Work Text:
here’s where he meets prince charming
but he won’t discover that it’s him
till chapter three
Once upon a time, in a faraway land, there lived a king and queen in a magnificent, luxurious castle. The king had a brilliant mind, but instead of using it for good, he made weapons to fuel the war between his kingdom and others.
A few years into their marriage, the queen bore a son for the kingdom, who was soon discovered to be just as gifted as his father -- maybe even beyond that. But the king and queen, busy with their plans to expand their empire, did not set aside much time for their child, leaving him with the servants for a majority of his childhood.
And so the prince grew up with the image of his parents’ backs filling his memories of them. He built more weapons in hopes of making his father proud, but the king was not one for words, and the prince was left with his heart empty up till the day they passed.
After his parents’ death, the prince sought comfort by drowning in drink and bedding anyone he could charm into his chambers, but to no avail. So he kept building weapons to fill that void he felt in his chest, for he believed there was nothing else he could be good at.
But the prince didn’t see past the palace walls, too wrapped up in living in his father’s shadow. He thought nothing of the stories he heard -- of the lives that were lost because of his inventions.
Then one day, an old woman whose family had been torn apart because of the war and weapons came up to the castle doors and asked to see the prince. She went down on her knees and begged for the prince to still his hand before more innocent lives were lost.
The prince, drunk on mead after a party, spat in her face.
The woman stilled, slowly lifting a hand to her face to wipe at it. With her eyebrows knotted, she said, “You leave me with no choice.”
As luck would have had it, the old woman turned out to be an enchantress, and before the prince could slam the door in her face, she muttered a few words under her breath and cast a powerful spell across the castle and all those who lived in it. Then she turned to the prince as a blue light began to shine in her palm.
“I shall take your heart, Anthony Stark,” she said to him, words piercing through even the haze of the prince’s drunk mind. “For now it only rots away in your chest, unfeeling. In it’s place, I give you this orb as a reminder of what you have lost.”
With a wave of her hand, the orb floated into the prince’s chest as he fell to his knees, squirming in agony as his heart was pulled away from him.
“This curse on your castle and you shall remain,” the enchantress continued, waving her arms as she finished the spell. “Until you find someone that can love a heartless man, or until the sphere in your chest shines its last light.”
(Years later, by which time the prince had long given up on finding anyone who would help lift the curse, a young man stumbled upon the castle in search of his friend.
And for the first time since the enchantress visited the castle, Tony Stark felt something twitch in his chest.)
❦
what would i give
to live where you are?
what would i pay
to stay here beside you?
what would i do to see you
smiling at me?
It’s a struggle to get on the shore, with his tail hindering his movements somewhat and after all that swimming he did earlier, but Steve manages to lay the man’s head on the shore soon enough. He quickly presses his ear to the man’s chest, checking for a heartbeat and when he does, he shifts so he can press a finger below the man’s nose. When he feels hot air blow onto his finger, Steve finally lets himself relax, sagging with relief.
The storm had hit them all by surprise, sending the boat the man was on into the water just after a few minutes. Steve knew that he shouldn’t have interfered, his people’s words all ringing in his head, but when he noticed that the man that had caught his eye didn’t resurface from the water after what felt like ages, Steve couldn’t help but dive into the water to search for him.
Steve found him floating in the water, his eyes closed and bubbles rapidly escaping his mouth, making his gut twist with worry. Ignoring Bucky and Peggy’s warnings beside him, Steve grabbed the man and darted back up the the surface, looking for land.
And here they are now, Steve thinks as he wipes away the wet strands of hair away from the man’s face. The man’s eyes are still closed, but Steve is sure he’ll open them after a few more minutes, so he’s going to make the most of it before he does. After all, he just saved the man’s life -- surely being a little creepy and admiring him while he rests wouldn’t be so bad, right?
So he takes in the man’s tanned skin, his lightly muscled body (completely visible with his clothes drenched in seawater, and Steve feels his ears heat up), his sharp jawline and gorgeous lashes, everything he can lay his eyes on. Looking back, it’s no wonder Steve’s eyes gravitated towards the man almost immediately when he peered into the ship -- the man is beautiful.
He ends up just lying in the sand and staring at the man, stuck in some sort of trance, and he doesn’t realise how much time has passed until the man begins to stir, blinking up blearily at him.
“Wha--?” the man says hoarsely, and Steve jerks back slightly, but doesn’t pull away completely. He lets himself touch the man’s face gently one more time, smiling.
“Someday, I’ll come back for you,” Steve whispers. “Wait for me.”
And he leaps back into the sea before the man can respond, clinging onto that promise.
❦
every gesture, every move that she makes
makes me feel like never before
why do i have
this growing need to be beside her?
Tony is pretty sure his day can’t get any weirder.
First he meets this baby monkey thing that starts to bawl because he refuses to hand over one of his designs for a new bot meant for his stay here before he gets chased down by about a hundred family members of said baby monkey. Then some guy wearing nothing but a loincloth literally swoops in and picks him up and drops him on a particularly high branch of a tree he has no hope of climbing down from.
And now he’s attempting to converse with said guy in a loincloth as rain pours from the skies above them, the two of them sheltered by the canopy.
He knew he shouldn’t have let Bruce convince him to accompany him on this trip.
“Steve,” the man manages to say, gesturing at himself, and his voice is surprisingly gentle for someone who appears to live in the rainforest. Then he gestures at Tony, expression curious, and it doesn’t take a genius (even though he is one) to know that this is some sort of introduction of sorts.
Under normal circumstances, Tony would have freaked out and tried to get away from him, but he knows the only hope he has of getting down from the tree is here is with the man’s help, so he plays along. (The fact that the man, upon closer inspection, is pretty good-looking as well helps too; with his broad shoulders, baby blue eyes and everything.)
“Tony,” he replies, pointing at himself. “Genius, billionaire, playboy and philanthropist, at your service.”
The man -- Steve -- just looks very confused at the last part, and it hits Tony hard when he realises just how adorable that expression is on him. He covers it by chuckling before pointing at himself once again and saying slowly, “Toooony.”
“Toooony,” Steve echoes, and Tony laughs once more. This time, Steve smiles back, all sincere and innocent, and Tony’s caught off-guard again. Having so few attractive people on their ride here must be taking its toll on him, he thinks.
Steve thankfully doesn’t seem to notice, suddenly finding a particular interest in Tony’s hands. He picks one of them and studies the calloused fingers, an unreadable expression on his face. Gingerly, he presses his own palm against Tony’s hand.
Tony doesn't quite get why he's doing it, but Steve looks part amazed and part relieved for some reason, and Tony doesn't have it in himself to interrupt whatever revelation Steve is having, so he stays silent.
After a while, Steve suddenly looks up and presses a hand to his chest, glancing at Tony, asking something with his eyes that Tony doesn't quite understand either. And it should be so frustrating for Tony, not understanding more than half of what is going on, but instead he feels intrigued, curious. So whatever it is that Steve is asking, he just nods slowly, watching the blond with steady eyes.
Steve takes a step forward, and Tony starts to regret his decision and is tempted to step back, but he's already backed up against the tree trunk. He can't see any signs of aggression, though, so he lets himself relax a little.
Then as carefully as he pressed their palms together, Steve leans forward and presses his ear Tony's chest.
Tony gets a little freaked out at that, with a guy he just met moving so close into his personal space and listening to his heartbeat, but he reminds himself that this is the only way he'll be able to find his way back to camp, so he tries to even out his breathing, taking slow, deep breaths.
Whatever Steve hears, it probably satisfies him because a while later he pulls back, his smile wide and bright.
"Tony," he says again, and Tony can't remember the last time someone said his name with such... Affection. That, coupled with the smile (and being in such close proximity to arguably the best set of abs he's ever seen), makes Tony feel a little dizzy. He can't help but grin back, because for all that he's whined internally about what a weird day it's been, it could have been worse.
"Steve," Tony shoots back at him, still smiling. "It's nice to meet you too."
❦
unbelievable sights
indescribable feelings
soaring, tumbling, freewheeling
through an endless diamond sky
To be honest, Steve didn’t know what he was expecting when he decided to fly up to Tony’s balcony and apologise. He thought maybe Tony would yell at him or chase him away, but he didn’t expect a large, actual tiger to stalk out of the curtains, growling at him.
“Tony?” he calls out while keeping his eyes on the tiger. He’s standing right on the edge where his magic carpet dropped him off, and while he’s never backed down from a fight before (with even less reason to do so with his new muscles), he’s not very interested in being mauled by a giant cat. But he didn’t come this far to leave without even seeing the prince, so he stands his ground.
He hears some shuffling noises from the inside before a familiar voice yells back, “Who’s there?”
“It’s Ste-- Captain. It’s Captain America,” Steve replies, barely catching himself from saying his full name. He winces slightly to himself, momentarily distracted from the tiger at the sound of his ridiculous new name rolling off his tongue. How did he let Clint persuade him to use it again?
The tiger growls again just as the curtains behind it lift upwards, and Steve barely has the time to register that it’s Tony before the tiger snaps at him and he has to jump to the side to avoid those sharp teeth. Somewhere behind him, he hears Clint laughing to himself.
“Bruce,” Tony says firmly to the tiger, moving beside it to pet it, but he doesn’t call it off. Then he turns to Steve, eyebrows knotted. “What are you doing here? How did you get up here?”
“I, um, wanted to apologise,” Steve says, shoulders slumping a little at Tony’s displeased tone. But he’s nothing if not determined, so he keeps his eyes trained on Tony. “For my entrance earlier on. I know it wasn’t exactly... Subtle.”
Tony raises an eyebrow at him. “Yeah, if the white elephants were anything to go by,” he says, and Steve turns slightly red at that, making a mental note to yell at Clint later for his extravagant ideas.
“I’m sorry,” he says in a rush. “It was rude of me to arrive here uninvited, and the fact that everything was so obnoxiously loud made it worse, but I’ve seen-- heard of what other suitors have done before and I guess I was afraid I wasn’t going to match up.”
Tony stares at him for a good long moment after that, and Steve’s sure he’s screwed it up again when Tony’s face softens just fractionally. His expression is still somewhat guarded, but at least he’s not frowning anymore. Steve gives him a hopeful glance, and Tony just sighs and tells the tiger to back up a little in a soft voice.
“You don’t have to ‘match up’ to them,” Tony says, leaning against Bruce. “If I wanted to do anything flashy, I’d do it myself. I don’t need any more idiots shoving their wealth in my face when I’m already swimming in it.”
But I’m different, Steve wants to say, but even though Tony’s opened up to him more than he’s ever done today, it might not mean anything. He can’t expect Tony to take him for his word.
Then an idea hits him, and he can barely hide his grin when he whistles for the magic carpet. Tony looks at him as if he’s gone mad and Bruce growls at him, but they stop once the carpet shoots up from below the balcony to hover some distance above them.
“What--?” Tony asks, gaze alternating between Steve and the carpet.
“It’s a flying carpet,” Steve replies, and a burst of courage suddenly shoots through him as he continues, “Would you like to try it, or do you already have a few hundred of these already?”
Tony looks at him in disbelief, as though he didn’t expect Steve to have any humour, but it’s quickly replaced by a grin.
“Only if it actually actually works,” Tony says. “It shouldn’t be possible for it to lift us off the ground.”
Steve smiles widely back at Tony, gesturing the carpet to fly downwards until it’s at waist level. He knows that if it were anyone else, they would still be freaking out about the carpet being magical, but he can see how interest has taken over everything else in Tony’s eyes.
“We’ll see about that,” he replies, climbing onto the carpet and petting it gratefully, stretching his arm forward to pull Tony up with him. “Come on.”
But it looks as though Tony didn’t quite believe that they were really going to fly, because he hesitates to take Steve’s hand. “Are you sure it will be safe?” he asks warily.
“Of course,” Steve nods, smiling. “Don’t you trust me?”
Those words, if anything, make Tony freeze for half a second before he’s eyeing Steve again, as though he’s a puzzle he can’t quite put together.
“Yeah,” he says slowly, finally taking hold of Steve’s hand. “Yeah, I do."
❦
and it's warm and real and bright
and the world has somehow shifted
all at once everything looks different
now that I see you
Realisation hits Tony like a gust of wind.
One moment he’s handing Steve the lanterns he bought and the next and his breath hitches as he catches sight of the lights of the lanterns already in the air reflecting off Steve’s golden hair.
He’s in love with him.
It probably shouldn’t come as that big a surprise to him, seeing as how he’s always found Steve attractive. Steve’s list of attractive features doesn’t just stop at his broad shoulders and tall, muscular frame; it goes on to his baby blue eyes and long lashes, his sharp jawline.
But Tony has seen (and done) many other attractive people in his life, and none of them has ever made him want to get even closer, to get any emotional fulfilment, to make his heart ache for more.
Tony figures it started when they were trapped in the cave, where he told Steve his last name and Steve just smiled at him gently before telling Tony about his magical hair. The fact that Steve pulled his injured arm to his hair and sung a song to heal it probably contributed to it too, albeit a little creepily.
And now it’s like everything is compounding these stupid feelings of his -- from the way his eyes crinkle when he laughs, the way the curls at the end of his ponytail always bunch together when they reach his waist. It’s as if there’s suddenly so much of Steve that it’s practically overwhelming, and Tony, for all his boasting about being a genius, has not a single clue on what he should do.
Steve interrupts his thoughts by pulling Tony into a tight hug. Tony’s fried brain circuits don’t have enough time to process that before Steve pulls back as quickly as he came, and Steve just sits in front of him, a wide smile on his face.
“Thank you, Tony,” he says, and his voice is so grateful and sincere it makes Tony’s heart jump a little faster at just that.
“It’s nothing,” Tony replies, glad that his voice comes out steadier than he expected.
“For once, you’re wrong,” Steve says, but he’s grinning. Then he looks up at all the lanterns surrounding them, eyes glazed over. “This-- This is everything to me. It’s my dream. Without you, I probably wouldn’t have made it here.”
Tony wants to argue with that (because he knows nothing can stand in the way of Steve and his frying pan), but it suddenly occurs to him that Steve is sitting incredibly close, looking at him through hooded eyes. Tony’s brain immediately freezes, and his mouth goes dry when he sees Steve lean forward a little more, covering Tony’s hand with his own.
He gulps.
Just as his hammering heart finally gets him to shift forward, something catches his eye. He glances behind Steve, and his back straightens stiffly when he sees two people hovering at the shore. While he can barely make out their faces from their point in the water, he knows that no one else would chase him this far. They’re here for the satchel, he realises, and he swears under his breath.
“Tony?” Steve asks softly, and the sad, disappointed tone of his voice cuts Tony like a knife. He wants so desperately to pick up where they left off, but his brain tells him that he can’t -- at least, not until he’s settled things with those two. So he pulls out his practised smile and pats Steve on the shoulder.
“Let’s head back, yeah?”
❦
is all my dreaming at an end?
or do you still wait for me, dream giver
just around the riverbend?
When Steve finally finds the tent they’ve kept Tony in, he ends up hitting the guards a little harder than he intended. But judging by the increasing intensity of the drums, he doesn’t have the time to feel guilty about knocking out the people he’s considered family all this time, so he pulls away the flap of the tent without hesitating, rushing over to where Tony is tied up.
“God, Tony,” Steve breathes as he kneels besides the man, cupping his face with his hands. His chest twinges at the sight of the bruises on Tony’s face and the rest of his body. “What did they do to you?”
“Hello to you too, gorgeous,” Tony manages to reply after a couple of coughs, a weak smile on his face. His voice is dry, as though he hasn’t had water in quite a while, and it makes Steve worry even more.
“I’m going to get you out of here,” Steve says, reaching behind Tony to unbind his arms. But Tony makes a noise of protest, pushing him away with his elbow.
“You shouldn’t be here,” Tony says, looking straight at Steve, all attempts at humour gone. “There’s going to be a war, Steve. You need to get as far away as you can.”
Steve shakes his head, ignoring Tony’s protests as his pulls at the rope again. “I won’t leave you here. Not after everything.”
“No, you have to listen,” Tony tries, struggling against Steve. “I made their weapons. They’re-- They’re faster and deadlier than anything your tribe has. You need to get as many people as you can out of here before--”
Steve kisses Tony then, silencing him. Tony lets out a shocked gasp, but Steve just swallows it, moving his lips slowly against Tony’s chapped ones until he feels Tony relax beneath him, eyes fluttering shut.
“We’re going to stop this,” Steve says after he pulls away, hands gripping Tony’s shoulders. “But I need you with me, Tony. I can’t do this alone.”
Tony doesn’t say anything for a while, lips parted as though he still wants to argue, but eventually, he nods slowly.
“Okay.”
❦
open your eyes
your heart can tell you no lies
and when you're true to your heart
i know it's gonna lead you straight to me
It’s ridiculous, Tony thinks, that he could light a whole stack of firecrackers without sparing it a second thought to defeat the leader of the Chitauri, but god forbid him from speaking coherently to Steve Rogers. He’s the saviour of the country, for goodness’ sake.
“Tony?” Steve asks, and Tony suddenly remembers why he’s here at the mansion in the first place. He accepts the helmet he left at the palace, putting on a smile that hopefully doesn’t turn out as awkward as he feels.
“Thanks,” he says, choosing to stare at the helmet as he turns it around his hands instead of Steve. “I can’t imagine what would have happened if Fury got hold of it.”
Steve chuckles a little to himself but he doesn’t add anything else, biting his lower lip as Tony stares fixedly at the patch of grass behind Steve, desperately trying to think of something to fill the awkward silence that follows. Both of them can’t seem to look at the other, and Tony can’t help but wonder:
How did they get to his point anyway?
Their first meeting ended up in a fight three minutes in, and they kept at each other’s throats for a good part of Tony’s training. Then Steve snapped at him with his You may not be a threat, but you’d better stop pretending to be a hero bullshit on a particularly bad day, setting Tony off.
For one of the greatest joys in Tony’s life is to do do the exact opposite of what people expect him to do, and the army was no exception. He built new, better armour for himself with the scraps lying around in camp, ignored the ways his muscles ached after each day of training and somehow or another, he managed to catch up with the other troops.
Thankfully, they didn’t stay that way -- their relationship miraculously improved after Tony managed to retrieve that annoying arrow from the top of the pillar (with a few inventions of his own, but hey, no one else would have been able to do it). A glance of approval from Steve after Tony climbed down convinced Tony to relent a little instead of always picking a fight, and Steve started loosening up around him.
Then just as Tony started to think the commander might not be such a dick after all (because life hates him and it’s just his luck), they get called to war. Tony fired one of the cannons he made, set off an avalanche, saved everyone, gets stabbed by the Chitauri head and then gets betrayed by the doctor, who told the whole unit about his weak heart.
The cold silence that Steve gave him afterwards instead of the lecture about compromising the safety of all the other troops Tony was expecting cut a lot deeper.
But he’s not going to harp over how shitty it felt after that, because things worked out in the end after all. Steve found it in himself to trust Tony before the Chitauri did any serious damage, and well, here they are. Striking a conversations just seems much harder without any impending battles to worry about.
It is a lot easier to appreciate Steve’s ridiculously blue eyes and perfect muscles, though.
“Oh god, I’ll never hear the end of you whining about how you never got the chance to get into his pants, ” hisses Rhodey in his ear, and not for the first time, Tony wonders why his ancestors chose to send such an annoying guardian out to look out for him. “I swear, Tony, if you don’t say something right now, I’m going to tell him about all the times you watched him bathe in the river--”
“Would you like the stay for dinner?” Tony says in a rush, making a mental note to stomp on Rhodey later. Or maybe not, he thinks, because a small smile spreads across Steve’s face.
“I’d love to.”
❦
i will search the world
i will face its harms
till i find my hero’s welcome
waiting in your arms
“But a life without Tony -- even an immortal one -- would be empty,” Steve says, taking Tony’s hand and pulling him towards himself. “I wish to stay on earth with him. I finally know where I belong.”
Steve feels Tony tense in his arms, but he keeps his gaze steady on Thor, trying to convey his conviction through his eyes. And when Thor’s expression slowly transitions into a smile and he nods, Steve’s face splits into a wide smile.
“Steve,” Tony whispers then, looking utterly shocked and worried, and he has to lean in closer to Steve’s ear to be heard above all the gods clapping and cheering. “What are you doing? This is Mount Olympus, tell me you didn’t-- You can’t just choose not to live here! Isn’t this what you’ve been working for all this time? I’m not worth it, seriously, ask anyone and they’ll tell you--”
“Tony,” Steve interrupts, taking him by his shoulders and looking at him straight in the eye. Tony stops immediately, and there are a myriad of emotions crossing his face with so much history behind them, making Steve’s heart ache. “I want this. I want to be with you.”
Tony still looks troubled, and Steve just wants to ease it all away from him. But then he realises that they’ll have time for him to deal with each of Tony’s insecurities and for them to discover even more about each other, and he’s met with a small jolt of happiness. This must show up in some way on his face, because Tony’s face softens after a moment, wrapping his arms around Steve’s waist.
“You’re an idiot,” Tony says with no malice at all, and Steve smiles at him.
“Well, you know what they say,” Steve answers, one of his hands moving from Tony’s shoulder to cup his face, chuckling slightly at the bristle of Tony’s goatee on his skin. “People do crazy things... When they’re in love.”
Then he closes the distance between them and kisses Tony, in front of all the gods and goddesses to see.
(Of course, Tony chooses that exact moment to slither his hands a little lower and grope him.
"Tony!" Steve hisses when they break apart, feeling his face heat up.
Tony grins at him. "Sorry, Wonder Boy; couldn't resist.")
❦
Bonus:
one thing you should know
no matter where I go
we'll always be together
forever and ever
“And what are you supposed to be?” Steve asks, smiling fondly.
Tony just shoots him a look that says it should be obvious enough, which doesn’t quite do it’s job because of all dark water dripping all over him. “I’m a little black rain cloud, of course.”
Steve just shakes his head, his smile still on his face. Tony’s holding some sort of robot thing in his hands with wings at the top, and he’s tying some string from it around his waist. Then he turns to Steve. “Give me a boost?”
It’s ridiculous, really, but Steve plays along because he finds Tony’s determination and complete seriousness oddly endearing. And just as Steve hefts him up, Tony turns his machine on and the wings start to spin, making him hover in the air.
“Aren’t you supposed to be singing or something?” Steve calls out when Tony is around the halfway point of the tree. “You’re doing this wrongly, Tony.”
“Shut up, Steve,” Tony yells back. “I’m working.”