1
The 1940's were a different time.
And Steve Rogers was used to how it had been.
He was classified as a Caregiver. And that shocked everyone. With that, he wanted to be strong. He needed to be strong.
A sickly young man, no woman ever looked at him the way they did James Buchanan Barns, or as Steve knew him, "Bucky". Also a Caregiver.
No matter how many beautiful women were practically throwing themselves at Bucky, he'd drop everything if Steve needed him. And that made him feel special.
He loved Bucky
But Steve Rogers couldn't be gay. He strictly looked at his life long friend with admiration
Sure, he never saw the appeal of actually being with a woman... intimately...
And sure when Bucky would hold him during particularly awful coughing fits in the middle of the night in their shared apartment Steve would almost melt into him.
He insisted on taking care of him despite his classification, much to Steve's annoyance, but that was just how their friendship worked.
Steve meant everything to Bucky, and Bucky meant everything to Steve. He couldn't ruin their friendship with confusing feelings.
When Buck enlisted by for the army, Steve was gonna be with him. Till the end of the line.
The army just kept rejecting him. He lied on so many forms. Then the Super soldier program fell in his lap. That's where he met Peggy Carter, a firey young woman, classified baseline, who grew quite attached to him, and that's where he became Captain America
Everyone knows the story by now. He did everything he could to get where Bucky was stationed. To fight along side his best friend.
But Bucky and several other soldiers from the 107th were captured by HYDRA.
Going against orders, Steve rescued him and his unit. He'd gotten to be the hero to Bucky this time, instead of the other way around.
Steve was bigger, and Bucky was floored. Not only was he bigger, he had to basically carry Bucky out of where he was being held prisoner!
When they finally got to embrace...
The warmth the two felt...
No one was around...
They kissed
This was all Steve had ever wanted. Bucky, his closest friend, his support when he was weak, now Steve could hold him when he needed it. Now Steve could be his support.
They could get their life together. Settle down, find a little to take care of maybe. Have a life they'd both wanted.
Steve was going to protect him the way he had protected him. Never backing down from a fight, Steve would never let himself loose him.
Then the train happened.
Steve's heart broke that day.
Finally, finally having what he's wanted, what he's craved for years, just for it to get taken away. He was going to end this war. Any enemy that got in his way would be sorry. They all would pay for what he lost that day.
When the only way to save the world was to plunge himself into the ocean with the tesseract, he didn't have anything left to loose in his mind. He lost the love of his life just as he got it. So he did what he needed to.
He never thought he'd actually live.
When he woke up, SHEILD had try to trick him into thinking he was back in his time.
It was now 2011.
That was a lot to process.
After a few months in a SHEILD facility, mostly working out to keep busy, Nick Fury approached him with his new project. The Avengers.
Helping protect the people of the world sounded like an amazing way to distract from the still present ache from loosing his best friend. He could use some time out of the facility.
He met this new team on the hellacarrier.
Nick Fury: the director of SHIELD, classified as a Baseline
Agent Phil Coulson: the now handler of the Avengers, classified Baseline with Caregiver tendencies
Natasha Romanoff: AKA the black widow, a spy and classified Caregiver, but you'd never tell with her demeanor
Bruce Banner: a doctor, AKA the hulk, and classified little.
Peter Parker: Spider-Man and an interns for S.I.
Thor of Asgard: a literal God of thunder from another world, unclassified by earth standards
Clint Barton: AKA Hawkeye, a well trained spy for SHIELD, classified Baseline and currently MIA thanks to a certain god of mischief.
Then there was Tony stark.
Tony. Fucking. Stark.
31 years old, son of Howard Stark, "Genius, Billionaire, Playboy, Philanthropist" As he so eloquently put it, and a caregiver.
Growing up, Howard would always tell Tony story's about Captain America, and Tony looked up to the super soldier. But Tony had only had his parents till he was 10. That's when they died in mysterious circumstances. Jarvis took care of him after that, till he passed when Tony was 16. Jarvis would always tell him how proud his father would be of him.
Obadiah Stane ran Stark Industries till Tony was 19, after he received his two masters degrees in engineering when he graduated MIT. He's brilliant.
When he got his classification Obadiah kept saying how it was a fucking blessing he wasn't a little. That would've been a disgrace on the Stark name. After all, Stark men were made of Iron.
Everything was fine for the most part. Obadiah handled the business side for S.I, that was until Tony came back from Afghanistan. From then on, Tony had control, and he'd be damned if he kept on manufacturing weapons. With his intelligence in electronics, he'd broadened Stark Industries into phones, computers, everyday tech. Business declined slightly after his announcement, sure, but now the business was never better.
And of course, he became Ironman.
The hell he's lived through in Afghanistan stuck with him. He has PTSD from it to this day. And his arc reactor was a constant reminder.
Then Obadiah happened. Having to fight a prominent figure from your life would fuck anyone up. He still doesn't feel comfortable with people being able to see the arc reactor. It's too risky to be that venerable with anyone. In between all that chaos, another vigilante was helping around New York.
"Spider-Man."
Tony had tracked him down and when he learned that this badass webslinger, was a 15 year old kid, suddenly Ironman was working with Spider-man on the streets, and Tony stark got a new intern in Peter Parker.
Peter Parker gained his powers just after he turned twelve after a class field trip to the Oscorp building. A spider that had been exposed to radiation for several testing proposes had escaped and bit Peter just as he was leaving the building to file towards the bus with the rest of his peers. Uncle Ben had chaperoned that day, and let Peter rest on his side on the bus ride to the school.
Peter went home and stayed in bed most of that weekend. Monday rolled around, and Peter chose to push though the day. That day when Flash Thomson has attempted to bully Peter like he'd do at least once a week, Peter was able to defend himself.
Dodging the hits and even causing Flash to ram himself into lockers with all of his own force. Some kids claimed they saw Peter shove him into the lockers.
When Ben was driving Peter home after he'd gotten expelled, he asked Peter what really happened. He was proud of his nephew. Flash had gotten away with a lot when it came to basically torturing Peter, and Ben was just happy he finally defended himself. That day, Ben gave Peter advice that stuck with him to this day.
"Always fight against the people who pick on the little guy."
And Peter had ever since.
Ben died when Peter was 14, due to health complications.
And then came SHIELD getting involved with Tony’s little side project of being Ironman. Wanting control over that aspect of his life.
Needless to say he was burying himself in work. Doing the bare minimum to keep himself able to function. When he saw that SHIELD wanted Ironman, not Tony Stark, that really stung.
But now here he was. Standing in front of his childhood idle. Pictures didn't do him any justice.
Tony's heart pounded.
"Fuck he's hot." Was all he could think.
And we all know how it happened. The two of them had butt heads the whole time.
But when Tony ended up in the hospital wing back at SHIELD after flying into that wormhole to safe them all, Steve couldn't control his feelings. Going on about how reckless and stupid Tony was for doing that. When the billionaire bit back asking why he even cared and how he was just a thorn in his side this whole time, Steve broke.
"Because I can't loose you too."
It was eerily calm the way it came out.
It sent shivers down Tony's spine.
After the whole thing in New York, Tony decided to house the Avengers. And from there, he and Steve grew closer.
Steve constantly in the lab, helping Tony as much as he could, and admiring him as he watched him work.
The relationship budded into something so tender.
From their first kiss with Tony pinned to a wall in the lab, with so much passion after so long of mutual longing, to telling the team but by bit.
They all saw it from a mile away once they moved into the tower.
Tony had gotten so close with Bruce as well. As both science bros and as "Uncle Tones". Natasha was an amazing mommy to Bruce as they'd warmed up to each other as well.
Hell the whole team was close!
Peter had grown close to Steve like he had with Tony, getting used to having more frequent "mandatory" breaks for food and relaxation. And when he got his classification as a baseline with little tendencies, Steve and Tony couldn't stop themselves from babying the boy a bit. Even though he was on the older side of the spectrum.
The tabloids had a field day with Peter being assumed to be Tony's son, and with Steve and his relationship. Of course.
And then Ultron happened.
Peter was able to join them in this, and it was hell for him. The Trauma he'd experienced seeing so many innocent people dying was brutal. They got the Maximoff Twins, and Peter got close to Pietro like Clint had, and when he died they were devastated.
These events are stuck with Peter.
Now FRIDAY has taken JARVIS' place as the resident AI, and Vision and Wanda joined the team in the tower.
Tony and Steve married shortly after this. It was an amazing day and they both felt so much love for each other.
Of course they'd want to finally adopt a little of their own!