RHETT WAS PLAYING BASEBALL AGAIN. This time, he was alone. He just had a bag full of baseballs that he would place onto the stand, hitting them as hard as he could to try and forget the past few days.

But he had to pick them up to try again. It was when he was left to do nothing but walk that his mind wandered. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't stop thinking.

º º º

"You were a soldier?"

Steve had long since called in sick at work and the two were sitting at his small table, Rhett with an ice pack against his eye, still trying to smile.

"Yeah," he croaked, laughing mirthlessly, "Surprise."

Steve sighed, shaking his head. "A-a failsafe?"

Rhett traced patterns into the table. "There were about nine of us. But only three of us survived the initial experimentation."

He took a deep breath, remembering the third of them. He had been about his age, handsome, so ready to do his duty, but a firm believer that they wouldn't be needed. He was perfectly fine with that, and Rhett was as well.

But not all of them shared that sentiment.

"His name is Christian Hyde," he said, the name itself sending a shiver down his spine.

"He was the one with the most control, but he was the most dangerous," he continued, tracing patterns into the table because he was too afraid to touch Steve, "He was so angry when he came out of it all."

"We did a few tests, nothing long, but we had to make sure we could do it," he whispered, hands shaking, "Had to make sure we sent the best one over here."

"He did everything the fastest, he was the best. He had the most control, but he was just too unpredictable. They were too afraid of what he might do to choose him. After all, Martin was about just as good. He could be trained. He was more controlled."

He swallowed thickly, fisting his hand, nails digging into his palm. "So Christian killed him. We were all resting, it was after we got the news that we might actually need to jump forward, see if we could get any news on the outcome of the war.

"I was still awake, but I wish I wasn't. He would've killed me too, but at least I didn't have to hear it. I heard him struggling, he shouted for me. I just laid there. When it was over, I turned around and Christian was looking at me. And I just stared back and then he walked back to his cot and that was that."

He was shaking by that point, the image of Martin's lifeless eyes staring up at him from the bottom bunk across from him burned into the back of his eyes, the sound of his scream echoing in his ear.

"Course I told them the next day, but by then he had already killed a few scientists and stole some plans, but I wasn't surprised, he hopped around, that was what he was good at, using his abilities," he shook his head, scoffing.

"They didn't kill him, though. No, he was too valuable, so they thought maybe with time they could try to help him, but in the meantime, they needed someone to learn how the war ended, the future where we win."

"That was actually the scariest part," he said, breaking off from his main story, "Making sure that we didn't jump to the wrong future. Because-because we just didn't know if there were different versions, if it was all set in stone, we knew nothing, so we had to prepare for that as well and there were a few mistakes, but they weren't major enough for us to stop entirely."

"So they sent me," he said, continuing his main explanation, shrugging as if it was nothing surprising, "I wasn't the best, but I did well and I wanted to help the effort, I wanted to—" he took a few breath, "I wanted to help that kid I used to share my soda with during the summer."

Steve gasped softly, and Rhett continued, not wanting to lose his momentum. "So they locked up Christian up in this casing they were sure would keep him in and they sent me, and I found myself here in New York a year before you woke up, 2008."

He laughed, almost hysterically, shaking his head at Steve who looked ready to speak. "I didn't even know, you know? I had been prepared for this, but it was just so different. I don't know how I made it to that library, how I got someone to teach me how to find everything, but suddenly I reading about how that scrawny kid from Brooklyn fell into the ice and every little detail about the war, but—"

He let out a shaky breath, covering his eyes. "You're gonna hate me after this."

Steve didn't speak, just continued to stare at him. So Rhett went on.

"I could have gone back and warned you. There was a high possibility we could have ended the war without you needing to fall in the ice."

Steve shook his head, mouth open, finally coughing out a quiet, "No."

Rhett nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, no, it's true, I think about it all the time. I was so ready to jump back, but that's the best part, right? Right, I couldn't. I tried for three days, but nothing happened. I was stuck here with everything we needed but no way to get back."

He laughed, standing up and kicking over the chair. "Then Christian finds me! It's about nine months later, I'm living with Nicky and I'm not gonna even get into that shit storm, but Christian finds me and I was so sure he was just gonna take the news and run and leave me here and, you know, I was gonna be okay with that. Yeah, I would rather be stranded here if it meant the war ended early and you didn't die.

"But, of course, he's angry, he doesn't wanna help our effort anymore, and he wants to kill me too, because he's completely consumed by it by this point, so he tries to kill me, but, unfortunately, I managed to survive.

"But so did he. I-I knew he wasn't dead. He was about to jump back, but I drove a knife through his leg and he left, but he wasn't dead, so I knew he would be back, but it's been nine years so I just didn't really care by that point, I had a life, I had something new to focus on."

He took a deep breath, finally looking at Steve. "And you came out of the ice and then there was The Incident and everything happened, but I didn't go to you once.

"I didn't go to you even though you were the last thing I had of my old life that I can't even remember, 'cause what was I supposed to say, 'I was another experiment they tried using in the war, but, hey, I failed and I could have saved you from dying, but I didn't, sorry about that?' No, I couldn't.

"So when we started talking, I didn't say anything because there was nothing I could get from you and you weren't here to give me closure, so I just pretended that you remembering me was just an odd coincidence, not that you remembered me from before, and I kissed you because I'm selfish."

He took a deep breath, picking up the chair he had kicked over. "So, yeah. To sum it up, I'm Rhett Reiser. We used to drink sodas together and I'm the sole reason why you don't have any peace, not that I was planning on ever telling you."

Steve made him leave not long after.

º º º

So Rhett was left to play baseball all while hoping that maybe Christian would appear and just kill him, get it over with, he didn't care anymore.

He didn't care what happened. Christian hadn't gone back yet, he hadn't changed anything, so maybe the only thing the man could achieve would be killing him and Rhett wasn't too keen on stopping him at that point.

"Can we play with you?"

Rhett paused mid-swing to turn, catching sight of a large group of kids staring at him. He noticed with a start that he recognized some of the faces, regulars that he always played with back when he worried more about the happiness of others than that of his own.

"It's been a while," one of the the kids said, and his heart broke.

"I'm sorry," he said, setting down the bat.

"It's okay," another said, shrugging, "We didn't really expect you to keep showing up every day, you said you're a teacher."

"Yeah, but that's not why I wasn't showing up," he confessed, adjusting the bag of baseballs on the ground, "I was with some guy at a coffee shop for a bit, then other times we would just walk around this park. Not really anything excusable."

"Did you have fun?" a girl asked, one he didn't recognize.

He nodded, smiling despite the pain. "Yeah, I did."

"Well, cool," Leo, a regular and one that Rhett had been particularly fond of, said, shrugging, "Then why're you so mad about it?"

He motioned towards all of them. "Because I let you down."

"We had fun without you," yet another said, "It was fun having you around, but we played by ourselves. We did this to have fun and if you didn't wanna come play, sure it sucked, but it's not the end of the world."

"My mom can't always play with me, but that's because she can't do everything all the time, it doesn't make her bad, just means I gotta find something else to do."

He searched the group for the kid who spoke and found himself looking at Emily, the girl he had helped when he first ran into Steve. It was a wonder he remembered her name, but it was also a wonder that she was there.

"It's pretty cold out," he said, motioning around him, "Are you sure you kids wanna play?"

"Yeah!" they chorused, and Rhett laughed because this was his life. Playing with kids in Central Park and if there was a looming threat of death and a brewing self-hatred, well, those wouldn't be going away any time soon, so he might as well try to have some fun. It was most likely the only life he had left.

"Then try to keep up."

º º º

Steve didn't know why he was making his way to Rhett's apartment at such a late hour, but he tried to tell himself that it was because he wanted answers.

It was because he wanted closure, not because he missed him. Not because, after he had spent hours thinking about it and talking to Tony and Sam to see what the thought, he decided that it wasn't worth it to be upset at what the man couldn't control especially when he seemed to hate himself the most for it.

He just wanted closure.

So there he was, pulling out the key that Nicky had given to him when he visited him at the bar a few nights before, telling him to come over if he needed, stepping into the building and making his way up the stairs to their loft.

He stood in front of it for a minute, unsure of what to do. He should just leave. What closure would he get from asking the man to rehash everything he had already told him? He should just leave.

But his hand went up and knocked on the door anyways because Steve didn't have anywhere else to go and Rhett was possibly the last link he had to a somewhat normal life.

Maybe normal wasn't the right word. He'd find another one later.

The door opened to reveal Nicky who smiled tiredly at him, but he hadn't been sleeping, so Steve didn't apologize as he walked inside.

He just looked towards the kitchen where Rhett was standing, looking tired and afraid, but still smiling as he leaned against the counter.

"Hi," the man greeted, his voice quiet and low, the small smile never leaving his face.

As Nicky retreated into his room, Steve walked quietly over to the kitchen, standing in front of Rhett and bracing his arms on the counter on either side of his hips, standing much closer than he had planned to.

"Thought you would stand on the other side and we would talk it out that way," Rhett whispered, arms still crossed over his chest.

"I don't know what we could talk out, you've given me all the information you can," Steve replied, unmoving.

Rhett reached up and traced a pattern into Steve's arm as he spoke, and there was a possibility that he didn't know what he was doing.

"You could sigh and tell me about how this just can't work out because you lied to me, Rhett, I can't forgive that and I can agree with you and apologize, and you can say that it's too late for that. Then as you start to leave, I could try to speak and maybe convince you to stay, but I know deep down that there's nothing I can say and so you leave and maybe you regret it, maybe you don't, but by then it's too late. And maybe we run into each other again and when you laugh I can pretend that everything is still okay, but deep down I know that it's over and it was too late."

Steve just laughed because this was the Rhett he knew, and he never did change, no matter how many years it had been and how much he had been through, it was still Rhett and now everything made sense.

"I can't believe you held out on me about your eyes, I spent weeks feeling guilty about that," he mumbled and Rhett laughed, throwing his head back, shoulders shaking.

"You felt guilty? How'd you think I felt?" he exclaimed, and Steve just laughed and plucked the glasses off his nose so he could stare at the eyes that had given him so much trouble over the past few weeks.

"So let's just get one thing straight," he said, leaning forward to nudge at Rhett's jaw, "You've been in love with me since the 40's?"

Rhett scoffed, wishing that he hadn't been so compliant to tilt his head. "No, I just—we've had history, even during the war, you can't blame me for being attached."

Steve hummed, reaching into his pocket and pulling out the key Nicky had given him at the bar when Steve had been at a particularly low point in his contemplating. It had been an interesting sight, really, a man like Nicky in his cardigans and bright smile in a place like that.

"Okay..." he drawled, peppering feather light kisses along Rhett's threat, "Well, when Nicky came to drop this off, he mentioned something about fanfiction?"

Rhett, who was just starting to enjoy himself, let out a shout of pure offense, shoving Steve away and all but jumping towards the living room, face bright red and head spinning as he planned his quick escape from the country. He was almost willing to find Christian himself.

Steve followed after him as his laugh resounded through the room, swiping at him but laughing much too hard to be able to catch him.

"C'mon, Rhett, there's no shame," he taunted, palms flat on the dining table, Rhett mirrored on the other side.

"You are not the man I knew," Rhett spat, blue eyes shining with betrayal.

"No, I'm the man knowing you has made me become," Steve sighed, walking around the table, watching as Rhett went the opposite way. "C'mon, Rhett, I don't care..."

He faked a sharp lunge to one side, causing Rhett to sprint towards the living room. Unfortunately for the teacher, Steve was a strategist and very, very fast, catching him an instant and tackling him, the two falling over the back of the couch.

"You're the worst," Rhett grumbled, struggling to push off Steve who was hovering above him with a wide grin.

"You love me," Steve taunted, much too comfortable around the man, "I started remembering, you know? You hated Bucky."

"I did not," he scoffed, trying to sink lower into the couch.

"No, you did," Steve laughed, and it was then that Rhett realized he was older than him, "You hated him so much and you were always trying to get him to leave."

"He gotta see you all the time!" Rhett exclaimed and it was then he knew he had lost.

Steve laughed and dropped his head into the crook of his neck. When he pulled back, he just stared at Rhett for a moment, much more serious, smiling at him softly.

"I'm not mad."

Rhett sighed. "Why not?" He didn't understand how the man even still talking to him.

Steve shrugged. "Because this is my life now and I'm happy I have it."

Rhett pursed his lips. "But it's so hard for you. Everything about it, it's all so...sad." An understatement, really.

Steve hummed, reaching up with one hand to trace the side of Rhett's face, tilting his chin up. "There's still some good in my life, and I wouldn't trade that for anything."

Then Steve kissed him. It was so soft and sweet and missed that Rhett had to hold onto his arms to keep himself from breaking.

After everything. After all those years, he was sure he would never get a smile in his direction, and after that night he was sure he would never get this again, yet there it was.

The universe finally forgiving him.

"I don't know how I didn't figure it out sooner," Steve whispered as he continued to kiss Rhett's jaw as the man struggled for breath, "I don't think there're eyes like yours anywhere else, no matter what year it is."

Rhett scoffed, running a hand through the man's hair. "Is this the same Steve Rogers who told me he was afraid to talk to girls?"

Steve groaned. "It's terrifying, men and women! But I always felt like I knew you, so it wasn't all that hard. Besides, it's not like you didn't make me uncomfortable most of our time together."

Rhett grinned as he remembered all the times he had made even the mildest of jokes, challenging himself to see how easy it would be to make Steve turn the same shade of pink and reduce him into a bumbling puddle.

"Well, I'm glad that I was different," he joked, immediately thinking to some of the fanfiction he read.

Steve must have as well because he simply scoffed and kissed him, short and sweet before pulling away, giving his arms a rest as he rested against the cushions.

"You wanna stay the night?" Rhett asked, "I got work tomorrow, but you could always show up later on. The kids miss their art teacher."

Steve smiled and nodded. "Yeah, sure, why not."

Rhett just stared at him. Stared and wondered how he had managed to wind up in a future where everything had played out to the point where Steve Rogers, Captain America, was lounging on his couch looking positively wrecked, smiling at him like he was the only one in the room and even though he technically was, the point still stood.

He could only hope it would stay that way.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

( 01.01.18 )

So a brief time skip for about a week (a very long time in Marvel movie standards) and here is our exposition! Man, that was a lot, but here it is!

I really wish I had written Steve better in this entire story, but I tried to acknowledge that I screwed up during that little conversation they had on the couch, I don't know.

I don't really have much to say, if you're still confused on what happened with Rhett just ask and I'll try to answer the best I can!

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!