SteveTony games: Home

[lenkavittoriaelisse16]

Square: O1

PROMPT FILL: Growing Old Together (Fluff prompt turned angst)

Bonus prompts: You gave me a home + Stark men are made of Iron

Notes: This is inspired by “Cardigan” by Taylor Swift

beta'd by: blahblehblihbluh

Summary: Steve has been gone for a year, Tony misses him. Endgame fix-it

Tony Stark paced around the attic of his lake house. It has been a year, his mind tells him. And he is not here when he should have been. 

They say that time heals all wounds. NO, the truth is that time numbs the wounds, but the pain still exists. Stark men are made of iron, yet, why does he feel so fragile? Like he would break like glass? Tony looked around the wooden attic of the lake house, their shared lake house. Steve always wanted to retire after the infamous war of the infinity stones. 

If Tony had been there (and not in a coma), he would have stopped Steve from going back to the past to return all the stones. But now, Steve is gone, and it has been a year but it felt like a decade.

Before the final fight with Thanos, when Tony's spaceship had landed on earth, Steve was there, running towards him. A new relationship had rekindled, and they lived together for 5 years since. It was chaotic when Tony wielded the gauntlet and snapped: his vision turning black, and, with only Steve calling out his name, he was sure he was going to die that day.

But...

He woke up from a deep slumber with Pepper and Rhodey beside him. When he asked about Steve's whereabouts, they told him that he had been in a coma for 3 months since the snap. Steve was sent on a mission to return the infinity stones, but he didn't return on his scheduled time.

Tony could not wrap his head around the piece of information. He refused to believe that Steve would abandon him after everything they had been through. 

Steve, where are you?

It's been a year now. 

Tony could feel his right-hand shake, one of the side-effects from wielding the gauntlet. Steve was gone, and all the promises they made towards each other seemed to have been dusted to the wind. He was losing hope.

Tony walked to the piano in the attic and saw Steve's white cardigan lying on the seat. He picked it up and buried his nose into it. It still smelled like Steve. Tony wore the cardigan and felt the woolly fabric wrap him like the way Steve used to wrap him in his arms.

Do not cry, Tony told himself, Steve wouldn't like it if you cried.

But the tears still came, and the hollowness inside his heart ran deep like a festering black wound of loss. An endless pain. What's the use of waking up and saving the world if Steve would be gone?

Life's unfair.

He buried himself into Steve's cardigan and sobbed uncontrollably.

The doorbell rang, and it took him a few minutes to reach the door. He tried to smoothen his appearance, wipe his eyes, and clear his nose with tissue paper. 

He called out to the person on the other side of the door to give him a minute. He opened the door to face someone familiar on the porch.

The man he loves stood on the porch and was looking at him. Tony could only stare in disbelief, like a dream coming to life. He was still as handsome as he remembered him, albeit a bit weary looking: his hair had grown longer, and his beard covered his face. Tony looked at him and noticed that his right arm mirrored his, full of burnt scars as if he had wielded the gauntlet himself.

"Steve?" he said through a chock full of tears.

"Tony," Steve breathed in. “I’m home.”

Tony flung himself at Steve and hugged him tightly. The gesture was reciprocated with Steve's arms enveloping him tightly, and he felt Steve pepper kisses on his temple and hair.

They held each other tightly through tears and kisses. Everything seemed to fade away as they stood there on the porch embracing each other.

Tony broke away and cupped Steve's face pushing stray strands away from Steve's face so that he could see his face clearer.

"You're home," Tony exhaled.

"I'm home," Steve repeated through his tears "you are my home Tony, you gave me a home,"

"I thought I lost you," Tony said,  "If only I was awake to stop you from returning the stones, I missed you so much, You were gone for a year."

"I'm so sorry for not being there for you Tony," Steve said through his tears. "I didn't mean for it to be that long, but I had to, for us,"

"What?" Tony inquired. "I don’t understand, what happened when you went back to return the stones?"

Steve's face crumpled further and a steady stream of tears fell down his cheeks. Tony kept caressing his back to calm him. Steve hugged him even tighter.

"Steve?" Tony said as he rubbed comforting circles on his back. "Honey, I'm here, and you are home safe and well. Take your time."

It took a bit for Steve to compose himself "I... Tony... you died,"

"What?" Tony asked in disbelief.

"You wielded the gauntlet, and you died in my arms," Steve tried to explain calmly despite the tears and grief that enveloped him. "Tony, I lost you that day, and so after the funeral, S.H.I.E.L.D sent out a mission to return the stones. I volunteered through my grief. It was a suicide mission, I know, but I couldn't live in a world without you. A time came wherein I had the choice to come back or to change the future. It was risky, but I'd risk everything for us to have a chance to be together."

Steve showed Tony his scared arm, "I needed to change the past so that you could live,"

"Steve..." Tony sighed. He couldn't imagine the pain Steve must have felt during the whole ordeal. He couldn't imagine the grief that Steve had in his heart when he watched him die in Steve's arms. He couldn't imagine Steve's face during his funeral.

This was now an altered timeline. It may not make any sense, but Steve went back in time to change their fates. It was the reason why he was lost and didn't make it back in time.

"The serum exhausted itself," Steve says, "Bruce said that it wouldn't work as well as it used to, but that's okay if that means we'll grow old together Tony,"

"Ohhh, Steve," Tony said, holding Steve's face gently in his hands "I love you."

"I love you, Tony," Steve breathed out and kissed Tony tenderly on the lips.