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Language:
English
Series:
Part 1 of Painsgiving - November 2018
Stats:
Published:
2019-01-22
Words:
268
Chapters:
1/1
Comments:
12
Kudos:
194
Bookmarks:
8
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3,425

For Love or Money

Summary:

When Tony is forced to make a difficult decision, Steve struggles to understand.

Notes:

For Day One of my November Painsgiving event on Tumblr: "I only did it because I love you."

Work Text:

“I’m sorry,” Tony said, as he pressed a hand to the transparent wall between them. “There was no other way.”

Steve stared at him, eyes wide. This couldn’t be happening. It couldn’t.

“Tony,” he breathed out, nearly begging with just the name.

It didn’t feel real, not the way Tony’s smile was sad but resigned, not the way he gave a little sigh before shaking his head and drawing his hand away.

“I don’t expect you to understand,” he said instead, eyes never wavering from Steve’s face, as if he were trying to memorize it. As if this was going to be the last time he ever saw it. Steve could see the pain etched in every line of his face. “I knew what this decision would cost me.”

“No,” Steve tried again. “No, Tony, please. Whatever happened to cutting the wire, huh?”

His voice was shaking, ruining the conviction he was aiming for.

“Sometimes you can’t,” Tony told him.

It felt like there was a vice wrapped around Steve’s heart, slowly squeezing tighter and tighter.

“Why? How could you do this?”

His voice trembled over the only question that mattered. Tony’s answering smile was heart breaking. Steve wanted to yell at him, to scream that he didn’t get to be upset. He was the one who had betrayed them.

“I only did it because I love you.”

Then Tony turned and walked away, retreating back to Thanos’s side. The Titan watched on silently, arms crossed over his chest and Infinity Gauntlet on full display. There was only one stone missing.

The glowing blue one in Tony’s chest.

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