Intergalactic

“His heart stopped,” Bruce told him as Steve paced the hallway in the hospital. “We got it going again but it’s going to take a lot to keep him from dying on us.” 

“He can’t die Bruce,” Steve said only stopping to see his kids in the waiting room. Morgan asleep on Kamala and Miles, Riri on the floor, her head on Kamala’s lap next to Morgan’s head, Peter was on the floor his legs spread out on top of Riri’s legs. Introductions had been hasty, and since that moment out on the ruins of the Facility, they had barely spoken. There hadn’t been a lively conversation between any of them, they were all exhausted and worried. “I can’t let him die.” 

“We need to do something drastic to keep him alive and we just don’t know what to do Steve,” Bruce pulled him away from the waiting room away from his kids. Steve knew that it was because he was trying to keep the kids from seeing him break down, but it wasn’t going to work. Not when he had seen his husband’s pale body on the ground as Thanos blew away in the wind, not when he saw what the stones had done to him, not when he watched as the light in Tony’s eyes slowly dimmed. 

“Bruce... please,” his voice was barely a whisper, he couldn’t lose this, not when they had gone through so much just to get to where they were, he couldn’t lose his husband. 

“There’s one option, but I don’t know if it’s viable in any way.” 

“Do it,” Steve said without hesitation. “Save him, not just for me, but for those kids in that room, for Nebula who needed her sister back, for Bucky who is still looking for Nat, for the Avengers, we can’t lose him.” 

“He’s going to lose his arm,” Bruce told him but Steve already knew that Tony would just build himself a better one. Steve watched Bruce pace back and forth for a moment. “He might not have the ability to see through that eye either, but if it works it’ll save him,” Bruce continued, pacing further. “I’ll need your blood, and Tony’s notes on Extremis.” 

At that Steve felt his heart stop, he knew that Tony had fixed the formula enough to save Pepper’s life ten years ago, he had used a piece of the formula to heal himself enough after the surgery to get rid of the arc reactor, but to use it on Tony now, he wasn’t sure if it would be too much for Tony’s body. 

“I’ll give you my blood, I’ll give you everything I have, but please make sure that whatever you do, doesn’t cause him any pain,” he said. There was one thing that he didn’t want Tony to feel, and that was pain, because if in the end it didn’t work, and the last thing he heard from his husband were cries of agony, it would kill him for the rest of his life. 

“I’ll be back in a few minutes with a nurse, and with Doctor Cho, and we’ll get right to it, until then, just sit with your kids, because right now they need you the most.” 

Steve nodded, and patted Bruce’s shoulder before walking away, back towards the waiting room, the haunted images of his husband lying on the ground, keeping him awake. There was no possible way that he would be able to sleep until Tony was awake again. His steps were quiet, as he slowly made his way into the room, he sat next to his kids and silently cried to himself. This was a test, and it was one that he was fighting, and losing at the moment. 

“Pops,” Miles said looking at him, his eyes watery. 

“It’s fine, Bruce is still working on your dad,” he said wiping the tears away. “It’s just a lot.” 

“I know,” Miles said smiling at him. “Aunt Sharon was calling around trying to locate... um... my parents.” 

“It’s okay to be happy about them coming back Miles,” Steve told him, pulling his son into his arms. “It fine for all of you to be happy about them coming back.” 

“We are,” Riri’s voice called out to him. “But, to us, you and dad are always going to be our family too, we’ll just have a bigger group of people who love us.” 

“We won’t really move out either, because if we did who would keep dad and Morgan out of trouble,” Kamala added. 

These were his kids, Tony and him had helped them as much as they all helped the two Avengers, “I wouldn’t trade anything in the world for any of you,” he said hugging them close. 

The knock on the door drew his attention away from the kids and to Bruce standing at the door, Dr. Cho not far behind him. “We’re ready,” he said and Steve nodded. 

“I’ll be back,” he told the kids before walking off with Bruce, and hopefully towards a solution to saving the man he loved. 

His skin felt like it wasn’t his, it felt like he was in the wrong place, in the wrong body, he woke up on a mat in the gym, that much he knew but he still felt out of it. He wasn’t sure what had happened, why he had collapsed, not of it made any kind of sense to him.  

“What happened?” he asked though he wasn’t sure he would like the answer to the questions at all. It felt like something was messing with his mind and nothing was making any kind of sense. 

“Well you fainted,” Steve told him, but it wasn’t something that he didn’t already know. 

“Yeah, no shit, I just want to know why,” he said everything in the room felt a little hazy, nothing was right, nothing made sense. There was no reason why he was having memories about doing something, inklings of things that were about to happen, without having already lived them. 

“I’m not sure,” Steve told him, and of course the guy didn’t know, science was more Bruce’s expertise. “Maybe you just have low blood sugar or something.” 

Tony couldn’t help but laugh at what Steve was telling him, mainly because he was certain that it had nothing to do with low blood sugar. “I feel like I’m slowly going crazy,” Tony said though his voice was too low for any normal person to hear, but he saw how Steve had stiffened next to him. 

“You’re not going crazy Tony, I think you just need to get a little more sleep, the last few weeks have been a little intense for all of us.” 

“No,” he said looking the super soldier in the eye. “I honestly feel like the last twenty years of my life have been some elaborate joke.” 

“They’re not Tony,” Steve said slowly pulling him off of the floor. “You’re one of the best men I know, but you’re horrible at taking care of yourself, so maybe try and get a little bit of sleep.” 

“Yeah.... sure,” he answered but his mind was telling him that he should get JARVIS to run a full brain scan, because he shouldn’t have collapsed like he had. 

It wasn’t until hours later, when Natasha walked into the workshop, that he knew he was officially going crazy. He had kept seeing visions of Steve over him, the shield being slammed into his chest, except that wasn’t something that had happened. There had also been a man with a metal arm, and a guy in a cat suit, and a giant man in a red, silver and black outfit. 

“Are you alright?” she asked sitting closer than he was comfortable with at the moment. He didn’t want her to see him cracking, but she was going to see it happen otherwise because there was no way around him having a panic attack. 

“Nat... I’m losing my mind,” he said to him running his fingers through his hair for what felt like the millionth time since he locked himself away from the world. 

“No, you’re not, I know we’re both... well we’re seeing things and understanding them a little differently, but you’re not going crazy Tony.” 

“You don’t understand,” he screamed out at her. “I was sparring with Steve a few hours ago and I collapsed.” 

“Steve said you fainted,” she said and all he could do was glare at her. “Tony.” 

“Fine, I fainted, but more memories or whatever the hell they are keep coming, and I don’t know what to make of them, it feels like something isn’t right, like I’m not in the right place, or the right body, or anything.” 

“Try this, get some sleep tonight, and tomorrow we’ll go to Dr. Cho and ask her about this, maybe she’ll know something.” 

He sighed, he knew he was defeated, he wasn’t even sure how long he had been in the workshop, all the was going through his head was the fact that he was going through this bullshit and it was throwing him off completely. 

“I’ll get some sleep, but in the morning, we’re going to figure this out,” he told her before shutting everything down and heading towards his room, Natasha not far behind him. He knew that she was making sure that he actually made it to his room, and it should have annoyed him, but it was comforting in a way. 

His legs gave out before he could make it to his room, and for some reason his body felt like it was on fire. Everything hurt. He could hear someone calling out to him, it wasn’t Natasha, but it felt like something he had lost.  

“Tony,” she called out to him, but everything felt like it was slowing down, as his body was engulfed in flames. “Tony,” she called again but it was drowned out as he screamed out. 

“Everything hurts,” he whispered as he curled up into himself, the pain taking over every inch of his body. The last time he had been in this much pain was when he had been in Afghanistan, except this was a hundred times worse. 

“What’s happening,” Steve called out before he saw Tony on the floor. “Nat what’s going on?” 

“I don’t know,” she said before everything in Tony’s world became muffled, the only thing he could hear was the ringing in his ears, all he could feel was the burning of his own body. 

It was one thing to be told what was going to happen, and another thing to watch, while Dr. Cho and Bruce had modified the extremis formula enough that it would heal Tony from his current wounds, he knew that Tony wouldn’t have the ability to regrow limbs like the original test subjects. The whole thing had been enhanced with Steve’s blood, as well as the transfusions that Bruce was giving Tony from Steve’s blood directly. If it wasn’t for the tube in Tony’s throat, Steve was sure that he would have heard the man screaming at the top of his lungs. 

“Steve,” Bruce called out from the inside of the surgical suite. “Go and be with your kids while we finish. I’ll call you when we’re done.” 

Steve knew that it was Bruce’s way of telling him to not watch this part, mainly because this was going to be the most painful thing to watch, but he didn’t want to move, he didn’t want Tony to be alone. Even in a room full of people, he didn’t want to leave his husband. It wasn’t until Sam pulled him out of the room that he had broken down for what felt like the third time already. 

“I can’t watch him in pain like that,” he said the tears falling. “I can’t lose him.” 

“I know man,” Sam said even though he didn’t have the full story about what had happened in the last five years, Steve knew that Sam understood the whys of their relationship. “Let's just go sit in one of these rooms and wait, you’re not doing Tony any good by not resting.” 

“I know, but... I can’t lose him.” 

“I know man, trust me I know,” Sam said as he sat Steve down on one of the beds, Steve guessed that Bruce had gotten the room for him after taking a quarter of his blood volume, and he knew that he should rest, but he couldn’t. When he closed his eyes, all he could see was the light leaving Tony’s eyes, and it was haunting him.  

“Tell me about how you two got together,” Sam said to him, it was an olive branch if Steve had ever seen one. “Let me call Bucky over here, and you can tell us the story of how this all went down, while we force some food into you so you don’t collapse from low blood sugar or something.” 

He let out a choked laugh, feeling tired for the first time since the fight with Thanos, he was sure that he would die of a broken heart if he lost Tony, but he also knew that his kids would need him. It took fifteen minutes before Bucky arrived with food, but it had given him a chance to get himself together enough to not break down for a fourth time. 

“Hey Stevie,” Bucky said as he set a tray down in front of him, three different kinds of jello, along with a stack of sandwiches, a bottle of juice, another of water, and a third of something blue and weird. “Sam told me that you were going to tell us about you and Stark.” 

Steve let out a choked laugh, “Yeah, if you want to hear about it.” 

“Of course, we want to hear about it, we’re missing five years,” Sam said to him, and Bucky just smacked the other man. “What, everything felt like it happened yesterday, and we come back into the same fight except now Steve is kissing Stark.” 

“Yeah well, it’s what happens when you get married,” Steve said to them both, looking at his wedding ring and remembering the promises he had made Tony four years before. 

“MARRIED,” Sam yelled out and Bucky smacked him for a second time. “Dude, did you hear that?” 

“Yeah I’m pretty certain that Wakanda heard that,” Bucky said before the door opened, revealing Wanda and Vision, along with his ragtag group of kids, and a few other additions to the group that he hadn’t expected, Nebula, Valkyrie and Thor were smiling, and they were geniune smiles from people who had lost so much, Riri was hiding behind the door, Miles was holding Morgan, Kamala was behind him, weirdly enough Peter was on the ceiling. Steve was sure that all of the Avengers and their loved ones were not far behind. 

“See,” Sam said pointing out the group of people. 

“What,” Miles said, we want to hear a story too. 

“And who are you exactly, I didn’t get to hear about this earlier,” Sam said as the group walked in. 

“He’s a spider guy,” Peter said with a smile as Sam and Bucky both groaned at hearing this. 

“There’s more than one of you,” Bucky said sitting down in a nearby chair. Steve remembered that fight that the two had had with Peter what felt like an eternity ago now, and how much it had irked Sam to get beaten by a kid. 

“I think it’s just the two of them,” Steve said smiling at his kids who were now on the floor next to the bed. 

“I didn’t even want one of them,” Sam said leaning against the wall, as the room filled up with people.  

This was how he knew that they were all looking for comfort in one way or another, they were trying to keep Steve’s spirit up all the while Tony fought for his life.  

“Put Morgan on the bed,” he said to Miles as the sleeping little girl snuggled into her brother’s tired arms. 

“Thank god,” Miles said as he laid the little girl down. “I may have super strength, but I don’t think that extends to carrying a kid around for very long.” 

“Who are you,” Sam said again, as Riri, Kamala and Miles made sure to stick close to Steve. 

“They’re my kids,” Steve said only to have everyone in the room who hadn’t gone through the last five years look at him like he was someone else entirely. 

“What do you mean kids, you don’t have kids, you’re Steve Rogers,” Sam started, and Steve could see his friend attempt to process everything that was happening. 

“It’s Stark-Rogers,” Steve corrected him before Sam could get any further. All Sam could do was let out a few choked sounds. “What you wanted the story and then you started questioning them, so at some point you’re going to hear it.” 

“Well you kissed Stark on the freaking battlefield, in front of thousands of people, I’m pretty sure I’ve never met more than half of them, and then your answer had been later, well now it’s later and I need to know the story before my brain explodes from too much information.” 

It was one thing to run circles around Sam, and another to see the man literally freaking out over all of the information going through his mind as he watch, in utter horror, as his whole life changed without him there to see it. 

“There’s a video of the wedding,” Riri said smiling at her father. “I know, I was there.” 

“Yeah, I was hoping to use it for our fifth anniversary,” Steve said with a smile, he wanted to be hopeful, that Tony would wake up and they would get that fifth anniversary celebration. Maybe they could renew their vows in front of everyone they loved and cared about. 

“We’ll do it,” Kamala said with a smile, “I want to do it.” 

“But if you did it then we’d get an hour of Aunt Carol and Uncle Rhodey making goo-goo eyes at each other,” Riri said which only made someone laugh from the background. When Steve turned, he saw Rhodey standing there, a haunted look in his eyes, the same one that Steve held in his own after Tony had snapped his fingers. 

“Okay, it’s story time,” Steve said to the room smiling as he thought of his wedding day to Tony, and of the last five years of their lives. 

“What’s wrong with him,” Natasha said to Bruce as they laid Tony down on one of the tabled in medical, Tony couldn’t scream anymore, not since Bruce had injected him with a sedative, but the man was laying perfectly still. 

“I don’t know Nat,” Bruce said as he started running a battery of tests, all she could do was watch as it happened. “Did he say anything to you, anything about him feeling any kind of pain.” 

“No,” she said to him, thinking back to their conversation in the workshop. “Wait, he told me that he collapsed when he had sparred with Steve earlier.” 

“Collapsed how?” 

“I don’t know, and I doubt Steve knows,” she said not sure of what to say herself. “Maybe something happened during the last mission, I don’t know, all I know is that when I talked to him he said he felt...” she didn’t know if it was her place to say anything. She couldn’t betray Tony’s trust on this, especially since she was going through the same thing herself. 

“Nat, what did he say?” 

She couldn’t keep this from Bruce, they were friends and she knew that he needed to know, “He told me that he felt like he was losing his mind.” 

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Bruce said before a looked crossed his face. “The file, the one Hill had on those kids at the base in Sokovia, the girl had some kind of power right.” 

“Yeah, something about manipulation or something,” she said as Steve came around the corner with Dr. Cho not far behind him. “You think she did something to him?” 

“I don’t know,” Bruce said trying his best, and she knew it but she was also afraid, it was one thing for Tony to be fine one day, but for him to deteriorate as quickly as he was, she wasn’t sure what was happening. 

Before she could say anything else, she got a dizzy feeling overwhelming her, the last few times she had felt like that was when the memories overwhelmed her, but she hadn’t had a new memory in a while, and this felt different, as if something was pulling at the back of her mind. 

“Nat are you okay,” she heard Steve say as he rushed up next to her.  

“I don’t know,” she said, looking up at the Captain, “Something doesn’t feel right,” she felt something pulling at her, something that she was sure wasn’t a memory of anything. She wondered if this was what Tony had been feeling before the whole world went sideways on him, but she hadn’t gone through anything recently. 

When she woke up, she knew that what it was that she had seen hadn’t been a dream, not one of her own making at least. But what she saw around her wasn’t what she had been expecting either, because instead of waking up in the compound where the Quantum machine had been, she was out in a charred mess. There was blood in her hair but other than that she was alright. How she got to where she was well, she wasn’t sure of it, but she did know one thing, she needed to find her family. 

Most of the story had been told by Steve, with other parts filled in by everyone else in the room, it was one thing to hear so much of it himself, but it reminded him of how much they had all been through. Every time Natasha had been brought up, he couldn’t help but see the way Bucky had looked at all of them. She was the one person who was missing in the room and he knew that there was no way of bringing her back, not if what Clint had said was true. 

“Man, I can’t believe it,” Sam said looking at everyone. “Last thing I remembered were you two idiots pining for each other.” 

“We weren’t pining,” Steve said with a smile, it was nice to have something he could tell Tony when he woke up, because that’s all he could do now, was think about it in the terms of when it would happen and not if it would happen. 

Before he could say anything else Riri’s phone started ringing, it was weird because everyone they knew was in the room with them, with the exception of Bruce and Tony. 

“Pops,” she said looking at the caller ID photo before handing the phone to him. 

“This can’t be right,” he said before the phone rang again in his own hand. He could feel the vibrations in his hand, Tony had made all of their phones nearly indestructible, for reasons like their fight with Thanos, but he hadn’t believed it possible for someone to call from the dead. “Hello,” he said to the phone, he could hear his voice crack as he said it. 

“Steve,” Natasha’s voice rang through the ear piece and he could swear that his own heart would stop beating right then and there. He dropped the phone, feeling like it had burned him, but before he could do anything else Bucky quickly grabbed it and started talking in Russian. 

“What’s happening,” he asked his childhood best friend, wanting to know what the hell was going on and why the universe had decided to fuck with them even more.  

Before he could ask again, Bucky was out the door, Steve could hear his footsteps pacing outside of the room, but he wasn’t sure what to think. “Miles do you have your phone,” he asked turning to his son. 

“No, it’s under the rubble at the compound,” Miles said looking at him before turning to Kamala. “Give Pops your phone.” 

“Oh,” she said digging it out of her suit, “Sure,” if there was one thing, they all knew about Kamala, it was that she carried her phone around no matter what.  

Steve picked it up and clicked on the app button that Tony had put on all of their phones, it connected him to FRIDAY immediately. “What can I do for you Captain Rogers,” she said and Steve couldn’t help but smile, because even after they had gotten married Tony refused to let FRIDAY call him anything else, even their pet names for each other. 

“I need you to get one of the satellites and point it towards wherever Natasha’s phone is pining from,” he said his hands shaking as he did. “I need you to tell me if it’s her.” 

Everyone in the room looked at him before turning to where Bucky was currently pacing back and forth. What Steve wanted was for one miracle to happen, but what if two of them happened that night. He wasn’t sure if he could survive if everything was a lie. 

The screen lit up as it pointed towards the wreckage of the compound, slowly pinpointing itself at a single target, with red braided hair and a black suit pacing back and forth. “Confirm identity,” he said while the silence filled the room. 

“Natasha Romaoff, Black Widow,” FRIDAY answered, but before he could tell her to call up a quinjet to go and confirm what he was seeing, he saw the figure moving towards the half-wrecked hanger in the corner. 

“She’s alive,” Bucky said when he walked back into the room.