TITLE: Born To Die
RATING: NC-17/MA
GENRE: AU, Slash, Romance/Angst/Drama
PAIRING(S): Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
CHARACTER(S): Marvel Assorted
WARNING(S): Character Death (Sorta Kinda Temporary), Travel Between Realities, New Reality No Powers, Teacher!Tony Stark, Tony Stark Feels, Tony Stark Has Issues, Steve Rogers Has Issues, bottom!Tony Stark, OOC, Not Comics Compliant, I Don't Have Practical Knowledge Of The Comics, Sorry To Disappoint, Abuse, Violence, Language, M/M Slash
SPOILER(S): Some For The Avengers Movie
DISCLAIMER: Own nothing but the plot and the original characters. All mistakes are mine.
VERSE: None
SUMMARY: When Steve loses his last connection to his past, he falls into a deep depression; until an opportunity presents itself in the form of a portal. Going against everything he's been taught, he decides to jump through. What he finds on the other side may be what he's been looking for the whole time. Can he hold onto it, is the question.
A/N: Starts off in the prologue as 2nd POV. Don't worry, by chapter one it'll switch to normal. Kind of had this idea rolling around in my head. I hope you enjoy it! Comments, Kudos, Bookmarks, and Reviews are appreciated!
Prologue
You can barely focus.
There's people screaming at you…screaming for you…but you barely hear them. It's like you're swimming under water on dry land.
All you see is Tony Stark, flying into a black hole.
A portal.
A rip in space and time that is bringing forth the Hellbeasts you and your team have been fighting against for hours now.
And you're mesmerized and horrified in equal parts. It's like watching a train wreck, you can't force yourself to look away.
Tony Stark isn't this noble.
Tony Stark isn't this…heroic.
Tony Stark doesn't fly into what will most likely be his death…willingly…without hesitation or discussion…
No.
That isn't Anthony Edward Stark: billionaire, playboy, philanthropist. That isn't any man you knew.
That anyone knew.
It's someone different, someone special…someone irreplaceable.
But maybe, just maybe, that has been Tony this whole time and you just weren't paying attention. You were too busy trying to be right. Trying to prove to yourself as well as everyone else your worth and relevance to the new team you were thrust into. That you were too busy the mourning the life you lost, that you didn't see that Tony was never really in competition with you.
He actually extended the arm of friendship – in his own way – multiple times, only for you to so stubbornly shove it away.
That actually, truthfully, you had been in competition with him. Competing against everything that you once were before you became Captain America.
That you had been an unfair, judgmental asshole to someone who not only didn't deserve it; but was the son of one of your closest friends before you became – as Tony had jokingly said – a Capsicle.
And suddenly you feel terribly sick.
If Howard had been alive...god.
How could you do that? Basically spit on the friendship you had by not respecting his boy, based on some tabloid articles and someone else's opinion of him?
You start to feel like the scum of the earth, because the proof of how untrue those opinions are of Tony is plainly obvious now. Something you would have known had you cared to.
Your head is a mess, and you can't hear anything being said. Can't feel anything going on around you. Not even Hulk as he continues to rip through all of Manhattan.
Desperately you close your eyes and pray for this to be a dream.
To not let it be that you never have the opportunity to apologize. To accept that arm of friendship. To get close to that wonderful man that infuriates as much as he inspires.
But when you open your eyes it's still happening. Everything is still falling apart like sand through your closed fist, and you can't breathe, and part of you wants to stop trying to.
…Stark clears the portal with the bomb….
Distantly you hear Natasha talking…
…everybody is waiting for Tony to come out with a quip and ill placed sexual platitude…
But Tony never does.
And as if your body is on autopilot you tell Natasha to close the portal, sealing off any hope of seeing him ever again.
And that's precisely when you stop trying to focus altogether.
