Author's Note:

I will say it again for those in the back of the classroom - SPOILERS. Please do not read this if you haven't seen Infinity War yet. I was in the movie theater restroom before watching it and literally had to cover my ears as I sat in the stall in order to not overhear some careless women talking about the movie. That's why I tried my best to make the description as spoiler-free as possible while still accurately indicating what the story is about.

He had never needed the phone.

It had been shoved in the pocket of his dress pants, heavy against his thigh as he spoke with demanding generals and unyielding government officials, his constant companion.

It had sat on his workbench when he was in the lab developing the new nanosuit, a visual reminder of why the reinforced arc reactor was necessary in the first place.

It had even found a home in the Iron Man suit itself, flying with him to all of his UN-approved missions, and sometimes... sometimes he pretended that it was the same as before and the phone was actually a live com in his ear awaiting instructions.

Tony had told himself over and over again that he would never use it, would never let things get so bad that he would need to use it.

Then Bruce was back and maybe it was fear-fueled because what was coming was literally his worst nightmare - the one that had been lurking in the back of his head for the past six years. But he had actually pulled out the phone with the intention to dial.

Tony's team thought he had never turned the phone on, mostly because the few times they'd seen it in glimpses as it was slid into a pocket, the phone was off. He'd didn't correct them.

It wasn't true, though. One of the first things he'd done when he had gotten back had been to go to the store and purchase a charger. Then, in his lab with every counter-hacking protocol in place, he'd turned it on.

One number.

Steve Rogers - 678-136-7092

He had glanced through the phone's settings next, read through what little was there, and powered it off.

Immediately the phone had been plugged into the charger and Tony had turned to the pile of garbage that was his armor. As he'd worked, the number was like a constant data stream in his head.

Tech calculations. 678. Strategy statistics. 136. Programming formulas. 7092.

When General Ross asked if Tony was in contact with Captain America, he had truthfully answered "no." And then repeated Steve Roger's phone number silently to himself. 678-136...

In the creepy, old building belonging to the man with a fitting name of Strange, Tony had been ready to use it. As always though, things happened.

And now Tony was stuck on a foreign planet and Bruce had the phone.

It was probably because of his ridiculous and seriously screwed up coping mechanisms that he had developed over the years, but Tony felt the missing phone like the hole in his gut. He had just watched Peter literally disintegrate into thin air and he couldn't, wouldn't think about the way the young teen had clutched at him in his final moments, hoping for the brilliant Tony Stark to save him.

So instead he thought about the cheap phone and patched up his suit. And then thought some more. The only other person on this planet was the blue cyborg girl who had just lost a sister, so he wasn't in any immediate danger.

Time was immeasurable on Titan, at least not in a way that Tony could decipher, so he wasn't sure exactly how long it took before finally his helmet slid over his skin once more.

When he was inside, there were a dozen warning lights flashing about exterior damage and troublesome vital signs, but he ignored those in favor of checking the communications component.

It was still intact.

And as it should be considering that of all the pieces that made up the Iron Man suit, only his arc reactor was more protected than his communications.

He had never needed the phone.

Tony Stark had created a suit that could fly and blast energy beams from its palms. In a cave where he was hooked up to an actual car battery and still suffering the effects of torture, he had managed to create an arc reactor that kept tiny pieces of metal from piercing his heart.

Of course Tony had memorized the number. He wasn't one to rely on outdated technology to determine his fate, especially with something as volatile as a cheap flip phone. So no, he had never needed the phone. Keeping it on him had been more symbolic than anything else, proof that, despite claims to the contrary and what the blue glow emanating from his chest led everyone to believe, Tony Stark did in fact have a heart.

Now, he sat down on a rock, recited the 10 familiar digits that had been the one constant in his life for the past few months, and made a phone call.

As his com unit attempted to make a long-distance call across the universe, Tony's thoughts started to spin. Images of disappearing faces and limbs whirled in his mind, both of those he saw on Titan and potential disappearances back on Earth. He could connect the dots. Whatever had happened to cause this was definitely related to Thanos. And ultimately, with Vision on Earth, Thanos would have headed there next. So if half of them on Titan were gone that meant Pepper, Happy, the Avengers...

Ringing filled the head space of Tony's helmet.

"Please pick up. Please pick up," Tony chanted under his breath, hoping and praying that Steve... that he hadn't been part of that one-half.

A voice picked up on the other end and Tony let out a relieved breath. Then he realized the voice was female. And automated. "We're sorry; you have reached a number that has been disconnected or is no longer in service. If you feel you have reached this recording in error, please check the number and try your call again."

Disconnected. Tony felt like that shield was slamming into his chest all over again.

Again. And again... No.

Rogers had done many things, but Tony refused to believe this was one of them. He brushed away the doubt like it was a stubborn piece of planet dust.

"Bring up dialpad."

Instantly his view of the destroyed planet dimmed and a series of numbers appeared onscreen. Tony read through the numbers and started to laugh.

One digit off. Maybe his com unit wasn't as undamaged as he'd thought. The idea made his chest twinge with no small amount of panic, and this time he spoke the numbers more slowly and confirmed them onscreen before making the call.

"Please pick up."

He didn't have the chance to say it again before a decidedly male and human voice answered. "Hello?"

"Steve?"

"Tony?! Thank God..." Relief was clear and palpable in the captain's voice. "Are you alright? Where are you?"

On Titan, Tony's hand automatically went to his side. "I'm fine." Are you okay? he wanted to ask, but there were too many warring emotions in his bloodstream at the moment to be able to get the words out. "Who's left?"

There was a pause and Tony could hear the sharp intake of breath on the other end, confirming his suspicions that the disappearances were not isolated to Titan. Despite being millions of miles away, the connection was crystal clear. Maybe it was the universe's way of balancing the odds. Of apologizing for having ever allowed the self-proclaimed god Thanos to exist in the first place.

He could hear other voices now, but none were loud enough to distinguish. "It's Stark," Rogers said, voice muffled. Then clear again, he asked, "Where are you?"

"I asked first, Cap," Tony replied and he didn't even try to hide the annoyance in his voice. "Who. Is. Left?"

An audible sigh. "Banner, Romanoff, Thor, Rhodey... and some others you don't know."

The absence of Steve Rogers's best friend's name didn't go unnoticed. "Barnes?"

"He's gone."

Knowing that the man responsible for killing his parents had disappeared into thin air should have made Tony feel better. It did not. "I'm sorry, Steve," he said, finding himself actually meaning the words. "Now, let me decide who I do and don't know." He did his best to use his usual, cocky tone and not betray the panic curdling under his skin.

It was apparentally the right thing to do, because Steve actually laughed and the sound of his voice wasn't quite as dark as before.

The first few names, M'Baku (one of T'challa's) and Rocket (a talking raccoon?), Tony didn't recognize. The third name Okoye he did. "T'Challa's righthand man... or woman as the case may be."

"You know of her?" There was obvious surprise in Steve's voice and Tony realized that although they had worked together on the Avengers, their relationship was primarily one of colleagues. Their friendship had always come second and as such Steve hadn't had the opportunity to see Tony's single-minded focus, obsession as some called it, when he dived head first into his research.

If Okoye was present, that meant the team was probably in Wakanda. "Is Shuri there?"

"You know too much for your own good," Steve huffed in good humor, and if this had been their first introduction, Tony would have said the comment was the start of a beautiful friendship. But it wasn't, so he didn't.

There was some more muffled talking and Tony almost rolled his eyes at the familiarity. He had to stop himself from falling back into the habit of serving as Captain America's technology translator. The man still hadn't grasped the concept that there were now "hold" and "mute" options on communication devices. Besides, it was never productive - Tony's comments only ever resulted in Steve giving him an irritated look while stubbornly continuing to cover his mouthpiece with one hand.

"She wasn't with us during the battle, so we're not sure. Okoye and M'Baku are checking now."

"Well she better be there." Tony had seen some of the girl's impressive work, the little genius. "Banner and Shuri are my best chances of getting off this rock."

Suddenly there was a tap on his shoulder and Tony shouted in surprise, whirling around and engaging the Repulsor on his right hand. The source of the tapping, the blue cyborg girl whose existence Tony had completely forgotten about, stood there looking unimpressed. "I think you mean the best chances of us getting off this rock, Earthling."

Tony took a step back and lowered his hand. After he stopped breathing so loudly and the sound of blood wasn't rushing through his ears, he realized Steve was calling his name. "Tony? Tony! Are you okay?"

His first instinct was to deflect and redirect by jokingly asking when Captain America had decided to start calling him by his first name. Instead, he rambled. "I am far, far from Earth on Thanos's home planet of Titan. Just minutes ago everyone disappeared into thin air and the only other pers- thing left is a blue..."

"Nebula," the cyborg replied in that metallic way of hers that set Tony's every nerve on edge. It was otherworldy and dangerous in a way that Vision's voice had never been.

"The only other person is Nebula. And we have no way to get to Earth."

Steve didn't say anything for a long, drawn out second. When he did speak, it was in his Captain voice. "Hold on." Muffled, he asked, "Does anyone know a Neb-you-lah?"

At the name, there was some shouting and Tony thought he heard a screechy, half-hysterical "Out of all of them, she's the one left?!"

When Steve came back on the phone, he neutrally relayed, "The raccoon knows her. Now, you said you were on some planet called 'Titan'?"

It was just one question, but one that made Tony feel like the weight of the universe, while still on his shoulders, was just a little bit lighter.

No, he had never needed the phone. It turns out he had just needed Steve Rogers.

Author's Note:

*sorry for the long notes... I prefer Ao3 where the notes don't impact the wordcount!*

1. I don't remember Steve Rogers's phone number from the movie so I just made one up. If you do remember it and want to leave it in the comments, I would be eternally grateful!

2. I've only seen the movie once and did my best to ensure that this story could actually occur based on canon, but I may have made some mistakes. Please don't hesitate to let me know.

3. The across-the-universe phone call is far-fetched. I know. I don't particularly care because this entire universe is filled with impossible things and since we didn't get "the phone call" in the movie itself, I decided that it was going to happen in fanfiction.

4. I am just as frustrated by the ending as the rest of you. Thankfully we only have to wait a year for the resolution, but in the meantime, if you need a virtual space to fume or cry, I've been told I can be a good listener.

5. This is un-beta'd. I started it last night after I watched the movie and am posting it this morning. There have to be mistakes in it even though I've done my best to make sure it isn't awful. Sorry!

Thanks for reading and please comment. I've created one or two threads in the story that could result in companions/sequels featuring other characters, so let me know if there is interest!