The Seventh Stone (Stony Marvel Story)

(Chapter 10)

He wouldn't stop pacing.

Through all of the time, here his thoughts ran miles a minute. His clamorous footsteps bounced off the walls of his room, moving the entire floor.

He wouldn't stop shaking.

Every time he came down to eat with us or check up on quantum research, his hands would tremble and his eyes would water. It was as if the sight of fresh light was too much for him to handle.

I wouldn't stop worrying.

I did not know what to say to Steve, or do anything that could comfort him. I simply let him make all the noise he pleased. I gave him punching bags and boxer gloves, large stacks of sand and built up dummies, but nothing would stop the echoing feet of a lost man throughout the building.

The silence at night was what strangled us both.

Scott and I were working on quantum portal mechanics one afternoon a week after I picked up Steve. We examined the issue given off from the machine while I was out in 2018. "A fume blew out," Scott nodded to sawdust and grime on the floor, "and deleted a portal of space while you were out. As a result, the machine is unreliable and random. We have no control."

"Well that's just wonderful," I grumbled, picking up a wire and shaking it violently. "Unfortunately, it... oh yes Tony that is doing SO MUCH TO HELP," Scott replied, annoyed. I grinned and continued to whisk around the useless thing until the wire split in two.

"Did a two year old design this?" I waved around the broken wire, continuing, "because I'm sure Grandpa Steve, who has no earthly idea even what Internet is could think of a much better solution than whatever this is." Scott scoffed, "You put me under a very small time slot, Tony. We don't have enough money to make the machine any better."

"No mor- what are you talking about? I'm literally a billionaire."

"Yeah, well, hate to break it to you Grandpa Tony, but we used all of the money already to make what we have. Plus, the part that broke off costs thousands and is located in Russia."

"That's impossible. I had such a large amount that was barely touched over the five years after the snap." I was getting aggravated now. It felt like Scott was contradicting everything I was saying.

"We had to use all of it," He simply replied. I stared at him, long and hard. "I had lot of money, Scott, I was a freakin billionaire. You seriously aren't telling me..."

"Yes. I'm telling you that 'this'  cost a lot of money. Did you listen? No. Did you BOTHER to listen? No." 

"I-It..." I continued to stare at the machine in awe, dumbfounded in disbelief. "You spent... 2 BILLION DOLLARS ON THIS CRAP MACHINE?"

"We thought you wouldn't mi-"

"I CANT FUCKING BELIEVE THIS SHIT." The pacing upstairs matched the rapid beating of my hard. I picked up my chair, throwing it angrily across the room. "YOU DIDNT FUCKING BOTHER TELLING ME HOW MUCH THIS ALL WAS, THIS LITERAL CRAP MACHINE USED ALL MY DAMN MONEY. RUSSIA, HUH? NICE TO LEAVE THAT FUCKING PART OUT." I was enraged now, kicking things over and punching and the restless descending hole wouldn't't go away. It felt like spitfire in my chest, and the coldness started to creep up my throat again. Scott watched me, his mouth shaped in a small o.

I took in a deep breath, flexing my wrist before I knocked over the machine with a full blown drop kick to the center of hell. 

"Are you telling me we can't use the machine?" 

Scott sighed, hesitating before answering, "Well.. Yes. But-"

I didn't bother listening to the rest. I got up and slammed the door behind me. Hard. 

-------------------------------------------------------

"I'm sorry that I ever left, okay?" 

I spun my chair around, catching eyes with Steve, who was propped up against my doorframe. His eyes were puffy red, his hands in fists as if he spent hours breaking things.

"I said already forgave you." I gestured him toward a chair, and he stepped with hesitation. "I ju-," He sat down, hard, stopping for just a second. He ran his hands anxiously through his hair, quiet until he continued, "I can't be in here anymore. It feels like the past," he pointed around to the surrounding walls, "is encasing me and closing in on me. It feels like I'm dying."

A nervous pit dipped into my stomach. "Define what you mean by dying, Cap."

"Did I die?"

"What are you talking ab-"

"You heard the damn question, Tony," Steve growled. "Was I dead before you came back for me?"

It felt like biting the bullet. A cold river of lava swept through me, and I bit my lip at the contractions in my stomach. 

I could not relieve the moments again.

So, I remained silent.

This seemed to get Steve angrier. "So what, you couldn't figure anything out by yourself? You needed to drag me into this mess? You, out of ALL people Tony, Mr. Iron Man, who is so keen on doing things his way..." He got up from his chair, each hiss a step closer to mine. 

"That you didn't even bother trying to think for anyone else," He eventually spat, locking those cold harsh eyes I had become too familiar with. I shrunk in my shoulders, too lost to even consider fighting back. 

"Now," Steve went to go sit back down in his chair, "for the last time, did I die?" 

"Well, you-"

"It is YES, or it is NO!" He yelled, his voice booming off of the walls. 

"WE HAD A FUCKING FUNERAL FOR YOU ROGERS!" I screamed, instantly silencing him. "I WAS NEVER, EVER THE SAME PERSON AFTER THAT NIGHT. I COULDN'T FORGIVE MYSELF FOR WHERE WE LEFT OFF. I CRIED EVERY SINGLE FUCKING DAY BECAUSE OF YOU. I BECAME SO DEPRESSED AND SO LONELY THAT I LOST MY DAMN MARRIGE BECAUSE OF YOU."

Steve turned pale white. No one had known Pepper and I had split up. 

"It was," I drew in a deep breath, "the very worst day of my life when I knew you were gone. When you died on that battlefield, and when you got stabbed, and when you disappeared right in my arms. You don't know what that felt like. You'll never  know what that felt like.

"You know how long I have blamed your death on myself? That day? That battlefield? That tree, that damn fight over.." Steve held up a hand. It looked as if he were going to burst into tears again.

"I didn't think you cared even the slightest for me, Stark," Steve said barely above a whisper, his bottom lip quivering. 

"Well, that's a pretty stupid statement, considering I almost lost my ass in the Renaissance trying to bring you back." Steve laughed, wiping a fallen tear from his eye. He put a hand on my knee and said, "You're a good man, Tony. Loyal, and sometimes annoying, but good." 

We locked that moment once again, and the chemistry danced between our touch. 

It was so close, and we were pulled into the stars, the moment, the eternity. 

"TONY!" Nat popped her head from my door, which I had forgotten to close. Steve and I instantly snapped away, both flushing different shades of red. "Pepper is here with Morgan," She said, completely dismissing anything she may have seen, "she said it's urgent."