Archive of Our Own ^beta

Steve looked up at the huge, long - l o n g - body in front of him, the bright golden scales and the fiery red wings, and couldn’t help but be in awe. It was magnificent, and beautiful, and everything he didn’t think possible. Dragons, after all, were extinct. Or so he thought. Yet here he stood in front of a dragon - and, to make it even more incredible, that dragon was his husband.

Talk about a twist.

- How is this even possible? - Steve asked, because, well. It was the logical thing to ask. 

A few hours ago, he had woken up in a pool of dried blood. A few hours ago, Steve had discovered that his husband had been missing and their shared home had been covered in blood and he had assumed, like anyone in that situation would, that his husband was dead. A few hours ago, Steve had pulled out his armor and shield and sword and had geared up for a fight. A few hours ago, Steve had been grim and determined as he had marched toward the Witch’s Tower, ready to get revenge.

He could still feel it, the remnants of that cold and empty hollow in his chest, while he had thought Tony was dead. He remembered thinking as he had walked that if Tony would’ve been there, he wouldn’t have recognized him. Because Tony had fallen in love with Steve on the battlefield, where Steve had been all fire and passion and heat, but during that desperate march, he was none of those things. He had felt almost as mechanical as the machines Tony had liked to tinker with, the little automatons that had helped them run the household - except those had more soul to them, because Tony had put his soul into them. Tony being dead had left Steve more soulless than a machine, a body still moving, but only for the final burst of execution before everything in him would shut down. Steve had been ready to die, but only after he had killed Wanda for killing Tony.

When he had arrived at the Tower, it had opened up to him, and Steve hadn’t even thought about that, hadn’t stopped to consider obvious traps and dubious reasons, he had just walked in, naked sword in one hand and his round shield in another, calling her name. Not even shouting. He hadn’t had it in him to shout, not when it was obvious Wanda would hear him even from a whisper.

Once upon a time, he had fought against invading forces because that had been the right thing to do, and he had burned with the need to right the wrongs of the world. He had been ablaze on the battlefield, protecting what was precious. And when the fight had been over, he put his weapons down and retreated to the countryside with Tony to be a wedded pair, to live where no one knew who they had been in the war, the Captain and the Mage. To live together in peace. But Wanda had robbed them of their time and their peace and Tony was dead, so Steve had picked up the weapons for one last time. On this day, there was no burning, only cold ice in his veins and in his voice. He was the cruelty of winter, no feelings left, set on to destroy something or someone. Then Wanda appeared in front of him, begging him to stop and listen - but he didn’t stop and didn’t listen. He went on, raising his sword and stabbing, slashing, slicing. On and on and on, ignoring the red swirls of magic around him as Wanda dodged and dodged his attempts, ignoring even when it was Tony’s voice that begged him to stand down - it had the opposite effect, just made him even more determined to slay the witch that dared to use his husband’s voice in such a way.

But then the dragon had swooped in from above and roared loud enough to sway Steve’s attention from Wanda, and the dragon had been Tony. It had been Tony’s eyes and when Steve had finally listened, it turned out that Tony’s voice hadn’t been made up by Wanda, but it had been there from the dragon all along, and the dragon had somehow been Tony.

And the blade and the shield had fallen from Steve’s hands and he had fallen on his knees and he sobbed, emotions rushing at him, the emptiness filled up to the brim and overflown.

- It wasn’t my intention - Wanda said, in her accent that Steve was used to, but only heard in this thickness when the witch was particularly overcome with feelings. Usually distressed or upset, but sometimes it was a sign of joy. This day though, it was probably the former.

- That’s what you get from a self-taught witch - Tony grumbled, smoke puffing from his nose.

- Not everyone’s as lucky as you to have higher education - Wanda retorted immediately.

It was their favorite game, teasing each other for their different approach to magic, and normally Steve would roll his eyes, but now he was too overcome to be annoyed.

It was a complicated relationship between Wanda and Tony. Wanda had been on the opposing side of the war, her parents victims to the war, and her hometown located in a territory that had been annexed to the country. She had been taken to the capital to be raised among other orphans, as an offering from the kingdom for their loss, and as expected, at first Wanda had hated everything about that. It was very late that her magical talents had been discovered, and by then, she had been old enough to leave the capital, and she did exactly that. She came to the countryside - by some accident or fate, to the same area that Steve and Tony had settled down to.

Tony and Wanda had sensed each other.

Tony had reached out and when he had discovered (with utter horror) just how untrained Wanda had been, he had decided to mentor her. To keep everyone around her safe, he had reasoned to Steve, but Steve had not been fooled for a single second. Tony took a liking to her, as he did with everyone who had a sad story he could connect with - and he could connect with basically everyone - so an unlikely friendship had formed between the two. Tentative at first, fierce and overprotective at last.

That’s why there had been nothing extraordinary about Wanda having dinner with them, talking about her latest experiments and discoveries.

That’s why there had been nothing extraordinary about Tony helping Wanda with some magic.

That’s why Steve had assumed, when he woke up with dried blood everywhere and no Tony to be seen, that the experiment went catastrophically wrong and his husband was dead.

Instead, as it turned out, he had been turned into a dragon. A magical beast that was, by all accounts and beliefs, extinct.

- I didn’t turn him into a dragon! - Wanda objected, sniffing in indignation as he heard Steve coming to that conclusion. - I just accidentally awoke his dragon heritage.

- Yeah, ‘cause that’s so much better - Tony retorted, rolling his eyes which had vertical pupils but somehow still were Tony’s eyes, the same amber color, the same warmth and soul staring out, despite the scales around.

- It is for me. It doesn’t rip me apart, to begin with - Wanda said, a bit of her sarcasm coming back to her, now that the threat of being stabbed through the heart by Steve’s enchanted weapons weren’t imminent.

Steve, now also a bit more clear-headed, appreciated that she hadn’t used her powers to stop him, only to deter his attempts to kill her. She could’ve. She could’ve hurt or incapacitated him, but she had chosen to only redirect his hits and thus defend herself. It went a long way for Steve to forgive her for the morning.

- I’ve never heard of such a thing before - Steve interrupted, before they could get too much into the bickering.

- No sane mage would ever try to do this deliberately. - Tony shook his head. - Who would want to risk their sanity that way?

- Back to the dragon heritage, please? - Steve asked again, because as much fun it was to listen to their magical theory debates, he really thought they had much more interesting questions to figure out at the moment.

- He has to be at least a quarter dragon, I believe - Wanda said. - But it's more likely to be half.

- I would be offended, but given how much of a manwhore my father was… - Tony said. He probably tried to shrug as a human, but instead, he flapped one of his red wings, then looked back at it moving with vast surprise and with a puff of smoke coming from his nose again.

Steve chuckled. It was, though inhuman, still a very much Tony gesture.

- Is it reversible? - he asked next. The thought that his husband would remain stuck in a dragon’s body was uncomfortable, but in his mind, he already started to count on that possibility. Obviously they couldn’t go back to their home in that case - they’d need to find a big enough place for a dragon - somewhere safe, maybe in the mountains? Steve would still love Tony to pieces, regardless of his shape and form, and they could still be happy. Anything but that hollow, crushing pain and emptiness that Steve felt in those hours when he thought Tony was dead, lost to him.

- No - Tony said.

- Yes - Wanda said at the same time.

They glared at each other.

- You’ll be back in your human shape in a few days - Wanda argued.

- But the ability to take dragon form will remain - Tony countered.

Steve let out breath, his shoulders suddenly sagging forward in relief of worry he didn’t know he had. - You’ll be able to change at will?

There was a bit of a pause, a hesitant look at each other, then Wanda shrugged, and Tony flapped his wing again. - Probably - he said.

And dragon or not, Steve kissed his husband - it was weird and awkward, but who cared, it was Tony - and he laughed and cried.

All was going to be well.