The Never-Ending Why: Chapter 26: Back To The Sky (Part 1)

Steve walked toward his apartment door, and he was glad to hear music. He also heard a musical beat come to an abrupt stop, and a pretty loud laugh.

He opened up the apartment door, and heard the sound of two different people. Tony had a visitor, and Steve put his keys in the bowl.

Baby Tony's ears perked up when he heard those keys. He laughed earlier because his older self was telling him about a time when all of his things were thrown out of Steve's apartment.

The older Steve packed all his shit up, and put it in storage. The story made the younger Tony laugh. It was hard for him to imagine his Steve doing that, but he was glad to know that it was a possibility.

The two of them stopped chatting, because a very sweet blonde walked in the room. Steve saw pizza, and soda pop. He smiled at the two, but his full focus turned toward Baby Tony.

"Hello Tony."

"Heya Steve.

Steve saw a very cute grin. He also noticed that the younger Tony had pizza on his face, and it seemed like he hadn't slept.

"How are you?"

Dawww... such cuteness. The older Tony watched the familiar exchange between the two of them. He watched his younger self playfully say that he was fine, then he asked Steve how he was. Steve was very good. He said that he used his suit, and the younger Tony started babbling.

He became flustered about that suit, and started saying that he completed another song. Baby Tony started confessing that the time went by really quickly, and he had no idea that it was Friday night.

Steve seemed at ease with that, and it made the older Tony want to return home.

He hadn't seen his main man in a long while. He stepped more into view, and gave Baby Steve a small wave. He hugged his younger self, and said that he would see them around.

The older Tony returned to his dimension, where he was being hunted just like Thanos. It was predicted that he would either become the "New Mandarin" or Thanos like after all of his adventures, but the older Tony just did his thing.

He was gone in an instant, and he left the younger couple behind with their thoughts. They both were looking at the space where he disappeared, then they eventually looked at one another.

Steve said hello again, and Tony stepped over toward him. He gave Steve a hug, and he pressed his face against his warm shirt. Steve always smelled good, and Tony almost laughed at his thought.

The blonde looked down at Tony's hair, and he asked him about his song. OH YEAH. Tony remembered exactly what he forgot. He stepped back a bit, and looked up at Steve.

"Before all the music, I took Donna and Victor to talk to Clea. She left Agamotto's dimension, and they had a little chat."

Oh? Steve blinked a couple times, because he didn't expect an update like that. Tony was in his arms, and he looked down at him. He wondered when that dilemma would come back again.

Steve was still pretty quiet about Stephen. He hadn't given Tony a response about him at all, but that wasn't what was on Tony's mind. He was more or less concerned about what Donna said to Clea.

"Victor and Donna are intending to challenge Agamotto, and I think Donna is possessed by someone else. She told Clea to either help, or get out of the way. Crazy huh?"

Tony thought that it was. Donna obviously didn't know that much about the Mystic Arts, but there she was making demands. Tony had a feeling that someone else was at play.

He felt Steve's hands on his arms. They moved a little as he took a slow step. The blonde just stepped more into their embrace, and he gave Tony gentle kiss.

Tony returned it, and he exhaled out all of his nerves. His energy was all over the place, and he awkwardly brought up a whole bunch of random stuff. Tony felt a little stupid for doing that, so he just kissed Steve until he heard his voice.

The would-be-soldier told Tony that he missed him, and he was glad that Donna spoke to Clea. In his opinion it was long overdue, and he mentioned that everything was going to be fine.

Steve just had a feeling that it would be ok, so the situation received a small shrug. Tony wanted to already know HOW it would be ok, so he struggled a little with Steve's comment.

"I feel like Stephen will be back pretty soon."

Then, they would cross over the next bridge. Steve didn't want to think about that bridge for a while. He smiled at Tony, and mentioned that he had pizza on his face.

Whu, whuu, wait. Hold up. Steve took his yummy bag that he had all packed and he started walking it toward their room. Tony kinda breezed after him, and he kept watching his behavior.

Nothing felt "off" about Steve, but he seemed way too calm about the conversation. Tony just chomped on his lip, as Steve started unpacking his stuff. The blonde slowly smiled, when Tony's goofy face poked into his view.

Yeah, whut?

"You seem way too chill..."

Tony just had to say it. He didn't know what Steve was so chill about. The would-be-soldier flashed his focus in Tony's direction, but then he returned it to his perfectly packed bag.

"I'm just saying it will be an easy situation to resolve, when it's time. Then, Stephen will be back."

What was there to not be "chill" about? Steve gave another shrug, and Tony saw it as odd. Oh it was aaallllll reading as odd for him now. It also felt like he was approaching a danger zone, so Tony began to tread carefully.

Wait, fuck that.

"And when he does "return" will the situation continue to be on easy street, like you are expressing?"

Steve seemed pretty relaxed and easy going when he talked about Stephen. Tony never even mentioned his name, because his focus was on what happened with Donna. STEVE dropped his name twice.

And there was something else in the way he was saying Stephen would be back. Tony got closer to him, and he watched him unpack those socks. How in the actual fuck were they already clean?

Tony wondered if he did his laundry at the S.H.I.E.L.D. base of lame. His nose was all scrunched up, until Steve kissed him on the cheek.

"Why wouldn't it be on easy street? Stephen will be home with his siblings, and that will be that."

That will be that. Tony sucked in the deepest breath that he ever mustered up in his life. Some cautionary, and extremely dangerous road signs kept flashing up in his mind. But, Tony was very young and dumb. He had to know what Steve was thinking, and he had to keep pushing buttons.

Pushing buttons could have led to actual answers, or...

Oh, Tony felt pretty nervous. The next button was right in front of his face. He saw the question in his mind, and he was so close to pushing it. Awwhhhhhhh shit stickssssss. He tried his best not to do it, but he needed to know and push the red button.

"Does easy street, consist of.. uhmm, consist?"

Psfffhhuuyaaaaahd$:826:)28,$2?isieheiwz(-!/ Tony couldn't ask him jack shit. That button could not be pushed under any circumstance. Because of Bucky's bitchass comments, Tony had to confess that he loved Steve and Stephen.

Steve Rogers went dark on the subject. The man was completely silent. That horrified Tony to the core, because his commitment to that hadn't changed. Stephen Strange was even married now to his pixie princess.

That didn't change what Tony felt toward anyone. Now he was just freaking out. Steve put all his stuff away, and he did wash them at the S.H.I.E.L.D. base. The technology there was insane, and Steve's clothes had never been cleaner.

He looked at Tony and his inward mess. Steve knew exactly what he was spazzing out about, but he didn't know WHY.

"I want to know what happened between you and Stephen. You've never told me, and he will be back soon."

It wasn't going to be "easy street" between them at all, until Steve had all the facts. Tony immediately swallowed his stomach. He just stared at Steve, and debated a long jump out of the apartment window.

What happened with, Stephen? Steve was looking very expectant for an answer. He gave Tony all the information that he needed about Bucky. Well, Steve expected the same courtesy. Especially if Tony was expecting him to believe that he could love two people at once.

Steve kept looking at him. He slowly removed his t-shirt, and went to his dresser to retrieve some clothes for sleep.

Tony gave a long exhale out into the room because he didn't even know where to begin with Stephen. He just closed his eyes, and took it from the top.

"We met at the X-Mansion. We shared the room.."

Chapter: END

Thanks for reading.