Chapter Text
The next few minutes pass by relatively quickly as Steve returns to where Tony is sitting. He brought the first aid kit as promised, and also some more water and a protein bar.
“Here, eat this. When’s the last time you even ate?” Steve looks at Tony in concern, his eyebrows furrowing in a way Tony almost finds... cute? Where’d that come from?
The small brunet pouts up at his friend, but accepts his offerings gratefully. “Thanks…” he mumbles out quietly, setting the bar in his lap. Steve gives him an expectant look.
“What?” Tony asks, tilting his head up at the blond. The larger teen simply looks down at the unopened protein bar in his lap.
“Are you going to eat it? It’s good, it’s chocolate.”
Aw man… Tony loved chocolate… Unfortunately for the genius, the thought of putting anything in his mouth right now made his gut feel all queasy inside. The younger teen shrugs, averting his eyes. “I was kinda hoping to save it for later…?” he knows that excuse is lame, but damnit he’s already caused so much trouble for Steve.
Steve’s lips curl up into a small smirk, knowing exactly what the genius was trying to do. Fortunately for Steve, (unfortunately in Tony’s eyes…) he knew better than to believe all of Tony’s words at a time like this. Steve reaches down, making Tony jump a little in surprise. The blond grabs the protein bar from his lap, and opens it. He holds it out to the younger brunet. “Eat,” he says simply.
Tony scrunches his nose, looking up at Steve with those big ol’ chocolate eyes of his. “Don’t wanna.”
“I don’t care.”
“Steve…”
“Tony.”
The two boys end up in a staring contest of sorts. Tony narrows his eyes, trying his best to keep his gaze steady and confident. He fails.
“Ugh, damnit, Steve. Who knew you’d be such a mother hen?” Tony grabs the protein bar from Steve’s hands, their fingers brushing gently as he does so.
The blond teen’s face flushes a bit, much to his chagrin. Luckily the small genius is much too busy glaring at the protein bar he was expected to eat to notice.
Steve chuckles softly, rolling his eyes at the look on Tony’s face. “It’s not poisonous, if that’s what you’re thinking.”
“Pffft,” the brunet playfully scoffs. “I don’t think you’d give me something poisoned.”
“Then eat.”
“UGH.” Tony dramatically sighs, but defeatedly takes a small bite of the bar. He chews slowly before swallowing, opening his mouth and saying aahhh as he does so. “Happy?”
"I will be if you keep eating. C’mon, let me redo your bandages before anyone pops in to check on us.”
The genius doesn’t protest this, obediently removing the large shirt Steve lent him and turning to give his friend a better angle.
Tony still feels a bit fuzzy, like his mind and body aren’t quite in sync. He chalks it up to the beating he had received the previous day, because what else could be making him feel so off his game?
Definitely not Steve.
Definitely not, he nods to himself.
Steve works fast, now more comfortable with the process of replacing the bandages since he’s already done it. He works silently, his eyes occasionally glancing back at Tony to make sure he isn’t hurting him and that he’s actually eating.
Tony is only able to get through about half of the protein bar before the bilious feeling in his stomach becomes too much to continue. “S’rry, can’t do more…” the brunet mumbles sadly, afraid that his lack of appetite will upset his friend.
"Hey,” Steve starts, immediately noticing the crestfallen tone of Tony’s voice. “Don’t beat yourself up over it, I’m just happy you were able to keep anything down.”
The blond teen finishes up, rewrapping the bandages around the genius’ torso to protect the angry, irritated welts on his skin. Tony is proud of himself for only letting out a few pained hisses.
“My mom washed your clothes while we were sleeping, and before you ask, she’s not home right now. Had some sort of work event to go to.”
Tony nods slowly, his eyes wandering over to the coffee table where his clothes were neatly folded. “Oh… that was nice of her. She didn’t have to do that…” Tony sighs, feeling even more guilty now that he knows he inconvenienced not only Steve, but his mom as well. Damnit…
“She was happy to help, Tony. Don’t worry about it.” The larger teen tries to reassure his friend, pretty certain about the thoughts swirling in the genius’ head.
There’s a bit of an awkward silence as Steve finishes up with the first aid kit, putting everything back in the proper place. Tony watches him, self-loathing thoughts of him being a burden to the only people to ever show him kindness in the front of his mind.
Tony is snapped out of his thoughts by a loud, obnoxious knock at the door, followed by a shout of “STEEEEVE! Open up!”
The blond in question chuckles quietly before standing up and looking down at the brunet. “You ready to see them, Tony?”
Tony shrugs. “Nope, but let’s do it anyways.”
Steve gives him a reassuring smile and a comforting pat on the shoulder, mindful of the younger teen’s injuries.
“That’s the spirit,” Steve laughs in good nature. Another loud knock comes from the direction of the front door.
“STEEEEEEEEEEEEVE.”
Both teens inside laugh at that, and the blond rolls his eyes fondly before moving to answer the door. He opens it, not surprised by who he sees.
“Buck!” Steve says happily, grabbing Bucky’s shoulder with his left hand and ushering him inside. Bruce is also there, shyly smiling up at Steve as he asks, “How’s Tony doing? Is he still here?”
Steve opens his mouth to answer, but Bucky interrupts him before he gets the chance to speak. “We were so worried about you guys, you loser. Why didn’t you think to call or at least text us to let us know you were alright and had found Tony?” Bucky reprimands Steve like a mother would to their misbehaving child.
“Bucky…” Steve speaks in a hushed voice. “Where’s everyone else? I’m sorry, but… listen, what happened to Tony last night was bad. Real bad. Just… be careful. I don’t want you scaring him off like Clint did.”
Bucky raises an eyebrow at the blond’s words, not exactly comfortable with the vague description of what happened with Tony. Bruce clears his throat, causing the two large teens to turn their attention to him. “We didn’t want to overwhelm Tony, so we figured it’d be better if it was just us two. How bad are his injuries? Were you able to treat everything properly?”
Steve sighs, images of Tony’s bloodied and bruised form flashing in his mind. “Yeah. Yeah, he’ll be fine as long as he takes it easy. I’m just… I don’t know what to do…”
Bruce furrows his brow, a look of concern appearing on his face. Bucky has a similar expression mirrored on his own. “What are you talking about? What happened?” Bruce asks softly.
Steve looks down at his feet and crosses his arms, unsure how to approach such a sensitive topic. “Someone hurt him. Really badly too, and he won’t tell me who. I… I don’t want to tell you anything without Tony’s permission, so…” the blond gestures towards the living room where Tony was patiently waiting for them.
The two new arrivals nod their heads and follow their friend. As the three of them step into the living room, they’re greeted with the sight of a very tired looking genius in a T-shirt that was obviously much too large for him. It seems Tony had put Steve’s shirt back on even though his own clothes were now clean. He… wasn’t ready to put them on. For this little window of peace to be over. “Hello, folks,” he greets with his signature smirk. It’s… less convincing with the large purple bags under his eyes.
Bruce gasps as soon as he sees the state Tony is in. He hurries towards him, gently cupping his cheeks in each hand and getting a good look at the genius’ face, his bruises and cuts on full display. Tony grunts at the action, not moving away from Bruce. “Nice to see you too, Brucie.”
Bruce doesn’t say anything, still gently inspecting the young brunet’s face. “Steve did a pretty good job patching these up…” He mumbles mostly to himself. Bruce then lets go of Tony’s face, sitting on the couch next to him. “How are you feeling?”
Buck walks closer as well, curious to know his answer. “Yeah, you looked like shit last time we saw you.”
Tony scoffs playfully, rolling his eyes. “Oh please, I look great no matter what.”
“Tony…”
“Yeah, yeah. I’m fine. Steve helped patch me up, so I’m right as rain now.”
Bruce and Bucky don’t exactly look convinced, but they decide not to pressure him into answering any further.
Bucky clears his throat before speaking. “Mhm, very convincing,” Bucky chuckles, giving Tony the benefit of the doubt. “We were thinking about spending the day at Clint’s with everyone else. What do you say? Wanna join?” He looks down at the genius expectantly.
The brunet smiles softly, though he shakes his head. “As much as I enjoy making fun of Clint and kicking Thor’s ass in Mario Kart, I don’t think I’m up for it today. I think… I should probably head home. Howar- uh, my old man is probably expecting me back soon.” Tony stands up, grabbing his clean clothes from the coffee table. “If you’ll excuse me, gentlemen…” He shuffles towards the bathroom to change.
Both Bruce and Bucky immediately turn to Steve, both with similar questions in their heads.
“What aren’t you telling us, punk? He’s acting weird. Like he’s trying to pretend everything is normal but he’s failing very hard at it.” Bucky crosses his arms.
Blue eyes meet Bucky’s own, and he sighs. “You can’t tell him I told you two, okay? You have to promise me.”
Bruce’s face twists with worry. “You’re scaring us, Steve. What happened?”
The blond sighs, sitting down in the armchair nearby. “I’ll make this quick since Tony will be back any minute…” Steve looks at the two other teens with a serious expression. “He won’t tell me the full story, but someone beat him up. Someone… someone whipped him, you guys. With a belt. His back… he’s covered in welts and bruises…”
“WHAT?!” Bucky doesn’t bother to control the volume of his voice. “The hell do you mean, Stevie? He got fucking whipped?!”
“Shh, Buck! Language!” Steve scolds him, worried that Tony will overhear the topic of their discussion. “I promised him I wouldn’t tell anyone. I’m only telling you guys because I don’t know where to go from here. I can’t help him alone.”
Bruce trembles silently, his mind swirling with thoughts and theories of what could have happened to their youngest friend. He… had an inkling of what was going on with Tony. He’s had this idea for a while, well before any of them got to actually know Tony, but he never wanted to say anything without being absolutely sure. “Steve…” Bruce starts softly, letting out a shaky breath. “Do you think that… that maybe he’s being abused?”
Both the blond and Bucky freeze at his words.
"W-what are you talking about, Bruce…?” Steve asks in a soft, tiny voice. “You think… are you sure? What makes you think that?”
“Yeah, and by who? What idiot has the heart to beat up someone as cute as Tony? He’s like a puppy.” Bucky is less eloquent with his words, but his concern is obvious, nonetheless.
Bruce shrugs. “I don’t know. I don’t know anything about his personal life. It’s just… the way he acts. It’s like he’s putting on a show for everyone else. Like… like he doesn’t want anyone questioning him, so he does whatever he can to upset the people around him so they’re too busy hating him to question him.”
Before anyone has the chance to reply, a familiar voice echoes through the hallway. “Are you guys done speculating about my personal life now?” Tony is there, chocolate eyes burning into the three boys as he looks at them with an expression none of them can quite read. “Rogers, you damn traitor.”