plurk meme { 2018 } au august

[iluvroadrunner6]

Completed: 31/31
Running Word Count: 63,180

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august 29: time travel | peggy & steve | 2,289

[iluvroadrunner6]

The phone Steve gives Tony rings once before Bruce calls him back to headquarters to deal with Thanos.

In fact, it doesn’t even ring. It buzzes once, the kind that signals a text message. Honestly, Steve doesn’t know what to expect, and he checks the news first to make sure that there were no world-ending disasters that he’d missed while he’d been on the run. When that comes up empty, he flips the phone open and is met with one simple message.

need you to come to ny.

Steve would ask why or where, but in the end neither of these things are important – he’s just glad that Tony is reaching out. He hopes that means maybe he’s a step closer to being forgiven, but he knows not to get his hopes up. Sam doesn’t think he should go, worries that Tony will turn him in. Natasha doesn’t think it’s one hundred percent safe, but doesn’t think Tony would turn him in either.

Steve’s going to go whether they agree with him or not, but he’s glad they’re not both completely against him.

He climbs on to the quinjet, texts Tony that he’s on his way, and all he gets in response is one word:

Hurry.

- - - - - -

Returning to the Avengers Tower is bittersweet in it’s own way – the idea that they would all be able to work together, live together under one roof, be a team – ideally, it would have been perfect, if Steve hadn’t been the one to break it.

When they land, Tony’s waiting for them at the door. He doesn’t make eye contact, doesn’t even really say much until they’re safely inside. He gestures for them to follow him. “For the record, we are not okay. I’m not calling you or telling you this for you.” He pauses dramatically outside one of the medical rooms, hitting the button to pull up the blinds and revealing what’s inside. “I called you for her.”

Lying on the bed, asleep but breathing steadily, is Peggy Carter.

Even laying eyes on her like this makes his heart drop into his stomach. She’s just as young as she was the day he went under the ice, and she seems perfectly unharmed, aside from the fact that she’s unconscious. He stares, mouth dry at the sight, and in the end, all he can manage to etch out is one word:

“How?”

“Haven’t figured that out yet. There was some kind of temporal mix up.”

“An infinity stone?”

“Not that I can tell. I’m still working the problem, but given that you’re the one person in this timeline who looks exactly the same as you did when she left hers, I figured you were the best bet to keep her calm until I figure out how to send her back.”

There’s a brief look of betrayal as Steve’s head snaps away from Tony and to Peggy, almost as though the idea of sending her back to her own time was a preposterous conclusion that had never occurred to him, even though it is the obvious conclusion, when he’s given more than two seconds to think about it. Tony doesn’t force him to say it, and just lays it out for him.

“She can’t stay, Cap. She’s attached to too many threads. The world as we know it would pretty much unravel if she did.”

Steve swallows hard, before nodding. That’s the way it is, after all. Steve has very few things he’s actually allowed to keep. He doesn’t let his voice betray how he feels about that, however, and Tony claps one hand against his shoulder.

“Better shave before she wakes up. She won’t be able to recognize you with that thing on your face.”

Steve nods, his fingers reaching up to linger against the window, before pulling back and heading towards one of the nearby bathrooms. Tony isn’t wrong, and he won’t shave it for Tony, but he will shave it for her.

- - - - - -

It takes a few hours before Peggy rolls over and opens her eyes to take in the world around her. The soft gray of the walls and bright light from the windows is at least disorienting her enough because it’s like no hospital she’s ever seen. Everything from the frames of the windows to the monitors sitting by her bedside are all wrong, and as one hand comes up to rub her eyes, her gaze finally settles on the one thing in the room she unmistakably recognizes.

You could change his fashion, change his hair, have him playing with some kind of device she can’t recognize, but she’d know Steve anywhere, and there’s something about seeing him like this that makes her breath catch in her throat.

“Peg?” Somewhere in the midst of this he noticed her moving, and he gets up to make his way closer, sitting on the edge of her bed with a small smile. “It’s okay. You’re safe.”

She reaches one hand forward slowly, placing it on his arm almost as though she’s trying to make sure that he’s real. When her hand meets the solid wall of muscle that is Steve Rogers, it confirms that it’s real, and somehow makes her doubt it more.

“Steve?”

“It’s a really long story,” he says with a soft laugh. “But yeah. It’s me.”

Her eyes soften and she surges forward, likely too fast for the monitors she happened to be attached to, but Steve is there to catch her, strong arms winding around her waist and keeping her close, almost as though he’s as desperate to hold her as she has been him.

“What happened? The plane …”

“The plane went down. I …” He pauses as more people burst into the room, and when she tenses in surprise, Steve is there to soothe her.

“It’s okay, you’re safe.” Steve pauses before one of the men steps forward, wearing a t-shirt and jeans as though it’s some kind of fashion statement, and there’s something familiar about him that she can’t quite place until Steve makes it click into place. “This is Howard’s son, Tony.”

“Hey Aunt Peg,” Tony says softly, and she makes a face at the familiarity of it, though she doesn’t seem surprised – of course Howard’s child would want to call her something so familiar. Tony seems amused. “Good to know you still hate it, no matter what time period you’re from.”

“What is going on?” Peggy demands, finally, because none of this is really making sense, and Steve nods.

“I’ll explain. But can we just let the doctors make sure you’re okay first?”

“Why not both?” She raises an eyebrow at the two men. “I assure you, I’m very capable of multitasking. I think I can handle it.”

Tony sighs, before nodding. “Fine. Guess we may as well start at the beginning.”

- - - - - -

In all fairness to Peggy, she took things much better than Steve had. It doesn’t seem like it, as Steve tends to internalize a lot, but Peggy is still Peggy, and she takes all of the news: transported to the future, Steve being alive, her current predicament with the style and grace that Steve anticipates of her every time. Tony doesn’t let them leave the tower, just in case he has some kind of breakthrough, but they do tuck themselves into a corner of the lounge and soak up the time they have together, for however long it lasts.

“I wish we could leave,” he says softly one evening. “I still owe you that dance.”

“You do, don’t you.”

She glances around the empty room for a moment, before her eyes land on Tony’s records and record player. It’s close enough to what they had in 1945, that it doesn’t take her long to find a song that suits her needs, before turning and leaning back against the stereo, raising an eyebrow in a challenge that Steve understands without him having to say it.

His move.

He pauses, before getting to his feet and making his way closer. “Would you like to dance, Miss Carter?”

She smiles. “I would love to, Captain Rogers.”

He takes a few steps back before pulling her in closer, his hand remaining in hers as the other finds her waist, keeping her close. He’s seen this moment with her so many times, wished for it over and over again that he sinks into the moment without giving it much thought. All he has to do is sway to the time of the music and keep reminding himself that this is real.

“Steve?” The whisper of his name draws his eyes back to hers, she gives him a soft smile. “You’re already thinking about what’s going to happen when I leave, aren’t you?”

“No,” he says softly, pulling the hand in his closer to tuck it against his chest. “Just thinking about how glad I am you’re here.”

Peggy’s eyes water, and she surges up on her toes, pressing a kiss soundly to his lips. It doesn’t take much for Steve to melt into her hold, sinking into the familiarity and the longing, all at once. As the kiss deepens, he feels her hand gather in his shirt, and start to pull him out of the common area and towards somewhere more private.

- - - - - -

“Tell me where you are.”

He knows what she means, but he doesn’t answer her directly, instead his lips ghost against her shoulder. “I’m right here.”

Peggy gives him a look, before drawing his eyes up to meet hers again. “In the Artic, Steve. When I go back, where can I find you?”

He knows what she’s offering him. She’s offering him the chance to get his life back, to live a real life with the people who love him and in the time he was meant to live. If he wasn’t Captain America, he would take it in a heartbeat, but he knows it’s not that simple.

Just like Peggy is woven into the fabric of so many things, so is Steve. SHIELD, the Battle of New York, the Winter Soldier – Steve needs to be here, in this time, to play his part. As much as Steve Rogers is a human and a fallible one who has the right to certain things, Captain America isn’t.

“I can’t, Peg.”

Peggy turns to face him more, her hands coming up to cup his face. “You did your job, Steve. You deserve to go home.”

Steve turns and presses a kiss to her palm, eyes closed because as much as he knows that part of it is right, he also knows that home isn’t the same place it used to be.

“Job’s not done yet,” he says softly. “And I was never just a soldier.” He signed that chance away the moment he agreed to become Captain America. Her eyes water for a moment, and she tips her head back.

‘What am I supposed to do now? Knowing that you’re out there somewhere, and just out of reach.”

He smiles softly as he leans in to kiss her again. “You have an amazing life,” he says softly. “Even without me. I promise.”

Peggy sighs, pulling back and brushing her thumbs against his cheeks again. “This isn’t fair.”

“No, it’s not.”

“Promise me something, then,” she says softly. “Promise me that one day, when the job is done – when you think it’s done – have an amazing life of your own. Don’t let yourself become the shield, Steve. You are so much more than that.”

He doesn’t have the heart to tell her that it might be already too late. Instead he nods, his arms reaching out to pull her in closer. “I promise.”

- - - - - -

A few days later, Tony cracks the problem that brought her here in the first place, and is prepared to send her back again. Steve says his goodbyes to Peggy quietly out of Tony’s earshot, and waits until the process is complete, and everything is back as it was before.

Eventually, Sam tracks him down scrolling through her biography pages on his phone, making sure her history and legacy were still intact and claps a hand down on his shoulder.

“C’mon man. I’ll buy you a drink.”

“Won’t do me much good,” Steve reminds him, placing the phone down and looking back at his friend. “Super soldier metabolism, remember.”

“I think if we try hard enough we can find something strong enough,” Sam smirks, and Steve laughs, before nodding and getting up to follow him. They’re about halfway to the quinjet, when Sam glances back over his shoulder. “Did you get some closure at least?”

Steve doesn’t respond right away, his eyes drifting off over the New York City skyline before shrugging. “Probably as close as I’m ever going to get.” He continues to stare out at the skyscrapers ahead of him, all built on top of the city he used to know, before he turns back to Sam again. “Do you think there’s a chance for me to get out of this one day?”

Sam stops on the platform, turning back to his friend. “Do you want to?”

It’s a valid question. “Sometimes. But I don’t know what I’ll have left if I do.”

Sam pauses, before smiling softly and reaching over to give his shoulder a squeeze. “You’ll have me. Which may not be much, but it’s a start.”

Steve gives him a small smile in return, before nodding and continuing onto the jet. “C’mon. I think I know a place that might give us a good head start.”