Maps (Part One)
"Hey mister, what are you doing?"
Steve's eyes opened, the world pulling into focus as the child's voice perked up some point above him.
"If you keep lying there I'm going to poke you."
True to his word, he felt a prod at his face.
"Do you want to stop this from occurring?"
The exiled Asgardian stepped over the red and gold iron suit, looking down at the Captain with a smug look. It took every fiber of his being to stop himself from wiping that look off his face. He clenched rocks in his fists, ignoring the destruction of Manhattan around him. Loki kicked the helmet dangerously close to-
His eyes snapped open in disbelief.
"Tony!"
The young boy's brows knit in confusion, his dark brown eyes familiar. "How do you know my name?"
Oh hell.
"I'll bet you wonder why I spared you, Captain."
Steve didn't answer, his strength draining out of him as Loki bent down to whisper in his ear.
"I'll do you a favor. If you can stop The Avengers initiative, you win."
The portal remained open, thunder booming and lightening crackled. The sky around it tore like paper, and if Steve had been more of a poet he would have said that the sky was falling.
The Asgardian pressed a boot to his temple, and kicked off Starks tower, well in to the abyss.
"It's very rude to stare. Didn't your mother teach you any manners?"
The kid glared at him, growing uncomfortable with the blond's stare of disbelief. His mother had warned him about stranger danger but he assumed in this scenario that he was more stranger than danger.
The blond opened and closed his mouth a few times, blue eyes going dark with sadness. The strange man smiled ruefully. "I'm a bit weak, can you help me up?"
He wasn't weak in the slightest, but seeing as he at least exceeded the kid's weight by a couple hundred pounds, it would be amusing to see him try.
The kid wore a determined look, although it wasn't hard to see that he knew this wasn't going to work. He tensed as the kid sat on his hips and reach around the man to pull him up. They were in the middle of the street! What would the neighbors say? Steve hurriedly pulled himself up, pushing the boy off his lap.
"Ha! I knew it!" The boy jumped to his feet, brown hair still the same as ever. "You were faking!" Tony frowned, and there was no way this wasn't Tony. By twist of fate (or some cosmic joke) the gods sent him to the last person he wanted to see-Anthony Starks.
"How do you know my name?" Tony reaffirmed, eyes narrowed into slits. Had this kid been twenty eight years older, he would have been bothered by the constant pestering.
"Small world." (Hah!) "What's the date?"
Tony said nothing for a minute. "It's Wednesday, May 1928."
A million emotions washed over me at that moment. Relief, confusion, fear-the list was endless.
"Do you want come over for dinner?"
Steve jumped. He had almost forgotten Tony was there.
"Um, you don't really know my name kid. Are you sure I'd be welcome?"
Tony beamed confidently.
"Mom won't mind!"
Tony gave him an expectant look.
"What?"
"What's your name?"
"Oh, Steve Rogers."
Tony was already on his feet, back fading into the distance.
Steve sighed. This was going to be a long mission.
A/N: Time Travel AU. Deal with it!
