( As Tony lifts the gauntlet, veins of pure, bright energy searing through his nanite armor, an inevitable outcome flashes before Steve eyes: once again, he is frozen, powerless, and entirely responsible for what he knows will happen next. In the back of his mind, he can hear Sam telling him about Riley— It's like I was up there just to watch— and the rapidly fading echo of Bucky's screams when he fell. When Steve let him slip.
But this time, Tony is miraculously within reach. Steve jumps into action without a second thought, closing the gap between them in time to wrap his hand around Iron Man's wrist, redirecting and absorbing the endothermic force of the infinity gems.
And that, he expects, is it.
Which is fine. In fact, it's good. It's right. When he first met Tony, Steve accused him of not being brave enough to lay down on the wire. Steve throwing himself on the wire to spare Tony— that's a fitting end. He can make peace with that.
He remembers the feeling, like lava in his veins, pure energy ripping through every molecule of his being. The romanticism of it all comes as a strange, unexpected comfort. His love life was a miserable string of missed opportunities and eventual tragedies. Self-immolating at Tony Stark's feet is a much more explosive gesture than Steve ever would have allowed himself, but since this is the end of him anyway, he's allowed to be dramatic without the guilt, just this once.
Despite his certainty that this is the end, it doesn't take Steve long to catch up when he comes to in a hospital bed. He was intimately familiar with the experience since long before the serum. Not that it's comforting— if he survived the blast, he must be recovering, and the serum can handle that without him being hooked up to several different machines and confined to a stark, empty room.
No, not empty. Not completely. He forces his eyes open, squinting against the harsh overhead lighting to see Tony hovering between the threshold, speaking quietly into his phone.
Steve intends to ask any one of the many questions running through his head: what happened to Thanos and his army? Why isn't Tony in his own hospital bed? How is he alive? But his efforts to form words devolve into a coughing fit as Steve realizes for the first time how dry his throat feels.
Well. That's one way to alert Tony that he's awake. )
no subject
But this time, Tony is miraculously within reach. Steve jumps into action without a second thought, closing the gap between them in time to wrap his hand around Iron Man's wrist, redirecting and absorbing the endothermic force of the infinity gems.
And that, he expects, is it.
Which is fine. In fact, it's good. It's right. When he first met Tony, Steve accused him of not being brave enough to lay down on the wire. Steve throwing himself on the wire to spare Tony— that's a fitting end. He can make peace with that.
He remembers the feeling, like lava in his veins, pure energy ripping through every molecule of his being. The romanticism of it all comes as a strange, unexpected comfort. His love life was a miserable string of missed opportunities and eventual tragedies. Self-immolating at Tony Stark's feet is a much more explosive gesture than Steve ever would have allowed himself, but since this is the end of him anyway, he's allowed to be dramatic without the guilt, just this once.
Despite his certainty that this is the end, it doesn't take Steve long to catch up when he comes to in a hospital bed. He was intimately familiar with the experience since long before the serum. Not that it's comforting— if he survived the blast, he must be recovering, and the serum can handle that without him being hooked up to several different machines and confined to a stark, empty room.
No, not empty. Not completely. He forces his eyes open, squinting against the harsh overhead lighting to see Tony hovering between the threshold, speaking quietly into his phone.
Steve intends to ask any one of the many questions running through his head: what happened to Thanos and his army? Why isn't Tony in his own hospital bed? How is he alive? But his efforts to form words devolve into a coughing fit as Steve realizes for the first time how dry his throat feels.
Well. That's one way to alert Tony that he's awake. )