#ir0nshield

Haha thank you!!

So, Sam hasn’t been on a date for a while. And he has been finebeing single, thank you verymuch.

But Steve and Bucky are obnoxiousassholes and Natasha-

Well.

One simply doesn’t argue withNatasha.

So Sam’s here, dressed in his nicestclothes (They are new. He’d been dragged out for shopping.) andchecking his appearance critically. Does he look okay? He’s tried –and failed -  to tell himself this is just a casual thing, nothing tobe worried about but…

If nothing else, he wants to make agood first expression.

Sam turns in front of the mirror,dark eyes scanning the way his dress shirt clings to his body,accentuating his muscular frame as well as the jeans that are a tadtighter, more snug than he normally wears.

He tries not to notice that hispalms are getting sweaty. Tries to ignore the nervousness rising.

There is no reason tobe nervous; Sam doesn’t even KNOW the guy yet.

Sam sighs. Blind dates suck.

~~~

He’s at the restaurant and ready toadmit that he might die ofnervousness. Even more so because it’s ten minutes after the agreedtime and his date hasn’t showed up yet.

Sam chews on his bottom lip. Did heget stood up?

Just as he’s about to send Natasha atext and leave, there’s suddenly loud noises coming from the entranceand Sam looks up. He spots a handsome man with a neatly-trimmedgoatee, red-tinted sunglasses gesturing extensively while he’s beingpushed forward by a dark-skinned man.

“Stop it, Rhodey!”,the guy hisses. “I’m going!I’m going, watch me go. I’m not running!”

“Like Hell I’m stopping. I’ve hadto drag your sorry ass all the way here. Now go and enjoy your date!”

Sam doesn’t mean to eavesdrop butthey are talkingrather loudly. His breath hitches slightly at the word “date”.But he doesn’t stand up or anything, just quietly watches the twofuss around for another minute, before “Rhodey” gives the man onelast push and a glare and leaves.

The man mutters something, pushesone hand through his hair. Then he lifts his head to look around theroom and-

Sam’s breath hitches again whentheir eyes meet. He’s never been so thankful for his dark skin; itdoesn’t show the blush. (But he can sure feel the heat of hischeeks.)

The man comes over to him, slowly,and Sam tracks his every move. His heartbeat picks up but the otherguy is smiling, a soft thing of a smile that looks like he doesn’tuse it often enough and Sam returns it easily.

“Hey”, the man says, sounding abit sheepish. “Sam, I assume?”

“Would be right”, Sam answers.His nervousness slowly fades already. “Tony?”

There’s a nod. Tony holds out hishand and Sam takes it without hesitation. “I’m your date for theevening. Sorry you had to witness my little, uh… freakout.”

Sam laughs at that as they taketheir seats. He can’t believe how natural this already feels.

“Don’t worry about it. Youexpressed perfectly how I was feeling up until now, too!”

Tony looks up at him at that, eyescrinkling with the smile he’s sporting.

“Was?”,he repeats.

“Was”, Sam agrees, getting lostin the beautiful brown of Tony’s eyes for a moment. “Not anymore.”He doesn’t add that he hopes this won’t be their only date. Instead,he says: “I’m actually happy Natasha set this up for me.”

Somehow Tony perks up at the nameand the spark of curiosity that lights up his whole face leaves Sambreathless for a moment.

“Natasha? Natasha Romanov?” AtSam’s nod, Tony lets out a laugh and settles back into his chairbefore he starts honest-to-God giggling.

“Oh my God, this is awesome!”

And then he explains how he has awoman in his life that is called Pepper, and that Pepper knowsNatasha and together they decided for Sam and Tony to meet. It’s onlythe start of a very nice evening; talking to Tony is easy, so easyand Sam enjoys it thoroughly.

~~~

They end the evening outside,standing close together in the chilly night air.

Sam’s smiling; his cheeks alreadyhurt because somehow he hasn’t stopped smiling even once during thewhole time. Tony’s expression is a soft one, lips turned upwards.

“So”, he says, tilting his head.“That was probably the best evening I’ve had in a long while. Thankyou for that, Sam.”

Sam grins, feeling giddy andexcited. “Right back at you, Tony. I really enjoyed this.”

He doesn’t say “Maybe wecan repeat this?” and it seemshe doesn’t have to, because Tony leans forward and then their lipsmeet for a soft, gentle kiss.

“Looking forward for the nextdate”, Tony mumbles quietly

Sam can’t wait for it.  

Tony is already in the kitchen. He actually just woke up instead ofhaving been awake for an unhealthy amount of hours. His hair is messyand he’s nursing his first cup of coffee. Speaking to him won’t workjust yet.

Overall, Tony in this moment of sleepiness and peace and Sam’s heartthreatens to explode with the overwhelming rush of love he has forthis man.

A sleep-soft Tony with unruly bedhair and a lingering blush on hischeeks is the cutest sight Sam has ever seen. The fact that he isso lucky to wake up to this sight only amazes him more.

He can’t resist. Sam walks over,smiling affectionately and Tony looks up at him with gentle browneyes. When his lips curl into a small smile, Sam is already bendingforward to kiss it.

Tony hums when Sam kisses him,presses forward to bring one hand up, cupping Sam’s cheek and-

“What the fuck.”

The unexpected comment has themjumping apart; Tony looking thoroughly shocked while Sam manages tocompose himself into mild surprise.

When they turn, they find the restof the team staring at them.

Clint, leaning back with his chairuntil it’s threatening to topple over, dramatically covers his facewith his hands. “My eyes!”, he exclaims. “I have seen things-”

“I am actually surprised I haven’trealized you two were a thing”, Natasha says over Clint’s whining,right before she smacks him and his complaint ends in a high-pitchedscreech.

Sam and Tony are still frozen inplace. Tony’s eyes are very big and dark; he’s more expressive whenhe’s only woken up. He makes a movement next, as if to get up and Samreflexively puts his arm around his boyfriend to keep him in place.

“Sam-”

Sam decides to fuck it all. They’vealready outed themselves and judging from the fond looks everyonegives them, the team approves. So he just leans down once more andkisses Tony silent.

Clint makes a gagging noise, butTony relaxes against Sam. He’s smiling softly when they pull apart.

“So that’s one way to tell ourteam”, he says dryly. Sam huffs a laugh.

“At least now I can kiss youwhenever I feel like it”, is all he replies, which causes Tony’ssmile to grow until it’s lighting up his whole face. It’s anotherbeautiful reminder of the endless list of things that had Sam fallingfor this man.

And just to make good on his words,Sam kisses Tony again.

And again.

And again.

Sam is worried, and not for the reasons he should be. His human, theone he’s guarding, is perfectly fine. Steve is a picture of health,has grown up tall and handsome. He’s far from the fragile, sick boyhe was in his childhood. Which required a lot of energy and Samallows himself to be proud of that.

So that leaves his other problem.

Anthony Edward Stark.

As a guardian angel, Sam is entrusted with guiding Steve Rogersthrough life, protecting him from dangers. And he’s done it, hassheltered Steve from the moment the boy had been born and keeping himhappy, keeping him safe.

And then one day, Steve had encountered Tony. It was just a briefmeeting, nothing that should have influenced Steve’s life further butSam had been unable to forget Tony.

Mostly because this man had no guardian angel.

It’s not like every human has one; in fact, it is not unusual formost of humanity to go through life without a holy being guidingthem. But Sam has met Tony and he can’t help but think that this manprobably needs ten guardians.

The reason he thinks so is because he has left Steve’s side a fewtimes after this first encounter, had looked for Tony and he foundthis boy was prone to getting into accidents. There was always ascratch, a bruise a cut on him. Even with only 13 years, scars werealready littering Tony’s hands.

Sam had found out that Tony was also the only son of a man with a lotof influence – and he’d witnessed Tony almost getting kidnappedmore than once.

So really, Sam thinks Tony needs a guardian.

He only can’t do anything about the fact that he has none.

So instead he’s been steering Steve, has used his energy to changeSteve’s paths slightly until he and Tony had become friends. It’s abenefit for both of them, Sam thinks to himself. They both need afriend; they both need the other.

Tony and Steve complement each other. They have become each other’sanchor, each other’s strength.

It’s great to see them together, thriving.

It’s everything a guardian angel could wish for for his human.

So what is this feeling Sam gets every time he sees them together?It’s like a stab in the chest, a kind of subtle pain coursing throughhim whenever he sees Tony smiling openly at Steve.

Sam watches them one day, watches Tony laugh and lean into Steve’sspace and he wishes, suddenly, that this easy, beautiful smile wouldbe all for him.

.

The last thought bothers him, even when he sits outside of Steve’swindow and stares up into the nightly, starry sky. He’s an angel. Heshould not feel jealousy. He especially shouldn’t be jealous of thehuman he’s guarding. He actually shouldn’t feel humanly emotions likethis at all.

Sam sighs. He wraps his wings around himself and looks down at thesleeping city.

Steve is happy. That is what matters.

But Sam, angel or not, thinks of Tony’s soft smiles, his laughter.Thinks of how relaxed Tony seems when he is with Steve. He thinks ofall that and there’s that stab of jealousy again, that brief longingfor something Sam knows he can’t have.

It will probably get him in trouble.

That is for sure.

.

It really gets him into trouble.

Sam blinks at the world when the black finally fades and he feelssomething else than agonizing pain. It’s still the same world and yetcompletely different.

He wonders if this is how humans feel – and then barks out a laughbecause he knows that now, doesn’t he?

He is human.

His back feels strangely vulnerable but he doesn’t have the heart tolook behind and see for himself that his big white wings thatcontrasted so beautifully with his dark skin are really gone. It’sweird not to feel their weight. Kinda like he’s exposed a weaknessfor everyone to see and poke at.

Sam gets to his feet. His legs are more wobbly than expected; hesuddenly thinks of how he can’t remember the last time he actuallystood on his feet because he didn’t need to, always had hiswings to hover over the ground.

It’s weird to be human.

Sam casts a look up into the bright, blue sky. Watches clouds fly byand doesn’t know how to feel. He got punished. Him being human, boundto earth, is supposed to be punishment for having cared too much forsomeone not in his charge.

But it doesn’t feel like punishment. Sam doesn’t regret asingle thing, doesn’t feel sorry or lost or desperate over havingbeen cast out from Heaven.

Because, in a way, they only helped him.

He smiles to himself, dark eyes finding the skyline of the city andhe knows that somewhere in these streets, Tony is wandering.

Sam doesn’t feel sorry or lost; he feels happy and hopeful and readyto take on this challenge.

He can take care of Tony now like he’s wanted to since he first sawhim.

Now, he can be Tony’s guardian angel.

Tony looks ready to keel over but each time someone points it out tohim and tells him to sleep, Tony’s forehead curls into a stubbornfrown.

Sam has watched Steve trying to convince Tony to finally sleep forthe better half of an hour now.

It stopped being funny.

“Tony, all I’m saying is that you need to get some rest. You’vebeen up for- JARVIS?”

“For 43 hours, Captain.”

Steve nods at the ceiling, then glances at Tony, one eyebrow raised.“So, way too long. I think you need to sleep.”

Tony, being the picture of manic energy and too much coffee, crosseshis arms with a scoff. “And I think you need to stop telling mewhat to do, Cap.”

“Tony-”

“Steve.”

Sam gets hit by a paper ball aimed with deadly precision and heshoots Bucky a glare. The man just shrugs, nodding with his head inthe direction of their leaders arguing and mouths “Do somethingabout this.”

Natasha’s brow is twitching too. Sam heaves a sigh. If he wants toprevent Tony being forcibly dragged into his room by one overlyworried super soldier and a pissed off assassin, he has to act now.

“Tony”, Sam says, over Steve’s next argument.

He gets a huff in response. “Not now, Sam. I’m trying to makeCapsicle understand-”

“Sweetheart.” Sam says and Tony goes silent before he’s finishedhis sentence. “Come here?”

There’s a moment of hesitation, but eventually Tony does come overand Sam takes a long look at him. Yes, his boyfriend looks tired andready to fall asleep any moment but there’s also a determinedexpression on his face that tells Sam he won’t just go to bed.

So instead, Sam pats the spot next to him on the couch. “Sit down.”And amazingly, Tony does. He grumbles and complains but he snugglesup against Sam, pressing closer when Sam puts his arm around him.

Having at least quietened Tony like this, they go back to watchingthe movie but Sam doesn’t pay attention. He focuses on Tony’sbreathing. It gets slower quickly, evens out and he smiles tohimself. Tony melts into him and it only takes a few minutes for himto snore softly into Sam’s neck.

Which is just about perfect. Sam lets him rest for a bit longerbefore he moves slowly, running his hand over Tony’s back, then up tohis neck and massaging gently. He turns his head to press a soft kissto his boyfriend’s forehead and whispers Tony’s name.

“Hmm….”

Tony moves, just a little and makes a sleepy noise that fills Samwith affection.

“Let’s go to bed, sweetheart”, Sam says quietly, murmuring thewords into Tony’s hair. His lover just makes this soft noise again,pressing his face closer into the crook of Sam’s neck. Tony iscompletely relaxed by now, all pliant and lax and Sam kisses hisforehead again.

“Bed, Tony”, he repeats. This time, Tony actually follows, movingto stand only to immediately fall back into Sam’s arms when he wrapsthem around him. Like this, having been asleep and being woken up,Tony is incredibly docile. There’s no fight left in him and so Samhas no troubles guiding his boyfriend out of the living room and intotheir floor.

Once there, he tucks Tony in, kissing him softly on the lips beforehe crawls into bed with him. Tony cuddles close, only satisfied whenhe rests his head on Sam’s chest.

Sam, for his part, runs his fingers through Tony’s hair and fallsasleep to the even, calm breaths of his lover.

Sam didn’t ask.

They were a team again, had gotten past their discrepancies andtogether they had transformed the Accords into something useful. Theyhad even gone back to using Stark Tower as their HQ and the formerlytense atmosphere, the hostility and the anger were all gone.

Except-

Sam looked down to where Tony was curled up against his chest.Peacefully asleep at first glance, but Sam had spent years byTony’s side. He knew where to look to find the fine lines of tensionaround his husband’s eyes, and the dark circles that spoke ofsleepless nights.

He didn’t know what had happenedbetween Steve and Tony. That part of the “Civil War”, as thepress had named it, was a story Sam never got told. All he knew wasthat Tony was skittish and tense around Steve, that he went quiet andstill when Steve raised his voice, that he flinched whenSteve moved too fast or came too close with his shield.

But Sam didn’t ask.

Tony would tell him this story when he felt ready for it. And Samwould be patient, would wait for this moment. But something in theback of his mind told him to be careful; Tony had been awfullyfragile right after the fight, still was and somehow Sam knew that hewouldn’t like the truth.

~~~

“What happened, Tony?”

Sam’s voice was soft, barely more than a whisper while he kept hisarms tightly around his husband. Tony was clutching at him like Samwas the only thing holding him together. He was shaking.

Sam had promised himself not to ask; but he’d spent the last weeksseeing Tony like this, brokensomehow and not being himself. He wanted to help, wanted to sharewhatever pain was weighing Tony down.

But he couldn’t do it without knowing what caused Tony’s nightmares.

“Sweetheart… what on Earth happened to you….”

Tony mumbled something, voice muffled where he had his face pressedinto the safety of Sam’s neck. It was too quiet for Sam to catch upon it, but then Tony spoke up again.

“In… i-in Siberia….”, he said. His voice sounded all wrong;raw and wobbly, as if about to break. “Sam-”

“Shh, I’m here.” Sam tugged at Tony until the brunet was fullyseated in his lap, their bodies pressed together chest to chest withbarely an inch of space in between. It took a moment for Tony’sbreathing to slow.

When he had finally calmed a little, Tony dug his fingers into Sam’sshoulders, sucking in a deep breath.

And then he started talking.

~~~

Sam was bristling.

“I didn’t know it was him?!”,he shouted, effectively shuttingup the lively conversation that had been going on in the kitchen.Steve whipped around to him, eyes widening ever so slightly at therage etched into Sam’s features. “Tony just watched his parents dieand you lie to his face?”

Steve swallowed. “Sam, I didn’t-”

“DON’T FUCKING START!”

Sam’s enraged outcry seemed to echo in the kitchen and everyone in itlooked shocked at this outbreak.

“Don’t you dare lie to me as well. What the fuck happened,Rogers? Does your mind stop working as soon as you hear Bucky’sname?!”

Steve’s expression turned hard and he met Sam’s eyes. “He tried tokill Bucky!” Sam fixed him with a glare that shut Steve upbefore he could add more.

“Can you blame him?”, he wanted to know. “Can you blame Tonyfor reacting like this? He’s been at the verge of breaking formonths! And you, Steve, you who always claim we have to be a team andwork together, care for each other- You never once asked himif he was alright. But you have the audacity to sit here and blameTony for reacting like he did?! After all of you proved to him howlittle you think of him during Ultron? After you ran off to fightthis stupid war on your own, without ever listening to Tony?!”

Sam took a deep breath.

“After you stood next to him while he saw your best friendmurdering his parents?!”

The kitchen was deadly quiet.

Bucky was staring at the ground, shoulders shaking. He might havebeen crying, but Sam didn’t register it. He was boiling inside, hewanted to grab Steve and shake some goddamn sense into him, demandexplanations for the cruelties he’d done – but he stood there,waiting.

Steve, for his part, avoided Sam’s eyes and remained quiet.

“Who even are you”, Sam asked after a while. “Who are you tothink you can judge Tony like this. Whatever did he do to make youthink so badly of him?”

“… Why do you even care, Sam?”, Steve asked back, buthis voice was small and quiet.

It was enough to make Sam lose it.

“BECAUSE HE IS MY HUSBAND!”, he yelled. “And had I everknown what would happen, I wouldn’t have sent him after you! Iwas the one who told himwhere you went! I toldhim to go as a friend because I trusted you, Steve.I trusted you to listen to him. And what did you do?”

Steve was looking up now, finally meeting Sam’s eyes and there wasutter shock visible on his face.

Shock and disbelief and confusion.

It wasn’t enough.

Sam balled his fists and whirled around.

“Don’t ever come near him again. Don’t ever. ask for hissupport again. He will forgive you, I know he will – but I won’t.”

Sam stalked out of the kitchen, leaving them behind in their shockand went to find his Tony.

Tony smiles and thanks the young woman who just handed him the icecream Maggie has asked for. It’s her favourite, strawberry andchocolate and while this is already her second portion, Tony hasnever been good at saying no to his little princess.

When he turns to give Maggie her ice cream, however, his daughter isgone.

The shock hits him like a punch and Tony is panicking before he knowsit. He does a 360 degrees spin, eyes sweeping the crowd for any signof Maggie. He desperately tries to spot her red dress with the whitestripes, her dark hair, anything.

Tears are already welling up in his eyes. This can’t be happening.What if someone kidnapped her? Tony isn’t a nobody, after all; he’sthe owner of a very successful company so she could be a target.

He’s at a total loss of what to do. Call for Maggie? Call the police?

Tony feels himself starting to shake and his fingers are ice-cold.Rhodey. He has to call Rhodey, Rhodey will know what to do, Rhodeycan help him-

“Daddy!”

Tony stops dead. Whirls around. And almost collapses at the sheerrelief he feels when he spots Maggie. She smiles brightly, wavingexcitedly at him. The man carrying her is smiling too and Tony blamesit on his shock-riddled brain that he takes a moment to recognizehim.

It’s Sam Wilson, Maggie’s kindergarten teacher.

Sam carefully sets her down and she immediately bolts forward, almosttripping, racing towards Tony all while laughing and being soexcited. Tony crouches down to catch her and picks her up with ease,pressing his daughter tightly against his chest.

“Don’t ever do that again, Maggie”, he whispers into her curlyhair. Pleading. “Don’t ever run off again like this, I was soscared-”

She wraps her arms around his neck and hugs back with all thestrength a 5-years-old possesses. When Tony finally loosens hisvice-like grip on her, she gives him an excited smile and points atSam.

“But daddy, I found Sam! And I asked him, if he wants to be yourfriend, because you said you like him! He said he wants to be yourfriend!” And she looks so earnest, her dark eyes bright and happy.Tony feels his cheeks heating up in response.

“Honey-”

She talks right over him, all excited. “You always look at him! Inoticed! You can never look away when Sam is around. You must reallylike him, right?”

Tony struggles to keep a neutral expression, cheeks warm with theblush he now undeniably sports. He leans closer to Maggie’s face,briefly presses a kiss against her temple and says: “Honey… whatdid I also tell you about all this?”

Her eyes grow wide, small hands pressed over her mouth as she gasps.

“It was a secret!”

Tony nods. Yeah, it was supposed to be a secret. So maybe heis a little bit in love with Sam, because this guy is just amazing.Kind-hearted and nice, great with kids, always a joke on his lips aswell as a good advice. He’s already helped Tony more times than hecan count.

And Tony really doesn’t want this to be awkward just because he has astupid crush.

He turns to Sam who watches them with a soft smile, hands in hispockets, an apology already on his tongue.

“Thank you for bringing her back to me”, is what Tony saysinstead. Sam shakes his head with a little laugh and the grin hegives Tony makes him fall in love all over again.

“She saw me when I walked by, followed me into the store. Imaginemy surprise when she called me.”

Maggie wraps her arms a little tighter around Tony; like any parent,Tony made sure she knows not to run off or go with a stranger. Heknows that she knows that she is in trouble.

“But I wanted you to talk to daddy!”, she defends herself, facetucked into the safety of Tony’s neck. “Because daddy likes you somuch.”

Tony groans inwardly at the innocent honesty of his daughter. Butthen Sam answers something that makes the world stop for a moment.

“Well, I like your daddy too. A whole lot, actually.”

“You do?!” Tony’s surprised exclaim comes in unison with Maggie’sand they both stop to look at the other. Maggie starts giggling firstand it’s so adorable, Tony joins in. And really, hearing Sam laughmight send a tingle through him.

“Yeah, I do”, Sam assures and steps a little closer. “To befair, I was trying to work up the courage to ask you out. Maybe havea coffee somewhere. Or watch a movie together.”

Tony’s heart skips a happy beat and he’s smiling before he knows it,nodding. “I’d love that.”

Sam looks him directly in the eyes, still wearing that soft,beautiful smile.

“Then it’s a date.”

Riley falls to his death and Sam, despite his wings, is powerless tosafe him.

In the blink of an eye, he loses the most important person in hislife. His best friend.

His anchor.

Where he has loved to fly at first Sam now begins to hate it; startsto hate the fact he’s still alive while Riley will never soar throughthe sky with him ever again.

He starts to resent his wings.

Hates their colours, their strength, their span, everything aboutthem.

——–It doesn’t change, even when he meets the second mostimportant person in his life: Tony Stark.

Tony has an impact on his life in many ways; Sam loves him from themoment they see each other for the first time.

They hit it off from the start. They become friends and at one pointit changes, almost unoticed, into more. Suddenly they go out fordates. They kiss. They hold hands.

Sam hasn’t dared to dream of something like this.

——–

Tony’s own wings are no longer able to support him.

Afghanistan brought a lot of pain for the genius; the ARC reactor,having to watch a friend die, but most importantly, having his wingstaken from him.

Not literally, as they are still here, but metaphorically.

Tony will never fly again with them; they’ve been broken in manyplaces, the delicate bones growing back together crooked and bent.They’re mangled and no longer able to support Tony’s weight, nolonger usable to lift him off the ground.

It’s why Tony built the Iron Man armor, decorating it with the colourof his wings; red and gold.

He reclaims the skies with it, despite his broken wings.

Sam loves him fiercely, loves him so much he has no words for it.

But they never fly together.

Despite the fact that Tony’s built a flying suit or armor and Sam’swings they never once conquer the sky together.

Flying doesn’t feel the same to Sam. Not after he’s lost Riley.

He’s lost the joy for it the second Riley fell. He hates his wingswith a passion, hates that they carried him into safety wile Riley’sdidn’t.

Tony, on the other hand, loves them.

It’s strange for Sam at first, because he doesn’t understand it. Howcan Tony love his wings so much if they’ve never done any good? Buthe does and he tells Sam so every day. Through actual words, throughactions… in every way imaginable.

——–

“I just love their colour”, Tony whispers one morning, while he’scarding his fingers through the downy-soft feathers of Sam’s wings.“Deep red, like mine… and chocolate brown, like your eyes. It’sbeautiful.”

Sam doesn’t reply. He presses his face into Tony’s chest, hiding; hecan’t stand the praise, can’t stand such honest affection for thewings he despises. But Tony either doesn’t notice or he doesn’t care.

He just continues to card his fingers through Sam’s wings, sorts outthe few feathers that are out of order.

Somewhere along the line he even digs out a small bottle of scentedoil and spreads it with loving, careful movements all over Sam’sfeathers. At that point, Sam is already lying boneless on themattress, half asleep while Tony’s hands are all over his body.

He loves it, even though a small part of him whispers that heshouldn’t.

——–

Tony has a bigger impact on his life than Sam has thought at first.It happens gradually; there’s nothing major that is changing at firstbut looking back, Sam has taken big steps thanks to Tony being by hisside.

The first thing is that Tony made him forget his hate for his wings.

He’s showed him that there’s more; that there is beauty in his wingseven when Sam refuses to see it.

He shows him that he doesn’t have to feel guilty over Riley.

And that is probably the biggest achievement.

Suddenly, Sam finds himself looking forward to the moments where Tonywill sit down with a soft brush and a bottle of scented oil to takecare of Sam’s wings. Suddenly he finds himself craving the momentswhere Tony will asks if Sam wants to fly together before he puts onhis armour and takes off into the sky.

It happens gradually but it’s a change Sam notices eventually.

He finds he doesn’t hate it.

He finds Tony helped him forgive himself for Riley’s death, helpedhim find his love for flying again.

He finds that Tony is the best thing to have ever happened in hislife.

So the question to make it all final comes easily.

Sam goes down on one knee, brown eyes looking up at Tony with loveand affection.

“Will you marry me?”, he asks – and he feels confident to doso, because he knows the answer, even before Tony is throwing himselfinto Sam’s arms, whispering “Yes,yes, yes I want to, Sam- God yes” overand over again.