Say it Back - [ironstrange]

22: Up all night

May 25th

"OW!"

"How the hell did you get into this?!"

"Lube! Lots— OW— of it!"

"Keep quiet, you're gonna wake your parents!"

"You're the one pulling on me!" "Ugh, it's so much tighter than I thought it would be."

"I'll get some scissors," breathed Stephen, clearly tired of trying to get the under-suit off of Tony. Now when he had been sweating from the strain it was even harder to get rid of.

"Nononono," Tony protested. "It took really long to make this."

"Tony... you made this in four hours."

"And I'd rather not do it again."

Stephen didn't listen and went downstairs to get scissors while Tony pouted like an angry child on his bed, the cloak put a supportive... hand... on his shoulder.

"That was kind of creepy but okay," Tony admitted with a sigh while putting his head in his hands. He had to do the same thing Stephen had done: he had to lie. He got the idea from robotics class where they talked about actual robots like Terminator, and then Tony got a lightbulb thinking he could build his own Terminator suit. Like a Knight's armor!

Okay, yeah, Terminator is more of a metal skeleton than an armored robot but that was one inspiration for his project. What did it have to do with Stephen, though? Assistance — Tony wanted to help.

"I don't know how good kitchen scissors will be compared to fabric scissors but here goes," said Stephen the moment he stepped inside the room again.

Tony stood up with an exasperated sigh again and tilted his head up so Stephen could begin the cutting down his torso. It took some elbow grease but eventually Stephen was able to cut the fabric.

Under the shell that was the under-suit Tony was gleaming like a douchebag from Love Island, it looked like he was in a movie where the sexualization of men were seen as rubbing something shiny on their bodies. Kind of weird.

"That looks disgusting." Stephen pretended to gag, it looked to him a lot less appealing since he imagined he'd been eaten by a dragon and then spat out like in a cartoon.

"You don't think it's sexy at all?" Tony joked and started frolicking around.

"No, no, no. Get in the shower." Stephen chuckled with his friend before he closed the door after him.

Thinking of school Stephen realized that soon all the classes would be over soon and summer would show it's beautiful face. Summers were always the best time of year, especially if you had a Stark at hand. Tony took Stephen to many places as they grew up, and there was never a dull moment. Except when Ancient One said Stephen had to study and stay inside for a few days, but it was never more than a week between their meetings and shenanigans.

His favorite time was when they went to Jersey, to Tony's country home, fairly modest for belonging to a millionaire, and they'd hang out there and while Howard and Maria slept inside the boys slept in a tent or even under the sky on clear, warm nights.

And then they built a treehouse, which was rickety but with the help of Howard they could build one where they could spend their days and nights. Stephen hadn't seen Tony and Howard being so close and so much like father and son before, and he hasn't done so since either.