Overwhelmed would not describe Steve's current emotional state. Before he woke up, he remembered the impact of crashing into the ice. His last thoughts were of Peggy and how he would break the one promise he wanted to keep. He also thought that if he were there, he hoped to see Bucky, he could imagine his best friend's face smirking at him. He would probably make some dumb joke about his death and put his arm around his shoulder, and they would walk together towards the unknown.

But then he woke up, and everything felt wrong. From hearing the baseball game, Steve had been too on the radio and the woman who seemed to talk as if she were walking in a verbal minefield. Choosing each word carefully to try not to set him off.

So, when the super soldier confronted her, and the soldiers came in, they didn't look like anything like the MP's he'd seen, but they did not look anything like Hydra soldiers. However, he needed answers, and as he ran out of the room they kept him in, which looked to be a set of some kind, he pushed through anyone who got in his way.

His blonde hair was pushed back by the wind as his powerful legs pushed against the ground, and it allowed his powerful build to barrel through his opposition. His dark blue eyes quickly scanned his surroundings as he searched for any exits.

Now that Steve was outside of the building, and everything looked so different as he ran. He stopped as he felt a sense of familiarity with where he was at. Then the realization hit the soldier like a truck. He had been here so many times before he joined the army when he would hang out with Bucky. This was Times Square, but it was different. It was even more colorful than it was before and there were so many lights that he didn't know where to look. However, his trance would end as he heard horns honking behind and three black cars that he had never seen before have stopped behind him.

"At ease soldier!" A loud voice called out behind him. Steve turned towards that voice and saw a bald man with dark skin, with one eye covered by a black eye patch, and a short dark beard. He wore a black coat, with both his shirt, pants, and shoes keeping the same color. He walked towards Steve who now noticed his remaining dark brown eye looking at him with the same caution the woman earlier given him. "I'm sorry about that show there..."

"Told ya it wouldn't work Fury!" An unknown male voice called out behind the man. This caught the attention of both Steve and 'Fury' as a new form emerged from one of the cars that surrounded the two men currently standing.

The new figure had long messy blonde hair, pale skin, and the man seemed to hunch over, but he almost seemed to tower Fury and Steve. He was wearing an average set of clothes with a plain jacket over his shoulders. But, what made Steve freeze in place were his eyes. They seemed dark from where he was standing, but his irises were a burning bright blue that seemed to have a light that he would never see again.

"Toshinori?" he asked astonished as if by the man in front of him. The tallest man grinned at the sound of his name; he did a quick salute towards Steve, "Nice to see you again Captain."

Fury sighed, "well we thought it would be best if we broke it to him slowly." Toshinori frowned and looked back at Fury with an annoyed look.

"Well, how did that turn out for ya?"

"Break what?"

Both Toshinori and Fury looked back at Steve as their expressions seem to soften towards him. Fury looked back towards the taller male who nodded and looked back towards his old comrade. "You've been asleep for nearly seventy years."

Shocked would not be the right word he would use to describe how he felt when he heard those words coming out of his friend's mouth.

The American icon turned to look at his surroundings. His mind was telling him that they were wrong, that this was just a dream that he would soon wake up from it and he would see Peggy again.

But, his heart told him differently. Steve's expression softened as the realization hit him. The super soldier felt a hand on his shoulder, and he turned to see Toshinori with a doleful look. However, it was replaced by a small smile towards his friend as he put an arm around Steve's shoulder. "C'mon Steve, I'll take it from here Fury."

Fury furrowed his eyebrows but gave Toshinori a reluctant nod. To which the tallest male-led Steve to one of the parked cars.

Now that Steve had taken his attention off of the two men and now noticed the crowd that currently surrounded them with only men in suits being the only barrier, since the two of them were inside the backseat of the car, Toshinori let out a heavy sigh. "So, what do you want to know?"

There were so many things he wanted to ask, what happened during the war, who were those men and how did they find him?

"What happened to the Howling Commandos?"

"Well, not long after you disappeared and the destruction of Hydra, the es-es-ar dissolved our squad. They gave us a choice we either head back home or we could continue the fight. Those of us who did became the first field agents for Shield."

Steve furrowed his brow, but before the super soldier could respond his friend quickly stated. "They were the group that found you and they were the esesar after Hydra was destroyed."

"It's all an acronym for something; I honestly don't remember what it was exactly."

"How about Stark? Did anything happen to him?"

"Yeah, a few years ago he and his wife died in a car crash. But before then he had helped Shield with technology, as well as making a name for himself selling weapons to the military, which used to be in the hands of his son."

"Do, you know what he is like?" Steve asked to which Toshinori just simply shrugged. "To be honest not really, from what it seems like he keeps bouncing around and since I haven't met him, I couldn't tell you."

"What about Peggy?" As Steve finished his question, he felt the air around the back seat of the car become heavier. His friend's eyes and mouth seemed to drop as well the taller man shoulders sagged as if a massive weight had put on him. "She's alive, but the last few times I've visited her, she either believed we were in the forties again, or she would have forgotten me entirely."

Steve felt as if he were hit by a train. He knew that what he asked would have resulted in this. But, he didn't expect the answer he received. The two men remained silent neither of them not knowing what to say to the other.

...

Thankfully the silence between the two didn't last long as they felt the car slow down. "Well, it looks like we're here."

As the car finally stopped Steve opened the car, and he looked towards his friend exiting the car and heading towards the building. Then the soldier saw the sign above him that caused the super soldier to grin. On the sign read, "The Hall of Comics!"

As he read the sign, he couldn't help, but shake his head as a light chuckle exited his lips. "Do you think you're hitting a little bit on the nose there?"

"Ha, it's called hiding in plain sight my friend! This is the last place anyone would think of finding me." Toshinori jokingly explained as he unlocked the door and entered the establishment.

Steve was immediately taken aback by the vast collection of comic books that filled the multiple shelves around the store. The inside felt lively with its bright colors and the different posters that hold different characters.

"C'mon, I'll get you something to wear and some beer upstairs." The taller male stated as he set his keys on the countertop and opened a door that led to a flight of stairs. To which led to what looked to be an average looking apartment. With some unique decor such as a poster here and there, as well as a desk with a mess of papers on it.

Then Toshinori took off his jacket and laid it over a chair. "Take a seat; I'll be right back." He explained as the taller male left towards one of the other rooms. Steve looked at his friend, and with his jacket off he noticed how thin he was as if he were only skin and bones. And while he may still be taller than the super soldier he seemed to let off an aura of humility. His clothes appeared to look that way as well as they seemed to be a few sizes too large for him.

As Steve waited he went over the desk filled with papers; he seemed to grin while looking at one of the papers.

"Here, I got you some clothes as well as a pair of shoes. Hopefully, they should fit you." Toshinori called out as exited the room and he caught sight of his friend at his desk. "Heh, even after seventy years of being on ice you still like to look through my stuff."

"Well to be fair, you do tend to leave stuff like this out in the open." Steve quickly replied to his friend who smirked as he continued his approach. "So, are you making a book of some kind?"

"It's actually comic book. A couple of years ago an old guy came to me and noticed some of my drawings and then the next thing I knew I was making comics for him. I decided to create some stories based on some of our adventures."

"Do your friends know about these?"

The skinny male grinned, "I said they were based on our adventures not that they were our adventures."

Toshinori sighed, "But, knowing them I wouldn't be surprised if they did. However, it's one of the few things that keep me sane while I'm retired, and besides I requested to be anonymous, so no one knows it's me."

Steve sat down to put on his shoes while his friend walked towards what looked to be a fridge. "Hey, Toshi."

"Yeah"

"If I've in the ice for seventy years, then how do you…"

"Look younger than what I am supposed to be?" Toshinori finished Steve's sentenced as he returned with two beer cans in hand and gave one to his friend, who looked at it with a curious glance at the taller man's can and seemed to mimic the taller blond to pop open the can, as Toshinori grinned in amusement.

"Well One for All does more than just super strength and durability, my body can heal itself, and it does more than close wounds. It also slows down the aging process as well. So, while I may be ninety-one, I physically look like I'm forty." He explained, but as he finished his expression seemed to drop as he looked down at his drink.

"However, even that is…" He then let out a coughing fit which scared Steve as he reached towards his friend, but he was pushed back. Once Toshinori stopped as Steve gave him a confused look, the tall blond noticed and let out a deep sigh.

Toshinori pulled the bottom of his shirt up and revealed a massive wound that had a mixture of green and purple spread across his left side with a large indentation revealing the point of impact. Steve gave his friend a surprised look at the wound, and his eyes narrowed as he met Toshinori's gaze. "Did he do that to you?" To which the blond simply nodded. "Yeah, he hit me with some poison that slows down my healing. But, I in return made sure he could never hurt anyone else ever again." The taller man's eyes grew narrow as his body grew stiffer, and Steve understood his words.

Then his friend seemed to relax and took a long gulp of his drink. "However, not long after that due to my injuries, I would soon become a liability and Shield thought it would be best if I retired. And no matter how hard I fought against it, and now I'm here and we made a deal that if something too dangerous came up, then they would put me on the field."

Toshinori let out a light chuckle and then quickly finished his drink. "But despite all of that." The taller male slowly stood back up and held the can in his palm, and in an instant, he grew over seven feet tall, his body quickly filling up space from his clothes, as well as when he was skin and bones before, now every part of him was covered in muscles. Even his face and hair had changed, as his face seemed to become rounder, and most of his hair was slicked back except for two bangs which were pointed towards the ceiling. The newly transformed male crushed the can within his hands.

"I'm still as strong as I ever was!" Toshinori stated with a wide full tooth smile as his voice became deeper and more boisterous than it was before. This caused Steve to grin as he looked up at him, "so, I'm guessing you don't use that just for parties?" The American icon asked jokingly, to which his enlarged friend let out a loud laugh.

"You could say me being around this area has dropped the crime rate to be the lowest in the entire state! Not to toot my own horn or anything like that, but toot toot!" The larger male exclaimed and caused Steve nearly burst in the way his friend talked.

Once the super soldier seemed to settle down, he seemed to keep a grin on his face. "You know they say that time changes everyone, but even after seventy years, you are still the same. How do you do it?"

The newly transformed man smiled even wider as he let out a low chuckle, "well, I wouldn't say that I haven't changed, but to answer your question, Mr. Rogers. It is because…" As he was about to finish a loud ringing erupted from downstairs.

"Shit!" Toshinori exclaimed as the sudden noise surprised him and caused him to lose his enlarged form as he reverted to his skinnier form and the hero seemed to start another coughing fit, "I must've left the door unlocked!" But Steve was able to notice a little bit of blood coming from the corner of his mouth.

"Toshi, your bleeding!"

"Don't worry it's normal!"

"From what I remember seventy years ago, bleeding from your mouth is not considered 'normal'!"

"That would be a good point, except for the fact that we were never 'normal' to begin with!" Toshinori countered as he pulled some sort of device from his pocket. The taller male concerned look quickly turned into one of relief as he let out a deep sigh.

"Well, that's not so bad." He stated as he put the device into his pocket, "I'll be right back." The skinnier male stated as he put his hands in his pockets and let out a small smile as he went downstairs.

Steve gave his old friend a confused look at his now calm demeanor. It didn't take long for the super soldier to feel a slight itch as curiosity took over his thoughts. Giving in to the itch the now lone male went towards the stairs to see what was going on. But he could not help but take a cursory glance towards the desk with the single drawing of the enlarged form of his friend as he flexed his muscles and above him with stars surrounding it reading, 'ALL MIGHT!' he could not help, but smile towards it. Then Steve proceeded to go downstairs.

…

So, as Steve walked down the stairs he could hear a voice very different from any person he had met before; it sounded like it was a lighter pitch to Toshinori's voice, it was also different from a woman's voice. As he got closer to the source of the voice the clearer it became. "…Well, when I noticed the keys were on the counter, and you weren't there, and I panicked. I know I should've texted you but I didn't know if you could've been taken hostage and I didn't want to make things worse, but I didn't want to call the police in case there was-"

Steve then saw Toshinori standing with a short boy who at least looked to be in his teens with a large set of messy dark green hair. He had freckles that dotted his cheeks which were noticeable from his pale skin, and he had green eyes which darted around the store in nervousness as he continued on his ramblings.

Aside from the green hair, Steve couldn't help but notice how plain the boy looked. As his clothes and backpack did nothing but show how simple he looked, if he were in a crowd he would be able to blend in easily, Steve thought to himself.

However, his rambling was put to an end as Toshinori placed his hand on the boy's head. "You're rambling again Izuku." The elder man stated to which the boy stopped as his shoulders slowly relaxed and his eyes moved towards the ground. "I'm sorry sir."

The older man let out a kind grin towards the teenager, "why should you apologize young man, from where I am standing you were worried about me, so you had your reasons."

Toshinori slowly ruffled the teenager's messy hair. "But next time, text me next time okay." The boy let out a small smile towards the older man as he nodded in acknowledgment.

However, the teen noticed Steve watching the two interact, as his dark green eyes looked at him almost as if he were analyzing him right on the spot. It was also something that Toshinori seemed to notice as well. "Oh, don't worry about him, he's the son of one my old war buddies. Steve this is Izuku Midoriya, Izuku this is Steve. He just got back stateside and wanted to have a place to stay for the night until he found a place to rest his head."

Izuku nodded towards Steve who returned it, "it's a pleasure to meet you sir, and thank you for your service." The teenager quickly blurted out, to which Steve simply nodded towards him. The boy nervously looked back towards Toshinori as he stammered, "Um, mom actually wanted me to ask you if you wanted to eat with us tonight. Mom said she was planning on making some roast and if you want, you could come to eat with us as well, sir."

Toshinori looked up to his friend and let out a small grin. "Well if your mom cooking then you could sign me up, how about you Steve?"

The super soldier let out a kind smiled spread across his face towards the teenager. "I would like that," Steve stated to which Izuku nodded and head towards the door. He then waved towards the two men, "I'll see you tonight then!" He exclaimed as he waved to them and left the building.

"He's a nervous wreck sometimes, but he is a good kid," Toshinori stated to which Steve nodded with him.

"How much does he know?"

"He does not know about my powers nor my past. Just that I'm a friendly neighborhood comic store owner, who happens to be a family friend. And trust me, Steve, when I say you haven't tried anything until you've had food made by Inko."

…

A couple of hours have passed since they saw to which the two old friends caught up some more until they reached the Midoriya's home which resided in an apartment building. Once they were at the apartment door, they were greeted by a chubby woman in her early forties, with green hair and eyes like Izuku's.

She politely introduced herself as Inko towards Steve and thanked him for his service much like her son. Once they entered through the door, Steve noticed the simple layout of the apartment.

The soldier noticed Izuku setting up the table and once the group sat down at the table. As the four made some casual small talk, Steve noticed the politeness of both mother and son, and he could not help but understand where Toshinori meant earlier as the food was amazing. He had not felt this way since even before World War two; it felt as if he were…home.

Once they finished their supper, the super soldier let out an audible sigh. "You were right Toshi; I haven't had a meal like this in years. Thank you miss Midoriya."

"Oh, thank you so much. I appreciate your praise, and you can call me Inko there is no point to be so formal." Inko explained to which Steve nodded towards her.

"Here let Izuku, and I take your dishes for you." After the mother and son pair took the remaining plates and went towards the kitchen.

Steve watched as the two worked together on cleaning the dishes. He could not help but smile at how peaceful it all was. Neither of them knew that they had two superpower beings sitting at their dining table. It reminded him of the life he wanted to have before he crashed into the ice. For the first time since he woke up, he felt quite serene with what was happening.

"You know Steve" the super soldier looked towards his old friend who was smiling towards the two. "Not that long ago you asked why I still wanted to save people, even after all of these years. It's because of people like those two. I want to create a future for them so that they could cherish every moment of the lives that they have. To create a world where people like them could smile freely without looking over their shoulders in fear. That is why I still want to help people." As Toshinori finished his explanation, he looked back at Steve, to which he returned it and looked at the small family.

`"Yeah" Steve commented, "that sounds like a good reason."