Too Obvious to See // MARVEL // STONY

2.17 let's make stony canon, shall we?

For it was not into my ear you whispered, but into my heart. It was not my lips you kissed, but my soul. - Judy Garland

STEVE ROGERS lay on the blankets of his bed, thinking. Feelings were complicated. People were complicated. Life was complicated. Steve's problem was just the fact that he overthought too much. And that's what he just realized. Sometimes things just happen and were meant to go this way. He had to live with it. Live with his feelings, live with the people and live with life. It wasn't that complicated. He just had to give it a place.

Tony just walked into the same room towards the open window and leaned out of it. Steve just watched him.

'I can smell the silent judgement,' Tony eventually said.

'You know,' Steve began, 'I actually hoped we'd have more time together. Just us two, I mean. To talk.'

Tony turned around and met the blue eyes. 'We'll just make time then.'

Steve chuckled shortly. 'Sure thing,' he answered as he stood up and walked to Tony. Neither of them made an attempt to talk.

'In this... vision the Maximoff showed me,' Tony eventually told him, 'I saw everyone dead. Natasha was dead. Bruce had arrows in his back. Clint sat lifelessly on a rock. Thor lay there without his hammer.'

Oh no.

Tony's eyes were filled with pain while talking. He turned to the floor. 'And you just lay there on the ground without your shield. Your shield was ripped apart and lay a few feet away from you.' Tony now looked directly at Steve. 'I killed you, Steve. I killed all of you.'

Steve shook his head, shocked. 'You wouldn't,' he responded. 'You wouldn't. And do you know why? You always fix your mistakes. Giving up isn't in your nature.'

'How on Earth can you be so calm? What did she show you?' Tony asked curiously.

Steve sighed and looked away. 'An alternate life,' he just answered, but Tony didn't accept the answer. 'Where we won the war. People danced and laughed. Had no worries anymore. Everyone was happy, so I didn't understand why I was there.

I felt a hand on my arm and turned around. The most beautiful woman I've ever met stood there, asking me for a dance. She was the woman I fought for back then. She was the person I last talked with and saw when I went in the ice. I loved her, Tony. She told me the war was over and that we could finally go home.'

Steve looked up, meeting Tony's brown eyes. 'And I just told her she wasn't my home anymore. That I wasn't in love with her anymore.'

'Why?' Tony asked confused. 'I mean, are you over her already?'

Steve smiled softly and looked into Tony's warm eyes. He embraced his feelings. Finally. He knew that this was where he wanted to be. It made him happy and safe and protective and emotional and- everything. Everything at once. Everything washed over him like a sudden tsunami of feelings and god did it feel great.

'What is Ultron?' Steve asked Tony, to be 100% sure.

'An AI,' Tony answered as matter-of-factly.

Steve shook his head. 'What does he represent?'

Tony walked over to the window again and leaned out of it. Steve followed him and just leaned with the side of his body to the wall, looking at the other man.

'He was supposed to represent safety. His mistake is that he wants to protect the world and doesn't care how,' Tony responded as he looked at the happy kids playing outside. He smelled the grass and it calmed him.

'I was wrong, you know,' Steve said. Tony turned to him. 'You didn't try to end a future war, you tried to make up for past mistakes.'

Tony exhaled, feeling some kind of relief. Someone knowing him this well usually scared him to death, but this somehow calmed him. This time it was nice that he was finally understood. Those blue eyes didn't frightened him or make him feel cold, but they brought comfort and peace. Around those eyes he was safe.

'When I saw you all dead, the first person I went over to, was you,' Tony admitted.

Steve smiled. 'That's the reason why Peggy isn't my home anymore.'

And that was when they saw it.

It finally all fell into its place as puzzle pieces in a puzzle. Why Steve always laughed at Tony's jokes and comments, no matter how bad they were. Why Tony would always look at Steve, no matter the amount of people in the room. Why Steve instantly believed Tony when he said Nick was creating a weapon from the Tesseract. Why they'd always defended the other, physically but also in a discussion. The way they provoked each other, but craved for affection of the other. How they always understood the other.

The two of them don't even precisely remember who it was that ended the distance, maybe it was both, but suddenly they felt the other's soft lips on their own. It felt as comforting as heaven but as passionate as hell. The kiss was a little sloppy, but perfect to them. The relief they felt in their hearts made up for it. With reluctance they pulled back and tried to steady their breathing.

'I feel like this is usually the part where couples talk about their feelings, deepest regrets and betrayal to the other,' Steve noticed.

'Hey,' Tony reacted, 'you know what I like better than talking?'

Their lips touched again.

And if things escalated a little from moving lips to unsteady breaths, no one had to know.