Chapter 26: Reprise Chapters: Rebel Yell

Tony finished the entire decanter of scotch all by himself. He stared off into space and tried to make sense of something he saw over on the wall.
Maybe it was a spider.

Tony leaned forward and he dropped whatever it was that he held in his hand. Oh, right the crystal liquor holder. It hit the carpet and he looked down. Sooo the Yankee had no idea who he was, and thanks to JARVISssssssssss and all the shit he said, Steve probably thought he was some kind of a sex fiend at that point.

Shit was really awkward now and Tony didn't want to show his face.

TCH Tony was so mad he wanted to scream!
But, he didn't. The alcohol hit him hard and he felt down in the dumps because of it. Tony looked over toward the headboard of his bed.

He had a secret stash of drugs hidden there. He needed a pick up because being drunk SUCKED. The depressant within the alcohol made his mood stoop down... down... down... He set his head on the desk and tried not to think.

Steve and Howard were in the middle of their conversation as they headed down to his workspace.

"Are you really sure Steve? You're ready to see the outside world?" Howard presented an idea for Steve and he intended for it to play out later on, but Steve was anxious to venture out it seemed.

"I suppose now is as good a time as any." He didn't like to drag things out. Steve was informed about the time he was in and now he wanted to move on.
It was time for him to adapt.

"Ok, I will set it up. When would you like to be re-introduced to this wonderful society?" Howard asked as he pressed the passcode for his lab.

"Whenever you can set it up.." Steve shrugged his shoulders. It wasn't like he had anything else to do with his time. And of course, he did not want to burden anyone.
Howard had shown Steve the entire mansion except for one location. The lab was restored to Howard's liking and he finally got around to showing it to him.

Steve looked around as the two walked in. Howard went straight to where he stored some keepsakes that he held onto in honor of Steve.

"I still have a good number of your shields. A few were just proto-types but, I'm sure you remember them."

He held up one shield and he wiped away the dust that was caked up on top of it.
Steve frowned when he saw it. The object in front of him depressed him and he didn't really know why.

Howard noticed Steve's sad expression and he tossed it aside.

"WELL! Enough of that. Have a look over here." He pointed at the suit that was built to find Steve. He put it on display and he planned out alterations with Tony. They would get back to work at some point.

"It's a suit of some sort?" Steve questioned as he touched the arm.

"Tony calls it his "Hydro Armor" it has the same mechanics as a deep-sea submersible but it's all condensed into this smaller package." Howard smiled when he looked at the armor. He really was proud of what Tony accomplished.

"I still can't believe that he came up with the design and calculations to build this.." Steve stared at Howard but then his eyes locked back to the armor.

"Your son built this?" He was amazed. Steve thought that Howard showed off his own invention, not his son's. Howard crossed his arms and nodded his head a few times.

"Yes, he built it from the ground up. I only did the detail work to help him finish it but he could have done that all on his own. I'm still in shock. My damn kid is smarter than me!"

Howard was very proud of his son but he didn't want that to go to his head. He stared at the suit for a moment and then looked at Steve when he responded.

"I never thought I'd meet someone smarter than you." He teased as Howard winced a little.

"Yeah, don't tell him that. I don't want him knowing anything of the sort. He already gives me grey hair as it is."
Howard turned away from the suit and he sighed.

Tony Tony Tony Tony. At some point, he had to deal with everything that had happened with him. Howard dreaded it and he wished that he was still in the dark. Howard became a different person when he talked about his son. Steve took notice immediately. His son was an Achilles heel to the inventor. He had a vulnerability now that Steve had never seen before. The Howard he knew cared only about himself and his work.

"He's a bit promiscuous, isn't he?" Steve asked with a small smile and he watched Howard's reaction.

Howard had an inward debate. Did he separate the two? or keep them around one another? He knew at that point that he did NOT want his son to be in "love" with Steve. His mind still swarmed with confusion and he needed to talk to Fury.

"Yes, he is. That's an understatement there is a lot going on with him. Too much going on with him and I'm going insane."
Howard wanted to tell him that he was FREAKED OUT AND WANTED TO DIE, but he decided

against it. He rubbed his forehead and looked around for anything to drink.

"What's going on with him? If you don't mind me asking. Maybe you just need to talk it out." Howard laughed a little. He needed to do more than talk it out.

"UHMM where would I even begin?" Howard rubbed the sides of his head as he tried to calm his frustration.

Steve looked over at the table that was obviously a work station. He took a seat and he pointed at the chair that was over on the other side. Steve had nothing but time to listen and help his friend. Howard wasn't sure how much to tell Steve but he walked around the table and took a seat.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The adult Tony received an alert from Jarvis. It let him know that Thor had returned to the tower.

"Did you enjoy your little vacation there pal? It sure took you long enough!" Tony said to Thor as the Asgardian set down his hammer. Thor had not returned to the tower for over a week. He left for Asgard to get them some answers but took forever and a day to return.
Tony had zero patience within him, but with Steve's help, he was able to keep his cool.

"I have good news and I have bad news for you. Which would you like to hear first?" Thor asked them both as Steve and Tony answered.

"BAD."

"Good."

They had an opposite response and they both looked at each other. Thor tried not to laugh at the two.

"You wanna hear the good part first Steve? That's like, eating the dessert first.." Steve just stared at Tony. Then Steve looked over at Thor.

"You pick the order of information Thor. Please.." He was not in the mood to argue with Tony over which order they should have heard the news. Steve was the one that was more impatient about the subject, he just didn't vocalize it.

"The good news is that I have some actual information for you!" Thor held his head high and smiled. Tony's face shrunk into a disappointed frown.

What the eff..

"OK, so then we only really have BAD news. Awesome. OUT WITH IT.." Tony couldn't wait any longer.

Thor relaxed in his stance and then he spoke.

"The younger Captain America was woken up at the exact moment our Steven collapsed. So, now there are two Stevens and two Anthony's. You both now exist in two different dimensions."

TCH. Tony hissed and roughly crossed his arms. HE FUCKING KNEW IT!

"So what does this mean? How did I end up having a panic attack? And Steve was out cold for two days!" Tony needed to know because having crazy anxiety attacks at random was NOT AMAZING.

He already had his own set of anxiety to deal with. He didn't want to take on the anxiety and feelings of his temperamental coke-snorting younger self. BEEN THERE, DONE THAT.

And also? The fact that Steve could turn into a block of ice at random was also not amazing. Tony wanted results.

"The only explanation I was able to receive is that there is a dimensional rift between the times each of you reside, but we could NOT put a dimensional rift between your souls. So any extreme feeling of anxiety or pain will be felt. The other Steve woke up frozen, so you felt it as well."

So, Steve was right (for once) and they were linked. Tony had that thought as he glanced over at Steve. He tried to read his mind because Steve was a listener and not much of a speaker. He wondered what he thought about the crazy shit.

"Is there anything that can be done about it?" Steve asked Thor with a frown.

"It is unfixable I'm afraid. Too much has already been done and I fear any attempt to fix the issue will just make things worse."
Tony just scowled and stepped away from the two.

"See what happens when ya fuck around with people's lives?" Tony wanted to go irate but he controlled himself.

"I'm very sorry Anthony. I shouldn't have taken matters into my own hands without discussing it with the two of you. I was wrong." Thor felt horrible. Steve sympathized with him and he gave Thor a small smile.

"It's alright Thor. You didn't know what the outcome would be. This really isn't that big of a deal if you think about it. So, I've linked with another me? Tony what if the anxiety attack was just a one-time thing?" Steve needed to stay positive about all of it because he could see the anger build up within Tony.

Steve felt guilty in some sense as well. The mission he took on should have been discussed with Tony beforehand.

"It's not a one-time thing. I feel his emotions all the time." Tony could feel something within him at that very moment. His younger self was depressed. Tony knew as he stood that HE did not feel depressed, so he figured out that it had to be the emotional state of his younger self.

That was a lot for Tony to take on and he was not as sympathetic. His back was still turned to the two and he kept his arms crossed.

"I'm really tired of this shit. Gotta go." Tony vented to the two as he clenched both of his fists. The motion he made with his hands summoned his suit to him. He needed to get the hell out of there.

Steve could forgive and forget all he wanted. Act all sweet about it with Thor but Tony was NOT going to be all sunshine and roses. Tony just figured that Steve was not as emotional as he was and he didn't feel the extent of the situation. If Steve felt more than just being cold, Tony couldn't tell.

HE FELT FUCKED WITH YET AGAIN. His suit began to build around his body as Steve stepped toward him.

"Tony, do what you want. I'm not going to stop you." Steve just sighed and he let Tony take off. He looked at Thor and sighed again.

The younger Tony stood in front of the mirror in the upstairs bathroom of the mansion. He had no idea how long it had been since the Jarvis incident. Every day Tony wanted to run away. He wanted to get the EFF out of the house.

He only stayed because Steve lived there too. He thought at some point he'd be able to talk to him and tell him how he felt. But he never saw him.

Tony had seen the Yankee a total of four times since the man had woken up.
The first time he saw him, his father kicked him out of the room. The second time, Jarvis totally humiliated him and ruined his life. The third time Steve was in the kitchen and he spoke to HIS FATHER. And, the fourth time he saw the Yankee get into a car with who? HIS DAD.

JARVIS had seen Steve more than he'd seen him. Jarvis mentioned something to him about Steve being helpful around the house.

UGH IT MADE TONY SICK.
Now he felt trapped in his own house. It was packed full of random people that were friends with his father. Howard decided to let the world know that Captain America had returned to the land of the living.

Steve was to be re-introduced to society. Tony saw the announcement for it on the news. The toast fell out of his mouth as Steve Rogers appeared on a television screen. His dad didn't even bother to let him know...

So! The house was filled with assholes, snobby board members, employees of Stark Industries, S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel, engineers, publishers, media people, and old wartime folks.

Tony knew absolutely NO ONE that was there except his mother, his father, Jarvis, and the Yankee. ...it wasn't like he had any friends. He didn't even have Obadiah there to torment.
Tony stared in the mirror and he tried not to frown.

Tony wanted to DITCH and use from his stash so he could forget it all. He licked his lips and debated it. He changed his mind about it because he did not want to be all crazy and out of it in front of Steve. Tony had been so good and only used the drugs from his secret stash at night when everyone was asleep.

That way he'd neverrrrrr accidentally run into the Yankee and make a total fool of himself again.

Ok ok he decided to resist any drugs until the party died.
Tony dug into his pocket and felt a small bag of cocaine. He wanted to snort some dope so bad his skin started to ache. He scratched at his arm and he tugged on the tie that he wore.

He heard a small knock on the door and he stood up straight.

"Yeah?" he figured it was some JERK that was too boozed up or something. The second knock he recognized. That was his mother's knock. Tony unlocked the door and it slowly opened.

"How are you doing honey? Let me look at you." His mother smiled at him and Tony smiled back. She straightened his tie and then brushed something off his shoulder.

"I believe this is your first official tuxedo. How do you like it?" Her voice calmed his nerves and he cleared his throat.

"It's choking me, but it's fine." Tony really liked the suit. It felt so nice on his body and he wanted to sleep in it. He glanced back at himself in the mirror and then he left with his mother. She was dressed in white and she looked very elegant.

"I lost track of your father somewhere. Everyone is trying to talk to Steve and I think he's still trying to keep them in a certain order." She explained as Tony's eyes dropped to the floor. Is that what he had to do as well? Get in a line to have a minute or two with Steve?

His father ruined EVERYTHING. Tony felt overwhelmed about it and depressed. He really loved him, and his father knew it. Tony knew that his father did it all on purpose.

"Oh, there he is! Come with me, Anthony." She gripped her son's hand and he followed behind her at a slow pace.

No no no no noooo he didn't want to be anywhere near his father. Tony wanted to jerk his hand away but he would never do that to his mother. They stopped walking and Tony cleared his throat.

He heard his father's voice but he refused to look up.
"I didn't expect there to be THIS many people. They all want to see if it's really Steve in the flesh."

"Maybe they think you're a liar," Tony spoke to his dad as he continued to stare at the wall.

Uhh did he say that out loud?
Tony looked up and he finally saw his dad's face. Howard stared at his son for a moment. He heard what Tony said. He didn't respond to him because Howard was interrupted. Some man walked up to his father and shook his hand.

"Hello, Mr. Stark. I'm-" BLAH BLAH blah... Tony tuned the guy out immediately and he looked around. HE NEEDED A DRINK. And he couldn't see Steve anywhere. He scanned the room for him. An older woman walked up and broke his concentration. She pulled Tony into a hug and Tony tried to crawl out of it.

The fuck?

"Howard! Is this your son? How old is he Howard? Maria, how are you?!" Her voice was loud and noisy. Tony could feel his headache as it slowly approached.

"Yes this is my son Anthony. He's seventeen." Howard pointed Tony out and touched his shoulder. The loud woman spoke again.

"Boy, I remember you from when you were in diapers! You're getting so handsome! I bet your mother and father have to chase the girls away don't they?"

Tony cringed and he noticed the glass of alcohol in his father's hand. He rolled his eyes right in front of the woman and grabbed his father's drink. Tony chugged the alcohol down and handed it to the woman.

"Yikes. I'm out.."

It was time to leave. Fuck that. He walked away and ignored whatever the woman said next. Howard's jaw dropped open.

Tony headed to the nearest exit. He almost made it but then he was stopped by someone else. JESUS CHRIST COULD THE PEOPLE JUST BACK OFF? Tony looked at the person in front of him.

"Hello Anthony. I'm glad to see that you are doing well." Tony stared for a moment and tried to figure out who it was.

"I was almost fired because of you. But, what's done is done." The man continued to talk and Tony couldn't place his face. HOLY SHIT! It was the guy with the name badge.

"OH hahh... Phil right? Yeah, sorry about that I had to uhmm.." He had to find Steve. The moment he looked toward the door his eyes finally locked on him.

An intense heat rushed to his face. Tony took a breath and continued to stare. Steve was in a uniform. He looked.. Tony couldn't even look away holy, fuuuuckkk it actually hurt his chest to look at him.

Steve spoke to a few people that were in front of him. He looked so nice and friendly. Tony's lungs filled with air and he held his breath.

"Phil Coulson. And don't worry about it. You were trying to get away. I understand." The guy smiled at him but Tony stared at Steve.

"OH right! Phil Coulson? Yeah, that was your name." Tony pried his attention away from the Yankee. He looked at Phil for a moment and stepped back a bit.

He remembered that he told him about Obadiah in order to get into the building. He wrote a bunch of shit down too. Tony had done some drugs that evening so he knew he wrote too much information.

He needed to get that paper back somehow. Uhh. Tony bit his lip and awkwardly smiled back. Then, he tried to glance back over at Steve. He thought he'd be able to get a chance to talk to him.

The Yankee was GONE. Tony looked all over for him but Steve moved to a different location.

"We are keeping an eye on your former guardian for your father. He is still in Russia for the time being." Phil spoke a little too casually for Tony. Tony felt uneasy when people talked about Obadiah. It made him feel sick.

"Please don't say, guardian. It creeps me out. And good for him! I hope he stays there. Gotta go." Tony tried to work his way to the door so he could LEAVEEEE..

As soon as he stepped away from Mr. Phil Coulson his eyes looked upon Steve again. Tony froze where he stood. He noticed that Steve managed to look in his direction. They looked at each other from across the room. Steve smiled at Tony and then some older person walked up to him.

Mr. Phil Coulson stopped in front of him again and he took Tony's hand.

"Sorry Anthony. I don't mean to be so direct about this but I really want you to take this. You put on a good show but if you ever need a friend or just someone to talk to, here's my card."

Tony gulped and looked at his hand. Uhh whut? He stood dumbfounded as Phil walked away. He headed to Captain America because he had some vintage cards that needed to be autographed.

Tony stared at the business card and...
GONE.
He stepped out into the fresh air and he took a deep breath.

What the hell was that? Tony shook his head and he walked over to one of the green hedges that were perfectly sculpted and maintained. Tony dug around at the roots and he uncovered one of his cigarette stashes that he had around the property.

His mother always tossed out the tobacco that was around the house. She was on a health kick and tried to outlaw all cigars and cigarettes.
Yeah, his dad wasn't too thrilled about that.

Tony lit the cigarette and he inhaled all the toxins. They filled his lungs and he exhaled. Some old jazz music was playing behind him. Tony just was not into the bullshit party.

It didn't help that he knew absolutely no one there. Nobody was his age and even if they were he would probably end up hating them.
Tony just smoked his cigarette and enjoyed the cool air.

"I've been trying to find you all evening. You're a tough one to track down." Tony's silent moment was disturbed by a very smooth voice. He turned around quickly and he almost dropped his cigarette.

WHAA he coughed. The Yankee was right in front of him and he didn't want Steve to see him with a cigarette.

"You've been trying to find me? Why, what did I do?" He scratched at the side of his head and he tried to remain calm.
Steve just smiled and walked over to him.

"I haven't had the chance to thank you for getting me out of the ice. Things have been so busy with your father and I keep missing the opportunity to thank you. So, thank you."
Tony swallowed hard and he forgot all about his cigarette.

It burned in his hand as he stared at Steve.
Steve thanked him? Ok, Tony processed and swallowed again.

Words.. he didn't have any words because his mouth would not work.
"Are you alright?" Steve asked as he looked at Tony's hand. He was about to burn himself.

Tony was just dumbstruck and he stood there like an idiot. Steve walked over and he took the cigarette out of his hand. He crushed it and tossed it aside. Steve still pondered over the way Tony Stark stared at him. It all made sense to him at that point of course, but Steve was still new to being stared at.

People barely looked at him until he had the serum.
Tony shook his head and his mouth finally said something.

"Can I have a thank you kiss instead? For getting you out of that ice?" The question hadn't even processed in Tony's mind at that point. It just came out and it was purely unfiltered. Steve stared with a very confused look on his face.

He did not know what to think about Tony Stark. Steve was actually reminded of his best friend at times. It was his stubborn nature. Bucky never flirted with him or asked for a kiss, but they had a similarity that Steve couldn't ignore.

Steve smirked. His smirk stretched into a smile. It was his first honest smile in the year 1989. He couldn't help but think that Tony was cute. His grin became wide as he looked away.

"No. Why would I let you do that?" Steve answered as he tried to make sense out of Howard's son.

"Why not? You kinda owe me and, that is the only thing that I want."

Steve was stunned. Completely stunned. He thought about the words he heard and he stepped closer to Tony. Tony looked up at him and wondered what Steve was planned to do. Steve leaned in pretty close.

"I'm sorry, but the answer is no. Have you ever heard that word before?" Steve stepped back and Tony jumped to act.

"ALL THE TIME ACTUALLY."

Tony never really got what he wanted. Sure material things whuuuutever.
He had done everything he could to get to Steve Rogers. But all along the way, he'd been slapped with NO NO NO... NO.

It annoyed him.
He looked at Steve's grin as the taller man turned away. He started to head back inside but Tony didn't want him too.

"ACTUALLY? There was something I wanted to tell you too. It's not a thank you or anything like that. Would you go on a walk with me and hear me out?" Tony hoped that his big mouth didn't just ruin everything.

He couldn't help it! His mouth had a mind of its own. Steve stared over at the party that was thrown for him. He knew it would be best to head back in there and talk with the people but...

He was curious. Steve slowly turned around and he stopped.

"Sure." He walked back over to Tony and the younger of the two looked shocked to receive that response.

Whoa, no way! Tony started to head down the property. Steve followed and waited for Tony to talk. It took him a few minutes to get his head on straight. When they were far enough away Tony started to speak.

"I wanted to explain that whole garage thing that Jarvis just randomly dropped on you. Uhmm.." Tony bit his bottom lip and continued to walk. Steve held his smile and decided to help Tony out.

"Your father explained it to me. He received clarification about it from a Nick Fury. That man sent a Steve Rogers here and he was protecting you. He was sent with a friend from the future because I was actually supposed to be woken up way after 2010. So, your butler actually saw a Steve Rogers but it wasn't technically me."

Steve walked slowly beside Tony but the two came to a stop.
Tony scratched his eyebrow and stood there dumbfounded. Hold up... Steve knew all that? What the fuck else did he know?

"You're right. Everything you said is right. There is an older Steve and he's actually with an older version of me." It was hard for Tony to believe but he actually didn't have to explain it to Steve. They walked a little farther away from the mansion before Steve spoke again.

"Right. They are in a relationship according to Fury. He sent the older me here because he knew how to handle you. Fury didn't know about the relationship between them."

Steve put it all into simple words. He explained, and Tony felt flustered. So, now Steve knew about the relationship. Tony thought that was a good thing for him and IT WAS TIME TO CONFESS.

"But, we are not in a relationship here. And as for the incident in the garage.."

Tony started to feel ever more flustered after Steve brought up the whole garage thing. Steve stopped in the middle of his sentence but Tony was already on edge.
He began to ramble because he felt nervous.

"That was why I wanted to kiss you. ERRR NO! I mean, that is why I got you out of the ice. I..."

They stopped their walk again and they looked at each other. Tony just had to spit it out. He stepped in front of Steve and he let him have it.

"I have really strong feelings for you. This probably sounds insane but I've been dimension-hopping, terminator ducking, "guardian" drugging, and hydro-suit building my way to you. And now, you're here and you don't have a clue who I am. You're the Yankee but you're not MY YANKEE and-"

"Why? why did you do all that?" Steve put his hands in his pockets and he looked at the ground. Tony gasped and looked confused.

"I just told you, I have really strong feelings for you. Did you not hear that part? I know I talk kinda fast." Tony pulled inward and he felt like an idiot. Steve looked calm and collected.

"I heard you. Why do you have feelings for me?" Steve felt like Tony's attraction was only to his physical appearance.

He couldn't vocalize that part of the point because it was a personal struggle for the soldier. After the serum, he dealt with a lot of people and different levels of attraction toward him. It led to experiences and encounters that he wasn't comfortable with and that he didn't want.

He didn't understand Tony's attraction to him at all.

Tony was stunned and he became lost in thought. He didn't expect to be asked that question. The situation looked bad for Tony. Steve pressed the question further as he looked at the party that was off in the distance.

"What do you even know about me? Or my older self? You only saw him for a total of three days." Steve just figured that Tony was in some sort of an experimental stage in his life. He felt like his behavior could be directed toward anyone. Steve knew about his relationship with Obidiah Stane. So, he saw Tony as a confused young man.

"I only know what I felt and how I feel now." That was all Tony could say. He bit his lip and he wanted to hide. UGH HE GOT ANGRY.

"I get it! I understand this is just some weird Karma I've accumulated from something that I did-"

"Tony, how old are you.." Steve interrupted and Tony was caught off guard. He hesitated but answered.
Well? He gave an answer but it wasn't the truth.

"I'm twenty-five." He grinned and tried to keep a straight face.

"Liar."

Steve gave another honest smile and he stepped away. He almost laughed because Tony's behavior amused him.

"Ok. I'm seventeen. But I'm turning eighteen soon." Tony figured that was a silver lining of sorts. Well, Steve was too honest of a person.

"Anyone can be physical with someone. Just because they are in a relationship, and one incident in a garage doesn't mean that-"

"AY WHOA Yankee you were attracted to me. The older you is actually WITH me. This is all crazy I know, but you wanted me and you are a very good kisser. We would have gone further but Jarvis.." Tony stopped because Steve looked away.

Tony was nervous because it felt like he messed up somewhere. WHAT THE HELL DID HIS FATHER TELL STEVE? How much did he know?

"I'm not the same person that protected you before."

"YES YOU ARE! You are the exact same person which means you are going to have the exact same feelings. You are going to feel that same attraction."

Steve held an angry expression. He didn't like the idea of his emotions being planned. The situation made him feel like his thoughts and emotions were to be dictated in only one direction.

"I don't want to be told how I am supposed to feel." Steve believed in freedom and he would not be told what attractions he would have.

Tony thought it was best if he just walked away from him. He needed to walk away before he said something that he'd regret.
Tony didn't get that opportunity because Steve spoke again.

"I am not attracted to you. The actions and the choices of my older self do not dictate how I feel and what I do. My only interest is to protect you and keep you safe." Tony gasped and stared up at Steve.

OUCH. It felt like tiny daggers stabbed his chest over and over.

"What?"

"I told your father that I would protect you. He has a lot on his mind and he is very worried about you. I might as well make myself useful now that I am here so I gave him my word that I'd keep you safe. Especially from Obadiah Stane when he returns."

Tony. Felt. Sick. His stomach twisted up in knots. OH FUCK THAT! His father had Steve brainwashed already and made him into another one of his S.H.I.E.L.D. bodyguard CLONES.

"I'm going to puke. He sold you that line?" He sold him that line.

Tony needed some air. He needed to get outside from OUTSIDE. He walked off and tried to catch his breath.

Chapter end: Thanks for reading!