#thawedpatriot

@thawedpatriot​ ❤’d.

in any case.   maria isn’t surprised,   not really,   to have somehow found out rogers had ended up here.   her quickest conclusion ?    romanoff must’ve given this location away,   thinking it’s the man’s safest option.   she’s not wrong.   still wished she could’ve at least dropped a text or something.   because pointing a gun at captain america’s face ?   yikes.

maria stashes it away.   kneels.   ‘   —  you’re injured,  cap  ?  ’

oh, a regular day of fighting rhino. again. as he had concocted his plan to defeat aleksei, he’s a millisecond too late in reaction, getting knocked back high, with enough power that he smashes through a window—ow ow ow—into a civilian apartment. it’s not his intention, he’s trying to lead rhino out of the residential brooklyn streets, but he’s having trouble with controlling him. “it really isn’t fair when a rhino outsizes a spider,” peter mutters to himself in disdain (as if his humour would make the wounds hurt less), rubbing at the back of his head. he pushes himself up, and glances to the side. he notices the glint of a rather iconic shield, and thinks——— “oh no.” not something he intentionally wants to say aloud, but it’s too late. jumping onto his feet, he sees steve. steve rogers.

wow, is his luck shot. awkwardly, he waves and points toward the mess. “oh. hi. um. sir. sorry about the window. i can replace it. no, i can’t, that’s a lie, but i’ll be right back!” he shoots his web at the window frame and launches himself outside, catching up with rhino before he goes on a rampage that’ll be worse than him just smashing through captain america’s home.

once aleksei is knocked out, he webs him up, a lot, and captain watanabe handle the rest. “bye bye, rhino, back to the raft y’go. hope you find religion there! ...or something.” then he’s retracing his steps back toward the apartment. the entire way, he wonders how the hell he’s gonna make it up to the captain, because he doesn’t have the resources to just make a new window for him. can’t afford it, either. maybe he’ll offer to clean up, though peter knows that’s barely enough.

steve.  

the only who found a way to warm him when all he felt was the cold.  the only one who knew what to say when he felt like he’d been a burden to the rest of the team and the world.  the one who had knelt down on one knee and proposed to him even though tony had intentions to ask the next day (or so he told himself the next day, anyway).  the one whose simple presence was enough to calm the nerves he’d never admit to. the one whose smile lifted his spirits and gave him hope.

every day he thought about it.  about his so-called ‘death.’  tony never thought it could be true… that he’d really just disappeared.  no trace left behind.  but with dead ends after dead ends, with the fall of stark industries, shield, and the avengers… it had been difficult to maintain any semblance of hope.  instead, it’d been replaced with grief and dread.

so when the final battles all settle, with MODOK defeated and AIM temporarily under control, tony finally finds a moment to rest.  when he wakes, with a solid body pressed up behind him, he can’t believe it.  steve really is alive.  he shouldn’t be——  by all means, he should be dead——  not after what he’d done, yet…

“ please don’t let this be a dream, please don’t let this be a dream, please don’t let this be a dream, “  he repeats, eyes still squeezed shut as he focuses on the warmth behind him.  be real.  please be real.  please let it be you, steve.

❝ I'MMM NOT THAT   kind of doctor, figuratively speaking. And you probably don't want me in your head the literal way. ❞  

𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 @thawedpatriot​