[poetry] do i love you truly? - 616!SteveTony

do i love you truly?
do i love you as you are?

or do i love the man my father built you to be,
heroic in his every image
and golden as any good man can be?

do i love you truly?
do i love you for you?

or do i love the image burned into these retinas
by the father who only knew love
when i reminded him of you?

do i love you truly?
do i love the man i came to know?

or was this love misplaced,
distorted between frail lungs,
a mere remnant of the heart my father
could never- to me- bestow?

does this heart love you truly?
is this love for you mine?

or does it love what it thinks it should have been
once upon a time?

not to hate on 616!stevetony, but there's the problematic aspect that tony has grown up with captain america partly because of his father, practically hero-worshipped him even, and you have to wonder about how healthy his love is for steve when considering it in that context. I adore stevetony in all forms, I adore it a lot more in 616 because that's where the good shit's at, but still. The fact that Tony considers Captain America more worthy of living than him.....that's not very healthy. You have to wonder how many times it was drilled into him as a child that Captain America was significant and he could never reach that golden standard.