Chapter Text
~*~
And you kept us awake with wolves teeth
Sharing different heartbeats
~*~
The thing is, Steve had never seen Back to the Future. Somehow it had never wound its way onto his list, and then with how people tried to be sensitive about his existence out of time they never recommended it to him.
Natasha had seen it, of course.
“So, this crazy scientist figures out how to go back in time, then this punk kid accidentally changes all of it, and then they have to fix all of it,” Steve said, ignoring Natasha’s feet on the dashboard. He knew she did it just to get a rise out of him, one of their many private jokes almost a decade later.
“And don’t forget he almost sleeps with his mom,” Natasha said, her head rolling back to look at him, a smile on her face.
“Oh, because that’s the most important part,” Steve whispered, almost loud enough to actually be talking, smiling back at her.
“Obviously,” she said, before turning to look back out at the road. Scott was sound asleep in the back, and Steve was honestly grateful for this moment with his best friend, “I’m glad that you’ve finally accepted me as the expert on all things cinema, Rogers.”
“Hmm,” he hummed, sneaking a glance at her, “I’m not sure I would go that far.”
Natasha squawked as silently as she could, cognizant of their sleeping passenger.
“Expert on reminding me of just how much I have,” he went on, reminiscing on their talk from when Lang had shown up, “Yeah. I can give you that.”
“When you’re ready to get that life,” she reached over and squeezed his bicep, “Ask me to come with you.”
“Yeah,” he asked, glancing over at her, sensing how she had let the conversation drift just mildly into deeper water.
“Yeah,” she confirmed, giving him a mournful smile before turning to look back out at the road. Back out of the deeper waters, just enough to let him know they were still there.
“I get why people avoided recommending that movie to me,” he said after a moment, drumming his hands on the steering wheel, “Star Wars was weird enough.”
They still had miles to go.
After arriving back following being turned down by Tony, Steve didn’t have it in him to return to Brooklyn that night. Scott had wandered off into other parts of the compound, muttering something about a Möbius strip.
“You know, I wouldn’t have been bothered watching that movie,” Steve said, letting his arm drop around Natasha’s shoulders. They had made an appointment to meet with Bruce Banner the next day.
“We can still watch it, you know,” Natasha said, leaning into him as she fidgeted with the ends of her hair, “I miss our movie nights.”
“I miss you knowing all the lines in every James Bond movie,” he replied, nudging her side.
“So, the thing that Tony and Scott are ignoring about Back to the Future,” Natasha said suddenly, grabbing his beer and taking a drink.
“That you are an expert on,” he interrupted with a smile, causing her to poke his ribs.
“That I am the expert on, yes,” she said, continuing, “What those two nerds are ignoring is that you can make changes to the past, in a super-weird-always-happened way, but you can make changes. Little ones. Important ones.”
He let her trail off for a moment, knowing that she was giving him one of the very rare moments where she was willing to talk about her past.
“What little moment would you change, Steve” she whispered, pulling his arm closer to her, “And don’t tell me you don’t know. You’re a terrible liar.”
“So, everything has to happen, but I’m allowed to change a small thing,” he asked, feeling her nod in confirmation, “I think I would tell my Ma I loved her one last time.”
He felt his heart thud in time with hers.
“Actually, I think I would tell everyone I loved them one last time.”
“I love you, too, sap,” Natasha whispered, and when he looked at her she had a smile on her face.
“C’mon, Nat,” he said, poking her for once, “This isn’t the last time.”
“It better not be,” she replied, closing her eyes, “I would call my sister one last time.”
“Yelena, right,” he asked, remembering how she had casually dropped that information, that she had found her actual family again, on him only a few short months before the entire world had been turned upside down. And then she had lost it all again after getting used to the idea.
“My little Lenochka,” she whispered, tilting her head to look up at him, “Thank you for always coming back.”
“I always will, Nat,” he replied, knowing she meant much more than just the compound, standing up and pulling her with him in a well-practiced dance between the two, “I always will.”
The thing is, Steve had never seen Back to the Future. He had never really watched any movie having to do with time travel. As he had told Natasha that one last stolen moment they had, it was like people thought he needed to be protected from them. So when it came time to return all of the time stones he was just operating on what he was told was correct.
And based on what Tony had shown him it meant that he could make an extra stop - he just had to plan it right. In fact, he could make many more stops. All of time was open to him, he just always needed to make sure it was put back into place.
It meant that he was able to have his dance with Peggy, finally. He even stayed for a bit, letting them both get closure over what was never to be. He couldn’t actually give them a full life together; that would not be a tiny change.
But he had left her happy.
He had gone back to see his Ma one last time on her death bed. One last time to say that he loved her. One last time so that she could see the person he turned out to be.
He couldn’t stay forever, despite wanting to. He could only make that small change to the past that didn’t change anything. And he had to make sure he always had enough particles, ones that were easily pilfered now that he knew how to get them.
But little changes could be made that kept time perfectly in sync, even when he was floating through it.
Like leaving the stone with Peggy to drop back where Tony had taken it 25 years later.
He didn’t need to be the one that put things back where they were needed - he just needed to be sure that the person who would always had been. Peggy always would be there that day, time had never been changed beyond that.
And if he could float objects out of time, that meant it was possible to float people out of time. Including the one person who didn’t get their happy ending. Who didn’t get their closure.
Someone who deserved their small change for the sacrifice they made.
Natasha sighed, laying back on her bed. They had figured everything out. They would be making their jumps tomorrow. She also knew that everyone had missed a key detail about the soul stone: it would require someone staying, permanently. She had figured that out from the little that Nebula had communicated. The stone caused so much grief that the one receiving it would always respect its power.
She knew what agony she would need to give Clint, her first best friend. But it was agony that would be repaid more than she could ever give when it gave him his family back.
She has always been the person out of place. She didn’t make sense in all of the configurations. She wasn’t supposed to be here. Her life had been so lucky because she was so out of place. So she could give everyone the gift they had always been giving her: more time.
She just wished, like she had told Steve, that she could talk to her sister one last time. That she could have some of that life Steve and her talked about. But that wasn’t the world she would ever be returning to.
Her senses picked up on it before the knock came. Sitting up and looking at her door she could make out the familiar silhouette. It was the only other person that understood not fitting in the time she had been given.
“Steve, you okay,” she asked, her second best friend who could never be anything more walking in and sitting down next to her as the door to the room snapped close.
“I guess you could say that,” he said, and she immediately tensed. Because it was his voice but it wasn’t his voice. This voice was different, it was somehow older. This voice had more weight. This was definitely Steve, but something had changed. Quickly moving to stand, so did this different-Steve, who held his hands up in surrender.
“Who the hell are you,” she demanded, “What have you done to him?”
“Nothing, he’s wide awake in the next room, completely unharmed,” the person who looked so much like her friend said, “I promise you that I’m not here to hurt you, or him, or anyone else.”
“How did you even get in here,” she asked, and then gasped as he turned his hand around, showing what looked like two of the infinity stones.
“Because I’m currently in the next room,” he said, and suddenly she could see the extra lines on his face. The weight that was off his shoulders. The time that had passed. And everything clicked into place as he continued, “I have a very long story to tell.”
“I’m so happy we never watched Back to the Future.”