The soldier and the metal man

Johnny

A/N: This was wayyyyyy too fun to write.

Ch. 16

As Tony had predicted, Steve did not take it well.

"This... this is what I really look like?! It's so much worse than I thought!"

Tony tried to pull the magazine away from Steve, but the soldier held on to it tightly.

"It's just a bad angle," Tony explained. "You don't normally look like that."

The expression on Steve's face turned from one of sadness to anger. "Stop lying to me, Tony!" he rested a hand on his stomach. It stuck out like he had swallowed a beach ball. "I'm not leaving the tower again until after the kid's born."

"Come on, Steve, aren't you taking things a bit far?"

Steve opened the magazine to the article about him. "Captain America's superhero days are clearly behind him. By the looks of it, we doubt that he could even do a pushup, nevermind fight evil."

"They're just hateful scumbags. They get paid to say nasty shit about people."

"Steve Roger's passion for saving lives looks to have turned into a passion for McDonalds."

"Okay, I get it. Don't let them get to you. If you do then they've won," Tony said, wrapping an arm around his boyfriend.

Steve shoved him off. "Don't touch me. I know you don't want to."

Tony let out an exasperated sigh. "Stop it."

"I can't blame you, either. I can't imagine that anyone would want to," Steve continued.

"This is seriously getting old. You know I love you, Steve."

"How can you say that?" Steve stood up and quickly took his shirt off. "You love me? Do you love my stomach? Or my arms? They're not as nice as they used to be. Or what about my stretch marks?" He turned so that Tony could see what he was talking about.

Tony kept a straight face. "I honestly never noticed those until you pointed them out. Your flaws don't matter, though. I love you. All of you. And in four months you'll be back to normal. I'm sure once the baby's born you'll bounce right back into shape."

Steve glared at him, and Tony realized that perhaps he had worded that incorrectly.

"Not, uh, bounce like a ball... ugh, you know what I mean."

"Just go, Tony," Steve said, slipping his shirt back on.

"But I don't want to-"

"Well I want to be alone. Isn't there some party tonight you can go to?"

"It's Ben's birthday. We were going to celebrate."

"Great. Go do that."

Tony stood up, ready to leave. "Well, if you want to be miserable, then far be it from me to stop you. See you later, Steve."

00

Ben's party was held at The Box, a swanky bar/theater known for it's late night burlesque shows. Reed had reserved some seats for the guests, but the general public was there as well.

Tony had to admit that he enjoyed the atmosphere. He also felt amazing. Knowing how classy the place was, Tony had dressed up for the event. He'd showered, shaved and thrown on his best tux. It seemed like it had been months since he'd last dressed up for a good night out. The last time that he could recall doing it was the night that he had taken Steve to dinner and the MoMa.

Being as famous as he was, Tony got a good deal of attention from the ladies. Three twenty-somethings had been following him around for the past hour, flirting with him as best they could. It was flattering, yes, but Tony wasn't interested. Eventually he had ended up at the bar, hanging out with Johnny Storm.