May 1991
The winter months had seemed to have flown by. Steve and Tony had reached a compromise. Anytime Rhodey and Tony’s friends Pepper or Happy were over hanging out at Tony’s apartment, Steve would also come over. Steve and Tony had reached this compromise so that they would never completely be alone together in private. The omega had joked that the three were his victorian chaperones protecting his non-existent virginity, which lead to Rhodey and Pepper calling him Captain Wenworth.
Steve, naturally, had no idea who that was. Pepper had assured him she would find her copy of the book and lend it to him.
Tony’s heat hit the week before his seventeenth birthday. Steve decided to take a trip to the Arctic where he knew his plane would be found in a few years to search for the tesseract. It was a cold trip and the ground was still covered in snow. But Steve had been building himself up for this through the whole winter.
He’d managed after one of the blizzards to walk through central park and even lay in the large snow piles. When he’d ended up staying at the Stark Manor that night just to sit in front of the fireplace so he didn’t feel the ice on his skin.
He hadn’t told anyone but Peggy he was going after all the easiest way to track down the tesseract was to track down his own vitaradiation. Peggy had given him a device that worked off of the vita-radiation. He vaguely wondered why she had given him this and expected it to work if it didn’t work on tracking him down before.
While Steve supposed he could wait, but the tesseract was also out there and Howard had already done the math of where it would be in relationship to the plane.
The journey took him a couple of days to reach the general area he went down. He had refused to take a SHIELD team with him. It made Furry and Peggy rather nervous to have Captain America out on his own where Hydra could get to him. But only Peggy actually knew where he was going.
Using the scanner that Peggy had given him Steve began to search. After several days of search he came upon an Ice formation that intrigued his interest. It wasn’t setting of any of his vita-radiation equipment but his metal detector was going nuts. Steve pulled the hammer out of his pack and started to dig.
It took him a whole day to dig through the ice enough to see the wing of a plane. He made his shelter that evening using the plane’s wing as a roof. He was fairly certain that the plane was his but he had to be sure before I could follow Howard’s calculations back to the sea.
When light broke he resumed his digging. He stepped off the plane to where the cockpit should be, if his memory was correct. Steve dug until mid-day when finally hit metal. Slowly he began to uncover the frame of the windshield which surrounded the long since broken glass.
Shining his flashlight into the hull of the plane it landed on his own star spangled body. But something wasn’t right because the star on the time’s captain america was split in half by the shattered glass fragments. Steve swallowed as he moved his light up too his counterparts face only to find a shriveled corpse. His own face looked like a mummy he’d once seen in a museum.
Steve scrambled away from the plane and vomited into the snow. He shook violently, how could this be, if he came from the future, but in the past he was dead. Steve couldn’t breath. Did he drowned in that water or did the glass in his chest end him when he crashed?
It was surreal. He checked back into the cockpit to confirm what he had seen. He felt his stomach lerch again upon seeing his remains. Turning away to compose himself, Steve took deep breaths, before turning around and kicking in the rusted metal and entering the plane.
He found nothing, the only thing in the whole plane of use was his dead body and the trigger bomb from the warhead he’d sank, but not the nuclear payload . Meaning, someone had already been here. Steve swallowed he knew it wasn’t SHIELD, or else they would not have believed he could still be alive.
Steve approached his corpse and tried to breath normally. He noticed that the entire back of his- the bodies head was missing. Upon closer inspection of the front he noticed three bullet holes in the front of the skull. Looking to the floor he noticed a handgun laying under the seat the clip removed and missing.
Engraved into the handle was a hydra.
Steve knew he should call S.H.I.E.L.D but if they saw his body, would they trust him. Steve wouldn’t he didn’t even trust what he was seeing.
He knew what he had to do. Steve crawled from the plane and began to step off to where the Tesseract should be.
Over the next few days, Steve scanned the whole drop zone area Howard had calculated and found nothing, no sign no reading of the Tesseract. Someone had gotten their first as well. He hardly slept that night. The next morning he rigged the bomb to go off in the plane. Guess he had picked up a thing or two from Tony.
Tony. Tony would know what was going on and if nothing else he would make Steve feel calm.
He called Howard to meet him at the drop off point.
Steve arrived at his apartment at one in the morning. He threw his duffle bag on the couch and dropped down next to it to pull off his boots. It was at that point he noticed there was a faint scent of omega in his apartment- an in heat Omega. Steve grabbed his shield from atop the duffle and followed the scent trail. His bedroom door groaned as he pushed it open to peek inside.
The omega bolted off of the bed and stared at him with wide eyes. “You!... I…” He seemed to shrink and mumbled. “You weren't supposed to be back for another week.”
When he had more rest and Tony’s brain wasn’t clouded with hormones, they were going to have a long talk about personal boundaries, but right now Steve was just glad to see him. Seeing his own shriveled body made him feel numb, but Tony always made him feel warm.
Steve set his SHIELD down as Tony started grabbing his things.
“When was the last time you drank something?”
Tony paused. “What?”
“When was the last time you got liquid down?” Steve said walking over to Tony.
The omega blinked. “Um like noon.”
Steve gently took his things from him and placed them back down. “Sit. You need to drink something.”
He wandered into his kitchen and filled up a water glass, before walking back into his bedroom to find Tony sitting on the edge of the bed.
The teenager stared at his hands and the water glass as Steve handed it to him. “You’re not mad?”
Steve sighed. “I’m furious but I don’t have the will or the energy to argue right now. So please drink that so we can go to sleep.”
Tony looked up at him. “You’re going to let me stay.”
The alpha walked to his closet and removed his pants. “I… I had a bad trip.”
Tony sipped the water. “I knew you weren't ready for that much snow.”
Steve pulled on some sleep pants shaking his head. “It wasn’t the snow. Someone had gotten there first the tesseract was gone and the nuclear bomb that was in the plane was gone.”
“Oh. I’m sorry to be an inconvenience.”
Despite how tired he was, Steve’s brain still translated Tony into english.
You’re already disappointed and I’m making it worse.
Steve walked over and sat down on the bed next to him. “Tony, if it was any other time I would have lectured you. But… I… I’m happy you’re here. I don’t want to be alone tonight.”
The omega gaped like a fish and then closed his mouth blushing. “I um I can’t. God, I want to but I can’t. For once, I don’t have any condoms.”
Steve turned red. “No, Tony that’s… That’s not what I meant. I just meant to sleep. Maybe talk if need be.”
“Oh. You do realize I’m in heat right, it might get awkward.”
The blond stood and gave him a small smile. “I can tell you’re through the worst of it. And I thought my pheromones might help. But if I make you uncomfortable-”
Tony grabbed his hand. “No, God no, you are literally the most comfortable person in the world.”
Steve’s lips pulled at the corners. “You make me sound like a recliner.”
He could see that look come over his face, that look where Tony doubted his self worth. “Do I make you uncomfortable?”
Steve started pulling the covers back on the other side of the bed, before climbing in the side closest to the door. He shook his head. “Now I’ve had a long stressful week I would really like it if we could go to sleep now.”
Tony climbed into bed next to him. “Goodnight, Steve.”
“Night Tony.”
Everything was white except for the plane in the distance, Steve ran towards it. He had to keep it a secret he had to keep them safe. Gunshots filled the air. Steve ran harder. At the plane he found Red Skull standing over the long dead corpse with a gun out.
But it wasn’t his corpse. It was Tony’s, his arc reactor still glowing. “You’re too late, Captain. You let him die in the desert. It’s just you’re nature you left Barnes in the snow, you left you’re Tony for a younger version.”
Sand blew in from the outside into his eyes, Steve turned to attack the Skull but stopped. “I wonder if you’ll leave your son or if you’ll save him.”
The Skull had Harley by the throat and a gun pointed at his head. “Your life or the boy’s”
“Mine.” Steve said without hesitation, just before a flash of red and blue zipped into his peripheral vision. “Peter no.”
Skull aimed the gun towards Peter and fired.
Steve jolted awake. He scrambled into a seating position, sweat dripped down his forehead. Tony sat next to him on the bed his hand on Steve’s hyperventilating chest. “Steve, breath, breath. You awake, Steve?”
“I’m awake.” He scrubbed his face and sighed.
The omega was silent for a moment. “Who’s Peter?”
Steve froze. “He’s… he’s a friend.”
Tony nodded. “A friend that you lost?”
“Not yet and I don’t ever plan to... I’d die before I let that happen.”
“Oh.” Tony said in a small voice. “Is… he an omega?”
Steve turned to Tony, disappointment was written all over his face.
“He…” Steve stopped. “Can someone that died in the past exist in the future?”
“You mean like time travel?”
Steve shook his head. “Yeah, I guess. What do you know Mr. Genius?”
The omega tilted his head. “I know it’s nothing like the movies, moving back in the same timeline would take an amazing amount of force, but going into the past of another dimension, a little easier. Was that what your dream was about your past?”
Steve shook his head. “I… Mother, help me. I shouldn’t tell you this.”
That really peaked Tony’s interest. “Please.”
“I…” He sighed. “I woke up in 2009. And got hit with some hydra tech, and ended up back in 1990. You’re dad and Peggy know. I thought because of certain things I was coming back to a past I was yet to live but know I… I don’t know.”
“So you’re Captain America from another Universe?”
Steve nodded. “I have to be. I’m not this Universe’s Captain that’s for sure.”
They both were silent for a moment. “What did you find? Cap, I’ve never seen you this shaken, what’s got you?”
“I found my corpse.” Tony’s eyes went wide.”I’m not this universe’s Captain. And that scares the Hell out of me, because I’m afraid this future is different, that some people won’t exist in it.”
Tony nodded. “You’re afraid your Peter, won’t exist.”
“Our Peter.”
Tony’s mouth fell open. “Excuse me?”
The alpha turned and placed his hand on Tony’s cheek, “He’s our son.”
Tony grinned. “We have a kid.”
Steve smiled. “Two, we have two beautiful boys… God should I even be telling you this, won’t it change things.”
“Screw that.” Tony threw his leg across Steve’s and sat on his thighs and used his shoulders for balance. “I want to hear all about the universe where I have a family with you.”
“I bet they were cute your eyes, my curls; come on Steve, I wanna hear about our babies.”
The alpha huffed. “I regret telling you already.”
Tony grinned. “Come on please, It can’t change time. It’s a different dimension. And now I know you definitely are attracted to me. So tell me, Cap? If we’re a thing and you’ve known that the whole time, why do you keep pushing me away, wouldn’t you want to be with your mate?”
Steve huffed. “Not when the last time I saw our son, he was only a few years younger than said mate.”
Tony pushed Steve back onto his back before falling on his own back next to him laughing. “So in some universe at least I seduce you as a teenager.”
“Shit, I shouldn’t have told you.”
Tony grinned. “And you know I won’t let it go.”
Steve just took in Tony’s smiling face as they laid there in silence.