Tony Stark and Stephen Strange (I was very sleep deprived when I wrote this and forgot he was dead - please pretend Nebula died instead!) manage to travel back in time to mid-way through the Avengers.

Tony was expecting it to be difficult (after all, they had to figure out what to do about Hydra and convince Loki to help them, not to mention travel over to the other side of the galaxy to find the stones before Thanos did). He was not expecting the child he considered a son to regain such a big part in his life.

Is it possible to balance saving the universe and protecting a ten year old?

A/N: I am planning for this to be Pepperony.

I expect this to be a very long multi-chaptered story. Updates will be sporadic at first while I finish of my other wip.

28/04/2018

Chapter One - Back to the Start

"This is the stupidest plan you've ever had," Stephen said, looking at the sleeping body of Thanos.

"Coming from the guy who handed the time stone over," Tony replied, his voice sharp. He swallowed and grit his teeth. "You'll stick to the plan now, right?"

Stephen nodded tersely, stepping out of the mirror dimension and into Thanos's room. Tony followed close behind.

To their surprise, Thanos continued sleeping soundly.

Stephen took a deep breath before grabbing Tony then lunging to touch the Time Stone on the Infinity Gauntlet, still on Thanos's hand. If they had had any time to spare, Stephen might have wondered if he ever took it off.

With his hand on the stone he concentrated, focusing on the destination and allowing the power of the stone to flow into both him and Tony. It was far more difficult than using the amulet, but it didn't matter if it was difficult. It mattered if it worked.

Stephen smiled as their bodies began to disintegrate, despite the excruciating pain. No human could survive touching an infinity stone, but for what they were about to do they didn't need to survive.

They just needed their memories.

The last thing Stephen saw before his world faded to black was Thanos's eyes flickering open.

You're too late, he thought in satisfaction.

-AC-

"Stephen, Stephen, can you hear me?"

Stephen groaned in protest at the excruciating pain in his head and tried to weakly push away the hands that were shaking him.

What had happened?

He seemed to be lying on a hard floor, the sound of many concerned voices in his ears and the overpowering smell of antiseptic in his nostrils.

He blinked his eyes open.

"Christine?"

"Stephen, you're going to be okay, we've sent for a nurse, she's coming to assess your condition,"

"What happened?" he asked groggily.

"You were about to perform a craniotomy when you screamed in agony and collapsed,"

"I stand by what I said, he was definitely glowing green for a second there," a voice commented in the background.

"Would you shut up Nicodemus, you're not helping!" Christine snapped.

Green, green, what is the significance of green?

The Time Stone.

Steven shot up into a sitting position.

It had worked, it had actually worked.

"Hey, no, you have to lie down, we need to figure out what happened…"

Stephen rolled his eyes and complied.

If he had brought them back to the right place they still had time, and he could always use his powers to sneak away after they had finished examining him. No use causing unnecessary panic.

-AC-

"Stark!" a familiar voice ordered. "Wake up!"

"Jarvis make him go away," Tony muttered, covering his head with his arms. The light way too bright for this kind of a killer hangover and there was no way he was facing anyone until he had got more sleep, and then an aspirin, and then possibly more alcohol to dull the hangover.

"Do you think Loki's doing this?" another voice asked.

"I doubt it," someone else replied. "He's probably just been injured in the fight more than he let on. That, or he hasn't slept for days. Or he's dying again,"

Dying, but that was meant to be a secret...

Suddenly, Tony saw a teenager, sobbing and apologising into his arms while he slowly disintegrated. It was at that moment that Tony had realised that he didn't need to have a child with Pepper, his dream had been about Peter. Because Peter was nothing less than his son.

Tony let out a cry of anguish and leapt to his feet.

He knew what he had to do now.

Ignoring the cries of "Mr Stark!" he fled the room and made his way towards Loki's cell on the helicarrier.

"Ant. Boot." said Fury as Tony pushed past the guards.

Tony was partially aware that he must have looked about as sane as Loki, his eyes wide and slightly unfocused, stumbling, his breathing ragged.

"You were sent here by Thanos, weren't you?" Tony demanded and watched as Loki's manic smile faltered slightly, momentarily replaced with a hint of pure fear.

"I'm afraid I don't follow," Loki said eloquently.

"Yeah you do," Tony said. "I know you do because I'm from the future. I've seen exactly what Thanos can do. And let me tell you there is no throne at the end of this for you. You end up dead, along with half the population of the universe. There is no version of this where you come out on top,"

Loki tilted his head, assessing Tony.

"How exactly do you intend to stop him?" Loki asked, his tone light.

"Foreknowledge, we have a head start now, and alliances with former enemies," Tony told him.

"And what do I get out of it?"

"You get to live, and friends if you don't stab us in the back,"

Loki frowned. "You do realise that I have no intention of giving Thanos the Space Stone, don't you, and I have the Mind Stone in my possession. I am now far more powerful than he could ever hope to be. Why should I help you and not myself?"

"Because let's be real Lokes," at this point Loki wrinkled his nose at the nickname. "The way you've started this, the only way you'll win is with the army that Thanos has so helpfully provided you with. And if you use them you'll never be free of him. This 'invasion' is more of a futile escape attempt than anything else, you're hoping to plunge our world into chaos before you go, a fitting memorial for the god of mischief and chaos. Also, this is exactly what you tried last time and we beat you then. And you had both stones then too. So, your call," Tony shrugged and watched as Loki's face broke into a grin.

"I like you," Loki said, more than a hint of madness in his voice, his eyes gleaming with mischief. "When do we start?"

I hope you all enjoyed the first chapter!

Next up: Tony tries to convince everyone that he really is telling the truth, no Loki is not mind-controlling him.

Stephen tries to get in contact with Tony.

(P.S. anyone who wishes to discuss infinity war with me, my tumblr username is stardustloki :)