Apartment Above Stark Industries, Sunday Evening

[imafuturist]

The weekend had been one of the super fun kind that this island was so fond of throwing at people. And Steve had left a note before disappearing on him.

Which.

You know, that would be unpacked sometime when he wasn't looking five minutes from falling apart on Tony. But it was going to be A Thing. Don't think it wouldn't be.

"I'm ordering you food," Tony said the moment they were through the door.

[For he who is modded]

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[heroic_jawline]

"You're stronger than that," Steve murmured, absolutely sure of it.

[imafuturist]

Tony kissed him again, letting his hand on Steve's cheek linger. "And so are you."

[heroic_jawline]

"Not this weekend, I wasn't," Steve said.

[imafuturist]

"Made it through, didn't you?" Tony asked quietly. "That's strength."

[heroic_jawline]

"That was pure bull-headedness," Steve said, reaching for more pizza. "Couldn't let the damn statues know they were getting to me."

[imafuturist]

"That's just as good," Tony replied, going for a big of garlic knots. "Fake it til you make it."

Which might have been soom speaking from experience there.

[heroic_jawline]

"Oh, I was faking it for all I was worth," Steve admitted. "While back being small and wheezy."

[imafuturist]

"Pocket-sized," Tony replied, shooting him a fond look before offering one or five over to him.

[heroic_jawline]

Steve made a face. "Not great for running."

[imafuturist]

"You're not much for running away," Tony replied. Because he'd known Steve longer than five seconds.

[heroic_jawline]

"Once you start running, they never stop chasing you," Steve said.

[imafuturist]

"Yeah," Tony said, pulling on Steve's shirt so he could bump his forehead against Steve's.

[heroic_jawline]

"Learned that way early on," Steve said. "You too?"

[imafuturist]

Tony was silent at that, closing his eyes for a moment before kissing him again. "We are talking about you here. Don't think I don't know what you're doing."

Nice deflection, Tony!

[heroic_jawline]

"I'm also just interested," Steve said.

[imafuturist]

Tony pretended to be busy brushed pizza sauce off the corner of Steve's mouth as he hummed in response to that. "I'm not quite as brave as you, dearest."

[heroic_jawline]

"Of course you are," Steve said.

[imafuturist]

That was very sweet of him to say.

"Alright," he said with that one smile he got that never quite reached his eyes.

[heroic_jawline]

Steve kissed him between the eyes. "One of these days I'll get you to believe me," he said softly.

[imafuturist]

"Work in progress," Tony assured him, clutching at Steve's shirt. "Same with you."

[heroic_jawline]

"I love you," Steve said earnestly, meeting Tony's eyes.

[imafuturist]

"I love you too," he replied in the same way he might say the sky was blue. It was sort of becoming an immutable fact now. "And I want to make this better for you."

[heroic_jawline]

"I know you do," Steve murmured, resting his head on Tony's shoulder. "I'm just not great at talking about it."

This was, naturally, a huuuge surprise to Tony. Really.

[imafuturist]

"Talk about what you're comfortable with," Tony said, kissing his temple. "The lack of pizza maybe."

[heroic_jawline]

Steve glanced around, momentarily distracted by the amount of food he'd put away while not really thinking about it.

"My ma decorated with a lot of statues of the saints," Steve said. "Think she thought that they'd look over me more closely if they had a physical presence in the house. Catholic voodoo."