Oh, God...

[shieldborne]

Infinity War Open Post






THERE WILL BE SPOILERS.

Drop me a prompt, or ask me to drop you a prompt. Open to doomy pre-IW foreshadowing, fix-it AUs, post-IW angst, character interactions that should have happened but didn't on-screen, crossovers, and whatever else anyone can come up with.

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[shieldborne]

"He's family. He's all I have," Steve explains, unaware that explaining is the last thing he needs to do.

But he's seen the way Tony glanced away, some of the tension easing from him, the shifty-eyed awkward irascibility. There's something human about it all, something soft enough to shake him out of the blind fugue of shock and rage. He still feels like he's drowning in all of this. It's too much, way too much, but he's conscious of being present in his own body once more and rational enough to thank God he didn't actually hurt Tony.

"I don't know how the fuck you expect me to lead anything," he says, slowly letting him go and stepping back. "I don't belong here."

Breathe in through the nose, out through the mouth. Once, twice. "I still don't like it. And he's not stupid, the younger you. He's arrogant, maybe he has some ulterior motives he didn't feel like sharing, but his heart's in the right place."

Okay, that's an unfortunate metaphor, maybe, but Steve is oblivious to that. "Sacrificing New York to save the universe--I mean, that's a fair trade, I guess, but that doesn't make it our place to choose it."

He frowns at Tony a little. "You're a genius, why can't you just reroute the door in space? Send the invading army somewhere else. Crash 'em into the sun or something. That'd send the message you want, wouldn't it?"