For three days straight, he worked. For three days he lived on nothing but water, the occasional chocolate bar and pure willpower. His body felt more like a machine than his Iron Man suit, which he now couldn't get into anymore. It didn't fit his new body (or could you say old body?). It became younger and younger and although the screen showed him that the deaging speed was decreasing, it sure didn't feel like it. A few weeks ago Pepper had made a remark about him becoming older, causing a minor wave of paranoia in front of the mirror before he mentally slapped himself, walked away from the damn thing and returned to work. So what if he aged, he was still sexy. He knew it. That had been his attitude. Now he felt like breaking down every time he caught his own reflection on the monitor's dark screensaver, every time he had to look at his hands because he typed something wrong on the keyboard or he noticed someone looking at him for an extended amount of time.

Bruce avoided all eye contact as much as possible. He preferred to look at the screen while talking to Tony or looking down at papers in his hands while explaining theories, possible solutions or just reports. He did look very much at Steve though, lying weak and tired on the bed in the first radiation room. The lab wasn't really a hospital so the room it had all happened in had to serve a new purpose for the time being.

A quick glance at the clock told Tony the time was eleven a.m. He drank another gulp of water and scratched his chin. The wrist watch on his right arm tinkled in an annoying fashion as he put the glass down, causing him to violently try to take it off without success. His fretting with the watch grew frantic until he with extreme amounts of concentration and restrained anger managed to get it off; throwing it into the wall with all his might. The sound of glass breaking and metal falling to pieces made all other sounds in the lab make a slight pause to take in what happened and then, a little more quietly, continue as if nothing had happened. These sounds were the sounds of Bruce stomping his feet to the rhythm of the music in his left ear, his scribbling on a document and the sound of Nick talking to agent Hill via the com radio.

They both looked at Tony who ran both his hands through his thick brown hair, leaned himself over his desk and rested his head and elbows against the surface, all while taking deep breaths.

" Sir? " agent Hill's voice said on the com radio and Bruce returned to his digging and scribbling.

Nick pushed the button. " Yes, I'm here. Make sure the deliveries to San Diego go smoothly and then tell Barton to swing by the infirmary to take a look at his head. Just to be sure. "

" Will do, Sir. "

Nick put the radio away and stood up slowly, approaching the stressed out avenger with caution. Tony heard him coming and felt that he couldn't give any more fucks about whatever Nick was going to say. He needed a rest? No, then he would be wasting time, he wouldn't be solving this. He needed to eat? No, it's not like he was preparing for the Olympics, he'd be fine. Eating would also be a waste of time. He didn't need shit but time, which was something he was very sure Fury could not provide.

" Take a break, Stark. I'll send something up from the kitchen so you can get something to eat and get some sleep. "

" No. "

Sigh.

" Why are you refusing? You're not going to make any breakthroughs when you're about to fall asleep on the monitor. "

" I am not going to fall asleep. " Tony said, demonstratively standing up with a slight balance failure and quickly supported himself by grabbing a hold of the desk. " Look, I'm fine, I'm very much fine, thanks for asking. Go chase down the crazy god lunatic who controls people's brains and plans world domination instead, I'm pretty sure I'll be fine if you go work on that one and let me work on this one. "

He hadn't planned on making it sound like he meant Steve, but his eyes involuntarily landed on the window which gave him a clear view into the temporary room the captain rested in, his face not visible in the damp light. He was even younger, and even sicker than before according to the data on his computer. Of course, this did not escape Nick's attention. Though, he found it to be the wisest decision to pretend that it did.

" I know you want to cure yourself Stark, but why won't you at least rest your body a bit by lying down and let Banner run some tests on you again? Maybe it's slowed down? "

Tony gave Nick an interrogating look and Nick felt his natural poker face fall into place. He'd always been good at keeping the mask, make his face feel like plastic. Maybe he could be called a liar, but in this kind of business that was not a bad thing.

" Fine. " Tony snarled, " Banner. Come and make me look like I'm an alien again. "

Bruce gave Nick a slightly confused look while Tony marched into the second radiation room, shutting the door behind him.

" Stark is in serious need of some sleep. If not for his health; for his grumpy attitude. " Nick said and cracked his neck a bit.

" You better let someone take a look at that, a massage wouldn't hurt. "

Nick ignored him. " I think Stark blames himself for this going wrong, especially Rogers. " He caught Bruce's attention at once. " Run the tests, sneak some anesthetics into him, somehow, I don't care how you do it, and tell him he should watch over Rogers for a while, say you're doing something from here. Just say when and I'll bring in a comfortable chair and hopefully he'll catch some sleep. "

Bruce nodded, taking this in. He glanced at Tony who'd started attaching the pads to himself, slow and unfocused movements.

Nick left the room and closed the now fixed door behind him.

Bruce collected what he needed and entered the second radiation room. Tony was lying down, blinking his eyes furiously and obviously straining his muscles; everything so he wouldn't fall asleep. Bruce couldn't help but pity the man. He knew very well what it felt like to blame himself for this; oh, if Tony only knew. Sleep? He knew nothing of sleep these days. He pretended like he went to sleep, but he really sat in his room with his laptop and stared at the screen, trying to figure out what was wrong, what could be done. Taste he had not bothered to notice for days, everything was just nutrition he knew deep down that he needed to go on, he didn't refuse it like Tony.

" Just get on with it. " Tony muttered, not looking at Bruce who sped up the work with the wires. He didn't bother to reply, knowing that whatever he said would be turned against him.

Exiting the room, he shut the door behind him, locked it from the lab and started the tests. It would take about five minutes to get the results and they would show him the speed of the deaging, currently "damaged" areas so to speak, basic vitals and if he was lucky, he would be able to predict how it would evolve.

But the problem remained; how was he supposed to stop it?

After five minutes of obsessive blinking and clenching his fists, lettings his nails claw their way into his skin, Tony sat up and removed all the wires and pads. He was sick of them by now. The first day Bruce had wanted him to lie here and run the tests once every hour to document the spread, which Tony understood, so he couldn't really argue. But as much as he wanted to be as useful as possible to a scientist with the brains of Bruce Banner, he would never be able to forgive him if he didn't succeed. The only way he could be sure that everything that could be done would be done was by doing it himself. He couldn't just lie here when this was something he could somewhat understand. Maybe not entirely, but he had an interest in it and was a quick learner and absorbed knowledge like a sponge. He had to know he tried and failed.

He felt a bit dizzy as he stood up, but didn't let it show as he exited the room and approached Bruce where he stood by one of the desks, staring at the screen. While lying down, he'd experienced the oddest headache. It hurt, but not in a specific area or so, and not like someone was using mjölnir to try and bash his brains out. It was more of a slow kind of pain, a bothersome kind of pain to describe it best. He felt strange, almost alien. He was still himself, but it felt as if he was changing on the inside somehow. It had hurt, but not in such a physical way.

" Still slowly decreasing in speed? " Tony asked and placed himself beside the scientist.

Bruce didn't reply. He just kept staring at the screen that showed scans of Tony's brain. Tony not being very good with simply looking at pictures of brains waited patiently for a reply that didn't come.

" What are we looking at here? " he asked.

" Your brain. "

" Shit Sherlock. I mean why are you not only looking but staring at it? "

Bruce stood up and turned to look Tony in the eyes, almost tearing up as he spoke.

" Anthony, " he said, surprising Tony by the sudden choice of calling him by his full first name. " Your brain is literally shrinking, this should be causing you troubles. You haven't slept, you haven't eaten properly and on top of all this; you are deaging. This is reversed evolution, reversed life! I just... I don't... It just looks like you will be experiencing some kind of Alzheimer's. I've been taught the brain can store infinite amounts of memories, but I don't know... and I... The data... "

Tony stared at the screen, stared at the scans of his brain. He didn't blink even once while Bruce started going around the lab, collecting notes and whatnot, constantly mumbling to himself. He kept staring, as if outstaring it would spill the beans, would give him all the answers he sought. These photos of his brain dyed in the all the colours of the rainbow did him no good, he couldn't see what Bruce saw, and the data with codes and numbers he'd never seen before told him nothing. He saw nothing, he could just hear Bruce's word ringing in his ears. Alzheimer's... Reversed evolution... What the flying fuck.

" Look, Stark, " Bruce called from the other side of the lab. " I can't really make you lie down like Rogers, but would you at least... check up on him and just... I mean... This, I... I'll ask Fury to bring a chair or something. "

Tony threw his hands up in the air in defeat and said lowly, " Whatever". Bruce took that as a yes and called Nick to send up a chair. Within two minutes a most comfortable armchair was sent up and placed just beside Steve's bed. Tony looked as the two men carrying the armchair carefully made their way into the first radiation room and took a long, deep breath. Just watch over him, that was the deal. He knew now he wouldn't be of much use, this was clearly Bruce's area and not his. He knew war technology, he was a genius at war technology. But tired, weary and blue he was of no help at all in this and accepted Bruce's request.

Bruce was busy studying a sample of Tony's blood in a microscope and did not look up when Tony opened the door to the first radiation room.

Closing the door behind him, all he could hear was the sound of very heavy breathing. Isolated from the lab, he could not hear Bruce's continuous muttering, the frantic scribbling of his pencil or the sound of the fan next to his desk, releasing a low humming and a slight breeze that barely touched the papers. He saw the chest under the cover rise and sink in a steady rhythm with the occasional cough disrupting it for a few seconds. It hurt to look at, even more so when he saw the wires that discretely made their way from a couple of machines in under the covers. He wondered what they were for. Medical care wasn't exactly his area of expertise either and he started to wonder if Bruce knew what he was doing. Then again, hadn't he been running around curing people in India or something before SHIELD found him?

He slowly made his way over to the armchair. He kept his gaze fixed on the rising and sinking chest, feeling a comfort in how steady the rhythm was. Once he sat down, he dared look higher up. The face of the captain was hidden under the white cover. Carefully removing the textile, he revealed the face of his fellow avenger and felt like a stone had been flung into his stomach.

The eye sockets looked almost hollow and big bags hung under the eyes. His eyelashes and corners were decorated with eye crust, which in combination with his spookily white skin gave a very lifeless, almost dead, look. Over his nose and mouth was a plastic mask. If it was to help him sleep or breathe, Tony could not tell. He'd never been too familiar with feelings of guilt, but seeing another human being like this... It was like science fiction. The stories of Steve's weakness before the super soldier project looked pale in comparison to this. Understatements even.

Lost in his thoughts, he made a very sudden movement when he noticed that Steve was looking at him. Speechless, he could do nothing but look back.

His eyes were clear and wide open, not as tired as before. He looked younger as well, even younger than Tony. They really had a certain childish look and something shined in them that Tony wasn't certain he could interpret.

" You feel it too, don't you? "

His voice was barely a whisper, barely a sound at all.

" Feel what? " Tony asked, though he had an idea of what he meant.

Steve gave him a meaning glance, not letting go of their eye contact.

Silence.

" The headache. " Tony said with a colourless voice.

" The headache, the slipping. "

Slipping. That was it. It felt as if he was slipping from something, losing the grip.

Silence.

" Banner says I'm going to experience some kind of Alzheimer's, reversed evolution and... life. Think this is what it's like? You start to slip? Think it'll happen to both of us? "

" I'm not the scientist here, " Steve said, now looking away and eyeing all of the machines around him instead. He looked tired again. " All I know is that I'm starting to... to change, to slip. Not just my body, and... As I lie here, it is as if I can feel my body becoming younger, and with it a bit stronger I think. I've always been a weak child, but never as weak as when I grew. In comparison to everyone else, all the others who could run, fight, help their mother carry groceries, help their father with the car, carry their girl in their arms, enlist in the army... "

His voice trailed off into nothingness. Such an empty hole, such an empty heart. Suddenly everything felt so open, so exposed. No one on the team had ever gotten close to the captain, he had not really become friends with anyone or let them inside his walls. Tony was careful not to let people come too close, but he was also a social man; he'd become friends with Bruce through the lab and would gladly speak about himself with the other Avengers and liked to loosen up a bit, relax. But Steve never did. He preferred to remain only an acquaintance, to remain the captain and nothing else. Such thick walls are always made out of sorrow.

Tony had never thought of Steve that way, that maybe he missed his own time. He'd lost everything and been thrown into the future, practically another world, but his refusal to show weakness had always given Tony the expression that he was fine and a way too noble nationalist with a big love for moral with nothing else going through his thoughts. How odd it felt to realize there was more to it, there was more to that shell.

Steve looked at Tony again. " You look almost as bad as I feel. "

" Well you ain't no princess either, you know. " Tony replied and felt the first genuine grin he'd felt in days decorate his face.

Steve returned a feeble smile and closed his eyes, giving them the shape of two reversed u's. It looked so uncharacteristic.

After a few seconds the smile faded and Steve drifted into sleep with a slightly furrowed and sweat decorated forehead. Tony sighed and leaned back into the chair, slowly drifting off to sleep with a vision a short lasting peace. But as he drifted off to sleep, he could vaguely feel how he was slipping even further away from something now. From what, he could not recall. But it was there, it was there...