A/N: This story goes along with Avengers, but before that storyline (chapters 1, 3 and 6, I believe) it's pretty much all AU. Unfortunately I have yet to read the comic books, so beyond the research (which I actually do do) I can't promise that anything is particularly factual. This chapter isn't great but future ones will be better, so far I have about seven outlined. Also I'm not big on quotation marks so stuff in italics is also dialogue/speech.

There is one SHIELD secret that no one ever talks about. One little tidbit of information that's hidden away in a file at the bottom of a rusty cabinet in Coulson's grandmother's attic. None of the newbies know about it no matter how high their clearance is, and if one of the old agents so much as mentions it, they're burned. Blacklisted, off, gonzo. It's not a secret weapon in the sense that most people would think, but it could certainly be very, very compromising, and it would most definitely raise a lot of questions. So it's hidden away, all records of it are erased and soon enough it's forgotten about. Except, it isn't. After all, if you knew two of the greatest superheroes' biggest secret, you wouldn't be able to forget it, would you?

The thing is that they've actually met before. Before Loki got hold of the Tesseract and they had to attempt to recreate the Avengers Initiative. Before Steve saying Fury didn't tell me he was calling you in, in the way he always has when he's misinformed or just plain irritated, which happens more often then people think.

The first time was a bit after Steve had been woken up and was being acclimated with the modern world and living under supervision. Tony, despite his dislike for SHIELD and everything that went along with it, had been assessing some of the radiation levels associated with their new weapons and was trying to find a way to contain them. He'd been having zero luck and was often found sitting on the ground talking to Pepper, who had diagnosed him with failure induced lethargy, on his phone.

But one day he'd woken up with the sun, which was odd foremost because he usually went to bed when the sun went up, and had, god forbid, gone out for a jog. He found that he was in surprisingly good shape, no doubt thanks to Jarvis. As he was returning to his hotel he noticed an extremely muscular and rather young looking blonde man picking up papers that he appeared to have scattered across a very large courtyard.

"Need some help, kid?" The guy looked up and Tony immediately recognized him. "I mean, Captain." Steve blushed but nodded and the pair set about picking everything up. "You know shit like this is the reason everything is digital now."

"Not everyone is used to that though." Steve replied pointedly. It wasn't his fault if he hadn't grown up around touch screens and iPods and God knows what else.

"Well I'd be happy to help you learn." Tony offered with a wink, enjoying how easily the other man flushed. What Pepper didn't know wouldn't hurt her.

"Um, I'm not allowed to leave here, I think. And I'm under observation."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, what are you implying there? It's not like we're going to do anything inappropriate." Tony teased. "Strictly business."

The Captain was about to reply when Jarvis relayed a message to Tony from Fury, asking where the fuck he was, exactly, running around New York like some kind of-. Tony rolled his eyes but replied, informing Fury that he was less than a block away.

"I need to go save the world. Wanna meet up for dinner?"

"Sure, why not?" Steve's agreement surprised Tony for a second but then he grinned in triumph.

"I'll find you later."

And that day Tony's equations had all worked out and he solved the main problem he'd been trying to work out for days in about ten minutes. He was packed up and ready to go when Jarvis reminded him that he had plans later.

"So cancel them." But then Jarvis had said Very well, I will drop your dinner with Steve Rogers from the schedule and Tony had sighed and put his stuff back down. He couldn't stand up America's number one superhero. He fiddled around for a few hours, buying equipment for his new prototype of the Mark VII and being a general nuisance. When he decided it was late enough to be considered dinnertime he hacked SHIELD's security system and located Steve.

A minute later he knocked on the door of the lab Steve was 'working' in, not bothering to see if it was okay before entering. Tony smiled to himself when Steve jerked awake, apparently completely bored by the presentation that was going on. He dragged Steve out of the lab, followed by a joking have him back by midnight! They arrived at the restaurant Pepper had made reservations and given Tony directions to a bit late, but he was Tony Stark and him simply being there was good for business.

"Is- is this a date?" Steve had asked tentatively, halfway through the main course. Tony choked on his wine, coughing slightly as he considered the question. He was glad they had a private table so no one who cared would be able to hear the conversation. He still kept his answer simple, just in case.

"Yeah." Steve nodded his head in consent and continued eating his steak, once more surprising Tony with his easy acceptance of his forwardness.

At the end of their date Tony stole a kiss from an extremely surprised Steve, who stood frozen before looking both ways down the hall and pulling the scientist into his room.

"I thought you were being monitored?"

"I'm pretty sure they haven't bugged my room. Or if they have they haven't said anything about what I may or may not have done in the past." At that Tony had pulled back to give Steve an approving smile, but the blonde just rolled his eyes and pressed Tony to the bed. Judging by the looks they got the next day, Steve's room was definitely bugged.

Shortly after their first date, Thor had shown up with the Bifrost and Loki, and Loki had decided he was going to be evil and somehow they ended up in some weird futuristic alternate dimension. One that, of course, everyone who was living in real time knew about and could get information from. Or at least Fury and the Council could.

Because they'd already started a relationship and they didn't really know anyone else, they'd turned to each other. Some form of them existed in this brand new world, so they explained everything to the alternate dimension version of SHIELD and were allowed on the team as extra pairs of hands.

They slowly built up a life together; sharing an apartment because they didn't have the money or desire for separate ones, working together, saving the world together, learning each other inside and out in every way they could. When the day came that gay marriage was passed in New York, sooner than in their own dimension, Tony planned something extravagant, an amazing proposal because Steve could only have the best.

But then Steve had come running full tilt into the apartment, holding the newspaper and grinning wildly, simply asking Why not? Alternate Barton had been the officiate because they both knew he would make it funny and most definitely a night to remember. It was planned in a few weeks and the next thing they knew Tony and Steve were saying I do and kissing each other chastely and driving off to their reception. It went beautifully until the end of the night after they'd all had their fair share of drinks when alternate Barton sat down beside Tony and said Man, you guys are really together in your world? and Tony just shrugged, unsure of how to answer. Would they really be together, married, if not for Loki and that whole crazy turn of events?

Nonetheless, the new husbands continued to live out their lives as usual. They saved up and bought a house so Tony could use the garage as his workshop and Steve could turn the backyard into his own personal gym. Somehow, it worked, at least for a while. They would wake up together, Steve shutting off the alarm, taking a shower and making breakfast before Tony even got up. Tony would do the dishes after breakfast because while Steve could walk around alternate New York in his spandex suit, people still freaked out when they saw Iron Man, so he didn't suit up until they got to work.

When they got home after work Steve would make dinner and Tony would work on projects until his husband forced him out of the garage and locked the door with a code Tony didn't have. After dinner they would tumble into the bedroom, sometimes crashing before they even got their day clothes off, sometimes taking the time to carefully peel them off each other. Every night though, they ended up wrapped around each other; Tony too egotistical to be the little spoon and Steve just too big for the same.

Eventually, though, Tony's response when Steve knocked on the garage door to get him for dinner changed from Yeah, okay, one minute to just start without me to can you put some in the microwave so it'll stay warm? And in the mornings Steve would leave earlier so he could get more work done and they wouldn't have that time, either.

And then one day it just fell apart.

"I'm home!" Steve shouted out to the seemingly empty house. He stood still for a minute and picked up music playing from somewhere in the house. Walking slowly, he traced it to the garage where Tony was welding something. He stopped when Steve walked in. "Hey."

"Yeah, hi. Can you pass me that?" Steve picked up the object Tony was pointing to, looked at it like it was weirder than an alien, and set it back down.

"So I haven't seen you in a while." They hadn't had dinner together in at least a week and Tony had taken to falling asleep in the workshop. Steve carried him to their bedroom but it wasn't the same as sleeping next to someone who knew you were there.

"I'm kind of on the verge of a breakthrough here, I don't have time for this."

"Don't have time for your own husband?" Tony looked back and forth between Steve and his new creation. "Fine. Call me when you remember that I exist, and that I'm the only person you actually know here."

Tony didn't call, probably because he didn't have Jarvis to remind him. Steve waited for months before contacting a lawyer. A week later he showed up at his old home with a moving van and a folder of papers for Tony to sign.

They sold the house, Steve letting Tony have all the money because he was moving in with alternate Natasha and Clint, which was probably a bad call on his part. Still, it was better than living with someone he used to be married to. Someone he would never forget falling in love with, no matter how hard he tried. Even if the whole world knew what had happened between them, Steve would never admit that those months on his own before they got rescued, real or unreal, were the worst of his life.

But then they were rescued, and Steve was free to get as far away from Tony as he could. Neither of them answered any questions about what had happened, and if people didn't know from fact, no one would've had any clue there'd been a spark between them.

And that's how two of the worlds' greatest superheroes ended up being ex-husbands.