After Tony ends up severely injured from a surprise attack, triggering a flashback and putting him in the hospital for emergency surgery, the Avengers come together in worry for their friend and teammate and are disquieted by the intensity of Tony’s reaction. Between the flashback and the sedatives, Tony’s mind revisits key moments in his life while the team bands together in support of each other and their injured friend, letting SHIELD handle Tony’s attacker, they remain where they are needed, even if Tony isn’t awake to truly realize this. And through it all, Steve makes a decision that will change things with Tony.
Tony almost dies saving Steve’s life, but that’s just part of being an Avenger. It’s no reason for Steve to get all weird and intense around him afterward.
Tony Stark, second newest engineer at Rhodes Labs International, is just trying to rebuild from the ruins of his failed company, vanished fortune, and struggles with alcoholism. His goals include keeping his head down, avoiding stress and convincing Dr. Rhodes to let him build a really cool robot, so why does the universe keep throwing Avengers in his path?
In a world where your soulmate's favorite color appears on your skin when they are injured, Tony Stark is born with grey-- the color that appears when your soulmate is incapacitated or dead-- across his body.
If it hadn't been for the stupid fucking toad, Tony wouldn't be dying of boredom now. And he wouldn't have to put up with surveillance state Steve. It was just a broken arm, for fuck's sake!
In which Tony gets hurt and finds himself with way too much time and a very worried Steve. Who he might be falling for. Fast. But that's stupid because he's Tony Stark, a man with enough issues to make a seasoned therapist weep, and Steve is Captain America and pretty much perfect and it's never gonna work out anyway. Right?
Tony finds Bucky frozen in the Alps and brings him back, thinking it'll help Steve adjust to modern life if he's not alone. Unfortunately, he finds it has the side-effect of him becoming irrationally jealous.
