"Tony! This toys is yours?! This is what you do your weekends at home! This is a waste of time!"

With a violent wave Howard knocked the remote control out of the hands of little Tony who had come over to proudly show his father one of his creations.

Tony ran to his room and locked himself in.

He laid down on his bed and his eyes fell on the poster of Captain America that adorned one of the walls of his room.

While crying, he whispered in a broken voice, "Why doesn't he love me like he loves you? Why?"

Repeating these words over and over again, he fell asleep.

"I won't let anyone hurt you, you're safe with me."

Someone was hugging him, and running their hand through his hair and a voice kept repeating.

"I won't let anyone hurt you, you're safe with me."

-Tony? Tony, are you there?

Tony heard Pepper's distant voice in the phone that had fallen to the ground.

As he collapsed to the floor and could not move, Obadiah began to speak to him,

"When I ordered the hit on you, I worried that I was killing the golden goose. But, you see, it was just fate that you survived that."

Obadiah pulled out the arc reactor from Tony's chest.

"You had one last golden egg to give. Do you really think that just because you have an idea, it belongs to you? Your father, he helped give us the atomic bomb. Now, what kind of world would it be today if he was as selfish as you?"

Obadiah continued to speak and Tony felt himself drifting, he didn't want to hear anything more, betrayed, he was betrayed by the man who had been like a father all these years. Everything went black before his eyes.

"I won't let anyone hurt you, you're safe with me."

Just like in that dream, so long ago, someone was hugging him, and running their hand through his hair and the same voice repeated the same words.

"I won't let anyone hurt you, you're safe with me."

Tony looked at Fury wryly before saying, "I don't know where you get your information, but he wasn't my biggest fan."

"What do you remember about your dad?"

"He was cold, he was calculating. He never told me he loved me. He never even told me he liked me, so it's a little tough for me to digest when you're telling me he said the whole future was riding on me and he's passing it down. I don't get that. You're talking about a guy who's happiest day was when he shipped me off to boarding school."

Fury shook his head and said, "That's not true."

"Well, then, clearly you knew my dad better than I did."

Why, why did no one believe him when Tony talked about his dad. Everyone seemed to have known someone other than the man he knew. But he knew who Howard was behind the closed doors of the house. And nobody believed Tony. Now he was going to have to decipher his father's work so he wouldn't die. He would have to rely on the posthumous help of a man who had never loved him.

He kicked his pillow angrily, before falling asleep, exhausted by anger.

"I won't let anyone hurt you, you're safe with me."

Like every time, the same unknown person hugged him, and ran his hand through his hair in the same way and the same voice repeated the same words.

"I won't let anyone hurt you, you're safe with me."

Tony climbed higher and higher above the city, gaining speed, and suddenly threw himself through the portal. The communications stopped and the suit began to freeze. Tony looked up, horrified. The black sky was filled with an armada of ships. Most of them were motionless in the air. Iron Man dropped the missile and it whistled through the darkness as Tony in his suit fell back like dead weight into the portal opening.

Steve's words echoed through his head.

"I know guys with none of that worth ten of you. Yeah, I've seen the footage. The only thing you really fight for is yourself. You're not the guy to make the sacrifice play, to lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you."

Tony replied wryly, "I think I would just cut the wire."

"Always a way out... You know, you may not be a threat, but you better stop pretending to be a hero."

"All I wanted was to be a hero like you. Am I one now, Steve? "

Everything went black.

"I won't let anyone hurt you, you're safe with me."

Still the same person hugged him, still the same hand in his hair and still the same voice repeated the same words.

"I won't let anyone hurt you, you're safe with me."

"He is my friend."

Tony, distraught, replied, "I was too."

He punched Steve and then threw him back again, "Stay down. Final warning."

Steve struggled to his feet, his face bloody, and raised his fists, staring at Iron Man.

"I can do this all day."

Iron Man raised his left palm, ready to shoot. Bucky grabbed his leg and Tony turned around, kicking him in the face. Steve grabbed Iron Man and lifted him over his head, then threw him to the ground, punched him and ripped off his mask with his shield before hitting the suit's heart hard. Both had blood on their faces. Steve looked at Tony, then closed his eyes and collapsed. The shield remained standing, planted in the center of Iron Man's suit. When Steve got up, he grabbed the shield, grabbed the edge and pulled it free. He pulled away from Tony, who rolled painfully to his side. Bucky lay bloodied but conscious, Steve got him to his feet and supported him as Tony looked on.

His voice full of resentment, Tony still had the strength to say, "That shield doesn't belong to you. You don't deserve it."

Steve stopped, dropped the shield and walked away with Bucky.

Tony reached out to him, "Steve..." before the darkness engulfed him

"I won't let anyone hurt you, you're safe with me."

Still the same person hugged him, still the same hand in his hair and still the same voice repeated the same words.

"I won't let anyone hurt you, you're safe with me."

But this time the dream did not bring him the comfort of the other times. Tony was hurt and nothing could sooth his bleeding heart.

1970

Tony, still reeling from the unplanned meeting with his father, met Steve at the appointed place.

"Do you have the tesseract?"

"Do you have the particles?"

Both nodded at the same time.

Tony began to prepare everything for their return to the present time.

"Tony..."

"Hm?"

"Can we talk a little, won't it impact the future?"

Tony looked up, he saw Steve's serious look and replied, "No, I'm scheduling the return date, whether we leave here now or in two hours as long as no one interacts with us, it won't make a difference."

Steve leaned toward Tony and said in a hurried voice, "With all this Tony, we never had time to talk, and I wanted to sincerely apologize. I apologize for judging you the first time we met, I apologize for putting the responsibility for Ultron on you, I apologize for lying to you about Bucky, and I apologize for abandoning you in Siberia. I have no excuse, but the last two years on the run, along with lectures from Sam and Bucky, have helped me see how unfair I was to you. I don't know what the future will be like, hell, I don't even know if we have one, but if you want, only if you want, I'd like us to start fresh. I would have so much to say and hear and I know we don't have time, I know I don't deserve it, but I'd like to get to know Tony Stark without the prejudice and pretense."

To say Tony was shocked would be an understatement. He had expected many things, but certainly not such a request for forgiveness. His throat tight, he had to swallow several times before he could speak.

"We'll need more than ten minutes to discuss this. And even if I've already forgiven you, I have a lot to say and to you must know I don't trust someone to have my back in time travel to just anyone. I have made mistakes and I am far from being a saint, but we'll have to talk, which is not my forte as you know, well I talk a lot, but often to say nothing. I put you on a pedestal for a long time, I wanted to be like you, you were my father's only achievement, so when I was aware I was going to meet you, I thought I was finally going to see my father's idol who had been mine for so long. You showing so much hostility towards me destabilized me and I was not the most welcoming either. The rest you know. So I too want to get to know who Steve Rogers is, the man and not the captain."

He reached out his hand to Steve who grabbed it before pulling Tony into his arms.

Tony was surprised at first and didn't know how to react, but then he hugged Steve back, finding himself caught in a strangely familiar embrace. A little embarrassed when the embrace was prolonged, Tony finally let himself go, they didn't know what tomorrow would bring and a little human warmth never hurt anyone.

What he didn't expect was the feeling of loss when Steve released him. And from what he could see on Steve's face, he felt the same way.

Steve moved his face close to his before whispering, "Tony, I..."

Tony put a finger over his mouth and said, "Shhh, not now, we've got people to get back and we've got a giant purple ass to kick. Put that aside and save it for after the battle."

With an affectionate hand, he pushed back a strand that fell on Steve's forehead and let his hand linger on his cheek for a few seconds.

He withdrew it while mumbling, "Bad Tony, concentrate, concentrate..." and programmed their return under the fondly eyes of Steve.

"Mr. Stark? Hey- Mr. Stark? Can you hear me? It's Peter. Hey. We won, Mr. Stark- We won, Mr. Stark. We won. You did it, sir. You did it."

Tony heard the kid's voice calling to him as if in the distance and felt as if he were hugging him.

"I'm sorry- Tony-"

He blurrily saw Peter being pulled away and heard Pepper's voice, "Hey."

He opened his eyes again and managed to see her, "Hey, Pep..."

He felt Pepper's hand on the arc reactor and put his hand over hers. He heard Pepper's voice coming from farther and farther away, asking FRIDAY about his state.

FRIDAY replied, "Life functions critical."

Tony still found the strength to smile, if he had to leave, it would be with style.

He heard Pepper again, "Tony. Look at me. We're gonna be okay. You can rest now."

He let out a sigh, finally he would have no more nightmares, he could leave in peace, they were all safe. Tony let go and everything went black.

"I won't let anyone hurt you, you're safe with me."

Someone was hugging him, and running their hand through his hair and the voice kept repeating.

"I won't let anyone hurt you, you're safe with me."

Tony woke up and the first thing he was aware of was the smell of hospital sanitizer. If that was the smell in heaven, he'd have to have a chat with the boss.

Then as he came slowly to his senses, he became aware of an arm around his waist and as he opened his eyes, he saw a blonde head resting against his hip. Tony heard him mumble something and concentrated to hear what he said.

"I won't let anyone hurt you, you're safe with me."

Tony gasped.

He moved his hand up to Steve's head and brushed his hair as he whispered in a husky voice, "It was you..."

Tony, who had never believed in fate, couldn't believe that life was offering him a double chance. Just when he thought he had said goodbye to the world, in peace for saving it, he had survived and he finally knew who was the person who had comforted him and made him feel safe, even if in only in dreams.

He continued to run his hand through Steve's hair as he whispered again and again, "It was you..."

Steve opened his eyes slowly and Tony gradually saw the awareness of reality appear in his eyes.

"Tony?!"

Cautious not to hurt Tony, Steve slowly raised up as Tony let his hand fall back.

Steve moved his chair to be closer to Tony's face. He examined him as he asked, with a sleepy voice, "Tony, you're awake?"

Tony made his trademark smile that not even the drawn features, bruises and various wounds and burns could break and replied, "Yep, not even death wants me-"

The rest of his sentence was lost in the hair of the super soldier who held him tightly and kept whispering, "Tony... Tony..."

He simply placed his hand on Steve's nape and whispered, "We are safe now. We're okay, Capsicle."

They stayed like that for a long time. Then Tony slipped his hand under Steve's chin to get him to lift his head.

"How about we pick up where we left off in 1970?"

After a brief expression of confusion, Steve's face lit up with a big smile and then he leaned in to Tony and put his lips on Tony's.

It wasn't a movie kiss, their breath didn't have a fresh mint taste, the only music they had was the beeps of the machines connected to Tony. Yet it was the best kiss ever for Tony, because it was a kiss of promise and hope, a blank page where everything was to be written. It was a kiss like them, with their imperfections and their flaws.

They had been through the worst, they had now to go through the best.

It was not a happy ending, but a happy beginning.