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aurumacadicus · 14 days

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132?

"Steve?" Tony croaked, and then, louder, more distressed, "Steve?!"

Steve fought the urge to hold him tighter. His hands were numb, and the numbness was starting to spread up his arms, too cold even for gooseflesh to rise along his skin. He couldn't risk hurting Tony when he was already injured. "Tony."

"Where are we? What happened? Why are--it's so cold," Tony asked in a rush. He squirmed in Steve's hold. "Did we... did we have a mission?"

"I thought I lost you," Steve whispered into the back of his neck. "I still might. We're snowed into a cave. I didn't get a chance to send an emergency signal."

"Oh," Tony murmured, squirming slowing to a stop.

"That missile hit you, and you fell like a stone. I thought you'd died. But I was already so cold that I couldn't tell when I finally got to the armor. I'm so glad you're awake."

"...So..." Tony began slowly. "You didn't even know if you were holding a corpse?"

Steve flinched, burying his face in Tony's back with a shuddering sigh. No. He didn't. The snow was already coming down heavily, visibility was down, he'd lost feeling in his hands trying to tear the icing armor off of Tony, and he'd worried that the warmth of Tony's body against his numb fingers had been because he was so cold. Tony had gotten colder. He'd thought maybe he hadn't had a heart beat left to heat him, even as he'd hoped it was just a normal reaction to the cold.

He would have held Tony until he was torn from his hands, though. Maybe even longer, if he still had strength.

"Okay," Tony said, voice soothing, when Steve couldn't bring himself to answer verbally. "Okay. I still have my watch gauntlet. I can send a beacon that way. We're gonna be okay, Steve." He shifted in Steve's arms. "Is this--is this your top? Did you put it on me to keep me warm? Steve. You'll freeze."

"I survived it once before," Steve answered mulishly, but only realized just how terrible it sounded when Tony couldn't help an overwhelmed sob in response. The knowledge that Steve would strip off a desperately needed layer to put on someone he thought was dead, just in case, and end up freezing to death himself... it was probably shocking. Heartbreaking, maybe, if he allowed himself to think about it too much.

He didn't tell Tony that he would do it again in a heartbeat. That seemed like too much when he was cold and injured.

#aurumacadicus answers #alettaration #1-161 stony ficlet challenge #stony

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