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When Tony smiles it's hidden.
Hidden behind hands and tools and work and frowns and masks. The worst way for Tony to hide them, Steve finds, is behind those masks; the smiles he smiles that looks so painful and fake to anyone who knows real Tony Stark smiles. Steve sees how much they hurt Tony and hates how he has to go through those kind of smiles.
Whenever Tony is out in public, he gives the people what they want: sleazy playboy millionaire smiles. Smiles that get him whatever he wants, grins that make people fear him and want to be near him. Smiles that make women and men alike want to have a piece of him, chip away at him until there's nothing left for Tony himself or the people that truly care about him.
Steve hates those smiles, the fake twist of lips that makes him feel sick to his stomach. He hates the way Tony has to fake it through life just to make a living, just to keep on doing what he's doing and making sure the people close to him are doing okay, too.
Sometimes when Tony smiles it's completely predatory and it's more of a sneer than anything and whenever it's directed at Steve he feels like his insides are being stabbed by the sharp contours of his smile. But when it's directed away from Steve at someone who is hurting him or threatening him Steve feels an overwhelming amount of pride and love for the man, wanting nothing more than to gather him in his arms and make sure he knows how much it means to Steve when Tony protects him like that.
Those smiles are completely real and the only smiles that Steve finds himself scared of.
The smiles he cracks when they're alone or with their team, people that they know and love, sometimes those smiles can hurt, too. The self-deprecating ones, the ones Steve knows he'll never be able to keep away from his lovers lips. This twist of his lips are sneers directed at himself, bites and scratches he swipes at himself, usually accompanied by some comment or reply that, if you read between the lines, read the emotions and tones, completely disregard anything good Tony has done in his life. Like he thinks he is alone and worthless and a disgusting excuse for a human being.
Whenever Tony smiles like that, Steve likes to lead him away somewhere private and whisper reassurances to the man until he's calmed down enough so he can kiss that smile away. And although he's not always able to do just that, he tries his hardest to make sure that smile never appears on the man's face ever again.
Probably Steve's second favorite smiles are the ones right after a successful battle, one where they fought hard and won by a landslide, keeping the people of New York or America or even Earth safe again. Those smiles of victory are filled with adrenaline, spiked with pleasure and taste like happiness when pressed against Steve's mirrored lips.
These smiles are carefree and happy and so relieved they make something flutter in Steve's gut, make him want to hold the armored man tighter in his arms and kiss the living daylight out of him. Seeing that smile after battle is the best thing even compared to a long hot shower to wash off all the battle grime off. And that's saying something.
But, even though Tony has all these different smiles there's always one that takes his breath away, one that makes him itch to sketch his lips, to kiss him softly, to pull him into his arms and never let him go.
It's the most real smile you'll ever get from Tony Stark and in turn, the most rare.
It's that small curve of his lips accompanied by a softness in his calculating eyes, the way his mouth will be slightly parted, his eyes fixed on you like you're the only thing in the world. It's the way all the masks slip from their positions, the way he completely stops everything he's doing just to look at you, the way the smile is barely there yet you can feel it with every fiber of your being just by looking at him.
It's the smile Steve gets when he says something that feels like nothing to him, yet to Tony means everything. The smile Steve has the pleasure of seeing in the late hours of the night where it's just the two of them lounging around talking to each other. The smile Steve first received when he asked Tony to go get burgers with him one day, the smile he got when Steve first kissed Tony, the smile he got when he first told the man he loved him.
It's the smile he's getting right now as he focuses in on the man as he walks through the door and into their room, no doubt being directed at him for a long time. "What were you thinking about?" Tony asks and it's a soft caress in the quiet room, warm and welcome.
Steve smiles.
"You," he says and God, the smile is growing. Now teeth are showing, the smile wrinkles around his eyes crinkling. He's gorgeous.
Tony walks up to him and joins him on the bed, sitting cross legged in front of Steve, mirroring him, their knees touching. Tony looks at the sketchbook on Steve's lap and the smile isn't leaving his face as he looks over the multiple images of Tony, his lips his hands his eyes, his everything.
After a moment of silence, Tony looks up at him and Steve fights to breathe. With a hand around Steve's neck, the other still clutching Steve's sketchbook possessively, he presses their lips together and Steve melts as he feels that special smile press against him.
When they part hours later, disheveled and messy and happy Steve holds Tony close to him, angling his head so he can see everything he loves about the man in one action. He whispers "I love you," into the darkened room, illuminated only by the arc reactor and watches as his favorite smile grows until he can't possible smile any brighter.
Then that smile whispers those three words back and Steve kisses him.