starkly-tony:

One of my favorite things about Tony and Steve and their relationship is that, for all his cynicism, Tony is fundamentally an optimist and for all his idealism, Steve is fundamentally not.

Tony has never had much faith in anyone else to do anything right. And when it comes down to it he’s not a big fan if himself, either. But he believes in the future. He believes that, for all its flaws, humanity is bettering itself. It’s worth investing in. It’s why he does what he does and why he’s a futurist.

Steve is the exact opposite. He believes in individuals. But, coming from the 40s, he’s already seen the future, and what it looks like is a while lot of the same. Sure, some things are better, but there still war and strife and pain and inequality. He has no reason to believe that another couple decades will make any difference at all.

But when you put them together, they complement each other perfectly, whether as teammates or friends or anything else. Tony has more than enough faith in humanity for the both of them and Steve has more than enough faith in people. And I just think that’s beautiful.