Work Text:
Dear Tony,
If you're reading this letter, today is the day I don't come back from the battlefield. Today is the day I don't come home.
I'm writing this letter at the Nova Corps headquarters. I know this is the last chance I'll get to tell you anything.
I'm selfish, Tony.
That's the reason you're on Earth now, watching the carnage from below.
I'm selfish and I'm a coward.
You're so strong, Tony, but I was too scared to take you with me. I can't watch another lover walk out onto the battlefield to die.
I lied when I said I was coming back. Strange is going to close the portal once we're through. You can't stop him, Tony, and please, please don't try.
I love you so much and I was always rotten at showing it. So I guess this isn't so out of character for me.
The truth is, the world needs you more. Humanity will need futurists once this is over, not relics.
I'm sorry I'm leaving you behind. So unspeakably sorry.
I
Tony puts down the letter with shaking hands.
That's where it ends. After the “I” there's now more words. They went to space for this .
A piece of paper and Steve's–
What's left of Steve. His Steve.
The shield is so heavy on his back, like it's made of stone instead of Earth's rarest metal. It's all that's left of the Avengers. A bloody shield and a suit of armour spinning endlessly through space.
