I can't believe it's been 2 years since Endgame came out. I'm still not over it 😔 A sad song because I miss Steve 😅 ^
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"No promises. See you in a minute, old man."
He weakly smiles and I see a hint of sadness in his eyes. Why is he acting like this is goodbye? He steps onto the Quantum Portal and taps his wrist, making a white suit appear over his blue one. "How long is this gonna take?" Sam questions.
"For him, as long as he needs. For us, five seconds," Bruce confirms. Steve turns around and picks up Mjolnir. Of course he's worthy of picking up that hammer, that's no surprise. "You ready, Cap?" Bruce asks, to which Steve nods. "Alright, we'll meet you back here, okay?"
"You bet," Steve states before a helmet appears over his head. I can't wait for him to come back and tell me all about what happened, especially in Hawkins.
"Going quantum. Three, two, one," Bruce counts down. Sam and I exchange glances as he counts. Cap disappears into the portal. "And returning in five, four, three, two, one."
I become nervous when Steve doesn't appear on the pad. What the fuck? "Where is he?" Sam questions.
"I don't know. He blew right by his time stamp, he should be here," Bruce responds, messing with his equipment.
"Well, can't you do something to bring him back?" I eagerly ask.
"Working on it," Bruce responds.
"Well, get him back," Sam adds.
"I'm trying!"
"Get him the hell back!" Sam and I exclaim.
"Hey, I said I'm trying!"
"Sam," Bucky's voice sounds, making us turn to him. Sam and I walk to his side and look into the distance, spotting what he's looking at. A man sits on a bench as he stares at the water. The three of us walk closer and pause a few feet away from him. "Go ahead," Bucky utters. We turn to him and he looks back at us with an encouraging smile. Sam listens and approaches the man on the bench but I stay put. "You too," Bucky speaks again. My head snaps to him in shock.
He faces me with that same smile, nodding his head toward the man. I step toward them and stand at Sam's side. I curiously eye the elderly man on the bench. I feel like I know him. Please tell me this isn't who I think this is.
"Cap?" Sam asks.
"Hi, Sam," the old man replies before facing him. He locks eyes with me next and I stare back with my mouth agape. "Hi, y/n."
"Steve, is that really you?" I mutter. He grins and nods his head.
"So did something go wrong or did something go right?" Sam questions.
"Well, after I put the stones back, I thought maybe I'll try some of that life Tony was telling me to get," Cap explains. I let his words sink in but have trouble processing the information.
"How'd that work out for you?" Sam questions.
Cap nods his head before answering, "it was beautiful." I stay silent, just listening to their conversation. I can't believe what I'm hearing, what I'm seeing.
"Good, I'm happy for you. Truly."
"Thank you," Steve whispers. I don't know how I feel about this. Steve deserves all the happiness in the world and I'm glad he sought that out but what about everything he told me? He said we had to move forward and that this was his home. What made him throw all that out the window?
"Only thing bumming me out is the fact I have to live in a world without Captain America," Sam tells him.
"Oh..." Steve mutters, reaching to the side and passing his shield to his other side. "That reminds me," he says, unzipping the leather bag to reveal the shield. Sam just smiles, slightly chuckling when he views it. "Try it on," Steve suggests. My jaw drops and Sam's smile fades. He looks at me and I smile kindly, gesturing for him to try it on. He then turns to Bucky, who nods at him. He picks up the shield and holds it, staring down at it with a somber look.
"How does it feel?" Steve asks.
"Like it's someone else's," Sam answers, glancing at him.
Steve eyes the shield before gazing at Sam. "It isn't."
Tears form in my eyes and I look at Sam, who's also fighting back tears. "It suits you," I compliment him. He faces me and slightly smiles before lowering his head.
"Thank you," he finally utters, looking at Steve. "I'll do my best."
The two shake hands and Steve sets his other hand on top of their connected ones. "That's why it's yours," he voices. I quietly gasp when I notice his wedding ring. It all clicks in my mind. He went back in time for the woman he was in love with. He got his happy ending with Peggy Carter. A few hot tears escape my eyes.
Sam seems to have noticed the ring too. He smirks and asks, "you wanna tell me about her?" They let go of each other's hands and Steve looks away with a soft smile on his face.
"No. No, I don't think I will."
Sam laughs and thanks Steve again before walking back to Bucky. Steve now turns to me. "You haven't said anything to me yet," he mentions. I feel a pang in my chest when he says this.
"So you finally got the girl," I comment, smiling warmly. He returns the smile and nods. "So I guess the whole 'moving on' thing doesn't apply to you anymore, huh?" I add. He looks down, not knowing how to respond. "Look, I'm gonna miss you a lot... but I'm happy for you," I speak again. He looks back up at me and gives me another warm smile. I have many thoughts about this but I don't want to make him feel bad. He looks so peaceful and I don't want to ruin that. He deserves to be happy.
"You know, I... got to see all the decades I had missed, listened to a lot of music, watched a lot of films. You were right," he expresses. I furrow my eyebrows in confusion.
"About what?"
"Music from the 80s was outrageous," he answers, making me laugh. After all that life experience he acquired, he still remembers that little comment I made over five years ago.
"I told you!" I reply.
"The 80s were an interesting time... bitchin' some might say," he adds. I cackle at this. At least he remembers the things I told him. My smile slightly fades as I think about the day I said all this to him. It was our first training session.
"Ah, man, you really are an old man now, huh?" I tease. "With life experience and everything too."
He chuckles and sticks his hands into his pockets. His face suddenly lights up. "Oh, I almost forgot," he claims, retrieving a box from beside him. He sets it down on his lap.
"What's that?" I curiously question. He grins and gazes at the box proudly before glancing up at me and holding it up to me.
"Open it," he suggests. I raise my eyebrows and smile, taking the box. I open it and gasp when I see cassettes neatly stacked inside. I peer at Steve with a questioning expression.
"As I said, I listened to a lot of music over the years. Those are some of my favorite albums and a few mixtapes I made of the songs I loved from each decade," he explains. My eyes water again and a lump forms in my throat. I can't believe he thought of such a sweet gesture for me.
"Wow, Steve... you really pulled a me on me," I giggle. "Only you did it better." I close the box and look at him. He's gazing at me with a soft grin.
"Thank you, Steve. I love it."
He nods and extends his arms out and I instantly hug him. Steve is someone I wanted to keep in my life forever but I guess he had other plans. I don't know what I'm going to do without him.
*Time skip*
Steve left and Sam, Bucky, and I sit on the bench by the quantum portal. I can't stop thinking about Old Steve. I'm happy for him but at the same time, I'm upset with him. I couldn't let him know that, however. I couldn't destroy his bliss. "Are you okay?" Sam suddenly asks me. I sigh and nod my head. I'm not okay but I'm not about to let him know that.
"I'm fine, it's just... Tony's gone and I thought Steve would stick around but I guess not," I mutter. First Tony and now him. I know he was hurting but I guess Bucky and I weren't enough to make him stay. "It just has me thinking now," I trail off.
"About what?" Bucky questions.
"If he had let me go with him, if I was traveling through time to return the stones and saw an opportunity to go back to Hawkins in 1985 and stay there... would I have done it?" Bucky gives me a puzzled look.
"Wait, I think I've heard a bit about you before but not much. You were frozen too, right?" he asks.
"Yeah, I was found in the same place Steve was found. My plane crashed in '85 and I was stuck in the ice for 32 years," I pause for a moment while I think. "I used to want to meet him so badly because we had that in common. I wanted to ask him how he coped with waking up in a changed world... He gave good advice but I guess he never truly took it himself."
Sam and Bucky frown. We stay silent for a moment until I speak up again. "Anyway, congrats on being passed the mantle. I know you'll be great, Cap," I address Sam. He grins and chuckles.
"Thanks, I hope so."
"You will be. Steve thinks you're the perfect person to be the next Captain America, and he's never wrong," I express. He smiles and extends his hand. I shake it firmly and say, "take care of yourself, Sam."
"You too, y/n."
I offer my hand to Bucky next, which he shakes. He gives me a soft grin. "You know, Steve wants me to look after you," he discloses. Of course he does.
"I'll be fine... but to give you and Steve peace of mind," I start, pulling out my phone. I hand it to him and he inputs his number before handing the phone back to me. I quickly type "y/n Sinclair" and hit send. "Okay, now you have my number. Just call or text if you ever need anything."
He nods and I slowly back away. "Bye guys, take care of yourselves."
"Bye," the two return. I beam at them and turn around, walking away. As soon as I get into my car, I heavily sigh. He decides to leave when I need him the most. He left me, he left Sam, he left Bucky, his best friend since childhood. He talked about Bucky all the time. He told me their favorite saying: "I'm with you 'till the end of the line." I guess that's bullshit now. How could he leave his best friend like that? How could he leave me like that? A whimper escapes my throat as I try to choke back a sob. I take a deep breath and calm myself down before starting the car and driving home.