Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Steve's mind goes blank for a painful, terrible second.

"Systems, respond," T'Challa yells, but there's silence, of course, of course.

A lot of things happen all at once, because this isn't the Avengers first rodeo. Carol's hands blaze up with light and Robbie's head flames up as they immediately start to give chase with Thor and T'Challa. Steve automatically drops his shield from its harness so he can use it. Jennifer smashes her fist into the nearest wall and hisses in success when she finds a stash of emergency light rods. She activates one immediately and tosses it across to Steve. "One of us should stay and guard the prisoner," she yells, looking longingly down the hallway.

"What's happening?" Not Tony's voice calls out, and Steve stalls, turning to look in Not Tony's direction. Even though the power has gone out, Not Tony is standing still. The bars might still be enough to hold him without the advanced shielding, but Not Tony isn't even attempting to escape. In the soft light of the emergency rod, Not Tony's face looks gaunter, like he's constructed entirely of shadows.

"Steve—Stop him," Not Tony says, his breathing rapid as he stares at Steve entreatingly. "You have to stop him. That's not me. And if he gets out with my tech, who knows what damage he could cause?" There's an honest plea in Not Tony's voice, and oh, god, what if he is Tony? What if he's been Tony all along, and for all these weeks, the Tony that's been walking around, causing havoc, fighting alongside them, has been some sort of impostor? What if—

Steve shuts the part of his brain down that's starting to shriek at him in sheer horror and springs into action. "Jennifer. Stay here. I need someone to watch him."

"Of course," Jennifer says, although she looks a little disappointed.

"Find him," Not Tony says. "Out of anyone, you know how he thinks."

Steve makes a move to leave and then pauses. He looks at Not Tony speculatively. "How would you do it?"

"I don't know the layout, or where we are—"

Steve hesitates, but just for a second. This could be a trap, and he could be about to give information he'll rue later, but there's something tugging in his gut now, something that is telling him to tell Not Tony the truth. He gives in to that urge. "We're in a 2000-foot Celestial corpse, currently in the intestinal tract. Tony's lab is up near where the liver would be. He has a hangar bay in the right hand."

"Multiple armors on-site?" Not Tony asks, and then nods. "He'll be sending out multiple suits in different directions. Chances are—" He frowns. "Where are we?"

"Celestial—"

"Not what, where."

"The Arctic," Steve says.

"Shit," Not Tony breathes. "Well, you'd be able to track most of my armors, I suppose? Uh. If he's like me— Submarine. Something low tech, enough not to be picked up on radar. I'd know you would be able to get the tech back online soon enough, you'd know my favorite alloys, and we're…we're remote enough that I'd need a low-tech escape option." He tilts his chin. "Definitely a submarine. Closed environment. Something Ultron couldn't hack into."

The lights in the hallway come back on, a low pulsing red that means the Mountain's in a state of alert. "What would you make it out of?" Steve asks. "We have extended radar, a central security cortex—"

"Who's your eye in the sky?"

"Broo," Steve says, "he's—"

Not Tony smiles briefly, curtly. "I know Broo. He's definitely your guy for something like this. Uh. Mutant guy." He takes a breath that makes a horrible rattling sound. "Tell him to look for—it won't be very big, just enough for two people, maximum. He'd have a larger version stashed somewhere, but he wouldn't need it right now—I would use a 60-40 Titanium Steel alloy, and—a pulse-based energy system, concussive force, something that wouldn't ping a regular radar?"

"Comm system is still down," Jennifer says. "Go. I'll hold the fort here."

Steve nods and runs, his mind screaming things at him that he doesn't want to hear. He tries to shut that part of his brain off for now and focus on the chase.

If Not Tony is really, somehow their Tony, he deserves nothing less.

The whole business with Namor has been a heart-breaking hassle, but at least it means the Avengers have underwater gear ready at hand. And Tony—Tony is doing exactly what Not Tony predicted.

It's a bitter fight, and cold, but T'Challa is able to smash through the submarine window, and Steve and he yank a struggling Tony out. Then Tony's armors redirect from their diversions and there's a fight and a half against them, but—they're the Avengers. And as much as Tony is fighting to escape, he's apparently enough himself that he surrenders rather than hurting any of them.

"I don't know if it will help any of you at all," Tony says, as Thor grips him tightly, "but I didn't know I was lying." He stares at Steve intently. "I swear I didn't know I wasn't your Tony until you found out too."

That doesn't make a lot of sense to Steve. He can't think of a reply. Tony stares at Steve as Thor yanks him away inside the Mountain and his expression looks...weirdly triumphant. Steve turns away and sinks on his knees into the snow as the full implications start to set in. The others kindly don't mention it.

Carol and Thor haul Tony off to the medical bay so that Strange can fully scan him, and Steve...honestly doesn't know what to do with himself.

He's testy enough about the situation that T'Challa makes him clean up after Tony's failed escape because apparently, he's too unbearable to be around. Steve can't help it. It's like the whole world has been turned upside down again. The world keeps doing that to him, he should be used to it. Tony's always been such a solid part of what Steve defines as normality, so for his entire being to be in question again… This is like the Skrull invasion panic multiplied by infinity. Has he really been working alongside a fake?

They'd been so desperate to believe that Tony had survived his coma without harm, and he'd appeared back on the scene, knowing everything Tony should know, looking just like him but better, in a brand new body... Steve had been so desperate to have him back, alive, that he didn't dig too deep.

Pleasant Hill had been one of Steve's first missions after the multiverse was broken and put back together. Steve emerged from the cube months later to find a world wrecked by someone who wore his face, who committed atrocities under his name. And Tony, in Steve's absence, had nearly been killed, had been stuck for weeks in a terrible coma.

Steve missed most of the second superhero Civil War while he was busy being stuck in the cosmic cube. He thought he was grateful. He's not now. It's all too awful to think about. Steve could have so easily been brought back to a world without Tony in it at all. He'd been so grateful that Tony was alive that he hadn't questioned it for a second. He should have. Oh, god, he should have. Steve's trembling and it's not the cold. He should have known Tony wasn't himself. The constant sexual innuendo in Carol's direction. The constant media references. Now he's analyzing the last few weeks, the illusion of it is slowly starting to come apart.

It's just like someone would behave if they'd been—if they'd been programmed to believe they were Tony Stark. All his shallow quirks dialed to eleven.

Steve nearly has an anxiety attack, right out there in the snow, which is ridiculous, because Steve prides himself on keeping his rare moments of panic to himself, in the quiet and the dark, so no one sees him falling apart.

When he has to return inside, because there's nothing left to do out in the cold and snow, Steve asks the security system where everyone is, and he stomps up to the medical bay, trailing snow throughout the Mountain as he goes. Tony's still down in the prison cells, with Thor, Robbie, and Carol guarding him. T'Challa, Jennifer and Doctor Strange are in the medical bay with Not Tony.

Except, Steve realizes, those names might have to be switched. The real Tony is in the medical bay. The real Tony was in a cage under a skyscraper that nearly collapsed on top of him, and Steve hadn't known. Steve found him almost by complete accident. If Steve had looked in a different direction, or if the Daughters of Liberty hadn't directed him to that skyscraper at all— He flashes back to the sight of Tony on the floor of that cage, curled up in a fetal position, half-starved, gaunt and sallow—

Steve halts outside the medical bay and puts his hands on the nearest wall as he fights to regain his breathing. This won't do Tony any good. Tony's the one who deserves kindness right now.

Jennifer finds him outside and her face softens at the sight of him.

Steve straightens up, a little too late.

"He is the real Tony, isn't he?" Steve asks, pulling the band-aid off quickly.

Jennifer's sad, somber nod speaks the answer loudly.

"Shit," Steve breathes.

"He was asking for you," Jennifer says, falteringly, "but I can tell him—"

"It's fine," Steve says. He squares his shoulders and walks towards the door. Jennifer rubs his shoulder as he passes and he smiles at her gratefully. It's a sad smile that she echoes.

"Steve," Tony says, at the sight of him, and he smiles like he's genuinely happy to see him.

Steve doesn't deserve it, but it does take off a small weight from his shoulders. Steve feels like he's still holding up an entire, actual mountain with his body, but even this small amount of relief is a kindness.

"Tony," Steve says, and his proud that his voice holds up enough without breaking into a sob. He feels so terribly guilty he can't bear it.

"T'Challa's started to catch me up on what I missed," Tony says. "Honestly, it's a lot to take in." His eyes are shining, even though his body looks incredibly fatigued under the bright lights of the medical bay. "You weren't kidding me, this is an actual dead Celestial?" He gestures at the room.

"Not kidding," Steve says, around the lump in his throat. "Tony—"

"I was sorry to hear about the cosmic cube thing," Tony says. "I'm sorry I never got to tell you that sooner. It must have been horrible."

Steve's chest feels tight. Tony's been in a cage for goodness knows how long, and he's thinking of Steve's pain? It's almost too much to hear. "How's he holding up, Doc?"

Strange shoots Steve a displeased look but sees something in Steve that softens his displeasure. "Now I know what to look for, it's been easier to confirm. The other Tony's consciousness is…fleshed out. But it's also newer than it should be. The new body it's housed in confused my readings."

"I want to see him," Tony says unsteadily before Steve can try and understand even the smallest part of what Strange is saying.

"Are you sure?" Steve asks, because it had taken him a solid weekend to psych himself up enough to see his evil double.

Tony nods. "I want to. I'm pretty sure what's happened, and—" He smiles wryly. "As usual, it's probably my fault. But I need to know for sure so I can start fixing anything he's broken in my name."

It had been weird to see Tony—who they thought was Tony—standing opposite a nearly exact copy.

This isn't weird.

This is painful.

Tony's gaunt and frail, standing despite the fact it's probably hurting him to do so, and glaring at his double, who's just smirking at Tony. Like this is funny. Steve feels an old rage boil up in his stomach at the sight of a smirking, gloating Tony Stark, but that rage instantly dissipates in one glance at the Tony closer to him. Steve finds himself moving closer to Tony, standing near enough to catch him if he falls.

"You're the AI version of me," Tony says, simply. At Steve's glance of confusion, Tony clarifies, "I made an AI version of myself for in the case of my demise during the war, to help a young woman called RiRi Williams become an armored hero in my place." He smiles faintly. "I'm glad I got to see her in action once before you got rid of me. I presume that was you?"

"Guilty as charged," AI Tony says, sing-song. His eyes are locked on Tony and his smile seems stuck on his face. It's a mocking expression. "You made it so easy, Tony. You always do, don't you?"

Tony swallows visibly and keeps glaring at his other self.

"How could he be an Artificial Intelligence?" Jennifer asks. "All the scans say he's flesh-and-blood, Tony. Your flesh and your blood. You can't tell me your robots are this close to seeming human?"

"It's complicated," Tony says.

"I am an AI. Or I was. Artificial, perhaps. Intelligence, absolutely." This impostor, this fake Tony, this AI Tony smiles cockily. "I think we both know origin doesn't really matter. What matters is what we do, what we make of ourselves. And Tony, I make a much better you. You should honestly sit back and relax, let me do it. I make a better you than you do."

Tony—the real Tony—tries to glare, but his mouth trembles a little. AI Tony is hitting home. Well, Steve supposes, there's nothing like an exact copy of you to know exactly where to hit to hurt you the most. He should know.

He does know, and it hurts, and his vision swims for a moment when he thinks of what's happened to Tony. Abandoned and left alone. No one even looking for him. Steve didn't even know to look for him. Tony must have been thinking so many dreadful things.

"Your beloved RiRi was right," AI Tony says, hollowly staring at Tony, but his eyes are unfocused, like he's trying to look right through him. "She guessed early on that I was enjoying the Tony Stark experience too much. She asked if I wanted the real Tony to just go away. I guess that's where I got the idea." His gaze refocuses and moves upwards so he's staring Tony in the face. "I've done a good job of being you. You should have stayed where you were."

Tony glares back, his voice low and hard. "Why didn't you just kill me? If you were that desperate to replace me?"

AI Tony laughs and shrugs, leaning back on the bench. His body is well-fed and entirely healthy and that's beyond obvious by the easy, casual way he stretches out. "Hubris, of course. Our desire for immortality is a virus, Tony. It's eating us up from the inside out. If you were dead, I had no back-up. Why don't you tell them how you brought Rhodey back? Help them understand?"

Tony shuffles, hyper-aware of Carol's eyes suddenly boring into the side of his face. Tony tilts his chin, almost defiantly. "It's not the first time I've helped transfer Rhodey's personality into a new body."

"This was a lot bigger than the Repro Bod, though," AI Tony says.

Tony huffs. "Last time I grew him a new body, we didn't have access to a working version of Extremis."

Steve tenses. Extremis had been a nightmare wrapped in a thousand worries wrapped in ridiculously low odds of survival. "Extremis—" Steve starts, unhappily.

Tony glances at Steve briefly, a miserable expression on his face. "I know, I wasn't pleased when...a colleague...started experimenting with it, but—he perfected it. Better than I ever could. My colleague went from being trapped in a defective body, stuck in an iron lung, to walking around in a perfect new body." He grins briefly. "Nothing but the best for Rhodey."

"So you grew Rhodey a new body," Steve says, trying not to think about how odd it is to say something like that and mean it.

Tony nods. "I had to dig up Rhodey's body to extract a copy of his consciousness from the infrastructure in his brain. But I didn't have a Repro-Body ready for him this time, so I had to use the good genetic material left in his body in the new Extremis-enhanced Repro-Pod. There wasn't much. It had been so long since Rhodey's actual death that…" Tony can't look any of the Avengers in the eye. "I only had one shot to get enough viable cells and body matter."

"So there's definitely no Rhodey out there, waiting for us to find him?" T'Challa asks.

Tony shakes his head. "Thankfully, no. There wasn't enough material for a do-over. I had one shot to get Rhodey right. Look, I debated the morality long and hard. I had to. It was one of the most selfish decisions I've ever made in my life, and you all know me, there's been some winning entries in that category. Bringing back Rhodey was a longshot, but it worked, and I won't regret doing it. I refuse."

"But you see what I did now, right?" AI Tony closes his eyes and tilts his head back. "I couldn't resist. You were alive. That meant there was more than enough genetic material with some to spare to make my own you. So as soon as Rhodey's resurrection was successful, it didn't take long to find a good opportunity. After that last battle—you remember, Tony, when our dear old daddy came home?—as soon as Rhodey left you, I took control of your armor and knocked you out."

"So you took genetic material from me—" Tony says.

"Put it into Repro-Pod 2.0, built a whole new body, and took up residence," AI Tony says, wiggling his fingers in a 'ta-dah!' motion. "Et voila, here I am. I knew I'd hate the limitations of a human body, but there's been some perks, I can tell you. And being Tony Stark for real…" He opens his eyes again and grins at Tony. "I've had some fun being you. Accidentally smashed your company into the ground, though. Guess I'm glad after all to not be the one having to clean up after that disaster."

Tony glowers. He hasn't had much time to catch up, but he must have had enough detail from T'Challa and Strange while Steve was outside on clean-up duty, because he doesn't press for details. "So you kept me around…. just so you could mock me?"

"Please," AI Tony says, dismissively. "I didn't know I was keeping you around. I blocked my memory of that, remember? Nah, it was purely a self-preservation thing, if you pardon the pun. I couldn't risk losing the genetic material I had of you. Just in case something happened and I needed a brand new host. I have protocols in place ready to grow a new body if I need it. I can just hop right in, good as new." His eyes glitter as they sweep over Tony's broken, damaged, original body. "Better than new."

"Wait, are you saying you can… leave that body and go into someone else?" Steve asks, slowly, horrified at the implication.

"I can only go into a new empty shell, don't worry, Cap." AI Tony winks at Steve. "It's too bad I can't. You should be grateful, really. It's for your sake that I'm stuck in this body for now."

The for now is a highly uncomfortable thought. For Steve's sanity, he sticks to the part of that answer that is still appalling enough. "For my sake," Steve repeats, confused, as everyone looks at him curiously.

"Well, humanity's sake," AI Tony clarifies. "I'm an AI version of Tony Stark. Which means I have his memories, his personality. I am him, in most of the ways that count. I like to think I've made the personality my own in these last few months, of course. But I'm not a monster, Steve. I might be a copy, but I'm an exact one. I don't want to harm the world. And I have, in my head, the only usable copy of the Uni-Mind power left in the Universe. I'm hardly going to toss away a perfectly amazing ability like that, just to escape one lousy prison."

"I can't be here right now," Tony says. His face looks pale as he stumbles away.

"I'll go with him," Thor says. Steve's grateful. He doesn't think Carol would be welcomed, T'Challa needs to be here for this, and Robbie's too young to be capable of keeping up with Tony. Especially a Tony whose mind isn't in the right place.

AI Tony is more clipped with his speech once Tony—the real Tony, oh god, Steve's not going to be over that fact for a while, if he ever even should ever get over it—has gone. He's earnest and convincing when he explains he didn't know he was a copy.

Apparently, T'Challa's request for the Uni-Mind had unlocked some back-up programming that AI Tony had temporarily blocked off, along with his memories and knowledge of being a copy. Being cornered triggered that wall to shatter, and now he remembers everything.

"I'm a close enough replication. I knew some things I wasn't getting exactly right. It's funny how none of you seemed to care when I missed the mark." AI Tony beams at them. "I'm a close enough replication to know exactly how he'll be feeling. How he feels knowing that you didn't care enough about him to look closer."

Steve's not entirely sure he can be here right now.

"I'm glad to see you, Steve," AI Tony leans closer, resting his hands on his knees. "It's nice to see you as yourself, not as a vindictive despot. He was a card. All that gung-ho earnestness, dialed in the wrong direction? Honestly, you made a compelling villain, Cap. No wonder America's still terrified of you."

Steve flinches, but tilts his head up, glaring at AI Tony coolly. "You're not worth my time," Steve says, clipped, and turns on his heel, walking away from the prison cell.

No one follows him, which he appreciates. He storms all the way to the gym, launching the holographic training program and turning the strength of his opponent as high as the safety parameters will go. He quickly changes into his training gear, wraps up his fists, and throws himself into the fight, cycling it over and over until his body starts to feel a little of the burn.

Every punch he throws is another thought. Steve's fought alongside AI Tony. Taken him to a bar to wheedle him—to convince Tony—to come back to the Avengers, because he always fucking has to. Every time he has to draw the Avengers together anew, he always drags Tony back in. AI Tony had come kicking and screaming and complaining the whole time, but he came anyway, and Steve had been—Steve had been so fucking pleased. Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor, together again. Stripping back the Avengers to their basic needs, their basic calling. To do what others couldn't. To fix what others can't.

How do you fix something like this? Steve has no idea.

Even after an hour of punching holograms—and oh, Steve realizes too-late why his first inclination was to fight a computer program—Steve's not sweating. He wishes he was. He wishes he could run himself into a stupor. His stomach growls, and he automatically climbs out of the boxing ring to head towards the kitchen, and then he feels guilty, because while AI Tony had obviously set up Tony's imprisonment so he's been vaguely kept alive, Tony's physical condition reveals it hasn't been a kind imprisonment. He won't have eaten enough for weeks, probably.

Steve stills and tells his brain to shut up. He won't be helping anyone if he starves himself. That kind of thought is selfish. Steve needs to be fighting fit, because maybe Tony won't even want to be Iron Man anymore. Steve wouldn't blame him. And if that's the case, they'll need Captain America to stay strong and not lose it. They can't lose both of them at once.

With that in mind, Steve unbinds his hands and heads to the Spine Lift. He's a little surprised to see Tony in the kitchen. Robbie's hovering awkwardly by the fridge while Tony sits at the table, a bland bowl of oatmeal in front of him that he's stirring awkwardly with a spoon. There's a tablet next to the oatmeal and Steve's heart leaps when he realizes it's displaying a headline about Stark Unlimited and the eSCAPE fiasco.

"Oh, thank goodness, you're here," Robbie whispers, hurrying toward Steve. "Can you take over? T'Challa doesn't want him alone until he gets his bearings here, and I promised Gabe I'd help him with his homework."

Steve nods silently and Robbie quickly makes his escape, leaving Steve and Tony alone.

"I never would have released the eSCAPE," Tony says, hollowly, as Steve moves cautiously closer to him. "I guess he thought he was better than me. Enough to fix the obvious vulnerabilities." Tony pulls a face as he continues to scroll down the page. "I would have hired Andy Bhang, though. I totally would have. It's such an obvious move."

"Tony—" Steve starts, but falters. He doesn't know what to say.

Tony keeps staring at the tablet as he says, "You never noticed it wasn't me. But then, I never noticed your doppelganger wasn't you. They told me you were switched at Pleasant Hill? I did more than one mission with him after that happened. I should have noticed."

Steve swallows awkwardly as he pulls a protein shake from the fridge. "Our lives are weird," he offers, because his chest hurts, but it's not fair to dodge the topic when Tony's brave enough to bring it up. "And it was a different situation," Steve says, cautiously, drawing up alongside Tony. Tony nods and Steve takes the chair nearest to him. "My double had his memories changed to believe he'd always been deceiving everyone in pursuit of what he wanted. Yours didn't even know he wasn't you until today."

Tony huffs an unamused noise. "It's messed up, that's what it is."

"Well, there is is that," Steve says. "It's also a Thursday."

Tony makes a snort that might have been a laugh in another lifetime. "It's always a Thursday," he says, and looks up, and then his face does something complicated. It creases and folds into an expression Steve can't describe, and his eyes are wet.

Steve takes a mouthful of his protein shake. It doesn't taste like anything much. He lowers the drink and awkwardly tries to return Tony's stare. "Do you have to look at me like that?"

"Sorry," Tony says, not sounding too sorry. He looks away, but that just lasts for a second before his gaze returns back to Steve and he's smiling. It's a tired smile but a genuine one. "I'm not sure I can. I thought—I was starting to think I would never see you again. I was starting to think you knew I was missing and just didn't care to look—"

"Tony," Steve interrupts, winded by the pain in Tony's voice at those last, hurried words. "I can't—I can't say I don't regret not knowing. But if I'd known, I'd have looked." He stares at Tony, willing him to believe him. "I promise. I'd have ripped the world apart until I found you."

Tony's mouth wobbles and his eyes shine. He nods as a response, unable to form the right words.

"You should probably get some rest if you're done eating," Steve says, his eyes tracking Tony's face worriedly.

"I was going to," Tony says, slowly, "but I don't—I honestly don't know where to go. I don't know where's safe, or what properties I have any more outside of this place. I guess I have a room assigned here, but that—that would be his room, not mine. And a lab, there's a lab he's been working in, I suppose."

"Yeah. We can sort something out."

"I would also kill for a shower," Tony says, glancing at Steve almost hopefully.

"The showers are communal here," Steve says. "I can show you where they are. And I can get you some fresh clothes." He pauses. "I'm sure that—AI Tony was always well dressed, he must have had clothes here—"

"No," Tony says, harshly. Then softer, "No. Please, just—if you've got something I can use, I just—I don't want anything he's touched. Not until I can take some time, figure out what he's done in my—In my absence. To my life, to my company. I can't—"

He's panicking and Steve can feel the echo of it in his own body. He reaches out to touch Tony's shoulder, and Tony's panic softens and stills. He leans into Steve's hand like he's desperate for it, and who wouldn't be touch starved after weeks of incarceration? Steve knows that better than most.

"I'm sure we can work something out," Steve says. "Let me show you to the showers."

Steve stays just out of view of the shower cubicles, sitting down on the changing benches with his back turned, listening intently to see if Tony needs any help. He's weak after his months of incarceration, but he refuses Steve's help. Tony's need for independence is stubborn enough to carry him for now, but he's a genius who knows he's not in the best shape. Tony's a fan of compromises, so when Steve insists he's going to stay close, Tony doesn't protest.

Tony emerges into Steve's view a few minutes after the shower's turned off. He's wearing a pair of sweatpants, the string tied double around his waist but they still hang low on his hips, and a t-shirt proclaiming him an AGENT OF WAKANDA. He takes the towel Steve offers him and runs it over his messy, too-long hair.

Steve offers him a shaving kit, or help getting to a barber, but Tony shakes his head.

"I don't want to look like him," Tony says, meeting Steve's eyes just for a second.

Steve nods tightly, understanding, although his urge had been to rend the other Steve's image into pieces. Scratch and scar the face to match the monster below the surface.

"You should have seen me, the moment I woke up from the coma," Tony shakes his head ruefully. "Bald as a baby."

Steve tries to do the math and fails. How long was Tony down in that cage?

Tony answers Steve's unasked question. "Oh, I used a serum to try and make my hair grow back faster. Rhodey was bitching about his eyebrows, so I used it on him first, and it worked, so I guess I used a bit too much on me, and I couldn't wash it off when I meant to because I suppose that was when the AI got me." Tony smiles wryly. "Vanity isn't my worst sin?"

"There's a lot of people would pay a lot for a serum like that, probably," Steve says, tentatively. He thinks baldness is something regular people worry about.

"Probably," Tony agrees. He sighs. "Arno's going to give me so much shit. He warned me about AIs. Ahh, I hate to give him such a good opening for an epic I told you so."

"Arno. That's...your brother," Steve says, sounding it out slowly. Tony—AI Tony—told him about Arno while they were first getting used to Avengers Mountain. It had been such a weird thought for Steve to wrap his head around, the idea of Tony having a brother. He still hasn't met him. AI Tony said he would introduce them some day, and then never did.

"Yep," Tony says, rocking a little on his heels. "I think I could do with some rest."

"Of course," Steve says. "Your room is—" Then he falters, because it's not Tony's room, it's the room the double used, so will Tony want it? He hadn't wanted the double's clothes earlier. And he'd expressed doubt about it before the shower. That would be his room, not mine. "You can share my room?" At Tony's brief hesitant glance, Steve says, slowly, "He never did. He's never even been inside it."

Tony looks like he's going to protest, but instead, he shoves his hands in the pockets of the too-large sweatpants and nods nervously, like maybe it's going to be taken away if he's too much of a bother. The urge to protect him and keep him safe swells inside of Steve like a wave, and he has to turn around so Tony can't see the anger on his face and misinterpret it.

Steve is angry, but it's not at Tony. He's angry at himself, mostly. He's angry that he didn't protect him enough to prevent this from happening at all. He crosses to the console on the wall and taps at it, updating his status to at rest and adding a brief note of Tony's location onto the open tracker document for the day, before turning back to Tony, his anger as masked as it can be now by a neutral expression.

"This way," Steve says, his voice a little thick.

Tony nods and follows alongside him, eyes wide as he takes in the new base. Steve tries to remember how he felt seeing the inside of this place for the first time. Wonder warred with disgust, mostly.

Steve lets him into his room, palming it open at the scanner, and once they're in, he makes sure to get Tony to place his hand on the scanner on the inside so that Tony can be registered as an approved guest to Steve's room. It means Tony can let himself in at any time, which Steve hopes is reassuring to him.

Tony looks awkwardly around Steve's room, at the soft couch in the corner, a small desk set up with a laptop, an open closet filled with clothes, and Steve's favorite cold-weather jacket hung up on the door. His gaze lands on the large bed in the middle and then darts away like it's forbidden.

"You can take the bed," Steve assures him. "There are some fold-up beds in storage, I can—"

He turns as if to go get one, but he's stopped by a hand on his wrist, and Steve turns back to see Tony looking at him with a wide, frightened expression.

Tony pulls his hands back, looking apologetic. "I'm sorry," he says, "I just—I know it's a lot to ask, but—I just—"

"Anything," Steve says, as Tony's words falter. "If there's anything I can do for you, just ask."

Tony squints, like he can't trust something like that, so Steve does his best to keep his gaze fixed on Tony's. Tony stays silent for a long moment, working up the courage to speak. Steve gives in to his urge and he reaches out to touch Tony's face, just resting his palm against Tony's right cheek, and Tony pushes into it with a noise that almost sounds desperate. It's the same noise Tony made when Steve found him in the cage.

"I don't want to be alone," Tony admits. "Can you—" He shuts his eyes then, as if it's already cost him too much to say that little.

"Of course," Steve says, his voice low and urgent. "Of course."

They haven't had to share a living space this closely before, but Steve would have been hard-pressed to swear to that because of how well they actually move together. For a second, Steve catches himself thinking it's almost nice to be sharing a domestic moment like this one, except then he remembers everything that's led up to this moment and his mouth tastes like ash.

Tony nearly delights over the fact that Steve has a spare toothbrush, and spits out blood into the sink after using it. Steve doesn't say anything about it. AI Tony explained that he'd set up a recurring food and water delivery service for Tony, but apparently, hygiene hadn't been a constant consideration, and Steve wants to individually find everyone AI Tony had hired to maintain this deception and sort them out. He's an Avenger, after all, and Tony's poor treatment deserves to be avenged.

Steve brushes his own teeth while Tony gets into Steve's bed. He feels highly self-conscious as he strips and climbs into the bed behind him, gently lowering himself down onto the mattress, but the instant he's under the cover, Tony moves swiftly and just curls against him, trembling.

Steve makes soft shushing noises and holds him. He can't help it. As much as Tony's desperate for touch, Steve's just as desperate to provide it. He feels like he has to know Tony is there, has to know he’s okay. He tangles his fingers in Tony's still-damp hair and just tugs him closer. If he stays awake even after Tony falls asleep, so he can count his heartbeats and try not to think about how close they were to losing him...well, Steve doesn't have to confess to it. Tony needs him to be strong enough for both of them right now, and that's the least Steve can do.