Two corpses we were, two corpses I saw

Happy waited patiently in the waiting room outside of Pepper’s office for his turn to speak with the CEO, fiddling with the tablet in his hand in the meantime. His promotion from Tony’s chauffeur/bodyguard was exhilarating to say the least, and it wasn’t because he wouldn’t have to deal with Tony’s shenanigans anymore, not that there were many these days. Being in a relationship with Steve Rogers, Captain America himself, was doing wonders for Tony’s impulsivity. The promotion also gave Happy the courage and the confidence to finally ask Pepper out and to his amazement she said yes to dinner and yes to the many, many dinner that followed suit and now here they were. CEO and Head of Security, power couple if anyone ever saw one. 

Pepper’s meeting ended, and she and her guest walked out of her office to the waiting room where he and Bambi Arbogast, Pepper’s executive assistant, was waiting to escort the guest to the elevator. Pepper’s face lit up when she saw him waiting outside. Happy still couldn’t believe that he got to call this beautiful, amazing woman his girlfriend. 

“Happy, hi! What’s--what’s going on? Oh no, did I forget our lunch date again?” Pepper looked stricken, she had been working overtime recently. She and Tony had been dealing with the fallout of the Chitauri Invasion in New York, renovating Stark Tower and setting up the newly-minted Department of Damage Control to handle the rebuilding and clean up efforts. It was safe to say that Pepper had a lot on her plate lately and stolen moments during the work days together were often times all Happy could get with her. 

“No, no. You didn’t forget anything. Although we do have dinner scheduled tonight, so I just want to make sure you don’t forget.” 

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” Pepper assured him, smiling that kind smile of hers that never failed to make Happy’s heart beat faster. 

“Great, that’s-- that’s great. Oh, so what I wanted to talk to you about was some of my ideas to make this building safer.” Pepper’s face fell, she’s now wearing her polite press smile, the one she used when she was about to deny someone what they wanted. 

“Hear me out,” Happy started his pitch, “as you well know, being the smart and capable woman that you are,” Pepper pursed her lips in amusement, “that the weakness of any processes can be traced back to the human factor. And in this discussion, the process is the security of our building and the humans are our employees. Now, I’ve been working hard to remind people that they need to be wearing their badges at all times. I see that you aren’t actually wearing yours at the moment…” Happy trailed off and Pepper shot him an annoyed look, “but that’s a discussion for another day. But what I’m actually proposing is to reduce that risk of security breach by reducing the amount of humans milling around this building on any given day.” 

“What? Happy, what are you talking about?” 

“I propose we replace the whole janitorial staff with the Iron Man armors Tony have been building. He has dozens of ‘em just sitting in his workshop in the basement wearing party hats and covered in streamers. I hope it’s not a sex thing between him and Captain Rogers...but you never know with Tony…anyway, this is an an asset we can utilize, Pepper.”

Bambi went back to her desk after escorting Pepper’s previous guest, and seeing her without her badge, Happy pointed at her indicating his displeasure which Bambi just sidestepped with a roll of her eyes.  

“Happy, I’m gonna stop you right there,” Pepper immediately cut in, “You’ve been doing...well... as the new Head of Security. Making sure people have their badges and such...” 

“Thank you.” Happy preened. 

"And I appreciate that. However, since you’ve taken up this post, the employee complaints have risen 300%. I think you need to ease up a bit on that.” Pepper finished. 

“Oh, thank you!” 

“Honey, that’s not a compliment.” 

“It is to me! Clearly someone’s trying to hide something, Pep. It could be a potential security breach.” 

“Happy, no. Just-- please promise you’ll ease up on the badge thing. We can talk about this later. At dinner, if you want.” Pepper started walking back to her office, Happy following suit. 

“Well, no. I’d rather be talking about other stuff with you during dinner.” Happy responded, “like the ski lodge in Vail I already booked for Christmas trip.” 

“That’s nice, Happy” Pepper smiled at him, their first Christmas trip together was something she was looking forward to. Bambi approached them and informed them that Pepper’s one o’clock appointment was waiting for her in her office. 

“Who’s your one o’clock? Did you clear this with me?” Happy asked again. 

“Happy, later please. Let me deal with this really annoying thing.” 

“What? Who?” 

“I used to work with him, and he used to ask me out all the time. So it's a little awkward.” Pepper informed him. 

“That doesn’t sound good.” Happy opened her glass office doors for her and ushered her in. Inside, a well-dressed blonde man in a suit was seated on one of the couches in Pepper’s office. His blonde hair was slicked back lending an aura of sophistication and suaveness to the man. Bright blue eyes and tanned skin only added to his charm and when he smiled, bright rows of pearly white teeth that were the stuff dentists dream of could be seen. In short, the man was very handsome. Inwardly, Happy thanked every deity he could that Pepper was ever so shortsighted in rejecting this man. 

“Pepper!” the man greeted, standing up and walking towards Pepper when he saw them arrive. “Looking beautiful as ever,” he looked at Pepper dressed smartly in her pristine white pantsuit, blue eyes gleaming.

“Killian?” Pepper asked, her face looked shocked, “God, you look...you look great. I... I...I can't... What on earth have you been doing?” Pepper tried to take all of him in. The Aldrich Killian she knew was disabled, and now here he was standing in front of him able bodied and as fit as an athlete. 

“Nothing fancy, just five years in the hands of physical therapists. And please, call me Aldrich.” He smiled charmingly. 

“Uh...you were supposed to be issued a security badge.” Happy cut in, looking annoyed at the guy who was eyeing up his girlfriend like a piece of steak. 

“Happy, it’s okay. Stand down.” 

“You sure?” 

“Yes. I’ll see you later.” 

“Okay...I’ll just linger...out there.” Happy said as he slowly walk out of Pepper’s office, pointing to the arrangements of comfortable couches in the waiting area. Happy sat down, settling himself for a long wait because something just felt hinky about this guy. Seated across from Happy was a man he assumed to be Killian’s bodyguard. His badge said his name was Savin. He nodded at Happy as Happy pointed to his badge before he stood up and walked out muttering “Merry Christmas.” 

Strange guy. 

Meanwhile back in Pepper’s office, Killian had started his pitch. “After years dodging the President's ban on "immoral biotech research", my think tank now has a little something in the pipeline. It's an idea we like to call Extremis. I'm gonna turn your lights down.” the lights went down and in his hand, Killian was holding three sperical metal balls. “Regard the human brain.” he said cryptically before a three dimensional projection of a human brain lit up the room. 

Pepper looked up in awe at the sight. Years of working with Tony Stark should have inured to her to technological advances but she couldn’t help but find the beauty and the sense of awe that rose within her at the sight of something so otherworldly like this. “Wow, that's amazing!”

“Thanks. It’s mine.” Killian added. 

“What?” 

“It’s my brain. This is a live view of what’s going on inside my head right now.” Pepper looked doubtful at his claim, “Come on up. I’ll prove it to you.” He held a hand out to Pepper, helping her up from her seat on the couch. 

“Now, pinch my arm.” so Pepper did. The live feed of Killian’s brain lit up the moment Pepper did, surprising her to once again. “What is that?” 

“It's the primary somatosensory cortex. It's the brain's pain center. But this is what I wanted to show you.” Killian started to manipulate the projection, “Now, Extremis harnesses our bioelectrical potential And it goes...here. This is essentially an empty slot, and what this tells us is that our mind, our entire DNA in fact, is destined to be upgraded.” 

“Wow…” Pepper breathed out in amazement, while outside in the waiting room her boyfriend looked on suspiciously. Happy watched them for a few moments when the trilling of an incoming call from his tablet tore his gaze away from them. Glancing down he saw that Tony was calling him on the tablet. Happy swiped the tablet to answer the call, unknowingly angling the tablet too high on his face so Tony only saw his forehead on the screen. 

“Is this forehead of security?” Tony asked snarkily. 

“What? You know, look, I got a real job. What do you want? I'm working, I got something going on here.” Happy answered snippily. 

“What? Harassing interns with your incessant badgering? Haha get it, badgering? Because you’re so anal about those badges.” 

“That’s very funny.” Happy deadpanned, “let me tell you something, you know what happened when I told people I was Iron Man's bodyguard? They laugh in my face.” Tony laughing at him when he said that wasn’t helping matters either, “I had to leave while I still had a shred of dignity. Now I got a real job, I'm watching Pepper.” 

“Watching? Or watching?” Tony waggled his eyebrows outrageously. When Happy didn’t say anything but just fixed him with annoyed glare, Tony coughed awkwardly, “what’s going on? Fill me in.” 

“For real?” 

“Yeah.” 

“Alright, so she's meeting up with this scientist. Rich guy, handsome.” 

“Right.” 

“I couldn't make his face at first, right? You know I'm good with faces.” 

“Uh huh. The best.” 

“Yeah. Well, so I run his credentials, I make him as Aldrich Killian. We actually met the guy back in... where were we in '99? The science conference?” 

“In Switzerland.” Tony confirmed. 

“Right. Right. Exactly.” 

“Well, I don’t remember the guy.” 

Happy rolled his eyes, “Of course you don’t remember him. He’s not a blonde with a big rack,” Tony’s face turn down slightly at Happy’s jab on his promiscuous past. He’s in a happily committed relationship with his own blonde with a big rack and a big heart, okay? 

Happy continued on, “At first it was fine, they were talking business, but now it's like, getting weird. He's showing her his big brain.” 

“His what? Is that a euphemism for something?” Tony boggled. 

“Big brain, and she likes it. Here, let me show you. Hold on. See?” Happy held the tablet up and pointed it towards Pepper’s office where Pepper and Aldrich were watching the live feed of his brain and standing closer together. Or so he thought but since Happy didn’t flip the camera all Tony saw was Happy’s face. 

“See what? See you watching them? Flip the screen so I can see them.” Tony ordered. 

“I'm not a tech genius like you. Just...just trust me. Get down here.” Happy told Tony. 

“Just flip the screen then I can see what they’re doing.” Tony countered. 

“I can't! I don't know how to flip the screen!” Happy shouted in frustration, “Don't talk to me like that anymore. You're not my boss.” he added sullenly. 

Tony started walking around his lab, carrying the tablet with him to his work desk. He stopped by DUM-E who was sweeping the glass covering one of Iron Man armors he broke earlier in the day, “DUM-E! Hi, DUM-E, why do you have a dunce cap on your head?” 

DUM-E chirped sadly, “You know you deserve it,” Tony told the bot, receiving a sad chirp accompanied by a drooping claw. “Hey. Hey! What are you doing round in the corner? You know what you did. Blood on my mat, handle it.” Tony told him, his hand gesturing to where the incident occurred. Thankfully, Steve wasn’t around to witness said lab accident or he would be fussing around Tony instead of halfway through decimating the workout equipment in Tony’s private gym. 

“Alright, I don't work for you. Now I don't trust this guy. He's got another guy with him, he's shifty.” Happy’s voice piped up again from the tablet, reminding Tony that he was still on the line with him. 

“Happy, relax, will ya?” Tony countered, attention already onto something else. 

“What did you say?” 

“I'm just asking you to secure the perimeter. Tell him to go out for a drink or something?”

“You know what? You should take more of an interest in what's going on here. Pepper’s... Pepper’s the best thing that ever happened to this company. To you, to me. And you...you're just ignoring her.” Happy sounded desperate, the tone of his voice successfully guilt tripping into paying attention to him.  

Tony paused his strides, “A giant brain, you said?”

“Yeah, there's a giant brain, there's a shifty character. I'm gonna follow this guy. I'm gonna run his plates and if it gets rough, so be it.” 

Tony laughed cheerily, “I miss you, Happy.” and he really did. Ever since he relinquished control of SI to Pepper and started to work on research and development full time, there was little reason for him to go to the office in LA. And with Happy’s promotion to Head of Security, the man was no longer his bodyguard, so he hadn’t been seeing Happy as often as he usually did. 

“Yeah, I miss you too. But the way it used to be. Now you're off with the 'superfriends', I don't know what's going on with you anymore. The world's getting weird…”

“Aww, honey. Just because I have a boyfriend now doesn’t mean we can’t hang out anymore.” Tony teased him, batting his eyes outrageously at Happy which the man replied with a roll of his eyes. 

“Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up.” 

“Hey, I hate to cut you off, but do you have your taser?” Tony asked again. Blindsided by the non-sequitur Happy cocked his head in confusion, “Yeah, why?” 

“I think there’s a girl in HR who’s been stealing ink printer. You should get right to it.” Tony told him, then he opened one of the wine fridges he kept in the workshop and put his tablet and Happy inside before walking away. 

“Alright, now that that’s over and done with, JARVIS, where were we?” Tony approached his desk and picked up the syringe he loaded up with the micro-repeater implants. 

“Sir, please may I request just a few hours to calibrate…” 

“Nope. Forty-eight, that was as low as I was willing to go, buddy,” Tony injected himself with the micro-repeaters in his left and right forearm, wincing as the pressure of skin giving way to implants pinched his skin, “Micro-repeater implanting sequence complete.” 

“As you wish, Sir. I've also prepared a safety briefing for you to entirely ignore.” 

“So much sass.” Tony commented, “Steve’s been teaching you unbecoming aspects about human behavior.” 

“As opposed to the stellar behavioral examples you have so kindly provided since the moment of my conception, Sir.” 

“There it is.” 

“Sir, may I remind you that you and Captain Rogers are scheduled to meet with Colonel Rhodes for lunch at Neptune’s Net in thirty minutes? Captain Rogers has expressed his enthusiasm in finally sampling their famous Ensenada style fish tacos.” 

“This won’t take a minute, JARVIS. Alright, focus up ladies. Good afternoon, and welcome to the birthing suit. I'm pleased to announce the imminent arrival of your bouncing, bad-ass, baby brother.” Tony addressed the occupants of the workshop, “start tight and go wide, JARVIS. Mark 42 autonomous prehensile propulsion suit test. Initialize sequence.”

The Mark 42 suit lit up with Tony’s command as he started his experiments, “JARVIS, drop my needle.” 

The music started playing, “Time of the Season” by the Zombies. Tony felt his lips twitched up in a smile, remembering the last time this song was played during one of the hotter makeout sesh he had with Steve in the workshop. Witnessing Tony’s genius was apparently a pretty potent aphrodisiac for Steve. Tony moved his hips to the music then pointed the arm where he injected the implants to the Mark 42 on the corner. Disappointingly, nothing happened. 

“Crap,” Tony swore. He tapped his arm with the opposite one and pointed it again. Something must have happened in the interim because then pieces of the gauntlet, from palm to shoulder, started flying to Tony, wrapping itself around his left arm. Tony grinned at his success and repeated the same motion for his other side, whooping excitedly when the suit flew to him. 

“Alright. Alright, I think we got this. JARVIS, send ‘em all.” 

Suit parts started flying to him. First the legs successfully wrapped itself around Tony’s leg, then another piece of the suit flew too fast, crashing into the glass case housing another Iron Man suit. “Probably a little fast, J. Slow it down a bit.” Followed by another piece, the face plate, swooping down fast towards Tony’s face fast and Tony ducked to avoid getting hit. Other parts started flying towards Tony, the back of the armor and the crotch area attaching themselves to Tony with a little more force than Tony would have liked, “Cool it, will you, JARVIS?” Tony shouted to the ceiling, a habit he picked up from Steve when he talked to JARVIS, in annoyance. 

One by one, pieces of the Mark 42 suit attached itself to Tony until it became a complete suit with one remaining piece, the face plate, hovering in front of him. Tony and the faceplate was at a standoff, which was broken when Steve keyed in his passcode and entered the workshop to fetch Tony for their lunch with Rhodey. 

“Tony, sweetheart, are you ready to...go…” Steve trailed off, looking at Tony in the armor and the faceplate hovering in front of him, “what are you doing?” 

“Hi, Steve! Yup, ready, just give me a sec,” Tony addressed his boyfriend. Then to the faceplate he said, “Come on. I ain't scared of you.” the piece flew over to Tony who flipped in the air to catch it and finally complete the Iron Mar, landing on the workshop floor with finesse. From his side, Tony heard Steve clapping at a landing well-executed, his amazed laughter warming Tony’s heart and reminded him why he was doing this. 

“Thank you, thank you,” Tony bowed at his audience, “I’ll be here all week. Don’t forget to tip your waitress.” Steve just laughed some more, “That was amazing, Tony. You made the suit come to you, instead of having to suit up. I imagine it’ll cut down on the response time significantly.” 

“You know it, babe.” Tony winked at Steve. 

“Was that the result of seventy-two hours of no sleep?” Steve asked, eyes gentling with reprimand. 

Tony winced, “To be fair, I slept a whole eight hours last night. If you don’t count the, you know,” he waved his hand awkwardly. The nightmare and Steve being assaulted by the very suit he was wearing right now. 

“I know, Tony. I’m not going to stop you tinkering and improving the suits. I know you need to do it, it’s your way to cope. I don’t begrudge you that, I just want you to take better care of yourself.” 

“I thought that’s what you’re here for, Captain,” Tony asked him flirtatiously, “as my live-in boyfriend.” 

“I’ll do anything and everything that you require, Mr. Stark,” Steve told him earnestly, and Tony couldn’t help but melt at the warmth that Steve’s casual displays of affection always elicited. 

“That so?” 

Steve nodded. “Yup. Even if it includes finding a Christmas present that would top a giant stuffed bunny.” 

Tony chuckled at Steve’s words and took the hand Steve offered him to step down from the platform he was standing on for the suit’s test run. Such a gentleman, Tony thought fondly. Sometimes Tony thought he should feel annoyed by Steve treating him like a damsel, like he was still a woman. But he realized now that that was just how Steve was. That was how he expressed his love and affection towards Tony and he just wanted to treat Tony with as much love and care as he could possibly give. And if that includes pulling out chairs at restaurants or opening doors for Tony, those were small price to pay. Insignificant even. 

Steve gave him a sweet kiss as soon as he stepped down from the platform. His brilliant blue eyes glittering in the workshop light, captivating Tony. Even if he lived to be a thousand, Tony would never get over the fact that he and Steve found each other again, that they never fell out of love with each other despite everything. If he lived to be a thousand, Tony knew that the love he felt for Steve, and Steve for him, would outlast them. 

“I love you,” Tony told him, and was pleased when he was rewarded with Steve’s gentle smile and another peck to his lips, “I love you too. Now get out of the suit and take a shower. We promised Jim we wouldn’t be late and I really want to try some fish tacos.” 

“Outranked by some fish tacos. I see the romance has faded.” Tony huffed good naturedly as he gestured for the suit to disassemble and regroup inside one of the opened glass cases. 

“Some people call me a terrorist, I consider myself a teacher. America, ready for another lesson. In 1864 in Sand Creek Colorado the U.S. military waited till the friendly Cheyenne braves all gone hunting, waited to attack and slaughter their families left behind, and claim their land. Thirty-nine hours ago the Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait was attacked. I...I...I did that. A quaint military church filled with wives and children, of course. The soldiers were out on maneuver, the braves were away. President Ellis you continue to resist my attempts to educate you, sir. And now, you've missed me again. You know who I am, you don't know where I am, and you'll never see me coming.”

The footage ended and the news started back up, discussing and dissecting what the Mandarin had said in his latest video claiming responsibility for the bombing in an American military installation in Kuwait. Steve, Tony and Rhodey were all congregated around a table inside the Neptune’s Net, just finishing up their lunch. Well, Tony and Rhodey were finished, Steve was up for more food despite the three orders of fish tacos, a bowl of clam chowder plus bread bowl and crab cake that he had. He was eyeing Tony’s unfinished plate of fish and chips, certain that Tony would end up sliding the plate Steve’s direction. His lover never finished any food that he ordered, claiming he was full after eating two bites of food and relegating the rest to Steve’s bottomless pit of a stomach. 

If there was one thing that Steve enjoyed about the future, in addition to being able to be with Tony again and be open about their relationship, Steve would have to say it was the food. Seventy years seemed to be plenty of time for the culinary world to evolve from the one he knew and grew up with to this amazing cornucopia of delectable flavors. If Steve thought the food in New York City circa 1942 was a melting pot of great flavors, then today’s food was an even richer, diverse and a mind blowing melting pot. It’s as if the whole world had converge in the United States and chipped in to create the entire food scene of the United States. And with his never ending curiosity and perpetual hunger, Steve was more than happy to eat his way through all the cuisines the new demographic of the United States had to offer and Tony was more than happy to indulge him. 

Tony wasn’t as big of an eater as Steve, joking that he needed to keep his hot body in shape or else Steve wouldn’t want him anymore (insert eyerolling here) but he would always accompany Steve to whichever restaurant he wanted to try that day for lunch or dinner. Steve couldn’t ask for a better partner. Tony was always so indulgent of his whims. He took Steve on a trip around after Steve expressed a desire to see the country and explore how much it had changed in seventy years. He was always so kind and so generous to Steve, so supportive and Steve longed to do the same for him. 

The last couple of months Tony was dealing with shell-shock frequent nightmares. His lover tried hard to hide it from Steve, putting on a show that everything was fine and dandy but Steve knew otherwise. His obsessive tinkering was a manifestation of Tony trying to take control of one aspect in his life that he could since he couldn’t control his nightmares. 

Steve didn’t know what was it Tony dreamed about, but he bet his bottom dollar that it had something to do with what he saw when he went into space. The continuous improvements on the armors and Tony amassing a huge catalog of Iron Man armors pointed to Tony seeing something threatening in space and right now, Tony was just trying to prepare. To protect himself from whatever threat he saw coming. 

And Steve would be there with him every step of the way, regardless of whether or not the threat was real. Together was the only way to be. 

On the television, President Ellis briefly outlined his strategy to combat the Mandarin, “Central to my Administration's response to this terrorist event, is a newly minted resource. I know him as Colonel James Rhodes, the American people will soon know him as the Iron Patriot.” 

The man called ‘Iron Patriot’ was currently enjoying lunch with them in a seaside cafe in Malibu. Hearing his name and that of his alter ego mentioned by the President, he looked up at the television just in time to see Bill Maher then Joan Rivers made fun of Iron Patriot’s appearance. 

“Iron Patriot…” Tony scoffed, “For God’s sake, it looks like the Iron Man armor fucked an American flag.”

“Tony, my God,” Steve facepalmed, while Rhodey pulled a bitchface at Tony, “It tested well with the focus group, alright?” 

“I am Iron Patriot…” Tony deepened his voice in mock seriousness. 

“Look, War Machine was a little too aggressive, alright? This sends a better message.” 

“And what message was that? ‘We’re gonna patronize you to death’?” Tony rolled his eyes. 

“I didn’t know you feel that way about flag themed uniforms, Tony.” Steve chimed in. 

“You know what, babe, somehow you’re the only one who can pull off the whole patriotic superhero do gooder, spreading democracy and the American Way to the world. Probably because you don’t really care about the American Way and more about the ‘marching to the beat of your own drums’ way.” Tony grinned cheekily at him. 

Steve winked back at him, “You know it.” He was never that good of a soldier anyway, the first act that brought him his legendary fame was a blatant act of disobedience. Where people got the idea that he was a good, obedient, mindless soldier who followed orders unquestioningly, Steve had no idea. Must be the propaganda. 

“You’re just saying that because he’s your ride home,” Rhodey said again, still snippy because Tony called his suit out as the unholy offspring of the Iron Man suit and a flag. 

“And because I still want to get laid tonight. Anyway, can we talk about this guy?” Tony motioned to the television, indicating their continuous reporting on the Mandarin. 

“It’s classified information, Tones. I can’t tell you anything.” 

“But I have the necessary clearance, Jim.” Steve told him point blank, leaning back in his seat and folding his arms in front of his chest, “You can either tell us now, or I’ll just call up the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs to give me all the details which you know I will relate to Tony. Apparently I rescued his dad from behind enemy lines in Vichy.” 

Tony beamed at him, eyes twinkling with mischief and hero worship in equal proportion, “Good man. Here, you can have my fries,” Tony slid his plate of fish and chips in front of Steve. 

“You know I outrank you,” Rhodey told Steve grouchily, and Steve just flashed him a cutesy smile, like butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth. Rhodey sighed and started talking with a lowered volume, preventing the other tables from overhearing, “Okay, there have been nine bombings.” 

“Nine?” Both Steve and Tony blanched.

“The public only knows about three. Here's the thing, nobody can ID a device. There's no bomb casings.” 

“You know I can help, just ask. I got a ton of new tech, I got a prehensile, I got a...I got a new bomb disposal. Catches explosions mid-air.” 

Rhodey pinned Tony with a look, “When's the last time you got a good night's sleep?” 

“Last night. Slept like a middle-aged baby in Steve’s arms.” 

“People are concerned about you, Tony. I’m concerned about you.” 

“Really? We gonna play it that way?” 

“No, no. Tony, come on. Cap, back me up here.” Steve remained silent at the two friends’ conversations, “He needs to take better care of himself. I’m not trying to be a dick…” 

“Can you sign my drawing?” two young children bounded up to them, brandishing a paper and a crayon at Tony, crude drawings of Iron Man and Captain America fighting in New York against the Chitauri could be seen on the paper. 

“Sure, pal.” Steve said kindly, taking the crayon and paper from the boy, “what’s your name?” he asked, then signed the drawing with a neat cursive of ‘Captain America’ for the boy. 

“Would you mind signing my drawing?” the little girl, Erin, judging by the name on the paper, shyly asked Tony.

“Sure, as long as Dick here doesn’t mind.” Tony couldn’t resist getting in the jab at Rhodey, “you don’t mind, do you Dick?” He saw Steve’s lips quirked up in a slight smile. His boyfriend was as much of a troll as he was, no wonder they got along so well. 

“No, of course not.” Rhodey conceded. 

Tony started to sign the drawing, but the scene it depicted, Iron Man carrying a nuke on his back, stilled his movement. Next to him, he could feel Rhodey started talking again, “Listen, Steve, Tony, the Pentagon is scared. After what happened in New York... aliens, come on. They need to look strong. Stopping the Mandarin is priority, but it's not…” 

“It’s not superhero business.” Tony conceded, his heartbeat started to pick up pace. Steve glanced at him from the corner of his eyes from where he was talking to the boy whose drawing he signed, no doubt he picked up on the slight hitching of Tony’s breath and how fast his heartbeat was becoming. 

“No, it's not, quite frankly. It's American business.” 

“That’s why I said...I got it.” then the crayon snapped in to two in Tony’s hand. Erin was still waiting for her drawing to be signed, and the only thing Tony could say was, “I broke your crayon.”

“Tony,” Steve approached him slowly and placed a big warm hand on Tony’s bicep, “Love, are you okay?”

“Are you okay, Mr. Stark?” Erin asked again. 

“Take it easy, okay, Tones?” Rhodey added. 

“Deep breaths, honey, deep breaths,” just as Tony started doing what Steve suggested of him, the little boy who asked for Steve’s autograph asked loudly, “How did you get out of the wormhole, anyway?” 

Unbidden, the boy’s words triggered a barrage of images and unwanted emotions in Tony. his mind flashed to the darkness of space, the army waiting for him up there, the coldness and how suffocating it was up there. And Tony was...he was scared. Abruptly, he launched off the table and ran to the men’s room, finding an empty stall and locking himself inside. 

“JARVIS?” Tony called out to the JARVIS he installed in his smartwatch, “Check the heart, check the...check the...is it the brain?” 

“No sign of cardiac anomaly or unusual brain activity.” 

“Was I poisoned then?” 

“No, Sir. My diagnosis is that you've experienced a severe anxiety attack.”

“Me?” 

A knock on the stall door tore his attention away from JARVIS. “Tony?” Steve’s voice called out to him, “Tony, are you okay?” 

“Yeah, I’m--” Tony’s voice sounded raspy, Steve would know in a heartbeat that he was far from okay, “Steve,” he rasped out his lover’s name. 

The stall door swung open then, Steve ripped the door open as easy as one would have lifted a plastic chair out of the way, and in an instant he was in front of Tony, in Tony’s space, kneeling down in front of him while big warm hands cupped Tony’s face. “Oh, Tony,” he sighed, the amber pendant necklace Tony gave him a long time ago, when he realized that a sickly blonde guy slated for human experimentation would own his heart, shifted with the heaving breaths Steve took, “It’s okay, you’re here with me now. You made it out, you’re safe here.” Steve touched their foreheads together and Tony could feel him trembling. Steve was scared too, he was scared for Tony. 

“I’m sorry. I don’t-- I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” 

“You don’t need to apologize. You had a panic attack, A ghrá. It’s common in soldiers who suffered from shell-shock.” Steve told him. Shell-shock, Steve’s old timey word for PTSD. So Steve knew, and now he saw just how weak Tony was. One innocent question from a child was all it took to trigger a panic attack. How pathetic of Tony. 

Tony rubbed his face despairingly, “God, I’m so weak. One question from a kid and I turn into a blubbering mess.” 

“You’re not weak, Tony. You’re the strongest person I’ve ever known. You’ve been through the wringer and each and every time, sweetheart, you get back up. You never gave up and a weak person doesn’t do that, Tony. Only someone with a strong will and a tough spirit could do that.” 

“Stark men are made of iron,” Tony repeated the rote mantra that Howard had drilled into his head time and time again when he was a little boy. 

“I have it on good authority that it’s ‘gold-titanium’ alloy.” Steve said, trying to cheer Tony up. And it worked, Tony let out a wet chuckle and nuzzled closer to Steve, laying his head on Steve’s chest intent on hearing the steady thump of Steve’s heartbeat. It always relaxes Tony to hear it, to have proof that Steve was here with him, in real life, and not just in his dreams. 

“We should probably go outside. Tell Rhodey we’re not having a quickie in here,” Tony said again. He felt more than saw Steve’s fond eye roll. 

“Come on, champ, let’s get out of here.” Steve helped him to his feet, “I’ll take you to Randy’s for some jelly donut.” 

Tony chuckled and kissed Steve’s lips, “You’re still hungry, aren’t you?” 

“Famished.” Steve admitted. Tony stared up at him, warm amber boring into bright blue, searching for something, Steve didn’t know what, but whatever it was Tony seemed to find it and pulled Steve down for a kiss, deeper and more intense than the previous one. 

“I love you,” Tony said after they pulled apart, “I don’t ever want to live without you. I can’t,” 

“Neither can I, Tony. Mo shíorghrá.” 

Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, Los Angeles

Happy had took it upon himself to investigate Killian’s man, Savin, after they left Stark Industries. Pepper had told him that Killian pitched her a project called 'Extremis', a serum capable of harvesting the human body's bioelectric capabilities, which apparently translated to a whole lot of potential for weaponization. Following Tony's zero tolerance policy for weapons, Pepper had declined to fund Killian's project. A whole day’s of sleuthing around resulted in him following the man all the way to Hollywood, of all places. Happy watched from afar as Savin, carrying a briefcase, approached another shady looking guy in front of the Chinese theatre, the two conversing in low voices. 

“Can you regulate?” Savin asked. 

“Yes, I can regulate.” the man said, looking irritated at the question for some reason. 

“Are you sure about that?” he asked again. 

“Yes.” 

Surreptitiously, or as surreptitiously as he could make an obvious drug deal out in the open, Savin handed the briefcase he was carrying to the other man, “Here. It’s a decent batch. Don’t say I never did anything for you.” 

“Thank you...for understanding.” the man said to Savin before he walked away. 

Happy watched from his hiding spot as the man, a junkie Happy thought, stared at the briefcase as if it held treasures untold before leaving. Happy started to walk towards him, then pretended to bump him to knock the briefcase open so he could what was inside. 

Happy bumped into him according to plan, the suitcase clattering open on the sidewalk, “Sorry, buddy,” Happy told him. The suitcase held a couple of vials containing some kind of orange liquid, Extremis perhaps, Happy thought distantly. Happy swiped one of the vials for Tony to run some tests on while he helped the other guy put the suitcase back together. Happy looked up once he finished, noticing for the first time that the guy was glowing red, which made him balk in surprise. Surely the lights from the lanterns weren’t that bright?

As he started to walk away, Savin caught up with him. His placid bland face was replaced with a knowing vicious countenance, smiling predatorily at Happy, “What are you doin', buddy? You out by yourself? A little date night? Watching your favorite chick flick maybe?” 

“Yeah, a little movie called "The Party's Over", starring you and your junkie boyfriend, and here's the ticket.” Happy showed him the vial of mysterious liquid he swiped from the suitcase, before pocketing it back. 

“That doesn’t belong to you!” Savin growled. He lunged forward to retrieve the vial from Happy, but Happy punched him in the face. To Happy’s disbelief, Savin healed from his punch instantly and started glowing red. Savin then grabbed a hold of Happy’s arms, and with one hand, the skinny guy threw Happy clear across the way. Happy felt the air knocked out of his lungs as he lied on his back on the pavement. He saw Savin advanced his way, clearly intended on finishing the job when the junkie from before yelled frantically, “Savin!” the guy was glowing just like Savin was before. 

“What?”

“Help! Help me!” he started glowing brighter and brighter, internally combusting, Happy thought incredulously, before he exploded. The human explosion rocked the entirety of the Chinese theater, destroying everything in its wake. Happy was caught up in the blast, his ears were ringing, his body hurt all over and he thought this was what dying felt like. 

Happy’s last thoughts after sending a prayer up above to give Pepper strength to carry on was that Extremis was one messed up superserum because Cap never glowed like a vengeful demon straight from the fiery pits of hell. 

Then, all Happy knew was black.