closed starter for @justa-tinman
It felt like Steve just kept losing - that maybe his whole life was defined by loss. His parents, Bucky, Peggy, everyone he knew, his life. He’d tried building it back again, and somehow managed to lose a lot of it, when he’d disagreed about the Sakovia accords and ended up on the run. Then the absolute worst had happened. Thanos had come and taken out half the life on the planet. Almost everyone he’d known was gone. Bucky - again. Sam. T’Challa and his little sister Shuri. Wanda. Vision. Nick Fury. Maria Hill. Scott Lang. Clint’s whole family.
Then there were the ones they couldn’t confirm. He had no idea where Sharon had gotten to and he could only assume the worst. Clint had gone awol. That kid that had worked with Tony was gone and so was Tony. The last he’d heard they’d both climbed on one of Thanos’ ships but even if they had survived the snap, Steve had no idea how they were going to get back.
It only left a handful of people and of that handful. Thor, Bruce, Rhodey, Natasha, and they had a new friend, a talking Racoon called Rocket. And that was it.
But Fury had left a pager. A device Steve had never seen before but he was assured was old school tech, doing something unheard of before. It was sending a signal to space. That was when hope returned in the form of Carol Danvers, an old friend of Fury’s with unfathomable power. She’d gone off to see if Tony or the kid had survived and to see if she couldn’t bring them back. The others waited with baited breath, not sure it would amount to anything. And then, when he’d just about lost hope, Carol came floating down from space carrying a ship with her. Steve was out the door and running to it as soon as it touched down. The back opened and there he was. Tony Stark. He was emaciated and frail looking and a blue woman was helping him walk. Steve’s heart skipped a beat and he rushed to him, putting his arm around his waist. “Tony…” he said, gently. “I got you.”
