Waking up from the ice had been a type of loneliness that was worse than before; It was worse than walking home from school in silence into a house his mother barely had time for. It was worse than eating lunch on a sad lonely picnic table that was falling apart shredded piece by shredded wooden piece.
From the moment he was told by Nick Fury in the middle of Time Square what had happened, he knew that this time he would genuinely be alone. There was no Bucky to show up when he most needed it, no mother to come home in the middle of the night and kiss him on the forehead. Peggy was there, but it wasn’t in the same way anymore. She had no memory of him, or at least expanded past five minutes of conversation. He didn’t want to blame her, she was the first person he had fallen for completely in this life, but it was so difficult that he found himself avoiding that city all together.
It wasn’t worth seeing her when all it brought him was agony.
However things slowly began to change.
It started with a flushed Tony walking over to him in the Avengers tower, hands fumbling with the sleeves of his suit as he stumbled through a random speel that went over Steve’s head. He wanted to say it was something about science, but honestly he was still inexperienced back in the first few months of waking up in this generation.
Regardless, the man had stumbled through some small talk, confused the blonde even more and they caught eyes only for a few seconds before there was a scoff and Tony spun to face him head on.
“Will you focus, Cap? Just say yes and let me take you to dinner, alright?”
Steve had felt his own face redden, eyes widening just a fraction before he bit back a smile and (as Tony said) tilted his head like a little retriever puppy.
Which he didn’t.
“I’m sorry?”
“You’re sorry that you don’t want to-”
“No- I do! I just..”
There was a small awkward silence after that, the two just staring at each other before Tony shook his head and reached deep into his pockets. He pulled out a card and a cellphone before handing them over and smiling through the nerves that were so obviously smeared across his features.
“Just set this phone up and I will text you the details, okay? Expect me around 8.”
“I already have a phone-”
Tony almost looked offended, forcing a laugh that almost seemed traumatized.
“What they gave you can not be called a phone. If it flips it's a waste of technology.”