Sitting there in that car beside Fury, he was hit with the sudden – and incredibly inappropriate – urge to rip off his clothes and investigate what had happened to his other five marks. Bucky's was still plain in the crease of his left elbow, and the maroon words were outlined, which meant that particular soulmate was dead – but why were they even soulmates if they were never meant to meet? – so what had happened with the other marks?
"Captain," Fury recaptured his attention. "We're taking you back to the medical facility; our doctors want to monitor you for awhile to ensure that you've had no lasting effects from your little nap."
Steve's mouth twisted into a wry smile at those last two words and he nodded since it had already been proven that he didn't really have a choice. Besides that, he was still confused and these people did seem to want to help him. For the remainder of the ride, Fury updated him on the SSR – SHIELD now, and Peggy and Howard had officially been the ones to really get the agency off the ground. Steve wanted to ask about Peggy, but there wasn't time before they reached their destination, and in short order, Steve was back in the building, being shuffled into a room and handed a hospital gown.
As soon as the door was closed behind the nurse who'd handed him the gown, Steve quickly shed all of his clothes, eyes snapping first to his left leg. The red "Recruits! Attention! Gentlemen, I am Agent Carter; I supervise all operations for this division" was still there, the red color of the words as bold as ever – so Peggy at least was still alive – and Steve nearly cried with relief.
But he nearly cried again when he looked at the other remaining marks and realized that five out of the seven were now only an outline.
No, this world – and this unexpected blow of grief at the deaths of the soulmates that he'd never even met – wasn't at all what he had expected…
Even a year later, this new version of the world he'd once been in touch with was still a surprising place… though nothing could've prepared anyone for the Norse god that made an attempt at taking over the world. Let alone could the Avengers have predicted what it would mean for them personally...
May, 2012
"It's a stabilizing agent!"
The words – the same ones that were scrawled along the sole of his left foot – had Bruce's head snapping around quicker than was probably safe. Tony Stark had just said those words, and, sure, in his line of work Bruce had heard them often enough... but they'd never before been the first words that someone had directed at him.
Was there a chance that Tony Stark was – no, he stopped that train of thought firmly. They had a much bigger problem at play here, plus, considering the big guy, Bruce wasn't exactly soulmate material for anyone. It would be best to just focus on the real issue at hand.
Tony continued talking and Bruce waited until he saw an opportunity before he said directly to the billionaire, "Well, if he could do that, he could achieve the heavy ion fusion at any reactor on the planet."
Tony's eyes widened just the smallest amount as he gestured towards Bruce, saying with a hint of relief in his voice, "Finally, someone who speaks English." The smile he gave Bruce was genuine; the handshake he offered was warm and firm as he said, "It's good to meet you, Dr. Banner. Your work on anti-electronic collisions is unparalleled, and I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into a giant green rage monster."
"Thanks," Bruce replied uncomfortably.
There was a double entendre to half the words that had just come out of Tony's mouth, thanks to the audience that they were both painfully aware of. His original "finally," the "it's good to meet you," and in some way he'd even tried to assure Bruce that he was okay with the "other guy" being around. And in some ways, that just made it worse for Bruce. The whole world knew that Tony Stark and Pepper Potts were soulmates – but he certainly hadn't known that they had a third.
What he did know, however, was that they didn't deserve to have to deal with him being that third. So he wouldn't make them. He would do his best to play it off – even to Tony – as if he hadn't just met his soulmate, and hope that Tony would leave him alone about it. He'd heard enough to know that wouldn't last, but so long as it could hold until Bruce could hightail it out of here, that would be enough.
No matter what he wanted – no matter how much he hated the idea of being alone – he had to put his soulmates first, and that might very well mean pretending that they weren't soulmates at all.
Tony cornered him at the shawarma joint, dragging Bruce over to the counter to order for their group. After they'd placed the order, while they were standing there waiting for it to be filled, Tony whispered, "Alright, what gives?"
Bruce mentally steeled himself, put on his most convincing innocent expression and asked, "What do you mean?"
"You said my soulmark words when we met!"
Bruce barely managed to keep his voice from shaking, to keep the appropriate tone in place as he asked, "Did I? I'm sorry, Tony, but… I… I don't even have a soulmark."
The way Bruce looked away as he spoke could've been translated as unwillingness to discuss a painful topic – which was exactly what was happening – and he hoped Tony took it that way.
"Oh," Tony muttered, proving that he had, as the man behind the counter placed their orders in front of them. "Friends anyway, then?"
"Of course." Bruce snatched up half of the baskets of shawarma and turned away before he could see the disappointed slouch of the other man's shoulders.
He'd just done what needed to be done for his soulmates' safety… but he hadn't expected it to hurt quite so much as it had.
