2016

Tony jerked awake to find himself in the lab, music turned off, and the lights dimmed. A blanket had been placed over him, his current project saved for later.

"JARVIS?" Tony cursed out loud. JARVIS was never going to answer again. "F-Friday?"

"Yes, boss?" The female AI answered.

"Have you located our Spider-boy?"

"He's in Queens." An address flashed up on one of the computer screens.

"Gotcha, kid." He smiled to himself, then immediately felt guilty for it.

Tony was recruiting this boy to fight...Steve.

His chest ached. This whole thing escalated to the point of no return...if he could just stop them at this moment.

"Captain Rogers is at an airport in Germany, Sir."

"Why are you running? What aren't you telling me?" Tony was looking at a picture of Steve, then cried for the second time that afternoon.

Tony sat on the couch and politely talked to the lady. She was sweet, hot for her age, but Tony pushed those thoughts aside. He perked up when he heard a kid mumbling to himself about school.

"Oh, Mr. Parker." Tony greeted.

"Oh...hey, hi...wh-what? You...uh..." The kid was so nervous, yanking his headphones out of his ears. "I'm...Peter."

"Tony." He gave that billion-dollar smile.

Peter laughed nervously.

"Uh, Mr. Stark, thank-you for this opportunity, I..."

"Oh, yes! Do you mind?" Tony looked to the woman, who excused herself, giving two big thumbs up to Peter, before exiting.

The boy seemed to be going on and on about how much this internship would mean to him, so he can get into this great scientific high school because it would look great on a college application.

Tony only heard half of it.

"Let's go for a drive, Queens." Happy picked them up, and took them to the airport.

It was there that Tomy revealed he knew Peter Parker was Spider-Man, and offered to tweak a few minor things.

Peter was over-the-moon ecstatic just being in the same vehicle as his idol.

Tony forced himself to look at the screen.

"Tony..." Steve pleaded.

That murdering bastard. Tony watched his worst childhood nightmare come true as he saw the man standing off to his right kill his mother on screen.

He turned to his left, and saw the love of his life...a liar...

"Did you know?" He barely got above a whisper.

"I didn't-"

"Don't bullshit me, Rogers, did you know?" Tony spat.

Steve stared at him. "...Yes."

Tony backed off, as if his emotional pain was physical.

And from that moment on, he could not honestly remember much. They fought each other, two on one, Steve trying to keep one from hurting the other.

"I had no choice...but he's my friend..." Steve panted.

"...So was I..."

Tony was done, but in the end, Steve overpowered him out of rage for hurting his friend. As he held his shield up to strike, Tony put his hands up to protect himself. Steve closed his eyes and threw the shield down into the arc reactor.

The suit shut off, and Tony fought not to scream in pain.

He went into shock.

Steve did not say a word, but his eyes told everything, how conflicted he was and how sorry he was for doing such a thing. He got up and walked away.

"That shield doesn't belong to you!" He called out. "It belonged to my father...you don't deserve it!"

THUD!

Steve never turned back,leaving Tony all alone.

He slowly sat up, spitting up blood. He stared at the shield.

"Please..." He whispered.

Tony was up all night. Not from the stabbing pain, not from the loss of the battle, not even from Steve lying to him about his parents' deaths.

Tony was plagued by nightmares, again, but worse than ever before.

Because he was alone. He had alienated himself from everyone in his life.

"I'm so sorry..." He gulped down more whiskey. "I was the idiot."

The next morning, just as Tony was about to pass out from utter exhaustion, a beep jolted him awake.

"Sir, you have a package." FRIDAY informed.

Tony moaned, massaged his temples, and slowly made his way down to the front door. A nice old man held up the box, trying to read the label.

"Are you Tony, Stank?"

He closed his eyes, his patience not in huge supply. "Yep, that's me, old timer." He signed for the package, and dreaded what was inside when he recognized the handwriting.

But he wanted nothing more than to hear from him.

He missed him so much.

Inside, there was a pre-paid phone with one number programmed in.

He wants me to call him.

Tony really wanted to, but he stopped himself...he was not ready for this...

There was also a letter:

Tony,

I wish there was a way to tell you how truly sorry I am for hurting you. I lied to you, I betrayed you…I hurt you again. Only this time, I don't know if these wounds will heal between us. I wish we agreed on the Accords. I wish I could turn back the clock and start all over. But we can't always have what we want. Because what I want is you.

I love you so much, and I will admit, I have let myself get so caught up in saving my best friend that I pushed you away. Most of my life, I have lived without regrets, but hurting you is the one thing I will never forgive myself for.

I'm not asking for you to welcome me back with open arms. You deserve so much more.

I'm asking you to just take care of yourself and know that I will never stop loving you.

Forever yours,

Steve Rogers-Stark

P.S. If you need me, no matter what, just call me and I'll be there