Title: Corrective Surgery
Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Rating: Teens and Up
Character: Tony Stark, Steve Rogers
Pairings: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Length: 400 words
Warnings: Mild Body Horror, Unanesthetized Surgery, 
Major Tags: Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst.
Author notes: N/a
Summary: Tony stands by Steve's side as he goes through surgery to correct a bone that had healed wrong.

~ + ~

The Iron Man gauntlet creaks in protest at the strength of Steve's grip. At the back of his mind, he worries about Steve finally managing to crush the gauntlet and his hand along with it. He knows how much force the armour can take, but he doesn't know how much strength Steve has in this state or how much control he has over himself.
  
Tony tries to focus on his breathing, squeezing his eyes shut against the scene in front of him. Desperately, he tries to imagine that he was in his lab, or Bruce's. Not here. Anywhere but here.
  
No one would fault him for the thought, especially not Steve.
  
It gets harder to pretend when the whine of the bone saw starts up and Steve struggles to bite back his cries of pain.
  
The pitch of the saw changes as the doctors proceed to cut through Steve's femur so that they can correct the mal-healed break.
  
It's barely been over a month since the battle, and Steve had been brought back into surgery several times already.
  
The serum worked so fast. Too fast. He and Bruce hadn't been able to develop a drug that suppressed that yet, or even an anesthetic that would work on Steve. For the more superficial injuries, the speed of the serum was more than fine, beneficial actually. The problem was with the more serious injuries. Ones that took time to heal that the serum rushed. Ones like broken bones. Like Steve's right femur..
  
Steve's leg had healed incorrectly five times already, and each time they had to rebreak the bone and start the whole process again. They couldn't use plates, screws, or bone braces as the serum was more than happy to try and heal them into the bone itself. All they could do was correct the brake and hope that this time the bone heals properly. Repeating as many times as possible until the bone finally healed right.
  
A particularly loud scream breaks Tony from his thoughts. His stomach clenches and rolls nauseatingly at the sound.
  
"Almost done," he whispers, brushing Steve's hair from his sweaty face with his free, unarmoured hand. "I promise."
  
Steve looks up at him with watery eyes filled with pain and fear. "C-can't. Tony," Steve gasps. "I can't. p-Please. I- stop."
  
Tony closes his eyes against his own tears. "It'll over soon, sweetheart. Just a little longer."