There were only two things Tony was aware of, the cold, and the pain. Hours had passed since Captain Perfection had skipped away into the setting sun with his buddy boy Bucky. Now the cold had refrigerated the suit and worked its way through the cushioning inside and had begun to attack Tony's skin.
Then there was the pain. The pain from Tony's broken ribs, the pain from Tony's multiple concussions, the pain from his arm which had barely healed from Germany, the numb pain from Tony's hand which felt frozen solid. And the emotional pain. Rogers, his lying, his betrayal, his stubbornness, his actions and words making Tony feel like nothing when he had only wanted to impress the man that Howard had given long, loving speeches about. In a tone that Tony would've loved to hear from his father, directed at him. Not at Rogers.
But Howard was dead.
Along with his mum.
Barnes had crushed them and beaten them and murdered them.
Tony had blamed himself, he had blamed Howard.
And Rogers had lied.
Forget the earlier thought.
Tony felt three things, cold, pain,
And hatred.
The hate was filling him, blocking out and numbing the freezing pain. Hate for Rogers, for Romanoff who most definitely knew, for Barnes, for the Avengers and Ross and Bruce and Thor for not being here, for everyone.
Including himself, but that is no different than usual.
But Rogers would pay. Barnes was a victim and once Tony had spent a few days or so recovering then he will have to put that hate aside. But Rogers… Tony loathed Rogers with every part of his being. Vengeful thoughts filled his mind. Rogers... Rogers… Rogers… The American Golden Boy, the vision of everyone's perfect friend. If Steve was everyone's Angel… then Tony was their Devil. But all along they had gotten the titles wrong. Rogers was a snake, a demon, a deception. And Tony? Tony was going to send him to hell.
-o-x-o-
Steve walked through the hallways of Wakanda. Bucky had recently gone into cryo and Steve was having trouble finding something to do. The others were constantly sulking. Specifically Clint. Which, granted, wasn't his fault. Tony was keeping him away from his family.
"Steve?" Steve turned and saw Natasha looking at him from the doorway to her room.
"Yeah?"
"You okay?"
"Of course why wouldn't I be?"
"Your face." she smiled sadly. "That face means you are thinking about Tony."
"I have a face for that?"
"Yes." She walked towards him, eyes on his face. "It's regretful."
"That certainly isn't depressing." Steve smiled slightly. Ignoring the truth to her words.
"What happened in Siberia?" She asked softly. Steve backed away. The others had stopped asking him after the first couple of times were Steve had simply said, "Tony tried to stop us. So we fought." But Natasha was persistent. Every now and then she would just spring the question on him when he least expected it.
"I told you already Nat." Steve answered finally.
"You would feel better if you didn't ignore it." Natasha said, her face still kind.
"I told you already."
"Steve." Natasha's kindness slipped away and was replaced by impatience. "You have to tell us. Otherwise, I will hack HYDRA and get the footage from the base myself."
No
"I'll tell you when I'm ready." Insisted Steve. Before Natasha could reply, he turned and left. He vaguely registered Natasha murmuring something in Russian behind him.
He continued to his room. He really needed to sleep. Steve had stayed awake throughout the process of putting Bucky into Cryo which had taken most of last night. Closing the door behind him Steve closed his eyes sighing. He couldn't help feeling slightly guilty for bringing his friends into his problems even if it was what was right.
Steve sighed, flicking off the lights and kicking off his shoes as he collapsed into bed. Closing his eyes, he fell asleep.
Steve jumped awake. Looking around panicked before remembering he was in Wakanda. And Bucky was safe. He was safe. Bucky…
Steve froze. He wasn't alone in the room.
"Who's there? Show yourself!" he spoke with a calmness that didn't reflect his current emotions.
"I was there for hours, you know." A cold voice spoke from the darkness. "Freezing. Rotting. Dying."
"What?" Steve looked around for the source of the voice but the room was pitch black. He recognized the voice. But it was too cold, too cruel, to be him.
"I should just start to expect betrayal shouldn't I?" The voice spoke again, the coldness increasing with every syllable.
"T-Tony?" Steve looked around beginning to stand up and move towards the light.
"Don't you dare move." Tony snarled from the darkness. Steve stopped, his heart beating unnaturally fast.
"Tony, are you there."
"Don't call me Tony, Rogers." Tony hissed. "You don't have the right. To act as my friend. To act like you know me."
"Sorry." Steve answered, his eyes desperate to find the figure of his friend in the darkness. "How did you get in?"
"My secrets are my own." Tony's voice seemed to be getting closer to him.
"I'm sorry. For not telling you." Steve sighed, "About your parents."
"Oh you have more to apologize for than that." Tony's voice had grown quieter now.
"What…"
"You know my hand shakes now?" Tony interrupted.
"Your hand?" Steve squinted, confused.
"Frostbite along with the act of fighting two super soldiers with an injured arm does that. I can't do precise work now. The bots have to do it for me. That was my favourite part too. The details. The bits you don't notice at first until they scream out at you. Shocking you with how you didn't notice before."
"Tony…" Steve choked.
"I guess I should have focused on the details. But I was expecting too much of you. I was expecting you to actually be good…"
"Tony. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have hurt you. I didn't mean to. I just wanted to do what was right."
There was no answer.
"Tony?"
Still no answer.
Steve struggled to his feet, no words were said to stop him. The lights flickered on and Steve looked around. The room was empty. No one there but him.
"Was Tony here?" Steve asked T'challa as he came in to check on them.
"Why would that matter." snarled Wanda, glaring venomously at her breakfast.
"Yes… He was." T'challa looked at Steve curiously.
"The asshole was here!" Clint had a very ugly look on his face. "What the hell for!"
"Dr Stark was here to collect some Vibranium for a business deal we made." T'challa answered slowly.
"When did he leave?" Steve questioned.
"Around noon." T'challa swiftly replied. "Now if you could excuse me, Captain, I have work to do." Without another word T'challa left.
"Asshole," muttered Clint under his breath.
"Yes, we established you think Tony is an ass, Clint." Natasha said bored as she turned a page in her book.
"I have to go," murmured Steve, putting down his cutlery and heading towards his room. Perfectly aware of Natasha's eyes following him. He shook his head. Tony left at noon. He hadn't been in Steve's room last night, that was probably just a dream.
"He wasn't there." Steve muttered to himself. He opened the door to his room and froze. He wasn't sure why for several seconds but then his eyes grew wide.
On his bedside counter was a flip phone. Just like the one he had given Tony. Except for the fact that it wasn't his. His was in his pocket. Where it always was.
The one on the table was Tony's.
-o-
Steve wasn't going mad was he? Every week. On the same day. He would wake up and find his dark room with someone in it. Was this some Tony-centric hallucination?
And now they had been pardoned.
T'challa had told them the news a couple of days ago. Tony and him had managed to get them pardons, as well as being back on the Avengers team. Which of course they had never left but that was T'challa's words.
"About time Stark looked past his ego." Wanda was saying.
"It didn't take as long as I expected." smirked Clint. They were clearly happy thoughts about going home.
"Guys you do realise he didn't actually have to pardon us, right?" Scott pointed out.
"Listen Tic Tac. You don't know Stark. This is his way of acting like it didn't happen." Sam sighed.
Natasha was being quiet. She hadn't said much since T'challa's news and barely looked at Steve since the Wakandan jet had taken off.
"You okay Nat?" offered Steve. She nodded. Still not saying a word. The rest of the journey was mostly silent. Steve kept on rubbing the two flip phones in his pocket. Just to make sure he hadn't been imagining it all.
"He wasn't there." He whispered softly. "Or was he?"
"You say something?" Sam glanced at him. Steve shook his head.
"We have arrived." informed the pilot. Steve jumped up. Looking out the window. It looked different. Remodelling had clearly been done.
"Ah. Home sweet home," sighed Sam wistfully, clapping Steve on the shoulder as he looked at the view. Steve gulped as the jet landed softly on the ground. The back opened, and Steve cleared his throat. Putting on his face of authority.
"Let's go." He stated. The others nodded, standing up. They all thanked the Dora Milaje as they descended. Heading towards the doors they saw a figure waiting outside. Steve glanced up briefly and paused slightly as he saw the familiar form of Iron Man flying about. He was not alone. It was hard to see who it was. Someone new, guessed Steve. All he could make out was a figure with a red… cape? Holding him aloft. Steve stared for a second as he continued to make his way to the entrance.
"Hello." he greeted the new person waiting for them. The person raised an eyebrow slightly. He had short blond hair and light eyes.
"Am I really that unrecognizable?" The man asked and Steve's eyes widened.
"Vis?" Wanda stepped forward, shock on her face.
"Miss Maximoff." Vision replied not looking at her.
"You're human?" Clint asked bluntly.
"No. I am merely holding a form that is more natural to this world." He replied. "If you could follow me." He turned and began to head towards the entrance. Steve looked up again and saw the red form of that spider person on the edge of the roof looking down at them. The two flying had landed too. Well the red cape person was levitating and Steve now saw him as a man. Tony had landed next to the spider person and his suit seemed to just disappear into him as he surveyed them. The others seemed to be completely ignoring him. Except for Natasha who was observing him quietly. Steve smiled at the man. Tony didn't smile back. In fact, his face was a mask of no emotion that eerily reminded Steve of Natasha when they had first met.
"Mr Rogers." Vision said curtly. Pulling Steve away from his observation. Steve nodded and followed Vision into the building.