Work Text:
1975
Thirty years ago Steve Rogers made a choice in an instant that would change everything for him. There was no planning, no forethought put into the decision, and somehow it had managed to be the best choice he had ever made.
How many mortals can say they were worthy of lifting Mjolnir, had fought next to gods and aliens and myths? He had already fought his wars, saved the universe and returned everything to what it once was pre-snap- the only thing left to him was getting that life Tony had been telling him to do in the decade they knew each other.
That’s what had made the decision so easy.
He knew Bucky would understand, would move on and help Sam. And he would too, because he was going to do everything he possibly could to be there when it happened, when he didn’t make the jump back like he had promised- to pass on the mantel of Captain America to someone worthy of the title.
But first, he needed to make it through this night.
“It’s just the Starks, my love. You know them, they love you Steve,” his wife Peggy demurs from where she sits at her vanity, every bit as lovely as she was when he first laid eyes on her a century ago.
“They love Roger darling. As far as anyone knows, Steve Rogers is still considered missing in action and in all likelihood dead,” Steve replies from where he reclines on their bed.
Peggy just rolls her eyes. “Roger Stevens. After all these years I still can’t believe you didn’t even try to come up with something cleverer,” she hums as she clips the clasp on her necklace, the golden locket that holds the photos of their two most precious gifts- James and Natasha.
“When have I ever been known to be clever?”
“You figured out time travel.”
“Tony figured out time travel, and only after Scott guided him in the right direction,” he sighs as he lifts himself off their bed. He’s not the man he once was, despite the super solider serum that still courses through his body- the decades have taken their toll.
Steve Rogers was, in many ways, becoming an old man.
And soon enough a grandfather to boot.
Which was why he and his wife were about to embark in the most dangerous mission of their entire life- babysitting a four-year old Tony Stark while his parents went to a dinner with an important client that Stark Industries was courting.
Steve presses a kiss to the top of Peggy’s head as he walks past her to go find where he left the car keys and shoots her a look when she gives him an affectionate smack right on the tush as he walks past.
“Still America’s ass,” he murmurs mostly to himself as his wife’s laughter fills their home.
“We really could have found someone to watch Anthony, having the director of SHIELD watching our son seems highly inappropriate,” Maria Stark comments as Howard helps her into her coat.
Peggy scoffs. “Nonsense. Roger and I managed to raise two fine children ourselves you know, and Natasha will be delivering her baby in a few short months, making us grandparents. If anything, you are giving us much needed practice.”
Maria casts a look at her husband, who just nods in agreement with Peggy. Steve does his best to not step in and say anything if at all possible, Howard has always been more suspicious of him than nearly anyone from his old life. Even after he grew his beard out to Peggy’s enthusiastic consent.
Once again, Howard eyes him with a look of doubt.
“I know it’s been 30 years Peg, but I will never get over how Roger here has an uncanny resemblance to Captain America. You really had a type huh?”
For her sake, Peggy has gotten used to this over the years and has perfected the art of keeping the ruse up. She gives Steve a sidelong glance, furrows her brows as if deep in thought, and brings her right hand to rest under her chin thoughtfully.
“I still don’t see it Howard,” she says with wrinkle of her nose. The wink she tosses at Steve over Howard’s turned back still manages to knock the wind out of him somehow, despite the decades they have had together.
“Ana and Edwin should be back in a few hours. I honestly have no idea how long this dinner will take, but if they arrive back before we do, please feel free to head home. Ana made a delicious pot roast for your dinner tonight; it just needs warmed in oven. Oh and Anthony needs to be put to bed at 7:30pm, no later,” Maria rattles off as Howard ushers her out of the front door with an apologetic smile as Steve and Peggy offer their goodbyes.
“Are you ever going to tell him?” Peggy asks him with a mischievous twinkle in her eye.
Steve crosses his arms across his chest and lets out a laugh. “And ruin the fun of Howard constantly eyeing me with great caution? Never.”
“Anthony should be playing quietly in his room according to Maria. How about I go and start warming up our dinner, and you go your friend?” Peggy says with a kiss pressed deeply into his cheek and a rub to his shoulder.
Steve takes a deep, shuddering sigh before he squares his shoulders and gives his wife a nod of agreement. He takes the stairs of the Stark manor two at a time, with as much gusto as he can manage in order to face a challenge unlike anything he’s undertaken before- Tony as a child without his parents in sight.
He finds the boy exactly where his mother had told them he would be- playing quietly in his bedroom by himself. Steve takes a moment to stand at the doorway and take in the scene, to see if there is any way of reconciling the man he knew -the one who sacrificed himself to save them all- with this small child that he sees before him.
In the years since Tony was born, Steve had been looking and failing to find anything, but he looks none the less every time. In some, dark recess of his mind, he knows he’ll only succeed in finding it after a cold day in December 1991.
The boy has the same dark hair and eyes that Steve had associated with the future Iron Man, but none of the pain that was so deeply etched into features of the man who had been Steve’s friend. Instead he wore a smile so bright, one that Steve had seen on the rarest of occasions, that he couldn’t help but to smile right back.
“Uncle Roger!” the child shouted as he practically flew to doorway and wrapped his arms around Steve’s legs.
“Hey there buddy, Aunt Peggy is downstairs getting dinner ready. How about we head on down to keep her company?”
Tony’s eyes light up like a Christmas tree at the mention of his absolute favorite person in the world, and honestly Steve cannot blame him because Peggy is his favorite person in the world as well. He takes off like a flash and its all Steve can do to remember to pace himself and not let the super solider in him blow his secret identity- not even to a little Tony.
They arrive at the kitchen moments later, where Steve makes a big show of pretending to catch his breath while Tony laughs at him before scrambling up into one of the barstools.
“What are we having for dinner Aunt Peggy?” the boys says as Steve eases himself into the barstool next to him.
Peggy flashes them a smile as she turns around and pokes her head into the oven. “Ana made us a pot roast, I’m just warming it up kiddo.”
Tony’s face falls, and Steve gives Peggy a questioning look before he leans closer down to the four year olds level.
“What is it buddy?”
With the most dramatic sigh Steve thinks he’s ever heard from Tony Stark ever, which is saying something considering he worked with Adult Tony for years, the boy looks up and tells them that pot roast is boring and he was hoping they would get to have an exciting dinner.
“And what would you say is an exciting dinner?” Peggy expertly replies from across the kitchen island, the true negotiator in this relationship.
The kids eyes light up, and Steve sees a glimmer of something there, a look familiar to him from decades ago or maybe from the future, he’s never too certain about these things. The grin starts slow and spreads like butter across the cherubic face of a young Tony Stark, and all Steve can see is mischievous Morgan sent to save her daddy from the front deck when their plan started coming together.
“Cheeseburgers.”
“That wasn’t so bad, now was it?” his wife questions him some hours later when they are curled up under their covers.
Steve lets out a single laugh as he tugs Peggy closer. “No. It’s weird, but not bad. Tony is a good kid, it’s interesting to have this sort of relationship with him now. We didn’t always get along as adults.”
“No kidding. Two stubborn men such as yourself, not being able to always get along. Who would have thought?”
“Funny. No Peggy, I just. I can’t explain it. I’ve told you a lot, and you’ve believed me without question every time. But there’s so much more that I haven’t communicated to you, that I don’t want to tell you. I want us to be able to live in the moment, to enjoy our life.”
“I do enjoy our life Steve. Don’t ever question that,” Peggy starts. “And I’ll never press you for more than you are willing to share. If it’s important, I trust you’ll let me know.”
Steve thinks of everything that’s yet to happen; of the Starks death and the fact that Bucky is out there somewhere doing the bidding of Hydra, of the Red Room where Natasha would one day learn to kill for the KGB, of the facility in Sokovia where Wanda and Pietro will one day gain their powers after being exposed to the scepters influences. He thinks of all the thing he could stop, all the horrors that inflict this planet and all the ones above them and how he could fix everything with the right team.
But when he thinks of the right team, he thinks the one that forms in New York City in 2012 and he knows that he can’t interrupt anything that will come to pass without causing ripple effects.
“Don’t worry, I’ll let you know,” he says with a press of his lips to hers. Peggy smiles into the kiss and Steve is reminded once again that he made the right choice those 30 years ago.
“Now tell me about this Smithsonian Institute proposal you’ve been working on?”
And with that, Steve launches into explaining his passion project to his wife, and all thoughts of saving the world float away like dust.