Quote:
“Lord, we know what we are, but know not what we may be.”
~~ William Shakespeare, Hamlet, act 4, Scene 5
Fandom:
MCU

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What We May Be

Steve wondered often what kind of man he’d have been if the serum had not come along. Had it made him better? He was never sure. He certainly did some things he wasn’t proud of since he’d been thawed.

Hurting Tony was one of the things he was ashamed that he had done. No one knew how much he loved Tony Stark. He’d fallen for Stark the day they met. No one had made his heart pound the way Stark did.

You better stop pretending to be a hero…

You’re not the one to make the sacrifice play…

Those things were true when he said them. Or he’d thought they were. They’d probably been his protection against things he didn’t understand. And he certainly hadn’t understood how he felt about Tony until Siberia.

He had become his worst self then. He couldn’t think about the things he said and the things he did to Tony. Those two years had honed him and made him better, made him see his own self-righteousness for what it was. Losing to Thanos had pared him down even further to a man who wanted the chance to tell those he loved that he loved them, to save those he loved.

Tony’s outright rage and rejection had almost destroyed him, but Tony changed, too. He became a real hero, a man who was quietly willing to make that sacrifice finally, to lay down on that wire.

Steve finally told him one night how he felt and Tony had given all he could. It was enough. It had to be.

Tony had made them all better. Maybe that was his other real gift.