Chapter Text
Consciousness did not come easily. The first few times he tried to wake up were excruciating. He had to hold onto to his sense of self with every bit of will he had. He remembered Banner talking to him, a bright light in his eyes as something blissfully cool was wrapped around his arm. On some level he knew that Bruce was giving him a very typical trauma assessment. But he had lost consciousness before he could ask why they thought that was needed.
It was just a burned arm. He had had much worse over the years and they would know that. If there was a world where the Avengers were living in Stark Tower then that mean there was an Iron Man, there was only an Iron Man if Tony had been kidnapped and forced to become a hero to get free.
Ergo. They knew about his heart.
But it was taking an ungodly amount of time for his head to clear. He was still pretty sure he hadn't hit it on something. That was the point of the helmet!
At one point his vision cleared enough to see a pair of bright blue eyes looking down at him. They were sad and worried, but as soon as Tony moved a little Steve Rogers was looking down at him with a bright smile.
"Tony?" He asked hesitantly, hopefully.
But Tony moved his right hand, his fingers squishing in something lukewarm and unpleasant. He grimaced. "Gooey."
Steve blinked at him, someone on the other side of Tony laughed heartily. But he didn't really care about that. Tony lifted his arm, or tried, he couldn't manage to move it very far. "Why is my arm gooey?" It was really gross. Though he had to admit, it felt a lot better than the last he remembered.
Steve smiled again, "That would be the medi-gel. Ugh, alien technology we acquired, what was it? Three years ago?"
"Four."
With more effort than it should have taken and ignoring the odd discomfort in his neck, Tony turned his head to see James Barnes of all people grinning at him. "Sleeping Beauty awakes."
Tony groaned, he wasn't quite sure he was awake yet. "So," He said, turning back to Steve, his speech distressingly slurred. "Time travel or alternate universe?"
Rogers set a book aside and became Captain American in the blink of an eye. "Alternate Universe. There are quite a few major differences between you and our Tony. Mainly that you're an omega and ours was a beta."
"And you're alive."
"Thank you, Buck." Rogers glared at him over Tony's bed.
There was that word again, but things were already becoming much harder to hang onto. Even with the cooling gel his arm pulsed in time with his heartbeat. Like wounds opened wounds trying to heal. He was itchy in random places. His wrists, either side and the back of his neck, and his inner thighs. It's was a dull itch, luckily, in his state he didn't think he was capable of relieving them. All he could really do was shift uncomfortably.
"That's what the kid said," Tony said, he could feel himself slipping back into nothingness.
"What who said?"
Tony sighed and closed his heavy eyes, everything was really cozy here. "She called me omega. Wonder what it means."
~~~
"So, essentially, through out complex biological makeup we all have our strengths and weaknesses. Varying levels of dominance and submission that determine our respective places in society. While there are variations, exceptions to the rule, alphas are the leaders. They are stronger, they can command betas and omega to keep them in line or protected. Very strong alphas can command other alphas. Betas can run the rang between dominate and submissive. Though dominate betas cannot give commands or use their pheromones for control, nor can submissive betas ever reach the levels of comforting pheromones an omega is capable of. Though beta women can bear young, they do not have heats or the same instincts as omegas. And omegas themse-"
"Uegh!"
Bruce sighed and turned from the screen, stylus still pointed to the diagrams he was going over. "I know this is all new and strange to you, Tony, but there is nothing weird or gross about being able to have children. You're perfectly normal for this universe. Omegas are treasured members of society."
"It's not that," Tony jabbed a finger at the screens, "okay it's still a little bit that. But also, what the hell is this again, and are you sure it's safe to drink?" He shook the cut of acidic looking goo Bruce had handed him. It was thick, bitter and pungent, and all over vile.
"I told you it's fine," Bruce said with another sigh and turned back to the screen. "That shake is the most nutritionally dense substance on earth. It's the best way to make sure you get all the vitamins and nutrients you need in a day, and can easily be enhanced to give you more-"
"Could you at least have cooled it down to something not quite body temp?"
"It begins to congeal at 30c, so no. You think it's unpleasant now? Try drinking when it's mostly solid."
Unpleasant hadn't been what he called it. "There are plenty of nutrients in cheeseburgers. Maybe some tacos. I'd settle for a peanut butter sandwich."
"Keep the shake down and then we'll get you a cheeseburger. I promise."
Tony took another painful sip from the straw, wincing. It was like drinking gak. Did gak still exist? Had it ever existed in this universe? This weird, weird universe.
"Any questions?"
"Oh yeah a ton of them. Why isn't Friday integrated into your systems?" He had tried to access her when he first awoke and had received no response. "Did the other Tony not make her or did he just not run her all the way through the tower? What exactly is in this vile stuff, and why is it so yellow? How can you tell me you people aren't part cats and then turn around in the same breath and say omegas have heats? Does gak exist here? And since when have you been in charge of the infirmary?"
This Bruce was just as exasperated at Tony and his questions had his own was. It was comforting that no matter the location in time and space, Banner was always Banner. Bruce clicked off the screen and pushed it off to the corner. The little screen on wheels thing they had set up was efficient, if one forgot that Tony had installed holographic projectors in every common room and office. Or well...he had. In his own world. It wasn't yet clear if the other Tony had done so. No one seemed eager to answer questions about him.
Bruce gently placed his stylus in the chest pocket of his hulk sized white doctor's coat and took a seat next to Tony's bed. There were two very large, reinforced chairs on their side for some reason.
"After," he started, paused, took a breath and tried again, "after...the battle. Our Tony died." He pointed to Tony's arm, still encased in a plastic sleeve filled with a rather gross blue goo. "A lot changed really quickly. Suddenly people who were gone for five years were just back as though nothing had happened. A lot changed here too...We...we lost a lot of our staff after that." Bruce paused again.
Tony nodded, and forced another gulp of the shake and instantly fell into a coughing fit. He cleared his throat. "I imagine people wanted to spend time with returned family." He would have taken a year off at least to spend time with the kid.
"Among other things, yes. I made a suppressor for the Hulk, and lived just as Bruce Banner for a bit to heal from my own wounds. During which I was spending a lot of time in the infirmary. I began to work on reverse engineering the super solider serum from Doctor Erskine's notes and blood samples from the Cap and Barnes. Eventually I just fell into the role. In the last seven years I've learned a lot about general medicine."
Tony lounged back on his exceptionally comfy hospital bed. This place at least knew how to treat their patients. Were their beds this comfy in his own world? "Well, that answers that. And the rest?"
Bruce laughed, actually laughed, "no. We are not cat people. We do not share any characteristics with cats. Plenty of other animals have mating seasons. We call them heats because it fits. But you won't be climbing the walls and wailing anytime soon."
Tony scrunched up his face. "I'm like 40~ereheh," he mumbled off at the last number. "Surely I won't be having...you know."
Bruce snorted, "more closer to 50~eereheh. But we don't yet know how your biology will react here."
A nurse popped her head through the door, she had short bouncy brown hair and a cute pointy nose, Tony had no clue who she might be. "Dr. Banner, your samples are done. Do you want me to pause the incubator or-"
"No, I'll take care of it, thank you, Aubrey. You," He looked down at Tony while he rose from the chair, "finish your meal and I'll be back with something better."
"Can I get a Stark pad?"
"Sorry, Tony. We don't allow our patients to have phones or tablets unless it's an emergency. It doesn't facilitate healing. But if you want, Aubrey can set up the screen if you want to watch something."
Aubrey happily stepped forward, but Tony shook his head. It made sense, logically. One needed to rest to heal. But Tony wasn't just an ordinary patient. It was cruel and unusual punishment to force Tony languish in bed with only daytime TV for company.
Bruce and his bouncy nurse left him to himself and the slime impersonating a shake. He had manged to stomach exactly a third of it, and he was feeling decidedly queasy about it. Tony had stomached many a terrible thing in the name of health and prolonged life span. And yet he was not going to be able to finish this.
Earlier he had woken up to the nurses changing the weird goo filled sleeve on his arm. He had been allowed a moment to freshen up and alongside confirming that this was a universe of giants, because why the hell did he have to lean so far up to use the damn sink? He also found some rather disturbing new anatomy. Which prompted some very pointed questions upon leaving the restroom which in turn prompted Bruce's little power point on dynamics and confirmation that was perhaps the weirdest situation Tony had ever found himself in.
It was fine. Dandy, really. Because Tony wasn't staying here. They just needed to get a hold of Strange. Then they could work on getting it all sorted out. Until then, Tony was healing in a universe where humans evidently had discernible pheromones and men could have babies. On the whole, it could probably be weirder. He didn't have a tail or fuzzy ears. He still had all his fingers, even if half of them were trapped in goo.
Magical medical goo sleeve. Goo shake. This was such a gooey world.
What he wasn't going to do was sit around and twiddle this thumbs while he waited for the rest of the world to catch up. The offensive glop was set on the little rolling table by his bed. They had mentioned upon getting him settled that he only needed the goo sleeve for the rest of the day. And he figured if he would be healed in such a short amount of time he was probably fine now, right?
Right. He managed to slip the plastic goo sleeve off without much trouble, working with a hand that was currently hooked up to an IV was troublesome though. At least until the sleeve was off and he was able to pluck that out too.
Now the biggest problem, if one ignored the fact that he had somehow lost his clothes and was forced to wander around in a light blue hospital gown, was getting to the elevator without attracting the attention of a nurse. Or a certain giant green doctor who would probably cuff him him to a bed to keep him down if he were found, just because he could.
He crossed the room and no alarms went off, so he took a shot and cracked open the door. It was like being slapped in the face with a whole department store's perfume section. But as he stood, crouched in the doorway, hidden from view, he began to be able to piece them out. He smelled citrus and clove just before a nurse with red ringlets hurried by, she was followed by another nurse with short black hair who paused to write on a clipboard before moving on. He had smelled like magnolia, cinnamon and something earthy. From Bruce's descriptions of the power of scents, the first had been a beta, the second an alpha.
How interesting. When the alpha nurse moved on Tony crept out and dashed down the hall towards to the elevator, stopping here and there to crouch behind a bin or doorway if he smelled someone approaching.
Where were these senses when he was younger and trying to sneak out of the house or his dorm room when Rhodey was trying to sleep? This was amazing! He made it to the elevator without being stopped once! Once inside he pressed 2-10-20-8 on the keypad. There was a chime and the elevator jerked before heading down at a quickened pace. There was not, however, a soothing voice to tell him that the code had worked. But he was rather sure it had. Now the elevator would not be accessible by others until he reached his lab.
Now that he was in a space alone, and would remain so for a few minutes at least, Tony gave a minute to examine his arm. He hadn't really looked at it before. The whole winding up in an odd universe and the need to get to safety had been a great excuse to not dwell on the fact that his arm might be irreparably damaged. Now though, it was stiff for sure. His fingers didn't really want to curl or stretch to their furthest, but he could do it. The scar was...bad. It looked a lot worse than it felt thought. Deep, red lines like lighting etched into his flesh, stark and angry against his skin even with the film of blue gel that lingered on top. It was particularly sore and stiff at his wrist and elbow, though, again, not as much as he had feared it would be. It was still mobile and nothing looked necrotic. That was certainly better than he had expected.
Seven years in the future...would Tony's world get something like this gel in seven years? In seven years will Rogers get such a big head that he insists on propaganda posters the size of a building? Tony laughed softly, shaking his head. He was going to be able to find out. When he had placed the stones on his gauntlet, when he had pressed his fingers together to snap, he had known he would never see any future again.
For the first time in his life Tony was happy he had been wrong.
There was no one in the lab. The lights were off, though as soon as he stepped through the entire place lit up. Motors whirred to life and Friday's voice greeted him. "Hello Ca-oh, it's you?"
He smiled, "hello, honey. Daddy's home!"
"Oh," there was a long pause as Tony headed towards the restroom and closet. He had often stayed down in his lab for days, he needed changes of clothing and a working shower. He figured the same was true here. "It's been...so long." Friday eventually said.
"Well, wake the children and we can chat while I do a few things." Tony threw open the closet and took stock. There were shelves of pants and rows of t-shirts. Not his favorite band shirts, simple black or navy shirts that would do in a pinch. He grabbed one and some black pants at random and headed into the restroom to clean up.
"My suit was damaged in the snap. Figured I'd start working on getting that fixed. Be a dear and set up the nano scopes."
Alternate Timeline Tony's clothes were slightly too big. He had to cuff the jeans and make a new hole on the belt to keep them up. The V neck of the shirt was nearly long enough to show his arch reactor and hung on loosely on his frame. It wasn't ideal, but it was better than a hospital gown. Once he turned on some music at a decibel he could feel in his bones and set down with his magnifiers and got to work, he was feeling close to normal.
~~~
"You're the president in all but name, can't you just ignore all these meetings? Tell them to take a hike? that you'd rather be peeling potatoes than dealing with them?"
Steve sighed, the elevator chimed and the doors opened, they stepped into the lift and out of the busy lobby. They were one step closer.
Leaving the Tower, leaving Tony, had been physically painful. The meeting hadn't been any better. Three hours wasted as leaders of the free world vied for his attention. His approval. So much had changed in the years since Tony's sacrifice. There was less crime. There were fewer petty wars popping up. Once Captain America and the remaining Avengers had taken a more hands on approach to dealing with all these woes. Putting an end to them. Permanently. Everyone had started to play nice with each other.
They also bothered him relentlessly.
Kissing up to him. Groveling for help against a foe or leniency when a scandal was unearthed.
Cowards.
"You know I can't ignore them. What if it turned out to be something important?"
Bucky pouted dramatically, "but I want to spend time with our omega."
He couldn't help smiling, "stop being dramatic. Having an omega doesn't mean we ignore those who rely on us. No matter how much we want to, besides-" he was cut off when his phone began to beep wildly, the private emergency line. Steve's heart jumped into his throat, beside him Bucky stiffened, every nerve alert and ready. He opened the call, Bruce's large green face filling the screen. "Report."
It was not possible for the Hulk to because greener from nausea, or to flush with embarrassment, but if Steve didn't know any better he would have said Bruce was pale. His green flesh sweaty and tension around his eyes. "Tony's gone."
Steve's hand tightened dangerously on the phone, "Gone? How?"
"I left him for five minutes and he was just gone. His shake, which he didn't finish, was on the table and there was no sign of a struggle."
Steve clenched his jaw so hard his teeth probably would have cracked, if they weren't just as supernaturally strong as the rest of him. Bucky hit the button for the infirmary, Steve opened his mouth to begin ripping Bruce an new one, a prelude to what was coming once he was there in person, when another call came through. He didn't even look, simply pressed it and growled, "what!"
"Sir," the soothing tones of Tony's AI rang through, "I though it prudent to let you know that Tony Stark is in Mister Stark's lab."
It was as though all the tension left him, Bucky quickly pressed the button to stop the elevator on the next floor. It would be quicker for them to take the stairs. "Status?" He asked, calmer, though a new tension was taking over. The doors opened and he and Bucky dashed to the stairwell.
"He arrived about ten minutes ago. Changed clothes and began work repairing a suit. I suppose it must be the one he brought with him. I apologize for not contacting you sooner, but you weren't on base."
"You did well, thank you. We'll be there shortly." When they hit the ground floor they had to get another elevator, but they saved a few minutes. He knew Bucky would have preferred busting out a window to simply drop down onto the street. But they couldn't do that every time there was an situation.
Friday already had the doors unlocked when they arrived. Tony's too loud, wailing music crashed into them as the doors opened. And then there he was.
Steve had to fight back the surge of emotions upon seeing him. Relief. Grief. Warring together alongside something that felt very much like hope. He never thought he'd see this sight again. Tony. Happy. Working on his latest invention, which always sounded like magic to him, yet somehow always worked. Alive. He never thought...
Bucky gripped Steve's arm with is metal hand, bringing him back to the now. The rush of relief washed away for the moment to be replaced with anger. Tony was an omega now. And omegas did not run off on their own like that.
"Tony!"
Tony jerked his head up, he had a something that looked like a jeweler's loop on one eye, in one hand he held a small device that looked like a screw driver with a light on the end, and the other was holding some wires steady. "Cap, and, ugh, Barnes. Welcome, welcome. What can I do for you? Friday, why didn't you warn me that we had guests coming?"
"Enough, Tony. You shouldn't be down here." Steve crossed the Lab in the matter of seconds.
"Oh," Tony delicately placed the tools on the table and took out the eye loop. "Because it's his lab? I thought of that, and I'm pretty sure he wouldn't mind. We're the same person, you know. I'm sort of an authority on things that would piss off Tony Starks."
Bucky let out a small growl from the corner, Tony probably couldn't even hear it. "You're injured," Steve said, "you're unwell, you shouldn't go off alone. I don't even know how to begin to tell you how dangerous that is."
Tony laughed. Laughed! In Steve's face, at his worry. At his care. "I've literally had worse. A few burns isn't anything compared to this," he pointed at his chest, the faint glowing under the low cut shirt he definitely pilfered from the closet down here.
It still vaguely smelled of Tony's fresh airy beta scent, though there were sweet notes of orange blossom and rain now that was all the omega in front of him.
"I'm fine. Really. Oh," Tony stopped and cocked his head to the side, "is this a, uh, alpha thing? Bruce was talking about-"
Steve took a final step forward, wrapped his hand around Tony's neck and squeezed. All his rambling was cut off as Tony went completely limp. Steve picked him up and carried him out of the room, Bucky on his heels.
~~~
Something happened...
One second he was talking with Steve and the next...Well he would have said he lost consciousness, but he was still very much awake. It was like all his muscles simply were not there any longer. He couldn't move! He had trouble focusing. He tried desperately to move anything. The sensation was very unpleasant. Like ghostly needles in his nerves that only stopped when he gave in and stopped trying.
There were some murmured words spoken somewhere above him, and he was pretty sure he was moving, or being rocked...or both. Something pinged...The elevator?
Eventually the talking formed into sporadic words.
"...did it too hard..."
"It was a perfectly...pressure. I would never hurt..."
"He's not used to it Stevie. We said we would be gentle."
That sounded like Bucky. What had Steve done? Was he the reason Tony couldn't move?
Steve sighed and Tony felt it through the chest he was pressed against. He was in Steve's arms. "You're right. I was upset." A large hand ran through his hair, "I'll make it up to you, Tony. I just can't let you put your health at risk."
He floated in this state, tingly warmth so long as he didn't try to fight it, for several minutes until the elevator pinged again and a rush of cool air and the scent of disinfectant wafted over them. The hospital wing. Tony's heart sank. He hated it here.
"It's alright," Steve said softly, holding him tighter, "we aren't staying here."
"You found him!" Bruce's voice greeted them, "aaand you scruffed him." He sighed, "I suppose that was unavoidable."
"Let's get him cleaned up, then you can assess him, do what you need to do, and we're taking him up to the living quarters." Steve's tone brooked no argument.
Tony still couldn't open his eyes. He still couldn't move at all. Large hands were on his arm, prodding gingerly. It hurt and in this odd and vulnerable state, Tony wasn't able to suppress the gasp and wimper of pain.
"He probably earned himself another two days of the gel with this little stunt. He was always bad about taking it easy." Bruce said clinically.
"Yeah, he always needed someone there to help protect him from his own bad choices." Steve almost sounded fond.
They were moving again and then from somewhere close by came the sound of running water. He was handled gently, Sat down on something soft, propped up as first his shirt was removed and then the rest of his clothing. Now Tony had never been concerned about nudity. But there was some mortification in that Steve Rogers, the boy scout, Captain America, was undressing him. But it wasn't important enough to get worked up over.
Just vaguely mortifying. Nothing else. Not fulfilling any sort of half acknowledged fantasy he may or may not have had at one point. And if he had ever thought such things, he certainly had never come up with a scenario like this.
"Can you run and get him something to wear, Buck?"
"I know just the thing! Be back in a jiff!"
"Up we go," Steve lifted him, and started a soothing, running commentary as he lowered Tony into a warm bath.
"Into the water. We'll get you all cleaned up."
"I'm sure you want to get cleaned after all you've been through. We couldn't really get you in a bath before. You'll feel so much better."
His hands were gentle, callused and strong. Steve ran a soft cloth over Tony's body, and he was a little grateful that he couldn't make eye contact during that part. Instead, between the warm water, the soothing scent that was just Steve, strong and metallic and warm, and whatever the hell Steve had done to him, Tony was putty in his hands. Even the slight sting of the water on his arm was bearable.
By the time Steve got to washing his hair, Tony propped up on the side of the tub, he was able to crack his eyes open just a tad. Steve's hands were smoothing over his scalp, his nails lightly scritching all the right places. Illiciting a soft rumble from his Tony that he 100% knew he had never been able to make before, but was very comforting nonetheless. Carefully, as though he was handling something precious, he lowered Tony back into the water.
One giant hand cupped Tony's head as he was lifted up, Steve was above him. His shirt sleeves were rolled up, his hair was in disarray, but he was so beautiful, and Tony still couldn't gather himself enough to not be affected by it. The weird rumbling increased. Steve's smile was warm, his bright eyes filled with some untold emotion. He ran his free hand over Tony's brow, down his cheek, his thumb rubbing gently over Tony's face, "so pretty." He whispered. As though afraid anyone might hear.
Tony heard.
He couldn't believe it though.
"Got it!" Bucky's voice came from across the room. Tony still couldn't move a muscle. "Sorry it took so long. We must have moved it."
Steve looked behind him, Tony could just barely see him smile at whatever Bucky was holding. "Oh, that's perfect."
Steve got him out of the bath not too long after that and handed him off to Bucky who had a very soft, very fluffy towel he began to pat Tony down with. Steve grabbed another towel to dry his hair. They worked together, handing him with care and know how. Gentle and sure. He had no memories of anyone ever treating him this way. Not his parents for sure. But also no nanny. Not Jarvis or his wife. No one. He should be furious to be treated as though he couldn't do anything himself. Perhaps he would be angry when he sobered up from...whatever this was. But for the time being, he had never felt so taken care or protected...so loved.
It wasn't that though. It was some weirdness with this world. An obligation alphas felt that Bruce hadn't explained yet.
The 'thing' Bucky had retrieved turned out to be a giant shirt, navy blue, about five sizes too big for him, that smelled like both Bucky and Steve. It was like they had both worn it at once. He couldn't wrap his head around it. Being very careful of his arm, they put the shirt on him along with some boxer shorts that he was hoping were new. He got no scent from those, thank god, and they fit. So they were definitely not the property of anyone else he had come across in this world so far.
Warm, surrounded by the scents of spice, frost, fresh air and iron, all it took was Steve gently running a finger over the back of his neck for Tony to give into the pool of the languid peace, the calm, the protection being shown to him. He closed his eyes wondering why both Steve and Bucky would be looking at him with such hope, such open and blinding fondness. But ultimately it wasn't enough of a mystery to keep him awake.