He looked down at the man on the floor of his, of their kitchen, who had made the mistake of breaking into the home of a nearly retired Avenger and the Sorcerer Supreme, and all he could think of was revenge. All the times he couldn't truly make every person, or being, who had ever hurt him or Stephen, or Peter, or Pepper, or Rhodey, pay for daring to cross his path, were running through his mind, and all he had to do was - all he had to do was activate his watch, and he could blow him to smithereens. Smithereens... what a brilliant word. A fucking brilliant word.
"Tony."
"No."
"It won't change what happened."
Stephen's words, the very same words Steve had used that day, the day when he lost everything, had thought he had lost everything that mattered to him, somehow got through to him, and he whispered, "FRIDAY?"
"Yes, Boss."
"Call the police before I change my mind," he hissed out, then slowly closed his eyes as he felt Stephen's strong arms around him. He swore as he realized he was shivering, then felt Stephen's lips in his hair, and understood it didn't matter, nothing mattered as long as Stephen was okay. Once he would have cared if someone saw him accept the love and devotion that Stephen gave without a second thought, but at that moment, he finally realized it was the sweetest revenge he could ever have. That after everything he had suffered, he had found someone who honestly knew him and loved him anyway. No, he loved him because he knew him, knew every battle scar, each barely healed crack, and loved him all the more for them.
"Police on their way, Boss."
He heard Stephen reply, "thank you, FRIDAY. We'll be at the Sanctum, you know what to do," followed by the telltale hiss of a portal opening, then felt Stephen lift him easily into his arms and a kiss was pressed against his forehead as they stepped into their bedroom, across town.
"I wanted to kill him, Stephen."
"I know."
"I'm tired, so tired of not feeling safe."
"I'll keep you safe, love."
He opened his eyes as Stephen began undressing him, and he asked in a hush, "promise?"
"Yeah, sweet stuff, I promise."