"I don't understand. Stevie, your mom is one of the sweetest people that I know. And I've never heard her say anything even remotely homophobic. In fact, she really does the exact opposite." Tony said. He was pretty much on top of Steve's lap, attempting to convince him to consider coming out to his mother. They had ben dating for an entire year and a half, and Tony had never even implied his own opinion on the topic. He always just told him to do what he thought was best. However, recently Tony had been encouraging Steve to tell his mother that they were dating.

"It's just not the right time," Steve told him, sighing.

"Baby, it will never be the 'right time'. You know that. It'll only get harder with time."

"What do you know?" Steve yelled harshly as he stood up, throwing Tony from his lap. "Your parents are dead! You don't have to tell them anything. And I'd think after what Obadiah did to you, you would be more understanding!"

The bedroom door slammed opened Clint rushed in to kneel next to Tony, who was sitting on the ground, holding the back of his head with his eyes cast downward. Even though Natasha was Steve's friend and could mostly vouch for his character, Clint didn't trust him. Therefore there was a rule that someone had to be home whenever the couple was at home and they forced double dates as often as possible. As it turns out, this was a good plan to have because if Clint hadn't been home, the situation could have turned out alot worse.

"Shit!" Clint exclaimed under his breath, "Rogers, you have to go."

"What? No. It was an accident and besides, he-"

"Get out," Clint muttered dangerously. As Steve hurried to collect his belongings and leave, Clint prodded at the back of Tony's head. Tony flinched and whispered unintelligibly as he did so, "I know it hurts. But I have to make sure you're okay... There doesn't seem to be any swelling and you're not bleeding. So that's good. I'll have Bruce double check you when he gets home. Let's go watch some TV."

Clint stood up and put his hand out to help Tony up, when Tony didn't respond or react in any way, he looked down and realized Tony was having a panic attack. He sat back down to comfort him and help correct his breathing.

"Hey, it's okay. You and I are just going to lay back and watch TV like we always do... Unless you want to talk about-"

"There is nothing to talk about. It was an accident. He just stood up too fast." Tony strained when he regained control of his breathing after a few minutes.

"I'm not just talking about that. What he said was not acceptable, I don't care how mad he was. No one says those things by accident."

"Clint... that's... I don't think he meant it. He was mad." For one of the strongest willed people Clint knew, Tony had a surprisingly low amount of self-confidence and could be incredibly sheepish. Actually, it wasn't really surprising if you knew him well, but it was certainly offputting when he expressed his concerns. Clint grabbed Tony's face not unkindly and forced his friend to look him in the eye,

"Listen to me carefully. Steve shouldn't have brought that stuff up, no matter how mad he was."

"You don't get it. I was pressuring him into coming out to his mom. I just...she knows about me. And she's so good to me... I just thought that... it's been so long."

"That's what this is about?"

Tony nodded, then began shaking like he was going to cry, "I'm being selfish. I'm being so selfish."

"No, you're not Tony. There is nothing wrong with you wanting to tell her that you've been dating for- what did you just say?"

"Nothing! Let's just watch that movie." Clint looked Tony up and down before nodding and beckoning him towards the couch in the common area. Clint turned on the TV and put on The Matrix, sat on the couch and allowed Tony to lean onto him and put his head on his shoulder. After living with him for a while, Clint realized just how much Tony enjoyed cuddling. He didn't really like being touched, but the people who he was comfortable with and trusted were constantly making body contact with him. He preferred cuddling with Bruce and or Natasha to Clint, but he'd recently become more comfortable with Clint, meaning he was more comfortable making body contact. About 20 minutes in, Clint made an effort to keep Tony actively engaged in conversation to prevent him from falling asleep because he still wasn't quite sure about whether or not Tony had a concussion. After another 30 minutes, Bruce and Natasha walked into the apartment.

"Hey, we brought dinner." Bruce lifted up the bags in his hands, then he took in the scene in front of him and frowned.

"What happened?" Natasha asked.

"Steve hit him," Clint grunted.

"He didn't hit me... He pushed me because he was mad." Tony explained, refusing to look anyone in the eye.

"He needs to be checked for a concussion. I already checked for bumps, blood and any symptoms that would be obvious. But I trust your examination more Bruce." Clint continued, ignoring Tony.

"Tony, what happened?" Bruce asked as he retrieved the first aid kit and went to examine Tony.

"Nothing happened Bruce. I was pressuring him to tell his mom about us and-"

"And he laid hands on you." Natasha deadpanned.

"Technically, he stood up too fast and accidentally pushed me off of him."

"You need to stop doing that. You can't keep making excuses for the people who hurt you."

"I'm not making excuses! It was my fault. I should have respected Steve. Besides, stop making this such a big deal, it's not like he-" Tony caught himself before the end of the sentence and immediately stiffed up and quieted down.

"It's not like he what? Tony! It's not like he what?!" Bruce pushed. He didn't mean to sound harsh, but his voice was tense and a bit unkind. When Tony whimpered and tried to pull away from the other man, who then cursed under his breath and then stopped his examination to raise his hands in a surrendering manner. "I'm sorry Tones. I shouldn't have yelled at you like that."

Tony didn't answer verbally, but he nodded his head and offered a small smile.

"But we really would like to know what he did that was worse... Even if you only tell one of us, please tell someone." Clint tried.

"It's nothing he did. I was just going to say is not like he punished me or anything. He just made a mistake," Tony told them. For a moment all three of his friends stared at him silently. Bruce thought about asking him if this was about Justin. Justin who he'd grown up with. Justin who he'd dated before he met Bruce, even before he'd first croosed pathes with Nataha. Which was a bit too young to be dating, in Bruce's opinion.

Clint didn't know about Justin, so he thought about Obadiah and how messed up he was. It made sense right? People always say that girls with bad fathers wind up with bad boyfriends, so couldn't the same mindset be applied to young gay men?

It was Natasha who answered first, though. She knew about Justin, and Obie, and his partents (well Bruce knew about his parents too) and thought over what Tony could mean. He really could have been referring to any one of them. "Tony," She said, "What he did may have been an accident, but it's his lack of self control that is the issue. When someone is drunk and they harm another person, even if they wouldn't have done the action sober, they're still wrong. Only this is even worse because he wasn't intoxicated. He just allowed himself to be angry enough to lose control. That is never acceptable."

At this point, Tony looked like he was going to cry. He had known that Steve wasn't the best boyfriend in the world, but he'd never become physical before. After a short pause, he sighed and came to a conclusion, "You think I should break up with him.". It wasn't a question.

"I think," Bruce started slowly, "I think you should do what is best for you. And that if you need our help, we're here."

Natasha nodded in agreement and Clint hesitated, but bit his tounge. He wanted to shout "Of course you should!!" but it didn't seem appropriate. So he nodded as well and added,

"Yes. Also, whatever you decide to do, I don't think that you should do it alone."

"Okay."

And he did. Tony broke up with Steve the next day with all three of his roommates in the room with him. That afternoon, he called up Rhodey and explained what had happened. To say that Rhodey was disappointed would be an understatement. He should've seen this coming. Steve seemed like a good enough guy and even though something always seemed off about him, Rhodey didn't trust his first instinct. He, like everyone else, just wanted Tony to be happy. He longed for the day when he could see Tony in a lasting, healthy relationship. For a few months following the incident, Tony seemed lost. He made no attempts to find a new partner, he didn't talk about being interested in anyone, he even flirted with his friends less. Well except for Rhodey... and Bruce. Then he met Peter.

Peter Quill was a overconfident and annoying " kind of asshole", who happened to go to the same university as Tony and his friends. They first met due to a weird overlap between Thor and Peter's friend Gamora. When the two were introduced, they immediately hit it off, which was admittedly planned by Thor. He didn't know the fine details of what had just happened between Peter and his father, or what had happened between Tony and Steve, but he knew that they would be a good match for each other. He chose to omit the fact that his gathering was an elaborate matchmaking plan from everyone except his girlfriend, Jane.

Unsurprisingly, Peter and Tony hit it off. Unlike the men from Tony's past, Peter truly treated him how he deserved, which made his friends happy. There was a not so small incident right after they began dating where Tony had a bad panic attack while he and Peter were watching a movie. It was some space opera about bounty hunters, and there was a scene where they were torturing some outlaw.

"Oh shiiit!" Peter cursed under his breath. Peter sat up and paused the TV, "Tony? What's wrong? Tony." When Tony didn't respond, Peter took a second to calm himself and figure out what the best plan of action would be. First, he put on some ACDC and grabbed some sweets out of the fridge. Bruce had told him once that these were the best ways to ground Tony using sensory objects. And that usually worked for the really mild ones. The ones that he knew what was causing them. However, this time it didn't. Tony continued to panic, which was worsened by Peter's attempt to physically comfort him. When nothing worked, he resorted to calling Clint.

"What happened?!" Clint asked, motioning for Natasha and Bruce to get up from their seats so they could leave.

"I don't know! We were just watching a movie and he began panicking. I tried to help him ground himself. Nothing is working."

"Oh... Alright. We're on our way." Clint hung up before Peter could ask what "oh" meant. When they finally arrived at the apartment, Tony was snuggled into Peter's lap with his head in the crock if his neck. When Natasha made Tony get up to talk to her, Peter took it as his cue to leave. When Peter arrived home, only Gamora and Rocket were home.

"We have to break up!" He exclaimed, "I have to break up with Tony."

"What? Why?" Gamora questioned, standing up to be at eye level with her friend. Rocket just said "woah", his attention not leaving his game.

"He... I think he has PTSD." Peter breathed.

"Yes, I noticed. I thought you knew. Why do you have to break up with him?"

"I can't... I thought he just had bad anxiety. That's all he told me, anyway. I don't think that I can support him the way he needs, you know? He needs someone who's good with emotions."

"I have PTSD, you know." Rocket chimed in.

"Yeah. I know." Peter told him. Rocket paused his video game at this point,

"Does this mean that we shouldn't be comrades?"

"What?! Of course not!"

"Then why does it mean that you shouldn't be date Tony?"

"Because dating is different. And besides you don't... we aren't emotional people. Tony is."

"Do you remember that time we went swimming at the lake?"

Of course Peter remembered. Some douche made fun of Rocket's scars on his back. Peter took care of the situation by verbally humiliating the guy and comforting Rocket when they returned home and the two of them were alone. Only a very small part of their conversation was assuring Rocket that they didn't care about his scars and that noting was wrong with him. The rest was empty banter and eventually they fell into a nearly silent video game tournament. Which turned into a very loud video game tournament full of smack talk and cursing.

"Of course I remember Rocket... But he's not like us. He needs someone who can... I don't know, be emotional and crap."

"Oh trust me, you can be plenty emotional and sappy." Rocket snorted, turning his attention back to his game.

"What happened today? Were you able to help him calm down?" Gamora pushed.

"Well.. yes."

"Then unless you think that for some reason this relationship would be bad for you, get over yourself. Stop using his being sensitive as an excuse to break up for him. If you don't want to date him, fine. But don't make it seem like you're sound it for him. You're behaving selfishly."

"Yeah... yeah. You're right... I'm just going to go to my room."

And after that moment of doubt, Peter and Tony were a disgustingly cute couple. Peter learned all he could about how to help Tony when he needed and he became fluent in "Tony language". Tony

was a good boyfriend to Peter. And neither of their friend groups could've been more pleased.

AN:

Hey so I know what the index says should be the next chapter, but I had writers block and this was the only thing that came to mind. I know that the ending seems a bit rushed. But I couldn't figure out how to end it and it was going to keep going and going. I hope it was enjoyable.