02/12 | IRONSTRANGE
The door slammed close as Tony stormed out of the house, angry. Instead of taking the hint, Stephen instead followed his boyfriend out of the house as well.
“You can’t run from all your problems!” Stephen exclaimed. “You’ll have to face them eventually, Tony!”
Tony turned on the other man. “I’m not running from my fucking problems, Strange,” he hissed. “I am leaving so I can fucking calm down before I do something I regret.”
Stephen scoffed. “You’re still running. You’re leaving and when you come back, you’ll do what you always do and just ignore the reason why we were fighting in the first place! You always do this, Tony.”
Tony glared. “Maybe if I’m so fucking predictable you should just give up on me, don’t you think?”
“Are you breaking up with me?” Stephen asked. “Is that what this is supposed to be?”
“You basically just told me that I’m not allowed to be upset that you just compared me to my fucking father,” Tony hissed. “Yeah, I think that warrants me thinking maybe we should just break up.”
Stephen let out a deep breath. “Look, Tony, think about what you’re saying-”
“I am thinking,” Tony said. “That’s why I’m trying to get away from you, but you aren’t fucking listening. I don’t want to say something I’m going to regret, alright?”
“And you think breaking up with me is something you won’t regret?” Stephen challenged.
“No, I don’t think that,” Tony said, attempting to keep his voice down. “That’s why I’m trying to walk away and calm down. When I come back, we can talk about all my fucking issues to your damn content, alright? Won’t actually guarantee I won’t walk out again, but then again, if all we’re gonna do is fucking argue, maybe we shouldn’t be together.”
“You’re giving me whiplash, Tony,” Stephen said, and it seemed like the anger had melted out of his voice. “Are you breaking up with me or no?”
“I don’t know,” Tony said, shaking his head. “Can we talk about this tomorrow?”
Stephen let out a massive breathe. “Sure. Let’s talk about it tomorrow after I get basically no sleep because I’m fucking worried about my boyfriend and wanna know whether or not I still have one!”
Tony rolled his eyes. “Look, as I’ve said, multiple times, I don’t want to come to a conclusion I’m going to regret tonight. Give me some space for the night, Stephen. Let me think this over, tomorrow morning I will have a much clearer mind.” He took a deep breath, letting it out through his nose. “You fucking compared me to my father,” he said, trying to stay calm. “And not in a good way.”
“I just said-”
“I know what you fucking said,” Tony said. “And you know that I hate being compared to him. You know I fucking hate it when people say we are similar in any aspect whatsoever. So, fuck you Stephen. Just, fuck you.” He took another deep breath when he realized he’d lost his cool again. He had to get out of there before he said something he’d stupidly regret.
“You know, if you’re gonna act like this, maybe you are more alike Howard than you think.”
Tony’s eyes turned cold. “Don’t. You. Fucking. Dare.”
Stephen was unfazed. “No, this is the kind of bullshit Howard would definitely pull. Running away from problems in his relationship instead of fixing them, fighting over every little fucking comment, and the next day, pretending everything is perfectly fine. Face it, Tony. You’re far more like your father than you’d like to admit.”
Eyes still cold as stone, Tony hissed, “That’s it. We’re fucking through. I wished I’d never met you.” With that, he turned, starting to walk away. It was only once he got a couple blocks from a screaming Stephen that he’d let himself finally break down, tears forming in his eyes, his heart hurting.
There’d be no healing from this fight.