[Tony had never been a big fan of the whole soulmate thing. He made a lot of noises about being an empiricist, about there being no real scientific evidence, but the truth was a lot more prosaic than that. Howard Stark's son had known what the shield on the inside of his right wrist meant the second he was old enough to understand what a soulmate was.
The universe had tied him to a dead man. Hilarious.
Except it hadn't stopped laughing, apparently, because some three decades later Tony had been in the middle of poking at one of his myriad projects when his chest suddenly twisted so hard that for a second Tony thought the reactor had failed. The surge vanished as quickly as it had come, leaving ghostly echoes of shock, confusion and an overwhelming sadness. And none of it was his.
He'd been in the middle of reaching for the phone when Fury called. And Fury had to have known, for all that he'd been nothing but his usual charming self when he'd barked that Tony had better get his ass over there. Tony had been hiding his mark for most of his life, but Fury was Fury. And no one in their right mind would have called in Tony Stark over something as delicate as trying to re-acclimate a man to a new century if there hadn't been some ulterior motive. For once, Tony hadn't argued.
So here he was. Staring at a man who was born sixty years before him but looked twenty years younger. His right hand twitched slightly at the heat spreading from the mark on his wrist, and he folded his arms across his chest, trying to find some semblance of calm here.]
Captain Rogers. I'm Tony Stark.
[As first introductions went, it probably could have gone better.]
no subject
The universe had tied him to a dead man. Hilarious.
Except it hadn't stopped laughing, apparently, because some three decades later Tony had been in the middle of poking at one of his myriad projects when his chest suddenly twisted so hard that for a second Tony thought the reactor had failed. The surge vanished as quickly as it had come, leaving ghostly echoes of shock, confusion and an overwhelming sadness. And none of it was his.
He'd been in the middle of reaching for the phone when Fury called. And Fury had to have known, for all that he'd been nothing but his usual charming self when he'd barked that Tony had better get his ass over there. Tony had been hiding his mark for most of his life, but Fury was Fury. And no one in their right mind would have called in Tony Stark over something as delicate as trying to re-acclimate a man to a new century if there hadn't been some ulterior motive. For once, Tony hadn't argued.
So here he was. Staring at a man who was born sixty years before him but looked twenty years younger. His right hand twitched slightly at the heat spreading from the mark on his wrist, and he folded his arms across his chest, trying to find some semblance of calm here.]
Captain Rogers. I'm Tony Stark.
[As first introductions went, it probably could have gone better.]