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Steve was dreaming. He was standing in the middle of the dance floor and Ms. Carter was there and she was telling him that he had to drop and give her twenty. For the life of him, he couldn’t figure out twenty of what and when he tried to ask her all that would come out of his mouth was gibberish. It was frustrating and he wanted to cry because the words would not come out right no matter how hard he tried! So when his cell phone began vibrating furiously and blared out the Star Wars Imperial March, he was a bit disoriented and a lot relieved.
He groped at the top of his nightstand, until he found his phone, flipped it open, brought it to his ear and croaked out a "huh?"
"Steve, what the fuck did you tell my dad, man? He was *here!* He came *here* and we had lunch and we fucking *bonded.* He told me stuff, like how his dad was abusive and he told me he loved me and that he was sorry for being an asshole! What did you fucking do to my dad?"
"Tony?" Steve blinked rapidly, trying to clear the sleep out of his eyes and get his brain online. Of course, Tony was still going a mile a minute and—he checked his alarm clock—it was way too early for a Tony freak out. "Tony, Tony, TONY! It's two in the morning and I have *school* today! Why are you calling me?"
"Steeeeve," Tony whined. "Haven't you been listening to me?"
"Oh, geez, were you doing espresso shots with the Starbucks baristas again?" Steve rubbed his eyes and ran his hand through his hair. There was no way he was gonna get out of this conversation, not if Tony was hopped up on caffeine. If he hung up now, Tony would just call back. "Okay, take deep breath, Tony, and start from the beginning. And if I fall asleep in bio today, I am telling my mom it's your fault!"
"My dad visited me today! Yesterday! Whatever! I came out of my physics lecture and he was standing in the hallway."
"Your dad?" Steve blinked in surprise. He knew for a fact that Howard had *never* visited Tony while he was at school.
"Yeah. So, I'm freaking out, right, because I think maybe something's happened to Mom or Jarvis, but he just wanted to have lunch." Tony gave an incredulous laugh. "He came all the way to Cambridge to have lunch with me!"
"W-Was he drunk?" Which was a horrible thing to say, Steve knew, but why else would Howard bother?
"That's what I asked! Which pissed him off, don't ask me why. But no, he wasn't drunk." There was a creaking sound in the background and Steve knew that Tony was bouncing on his bed.
"So you talked?" Tony didn't sound upset, but sometimes he was really good at hiding how he felt. And if Howard hurt Tony again, Steve was gonna really lay into him about it. "Are you okay?"
"Okay? I'm… Well, mostly I guess I'm confused. I mean, he told me he loved me and he apologized for being a shitty dad and hurting me. And he… he told me that I was his greatest creation."
"But that's great, Tony!" Steve grinned. He knew Howard had it in him. He knew it.
"Yeah, yeah, it is, isn't it?" And Tony sounded so happy, like he just got everything he ever wanted; maybe he had. There was a slight pause. "He told me some stuff about Granddad, too. Disturbing stuff. "
Suddenly it felt like Steve's stomach had dropped about twenty feet. "Like what?"
"I guess Granddad beat him. You know, for being gay."
"Oh." They were both quiet for a moment and a lot of things made sense now. No wonder Howard always looked so guilty after they did something that left Steve bruised or bloody.
"Anyway, Dad said it was you who got him thinking. How the hell did you manage that, Steve? Are you stalking my dad? Do I need to get a restraining order?"
Steve rolled his eyes and kicked the blankets off. "No, I'm just doing a couple of things for Mr. Jarvis while he's on vacation. Your dad was there and I convinced him to have a snack with me."
"Riiiight," Tony said, like he didn't believe a word of it. "Was he drunk?"
"No more than usual. Anyway, we got to talking and I mentioned how my mom works nights—by the way you're lucky she's working tonight or she would have told you off for calling so late—and he got on my case about it. I… I got mad."
Tony snorted, because they both knew that when Steve got mad, he could be a bit… loud. "Well, whatever you told him, he sure felt guilty. Thanks."
"Your dad's a good guy, Tony." Steve couldn't help but let some of the affection he felt for Howard color his words. "He would have got there in the end."
"Your ginormous boy crush on my dad is really disturbing. You know that, right?"
Steve blushed; okay, so maybe he needed to rein in his feelings a bit. "He's been very nice to me, Tony. He's a great guy."
"He's a mess. Steve, seriously, are you listening to me? My dad's a fucking mess and if what he says is true about Granddad, then it's a Stark family curse and I'm screwed." Tony sniffled and sighed dramatically. Steve heard a flump and knew that Tony had probably flopped on the bed with the back of his hand against his forehead like those girls in old films. "You'll visit me in the insane asylum, won't you?"
"You really gotta stop these late night visits to Starbucks, Tone. And why would your dad lie about being abused?"
"Because he's a drama queen. No, no, stop it. I can hear your silent disapproval though the cell phone. Okay, he wouldn't, so it must be true. Jeez, no wonder Dad's so fucked up. What chance to do I have? I should just give up now and invest in a... what do you call a place that makes hard liquor?"
"Distillery. Now who's being a drama queen? "
"I'm being charming. You love it. Admit it, your life would be boring without me."
"I'm hanging up now." Steve rubbed his face. His mom would be home in a couple of hours and, hopefully, he'd be asleep by then.
"No, no, no, no, no. Wait!"
Steve sighed. "What is it?"
"So," Tony said, his voice going low and deep, "what are you wearing?"
"Good night!" Steve ended the call, cutting off the sound of Tony hysterical laughter, and shoved his phone under his pillow.
But, of course, now he couldn't sleep because he kept thinking about Howard and Tony and…
And Howard went to see Tony because of what Steve had said. He went to see Tony, to patch things up and what did that even mean? Did that mean that Howard liked him? Did it mean that… that maybe Howard wanted Steve to think he was a good guy, that he wanted to impress Steve in some way?
Steve wondered, briefly, if maybe he should go see Howard after school. But no, no, he didn't want to seem desperate. He didn't want Howard thinking he was some clingy kid. No, if he wanted Howard to stick around, and he did, oh, he did so very much, he'd have to play it cool. He had to stick to the plan.