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"JARVIS, again," Steve panted and wiped sweat off his brow before taking his position while the simulator started up again. He jumped and grabbed the barely there handhold that was 10 feet above his head. His lungs burned as he hauled himself up and did a back flip off the ledge and onto a scaffolding as a hologram drone shot blanks at him, barely missing him. The sound of the shots didn't really register over the sound of his blood roaring in his ears.
"10 seconds," JARVIS said and Steve grunted as he scaled up the side of the building, muscles tensing with anticipation. He looked up, searching the sky for the telltale sign of a red and gold speck. Steve had no idea from which direction it would come, but it would be there soon. A drone came out of nowhere just as he spotted the speck. Steve only just managed to throw his shield at the drone before the speck quickly grew.
Steve flung himself off the side of the building, catching the Iron Man suit as the drone exploded not three feet away from him. He grunted under the sudden deadweight of the suit and he did a blind reach for the ledge he used earlier. Sweat made Steve's grip slip and he plummeted, landing hard onto a soft gel mat that absorbed most of the fall but not enough to keep the air from whooshing out of him when the suit landed on him.
He blinked up as the hologram disappeared overhead, leaving him staring up at the riggs in the training room. The Iron Man suit flickered to life and was clambering off of Steve just as Tony walked into the training and froze at the sight before him.
"Do I want to know what you were doing with my suit on top of you?- More accurately, how did you even manage to access it?" Tony asked as he strode towards Steve, who was still trying to catch his breath on the floor. The suit dismantled itself into a briefcase that Tony pushed away with his foot. He squatted near Steve, and waited silently for once while the super soldier finally made eye contact.
"JARVIS," Steve said, unable to look away from Tony.
"Figures," Tony said with an over put upon sigh of fake annoyance. It ticked the back of his mind that maybe he should be worried that JARVIS would give Steve access to any of his suits, but he surprisingly didn't mind.
Steve swallowed and finally looked away from the soft way Tony was looking at him, "I'm sorry."
Tony waved him off and stood up, stretching a hand out to help Steve, "don't worry about it."
It only took Steve a second of hesitation before letting Tony pretend he could help him up. Tony smiled at Steve as he got to his feet, but he didn't let his hand go.
"Seriously, Cap, don't worry about it," Tony said, a lot more honestly than he intended and Steve knew that Tony was no longer talking about the suit.
The deep bruises had only just faded from Tony's body and the cut on his head was a pink line that Steve hoped would disappear. It was the constant flashback of Tony free falling through the wormhole that woke Steve up drenched in a cold sweat in the middle of the night.
A gentle squeeze to his hand had Steve blinking away the waking nightmare of that memory and he looked down to find Tony still holding his hand.
"You with me, Steve?" Tony whispered, voice cracking a little. It made something flutter in Steve's chest and he nodded, turning towards Tony.
"Yeah," he whispered back, "I'm with you."
The words were honest in ways that Steve wasn't ready to admit to, but Tony understood. For the first time it didn't scare the genius. He tugged at Steve's hand, stepping forward even as Steve took a step towards him.
"I'm not going anywhere," Steve continued, not stopping until his chest brushed Tony's.
"Neither am I," Tony replied, his free hand reaching up to cup Steve's cheek, making Steve's eyes flutter closed.
"Look at me, Steve," Tony said, ducking his head to make eye contact with Steve, "you gotta stop. You haven't slept, you hardly eat-"
Steve scoffed and shook his head, "kettle-" he said, nodding at Tony, who huffed a small laugh.
"The fact that it's me saying it says a lot, dontcha think, Cap?" Tony said with an amused quirk of his lips.
Steve turned his head and pressed a gentle kiss to Tony's wrist, thankful that he was allowed to. Thankful that Tony hadn't ran away when Steve started talking about feelings. Thankful that Tony hadn't died before they got a chance to do this.
"I can't make promises," Steve whispered, lips brushing the inside of Tony's wrist as he spoke, "but I'll try."
"I ain't going nowhere," Tony said again and pressed his forehead to Steve's jaw, "we'll figure it out."
"We will, because if I lose you- if next time you-"
Tony didn't let him finish, and pressed a kiss to Steve's lips to silence him. Steve allowed the distraction for now, and returned the kiss, gentle and slow.
"Come on," Tony mumbled against his lips, "let's get you in the shower before I faint from the smell."
Steve just snorted and let himself be guided towards the showers in the locker room, glancing back at the training room once. His brain was already coming up with more complex training exercises. Later, he thought. For now he followed his chattering boyfriend to wherever he wanted.