fossilised | It's AU time

"Only two years now, it took a long time to get here, but he's worth the wait."

Steve was never embarrassed about being open with his feelings. No matter how many times Nat teased him, or Sam and Tony pretended to be sick, he was never going to tire of saying how much he loved Bucky. He had waited so many years, they had both been through so much, and he had recovered the man he loved from the depths of hell. To say he loved Bucky was a privilege, not something to be avoided.

He fiddled with the wedding band on his finger, he'd miss Bucky while he was here, but they were capable of being apart for a week.

"Trust me, Steve, few months or few decades, you'll never find another man like Bucky Barnes. He's one of the best."

"is it wrong to say that I feel like I've waited my entire life to meet him? And that it didn't matter if I did because as soon as we met-- I'm not sure about rate since God gave us our own free will, but if anything could possibly be fate-like, then being with him is-- Are you rolling your eyes at us, Tony?" He couldn't help but laugh. Evidently it was boring for anyone not named Steve Rogers to gush about the man they loved.

"Huh? Who me? Why would you say that? I love talking about love."

"You're engaged!" Steve grinned. "You're further along the whole love thing than I am." He just had to point that out.

Tony leaned back against his elbow and looked half over his shoulder at the older Rogers. "I don't think Loren and I are married where you're from, am I right, King Sized? He's evidently an alien in your world and I got the impression that he didn't like me much."

Loki was a mystery. Tony would hopefully never learn how much of an asshole his other self's best friend happened to be. Or about their bond.

Steve didn't think that was weird at all, and it was obvious by the way he had nodded along and smiled indulgently. Sure, he had met Bucky when he was a kid, but he had still felt like all his life up to that point had just been waiting without realising what he was waiting for. Bucky was an idiot who liked to tell people that Steve was the better man, but Steve knew that he'd be nothing without Buck, and there was nobody he admired more.

But then things got a bit more awkward with questions he wasn't sure he wanted to answer, hand rubbing into his hair uncomfortably.

"No, uh, right. You're not married, but you are really good friends and you're some sort of shield-guardian for his children in case he ever falls in battle. Something like that. But Loki doesn't like anyone very much, he's kind of... prickly."

"Whoa--" A voice from the bedroom doorway piped up, Bucky standing there in his boxers, a t-shirt, and no prosthetic. "What the hell is Chris Evans doing in our apartment, Steve? Are you shooting around here? Can I get an autograph?"

Though Tony did seem momentarily put out because he'd spent years trying to tack Loren down in a defined relationship and was about to open his mouth to ask if he was married at all (unlikely, in his opinion, since he had never wanted marriage before he met Loren), Bucky's reaction was comical enough to have the old man in stitches. He stood up, all hips, and clapped his hands. "Didn't Steve tell you that he and Chris go way back? They're like the Danny Devito and Arnold Schwartzenegger version of that movie Twins. Have a seat. I'll get paper for an autograph."

He was still chuckling as he passed Bucky, poking around in Steve's art studio because he figured they should have the assumption of privacy here. He was still going to listen and peek out but the idea of privacy was just as important as real privacy.

The younger Steve, who did not like to be equated to Danny Devito of all people, turned eyes nearly as blue as the Chris Evans doppleganger towards his boyfriend. "This isn't Chris Evans. He just looks a little bit like him." Or a lot like him. Damn. That other Bucky was so lucky. His had the defective one who was always sick. "This is uh... Me. Steve Rogers. From another reality beyond the rip in time and space-- I mean, you can still get an autograph if you want," he smiled.

Okay, Steve was really going to have to find out who this Chris Evans was, but that wasn't important right now because... where was Bucky's arm? That wasn't right, there was no Winter Soldier in this reality, he shouldn't still be hurt. But there he was, missing an arm, with deep blue eyes that still looked a little haunted even while he was smiling. It hurt his goddamn heart. That wasn't fair.

Bucky's eyebrows shot up and he looked Steve up and down for a moment as if assessing him, before holding out a hand to shake politely. "Good to meet you, weirdly huge alternate Steve." He grinned, the lopsided smile that the older Steve's Bucky had never quite got back properly. "This is so weird, I hope you know that?"

Letting his hand drop, he leaned over to kiss his own Steve softly, lightly, not caring that there were other people in the room. His voice lowered for his Steve's ears only, a soft purr. "Looks like I hit the jackpot with alternate yous, huh?"

It took a whole, whole lot of poise not to bristle at those words. It helped that he had been kissed – it still tickled him to have a person that looked like Bucky kiss him – but that purr in his voice-- It was horrible. He swallowed down his hurt as Bucky and the larger, bulkier, healthier, more charming version of him shook hands like fast fellows. “I guess it’s your lucky day. You always said you thought Chris Evans was hot. That one is off the market, though, so you’ll have to go poking into other realities.”

Steve tapped his own, bare, ring finger to get Bucky to look. And maybe not notice that the snark in his voice was a little out of character. Or that the words might not have been said entirely in jest.

He stood and went back into the kitchen to get Bucky something to drink. He’d never had reason to be jealous before, and he knew that Bucky was only teasing, but there was a little bit of guilt too. Bucky deserved better. The Steve in the living room probably could do a lot more for Bucky than he could.

He’d never had reason to doubt himself before and he was trying not to now either.

"What?"

Bucky had no idea what Steve was talking about for a few moments, but he could tell something was wrong even without the weird choice of words. It took a second for him to catch on, and then he was abandoning Tony and Steve in the lounge to dart for the kitchen and grab Steve around the waist one-armed.

"Idiot," he muttered, half amused and half annoyed. "I meant you, you big doofus. You're the jackpot, not him, I hit it lucky because I got you and not him. Jesus, you can be dense sometimes, you punk."

He didn't care hat the other Steve looked like. Sure, he found Chris Evans hot, but he wasn't in >i>love with Chris Evans. He was in love with Steve, his Steve, and that automatically made him the hottest and the best Steve.

Most people would let a misunderstanding fester or get annoyed that there had been a misunderstanding in the first place, but Steve just wrapped his good arm around Bucky’s neck and his not so good arm around his waist. He mumbled something that might have had the word ‘love’ in it before he pressed himself fully against a guy that really, really, was the best person alive. Even with his troubles.

Tony sauntered back out of the studio with one of Steve’s sketch books and eyed the taller version with a charming smile. “I’m getting jealous. Maybe I should travel through space to find a Barnes for myself. Not that being a shield-guardian for an alien version of my fiancé isn’t cool…” Okay, it didn’t sound so great. Loren had someone else… Tony never did like being the odd one out.

He handed over the sketch book, as if Steve was going to sign that, honestly, and hummed.

“Why do you look like someone punched you in the gut, Sasquatch?” Steve Rogers and his expressive eyes…there was no denying that seeing Bucky hurt him.

Sure, seeing Bucky hurt, but it was also amazing to see how open he was with his Steve and how willing to touch and smile. Something had obviously happened to him, but he wasn't as broken as Steve's Bucky, who still flinched away sometimes from even Steve, who's memories might never come back fully.

"Huh?"

He glanced down at Tony with the single worst innocent expression ever, smile at his lips even if his brow was furrowed still.

"I don't know what you're talking about. But-- hey, you don't need to find Bucky, you're married with a daughter where I'm from. Happily married too, really."

Married with a kid…? Tony narrowed his eyes at Steve, but he seemed appeased. “Good. Dad would be so happy that I passed on some genetic material to carry on the Stark name.” He slipped his hands into his pocket, a pleasant look on his face. He didn’t actually find himself thinking about the woman he had married, though. His thoughts went back to Loren and he felt a sort of antsiness overcame him. They didn’t really have time for all of these pleasantries.

Natalia and Thor were across the way. And then he needed to contact Rhodey-- Actually, Loren might get his wish for a party after all.

“Okay. Let’s get the rest of the gang together. Not here. Too small. I’m over by the river,” Tony said, glancing towards the kitchen were Steve and Bucky were still hugging out…something. He had no idea. Those two were oddly insync all the time. It was crazy. “I guess you’ll be staying with me, unless you want to crash here on the couch? Yeah, that might get awkward, huh? Okay, Bigfoot. Let’s go see if Loren’s brother is over at his girlfriend’s place and get this show moving.”

Steve didn't really want to stay here either, he didn't want to involve himself in any of their lives more than he had to. They deserved to live the lives that God set out for them, not have that meddled with by people from another world and dimension. So he nodded and pushed himself to his feet.

"Excuse me," he said into the kitchen, because he would never leave without thanking his host, it was just good manners. "I'm afraid we have to be leaving now to find the others that we need, but it was nice to meet you and thank you for the crackers. Steve, Buck-- I hope you'll be very happy together."

He gave a short salute and went back to Tony's side.

"...they look happy, don't they?"

Maybe he could have that with his husband some day, just an easy afternoon with no shadow of blood and death hanging over them all the time.

“Happy?” Tony held the door for Steve. He wasn’t old fashioned, but he was a lot more polite than his counterpart…and he didn’t quite have the same aversion to germs as he did either. Door handles, thankfully, were safe to touch. “I guess. As much as anyone can be. From what I’ve heard, one is sick all the time and the other suffers from PTSD…and he’s dangerous.” He saw Bucky shoot that guy in cold blood-- It was hard for Tony to get over that. It was the first time he’d seen someone actually shot like that, the first time he’d seen someone die violently right in front of him. He didn’t like it. Not at all. “You might be better off than those two in a lot of ways.”

Something on Steve’s face told Tony that he was wrong there. It didn’t matter who you were or what you looked like, there was always heartbreak of some sort of another to deal with. Steve here looked like he’d seen his fair share.

And that was all right. It made him more human.

The journey from one door to another took two seconds and Tony knocked on Nat’s door, expecting a little redhead to show up but no. It was Thor. Who decided that answering doors without pants was a fine choice. “Stark. My brother—“

At least Thor did care about Loren. Tony couldn’t deny that. “He’d fine, just fine. I want to—“

“Woah. Is that Chris Evans at my door?” Nat called, wearing Thor’s shirt, from behind the large blond. “You must give me ten minutes to put on makeup!”

"I'm not Chris Evans," Steve called through the doorway, brow furrowed. "Who the heck is Chris Evans? Do I really look that much like him?"

Thor was a surprise. Not the opening the door with no pants part, he was sadly used to the fact that Asgardians had little or no sense of propriety when it came to nakedness or sex, but because he was... smaller. Oh, he was still huge as far as humans went, still muscled and built like a tank, but he was smaller in comparison to his Asgardian counterpart. Maybe it just wasn't possible for humans to get that ripped.

"It's Steve, actually, Steve Rogers. You guys have been having dreams, right? I'm actually from that other reality, please don't shut the door in my face."

These poor people being dragged into this.

“Steven?” Natalia’s accent was thick from sleep. “Are you truly Steven? I do not like you this size. You are better off small and cute. But I will still put on my makeup and dress. We shall talk after that. Come in, come in. Thor, you must dress as well.”

Thor shrugged, as if it wasn’t his top priority, but went back to where Nat’s bed was in the corner of the small studio. He didn’t quite fit behind the changing screen, though Tony turned his back to him and exhaled through his mouth as if all of this was tedious. “So are we all like…friends? Me, you, Buck, Thor, Nat, that archer dude, Rhodey…? Because that’s pretty weird. You’d think we’d all be in different areas, not all congregated together. I only just met all of these guys through Loren and if Loren is an alien god where you’re from, how did I meet them?”

It was a good question. That they were all so connected really was strange. Most people in other realities had all sorts of different connections.

"I don't know how much of a good idea it is to tell you all these things," said Steve, looking apologetic as he found a seat and eased himself down into it. He tried not to be offended that all of his friends were looking at him as if he were an alien himself, it was understandable considering his size compared to their Steve and also because he was an interloper in this reality. "It's not that there's anything too bad, it's just that I don't want to contaminate your reality any more than necessary."

So he lived opposite Nat in this world, that was nice. Nat was one of his best friends, he would never forget all that she had done for him when he had first been pursued by the Winter Soldier, back before they even knew that the man had been Bucky underneath it all.

"The rip here is a mistake, I just want to get it sealed up so you can go back to your lives as they're meant to be. I know that I'm too late to save all the people who died that night, but-- I can at least keep it from happening again."

“Uh, so you’re here and you gave my fiancé something so he could walk again, which would have been other wise impossible, and now you’re worried about influencing our time line?” That sounded ridiculous. “Whatever you say isn’t going to drastically change the world. Not the same way that aliens appearing overhead for a day did. We did all of this ourselves. We sort of screwed the pooch, yanno? So I wouldn’t worry too much about you decide to say.”

There wasn’t anywhere in Nat’s apartment to sit other than the couch and if he did sit there, he’d be sidled up to a guy that was too big to be comfortable next to so he just stood and waited for first Thor and then Natalia to return to the room.

“Steve’s here to help out until they can fix things on the other end. But there’s a few people we need to have join the party. Nat, looks like you have a friend that used to be an Olympic archer? Still talk to him? Because he’s got five days to get to Manhattan so we can keep aliens from coming to visit again.”

Tony was probably right, it just felt different to Steve. Like if he told people things, it might influence them to do those things, when people should be allowed free will. What if he told Tony that he was married to Bruce Banner, would he break it off with Loren and pursue someone he might think was better for him? Steve might be being too cautious, but he just didn't want to wreck things.

So he sat in uncomfortable silence until Nat reappeared, a little surprised, but nodding almost at once. She was good at adapting to insane situations and very rarely not in control of herself.

"Of course I know Clint, he is a very good friend of mine. He is disaster. I do not know if he is near or not, I will text him and tell him to come."

She knew that he would, Clint would do anything for her, he may still be a little bit in love with her.

“Awesome. So this is going really well. Now all we need is Rhodey, J and his girlfriend, right?” No one mentioned Banner to him. Not Loki, at least, and not Loren and while Bruce had said that he had similar dreams, Tony was only going by who was on the list he’d been given. “So good. My place, Friday night. We’ll have a little meet and greet and go over whatever game plan Ken Doll has for us. Oh. Thor. Listen, give Loren like…two more days of rest before you go barging into the hospital. I’m bringing him home then and you can come over.”

Thor looked skeptical. “You have no lift, Stark. How do you intend to get him to your home? Impossible.”

“Pulleys. I have the car lifts and I have a manlift in the garage so we’ll be fine, trust me.” He fully intended Loki to just walk anyway. “And if all else fails, you can suffer all the bruises it takes to carry him for me. Deal?”

Thor took it with a large hand and a hard squeeze. Good enough, Tony decided, wincing at the strength behind the grasp. At least Thor wasn’t going to be a huge problem until Loren got on his feet again. Literally.

"What about Bruce?"

That was Steve, having been listening in and counting off the people that they needed. Bruce was pretty important, sure he wouldn't be the Hulk here (and he was sure the Bruce he knew and cared about was very jealous of that fact), but he was an integral part of the team and would be needed to seal the gap.

"This is so," said Nat. "I have been dreaming of my Thor with long hair, he has told me names and one was Bruce Banner."

Steve glanced sidelong at Tony, wondering why he hadn't just told Thor that his brother would be capable of walking out. It seemed needlessly cruel to let him keep worrying and grieving over such a severe injury when he could be told the truth.

“Huh. Well, I have the doc on speed dial and he knows where I live so I’ll text him.” He left with Steve, heading down the stairs, and when the blond did ask him the burning question while they climbed back onto the bike, Tony snorted. “Yeah, you want me to tell Thor his brother can walk… And then Thor, who has a very big mouth, boasts to his buddies that his brother was given something so he could walk again after his spine was all but severed…? Nah. I’ll let him think it’s a miracle when he sees him and everyone will be happy.”

With Banner, who was his primary care physician thanks to the surgery he had performed in triage, Tony might take a different sort of approach though. He sort of hoped it didn’t come up…even if it would. Of course it would.

“Now suck it in, Rogers, so I can get my arms around you. Time to go home.”

The next morning, with Steve doing something or other to one of the bikes in the shop as payment to be allowed to stay with him (or whatever), Tony went alone to the hospital. Talking with J, Wanda and Rhodey had actually gone really well. Really, really well. Now it was just time to bring Loren back into the fold. So Tony would wait until he woke up.

Loren had dreamed strange dreams. He had dreamed of his brother again, accented strangely and so insistent. But he had also dreamed of Anthony in many different horrible scenarios, trapped under falling masonry, lost to him through illness, turning from him because of Loren's inability to show love properly. It left him feeling nauseous when he did finally jolt awake, eyes wide.

"Anthony?"

No. No, he was there, his fiance still sat in the chair beside him and not driven away. Strangely he felt much better, despite the dreams. His back no longer hurt, which might just mean that he had been given better painkillers.

"I was starting to wonder if I needed to do something stronger than kiss you to get you to open those eyes of yours, Sleeping Beauty," Tony said, reaching out to take Loren's hand and bring it to his freshly shaved cheek. It had been awhile since he had trimmed himself up and it made his eyes stand out like gems of dark smokey Quartz. There was mischief in his eyes, some knowing mirth, that left him seeking more impish than usual. It was more than just his usual libido talking. Tony Stark was entirely too pleased about something.

Good news? But in the form of what? Banner had mentioned a Dr. Strange but with the travel ban in place, he wouldn't have been able to fly out that fast.

"I-- Loren, this is going to sound cruel, but please don't kill me. Can you--" Tony slipped his hand, warm and wide, under the light blanket and up Loren's thigh. The hospital gown didn't stand a chance against his clever fingers, pushed up with every inch of gained ground. He felt the soft skin beneath his touch and wondered, hoped, that Loren might feel him too. Maybe it was too subtle? Well, nothing would be subtle once he took Loren in hand. He was careful about the catheter. There was no need to cause his fiancé pain.

Loren opened his mouth to tell Anthony exactly how grateful he was to have him, a vulnerability from the dream that needed rare voice, but he was stopped when Anthony began to speak first. Initially he believed that it could only be a phantom sensation, his brain tricking him because he could see where Anthony's fingers were and remembered what it should feel like.

But then--

Then oh, that was not a phantom sensation. He gasped, eyes wide, and reached down to take hold of Anthony's wrist in a grip that was like iron. Not that he wanted it to stop, he was just so shocked.

"How? Anthony, tell me what has been done? Was I operated on again? I did not think that I would feel you again."

"You won't believe a word I say," Tony said, feeling his jaw tremble. It was what he had been most afraid of. He could carry Loren around and change their living space to suit him. Having the man walk wasn't that big a deal. But if their sex became one sided, that might just rip his heart right out of his chest. He wasn't a good man. He tried, but he knew he would stray. And he knew Loren would resent him but wouldn't be able to leave him for the infidelity. And he knew it would crush them both.

So this? This was welcome news. Tony leaned in to kiss Loren's gaping mouth, feeling him wriggle beneath his stalled hand. His legs were working too. But nearly three weeks in a bed might make it hard to walk. Then again, that salve had literally just healed his spine. His muscles might be perfect too.

"The you from the dreams, the other world," Tony said, inches apart with the kiss concluded, "sent a crazy huge Steve Rogers with future medicine to fix you up. Shhh I told you that you wouldn't believe me so shut up. Doesn't matter. Just trust me. Let me get you up and on those shapely legs again. We have some business to conduct."

Tony was wrong, Loren believed every single word. Those dreams were not just dreams, he had known it deep in his soul, the part of him that would always be connected to magic even if he couldn't access it in this life and this world. But to think that a different version of one of them had come and healed him.

Well-- He too was a selfish creature, though he was fascinated, he was mostly just ecstatic over his own good fortune. He surged upwards and pressed his lips passionately to Anthony's, biting on his lower lip hard enough to make it swollen, even as he moved his legs very deliberately under the covers.

"Business later, pleasure now."

He had thought he would never get to fuck Anthony again, he planned on celebrating.

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