together ⌁ stony oneshots [complete]

𝘗𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘋𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘓𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘔𝘦 [003]

Steve shakes in his sleep; violent, convulsive tremors that rock his small frame despite the two thick blankets covering him. As Tony climbs into the hospital bed,careful to avoid the tubes and wires attached to his frail lover, he is taken aback by the unsettling amount of space left on the mattress despite the bodies of two grown men.

Well, one fully grown man.

Tony's arms seem unnaturally large as they easily wrap around the much smaller man's miniscule waist. He can feel his ribs through the thin hospital gown; feel the prick of his pointy shoulder blades against his chest. This man doesn't feel like Steve, nor does he remotely resemble him from the back except for the familiar cut of blonde hair on his head. His feet are miles away from reaching the foot of the bed. In the dark of the night with Steve's face turned away from him, it's easy to feel as though he is holding a stranger.

"You should be at home...in bed", the man murmurers between a shuttered breath. He sounds like Steve, and he smells like Steve, and in the light of day all Tony has to do is take one look into those eyes to know that it is his Steve.

"You know me better than that", Tony responds. "Jesus, Steve! You're freezing". Steve always felt like his own space heater, and to feel him so cold was alarming.

"You're so warm..." Steve says blissfully. The tremors finally settle, and his body begins to relax. After a long time period of silence Tony is sure that Steve has finally drifted off to sleep. He finds himself unable to do the same, even though his body and mind have reached a level that has long ago surpassed exhaustion.

He should be in the lab,continuing to look for a cure. He couldn't just give up on Steve—but he had exhausted most of his resources and had still come up empty. He could feel the pressure of a migraine behind his eyes and it felt like his brain was finally getting ready to explode.

If the most pressing issue at hand was that Steve would permanently be stuck in his small form, then Tony could have worked with it. He loves Steve more than anything in the world, and despite his lover's insecurity about his current state, they could make it work. If that had been the only issue, Tony wouldn't be driving himself insane racking his brain for a solution to a problem deemed unsolvable. The genius had finally met his match. but wouldn't allow himself to accept it.

Steve Rogers was dying.

For a body use to such incredible feats, being reverted back to his pre-serum state had put an enormous strain on his body. His cells had started to age, causing rapid health deterioration. Steve's health was getting worse with each passing day. In theory, the two solutions seemed simple enough: find a way to stop cell mortality, or successfully replicate the Super Soldier Serum.

The brightest minds in the world were working continuously around the clock to try to find a solution that would Captain America, but they too were stumped. The Serum itself, though had succeeded in significantly slowing the process of cell mortality—keeping Captain America young and gorgeous through out the years with little to no signs of aging—no one in over seventy years had been able to successfully replicate the Super Soldier Serum. No one, except for Hydra. And Tony would have taken any measures, gone at any length, broken every moral boundary to save the love of his life, but The Red Skull was dead, and all the files documenting the experimentation James Barnes had undergone had long been destroyed.

The clock was ticking, and Stark had run out of tricks.

After about a couple of hours of restless sleep, Tony rose just as dawn had begun to break. He took a moment to watch the rise and fall of his small lover's chest before slipping into the hallaway.

There were these noises in his head; thoughts pounding around the darkest parts of his mind, filling his head with dizziness and causing his vision to blur. An uproarious noise much like the violent clack of thunder; simultaneously expressing everything without saying anything at all.