Walking on Broken Glass - 1

As soon as Steve entered the hospital, all eyes were on him. He had dirt and blood all over himself, his Captain America suit had large rips where his wounds were already healing, and was carrying an unconscious Tony Stark. He had managed to take him out of the Iron Man suit with JARVIS's help, but wasn't able to wake him up, don't matter how loud he yelled his name.

Tony was taken to the emergency room and Steve asked one of the nurses for some change to call Peter.

"Hello?" The 18 year old answered.

"Peter, it's Steve. I'm at the hospital."

"What?! What happened?"

"It's... Tony."

"I'll be there in 10 minutes."

And he was. When Peter arrived, Steve explained that Tony had been injured in battle and was unconscious before heading to the restroom with the change of clothes that Peter brought for him.

It was a couple of hours before they got any news. Doctor Scott was Tony's doctor and was well aware of his condition with the arc reactor, no other doctor was ever allowed to treat Tony. He was a tall man with grey hair and rectangular glasses that kept sliding down his nose.

"Mr. Stark seems physically fine." He spoke in his thick Australian accent. "Some minor injuries have been properly treated. But he's still unconscious and it might take a few days for him to wake up, only then we will be able to diagnose any possible brain damage caused by the head injury."

It has been two weeks. Steve is going insane with the waiting, he spends as much time as he can in Tony's room, just looking at him waiting for him to wake up. Peter spends a lot of time in college, so he's mostly alone.

He twirls the golden wedding ring on his finger and taps his foot on the floor in time with Tony's heart monitor. The arc reactor shines through the hospital gown, but it seems less bright than before. Tony's skin looks pale and his beard looks weird, it's still growing back after one of the nurses shaved it completely when Steve wasn't there. 'Tony will be so pissed when he wakes up and I tell him that someone messed with his beard', he thinks and smiles sadly.

Steve is looking down and thinking about the battle that did all this, so he doesn't see it when Tony's fingers twitch and his eyes open up slowly. The first thing he sees is the ceiling, and it's so white and clean that it's actually a bit nauseating. He then hears the heart monitor and looks at the machine, trails the wires that come out of it and connect in his hand. Tony frowns before looking down at himself and there's something glowing on his chest. He lifts an eyebrow quizzically and looks down his gown to see something bright and weird just sticking out of his chest and his eyes grow wide.

"What the fuck?!" He whispers.

"Tony?" A voice calls. He quickly turns his head to the side, only now noticing the blond man sitting on a chair. The man smiles brightly, there are tears in his eyes and he's getting up.

"Did you do this to me?!" Tony asks, scared, pointing at his chest.

Steve stops walking towards him, looking confused. "What do you mean?"

"There's a huge round thing sticking out of my fucking chest! What the hell is it!?"

"That's... That's your arc reactor." Steve starts approaching him again, but when he tries to touch Tony he flinches away.

"My what?"

"Are you okay, Tony?" Steve sits on the bed and reaches for Tony's hand, but he flinches once again.

"No! I'm not! And could you please stop trying to touch me?! Creep! Who the hell are you anyway?!"

Steve can almost hear his own heart shatter at that and he gets up. Tony is looking at him like Steve is some sort of pervert, but he manages to push the button to call the doctor and leave the room before he lets the tears of shock run down his cheeks. There are four words repeatedly haunting his thoughts. 'He doesn't remember me.'.