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Chapter Text

It was more of a novelty than it should have been to wake up in bed with Steve instead of waking up with his face smushed into his desk or in a strange hotel room or with the Avengers alarm blaring. There was a blond head tucked into the back of his neck, and one of Steve's legs was between Tony's thighs. Both of Steve's arms were wrapped around Tony's waist. He could tell that Steve was still sleeping, which wasn't surprising since Steve hadn't been there when Tony crawled into bed at 4am.

Tony blinked sleepily at the ceiling, half-expecting the Avengers alarm to go off at any moment. Their team had been called out multiple times over the past two weeks, dealing with issues all over the globe, until finally even Steve had gotten pissed. He’d politely but firmly told SHIELD that the Avengers were not to be summoned for at least three days.

Since Pepper was in Dubai, that left the day wide open. And Tony knew exactly what he wanted to do. He wriggled out of Steve’s grip and grabbed a pair of pajamas bottoms, sliding them on. Then he padded out of the room, leaving his sleeping supersoldier to hold down the fort. Steve would probably be a little annoyed when he woke up to find Tony already gone, but at least he wouldn’t be surprised. He'd know from Tony's lingering scent that Tony hadn't been gone long, anyway.

An alien invasion five days ago – except on a much smaller scale than the usual invasion. For some reason, these aliens were obsessed with a small town in Russia – had left him with a strange piece of machinery. It looked like a flat disc, about the size of a small dinner plate and half an inch in width, but it was very heavy and made an odd clicking sound whenever it was held upright. It was also made from a material Tony didn’t recognize which appeared to be nigh-on indestructible. He had plans to find out everything he could about it.

“Wake up, Daddy’s home,” he sang as he sailed into the lab. He swaggered over to the table where he’d left the disc last night; he’d wanted to get started on his tests immediately after the last mission, but Steve had put his foot down. And, much as Tony hated to admit it, that had probably been for the best. At least it meant that Tony was approaching the disc with a clear(er) head this morning.

He sat down on his stool and stared at the disc, then curiously flicked it with a fingernail. Now that his eyes weren’t burning with fatigue, he could see that the black metal had some kind of pale grey pattern. But there was no rhyme or reason to the pattern that he could distinguish. It was just a bunch of random loops and swirls. The aliens had been extremely protective of the disc, so whatever it did had to be important.

“J, let’s start with a full work-up. I wanna know what’s inside this thing,” Tony said. He flicked it again, but he didn’t hear the kind of sound he would’ve expected from metal. It only increased his curiosity. He was like a cat with a closed door; he had to know what was inside.

“Yes sir. Scanning now.” There was a pause. Then JARVIS said, “My scans don’t appear to be capable of penetrating the exterior.”

“What?” Tony frowned.

“I am unable to gather any data about the interior at this time.” JARVIS didn’t sound happy.

"Show me what you've got," Tony said, leaning forward as the room around him lit up with holograms. Well shit. What JARVIS had was actually very little. Aside from the very basic information - height, weight, color, etc... - the data was inconclusive.

"Might I suggest some tests, Sir?" JARVIS suggested.

"You read my mind, buddy." He stood up, grabbing his blowtorch, and pointed a finger at Dummy. "You and your fire extinguisher stay over there."

Dummy wilted with a sad, soulful beep. Tony ignored him and switched on the blowtorch. Had Bruce been in the room with him, he probably would've been treated to a long lecture about safety and control. Fortunately, he was alone. Besides, in the end the blowtorch did no damage at all: he held the open flame to the disc for a full minute, but it didn't leave so much as a scorch mark.

Hmm. This was going to require some additional testing.

It turned out that the disc was impervious to sledgehammers. And water. And ice. And electricity. And repulsor blasts. And knives. And being thrown against the wall in a fit of frustration.

"Okay," Tony said finally, putting his hands on his hips. "This is not going the way I had planned." He walked over to the disc and leaned down to pick it up. It began to click when he lifted it upright, but Tony couldn't feel any cogs or vibrations under his fingertips. The surface had to be thick enough to mask whatever was happening inside.

"Sir -" JARVIS began.

Tony never got the chance to find out what else JARVIS was going to say. The disc warmed beneath his hands and then pulsed, the previously hard material moving as though it was suddenly organic and alive. He yelped and jerked his hands away without thinking. The disc hit the floor and lit up with a dull grey light; he threw an arm over his eyes to protect them, but the resulting explosion knocked him clear off his feet. He hit the wall of the workshop and blacked out.

"Tony. Tony! Wake up!"

Steve's voice, as well as the ugly headache blooming behind his eyes, made Tony groan as he woke. He processed the full range of aches in his body and groaned again. "Stop talking," he rasped.

He blinked one eye open just in time to see Steve's mouth snapping shut so quickly it was almost comical. At any other time, Tony might've laughed. As it was, he was grateful for the silence. He tried to sit up, hissing out a breath as Steve's hands moved to his back and gently supported him. It didn't feel like there was anything broken, but he was stiff from head to toe.

"What the hell happened, Tony?" Bruce said, pulling his head around so that he could look into Tony's eyes.

"Explosion. I dropped that disc. It went boom." Tony winced when Bruce's fingers touched the knot on the back of his head. That smarted. A lot.

"I thought we agreed you were going to be more careful with your experiments," Steve said. He had that slightly wild look about his eyes, the one that said the alpha in him was screaming to attack and wreak vengeance for the pain and suffering of a fellow pack member and his mate. Unfortunately, the only enemy here was Tony's stupidity. Tony doubted that even an alpha rage would be enough to break that stupid disc.

"You can ask JARVIS. I was being careful," he argued. "It only reacted when I picked it up off the floor."

"With your bare hands?" Bruce asked wryly.

Tony hesitated a second too long. "... No."

"Tony," Steve sighed, pulling him into a hug. Tony squawked and swatted at his boyfriend's head, but there was no escaping the hug and honestly he didn't really want to. He settled for grumbling, ignoring Bruce's amused look, and peered around Bruce to see the damage done to the rest of the lab.

He wasn't expecting to see Thor and Natasha - apparently the explosion had been loud enough to bring everyone who was home running - and he definitely wasn't expecting to see a body on the ground. Tony lurched upwards, ignoring the pain that shot through his head, in an effort to get a better look. Because he couldn't be seeing what he thought he was seeing.

"Bruce? Is that -"

"You?" Natasha said, lifting her head to look at him. "Apparently, though there are some noticeable differences. He doesn't have an arc reactor, for one thing."

"... What?" Tony said blankly.

Steve helped him to stand and kept a supportive arm around Tony's waist as they moved closer. Natasha was right: the man on the floor didn't look exactly like Tony. His hair had a lot more grey peppered through the brown, and there were more lines on his face. Even unconscious, his face looked pale, worn and stressed. Even at his worst, Tony didn't think he'd looked this bad.

Most telling of all, there was no familiar blue glow through the man's t-shirt. Tony knelt down and pulled the guy's shirt up to take a look, though he was smart enough not to touch. His stomach churned at the sight of the mess of thick, white scars covering the guy's chest. The guy might not have the arc reactor now, but he'd definitely had it at one point.

"Do you have any idea what happened?" Natasha asked him.

"No. I... is this one of Loki's tricks? Thor?" Tony turned to Thor, hoping for an answer.

Unfortunately Thor shook his head. "I can sense no magic."

"A clone?" Bruce suggested.

"Dropped into the workshop after an explosion?" Tony said, squinting at him skeptically.

Bruce shrugged. "Wouldn't be the first time Hydra tried."

"It smells like you," Steve said suddenly. He reddened a bit when they all looked at him, but continued. "Underneath the soot, I mean. I think he's wearing that blocking cologne, but I can still... Just a little." His fingers flexed on Tony's hip. As an alpha, and as Tony's mate, his sense of smell was strongest.

Which was... huh. That was an interesting bit of information. Hydra had tried to create clones before, but until now they'd never been able to replicate a scent. Made it pretty easy for the team to ferret out who was real and who wasn't, not that Hydra's clones had ever been that convincing in the first class. Seeing any version of Steve Rogers dancing on the bar counter was a sign something was wrong.

"JARVIS, what readings do you have from when that thing exploded?" Tony asked.

"My readings show a spike in energy, Sir. I also have this video." A hologram screen opened on the far wall. It showed Tony bending down to pick up the disc - gloveless, of course, which made Bruce glare at him. Tony pretended not to notice, focusing his attention on watching himself drop the disc. Right as the disc hit the floor, a glowing grey light opened up and spat out the guy. Then the disc exploded.

"What the fuck," Tony said under his breath. He belatedly scanned the room, expecting to see no sign of the disc. He wasn’t sure whether he was surprised or alarmed to see the apparently unharmed disc in a corner of the workshop.

Was exploding not even enough to hurt that thing?!

"He needs medical attention," Natasha said, drawing Tony’s attention back. She'd knelt back down next to the guy and had two fingers pressed to the side of his neck. "His pulse is very weak."

"I'll call the doctor," said Bruce. "Steve, take Tony upstairs to bed."

"What? Hey, no!" Tony protested. "I want to see what happens when that guy wakes up."

Bruce sighed but gave up the fight. "Fine. Thor, can you take the other Tony upstairs to the living room? We can't leave him down here on the cold floor," he added defensively to the others. "It's Tony. Or some version of him."

"It's more likely to be a trap," Natasha said.

"Maybe not," Tony said slowly, brain already working. He let Steve steer him into the elevator, not really paying attention to where they were headed. Was there a possibility that the portal had lead to... what? An alternate dimension? It wouldn't be the first time that Tony had heard of such a thing. If Reed Richards got you alone for more than five minutes, he would launch into a detailed theory about parallel universes and string theories. That wasn't really Tony's area, so he'd never given Richards more than a few minutes of attention.

But what if?

Chapter Text

They ended up taking the other Tony to the living room. Steve forcefully pushed Tony down into a chair and refused to let him get back up. Tony gave up with a roll of his eyes, watching as Thor carried the other Tony into the room and gently laid him on the couch. The other Tony was smaller than Tony was, Tony noticed with satisfaction. The clothing he was wearing practically hung off of him, but he was also pretty sure that the other Tony was at least three inches shorter than him.

"JARVIS, do a full scan," he ordered.

While they waited for the doctor (and Tony waited for the scan to finish), Bruce brought him a glass of water and stood over him until Tony drank it all. Which he did, muttering about pushy scientists in between gulps. Bruce ignored the comments and just grabbed the empty glass, stalking back into the kitchen. Tony stuck his tongue out at Bruce's back and winked at Steve when Steve stifled a laugh.

"Sir, my scans show that this is Tony Stark," JARVIS said. "His scans are nearly identical to yours."

Tony lost his smile. "Any possibility that you're wrong?"

"Probability of less than 0.000001%."

That was a lot of zeroes. Tony rubbed his head. "Clone?" But it was unlikely, unless Hydra had magically figured out how to improve their engineering. Based on their last battle, wherein the weapons the Hydra agents had been using had actually overheated and self-destructed, Tony didn't think so.

"I would say not," said JARVIS. "Might I suggest summoning Dr. Richards and Dr. Strange?"

"Yeah, might as well," Tony muttered, staring at his double. Well, almost a double. He didn't have an arc reactor. That was... well, not troubling per se, but not something Tony was comfortable with either. He placed a hand over his own arc reactor, feeling the comforting thrum under his palm.

In less than ten minutes - it paid to be a billionaire - the doctor showed up. She and Bruce huddled over the other Tony, blocking the view of everyone else, much to Natasha's annoyance. The doctor's examination was brief, and her conclusions were compatible with what JARVIS's scans found.

"Malnutrition?" Bruce repeated, looking baffled. "Are you sure?"

"Quite sure," Dr. Smith replied, putting her jacket back on. "The signs are clear. Dehydration and exhaustion are also high on my list. Whoever this man is, he hasn't been eating, sleeping or drinking very well."

"What about his scars?" Tony asked, unable to resist. "Do they match mine?"

She turned a thoughtful eye on him, but all she said was, "Some do. Others don't. For example, there's a scar across his chest that's relatively fresh. Right about here." She cut a hand across her breasts. "The bruising must've been significant. Might have even broken a bone or two."

Right over the arc reactor. Tony couldn't help cupping a hand over it protectively for the second time in twenty minutes. Steve, standing behind him, growled low under his breath, raising the hair on the back of Tony's neck.

"Do you think he's dangerous?" Bruce asked.

"That's hard to say. My instinct would be to say no, but I've been Tony Stark's personal doctor for more than two years and I'm well aware of how much damage he can cause." She smirked at Tony.

"You insult me like that in my house," Tony said.

"Damn right I do," she said, zipping her coat. "Food, water, rest. No upsetting him. That's my official recommendation. If you're going to lock him up, I suggest that it be somewhere with a comfortable bed."

"We're not savages," Tony said, truly insulted now.

"Thank you, Doctor," Bruce said, rolling his eyes at Tony. He escorted the doctor to the door.

Natasha crossed her arms. "I think we should tie him up."

Tony fluttered his eyes at her. "Why Tash, if you want to tie me up, all you had to do was ask."

Steve growled a little bit louder. Tony tipped his head back to stare in surprise. He couldn't remember the last time Steve had growled at a member of the team and actually meant it. Natasha snorted and jerked her head at Thor; they left the room together, presumably to find one of Natasha's secret stashes and bring back something to tie the guy up with.

"Are you okay?" Tony asked as soon as the room was otherwise empty.

"My mate was just in an explosion," Steve ground out. "And a person who looks exactly like you was recently beaten badly enough to leave scars. And you're flirting with Natasha."

Out of that list, he sounded most upset about that last one. Tony bit back a smile and reached up, tugging at Steve's wrist until Steve rounded the chair and squished in beside him. It wasn't exactly comfortable until Tony squirmed onto Steve's lap and curled up as best he could when his ribs were still tender. The pounding in his head eased a little when he rested his cheek against Steve's chest.

"I like flirting with Tash," he said. "She glares at me less when we flirt."

Steve sighed. "I know. I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that." He wrapped both arms around Tony. They cuddled while waiting for Natasha to return, which she did shortly with a pair of handcuffs. Tony didn't have the heart to tell her that Peggy had taught him how to get out of handcuffs when he was six, and that he was pretty sure the other Tony probably knew how to do it as well.

It took about forty minutes for the other Tony to wake up. When he did, it wasn't a graceful awakening. He thrashed around a little before suddenly sitting up, mouth open wide as he gasped for breath. Natasha, thankfully, had the good sense to back off and give him some space, or she might've ended up being slapped judging by how the other Tony flinched when he saw her.

"Romanov?" he said, sounding genuinely bewildered. "What the hell are you -" He stopped abruptly as his eyes fell on Steve and Tony. His face drained of color. Seriously, Tony had never seen himself go that shade of white.

"I don't think you're the person to be asking questions here," Natasha said. Her face was eerily blank, like she was ready to pull out a set of torture instruments if the other Tony didn't start talking. Tony eyed her, wondering if they needed to get Thor in the room to restrain her A.S.A.P.

"What?" the other Tony whispered. "I don't - is this some kind of trick? Or did I finally lose my mind?"

"Either that, or you were somehow pulled through space and time by a weird alien disc," Tony said. "I'm going with the latter, personally, considering that there was an explosion and then you appeared. Out of curiosity, were you fiddling with any alien technology at the time?"

The other Tony blinked at him. "I - yes? There was this weird orb. FRIDAY was running a scan on it when it exploded."

FRIDAY? Tony filed that bit of information away. He'd coded a handful of rudimentary A.I.'s with the vague plan of using them someday in the future. He'd named one of them FRIDAY after one of his mom's favorite songs. That couldn't be a coincidence. But why would the other Tony be using an A.I. other than JARVIS for something like scanning? It didn't make any sense.

"Sir, Dr. Richards has arrived," JARVIS announced.

"JARVIS?" the other Tony said, shocked. If Tony thought he was pale before, it was nothing on how white his face went as his eyes rolled up into his head. He collapsed back against the couch.

"Shit!" Tony said, flying out of Steve's arms. "We killed him!"

Natasha gave him a scornful look and moved closer, placing her fingers on the other Tony's neck. "He's not dead. I think he just passed out." She pursed her lips, then said, "Something about this isn't right."

"Well, yeah. My twin just fainted. He's ruining our reputation," Tony said.

"Your reputation is fine," said Steve, getting up. "Let Dr. Richards in, JARVIS."

"He is on his way up, Captain."

No sooner had JARVIS said those words than the elevator doors open and Richards practically flew out, eyes gleaming. "What's this I hear about a visitor from a parallel universe?" he demanded, and then caught sight of the other Tony. "Oh, I see."

Richards sounded way too interested for Tony's tastes. "He just... appeared," he said lamely, before launching into the whole story all over again. Not that there was much to tell. Richards insisted on going back down to the lab to check out the disc. Tony left the other Tony - Stark, okay, he was going to call the guy Stark, because that was just weird - with Steve and Natasha and took Richards down to the lab.

Chapter Text

Strange joined Tony and Reid in Tony's workshop about twenty minutes later. For the third time, Tony repeated the story. Strange was just as interested as Richards; while Richards poured over the footage of the explosion, Strange retrieved the disc from the corner of the workshop and performed a variety of spells. His frown grew deeper with every spell, because nothing was happening. The magic slid off the disc like water. Tony was intimately familiar with that feeling of frustration.

"You say this is alien tech," Strange said at last, making a shooing motion with his hands. The orange symbols hanging in the air flickered out. The disc looked just the same as ever.

"Remember that last alien invasion?"

"I was on another planet," Strange said.

Tony blinked at him, then decided not to ask. "Anyway. There was an alien invasion last week. This was what was left over but I'm not sure what they did with it."

"As best I can tell, it is used for travel. As you can see it's capable of opening portals of some kind, but the device seems to be dead, or possibly drained of energy, though if that's the case I have no idea how you would go about recharging it. At any rate, I'm not sure these aliens were from this universe."

Richards perked up. "Do you think they were from a parallel world?" he demanded.

"It's possible. I'm sure you're familiar with the theory," Strange said to Tony, who nodded. The particular theory Strange was referring to was the idea that there were infinite worlds, and that, for every choice you made, another world was created where you had made the opposite choice.

In some ways, it was comforting to think that there might be a world where Tony had never believed in Obadiah Stane's lies, or where Howard Stark had been a good father, or where Steve Rogers had never crashed his plane. Then again, it was equally discomfiting to think that there might be a world where Tony had never been kidnapped in Afghanistan. A world where he remained complicit in Stane's illegal activities until he died. A world where someone else had become Captain America. The possibilities were infinite.

"That would be my best guess. And I suspect it would be a world that is similar to ours, since you would need another one of these to open a portal on the other end." Strange gestured to the disc. "Your counterpart must have been running tests on his disc at the same time that you were running tests on this one."

"So is there a way to send him back?" Tony said hopefully, but Strange was already shaking his head.

"It's not that easy. There's a vast number of worlds out there. Unless there is someone in the other Stark's world that is searching for him at the same time that I am, it's practically impossible."

"Can't you just look for a world that's missing Tony Stark?"

"You are not alive in every world," Strange replied. "In some worlds, you don't exist. In others, you are already dead. I would argue that there are more worlds where you're not around than worlds where you are, and that goes for all of us, including myself. None of us are so unique that the universe can't exist without us. Unfortunately, there's no way to know which of those worlds are which without visiting each one. That would take an exceedingly long time."

Tony frowned, frustrated. "Then what about looking for a world that matches Stark's energy signature or whatever you want to call it?"

"That won't work, either. His energy has already stabilized to this world. Otherwise he would've been blown apart as soon as he hit the ground."

Why had Tony bothered to call Strange in again? "Shouldn't the world have crumbled or something since I'm meeting another me?" he muttered.

"You aren't the same person," Strange said, his smile disappearing. "You should remember that. I said our worlds would be similar, but not identical. Your life experiences would not have been the same."

"If the two worlds are similar, doesn't that mean they would be close together?" Tony asked, hiding a chill. He didn't like the way Strange had said that. Was he trying to imply that Stark was evil? Or otherwise dangerous? Maybe he was the Tony Stark who had never become Iron Man (though the scars on his chest implied that he'd had the arc reactor at one time). Or maybe he was the Tony Stark who'd grown up to be exactly like Howard...

"Not necessarily," said Richards. He hefted the disc. "I've been researching this for some time now, and I've written many papers on the subject, so I might be able to help. May I borrow the disc? I might be able to pinpoint the universe that contains the exact same energy read-out that this disc has. That would at least give us a direction to start in." He looked like a puppy seconds away from wagging his tail. Obviously he was going to do the research whether Tony said it was okay or not.

"Sure. Have at it," Tony said with a sigh, waving his hand. Maybe if Richards could find the right world, Thor could ask Heimdell to open up the Bridge? It was worth a shot. Or maybe Strange could wave a wand and send Stark back to wherever he came from. Tony didn’t care how it happened.

"Sir," JARVIS said. "There is a small problem."

"What's wrong?" Tony said, immediately on alert.

"The other Sir -"

"Call him Stark for now, JARVIS."

"Stark," JARVIS amended, not missing a beat, "awoke exactly three minutes ago. He did not react well to seeing Captain Rogers and Agent Romanov in the room with him."

"Didn't react well how?!" Tony demanded. Oh god, if Stark had hurt Steve or Natasha, Tony was never going to forgive himself. Without waiting for a response, he turned to Reed and Strange. "JARVIS will see you out. I have to go." He left the room at a dead run, sprinting towards the elevator. Natasha was just a human, and even supersoldier Steve could be hurt... or worse.

The elevator couldn't go up fast enough. Tony burst out of it the second the doors opened, scanning the room frantically. He didn't relax until he spotted Natasha and Steve, both of whom looked no worse for the wear. Well, Natasha had the beginnings of a spectacular black eye and a scowl on her face, but other than that they were fine. There was no sign of Stark though.

"What happened?" Tony said, rushing over to her. "Did he hit you?"

"It was my fault," Natasha said begrudgingly. "I should have known better. I was leaning over him when he woke up again, and he reacted very badly at seeing me. His elbow caught me in the eye when he was scrambling over the back of the couch."

"He took off for the stairs," said Steve, submitting to Tony's somewhat unnecessary pat down. He caught Tony's hands. "I told JARVIS to lock all of the exterior doors, and prevent him from accessing any floors below ours, but JARVIS said that's not where he's headed." He wore a faint, confused frown.

"JARVIS?" Tony prompted.

"Stark is currently hiding in my server room," JARVIS announced.

"Your server room?" Tony repeated stupidly. "Why the hell would he be in there? Is he doing any damage?" His heart pounded, remembering how Stark had fainted upon hearing JARVIS's voice.

"No. In fact, my sensors indicate that Stark is experiencing a panic attack."

A panic attack. Tony grimaced, some of his alarm fading. He was intimately familiar with those, and he couldn't help feeling a wave of compassion towards his counterpart for having to suffer them too. When Tony was having a panic attack, he usually tried to get somewhere safe - typically the workshop or to Steve, but any of the Avengers would do in a pinch. Was that why Stark had fled to the server room? Because that was somewhere he felt safe? But why would he run from Natasha and Steve? It didn't make any sense.

"I'm going to go talk to him," Tony decided.

"Not alone," Steve said quickly. “I’ll go with you.”

"Steve, he ran away from you. Both of you. I don't think you being there is going to help."

Steve’s jaw tightened, that mulish look flashing across his face. “You don’t know what he’s capable of. You don’t know who he is. He could be Hydra for all we know.”

“First of all, no version of me would ever be Hydra and I’m insulted those words even passed through your mouth. Second of all, I repeat: he ran away from you and is now having a panic attack. You know what those are like for me. I doubt he’s capable of doing me any damage. But if it makes you feel better, I’ll wear the armor.”

“Fine,” Steve said, albeit reluctantly.

“Fine,” Tony repeated. He swooped in and pressed a quick kiss to Steve’s lips, then turned and jogged back to the elevator. “JARVIS, ready the Mark LX.”

“Readying.”

The Mark LX was a newer armor, designed for ease of movement and combat in closer quarters. Tony stepped into it and then clunked down the hall – he hadn’t quite figured out how to soften the sound of several hundred pounds of gold titanium alloy against a hard floor. Stark would definitely hear him coming, so Tony was either giving the man fair warning or walking into an ambush. He was hoping for the latter.

He stepped into the server room to the tune of gasped sobs and ragged breathing. Yeah, he was familiar with that too. He followed the sound and found Stark with relative ease: he’d wedged himself under the furthest shelf of servers and was huddled into a ball. Stark jumped at the sight of the Iron Man armor and cracked his head against the shelf; Tony winced on his behalf.

“You wanna come out?” he asked.

“This c-can’t b-be happening,” Stark rasped.

“Sorry to break it to you, but it is happening. Alien tech. It’s a pain in the ass for all involved.” Tony cocked his head, considering, then went down on one knee and let the faceplate snap up. Stark recoiled at the sight of his face. Tony tried not to take that personally.

“This is a dream. Or a –”

“Nightmare?” Tony supplied, smiling wryly. “’Fraid not. Why don’t you come out? We can have some coffee – I won’t believe you if you claim not to like it, no Tony Stark hates coffee – and you can tell us what you were doing when you got jerked out of your world and into mine.”

“Us?” Stark said, apparently seizing on that one word and disregarding everything else. “Us.”

“Me and Steve and Natasha. Probably the others too once –” ‘they get back’, Tony was going to say, but he shut up just in time. That shade of white was not a good look on anyone, much less Tony Stark, and he was honestly kind of afraid that Stark might faint again. For whatever reason (and he was determined to find out why) mentioning the rest of the Avengers was not going to end well. He decided to switch tactics.

“Just me,” he amended. “Me and JARVIS. You can talk to just us, okay?”

“Just you,” Stark repeated, sounding skeptical, though at least a bit of color had returned to his face.

Tony grinned at him. “I’ll even come out of the armor,” he said.

“… Okay.”

“J, put us on lockdown. No one in or out,” Tony muttered. Steve would be freaking out when he saw Tony step out of the armor. Tony couldn’t risk him bursting into the room. He waited until JARVIS confirmed the lockdown before straightened up and taking a step back. The armor opened around him and he stepped out, watching as Stark edged out from under the shelf and stood up.

They looked at each other. Stark was, as Tony had guessed, a couple inches shorter. He held himself warily, like he was expecting an attack. Tony couldn’t blame him for that. He’d probably feel the same way if he’d been thrown into a strange universe. At least Stark wasn’t attacking, which was a step in the right direction, even if Tony wasn’t inclined to trust him just yet.

“Coffee?” he suggested, spreading his arms.

Stark nodded stiffly. “Coffee.”

Chapter Text

Dummy brought them coffee via the private hall that connected the server room to the workshop. It was made exactly the way Tony liked it: light sugar, no motor oil, thanks to JARVIS. Stark’s hands shook noticeably as he reached for his own mug. He made a face when he took a gulp of the coffee, so he must’ve taken it differently. Tony wondered idly if he’d finally met a Tony Stark who could handle cream in coffee.

“You’re a beta,” Stark said, lowering the mug. He held it with one hand and reached out to cautiously pet Dummy’s chassis with the other. His expression was pure affection, and Tony smiled.

“I am,” he said with a nod. Howard had been devestated when Tony turned out to be a beta and not an alpha, but Tony had made his peace with that a long time ago. He eyed Stark. He couldn’t smell anything on the guy, which was unusual. Even betas had a scent to them, though it tended to be less in-your-face than alpha and omega scents. Which meant that biology worked differently from where Stark was from, or he was using scent blockers.

“So am I,” Stark said. He smiled faintly, a self-recriminating smile that Tony recognized. “Too bad.”

“I like being a beta,” Tony said, hearing but unable to stop the defensiveness from creeping in. “It means that I can usually see things more clearly than some of the alphas on the team. I’ve saved us from causing more than one international incident.”

Stark’s smile vanished. “Then you’re fortunate.”

They looked at each other. Tony was burning with curiosity, but it was blatantly obvious that if he pushed too much, Stark would just shut down. But there was also no point in dancing around certain subjects. So he said, “You had an arc reactor. I could tell by the scars in your chest. You had it removed?”

Surprisingly, Stark relaxed a little. “Yeah. About two years ago. It was back when I tried to quit being Iron Man.”

Tony had just taken a gulp of his coffee. He choked. “You what?!”

“Pepper – do you have Pepper here?” Stark waited for Tony to nod before he continued. “Pepper and I were dating and she wasn’t comfortable with it. She didn’t like that I put myself in danger all the time. So I told her I’d stop. For her sake.” He went quiet for a moment, then sighed. “I had the reactor removed. Obviously that didn’t work though. It just meant that after that, the reactor powered the suit and not me.”

Wow. That was… wow. Tony took another, more careful sip of coffee while he thought about how to respond. “Pepper and I never dated here,” he said finally. “We kind of danced around each other for a while, but then the Avengers formed and I could tell it was never going to happen.” He touched the reactor with his free hand. “I asked them about removing this once, but they said it couldn’t be done. I never bothered to follow up on it after that.”

“You should. It could save your life,” Stark said.

“I’m pretty careful with who knows how it works.” Tony wondered if the same thing had happened to Stark. If he’d been kidnapped in Afghanistan under the orders of someone he’d trusted, and then come home to have that same someone literally steal the heart from his chest.

“That’s not what I meant. Someone could… they could crush it.”

“I wear the armor into battle,” Tony said. It sounded like Stark had a person in mind when he said ‘someone’. A fight gone wrong, maybe? But the armor was reinforced titanium alloy. It would take someone massively strong to get through it.

“The armor,” Stark said quietly, bitterly, “isn’t always strong enough to protect you. Not against the right enemy.”

There was definitely a story there. All of Tony’s curiosity surged to the surface. He was dying to know more, but it didn’t look like Stark was eager to share. “I’ll keep that in mind,” he said, instead of pressing for details. “You and Pepper though… wow. How did that go?”

Stark shrugged. “It was good while it lasted.”

Tony sighed. “Yeah, I figured that’s what your answer would be. One reason I’m glad I got together with Steve before –” He cut himself off. Apparently it was Stark’s turn to choke on a mouthful of coffee. Tony watched him in fascination, wondering if his own expression was that unappealing while choking. He might need to practice choking in front of a mirror. Clint would have a field day if the media ever got a picture of him looking like this.

“You and Steve?! Steve Rogers?” Stark choked out.

“Yeah. I take it you and your Cap aren’t together,” Tony said, feeling a surge of pity. Steve was hands down the best thing that had ever happened to Tony, and that fact was reaffirmed on a daily basis. He loved Pepper, but she could never hold a candle to Steve - romantically, anyway, Pepper could kick anyone's ass when it came to being CEO. But Stark, judging from the look on his face, disagreed.

“Rogers hates me.”

“What?” Tony said, startled by the force with which Stark had said it.

“He hates me. Like, really hates me, would-leave-me-to-die-in-freezing-temperatures-with-a-malfunctioning-suit level of hates me.” Stark smiled, but his eyes were flat. “The whole team hates my guts, actually. Except for Rhodey and Vision. And Peter. But I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before I fuck that up, too. It’s what I’m good at.”

Tony was quiet for a long moment, trying to absorb that one. There had been a lot of awkwardness between all of the team members when they first moved into Avengers Tower, mostly because none of them were used to working together. And at one time Tony would’ve said that Steve didn’t like him, and it would’ve been true, or at least it had been before he and Steve became friends. But hate? Especially the kind of hate that Stark was talking about? That was something he couldn’t imagine.

“Is that why you ran away?” he asked finally. “When you woke up to see Natasha and Steve?”

Stark shuddered. He was trying not to, he was that tense, but it rippled through him anyway. “She was leaning over me,” he said, low and tight. “I can’t – Rogers was right behind her, and they were leaning over me -”

“Whoa, hey!” Tony said, putting his hands up. This was getting out of control fast. “Sorry about that. I’ll let everyone know that you need your space, okay?” Except he thought that might be the opposite of what Stark needed. Tony was familiar with how it felt to push people away when you desperately wanted, or needed, a hug. Or even a touch. A hand to your shoulder, or your knees bumping together, or whatever. Now that he got those things every day, he could tell what a difference they made.

“Okay,” Stark said, still strained. “You… you trust him?”

“Who, Steve? With my life.”

“You shouldn’t. What if he chose Barnes over you?”

“Bucky?” Tony repeated, bewildered. This conversation was like a roller coaster: so many ups and downs his head was spinning. He suddenly remembered what Strange had said about how different parallel worlds could be.

Stark nodded. “Barnes is the most important thing in Rogers’s life. He’ll always come first, no matter what.”

Tony honestly didn’t know how to answer that. Steve and Bucky were close, of course they were. And sure, Steve had basically ignored Tony for the first four months that Bucky was in the tower. Even though he’d felt neglected, Tony had never begrudged Steve that. He’d known that Steve was stressed out and struggling, and he hadn’t wanted to add to that. Steve had snapped out of it on his own anyway, after Bucky finally lost it over Steve’s constant hovering.

“You should be careful,” Stark said into the silence. “You’ll never mean as much as Barnes does. And Rogers would burn down the world to make sure Barnes was safe. It doesn’t matter who is standing in his way.”

“I don’t think my Steve would do that,” Tony said carefully, though he could feel a faint flicker of doubt. Stark looked so certain: the sky was blue, coffee was life, and Steve would always put Bucky’s safety above everyone else’s. “I think our worlds must be pretty different.”

“You do still have JARVIS,” Stark said, eyes darting towards the servers around them. “Not Vision?”

“I’m not sure who Vision is, so no.”

“It’s what ultimately became of the Ultron program.”

“The Ultron program is something that Bruce and I have looked at, but we could never get it off the ground,” Tony said, though god knows they’d tried. He leaned forward. “It worked? What did you do?”

“It wasn’t me. Well, not entirely me. And it wasn’t worth it.”

Tony thought about that. He said, “You lost JARVIS.”

“Yes,” Stark whispered, like the admission pained him. Tony felt sick at the thought. JARVIS was the one constant in his world that he could always rely on. There might be a 1% chance that Steve, Rhodey, Pepper and the other Avengers would get sick of him and leave, but JARVIS? At the end of the day, JARVIS would always be there. He couldn’t fathom what it would be like to lose that.

“I’m sorry,” Tony said, meaning it. No wonder Stark had passed out when he heard JARVIS’s voice. He must’ve thought it was a dream – or maybe a nightmare, since he’d woken up to find Natasha and Steve standing over him. Which was apparently a bad thing, since Stark didn’t have a good relationship with the rest of the team. God, this sounded like Tony’s version of hell.

Stark just shook his head and turned away, apparently done with the conversation for the moment. “JARVIS?” he said, sounding… sounding lost, Tony realized, and wasn’t that just uncomfortably awkward.

“Yes?” JARVIS said.

“Would you… could you… talk to me?”

It was far from the first time that JARVIS had received that request. “The time is currently 7:21pm,” he began. “The temperature is –”

Tony picked that moment to stand up and tiptoe away. He glanced over his shoulder when he got to the doors, chest squeezing at the sight of Stark huddled into the wall, arms curled around his knees. That could’ve been Tony. That could’ve been Tony so easily. Part of him wanted to run over and shake Stark until he got an answer as to how things had gone so wrong, but the other part didn’t want to know. What if Tony had somehow passed the point of no return without realizing it, and his own world was heading to shit too?

He disengaged the locks and opened the door, barely managing to bite back a yelp as two hands grabbed him and dragged him out. He was hauled into familiar arms, which crushed him against an equally familiar chest. Tony sighed and wrapped his arms around Steve’s neck, pressing his face to Steve’s shoulder. What had he been thinking? This was Steve, who loved him.

“Tony,” Steve whispered. His voice was ragged. “Tony, oh my god.”

“You were watching,” Tony said, already knowing the answer, grateful that the server room was still soundproofed when Steve let out a choked sob. He ran his hands through Steve’s hair.

“I can’t – Tony, I would never –”

“Shh, Steve. I know,” Tony murmured, wincing when Steve hugged him tighter in response. He had to wonder what the rest of the team was thinking right now. He knew they would’ve been watching, too – Natasha, Clint, Sam, Thor, Bruce, Bucky. What did they think of Stark’s admission that his team hated him? What did Bucky think of Stark’s certainty that he would always come first?

“I love you,” Steve said fervently, catching Tony’s lips in a frantic kiss. And he kept saying it between kisses, until finally Tony gentled the kiss into something slow and sweet.

“I know,” he said when the kiss broke. “I love you too.”

Steve just shivered and rested their foreheads together. “He looked so… so broken. I see him and I look at you, and it’s killing me. I can’t even do anything about it, either. I can’t give him a hug. He couldn’t even stand me and Natasha being beside him.”

“You’re not that Steve,” Tony said fiercely, kissing Steve again. “You’re better than that. Stark will figure that out, Steve. He will.” But even as he spoke, Tony wasn’t so sure that was true. From the sound of it, Stark had been given good cause not to trust the Avengers (he hadn’t even had JARVIS to depend on for fuck’s sake and somewhere in the back of his brain, Tony was panicking big time over that). Changing Stark’s mind would be nearly impossible.

Chapter Text

“Are you going back inside?”

Steve’s quietly voiced question gave Tony pause. His instinct was to say yes. He had so many questions for Stark. He wanted to sit down and pry every last detail out of the man, until Tony knew exactly what had happened in the other world. Until he knew exactly how to avoid having those disasters happen here. And he wanted those answers sooner rather than later.

But Steve was still holding onto him like he thought Tony might disappear if he let go, and Tony was positive the rest of the Avengers were buzzing with questions too. If he hid himself away with Stark for too long, it was likely someone (Clint) would get antsy and try to break in. Based on what Stark had said, that would be a disaster in the making. The last thing they needed was for Stark to have another panic attack because he felt threatened (!) by someone on the team (!!!).

“JARVIS, what is Stark doing?” Tony asked.

The glass wall beside them suddenly melted away into color, though – Tony was confident – only on their side. They could see Stark now. He was still in the corner of the server room, now curled up against Dummy’s base. He had his head resting against Dummy’s body, which couldn’t have been comfortable, and judging from his head was tilted, he was still listening to JARVIS talk.

He was also shaking.

Steve made a pained sound. “He’s so small. I want to hug him.”

Tony patted his shoulder, knowing that Steve’s alpha instincts were rearing their ugly head. Omegas were widely known for having an instinctual drive to fix and provide things that kept pack mates content. They were the providers, the nesters, the hoverers. But along with that, alphas possessed a similar drive to keep cohesion and positivity alive in the pack, because packs that weren’t happy were packs that fell apart. Though Stark wasn’t technically a part of their pack, Steve’s instincts apparently weren’t recognizing the fine difference between him and Tony. That, Tony thought, could be a problem.

“Let’s go upstairs. You can hug everyone up there,” Tony said gently, deciding that his alpha came before a stranger. “JARVIS, lockdown. No one goes in or out unless I say so.”

The wall faded back to black. Tony coaxed Steve down the hall and into the elevator, which took them automatically to the common floor. He was not surprised to find the whole team there waiting for them, though he was kind of grateful for his slightly dulled senses that meant he wasn’t privy to the maelstrom of emotion clouding the room. But even his nose could still make out that everyone was very, very upset.

“What the fuck was that?” Clint burst out. His normally sweet scent was shot through with fear and panic, and tasted bitter on the back of Tony’s tongue. “I come home to find that we have a visitor from another dimension and this is what we get? Where the hell are the hot blond bombshell versions of you?!”

Tony blinked at him. “In what world do you think blond hair would work on me?”

“Boys,” Natasha said in a steely tone. “Now is not the time. Tony, do you think that what Stark said was true?”

“Yes,” Tony said without hesitation. He could recognize the signs of trauma in someone who was basically himself, mostly because he’d spent years staring at them in the mirror. “I don’t know how or why, but he was being honest. Things are messed up in his world.”

“To say the least,” Bucky said. He was looking at Steve and Tony like he didn’t quite know them, and flinched back when Steve took a step in his direction. His eyes darted to Tony as he moved, and Tony felt his stomach sink. Steve stopped short. Clint’s eyes flicked between the three of them, and then he shifted closer to Bucky and let Bucky clutch at his arm. Bucky relaxed minutely when Clint got closer, but he was still tense as anything.

“Bucky,” Tony said. “You don’t – it’s okay. I don’t think the way that Stark thinks. I know Steve loves me.”

Bucky just shook his head. “Do you really?” he asked.

“Yes!”

“Bucky,” Steve said at the same time. “Whatever happened in Stark’s world is never going to happen here. Ever. I promise.” He stepped closer again, and this time Bucky let him. Tony sighed as the two alphas embraced, glancing around at the rest of the team. Natasha, Thor, Bruce and Sam didn’t look much better off.

“You need to get more details from him,” Natasha said quietly. “Because I can tell you that what we’re all thinking right now is way worse than what really happened.”

“I’ll try,” Tony said, not bothering to address the second part of her sentence. Natasha didn’t like being told she was wrong, and in this case she was. The team was everything to Tony. He loved them all as much as he loved Rhodey and Pepper. And that meant every one of them had the ability to absolutely destroy Tony. If Steve had ever left Tony to die in freezing temperatures with a malfunctioning suit, he was pretty sure that would be it for him.

“This doesn’t change anything for us,” he added to the room at large. “Just because one world is super fucked up doesn’t mean our world has to change in any way. I’ve already got Strange and Reed working on a way to send Stark back. Hopefully, within a couple of days, he’ll just be a bad memory.”

“I’m certain Jane would help as well,” Thor said.

“Thanks, big guy. I might give her a call,” Tony said, patting Thor on the arm. “Bruce? Maybe we can get together on a conference call with Jane and science it up.”

Bruce nodded. “I can do that.” He sounded kind of upset. No doubt he was thinking of Stark’s proclamation that the whole team hated him, and how Stark hadn’t omitted Bruce from that list. Tony stared at him for a moment, trying to think of what could make Bruce hate him.

“Don’t try,” Natasha said, and when Tony turned to look at her, she was right up in his face. “We need to know more.”

“Whoa, I’ll do my best. But seriously, it’s not like I can tie him down and force him to talk.” Her face changed, just a little, and Tony glared at her. “Natasha, no. He’s already traumatized.”

“Absolutely not,” Steve said, and both of them jumped. Tony hadn’t even realized Steve was listening, much less prepared for the alpha tone. Steve’s eyes were even a little red as he loomed over Natasha. “He’s scared of us. Do you want to give him a reason to be even more terrified?”

“No,” Natasha said. “But the more we know, the better equipped we’ll be.”

“If I might make a suggestion,” Sam piped up. “Stark doesn’t have a problem with Rhodes, right? Why not give him a call?”

“That’s… I can’t believe I didn’t think of that,” Tony said, shocked at his own oversight. Of course they needed to get Rhodey here immediately. They’d been friends for so long that Rhodey always knew what to do or say to make Tony feel better, or at least feel like he could manage whatever was happening without turning to a drink. He was positive that Rhodey would know how to approach Stark.

He stepped away from the team and pulled out his phone. “Hey platypus. How do you feel about two Tony Starks?” he asked as soon as Rhodey picked up.

There was a pause, then Rhodey said, “Frankly, that sounds like a nightmare. Why?”

“Funny story,” Tony said cheerfully. “I was playing around with an alien object and it exploded. Another me fell out of a portal at the same time. But he’s super traumatized. He ran away from Natasha and Steve and hid in JARVIS’s server room. He told me that he and Steve aren’t together in his world, and that his Steve and team hate his guts. He also said that he still loves his Rhodey, so could you come over and pry more details about that world out of him before Natasha loses her temper and tries to beat it out of him?”

There was an even longer pause. “Is this some kind of weird joke?”

“Sadly, no. JARVIS, send Rhodey some photos,” Tony added. “I am unfortunately being 100% serious.”

“Oh my god,” Rhodey breathed at the other end, presumably at the sight of the photos since Rhodey had flatly resisted calling Tony ‘god’ for years now. “This is… he looks like you did after Sunset and Tiberius got through with you.”

Tony winced. “Yeah, he kinda sounds like it too,” he admitted. “JARVIS can send you a video of our conversation, but I… I don’t know what to do, Rhodey. When I’m upset, Steve makes me feel better. But I can’t throw Steve at Stark. He’ll freak out again.”

“I’ll be there in three hours,” Rhodey said, and hung up.

“Rhodey’s coming,” Tony announced, turning back to face the team. “Anyone up for pizza?”

That was a stupid question. Bucky, Thor and Steve were always hungry. The three of them could put away a dozen extra large pizzas easily. Tony asked JARVIS to put in their usual order, as well as an extra medium cheese pizza. He didn’t know what Stark liked to eat, so a plain cheese pizza was a safe bet. Judging from the look of him, Stark couldn’t handle missing any more meals.

The team dinner had none of the usual boisterousness. Tony even put a movie on, but he could tell that no one was really paying attention. They were all too caught up in thinking of Stark, just like Tony was. Twice he gave into the temptation to ask JARVIS what Stark was doing, but each time JARVIS reported back that Stark was exactly where Tony had left him and hadn’t even tried to leave the room.

It was a relief to see Rhodey walk in. Tony scrambled up and yanked him into a hug, grateful that he had such good friends. He was positive that, if Rhodey had been away on a mission, Pepper would’ve come. But Stark had said that he and Pepper dated and it hadn't ended well, so Tony wasn’t sure if Pepper’s presence would have the same impact.

Rhodey hugged him back tightly, whispering in his ear, “If Steve ever does that to you, I will kill him.”

“Rhodey!” Tony said.

“I’m just saying.”

Tony rolled his eyes and broke the hug. “Come on, he’s still downstairs.” He tugged Rhodey down the hall, deliberately not looking over his shoulder. He knew it had to be killing Steve that he couldn’t come with them.

They took the elevator back downstairs. JARVIS had de-tinted the walls again, allowing them to see in as soon as the elevator doors opened. Rhodey groaned like it physically pained him when he saw Stark curled up against Dummy. He charged down the hall and into the server room without waiting for Tony. Stark jumped and flinched when the door banged open, but then he caught sight of Rhodey and froze.

“Rhodey?” he whispered, sounding shocked. “You can… you’re walking.”

Wait. What? Why wouldn’t Rhodey be walking? Two seconds in and Tony was already confused. Rhodey must’ve been confused too, but he didn’t show it.

“Aw, Tones,” Rhodey said. It came out as more of a croon, almost a purr, all alpha-y and concerned and strong. Tony almost swayed towards him, and he wasn’t even the one Rhodey was talking to.

“Rhodey,” Stark said again, almost a whimper. There were tears in his eyes.

“C’mere, Tones.” Rhodey walked right over and knelt, easily pulling Stark up into a hug. Stark burrowed into him, hiding his face against Rhodey’s neck and shaking all over. Rhodey shushed him, sitting down on the floor and settling Stark in his lap. Stark looked pathetically small curled up like that, but Tony was willing to forgive him for that. Sometimes a Rhodey cuddle was exactly what you needed to make life bearable.

Chapter Text

"You can go to bed, Tony. I've got this."

Tony startled at the sound of Rhodey's voice, not even having realized he'd drifted off. "Are you sure?" he asked, squinting at Rhodey. JARVIS had dimmed the lights in the server room, leaving just enough to see. Rhodey and Stark were still curled up together at the far end of the room.

Rhodey smirked at him. "Do you even realize how many years of experience I've had in putting you to bed? You put one Tony Stark to bed, you've put them all to bed. So yeah, I can handle it. Do you mind if we crash on the couch in the workshop?"

"Knock yourself out," Tony said, covering a yawn. Normally he would've balked at anyone spending the night in the workshop, especially if he wasn't joining them. But he knew that Rhodey and JARVIS would be monitoring Stark very closely, and it didn't look like Stark was up for anything too dangerous anyway considering that he was passed out against Rhodey's shoulder. Besides that, he had the feeling that Stark would freak out if he woke up and found that he'd been removed from the server floor.

He got up and waited while Rhodey stood up and gently tossed Stark over his shoulder in a fireman's carry. Dummy beeped and led the way to the workshop. Tony went out the opposite way, stumbling down the hall to the elevator. It was times like this that he was most grateful for JARVIS, as he didn't even need to ask the A.I. to take him up to the floor that he and Steve shared.

Predictably Steve waiting for him, sitting up in bed with a book open on his lap. He didn't look like he'd been paying very close attention it, though. His face was drawn and worried. Tony stripped off his clothing, not bothering to shower, and crawled into bed. He was immediately yanked into a strong hug, not that Tony fought against it when Steve pressed his face against the arc reactor, shaking all over. Tony just petted his hair until they both fell asleep.

Sometime towards morning, he rolled over and reached out for Steve only to realize that the bed was empty. Tony lifted his head and looked around blearily, quickly spotting his boyfriend standing near the windows. But Steve wasn't looking out at the view. No, when Tony sat up he could see that Steve was looking at a projection on the windows. Unsurprisingly, the glass showed Stark and Rhodey.

"You're turning into a creeper," Tony said, rubbing his eyes. It looked like Stark was passed out on the couch and Rhodey was sitting on the floor, head tipped back at an angle that would probably give him a bad crick in the neck come morning.

"We can't send him back."

Tony froze. "Come again?"

Steve turned to look at him. In the light of the arc reactor, his eyes were hollow. "We can't send him back, Tony. He's barely said anything about his world, but it's enough to make it sound like your version of hell. It goes against everything that I am to let any version of Tony Stark be that unhappy."

"Steve..." Tony wasn't sure how to respond to this. He guessed he should've seen it coming - and to some degree he had, though he hadn't expected it this early. "We can't just keep him here. Maybe he'll want to go back."

"I doubt it," Steve said dryly. "Once we show him how much better our world is..."

"You don't know that our world is better," Tony said, knowing that argument was half-hearted at best. Stark looked the way that Tony imagined he himself would had he never met or become a part of the Avengers team. Or, he supposed, if he'd met the team and the team ended up turning against him. He grimaced at the thought. He'd never say as much, but that was one of his worst nightmares.

"Call it an educated guess," said Steve.

Tony shook his head. "You don't even know him. Maybe he deserves it." He dropped his gaze, not willing to look Steve in the eyes. Steve always seemed to want to believe the best of everyone, including Tony. But Tony knew that he wasn't a very good person. There was so much blood on his hands. Blood that he would never be able to make up for. And that was after he'd turned everything around and done his damndest to atone for his sins. They didn't know if Stark had done that. Just because he was Iron Man didn't mean very much. Tony was positive that there were super villain versions of Iron Man out there, or at the very least versions of Iron Man piloted by the same asshole, playboy Tony Stark that Tony had been in his twenties.

"Tony, no. Don't say that."

"It's true. He could be a terrible person, Steve. Maybe the Avengers were right to leave him to freeze to death."

In a handful of steps, Steve was right in front of him. He knelt, forcing Tony to meet his eyes. "You're wrong. There is nothing you, or anyone version of Tony Stark, could do that would be worth that," he said gently. "I've frozen to death before. I know what it's like. I wouldn't wish that fate on my worst enemy, much less someone who was supposed to be my teammate." He cupped Tony's cheek with a warm hand.

"Not everyone is as good as you are," Tony said in a low voice, leaning into the touch in spite of himself. He glanced past Steve at the window. "Natasha's right. I have to get more information out of it him tomorrow morning. I just... I have this terrible feeling that I'm not going to like whatever he'll say."

"Maybe Jim will be able to help with that. But baby, whatever he says, it won't change my mind about you. You're a good person. You're selfless, brave, amazing, kind -" Steve kissed him between each word, each kiss lasting a little longer than the last, until he was just murmuring adjectives against Tony's lips.

And Tony kissed him back, of course he did, but it was more because he wanted to stop having this conversation than because his heart was really in it. Steve wouldn't hear of Tony saying anything bad about himself, but Tony couldn't help thinking that Steve was a bit naive. Tony wasn't a good person. And it stood to reason that another version of himself could be just as bad, if not worse. He needed to know.

Which was why, as soon as the sun came up and Steve slipped out for his morning run, Tony had JARVIS order coffee and breakfast for three from his favorite diner. The order was on the doorstep of Avengers Tower within half an hour. He collected it, with a hearty tip for the delivery woman, and headed down to the workshop. The instant he entered, two sets of eyes opened.

"Is that coffee?" Rhodey said, wincing and rubbing at his neck. "Oh god, I love you." He made grabby hands for one of the cups. Tony bit back a laugh and handed it over.

Stark sat up too, looking sideways at the two remaining cups. Tony knew that look. He wasn't cruel enough to make Stark ask. He handed over the cup that had plenty of cream and sugar in it and watched the way Stark's face lit up after he'd tasted it. Yup, definitely found the Tony Stark who didn't care for straight black coffee. Natasha would be thrilled. She'd finally have someone to drink fancy coffees with.

He handed out the containers with breakfast and sat down, looking at Stark. “I have some questions.”

“I might have answers,” Stark said in between sips of coffee. “Depends on what you want to know.”

“Why were you surprised that Rhodey can walk?” Tony hadn’t meant for that to be his first question. Yet, once the question was out, he realized he was dying to know.

“Because in my world, he can’t. I built bracers for him, but it hurts him when he uses them. He usually sticks with a wheelchair.”

“What happened?” Rhodey asked, and Tony was pleased the question had come from him. He thought that Stark would have a harder time not answering Rhodey.

Sure enough, Stark responded readily: “When we were fighting Cap’s team, Cap and Barnes got into a plane. I was trying to stop them. Falcon was providing them with aerial support. We gave Vision the order to shoot him down. I…” He sighed heavily. “Rhodey got in the way. Vision hit him instead. He fell…” Stark trailed off, closing his eyes. His voice was a whisper when he finished with, “He was paralyzed from the waist down.”

The blood drained out of Rhodey's face and he rocked backwards. Tony stared at Stark in shocked silence. It took him a moment to be able to speak. “Wait. You were fighting Steve? You tried to shoot Sam down? Why?!”

“The accords.”

“I don’t know what that is,” Tony said, glancing at Rhodey. His friend was still very pale. Tony reached out and gripped his arm, which earned him a weak smile.

Stark sighed again. “Two years ago, when we were dismantling the last of Hydra, Wanda Maximoff -” He glanced at them, checking to see if they knew the name. Tony nodded. “ – used her powers to give me a vision of aliens attacking Earth. I decided that Ultron needed to happen. I was playing around with things that I didn’t understand.” For some reason, Stark rubbed his neck.

“It wouldn’t have worked but for the right combination of factors. Ultron came to life, but he was a monster. He wanted to destroy humanity. We all came together in the end to fight him… it was lucky we had Vision, or we would’ve lost.” His mouth twisted, and Tony remembered that he’d lost JARVIS to gain Vision.

“Okay, so scratch the Ultron program,” Tony said, attempting to force some levity into his voice. “What are the accords?”

“A lot of people died because of Ultron. The United Nations started seeking a way to hold the Avengers accountable. The accords are… was their way of doing that. It was something that every superhero had to sign. A way to make sure that people couldn’t just do whatever they wanted to do. A way to make superheroes understand the consequences of their actions.”

“That sounds reasonable,” Rhodey said. He was still pale. One of his legs had started bouncing, like he needed to be sure that he could still move it.

Stark let out a bitter laugh. “Yeah, you would think. Cap didn’t agree. He was convinced that it was a way for governments with agendas to control the Avengers. It didn’t help that the government was trying to bring Barnes in at the same time this was going on. This guy Zemo had framed Barnes for an explosion that killed a bunch of people… Cap was freaking out trying to keep him safe.”

“Barnes didn’t come in of his own free will?” Tony said, frowning. In their world, Bucky had just shown up at the tower one day. Walked in like he owned the place and scared the living daylights out of Clint in the process.

“No.” Stark looked away, not meeting their eyes. “Cap spent a lot of time trying to find him. It was all he could think about. I wish I’d gone to talk to him about the accords earlier. Maybe I could’ve explained things better. Maybe the fight at the airport wouldn’t have happened. Maybe he would’ve trusted me…” His hands tightened into fists.

Tony and Rhodey exchanged looks. It was Rhodey who asked, very gently, “Trusted you with what?”

“Cap didn’t tell me anything,” said Stark, still staring at the ground. “I didn’t even know that they were going to dump all of SHIELD’s files on the internet. Do you know how many agents I couldn’t save? How many people died because their missions were compromised? I bet you Cap doesn’t, but I do. I have their names and faces memorized.” He squeezed his eyes shut, lifting a shaking hand to his forehead. “He didn’t tell me about the other Winter Soldiers, or that Barnes had been framed for the explosion… or anything about Barnes.”

A very bad feeling was creeping up on Tony. He couldn’t bring himself to speak. He couldn’t even look at Rhodey. He couldn’t think about Steve and Bucky, who were probably watching this. All he could think was please god, no. Don’t let him say what I think he’s going to say. But he could see, from the look on Stark’s face, that what Tony was thinking was true. And he honestly thought that he might throw up right then and there.

“I met them there, in Siberia. Cap and Barnes.” Stark sounded numb. Dead. “Zemo was there too. He showed me the footage of Barnes killing my parents. Cap admitted that he knew. He’d known for over three years. He just didn’t tell me because he thought I wouldn’t fund his search for Barnes. And when I attacked him, attacked them both, Barnes tore out the reactor and Cap beat me with the shield until my armor wasn’t functioning anymore. And then they left me there.”

Chapter Text

Stark was ruining the Avengers.

It had only been two days since their little chat in the workshop. In that span of time, Tony had not seen Bucky or Steve. And it wasn’t for lack of trying, either. According to JARVIS, both of them had left the building right after Stark finished telling Tony and Rhodey how he’d gotten out of Siberia. Tony had tried to call them both, Steve especially, but they weren’t picking up.

“You need to be patient,” Natasha said as she watched Tony try Steve’s number for the fifth time in a row. “They will come back soon.”

“You know where they are, don’t you?” Tony asked, resting his forehead on the table in defeat. He probably could track them down if he really wanted to. But Steve had made it clear that, barring an emergency, he didn’t want Tony tracking him when he left the Tower. It was a privacy thing that Tony did his best to respect.

A chair scraped against the floor, and a moment later her hand was on his head, stroking his hair. “Yes, I do. Bucky is struggling. Well, they both are, but Bucky especially. Steve is doing his best to help him. They’re very upset.”

“But why? It’s not their fault!”

Natasha sighed. “I think that, in Steve’s case, he sees how something similar could’ve happened.”

“Steve would never have done that!” Tony said, insulted on Steve’s behalf. He glared up at her.

“I hope not,” Natasha said, meeting his gaze steadily. “But secrets have a way of piling up on each other. A snowball effect, Bruce called it. And when you make the wrong choice, sometimes it’s easier to keep making it then to admit that you were wrong. Dating you and telling you the truth about your parents was the right choice. For whatever reason, the Steve Rogers in that world made the wrong choice.”

“I doubt I was blameless,” Tony muttered.

“Probably not. I’m sure they all fucked up, including Tones. That doesn’t make what Rogers or Barnes did okay, and Steve and Bucky are struggling with that. It’s hard knowing what you, even an alternate universe version of you, is capable of.”

She had a point, much as Tony hated to admit it. “Well, if I can’t fix this with Steve and Bucky, I’ll fix it with Stark instead.”

“How so?”

“I’m going to show him some footage,” Tony said. “He needs to know that things aren’t the same here.”

She smiled. “Why does that matter if we’re just sending him back?”

“You be quiet,” Tony said, pointing a finger at her in mock annoyance. After the whole ‘my team beat me up and left me to die’ thing, the rest of the Avengers had universally agreed that Stark didn’t have to go back if he didn’t want to. Natasha in particular was adamant that he was going to stay. Tony suspected she felt bad for her earlier suggestion that they tie Stark up to get some answers.

“You should start by calling him Tones, not Stark, and see where that gets you,” Natasha said.

“If you name it, you end up keeping it,” Tony said, but it was a losing cause. He threw his hands up and walked out, leaving her laughing behind him.

He headed into the elevator alone. It wasn’t that he didn’t want Stark – okay, fine, Tones - it wasn’t that he didn’t want Tones to stay. It was more that Tony was worried about how much things would change if he did. Was the world really ready for another Tony Stark? Particularly a Tony Stark who was that traumatized? And how would it change the dynamics of the team? What about Tony’s relationship with Steve? What if Steve liked Tones better than Tony?

Okay, wow. Tony shook his head at himself. That had derailed quickly. He had no business thinking things like that. Steve loved him. Tony knew that. He’d said as much to Steve less than a week ago. Steve’s interest in keeping Tones around was more because Steve was insanely overprotective, not because Steve was interested in Tones. It was just hard to remember that when he hadn’t even spoken to Steve in two days.

Tones and Rhodey were still in the workshop, of course. Rhodey had his Starktab and was showing Tones some things on it. As Tony walked into the room, he heard the familiar sounds of battle and realized that Tones was watching footage from one of their last fights. It wasn’t until he wandered closer than he saw it was the one where Tony got knocked out and tossed into the river. Steve had fished him out, carrying the Iron Man armor in true damsel in distress style. Those pictures had haunted Tony for months.

“Aw, come on, really?” Tony complained. “You need to show him those? You couldn’t have picked something that made me look a tiny bit cool?” He pouted, watching as the Steve on screen laid the armor down and then pried the faceplate up to reveal Tony’s unconscious face. Thank god Steve hadn’t attempted C.P.R. It would’ve looked too much like a dramatic kiss for comfort.

“You’re not cool,” Rhodey said absently. “I wouldn’t want to give him unrealistic expectations.” He looked up with a grin. Tony glared at him.

“Steve saved you,” Tones said, effectively cutting off whatever smart comment Tony was going to make. He sounded surprised.

“Well, yeah. Steve loves me. You should’ve seen him that night. He wouldn’t leave me alone,” Tony said ruefully. “Fussing is nice to a certain degree, but then I need my space. I had to agree to build Clint a new set of arrows just so that he’d tell Steve about his busted ankle.”

Tones frowned. “Why would that matter?”

“Clint is an omega,” Tony said, taking a seat in his chair. “You know what alphas are like.”

“Clint is an omega? And he’s still part of the team?” Tones looked blown away by that. Rhodey and Tony exchanged looks.

“Yeah, of course he is. I’m not sure where else we’d find a birdbrain that still shoots arrows in this day and age,” Tony said slowly. “Why wouldn’t he be?”

“Cap didn’t think omegas should be on the field,” Tones said quietly. “He shared that opinion with us several times. He said it was wrong, and that he didn’t care what Fury or SHIELD said: he wouldn’t be the leader of a team that had an omega on it. Too much chance that the omega would lose their head and put the team in danger.”

Tony whistled softly. That was some old-school bullshit right there. “Steve thought that way too back in the beginning, but he changed his mind pretty fast.”

“It’s ridiculous,” Rhodey said, bristling. “Omegas are excellent in the field.” His little sister was an omega, Tony knew, and doing very well for herself in the Marines.

“I never bothered to argue the point,” said Tones. “We didn’t have any omegas on the team.”

“That’s probably a good thing,” Tony said. “And not to change the subject, but that’s why I’m here. I want you to see some footage. Not of our battles, but of the Tower. I want you to see what the Avengers are like behind closed doors. Literally. I’ve even included some stuff of just me and Steve.”

“Tony,” Rhodey began.

“No sexy times,” Tony promised, knowing what Rhodey’s question was going to be. “Just… you know, that sweet, fluffy crap Steve likes so much. Movie nights, team dinners, that kind of thing. Everyone else gave me permission, and you know Steve and Bucky would be okay with it if I could ask them.” He took the tablet and called up the file he’d put together. “I want you to see what my Steve is like. I swear, he’s nothing like that asshole you had to put up with.”

“Why can’t you ask them?” Tones asked.

“They’ve both vacated the building,” Tony replied. “Your story was a little hard for them to hear.” Not just them, and Tony was deeply grateful for Rhodey’s understanding look.

“Will they come back?”

“Of course they will,” Rhodey said before Tony could. “This is their home.” He took the tablet back from Tony and opened it up to the first video.

Tony had thought long and hard about what to include. He’d considered starting with the day that Bucky showed up at the tower. But from the sound of it, things had gone wrong in Tones’s world long before that. So he’d backtracked, going all the way back to the beginning, and included footage from the time when the Avengers first moved in. When yeah, they’d sniped and snarked at each other because they were still trying to figure things out, but they’d also been coming together as a team.

So the very first video was of the day that Tony was working on one of his cars in the garage and Steve had tracked him down. Looking a little shamefaced, Steve had apologized for what he’d said on the helicarrier and admitted that the version of Tony Stark that he knew of did not line up with the man who’d willingly flown a missile through a portal on what was almost a one-way trip.

That, Tony believed, was the day that everything changed. Because Steve’s apology, fumbling and awkward as it was, had been the catalyst to change them from a group of individuals fighting for the same cause to an actual team. It seemed like an achingly slow process at the time, but now, looking back, Tony could see how fast his own defenses had fallen after that.

Tones watched the video in silence with a composed face. His eyes twitched with surprise when Steve apologized, but other than that he had no reaction. Not even to Tony’s admittedly poor acceptance of the apology, since it was the last thing Tony had been expecting at the time. The awkwardness radiating off of the video was real.

“Did Rogers ever do anything like that?” Tony asked when the video was done.

Tones exhaled with a short laugh, shaking his head. “God no. The only apology I ever got from Cap was some half-assed letter, and it was more apologizing for my reaction to the situation than an actual apology. It’s hard to believe this actually happened. Between you and him, I mean.”

“Rogers is a dick. My Steve isn’t,” Tony said. Rhodey snorted.

“I think it’s more likely that Steve just made some difference choices,” he said. “Because Steve can be a dick sometimes.”

“True,” Tony said with a nod. “To this day, I’m still not sure what made him come down and do that. I sure as hell wasn’t going to be the first to say it.”

“I wasn’t either,” said Tones. “But then, I wouldn’t have had the chance. We scattered after the Battle of New York. Barton and Romanov went off to do their own thing with SHIELD. Cap took off on a road trip. Bruce came back with me to the tower for a little while, but he didn’t stick around either. Did everyone actually move in?”

“Fury’s idea,” Tony told him. “Something about how we were crap as a team and needed the work. Then he sent Coulson over to supervise us all.”

“Wait, Coulson’s alive?!”

Rhodey and Tony exchanged surprised looks. Then Rhodey said, “Yes? He was stabbed by Loki, but pulled through.”

“He died in my world,” Tones said, sounding stunned.

“He almost died here too. Fury lied to us about it, the lying liar.” Tony scowled at the memory. “Apparently he was going to keep lying to us, too. He had some plan for Coulson to supervise a new, super secret team. But then Coulson found out he wouldn’t be working with Steve and had a fit about it.” He grinned, because Coulson’s fan boy tendencies towards Steve would never not be funny.

“Maybe he did survive in my world and Fury kept lying,” Tones muttered. He looked very tired suddenly.

“Do you want to keep going?” Rhodey asked, looking prepared to shut the tablet off.

“Yes, I do. I want to see more,” Tones said. He took the tablet from Rhodey and swiped for the next video. Rhodey raised his eyebrows at Tony, who shrugged. At least Tones was open to watching the footage. They couldn’t ask for much more than that at this point.

Chapter Text

Tones spent hours watching the footage that Tony had put together for him with the same, single-minded obsessiveness that usually kept Tony in the workshop on a binge. Rhodey tried to pry the tablet out of his hands once, but Tones looked up at him with the most perfect set of puppy eyes Tony had ever seen and Rhodey crumbled pretty much on the spot. It was hilarious. Tony had to walk out of the room because he couldn't keep himself from laughing. Rhodey joined him a moment later, rolling his eyes.

"Don't say it," he said. "God, it's like trying to take a bone away from an adorable puppy."

"You're so whipped," Tony said, amused. "Look, I think it's time to try and get him out of the workshop. He can't stay in there forever. The footage was a good first step, but we should try to get him up to his own private floor."

"Is this because you're genuinely concerned or because you want your workshop back?"

"Both," Tony admitted shamelessly. He wasn't used to having to share the workshop, so if Tones ended up staying they would probably have to build him one. Tony liked the idea of brainstorming with another Tony Stark - he was sure that the two of them could create some amazing things - but he also liked having his personal space. He was almost positive that Tones would feel the same way.

"Well, you're not wrong. What floor were you thinking of?"

"One of the lower guest ones. They're all far enough away from the Avenger floors that he won't have to worry about accidentally running into them. It also means that he doesn't have to pass by the Avenger floors to get down to the workshop."

Rhodey smiled. "That's a great idea."

"I also think we should introduce him to one of the Avengers."

"Now that I'm not sure about."

"Hear me out," Tony said, holding up his hands. "I've been giving it some thought. Footage can be doctored. Neither of us would bother, but it is possible and I am 100% sure that Tones knows that. He won't really start to believe things are different until he actually gets to meet people."

"You make a good point, but he's not ready to meet anyone."

"Not Steve or Bucky, no. Probably not Natasha or Clint either. But I don't remember him talking about Bruce or Thor during the whole 'my team abandoned me to die in Siberia' thing." Tony swallowed. It still made him sick to think about that. "Thor's pretty intimidating and doesn't really know how to be gentle yet, but what about Bruce? I can't imagine any world where Bruce and I aren't science bros. Bruce could talk to Tones and prove that things aren't nearly that fucked up here."

"That's a really good idea. I'm proud of you," Rhodey said, wrapping an arm around Tony's shoulders. "But since when did you start calling him Tones?"

Tony flushed. "It was Natasha's idea," he muttered.

"I'm sure it was," Rhodey said, grinning.

"Shut up," Tony said, elbowing him. "I can ask JARVIS to ask Bruce to meet us upstairs if you think you can pry the tablet away and not give in this time."

"I only gave in because he was at a point in the battle where War Machine was being awesome," Rhodey lied.

"Yeah right," Tony said. "JARVIS -"

"Forgive me, Sir, but Captain Rogers has returned to the tower and would like a word with you," JARVIS said before Tony could finish. "Might I suggest meeting with him before you speak to Dr. Banner?"

Steve. Tony's heart started to pound. He slipped out from under Rhodey's arm and ran to the elevator without bothering to say a word, knowing that Rhodey would understand. It seemed to take forever for the elevator to get to his and Steve's floor, but the second the doors opened Tony was being pulled out and into a huge hug. Tony threw his own arms around Steve's shoulders and hugged him back. After hearing Tones's stories, there had been a small part of him that was afraid Steve wouldn't come back at all.

"I'm sorry," Steve said, which wasn't what Tony was expecting to hear.

"You're sorry? For what?" Tony thought about it and sighed. "Did you and Barnes get another fucking parking ticket? Because I swear to god Steve -"

Laughing, Steve kissed him quiet. "No, no parking tickets," he murmured against Tony's lips. "Natasha tracked us down and pointed out how stupid we were being. And by we, she meant me. You're my partner. I should've at least sent you a text saying that I was okay and just needed some space, but I didn't. I knew you'd understand. But that doesn't make it okay."

This. This was why Tony loved Steve so much. "It's okay. I mean, it's not okay because I was worried. But I get that you needed space."

“I’d like to say it was more Bucky than me, but the truth is that we both did,” Steve admitted. “I can’t… I can’t imagine a world where I could be so cruel to you. Didn’t that other Steve know what he was missing? Didn’t he realize how valuable you are?”

A rush of warm affection flooded through Tony. “I guess not,” he said. Truthfully, Tony didn’t think he was that good of a person. He wouldn’t have been surprised if he and Steve had ended up in a similar situation. But Steve was so damn stubborn, refusing to believe that Tony was anything other than worthy, that Tony knew that could never happen.

“He was an idiot,” Steve said fiercely. “A fucking idiot. I love you so much, Tony. I swear that I will never lose sight of us or the team.”

“I believe you,” Tony said. It was the truth. “I never doubted you, Steve. I know you’re not like him.”

“But I am. He’s me. We’re the same person.” And Steve looked genuinely anguished about that, like he'd spent the whole time away from the tower agonizing over it. Knowing Steve, he probably had. That was something Tony needed to nip in the bud immediately. He shook his head, pressing a kiss to the curve of Steve's jaw.

“No, you’re not. Tones and I might share the same genes, but we didn’t have the same experiences. Some point after Afghanistan, our paths diverged. I was clearly the lucky one. I ended up with a team that loves me and the best alpha in the world. In all the worlds." He squeezed Steve tighter. "Tones ended up with a team that didn’t appreciate him. That sucks, but that doesn't mean you would ever make the same choices."

"I wouldn't," Steve said.

"Who are you trying to convince, me or you?" Tony asked knowingly. "You're not the same person, Steve. I know that and you know that."

"Yeah," Steve muttered. It was clear he wasn't convinced, but Tony wasn't sure what to say to ease the remainder of Steve's fears. He hated that he couldn't comfort Steve the way he wanted to, and he hated Tones a little bit for making Steve - and, to a lesser extent, Bucky - doubt themselves like this.

"You're not the same person," Tony repeated. "You made different choices. I can guarantee you that Tones and his Steve never thought about dating. They certainly never thought about fucking each other into a bed, or testing out super soldier refractory periods, or seeing how long you could hold me up against a wall before you got tired." He allowed a lecherous smirk to cross his face. "That Steve certainly never got the benefit of my years of cock-sucking experience."

Steve rolled his eyes, but at least he no longer looked quite as upset. "The other Steve is stupid for not seeing what was right in front of him."

"I agree. He missed out. My cock-sucking skills are legendary."

"Tony!" Steve said, torn between amusement and exasperation as he so often was, and Tony grinned. He didn't think this was over. Tones's stories had rattled Steve badly, and it was probably going to get worse before it got better. But it was helping, and he would take what he could get if it meant that Steve stopped beating himself up for things he'd had zero control over.

"I'd give you another demonstration," Tony said, dropping one of his hands to Steve's belt. He fingered the buckle regretfully. "But Rhodey and I want to introduce Bruce to Tones."

"You think he's ready for that?" Steve asked, perking up immediately.

"I think so. Bruce is probably the least-threatening option we've got at this point."

"That makes sense. I wish I could meet him," Steve said, a little wistfully. It wasn't hard to figure out what he was thinking, and Tony was hard-pressed to keep from rolling his eyes. Steve was going to spoil Tones rotten when they finally got to that point. The whole team was. Poor Tones wasn't going to know what hit him.

"You will eventually," Tony said, patting Steve's arm comfortingly. Maybe he should've been jealous, but honestly he wasn't. It would be nice for the team to have someone else to fuss over. They, especially Steve and Bucky, had the bad tendency to gravitate towards fussing over Tony because he was the only non-assassin human on the team - especially when Clint wasn't around. And from the sound of it, Tones could use someone to fuss over him. It was a match made in heaven and meant Tony would have more time for the workshop. Excellent.

"We showed him some footage so that he could see how things are different here. That, plus Bruce, might mean he'll be comfortable with seeing everyone soon," Tony added. "Just... give me a couple more days, okay?"

"I can give you that. I'd give you anything you asked for," Steve said, pulling him into another warm hug. "Bucky wants to apologize -"

"Again?" Tony said, slightly exasperated. They'd been down this road before. Hearing that the Winter Soldier had killed his parents, instead of a drunk driving accident, had been massively upsetting. It was weeks before Tony felt like he could be anywhere near Bucky, and longer still before he felt anything but numb distrust towards him. Poor Steve had been caught in the middle, though he'd never once pressured Tony.

Eventually, Tony had come to terms with it after much discussion with a therapist (Pepper's suggestion) and Rhodey. It helped that Bucky was genuinely remorseful and never once tried to pretend that it wasn't his hands that had done the act. Now, things between them were actually okay. Better than okay, if Tony was being honest. He had no interest in going back to when things were tense and awful.

"He feels guilty," Steve said.

"It's not his fault either! Please, Steve, tell him that he doesn't need to apologize."

"I think he needs to hear it from you."

Tony sighed. "Okay, fine. Let me talk to Bruce and then I'll go find Bucky."

"Thank you," Steve murmured. "I love you. Thank you."

"Don't thank me yet. I have the feeling this other me is going to throw a huge wrench into everything," Tony said. He kissed Steve one more time and then broke away, following JARVIS's directions to find Bruce.

It didn't take much effort to convince Bruce to meet Tones. Bruce was all too willing, following Tony into the elevator. "Did you tell him you were bringing me down?" Bruce asked.

"No."

"Tony."

"Surprises are good for the soul," Tony said. The doors slid open as Bruce rolled his eyes, but he walked out with Tony so Tony considered that a win.

Tones and Rhodey looked up at the same time when they walked in. Tones's eyes went wide. "Bruce?" he said, sounding shocked. "You're... you're here?"

"Hi Tones," Bruce said with a gentle smile. "It's nice to meet you." He held out a hand for Tones to shake, which Tones did, though he kept darting confused little looks at Tony and Rhodey.

"I don't understand," Tones said hesitantly. "I thought - did Wanda not mind whammy you here?"

"What do you mean?" Bruce asked.

"In my world, Wanda used her powers on the team, including you. The Hulk lost it and killed a lot of people. You couldn't stand being around Wanda after that, so you left when Cap and Barton asked her to join the Avengers," Tones said, staring at Bruce as though he was something wondrous. "I wish you could've stayed, though. It was nice having around someone who actually liked me."

"Wait," Rhodey said, holding up a hand. "Did you just say Maximoff is an Avenger in your world?!"

Tones looked around at them. "Of course she is. It's one of the reasons I stepped back after Ultron. She hates me, so I didn't want to be around her..." He trailed off at the horrified looks he was getting. "Um. Is she different here?"

"No," Bruce said tightly, a little green around the edges. "She works for Hydra and is one of the Avenger's enemies."

"Oh." Tones blinked. "I wondered why I didn't see her in the footage."

"I think we need the whole story," Tony said, feeling revolted at the thought of having Wanda Maximoff around on a regular basis. She and her brother had popped up right around the time that Tony and Bruce had given up on the Ultron program once and for all. They were dangerous apart, but together made for a combination that had come close to beating the Avengers at least twice. From the sound of it, she was no different in Tones's world. What the hell had the other Steve and Clint been thinking?

Chapter Text

When they were all sitting and looking at Tones expectantly, he cleared his throat a couple times. He seemed strangely uneasy at being the center of their attention, but Tony couldn’t put his finger on why. Surely Tones was used to being in the spotlight? If he wasn't, he was going to have to get used to it, especially if he remained here. Two Tony Stark's meant the press would have a field day.

Somewhere upstairs, the entirety of the Avengers team was watching this with bated breath – Tony, before sitting down, had issued a whispered command to JARVIS to have the team watch. It was probably a good thing Tones was unaware of that. He had to suspect the team was monitoring him, but knowing and suspecting were two different things.

“I told you how we managed to create Ultron, and that he was a monster,” Tones said, drawing Tony's attention back to him. He was sitting back on the couch beside Rhodey, holding the tablet on his lap. “An outside influence perverted everything my Bruce and I had worked on. He didn’t want to protect us; Ultron thought that humanity wasn’t worthy of anything. Pietro and Wanda Maximoff joined forces with him until they realized that Ultron wanted to destroy all of humanity, including them.”

“Wait, they joined forces with him?” Tony said. “Why?”

“They were Hydra,” Tones said, shrugging. “At first they thought Ultron was just trying to bring down the Avengers. And they really hated me. I think Wanda in particular saw it as her chance to get revenge.”

“She thought you’d killed her parents,” Tony said knowingly. “Maximoff thinks the same thing, even though I have proof that it was actually Stane who was responsible for putting that bomb on the black market and in the hands of terrorists.” He’d researched it a lot after Maximoff’s initial accusation. Pepper had helped him to look into the records that Stane had hidden. It actually hadn’t taken much searching to find proof. Stane would’ve sold weapons to anyone with the right amount of money.

Tones blinked at him. “Well, I never actually looked into it in my world. I didn’t have the time. And it didn’t matter. I doubt anyone would’ve cared.” He muttered that last part.

Rhodey, Tony and Bruce exchanged looks. It was Rhodey who broke the silence. “So you said until they realized. What happened after that?”

“Oh, well, Pietro died when we were fighting Ultron. Wanda survived, and Cap and Barton decided that Wanda would make a good addition to the Avengers. She was asked to join the team effective immediately. Barton retired. Bruce and I both resigned. Bruce left, actually. I’m not sure where he went. I haven’t seen him since.” Tones rubbed the back of his neck and sighed.

Clearly a lot of the story had been skipped. Tony narrowed his eyes, trying to understand. Just because Wanda had helped the other Avengers defeat Ultron didn't mean she would make a good Avenger. The Wanda Maximoff Tony knew didn't care about anyone outside of herself and her brother. He tried to picture Wanda without Pietro and inwardly shuddered. Pietro did a lot to keep his sister in line.

“So what kind of ramifications did Maximoff face?” Rhodey asked.

“What?” Tones said, looking surprised by the question.

“Well, you said she was part of Hydra. At the very least, she must’ve participated in some criminal activities. I mean, this is Hydra we're talking about. No one works for them and comes out of it innocent. So did she face jail time? Was she paroled? Were the Avengers part of her community service?” Rhodey sounded skeptical.

“No. Nothing like that. Cap asked me to step in and make any potential charges against her go away. He seemed to think that losing Pietro and fighting against Ultron was enough to absolve Wanda.”

“And you did it?” Bruce said in tones of great disbelief.

Tones frowned. “He was the Boss,” he mumbled.

Bruce and Rhodey were staring at Tones like they couldn’t believe what they were hearing. Tony was… not less surprised, exactly, but slightly more understanding. He knew exactly how much power and influence Steve Rogers had over Tony Stark in any universe. If Steve asked him to protect or get a pardon for someone, even a known criminal or Hydra affiliate, Tony couldn’t say that he wouldn’t. Steve could be persuasive, especially with the force of the team behind him.

“So then what happened?” Tony asked, giving Bruce and Rhodey a warning look. It wouldn’t do them any good to judge Tones after the fact. It might actually have the opposite effect of making Tones shut down.

“I went back to New York. The new Avengers started training together. There was Cap, Romanoff, my Rhodey, the Vision, the Falcon, and the Scarlet Witch,” Tones listed, ticking them off on his fingers.

“That’s bullshit. I can’t believe they made Wanda Maximoff an Avenger!” Rhodey said. “And especially at the same time as me!”

“I guess they felt she’d redeemed herself,” Tones said quietly.

“You disagreed,” Bruce said.

“Yeah, I did. I still do, to be honest. Wanda’s young. She’s not trained like she should be. And her mistakes are usually very costly.” Tones went silent for a moment, then sighed again. “Her magic is tied to her emotions, mostly her temper. I kept my distance after she joined the team for a reason. I truly pity the normal person who gets up close and personal with her bad side.”

“What the hell was Steve thinking?” Tony asked bluntly. “Maximoff is a known Hydra operative. The one in this world learned how to use her powers by torturing people. She goes into people’s minds and tortures them to get what she wants.”

Tones flinched a little. It was subtle, but they all saw it. “I know.”

Bruce’s eyes looked a bit green. “Did she do that to you?”

“She got the whole team, actually,” Tones said. “Well, most of them. Cap, Romanoff, me and Bruce.” He wouldn’t meet their eyes, avoiding Bruce especially. “Bruce, um, Hulked out at whatever he saw. It wasn’t pretty.”

Bruce paled. “What did I – he do?”

“There was a nearby city. There was a lot of damage and some civilian deaths,” Tones said reluctantly. “That’s why he left, I think. He didn’t really say. He was there one day, gone the next.”

“So he left you to face the consequences of Ultron alone?” Tony said.

“Well, there weren’t really consequences… I had to pay out some money and face a committee… but we were able to prove that a staff we’d stolen from Hydra had kick-started the process. Ultron was kind of his own entity in a way. So…” Tones trailed and shrugged. “The real consequence were the Accords.”

Every time they talked to Tones, Tony was left feeling more fucked up. He put a hand to his forehead, trying to rub away the headache that was forming. “Wait. So Maximoff mentally tortured four of the Avengers and then Rogers decided she would make a great member?!”

“She said she was sorry. That was enough for him,” Tones said. “I tried to bring up some concerns, but Cap wouldn’t hear of them. I realized that he had it set in his mind that Wanda was going to be an Avenger.” He shrugged again. “There wasn’t anything else I could do.”

Tony just stared at him, appalled on every level. “That’s… I can’t even… why?!”

“Romanoff told me he compared himself to Wanda and Pietro. He said that he’d volunteered for strange governmental experiments and so had they. And Wanda was pretty young, so that got to him too. Cap was always a huge sucker for anyone he perceived as younger or weaker than him,” said Tones.

“But that makes no sense!” Rhodey exclaimed. “Everyone knows Steve Rogers volunteered for an experiment so that he could serve his country and protect people. The Maximoff's volunteered because they wanted revenge. And then tortured people during that experiment! How is that the same thing?”

Tones actually smiled. “I’ve wondered that myself, once or twice. But no one else wanted to hear it, so I gave up talking about it."

"Did your Bruce ever come back?" Bruce asked.

"No. I haven't looked for him, either. He didn't want to be found."

"What about Thor?" Tony asked suddenly. Thor was the one person that Tones hadn't mentioned during most of his stories, which was unusual to say the least. "Was he around for this? What did he think of Maximoff?"

"Thor left. He had to go back to Asgard," Tones said. "I don't think he really cared one way or the other, to be honest. He had more important things to worry about." He did something weird then. He put a hand to his throat and rubbed at the skin there. "We haven't seen him since. I guess he could've come back after I was pulled into this world, but I doubt it."

"Your world was fucked up," Rhodey declared. "And I don't think you should go back."

"Rhodey!" Tony said.

"What?" Tones said at the same time, looking shocked.

"They don't appreciate you. You should stay here where people actually care about the Tony Stark's of the world." Rhodey wrapped his arms protectively around Tones, half dragging Tones into his lap. The baffled look on Tones's face made Tony want to laugh, but he held it in.

"Um, I do have people who need back in my world," Tones said, voice muffled. "Pepper is still running Stark Industries. She's way better at it than I am, but she still tells me that she needs my support. And the bracers I've been working on for my Rhodey are still a work in progress. Plus there's Peter. He's just a kid."

"Peter?" Bruce asked.

"Peter Parker. Spider-Man?" Tones squirmed enough that he could look at them. "Oh shit. Did I just out him?"

"I've seen Spider-Man on the news a couple times. I've been following up on him," Tony said. By which he meant he'd figured out that Spider-Man was just a kid and had already set a couple of tracers on him. Not so that he could figure out who Spider-Man was - that would be pretty easy - but so that he would know if anything went seriously wrong. So far, it seemed like Spider-Man was just sticking to muggers and small time thieves.

"But you haven't made contact yet?" Tones guessed. "I know him in my world. I actually made him a new uniform because he was going out in what was basically a pair of sweatpants." He wrinkled his nose. "It was disgusting. Pathetic and disgusting. I burned it when he wasn't looking."

"Tones," Bruce said, sounding mildly disapproving, but he couldn't hold back a smile. "And you're sure none of them could live without you?"

"Wait. Are you actually serious?" Tones said, staring at them. "Surely to god one Tony Stark is enough for you."

Tony bristled slightly. "Hey, one Tony Stark is never enough. We are a gift to the world."

Bruce snorted. "I'm sure Steve agrees with that when he's hauling your ass out of the workshop and up to bed after a three day binge," he teased.

"Steve loves my ass," Tony said haughtily. "And yes, you should know that they are completely serious. I've already had Steve ask me like five times if we can keep you. He really, really wants the chance to punch your Cap in the face."

"I would like to see that," Tones said, looking briefly contemplative. But then he shook his head. "No. I really couldn't stay."

That was fair enough, and Tony didn't push. He could tell that Rhodey wanted to, but fortunately Rhodey also knew when to back off. Tones hadn't even met the rest of the Avengers yet. He didn't know what they were like or how they would react to him. Tony knew that they would absolutely fawn over Tones, but it wouldn't do any good to just tell Tones that. He needed to see it for himself.

"You don't have to decide now, since we don't even know how to get you home in the first place," Tony said. "Since you are going to be staying for at least a little while, how about meeting the rest of the team?" Bruce and Rhodey shot him startled looks, which Tony ignored. The meeting with Bruce had gone well enough that Tony felt confident that it was time. Time for Tones to see once and for all that Tony's team was nothing like the idiotic assholes Tones had had to put up with.

Tones's eyes widened at the suggestion, but to his credit he was quick to nod like it was no big deal. "Sure, why not?"

Chapter Text

"Tony and I will go up first to give the team a heads-up. Then you and Rhodey can come up together, okay?" Bruce said, all but dragging Tony into the elevator. The door closed on Rhodey's and Tones's confused expressions and Bruce immediately let go, backing up into the corner. He put both hands over his face and took a couple of deep breaths, looking a little green around the gills. Tony eyed him warily, wondering if he was about to have a Hulk-related incident.

"Bruce, breathe," he instructed, hitting the button to stop the elevator. "It's okay."

"It's not okay," Bruce snapped, sharply enough that Tony winced a little. "I abandoned him, Tony! I left him... you behind to face everything alone. I couldn't even stick around for five fucking minutes to help?"

Hearing Bruce swear would never not be a surprise. Tony stepped towards and gripped Bruce's shoulders, forcing his friend to look at him. "Bruce, listen to me. That was not you, okay? That was a different Bruce Banner. I said the same thing to Steve a couple days ago. Whatever choices these other people made, they don't reflect on you. The Bruce Banner I know might take off on occasion, but he always says goodbye to me because he knows I'm scared of waking up to find out that everyone I care about is gone. Okay?"

Bruce let out a shuddering sigh, eyes meeting Tony's finally. "But all those people -"

"No. You do not get to feel guilty about some people in another world," Tony interrupted, exasperated. "From the sound of it, even that Bruce shouldn't feel guilty. It seems pretty clear to me that Maximoff was responsible for all those people. She might've used the Hulk as a weapon, but it was her fault. You know what it's like when she messes with people's brains. They can't be held responsible for what she does."

"Okay," Bruce said, sounding slightly steadier, hands coming up to cover Tony's. "It's just... he looks so... broken."

Tony grimaced. "Not broken. No Tony Stark is ever broken." He let go of Bruce and stalked over to hit the button to resume their trip. "Battered, maybe, and cracked, but that's about it."

When the elevator doors opened, Clint was right there. He gathered Bruce up into a hug, letting Bruce stick his nose against the scent glands along Clint's neck. Bruce shivered once and then relaxed, all the tension flowing out of him. The effect an omega could have on an alpha or a beta really was kind of remarkable. Tony edged around them and looked at the rest of the team. Natasha, Thor, Bucky and Sam all met his eyes. Only Steve refused, standing by the windows with his shoulders hunched. No doubt beating himself up for the choices that the other Steve Rogers had made.

Tony went to him, wrapping his arms around Steve from behind. "Hey. Tones is coming upstairs. You guys all have to put your best non-threatening faces on. Especially you, Nat. I think you and Steve really freaked him out."

"I'll be good," Natasha said, holding her hands up to prove that she had no weapons. Which was a lie, Tony knew: Natasha could be stark naked and still have half a dozen weapons hidden on her body. He was pretty sure that Tones would know that too.

"We will all behave," Thor boomed. "Let us see our new friend Tones, for we have much apologizing to do on behalf of our other selves."

"Yeah," Tony sighed, deciding not to bother giving the speech again. He had the feeling he'd be repeating it a lot once this was over. "JARVIS, go ahead and let Rhodey know they can come up now."

Everyone stared at the doors in anticipation. Tony could feel Steve vibrating, he was so tense. He hugged Steve a bit tighter, resting his cheek on Steve's back. When the doors opened, Rhodey stepped out first. Tones was right behind him, shoulders squared in a way that suggested he was going into battle. There was a fake smile pasted on his face, which Tony recognized as the one he usually wore when he was facing the press and really didn't want to have to answer whatever they were going to ask. He half-thought Tones might change his mind and run, but he didn't.

"I'm sure you know everyone," Tony said. "But just in case, this is Steve, Clint, Natasha, Sam and Thor. You know Bruce already, and of course me and Rhodey. We're the Avengers. Unlike in your world, we're actually the good guys here." He glanced around the room, realizing he was missing someone, and realized that Bucky had actually wedged himself into the furthest corner from the elevator. Sheesh. "Also, the dark and broody one in the corner is Bucky."

"Hello," Tones said quietly, with none of the usual bravado Tony might have expected.

"You are well met!" Thor said, stepped forward. He seized Tones's hand and shook it enthusiastically. Tones tensed, but didn’t pull away as Thor added, "Were we friends in your world? I couldn't help noticing that my counterpart was largely absent from your tales."

"Thor – the Thor in my world – was there during Ultron," Tones said, looking a little rattled. "But he left right afterwards. He had some things to do on Asgard. To the best of my knowledge, he hasn't returned." He drew back when Thor released him, putting a little bit of distance between them.

“I heard the other Barton was a dick,” Clint said bluntly. “I might be an asshole, but I try to limit my dick moments to people who deserve it.” He was still wrapped around Bruce, but Bruce released him so that Clint could step forward and offer his hand. His scent was sweet and mellow, calming. Tones’s nostrils flared, picking up on the scent, and his eyes widened a little.

“You’re really an omega,” he said.

“Yeah, I am. That a problem?”

Tones shook his head. “No. I just… in my world, all the other Avengers were alphas.”

“Even me?” Clint looked very surprised by that. “Huh, no wonder the other Barton is a dick.”

“Hey!” Natasha said.

“I call it like I see it, Nat,” Clint said, grinning.

Tentatively, Tones took Clint’s hand and shook it. “It’s… nice to meet you, I guess. Is everyone an alpha?”

“I’m not,” Tony said. “You knew that. Bruce isn’t either, though the Hulk is.” It was one of the reasons he and Bruce got on so well. Tony liked to call it a beta zone of neutrality.

“My other self might be an alpha in your world, but obviously she’s not very good at it,” Natasha said. She didn’t try to approach, just hung back with her arms at her sides. “I’m sorry for scaring you when you first got here.”

“You didn’t scare me,” Tones said, which was such a bald-faced lie that Tony snorted. “I was just surprised.”

Natasha smiled sweetly. “Then I’m sorry for surprising you. I’ll try not to do it again. I forget how used to the team Tony has gotten.”

“Like I had a choice,” Tony said.

“You love us and you know it,” Clint said, smirking at him.

Tony rolled his eyes. “I frequently ask myself why.”

“Did you know the other me in your world?” Sam asked.

Tones looked at him warily. “Not really. You… he was always more Cap’s friend than mine.”

Which probably meant that Wilson hadn’t had a very good opinion of Tones. Sam’s smile flickered slightly. “Well, in this world Tony and I are always up for a good troll session. You should join us sometime.”

“Troll session?” Tones repeated, confused.

“Hell yeah. Gotta keep Steve’s ego from getting too big for his head somehow,” Sam joked, lightly nudging Steve. “When it gets really bad, Bucky and Clint chip in.”

“You gang up on him? Together?” Tones said, sounding startled.

“Steve is used to it from me and Sam. Clint and Bucky provide a fresh perspective,” Tony said innocently. Steve huffed and finally turned to look at them, rolling his eyes.

“What you mean is, you get bored when I stop rising to your tricks and so you employ other teammates to undermine me,” he said, but it was spoken so fondly that Tony just grinned. He knew that Steve liked it when they teased him. Without thinking, he leaned forward and brushed his nose against Steve’s, then lightly pecked his mouth in a kiss.

“You love it,” he murmured, borrowing Clint’s phrase.

“God help me, I do,” Steve whispered back. Had the others not been there, they probably would’ve started making out. Hell, even with the rest of the team there it might’ve happened anyway – but Rhodey, who had been silently hovering behind Tones, pointedly and loudly cleared his throat. Tony jerked his head back and saw that Tones was staring at them with eyes the size of grapefruits, mouth hanging open a little in disbelief.

“Sorry,” Tony said, slightly sheepish. “Didn’t mean to make you watch, uh, that.”

“How come Tones gets an apology?!” Clint exclaimed. “And for nothing? I’ve walked in on you two naked five times!”

“Only five times?” Sam said. “I’ve walked in on them like fifteen times. I’m starting to memorize the sight of Tony’s bare ass.”

“That’s because you suck at scouting out rooms before you enter them,” Natasha said, examining her nails. “You also suck at knocking.”

“I have knocked!” Sam yelped. “They ignore me!”

“Then learn to listen at a door before you just walk in,” she said.

“Okay,” Steve said loudly. “I think that we’ve discussed this topic enough for the time being. Tones.” His voice shook a little. Tony took his hand, unsurprised when Steve grabbed back with a grip so tight it hurt. “I want you to know that you are safe here. I’m nothing like the Steve Rogers in your world. I don’t even understand that man. I just – you should know that nothing will happen to you. None of us will ever hurt you like that. Ever.” His eyes flashed alpha red.

“I… okay,” Tones said faintly, looking at once bewildered and overwhelmed. It was probably a good thing that Steve didn’t try to get any closer; Tones probably would’ve bolted.

“Hey,” Clint said, apparently picking up on the same thing. “I heard a rumor that someone was making cookies. You want to try the best cookies in the world?”

“Um, sure?” Tones said, glancing at Rhodey.

“They really are the best cookies,” Rhodey said. “Thor’s an excellent baker.”

“Thor?” Tones repeated in disbelief.

Thor laughed. “Aye, I enjoy baking. Come! We shall have cookies.” He led the way into the kitchen. Natasha, Clint and Sam were on his heels like a couple of hungry puppies. Rhodey wrapped an arm around Tones’s shoulders and gently ushered Tones along.

Steve closed his eyes once they were gone, looking like he was in actual pain. “He’s so small. So… sweet. I can’t believe they hurt him.”

Tony eyed him. “I wouldn’t say that to his face. You know how much I hate it when you call me short or small.”

“What? No, I wouldn’t, I just…” Steve shook his head. “I don’t get it. When I think about what you mean to me, I can’t imagine any version of me that doesn’t love you.”

“Flatterer,” Tony said, trying not to show how much the words flustered and warmed him. “Bucky? You doing okay?”

“He was so scared,” Bucky said quietly. “He was scared of us. Of me.” He hadn’t spoken a word while Tones was in the room, but now he sounded devestated. It wasn’t hard to guess why. Back when he first came to the tower, Bucky had barely spoken. He’d walked around with his shoulders hunched, sticking to shadows, never interacting. They’d all thought he was terrified of the team, even Steve, and acted accordingly.

Come to find out, it wasn’t because he was scared of the Avengers like everyone thought – it was because he was scared of hurting them. That had been a hard one to swallow. It had taken some time and effort before Bucky realized that he wasn’t the danger that he believed himself to be. Tony really hoped this was going to send him into some kind of repeat episode.

He went over to Bucky and knelt, putting them on the same level. “Hey. Don’t take it personally, okay? I actually think Tones is less scared of you than everyone else.”

“The other Barnes killed his parents too,” Bucky said. “How could he not be scared of me?”

“I’m sure that hurt,” Tony said carefully. “But… that Barnes was brainwashed too. What he did is a lot less personal than what everyone else did.” He felt more than saw Steve wince behind him. “I forgave you and Tones has nothing to hold against you personally. Against any of us, really.”

“It’s not that easy,” Bucky muttered. “We look just like them. You know we do.”

“But you… we don’t act like them,” Tony said. “That’s what matters. Remember that.” He squeezed Bucky’s knee, hoping that what he was saying was true. If Tones remained scared of the team forever, he would never agree to stay. That would break the hearts of pretty much everyone. Hopefully Tones hadn’t been betrayed and broken to the point where he couldn’t start over.

Chapter Text

Bucky looked like the last thing he wanted to do was go into the kitchen. Tony couldn’t blame him. He wouldn’t have judged Bucky for quietly slipping off and avoiding Tones until later - much later. But, to give him credit, Bucky didn’t. He visibly steeled himself, then stepped up past Tony and Steve without saying a word and slunk into the kitchen just in front of them.

Steve frowned after him, worried. The only thing Tony could do was squeeze Steve’s hand and gently tug his boyfriend after Bucky. He wasn’t sure what he was expecting to find in the kitchen. He’d figured out pretty quickly that living with two ex-spies, an ex-assassin, two ex-military men, a god, and a man who could turn into the Hulk, as well as assorted visitors, meant that life was never boring. It was hard to say how Tones was going to fit into all that.

The answer, it turned out, was quite well. Everyone was sitting around the table, which made sense since there was a hug platter of Thor’s cookies right smack dab in the middle. Tones was sitting in the seat that Bucky usually had: it was the seat closest to the door and furthest away from all of the appliances, which meant no one would have a reason to circle behind it. Rhodey was sitting right beside him, arm still wrapped securely around Tones’s shoulders. Tony would wager a lot of money on the bet that Rhodey’s arm was the only thing keeping Tones in his seat.

Natasha was sitting in Tony’s usual seat; when he glanced at her, she meaningfully flicked her eyes towards Tones. Tony nodded slightly and sat on Tones’s other side, tugging Steve into the seat beside him. That left Bucky to creep into the last seat, two seats away from Tones. Bruce was on the other side of Rhodey, though he was getting up to help Thor. It wasn’t ideal, but Tones didn’t look too freaked out. He decided to take that as a win.

“It’s about time!” Clint said loudly. “I want cookies!” He childishly banged his hands on the table. “Cookies, cookies, cookies!”

“You’re not five. Have some decorum,” Natasha said, aiming a light jab at his ribs. Clint dodged and swatted her hand. She grabbed his wrist and twisted it. He went with it, and before Tony knew it they were on the floor and doing what counted as their version of play wrestling. Tones looked at them with wide eyes. Most likely, Tony suspected, he’d never seen the spies being so playful. It had taken months before Natasha and Clint felt comfortable enough to act that way in the tower.

“Steve, make the children behave,” Sam said.

Steve sighed. “Both of you knock it off, or no cookies,” he said, rolling his eyes. Despite his mock-exasperation, the familiarity of it all had relaxed him a little. Enough to lean back in his chair and shake his head fondly when Sam yelped because Clint and Natasha had rolled into his chair.

“You can’t take away cookies. We have rights!” Clint’s head popped up over the table. Tony had to bite his lip to keep from cracking up. Somehow – he had no idea how – Natasha must’ve gotten her hands on a permanent marker. The word “KID” was scrawled across Clint’s forehead and he appeared to have no idea it was there.

Clint paused, eyeing them all suspiciously as everyone quickly schooled their face. Natasha, her expression perfectly composed, got up from the floor and slid into her seat like nothing had happened. Clint kept looking around for a moment, eyes narrowed, before he slowly stood and sat down too. Natasha turned her head slightly and winked at Tones. Tony could have hugged her. He was pretty sure she’d orchestrated that on purpose. Tones probably knew that too, but it was a damn good start.

“Enough,” Thor chided, walking over to the table with a tray of drinks. “Once we eat our snack, I will gladly wrestle anyone who wishes to.” His eyes gleamed. Tony saw Natasha and Clint swallow. Wrestling with Thor was nothing to take lightly; only Bucky or Steve had a chance of winning, and even then they usually lost unless they teamed up.

Thor smiled, satisfied when no one took him up on his offer, and began handing drinks out. He’d long ago memorized what each of them liked best – he knew that Tony and Bucky preferred coffee, but that Natasha, Sam and Bruce liked a cup of tea. Steve and Clint were old-fashioned, taking straight-up milk with their cookies. Thor himself varied, usually swinging between coffee or milk.

Today, he turned to Rhodey and Tones. “My apologies, I wasn’t sure what you would like. Jim? Tones?”

Tones startled, blinking in shock – possibly at being addressed, but most likely at the nickname. Tony hadn’t thought to warn him that Rhodey’s convenient nickname, meant to differentiate two Tony Stark’s, had spread like wildfire through the rest of the Avengers, and wasn’t restricted to just Tony and Bruce. Thor took the following pause in stride, never losing his kind smile, until finally Rhodey answered him.

“Coffee, I think, Thor. Black for me. Tones like his with cream and sugar.”

Multiple sets of eyes blinked as they absorbed this – Tony took his coffee black unless he was really tired, where he’d accept a little sugar. It was such a small difference, insignificant really, yet Tony could see that it had an effect. Out of sight, he slid his hand onto Steve’s knee and gave it a light squeeze. Within seconds, Steve’s hand curled over his and laced their fingers together.

Thor brought Tones and Rhodey two cups of coffee, one liberally laced with cream and sugar, and then sat in the last empty seat. “Now, you may have a cookie.”

Several hands reached out all at once and snagged cookies. Rhodey grabbed four, two for himself and two for Tones. For a few moments, there was no other sound but the enthusiastic munching of cookies. It seemed like everyone was watching Tones, who had his head bowed. He broke a small piece off of one cookie and cautiously lifted it to his lips, tasting it so hesitantly that Tony couldn’t help thinking that Tones thought it might be a trap.

“So do we look the same as the Avengers in your world?”

“Clint!” Bruce hissed.

“What? It’s legitimate question!” Clint said. “No point in tiptoeing around the elephant in the room, right?” He looked around in support. Natasha shook her head.

“No.”

The quiet voice silenced what Natasha was about to say. Rhodey cleared his throat. “What do you mean, Tones?” he prompted.

“I thought you did at first, but you don’t. Romanov – the one in my world – cut her hair short for a mission,” Tony said softly. “Last I saw a picture of her, she’d also dyed it blonde.”

“Blonde? That’s not your color.” Of all people, it was Sam who spoke up.

Surprisingly, Natasha nodded. “I know. It washes me out.”

“Most of you have different hairstyles. Rogers,” his voice broke slightly on the name, “had his hair in the same style he woke up with. I don’t think he ever really changed it.”

Steve made a face at the idea and ran his hand through his hair.

“And you…” Tone’s eyes lingered on Bucky. “I’ve never seen you with your hair in a bun.”

Bucky recoiled a little at being addressed. Steve set a hand on Bucky’s shoulder and said, “That’s Bucky’s favorite way of doing his hair. You can blame Darcy for that. If she were here, you’d be hearing a long rant about how sexy buns are on guys.”

“She’d also show you the website,” Sam said, smirking.

“The website?” Rhodey said, looking as confused as Tones.

“I didn’t show you?” Tony said, immediately pulling his phone out of his pocket. He called up the page and showed it to Rhodey and Tones. Rhodey started to laugh, and even Tones smiled a little.

It was a website that featured all of the Avengers, with pictures of them out and about around New York. But one specific section was dedicated to Bucky’s hair. Apparently, certain people (specifically, Tony was pretty sure, women in the age range of twenty to fifty) were obsessed with it to the point where everything below Bucky’s neck was cropped out of any posted photos. Each new hairstyle was carefully dissected and then rated out of ten.

“I hate that website,” Bucky mumbled, his cheeks reddening.

“It’s better than them focusing on other parts of your anatomy,” Tones said. It was the first time he’d spoken to Bucky. He even turned his head and looked right at him. Tony held his breath and was positive that everyone else was doing the same thing.

Bucky met his gaze. “You have a point,” he said, and then, “I’m sorry I killed your parents.”

Holy. Shit.

Steve inhaled sharpy, which meant that he was less than a second away from interrupting. Tony snapped out of his own shock and promptly tightened his grip on Steve’s knee to the point where he knew his nails had to be digging into Steve’s skin. He didn’t want Steve to interrupt this. Bucky’s apology had gone a long way towards smoothing things over between him and Tony. In that respect, Tony could tell, he and Tones were not so different.

Tones went perfectly still, like a rabbit trying not to be seen by hunters. Then, slowly, he said, “That wasn’t you.” He gave a bitter smile as he spoke. “Different worlds.”

“That doesn’t mean I can’t be sorry. What he did – what they did –” Bucky’s glance included Steve “- it was horrible. What I did… what he did… that was bad enough. I never would’ve wanted it to go down like that. You deserved to know the truth from someone you trusted, not… not the way you found out.”

It wasn’t very often that you got to see Tony Stark speechless, but Tony was seeing it now. Tones’s lips were parted, but no words were coming out. He was looking at Bucky like Bucky had grown another head that could speak in perfect Spanish. His shocked disbelief was so apparent that Tony felt an unexpected swell of compassion and protectiveness. The other world was bad, to say the least. They all knew that. But no one should be this flabbergasted over an apology.

He ignored the little voice inside of him that pointed out that, before the Avengers had come along, Tony might have reacted similarly to a genuine apology.

“So,” Clint said, breaking the heavy silence that had fallen, “Natasha as a blonde, huh? Did she ever dye her hair pink, by any chance?”

“Clint,” Bruce groaned.

That seemed to be the cue for everyone to start talking at once; Natasha was informing Clint that she looked excellent with pink hair while Sam and Thor egged her on. Tony exhaled and glanced at Steve, meeting his partner’s eyes. He could tell that Steve was thinking the same thing: that had gone better than either of them had thought that it would’ve based off of Tones’s descriptions of the other world.

He reached for one of his cookies and took a bite, chewing it slowly. Tones had been pretty adamant about not being able to stay, but for the first time Tony could actually see what it would be like if he did. Maybe there was space for two Tony Stark’s on the Avengers team. He finished his cookie while entertaining a fantasy of three sets of armor flying together, two Iron Men and one War Machine. It was a nice dream.

Chapter Text

Those shared cookies marked something of a turning point. Tones did not return to JARVIS’s server room, instead accepting the offer of his own floor. Tony and Rhodey escorted him there. It was empty for the time being, but Tony had always harbored faint plans that someday it might become the home of a future Avenger. Not knowing what the tastes of that future person might be like, he’d left it fairly bland.

Now, surveying the floor with a critical eye, he said, “You can decorate however you want to, of course. Pepper decorated the guest floors, but we opted to leave this one and the one above it plain.”

“Right,” Tones said. There was something about the tone of his voice that made Tony turn and squint at him. It took him a moment to work out what the potential problem was, and then only because Rhodey rolled his eyes and pulled his wallet out of his pocket. He pointedly waved it in Tony’s face.

Oh. Money. Of course. Tony hadn’t even thought about that. He’d never been without money, except for that one time back in university when Howard thought he’d be an asshole and try cutting Tony off for a semester to see if that made him ‘alpha up’. It hadn’t worked, mostly because Maria had taken to sending him substantiable quantities of cash on the side. To this day, Tony wasn’t sure if his father had ever worked that out.

An uncomfortable silence filled the air. Rhodey was making faces at him, obviously wanting him to say something. Tony frowned back. It wasn’t like he’d object to Tones spending his money. Hell, Tones was Tony Stark – or at least some version of him. Technically, he had every right to Tony’s money. And even if he wasn’t, Tony had never been bothered by opening his wallet to anyone who lived in the tower. All of the Avengers had unlimited credit cards that linked back to Tony’s personal bank account.

But this was awkward, and Tony wasn’t sure how Tones was going to take it. Nevertheless, he cleared his throat. “Uh, I’ll have a credit card for you done up by tomorrow. Pepper can fast-track one.”

“That would be nice,” Tones said with a faint smile. Whatever else he was going to say was cut off by the siren that blared through the room. Tones jumped about a foot in the air. Even Rhodey started. Tony, who was used to said siren going off at all hours, merely sighed at the poor timing.

The siren cut off as quickly as it had begun, replaced by Steve’s voice broadcasting across the house: “Avengers, assemble!” he boomed.

“I gotta go,” Tony said in the wake of the quiet. “Rhodey-bear, care to join us since you’re in town?”

Rhodey’s grin was quick. “You know it.”

Tony grinned back, feeling a flutter of excitement. It had been a long time since he’d gotten to fly with Rhodey. He turned to Tones, ready to say that they wouldn’t be gone long, and paused when he saw the unmistakable look of wistfulness and longing painted across Tones’s face. The emotions were fleeting, lasting barely a second, but long enough for Tony to understand and be momentarily overcome by a surge of – not pity, but compassion.

Tones missed being Iron Man.

And shit, Tony hadn’t even thought about that. Of course Tones missed it. How could he not? Iron Man was such a central part of who Tony was now. He couldn’t fathom not being able to jump in the suit and go for a fly anytime he wanted to, or not being able to respond to an Avengers call. If Tones stayed any length of time here, they were going to have to do something about that. Tony didn’t have time to focus on it now, but the thought stayed in the back of his head as he spoke.

“We probably won’t be gone long. JARVIS can – well, you know.”

“I know,” Tones said quietly. Rhodey looked at him worriedly.

Tony felt bad, maybe even a little guilty, as he gestured to Rhodey and they ran out of the room together. He pushed those feelings aside as he climbed into the armor and it closed around him. The HUD came on and Tony activated the thrusters, taking off. He swooped up to the roof, where Steve was waiting in his uniform, and grabbed Steve’s outstretched hands. War Machine joined them as they sped off.

It turned out to be nothing more than Doom trying to propose to Sue Storm again; he seemed to think that the best way to impress a woman was by taking over the city she lived in. Between the Avengers and the Fantastic Four, he was sent scuttling back to Latveria pretty quickly. It was barely worth the call-out, and Tony pouted a little as he landed next to Clint.

“Man, what a waste of time,” Clint said, echoing Tony’s thoughts perfectly.

“Right? Frigging Doom. I would say I can’t wait for Sue and Richards to get married, except I still don’t think Doom would take that as an answer,” Tony replied glumly. He really hoped that those two opted to elope. Otherwise, their wedding day was going to attract a hell of a lot of trouble.

“You said it,” Clint muttered, examining one of his arrowheads. “Hey, can I have –”

“Later,” Tony said, cutting off what was surely a request for another kind of arrowhead. Out of all the Avengers, Clint definitely had the most unusual ideas. “I’ve got to talk to Richards. I want to know if he’s made any progress in figuring out how to get Tones home.”

Clint gave him the side-eye. “Really.”

“Don’t look at me like that. Tones says he wants to go home. I think we have a duty to respect that, at least for right now, and do what we can to try and make that happen. Taking away his right to make that decision will not endear us to him, believe me,” Tony said.

“I hate it when you’re right,” Clint said. “It just makes the universe seem wrong.”

Tony flipped him off and walked over to where the Fantastic Four were standing. Sue saw him coming and gave him a smile. “I’m sorry about this, Tony,” she said.

“It’s okay. You can’t help that Doom is a loser,” Tony told her. She really didn’t deserve all the harrassment Doom put her through. It was unfortunate that Doom maintained diplomatic immunity, so they couldn’t toss him in prison like they did everyone else they had to deal with.

“I still feel bad that you guys got called out for no reason.”

“Don’t. It gave us the chance to test a few new things,” Tony said, jerking his thumb towards Natasha. “Richards, I was wondering if you’d made any progress with that disc I gave you. Have you been able to get any readings off it?” He saw the answer in Richards’s face before the man even spoke and his heart sank.

“I’m not getting anything from it,” Richards said, looking so despondent that Sue laid a comforting hand on his shoulder. “I can’t even get an energy read-out. There’s just… nothing.” He blew out his breath in frustration. “It’s possible that whatever the disc did the first time drained it somehow.”

“But we don’t know how to charge it,” Tony filled in, and Richards nodded.

“Or it’s possible that this was a one-hit wonder, designed to do whatever it did only once. If that’s the case, then unless we can figure out how to replicate it we’ve hit a dead end.”

“Damn it,” Tony said under his breath. It was pretty much what he’d expected, but it wasn’t what he wanted to hear. He remembered all the tests he and JARVIS had run on the disc. Nothing had affected it. And after the fact, Tony had looked up what little data JARVIS had managed to collect. There wasn’t much. If it weren’t for what had happened, he would’ve thought the disc was nothing more than a fancy alien paperweight.

“I can send you my results to look over,” Richards said, a little stiffly. “And if you don’t mind, I’d like to continue running some tests. There are some things I haven’t tried yet which may be able to get me a response.”

“Please,” Tony said with a nod. “I can send you what I have too.” He suspected that a large part of the problem was that no one in Tones’s world was experimenting with the disc right now, so their disc had nothing to connect to. Strange had said that Tones must have been running tests on his version of the disc as the same time that Tony was, and the two discs had connected somehow to open a portal.

But if that was the case, they had no fix for it. Based on what Tones had said, the only people who came by the tower in his world on a regular basis were Rhodey, Vision, and Pepper. Tony wasn’t sure about Vision, since he didn’t have much information about him, but Rhodey and Pepper weren’t scientists. Depending on how far the disc got thrown (or who knew, maybe it had blown up entirely) when Tones was yanked through the portal, they might not even realize that the disc had anything to do with Tones’s disappearance.

He sighed to himself as a headache started to creep up. If they only had the one disc but needed both discs to make a portal open, they would either have to replicate the disc they had or figure out a way to turn the other disc on from here. But of course, even if they could figure out how to replicate the disc – and that was saying that the two discs were identical in the first place, and not significantly different from each other – how were they supposed to get it to Tones’s world? If they could do that, they’d be able to just send Tones home!

If they could send a message to Tones’s world, or turn on the other disc remotely, that would probably be their best bet. Tony didn’t know how they were going to do that, though. Strange hadn’t sounded optimistic about being able to pinpoint Tones’s world, and it wasn’t like they were getting anything out of the disc they had – it was dead weight right now. As a last resort, he wondered if they might have to send the disc to Asgard. Perhaps Thor’s mother or even Loki might have some suggestions on how to get a reaction. Thor hadn’t recognized the disc, but that didn’t mean someone up there might.

All these thoughts raced through his head in the span of a few seconds. Tony turned back to Richards and Sue and forced a smile. “I appreciate your help. At this point, he definitely wants to go home.”

“How is he doing?” Sue asked, looking concerned. Richards had obviously filled her in on everything. Tony didn’t mind; she really was a sweet woman.

“It’s touch and go,” he said. “I think the sooner we have some kind of answer, even if it’s not one that we want to hear, the better.” He nodded to both of them and say goodbye before heading over to meet with Steve, who’d been running over the mission with Coulson. Steve smiled in greeting, pecking Tony lightly on the mouth. Tony mock-scowled at him as he heard a series of delighted squeals in the distance. For whatever reason, their fans lived to get pictures of Iron Man and Captain America being romantic. Steve thought it was hilarious.

“Everything good?” Steve asked, slinging the shield onto his back.

“Well, Richards is no closer to an answer. So I guess that depends on what you quantify as good,” Tony said. He got his answer with Steve’s blinding smile and rolled his eyes. “Honestly, he’s not a puppy. We can’t just keep him. You shouldn’t be this attached.”

Steve’s smile faded somewhat into a serious look. “I know. I can’t help it. My weakness is Tony Stark in any way, shape or form. After everything he’s told us, I hate the thought of sending him back where they can hurt him more. I want to protect him just as much I want to protect you.”

It was pretty hard not to melt at that kind of sincerity. Tony wondered how Tones would react to hearing that kind of declaration. JARVIS recorded all battles, so maybe Tony would show him someday. He said, “I just don’t want you to get upset when or if he goes back.”

“I get that. I know you’re worried.” Steve wrapped an arm around his shoulders, which was considerably more difficult since Tony was actually an inch taller in the armor. “Just like I know that ultimately it’s Tones’s decision. However, we can and will show him the best life that we can so that he doesn’t want to go back. If you’re okay with that, of course.”

“I haven’t decided yet,” Tony admitted. He could see pros and cons to having another Tony Stark around. He wasn’t exactly threatened by Steve’s attachment to the guy, but it was a little odd to wrap his brain around. He wished he weren’t wearing the armor, and that they weren’t in public, so that he could snuggle under Steve’s arm and let a good long cuddle wipe everything away.

Chapter Text

It seemed like a joke at first. A cruel joke, but Maximoff had never been one to play fair. Tony interacted with another Tony Stark and, eventually, another James Rhodes and did his best to hide the fact that he was freaking the fuck out the whole time. With every interaction he had, the nagging thought that this was a damn good illusion flickered through his mind.

Eventually, he had to drop the idea that this was Maxmimoff’s doing. For one thing, Maximoff had never met JARVIS. She hadn’t known what JARVIS meant to Tony – and even if she had known, Tony figured she wouldn’t care. And for another, the Wanda Maximoff in this world was a villain. Tony had come across countless newspaper articles, video footage, and news shows that condemned Scarlet Witch and her brother Quicksilver. Maximoff was so full of herself that she would never create an illusion where she was the enemy.

No, she had to be the victim every time. If she’d been behind this, Tony would be trapped in a world where Maximoff was the Queen of the Earth and everyone served her on bended knee. Or, it would be a world where everyone loathed Tony Stark and he was tortured continuously as a result of it. And since Maximoff could probably come up with some very creative ideas for torture…

Tony shuddered inwardly and closed the pages that detailed what Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver had done last time. It even had a picture of them; Maximoff was the same age in this world as in Tony’s, whereas Quicksilver was a couple years older since he’d died in the battle with Ultron in Tony’s world. Seeing the Hydra symbol on their uniforms was eerie. But at least, Tony thought sardonically, in this world they were openly Hydra agents, as opposed to pretending to be Avengers.

He lifted his head and looked back at the television screen. It was showing the Avengers’ battle. He watched them with a critical eye, taking note of how fluid their movements were. They worked together like a well-oiled machine, and that was not something that happened over night. It took dedication and practice and trust, all of which these Avengers seemed to have in spades.

Why was this world so different from Tony’s world?

“It’s not fair,” Tony said under his breath, though there was no heat behind his words. More than anything, he was tired. Tired of always being the one who got the short end of the straw no matter how hard he tried. This was a world where Tony Stark was loved, where the Avengers were made up of alphas, betas and omegas, where JARVIS was still alive, and where Stark and Steve were dating. Dating!

“Pardon me, Sir?” JARVIS asked.

Just hearing that familiar voice still made Tony’s heart twist. “I was just talking to myself, J,” he said, swallowing heavily. Okay, he hadn’t acted with any level of maturity upon hearing JARVIS’s voice. But he thought he could probably be forgiven for that, considering everything.

“If you wish to talk to other people,” JARVIS said mildly, “Sergeant Barnes and Mr. Wilson are in the kitchen.”

“They are?” Tony said, surprised. He thought about it for a moment, bouncing one leg. It could be dangerous. He didn’t feel comfortable around the other Avengers; he was very conscious that, while Maximoff had nothing to do with it, this could still be a ploy. They might start acting like the Avengers from his world. He, better than anyone, knew how good people could be at acting and how quickly the masks could come off.

But this was also a chance to talk to someone without Stark or Rhodey around. If he was stuck here, and it seemed like there was at least a 50% chance that he might be, then he couldn’t spend the rest of his life letting those two temper all the conversations he had with other people. He got up slowly and shuffled over to the elevator. JARVIS helpfully opened the doors and Tony stepped inside. His heart was pounding, but he schooled his expression in something close to calm.

The doors opened back up on the main floor. Sam was sitting on the couch, talking into a cell phone. He looked surprised when he saw Tony, but merely lifted his hand in a wave. Tony nodded slightly and proceeded into the kitchen. Bucky Barnes was sitting at the table, chin propped on the hand of his metal arm. He was systematically chowing through another pile of cookies.

“Don’t say a word about me getting fat, Wilson,” he said without looking up.

It was such a… normal comment. Something Tony would say to Rhodey. He said, “I think you look fine.” And watched Bucky jump up in surprise.

“Tones!” Bucky blurted out, spraying crumbs across the table. Then he clapped a hand over his mouth, looking mortified.

There it was. That silly nickname. Tony wasn’t sure how he felt about it having spread through the Avengers. In his own world, Rhodey was the only one who ever called him that. But he supposed it was an easy way to distinguish between him and the other Tony. And at least they weren’t trying to call him Anthony. Tony definitely would’ve had some strong words to say about that.

“Hi,” Tony said softly. “JARVIS said… you didn’t…” He trailed off and gestured to the tablet he was clutching, which was still showing news footage of the Avengers.

Bucky blinked. “Uh, yeah. Last week Sam and I went through the wringer. The Falcon wings were damaged and my arm took a hit.” He gestured to his metal arm with his opposite hand. “Tony is still working on it, and it’s okay for around the tower, but it’s not safe for me to be on the field until he’s finished doing his magic.”

“He stopped working on it because of me?” Tony said, feeling a flicker of guilt. He hated being grounded; not only did he love going for a fly to clear his head when he was stressed, it was surprisingly difficult to suppress the instinct to respond to the Avengers alarm went off. Not having the armor was hard. He wondered if Bucky or Sam felt similarly, watching the team assemble without them.

“No, it’s fine!” Bucky said quickly. Too quickly. “They didn’t need us today, anyway. It was just Doom being an asshole. No big deal.” He shrugged and sank back into his seat at the table. An awkward silence fell that Tony wasn’t sure how to interrupt. Bucky wasn’t meeting his gaze, instead sweeping his hand across the table to clean up his mess. He ended up making a small pile of crumbs.

Finally Tony said, “Do you like it here?”

“What?” Bucky looked up.

“In my world… Barnes wasn’t an Avenger. He never lived in the tower.” Tony paused, waiting for the inevitable flood of bitterness and anger that came when he thought about Barnes. While it was still there, it was slightly more muted than usual. And none of it was directed at the man sitting in front of him, even though Bucky had the same face.

But then, Tony’s anger had never really been about Barnes – not once he had the chance to think things through. It was about Steve and being lied to by someone he’d looked up to and thought was a friend. He might have lashed out at both of them, but given enough time – especially if he’d been told in a different environment, instead of finding out the way he had – Tony could see how he would’ve forgiven Barnes. Steve was the one who’d done something unforgivable.

“Oh,” Bucky said. “I like it alright. I didn’t have as hard of a time getting used to it as Stevie did. I like the future.” There was a glow in his eyes as he looked around the kitchen, and Tony thought he might be telling the truth. He dared to creep inside the room and take a seat in the chair furthest away from Bucky and closest to the door, just in case he had to run.

“Things look pretty similar to my world,” Tony said cautiously. “In terms of technology, I mean. I haven’t really had a chance to look at the Iron Man armor.”

“I’d take ya down, but Tony has to approve everyone who goes into the workshop,” Bucky said, sounding apologetic.

“He gave you permission?” Tony said. He didn’t mean to sound as surprised as he did. Bucky flashed him a grim smile.

“I know. Shocked the hell outta me too. I fully expected them to throw my ass in jail when I showed up at the tower that day.” Bucky’s smile was crooked and tentative all at the same time. “But they didn’t. Tony welcomed me and helped to clear my name, even after he found out…” He trailed off.

Tony swallowed hard. “He… Stark said that you told him.”

“Stevie did, actually.”

Oh. That hurt. Tony tried to school his expression, but he was pretty sure he was failing miserably judging by the sympathetic look on Bucky’s face. He looked down at the table, calling upon years of experience to keep himself calm. He suddenly regretted coming up here without Rhodey. A warm, protective hug was exactly what Tony could’ve used right about now. Only, if Rhodey had been there, there was no way Bucky would’ve brought up the elephant in the room. And it was something that needed to be dealt with.

“I wasn’t really in a good place when I first came here,” Bucky was saying, fingers drumming nervously on the table. “My head wasn’t screwed on straight. I didn’t know who I was half the time. I still don’t remember everything, but I remember them. And as soon as I made the connection, I told Steve. He sat on it for maybe half a day, probably not even that, before he went and told Tony. Said he wasn’t going to let me do it because he wanted the news to come from someone who loved Tony.”

Luckiest bastard in all the worlds. Ever. Why hadn’t Rogers looked at it that way? Sure they’d never dated, but they were supposed to be teammates. Friends. But Tony knew the reason why. Rogers believed Tony would pull his funding, and that meant Rogers wouldn’t be able to scour the world looking for Barnes. It had never even crossed Rogers’s mind that, while Tony would be furious and upset, he might still be able to see that Barnes needed help and that he was uniquely positioned to offer said help. That was what Rogers thought of him.

“It went well, clearly,” Tony said, fighting to keep his voice steady.

“Tony was justifiably angry. It took him a long time to come around. I wouldn’t have blamed him if he’d been mad forever, or tried to get me put in jail after all,” Bucky said quietly. “Same goes for you.”

“That wasn’t you,” Tony repeated. Grief and anger were forming a hard pit in his stomach, but he was realizing that they had nothing to do with Bucky or Steve. How they’d handled the situation proved that they were not the same people; it sounded like Steve hadn’t even thought about hiding the information. For whatever reason, this version of Steve had decided he could have more people in his life than just Bucky.

Bucky just shrugged. “I knew Tony had forgiven me the day he gave me my new arm,” he said, pushing the sleeve of his shirt up.

It was the first time Tony had gotten a look at this arm, and he was instantly captivated. Made from metal that gave the arm a sleek look, it was a thing of sheer beauty. He didn’t recognize the metal just from a glance, but it looked strong and supple. Like it would absorb force, not bend. Vibranium, maybe? Mixed with something else based on the brighter silver color, though Tony didn’t know how Stark had gotten his hands on vibranium if that was the case.

“It can be calibrated to match my other arm. I can feel temperature, sensation, even pain,” Bucky said proudly. “He designed it just for me.”

“Very nice,” Tony said. He’d have to talk with Stark later to find out more details about the arm and how he’d crafted it. But those were questions Bucky wouldn’t be able to answer.

“It really is. You want a demonstration?”

“Sure,” Tony replied, half-expecting them to relocate to the gym.

Instead, Bucky got up and strolled over the refrigerator. “Awesome. Wait until you see how much control I have; I can mince an onion in less than a minute.”

Chapter Text

Tony whistled softly to himself as he landed on the balcony. His 'bots rose from the floor and began stripping away the Iron Man armor without waiting for his command. He stretched as the last of the armor came off, letting out a satisfied sigh as a bone in his back cracked, and turned his head to look out at the city for a moment. After everything that had happened, it had felt good to be out in the armor for a little bit and away from the tower.

Steve, Rhodey and the others must have felt the same way, because they had all opted to come back by foot. Only Tony had chosen to go on ahead, and that was only because he was a little concerned about leaving Tones alone in the tower for too long with only Bucky, Sam and JARVIS for company. The last thing they needed was for Bucky or Sam to accidentally scare Tones half to death, and Tony had the feeling that would be easy to do.

Tones was just starting to get to the point where he could be around the Avengers without freaking out too badly - he was still noticeably jumpy and nervous, but he'd sat in the same room with them and even eaten some of Thor's cookies and Tony considered that to be major progress. He really didn't want to go back to Tones hiding in the server room, even if it was just to keep the sad puppy dog look off of Steve's face.

"J, where is everyone?" Tony asked, heading inside.

"Mr. Wilson is in the living room practicing his skills at Mario Kart," JARVIS said, and Tony snorted with amusement at that. Sam was hell bent on beating Clint someday at Mario Kart. It hadn't happened yet. Tony almost hoped it did, because what Sam didn't know was that Natasha was the true master at Mario Kart, doing circles around Clint, and the look of dismay on Sam's face was going to be priceless.

"And where're Bucky and Tones?" Tony said.

"In the kitchen."

Tony tripped and nearly faceplanted into the wall. He saved himself just in time, looking up in horror. "Wait, they're in the kitchen together?!"

"Indeed," JARVIS said mildly.

"Shit. JARVIS, kitchen now." Tony raced into the elevator and tapped his fingers anxiously against the arc reactor as JARVIS quickly lowered the elevator down to the common floor. Multiple images raced through his head, none of them good. Tones was so uncomfortable around Bucky, almost as tense as he was around Steve. Why the hell were they in the kitchen together? Had something gone wrong? Shit, what if Tones'd had some kind of PTSD-related flashback and ended up trying to attack Bucky -

The doors open and Tony sprinted out, literally throwing himself at the kitchen door. He stopped short in the doorway and stared.

"Hey," Bucky said with an easy smile. He was sitting at the kitchen table, the knife in his hand a blur as he worked his way through dicing up an onion. Tones turned around when Bucky spoke; he was standing at the oven in front of a huge pot. He hunched his shoulders slightly when he saw Tony, holding up the wooden spoon in his hand like it was a weapon, but otherwise he didn't react.

"Are you... are you cooking?!" Tony asked, completely baffled.

"Bucky wanted to show me how well he could dice an onion," Tones said quietly. "And then he wanted to show me how fast he could slice up tomatoes. It seemed like it would be a waste to not do anything with them, and Bucky said he wasn't very good at cooking."

"I - that's true," Tony said slowly, still trying to wrap his mind around the sight of the two of them looking so... well, so domestic. There was really no other way to put it. "He usually does all the prep work when Steve cooks."

"Steve cooks?" Tones asked, eyebrows furrowing like he couldn't imagine that.

"He makes a lot of our meals," Bucky volunteered, eyes on his work. He was now crushing garlic. "Sometimes Bruce will do something more exotic, or Natasha will do a Russian treat. And once in a while, Sam will throw something together. But other than that, it's Steve or take out." He smirked to himself. "We eat a lot of take out sometimes, since Clint, Tony and I aren't allowed to cook."

Tones frowned. "You're... not allowed to cook?"

"I can cook," Tony said defensively.

Bucky snorted. "No you can't."

"Yes I can! Just because I was in the middle of making dinner once and got distracted by a simulation that JARVIS was running..." Tony pouted, folding his arms across his chest. The team had never let him live that down. You cause one small fire that Coulson had to put out and you never heard the end of it.

"Ummm... Well, I thought I'd put together a spaghetti sauce. If that's okay," Tones said, looking between the two of them.

"Of course it's okay. Mi casa es su casa and all that. Literally, considering that you're basically another me," Tony said. Cooking. He never would have guessed that was something that Tones liked that much, but why not? Tony had never minded cooking either, but he always had so many projects on the go that he never had the time to devote to it. There was always too much on the go. And Steve enjoyed cooking so much that Tony never had to worry about it.

He supposed that Tones didn't have that luxury.

"It smells good," he added.

"I learned how to make it a long time ago," Tones said, turning back to his pot. He shook some spices in and then lowered the wooden spoon to give the contents a good stir.

Tony wondered whether he'd learned from Ana Jarvis or from Maria, but decided not to ask. Now wasn't the time to push more buttons, not when it seemed like Bucky and Tones had reached an odd kind of truce. He cleared his throat and said, "Okay. So... I guess I'll go play video games with Sam until the others get home?"

Bucky waved him off without answering, too focused on his garlic. Tony shook his head in disbelief and slipped back out of the room, wondering what had just happened. So much for worrying about leaving Tones alone! Maybe he hadn't been giving Tones enough credit; he was another Tony Stark, and Tony Starks were nothing if not adaptable. They were futurists for a reason, after all. Maybe it was going to be easier for Tones to get used to them than Tony had thought. If that was the case, there could be hope that Tones would change his mind about staying after all...

Of course, if that happened they'd have to figure some things out. Like Iron Man. Tony wasn't about to give up the armor, but it wouldn't be fair to expect Tones not to want to be back out on the field. So they would have to work together to build him a new armor. That probably wouldn't be too difficult. They'd need to him some kind of identification too. A job wouldn't be hard - Pepper would be over the moon to know that she had two Tony Stark's to get work out of - but Tony wasn't sure about the public. He couldn't see Tones being okay with being the face of that much attention, though that didn't mean Tones wouldn't surprise him. He'd certainly surprised Tony today.

“Get kicked out of the kitchen?” Sam asked as Tony entered the living room.

“Um, kind of. It was pretty clear I wasn’t welcome, let’s put it that way. I just can’t believe the two of them are actually cooking,” Tony said.

Sam shrugged and swore under his breath as Daisy’s car sailed off of Rainbow Road’s curve. He finally looked over at Tony. “Cooking makes Bucky look about as dangerous as a kitten. You know how excited he gets when he gets to do prep work. I figured it was good for them.”

“Oh, it is. Don’t get me wrong. It’s just… weird.”

“Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth,” Sam said absently, attention flying back to the television as Daisy was set back onto the track.

Tony sat down beside him on the couch. “What do you think about Tones staying here?”

“Not really my choice, is it?” said Sam, and growled when he crossed the finish line in eighth place.

“It’s Tones’s choice, but you get a say in it. Everyone does,” Tony said.

“It doesn’t really affect me. Based on what we’ve heard, I would hate to see him go back to where he came from. It doesn’t seem like a good place. But him staying here doesn’t change much for me, beyond having another teammate. That’s really a question you should be asking yourself,” Sam replied.

“I have asked myself. I’m running in circles and I hate it.” Tony sighed and slumped back against the couch. At first he hadn’t wanted Tones to stay, but now… it was kind of hard not to look at the guy the way you’d look at an abused puppy.

“Here. Play some video games for a while and give your brain a break.” Sam tossed a second controller into Tony’s lap and started up a new game.

They chose their characters – Daisy for Sam, Toad for Tony – and began racing. Mario Kart wasn’t Tony’s forté, because he didn’t have the luxury of time to spend practicing like Clint and Sam did, but he was skilled enough to give Sam a run for his money. By the time they crossed the finish line neck in neck, the rest of the team had returned. Clint poked his head in the room just in time to see Tony place fourth, with Sam as fifth.

“Oooh, beaten by Stark. That hurts the ego,” Clint said with a smirk.

“Shut up,” Sam muttered. “I was distracted by how good the food smells.”

“Yeah, it smells like an Italian grandmother got loose in the house while we were gone. Who is that?” Clint asked.

“Tones,” Tony said.

“What?” Steve said from behind Clint. He looked astonished. “Seriously?”

“Yes, seriously,” Bucky said, sticking his head out of the kitchen. “And if you losers want to eat tonight, you better get washed up.”

“Okay, Mom,” Clint said, saluting Bucky.

Bucky gave him the finger and ducked back into the kitchen. Bruce wandered after him. Tony left Sam to shut the console down and followed. Bucky was just finishing off setting the table. He’d added an extra spot, Tony noticed, with another chair appearing as though by magic. It was a good thing that Tony had invested in an enormous dining table when the team first moved in.

He sat in his usual spot at the end of the table. Instead of sitting beside him, Bucky left a chair in between that was obviously mean for Tones. Everyone else took their regular seats. Bruce and Tones came in a moment later; Bruce set the huge pot of spaghetti down in the middle of the table while Tones shyly snuck into his seat. Thor and Clint were practically salivating as Bruce started dishing up the food.

“This smells amazing,” Natasha said. “I bet it tastes even better.”

“I’m so hungry I could puke,” Clint said pathetically. Bruce rolled his eyes.

“None of you are dying,” he said, handing the next plate to Tony.

Curious, Tony took his fork and stuck it into the pasta. He lifted it to his mouth and moaned when he tasted the sauce. He now knew for sure that Tones had learned this straight from Maria, because it was exactly like his mama’s sauce. Tony hadn’t had it in years; Maria had tried to teach him a few times, but he’d never been able to get the exact blend of herbs and spices right. He pointed his fork at Tones.

“That’s it, we’re keeping you.”

Tones looked startled, eyes wide. “U-uh, wh-what?”

“We’re keeping you. I’ve decided,” Tony said, wrapping his spare arm around his plate and grabbing another forkful. He moaned again, his stomach growling hungrily. Yeah, there was no way Tones was going back.

Chapter Text

Two weeks to the day that Tones cooked dinner for the team, Tony went looking for him and found Tones sitting in the living room watching as Natasha, Clint, Sam, Thor, Steve and Bucky all tried to pummel each other in Super Smash Bros. It was actually sort of a relief to see that Tones was holding himself aside; this wouldn’t be the first time a video game battle had turned into an actual battle.

Tones was adjusting remarkably well to the team, and hadn’t had any more freak-outs – he was still noticeably uncertain around Steve, Natasha and Clint, but had warmed up considerably towards Bruce, Bucky, Thor and Sam. Baby steps, Tony thought, especially now that Rhodey was gone. A week had been pushing it, and any longer would’ve gotten Rhodey in trouble.

“Hey,” Tony said, poking his head in the room. Only Bruce and Tones looked up. Sam was out for the day, and the rest of the team wouldn’t have noticed if the building was on fire so long as it didn’t interfere with their ability to trash talk each other as Pikachu electrocuted Samus.

“Hi Tony,” Bruce said. “What’s up?”

“I’m doing science, and I wondered if Tones wanted to join me,” Tony said. It would be the first time that Tones ventured into the workshop. Tony hadn’t deliberately set out to keep Tones out, but he could admit that he’d wanted a little bit more time to get a feel for Tones first. The workshop was filled with his most prized possessions, after all. And who better to know exactly how to do damage than Tony Stark?

But now he thought it would be okay. It helped that Bucky had cornered him last night and flat-out said that Tones’s wistful expressions when he saw the Iron Man suit in action were breaking Bucky’s heart, and that Tony needed to “hurry up and do something to fix it”. Bucky didn’t trust easily, and not even guilt over what happened to Tones would change Bucky’s opinion that much.

Tony also thought that getting Tones into a suit might help further sway Tones into letting go of the idea of going back home. Reid and Strange had yet to make any progress, so it was actually starting to look like Tones might not have a choice – but the happier they could make Tones here, the more likely it would be that Tones would want to stay. Ultimately, that would be the best solution. Tony only had to look at how Tones was making a place for himself amongst the team to know that much.

“Uh, sure?” Tones said, eyes wide with surprise.

“Great. Come on, then. Trust me, you don’t want to be around when one of them loses. They’re all sore losers,” Tony stage-whispered.

Natasha sent Link ramming into Kirby and then flipped Tony off. He smirked at the back of her head and beckoned to Tones, because he actually wasn’t kidding about the sore loser thing. Tones hopped up and willingly followed. Tony led him down the hall to the elevator, which opened seamlessly at their approach. They stepped inside and the doors swept shut behind them.

“You don’t have to take me down to the workshop,” Tones said awkwardly, crossing his arms over his chest. “I get it, and I’m not offended.”

“Of course you’re not,” Tony said, slightly resigned to the fact. It had taken them all of three days to figure out exactly how terrible Tones’s self-esteem was. Tony was the first to admit that he thought pretty poorly of himself, but he had nothing on Tones.

Tones frowned at him. “I’m just saying. I don’t want to intrude on your space anymore than I already have.”

“Okay, number one you’re not intruding on my space. I’m very happy to have you here, and I wouldn’t lie about something like that,” Tony said. He wasn’t sure where Tones had come up with this idea, but he didn’t like it. Tones seemed to think that the tower was only big enough for one of them, and that he was encroaching on Tony’s space just by existing.

He was wrong. Tony didn’t know how else to put it, but it was the simple truth: he wasn’t threatened by Tones. He knew that Steve loved him; he knew that Rhodey loved him; he knew that the rest of the team loved him; he knew that Iron Man wasn’t going anywhere. He was a valued and integral member of the Avengers – more importantly than that, he was family - and none of them were going to be replacing him anytime soon.

For that matter, he and Tones weren’t even really the same person. They had different experiences and different ways of thinking, which meant that they had different things to bring to the table. All of that combined meant that Tony was very comfortable and secure in his position on the team. There was plenty of space for Tones, at least as a teammate.

When it came to Steve, well, the jury was still out on that one. Neither Tones nor Steve had even thought that far ahead, he was sure. But sometimes Tony took a good long look at Tones and thought… well, maybe. He’d been accused of being in love with himself often enough, after all. Perhaps there could be some truth to Christine Everhart’s favorite insult.

Tones was still staring at him with a skeptical expression, so Tony plowed on. “Secondly, despite what Pepper always says, the world is more than big enough for two Tony Stark’s. And we’re going to prove it.” He grinned mischievously, already looking forward to the expression on Pepper’s face.

He hadn’t yet told her about Tones, because it seemed like Tones wasn’t quite ready to see her yet: he’d broken up with Pepper in his world, or so he said, but Tony could tell that it was still bothering him. And besides that, Pepper had been away in Japan wooing new clients for the past three weeks. She was due back in New York in two days. This wasn’t the kind of information you delivered over the phone, as evidenced by Rhodey’s scolding.

“Prove it?” Tones echoed warily. “Is this going to get me in trouble?”

“No. It’s going to get us in trouble,” Tony said, latching on to Tones’s right arm. He dragged Tones out of the elevator and into the workshop. Tones relaxed as soon as they were inside, even as he looked around with appreciation and wonder.

“It looks different from mine,” he noted.

“I’ve made some changes over the years. Now that I’m not just working on my own stuff, I needed more space. This is primarily where I do the stuff for the Avengers. I have a separate space one floor up where I do S.I. stuff,” Tony replied, eyeing the workshop with pride. Naturally, the two workshops were connected by a personal elevator that Dummy, You and Butterfingers had full access to.

“You do all the upgrades for the team?” Tones said, crossing the large space to pause next to a table that had Falcon’s wings spread out on it. Tony had finally isolated the piece that was causing the issues, but he wasn’t sure how to fix it. For the time being, he’d configured a set of wings that didn’t contain the problem piece.

“Yup. I wouldn’t trust anyone else with them, to be honest,” Tony admitted. “Did you…?” He trailed off.

Tones smiled bitterly. “For a while. They expected me to do them for free, even though I was barely a part of the team. I’m not sure they ever realized how much I gave them. And in the end, they didn’t even trust me enough for that.” He touched a single finger to a wing component and sighed.

Tony’s heart ached. He couldn’t even fathom a world where the team, his team, acted that callously. It boggled the mind, honestly. Sure Clint and Natasha had been a little suspicious at first, but that was because they were used to SHIELD and a world where everything came with a price. Once they realized that Tony was providing gear for the whole team, and that he was genuinely happy to, both of them became like kid’s in a candy store, bubbling with excitement over each new piece of gear.

In fact, Tony knew, more than once the whole team had felt guilty over the fact that Tony did so much for them. It helped that Tony was very open with the fact that he was essentially using them as guinea pigs: things like the body armor he created and tested on Natasha, Clint, Sam, Bucky and Steve then went on to be modified and sold in mass quantities to the military.

“It’s not like that here, you know,” he said quietly. “Last time I gave Clint some new arrows, he was so excited he almost cried.”

“And that’s what scares me,” Tones said bluntly, turning around. “I don’t want to ruin what you have going with the team.”

Tony stared at him. “Is that what you think? That, what, your presence is going to… to poison us and make everything change?”

The way that Tones hunched his shoulders suggested that yes, that was exactly what he thought.

“Okay, that’s stupid. What happened in your world wasn’t solely your fault, Tones. There were other differences. Steve never apologized. Clint wasn’t an omega. Bucky didn’t come to the tower of his own volition. That’s just a couple I can list off the top of my head, but they’re huge and obviously combined to have far-reaching consequences and I’m sure there are literally dozens more.

“Believe me, if the people here didn’t like you, they would let you know. My team would never be sweet to your face and stab you in the back. They’re all better than that. They may be inclined to like you more just because you’re another Tony Stark, but if you were an asshole then they would let you know. And you wouldn’t be doing things like helping Bucky cook, or mentoring Sam at Mario Kart, or being allowed to touch Natasha’s Widow Bites. She used them on the last guy who tried to touch them without her permission.”

Tones winced at that. “Okay, ow.”

“Yeah, it didn’t go over so well for him,” Tony agreed, smirking at the memory. “Anyway, the point is, it’s okay if you can’t trust everyone here yet. I get that. But please stop acting like you’re going to somehow ruin everything, because that’s really not possible at this point. I have it on good authority that I’m stuck with the Avengers whether I want to be or not, and you being here can’t change that.”

Tones gave him a hard, searching look. Tony met his gaze without flinching. He wasn’t lying. It took a moment, but finally Tones nodded and said, “Okay, I’ll work on believing that.”

“Good, because it’s going to be really hard for you to be out in the field if you can’t trust us at least a little.”

It was super satisfying to see Tones choke. “W-what?!”

“Oh, didn’t I mention?” Tony asked innocently, lifting his hand. The air came to life beneath his fingertips, resplendent with blue and green lights that swirled through the air and formed a new armor. Purposely built more for stealth and speed than the War Machine or Iron Man armors, this armor was mainly gold with black accent pieces.

Tony had put a lot of thought into it, after all. The War Machine armor was bulky and had a lot of weaponry on it; it was designed to be a tank. The Iron Man armor didn’t have as many weapons, but it was still built for battle. This armor was still meant for battle, but it was also designed for things like infiltration and spying – basically to act as the team’s literal eye in the sky at times, since he was trying to develop an invisibility setting. As good of a job as he did, there were frequently places Clint couldn’t get to.

“I’m calling it the Bumblebee armor right now,” Tony added, smirking.

Tones’s mouth was hanging open. “You… you made me… what?” he squeaked out.

“Well, it’s not ready to be produced just yet. You don’t have an arc reactor, so I need your input into how you made your suits run with a manual reactor. I’m sure you have some tips on that,” Tony said. “And there are some other bits and pieces I’m still working on. But yes, I made you an armor.” He grinned and bowed dramatically. “Tones, welcome to the Avengers.”

Chapter Text

It was a good thing that JARVIS had cameras all over the tower, because Tony would find the expression on Tones’s face amusing until the day he died. At that moment, Tones looked like Clint and Sam had just walked into the room and randomly started performing a strip tease. His mouth was hanging open, his eyes were huge, and he was staring at the gold and black armor like he was lost in a trance.

“Well, what do you think?” Tony asked a bit impatiently, after about thirty seconds went by and Tones failed to collect himself. “I know the colors are different from what we’re used to, but it didn’t make much sense to have two red and gold Iron Man suits running around. In a battle, the team has to be able to tell us apart at a glance. And we’ll have to come up with a different name for you. I’ve been thinking about –”

“I can’t believe you built me an armor!” Tones burst out, so unexpectedly that Tony jumped. “What – you – what - why?!”

Tony shrugged and crossed his arms over his chest. “Because you miss it. I know you do, because I would too. I can’t imagine not being Iron Man now. It’s too much a part of me. And I really can’t imagine having to sit by and watch as someone else piloted the Iron Man armor, especially if I didn’t have a way of joining in the fight myself. I can’t give you the armor, so this was the next best thing.”

He moved closer to the hologram, looking with pride at the gleaming black accents. The idea was to make the suit noticeable, so that people would be all that more surprised when it snuck up on them. He added, “If our situations were reversed, and I had ended up in your world, I would hope that you’d understand extend me the same courtesy. Right?”

Tones opened his mouth, then closed it. He didn’t say anything for a moment. Then he sighed. “But… but it’s crazy. You know I’m not staying here.”

“We don’t know what’s going to happen,” Tony said bluntly. “I know you’d rather not stay right now, but honestly that decision may get taken out of your hands. Reed and Strange are working on it, but last time I asked neither one of them had made any progress. They’re still trying, and who knows. Maybe they’ll succeed. But even if they do, that could be weeks, months or even years down the road. Do you really want to sit on the sidelines until then?”

“… No,” Tones admitted. “Not really. You’ve never seen me out on the field, though. How do you know I don’t suck at my job? How do you know I can be trusted?”

Tony snorted. “Please. As though any version of me could suck at anything.” He watched, pleased, as Tones cracked a smile at that, and added, “Besides, you’ve been living here for like over three weeks now. If you had evil intentions towards anyone on the team, you’ve had ample time to act on them. You could’ve tried to kill any one of us at any time, but you haven’t lifted a knife since you came into the tower. You make Bucky do it for you.”

“He likes helping with dinner. It makes him feel important. And you don’t need a knife to kill someone,” Tones muttered petulantly, but he looked up at the hologram again.

“No, you don’t,” Tony said, somewhere between amused and resigned. Was this what he looked like when he was trying to convince someone that he was dangerous? It was like watching a kitten show their claws. No wonder Clint just laughed when Tony tried to threaten him.

Tones pouted like he knew exactly what was going through Tony’s mind, but didn’t push it. He reached out and gently pinched a corner of the hologram, turning it to see the back of the armor. He studied it for a moment, keen eyes taking in every detail. Tony waited, curious to hear what Tones would think. It was exciting to finally have someone else who could talk about the armor on Tony’s level. No need to dumb it down or worry about someone not understanding what he was saying.

Tony rubbed his hands together gleefully. “Tell me everything.”

Some undetermined amount of time later, they were neck-deep in a discussion of nanobots when the workshop’s doors opened. Tony didn’t even notice, too busy being completely fascinated by what Tones had achieved with the armor, but Tones did. He tensed and stopped mid-sentence, looking up. Tony blinked at him, then twisted around to see that Steve was standing there with his hands on his hips.

“I should have known,” Steve said, clearly amused.

“What?” Tony asked innocently.

“It’s after midnight.”

“What?” Tones squeaked.

“Really?” Tony said at the same time, looking around. But of course, there were conveniently no windows in the workshop. And JARVIS had been just as excited by their conversation as Tony and Tones were, so there was no way JARVIS was going to alert them any earlier than he had to.

“Yes, really.” Steve reached into his pocket and drew out his phone to show them the time. It was 12:37am.

“Huh. How about that,” Tony said.

Steve just shook his head. “I know neither of you ate lunch… or supper, for that matter. We just ordered take-out, but there’s some food left if you’re interested.” He looked at them expectantly.

“We’re kind of busy,” Tony said slowly, glancing longingly at the copious amount of notes they’d made. Why have one nanobot armor when you could have two? The thought of having the armor with him all the time, but in a form that no one could see or distinguish, was enough to make Tony salivate. He couldn’t wait until the next asshole tried to kidnap him. What a shock they were going to get!

“I’ll offer you a deal. Come upstairs and eat and then you can come back down and I won’t say a word,” Steve said. “I’ll even make you both breakfast when I wake up.”

Tony pretended to think it over. There really wasn’t much to think about, honestly. His stomach was growling, even though he was trying hard to ignore it. And Tones was way too thin to be skipping many meals; they needed to be getting every bit of food down his throat that they could. So he sighed, giving in to the inevitable, and waved a hand at their work.

“Make sure you save everything, J,” he said. “Steve, you better go warm up the food. You know how I hate cold egg rolls.” He pouted exaggeratedly.

Steve rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I know. I remember the twenty minute lecture. You’ve got five minutes.” He turned and left the room.

“What?” Tony asked, noticing Tones was staring at him with an odd look.

Tones jumped. “What? Nothing. I just – my team wasn’t like that. They didn’t care whether I ate my meals or not. The only time they ever offered me food was if they were trying to get something in return, like money or an upgrade or a favor.” His voice quieted as he fiddled with a discarded hologram.

“They were stupid,” Tony said sharply. He’d never thought he would be capable of hating the Avengers, but every moment he spent with Tones proved otherwise. It was hard to understand how such horrible versions of the people Tony loved so much could exist.

“Well, I am an adult. I should be capable of remembering to eat on my own,” Tones said.

“I’m an adult too. Steve still has to remind me. So does Bruce. And Pepper. And Rhodey. And JARVIS.” Tony paused. That was a really long list. “It’s easy to forget, that’s all.”

“Actually, Sir –” JARVIS began.

“Shush, you. None of your sass. Come on.” Tony stood and grabbed Tones’s hand, pulling Tones to his feet.

They took the elevator back up to the common level. The delicious smell of Chinese food wafted into the elevator as soon as the doors opened. Tony licked his lips and headed right for the kitchen, Tones trailing behind him. The first thing Tony saw was Steve pulling a plate of freshly heated egg rolls out of the microwave. He grabbed an egg roll, pressed a quick kiss to Steve’s mouth, and bit into it happily.

Then yelped.

“You would think, after all this time, you’d know to let your food cool,” Steve said, exasperated, as Tones snickered.

“It’s too good,” Tony tried to explain around the mouthful of burning hot food, but he was pretty sure neither Steve nor Tones could understand him judging by their confused looks. He pouted for real this time, fanning his open mouth with his hand as quickly as he could. It didn’t really help; it still hurt when he swallowed.

“Tones, maybe you’d like to try something else until these cool?” Steve said dryly, setting the plate on the table.

“Umm…” Tones looked around at the Chinese food and wrinkled his nose. Shyly, he asked, “Do we have any of Thor’s cookies left?”

“Let me look!” Steve said, practically tripping over his feet in his haste to run to the cupboards. Tony had to fight not to roll his eyes. It was probably a good thing that Tones didn’t realize just how well he had the whole team wrapped around his pinkie finger. Hell, he was the only one of them who could wander into Natasha’s room right now and ask for some Russian pastries without getting stabbed. Not only that, but Natasha would happily get up and bake just for Tony.

Steve produced a handful of cookies, which Tones happily took. He sank into a seat at the table and made a little sound of contentment when he bit into the first one. The completely besotted look on Steve’s face really did make Tony roll his eyes that time. Still, it meant there was more Chinese food for him. He snagged another egg roll and busied himself with eating while Steve fawned over Tones.

It was while he was working through a mound of broccoli and beef that Tony realized something smelled… sweet. He put his head down and sniffed at his food, but, even though there was Sweet and Sour Pork on his plate, nothing smelled surgary. He lifted his head and took in Tones and Steve, but Tones had finished with the cookies and was leaning back in his chair. With his head tipped back, it left his neck fully bared.

And… huh.

The pieces came together slowly. So slowly that Tony legitimately wanted to kick himself in the ass when everything finally added up into a full picture. It all made sense. The way the team doted on Tones was not unlike the way they treated Clint sometimes, particularly when Clint was close to a heat. The fondness that Tones had for sweet things, which was at odds with Tony’s tastes. Even the way that naturally suspicious people like Bucky and Natasha seemed to accept him so easily.

“You’re an omega?!” Tony burst out.

Tones froze. Steve’s eyes widened.

“I – you – oh fuck.” Tones shook his head and slumped down. “How’d you figure it out?”

“You smell sweet,” Tony said, still stunned.

Steve immediately turned his head and inhaled deeply. “Holy shit,” he breathed. “I didn’t even smell it!”

“How did you hide it?” Tony said.

Tones shrugged, not meeting their eyes. “I take scent blockers constantly. They’re not easy to get in my world, but I have discreet friends in the right places. The ones I take don’t completely fade from your system for a period of three to four weeks after your last dosage.” He sighed. “I was trying to figure out how to get more here, but…”

But Tones didn’t technically exist here, and there was no reason for Tony Stark to need scent blockers. He glanced at Steve, wondering if Steve was going to say something, but Steve was still staring at Tones with a flabbergasted expression. No help there, then.

“Scent blockers can be dangerous,” Tony pointed out.

Tones rolled his eyes. “Save me the lecture. I’ve heard it a thousand times over,” he grumbled. “I didn’t have a choice. I told you Cap didn’t like omegas, and neither did most of the other assholes I dealt with on a regular basis. They all would’ve looked down on me and refused to take me seriously. I couldn’t afford that, not with everything that was happening. Call it a necessary evil.” He squared his shoulders like he was ready for a fight and finally looked up. “I’d do it again if it meant I could help people.”

Chapter Text

An omega Tony Stark. Tony stared, struggling to wrap his mind around the idea. Back when he’d first been ready to present, he knew that Jarvis and Peggy had been a little concerned over what Tony would turn out to be. He’d heard them talking about it once when they both thought he was in bed. Howard had been obsessed with the idea of his son being a ‘big, strong alpha’ like himself.

Finding out that Tony was a beta hadn’t been overly present. Howard’s disappointment was nothing new; Tony was used to that. But then Howard had started second-guessing whether he wanted to leave Stark Industries to Tony. It was one of his favorite threats to use when he felt Tony was getting too out of line, and more than once Tony had screamed back that he didn’t give a shit about the company.

Trying to imagine growing up with Howard Stark if he was an omega was enough to make Tony’s brain hurt. Things had come a long way since those days, but attitudes like Howard’s weren’t uncommon among the older generations. It was one reason why Tony was so relieved that the Avengers were a mixture of alphas, betas and omegas. He couldn’t imagine what it would be like to be the only beta in a group of alphas, much less the only omega. It would’ve been a non-stop pissing contest.

“My god,” Tony said before he could stop himself. “It’s a wonder you didn’t just shoot them all and call it a day.”

“Don’t think it didn’t cross my mind. Unfortunately, that would’ve only hindered the situation, not helped,” Tones replied cautiously. “Especially with the Avengers. I think I told you this once, but Cap didn’t think omegas belonged anywhere near a battlefield.” He cast a wary glance at Steve.

Unfortunately, Steve’s brain was still blue screening and he failed to respond to the very obvious hint that Tones needed some serious comforting. Tony sighed, knowing that Steve was mentally combing through every interaction with Tones to figure out all the signs they had missed, and not so subtly kicked Steve in the leg beneath the table. Steve jumped.

“What?” he said, giving his head a shake.

“Tones was just saying that the Cap from his world had a very old-fashioned view of omegas,” Tony said pointedly.

Tones nodded slowly. “He said once that omegas were too prone to losing their minds, especially around their heats. And he had way too many stories about how omega soldiers were treated in the army for me to ever even think about telling him the truth. It would’ve been just another secret I hid.” Tones muttered that last part under his breath.

Rage flashed across Steve’s face, but he quickly smoothed it over. “Tones, let me tell you right now that is fucking bullshit.”

“It is?” Tones looked up, eyes wide.

“Absolutely. Clint is an invaluable member of the Avengers. We couldn’t do what we do without him. And I’ve seen plenty of omega agents at SHIELD. Some of them are among the best in their trades. Likewise, I’ve worked with my fair share of alphas and betas and some of them were shitheads. Omega, beta, alpha – none of that matters to me so long as you’re capable and good at what you do,” Steve said firmly.

Tony smiled and leaned over to set his hand on Steve’s arm, a flicker of pride rushing through him. Steve had done a lot of work to overcome the old-fashioned and out-of-touch opinions he’d had when he first came out of the ice. It hadn’t always been easy for him, but he’d done it because he knew how important it was. Captain America was a figurehead in a lot of ways, and Steve wanted to use that platform for good. He didn’t want to be selfish with the power he wielded.

“That almost sounds too good to be true,” Tones said, looking back and forth between the two of them.

“Hey. You’ve been here long enough that you can tell it’s not a lie,” Tony said gently. “From day one, I told you the truth about Clint being an omega on the team. You’ve seen for yourself that no one really treats him differently.”

Tones didn’t say anything for a moment. He looked like he was thinking. Finally, he said, “So you’d still want me to have the armor?”

“You’re building him an armor?” Steve said with surprise, looking at Tony.

“Yup,” Tony said, grinning.

Steve stood, leaned over the table and pulled Tony into a ferociously hot kiss that left Tony so weak at the knees it was a very good thing he was still seated, because he might actually have fallen over otherwise. He sat there, dazed, after Steve let go. Tones was watching them with a small, but confused, smile on his face, and he straightened up and squared his shoulders when Steve turned back to him.

“I would be honored if you would join the team, Tones,” Steve said gently. “It would make me really happy, actually. I can’t think of anyone I’d rather fight beside than two Tony Stark’s, as a matter of fact. Would you be interested in attending some team training sessions?”

“You do training sessions?” Tones said, interested.

Steve nodded. “Sometimes we practice formations. We do a lot of drills, as Tony can attest.” He patted Tony’s shoulder. “It’s good for us to see how different members of the team fight together, and so that we can see everyone’s strengths and weaknesses. That way, there are no unfortunate surprises out on the field.” He made a face, and Tony knew he was thinking about the time that Natasha had come into contact with mushrooms on a mission. No one had known before then that she was allergic to them, and that had been a very unpleasant way to learn.

“I would like that,” Tones said. He folded his arms over his chest. “But… does that mean you want me to tell them?”

“I think it would be a good idea,” Steve said hesitantly. “If you’re comfortable with that. Honestly, now that your scent has changed, it probably won’t be a long time until they figure it out.”

“And let me tell you, nothing stays secret around here,” Tony muttered. He sat forward. “But if you really want me to, I can look into getting you scent blockers. It might take a while, though. Clint doesn’t use them, so I’m really out of touch with what brands we have and where they’re safest to get.”

“I’ll think about telling the team, but I would appreciate that,” Tones said.

Tony hated to ask but felt like he had to. “What about, um, heats?”

“I don’t have them anymore. My doctor told me that my body had been through too much damage,” Tones said. “Afghanistan and all that.” He waved a hand limply at his midsection.

Yeah, that was fair. Tony nodded and asked, “Okay, so you don’t need, like, birth control or anything?”

Tones looked amused. “I’m not planning on having sex with anyone, if that’s what you’re asking.”

Steve snorted with laughter. Tony pouted even as he blushed and mumbled, “It could happen! I know that we’re all very attractive people.”

Tones laughed too, and said, “Thank you for the offer, but no. After Afghanistan, I had to have a lot of my reproductive organs removed. Turns out that surgery in a cave with dirty, unsterilized equipment isn’t really that good for the more… tender areas of the body.”

“I’m so sorry,” Steve said, looking stricken. It was the same expression he always got when Tony mentioned what it had been like in Afghanistan. Tony knew it was because Steve hated the fact that he’d been trapped in ice, unable to help, while the love of his life went through something so heinous and traumatizing. He reached out and took Steve’s hand, giving it a gentle squeeze.

“It was a long time ago,” Tones said, shrugging. “I don’t even think about it anymore.”

It sounded like the truth, though Tony was certain there was more to it than that. He didn’t really think about what had happened much either – until he went to get into the pool with the other Avengers, or when he was in the shower and the water ran over his face, or until he woke up in a pitch black room because Steve’s arm was draped over the arc reactor. He suspected Tones was the same way, but possibly with different triggers.

Tones stood up then. “I’m gonna head to bed.”

“Think about telling the team, okay? They’ll understand,” Tony said.

“I will.” Tones turned and left the room.

“Wow,” Steve said, gaze lingering on the door.

“Yeah,” Tony said, leaning back in his chair. An omega. Holy shit. It all made so much sense now.

“Are you okay with that?” Steve asked, finally looking at Tony.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, Tones being an omega means he might get more attention from the team. You know how everyone tends to cloister around Clint after difficult missions. Stuff like that.”

Tony gave him an incredulous look. “Are you serious right now? You’re asking me how I feel about all of you cooing over Tones instead of me?”

A small smile crossed Steve’s face. “Of course, what am I thinking? You’re thrilled.”

“Damn right! I just hope that Tones really likes to be cuddled,” Tony said, getting up. He leaned over and dropped a quick kiss onto Steve’s mouth, loving that Steve was worried about him. “I’m okay, really, Babe. I know you love me. I know the team loves me. I’m not worried about being replaced by another me. We might both be Tony Stark, but I can tell we’re pretty different in ways that matter. And I know I’m irreplaceable.” He grinned teasingly.

“You really are,” Steve said, with a look so fond it took Tony’s breath away. He yelped in surprise when Steve suddenly stood up again and scooped Tony up, holding him bridal style.

“Why Mr. Rogers, so forward,” Tony breathed, tangling his fingers in the hair at the base of Steve’s neck.

“I’m a cave man at heart, Mr. Stark,” Steve said with a smirk. “May I carry you to bed?”

“Absolutely. Onward, faithful steed!”

“A cave man and a horse. How Captain America has fallen,” Steve said dramatically.

“Oh, I don’t know. If you’re a horse, that means I get to ride you,” Tony said in his most sultry voice. Steve’s eyes went wide and, in the next instant, he was walking very quickly out of the room. As they headed towards the elevator, Tony caught a glimpse of a shadow near the door to the kitchen. A Tones-shaped shadow. He smiled to himself.

The next morning, Tony got up just as Steve was coming back from his morning jog. They showered together and then went down to the kitchen, where breakfast was in progress. Clint had ordered out, it seemed, so there was a mountain of greasy food on the table. Tony sat down and reached over Bruce’s arm to snag a few pieces of bacon. He’d just popped one into his mouth when Tones spoke.

“I’m an omega.”

Dead silence.

Then Clint threw his hands in the air and screamed, “YEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!” at the top of his lungs. He lunged out of his chair and threw himself at Tones in an exuberant hug while crying, “Oh my god, thank you! Finally! Another omega!”

“We’re not that bad,” Natasha said, throwing a ball up piece of toast at Clint’s head. Naturally, it hit him right in the back of the head and left a clump of butter sticking to the dark strands.

“You don’t understand. I’ve been the odd one out for too long,” Clint said, clinging to Tones. “Finally, omegas unite!”

“Huh, an omega Tony Stark,” Sam said as Natasha called Clint something unflattering in Russian.

Tones’s eyes flicked over to Sam. “Is that a bad thing?”

Sam looked surprised. “No, not at all. I was just wondering why you’re an omega when Tony is a beta. And you said Clint was an alpha in your world too, right? Bruce, why is that?”

“Not that kind of doctor,” Bruce said automatically, then rolled his eyes. “Honestly? I don’t know. Just luck, I guess. There are probably alpha and omega versions of me out there too.”

“We’re the lucky ones,” Clint whispered dramatically, still clutching at Tones. Tones was rolling his eyes, but he wasn’t trying to squirm away. Tony glanced at Steve, who was smiling at the scene, and found that he couldn’t disagree with Clint. They were lucky.

Chapter Text

To say that Tony had been uncertain about telling the Avengers the truth about being an omega was an understatement. He’d barely slept the night before, too busy tormenting himself with all the ways that this could go incredibly wrong. Even though he had been here long enough to recognize that the Avengers in this world were very different from the Avengers in his world, he couldn’t shake the feeling of dread.

“It will be well, Sir,” JARVIS said quietly as dawn broke. Tony was huddled out on his balcony with a blanket wrapped around his shoulders, looking down at the city. It was a breathtaking sight to watch the sun crest the horizon, spreading tendrils of light across New York. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d had the chance to sit and watch the sun come up.

“So you keep saying. I’m just – I’m nervous.” He drew his feet up closer to his chest, resting his chin on his knees. It was true that Clint’s presence seemed to be welcomed, but in Tony’s experience people had never failed to treat him differently. He wished more than anything that Rhodey was still here. He’d understood why Rhodey had to leave: there was only so much time Rhodey could spend away from his duties before he risked getting in trouble. But that didn’t mean Tony had to like it.

He could just not tell them. But that came with its own set of problems. Tony’s scent had changed. It was only a matter of time before someone else noticed. Or, even if Stark managed to get him scent blockers, it was conceivable that they might catch on in other ways. Tony had gotten very used to acting like a beta, but when he got too comfortable it was easy to slip up.

It was better to tell them, no matter how much the thought made him want to throw up.

“The team will understand. They won’t have any problems with you joining them on the field, particularly once your armor is ready,” JARVIS said.

Tony smiled faintly. He still couldn’t believe Stark had made him a new armor. When he closed his eyes, he could easily picture the gleaming gold and black alloy. In many ways, he thought the change in color suited him. He’d lived his life in the spotlight, and Tony could say with all honesty that he was tired of that life now. He would be perfectly content to take a backseat and be the less flashy Stark.

Of course, he wouldn’t be able to enjoy it for long. He did have to go back to his own world. Tony knew that. There were responsibilities waiting for him there. People like Pepper and Bruce. Maybe even that Spider kid. Tony hadn’t had the chance to interact much with Peter, largely leaving that responsibility to Happy thus far. But there was no denying that he felt a sense of responsibility towards Peter, considering how young the kid was.

And he did want to go back. He did. It was just… this world was nice, that’s all. It was nice to have a team who didn’t hate him. It was nice to be able to wake up in the morning and go downstairs to find several people gathered in the kitchen, the way Tony had hoped for after the Battle of New York. It was nice to watch footage of more recent battles and see them all working together, and know that there was no animosity behind closed doors. It was even nice to see the way Stark and Steve interacted; Tony wasn’t so jaded that he couldn’t see the genuine love and affection between them, odd as it still was.

It was nice. He’d just have to enjoy it while it lasted.

He spent another few minutes out on the balcony before JARVIS spoke up to tell him that Clint and Natasha were in the kitchen making breakfast. Tony lingered a little while longer, until the sun had fully risen, then stood up. His body was stiff from staying in one place for so long, but he felt slightly calmer. He folded his blanket, set it on the end of his bed, and padded into the elevator.

Bruce and Sam had joined Clint and Natasha, and they were all unpacking food from bags. It was still weird to have everyone greet Tony so cheerfully when he walked in. He smiled back and slipped into a chair, watching curiously. Apparently, making breakfast by Clint’s standards amounted to calling a nearby diner and ordering copious amounts of greasy food.

“Take whatever you want. I ordered plenty,” Clint said with a grin, grabbing a handful of scrambled eggs with his hand. Natasha slapped at his wrist.

Tony obediently filled his plate, but didn’t eat. He watched as Steve and Stark joined them, and waited a few more moments before realizing that Thor and Bucky weren’t coming. That was okay. His heart raced in his chest, flooding him with a sense of adrenaline. It was now or never. Either he told them, or he bit his tongue and waited for them to figure it out. The latter was by far the worst of the options.

“I’m an omega,” he blurted out.

Naturally, he wasn’t expecting Clint’s scream of joy. Nor was he expecting Clint to literally pounce on him and clutch him in a huge hug. Tony didn’t even try to pull away, too busy looking at the others for their reactions. Steve and Stark already knew. Natasha didn’t look overly surprised. Bruce, Sam and Clint seemed surprised, but no one was reacting in a bad way.

“Clint, let him go for god’s sake. He needs to eat,” Natasha said finally.

“But he’s an omega. Like me!” Clint held Tony tighter, to the point where it was beginning to hurt.

Natasha rolled her eyes, though her lips quirked into a smile. “I know he is. But he’s starting to turn blue, so –”

“Oops.” Clint let go quickly, and Tony drew in a relieved breath of air. He patted clumsily at Clint’s arm, not wanting to admit how touched he was. Like alphas, omegas were pack creatures above all else, so it was really nice to be in such close proximity to another omega and have them know that Tony was an omega. It had been years since that had happened.

Clint smiled at him and said eagerly, “Can we cuddle after breakfast?”

“Sure,” Tony said, maybe a little too quickly judging by all the fond smiles he was getting. But he couldn’t help it. Of all the things he’d missed out on by hiding his nature, cuddle piles had to be at the top of the list. He’d cuddled with Pepper and Rhodey once in a while, but it just wasn’t the same.

“So you said something about your team not taking well to omegas, so I gather you never told them,” Sam said, looking over at Tony.

“Uh, no. They wouldn’t have taken kindly to that at all.” Tony snorted at the thought. He could just imagine Cap’s reaction to something like that. Tony would’ve fallen even further in Cap’s estimation than he already had, if that was even possible. Not to mention the rest of the team.

He didn’t fail to notice the frowns that were exchanged all around him, but pretended that he didn’t. It seemed to be make these Avengers uncomfortable when they heard about their counterparts, not that Tony could blame them. Frankly, he considered to be something of a miracle that Stark hadn’t taken one look at him and kicked his ass straight out of the tower.

The conversation gradually moved on to other things after Bruce mentioned a paper he was writing. Tony ate his breakfast in silence, content to just listen to the light-hearted chatter around him. It helped that Clint stayed close, and that whenever he lifted his head it was to find Steve giving him a warm, proud smile that made Tony’s heart skip a beat.

As soon as Tony had eaten his last bite of bacon, Clint sprang to his feet, pulled Tony up, and dragged him into the living room. Tony went willingly enough, curious to see what Clint had in mind. He watched as Clint went over to a closet on the far wall and opened it. Tony’s eyes widened when he saw the mountain of pillows and blankets stacked inside. Clint began pulling out some of it and piling it on the couch.

“We always do puppy piles right,” he said to Tony, shutting the closet and moving over to shove the coffee table out of the way. Then he began spreading out the blankets and pillows, eyebrows furrowed with concentration as he worked to build a nest.

“This is a lot more effort than I was expecting, not gonna lie,” Tony replied, impressed. His nose picked up on the scents from the rest of the team. Clearly, the blankets and pillows got a lose of use.

Clint grinned at him and sat in the middle, reclining on some pillows. He opened his arms up Tony. Tony was not at all prepared for the way his chest twisted at the sight; he had to catch his breath before he could move forward, towing his shoes off and kneeling. He crawled into the nest and into Clint’s arms, this time prepared for the way that Clint’s grip tightened and pull Tony in so that Tony’s back was to Clint’s chest.

Tony lay stiffly for a moment before instinct got the better of him, and he found himself relaxing a little into Clint’s grip. The sweet smell of happy omega filled his nose when he inhaled. He smiled, the scent invoking good, if distant memories, and shifted slightly to get more comfortable before finally going boneless. Clint was nuzzling at his hair, making soft, contented sounds, and Tony closed his eyes.

He wasn’t sure how long they’d been cuddling for before approaching footsteps made Tony open his eyes. Bucky was standing there at the edge of the blankets, eyes huge in his otherwise pale face. He stared at Tony and took several deep breaths, nose twitching. It was kind of rude to openly scent someone like that without their permission, but Tony was in a forgiving mood so he didn’t mind too much.

“It’s true. You’re an omega,” Bucky breathed at last.

Clint chuckled in Tony’s ear. “Now you’re in for it,” he drawled.

“What do you mean?” Tony asked, confused.

“Bucky loves omegas. You know how we can make alphas and betas feel more relaxed and safe?” Clint’s nose bumped Tony’s temple as he spoke. “That effect is like, three times as potent on Bucky.”

“It is?” Tony said.

An uncertain look crossed Bucky’s face, and he hunched his shoulders as he took a step back. Very quietly, he said, “There were no omegas in Hydra.”

Oh. Oh. Understanding swept over Tony. That made sense; the Hydra in Tony’s reality was comprised of largely betas, with alphas taking the leadership roles. He couldn’t ever remember meeting any omegas. Hydra was the sort of group that would disregard omegas being too weak, or not fit for active duty. Pierce had once told Tony Hydra would make an exception for him. Tony hadn’t taken it as a compliment.

Omegas made Bucky feel like he wasn’t with Hydra anymore. He thought back to his time spent here and realized that he could think of several occasions in which Bucky had stood closer to Clint than anyone else, or even a few times when he’d walked into the living room to find Bucky and Clint sitting very close together on the couch. He hadn’t thought much about it since most of the Avengers in this world seemed a lot more touchy-feely.

He hesitated briefly, then summoned his courage. “Do you… want to join us?”

Bucky’s eyes lit up, but he controlled himself and asked, “Are you sure?”

“Get in here, Bucky,” Tony said, amused in spite of himself. It had been hard at first to disassociate these Avengers from his own team, but now Tony realized he could honestly say that when he looked at Bucky, he didn’t see the Barnes from his world. All he saw was a nervous, hurt alpha in need of some serious omega cuddles.

Slowly, as though expecting Tony to change his mind, Bucky knelt and crawled into their nest. Tony had thought he would cuddle up behind Clint, but he was wrong. Bucky came straight to Tony and laid his head on Tony’s midsection. He wrapped both powerful arms around Tony and Clint, hugging them both as he pressed his face to Tony’s shirt. Clint lifted one hand from where it was wrapped around Tony and laid it on Bucky’s head. Tony paused, then did the same. Bucky let out a long, low sigh and melted into them.

Tony had never been so contented about being trapped.

Chapter Text

“Good lord, it’s true.”

Tony looked up and had to blink a bunch of numbers out of the way before he could make out the awestruck looks on Pepper’s and Coulson’s faces. The two of them were standing in the doorway to the living room, staring inside. Curious, he got to his feet and wandered over to take a look, only to see Tones sound asleep in between Clint and Bucky. There was a peaceful expression on Tones’s face, and Bucky had never looked happier.

“I told you it was,” Tony said. “Did you think I was lying?”

“Not lying. Exaggerating,” Pepper said faintly.

“I sent you pictures, Pep!”

“Pictures can be edited. This is exactly the kind of joke that you and Clint would think was hilarious, and don’t pretend it isn’t,” Coulson said.

Tony opened his mouth to protest, then closed it. Because yeah, okay, Coulson actually had a point there.

“I just can’t believe it. He looks so much like you!” Pepper breathed.

“You think?” Tony said, glancing again at Tones. Tony could easily pick out the differences between them, to the point where he honestly didn’t think he and Tones could ever fool anyone by pretending to be each other. “Well, he is another me from a different reality. So I guess that makes sense.”

“I suddenly regret agreeing to accompany Pepper on her trip,” Coulson said, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “Why does this stuff always happen when I’m not around?”

“Luck?” Tony suggested, which earned him an annoyed look. He grinned. It was only a matter of time before Tones charmed his way into Pepper’s and Coulson’s hearts. Tony was willing to bet big money that those two would be begging Tones to stay in a matter of weeks, if not days. But he wasn’t stupid enough to say that. The last thing he needed was Coulson digging in his heels. The man might only be a beta, but he was as stubborn as any alpha.

“Has there been any progress on sending him back?” Pepper asked, finally looking at Tony.

Tony sobered, his smile fading. “No. I know that Strange and Richards are working on it. I’ve reached out to Jane Foster too, to see if there’s anything she can do from her perspective. Even Bruce has made contact with some scientists he knows. Everyone is telling me the same thing. Even if they could find a way to open up another portal without tearing apart our reality as we know it, the odds of finding the world that Tones came from is pretty much a billion to one.”

Coulson whistled softly. “Those are some terrible odds.”

“Tell me about it.” Tony sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “I’ve even asked them if there was a way we could just send a message through, but… again, it’s about making contact with the right place. It was sheer luck that dropped Tones here in the first place. He could’ve ended up in literally any reality.”

It was an unpleasant thought, to be honest. Now Tony knew for sure that there were worlds way worse than his own. But he was also sure that there were worlds worse than the one Tones had come from. It would’ve been way too easy for Tones to have landed in one of those. And it would be way too easy for Tones to get lost in one of those worlds on the way back if they werne’t careful.

There was no way Tony was going to let that happen. It would destroy Steve and Bucky, and probably do a lot of damage to the rest of the team as well.

“Have you reached out to SHIELD?” Coulson asked.

“Nope,” Tony said.

“Tony.” Coulson leveled him with a look.

“Coulson,” Tony said back, mimicking Coulson’s tone perfectly. “You know that whether or not I can trust Fury depends on the day. I am not letting him take Tones away to double as some kind of science experiment. That’s not happening. For one thing, you’d have to go through the team to do it. And as much as I’d like to see a torrential fight between SHIELD and the Avengers, Tones wouldn’t appreciate that.”

“You seem to care a lot about what Tones would or wouldn’t appreciate,” Pepper said, looking thoughtful.

“He’s a good guy,” Tony said shortly. It was only a matter of time before Natasha and Clint filled Coulson in on everything, but there were still some things that Pepper didn’t need to know.

“Then I suppose we need to start working on getting him an identity of some kind,” Pepper said.

“What?” Coulson said.

“Are you serious?” Tony asked at the same time.

Pepper nodded. “You can’t expect him to hide out in the tower forever. Sooner or later, someone is going to see him and want to know who he is and what he’s doing here. Now that I look at him longer, you’re right that there are some differences between you two. But no one could ever mistake him as anything other than Tony Stark. The sooner we can start getting background details together, the better off we’ll be.”

“I can help you with that. SHIELD has set up false backgrounds plenty of times. But, that means Fury is going to want to meet him,” Coulson said.

Tony shrugged. “I knew it was inevitable, but there was no way I was letting SHIELD anywhere around here without you around.”

“I’m touched,” Coulson said blandly, but Tony could see the obvious pleasure in his eyes. Whether he would admit it or not, Coulson was touched that the Avengers were very blatant about only working with him. He’d been promoted from an agent to being the official Avengers Liaison – Avengers Baby-Sitter, depending on how Coulson was feeling about what had happened that day.

“You should be.” Tony’s trust didn’t come cheap or easily. Coulson had been there since the Battle of New York, putting in the time and effort to help make the Avengers work. People like Fury just sat back and poked occasionally at the team to try and make them dance the way he wanted them to.

It also helped that to this day, Coulson remained a devoted Cap fanboy who’d rather rip off his own arm than ever betray Steve.

“I’ll start making some calls. Expect SHIELD’s science division to be in touch,” Coulson said, taking out his phone.

“I hope you know we can hear all of you,” Clint called suddenly.

Tony looked back in the room and saw that Clint, Tones and Bucky were all watching them – he supposed that he, Pepper and Coulson hadn’t been trying too hard to be quiet. Clint and Bucky only seemed mildly interested in the conversation; Tony suspected that both of them had foreseen this conversation long before it actually happened. Tones, on the other hand, was looking at Coulson like he’d seen a ghost.

“I would hope you could hear us, considering that your hearing aids are Stark-made and therefore the best that money can buy,” Pepper said.

Clint shot her a grin. “And they were free too.”

Pepper just rolled her eyes, though Tony could tell she was trying not to smile, and walked into the room. Tony noticed Bucky stiffening slightly as she grew near, though it helped that, while Pepper was an alpha, she was very good at making herself appear calm and non-threatening. Still, she was wise enough to stop a few feet away from them.

“You must be Tones,” she said.

“Hi Pep,” Tones said weakly. He half-heartedly tried to get up, but Bucky was literally sprawled on top of him and refused to move. If anything, he clutched at Tones tighter and shot Pepper a defiant look. Pepper couldn’t help her grin and an amused snort.

“I never thought I’d see the day a Tony Stark would willingly be in the middle of a cuddle pile,” she said. “You always hated that when Rhodey and I tried to do it to you,” she added, turning to look at Tony.

“I didn’t hate it, I just loudly objected because you guys were keeping me from working,” Tony replied, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Actually, we were keeping you from passing out at your work station and hitting your head on the way down so hard you got a concussion,” she said dryly.

“That was one time!”

“Wait, that actually happened?” Clint said, looking way too interested.

“No,” Tony said quickly.

“Liar,” Coulson said, moving up beside Tony. “Hello, Tones.”

“Hi,” Tones said again. “So… I hear you’re still a massive Cap fan?”

Tony quickly pasted an innocent look on his face as Coulson turned to him with an expression that could have peeled paint off a wall. He held his hands up. “What? I didn’t say anything that wasn’t true!”

“I swear to god, Stark,” Coulson muttered, shaking his head.

“Don’t last name me,” Tony said, pouting.

Pepper rolled her eyes. “So, would you be on board with us trying to get you an identity?” she asked Tones.

Tones was still looking a little baffled, but slowly nodded. “I guess so? I don’t know how long I’m going to be here for… makes sense. Though…”

“What?” Pepper asked when Tones trailed off.

“I’d rather not have to be out in the public eye if I don’t have to,” Tones said softly. “I had enough of that in my world.”

Pepper blinked, looking honestly thrown off by that comment, and even Coulson, Clint and Bucky couldn’t quite hide their surprise. Tony was the only one who had been expecting it. Based on what Tones had told him and Rhodey, he knew that Tones had been largely responsible for dealing with the media and public following the many disasters that had plagued that reality. He’d basically become the Avengers’ scapegoat, always the one left trying to soothe ruffled feathers and make amends.

Tony had never before considered just how fortunate he was that SHIELD’s ample public relations division was willing and able to work with the S.I. public relations department to help smooth the way. Furthermore, all of the Avengers shared the task of making public appearances, especially when it was something like a press conference after one of their missions went sideways. It was true that Steve, Tony, Natasha, and Sam did the bulk of the general appearances, but that was because Clint was a little shit, Thor was still working on a grasp of what wasn’t okay to say (though he’d improved a lot), too much stress tended to make Bruce hulk out, and Bucky wasn’t wholly comfortable around loud or large crowds yet.

“You’ll get some attention, because people will be curious. But we’ll shield you from it as best we can. Coulson can get you an identity quietly, so that all the ducks are in a row before anything else happens,” Tony said, thinking about it. He was estimating that it might take them another week, maybe a week and a half to build their armors – because there was no way Tony wasn’t making himself an armor with the nanobot technology.

If they already had Tones’s identity in place, then they wouldn’t have to worry about people trying to figure out who was underneath the Bumblebee armor. Sam and Bucky had been well-received when they joined the Avengers, after all. Steve had made the announcement and fielded the questions that popped up. There had been a lot of curiosity, but nothing they couldn’t handle.

“Right, of course,” Coulson said, recovering smoothly. “I have plenty of sources. It shouldn’t be that difficult. I will have to let Fury know, though.” Bucky gave a low growl at the mention of Fury.

“That’s fine,” Tones said, shrugging as best he could. He clumsily patted Bucky’s head. “Fury’s not stupid. He would’ve figured it out sooner or later. But… I’m seconding what Tony said. I really have no interest in being a science experiment, and I’m not agreeing to have any tests run on me.”

“Of course not,” Pepper said sharply. “And if SHIELD tried, they would regret it. I’d bury you in lawsuits so fast - ” She glared at Coulson, who put his hands up.

“I get it, don’t worry. No tests,” Coulson said. He was a little bit afraid of Pepper, Tony knew, not that he could blame Coulson for that. No matter what world she was in, Pepper Potts was a scary woman.

Chapter Text

“I have a question.”

Tony looked up from where he was answering an email that his personal assistant had sent him, fully expecting that Tones would be staring at him, but instead found that Tones was looking at Sam. Curious, Tony finished out his email, hit send, and locked his phone. They were all gathered in an S.I. boardroom waiting for Coulson and Fury to show up.

“Shoot,” Sam said easily, spinning in his chair to face Tones.

“What are you doing here?” Tones asked, cocking his head to the side like a curious puppy. “I don’t mean that in a negative way, I just – in my world, Sam Wilson joined the Avengers because of Cap and Romanov. They met him while they were on the run from Shieldra and he ended up getting dragged into their whole mess, and then following them back to New York. Obviously, that didn’t happen here, so…”

“Oh, you can blame Bucky for that,” Sam said with a smirk. Bucky just rolled his eyes. “I met up with the Winter Soldier when he was on the run from Hydra. He broke into my house.”

“I did not break in. You left your balcony door open,” Bucky said defensively. “Hydra was chasing me. I needed a quiet place to regroup and you were the only person within a twelve-block radius who had an open door. What was I supposed to do?”

Sam snorted. “Is that what we’re calling it now? Dude, I came home and you were sitting in the dark like a total creeper and almost gave me a heart attack. That’s breaking in.”

“Okay, I’m not listening to this argument again,” Steve said, rolling his eyes towards the ceiling.

“Short answer is that Sam followed Bucky to the tower and never left,” Clint stage-whispered to Tones. Sam glared at him, but before he could come up with a retort the door opened and Coulson walked in. Fury was right behind him.

“Motherfucker,” Fury said as soon as he saw Tones and Tony sitting side by side.

“Good morning to you too, Sunshine,” Tony said cheerfully, smirking to himself. Normally he did whatever he could to keep Fury and other SHIELD workers out of the tower, mostly because it meant he’d need to do a full sweep with JARVIS later on to make sure that nothing had been ‘accidentally’ left behind (wouldn’t be the first time he’d found SHIELD devices meant to eavesdrop, and it probably wouldn’t be the last).

But he knew that Tones wasn’t ready to leave the tower yet, much less ready to make a trip to SHIELD. And really, it was just as well because Pepper and Coulson were still working on getting Tones a legal identity. The fewer people who met Tones beforehand, the better. Frankly, had it not been for Coulson and the fact that Coulson was too heavily intertwined with the Avengers, Tony wouldn’t have admitted the truth to Fury at all.

“Please don’t tell me you managed to clone yourself. I’m not going to find reports of a hundred Tony Stark’s running around, am I?” Fury asked, sounding very resigned.

“A hundred Tony Stark’s. I think Steve just died and went to heaven,” Clint muttered. Tony snuck a glance at Steve and was amused to note that Steve’s eyes had glazed over a little. Sometimes he could see the path that he, Steve and Tones were heading down so clearly. He wasn’t sure if Steve or Tones saw it, and he wasn’t yet wholly sure how Bucky was going to fit in, but it felt sort of inevitable at this point.

“I’m not sure New York, or Pepper, is ready for that,” Natasha said, looking way too amused.

“Think of all the work I’d get done, though,” Tony said.

“Think of all the paperwork you’d have to do,” said Coulson.

Tony paused and shuddered. “Okay, yeah, scratch that. Two is enough.”

“Two is too many!” Fury said. “How the hell did this happen?!”

“Aliens,” Tony said simply. “Aliens and parallel universes.”

Fury looked at him for a moment and then sank back in his chair, rubbing his temple. “Yeah, I’m going to need a slightly more detailed explanation than that.”

Tony had expected that, and he and Tones had already planned accordingly. He smiled at Fury. “It turns out that Tones and I were messing around with the same alien technology at the same time, and it accidentally opened a portal between the two realities. Tones was sucked in. I’ve got several people working on getting him back, but so far they haven’t come up with anything concrete.”

“And in the meantime?” Fury asked, voice dry.

An excited grin split across Tony’s face, matched only by the grin on Tones’s face. Tony had asked Coulson to give them another week to work before talking to Fury. He and Tones had spent much of that week holed up in the workshop working furiously. Steve and Bucky had alternately delivered them food, with Tony stopping working occasionally to snuggle with his boyfriend and Tones stopping once in a while to cuddle with Bucky.

The week had been well worth it.

“In the meantime…” Tony repeated. Everyone was looking over at him curiously. Only Steve knew that they’d been working on building Tones an armor, though not even Steve knew exactly what they’d been up to. Steve in full support of the idea, and so would the rest of the team. He looked over at Tones expectantly.

Tones stood and stripped off his sweatshirt. A small stir ran through the room when people realized he was wearing an arc reactor – literally. Tones had talked about the possibility of getting the reactor put back into his chest so that he could have the suit with him all the time the way that Tony did. The thought of getting the reactor voluntarily put back into him made Tony shudder, but he could appreciate why Tones was thinking that way. Their next course of work would probably be figuring out how to make a smaller reactor that was way less invasive.

For now, Tones hadn’t smiled that big since he’d been dropped into their world. His eyes were sparkling as he lifted his hand and gently tapped the reactor just once. Tony relished the shocked gasps that filled the room as black and gold armor rippled out of the arc reactor, swiftly covering Tones’s body. He was fully covered in under ten seconds, which was legions faster than anything Tony or Tones had ever created before.

Two minds really were better than one.

“Meet Restart,” Tony announced. “The newest Avenger.”

“Holy shit!” Clint exploded out of his seat, racing around the table. “Dude! You look awesome!”

That seemed to be the cue for Natasha, Thor, Sam and Bruce to crowd around Restart as well, all trying to ask questions at the same time. Tony looked at Steve and felt his pulse quicken at the look of affectionate pride Steve was giving him. Bucky didn’t seem as surprised as everyone else; Tony wondered if Tones had mentioned something. Coulson looked more resigned than anything else. Fury had his head in his hands, which made Tony smirk.

“Another Iron Man,” Fury said finally, looking back up. “Seriously, Stark?”

Tony shrugged. “We don’t know how long Tones will be here for, but we might as well take advantage while he is,” he pointed out. “It’s not like we couldn’t use the help, and Tones already knows exactly how to use the armor and how to fight with the team.”

That last bit wasn’t wholly true, but Fury didn’t need to know that. Steve had already booked some training sessions with the team. Tony was positive that it wouldn’t take Tones any time to get up to speed. He was looking forward to seeing the combination of the Winter Soldier and Restart on the field. Tony had the feeling that they were going to be very dangerous together.

“I like the color of the armor,” said Bruce.

“Don’t you dare,” Tones warned, pointing at Tony.

“Don’t dare what? Mention that it’s called the Bumblebee armor?” Tony asked innocently.

“Oh my god, that’s adorable,” Natasha said under her breath.

The helmet retracted to reveal Tones’s pout. “Traitor.”

Tony just grinned, unrepentant, and tapped his own reactor. He loved the way the armor flowed over him so quickly. He couldn’t wait to shock the hell out of the next assholes who decided that kidnapping Tony Stark would make them a quick buck. Now he didn’t need to worry about being separated from the armor. Because if someone decided to remove the arc reactor to get him away from the armor, well, Tony would have bigger problems.

“Holy shit! Witchcraft!” Clint squeaked, jumping. “How are you doing that?!”

“Nanobots,” Tony and Tones said together, then smiled at each other.

“What have you unleashed on the world?” Fury hissed to Coulson.

Coulson slowly shook his head. “I’m… not actually sure yet myself.”

“Nanotechnology?” Bucky said, speaking for the first time. “I thought… I didn’t know the technology was anywhere near this.”

“It’s not. Or at least it wasn’t,” Bruce said.

“Truly, it’s a feat to be impressed by,” Thor said, examining Restart’s repulsor. “I wonder…”

“No! Not outside the mansion!” Sam yelped.

“I’ve been working on the theory in my world for a really long time,” Tones explained. “And Tony had been working on it too. When we put our research together, it turned out we’d solved some of each other’s problems without even trying. From there, it was relatively easy to iron out the kinks.”

“Easy,” Bruce muttered, shaking his head with a baffled look.

“Now Tones is ready to join us on the field,” Tony said. He let the Iron Man armor retract, and so did Tones.

“Almost ready. I don’t have a legal identity yet here,” Tones reminded him.

“I’m probably going to regret this, but…” Coulson sighed and picked up the briefcase he’d carried into the room with him. He handed it over to Tones.

Everyone crowded around, Tony included, as Tones opened it to take a look. There was a passport, birth certificate, school records, university degrees that matched Tony’s, and even some tax slips from employers – Tony assumed that those were probably from fake SHIELD corporations. Everything a person could possibly need to prove that they’d lived a life was right there, it was all made out to one Antonio Edwin Stark.

“Antonio?” Bucky said, glancing at Coulson.

“It was Pepper’s idea. She thought it was best that Tones could continue being called that,” Coulson said.

“So, what’s the official story?” Sam wanted to know, picking up Tones’s passport.

“We’re blaming it all on Howard Stark,” said Coulson.

“I’m fine with that,” Tony and Tones said, again in perfect unison.

“Okay, stop doing that. It’s creepy,” Clint said.

“What do you mean, you’re blaming it on Howard?” Steve asked.

“Most of the details about Maria Stark’s pregnancy were kept hidden. Howard paid off anyone who was involved to keep their mouths shut,” Natasha said.

“Why do you even know that?” Tony said, resigned. She just smirked at him.

“We’re going to capitalize on that,” Coulson said, ignoring them both. “It’s conceivable that Maria gave birth to twins that night. The midwife who attended to her has since passed away, and she, Maria and Howard were the only ones there. With Howard and Maria gone…”

“No one can say otherwise,” Tony said, nodding.

“But why would someone give their child away?” Thor asked, eyebrows furrowed.

Tony shrugged. “My dad was a paranoid bastard. Could be any number of reasons. He didn’t want the competition personally, he didn’t want competition between us, he thought that S.I.’s reputation would do better with only one kid to control, he thought the other baby looked sick or weak... the list is pretty endless.”

Steve’s frown was fierce, but all he said was, “So then what happened?”

“He found a couple who wanted a baby in a small town in France and gave Tones up. You do speak French, don’t you?” Coulson asked Tones.

“Uh… yes,” Tones said, looking a little overwhelmed.

Coulson nodded, looking satisfied. “Good. You grew up there. When your parents passed away three years ago, you found out the truth by looking through their legal documents. You got in touch with Tony, but the relationship was kept quiet while things were sorted out.”

“Won’t people notice if they go looking for this town and it doesn’t exist?” Sam asked.

“Oh, it exists. It’s a very tiny town populated entirely by SHIELD for occasions just such as this,” said Coulson.

“Occasions just such as this?! How many people are you making up lives for?” Sam said.

Coulson just smiled at him. “You’ll never know.”

Chapter Text

When the meeting broke up, Coulson motioned for Tony to stay put. Tony frowned slightly but obeyed. His heart was still thrumming in excitement from the team’s reactions to his armor. They genuinely wanted him to join them as an Avenger, and he wasn’t wholly sure what to do with that knowledge yet. None of the Avengers from his world had ever acted like what Tony did was that amazing or special, and none of them had ever expressed even once that they wanted him on the field.

If anything, it was usually the opposite.

Stark, Steve, and Bucky all stayed behind as the rest of the Avengers filed out of the room. Coulson eyed them, then sighed. “I suppose there’s no point in telling the three of you to get out.”

“You can try, but it’s not going to go well for you,” Stark said with a razor sharp smile.

Steve folded his arms across his chest. “Why would you need to talk to Tones alone anyway?” he demanded.

“Because maybe there are private details that he wouldn’t want you to be partial to?” Coulson said dryly, and Tony promptly found himself under scrutiny from five pairs of eyes – or rather, four pairs of eyes and one solo eye, considering that the Fury in this reality still wore an eyepatch.

“Err… they can stay,” Tony said. It was partly because he knew it would annoy Coulson and Fury, but partly because he realized he actually didn’t mind.

Fury sighed, rubbing at his head. “I don’t suppose any of you have put any thought into what would happen if you introduce this world to Antonio Stark and then Tones ends up going back to his own world? What will people say if he just up and disappears?”

“We’ll say he didn’t like being an Avenger and left New York or something like that,” Stark said.

“You really think anyone is going to buy that?” Fury said skeptically.

“Well, it’s not like they’re going to figure out the truth,” Stark said, throwing his hands up. “No one is going to think that alien technology or dimension travel had anything to do with it. Even if someone goes poking into the cover story, they’re never going to figure out the truth. And people can gossip and come up with rumors as much as they want, but eventually it will all blow over.”

Fury pursed his lips and didn’t say anything for a moment. It was obvious he thought that was a shitty idea, and his silence spoke volumes. Finally, he looked at Tony and said, “And are you going back?”

“Yes,” Tony said, but with far less confidence than before. He could feel Bucky, Steve and Stark all watching him too, but he didn’t look at them. He had to go back, Tony knew that.

But he couldn’t deny that there was a part of him that was starting to hope that the decision would be taken out of his hands entirely. If Strange, Reed and the other people Stark had contacted couldn’t figure it out, then Tony wouldn’t have to decide. He’d just be stuck here. And as hard as it would be to never see Rhodey or Pepper again, there were a lot of benefits too.

No one looked convinced by what he said, not that Tony blamed them. He cleared his throat and added, “But it looks like it’s going to be a while before we’re anywhere even close to a solution, so why worry now when I can be helping you kick the butts of bad guys instead?”

“He has a point,” Coulson said to Fury.

“I can’t believe you want to deal with another Tony Stark,” Fury replied.

Coulson shrugged. “I’m already dealing with it. Frankly, Restart is going to be out on the field regardless of whether or not SHIELD sanctions it. You know that and I know that. So we might as well agree to let it happen.”

“I hate all of you,” Fury muttered, looking like he had a headache. “Fine. But I won’t be held responsible if this blows up in your faces.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll take full responsibility,” Steve said firmly. “I think having Tones out in the field with us is really going to benefit the Avengers.” He tipped his chin up and stared Fury down. “Whatever challenges we face because of that, we’ll handle it as a team.”

“Fine,” Fury said, shaking his head. “I don’t suppose you’d allow us to run some tests. We might be able to help get Tones home.”

“Touch him and I’ll kill you,” Bucky said simply. He didn’t even try to sound threatening; if anything, he sounded very pleasant. He also moved closer to Tony and slid an arm around Tony’s shoulders. Tony was surprised to realize that he didn’t want to move away. If anything, he wanted to lean in closer to Bucky. He told himself it was just because Fury couldn’t quite hide a hint of fear.

“I already told you, no tests,” Stark said. “Coulson, get him out of here.”

“You can’t –” Fury began.

But Coulson stood up and frowned at him and said, “Yes, we can. I told you before this meeting began that Tones was not going to consent to any tests. You agreed to that.”

“I was just asking!” Fury said, clearly disgruntled, and got up. “Fine. Stay here for all I care. It’s a good thing I’m already bald, or another Tony Stark would make my hair turn completely white…” He walked out of the room, muttering what sounded like a slew of curse words under his breath.

Coulson shook his head. “I’m sorry about that.”

“It’s fine,” Tony said, shrugging. “The Fury in my world wouldn’t have been able to keep himself from asking, either. And that’s if he didn’t just go ahead and have Romanov stab me in the neck with another needle to take a sample.” He chuckled to himself, then realized that Bucky and Steve were exchanging horrified looks.

“Natasha stabbed you?” Steve said, eyes wide.

“Uh, yeah. Back when I was dying from the arc reactor? The element I had in it was toxic. SHIELD had an antidote, but they didn’t think I’d take it… or something like that. So Fury sent Romanov over to spy on me, and when I was distracted she stabbed me with the needle containing the antidote.” As Tony spoke, their expressions only grew even more horrified.

“She did the same thing to me, actually,” Stark admitted.

“What?! You never told me that!” Steve said.

“It was before you were in the picture, Steve. And she apologized for it later after she joined the team, so I forgave her.” Stark shrugged again. “It didn’t seem to make a big difference.”

“Didn’t make a big – Tony.” Steve facepalmed.

“I need to talk to Natasha,” Bucky announced, and jumped to his feet. He stalked out of the room. Stark and Coulson exchanged an alarmed look and then, as one, leaped up and rushed after him. Tony wasn’t sure it was going to help. Bucky and Natasha were just as likely to hug each other and get drunk together as they were to punch each other in the face: their relationship was a weird one that he did not pretend to understand.

Then he realized that he was alone with Steve.

Up until now, Tony had done what he could to make sure that didn’t happen. Someone else was always there to act as a buffer, usually Stark or Bucky. He swallowed hard and glanced over at Steve, not surprised to find that Steve was already watching him. There was something very sad in Steve’s expression that made Tony feel both guilty and uncomfortable, and he dropped his gaze.

“Tones,” Steve began, then stopped. He didn’t seem to know what to say.

“I’m sorry,” Tony blurted out.

“What?” Steve asked, and when Tony glanced up at him he saw that Steve looked surprised.

“I know I’ve been avoiding you. At first it was because seeing you was too hard,” Tony said, staring hard at the table. “Even though you’re not him, my brain didn’t always remember that.” In fact, for those first few days, seeing Steve out of the corner of his eye had been enough to make Tony break out into a cold sweat. It had helped that Steve had different clothes and a different hairstyle, but still.

It was getting better now. A lot better. He was starting to remember why he’d liked Captain America so much as a kid, before Howard ruined it all by constantly comparing Tony to Cap. He was starting to remember the good in Steve Rogers, as opposed to only being able to see a shield coming at his face. He could see now that the affection and love Steve had for the rest of the team wasn’t fake, but genuine.

“I’m sorry,” Steve said.

Tony snorted. “Don’t apologize. You have literally nothing to apologize for. It’s my own problem.”

“But it’s not,” Steve said. “Tones, please look at me.”

Very slowly, Tony obeyed. He found himself looking at Steve’s earnest expression. Steve smiled at him, and it was such an undeniably kind smile that Tony’s heart flipped.

“What that man did to you was wrong, and I’m sorry that you had to go through that. I’m ashamed that he’s Captain America, because he certainly doesn’t deserve the title. Captain America should be…” Steve shook his head. “A whole host of things that guy will never be. I don’t understand his thought process at all.”

“We clashed,” Tony said quietly. “That’s all.”

“You make it sound so easy when it’s really not. I know how I can be when I think I’m right. I’m stubborn as all hell. So somehow, that jackass got the idea in his head that you’re bad news. I have no idea how that happened, but I can tell you he was wrong. So wrong. You are a good person, Tones. And I am so happy to have you here, you can’t even begin to imagine. I meant it when I said I was honored to have you on the team.”

Tony wasn’t blushing. He wasn’t! It was just very discomforting to have Steve’s blue eyes staring at him while Steve was saying all these wonderful things – exactly the kind of things that Tony had always dreamed of Steve Rogers saying, no less. The kinds of things that the Steve Rogers from Tony’s world would never say. Tony had been the unlucky one who ended up with an asshole Steve Rogers, but he had the complete opposite sitting here in front of him.

“Thanks,” he said softly, not sure what else to say.

Something in Steve’s determined expression changed, melting into a soft, awed smile. “God you’re cute.”

“I – w-what?!” Tony stammered.

Steve sighed and sat back in his chair, looking up at the ceiling. “Natasha was right. Tony Stark is my weakness. I accept it,” he said dramatically.

“What?” Tony said again.

“One thing you should know about Steve is that he’s a total drama queen,” Stark said, leaning back into the room. He was laughing.

“I am not,” Steve said.

“You totally are, babe. But you’re also not wrong,” Stark said. “I didn’t even know Tony Stark’s were capable of being cute until Tones showed up.”

“Oh I don’t know, you have your fair share of cute moments,” Steve said.

Stark sniffed. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about!” Tony blurted out. He was thoroughly confused at this point, and also a little bit flustered. Had Steve just called him cute? And Stark agreed?!

They both turned to look at him with identical indulgent looks, and Steve said, “We were going to go for lunch at this great diner a few blocks away. It’s very small, very discreet, and we can get sunglasses and a baseball cap so no one will recognize you. Care to join us?”

Tony stared at him for a moment, then looked at Stark. “Uh… sure?”

“Great,” Stark said cheerfully, winking at Steve.

Tony looked back and forth between them, narrowing his eyes. Just what was going on here?

Chapter Text

Tones had agreed to go out with them.

It felt like a monumental occasion, the sort you’d mark on a calendar.

Tony was hard-pressed to keep himself from smiling as he trailed Tones and Steve down the sidewalk. Steve was a lot closer to Tones than he normally would have. If Tones noticed, he didn’t seem to mind considering that he had done nothing to increase the distance between them. They were having a conversation about the differences between Tones’s New York and the current New York.

That left Tony to peacefully follow, tapping away on his cell phone. Pepper was understanding about the fact that he had fallen behind on his work, but only to a point. There were some things that needed Tony’s particular attention, and which not even Pepper could cover for. He started with his emails from R&D, sorting them rapidly and deleting the ones that were stupid.

Then he started answering.

“Uh – Tony?”

Tony kept typing.

“Tony!”

Startled, he looked up at the sound of Steve’s call and realized that Steve and Tones were no longer in front of him and that he was about to walk into a young woman. She gave him an amused look and ducked around him as Tony looked around. Steve and Tones were standing about ten feet away at the entrance to the diner, which Tony had walked by without even realizing.

“Are you eating with us or are you going to take a tour of downtown New York?” Steve asked, a teasing smile playing around his lips.

“Keep sassing me and I’ll choose the latter,” Tony retorted, finishing off one last email before making his way over to them. He’d only gotten through about a tenth of the emails that he needed to answer, but at least he’d gone through those that were most urgent. The rest could wait until after.

The delicious smell of food greeted them as they entered. They took a seat near the back in a u-shaped booth; Tony let Tones slide in first and then sat on the outside, while Steve sat on the other side. He didn’t even need to look at Steve to know that the seating arrangement made Steve’s alpha instincts very pleased. From his spot, Steve’s back was against a wall, but he could also see the whole diner in the event that someone tried to sneak up on them.

“Were you answering emails?” Tones asked Tony. “I walked into a garbage can once doing that. Rhodey called me ‘Tony Stank’ for months afterwards.”

Tony coughed to hide a laugh, because that sounded like something his Rhodey would do, and replied, “Yeah, Pepper’s been funneling a bunch of stuff my way. R&D are working on some new developments and they had some questions that Pep isn’t comfortable answering.”

“Tony thinks of his R&D department as sheep, and he’s the shepherd,” Steve said.

“I do not,” Tony said indignantly, though he had to admit that the comparison wasn’t as inaccurate as it should have been. Stark Industries Research and Development department was staffed with only the best and brightest – but sometimes, when you got a group of really smart people together, you needed someone who could cut through all the bullshit to the core of the problem. Otherwise, those very smart people would chase each other in circle’s for weeks at a time.

“It’s okay. I used to say that my R&D department was just as frustrating,” Tones said with a shrug. “They got a little better as figuring out what to do for themselves once I – I mean…” He grew quiet for a moment, avoiding their gazes, before finishing awkwardly. “I pulled back from the company a bit, after everything.”

Steve’s jaw tightened, anger flashing in his eyes. Tony knew how he felt. It would take a hell of a lot to make Tony step back from Stark Industries, so that really said a lot about what Tones’s mental state must have been like at the time. And it was all because of that useless team of his.

He cleared his throat, pressing his leg comfortingly against Steve’s, and said to Tones, “Well, if you’d like to get more involved with S.I. here, you’d be more than welcome.”

“Really?” Tones said, perking up slightly.

Tony smiled at him. “Are you kidding me? I’m pretty sure that Pepper has been having lurid fantasies about how much more work she can get out of me now that I have a twin.” He winked.

And then – much to his amazement – Tones blushed.

It was adorable.

Tony’s heart might have skipped a beat or two.

“O-oh, well… I’d like that,” Tones said shyly. “But I wouldn’t want to overstep. I mean, I’m not you…” He looked at Tony uncertainly.

“Seriously, it’s fine,” Tony said as gently as he could. Even if he had been jealous of Tones, which he wasn’t, that sort of reaction would’ve gone a long way towards putting him at ease. It was hard to be jealous or envious over someone who was petrified about stealing your spot.

He glanced over at Steve just to see what Steve thought. His heart promptly flipped over again when he saw the warm, proud smile that Steve was looking back at him with.

“But, uh, I should warn you. Once Pepper realizes she can get work out of you, you’ll never get a day’s rest again,” Tony added, picking up his coffee cup.

“I don’t mind,” Tones said. “Truth be told, I’ve kind of missed it.”

Tony squinted at him for a moment. What were the chances he could put all of the paperwork on Tones and not have to do any?

It was a tempting thought, even if he’d never actually do it.

For one thing, Pepper would never let him get away with it.

For another, Steve would give him the Frown of Disapproval for even thinking about it.

Luckily, the waitress came over with their food at that moment. Tony started slicing up his omelette, eyeing Tones’s stack of pancakes thoughtfully. It was official: Tones definitely had more of a sweet tooth than Tony did. Not unusual in an omega, but it was just one more way that the two of them were a little bit different.

“So I was thinking we might do a training session today,” Steve said after they had all satisfied their hunger a bit. “See how Restart works with the rest of the team.”

“Oooh, yes!” Tony said eagerly. “I really want to run the suit through some tests and see how it measures up.”

“I’m really eager to see how the shields do,” said Tones. “Now, I was thinking –”

It seemed like Tony blinked and their meals were gone; he was on his third cup of coffee, Tones was on his second, and Steve was placidly sipping at a milkshake and watching the two of them with a blatantly indulgent expression. He probably didn’t understand two words of their conversation, but he was willing to sit there and let them chatter away without saying a word.

God, Tony loved him.

“I’m gonna run to the bathroom, and then we can head back to the tower,” he said, draining the rest of his coffee. He hurried to the toilet, did what he needed to do, and washed his hands. It couldn’t have taken him more than five minutes.

But when he returned to the table, something seemed to have changed. Tones was staring down at the table and Steve was frowning into the remains of his milkshake. Tony looked between them, a little baffled.

“Now it’s my turn to go, I guess,” Tones said, quickly sliding out of the booth.

As soon as he was out of earshot, Tony said, “Okay, what’s going on?”

“W-what? Nothing!” Steve said, and he might have been an accomplished liar when it came to SHIELD, but he had never been able to hide anything from Tony. There was so obviously something wrong that Tony was a little insulted that Steve thought he wouldn’t notice.

He looked at Steve for a moment, then at the place where Tones had been sitting. Either Tones had said something else upsetting about his world, which seemed unlikely given his earlier comment about withdrawing from the company, or –

Tony sighed. “Ah, you figured it out.”

“Figured what out?” Steve said, eyes wide with fake innocence as he took a big gulp of water.

“That you like Tones,” Tony said.

Steve choked on his water.

Tony waited patiently through his hacking and coughing fit, keeping an eye out for Tones.

“I don’t – that’s not –” Steve sputtered finally.

“Relax, Steve,” Tony said, amused. “I’m not mad. Do you really think I would have let you take us on a date if I was opposed to the idea?”

“A date?” Steve repeated faintly. He looked around too then and seemed to come to the realization that they were, in fact, on a date with Tones. Tony almost pitied him.

“You said it yourself. Your weak spot is Tony Stark no matter what universe we’re from,” Tony said as kindly as he could. “I knew it was only a matter of time before you started falling for him. And I have to admit, I can see why. He’s pretty cute.”

Steve opened his mouth. Then he closed his mouth. He cocked his head, staring hard at Tony like he was trying to figure out the answer to a really hard puzzle. Tony decided to help him along.

“Yes, I am in fact admitting that I find the alternate universe version of myself cute. I’m that narcissistic. I’m sure that’s shocking information,” he said dryly. Somewhere, Ana Jarvis was rolling in her grave as he rested his elbows on the table, propped his chin on his hands, and added, “What can I say, it’s really hot finding someone who can keep up with me when I talk science.”

“I can’t say I’m surprised, but I don’t really know what to do with that information,” said Steve.

Tony shrugged his shoulders. “You can do loads of stuff with three people,” he said wickedly, just to see the way Steve’s eyes glazed over a bit.

Yeah, he was definitely going to enjoy putting those thoughts in Steve’s head for the rest of forever.

Steve shook it off pretty quickly thought and frowned. “Tony, that’s – don’t you think that’s a bit twisted?”

“He’s not really me, Steve,” Tony reminded him. “He’s a different person.”

“I know that, but… It just sounds… odd,” Steve said.

“Just think about it,” Tony told him, seeing Tones emerging from the bathroom out of the corner of his eye. “And for god’s sake, stop being your frown-y self around Tones. I guarantee he’s going to think you’re mad at him. If we ever want to get him into bed, we need him to completely disassociate you and that asshole Rogers he’s used to.”

He wasn’t even sure Steve heard the last bit of that sentence, because Steve went into another huge coughing fit as soon as Tony mentioned the two of them getting Tones into bed.

Tones rushed over, looking alarmed. “Steve, are you okay?” he asked, eyes wide and worried.

“He’s fine,” Tony said. “I’m being naughty.” He smirked at Steve.

“Ah,” Tones said, alarm draining away as quickly as it had come. “The last time I tried that with Pepper, she kicked me in the ankle with her heel. I had a bruise for like two weeks.”

“You said you and Pepper had broken up, right?” Tony said as casually as he could.

Tones nodded. “Yeah. The two of us really weren’t compatible after everything.” He didn’t elaborate on what ‘everything’ was, but Tony could guess.

Pepper was a wonderful, amazing woman, but even she had her limits. Tony really couldn’t see her being able to handle a Tony Stark as damaged as Tones was. She just didn’t have the right experience. All the tender hugs and soft kisses in the world couldn’t help when your brain was twisted up in Afghanistan or some other horror – and god knew Tones had ample horrors to pick from. Tony was not surprised that she and Tones hadn’t lasted.

“That’s too bad,” Tony said with false sincerity, ignoring the glare that Steve shot him. In fact, it wasn’t bad at all. It was great that Tones didn’t have a girlfriend waiting for him back home. But Tones didn’t need to know that. He’d probably take it the wrong way.

“Just one of those things,” Tones said with a shrug. “So, um, are we ready to go?”

“Yes,” Steve said, jumping up. “Yes, we definitely are.”

Chapter Text

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Tony said, keeping his eyes on the city. He considered it a major victory that he didn’t jump or flinch when Bucky spoke unexpectedly from behind him. In fact, he wasn’t alarmed at all. Conversely, if someone had snuck up on Tony in his own world, he would’ve been halfway over the railing by now. He stared down at the lights so far below and wondered when he’d started getting used to the team here.

Maybe it had been when they’d treated him with such kindness after his disastrous arrival. Or maybe when they’d found out he was an omega but welcomed him with open arms (and puppy piles, in the case of Clint and Bucky). Or maybe when Steve had called Rogers’ attitude towards omegas “old-fashioned bullshit”. Or maybe it was when Stark and Steve had taken him out to breakfast this morning, and Stark had offered to let him help with S.I. stuff and Steve talked about wanting him to train when the team…

Or maybe it was this afternoon when Restart had joined the Avengers for the first time. Tony had never actually trained with a team before. In his world, the Avengers hadn’t really begun training together until after Tony left the team. And even then, he was pretty sure the training had been short-lived based on what Rhodey had said. Rogers wasn’t really the kind of guy to waste time identifying his teammate’s strengths and weaknesses, and certain members of the team – Wanda Maximoff – would never play well with others.

It was light years away from Steve and Stark, who had handled today’s training with a cool, confident demeanor. They had scenarios planned out for the team to run through, for god’s sake. Tony had been blown away by that revelation. Scenario A had involved a civilian in distress. Scenario B included a bomb that was rigged to go off. Scenario C was about the emergency evacuation of an office building. And so on and so forth.

Each scenario was clearly carefully thought out and designed to test the team in new and different ways, and they had run through over a dozen before Steve called it quits. Tony had expected the training to be over, but then everyone had split up into smaller chunks. Tony had ended up with Clint and Sam, both of whom had plenty of questions to ask about the Restart armor. It was amazing to talk to people about the suit and have them actually listen to his answer instead of passing off what he was saying as bragging.

It was amazing… and weird. Really weird. So weird Tony was having a hard time wrapping his head around it.

“Is it always like this?” he asked before he could stop himself, turning towards Bucky imploringly. He didn’t know what it was about Bucky, but he was easy to talk to. It was probably partly because Tony had never really known Barnes in his world, but he also thought it might be because Bucky knew what it was like to be a fish out of water.

“Like what?” Bucky asked, his voice soft.

“Like… like all of them getting along. Making it so damn easy.” Tony ran his hands through his hair and tugged lightly at the strands out of pure exasperation. “I just don’t understand why this world is so similar to mine, but at the same time so different. It’s driving me crazy.”

A small frown crossed Bucky’s face and he leaned against the railing. “I don’t know, Doll. I wish I had an easy answer for you, but I don’t. The Avengers… they just… fit. I’ve always felt that way. To the point where I was a little scared to join them just in case my presence ruined it.”

Tony looked at him sideways. “Really? You aren’t just saying that?”

“Nope. Wish I was, cause it makes me feel stupid to acknowledge that I ever thought that way.” Bucky dropped his head to watch the traffic below. “They’re not a good team just by chance, Tones. They’re a good team because they’re flexible. They want to be a good team, so they are. They’ve learned and grown together. When I joined, they grew around me until I figured out how to grow too. Now that you’re here…”

The way he trailed off spoke volumes. Tony’s stomach twisted in on itself. He couldn’t deny that he’d thoroughly enjoyed being Restart today – maybe even more than he did when he was Iron Man. Somewhere along the line, the joy of donning the Iron Man suit had drained away. It had happened so slowly and so insidiously that Tony couldn’t even pinpoint when he began dreading the thought of having to be Iron Man.

He liked everything about this world. The fact that the Avengers were a cohesive team was a bonus, but it wasn’t even that. It was the way they were an actual team who cared about each other. It was this, right now, with Bucky: someone who wasn’t Pepper or Rhodey taking five minutes to check on Tony and make sure he was okay. It was Stark and Steve smiling at each other over the breakfast table while Clint and Natasha squabbled like a pair of toddlers. It was all the little things Tony had never got to have.

This was the dream that had been stolen from before he even fully realized it.

He closed his eyes for a moment, trying not to acknowledge the thought brewing in the back of his head. He had to go back. He had to. Stark Industries needed him. There was Pepper and Rhodey to think about. Not to mention, the general clusterfuck that was the Avengers now. Rogers and his band of merry men might have run off, but the world still needed someone to protect them.

“But why does it have to be me?” Tony whispered to himself. He wasn’t even aware he’d spoken out loud until Bucky responded.

“That’s the thing that takes some people a bit of time to work out. It doesn’t always have to be you. That’s the beauty of havin’ a team. It means that you have people you can lean on when you need to,” Bucky murmured, sounding much closer than he had before.

Tony cracked an eye open to look at him and realized that Bucky was holding up his arm at just the right height for Tony slip under if he wanted to. That was the other thing that he would miss. Touch was so casual here. Right now only Stark, Bucky and Clint touched him regularly, but earlier Steve had put a hand on his shoulder and smiled at him. A full, soft, proud smile. From Captain America. At him. Tony felt like squirreling the memory of that smile away into his heart where it could never be forgotten.

He scooted closer before he could stop himself, leaning into Bucky’s embrace. He couldn’t the quiet, contented sound that escape when Bucky’s arm rested across his shoulders. He’d missed this. He missed being touched. It was one of the reasons why he’d been so crushed when he and Pepper broke it off, because she didn’t touch him anymore. No one did.

Until now.

“I have to go back,” he mumbled. “Bucky, I have to.”

“I may not know much, Doll, but I know that you don’t have to do anything. You can stay here with us if you want to, and no one would complain,” Bucky said, so close that his breath stirred Tony’s hair.

Tony was quiet for a moment, then decided to just ask. “How come you’re not dating Steve?”

Bucky huffed a laugh. “Where did that come from?”

“I’m pretty sure Rogers and Barnes were romantically involved in my world. I guess I expected you would be here too,” Tony replied. And sometimes he wondered because Steve and Bucky were really handsy with each other. Except for kissing, it seemed like Steve did pretty much everything with Bucky that he did with Stark.

“We’re not. I love Steve probably more than I love anyone else, but I’m asexual,” Bucky said. “I have no interest in sex.”

“Are you interested in dating?” Tony asked curiously.

“Hmm, maybe. For the right person.” Bucky rested his head atop Tony’s. “But Stevie… I love him, and hell, even Tony has grown on me. I guess I love him too… though if you tell him that, I’ll deny it.”

“Okay,” Tony said, biting his lip to keep from giggling. He was pretty sure that, if pressed, Stark would have the exact same thing to say about Bucky.

“They’d probably let me join their relationship if I asked… at least, Stevie would. Dunno. I’m happy with the way things are. Sexual intimacy has never mattered to me. And that was the case even before Hydra.” Bucky’s voice was very matter of fact. “I get lots of touch from the team. That’s more than enough for me.”

“I see,” Tony said. He understood the dynamics of the team a bit better now. It sounded like Steve had never had to choose between Bucky and Stark – and he didn’t mean that in a bad way. They just fit into Steve’s life in similar, but ultimately different ways, and he couldn’t help thinking that Steve was incredibly lucky.

“You, though. You would fit between Stevie and Tony real nicely.”

Tony choked. “Wh-what?” He jerked away from Bucky in shock, only to be met with a smile that was pure mischief.

“You heard me,” Bucky said, eyes twinkling.

“That’s not… it’s not like that,” Tony said, stunned.

Bucky looked at him, his eyes intent. “Isn’t it?”

Tony opened and then closed his mouth. Slowly, he shook his head. “It can’t be. Steve and Stark are – they’re happy together, and I – I don’t want to – I can’t -” Panic tightened his throat as he envisioned coming between Stark and Steve.

That was the last thing that Tony wanted to do. There was finally a world where Tony Stark was happy. Even if Tony couldn’t have that, it was still comforting that there was a Tony Stark out there who was. He didn’t want to be the one who ruined that. No, he couldn’t be the one who ruined that. If Tony had to leave, and he still he thought he had to, he wanted this world to stay the way it was.

“Whoa, hey.” One of Bucky’s hands came up, lightly encircling the back of Tony’s neck. It was an old-fashioned the move, the kind of thing that would get Bucky punched if he tried it on anyone else, but inexplicably Tony found himself relaxing into the hold.

“I can’t ruin them,” Tony whispered, searching Bucky’s face. “When I go back, I won’t have anything. But if I can know that everything is okay here, that’s enough.”

“Is it?” Bucky asked, equally soft. He pressed their foreheads together briefly. “Tones, I didn’t mean it that way. I see the way Stevie looks at you, yeah, but it’s not just him. It’s Stark too.”

“What?” Tony said, utterly baffled. His panic eased, replaced by confusion. That couldn’t be right. But the expression on Bucky’s face was serious, and he knew Bucky well enough by now to know that Bucky wouldn’t joke about something like this. Clint? Tony wouldn’t believe a word of it. But Bucky? He had no reason to lie.

Bucky sighed. “I shouldn’t have said anything. But I just, I wanted to make sure you knew. And obviously you didn’t. So here I am. Opening my big mouth and inserting my foot where it shouldn’t be.”

Tony pulled back slightly, just enough so that he could stare at Bucky. “You’re serious? They look at – at me?”

A small smile crossed Bucky’s face. “A lot. It’s cute, just like you.”

“I am not cute!” Tony said, affronted. Why did everyone keep saying that?

“Sure you’re not,” Bucky said, and it was teasing now, but not mean. Gentle, sweet. Kind. Affectionate. Everything that Tony had never known that teasing could be.

He crumbled forward, folding into Bucky’s open arms. Bucky shushed him even as he hugged him tightly, running a comforting hand up and down Tony’s spine. Tony pressed his nose into Bucky’s throat, inhaling Bucky’s scent, and tried to make sense of that.

Steve.

Stark.

And him?

Chapter Text

“I’m telling you; I’ve researched every possible avenue. It’s just not going to happen.”

Tony leaned back in his chair and pinched the bridge of his nose, thinking about how he should have stayed in bed today after all. He’d strongly considered it this morning after waking up in Steve’s arms, warm and cuddly and snug, but then Steve woke up and announced that he, Sam, Natasha and Clint were needed at SHIELD and it had seemed sort of pointless to stay in bed alone.

He was regretting that now, as he tried not to groan loudly enough for Richards to hear. It would just give Richards fodder for the future and that wasn’t something Tony needed right now. So he sat there for a moment in frustrated silence and just struggled to come up with another avenue for Richards to pursue. There had to be something… but unfortunately, he was coming up blank.

“Are you still there?” Richards asked eventually. There was a dull mechanic sound coming from his side of the line, like he was working on something. He probably was. Richards was incredibly absent-minded, but, like most geniuses, that was usually because his brain was going in six different directions at once.

“Yeah,” Tony said, sighing and opening his eyes. “Are you sure?” He searched the ceiling for answers, but there were none to be had.

“I. Am. Very. Sure,” Richards ground out with all the patience of someone who has repeated the same thing numerous times. It was killing him to admit that he couldn’t crack the disc and Tony knew it. Sadly, this wasn’t the sort of thing he could take any pleasure out of. Not when he knew that this news was probably going to upset Tones.

“So as far as you’re concerned…”

“Your counterpart better get used to life here, because he’s stuck here,” said Richards. His voice grew distant for a moment as the clanging sound got louder.

“You couldn’t find anything?!” Tony demanded, sitting up.

“I told you, no,” Richards replied. “I’ve run every test I can think of on that disc. It is, for all intents and purposes, just a decoration now. There’s nothing special about it. I’m pretty sure that it was a one-time use. If it can be charged up or otherwise manipulated, there is no way on Earth to do it.”

That was not what Tony wanted to hear, but he couldn’t say he was surprised. After all, he had tried numerous experiments on the disc before giving it up to Richards and he hadn’t gotten anywhere either. A small part of him was smug to realize that Richards had also failed, but Tony shoved that feeling aside and tried to focus.

“You said you were going to look for a world with the same energy read-out as the disc,” he said at last. “You didn’t find anything?”

“Nothing. I couldn’t even get a proper read-out on the disc, to be honest, and I scrutinized the footage from your lab multiple times over. I’ve done everything I can think of at this point, but Strange might have come up with something better.” He sounded begrudging at that last point, which Tony couldn’t blame him for. It was hard for any scientist to admit that there might be something magic could do that science couldn’t.

“I’ll call him up,” Tony said. “Thanks, Richards.”

He hung up and just sat there for a few seconds, face in his hands. The whole team was adamant that Tones was going to stay, but they had all agreed that the decision should be up to Tones. And because of that, Tony had been patiently keeping up with both Richards and Strange in the hopes that one of them might discover a way to send Tones home if he wanted to go.

It only dawned on him right now that he had fully expected Richards to come through. He’d really thought that Richards would come up with something. The fact that Richards hadn’t… Tony wasn’t really sure what to do with that.

What was Tones going to do with that?

“JARVIS, get Strange on the line,” Tony said before he could wander too far down that rabbit hole. “And send someone to go pick up that disc from Richards pronto.” There was one last avenue that they hadn’t yet explored. Tony had been hoping that they wouldn’t have to, but he owed it to Tones to do everything he could to get Tones back to where Tones thought he belonged.

“Dialing Dr. Strange, Sir, and contacting one of your assistants,” said JARVIS.

“Hello?” Strange said a moment later.

“It’s Tony. Do you have anything?” Tony asked, too weary to bother with pleasantries.

“No,” Strange said. That one word dashed all of Tony’s hopes, and this time he couldn’t stop the groan.

“Seriously? Nothing?” he asked.

“You and I both know there are billions of universes. I told you from the beginning that the likelihood of finding the correct one was slim.” Strange, to his credit, did sound mildly apologetic. “I’ve been enough time on this. I simply don’t have any time to spare.”

“Right.” Tony drummed his fingers on the arm of the chair. “You did say that someone could visit each universe to find the right one, though.”

“Stark, that would literally take hundreds of years,” Strange replied. “If not longer, and it would take more magic than even I have access to. Dimensional teleportation is extremely dangerous. It would be far more likely that you’d get stuck somewhere.”

Tony winced at that. “So clearly that’s not an option.”

“You don’t have any options at this point,” Strange said flatly. “I have to go.” There was a high-pitched ringing in the background, and then Tony caught about three seconds of Strange speaking in that weirdly magical foreign language before the line went dead. JARVIS helpfully hung up, leaving Tony to sigh at the ceiling.

“Well, that didn’t go the way I’d hoped,” he muttered.

“Truly, Sir?” JARVIS said.

“Yeah, truly. I’d like Tones to stay too, but I want him to stay because he wants to stay. Not because he’s stuck here.” Tony chewed his lower lip, unwillingly remembering how it had been after Steve first woke up from the ice.

For about a solid three months, Steve had been living in the past. What he’d lost by going into the ice was all he’d thought about. And even after Steve had actively decided that the present wasn’t so terrible, it had still taken him years to come to terms with his loss. Even now, sometimes Tony wasn’t sure that Steve was completely over it. He didn’t want Tones to have to go through the same thing.

So he stood up and went to grab another cup of coffee while he waited for the assistant to come back; by the time he’d drained the coffee pot and purposely left it empty for Clint to find, the assistant had returned. Tony headed downstairs, took the box, thanked her, and beat a hasty retreat back upstairs before anyone (i.e. Pepper) realized that he was around.

As it turned out, Tones was in the kitchen with Thor. Thor was baking, so Tony was honestly surprised that more of the team wasn’t in there with them. Then again, he supposed that Steve, Clint, Natasha, and Sam had yet to return from SHIELD. He had no idea where the others were. Probably waiting for the moment when the cookies were ready so they could pounce. Frankly, Tony didn’t care. He cleared his throat.

“The cookies aren’t ready yet,” Thor said without even looking up.

“I’m not after cookies. Well, I’m not just after cookies,” Tony corrected himself, less Thor get the wrong idea and stop baking.

“What’s up?” Tones asked, looking up and zeroing in on the box that Tony was holding. His eyes took on a familiar gleam of curiosity – and honestly, no matter what Strange said, some things were the same for Tony Stark no matter what world you were in.

“I spoke to Richards and Strange. They’re both out of options,” Tony said bluntly, deciding not to beat around the bush. There was probably a more tactful way to break the news, but he didn’t want Tones to think that they were trying to handle him like a fragile omega. Clint had been really touchy about that in the early days of the team.

Tones’s smile faded. “Oh.”

“Neither one of them found anything?” Thor asked curiously, dumping two bags of chocolate chips into a bowl.

Tony shook his head. “They looked. In Reid’s case, he’s out of idea. And in Strange’s case, I think he just doesn’t have the time to dedicate to this.”

“Well, that makes sense. Strange is the Sorcerer Supreme,” Tones said softly.

“Surely he could give a little more time,” Thor said, sounding indignant.

“He said that it could take hundreds of years to visit each world individually and I believe him,” Tony told Thor. “If there was an easier way to find the world that Tones came from, I’m sure Strange would have brought it up. That means we’ve pretty much exhausted all the options here on Earth.”

“Ah,” Thor said, because he was much swifter on the uptake than most people gave him credit for. “You wish for me to take the disc back to Asgard?”

“If you would,” Tony said, holding it out to him. “I thought that maybe your mother or even Loki might be able to shed some light on it. Richards seems to think that it has a one time used, but if we could recharge it then maybe…”

Thor hummed in thought, then wiped his hands. “I understand. Your idea has merit. My mother is very well versed in the mystical arts and knows far more than anyone else I’ve ever met. I would hesitate to believe anything that Loki told me, but I can certainly ask her.” He reached out to take the package.

“Wait,” Tones said.

Tony and Thor looked at him.

Surprisingly, Tones reddened under their attention. Tony didn’t need to look to know that Thor was practically melting. Tones hadn’t been kidding when he told them that he didn’t care for attention anymore; he was clearly self-conscious, and fiddled with the hem of his shirt as he glanced away, like he couldn’t handle looking at them when they were staring at him.

“Thor, that’s – you don’t have to make a special trip to Asgard just for me.” He spoke softly but quickly.

“It is no trouble at all!” Thor exclaimed. “It’s been a while since I saw my parents, and my mother grows frustrated if I stay away for too long. Aye, it’s past time that I went back. This disc gives me a convenient excuse.” He took the package. “Besides, my mother will fuss over me less if she has something else to concentrate on.”

“Are you sure?” Tones said. There was something uncertain about him. Tony frowned.

If he didn’t know better, he would almost think…

“Of course! I will go now – oh, but my cookies…” Thor paused.

“I’ll finish them,” Tones said.

“And I’ll help,” Tony said. He was no baker, but he could wash dishes and measure out ingredients.

Thor beamed at them. “My thanks! I will return as quickly as possible.”

“Good luck!” Tony called after him, but he was pretty sure that Thor wasn’t listening. For someone who rarely returned home and professed to wanting to spend all his time on Earth, Thor was always eager to return to Asgard whenever he had a reason.

Tones sighed and stood up, moving over to wash his hands. Tony watched him thoughtfully, trying to figure out how best to approach this. He thought about waiting Tones out, but let’s be honest: they were both stubborn as hell, and three whole days could pass in silence before either of them said a word. So, Tony decided to do what he did best and just went for it.

“Do you not want to go back anymore?”

Chapter Text

Tones froze at the question, and Tony knew that his suspicions had been correct. Sighing, he sat down at the table across from Tones and just looked at him for a moment. He had been here for long enough that the thin, haggard edge to his face was finally starting to fill out – no doubt Thor’s cookies and Clint’s junk food stashes were helping with that. His hair was longer, bangs frequently falling into his eyes when he lowered his head, but he sat up straighter and didn’t try to hide as much.

They had never, and would never, look identical, but Tony realized then that there were more similarities between them now than there had ever been before. Tones actually looked like a healthy human being now as opposed to the Avengers’ whipping boy who only emerged from the workshop to get another beating. His eyes were bright, and he laughed more freely, especially when Bucky, Steve, or Tony himself was around.

He leaned his chin on his hand, narrowing his eyes thoughtfully. Pepper was still working on the appropriate way to break the news of Tones’s existence; it wasn’t fair to keep Tones locked up in the tower forever, and infrequent trips to SHIELD were hardly something to get excited over. So it was going to happen soon. But if Tones was really, truly planning on going back…

“I don’t know.”

Tony blinked, pulling himself back to the present. “You don’t know?” he repeated, before remembering how much he hated it when people parroted his own words back at him. Sure enough, Tones flashed him an annoyed look before shaking his head.

“I have to go back,” he said, very quietly, and Tony felt the weight of those words as surely as though Tones had reached out and set Mjolnir on Tony’s shoulders.

“No, you don’t,” he said.

“Yeah, I kind of do. Pepper and Rhodey are there waiting for me… they’re probably freaking out. I just up and disappeared on them. Then there’s this whole thing with the Accords. There’s so much that still needs to be ironed out.” Tones sighed, his shoulders slumping. “Plus, at some point, someone needs to do something about Rogers and his band of idiots. I’m pretty sure they’re all hiding out in Wakanda. Eventually King T’Challa will get wise to their ways and sending them packing, and I have to be there to make sure they don’t do something even more stupid than they already had.”

He was folding in on himself as he spoke, until he was nothing more than a small, miserable lump in the chair. Tony’s frown deepened with every word, and he felt a spike of renewed rage at everyone in who lived in Tones’s world. Why did Tones have to be so alone? Why didn’t he have a team? Why weren’t people helping him? Why was everything Tones’s responsibility to fix? Why couldn’t he make a choice that would make him happy?

Yet there had been a time not so long ago when Tony had been there same way, hadn’t there? Before he’d gone to Afghanistan, before he’d met Steve, before he’d become an Avenger. He and Pepper hadn’t been as close as they were now, and Tony had been dealing with Stane instead. He wouldn’t have admitted it at the time, but he now he understood how lonely he’d been back then.

And Tones had it even worse, because there was just so much for him to deal with.

“They would figure it out,” Tony said at last, knowing his words rang a bit empty. “What if you actually were dead? They would have to.”

“But I’m not dead, so it’s not that easy,” Tones said, and Tony couldn’t help wincing because Tones sounded a bit disappointed.

Would Tones rather be dead than go back?

That was a chilling thought.

“It can be, if you let it,” Tony said, not letting himself dwelling on that thought right now.

Tones gave him a wry smile. “You know as well as I do that’s not what we do.”

“No,” Tony said slowly. “That’s not exactly true. Being with Steve and the others has taught me how to back off in some ways. I can’t control everything, and sometimes when you try to control too much you end up losing control of it all.” He remembered, with a little flicker of guilt, how terribly their second mission as a team had gone. The Avengers had come a long way, but they’d been a disaster at first.

“I don’t try to control everything,” Tones said, sounding insulted.

Tony just looked at him.

“… Okay fine, maybe I do. But it’s because everyone around me is so dumb!” Tones said, throwing his arms up in the air.

“Maybe they’re dumb because they all know that you’re there to pick up the pieces,” said Tony. It was something that Steve had pointed out to him once, and he’d slowly come to realize that there was a degree of truth to that. “You said yourself that your R&D department stepped up to the plate once you backed off a bit, right?”

Tones hesitated before he nodded. “Yeah, I guess they did. But… anyone else would think this was me being arrogant, but you know it’s not. There are some things that only Tony Stark can do.”

“That’s true, but I disagree with the idea that you have yourself out to do them,” Tony replied. “If I died tomorrow, Pepper would figure out what to do with Stark Industries. I haven’t named an heir, but she would find someone who was competent. Maybe things wouldn’t be quite up to my standards, but in her hands the company would survive. I’m absolutely sure of it. Surely your Pepper is just as amazing.”

“I’ll give you that one. There is no world where Pepper Potts isn’t amazing,” said Tones with a small smile.

Tony smiled back. “And when it comes to the Accords, the government will figure it out. They’ll have to. That’s not your job. Neither is Rogers. You shouldn’t be anywhere near him.” He had to suppress a flash of rage at the mere thought of Tones going anywhere near someone who had damaged him so much. That was an encounter that couldn’t possibly end well for Tones.

“You’re making some good points, but there’s just – ugh.” Tones sighed and rubbed his forehead. “What about Rhodey? He’ll miss me. And Peter… he needs someone to guide him.”

“That someone doesn’t have to be you. If your world is like mine, there are tons of superheroes who could take a protégé under their wing,” Tony said. He chewed his lower lip for a moment, debating, before adding, “As for Rhodey… he’d want what’s best for you, wouldn’t he?”

Tones sighed. “Yeah, he probably would. I just don’t know.”

“Do you want to stay?” Tony asked, because Tones had never actually answered that question. “Yes or no, just between you and me.”

There was a considerable pause, and Tony started to think that Tones might refuse to answer the question. He wouldn’t have pushed if Tones had. So far he had been able to logically counter every reason that Tones had come up with, but Tony knew that sometimes it wasn’t just about logic.

For every negative thing about Tones’s world, there was the fact that there were people there that he loved. There was a company that Tones had devoted his life to building, and a world that Tones had almost died multiple times trying to protect. It wasn’t a great world, or even a good world, but it was still Tones’s world and he had every right to be attached to it. There might be a Pepper and Rhodey here, but they weren’t Tones’s Pepper and Rhodey.

“Sometimes,” Tones said, very quietly, and Tony snapped to attention.

“Sometimes?” he repeated, not daring to hope.

“Sometimes I… I think I do,” Tones whispered, looking away again. “You and the team have all been so kind. You actually want me here. I can’t remember the last time I was wanted.”

Tony’s heart hurt. It actually physically hurt in a way that had nothing to do with the arc reactor.

“It’s nice not having to handle everything on my own. It’s nice to have people want to help me, rather than getting mad and acting like I’m just being an asshole because I can’t do everything on my own,” Tones went on. “I’m not used to that, and I know I won’t have it if I go back.”

He’d said if. Tony sat perfectly still, not even daring to breathe.

“I love the team here. I love the Avengers; I always have. I don’t know if I can bear going back to a world where the idea of the Avengers Initiative, what it was supposed to be, died before it even got off the ground. When I think of Steve… and Bucky… and you…” Tony’s eyes were bright when he finally turned back to Tony. “You three make me not want to go.”

“Oh, Tones,” Tony said. He couldn’t help himself. He got up and went over to pull Tones into a hug. The way Tones clung to him, shaking, made him ache even more. He couldn’t even fathom how unbearably lonely Tones must have been all those years.

“There’s so much here,” Tones whispered. “I have JARVIS back. I did everything I could to get him back in my world, but it just didn’t work no matter what I did. I don’t have to hide that I’m an omega. You all know and you don’t care. Clint cuddles with me, and Natasha smiles at me, and –” His voice broke, preventing him from saying anything else.

“You don’t have to go,” Tony said softly. “You know that, right? We would all be happy if you stayed.”

Tones nodded, seemingly beyond speech.

“There is and always will be room for you,” Tony told him. And not just between Tony and Steve either, though he didn’t say that yet. He hadn’t thought about how Bucky would fit in, but he was beginning to realize that there was going to be space for all four of them. Somehow. He’d have to think on it more and maybe talk to Bucky about it. He knew what he and Steve wanted, but Bucky was more of a question mark.

“Thank you,” Tones choked out.

“You don’t have to thank me,” said Tony, gentling his voice. He wondered when, if ever, Tones would stop being so grateful for what amounted to basic human decency.

“Sir, I hate to intrude but I feel I should let you know that Captain Rogers is in the elevator on their way up,” said JARVIS.

“Shit,” Tones said, hastily breaking away from Tony and surreptitiously wiping at his eyes.

“It’s okay. Hey, it’s fine. Here.” Tony quickly wet a paper towel and tossed it at him so he could wipe his face, then washed his hands.

By the time Steve walked in, Tones was stirring the cookie batter and Tony was sitting at the table watching. Steve came over and gave Tony a quick kiss on the mouth in greeting and then wrapped an arm around Tones, giving him a half-hug. Then he peeked into the bowl.

“Cookies?” he asked hopefully.

“Thor’s cookies,” Tones said. His eyes were a little red, but most people wouldn’t have realized he’d been tearing up. Steve, who was intimately familiar with what Tony looked like when he got upset, was not most people. Over Tones’s head, Steve shot Tony a concerned, questioning look. Tony shook his head ever so slightly and Steve took the hint.

“I’m always down for Thor’s cookies,” Steve said, mercifully not asking where Thor had gone. “Any chance they’ll be done before the others get home?”

“God no,” Tony interjected before Tones could respond. “I am not listening to everyone whine for two days because you ate all the cookies and they got none.”

Steve pouted. “I wouldn’t eat all of them. Just like. Most of them.”

“That’s even worse,” Tony said. He waved a hand at Steve. “Begone.”

“Rude,” Steve said. “I’m going to go work out. Maybe Bucky will let me kick his ass at sparring.”

“You wish you could kick Bucky’s ass!” Tony called after him. Steve made a rude gesture as he left. Tony turned back around, shaking his head, and was just in time to see the genuine smile on Tones’s face. The sight of it, as well as how comfortable Tones looked in the kitchen, gave Tony hope.

Chapter Text

Tony sighed in satisfaction and flopped bonelessly across Steve’s chest, smirking when that action elicited a breathless huff from the man below him. Still, Steve didn’t push him away. Instead, both of Steve’s arms quickly slid around Tony’s waist and hugged him tightly. It was Tony’s turn to huff, though admittedly it came out as more of a squeak, because Steve was unfairly strong.

“Two can play at this game,” Steve said smugly.

“Yeah, yeah,” Tony grumbled, though secretly he was pleased as Steve tugged him further up onto his chest. He snuggled in happily, tucking his head under Steve’s chin.

Steve loved it when Tony laid on top of him; most of the time Tony preferred to sleep beside him, because Steve emitted heat like a furnace, but every once in a while he didn’t mind making Steve happy. Besides, there was no safer feeling than the one you got when you were laying on top of supersolider. With Steve’s arms wrapped around him like this, there was nothing that could touch him and Tony loved that feeling.

He idly though that Tones would love it too. And Tones seemed to run cold a lot, so Tones would probably also love how hot Steve was. Then Tony would be free to snuggle up to Steve’s side the way he loved. Of course, Tones would probably end up sprawled across the both of them. Especially if Bucky joined them. Ooh, maybe Tony and Tones could end up in the middle of a Bucky-and-Steve sandwich…

“What are you thinking about?” Steve asked. “You’re much more relaxed than usual when we haven’t had sex.”

“I was thinking about Tones and Bucky joining us,” Tony said shamelessly, realizing as he spoke that he truly did like the idea.

Bucky would never be into sex, but that was okay. He figured that Tones would be, but honestly Tony didn’t know that for a fact. It wasn’t like he’d ever talked to Tones about. But if Tones wasn’t interested, that would be okay too. What Tony wanted the most was all of them together. It was just now occurring to him that Bucky should be there too. Because of course he should be, and why hadn’t Tony come to that conclusion before?

“Wh-what?!” Steve choked, and Tony lifted himself up a bit to look down at Steve and blink.

Sometimes it was weird, remembering that other people’s brains didn’t work the same way that his own did. He had to back up and think for a moment before he realized what was giving Steve so much consternation, and then he could barely keep himself from rolling his eyes.

“Not sexually,” he said a bit impatiently. “I meant just here cuddling with us. Actually, this could make a lot of sense for us. You, me, and Tones can’t exactly come out as a public couple if we’re also presenting Tones as my long-lost twin brother. That’s a bit much for people to swallow even when it comes to me. But if Bucky is there too, then he and Tones can be a public couple and you and I can continue on as usual.” He nodded to himself, pleased with his problem-solving skills.

Steve took a deep breath and looked up at the ceiling for a moment, then shook his head. “Tony, sweetheart, do you remember that conversation we had about how people are not puppets for you to operate as you please?”

“Of course I do,” Tony said, insulted. “Steve, this is totally not the same thing.”

“It really is,” Steve said, but his voice was fond. He kept his arms wrapped around Tony’s waist as he sat up, somehow seamlessly maneuvering them both until Tony was comfortably seated on Steve’s lap and Steve was sitting upright. Tony stared at him, pouting.

“It’s not,” he said, distinctly hearing the sound of a whine in his own voice.

Steve smiled. “It kind of is,” he said gently. “Sweetheart, you can’t just decide for everyone what’s going to happen in the future. I know your big, beautiful brain is always moving in twenty different directions, and things seem logical to you, but you also have to take what people want into consideration. You don’t know if Tones would want to be a part of our relationship, never mind Bucky. You also don’t know if I would want that.”

Tony narrowed his eyes. “Steve, there is literally nothing you could say to convince me that you wouldn’t want two Tony Stark’s to yourself.”

It was hilarious to watch the way that Steve struggled with himself over the next few seconds. He so obviously wanted to refute what Tony had said, but Tony was right and they both knew it.

“… Fine,” Steve said at last, a flush rising to his cheeks. “I’ll give you that one. But my point still stands. You don’t know what Tones or Bucky wants. Frankly, I’m a little surprised to hear you bringing Bucky into it. I didn’t know you thought about Bucky like that.”

“I don’t. I mean, I love him but I’m not really in love with him,” Tony said, shrugging. “Who knows, maybe that could change. But even if it didn’t, that doesn’t mean I’d be uncomfortable including Bucky or anything. It would make both you and Tones happy.”

And, though Tony didn’t say it out loud, he also thought it would make Bucky happy. He knew for a fact that there had never been anything between Bucky and Steve, but that didn’t mean there weren’t some feelings there on both sides. Bucky wasn’t unhappy, and neither was Steve. But there was definitely room in there for both of them to be more happy. Was that such a bad thing?

More and more Tony was realizing that Tones coming around might be just the catalyst they needed to make everything change for the better, and he wasn’t going to give up on that. He would drag everyone into the positions they needed to be in even if he had to do it while they were kicking and screaming.

Steve was staring at him with a very soft look on his face. “Tony, have I ever told you how amazing you are?”

“Yes, but you should tell me more often,” Tony said quickly to hide the brief, uncomfortable flutter in his chest. Even after all this time, Steve’s genuine admiration could make him squirm.

“Right,” Steve said with a knowing smile. “Do you really think Tones would want that?”

Tony nodded. “I really do. I don’t think there is any Tony Stark out there who doesn’t think that Steve Rogers is amazing,” he said. “The Rogers in Tones’s world is a dick, but you’re not. You’re the perfect Steve Rogers.”

“Oh sure,” Steve said, rolling his eyes.

“It’s true!” Tony said, though he smiled too. “I mean, I’m not really sure how Tones feels about me. I think he would, but…” Tony shrugged again. “You and Bucky though? Yeah, that’s a definite.”

Steve made a thoughtful sound. “I can’t say the idea isn’t appealing,” he said slowly. “I just don’t know how it would work logistically.”

“We can figure it out,” Tony said confidently. He wasn’t concerned about that part of it at all. Steve was a little less versed in this sort of thing, but Tony was more familiar with just how many ways there were for people to fit together. He didn’t foresee jealousy being an issue, so he was sure that they’d be able to work it out together.

“And of course, there’s the biggest question of all… which is whether or not Tones is staying,” said Steve. “Is that what you two were talking about earlier?”

“I’ve been waiting for you to ask about that,” Tony said, grinning. He knew curiosity must have been burning at Steve throughout supper. For someone who liked to act like he was above the gossip that Tony and Natasha so freely indulged in, Steve was one of the nosiest Avengers by far.

“Tell me,” Steve demanded, poking him in the side. Tony squeaked and swatted Steve’s hand away.

“Stop that or I’ll move!” he said.

“No!” Steve said, wrapping his arms around Tony’s waist again. “I won’t let you.”

“Rude,” Tony said, lightly flicking Steve in the forehead.

“Telllll meeeee,” Steve whined.

“Okay, okay,” Tony said, rolling his eyes. Honestly, it was like having a big kid around sometimes.

He quickly told Steve about his conversation with Strange and Reed. Steve’s amusement faded as Tony spoke, and a frown crossed his face. He looked exactly the way that Tony had been feeling all day. Happy and sad all at once, which was a conflicting feeling that was hard to deal with – and also kind of like he wanted to jump up, go find Tones, and gives Tony a huge hug.

“That’s rough. Tones must have been upset,” Steve said finally.

Tony nodded. “I think so. So, I gave the disc to Thor and asked him to take it to Asgard. Strange is pretty good at magic, but Thor says his mother has literally been practicing magic for centuries. She might have heard of something that Strange hasn’t.” He made a face. “Even Loki might be helpful, depending on how much of an asshole he wants to be.”

“That was good thinking though. I guess Thor is basically our last hope,” Steve murmured.

“Pretty much. Coulson offered a few days ago to let SHIELD have a look at it, but…” Tony exhaled loudly. “First of all, I’m a little offended by the idea that SHIELD could come up with something that I can’t. Secondly, I’m not sure I’m comfortable with SHIELD experimenting with discs that lead to parallel universes.”

It was Steve’s turn to pull a face. “Yeah, that’s probably not the best idea. If Coulson, Natasha, and Clint couldn’t offer any advice, and you and JARVIS couldn’t come up with anything, it seems unlikely anyone else at SHIELD could.”

“That’s what I thought. If Thor comes back empty-handed, then…” Tony shrugged.

“Then Tones is stuck here,” Steve said. “That must be hard for him.”

“Not as hard as you’d think,” Tony said evasively. He wasn’t going to come right out and tell Steve everything about his conversation with Tones. He’d told Tones that was just between the two of them and he meant it. But he didn’t think there was any harm in a tiny hint.

“Really,” Steve said slowly. “Does Tones want to stay here?”

“Honestly? I don’t know,” Tony said, because that, at least, was true.

Steve hummed softly. “Well, I guess I get why he’d be a little conflicted. Things here are way better than in his world. The team is actually a team, and no one will hurt him here. But let me guess. He feels like he has to go back because of his responsibilities.”

“That’s – yeah. How’d you know?” Tony said, surprised.

“Ah, Tony. All of you are just the same,” Steve said warmly, leaning forward to kiss Tony’s cheek. “You would be the same way.”

“I would not,” Tony objected, even though they both knew that was a lie. “And even if I was, at least I’d be fighting to return to a world where people loved me. Do you know the only people that Tones talks even a little favorably about is Rhodey, Pepper, and Happy? That’s it. He’ll mention that Spider-Kid once in a while, but even that’s rare. There’s no one else, Steve. No one.”

“I know,” Steve said, lips pressing into a thin line. His hands flexed against Tony’s hips, and Tony just knew that Steve was thinking about how much he’d love to find the Steve Rogers of Tones’s world and punch him in the face.

It was too bad they couldn’t open up a portal to Tones’s world for like five minutes. Just long enough to find the other Avengers and teach them a lesson…

Tony sighed. “I guess we just have to wait and see what happens when Thor comes back,” he said. “If Thor hasn’t found a solution, the decision is made for Tones. He’ll be stuck here.”

“Yeah,” Steve said, and again Tony knew that they were thinking the same thing.

They wanted Tones to want to stay here, not be stuck here.

Chapter Text

Tony found himself feeling a little bereft after supper was over. Stark and Steve disappeared upstairs – probably to get intimate, judging by the way they were eyeing each other. He watched them go and thought back to his conversation with Bucky, and in particular what Bucky had said about Tony, Stark, and Steve. Coupled with the tender way that Stark had hugged Tony earlier, Tony could sort of see where Bucky was coming from.

He just didn’t know how to feel about it. About any of it. He had responsibilities in his world, and he didn’t feel like he could just walk away from them no matter how tempting the thought of it was. Maybe when he was in his early twenties, that was something he could have done without thinking twice. That Tony had cared more about having a good time.

But now? It tugged at his conscience. He didn’t want to be selfish. He was trying so hard to be a good man. Abandoning his friends and the world didn’t exactly have “good man” written all over it. Tony knew that. But he also knew that he would never find what he had here in his world. People there were too biased against him. No one, except for a select few, thought well of Tony Stark.

That didn’t seem to be the case here. Tony had been doing a lot of research into things. It seemed like he and Stark had similar backgrounds, but Stark had been a lot more successful at rewriting his image and rebuilding his reputation. The general public actually seemed to think pretty well of him. And in spite of all his research, Tony couldn’t figure out how Stark had done it. Which was frustrating, because he would have liked to have known so he could implement the same strategies in his world.

Or he could just stay here and not have to do that at all.

Tony winced at the selfish thought, but it was definitely there looming over everything. Here, the team welcomed him with open arms. They wanted him on the field with them as Restart. Plus, he’d be able to do the same work at Stark Industries – and considering that Stark was here too, they’d be able to get twice as much done. He even had a new identity waiting for him as Antonio Edwin Stark. An identity that came without all the criticism and judgement that the mantle of Tony Stark held.

On top of all that, JARVIS was here. Hearing JARVIS’s voice again was like a balm to Tony’s soul. He loved FRIDAY, but she just wasn’t the same. JARVIS had been with him through so much – through university, through his twenties and thirties, through Afghanistan, through becoming Iron Man. Losing him had been absolutely devastating and seeing Vision all the time had been torture. How could Tony just leave JARVIS behind again?

Something tickled the back of his neck, drawing him from his increasingly morose thoughts. Tony blinked and startled, pulling away and turning to find that Natasha was standing behind him. She looked down at him, which would have been to get Tony’s hackles up had they been in his world. But this Natasha wasn’t doing it in a judgmental way. She looked more like she was trying to figure out what was going through his head.

“Those of us who don’t have supersoldiers to fuck are congregating in the living room for a movie night,” she said. “So, come on.”

“What if I don’t want to?” Tony asked.

Natasha shrugged. “Then you don’t. But I’d rather you did. Clint will try to cuddle me all night instead, and I’ll have to elbow him in the ribs for not taking a hint. So, I’m really here for Clint’s benefit.”

Tony smiled despite himself. “All for Clint, huh?”

“Totally,” she said, somehow keeping a straight face. “If it makes a difference, I’ll paint your nails and let you braid my hair.”

He perked up at that. “Alright, sure.”

“Great. Come on.” Natasha pulled him, hooked her arm through his, and dragged him into the living room. Bucky and Sam were sprawled out on one of the couches. Bruce had the other couch to himself and was stretched out on his back with a book. Clint was sitting on the floor alone and made grabby hands at Tony when he and Natasha entered.

Natasha, however, shook her head at him. “No way. He’s mine for at least the first movie. I want to someone’s nails, so unless you’re volunteering…”

Clint frowned at her. “Last time you painted my nails red. Red. I had to hear Tony go on about Iron Man pride for like two weeks!”

She just smirked and pulled Tony over to one of the empty chairs. Tony sat obediently and parted his legs when Natasha pressed at his knees, allowing her the space to sit in front of her. He had some practice at braiding hair thanks to Pepper; it was one of the few things that Pepper found helped when she had a migraine. He wasn’t sure how Natasha had figured this ability out and he wasn’t brave enough to ask.

Sam started a movie. It was an action flick that Tony wasn’t familiar with – not surprising, since he’d quickly discovered that media like movies, television shows and books weren’t identical between this world and his. He focused more on the long red hair in front of him. He took the ties that Natasha gave him and then began French braiding her hair. The motions were unexpectedly soothing.

When her hair was finished, Natasha twisted around and showed him two bottles of nail polish. One was a deep pinky-red color and the other was blue. Tony flicked his eyes between them thoughtfully for a moment, unable to decide.

“How about this one, and then I can do a gold design on top,” Natasha said, holding up the pinky-red. “For Iron Man and Bumblebee.”

“It’s Restart,” Tony grumbled.

Her smirk deepened. “Sure it is.”

He made a face at her and she snickered before grabbing his right hand and twisting the bottle of polish open. Tony rolled his eyes but submitted, allowing her to begin painting his nails. He was pretty sure that he would never be rid of that dumb nickname for as long as he stayed here. He’d have to do something to get Stark back for that. Bruce or Clint, or even Bucky, might have some ideas…

“Anyone want popcorn?” Sam asked, pausing the movie and getting up.

“I want chocolate!” Clint exclaimed, shooting up.

Bruce groaned into his book. “Please no chocolate for him. He’ll literally be bouncing off the walls.”

“That was one time!”

Tony smiled as Clint started to whine, but it wasn’t long before his smile faded. To be honest, there was no one thing that made him want to stay here. It was everything. He didn’t know how he could forget about his world and not go back. But at the same time, he wasn’t sure if he was strong enough to give this up.

---

Pepper Potts pushed her chair back with a heavy sigh. She removed her glasses and set them down on top of her keyboard, then spent a moment or two rubbing her temples with her eyes shut to give her poor eyes a break and hopefully stave off the building migraine. It felt like she had been staring at this screen non-stop for months and there was still so much more for her to think about.

“Ms. Potts?” There was a light knock at the door before Pepper’s personal assistant, Charlotte, stuck her head inside the office. She didn’t look surprised to see Pepper’s state, but she did look a little apologetic over having interrupted Pepper’s moment of quiet.

“What is it?” Pepper asked, making sure to keep her voice pleasant. This wasn’t Charlotte’s fault. It wasn’t anyone’s fault – except for maybe Tony.

But no, that wasn’t fair, and Pepper mentally chided herself for thinking that way for even a moment. The footage they had found from Tony’s workshop indicated that he had been running experiments on some kind of disc. He’d taken precautions, but they just hadn’t been enough. She would never forget that horrified sinking feeling that came from watching that disc explode in Tony’s face. One bright flash of light later, their world was short one Tony Stark and no one knew what had come of him.

He might be dead. He might not. No one knew for sure. Out of desperation, Pepper had contacted Dr. Strange, Reed Richards, and even Charles Xavier. None of them could give her a steady answer; none of them really had the time to give her a good answer. They were all busy men. Pepper got that. But that made it no less frustrating. No one was making any progress on figuring out what had happened to Tony.

“Colonel Rhodes is on the line for you,” Charlotte said. She consulted her Starkpad. “I’ve taken the liberty of moving your noon appointment to 2pm and canceling your 1pm. It was just the bank.”

“You are amazing,” Pepper said gratefully.

Charlotte gave her a shy smile. “I’m going out for lunch today. Shall I bring you something back?”

“Please,” Pepper said, leaning back in her chair. As Charlotte closed the door, Pepper kicked her heels off and hit the button the bring the call through. She’d probably pay for the canceled meeting later, but it was worth in the short term.

“Hi Pep,” Rhodey said. His voice was a little crackly, which wasn’t surprising. He might’ve been confined to a wheelchair right now, but that hadn’t stopped Rhodey from getting back into things as quickly as possible. So he could’ve been anywhere, and the reception still wasn’t great in many places.

“Hi,” Pepper said, standing up. She padded over to the windows and closed the blinds; they were so far up that she had plenty of privacy, but sometimes it was just nice to sit in the dark for a while.

“Any news?” Rhodey asked.

Pepper sighed. “I’m afraid not.”

“Damn,” Rhodey muttered.

She sat down, looking at the phone. This was killing Rhodey. He didn’t like being helpless. When Tony had gone missing in Afghanistan, Rhodey was able to do something about it. He’d kept up the search until Tony was found.

But he couldn’t do that now. There was nothing to search for. Strange’s theory about parallel worlds and alternate dimensions made Pepper’s head spin when she thought too hard about it. If Tony was somewhere else, then he was well out of their reach no matter what they did. Pepper had been able to deal with that by throwing herself into the company. Rhodey wasn’t so lucky.

“Do you think he’s out there?” Rhodey asked finally.

“Yes,” Pepper said instantly, because it was the truth. In her heart, she truly believed Tony was not dead.

But he might as well have been.

In her heart, though she wouldn’t have said it out loud yet, she also believed that they would never see Tony again. She didn’t know how she knew that, or why, but she did.

That was a much harder truth to come to terms with.

“I just wish we knew what happened,” Rhodey said, not for the first time.

Pepper made comforting sounds, and eventually he moved on to talking about what was going on with his job. She listened with half an ear while she opened her favorite online shoe store. She browsed through the shoes and idly selected a couple of new pairs. It wasn’t quite the same when Tony wasn’t buying them for her as an apology, but she also couldn’t go the rest of her life without new shoes.

Maybe someday it would be easier. A lot of things were up in the air right now. The board was not happy. But Pepper was confident that Stark Industries could ride the wave. There were lots of smart young kids out there – like that Peter Parker kid. Tony hadn’t named an heir, but Pepper was keeping a close eye on Peter. She thought the kid had a lot of potential. And Tony would have liked that, if Peter someday became the head of S.I. It wouldn’t be an easy road, but she’d keep the company going no matter what.

It was what Tony deserved.

As she clicked on the button to buy her shoes, she hoped that wherever Tony was, he was happy. That was never something he had been able to find here, and she was sure that would not have changed had he stayed here. Not with Rogers and those idiots running around. But happiness was something else that Tony deserved. She wanted to believe that he’d found it. She had to believe that.

Chapter Text

In the end, it took eight days for Thor to return. And in typical Thor fashion, he returned right when they needed him the most.

Tony reared back, blinking rapidly to dispel the spots from his vision. The bolt of lightning had been so bright that it took a few seconds for him to be able to see again. When he could, he realized that all of the attacking robots were now crumbled pieces of burnt metal on the ground far below. Something moved in the corner of his eye, but when he swung around it was only the Bumblebee armor.

“Does he do that a lot?” Tones asked over their private channel.

“Yup,” Tony said, craning his neck overhead. Sure enough, Thor came into view a moment later. With Mjolnir stretched out in front of him and his cape streaming behind him, he looked a lot like a fantastical god from a fairy tale. Which technically he was, if fantastical gods cried over Disney movies and ate the last of the Doritos without telling anyone.

“My friends!” Thor called out happily, waving with his free hand. “I saw you were having some trouble and took it upon myself to help!”

“Thanks Thor!” Tony shouted back since Thor wasn’t wearing his communicator.

“Just when I was starting to have fun,” Tones said, and Tony knew without looking that Tones was wearing a mock pout. He smiled to himself, looking over at Restart.

At first it had been a little weird to have another armor out in the field with them. Tones had been unsure about donning it, since technically they hadn’t introduced him to the world at large yet. But Tony had pointed out that he could always say that Rhodey or Pepper, or anyone for that matter, had been in the armor instead of Tones, and that had been enough to convince Tones to join them.

The battle, short-lived though it might have been, had been good for Tones. It had given him the chance to see what working with the team was really like, and hopefully impressed upon him the fact that there really was a good place for him here. Tony crossed his fingers that that might weigh things in their favor now that Thor had returned. Depending on what kind of news Thor had brought, this could go really well or really poorly.

“Iron Man, Restart, come in,” Steve said, his voice flowing smoothly into Tony’s ear.

“I’m here, Cap,” Tony said.

“Me too,” Tones said.

“Great, can you two give SHIELD a hand collecting some of the debris? I’ve asked Thor to help too. Nat and I are helping to evacuate a collapsed building,” said Steve.

“Sure, but be careful,” Tony said. He wasn’t quite as worried about Natasha; Steve would always watch out for her. But Tony knew firsthand just how reckless Steve could be. Sometimes it was like Steve thought that he was invulnerable just because he was a supersoldier. It was an attitude that quite frequently, Tony wanted to shake him for.

“I’ll keep an eye on him,” Natasha promised.

“Hey,” Steve complained.

Tony heard nothing after that, which meant Natasha had probably shut Steve up in some other way. He smirked to himself and headed down to the ground, where he and Tones spent a couple of hours helping SHIELD out. He caught a glimpse of Bucky, Sam, and Clint doing the same thing a few times. Between all of them and SHIELD, the debris was cleared away pretty quickly.

Tones was oddly silent while they worked, and once or twice Tony noticed Bucky shooting him a worried look. Everyone was on edge about this, Tony realized. He half-wished that Thor would just come over and blurt out whatever he had found, but of course Thor couldn’t do that when they were all in public. That would be just asking for some journalist to be in the right place at the wrong time and leave them all with a bunch of questions they weren’t prepared to answer.

It seemed to take forever before they were able to return to the tower. As the two armors landed on the pad, Tony couldn’t help looking over at Tones. There was a strangely closed-off look on Tones’s face. He was like a stranger, and that was weird. Tones hadn’t been a stranger to them in months. Yet right now it was like Tony didn’t even know him.

He didn’t like it.

They assembled in the kitchen, all of them quiet. Thor was the last to join them, having changed out of his Asgardian garb into a much more comfortable pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt.

“I spoke to my mother at length, and then to my brother,” he announced. “Shall I tell just you, or would you like our friends to hear as well?”

“You might as well tell everyone. They’ll only eavesdrop,” Tones said with a faint smile.

There were a few grumbled protests from Clint and Sam, but Natasha shut them up pretty fast with a pointed look. After all, Thor wasn’t wrong and they all knew it. Tony couldn’t help shifting impatiently. It helped when Steve reached out and took his hand, intertwining their fingers.

It shocked the hell out of him when Bucky took his other hand… but Tony didn’t pull away. He let Bucky hold on and might have even held on in turn.

“My mother was most puzzled by the object you sent with me. She had never seen anything like it,” Thor began. “She couldn’t identify the magic it had been made from, nor could any spell she cast activate it. It seems, as you theorized,” he nodded at Tony, “that the disc was meant for a one-time use. No matter what magic she tried to use on it, it could not hold anything.”

Tones’s shoulders slumped, but he held himself upright like he was waiting for a blow. “Okay.”

“I also took the disc to my brother to see what he made of it. Loki has always loved a puzzle, and not being able to solve this one definitely vexed him.” Thor smirked, though it quickly faded away. “Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to offer any ideas either. I left the disc with them on Asgard for further testing, but my mother asked me to tell you that it was very unlikely that the disc will ever be anything more than what it is now.”

“Okay,” Tones said again. “But… does she have any other ways of sending me back?” He looked and sounded a bit desperate to Tony.

Yet it didn’t escape Tony’s notice that Tones had said back, not home.

Thor sighed. “That’s what took me so long. I remained on Asgard while she went through all of her books. My brother even helped to look at her request, but they couldn’t find anything. Much like your friend Strange, she said it would be impossible to pinpoint your universe. There are too many worlds out there. Finding yours is a matter of sheer chance. You could end up in a place that’s similar but a little bit different, much like here… or you could end up somewhere much worse. The likelihood of the latter is quite high, given what she said, and so she wouldn’t feel comfortable attempting.” His expression was grave. “She passed along her condolences.”

Tony bit his lip, looking at Tones. The silence felt weighted, and it seemed to stretch endlessly because Tones didn’t say anything at all.

“What about a message?” Tony said, unable to keep quiet, and Thor cocked his head.

“A message?” he repeated. “I don’t think that would work. I told you, my mother said that that there is no way to find what world Tones came from.”

“Yeah, I know. But could she broadcast a message to more than one world?” Tony pressed, letting go of both Bucky and Steve to take a few steps forward. “If she could send, like, a general message out to all the worlds letting them know that Tones is okay…”

Thor began to look thoughtful. “I had not considered such a thing, but I could ask. It might be possible.”

“But how would Tones’s world even know the message was meant for them?” Natasha said.

Tony shrugged. “They wouldn’t, I guess. But if I know Pepper and Rhodey, that would make them both feel better.” At least, Tony thought that it would.

“Thanks Thor,” Tones said, very quietly, and then he walked out of the room without saying another word.

The whole team looked at each other. Thor looked very upset; he hated being the bearer of bad news. Clint moved forward and gave Thor a comforting hug, letting Thor scent him.

“I’ll, uh, just –” Tony jerked his thumb at the door and then followed after Tones.

He wasn’t surprised when Tones went right back to his room, though he thought that the fact that Tones didn’t shut the door in his face was probably a good sign. Still, Tony lingered at the door rather than enter without permission. He watched silently as Tones sat down on the edge of the bed, resting his elbows on his knees, and putting his face in his hands.

“You know, a little part of me really thought I’d make it back,” Tones said finally.

“Part of me thought you would too,” Tony admitted. For all of his plans, he’d also put some thought towards how he’d console the team after Tones left.

It didn’t seem fair that Tones was trapped here. It wasn’t what any of them wanted.

“I could keep looking,” Tony said finally. “Thor’s mother doesn’t know everything. There could be other planets out there…”

Tones shook his head and dropped his hands. He wasn’t crying, just seemed strangely numb. “No. Thor is the only one who could do that kind of travel, and I couldn’t ask that of him. It’s hard enough that he has to split his time between here and Asgard. I can’t ask him to divide his time up even more by travelling to hundreds of planets on the off chance one of them magically has the answer.”

Tony pursed his lips because Tones had a point. “Yeah, fair. I… I’m sorry, Tones.”

“You are? I know you wanted me to stay here,” Tones said.

“I did, but I wanted the choice to be yours.” Tony fidgeted, dragging his thumbnail down the doorframe. “We could… still try if you wanted to. You might make it back home…”

For a very long moment, Tones looked genuinely tempted.

But then he shook his head and sighed.

“No. I talked to Strange too.”

“You did?” Tony said, surprised.

Tones nodded. “I ran the statistics based on what he said. I have something like a one in a hundred billion chance of randomly finding my universe. Those are hideous odds even for someone who doesn’t have shitty luck like me. Knowing my luck, I’d end up stuck somewhere Hydra is ruling or worse.”

“You might even end up trapped somewhere magic doesn’t exist,” Tony murmured. If that happened, then Tones really would be trapped. They wouldn’t even be able to help him.

“Exactly. So I’m best staying here, because at least this world is pretty similar to mine and people like me here and everything. It’s just…” Tones’s bottom lip quivered and he looked down, clenching his hands in his lap. “I’m going to miss Rhodey and Pepper and Happy and my ‘bots and FRIDAY.” His voice broke.

“Oh, Tones.” Tony finally walked into the room and sat down on the edge of the bed, wrapping Tones up in a hug. Tones broke then, sobbing into Tony’s shoulder.

And Tony couldn’t do anything.

It was a terrible kind of pain to have to sit there while someone he loved suffered and be unable to help them, but it was only a fraction of what Tones was going through.

He wished he could fix this.

He wished he could give Tones the option to go back, or better yet the ability to travel between the two worlds.

But he couldn’t.

He looked up, hearing a noise at the door, and spotted Steve and Bucky. The two alphas didn’t hesitate to enter the room and join the hug, both of them wrapping their arms around Tones and Tony. The only sound in the room was that of Tones’s quiet sobs.

Chapter Text

“Hey. You okay?”

Tony instinctively opened his eyes at the quiet, familiar voice. Bruce was standing beside the bed, somehow having approached without Tony ever realizing that he was getting close. But then, maybe that wasn’t so surprising. The Bruce Banner from Tony’s world had been really good at that too – or at least, he had during those rare occasions when Bruce had actually been around.

“You’ve been in your room for a while,” Bruce clarified when Tony just stared at him. “Everyone is getting a little worried.”

“I’m fine,” Tony said automatically, inwardly grimacing when his voice came out all raspy. Honestly, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d said anything to anyone. He realized in that moment that he didn’t even know how long it had been since Thor brought back the news that he was stuck here.

Trapped here.

The knowledge sat heavily in the pit of his stomach, a weird combination of anger and grief and sadness and – much as he hated to admit it – relief. And because of that, there was guilt in there too.

“It’s okay to not be fine, you know,” Bruce said gently. “No one would blame you for not being fine. You got some pretty heavy news a couple of days ago.”

A couple of days? It all felt like a blur to Tony. He knew that Steve and Bucky and Stark had been in and out fairly frequently, to the point where it was actually rare that Tony was left alone. But he couldn’t bring himself to respond to any of them when they spoke to him. Even something as simple as words, which really should have been easy, had felt like too much until the appearance of his science bro.

Maybe it was because Bruce was familiar. In Tony’s world, he’d long since grown used to ignoring Rogers. Barnes had never been around for him to ignore, and of course Stark was a whole different ballgame altogether. But the Banner in Tony’s world had never really done anything except leave Tony behind, and, while that hurt, it was nothing compared to the rest of them.

Bruce sat down on the edge of the bed, straightening his glasses. “Since Steve coaxed Bucky out to take a shower and eat some food, and Tony is busy in a meeting with Pepper and some other SI executives, I thought maybe you’d like a chance to talk.”

“I thought you weren’t that kind of doctor,” Tony said, old spite and bitterness welling up. He would never forget spilling his heart and soul out to Banner, only for Banner to fall asleep right in the middle of Tony’s story. Banner hadn’t really cared about Tony’s hurt afterwards, either. He’d just made an excuse with a flippant remark about how he wasn’t a therapist.

Which… wasn’t the point. Tony hadn’t been talking to Banner because he thought Banner was a therapist. He’d been talking to Banner because he thought they were friends, and he’d needed someone who wasn’t Rhodey or Pepper to talk to.

Bruce cocked his head slightly, eyebrows furrowing. “I’m not sure what you mean.”

Of course he didn’t. The Avengers in this world really were perfect, weren’t they? Or if not perfect, they were flawed in ways that still made them heads and tails above their counterparts. Tony didn’t understand it. More and more, he thought that the problem must have been him. Because the rest of the Avengers in his world got along just fine, and Stark in this world was okay too, so clearly…

He sighed, closing his eyes again. “I don’t know what you want me to say,” he mumbled.

“I don’t want you to say anything unless you want to,” Bruce said, and his voice was very kind. Too kind. The familiar burn of tears made Tony scrunch his nose in an effort to hold them at bay.

He had cried more than enough over the past couple of days. He was pretty sure that only Steve, Bucky, and Stark had been witness to that, and those three were more than enough. No one else needed to see him cry. So he took a couple of deep breaths, held them, and let them out slowly until the threatening sting had faded away. Only then did he speak.

“I don’t know what to say, Bruce. I really don’t. I feel guilty and sad and stupid. I never should have been messing around with that stupid disc in the first place. I didn’t know what it was. I thought it was fine, but I should’ve known better,” Tony said.

And there was nothing anyone could say to that because he really had been stupid. Messing around with it could have resulted in something way worse than Tony being pulled into an alternate universe. It could’ve destroyed the tower and all the innocent people in it, or worse yet blown up and taken half or all of New York along with it. Just the thought of his foolish behavior made Tony feel increasingly aggravated.

Bruce sighed. “Well, I guess I can’t really argue with that. Both you and Tony should have known better, but I guess that just proves that all Tony Stark’s are the same no matter the world.” He was clearly trying to sound light-hearted about it.

“We’re not the same at all,” Tony said quietly. “Tony is a lot better than me.” That was something he believed with his whole heart.

First there was the kindness with which Stark had allowed him into the tower, opening his home and his very life up to a virtual stranger. Then there were the relationships that Stark had built with the Avengers, and the relationship that Stark had with Steve. There was the work-life balance that Stark had somehow achieved, the positive reputation he had built, and even the fact that S.I. was doing better than ever.

Tony envied him for all of it. He could tell that Stark was a much better person than he was. There was just something about Stark: he approached every situation with a kind of calm assurance that Tony knew he’d never be able to achieve. Stark just expected that things would go right for him, and they did.

“That’s not true. You’re a good person, Tones,” Bruce said sharply.

“I’m really not, and I can prove it,” Tony said. He rolled over onto his back and sat up. The movement actually made him a little dizzy, since it was the first time he’d been vertical in a while.

“Go ahead. Prove it,” Bruce said, a funny look on his face.

“I hated my world,” Tony said. The honest words tasted like ash. “I hated the Avengers. They never did anything for me but use me and then throw me aside. I hated my company. I did everything I could to keep S.I. afloat and the board thanked me by trying to fire me. I hated the innocent people I was supposed to be protecting. You know before I came here, the media didn’t say a single good thing about me for over three months?”

His throat was getting tight, and his eyes were burning again, tell-tale signs that he should stop. Yet still, the words poured out: “I even got to the point where I hated being Iron Man, because putting on the suit meant that I was going to become the scapegoat. Nothing I ever did was right. No one was happy with me. They expected me to do everything, and I got shit on when I couldn’t rise to their impossible expectations.

“But you know what, Bruce? I still felt like I had to go back. Because I had a responsibility to them all. The things I did when I was younger… I’ve always tried to atone for them. I knew I would never do enough to actually atone, but damn it I tried. And now… now that I can’t go back…”

“What, Tones?” Bruce said softly when Tony fell silent.

The gentle nickname tugged at Tony’s heart, just as it always did.

How long had it been since the Rhodey of his world had called him that?

Months, at least. After Rhodey got paralyzed, Tony barely saw him. He had lost contact with Rhodey and Pepper so easily, he realized, and he hadn’t even noticed. Everything had been a complete blur: a total struggle to keep his head above water amidst everything…

“Tones?” Bruce prompted again.

“I’m glad I’m stuck here,” Tony burst out. “I didn’t want to go back there. I’d rather be dead then go back.”

Bruce looked stricken. “Tones…”

“I hated it there. I had no one to turn to. And I still would’ve gone back just because it was the right thing to do. But I didn’t want to! I wanted to stay. I want to stay… even though that makes me the worst person ever.” As hard as he had tried to hold back the tears, they started running down his face. Embarrassed, Tony flopped back down and buried his face in the pillow.

He didn’t have to look to know that Bruce was hovering uncertainly behind him. Raw emotions weren’t really Bruce’s thing. He almost felt bad for breaking down like this around Bruce of all people, but he couldn’t help it. He’d been holding that in for so long, not daring to really say it out loud, and he just couldn’t keep it in any longer.

Finally, a hand settled on his shoulder. “You’re not a bad person, Tones, you hear me? I know bad people. I know a lot of bad people. Someone wanting to be saved from a situation where they’re being treated very poorly doesn’t make them bad. I think a lot of people in your world got way too reliant on the fact that you were always there to smooth ruffled feathers and make things okay. I personally think none of those people deserve you, but I understand why you feel the way you do. But having said that, those people are just going to have to figure their own shit out. You’re ours now.”

Tony didn’t think he could answer that without crying even more, so he remained quiet. Bruce squeezed his shoulder and just sat there with him for a few minutes. The quiet companionship helped a little, even if it didn’t do much to lessen the feeling of guilt in Tony’s heart. At this point, he was crying less because of what he’d lost and more because he was almost happy about it.

Pepper, Rhodey, Dummy, FRIDAY, Happy, Peter… he would miss all of them.

But a little part of him felt that sacrifice was worth finally being free, and that hurt.

“I think you should come have supper with us,” Bruce said finally. “Steve said he’d cook, and Thor is baking cookies just for you.”

“For me?” Tony said in a tiny voice.

“Yeah, just for you,” Bruce said warmly. “You should get up and shower too.”

Tony thought that over. He did feel pretty gross. So he nodded, and said, “Bruce?”

“Yes?”

“Would you… um, if Bucky is around, would you send him back in?” Tony said shyly, embarrassed all over again.

“Of course. I’m sure he’s right outside.” Bruce got up and Tony heard the door open. About ten seconds later, another weight sank the mattress beside him. He knew just by the scent that it was Bucky, even as Bucky laid a hand on Tony’s lower back.

That was, perhaps, one good thing about the last couple days. Bucky had been a little apprehensive about touching Tony before. Only Stark and the Rhodey of this world had touched Tony freely. But that seemed to have vanished over the last couple of days, and Bucky and even Steve were a lot handsier with him. Tony had to admit that he cherished each touch, after so long of so little contact.

“You okay?” Bucky asked, and Tony rolled over towards him. He met Bucky’s eyes, wondering if Bucky had heard everything he’d just said to Bruce. Probably. Even if Bucky hadn’t had his ear up against the door, super soldier hearing was an impressive thing and Tony hadn’t exactly tried to be quiet.

“Can you help me shower?” Tony asked him. That was embarrassing too, but he somehow rather it be Bucky instead of Bruce. Stark would’ve been okay too, but he knew Stark was busy. And while he could’ve tried to shower alone, he’d felt dizzy enough just sitting up that he was positive he would collapse in the shower. That wouldn’t go over too well.

Bucky nodded, his eyes very soft. “Sure. Come on.”

Chapter Text

Tony relaxed back in his chair with satisfaction, hooking his right ankle over his left and crossing his arms. He watched as the specs finally came together the way that he wanted them to. It had taken a lot of time and effort, but he finally had something to show off at the next S.I. Board meeting that was going to blow everyone’s socks off. He couldn’t wait to show Pepper.

“Sir, Agent Barton is requesting entry,” JARVIS said. “Shall I let him in?”

“Sure,” Tony said, a little surprised. He turned his head to watch as the doors swept open, and Clint came in. The reason for Clint’s visit became clear when Tony spotted the bundle of arrows that Clint had braced against his shoulder.

“I think something’s wrong with them,” said Clint, walking over. “I was trying them out in the range, and they keep veering off a bit to the left. That said, the sticky residue that they spit out is fantastic. So if you can get that one issue fixed…” He gently set the bundle of arrows down on the table.

“Maybe it’s a weight issue,” Tony said consideringly. When you were working with something like arrows, something as small as a fraction of a pound could throw off the aim entirely. The concoction that Bruce had developed was a little bit heavier than what Tony usually equipped Clint’s arrows with. He’d have to see if he could atone for the weight somehow. Given the nature of their jobs, Clint needed to be sure that he was going to be hitting his targets every time.

“Dunno. All that scientific mumbo jumbo is your wheelhouse. I’m just here to shoot things,” Clint said, hopping up on the table beside the arrows. Tony considered telling him to get off, but it was very unlikely that Clint would listen. He was annoying like that.

“I’ll put it on my to-do list. Hopefully, I’ll be able to get to it soon.” Tony stood up and grabbed the arrows, carrying them over to a nearby counter. He’d have to confer with Bruce about them before he could get anywhere.

“You have been down here a long time,” Clint said cautiously.

And right then, Tony knew what this was about.

He sighed and turned around, rolling his eyes. “Are you down here to ask me if I’m bothered by the fact that Steve and Bucky have been fussing over Tones for the past three days?” he asked.

It had been about that long since Bruce and Bucky finally coaxed Tones out of the bedroom. Seeing how quiet and withdrawn Tones was had been enough to break even Tony’s heart. He hadn’t realized until that moment just how much Tones had progressed since coming to their world, and it was really hard to see Tones go so far back the other way. Not scared of the team, but just so sad and depressed that nothing could make him smile.

Tony wanted to fix it. Of course he did. Fixing was what he did. But he couldn’t, and he was self-aware enough to know that he wasn’t what Tones needed right now. Trying to explain that to Steve and Bucky or to anyone else on the team would be useless, though. So he’d quietly retreated to the workshop, knowing that Tones would come to find him when Tones needed him.

The tips of Clint’s ears reddened even as he shook his head. “No.”

“Boy, I sure hope you’re better a liar than that when you’re working as a spy for SHIELD,” Tony told him. “Look, I didn’t come down here to pout because Steve is all over Tones. In fact, I am… very okay with the fact that Steve has an outlet for all of his fussing needs.”

More okay than he could ever put into words, as a matter of fact. Tony loved Steve, he really did, but sometimes Steve’s alpha tendencies could get a little stifling. Tony was a modern beta. He liked having his own space. He hadn’t been aware of just how much he’d compromised on that for Steve’s benefit until Tones came around and could act as an outlet for much of said alpha tendencies.

“I kinda figured that was the case, but I thought I’d ask anyway just in case,” Clint said, swinging his legs. “Don’t want you to feel left out or anything like that.”

“I don’t,” Tony reassured him. There was zero doubt in his mind that he could go upstairs right now, and Steve would happily accompany him into the shower or make him supper. He could play Mario Kart with Sam, or watch Thor bake, or watch a movie with Bucky, or do science-y stuff with Bruce, or do yoga with Natasha. The team was always there for him when he needed them.

Having Tones around just… made the whole system work a bit better for everyone.

“Are you sure?” Clint asked.

“I’m very sure,” Tony said with a firm nod.”

“Then Natasha’s right, and you are hiding from Tones?” Clint said, squinting at him suspiciously.

Tony rolled his eyes. “No, I’m not hiding from anyone. Apparently you all failed to notice that I’m a busy man with a lot of shit to do.” He gestured to what he had been working on as proof. “Unless you wanted to see a pissed off Pepper descend on the tower.”

“Uh, no, I’m good,” Clint said, which was wise on his part. The Avengers had learned pretty early on to fear Pepper’s wrath. She might not have been a superhero, but she had a special power all her own.

“That’s what I thought. However, I did just reach a good stopping point, so I will come upstairs,” Tony said. It was time to put all these silly rumors and theories to rest. Besides, he did need to talk to Tones and now was as good of a time as ever. He opened up a drawer, grabbed a folder, and gestured for Clint to follow him.

The first thing Tony did when he got upstairs was head for the shower, because it had been a while. No sooner had he climbed inside and started soaping up his hair than the door opened, and a very familiar figure slipped into the shower behind Tony. Big hands landed on his head, gently taking over the act of rubbing the shampoo in – and then started massaging his scalp. Tony sighed.

“Thanks Bucky,” he said, reaching back to pat at the naked hip behind him.

The hands in his hair paused. “Excuse me?”

Tony swallowed a laugh, glancing back with an expression of pure innocence. “Oh Steve, it’s you.”

“Haha,” Steve said, making a face at him. “I hope you think you’re funny, because no one else does.”

“I think I’m hilarious,” Tony said smugly. “Besides, maybe Bucky and I have been showering together. We might have been working out the finer details of the you, me, him, and Tones triangle we have going on.” He paused for a moment. “Err, square.”

“I’d be more inclined to believe that if it didn’t involve you and Bucky being naked together,” said Steve, clearly amused.

“Yeah, okay,” Tony said. He surrendered to the prodding at his shoulder and faced forward again, allowing Steve to finish washing his hair.

Okay, maybe he didn’t mind a little coddling.

“I was just getting ready to come downstairs and fish you out of the workshop,” Steve commented as he started rinsing Tony’s hair. “JARVIS said you’d reached a good stopping point.”

“Clint did the job for you,” Tony replied. “And I wanted to talk to Tones.”

“Oh yeah?” Steve said, curious. “About what?”

“You’ll see,” Tony said, smiling to himself when Steve sighed. But that was okay, because Steve’s annoyance quickly dissipated when Tony turned around and pressed his body against Steve’s. The wet, passionate kiss they shared was more than enough to turn Steve’s attention to other things.

When they were finished, and they had both washed themselves off, they climbed out. Tony dried himself out and padded out into the bedroom. Bucky, who was sitting on the bed, looked up at him. Tony smiled pleasantly, completely unfazed by the fact that he was stark naked, and helped himself to a pair of Steve’s boxers and sweatpants. He had to knot the pants at the waist to keep them up, but they were so comfy he didn’t care.

“You know, normal people wear towels when they come out of the bathroom,” Bucky said, observing this.

“Normal people don’t wait around in people’s bedrooms for them to come out of the shower,” Tony said serenely.

Bucky contemplated that, then shrugged. “Touché.”

“What’s up, Buck?” Steve came out, of course with a towel wrapped around his waist. He was weirdly modest like that.

“I’m hiding,” Bucky said unashamedly. “Clint and Sam played a joke on Natasha.”

“Does she think you did it too?” Tony asked, interested.

“No, but she’s mad enough that she doesn’t really care who gets caught in the crossfire,” Bucky replied.

“What did they do?” Steve asked with a resigned sigh, clearly wondering whether he was going to have to go stop Natasha from murdering two members of the Avengers.

“They put pink hair dye in her shampoo.”

Tony was in the middle of putting on a t-shirt when Bucky said that. He froze for a moment, his expression somewhere between shock and disturbance at the mental image forming in his head before amusement won out and he snickered to himself. He pulled the t-shirt down the rest of the way and caught a ghost of a smile on Bucky’s face. Steve put a hand to his forehead and groaned.

“Oh my god. JARVIS, tell me you have pictures,” Tony said.

“Yes Sir, I do,” JARVIS said.

“Natasha will murder you too,” Bucky warned Tony.

“She has to find out I have them first,” Tony replied lightly. He was pretty confident that Steve would protect him, anyway.

“I suppose I should go stop the bloodbath,” Steve said with a sigh. He swapped his towel for boxers, jeans, and a muscle shirt. He gave Tony a quick kiss on the mouth, clapped a hand on Bucky’s shoulder, and then was out the door.

“So,” Bucky said once Steve was gone. “What are you planning for you, Steve, and Tones?”

“Why? Afraid we’ll leave you out of it?” Tony wanted to know, running a hand through his hair. It was wet enough that he grabbed his discarded towel and draped it over his head to soak up more water as he watched Bucky closely. He was amused to see Bucky make a disgusted face.

“I don’t really want to be a part of it,” Bucky said.

“I know, I know, body fluids are gross. That’s not really the part of it I meant,” Tony told him. And to prove it, he walked over, gently grasped Bucky’s chin – giving Bucky plenty of time to pull away if that was what Bucky wanted. When Bucky didn’t move, just looked at him expectantly, Tony leaned down and kissed him. Briefly, just a quick touch of lips, but still a kiss.

“Does this mean I have to protect you from Natasha too?” Bucky asked when Tony pulled away.

Tony rolled his eyes. “I wouldn’t want you to change your whole personality, so no.”

“Good. I guess I could be swayed then,” Bucky said. Tony shot him a knowing look. Bucky could pretend to be as disinclined as he wanted, but Tony knew better. It was obvious to anyone who knew him that Bucky was pleased to be a part of it. That was a good thing. Bucky’s agreement meant they were much more likely to get Steve on board, and Tony really didn’t think Tones was going to be much of an issue.

“We’ll work out the finer details of it later,” Tony said. “I haven’t really mentioned it to Tones. Have you two kissed yet?”

“No,” said Bucky. “I wasn’t really sure about you and Steve. I mean, have you seen the way Tones watches Steve?”

“Like Steve’s a god?” Tony nodded. It was both adorable and sad, given the circumstances of where Tones had come from. Steve’s approval and love clearly meant everything to Tones – which was exactly why Tony thought that the four of them were an excellent idea. He and Bucky would be the perfect balancers to keep Tones from getting too wrapped up in Steve alone.

“Yeah. Thank god Steve is so oblivious. Punk doesn’t need a bigger ego than he already has,” Bucky said with a snort, and Tony smirked.

“I almost blew his mind the first time I mentioned us getting Tones into bed,” Tony said, remembering, and Bucky snickered.

“Tell me all about it,” he commanded, clearly eager to get another story that could be used to embarrass poor Steve someday, and Tony grinned and obeyed.

Chapter Text

Tones was sitting on the couch when Tony and Bucky finally dared to venture down to the common floor. He was all alone, which Tony supposed wasn’t that surprising when you considered that Natasha was prowling around somewhere. It made sense that only Tones, who was the only person in the tower that Natasha would never think about hurting, was also the only one who dared to be so visible.

“Hey,” Tony said, trying hard to sound normal.

“Oh, hi,” Tones said. He was all wrapped up in a couple of blankets. Someone had given him a plate of fruits, and he was picking through the pile for grapes. It was good to see him eating, since he hadn’t eaten anything for the past couple of days.

“Where’s Natasha?” Bucky asked, sounding more worried than he probably wanted to. Tones smiled at that, popping a particularly fat grape into his mouth.

“She’s got Clint cornered up on the roof, last JARVIS told me. Clint was crying and screaming, and Natasha was yelling something about his arrows. Then Steve showed up, so I stopped watching because I figured that meant the fun was over,” Tones said, shrugging.

“Clint should thank his lucky stars for Steve,” Bucky muttered, slipping into the room. Tony followed. Bucky sat down on Tones’s left, so Tony sat down on Tones’s right. The softly sweet scent of an omega was more relaxing than Tony wanted to let on. He leaned against Tones, resting his head on Tones’s shoulder.

“Strawberry?” Tones said, holding it up invitingly. Tony opened his mouth and let Tones feed him the strawberry. It was good, juicy and sweet.

“What are we watching?” Bucky asked, putting his feet up on the coffee table, and that’s where the three of them were when Steve returned a few minutes later.

“Like herding children,” Steve announced as he strode into the room, shaking his head. “I have no idea why Clint and Sam would do something so stupid when they know that Natasha is going to kill them for it. Not try to kill them. Literally kill them. She was attempting to push Clint off the balcony when I caught her.”

Tony hid a grin against Tones’s shoulder, feeling the way Tones was shaking with silent amusement. Steve often said that he didn’t like having to scold the other Avengers like they were children, but he was certainly acting the part of a beleaguered father right now and it was super funny. He was the Alpha of the Avengers and for good reason; it was not a role that anyone else could have taken!

“Neither Clint nor Sam are very good at thinking about consequences,” Bucky said.

“Well, it would be nice if they’d learn,” Steve grumbled, walking over to the couch. He didn’t ask before squeezing in beside Tony. The couch really wasn’t met for four fully grown men, and it was a tight squeeze. Tony wasn’t surprised when Bucky scooped Tones onto his lap instead, letting Tony move into the middle position and allowing Steve a little more space.

With all four of them now there, Tony decided that it was time to bring up something that had been brewing at the back of his head for a little while now. He wasn’t wanted to mention it before, because he knew that Tones needed time to come to terms with the fact that he was stuck here, but he thought that Tones seemed like he was in good enough spirits to have the conversation now.

So he said, “I need to start making arrangements to introduce Tones to the world. It’s been long enough. We’re extremely lucky that no one has gotten a picture of Tones yet, but it’s only a matter of time. Restart has been in a couple of battles and I’m already seeing rumors online about who could be inside the armor. People are going to get aggressive in figuring it out. We need to get out in front of this.”

“Don’t you think it’s a bit soon?” said Steve into Tony’s ear. He was laying on his side with one arm wound around Tony’s waist and the other arm stretched out to drape across Tones and Bucky.

“I’m sorry, I wish we could have more time. But I think it’s important that we have some control over this, Steve. You don’t know what could happen if someone snaps a picture of Tones and puts it online,” Tony said.

Tones turned his head at that, catching Tony’s eye. He had been quiet up since Steve had entered, but there was a level of understanding there that made Tony think Tones knew exactly what Tony was talking about. And he probably did since Tones had been the one to bear the brunt of the Avengers P.R. in his world. The media and general public could be absolutely brutal.

They had probably been saved so far because Tony and Tones did look alike from far enough away, so anyone who took a distanced photo of Tones would mistake him from Tony. That, and the fact that Tones hadn’t really gone outside the tower too much. But they couldn’t expect Tones to stay in here forever, and anyone who got up close to Tones was going to realize pretty fast that Tones wasn’t Tony.

“He’s right,” Tones said quietly, and both alphas huffed in unison.

That was enough to make Tony snort. “It won’t be that bad. We already have an identity set up for you, and Coulson has reassured me that he’s looked into your cover story. He promised that it’s iron-clad and, coming from Coulson, that means you can be confident that no one will ever find anything amiss.”

“I know,” Tones said with a nod. “Your Coulson seems to be even more competent and on top of things than the one in my world, and that’s saying something. I didn’t think that was possible.”

“It’s actually scary sometimes,” Tony confided. “One time I overheard a couple of agents talking about where Coulson lives, and supposedly it’s a gigantic cave made of SHIELD records.”

“Tony,” Steve said, amused now. “You know that’s not true.”

“Do I?” Tony said, raising his eyebrows as he glanced over his shoulder at Steve. “Have you ever seen the place that Coulson stays at when he’s not in the tower?”

“Well, no,” Steve admitted.

“Then you don’t know for sure!” Tony said triumphantly. Then he paused before adding, “Although I’ll give you that it’s unlikely that Coulson sleeps upside down hanging from the ceiling like a bat.”

“Like a – good lord.” Steve’s forehead sank against Tony’s back out of pure exasperation.

“Won’t this make Tones a target?” Bucky asked. The soft huff that Tones let out told Tony that Bucky had tightened his grip on Tones, however unintentionally.

Tony shifted, letting himself lean against Bucky’s arm and shoulder, and said, “In some ways, yes. But no more of a target than I am… or that any of the Avengers are, for that matter.”

“I’m a target right now just because I live here, and because I’ve been out in the Restart armor,” Tones pointed out, and Tony nodded.

“That’s true. It’s actually better this way. If people know Tones is an Avenger, they’ll take him seriously. Otherwise, some idiots might try to use him against us.” Tony couldn’t help the way his voice darkened. About nine months ago, some enterprising villains had gotten it in their heads that Pepper could be kidnapped and used against Tony. Said villains had learned their lesson pretty promptly about why that was not okay.

Both Bucky and Steve let out low growls at that, which did not surprise Tony in the slightest – that was actually the reaction that he had been anticipating. But Tones’s eyes widened like he couldn’t believe it, which also didn’t surprise Tony. He had to hold in a sigh as he wondered how he had managed to surround himself with so many oblivious people at once.

“I think I’m ready,” Tones said suddenly, obviously shaking off his surprise. “If I’m going to be staying here, then I don’t have much choice, do I?”

“No, you don’t,” Tony said, deciding that bluntness was better than gentleness right now. “You better get used to being Tones.”

“I am getting used to it,” Tones said, and there was something different in his face now. A thoughtfulness that hadn’t been there before. “What are you planning?”

Tony launched into a quick explanation, which he had already gone over with both Pepper and Coulson. In short, they were going to make a private announcement to a handful of trusted sources. Once those sources had gone public with the information, that would be their moment to call a press conference. At that time, Tones would be officially introduced to the world as Antonio Edwin Stark and as Restart.

Tones nodded along, seemingly approving of the plan. When Tony was done, Tones said, “What about Stark Industries? People are going to ask.”

“I’m not concerned. Pepper and I are talking about what to tell the Board, but I don’t think it’ll be a big deal,” Tony said confidently. He and Pepper owned enough shares in S.I. to make sure that it would not be a big deal. Anyway, the Board was only going to fuss until they got their first dose of what Tones was capable of. After Tones produced an amazing invention, the Board would shut up.

“Okay, I’m getting tired of all this talk,” Steve grumbled before Tones could respond.

“You? The Captain of talking things out and making plans is tired of hearing about a strategy?” Tony asked with fake amazement. “Or… is it that you’re tired of hearing about how you’re going to have to share Tones with the world?” He winked at Tones.

Steve sputtered a bit. “I – I just think that Tones is still recuperating, that’s all,” he said defensively.

“Yeah, sure,” Tony said, not believing that for a moment. He knew how Bucky and Steve felt, but he also knew that this had to be done whether they liked it or not – and not just because of the reasons that Tony had listed already.

Tones needed to start building an actual life here. They were at the point where Tony was fairly sure that Tones was comfortable with the Avengers, but his life couldn’t just be the Avengers. He needed to make friends and have connections outside of the team, SHIELD, Pepper, and Rhodey. That couldn’t happen if the outside world didn’t even know that Tones existed.

But the sooner they did, the sooner Tones could leave his old world behind.

“Well, let me know if you need any help planning it,” Tones said.

“Nope. You don’t need to do anything with the media. I am perfectly comfortable handling that on my own,” Tony declared, and didn’t miss the poorly hidden look of relief that flashed across Tones’s face.

“Steeeeeve! Heeeeeeeeelp!”

All four of them jumped at the sudden sound of Clint’s voice.

“There’s no point in hiding. I’m going to get you!” Natasha called out. Tony winced. Her voice had moved past the point of anger and into deadly cold rage.

Steve sighed. “I don’t suppose that you’re trained in archery,” he said to Tones.

“Nope,” Tones said, a twinkle in his eyes. “I guess you’re going to have to go rescue your resident one.”

“This pack, I swear,” Steve grumbled, reluctantly disentangling himself from Tony. He stomped out of the room, much like a frustrated child himself, just as somewhere in the distance Clint started squealing loudly.

“Well, they’re all going to be occupied for a bit. JARVIS, play something good,” Tony said, settling himself more comfortably against Tones and Bucky. Though there was room for all three of them to sit side by side now with Steve gone, he saw no reason to move.

Chapter Text

“Are you nervous?” Pepper asked.

Tony looked at her with some surprise in the mirror. He had sensed that question on the lips of many people today, but no one had dared to ask him outright yet. It figured that Pepper would be the one with the nerve to finally ask. No matter what world she was from, Pepper Potts was never one to beat around the bush and Tony appreciated that like never before.

“A little,” he said, deciding to be honest as he stepped back. His expression was critical as he redirected his gaze down, examining the suit he was wearing again. Stark had given it to him earlier this morning. It was a dark gray pinstripe, paired with dark gray shoes, a crisp white shirt, and a dark green tie. Even though it was tailored perfectly, Tony still felt on edge.

“You look wonderful. They’re going to eat you up with a spoon,” Pepper said, walking over to him. “May I?”

Tony turned towards her and spread his arms in silent special. She tweaked the collar of his shirt, adjusted his tie ever so slightly, and tugged lightly at the way his jacket fell. Then she stepped back and looked him over before reaching out to run her hands through her hair. Tony tensed in surprise, having not expected that. As his hair fell into his eyes, he looked up at Pepper and blinked.

“Natasha’s gonna kill you. She spent an hour working on my hair.”

“No, she won’t. She wasn’t happy with it. That’s why I’m here.” Pepper gently adjusted a few strands before nodding and smiling. “Now, I also got you something. Here.” She produced a small flash from her purse.

“Umm… I don’t drink,” Tony said awkwardly. He had noticed that the rest of the Avengers drank, but he had always refrained and he wasn’t about to start now.

Pepper shook her head. “It’s not alcohol. It’s a special cologne that I managed to get. It’ll mask your omega scent. No one will be able to tell.”

“Seriously?” Tony said, eyes wide. “I thought Stark said that wasn’t a thing here.”

“Blockers aren’t really a thing. They’re controversial and dangerous, depending on where you get them. But this is temporary, and so it’s readily available. They make it for alphas and betas too. It helps a lot in certain tense situations. May I?” she asked again, and again Tony spread his arms.

She spritzed him with the cologne, which didn’t really smell like anything to Tony’s nose. He hoped that it worked. He knew that the papers Coulson had procured for him said that Antonio Stark was a beta, not an omega. But one good whiff from anyone who got close enough would betray that. He couldn’t believe that thought hadn’t even crossed his mind until now.

“Make sure you use it each time you leave the mansion,” she said, handing the flash to him. “I can get you more.”

“Won’t it look weird if I use it every time? Like I’m trying to hide something?” Tony asked.

Pepper shrugged. “That’s how some people will see it, but there are always people who consider scents to be personal. So personal they don’t want to share it with anyone else. We can just say you believe in that movement,” she said. “Of course, if you’d rather come out as an omega –”

“Not now,” Tony said quickly. He wasn’t ready for that. The Avengers had accepted him, but sometimes he still woke up thinking that they would change their minds. The thought of the whole world knowing a secret he had fought to keep for so long made him feel shaky to his very core.

“Of course,” Pepper nodded, but a funny look came over her face. Tony knew that look.

“What is it?” he asked, knowing that meant Pepper wanted to say something but wasn’t sure that she should. Pepper chewed her lower lip for a moment before she took a deep breath.

“You called Tony ‘Stark’ a couple minutes ago,” she said. “You’re not Tony Stark anymore. You’re Antonio Stark. Tones Stark. That’s how you need to start thinking of yourself, Tones. I don’t want to sound harsh, and I debated with myself over whether I should bring it up, but…”

“No, it’s okay,” Tony said quietly. “I get it.” He nodded at her. Pepper bit her lip again but nodded back before she turned and left.

Tony looked back at the mirror once she was gone. Truthfully, the guy in the mirror didn’t look like Tony Stark either. Or at least, not the Tony Stark that Tony was used to. The guy in the mirror actually looked healthy. He had put on some weight. There weren’t dark circles under his eyes. He was nicely groomed. His clothing fit well again. He looked happy.

And in his pocket…

He reached into the inner pocket of his jacket, pulling out a wallet that Bucky had given him. Inside was a driver’s license for Antonio Edwin Stark. It had a picture of him. He touched the photo, rubbing his thumb over that face. A familiar face, but at the same time not.

Tones.

“Tones,” he said out loud, tasting the word.

It had been Rhodey’s special nickname for him for so long. And truth be told, he had always wanted to be worthy of that nickname, of Rhodey’s love, and perhaps now – if Rhodey could see him – he would be.

Letting go of being Tony Stark felt like letting go of the world that he had come from.

Of the bad things, like his reputation and the Avengers.

Of the good things, like FRIDAY and Pepper and Rhodey.

It hurt.

But, as she always was no matter the universe, Pepper was right, wasn’t she?

It was time…

“Hey, Pepper said you were good to go. You ready?” Stark poked his head into the room then. He was wearing a dark blue suit, with a lighter blue shirt and a navy-and-burgundy patterned tie. The light of the arc reactor shone faintly through his shirt.

He was Tony Stark.

“Yeah, I am… Tony.”

Stark – Tony – froze, mouth open. It was obvious he recognized the significance of Tony – no, he wasn’t Tony anymore.

He was Tones.

And this, this man who had welcomed him here with open arms, was Tony. The only Tony.

It was obvious that Tony recognized the significance of what Tones had said. Up until now, Tones has always called him ‘Stark’ and Tones was certain that Tony had picked up on that. But, displaying the sort of grace that most people believed Tony Stark to be incapable of, Tony had never said a word about it. He had left it entirely up to Tones, and Tones appreciated that on a level he couldn’t muster words for.

“You… you called me Tony,” Tony said after a pause, looking surprised but also sort of pleased and worried.

“Pepper pointed it out to me that I’m not Tony Stark anymore. I’m Antonio Stark,” Tones said quietly. “And that I needed to start thinking of myself that way since I’m going to be staying here, and she was right.”

Tony clenched his jaw at that, now uncertain. “You don’t have to. We’re not trying to take your identity away or anything like that. I know we all call you ‘Tones’, but we can figure something out if –”

“No, it’s fine. I hardly think calling us both ‘Tony’ is going to be make any sense. Plus, it would be a real problem if anyone overhead us,” Tones said. “Besides, I… I guess I don’t mind it. Being ‘Tones’, I mean.” He dropped his gaze as he spoke.

It wasn’t very often that Tones felt shy, but he felt so very much right now. But it was the truth, and he thought he owed Tony that much. Tones was loved by the Avengers in this world; he had a place here with them. He wanted that desperately. He wanted to be Tones.

He didn’t want to be Tony anymore.

“Are you sure?” Tony said cautiously.

“Yeah, I am. No offence, but being Tony Stark is really exhausting. I want to know what it’s like to be Tones Stark, the quieter brother who isn’t always in the spotlight,” Tones said. “So… I’m okay with it. Tony.”

Tony looked at him for several seconds, as though searching for the truth in Tones’s face. Tones just stood there and let him look. Honesty, saying those words out loud had given him a sense of freedom that he hadn’t realized he needed until now. He was no longer Tony Stark, ad that meant he no longer had to worry about all the things that Tony Stark had to worry about.

He was free.

Very slowly, Tony smiled. “Well then,” he said, and chuckled. “Bucky and Steve are going to be really happy to hear that. They’ve been really worried about you.”

“Were they the only ones?” Tones asked, and Tony snorted.

“Of course not. Come here.” He walked closer, only to freeze again.

Tones blinked before he realized what the problem was. “Oh, Pepper gave me some cologne that blocks my scent. It’s so people won’t know that I’m an omega when I leave the tower.”

“Right, right. We’ve all used that before when we needed to. It’s just… weird. I’m so used to you smelling like an omega. I miss it,” Tony said, leaning in a bit. “I can’t wait until this is over and we can get you home and showered.”

Something very much like butterflies fluttered in Tones’s stomach.

It almost sounded like…

But no.

Tony couldn’t mean that the way it sounded, right?

The thought that maybe Tony did was… well, Tones didn’t really know what to think about it. Tony was still close, and he wasn’t wearing any scent-blocking colognes. Just his usual scent of bodywash and shampoo, mingled with traces of coffee, engine oil, and hot metal. It was a comforting scent, one that Tones had unconsciously come to associate with safety.

“The announcement isn’t supposed to last long, right?” Tones said, softer than he’d intended. “Pepper said that it wouldn’t.” He must have sounded worried because Tony gave a comforting smile.

“You don’t need to worry. Pepper and I won’t let them near you,” he said confidently. “You don’t even have to speak if you don’t want to. People will be curious about you for a little while because you’re the new thing on the market, but that will die down with time.”

“I hope so,” Tones muttered. The thought of being back in the public eye wasn’t an appealing one, but he trusted Tony when Tony said that he would be the one taking the brunt of it. Besides, it seemed like, in this world, SHIELD was willing to step up a bit more and help out too. Coulson had already told him that there would be some agents there today in the crowd, helping to keep things under control.

“It will. Bucky’s going to stick to you glue, and so will Natasha. No one will get past those two unless you want them to,” Tony said. He laid a hand on Tones’s arm, gentle but comforting.

It wasn’t the first time a rush of tingles ran through Tones after Tony touched him, but it felt even more wrong this time than it had before. Tony had Steve, and they were very happy together. He shouldn’t be feeling this way towards either one of them. And then there was Bucky… Tones didn’t know what he felt towards Bucky either. It was all very confusing and made his head hurt when he dwelled on it for too long.

So he pushed it all aside just like he always did, and said, “I dunno, I could go for watching Natasha decapitate someone because they tried to touch me.”

Tony snorted. “For the love of Coulson’s sanity, please don’t say that to Natasha. Or Bucky, for that matter. Or Clint. Or Steve.” He paused. “Actually, don’t say that to any of the Avengers.”

Tones finally smiled. “Got any other notes for me?”

“Not really. I assume you’re well-versed in how to handle the press,” Tony said. “Just, y’know, steer clear of the fact that you’re from an alternate universe and that the cover story we made up for you is a complete lie.”

“Yeah, I think I got that,” Tones said dryly. “Thanks for the tip.”

Tony winked at him. “Anytime. Now, come on. You really don’t want Steve’s lecture about why being on time to places is the polite thing to do.” He sighed loudly and exaggeratedly.

“I’m sure I don’t,” Tones said, wincing a bit at the thought. He glanced in the mirror one last time, only this time, of course, the reflection was of the both of them.

Not two Tony Stark’s.

Tony Stark and Tones Stark.

He liked the sound of that.

Chapter Text

The press conference, amazingly, went well. Tony didn’t relax until Tones had left the stage, safely escorted by Bucky and Natasha, and he and Pepper had finished answering questions. Pepper had set it up in advance that the amount of questions people could ask were limited, which turned out to be a good thing. Otherwise, Tony was pretty sure they would’ve been there for hours.

“Well, that could’ve gone worse. Tones was actually very reasonable. I was a little afraid he’d pull the same stunt that you did after you came home from Afghanistan,” Pepper said once the room had been emptied out. She looked tired but satisfied as she slipped her heels off momentarily.

“The public deserved to know the truth,” Tony said for about the fiftieth time, then shrugged. “I knew Tones would be fine. He really has no interest in being in the limelight, Pep. You don’t know what it was like for him in that place. Tones has had enough of the media to last him a lifetime and then some.”

Pepper looked at him thoughtfully. “It’s funny how different the two of you are. I thought I’d have a hard time telling you apart at first, but now I can’t imagine how I ever thought that. You’re so different.”

“I’m going to choose to take that as a compliment,” Tony said, amused. He knew exactly what she meant, and he wasn’t offended by it because she was right. Sometimes looking at Tones was like looking into a mirror – a really warped, distorted mirror into a world where things with the Avengers had gone terribly, unforgivably wrong.

“You will be careful with him, won’t you?” Pepper said, her expression sobering. “He’s fragile, Tony. He could break easily.”

“I know,” Tony said seriously. “But it’s okay. It’s not just me. It’s Bucky and Steve too. Between the three of us, we’ll take good care of him, Pep. I promise.”

“Good,” Pepper said. “He’s been through so much. He deserves to be taken care of, that poor dear.”

Tony wondered what would happen if Tones ever realized that he had all of the Avengers, Pepper, and Rhodey wrapped around his little finger. Probably nothing, knowing Tones, but only because they were all really lucky that Tones didn’t have any interest in world domination. Because if Tones did, then at this point Tony wasn’t sure that anyone would lift a finger to stop him.

He packed up the remainder of his papers in silence and then gave Pepper a kiss on the cheek before he left. She was heading out on a business trip, whereas Tony had agreed to remain behind and start getting Tones up to date on what was happening with S.I. And, of course, Tony also wanted to be around to keep an eye on what developed around Tones.

But as it turned out, they needn’t have worried. For the most part, the reception towards Antonio Stark was largely welcoming. There were some conspiracy theory sites that popped up, but SHIELD was watching them closely. So was JARVIS, who reported that, while some of the theories were certainly outlandish, not a single one came even close to the truth. People seemed to be more willing to believe that Tones was an alien before they’d theorize about alternate universes.

Then one morning about three days after the press conference, JARVIS said, “Sir, something has popped up that I think you should take a look at.”

“Hmm?” Tony glanced up from the contract he was working his way through, raising an eyebrow. JARVIS didn’t sound concerned, more amused. He instantly wondered if some sordid videotape from his past had wandered onto the internet.

“While running the customary scan for new information on Antonio Stark, I came across this.” A website was projected onto the screen in front of Tony, who had just taken a sip of his lukewarm coffee. Tony choked a little, half-laughing as he set his coffee down.

“Oh my god. J, send that to my tablet.” He grabbed said tablet and got up, heading for the elevators.

Tones, Bucky, Steve, Sam, and Clint were all in the living room. Tony didn’t know where the others were, and frankly he didn’t really care. He zeroed in on Tones, who was looking over the latest blueprints for the new Starkphone that was supposed to hit the market in about six months. Bucky and Steve were sitting on either side of Tones, so Tony sat down on Bucky’s lap to get to him.

“Look at this!” he commanded, shoving the tablet under Tones’s nose.

“What?” Tones blinked for a few seconds. “Wait, is that - ?”

“The Restart armor,” Steve said, leaning over to look too. Understanding dawned and he smiled. “Ah. Congratulations, Tones. You’ve got your first fan site.”

“My…” Tones looked like he was at a loss for words, and Tony wondered how long it had been since anyone had praised or admired his work. The Iron Man suit, and by extension the Restart suit and War Machine suit, were all works of technological art. But it was pretty easy for people to forget that sometimes.

“I would say congratulations, but I actually feel a little sorry for you. This means you’re going to get mobbed next time you leave the tower,” Sam said grimly.

“It’s great,” Clint piped up, grinning.

“It’s not great,” Bucky grumbled, wrapping an arm around Tony’s waist to steady him. Tony patted Bucky’s arm absently, knowing that opinions over fans were pretty divided amongst the Avengers. Some of them, like Steve, Clint, and Natasha, didn’t mind or even liked their fans. Others, like Sam, Bruce, and Bucky, didn’t really enjoy having to talk to fans.

“Well, I’m with Clint. I think it’s great too.”

The unexpected voice made most of them jump; Steve, Bucky, and Natasha automatically reacted defensive. Only Tony remained relaxed, and Tones gave a squeal of joy. He leapt off of the couch and sprinted over to throw his arms around Rhodey, who laughed and hugged Tones back.

“What are you doing here, Sugar?” Tony asked, pleased but confused. Usually Rhodey made him aware of any upcoming visits, but Tony didn’t remember hearing about this one in advance.

“I found out that a certain someone had been introduced to the world with an official identity and as an Avenger. Since I haven’t had any recent updates, I decided to some see what the hell was going on,” Rhodey said with a pointed look at Tony.

Oops.

“I, uh, may have forgotten to send you an email,” Tony said sheepishly. In all the rush over preparing for their media announcement, that had totally slipped his mind.

“Yeah, so officially I’m here in my capacity as liaison to find out what’s going on,” Rhodey said. “Unofficially, I’m still here to find out what’s going on.”

“Tones is staying,” Tony said.

Rhodey’s eyes widened. “What? Why?”

“It’s a long story,” Tones said into Rhodey’s shoulder. Tony couldn’t be sure, but he thought that Tones sounded a little tearful. Rhodey must have heard it too, because his stance immediately changed into something that was both protective but soft.

“Come on, let’s have some coffee and you can tell me all about it,” he said to Tones, gently ushering Tones towards the kitchen. Tony watched them go, thinking that Rhodey’s visit was probably excellently timed. If Tones was harboring any lingering misconceptions or concerns over being stuck here, Rhodey was definitely the person who would be able to pry them out of him.

A soft sound beside him made Tony turn his head. It took him a few seconds to realize that it was Steve.

Steve was growling.

And Bucky, while he wasn’t growling, looked just as unimpressed as Steve did. Both of them were glaring at the door Rhodey and Tones had gone through.

They were jealous, Tony realized with amusement. Jealous that another alpha was treading upon what Bucky and Steve clearly considered to be their territory. From this moment on, Tony wasn’t going to believe Steve for a second when Steve started spouting off that crap about not being sure about Tones. Clearly Steve wanted it, even if Steve himself hadn’t fully admitted it yet.

Natasha caught her eye; her mouth was twitching, and she looked as amused as Tony felt. It was obvious that she had figured out what was going on too. Tony winked back at her.

“I guess that’s my cue too,” he announced, tucking his tablet under his arm as he climbed off of Bucky’s lap. He headed into the kitchen, wondering what Natasha was about to do. Knowing her, she would be pretty tempted to poke the bears and Tony wasn’t sure he wanted to be around when she did.

Rhodey was sitting at the table and Tones was curled up in his lap in a little huddled ball, with Rhodey patting his head. Tony felt a tiny bit jealous over the fact that Tones was getting all of Rhodey’s attention, but he quickly scolded himself for that. Tones needed Rhodey’s attention right now. The goal here was to get Tones more comfortable with living here, and Rhodey was only going to help with that.

Still, he felt better when Rhodey looked up at him and grinned. “Hey. It’s good to see that your ass is still in one piece. I thought I might find you strung out in the workshop.”

“You know Steve would never stand for that,” Tony said, smiling back at him. “Although you can feel bad for Steve now, since he has both me and Tones to deal with.”

Rhodey sighed exaggeratedly. “Given how may times I had drag your butt out of the science lab when we were in university, I truly sympathize with Steve right now,” he said dryly. “One of you was bad enough. Two must be a nightmare.”

“Oh, I think the two of us feature in some of Steve’s dreams, but believe me. They’re not nightmares,” Tony said, wiggling his eyebrows. Rhodey looked at him with wide eyes, clearly having picked up Tony’s meaning.

“Huh,” was all that Rhodey said for the moment, but Tony could tell he’d be looking for more details later. That was fine with Tony. He quickly got three cups of coffee, put Rhodey’s and Tones’s on the table within easy reach, and then beat a hasty retreat. Whatever Tones was going to say, Tones would likely only want Rhodey to hear it.

He headed back down to the workshop, but he had only been down there for a few hours when Rhodey came to find him. The first thing Rhodey did was walk right over and pull Tony into a big hug. Tony hugged him back happily, knowing that his earlier reaction had been silly. There was plenty of Rhodey to go around, and he knew that Rhodey would never forget about him.

“I missed you, Platypus,” Tony mumbled.

“I missed you too,” Rhodey said. “Tones told me a little bit of what happened, that no one was able to figure out a way to get him back?”

Tony shook his head. “We tried. We really tried. I did everything I could.”

“I know you did,” Rhodey said immediately. “If you couldn’t do it, no one could.”

Hearing that felt good, better than Tony had anticipated, and he hugged Rhodey a little harder before letting go. Dummy took the chance to whiz over and greet Rhodey, who chuckled and gave Dummy’s chassis a few strokes in greeting. Tony sat back down in his chair, looking up at his oldest friend. Rhodey looked damn good, that was for sure.

“There was no way. So SHIELD set up an identity for him, and Pepper set up the press announcement, and now here we are,” Tony said.

“Here we are,” Rhodey echoed. “I have the feeling there’s a lot more to the story than just that. Like the Restart armor, for one.”

Tony smiled. “He’s Tony Stark, Rhodey. Did you ever think there could be a version of me who is okay with not having the Iron Man armor? That’s just not possible. He missed it. I knew I had to do something about it if I expected him to be happy here and building him his own armor seemed to be the most logical solution.”

“Right. Of course.” Rhodey sighed and folded his arms. “Now I have two idiots to worry about.”

“Sorry not sorry,” Tony said, which made Rhodey roll his eyes.

“And what’s this comment you made about Steve’s dreams?” He wanted to know, which made Tony’s smile widen into a grin.

“Rhodey, my lovely Rhodey, do I ever have a story for you.”

Chapter Text

When Rhodey was fully caught up on everything – which took two pizzas and a box of donuts to get through – he just sat there for a long moment and looked at Tony with a thoughtful expression. Tony polished off the rest of his coffee and set the empty mug down on the desk, willing to wait for whatever words of wisdom were percolating in Rhodey’s fabulous brain.

Finally, Rhodey said, “I’m shocked to find myself saying this, but I actually don’t think the idea of you, Tones, Steve, and Bucky to be a terrible one. I’m not sure I fully understand how things would work between the four of you, but I do think you’d all bring something important to the table.”

“Right?” Tony said, leaning back in his chair and propping his feet on the table. It was satisfying to hear that Rhodey agreed with him. Though Tony knew it was a damn good idea, he’d been a little worried that Rhodey might not think so. His plans always went over much better when Rhodey was in agreement too.

“You couldn’t go public though. Wouldn’t that make things awkward?” Rhodey asked, and Tony shook his head.

“No. Steve and I are already an official couple. So it would be me and Steve, and then Bucky and Tones so far as the public is concerned. It would be really good for Bucky, actually. If he was taken, that means there would be less people trying to get into his pants,” Tony explained. Most people were willing to take ‘no’ for an answer, but there was a worrying amount of people out there who wouldn’t.

Rhodey nodded slowly. “That makes sense, I guess. But how does everyone else feel about this?”

“Steve was a little slow to get on board, but I think the whole idea is tempting enough that he can’t help himself. Bucky is completely on board,” Tony said.

“And Tones?” Rhodey said, narrowing his eyes slightly.

“I haven’t talked to Tones yet about it,” Tony admitted. “I’m pretty sure that he’ll be interested, but… I didn’t want him to think that was the only reason we were letting him stay here. And he’s really weird about potentially replacing me.”

“You should be glad that he feels that way. Some Tony Stark’s wouldn’t. They’d be glad to push you out of the way and take your spot,” Rhodey pointed out.

“Oh, I am. I mean, I don’t think that Tones could replace me even if he wanted to. But it’s actually kind of cute that he thinks he could,” Tony said. Cute… but also sort of sad, in a way. It was like Tones couldn’t even dream of a world where there was room for both of them – where that was also room for him.

“Then it’s obvious what you have to do. You’re going to have to make the first move. You, not Steve. Not Bucky. You,” Rhodey said.

“Me?” Tony pointed at himself.

“That’s right. I know you said Tones is getting a little more comfortable now, but it sounds like he would be way too worried to reciprocate with anyone else. Especially Steve. Do not let Steve approach him first. Tones will absolutely freak out about making waves in the group.” Rhodey gave Tony a hard look.

“Right, no, yeah. That makes sense. I don’t want to destroy all of the progress that Tones has made,” Tony said.

“Exactly. The same goes for Bucky. I know he’s not a part of what you and Steve have at the moment, but that’s always been kind of a grey area. The Avengers revolve around you two. So if it can’t be Steve, then it really has to be you,” Rhodey concluded.

“Yeah.” Tony sighed. He had known that was going to be the case right from the beginning, even if he wished that someone else could do it for him. But he’d gotten Steve and Bucky on board, so there was no reason why he couldn’t get Tones on board too.

“It would probably be good for him,” Rhodey said quietly. “I can tell that he’s happier to be here, but he’s not all the way happy yet.”

“I want to make them all happy,” Tony said fiercely. “This is the best way I can think of to make that happen.”

Rhodey shook his head. “Sometimes you can be such an asshole, and then at other times I understand what people mean when they say that you’re too pure for this world,” he said.

“Pfft, don’t be ridiculous,” Tony said, waving a hand at hm. “So how do you think I should do it?”

“I’m shocked you’re asking. I assumed you’d just charge in and lay one on him,” said Rhodey.

“Don’t think that didn’t cross my mind. I just didn’t know if that would give him a heart attack,” Tony replied.

After a few seconds of thinking, Rhodey shook his head. “You know what, I really think that you shouldn’t over-complicate it. You should approach it the way you always would. Because Tones has gotten used to that, and he might really think that something is wrong if you try to handle him with kid gloves.”

“Good point,” Tony said thoughtfully.

It was with that thought in mind that Tony went down to Tones’s floor early the next morning. He knocked on the door and then waited, hands shoved into his pockets, for Tones to answer. It didn’t take that long. Tones opened the door shortly, looking a little surprised to see Tony standing there.

“Hi,” Tones said. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing. I just wanted to talk to you for a minute, and I didn’t want any certain spies to eavesdrop,” Tony said. “I don’t know what it was like in your world, but in this one Natasha and Clint will absolutely listen in on anything and everything that they can.”

Tones smiled slightly. “I figured that one out on my own. Come on in.” He stepped back, gesturing for Tony to enter. Tony stepped back him, glancing over his shoulder as he walked.

Was it his imagination, or was Tones looking at his butt?

“Is it about Stark Industries? I’ve been going over everything you and Pepper sent me. I’m trying to take my time because I don’t want to just assume that everything is the same if it isn’t,” Tones said.

“That’s smart. Take your time with it. There’s no rush,” Tony said. “No, it was about something else.”

“What?” Tones cocked his head expectantly.

And suddenly, Tony didn’t know what to say.

Because with anyone else, he probably wouldn’t have handled this with words. Tony was great with words until it came to words that actually had to mean something. Then it was like his brain would draw a blank. Words that had to mean something were awkward and stilted and never came out the way that he needed them to. He was getting a little better at it when it came to Steve, but not by much.

“Tony?” Tones said, his expression now turning a little worried.

“Natasha wants to take you out tomorrow night. She has some friends she wants to introduce you to,” Tony blurted out.

Then he felt like slapping himself.

That wasn’t what he had meant to say at all.

“Oh?” Tones seemed intrigued by this for all of two seconds before reality dawned, and his expression flattened. “Wait. Natasha’s friends? Does this mean I’m going to be partying with spies who want to kill me?”

“I mean, you might be partying with spies. But Natasha would never let anyone touch a hair on your head,” Tony said. Natasha had come a very long way from the wary spy who had wanted to tie Tones up and interrogate him when Tones first appeared. Now she would probably maul anyone who even thought about touching Tones, never mind anyone who was stupid enough to actually do it!

“Huh. Well, okay. I guess,” Tones said. “Are you coming too?”

“No, but Bucky and Clint probably will be. They tend to hang around with the same people,” Tony explained. He noticed that Tones immediately relaxed a little when Tony said that Bucky would be there and smiled to himself. That was some tell-tale behavior if he’d ever seen it!

Tones didn’t know it, but this was phase one of helping him to build a life outside of the Avengers. Natasha was pretty confident that Tones would click with at least a couple of the people they were meeting tonight. If that failed, then Tony was going to take Tones to Stark Industries and introduce him to some of the people in the R&D section. They were all dorks who would love to have Tones around.

In fact, Tony would probably do that anyway. It would be good for Tones’s ego, at the very least, and it wouldn’t hurt to expand Tones’s life in as many ways as possible. They wanted to make sure that he had numerous connections outside of the team, not just one or two. Thor had also been talking about bringing Darcy and Jane around, and that would help too – Darcy had tons of friends, and Jane was very well-respected in the scientific community.

“At least Bucky will make sure I don’t wake up tomorrow morning missing a body piece,” Tones said, a twinkle in his eye. “I’m guessing that Natasha and Clint aren’t the most responsible people when they’ve been drinking.”

“Ah… I’d like to deny that, but you are not entirely wrong,” Tony admitted. As a super soldier, it took copious amounts of alcohol to make Bucky feel even a little bit. So he would be completely sober, and thus in a much better position to protect Tones if the need arose – not that Tony thought it would.

People had the tendency to want to fawn over Tones, and Tony was fully expecting that Natasha’s friends would not be any different.

“What are you and Steve doing tomorrow night, then?” Tones asked casually. He turned away, reaching over to grab a sweatshirt that Tony thought might just belong to Steve.

Did that mean something?

It could mean something…

Or it could just be an omega trying to gain a little comfort from wearing the clothing of their alpha. That wasn’t unheard of. Even Clint had been known to wear Steve’s clothes sometimes, though Clint was also more likely to wear Coulson’s clothing over anyone else’s.

Or maybe Tones was just cold.

“We’re not doing anything really. We might rent a movie, but I doubt that. Steve’s been muttering about this painting he wants to do,” Tony said.

“Steve paints?” Tones said with surprise, his head popping out of the sweatshirt, and Tony nodded.

It was something that Steve had picked up on the advice of his therapist; drawing had been hard for him in the months right after he surfaced from the ice, because the different drawing implements were a reminder of what he’d lost. His therapist had suggested that he try a different art medium that was completely new. Steve had fallen in love with painting pretty fast.

“Yeah. You’ll get used to it. He talks about me and you hiding away in the workshop for hours at a time, but he’s just as bad. Once he really gets going, he can paint for literally hours,” Tony said. “Except he can only ignore a growling stomach for so long. Supersoldier metabolism and all that.”

“Huh. That’s cool. I didn’t know that,” Tones said, adjusting the sweatshirt.

“I’m sure Steve would show you some of his work if you asked,” Tony said absently.

Tones looked completely adorable, so it was a little hard to focus. The sweatshirt was too big on him. The hem of it reached down around his thighs, and he had to roll the sleeves up to keep them from hanging over his hands. And not just adorable – sexy. Really sexy. It was doing things to Tony, seeing their omega all dressed up in their alpha’s clothing.

So he moved a little closer. Tones looked up at him a bit, eyes questioning the sudden change in proximity. But he was open and welcoming, relaxed even when Tony got what would have been uncomfortably close for anyone else, and that’s what motivated Tony to go through with it.

He reached out, caught Tones’s chin in his hand, and slowly moved in to kiss him.

Chapter Text

“This is gonna be awesome,” Clint said enthusiastically, clapping his hands together as the car stopped. Tones glanced over at him doubtfully before sneaking a quick glimpse at Bucky, who didn’t look nearly as excited as Clint. It was kind of tempting to just ask Bucky to take him home again, but Tones refrained. That would ruin Natasha’s and Clint’s plans, and he didn’t want to do that.

As soon as Natasha opened the car door, the pulsating beat slammed into Tones’s ears. It seemed that that the clubs in his world and the clubs in this world really weren’t that different in that respect. He shivered as they all climbed out of the car and moved a little closer to Bucky. Officially it was because he was cold, but unofficially it was because a few people waiting to get in were looking Tones’s way with a little too much interest.

They didn’t need to wait to get in. Natasha walked right up to the bouncer and whispered something to him – Tones couldn’t hear what. Whatever it was, the bouncer nodded at her and stood aside to let her pass despite the complaints from the waiting crowd. Natasha gave a smug smile and sailed past the crowd with Clint on her heels and Bucky and Tones bringing up the rear.

The club was everything that Tones had been expecting it to be: loud, bright, and crowded. He stayed close to Bucky as they moved inside, comforted by the strong grip of Bucky’s arm around his waist. It would be impossible for him to ‘accidentally’ stray away from Bucky with that tight of a grip, just like it would be impossible for anyone to grab Tones’s arm and physically pull him away.

“Over there!” Clint screamed in Tones’s ear, and when Tones looked over at him, he saw that Clint was pointing to their right. When Tones looked, it was to see that there was a set of stairs. It was then that he realized that there was also a balcony that wrapped around the upper half of the room, creating another level entirely.

Natasha led the way towards the stairs, and the crowd parted before her as easily as a hot knife through melting ice cream. Not that Tones could blame them. Tonight, Natasha was wearing a low-cut red dress that fit so tightly she must have been sewn into it. There was no doubt in Tony’s mind that she was wearing weapons somewhere, but he genuinely had no idea where they could be.

Clint followed hot on her heels; he looked just as sexy as Natasha in pair of pants that were strategically ripped in a few important places and a clingy purple shirt. Even Bucky looked incredibly hot in tight jeans and a leather jacket. Standing amongst the three of them, Tones felt a little outclassed. But in a way, it was also comforting to know that none of the stares were being directed his way. He was okay with his teammates stealing the show.

There was another bouncer guarding the bottom of the steps to the balcony, but one word from Natasha had him wordlessly stepping aside to allow them entry. Bucky gently pushed Tones in front of him, allowing Tones to clamber up the steps behind Clint. That effectively put Clint’s ass right in Tones’s face – and Tones had to admit that it was a pretty nice ass. Coulson was lucky.

Up on the balcony, Natasha immediately found them a table. “You two go get drinks,” she said to Bucky and Clint, grabbing Tones’s hand and pulling him close.

Bucky frowned at her.

Natasha waved a hand back. “Relax. I’ll protect him while you’re gone. No one will touch him.”

“I can speak for myself, you know,” Tones grumbled.

“Sure you can. That’s why you were plastered to Bucky’s side the moment we walked in,” Natasha said, but her soft smile took the sting out of her comment. She reached up and fixed his hair. “It’s okay. Bucky loves to be protective and hardly anyone else lets him do it. You’re good for him.”

It was Tones’s turn to frown at her, trying to figure out if that was supposed to be a compliment or not. “I don’t know if I’d agree with that. I feel like all I’ve done since I came here was stir things up.”

Natasha narrowed her eyes slightly. “What do you mean?”

Tones looked away, hoping that the flashing lights would hide the heat he felt in his cheeks. “Tony kissed me.”

He didn’t know how to feel about saying those words out loud. The whole situation still felt a bit surreal if he was being honest. His pulse quickened when he dwelled on it for too long, which was exactly why he’d been trying his hardest not to think about it too long. He probably shouldn’t have even said anything to Natasha, but it felt like he’d been holding it in for months instead of just hours.

“Really,” Natasha murmured, barely audible over the music. When Tones glanced back at her, it was to catch a thoughtful look on her face. Not surprise, which told him that she had been expecting this to some degree.

“Yes. Last night. In my room,” Tones said.

“What did you do?” she asked.

Tones flushed again, remembering. Honestly, he had been so shocked he’d just stood there like an idiot. Tony had backed off and stared at him for a few seconds. And then, when the silence had dragged on so long as to get uncomfortable, Tony had awkwardly retreated. Leaving Tones frozen for several more minutes before a kind inquiry from JARVIS finally jump-started his brain. By that point, Tony had been long gone.

“I didn’t really do anything. I didn’t know what to do. He surprised me,” he admitted finally, embarrassed. And then by the time he had gathered his wits together again, he hadn’t been sure whether he should go after Tony or not. He’d decided against it, and instead spent the past day stewing over it.

“Really?” Natasha said again, and this time she did sound surprised. Tones frowned in confusion.

“What? Do you think I should have expected him to kiss me?” he asked.

Natasha shrugged. “Well, yeah. Anyone with eyes can see that Tony, Steve, and Bucky are head over heels in love with you. Tony’s been chomping at the bit to make the four of you an official item since practically the day you got here. He teases Steve about it all the time.”

“He… what?” Tony squeaked.

“You’re so pure,” Natasha said with a smile, reaching out to cup Tony’s cheek. A little insulted, he knocked her hand away and frowned.

“Tony and Steve are an item,” he reminded her. “Why on earth would I ever think the two of the would be interested in me? And Bucky told me once that he’s not really interested in anyone.”

“Bucky’s not interested in sex. That doesn’t mean he’s not interested in anyone,” Natasha corrected him. “I always wondered if he would eventually become a part of Steve’s and Tony’s relationship, but it seemed like the three of them could never quite make it happen. I think you’re the catalyst they needed to start making some progression.”

Tons blinked at her for a few seconds, taken aback. “But Tony and Steve seemed so happy.”

“They are happy,” Natasha said.

“Then why…?” Tones flailed around with his hands a bit, totally confused.

“You can be happy with something, but still want to be happier. Obviously, Tony and Steve still feel like something is missing between them,” Natasha replied. “If Tony is interested enough to kiss you, then you can be sure that Steve is too. Tony would never have done that without making sure Steve was on board.”

“And Bucky?” Tones said, checking over his shoulder to make sure the man in question wasn’t looming over his shoulder. But he couldn’t see Bucky or Clint anywhere. No doubt the line at the bar was long.

“That’s probably a conversation to have with Bucky, but I would bet good money he’s aware and wants it too,” Natasha said. “The real question is… do you?”

Again, Tones was left blinking at her. Because honestly, he wasn’t sure how to answer that. The automatic, obvious answer was hell yes! Steve, Bucky, and Tony were the epitome of handsome, strong, confident men who were all literally superheroes. Had they been strangers in a bar, Tones would’ve been all to happy to climb on top of them.

But it was more that. All three of them were genuinely good people too. They all thought well of omegas, for one thing. Even Steve and Bucky, who had grown up in a very different time, were more respectful of omegas than half the modern people Tones had ever met. None of them had scorned Tones for being unable to have children, either. That was important to him.

Still. Tones just wasn’t sure. Two years ago, if someone had asked him if he would ever date Steve Rogers, Tones would’ve laughed in their faces. He’d come to terms with the fact the Steve here was nothing like the Steve from his world, but dating? That was a whole other jump that Tones wasn’t really sure about yet. The same applied to Bucky and even to Tony, for that matter.

What if he messed them up? What if something went wrong? What if they tried and it didn’t work out and the Avengers ended up falling apart? What if Tones ended up alone? That last thought was enough to make him break out into a cold sweat despite the heat of the club. He could stay in this world, and he could even be happy, but he couldn’t do it without Bucky, Steve, Tony, and the other Avengers.

Natasha must have been watching his face closely because she leaned over and touched his arm. “You don’t need to think the worst-case scenario all the time,” she said gently. “It could be okay to let yourself think about it going well and working out.”

Tones shook his head. “Nothing ever works out for me.”

“You ended up here. That turned out well,” she pointed out, and Tones quickly realized he didn’t know how to answer that.

Luckily, Bucky and Clint returned at that moment. Clint had a couple of beers tucked under his arm. Bucky was carrying a beer and a fruity cocktail, which he put down in front of Tones. Tones thought about protesting, but then he tasted the cocktail and promptly decided against it. The cocktail was absolutely delicious and exactly what he needed to clear his mind.

“I was gonna get you a cocktail too, but they’re expensive and the last time I got you one, you wasted it,” Clint said, handing Natasha a beer.

“I threw it into the face of some old geezer who groped me,” Natasha countered.

“Yeah, exactly. A waste. You could’ve just decked him,” Clint said.

“I could just deck you,” Natasha threatened.

He smirked. “Promises, promises.”

She waved a threatening fist at him, and Clint just sniggered. Bucky shook his head at the two of them, while Tones smiled into his cocktail. It wasn’t long before both Clint and Natasha grew bored with sitting at the table. The two of them finished their beers and then jumped up to go dance. Within seconds, Tones lost sight of them in crowd.

“Are you okay?” Bucky asked. He got up and switched sides of the table, sitting down next to Tones.

“I’m fine,” Tones said, dropping his gaze and playing with the rim of his glass. His heart was going crazy now. Bucky’s proximity felt different suddenly.

“Did Tony do something?” Bucky sounded resigned. “Did he kiss you?”

“What – how did you know?” Tones said, looking over at him in shock.

Bucky just shrugged. “It was inevitable that one of them would, but Steve is still a bit too careful with you to go that far so fast. It had to be Tony.”

“Did everyone know that was going to happen besides me?” Tones demanded, exasperated.

“Yeah, pretty much,” Bucky said with a small smile. “Did you not like it? Was it not okay?” He watched Tones with a worried expression. It made Tones’s heart race even faster.

Before he could stop himself, he leaned in and kissed Bucky.

Chapter Text

For a split second after their lips made contact, Tones’s brain went a little haywire and the thought that he had just made one of the worst mistakes of his life loomed. But before he could pull away and let the apologies spill out, Bucky’s hand was suddenly touching his cheek. Gently, Bucky’s fingers slid beneath Tones’s chin and angled his head up bit more.

There. A frisson of tingles shot down Tones’s back at the subtle difference. The pressure was so much better this way. Bucky’s lips were soft and warm, and he smelled amazing; whatever cologne he was using complimented his pheromones perfectly. Tones couldn’t decide if he wanted to sit there and kiss Bucky forever or if he wanted to take a break so he could bury his face in Bucky’s neck and just breathe.

They parted at the same time, both of them looking at each other. There was a small smile on Bucky’s face, and hesitantly Tones smiled back. Bucky hadn’t slapped him, pushed him away, or otherwise reacted negatively, so maybe the kiss hadn’t been such a bad thing? Or maybe Bucky was just being nice about it, and he was getting ready to reject Tones –

Bucky huffed a laugh. “Relax, Sweetheart,” he drawled. “Take a sip of your cocktail. Breathe for a few seconds. I’m not mad at you, okay?” He nudged the cocktail closer to Tones as he spoke.

Normally Tones would’ve been a little annoyed about taking orders from an Alpha, but right then he was happy to oblige. He took another, longer drink of the sticky-sweet cocktail, and just looked around the club for a moment. There was still no sign of Clint or Natasha in the crowd, but it wouldn’t have surprised Tones a bit if the two of them were somewhere watching right now.

Finally, once he felt a bit less panicky, he turned back to Bucky and said, “Sorry about that. I’m usually better at asking for consent.”

“It’s okay. I didn’t mind,” Bucky replied.

“So… you don’t mind kissing?” Tones said, narrowing his eyes slightly. Asexuality was a spectrum, he knew. But Bucky had made it very clear that sex was off the table for him.

“I like it. I don’t really consider kissing to be sexual. It’s more romantic to me,” Bucky said, shrugging. “I mean, obviously it can be sexual and I wouldn’t like in that specific context. But outside of that, I’m okay with it… if it’s the right person, of course. Or right people, I suppose I should say.”

“People?” Tones echoed.

“I told you I love Steve, and I even love Tony. And you,” Bucky said.

Tones’s heart skipped a beat. “You… you love me?”

Bucky looked at him with a very soft, tender expression. “Yes, Tones. I love you. Steve loves you. Tony loves you. We all love you.”

“I don’t really know what to do with that,” Tones whispered, feeling overwhelmed.

“You don’t have to do anything,” Bucky replied. He seemed remarkably calm for someone who had just professed his love without receiving a love confession in return.

“But –”

“No.” Bucky leaned forward, gripping Tones’s arm to quiet him. “Tones, listen to me. You don’t have to do anything, okay? You could tell me right now that you don’t want any of this, or only part of this, and that would be okay. Your home with us is not contingent on you being with any of us in any way. Do you understand?” Bucky’s eyes were very intent.

Slowly, Tones nodded. Honestly, that thought had not even crossed his mind. He hadn’t once thought that Steve, Tony, or Bucky would kick him out if he said he wasn’t interested in this – and that in itself was surprising. He realized that it also hadn’t crossed his mind to wonder what they really wanted for him. Before, that would’ve been all he could think about.

Was that because he trusted them so much? Or because Tones really didn’t have much to offer in this world? Or both? He supposed that it really didn’t matter in the end. The point was that he knew that this wasn’t happening because they were trying to use him, and he knew this would be something with no strings attached. Still, it was nice to hear Bucky acknowledging it out loud as fact.

“I just don’t know,” Tones admitted finally. “This is – this wasn’t even something that was on my radar. I mean, Steve and Tony seemed so happy. They’re the perfect couple.”

“They’re hardly perfect, but I know what you mean,” Bucky said. “I thought that way too for a long time. But then I started to realize that there are different levels of perfect. Or at least, different levels of happy. Do you know what I mean?”

“Not really,” Tones said.

Bucky leaned his chin on his free hand. “Tony and Steve are happy the way they are now. There’s no disputing that. If it was just the two of them in their relationship from now on, they would continue to be happy. But if I decided to join them, that would be a different kind of happiness. Same as if just you joined them, or if we both did. It’s not necessarily a better happiness than what they have now. It’s just different.”

Tones mulled that over for a few seconds before he said, “So what you’re saying is, it doesn’t really matter.”

“That’s not what I’m saying at all, and you know it,” Bucky said, rolling his eyes. “They love you. I know that they love me too. What we need to figure out now is the right configuration that makes everyone the happiest. You’re the engineer here. Put that big brain to good use.”

“Engineering has never been much good when it comes to love,” Tones replied. He only needed to look at his many failed attempts at dating Pepper to know that. The two of them had never been able to work things out right, and Tones blamed himself for a lot of that. He just couldn’t be the person that Pepper needed him to be. He’d never been able to be the person that people needed.

But maybe it would be different if it wasn’t just him and one other person – if there were three other people. That meant some of the pressure would be off, and the expectations might not be so high. Tones took another few sips of his cocktail while he thought that over. Four people in a relationship would be more difficult in some ways, no doubt, but also easier in others.

“The important thing to remember is that no one is obligated to do anything,” Bucky said, which drew Tony’s attention back to him.

“So then what do you want?” Tones asked him.

Bucky blinked for a few seconds, seemingly surprised by the question, before he smiled. “Well, if I’m being honest, I think I’d like to give the four of us a shot.”

“Really? Even without sex?” Tones said.

“There are a lot of benefits to a relationship outside of sex,” Bucky said, laughing. “I know that for some people, sex is really important. And I would fully expect that to be the case for the three of you.” He teasingly nudged Tony’s leg with his foot when Tony blushed. “But just because I’m not into that tiny part of it doesn’t mean I wouldn’t get a lot out of the relationship itself. You know better than that.”

“Yeah, I guess I do,” Tones admitted, thinking again about Pepper. While the sex with her had been great, there other things that he had valued too. Like those nights when they would sit on the couch together and Tones would put his head in Pepper’s lap while she stroked his hair. Or cuddles in bed during cold winter mornings. Or even just cooking and sharing a meal together. None of those things involved sex, but Tones had cherished every moment of them because of the intimacy.

“I think as long we were all on the same page, we could make it work. It might take some adjustment, and a little talking but… so long as sex wasn’t the only thing connecting us together it would be fine,” Bucky concluded.

“There would always be more connecting us than just sex. I don’t even know if I’d be ready for that right now,” Tones said quietly. It had been a long time since he’d been with anyone like that. As attractive as Tony was, and as sexy as Steve was, he thought he’d have to build himself up to the idea.

If he went through with it, of course.

“You should think about it,” Bucky said. “I know that this was a surprise to you, right? So take a little time and really think about it. Think about what you want, what you don’t what, what your limits are. Okay?” He leaned forward and gently clinked his beer against Tones’s glass.

So Tones did. He thought about it for the rest of the night – while he danced with Natasha, while he tossed back a shot with Clint, while he watched Bucky kick ass at pool, while the four of them made their way back to the tower that night. Natasha and Clint were both drunk as hell, and watching Bucky try to handle the two of them was hilarious in a way that Tones hadn’t really expected.

“Do you need help?” he asked Bucky as they got into the elevator.

“No. I’m taking them up to Coulson. They’re going to be his problem,” Bucky said, looking very exasperated as he tried to stop Natasha from taking her top off.

“Okay. Good luck.” Tones got off on the shared floor, not envying Bucky one bit as the elevator whisked them away.

“Good luck with what?” Steve poked his head out of the kitchen. Tones’s heart fluttered at the unexpected appearance; it was so late that he hadn’t really thought that anyone would still be up. Steve wasn’t really the person he wanted to see right now, but to turn around and run away would be rude. There was no reason to hurt Steve’s feelings just because Tones wasn’t sure about a relationship.

“Natasha and Clint are drunk,” he explained, deciding that he’d follow through on his original plan of grabbing something quick to eat and then retreating upstairs.

Steve groaned. “Oh man, again? Poor Bucky. I don’t envy him… or Coulson, for that matter. Those two are a pain in the butt when they’re drunk.” He ducked back into the kitchen and Tones followed automatically.

“Does it happen often?” he asked curiously. He couldn’t remember seeing Clint and Natasha drunk before, but that didn’t mean it hadn’t happened.

“Not really. They don’t get the chance to cut loose very often so when they do, they really make up for lost time. What about you? Did you have fun tonight?” Steve walked back over to the table. It looked like he’d been in the middle of eating a sandwich.

“Um… yeah, I guess I did,” Tones said.

Steve glanced back at him, raising an eyebrow. “You don’t sound very sure.”

“I was just…” Tones paused for a moment. Was this the right time to talk to Steve? He wasn’t sure, but it wasn’t very often that he got the chance to be alone with Steve. The tower was a busy place and sometimes it seemed like privacy was a rare commodity. This wasn’t a conversation he wanted anyone else walking in on, especially Tony or Bucky.

And honestly, Tones didn’t think he would be able to figure out how he truly felt until he had talked to Steve about it. While he knew how Tony and Bucky felt, Steve was the real question. Steve had never been anything but polite and kind to Tones. He had never once acted like he felt anything more towards Tones than friendship. Maybe Tony, Bucky, and Natasha were all reading things into Steve that weren’t really there. If that was the case, then Tones wanted to know now. Before he started imagining what a relationship could really be like.

“Tones?” Steve looked at him, his expression full of concern. “Are you okay? Is something wrong?”

“Steve… can we talk?” Tones asked before he could lose his nerve. His stomach was full of butterflies, and part of him really wanted to run away. But he stood his ground.

This was Steve. Not Rogers. Steve. He was a good, kind, caring Alpha. Tones’s Alpha.

“Of course,” Steve said, just as Tones had known he would. “Come sit down. Can I get you anything? A coffee? Are you hungry?”

A little of Tones’s nerves drained away at the fussing, and he smiled a little as he walked over to take the seat that Steve had pointed out to him. “Coffee and a sandwich would be great.”

Chapter Text

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Steve made a really good sandwich. Tones hadn’t realized how hungry he was until he took the first bite. Then it was like his stomach came alive, and he found himself devouring the sandwich in half a dozen hungry bites. Steve hovered beside him, preening like a proud peacock as Tones gobbled the sandwich down, and then whisked the empty plate away the instant the last bite had been swallowed.

In less than a minute, Tones had a second sandwich in front of him. He looked down at it. Steve really did enjoy taking care of the team, didn’t he? That was one of the biggest differences that Tones had come to appreciate between Steve and Rogers. Whereas Rogers had only ever been capable of caring about one person, Steve loved all of the Avengers and showed it in the ways that each of them needed the most.

That’s why he was such a good Alpha – because he took the time to really understand the team. He had even taken the same time with Tones: not once had Steve pushed, instead letting Tones come around on Tones’s own time and terms. Even though Steve would have been perfectly within his rights to be mad that he was being punished for the actions of an alternate universe version of him, he’d never gotten angry. He had never shown Tones anything but concern and gentleness and caring.

There was no way that Rogers would’ve acted the same way. Tones tried to imagine the situations being reversed, with Tony suddenly being thrust into Tones’s old world, and found the thought laughable. The Avengers would’ve freaked the fuck out. There was no way Tony would’ve been treated with even an ounce of the welcome that Tones had. The Avengers would have been nothing but suspicious and accusatory over another Tony Stark.

They had been good to him here. Too good. Tones said, very quietly, “Thank you, Steve. And I also wanted to say that I’m sorry.”

“Sorry?” Steve sat down in front of his half-eaten meal, eyebrows furrowed. “For what? … Wait. Please don’t tell me that Tony, Bucky, Natasha, or Clint did something stupid while you were out. Am I going to be getting a pointed call from Coulson again?” He looked incredibly resigned as he spoke, like he already thought that a phone call from Coulson was a foregone conclusion.

Tones blinked, a little surprised that Steve hadn’t included him in that list, but shook his head. “No, no. Everything was fine. I just meant… I’m sorry for how I treated you when I came here. I acted like you were someone else when you’re not. That wasn’t very fair to you.”

“I… what?” Steve looked even more baffled by this.

“You know. I was – well, I didn’t want to be around you,” Tones muttered, crossing his arms over his chest. The word ‘scared’ was on the tip of his tongue, but he couldn’t bring himself to say it.

He didn’t like to think about being scared of the Avengers from his world, even if it was the truth. It was something that he hadn’t even realized until he’d come to this world, and he’d had the chance to be safely away from them for a while. He hadn’t seen Rogers in some time, but the thought of Rogers was always looming over him. Even from a distance, the pressure that Rogers and the other Avengers had put on him was immense.

And despite his best efforts, Tony had been breaking under that pressure in ways he hadn’t even realized.

He couldn’t bring himself to meet Steve’s eyes and tensed when he heard the sound of Steve’s chair being pushed away from the table again. He stared down at the table, heart thudding so hard and so fast that it made him feel a little light-headed. He wasn’t sure what he was expecting, but it definitely wasn’t Steve to come around the table, pull Tony’s chair out, and then sweep Tones up into a hug.

“St-Steve?” Tones stammered, shocked by the ferocity of the hug. His feet had actually left the ground because Steve was so damn tall, but in spite of that he wasn’t uncomfortable. Steve’s arms were more than strong enough to comfortably bear Tony’s weight, and he was clasping Tony against his chest in a way that was tight but also felt very gentle.

“You don’t have to apologize to me, Tones,” Steve said softly. “I can’t even imagine what you went through. It’s not surprising at all that you weren’t okay with being around me considering what he did to you.” There was an awful lot of rage in the way that Steve spat out that “he”. It shouldn’t have been as comforting as it was.

“I didn’t realize how bad it was until I got here,” Tones admitted, wrapping his arms around Steve in return. He told himself that it was just because that was a more comfortable position, and not at all because he desperately needed a hug from Steve right then.

They were both quiet for a couple of minutes, just standing there hugging. Tones ended up laying his head on Steve’s shoulder. Like that, he was perfectly positioned to be able to breathe in Steve’s scent. He couldn’t quantify what the scent was with words, but it was a deeply comforting and familiar scent. It was a scent that Tones would’ve desperately missed had he gone back, because Steve smelled like home.

“I never minded,” Steve said after a long pause.

Tones sighed. “That’s a lie. I know you better than that. You absolutely minded.”

“Yeah, okay, I minded. But I understood why, so I was never mad at you. I’m just really happy that you were able to come to terms with what happened, and that you were able to find a way to be happy here. I would have hated for you to be stuck here and be miserable,” Steve said.

“Miserable? I didn’t want to go,” Tones said, startled. “I mean – I would have because there are things back there that are my responsibility, but I wanted to stay. I still want to stay.”

“Tony said that you wanted to, but I –” Steve gave a somewhat shaky laugh. “You know, I hadn’t realized how much I wanted to hear that from you until you said it. I’m glad, Tones. I really am. I always wanted you to stay right from day one. It was Tony who used to tell us that we couldn’t make that decision. So, in a way, I can’t help but be glad that it was made for us.”

“You really wanted me to stay?” Tones whispered. Those words curled warmly inside him, helping to blunt out the harsh edges of some of the things that Rogers had said over the years.

“Of course I did! Even before I knew you were an omega, I was desperate to just put you somewhere safe where no one could hurt you. And once I knew you were an omega?” Steve shook his head and hugged Tones impossibly closer. “If I could get five minutes alone with the alternate universe version of me, I’d kill him.”

That startled a laugh out of Tones. “Oh, Steve.”

“I mean it! I wouldn’t let any of them get away with what they put you through. They all deserved to be punched in the face,” Steve said fiercely.

Tones smiled. “Well, then I guess it’s a good thing that won’t ever happen. We don’t need to start a cross-universal war or something like that.”

Though he had to admit, the thought of these Avengers raining hell down on the Avengers that Tones had left behind was certainly appealing. He was positive that it wouldn’t be a difficult fight. These Avengers were a cohesive, skilled team that had worked together in the field for years. The other Avengers couldn’t hold a candle to them and wouldn’t have the slightest clue as to how to fight them.

But it sure would be fun to see them try…

“I won’t give up hope,” Steve muttered. He pulled back just enough to be able to look Tones in the face. “I meant what I said. I always wanted you to stay, Tones. I’m happy to have you here. You add so much to the team.”

“I… I do?” Tones could feel his face growing hot.

“Yes! Not only do you provide additional aerial support, but you’ve also got an armor that’s designed for intel and speed. That’s very valuable to use. I can think of numerous situations where you would’ve made life a lot easier. Plus, you’re helping Tony and Pepper out with Stark Industries stuff. Having all of that crap be split three ways into of two ways makes a huge difference,” Steve explained.

Tones… didn’t really know what to do. This was not the direction he had expected the conversation to go in, and it was honestly embarrassing to stand here face-to-face and listen to Steve praise him like this. He wanted to back away, but Steve’s arms were still wound firmly around his waist and it didn’t seem like Steve planned to let go anytime soon.

“You’ve made the whole team feel more at home. Bucky is much calmer and more at peace than he ever was before. Clint loves having another omega around. You can talk science with Bruce and Tony, and even Natasha seems happier than she was before. And me, of course. I love having you around.” There was a smile on Steve’s face as he spoke. A genuine smile.

It made the rising butterflies in Tones’s stomach that much harder to bear. He squirmed in Steve’s grip before finally giving in and just putting his hands over his face in an effort to hide.

“Oh my god, Steve, stop it,” he said from behind his fingers.

“What? What’s wrong?” Steve sounded confused, like he didn’t get why it would be insanely embarrassing to have praise heaped on your shoulders.

“It’s too much! You’re acting like I did something special, but all I’ve done is just be me,” Tones said helplessly.

There was a little pause, and then Steve sighed. “Tones, you just don’t get it. Being you is enough. It’s more than enough. We love you for being you.”

Love.

The word made Tones’s heart turn over in his chest.

Could Steve…

Could he mean…?

He slowly separated his fingers and peeked at Steve. His heart started really racing when he saw the soft look on Steve’s face. He had seen an expression that tender before, but never directed at him - only ever at Tony and Bucky. It was tempting to check behind him to make sure that Tony and Bucky hadn’t walked into the kitchen, but Tones already knew that they hadn’t.

No, Steve was looking that way at him.

Perhaps at some point he had died and gone to heaven and hadn’t noticed? That was the only plausible explanation for this situation.

“Tones,” Steve said again, gentler this time. “Everything you think about yourself isn’t true. You’re so much more valuable than you realize. You mean so much more to everyone than you realize… especially to myself, to Tony, and to Bucky.”

Tones swallowed hard. “They… they kind of gave me a hint,” he admitted in a small voice.

Steve smiled. “I thought that they might have. Tony is always so eager. Overeager, sometimes. I do what I can to rein him in, but it’s not always easy.”

“So you…” Tones couldn’t bring himself to finish the question, but luckily it seemed that Steve understood.

“If it’s what we all want, then I’m on board,” Steve said firmly.

“I just don’t understand how you can that. You don’t know me. Not really. I’ll ruin everything,” Tones mumbled, finally speaking his deepest fears out loud. He let his hands fall from his face but ended up clenching them into fists against his chest rather than hugging Steve again.

“I’ll tell you the same thing I told Tony when he said the same thing to me back when we first started dating,” Steve said.

Then he waited, quiet, until Tones reluctantly looked up at him again.

“Love can come from no where, but relationships take work. It means waking up every morning and choosing to keep putting your whole effort into the relationship,” Steve told him. “Sometimes that’s an easy thing to do, and sometimes that’s the hardest thing you’ll ever do. There will be ups and down, and hell sometimes it’ll feel like we’re going sideways – but at the end of the day, as long as we keep choosing each other, then there is no way that you can ruin everything.”

Tones bit his lip. It sounded wonderful, but…

“And of course, we always need to talk to each other,” Steve went on. “If there are problems or issues or uncertainties, then we can talk about it. I’m sure that navigating a four-way relationship won’t be easy, but I’m also sure that it will worth it if it’s what we all really want. As far as I’m concerned, that’s the question you need to ask yourself here.” He let go of Tones at last, still looking at him intently. “So what do you think, Tones? If this is what you want, are we worth it?”

Chapter Text

Tony leaned back in his chair, rubbing at the base of his sore neck. He nearly jumped out of his skin when another hand batted his hand away and took over rubbing – but then, just as quickly and before he could really panic, he was melting into a pile of goo as a second hand landed on his left shoulder and started massaging there too. He didn’t even need to look to know who it was: the just-right pressure told him.

“My god, you missed your calling as a masseuse,” he groaned.

Bucky chuckled. “So Natasha tells when she sweet talks me into rubbing her feet,” he said, digging his thumbs into one particularly painful spot. Tony grimaced, biting his lip for a few seconds, before sighing as the stubborn knot eventually gave way beneath Bucky’s fingers.

“Anytime you want a job, I’ll hire you,” Tony mumbled, letting his head sway forward. He had no idea when Bucky had joined him in the workshop, but he suddenly found himself grateful that Bucky was here. The worst part about starting to get old was the fact that he could no longer spend time hunched up into weird positions without paying the price for it.

“Noted,” Bucky said, sounding deeply amused by the prospect. “What’cha working on?” He kept on massaging Tony’s shoulders, which meant it took a few seconds for Tony to gather together the braincells required to respond.

“Umm… oh, I was looking at an addition to yours, Steve’s, Natasha’s, Clint’s uniforms,” Tony murmured, closing his eyes. “I was thinking to myself that some kind of brace might be a good addition.”

“A brace?” Bucky echoed.

“Yeah. For when you guys jump off of things and rely on us to catch you,” Tony said, opening his eyes just so that he could roll them in exasperation. He had lost count of how many times Coulson had lectured Clint about that and it still seemed to fall on deaf ears. Clint was by far the worst for it, but Natasha, Steve, and Bucky had all had their own moments where they jumped into air with only the hope that a teammate was close enough to catch.

“You sound so bitter. You should be glad we trust you enough.” Bucky was grinning, Tony could tell without even looking at him.

Tony pouted at the holograms in front of him. “I am glad you trust me, but that doesn’t mean I don’t get another few grey hairs every time you guys do that.”

“Then I guess it’s good that Steve thinks grey hair is sexy,” Bucky teased. Tony reached back and swatted at him, which just made Bucky laugh.

“Stop being an idiot and listen to me. So I was thinking that sometimes it’s hard to grab you guys. Your uniforms aren’t really designed for that kind of thing for obvious reasons. And it’s dangerous too. The shock of a sudden stop where the force isn’t evenly dispersed could do some real damage.” Tony frowned at the holograms. “It wouldn’t be so bad for you or Steve, though it could still hurt you significantly, but that could easily kill Clint or Natasha.”

“Huh, I hadn’t thought about that,” Bucky admitted, his hands pausing on Tony’s shoulders. Tony immediately missed the massage and couldn’t help squirming a bit until Bucky noticed that he had a stopped. With a soft chuckle, Bucky resumed.

“It’s been something I’ve been thinking about for a while. I’m just not sure how best to implement it. After all, anything that we can grab onto is something that an enemy could grab onto,” Tony explained. He had a few different options that he and Tones were going to explore.

“You could just give us all wings like Sam,” Bucky said hopefully.

Tony snorted. “Yeah, that’s pretty unlikely. None of you need wings. I think Coulson would have a heart attack at the idea,” he said dryly. Besides that, Sam’s wings weren’t light. They would weigh Clint and Natasha down and be bulky on Steve and Bucky. Unless he could figure out some way to make the wings lighter, but that would also risk comprising their integrity…

“I’m sure that you’ll figure it out,” Bucky said, pulling Tony’s attention back to him before it could wander too far. “You and Tones.”

“Yeah, we will,” Tony said with a small smile. That was one of the things that he loved the most about having Tones around. They were both Tony Stark, so equals in intellect, but their different backgrounds meant that they both brought different experience to the table. Already, Tones had provided a few ideas that had helped Tony to work through some things he’d been stuck on for Stark Industries.

“So… speaking of you and Tones,” Bucky said, his voice growing more hesitant, and Tony understood what this visit was really about. He turned around to face Bucky for the first time, which meant that – regrettably – Bucky’s hands slid from his shoulders.

“Tones talked to you?” Tony asked, searching Bucky’s face in the hopes of garnering some information. Bucky hadn’t changed since he’d arrived home from the club, still dressed in clothing that would make him the walking wet dream of many people in Manhattan.

“After you kissed him, I pretty much had to,” Bucky replied, mouth twitching into a small smile. “You really just dropped a kiss on him and left, huh.”

“I didn’t know what else to do. He just stood there,” Tony defended himself. It had been a bit cowardly to leave, probably. But what else was he supposed to do when Tones had just stood there staring at him? After several seconds of that silent staring, Tony had grown too uncomfortable to stick around. So he’d muttered something about work to do and fled, leaving Tones behind.

“You shocked the hell out of him. He really wasn’t expecting that. I guess it’s a universal truth that all Tony Stark’s must be as oblivious as possible to the world around them,” Bucky said thoughtfully, tapping his finger against his chin for effect.

Tony glared at him. “Hey. Rude.”

“But also not wrong,” Bucky said with a smirk. “It’s alright. I kissed him too.”

“You did? Really?” Tony perked up at that because that definitely sounded like a promising sign…

“No,” Bucky said. His smirk widened into a grin. “He kissed me.”

“What?!” Tony squeaked, genuinely shocked.

Bucky nodded, still grinning. “Then we had a little chat before Natasha and Clint interrupted us. Unfortunately we didn’t get the chance to talk anymore about it… but that’s okay. After I dropped Natasha and Clint off with Coulson, I asked JARVIS where Tones was. He’s in the kitchen talking with Steve.”

“You… wait, Tones kissed you.” Tony couldn’t seem to move past that thought. His brain was conjuring up some very scintillating images of Bucky and Tones kissing. Bucky seemed to realize that because he snorted and shook his head.

“You perv,” he said fondly. “Yeah, he kissed me. I honestly didn’t think he’d have the courage to do it. Caught me completely off guard. Guess he was taking a page out of your book.”

Tony made a face at him. “Haha. So what – is he just interested in a relationship with you then?” He found himself holding his breath as he asked. Sometimes it was a little scary just how much Tony wanted this. He didn’t know how or when this desire had grown as profound as it had. If it did end up just being Bucky and Tones, he’d be happy for them of course. Just like Tony would be completely happy with Steve. But he knew himself well enough to know that he would always wonder what could have been.

Bucky’s grin softened. “I don’t think so. He seemed pretty interested in the idea of the four of us.”

“I… huh.” Tony exhaled slowly.

“I didn’t want to push it too hard though. I just told him to take some time to think about it. He’s still finding his footing here, after all. And anyway, I wanted to talk to you first. This means you’re going to have to share Steve, you know.” Bucky stepped closer to the table so that he could lean against it, folding his arms over his chest.

“I’ve always shared Steve with you,” Tony said mildly, thinking back to when Tones had first arrived. Tones had been so convinced that Steve would always put Bucky first that it had actually freaked both Steve and Bucky out.

But that was never really something that Tony had been worried about. He’d started up this relationship with Steve already knowing just how important Bucky was to Steve, and had long ago learned that Steve had ample space in his heart for – or even three - people. The fact that Steve loved Bucky, or loved Tones, did not diminish Steve’s feelings for Tony.

Bucky’s eyebrows furrowed. “I mean, yeah. You have. But this is a little different. Steve and I have never jumped into bed together.”

“I mean, if you ever did want to –” Tony said.

“I know, I know. You’d gladly watch,” Bucky said, rolling his eyes, and Tony smirked because Bucky was not wrong about that. But that wasn’t what he’d been about to say.

“What I was going to say is that I would be okay with that so long as we all discussed it first,” Tony said, amused. “The same goes for Tones and Steve… or me and Tones, for that fact. Or you and me.” He shot Bucky his best sly look, waggling his eyebrows, and Bucky rolled his eyes again.

“You should know that every time you give me that look, there’s going to be a glass of cold water poured on your sleeping head in the future,” he said.

Tony winced. “Noted.”

“I just wanted to make sure that you didn’t feel like your relationship with Steve was being compromised or steamrolled. You don’t have to do this. I’m okay with the way that things are. I think Tones is too. That’s all,” Bucky said.

“That’s very sweet of you,” Tony told him. “But Bucky, I don’t feel that way at all. Steve loves me, and I love him. I’ve never doubted that, and I never will.”

Bucky just looked at him for a few seconds, until finally Tony frowned.

“What?”

“I’m just wondering how a punk like Steve managed to get someone like you,” Bucky said.

“It’s the serum. It made him big everywhere,” Tony said, completely deadpan, and laughed when Bucky made a disturbed face.

“That’s gross, but I actually believe you. There’s no other explanation,” Bucky said, shaking his head.

“That’s rich coming from someone who has stuck with Steve for like a hundred years without sex,” Tony said, looking at Bucky knowingly. Bucky met his gaze and smiled, a moment of understanding passing between the two of them. With the exception of Tones, no one loved Steve the way they did. All jokes aside, it wasn’t something that actually needed to be put into words. It just was.

“And you’re okay with me and you?” Bucky said, breaking the silence at last.

“I always have been,” Tony said. “Especially if you keep bringing massages like that to the table.”

“If you keep spending hours down here hunched over tables, I guess I’m going to have to,” Bucky said, not sounding to put out about that. “If you want to come upstairs with me, I’ll do your whole back for half an hour.”

Tony pretended to think about it. “An hour.”

“45 minutes and that’s my final offer,” Bucky replied, looking way too amused.

“Deal. J, shut it all down for the night,” Tony said. All of the holograms splayed out before melted away, leaving nothing but empty space. Tony pushed his chair back and stood up, a little surprised to realize just how tired he was. He’d been down here for longer than he’d realized.

Bucky grabbed his arm to steady him. “Okay?”

“I’m fine. Don’t think you’re getting out of it. 45 minutes,” Tony said, and Bucky shook his head.

“45 minutes,” he agreed, and then swooped in close and kissed Tony. It was as quick as it was expected, and when Bucky pulled back Tony was already smiling.

They held hands on the way upstairs.

Chapter Text

“So how is this gonna work?” Bucky asked curiously as they emerged onto Steve’s and Tony’s floor. “Tones gonna move in here with you?”

Tony twisted to give him a bemused look. “No? I mean, he could if he wanted to… But I have the feeling Tones is going to keep wanting his own space. Just like you. You wouldn’t want to move up to our floor permanently, would you?”

“Absolutely not,” Bucky said without an ounce of shame, and Tony had to bite his lip to hold in a grin. That, at least, was going to be one very refreshing thing about having Bucky around. As the alpha of the Avengers, Steve had gotten a lot better about watching what he said and how he said it. But Bucky didn’t have to be like that and so often had a snarky attitude that could easily rival Tony’s.

“I didn’t think so. And you know, that’s fine. I’ve got my workshop. Steve’s got the gym and his art room. We all need our own space,” Tony said, unconcerned. He would make sure that Tones and Bucky knew they could come and go on Steve’s and Tony’s floor as they wanted to now, but he wasn’t going to demand they move up here or anything like that.

This relationship, he knew, was going to involve a lot of give and take on all their parts. The moment they started demanding things from each other, that would be the beginning of the end. All four of them were separate people with their own big and forceful personalities – well, not so much Tones, but Tones also had a lot more recent trauma to deal with than Bucky, Steve, or Tony did. That was a force in and of itself.

“I should’ve known you’d get that. You hate being cuddled,” Bucky said with a teasing smile, which made Tony scowl at him.

“I don’t hate being cuddled. I just have a certain threshold over how much I can handle,” he said. And he hated it when people tried to treat him like an omega when he wasn’t, or when people tried to fuss over him just because he was one of the only human members of the team, or when Steve was having an outburst of needing to smother someone and tried to make Tony the target.

Bucky’s eyes widened dramatically. “Oh, well, I’d hate to put you over your threshold. Maybe I shouldn’t give you that massage after all.”

“Ah! Don’t you dare. I have an A.I. that I will use against you if you try to run,” Tony threatened, pointing a finger in Bucky’s direction.

“JARVIS loves me. He’d let me go,” Bucky said total confidence.

“JARVIS loves me more. He would do as I asked,” Tony insisted.

The two of them looked at each other for a moment, and then Bucky started to smile.

“Actually, you know what? We’re both wrong. JARVIS loves Tones the most,” he said.

Tony blinked, thought about that for a few seconds, and then sighed. “Wow. You’re totally right. JARVIS would leave me by the side of the road if it meant getting Tones to smile. Wouldn’t you, J?”

“Far be it from me to intrude on your enlightening conversation, Sir,” JARVIS said dryly, which was basically a yes.

“Betrayed by my own A.I.” Tony said, shaking his head with mock-sadness.

Bucky came closer and patted his shoulder. “Don’t feel bad. In all fairness, Tones is a lot cuter than you and you like it that way.”

“Can’t argue with the truth,” Tony admitted, then took the chance to grab Bucky’s arm. “Now come on! My shoulders are screaming for a good massage. Steve can’t quite get the pressure right no matter how hard he tries. I always feel like I’m a replacement for a punching bag…” He towed Bucky into the living room as he spoke.

“I could totally see that. After Stevie first got the serum, it took him forever to figure out how to hold things. He was forever breaking stuff without meaning it. He couldn’t hold a piece of charcoal for weeks,” Bucky said, watching as Tony arranged the couch just right. Some people might have thought Tony was being too fussy, but the placement of the arc reactor meant that Tony had to be very careful when he was laying on his front.

Pillows helped a lot so long as he was strategic about their placement, and shortly Tony was sprawled face-down on the couch. Bucky came over then and carefully climbed on top of him, straddling Tony’s hips. As his hands landed on Tony’s back, Tony took a few seconds to appreciate the fact that Bucky hadn’t asked him about whether or not he wanted to take his shirt off.

And then his brain was lost completely to pure bliss.

That was where he was some undetermined time later when the elevator doors opened and Tony vaguely heard the sound of Steve and Tones speaking to each other. Their voices quieted as they entered the living room and saw what was happening. The polite thing to do would’ve been to lift his head and greet them but doing so felt like far too much effort.

“Is he asleep?” Steve asked a moment later, his voice soft.

“Almost, I think,” Bucky murmured back.

“How long have you been massaging him?” Steve asked.

“About an hour. It was only supposed to be for 45 minutes,” Bucky said, sounding a bit disgruntled, but his fingers remained gentle as he lightly trailed them down Tony’s back.

“Here, I’ll take him to bed,” Steve said, and Tony decided that meant it was time to make it clear that he was awake.

“Nuh uh,” he mumbled, pushing at Steve’s hands when Steve reached for him. He wanted to stay awake so that he, Bucky, Steve, and Tones could talk to each other.

Steve, the jerk, just laughed at him and ducked Tony’s flailing hands. Bucky climbed off, leaving Tony feeling oddly cold, but not for long. Because the next thing that Tony knew, Steve was scooping him up. He muttered a few curse words under his breath but couldn’t help snuggling into Steve at the same time. Steve kissed the top of his head and carried him down the hall and into the bedroom.

“I keep telling you that you shouldn’t stay in the workshop so long,” Steve said fondly, setting Tony down on their bed. “I’m gonna take your jeans off.”

“Ugh,” Tony said, which perfectly summed up his feelings right now, but Steve just laughed again and unbuckled Tony’s belt. He peeled Tony’s jeans off and then covered him up with a blanket.

“Go to sleep,” Steve said, running his hand across Tony’s hair. “I wanna talk to Bucky. I won’t be long.”

But when the bed sank a few minutes later, it wasn’t Steve. Tony peeled one eye open and saw that it was Tones, still wearing the clothes he’d gone out to the club in, looking down at Tony with an adorably shy expression. Tony grumbled something unintelligible and grabbed the edge of the blanket, flipping it back. It was as clear of an invitation as he felt capable of making at the moment.

Bless the fact that Tones was also Tony Stark because he perfectly understood. In a matter of minutes, he had shucked off his own jeans and crawled under the covers to join Tony. He was shivering a little. The two of them huddled together under the blanket, sharing body heat, until gradually Tones warmed up enough that he stopped shaking.

“Talk go well with Steve?” Tony asked then, eyes shut.

Tones hummed. “He asked me if the four of us was worth it.”

Tony smiled without opening his eyes. That sounded exactly like something that Steve would say. Because Steve could be a pain in the butt sometimes, but he also knew exactly how to talk to a Tony Stark that was full of doubts and uncertainties.

“And I said yes,” Tones whispered, and Tony opened his eyes to peer at him. Even through the dim light of the arc reactor in the otherwise dark room, he could make out the edges of Tones’s tentative smile. It might have been a small smile, but it was wholesome and soft and cute.

“Good,” Tony said, fumbling around until he found Tones’s hand. He laced their fingers together and squeezed gently, trying to communicate without words that he really was glad. And he was sure that Steve had been glad too.

“I don’t really know what it means yet though,” Tones said. “Steve said we all had to talk about it, but I think that was before he realized how late it was.”

“What it means right now is that we’re going to sleep,” Tony said through a yawn. “I’m way too tired right now for anything else. Stupid Bucky. That massage was just supposed to make me feel good.” He couldn’t help pouting a bit. He hadn’t intended for the massage to relax him enough for true exhaustion to rush in, but now that it had he couldn’t fight it anymore.

At least, not without about ten cups of coffee and he knew Steve would put a stop to that pretty quickly.

Tones chuckled. “I guess that’s fair. I’m pretty tired too actually. I forgot how much energy it takes to go out to a club. I think I’m getting old.”

“Getting?” Tony said with a smirk, which made Tones squawk in protest. Tony just laughed and pulled Tones closer, letting go of Tones’s hand so he could wrap his arms around Tones instead. Tones grumbled a bit in protest but settled down, eventually resting his head on Tony’s chest and quickly falling asleep. Tony wasn’t far behind, drifting off shortly after.

He woke again when the bed shifted with someone’s weight – no, two someone’s weights. He pried his eyes open and saw the glint of metal and knew immediately that it was Bucky settling down behind Tones. Which meant that Steve was the one behind him. Tony grumbled sleepily as Steve laid down along behind him, jostling Tony around until Steve got comfortable enough to hug Tony from behind; Bucky did the same to Tones, effectively sandwiching Tony and Tones between the two supersoldiers.

“How long have you been waiting to do this for?” Tony hissed, to which Steve chuckled in his ear and kissed the back of his head.

“Longer than you can imagine, Babe. My alpha instincts are in heaven right now. I have my secondary alpha, my beta, and my omega all in one bed.” Steve sounded totally and completely satisfied, and Tony couldn’t help rolling his eyes. They were going to have to put up with Steve being insufferably happy from now on, he realized.

“I changed my mind about this,” Tony said, pretending like he was going to get up.

Surprisingly, it was Bucky who threw a leg across Tones and then onto Tony to hold him down. “Don’t even think about it. I’m comfortable and Tones is sleeping.”

“Tones was sleeping before you all got loud,” Tones said grumpily, scrunching his face further into Tony’s chest. Tony wondered how he could sleep with the light of the arc reactor shining in his eyes like that, and then wondered if maybe Tones found the light of the reactor comforting instead of annoying. Maybe it was a reminder that Tones was here, with them, and not back in his own world.

“Okay, okay. Let’s all go to sleep. It’s late and we’re tired,” Steve said in a commanding voice.

Tony obediently closed his eyes without complaint. He heard Bucky sigh. The leg Bucky had thrown across them remained, but Tony found he didn’t mind. Steve was a comforting weight against his back and Tones was a cuddly warmth against his front. He could feel himself relaxing again, sliding rapidly towards sleep.

Naturally, that’s when Thor threw open the door and boomed, “We have a way to send a message across all of the universes!”

Chapter Text

“What do you think?” Natasha asked, eyeing Tones critically.

Tones picked up the coffee and swirled it, watching the play of white and cream roll together, then brought it to his lips and took a careful taste. His eyes lit up as the sweetness of caramel and something softer that he couldn’t define rolled across his tongue. The two flavors blended together wonderfully, helped along by the hint of bitter coffee in the background.

“It’s delicious!” he exclaimed, lowering his cup, and Natasha smiled with satisfaction.

“I knew you would like it. It’s so nice to have someone who appreciates good coffee around here,” she said pointedly.

Tony, who was walking past with a cup of black coffee, snorted. “I’m sorry if I prefer being able to actually taste my coffee instead of just pure sugar.”

“I can taste coffee in this,” Tones said, taking another sip for emphasis. He hummed in pleasure.

“Somehow I doubt that,” Tony said with a fond shake of his head. He saluted the both of them with his cup of coffee and then left, probably afraid that Natasha might hold him down and force him to try her coffee if he lingered.

“There’s just no accounting for taste,” Natasha said with a shake of her head, taking a sip of her own coffee, and Tones smiled. He knew that Natasha was just teasing, and frankly he loved that. In his universe, Romanov hadn’t wanted anything to do with him. She’d never been able to move past the idea of him being unworthy of the Avengers. Seeing the sibling-like relationship that Natasha and Tony had was really nice.

“What’s that extra flavor?” he asked her. “I can’t place it.”

“If I told you, I’d have to kill you,” she said with a sweet smile, and Tones couldn’t actually tell whether or not she was joking. He decided to change the subject just in case.

“Well, thanks. But I should really be getting back downstairs with Tony. We were right in the middle of figuring out an update to the armor’s thrusters,” Tones said, getting up. He knew that Tony wouldn’t mind if he stayed up with here to talk with Natasha longer, but he was anxious to get back downstairs and help. They only had a few hours before Tony had an S.I. meeting.

Natasha stopped him, however, laying a hand on his arm and looking up at him. “What will you say to them?” she asked softly.

Tones froze. He didn’t know why he hadn’t expected the question to come; it was only a matter of time before someone asked. He should’ve expected that it would be Natasha. Time was ticking down, after all. Thor had told him that the easiest time to send his message would be during the night of the full moon, and that was tomorrow night. He had less than twenty-four hours now.

“I… I don’t know,” Tones admitted, feeling ashamed. After all this time, and all this fuss over people trying to help him get home, he didn’t like that he didn’t know what to say. It was his one chance. There was so much he wanted to say to certain people, but Thor had warned him that this message would be widely broadcast across multiple universes. Most of those words were not ones that Tones wanted multiple people hearing.

It was the most important speech he’d ever make, and the pressure weighed heavily on his shoulders. He hadn’t slept at all last night thinking about it. There wouldn’t be a lot of time, Thor had said, maybe a minute or two at most, so whatever he said would need to be concise too. He’d had to be honest and straightforward, two things which Tones historically was not very good at.

The whole thing was giving him a headache; part of him almost wished Thor hadn’t brought the option back at all. But then he wouldn’t have had the chance to say goodbye to his old universe permanently. And Tones needed that. He wanted to be done with it for good. So he needed to do this. He just wasn’t sure how yet.

“That’s okay. Do you want help figuring it out?” Natasha asked, and Tones blinked at her for a moment before smiling again.

“Thanks, but I think I have to figure it out on my own,” he said. “But really. Thank you.” He appreciated her asking so much more than she could have guessed. In his old universe, no one but maybe Rhodey would have even thought to ask. Everyone there preferred to just let Tones handle everything no matter how exhausting it was for him.

“If you change your mind, just let me know,” she replied, squeezing his arm before letting go. Tones nodded and left the kitchen, making his way to the elevator. But once he got there, JARVIS let him know that Pepper had called early and already sucked Tony into a pre-meeting meeting.

“Sir wants me to let you know that you are welcome to join them, but that he would much rather you quote, run and save yourself, unquote,” JARVIS said dryly, and Tones grinned.

“Thanks J. Please let Tony know I appreciate the warning and that I’m going to heed it,” he said. “I guess I’ll just go back upstairs to my room then.” He could’ve gone back in to sit with Natasha, but he didn’t relish the thought of her trying to help. Even though he appreciated the offer, he knew that this wasn’t something Natasha could help with.

“If I may, Captain Rogers and Sergeant Barnes are watching television on Captain Rogers’ floor. They have also asked me to tell you that you are most welcome,” JARVIS added.

“Oh, they just randomly invited me up, huh? You didn’t just happen to mention the fact that I’m free to them?” Tones said, raising an eyebrow.

“I’m sure I have no idea what you mean,” JARVIS said. If it was possible for an A.I. to sound innocent, then JARVIS was doing it right now.

“Sure,” Tones said, shaking his head. “Alright. I guess I could go cuddle a couple of supersoldiers.” He kept on walking towards the elevator.

JARVIS whisked him upstairs, where Tones found Steve and Bucky sitting on the couch on Steve’s floor. But they weren’t cuddling. Oh no. The two of them were watching a baseball game, which meant that they were sitting on opposite sides of the couch. It turned out that neither Steve nor Bucky were that great at remembering where their hands or elbows were going when they were excited about a win, and after one too many black eyes Natasha had put her foot down and instituted a rule about space during sports.

“Tones!” Bucky said, lighting up when Tones walked out of the elevator. Tones couldn’t help flushing when Steve’s head snapped around, and he too lit up. It was both flattering and scary to be greeted that way.

“Hi,” Tones said, fiddling with his coffee cup. “Is there room for one more? Or do I need to maintain my distance?”

“Nah, the game is over,” Steve said, gesturing with the remote.

“Are you sure? I’d hate for Natasha to try and kill you later because you bruised me,” Tones said.

“It’s over,” Bucky said firmly, grabbing the remote from Steve and changing the channel. “Now get over here.”

“And here I thought you weren’t going to be bossy alphas,” Tones said, but he obligingly walked over to the couch and allowed himself to be yanked down into a hug on both sides.

Honestly, it was blissful. He’d never thought of himself as an overly touchy person before he’d gotten to this universe, where it seemed like everyone was trying to touch him all the time. Tones had to be honest with himself: he absolutely loved it. He couldn’t get enough of the affectionate touches, hugs, and cuddles. He had no idea how Tony could ever get tired of this feeling.

“Natasha make you one of her drinks?” Bucky asked, propping his chin on Tones’s shoulder.

“Yup. Originally it was to get me through inventing, but Pepper called early,” Tones explained.

“Tony said something about a meeting. You’re not attending?” Steve said.

“They didn’t ask me to, and I wasn’t going to push it,” Tones said. He was happy to help out with S.I., but also happy to spend the afternoon with Steve and Bucky.

Unfortunately, spending the afternoon with Steve and Bucky made time fly by. Before Tones knew it, JARVIS was summoning them downstairs for dinner. Clint had ordered in, which meant tons of pizza. The whole team watched a movie over supper, and then another immediately after. Tones fell asleep on Steve’s lap while watching the third movie.

The next day seemed to pass by at the blink of an eye too. In what seemed like five minutes, Tones was watching the sun set over New York. He stared out at the window blankly, knowing that meant Thor would soon be waiting for him on the roof. Actually, scratch that – the whole team would be there waiting for him on the roof. Waiting for him to contact his old world.

Waiting for him to say goodbye…

“I can’t do it,” Tones whispered, closing his eyes. He clenched his hand in frustration, lightly tapping the glass. If he had more time, he would’ve gone downstairs to the workshop and really laid into some of the scrap metal that Tony had down there.

“Yeah, you can.”

With a gasp, Tones whirled around. “Steve! Geez, don’t sneak up on me. Don’t you know I have a heart condition?”

Steve smiled and moved further into the room. He walked right over to Tones and pulled Tones into a warm hug. Tones melted into the embrace immediately, laying his head on Steve’s shoulder and closing his eyes. Not so long ago, he would’ve never thought that a moment like this could happen with Captain America. He never would have guessed that messing around with a weird alien artefact would be the best thing he’d ever done.

“You can do this, Tones,” Steve said softly. “But you should also know that you don’t have to if you don’t want to. It’s okay to just let go. You don’t have to be the hero all the time. You never have to be the hero again if you don’t want to.”

Tones inhaled deeply, breathing in the scent of his Alpha, and then relaxed more than he had since Thor had first announced that a message could be sent. It was comforting to know that Steve was telling the truth. This world didn’t need Restart. The Avengers would always welcome him, of course, but they didn’t need him. Not like the other world had needed Iron Man because there were no other heroes.

“You’re right,” Tones said, choosing his words carefully. “I know that I don’t have to, but – I think I need to. For me. I have to end things properly so that I can move on. And I guess that means I need to be a hero for them one last time. Does that make sense?”

“Oh, sweetheart. It makes all the sense in the world.” Steve hugged him tighter. “You’re one of the strongest men I’ve ever met, Tones. I’m so glad that you’re staying here with us.”

“I am too,” Tones admitted. Going back to his own world would’ve torture after being here. Going back to no support, to endless working hours, to the Avengers that hated him… Tones shuddered and pressed himself more tightly against Steve, endlessly grateful that the choice had ultimately not been his to make.

“Sir would like me to let you know it’s time,” JARVIS said.

“You ready?” Steve asked.

“As I’ll ever be,” Tones said. He went to push back from Steve, but Steve grabbed his hand and laced their fingers together. They made their way up to the roof hand-in-hand.

Everyone was there when they emerged from the roof, Tones discovered. The whole team, including Coulson, had gathered to support him. Tones felt warmed from head to toe when he saw them all waiting, especially Bucky and Tony. He walked over to the two of them, Steve following along, and let Bucky wrap his arms around him. Tony took his free hand.

“Speak into this when you are ready,” Thor said. He was holding a white orb in his hands with such caution that Tones knew it had to be fragile. “Just give me a nod and I’ll activate it.”

“Right.” Tones licked his lips, staring at the orb.

He felt both Tony and Steve squeeze his hands, and Bucky’s arms were a secure warmth around him. The rest of the Avengers offered him encouraging smile. Tones nodded at Thor, who activated the orb. It began to glow a deep purple color. And it was there, within the gentle embrace of the people who actually loved him, that Tones spoke his last words to the world he had left behind.

“Nu-Xi-Nine-Seven-Theta-Mu-Five,” he whispered. “It’s me, Tony; I’m okay. Take care of FRIDAY and my bots. Be happy.”

The code at the start was so that Rhodey – the right Rhodey – would know that it was really Tones. It felt strange to address himself as Tony, after he had fully begun to think of himself as Tones. It occurred to him then just how much he never wanted to be Tony again.

He shook his head at Thor, who did something to the orb that turned it a dull gray. Tones turned away, but he didn’t need to go far. Tony was right there to hug him from the front. With Bucky hugging from behind, Tony in front, and Steve wrapping his gigantic arms around all three of them, Tones broke down crying as the true reality of the situation sank in.

He was free.