Ironstrange one shots

You look sad

Tony knows. He knows that things would never been the same.

After Thanos, after Ultron, after the accords, after Siberia. Nothing would be able to go back to the way it was.

He thought he'd never be able to get over losing Steve. Never be able to get the image of him smiling at Tony with such fondness out of his head.

Whenever he's around Steve it hurts. There's a ache in his chest.

"You look sad." Stephen says quietly.

Tony pauses what he's doing and looks at the sorcerer.

"What?"

"You look sad when you're with him." Tony's throat feels tight and he turns away.

He knows, and it hurts so much.

—————

Maybe it started when Stephen made his presence common in the compound. Maybe it started when "Strange" shifted to "Stephen".

But the ache starts to lessen.

—————

People have mostly made their peace. Sam expresses his guilt about the fight, about Rhodey. Natasha expresses that she made a bad call when she let Rogers go, but as always, she kept herself closed off and it's not easy to tell where she stands.

Clint it quiet, he's grateful he got off with house arrest and is still with his family, but a part of him is still gone from the snap. The Clint that he once knew will never fully be there again.

Scott is still joyful, though there's times Tony catches him, his expression blank as he remembers being trapped in the quantum realm.

Tony's grown quite fond of Bucky, though preferring to call him James. James made his peace, expressing extreme amounts of guilt over so many things. The man has openly cried in front of Tony twice. Once when he explained the pain he experienced when HYDRA had him make his kills, and another when Tony went through the trigger words and nothing happened. He was free and he couldn't have been more grateful for Tony's help.

Wanda admittedly has gotten a lot better since she began training at Kamar-Taj. Tony is forever grateful for that, especially when the young girl came to her and apologized for the pain she caused him. He doesn't hate her.

Rogers.

Rogers has tried to explain his guilt, explaining that he should've told Tony about his parents and that he made a bad call.

Tony isn't so angry anymore.

Angry makes him tired.

He tries to stay calm, sending Steve away with a tight smile. Tony wants him to see, wants him to understand. Understand that it's not just Siberia.

—————

He's at a team party, Rhodey is by his side as he talks with Steve, Natasha, and Scott. He's using his paparazzi smile.

He's good at that. He's good at faking a smile when he needs to.

Stephen walks up to their group, looking to Tony.

"Can I talk to you for a moment?" He asks. Tony's excuses them both from the conversation, he doesn't miss the lingering eyes and he walks away with Stephen.

"Something wrong?" Tony asks. Stephen shakes his head.

"I hate seeing you with him."

Tony tilts his head. "Why?" He asks. He knows why.