Everything was spinning. His head felt dizzy and his eyes blurry. His throat was so dry while his stomach growled in hunger. A second ago, he thought he was gonna die. It felt like the end had been near as the heartbeat, which he could hear in his head, beat calmly and sinfully. Almost like it tried to calm him down.
But here he was, alive. He was standing (not so straight but he was up on his feet) next to the person he had least believed was going to save him. It was almost too real to be true. At first, Tony had felt happy. He was so happy to finally get to see the person he was so in love with. But when every memory about what had happened between them came back, he didn't feel the same happiness anymore.
Tony saw how Steve's blue eyes widened in worry as he accidentally stumbled against the wall as he attempted to take a few steps.
"I can do it myself, thank you." Tony snapped when Steve tried to grab his arm as support.
The blond bit his inner cheek before stepping back. "Okay..sorry." The raven-haired ignored him before he pushed himself off the wall and with a shaky breath got out of the cell. Steve could only watch as he saw his Tony run over to the nearest sink in the room and desperately turned the water on.
"What did they do to you?" The blond asked with a low voice, looking at the younger teen as he almost drowned himself with the cold liquid.
Tony took a small break from his drinking and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "Nothing." He responded before returning to the water again.
"What do you mean nothing?"
"I mean nothing. They did nothing."
Steve inhaled slowly. "So all the bruises-?"
Tony rolled his eyes, ignoring the blonds constant staring into his back. "Why do you care? It doesn't matter."
Steve closed his eyes. He recognized the snapping and the comebacks very well, but he hadn't heard them in weeks. He immediately connected Tony's acts with their first meeting at the toilets. And that time where Steve caught him in the bathroom while he was having a breakdown.
Tony scoffed at Steve's silence before moving over to the desk. He started digging in the different drawers, trying to find something.
"What are you doing?" Steve asked.
"How did you get in here?" Tony ignored Steve's question.
The blond sighed frustrated. "Bruce and I came from the basement. Now can you stop being difficult and come with me?"
"Wait, where's Bruce now?" Tony asked as his head snapped up as he was sitting at the desk chair. His brown eyes finally meeting Steve's again.
Steve took a deep breath, unsure about what was going to happen if he answered that question. He couldn't help but frown when he looked into Tony's almost black eyes. He was pale and tired, but the fire in his eyes was still there. The same fire Steve saw at the beginning of the school year.
"It was his idea." Steve said.
"Where is he?"
"I don't know."
"Yes, you do."
Steve sighed. "I'm not sure where he is, but I have a slight feeling that he's been caught."
Tony looked at him, his mouth in a thin line as he didn't want to believe that he just had heard. "You kidding." The raven-haired almost jumped to his feet, making Steve bite his teeth together.
"Tony, listen." Steve tried to explain as calmly as possible. But Tony interrupted him.
"No, you listen. You're telling me that you dragged the people I care most about with you, only to let Bruce get captured?" Tony asked, his voice very dark as he was on the brink of shouting. But he knew that yelling was not a good idea when there can be guards just outside the door.
"No, they wanted to come with me. I never force them to come with me but they did. Even Bucky and Sam came." Steve said, his voice now getting the same tone as Tony's.
"Sure, sounds absolutely believable." The genius said sarcastically.
"It's the truth. They wanted to come with me because I've been worried about you for days." The blond said, his voice softer when the last words left his mouth.
Tony snorted. "M-hm..sure." He said before turning to the desk again, after a few seconds of searching, he finally found the right drawer. His eyes widening in surprise when he saw what Ryan had placed in there for him.
"It's the truth. When Bucky told me what happened to you I thought you- wait what's that?" Steve stopped himself in a sentence when he noticed how Tony was looking at something in the drawers.
The raven-haired looked at him quickly before holding the thing so the other guy could see it. Steve raised an eyebrow at him as Tony's finger rested dangerously close to the trigger of the weapon.
"Do you even know how to use it?" Steve asked and looked at the gun hesitantly
Tony shrugged. "Better than you." He said before turning towards the door and walked out, totally unaffected by Steve's glare and with the gun in a tight grip.
"Tony wait," Steve called after him with a whisper. "Can you slow down? You gonna get yourself killed."
"Why do you care?" Tony asked over his shoulder as they walked down the corridor. Making Steve nervous as they walked right the opposite way from where the basement was.
"Because I- I," Steve stuttered. "I just do."
"Oh really, how's Peggy?"
"Tony, stop." Steve grabbed Tony's arm tightly, spinning him around so they were standing face to face in the corridor. "Peggy means nothing to me, and you know that." He said with a strict voice.
Tony pulled himself away from Steve's grip, but he didn't turn around. "It didn't seem like that when you had your tongue down her throat."
"I didn't have my- she kissed me! I didn't know what to do!"
Tony snorted. "Oh I don't know, maybe- push her away next time!"
"I did."
"This is ridiculous." Tony groaned, now turning around and attempted to walk away from the older guy. But Steve was faster.
With a quick move, he grabbed the hand Tony was holding the gun in and spun him around, only to press him against the hard wall rather gently, but hard enough to make the other one flinch. They stared at each other. Silence filling the air as Steve tried to understand what he just had done while Tony seemed both shocked and slightly furious.
"Let. Me. Go." He said, his eyes burning into Steve's cold one.
"Not until you listen to me."
"You better hurry cause we don't have time for any of this."
Steve watched him quietly, studying his face as he gathered some courage. His thoughts were spinning as he tried to come up with something to say. It was like his mind was a huge bowl of words and sentences that circles around one another, making it impossible to catch them.
"I- I didn't pull away immediately."
"Fantastic, good to know. Imma write that down." Tony said in sarcasm.
"I didn't pull away immediately because I didn't know what I was feeling. Or actually, I did, I felt nothing. That's why I didn't pull away I-I was in shock." Steve said, stuttering a little over the words. But they did come out, and that's what mattered. "I thought I was going to feel something if she, you know, made a move. But I didn't, and I got confused. And when she kissed me, I immediately thought of you."
Tony looked at him with slightly concerned but confused eyes. "Where the fuck are you going with this?"
"Just hear me out," Steve said. "When she kissed me I realized that I didn't like it, and I never have. But when I kissed you at the beach that one day, I felt-"
Tony raised his eyebrow, his eyes softening when he saw Steve's struggle. "You felt?" He asked.
"I-I don't know. It-it was like...like-" Steve suddenly realized what word would describe that feeling. "Fireworks."
Tony looked at him with wrinkled eyebrows. "You sure you weren't just turned on?"
Steve laughed quietly. "Yes, I am pretty sure it was something else."
"Yeah like, what? Panic?"
"No."
"Gayness?"
"Is that even a feeling?"
"I'm not even sure it's a word."
Steve looked at him with bored eyes. "You seriously have no idea what I'm trying to tell you."
Tony snorted. "The only thing I know is that my gun is dangerously close to your head."
Steve looked at Tony's hand and rolled his eyes when he saw his the gun was pointing towards his head. He grabbed Tony's hand and forced it towards the wall with a little laugh. "I'm in love with you."
Tony froze. His head snapping up and his eyes wide as he looked at the other teen.
"That's what I'm trying to say." Steve said gently, not meeting Tony's eyes. "I was never in love with Peggy. I didn't even like her that way. That's why it felt so weird kissing her."
Tony could only stare. His heart was beating faster when Steve lifted his head and met his eyes, probably waiting for an answer.
"You-you're what?" Tony stuttered. His body was incredibly stiff as he tried to understand what just had happened.
Steve tilted his head a little, not knowing where this confidence came from. "I-I'm in love with you." His blue eyes hopeful and calm. Finally getting the words out and accepting his feelings for real.
"No." Tony said, making a huge ball appear in Steve's belly.
"What do you mean no?"
"I mean no, Steve look at me!" Tony exclaimed, looking away from the other teen's eyes. "I'm trash, my family is trash. Heck, these guy wants to kill me and-and just. No. You can't love me."
"But I do."
"But you shouldn't."
"I don't care. Tony look-" Steve snapped and covered Tony's mouth with his hand. "I love you. I know I do and I finally figured myself out. And you don't need to say it back, just be honest with me and answer so I can figure out what to do next."
Tony looked at him and Steve swore he could see small tears appear in the corner of Tony's eyes. The blond slowly removed his hand, breathing in through his nose as he tried to gather himself again. "Okay, I get it."
"No, Steve no I-" Tony quickly said when he saw how Steve started to move. He pulled him back by the collar of his shirt. "I-I love you too."
Steve finally relaxed, a small blush appearing on his cheeks as a smile was spreading over his lips. He slowly leaned in, feeling how a warm and happy feeling once again grew in the pit of his stomach when he saw how Tony was meeting him. Their lips colliding in a soft and warm kiss.
It wasn't rough, or fast. It was slow and deep, telling each other everything that wasn't said yet. They both forgot their surroundings for a second, just trying to imagine themselves anywhere else than this place. This horrible, disgusting place.
As their lips separated Steve could swear he heard a small, almost unhearable whine escape Tony's throat before they rested their foreheads together.
"We should get out of here." Steve said.
"Not without Bruce." Tony responded.
The blond opened his eyelids and looked into Tony's chocolate orbs. "Clint, Rhodes, and Sam are on the floor above us, we can get them out of the building first and looking for Bruce at the same time.
Tony bit his lip lightly. He turned his head and took a look towards the corridor, not knowing what they would find if they kept walking. But Bruce is in danger, and Steve's plan was the best they got a the moment.
"Okay." He said, and Steve nodded slowly. They separated from the wall, gathering their breath for a moment before the raven-haired grabbed his weapon tighter. "You're still an idiot though."
"I know."
****
"Fuck there are guards all over the place." Sam cursed after he dived back to where he, Rhodes, and Clint we're hiding.
"What did you expect?" Rhodey responded dryly, his back resting against the box as he waited for the guards to disappear and leave them alone.
Clint sighed a little, his eyes locked at the main door at the end of the huge room that they were sitting in. It was rather dark and their eyes had a hard time adjusting to everything, but the light from the window helped them a lot.
James looked at Clint with a small frown, noticing how his friend lightly nibbled on his lip as he started st the door. He placed his hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry, Pietro is probably okay."
Clint snorted. "Of course he is. I'm not even worried." None of his friends believed him as they exchanged a knowing look with each other.
"Okay, all clear." Sam finally said as the guard right behind them moved. The three of them quickly sneaked into the nearest empty corridor.
"I feel like James Bond." Clint chuckled as he pressed his back against the wall.
"You don't have the looks." Sam said with a snort.
"Shh- someone's coming!" Rhodes suddenly said, panic in his voice as his two friends froze in place. There was nowhere to go except for further into the corridor and they all took off in that direction. Only to realize that the people behind them were also running.
"Shit," Clint cursed irritated. Running faster when they heard how the steps got closer. But suddenly, they stopped, and the lack of sound made the three teens also stop.
"Did they just give up?" Sam asked.
"I think so." Rhodes answered, taking a relieved breath and let the silence fill the air. But when they finally calmed down, they heard a weird metallic sound. A very low sound, almost like someone was hitting the roof above them.
"What the-" Sam didn't have time to end his sentence when the sound stopped and the vent above them drooped down, hitting Sam hard in the head. He bit back a scream as he held the hurt area with his hand, looking up at the roof with a glare.
"Oh, hi guys."
"Bucky?!" Sam exclaimed in a whisper, making Clint and Rhodes smile up at the brunette in the vent.
"What the fuck are you doing in the vent?" Clint asked with a raised eyebrow.
"What do you think? Camping?" The teen asked with a raised eyebrow before looking to his side. "Hey Nat, come here."
"I'm not gonna ask." Rhodes sighed and put his head in his hand.
"C'mon this place is packed with guards." Bucky hissed through his teeth before jumping into the corridor gracefully. "Plus, it was Nat's idea."
"Great, we're all reunited in a corridor, looking like idiots and will probably get caught." Sam grunted, holding his head while looking at his childhood friend with a grumpy look.
"Aww...did little Sammy hit his head?" Bucky asked as Natasha jumped down beside him, preventing the other guy from answering.
"We need to get out of here." She said. "There are too many people with too many weapons."
"Any track of Stark?" Sam asked the two of them.
Bucky shook his head. "No, we searched through the fourth and third floor. The other ones were impossible to get to as the building is so old and unstable."
"There's nothing on the first or second either, plus we couldn't search through it all because these people are everywhere." Rhodey said.
"Then why the fuck are we standing in the middle of the corridor and discussing this?" Sam asked while throwing his hands to the side.
"He's right, we need a new plan." Natasha said quickly. "We have to get out of here and think this through."
"What about Steve and Bruce?" Clint asked.
"If Tony's not on these floors, he has to be in the basement. Or we hope he's there. But right now, we need to get back to Mr. Stark." Bucky said before he started walking in the direction from where the rest of them had come from. Knowing that the closest entrance was the one Sam, Rhodes, and Clint had come from.
"What about Pietro and Wanda?" Clint asked instead, following the rest of the group with fast steps.
"They're okay, we saw them through the window and they returned to the cars." Natasha responded with a gentle smile, knowing how worried Clint was even though he didn't show it.
They all kept walking in silence, not wanting anyone to know that they were there as they made their way back to the main entrance. As they finally reached the boxes where the three guys had been hiding a couple of minutes ago, they heard how someone approached the room.
"Shit, get down." Bucky hissed and everyone did as they were told. Natasha was the only one who dared to lift her head a little, wanting to get a look at what they were hiding from. She narrowed her eyes as she tried to make sense of the two people, no, three people on the other side of the room. It was two guards, one was the bigger size while the other was rather small. They were holding or rather dragging something someone them. They were holding him or her tightly between them while cursing to themselves. And Natasha could swear that they were talking to the person between them.
Then it hit her who it was.
"They got Bruce." She whispered.
"They what now?!" Rhodey whispered back, peeking over the box to get a look. "Holy shit,"
"What do we do now?" Clint asked as the guards disappeared into another corridor. "Steve is either alone or with Tony, and we can't just go over there and take our nerd back." He exclaimed.
"Why not?" Natasha asked.
Rhodey rolled his eyes. "For fuck sake wake up Nat. We're kids! We don't have superpowers and we have no idea what we're doing! We have to get out of here and get back to reality before we do anything stupid!" He whisper-yelled, making Sam release a deep and annoyed sigh.
Natasha looked at Bucky, almost like she waited for his response. The brunette met her eyes before he looked back in the direction where Bruce had disappeared. After a few seconds of thinking, he sighed.
"Rhodes is right. We need to get out of here."
***
Soooo the last part was kind of shitty but I'm panicking because I forgot that this chapter was supposed to be published today.
Anyhow, hope you liked it and I'll hopefully update again on Wednesday. See ya!