It was a only a few short weeks later when Steve Rodgers woke up in a sterile exam room in a secret basement in New York. He was confused for a moment, having just gone to bed in the room he had shared with Peggy before she died. But then he quickly realized he was in the room where he had become Captain America. And then he realized there was someone behind him.
At first, Steve thought he was looking at a ghost. There stood Tony Stark, looking more at peace for the first time than he had ever seen. The older man had cleaned up well since the battle with Thanos, even having changed into similar clothes to the ones he wore before Scott showed up. Tony had his arms folded across his chest, but the look on his face was calm, almost happy even.
"Tony?" Steve approached the man slowly, afraid that the other man was about to disappear. Tony smiled. "Hi Steve. Good to see you."
"Where are we?" Steve asked, looking around.
"Where do you think we are?" Tony asked, a little bit of humor leaking into his tone.
"New York?" Steve answered, not entirely confident in that answer.
Tony snorted, and walked towards Steve. "Nope. Wanna try again there Capsicle?"
Unable to meet the other man's eye, Steve whispered "Heaven?"
Tony lifted his hand to push Steve's head up, forcing him to make eye contact. "Yeah. And there are a lot of people who want to see you."
Panic welled up in Steve's chest. "Tony, I...I am so…"
"Woah, woah, woah, none of that blubbering now, alright? Steve, you hear me?" Tony grasped Steve's shoulders.
Steve started hyperventilating. "It should've been me. You shouldn't be here. You should be with Morgan, with Pepper! I am so sorry Tony. I dragged you into this, and now…"
"Steven Grant Rodgers, shut up!" Tony snapped.
Steve froze, not wanting to anger the other man. Tony softened, and said "Steve, look at me."
Steve met his eyes, unsure of what to do. "Steve, you did not drag me into this, you got that? You may have brought Scott to me, but the truth is, I've been working on that Quantum machine long before Scott arrived. Do you seriously think I figured out time-travel in one night? I'm smart, but not that smart. Hell, I was working on that in my head from the moment we got back to Earth. I was in this fight from the moment Thanos sent his army to Earth with Loki. You did not drag me into this. As for what happened, that was my choice. I guessed that something might happen, that Thanos might figure out what we were doing, and try to cheat. It's why I made the gauntlet compatible with my armor. I knew there may be a possibility that one of us would need to use the stones. And I even knew that by doing so, one of us might die. I don't regret that Steve, and you should've either."
Steve locked eyes with the other man, trembling in his grasp. Finally, after a moment of silence, the super-soldier dragged the engineer into a hug, and there they stayed for a long while.
Eventually, Tony cleared his throat and pulled away. "Come on," he said. "The others are waiting."
Steve looked confused, and said "Others?"
Tony nodded, and said "See the way things work around here is that when someone dies, they end up in the place where they become who they were meant to be. That's why we're here. This is where you became Captain America. And someone is always here to greet you. I had to fight Aunt Peggy to be here, by the way. And…"
Tony kept talking as the two of them walked out of the room, and Steve found himself in a completely new environment. The purple sky was lit with most stars than Steve had ever seen before, even when he had been in space. Animals lolled about, wandering amongst the scenery. Tony seemed completely comfortable with this, and yet it seemed almost completely unnatural.
Steve dragged his feet, trying to take in everything, and Tony noticed that Steve was falling behind. The older man turned around to face the former soldier and raised an eyebrow. "What's up Steve?"
Turning to look at Tony, Steve shook his head. "I don't know what I was expecting...but it wasn't this. Is God here? The angels? Where are we? Why are we here? What…" The crisis of faith was almost overwhelming to Steve, and then all of a sudden, he was falling.
Unable to see or hear through his panic, Steve's breathing rapidly increased. A loud buzzing filled his head. He couldn't breath...he couldn't...he...he…."Steve? STEVE? Steve look at me! C'mon buddy look at me?"
Tony's voice broke through the haze, and Steve's vision cleared enough to see his friend's concerned face. "C'mon Steve, look at me. See me? Match my breathing for me 'kay? In, hold, out, hold. Alright? Watch me. In, hold, out, hold. Come on, you try."
Steve tried to focus on his breathing. In, hold, out, in, in, out, hold…IT WASN'T WORKING!...the frustration slowly began to take over, but Tony started speaking again.
"C'mon Steve breath with me here. Come on, in, hold, out, hold. 1, 2, 3, 4, you can do it. Come on. Breath with me. In? Good. Hold it a sec. Great, now breath out, wait a sec, and do it again. In? Hold? Out? Hold? Good. Again. Keep doing that buddy. Once more for me okay?"
After a few moments, Steve was able to get his breathing under control. The buzzing in his ears faded, and slowly, Steve was able to process his environment again.
"Wha...What was that?" He asked, still in shock, a little bit."
Tony snorted. "That was a panic attack, a pretty bad one, I'd say."
"A panic attack?" Steve questioned.
"It's when your brain gets so caught up in overwhelming fear or stress, and you're then unable to process anything else except the thing that your brain is caught on. Every person is different when it comes to panic attacks, but they're usually triggered by something, like a specific phrase or situation. There are other causes, but those aren't as common."
"I...I just don't know what I was expecting?"
"Well, you're Catholic right? Irish Catholic?" Tony pressed on. "You were probably expecting either fire and brimstone or large gates with fluffy white clouds?"
Steve nodded, still slightly numb. "That's okay. The way people have tried to explain it is that none of the faiths in the world quite got it right when they were explaining Heaven to people, but all of them have contributed to what it's become. The Egyptians for example, they brought the whole judgement of the soul on the scales thing to the table, and the Greeks slash Abrahamic religions got the Heaven versus Hell thing, reincarnation is an option thanks to Hinduism, they're all here. Also, there's no language barriers up here. So you could say whatever you want, and people understand. Also, we don't need to eat or sleep anymore, since our bodies have been remade eternally, or some shit like that, but people still do anyways, it's kind of a comfort thing. And...woah, I just realized I'm rambling. Sorry, I should probably stop before I make things worse."
Steve choked out a short laugh, and said "No, it's helping, a little bit. How did you know it was a panic attack?"
Tony shrugged. "I used to get them, after Afghanistan, and New York. A little bit after Sokovia too, and Siberia."
Steve's head shot up in alarm. "Siberia? After…?"
Tony nodded. Steve rubbed his hand over his face. "Jesus, Tony, I...I am so sorry. I put you through most of that, and I didn't even consider...I...how are you not screaming at me right now?"
"Because I forgave you idiot. A long time ago." Tony gently whispered, grasping Steve's shoulders.
"A lot has happened, in the time we've known each other. After Siberia, I blamed you for a lot, but I've come to realize, that blame is something that ought to be shared. We both had our parts in what happened, and the same rule applies to the Snap. It was all our faults, but we fixed it. And you know what, we did that together, just like you said we would. So, I forgave you. I forgave you Steve, and not it's time to forgive yourself, okay?"
Tony made eye-contact with the soldier, and sent him a reassuring smile, before clearing his throat and standing up. "Now come on, before both Peggy and Natasha send out search parties for you."
Peggy and Natasha? Steve mulled the combination over in his head before processing what was happening. He was dead, but his friends were here. He was with them. And Peggy and Natasha were looking for them. "Yeah, you're right. Let's go, let's go now, before they end up giving each other bad ideas. Which way?"
Tony laughed, and by god, Steve had missed making the other man laugh. Tony pointed in a specific direction, and together, the two men walked onwards.