Thank you all for your fantastic response! Unfortunately the site is malfunctioning and I was unable to read the reviews on the review page, but I did have the emails to go off of. So thank you to tigerlilly, Terri'smind, Zenoneel-Sarior, Pickles, br0kenztar, DoublePaws, and The 16 Pleiades for your wonderful words of encouragement.
Zenoneel-Sarior: First I laughed, and then I facepalmed because when I reread Eyes of Icarus there really was potential for a trio. Even worse, my fiance thinks I should do it. (He's a rabid Stark Spangled Soldier shipper.) This particular story will cover everything from Iron Man 2 to cleaning up the mess post-time travel, meaning that the Winter Soldier will definitely be in here. Otherwise, ask me no questions and I will tell you no lies. :P
NOTICE TO THE READERS: Unless something comes up, a chapter will be posted every Friday until this is complete. Thanks for being so vocal about wanting to see this continued! It makes my day.
Disclaimer: I own nothing under copyright.
Chapter 2: Distress Signal
"I finally figured out that not every crisis can be managed. As much as we want to keep ourselves safe, we can't protect ourselves from everything. If we want to embrace life, we also have to embrace chaos."
― Susan Elizabeth Phillips, Breathing Room
The day of the Expo, Steve found his old army dress uniform laid out on his bed with a note. The familiar chicken scratch read, If I have to dress up, so do you. Front door at two. -Tony
Shaking his head fondly, Steve made a mental note to get the rest of his old belongings while they were in New York. He had already dawdled too long.
The thought was shoved to the side with another look at his old uniform. He had another expo to go to.
Being on a plane that wasn't about to crash-land and wasn't getting shot at was amazing. It may have been the new technology, but sometimes Steve was able to forget that he was in the air. Instead he found himself drawn into a card game with Happy, Pepper and Tony for most of the flight. Happy lost spectacularly and Pepper was good, but still too open with her expressions to play with people as observant as Steve and Tony. Between the two it was a tough game.
The genius won out; he'd probably been playing longer than Steve had been alive, not counting the deep freeze. At the end he cackled and gathered all the chips to himself with an evil little smirk. "No one beats a Stark!" he crowed.
Thank goodness Pepper had vetoed strip poker, Steve thought as he changed into his old uniform when they were passing over eastern New York. He wasn't wearing nearly enough layers to make that fair.
The thought of seeing Tony naked, even if it was just for a game, sent a bolt of heat through him that was expertly pushed down. Not the time for that.
No, it was time to watch Tony work his magic on the audience. And it really was magic.
Even though the suit was being piloted by JARVIS, the mannerisms were still Tony's own. There was no visual difference between the two that Steve could pick out, as he compared his experiences with Tony in the suit against the AI handling the suit with Tony standing precariously on its boots, waving at the cheering masses.
Admittedly, Steve was one of those masses. Memories of the last expo he went to flooded his mind, from a flying car to a recruitment tent. It was almost dizzying to see Tony onstage instead of Howard, to have Pepper at his side instead of Bucky. The two experiences overlapped tangibly in his mind until the speech began.
That was where Tony really differed from his father, Steve thought with a roll of his eyes. Howard had an ego with some to spare, but his son was a big ball of ego. Yet the charisma was just as profound and made Steve almost not mind.
"Therefore, what I'm saying, if I'm saying anything, is welcome back… to the Stark Expo!" Tony finished, to massive applause. All things considered, it was a good opening. Even if the scantily clad dancers were a bit much, in Steve's opinion.
It felt like a kick in the gut for Tony to put on the opening his father had recorded for a previous expo. The last time Steve saw Howard, he was poring over blueprints in the lab he used to share with Tony. In the film he was noticeably older, balder, and far more tired than Steve had ever imagined he could look.
Every word out of his old friend's mouth was a painful reminder of what he had missed. Mentally, Steve apologized for not being there.
He didn't feel as guilty as he thought he should, instead getting up to find Tony backstage. Just like at Camp Leigh, he had already decided that Tony was worth it.
When he finally was able to wade through the crowd, it was to find Tony bent over a small device he had never seen before. In the mirror, his face was a horrible combination of desperate and sarcastic.
"Tony? Are you alright?" Steve asked, despite knowing the answer full well.
When Tony gave him a brittle smile and a popped, "Yep," he accepted it but did not believe. The device was tucked away into a pocket as he readjusted his jacket and sauntered from the room. "So, what did you think of the opening, old man?" he asked, teasing.
"It reminded me of the expo I went to back in '43, but more… you," Steve answered truthfully. Only a Stark could put another Stark's showmanship to shame.
"Glad I could live up to my reputation," Tony said with a bark of laughter, before they waded into a crowd of fans.
There were several phone numbers shoved into Tony's hands and a poster signed for a boy in a toy Iron Man helmet, which was unsurprising. It made Tony laugh and Steve splutter and blush when just as many scraps of paper and echoes of, "Call me," followed the soldier. Then someone pinched his backside and both hurried out of the crowd.
"How many numbers did you get?" Tony asked, amused, as he counted the many that had been shoved at him. He got to eight before he emptied his pockets of them, and fifteen after.
When Steve looked at his own hands, he blanched. "Uh, seventeen… And a nude picture. " He stuffed them in his pockets to dump in the rubbish once they were out of sight. Especially the picture.
Tony laughed so hard he choked. "Gotta love a man in uniform," he wheezed with an absolutely filthy grin in his companion's direction.
At the car they were headed toward, another pretty woman watched them keenly. This one had the expression of a predator in wait, analyzing them with cool brown eyes.
"I hope she comes with the car," Tony muttered wickedly.
Less than surprised, Steve sighed and opened the driver's side door for Tony. That kept him and the car door between them, because after Peggy he would never assume that anyone was weak on the basis of gender. "Can we help you, ma'am?" he asked politely.
"Yes, actually. I have this for Mr Stark," the woman answered with a smile, handing a packet of papers across the door.
"What's your name?" Tony asked flirtatiously.
Again, Steve rolled his eyes. He took the papers and dropped them in Tony's lap, unwilling to put up with the man's, "I don't like things being handed to me," bullshit. Then he closed the door, making it clear this was over.
"Marshall," the woman purred, the cat that caught the canary, "You've been served. You are hereby ordered to appear before the Senate Armed Services Committee at 9 AM." She looked proud of herself, for good reason. It wasn't too often one got something over on Tony Stark.
Immediately Tony's face fell into a serious expression. "Can I see the badge? I like the badge," he requested.
When the woman produced it, with a cold smile, Tony returned the expression. "Get in Spangles, it looks like we're going on a road trip," he called to the blonde.
With smooth movements, Steve circled the small car and slid into the passenger seat.
The woman thankfully backed away when the car started. It wouldn't do for her to get hurt.
"How far do you think DC is?" Tony asked conversationally as he got on the road.
"I don't actually know," Steve answered, watching the rear view mirror until the woman, and the expo, were out of sight, "The show always used the train. Gas was rationed." It went without saying that he had never left Brooklyn before then; he was too poor for it.
"My guess is about four hours," Tony said, putting his foot down to zoom onto the freeway. He drove like an absolute animal, dodging huge trucks and sliding through gaps that should have been impossible with ease.
The noise of the wind in their ears was near deafening, but Steve shouted over it anyways. "What do you think this is about?" There had been no doom bots or explosions or anything else exciting since he woke up in Malibu. So what could the senate possibly want so urgently?
"No idea!" Tony replied, looking for all the world as if he couldn't care.
It was only around Philadelphia that Steve convinced him to hand over the wheel, using his big innocent-looking blue eyes to his advantage. When Tony fell asleep less than half an hour later, Steve decided he made the right call. Instead of switching back at Wilmington, he let the other man sleep until they reached DC.
Thank God for his enhancements, Steve found himself thinking several times as Tony shifted and mumbled in his sleep. They meant that he needed less sleep than most people, in addition to everything else. That never stopped him from stocking up on calories or shut-eye when he could get it, but right now he was fine staying up until they got to where signs wouldn't help him.
It gave him too much time to think. About Tony, Pepper, Bucky, Howard… Love. Friends. Choices. Specifically, the choices that led him here and those he would make starting now.
Up until he woke up in this strange time and place, Steve had been fully confident in his choices. It was only now that he was starting to second guess himself. The differences he could see between the times were astounding and the learning curve extremely steep. Was this how Tony felt in the 40's?
Before he had been angry and hurt that his man hadn't trusted him. He understood now: Tony knew too much. There was no one that the other man could have trusted with the truth beyond the basics, and even that was only on a need to know basis. Like the arc reactor.
The thought that Tony may have had to lie was troubling. A good deal of the time on the road was spent looking back on their conversations and wondering. It was shelved eventually; there were bigger fish to fry.
Currently, his biggest task (besides driving) was figuring out where to go from here. Every memory he had of Tony implied that they had no romantic relationship before 1943, but he had wanted it since… the future. It made something in Steve's gut shrivel up to know that the man he loves would return his feelings but if he wanted to keep the timeline intact, he couldn't give in.
The really big question, Steve thought as he narrowly avoided being hit by a fourteen wheeler, was whether he wanted to keep the timeline intact. Everything in him rebelled at the thought of changing it, because who knows what the consequences could be? But was it worse than losing Tony?
The way he saw it, the moment he lost his man to 1943 his life would be over. It had already been over for months as far as he was concerned. Until he woke up to this strange past version of Tony at his bedside.
Would he be willing to erase the best thing to ever happen to him, if it saved Tony from dying in agony before he was even born? Steve was ashamed that he couldn't decide.
By the time they got to the hearing, a crowd had already gathered and they were hungry for a quick quote or picture. They were like wolves, Steve thought with disgust as he helped security clear the way for Tony to get where he needed to go. That he was still in uniform probably helped.
Between getting to DC and reaching the courthouse, Steve had been convinced into stopping to get a shower at a hotel. He really didn't like the raised eyebrows and barely hidden smirk of the receptionist when Tony asked for a room, "just for a couple of hours so that they could freshen up." It was probably a well used excuse for a rendezvous. Even more likely that it was going to some sleazy tabloid.
If it bothered Tony, he didn't show it. No, he had put on his public persona and was charming anything and everything within eyesight.
Steve just tried to not be jealous. He isn't yours anymore, he will never be yours again.
Shortly after the hearing began Steve realized that it was a farce. An enormous farce to get their hands on the Iron Man suit. Senator Stern even said, though his unmoving face slightly hampered his pronounciation, "My goal is to get the Iron Man weapon turned over to the United States military." That they weren't even making an attempt to hide what they were doing set alarms off.
There was an entirely verbal but still curious incident with a man called Justin Hammer, some sort of rival? Steve made a note to do research later. Business rivalries often turned sour, he remembered that much from listening to Howard complain.
The man had charisma, Steve could give him that. It was the draw of an overgrown schoolboy, too simpering to be anywhere near the static charge that hovered around Tony. That made his speech no less interesting, or informative. Transparent insults about Howard hid sly ones about Tony's own capabilities, no matter that everyone knew he was talking out of his-
As Steve was just getting into analyzing Hammer, a Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes was called up to testify. From Tony's surprised, "Rhodey?" he knew the man.
"Rhodey and Tony have been friends since high school," Pepper whispered into Steve's ear.
The trial only got more farcical, even with Rhodes's attempts to put it on the straight and narrow. It was outrageous.
And it only got worse, with the exposed attempts to make Iron Man suits elsewhere. The mere idea was enough to give Steve pause. Iron Man had been able to take on the deadliest opponent that Steve ever faced, and fight him to a standstill. If governments got a hold of legions of them…
If this committee won their case, Steve planned to help destroy any blueprints or equipment necessary. This was one thing he would not allow the military to get their hands on. Too much possibility for corruption, just like the Cosmic Cube.
Then Tony plied his talent with technology, which Steve would never stop being in awe of, and showed what was really going on. "Most countries five, ten years away. Hammer, twenty," Tony said with all seriousness. When he turned to watch the humiliation of his rival, the sparkle in his eyes betrayed his enjoyment of the turnaround.
"I'd like to point out that that test pilot survived," Hammer announced.
Steve snorted, and he heard Pepper make a noise of disgust. The way that suit attempt turned around, survival may not have been a consolation.
As the committee failed, Tony only grew in stature. "I'm your nuclear deterrent," he declared, and it sent shivers down Steve's spine. He was comparing himself to a device that the man out of time had only recently learned about, and he didn't like the thought. The technology race is fickle. Who knew when a nuclear deterrent wouldn't be enough?
That Senator Stern told the man, "Fuck you," only emphasized that this was a show. They didn't expect to be denied.
They obviously didn't know Tony, who was receiving a standing ovation.
Steve couldn't help it, he joined in on the applause from his seat. That was better handled than anyone else could possibly have managed, no matter how disrespectful. Tony did what he had to do, said what he had to say, and that was it.
Beside him, Pepper sighed and shook her head.
"What is it?" Steve asked while everyone else followed Tony out the doors. He turned toward her and put a hand on the arm of her chair, worried. Nothing gets Pepper down, as he was cheerfully told. So what was this about?
"Tony. He's been more and more unpredictable lately. Erratic. Short-sighted. I don't know what's happening and he won't talk to me about it," Pepper told him, just loudly enough for his super soldier hearing to catch.
It was something Steve had noticed too. When he had first woken up Tony was always there, making suggestions and fielding questions like he was happy just to be of value and notice. But now, the man was withdrawing to longer and longer hours in the lab, feverishly working on something for days at a time and only coming out when he needed to restock the coffee machine every few days.
"I can't say I know him as well as you do at this point," Steve admitted painfully, "But I noticed too. I saw a ton of crates get shipped out and most everything was taken off the walls. I don't mind, but... that isn't like him."
"Somebody needs to talk to him," Pepper said outright. She looked to be at the end of her rope and fraying with the uncertainty.
Hoping he wasn't being too forward, Steve laid a hand on hers. "I can try," he promised.
The smile he got was fragile. "Thanks, Steve."
Neither of them noticed a camera snapping pictures of them.
Tony couldn't say what it was about the picture that made him so snippy at two of the best friends he had somehow managed to get. It was possibly how their knees knocked together, or that neither of them noticed. It was probably his hand on hers, covering it entirely. It was definitely how close their faces were, heads bowed together as they discussed something serious right there in the damn courtroom.
So when Steve came in with that face of determination, the same one that he wore in that stupid photo, Tony found himself wondering. How cruel could he be before the other man snapped back? How long before he left like all the others?
"Done doing whatever important things you've been doing?" Tony asked airily, ignoring the plate of french toast casserole that was put on a side table.
"Hm?" Steve was obviously blindsided, blinking owlishly as he tried to comprehend.
"Hiking the Appalachian Trail, whatever it is you and Pepper have been up to?" Tony added, unable to help his jabs at what he hoped to whatever was out there they weren't really doing.
"What's this-?" Steve shook himself out of his confusion, "Tony, we're worried about you." He glared around at the lab, seeing more broken bits and bobs than ever before.
Tony turned back to the screen he was working on so that he could roll his eyes in privacy. "Oh, thanks, I'm fine, you can go back to lifting her luggage," he said dismissively. If they did, he was sure he'd die a little faster.
"You are not fine, we can both see it. You gave away your art collection!" Steve exclaimed. He circled around to stand on the other side of the screen, unwilling to be ignored.
"I needed the tax write-off," Tony lied with a dainty little shrug.
"What's really bothering you?" Steve asked firmly.
For a moment Tony thought of telling the truth. Except that this was Captain America, the paradigm of truth and righteousness. No, he thought upon looking at the man standing in front of his workbench in a t-shirt and sweats, this is Steve: naive, pig-headed, and far too good for him. Instead, smirking, he cooed, "Don't even think that you can get to the bottom of this. I'm not a damsel in distress, I'm not a war to be won, and I'm not your concern. Go back to discussing Uganda and leave me alone to solve this." He was cold, cutting, and it hurt to see the light fade out of Steve's eyes.
They grew hard. "When you get your head on straight, I'll be upstairs," the man ordered, "And eat your damn food." He stormed out, each step hard enough to vibrate through the concrete floor.
To the outside world, especially the man he turned his back to as he left, Tony didn't appear to care about what just happened. Another person angry at him, another goal accomplished. It was his modus operandi: piss off anyone who got too close.
It wasn't until he was elbow deep in installing an arc reactor to the suit he intended to be Steve's that it hit him: the man hadn't said he was leaving. He said he'd be upstairs. Tony hadn't been as cruel as he could be, but somebody still stayed, even if it wasn't in the same room.
It was probably the reason he hadn't been quite so harsh on Pepper when she came by later in the day.
When Steve got booted from the lab, the first thing he did was call Pepper. "He denied all of it and told me to discuss Uganda and leave him alone," he reported stoically.
"Did he really tell you to go discuss Uganda?" Pepper asked flatly.
"Yes," Steve answered, trying to come up with anything else that could have meant. Nothing came to mind.
"Oh, I'm going to murder him," Pepper hissed. It seemed like overkill.
"What? Why?" Steve realized they were getting off track and tried correcting that, "Never mind, I can find out later. I failed. Your turn." He hoped that she would get a better reaction than he did. If he was right, Tony would probably have tossed the plate rather viciously at the wall by now.
On the other end of the line, he got a sigh. "I can come by in an hour. Stay safe and keep him from doing anything too stupid until then, okay?" Pepper requested tiredly.
"Roger that," Steve agreed. They said their goodbyes and he tapped the red icon that he had learned meant 'stop', or 'end' or similar things.
Alone once more, this time without Tony to pester, Steve felt a little lost. "JARVIS?" he called. He sat on the sofa, curled up as tightly as he could to try to comfort himself.
"Yes, Captain Rogers?" the voice answered. It was still strange to have a male British voice come out of nowhere.
"Can you put on more 'Cosmos'?" Steve requested.
"Of course." The television turned on and the show began playing, the narrator's voice soothing his nerves slightly.
Steve knew he shouldn't have stormed out like that. It was the exact opposite of what he wanted to achieve. But the way Tony put on that mask and gave him that unfeeling, mocking smile… He missed his Tony more than ever.
It felt remarkably like he was in one of those stupid romantic comedies that Pepper had put on his list of movies to survive the modern age. He couldn't remember what the name of it was and didn't really care. All he wanted was his Tony, and maybe some ice cream.
The latter part was an easy fix, he thought somewhat optimistically, when he pried himself off the sofa. There were at least five kinds of ice cream in the house at all times. Thank God for large freezers.
So it was that he was found by Pepper Potts an hour and a half later, now watching 'Bewitched', with a pint of Phish Food ice cream and a blanket cape. "Hi Pepper," he said, realizing with some chagrin exactly how he looked.
"I really am going to kill that man," she muttered and stormed down to the lab.
While she was out of sight Steve turned the volume down, just in case. Normally he would never even think that Tony would do anything… distressing. But it was getting increasingly obvious that he was becoming someone else in his preoccupation, and Pepper was a civilian.
In the middle of his debate with himself, the object of his thoughts reappeared. For some reason she had the famed thousand yard stare, which immediately set more alarms off. "Pepper?"
She mumbled something that not even his hearing could pick up and seated herself primly on the sofa.
"Pepper, are you with me?" Steve asked more seriously. He waved a hand in front of her face.
That seemed to snap her out of it. "Wha- oh." She put a hand to her chest, startled.
"Sorry," Steve apologized with a tight smile, "What happened down there?"
Again, Pepper muttered, but this time he heard: "He made me CEO."
Ice flooded Steve's veins. "He gave you his company?" he asked incredulously, praying he heard wrong.
The nod that Pepper gave was unwelcome.
"So he's out of control, having the mood swings of a pregnant woman, giving away his property…" Steve listed out. He couldn't help getting up to pace. This was too much, even for him.
There was no answer; Pepper still stared straight out ahead of her. Likely, she hadn't heard a thing he said.
"JARVIS, can you call Happy to pick up Pepper? I don't think she's safe to drive," Steve called out to the amazing computer.
"Of course, Captain Rogers," JARVIS responded, "He is on his way." Never had there been a machine quite so blessed as JARVIS, in Steve's opinion.
"Thank you, JARVIS." Steve helped the woman to her feet and out to the car, only trading a grim smile with the chauffeur as he circled to the front door. They were all worried about Tony. But somehow, Steve was the only one able to do anything about it still.
With a sigh, he watched the car speed away into the evening.
It was time to confront Tony again.
