Tony has secret conversations with Steve that even Steve isn’t privy to, even now. In those secret conversations, he says exactly the right thing to make Steve duck his head and smile, and when he confesses that Steve is the most infuriatingly beautiful thing the universe has ever come up with and he’s been madly in love with him for years, Steve admits he feels the same way. Then there are the conversations they actually have, which tend to go much worse because Tony is sarcastic and Steve is seething, and it’s a miracle they’re back on speaking terms.

Tony Stark looks Thanos in the eye. He raises his gauntlet in defiance and states his iconic phrase. He snaps, expecting death. But death doesn't come. Instead, he's back in his basement, completed time travel model in front of him. He builds the time machine. He snaps again. Again, and again, and again. Tony can't for the life of him seem to change the outcome of this story. What does change, though, is his feelings around it.'

As Steve prepares to return the stones, he hears a familiar voice.

Tony accidentally calls Steve from the flip-phone after his wedding gets called off.

Tony never saw anything as his.

Everyone lives and nothing hurts :')

Steve has two problems: 1. He has feelings for Tony but he’s not sure what to do about it. 2. Peter and Harley don’t seem to like him and he doesn’t know why. Actually, he has three problems. 3. There’s no way in hell Tony would be interested in him when his kids clearly hate him. Bucky thinks Steve’s only problem is that he’s an idiot.

Even in his anger, in his misjudgment, or even in the barest glimpses of inadvertent cruelty, everything Tony did was with passion. No matter what, he was always graceful, grandiose, effusive. Incandescent. Tony grows in front of the cameras and keeps a world of expectations balanced on the tightrope of his shoulders, but nothing ever seems to be enough. The hubris is a fallacy and the smirk Steve had always known to be a front isn’t whimsy, as he’d expected; instead, it’s bred. As he follows a couple of his steps, Steve feels as Tony does, which is to say: intensely. Every happiness is a marvel, every pain is acute. The higher they fly, the harder they fall. (In which the stones beckon Steve into a glimpse of Tony's past, and it proves to be his unraveling.)

Morgan manages to bring Tony back eleven years after Thanos’ defeat, long after everyone’s learned to live without him. Everyone’s overjoyed once they get over their shock, but Tony finds it hard to adjust, now that Pepper’s moved on and Morgan’s not a little kid anymore. Somehow, the one constant is Steve.

things aren't easy after thanos but steve and tony have each other.

Memories slowly appeared in his mind. The battle. The way he’d taken the gauntlet from Thanos. Peter who was suddenly by his side. And Steve. The snap. But not much after. He only remembered the blinding light and the power in his hand, as well as the pain.

When Tony said “I have to get it out of the garage before Morgan takes it sledding.” as he gave the shield back to Steve, not in a million years the thought it would actually happen. Yet there it was, right in front of him, ‘the one that got away’ playing with his daughter in the snow, shield by their side dutifully waiting for them to get back on top of it.

“Tony?” Steve asks as Tony immediately taps his screen to life, calling up the specs for what looks like a new set of his nanite armour.  “Um… aren’t you going to take it easy for a while?” Tony frowns at Steve over the top of the screen.  “Ah, no?  Why would I do that?” “Maybe because you almost died?” Steve blurts out.  “I mean, just yesterday you were—!” “Yeah, you're right,” Tony cuts in.  “But that was yesterday.  And since now it’s today, and, as you can see, I’m perfectly fine, then I need to get back to working on some stuff.” He shoots Steve a grin, like that somehow makes it okay.  “You're welcome to stay and watch if you want.” Against all odds, the Avengers have beaten Thanos. But when Tony fails to see that victory for what it is, Steve decides the only way to get him to see reason is to confess the secret he’s been harbouring for way too long.

Tony finds out that Steve still has his flip-phone when they're preparing for the time-heist

Tony and Steve have had to be quiet for more than one reason over the years. Maybe they will get some privacy now the Universe is saved?

“Are we going to talk about that kiss?” Of course it’s Tony who is brave enough to bring it up. --- Tony and Steve both retire after the events of endgame, but they have some unfinished business to take care of.

Finding himself in a world where Iron Man has just emerged Steve discovers the unexpected consequences to time travel. Stuck with a new identity, a new life, and an unexpected relationship, some consequences are more complicated than others.

“What?” Steve asks finally, putting down his pencil and staring right back at Tony. “Nothing,” Tony says. Then he reaches out and thumbs at the corner of Steve’s mouth, eyes crinkling when Steve’s eyes go very wide. “So serious, you.”

What is pinch-hitting?