lips from smiling in amusement.
“I have a problem.” Thor muttered, while not really looking at Bruce.
“Really?” Bruce questioned, unable to keep the amusement from his voice. “What happened?”
“Well, I was dancing around, and singing, then I got stuck.” Thor sighed and looked up at Bruce with pout.
“Why is your eye so red and your lips bloody?”
“One of the shells hit me in the eye and the lips.”
Bruce couldn’t stop the snort fast enough, and Thor scowled at him indignantly.
“Sorry, sorry.” Bruce tried to keep his chuckling in, but it was so hard. “You can't move at all?”
“Oh, well, I can move…” he moved back and forth the shower curtain rail, opening and closing the shower curtain with his hair as he goes.
Bruce couldn’t hold back anymore and bend over to laugh, until he couldn’t breathe anymore. Thor tried to keep scowling at him, but couldn’t help to laugh along with him at his current situation.
“Okay, okay, if I untangle you, will you please get rid of the corn rose on your head now?” Bruce asked breathlessly, after laughing for a good minute.
“I guess so...” Thor muttered. Looking disappointed. But didn’t try to argue with him.
Bruce moved to try and untangle Thor’s hair carefully.
“Why some of these braids look a little frayed?”
“I might have tried to gnaw myself free.”
That resulted in another uncontrollable bouts of laughter from Bruce.