Chapter Text
“Tony, wait!”
Steve rushed out of Fury’s office, barely catching Maria Hill’s drawled I told you he was busy as he blew past her. He managed to catch Tony before the man made it to the Helicarrier bay where he had left his suit.
“Tony, please, just let me--”
“Let you explain?” He turned on a heel, meeting Steve’s gaze with impassive eyes and a raised brow. “I don’t know what there is to say. You went searching for information on Peggy and found a redacted file, but when that wasn’t enough for you, you were going to try and rip the information from Fury himself, no? But now you know, and there’s nothing else to say.”
There’s everything left to say Steve thought, but the words didn’t leave his lips. He heaved a sigh, trying to formulate his thoughts properly through his muddled shock, confusion, and bitter guilt. “I just--first of all, I’m sorry.”
Tony blinked. “You’re sorry?”
“Yes, I’m sorry, I really am. How I acted in your lab, I shouldn’t have gotten so upset. Peggy, she meant so much to me. But she never belonged to me. She never belonged to anyone.”
At that, the other man chuckled, abrupt and stiff. “You’re right, she was her own woman in every sense.”
Steve nodded, jamming his hands into his pockets. He could feel Tony searching his face but he couldn’t bring himself to meet his eyes. “We never even, well, dated. Just a kiss in the heat of it all. I didn’t know it was going to be a one way mission when I jumped onto that plane but I...I figured it might be. And she just meant so much to me. Still does.”
“You don’t have to tell me all of this,” Tony said, his tone unreadable.
“I know, but I need to. I need to explain myself better.” The other man said nothing, and Steve figured it was as good a cue as anything to continue. He’d been feeling such a mix of emotions the past week that it was a struggle to control his words, to not just let everything spill out. But he steadied himself, gathered himself, and trudged on. “It was irrational of me to immediately assume that you were trying to mock me about Peggy. But I didn’t realize what she was to you, and I didn’t know how truly...wrong my words were because of it. So I did my own digging, because I knew I had to fix this.”
“Fix what? Nothing’s wrong, why would anything be wrong?”
Steve bit back a groan, sighing instead. “You wouldn’t talk to me! I’ve been trying to talk to you all week, but you’ve been blocking me out.”
“Had it occurred to you that I perhaps just wanted some space?” His words were soft, but sharp. Steve nodded.
“It did, but I just…” I missed you unbelievably for just a week of not talking. “You could’ve told me. If you had told me you needed space I would’ve respected it.”
Tony wrinkled his nose slightly, nodding. “I suppose I could’ve.”
A pause. “I should mention, I’m not sorry I went digging.”
Tony’s head snapped up, almost glaring at Steve. He winced at the ferocity of it. “Perhaps I shouldn’t have, but I’m not sorry I did. She was your mom, and now I know, but I didn’t know at the time. No matter...what we were, she still meant so much to me. I was briefed on what had happened to her, on her legacy with SHIELD, but I didn’t know anything about her personal life. I’m happy that she had you.”
Tony blinked, frowning. Steve prepared himself for a verbal assault, but it never came. The other man just continued to stare at the empty space between them for what felt like hours. When he eventually broke the stiff silence, what he said caught Steve off guard.
“How did you even get the file?”
“Excuse me?”
A small smirk crawled across Tony’s face, but the playfulness didn’t reach his eyes. “You’ve picked up new technology well, but no matter how faulty SHIELD’s security servers are--as they won’t let me install my own systems, of course--there’s no way you could’ve hacked him.”
He grinned weakly. “I uh, had Natasha do it.”
Tony let out a small humph. “Figures.”
Steve opened his mouth, and closed it again. He still felt as if he had so much more to say, but when he tried to translate his racing mind and raging heart into words, he found himself at a loss.
“I should be heading back,” Tony muttered. Steve nodded meekly.
“I really am sorry.”
“You just said you weren’t.”
Steve shook his head. “I’m not sorry I found out, but I’m sorry for how it happened. I’m sorry that I hurt you.”
Tony’s gaze lingered on him for another moment, but he didn’t reply. He merely turned, exiting towards the bay. Steve watched him go, watched as the suit molded around him, encasing his lean form. He watched as the red and gold armor lifted from the Helicarrier and streaked across the sky. A small smile involuntarily formed across his face at the beauty of it.
When he reached the quinjet where Natasha was waiting for him she said nothing, her only acknowledgement being a raised brow. At his face however, she clasped his shoulder with a upward quirk of her lips, and they clambered into the jet together.
------
Five days passed, and Steve hadn’t seen Tony since their meeting on the Helicarrier.
He’d tried once to enter the lab, one day after their conversation, but when he’d found his normal access codes denied he didn’t try to override it, and didn’t try again later. Taking Tony’s earlier advice of giving the man space was probably the best idea. But he couldn’t help himself from trying, just once.
It was five days later, Steve trying his best to focus on his Avengers paperwork and failing miserably, when JARVIS called for him.
“Captain Rogers,” the AI stated, and Steve was immediately on alert. Ever since his and Tony’s...altercation in the lab, JARVIS had been all but ignoring him, responding to his commands and questions only when the questions were crucial--and even then the responses were curt and as short. Steve would’ve never imagined being ignored by an AI could hurt so much, but when that AI belonged to Tony and cared for his wellbeing, it really did pain him.
“Yes, JARVIS? A call to assemble?” Normally the klaxon would’ve been sounded, but he couldn’t imagine what other reason JARVIS had to reach out to him.
“Not quite, Captain. Mr Stark requires your assistance in his lab, immediately."
Steve didn’t even wait for an elaboration on the situation. Instead he bolted through his door, nearly knocking it off his hinges as he made his way toward the stairs and down to the lab. His chest ached with anxious, crippling fear, fear of the worst, as he made his way to the correct floor. He didn’t even have to punch in the override code, the doors opened for him at his presence.
“Tony!” he called, searching frantically across the room. He expected to find the man either trapped under some sort of machinery, cut and bleeding, or both. What he found however was the billionaire perfectly unharmed, dressed not in the usual ratty tank top and jeans he wore in the lab, but in dress pants and an overcoat. Steve blinked at the sight.
“Good, you’re here! We should get going then, want to make it there before dusk.”
Steve blinked again. “I...what? I thought you were hurt.”
The man gestured to himself, cocking his head slightly. “As you can see, I’m fit as a fiddle. I admit perhaps I should’ve had JARVIS clarify that, but it was minor detail.”
Steve met the other man’s gaze, the true meaning behind his words dawning over him. “I would’ve come here either way. No matter what, I would’ve come.”
Tony paused, but only for a moment, before he turned toward the doors. “Are you coming or not?” He called over his shoulder.
“You’re not going to tell me where we’re going, are you?”
Tony laughed, and Steve shook his head, following the genius out of the lab.
-----
He didn’t know what to expect when Tony had dragged him into one of his grossly expensive cars and began driving them out of the city, but being driven to a small cemetery upstate didn’t even crack his top ten.
When he saw the name of the cemetery at the gates however, the realization hit him fast and hard.
They parked, and walked in silence towards the proper gravestone. Steve had been briefed on the location, but he had never came, didn’t think he could bare to come alone.
But now, now he wasn’t alone.
The stark, sharp letters engraved onto the stone stared back at him. Carter. His chest throbbed, but it wasn’t as painful as he imagined it would be. Perhaps it was because he had more closure now. Perhaps it was because of the man beside him.
Slowly, Tony reached into his coat and pulled out a single white lily, and laid it atop the smooth granite. The stood in silence, but it wasn’t tense. Instead it was comforting, soothing.
When Tony eventually spoke his voice was quiet and his tone almost trembling, as if he were struggling to speak at all. Steve listened with rapt attention but his eyes didn’t leave the bolded words in front of him. “I didn’t know she was my mother until right before she passed. She was always there for me, as much as she could be--which was still more than my dad was, but that’s, ah.” He paused, clearing his throat. “Anyways, she was always there for me, but I knew here as my aunt, not my mother. I loved my mother dearly, and when I found out the truth it didn’t cloud the memories of my mother in any way. I loved them both, I love them both. But I wouldn’t be who I am without Peggy, I know that for sure.”
“I don’t think I would be either.” He looked towards Tony to find the man smiling at him, a fantastic smile that managed to reach his eyes. Steve couldn’t help but return the gesture.
“Had she not been related to me by blood, it wouldn’t have changed anything. I loved her when she was my fierce and brilliant Aunt Peggy, and I love her now.”
Carefully, Tony reached out, clasping Steve’s hand between his own two. “I think I’d like to begin again.”
Steve’s heart throbbed within him. “I wouldn’t.”
Tony’s face fell, and Steve rushed to continue. “But, I would like to move forward from here. With you.”
The same fantastic smile Tony had been wearing moments before returned upon his face, eyes glinting. “I think I could try that, yes.”
After a few more moments of mutual silence the two men returned to the car, fingers entwined.