Chapter Summary: In which Harry is there while Steve acclimates to the 21st century. (Harry/Steve, Avengers)

"Oh, for fuck's sake."

Steve could feel his heart racing, could hear his breathing. He thought he was having an asthma attack as his knees buckled amidst what was apparently the 21st century. He landed roughly on the cold cement, shivered at the thought that he was now alone. He had slept for 70 years but it felt like an hour to him. Flashes of his last memories sped through his mind, overwhelming him. The car headlights blinded him and the advertisements above him blared their product or Broadway show.

He could hear someone talking above him then yelling at someone else. The man was yelling at someone named Fury then silence except for the cars, trucks and the sounds of people walking and talking.

"Steve."

"You're okay."

He felt someone grasp one of his hands, their thumb rubbing soft circles on his palm. "Steve, I need you to breathe. You're safe. Just breathe."

Something wrapped around him and it sounded like the flutter of a wing as it shielded him from all the light and the noise. It was silent but for his breathing and the man who was kneeling in front of him talking softly. The man eyed him in concern, his green eyes narrowed.

"Who…" Steve finally croaked out, still having difficulty catching his breath. He felt like he had just run a marathon, like he was still small and thin and not tall and muscular. Not Captain America.

"I'm Harry. Nice to meet you, Steve." Harry stared at him then Steve watched as he slowly reached out, placing a hand on his own chest. "I know, this is all strange and different for you but I need you to breathe. You're worrying me."

"And me."

"Fury, stay out of this. You were the one who thought that that thing back there would work," Harry retorted loudly, not even tearing his eyes away from Steve. There were a few loud car honks at the disruption to traffic but that fell away as Steve focused on Harry.

Steve glanced down to where Harry had his palm on Steve's chest, his thoughts flashing to when Bucky did this, before Steve had submitted to the experiment. He focused on the hand on his chest, the warmth that it brought while still looking into Harry's eyes. The man in front of him was worried but calm, quiet and understanding.

"That's it," Harry whispered, breathing in and out visibly. "Good man."

Steve sighed out in relief as his heart slowed and his breathing evened out. He studied Harry, taking in the man's short but wild, black hair and green eyes. The scar on his forehead interested him, the shape of it unusual in that it looked like a lightning bolt. The branches of the scar forked downward, stopping right at the top of the bridge of Harry's nose.

Harry would probably be a good subject to draw and Steve filed that thought away for later.

And… "What…"

Harry's lips twitched up into a small grin and dipped his head in a nod. "It's just a temporary silencing ward. You ready to face the new world? Or do you need another few minutes?"

"I… A ward?"

"Wizard," Harry explained, looking at him thoughtfully and giving him a hand up. The ward… or whatever had been keeping the noises at bay vanished and the honking, yelling and the city noises all came back gradually. "Come on. Fury, what the hell were you thinking?"

Steve watched as Harry started to yell at Director Fury.

"I really am in the 21st century." Steve looked around at the city that he had grown up in, spotting the biggest tower in Manhattan. It had the name Stark on it in great, blue letters. The cars were definitely bigger, more streamlined. He idly wondered if there were cars that could fly, like the one that had briefly flown at the World Fair back before Bucky had gone to Europe.

"Steve?"

He turned back to look at Harry, seeing that the two men had stopped talking.

"Fury here wants you to be Captain America again," Harry said, his green eyes narrowed. "Join a team and everything. Apparently leaving no time to acclimate."

"A team?" Steve repeated, raising an eyebrow. "Isn't Captain America a little old school now?"

Harry snorted. "I don't know about old school since I only just came to this world a year ago but you could do some good. I read about what you did in the war. If this world is like my world in terms of history and people, you could definitely make a difference."

Fury was about to say something when Harry glared at him, effectively shutting him up.

"When you said wizard…" Steve trailed off, staring at Harry curiously.

"I'm just a consultant right now," Harry explained, shrugging. "No interest in the hero business but it's your decision. And we should probably get off the street in the meantime."

Harry sat down on the chair in the corner of Fury's office thirty minutes later, watching as Steve sat down in the opposite chair. They were the only three in the room, as Coulson was off in New Mexico dealing with whatever was happening down there.

"It would be best if he stayed here," Fury spoke, sitting down at his desk and placing a few files in a drawer. "We can keep an eye on him better."

"He can probably think for himself," Harry replied, turning to look at Steve and watching the soldier. Steve's hands were clenched into fists and his breathing was slightly fast but Harry wasn't too worried. It would be a lot to take in, for someone to sleep for 70 years and then be found in the ice.

Steve looked between the two of them, his blue eyes dull with the pain of losing friends. "What's the other options?"

"Other options?" Fury questioned. "There are no other-"

"You can stay with me," Harry offered, looking Steve over. He wondered if Steve had had a girlfriend or even possibly a boyfriend back before the war or during the war. Harry had read the Captain's files before Fury had made the decision to keep Steve at SHIELD while he woke up. Dr Erskine had chosen well in picking Steve. There probably wasn't a more attractive man to be found. "I have a home in Manhattan that's not too far from here and Stark tower."

Steve looked at him and their eyes caught. Blue met green. "Alright. I'll stay with you, if you don't mind."

"Not at all," Harry answered.

"I know it looks big but I have my bedroom and my office on the second floor," Harry remarked, as they stopped before the front door of the brick house. Steve looked the home over, seeing the two garages and the two floors. "You can have the guest room and stay as long as you like. We're near a few of the public beach park and you can easily follow the signs for that."

Harry placed a hand on the front door and Steve saw a flash of blue then the door swung open, admitting the two of them in before closing on its' own. "Did SHIELD give you any sets of clothes or anything?"

"Just the shield," Steve replied, looking around the living room. It was wide open, with floor to ceiling glass windows at the far end. There was a big TV in the center of it on the wall to their left and the dining table was at the far end of the room.

"Jarvis?" Harry asked.

"Clothes are on the way, Harry."

Steve startled a little at the voice that seemed to come from the ceiling. "What…"

"Stark's homecoming gift," Harry explained, his lips twitching up into a small, bemused grin. "I had gone to London a few months ago and when I got home… Jarvis was all installed in the home. I'm not complaining, by the way."

"Duly noted. My creator thanks you."

Harry snorted, turning to glance at him. "Jarvis is an AI, artificial intelligence?"

"Stark, as in…"

"Tony. Howard and Maria were killed in 1991," Harry said. "Tony is the hero that everyone calls Iron Man."

Harry got up early the next morning, grabbing out the ingredients for pancakes and settling in to cook. He was supposed to be at work at 9 but he wanted to wait for Steve, make sure he had a good night's sleep.

He had just put in a stack of pancakes into the oven to keep warm when the back door in the kitchen was pushed open. Steve stumbled in, shirtless and sweaty. Harry's eyes widened a little, seeing the haunted look in the man's eyes and walked towards him, careful and slow.

"Steve?"

Steve started a bit, staring at Harry. "Harry?"

"Go for a run?"

Harry reached out, grasped one of Steve's hands and tugged him over to sit at one of the chairs at the table. The man was warm but not too overly warm. Not feverish. One of Steve's files said that he hadn't gotten sick at all after taking the serum.

"Didn't think you'd get sweaty," Harry whispered, his heart skipping a beat, as Steve focused on him. "You up for breakfast?"

"I'm here," Steve murmured, sounding out of breath, like he had just run a mile really fast. "Not back there."

"No. It's April 15th, 2012," Harry said, walking back over to the oven and pulling out the plate of pancakes. He lay the plate on the table and finished cooking a few more, waving his wand at the syrup and butter to float them onto the table. "Eat up. I don't make pancakes often."

Steve stared at him then slowly started to grin, grabbing up three pancakes and picking up the syrup. "What else can you do?"

"I can transfigure things," Harry started, taking a bite of a pancake. "Heal. Curse. Hex. Apparate."

"Apparate?" Steve echoed, his eyes lighting up as Harry talked.

"Teleport. It's just what wizards call it," Harry offered, closing his eyes at the taste of warm, gooey pancake.

"What did you mean by curse? I can imagine a great deal of things."

"There are several different curses and hexes and other offensive spells," Harry said, watching as Steve finished off a fifth pancake. "You really eat a lot, don't you?"

Steve looked up at him, his cheeks reddening. "It's the serum."

"Understable. My werewolf godfather used to eat a lot after the full moon," Harry remarked quietly, memories flashing through his mind of Sirius and Remus.

Steve's eyes widened. "You had a werewolf for a godfather? Wouldn't that be dangerous?"

"And you're the expert on werewolves?"

Steve let out a small laugh and Harry grinned. "I'm not. So you had a werewolf for a godfather."

"Well, more like he was the husband of my godfather. My parents had been killed when I was one and a half so I was really close to them both."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Steve replied, staring at Harry worriedly. "How…"

"Murdered. But that's all taken care of now. What about your parents?"

Steve froze. "I… My mother was the best mom that I could ever have. Sarah Rogers. I miss her."

Harry sighed, finished off his last pancake. "I have to get to work in a few minutes but Fury said that they would send an agent for you. You're already clued into the wards so don't worry about having a key, okay?"

"Where do you work?"

"Children's hospital," Harry replied easily. "I like helping people."

Steve nodded, looking at something past Harry. Maybe memories. "I do too."

Steve stared at the punching bag in front of him, memories flashing through his mind. He could feel each punch, each time he connected with the bag. Everything just went away as he moved, the SHIELD agents around him vanishing from his mind and eyesight.

The hum of the HYDRA vehicles surrounded him and the zaps of their weapons as they shot American and British soldiers hovered over him like a black cloud. The screams of the victims of Hitler's Holocaust rode wildly through his mind. That day he and the Commandos had liberated one of the concentration camps.

He punched even harder, the bag swaying before him.

The Germans bombing London. Losing Bucky on the train. Losing everyone while he slept.

"Steve!"

His punches grew sloppy with what felt like sweat and he swung harder, deeper only for something to catch his hand midair. Something caught him and it wasn't another person. It felt like Harry's magic, power, warm and familiar.

"Steve. Stop. You're hurting yourself."

The sound of screaming came louder and he could see the emaciated prisoners of HYDRA's research lab where he had found Bucky.

"Hey."

A hand slowly but carefully dropped over his eyes, warm and gentle. "Steve. You're not in World War II anymore. You're not there."

Whatever was holding his arm broke away and he felt an arm wrapping around him. The hand was still on his eyes, the thumb stroking his temple. Lips pressed to his forehead briefly before disappearing.

"Harry?"

"Oh, Cap," Harry whispered, his green eyes soft, finally removing his hand from Steve's face.

Steve let out a gasping exhale and leaned into Harry, as the other man put his other arm around him. Some part of him realized that Harry was not having any difficulty holding him. Other sounds started to filter in and he looked around the big gym hall around him. All of the SHIELD agents that had been in here when he had arrived were now all gone.

"I'm okay," Steve finally said, his words muffled as he tried to make himself smaller, enjoying being wrapped up in someone's arms again. Harry was wearing the dark green shirt again, the one that brought out his eyes.

"Alright," Harry murmured.

"Who called you?"

"Fury. I was just about to meet with one of my patient's parents," Harry said quietly, his fingers rubbing circles on Steve's back.

"I'm sorry."

"No. Don't be. The parents understood," Harry replied, pulling back a little bit and looking him over. "You look like shit."

Steve snorted. "It's been two weeks since SHIELD found me."

Harry flicked him on the forehead, his green eyes amused. "Steve. You have me. You have the whole of SHIELD and when you meet Tony, you'll like him."

"I wish Bucky were here or Peggy…" Steve trailed off, sighing.

Harry's eyes softened. "Have you gone to see her yet?"

Steve shook his head. "They say she's got dementia. I wish she had gotten some of the serum too. The tests that SHIELD has run on me say… that I might never age or grow old."

"Then we take this one day at a time. You go take some art classes. And… you know how I said you have me?"

Steve nodded.

"If you really aren't going to age or grow old… I don't either," Harry remarked, pushing some of his hair back from his face. Steve stared as Harry made a motion with his fingers and magic flowed and then disappeared, causing Steve to see Harry's pointy ears.

"What."

"I'm an elf. High elf, to be exact. Last of my race," Harry said, peering at Steve as he spoke. "I don't age either."

Steve continued to stare at him. "How come I didn't see…"

Harry grinned wryly. "I don't trust very easily."

Steve's eyes widened. "That's why… you didn't have trouble holding me up."

Harry blinked but nodded. "Yes."

"What else can you do?"

"I'm stronger than regular humans, faster too. Rather like you, I suppose, but definitely not as strong as you. You're taking this well enough."

"I've seen you do a lot of things in the past few weeks, Harry. And I just came from World War II. Who knows what else the 21st century has in store for me?"

Harry laughed and studied him for a second then leaned into press a kiss to his mouth then pulled away.

Steve froze, his heart racing.

"Was that…"

Steve leaned back in, touching his lips to Harry's and groaning as Harry shuffled closer, closing the distance between them.

Harry grinned into the kiss, trailing his fingers over Steve's bare skin. Steve wrapped his own arms around Harry as they moved together.

"What about…" Steve trailed off on a moan as Harry dug his fingers into Steve's hips and pulled him closer.

"Warded the room," Harry reassured. "Cameras are not working and agents can't get in."

Sweat dripped down his back and forehead and he could feel himself harden in his workout pants as Harry traced his fingers down his chest. Harry placed a kiss on Steve's collarbone, licked a path up his throat and ended up at his mouth, licking his way in. Steve let out a whine and pressed a kiss onto Harry's shoulder, feeling his heart race even more.

"Good thing you're shirtless," Harry muttered.

Steve let out a strangled gasp as one of Harry's hands moved downward, trailing down under his pants and opening them up. One of Harry's legs slotted between his and Steve groaned, digging his nails into Harry's back and sucking a kiss into the crook of Harry's neck.

Harry let out a groan as he finally wrapped a hand around both of their cocks. Steve whimpered at the wonderful touch, arching his back as pleasure flowed through his body, coiling at the base of his spine. Harry moved his hand up and down, squeezing a little and stroking here and there at the tip before Steve let out a yell, his release barreling through him. He heard Harry come as well and closed his eyes as he felt his knees buckle, his toes curl at the pleasure.

Steve woke up with his head in Harry's lap, fingers stroking through his hair. He couldn't feel any sweat or release on him, figured that Harry had cast a cleaning charm on them both. He slowly looked up at Harry, seeing the man smile at him.

"That was nice for you too, right?" Steve questioned, peering up at him.

Harry snorted, leaned down to press a kiss to his forehead. "I enjoyed it too, Cap."