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“Tony? What are you doing here? It’s not your time yet.”
Tony stared at the scowling face of Howard Stark, the pinch of his brow throwing a bit of confusion in with his usual disapproval.
“Well, fuck. Guess I really am dead then. It figures you’d be the one to welcome me to hell.”
“No,” came the stern yet familiar reprimand. “It’s not your time yet.”
Tony snorted derisively.
“Yeah, you said that already. And yet here I am, talking to my very dead father.”
Howard sighed.
“I see you haven’t changed much.”
His grin was so sharp, Tony was pretty sure it would put any one of Bucky’s blades to shame.
“Yep. Still as disappointing as ever, I’m sure. But you’re still an asshole, so that kind of makes us even, don’t you think?”
The edges of Howard’s intangible form tinged a deeper blue. His expression softened to something that looked uncomfortably akin to caring.
“Oh, Tony, you were never a disappointment.”
The bark of laughter that escaped him was bitter and cold.
“Death must have messed with your head, old man.”
Howard reached for him, but froze as Tony flinched away, his hand slowly retreating.
“I deserve that,” he admitted. “I wasn’t a very good father, I know that. But I did love you, Tony. I was always proud of you, it was just that I was afraid to tell you.”
Sudden rage burned through Tony’s veins.
“Afraid to tell me? Fuck you! What in the world could make you afraid to tell your own child that you give half a flying fuck? Forget being proud of me, you never even told me you liked me. You shipped me off to boarding school the second you got the chance. Trust me, dad, I knew damn well how you felt about me.”
Howard’s expression was pained and Tony couldn’t help but think, Good. It’s his turn for once.
“I knew the first moment that I held you in my arms that you were the most important thing I’d ever brought into this world, the most important thing I ever would bring into this world. You were perfect and I… I was afraid that, if I let myself get too close, I would hurt you. I hurt a lot of people, Tony, especially the people I cared about most.”
“Yeah, well,” he spat out, “I’m glad that worked out so well for you.”