A/N: Hello! It's been awhile since I've written on FF, and I've never written a Stony fic, though I've gotten very into reading them lately. I recently saw an amazing fanvid on Youtube (look up: Love Like Fools Stony ann2who...AMAZING) and it inspired this. Literally, I listened to this song for nearly 8 hours while at work and almost couldn't focus on my work because this story demanded to be written.

I managed 3 chapters in 1 night, so I expect it to be done by the end of the week, but I'm famous for choking at the end of my fics so I'm sorry in advance if that happens.

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Literally, even the idea for the fic can technically be attributed to the fanvid, so all I own are the order in which I put the words :)

Rating: I'm planning to put a chapter in at the end that could turn the rating of this from T to M, but I haven't 100% committed to that yet, so T for now. Eventual mentions of suicide in later chapters.

Warning: In case you couldn't tell from the description, characters, genre, or author note, this is malexmale. If that bothers you, click away. Don't flame for something you knew from the beginning you wouldn't like!

Enjoy!

Those hardest to love need it most

I watched our bodies turn to ghosts

Such good friends, it has to end it always does

That's the way life is

Do we take that risk?

STONY*STONY*STONY

"You might not be a threat, but you better stop pretending to be a hero." Tony would have been lying to say it hadn't stung just a little. Not much—after all, people had said far worse about him—but this was the man Howard had basically said Tony would never compare to.

His father had spent half of his life amassing his fortune by building weapons and the other half looking for Steve. Tony had kind of just accepted it at some point that there just wasn't enough room for him in that equation. And maybe he wasn't fine with it at first, but he made himself be fine with it.

And then he made it so he'd never have to be fine with it again. Rather than be disappointed every time someone didn't love him, wouldn't it be so much easier if he just made it so hard for people to love him that they physically couldn't? At least then he knew it was coming.

Tony had made himself into someone who was difficult—some would say impossible—to love or even like. But he'd also made himself someone people needed. They needed Iron Man and his superhero tendencies. They needed Tony Stark's mind. Maybe they didn't need Tony Stark, but they needed enough about him that it balanced.

So maybe he had kind of hoped he and Steve Rogers could at least get along. He'd read the man's file while simultaneously becoming an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics and had been irked to admit that, even before meeting the guy, he could understand Howard's obsession. The guy was perfect. Perfectly annoying.

He was the son Howard always wanted and never got. Obedient, well-liked. Add a little bit of genius to the mix and it would be like Howard had created a masterpiece.

Instead, he'd gotten Tony.

And maybe, maybe, Tony's resentment of Howard had colored his first impressions of the Captain, but by the end of the fight with the Chitauri, he'd gotten over it. Because he realized that Howard had always been so enamored with and determined to find Captain America, but Tony had gotten to know Steve. And Steve was hopelessly idyllic and frustrating (but Tony was, too—frustrating, that is, not idyllic), but he was so honest and open and innocent.

He didn't have a malicious bone in his body. Even the stuff he'd said in the lab on the Valiant hadn't been malice; he was just speaking the truth.

And that was what had hurt. Because everything special about Steve was enhanced by what had been in the bottle; it didn't come from it. Everything special about Tony had either come from Howard or from Tony's desire to be completely different from him, to fix the wrongs his company had committed.

So now, the day after the battle with the Chitauri, as they all stood around the Plaza to send Thor, Loki, and the Tesseract back to Asgard, Tony came to an uncomfortable realization. For the first time in his life—with the exception of Pepper and Rhodey—he wanted to be friends with people. He wanted people to like him, to need Tony for Tony—not his inventions or his suits or his brain.

And he wasn't really sure how to do that.

STONY*STONY*STONY

"Stark—I can't believe I'm saying this after how this all started but…it was an honor working with you." Steve extended his hand to take Tony's with a firm shake and a small grin. He probably should have given Fury another ten dollars; he didn't think he'd see the day where he got along with Howard's son off the battle field—especially after the argument in the lab.

The memory of the incident still made him uncomfortable. He hadn't exactly lied—everything he said had been his exact thoughts while watching the footage of Iron Man fight and Stark's interviews. But everything he'd said had been said with the intention of causing pain, and for someone who hated bullies, he sure felt like one after he'd had time to think about it more.

Not that Tony had been particularly innocent in the argument; he'd gotten quite a few good insults in. But that he'd been able to push Steve like that still baffled the super-soldier. Sure, he'd been hot-headed pre-serum—never knowing how to pick his fights and getting beat up all the time never stopped him from getting in a scrap.

But once he became Captain America? Image aside, it was more the idea that he could win any fight he got into that got him to learn to keep his cool. But something about Tony Stark…something about him blew Steve Rogers' control out the window.

And then they'd fought alongside each other and Steve realized just how wrong he was and it made him sick. He'd watched hours of footage on each of the Avengers while waiting for the team to assemble aboard the Valiant, and watching Iron Man—while impressive—was the worst because it had always been followed by some smarmy sarcastic interview from a cocky, conceited Tony Stark.

It never occurred to him while watching the footage that the Tony Stark presented to the public, the one that was always on camera, was a front. Because the Tony Stark that was Iron Man, the one he'd fought beside just hours before? He'd been prepared to make the sacrifice play without a second thought. Even as Steve tried to talk him out of it—or at least rethink it—he'd silenced their comm and committed. That was Iron Man.

So why didn't he show that face to the public?

It had surprised Steve that he had felt nearly the same sense of helpless panic and pain as when he'd lost Bucky when Stark was lying lifeless on the pavement, the power source of the suit, flickering and growing dim. It wasn't the same, of course—he'd barely known Stark and most of that time had been spent in immense dislike of the genius. But in the back of his mind, he'd been preparing to try and get as drunk as his super-soldier body would allow before the Hulk seemingly willed Stark back to life.

"Captain." He gave a responding firm shake and the beginnings of a smile in the form of a twitch at the side of his mouth. "Swing by the tower anytime you want to spar. I'll even put on the suit." At this, Tony gave him the probably-patented smirk he'd seen many times watching the man's interviews and sighed. Public-Tony was already back in place.

"Take care of yourself, Tony." The man looked a little shocked at the sentiment before giving a tight nod and hopping into his car beside Dr. Banner, who had promised to explore the R&D department of Stark Tower for awhile before relocating to another desolate and remote area of the world.

A/N: Please Review :)