Sometimes with Steve Howard forgot how young he was, probably because he was smarter than the average twenty two year old. Then there were moments where he found Steve, Bucky, and Tony all laughing in the kitchen passing around a bottle of tequila at seven in the afternoon while Steve complained about his job on a military base. “If I ever have to see Ross’ stupid face ever again I’m going to commit a homicide, Howard, make sure to delete all video evidence this conversation ever happened,” Steve tells him. He’s the first in the room to spy Howard standing there and the other two are slow to react. Drunk, Howard assumed.
There would have been a time when alcohol would have been tempting, almost too tempting to pass up but now the smell mostly makes his nose itch in irritation. “I hate Ross too,” Howard says, “but if people start asking questions we have a good legal team. How many shots have you had?” he asks, spying the empty shot glasses scattered across the island haphazardly. Steve was definitely drunk then, he had a thing for neatness and order that Howard didn’t share and complained often about. He liked his organized chaos, he knew what was going on all the time in his mess but then Steve had to come along and screw it all up with his organization and labels attached to everything. It drove him nuts but Steve insisted on cleaning everything even though they had maids, ones who loved Steve seems how he did their jobs most of the time.
Steve looks at the counter and shrugs, “um, maybe like six? Eight? Maybe ten. I think I lost count,” he admits.
Howard sighs, “you’re going to hate yourself in the morning,” he warns.
Bucky lets out a loud snort or at least Howard thinks that’s what he just did. “Oh please old man, not all of us have one foot on a banana peel and the other in the grave, he’ll be fine,” he says loudly and annoyingly.
“Hey!” Steve says back, “leave my husband alone, he isn’t that old.” Howard appreciated the defense, as pitiful as it was. He tried at least and that’s what mattered.
Tony lets out a long sigh, “did you forget about the fact that the age gap you two have is more than the number of years you’ve been alive?” he asks.
“Well I’m turning twenty three soon so that won’t be true anymore. And technically the age gap is as large as the number of years I’ve been alive. Math,” Steve ends off with, thinking he sounded wise. Howard wondered if he sounded this stupid and looked this smug about it when he was an alcoholic. He assumes he looked more stupid and even more smug given his arrogant nature compared to Steve’s.
“Howard is still ancient and basically dust. When you fuck ashes probably fall out,” Bucky says and Tony makes a loud and offended noise, smacking Bucky for mentioning his father’s sex life.
“Well Barnes, I’d say Tony fucks your brains out but that’d require you to have them,” Howard quips and Steve snorts, coving his mouth in an attempt to not get a dirty look from his best friend for laughing but he fails because he bursts into giggles right after that.
“Bucky, stop being mean. Howard didn’t even do anything to you,” Steve says, jumping into the roll of peacekeeper. Howard had no interest in peace; he didn’t negotiate with people like Barnes.
“He called me brainless!” Barnes says in his own defense.
“You called him old and then suggested dust flies off of him when we have sex. I’ll have you know he holds up well for his age,” Steve says proudly.
“What’s that supposed to mean, ‘for my age’?” Howard asks, offended. He liked to think he kept up well in general not for his age, thanks.
Steve rolls his eyes, “Howard don’t read into things so much,” he says.
“He means you’re old as tits and your relationship is creepy and unnatural,” Barnes says loudly.
“Seconded,” Tony throws out.
Howard was super tempted to flip them off but Steve would expect him to act like an adult even if his friend and Howard’s son weren’t so he keeps it to himself. “Bucky our relationship is not creepy and unnatural. And given some of the people you’ve brought home you absolutely don’t have a place to judge,” Steve mumbles.
“Yeah, like my son,” Howard throws out. It’s meant as more of a joke but it’s clear Tony doesn’t take it that way from the look on his face and the angry look on Steve’s. “Sorry Tony,” he says pretty much immediately. It was either that or deal with Steve being angry and Howard didn’t much care for Steve when angry. There were lots of rants and lectures he could do without them.
Tony just glares at him and Howard resists the urge to roll his eyes. He could whine and cry about Howard being old and make rude comments about his sex life but he couldn’t make a jab back without Tony whining about it. But if he says anything about this Steve would launch into a lecture he didn’t want to hear so he changes the subject. “So what has prompted you to take six, eight, or ten shots at seven in the afternoon?” Howard asks. “Something to do with Ross, I gather.”
“Ross can go sit on a cactus and rotate,” Steve says, offering up a vivid yet swear-less insult that Howard was genuinely impressed with. “His face annoys me.”
“And inspires you to seek death at the bottom of a tequila bottle, apparently,” Howard says.
“Mostly yeah,” Steve says.
*
When Steve wakes up the next morning, well, afternoon his brain is trying to escape his skull. “Here,” Howard says softly, handing him something to drink. Steve sits up slowly and takes whatever it was Howard just handed him and gulps it down until he actually tastes it.
“Oh my god, Howard, what is that?” he asks, coughing and glaring at his cup.
“That is a very disgusting hangover cure. Wait a half hour or so and you’ll feel fine,” he says softly, gently almost. This, Steve thought, was the side of Howard no one got to see. The man hardly seemed like the type that would speak in a softer voice just to ease the pain of your hangover and he’s already drawn their bedroom curtains shut and closed to door to minimize light and sound. For all his faults, and there were many, when Howard cared about you he did his best to show it. The exception is Tony and Steve has since learned that this was more to do with his inability to parent and connect with someone so much like himself than anything. Not that that was an excuse for his rudeness to his child.
“I’m pretty sure I’m going to throw up, not be cured. How do you know this stuff even works?” he asks, pressing his fingers to his aching temples.
“Steve, I was a high functioning alcoholic for thirty years and I ran a multimillion dollar company while living in the bottom of a bottle. I know how to cure a hangover,” Howard says.
Right, that was a stupid question. Steve looks Howard over and nods, “by all means you should be an ugly old prune thanks to the alcohol but you’re still hot.” Bucky might make jokes about Tony being the younger hotter model of Howard but Howard had aged pretty damn well. His hair was greying at the temples mostly though there was a little grey elsewhere through his dark hair, and the laugh lines and crows feet looked natural and attractive on him. For all Bucky’s whining about Howard’s age Steve was pleased with his husband’s looks and most other things about him too now that Howard was learning not to be an asshole. When they first met Howard had an awful personality and most days that was still the case, but he was learning to curb his ignorance to manageable levels.
Howard smiles down at Steve, “you actually think that? Even with Barnes loudly declaring how old I am all the time?” he says.
Steve smiles up at Howard and reaches out to him, pulling him onto the bed. Howard grabs Steve’s glass and sets it on the nightstand before he manages to drop it or something. “Yes Howard, I still think you’re attractive even though Bucky says that Tony is the more attractive one. Which I don’t understand, by the way. Tony gets his looks from you so in a weird way Bucky is continuously insulting what Tony is going to look like in the future. And I like the grey on you, I swear you dye your hair to have the grey in it look that perfect,” he says, running his fingers through Howard’s thick, soft hair.
He leans into it, closing his eyes and savoring the touch for a few long moments. “I have no idea how I got so lucky with you,” he says softly.
“Me either, I’m awesome, how’d I end up with you?” he jokes and Howard rolls his eyes.
“I offered to pay your student debts to get you to shut up,” he says and Steve smiles, remembering how they met. He never would have anticipated how that protest when he went and when he had confronted Howard about his war profiteering he’d been peeved to have his argument rebuffed with an offer to pay his student loans. He had eventually taken Howard up on the offer but it wasn’t until months and many one night stands later. Steve had done it as a test of sorts to see how Howard would treat the financial help and he had reacted exactly the way Steve expected him to- he tried to lord it over Steve’s head. It didn’t work obviously but Steve knew to keep Howard out of his financial business if he didn’t want the man using it against him. Steve wondered if Howard would react the same way when he’s softened so much since they met.
“So you did, and then when I finally let you do it you held it over my head for months,” Steve says.
“Tried to,” Howard corrects, “you wouldn’t let me treat you like that. You’re probably the only person I’ve met who would ever tell me not to do that you know. Even Obadiah is a little scared of me.”
Steve knew this too thanks to his repeated run-ins with Obadiah Stane. The man thought he could get rid of Steve and Steve was… well less than receptive to Obadiah’s harassment. When he finally got fed up and told Howard about it he had a single conversation with the man and all his harassment stopped immediately. “I know he is. But he doesn’t know you like I do,” he says.
Howard nods, “that’s true. I’ve never met anyone who could twist my words, actions, and feelings to get me to do what they want like you do. It was a shock to find myself on the other end of that for once,” he says. “You don’t really do much of that anymore.”
“I don’t need to. Whether or not you picked up on it consciously you seemed to realize every time you tried to manipulate me I pulled your tactics on you but with more efficiency. I guess you didn’t much like playing a game you were on the losing end of,” he says.
Howard shakes his head and leans forward, gently kissing Steve. “No, I just didn’t want to play games. You’re interesting enough without them.” High praise from Howard, Steve knew. Howard disliked the present, he hated focusing on anything that wasn’t going to help with human progress and that mentality simply didn’t lend itself well to relationships of any kind. Steve, in his own way, was also concerned with the future and human progress but from a social standpoint instead of a technological one. It was a sticking point with Howard; it wasn’t as if he was known for his liberal views but Steve was good at making an argument, better than Howard, so usually he either shut up or asked for more information on Steve’s beliefs.
He supposed something about that must appeal to Howard or he figured that was what drew Howard to him. Most people assumed it was his young age or his looks but if Howard wanted someone pretty he had his pick of the litter, he didn’t need to marry someone to find that. Something else appealed to Howard, something he found rare enough that he wanted to legally tie himself to Steve and that wasn’t something he took lightly. His looks and age were hardly rare qualities so, despite people’s judgments, Steve knew Howard genuinely loved him.
“Thanks, honey,” he says and Howard shrugs.
“That’s not something that deserves a thanks, it’s just how I feel,” he says. Another thing people didn’t know about Howard, how he felt on any given day. It wasn’t like he talked about his feelings with anyone except Steve. Even Maria had been surprised when he said something about Howard talking about his feelings the last time they had lunch together and she was married to the guy for a good while.
“It’s still a compliment, you don’t hand them out often,” Steve points out.
“Most people don’t deserve them despite everyone handing them out like candy,” he says.
“I swear to god if this is some participation trophy thing-” Steve starts but Howard cuts him off.
“Your generation has been handed-” he starts but Steve saves himself a rant and cuts him off right back.
“Howard participation awards are awards for sucking, I used to get them all the time and threw every single one of them out because I hated them. No one likes them, we all preferred nothing!” he says honestly. Bucky was the one who was good at sports; Steve mostly spent grade school avoiding wheezing to death during tack and field events he was forced to participate in. Thankfully when he was halfway through high school he hit a huge growth spurt, gained a weird amount of muscle, and lost a lot of his health issues though he still had colitis all over a summer. Bucky was offended because he had been the hot one in school before that and after Steve’s growth spurt he had to share the wealth.
This seems to surprise Howard, which was why Steve thought he should keep his mouth shut on the subject. “You hated them?” he asks.
“Yeah. I mean everyone else got awards for doing something and the people that didn’t make the cut essentially got handed a pity ribbon to commemorate how much we sucked. Literally no one wants a ribbon that says ‘sorry you lost, we feel bad for you’, getting nothing was less insulting. Also it was your generation who decided to hand the damn participation awards and you’ve been whining about them ever since,” he says, rolling his eyes.
“Hmm. Well the good news is that you feel better, you don’t argue when you’re sick. Usually you just tell me to fuck off,” Howard says and Steve laughs because it’s true. Howard listened too usually, or brought Steve tea.
“Nice subject change, Howard. But since you’ve stuck around I’m guessing you have something you want to talk to me about. Otherwise you’d either be in your office, you lab, or your office at SI.”
Howard smiles, “you’re always so much more perceptive than everyone else around you. But yes, I did want to talk to you. I was thinking about Tony earlier, about what he could do for the company and where he could take it. I’m smart, but my son? He’s something else entirely. Barnes makes a point in saying that I’m getting old and Tony is young, fresh, and his ideas are brilliant so I thought… well I thought I’d give the company to him. I’d still be involved of course, but I can feel myself falling behind in knowing what’s needed and wanted by your generation already and I’ve been feeling it for some time. Tony knows what’s needed and he fills demands I never would have anticipated. What do you think?” he asks.
Steve’s jaw drops because Howard didn’t ask him for advice on these things. Business was business, Steve was his home life. They didn’t tend to cross much if ever and Steve’s opinion on the subject was useless or so Steve thought. Howard wasn’t wrong to in neglecting to ask Steve for business advice; he knew nothing about the subject. “I uh… don’t really think I’m qualified to help you out here. You seem to have done a good job thinking things over yourself,” he points out.
“You know more than you think you do. I’m not asking because I think you know anything about business, you don’t. I’m asking because you know a lot about people and emotions and I’d like to know if Tony is ready for something like this. I already know he can do business, he’s been doing it for years, it’s the emotional toll that comes with it I’m not so sure about,” he says.
Tony, in Steve’s opinion, was more prepared that Howard has been when he started the company. “He’ll do fine, Howard. And something like this would go a long way in trying to repair your relationship with your son. It shows you trust him and you don’t hand trust out easily, certainly not in regards to your company. If this is what you want and you’re actually ready to let Tony take over than you should do it,” he says softly.
“What do you mean if I’m ready?” he asks.
“I mean your company is your life, it has been for a very long time. I’m not sure you know a life outside of that and I’m not sure you’re prepared to live in a new way,” Steve tells him honestly.
Howard considers Steve for a long few moments and shakes his head. “I know what you’re saying but I’ve been trying to build a new live with you and keep my old life at the same time for two years now. It’s time I choose one or the other and I’m choosing you,” he says.
Steve smiles wide and leans forward, gently kissing Howard. “I love you, you know,” he says softly.
“I love you too, but morning breath honey,” he says and Steve laughs.
*
Steve doesn’t expect Bucky to come pick him up from work or more accurately show up by Steve’s car and expect a ride home because Steve was now done work. “Did you talk Howard into giving Tony the company?” he asks pretty much immediately after seeing Steve.
“You know if Tony wanted to ask me questions he can do it himself, technically I am his step father,” Steve points out.
Bucky wrinkles his nose, “don’t remind me, that’s just nasty you know. And answer the question,” Bucky says.
“It was Howard’s idea,” Steve tells him. “And stop insulting my marriage, it’s rude. Either deal with the fact that it’s happened or shut up, I’m tired of listening to you whine about it. Tony has reason to whine, you don’t.” If Steve were in Tony’s position he wouldn’t be impressed either but Bucky was just getting on his nerves with his comments.
“Howard seriously gave up the company with no prompting from you?” Bucky asks, looking surprised.
Steve nods, “he asked for my advice on whether or not he should do it, whether Tony was ready to handle owning the company. I told him Tony wasn’t the one I was worried about; the company is Howard’s life. He said that he’s been trying to make a new life with me and cling to his old one at the same time and he needed to choose. So he chose me.” That still surprised Steve given how invested Howard was in his company. Howard really did have no life outside of his company and this probably wasn’t going to be an easy transition for him and it was flattering that Howard would make that change for him.
Bucky looks shocked too and Steve resents that because it implied that Bucky thought Steve didn’t know his worth enough to marry someone who loved him. “Seriously?” he asks and Steve rolls his eyes.
“Yes Bucky, Howard actually loves me and more that the other thing in his life that he loves more than anything. It’s almost like I knew that when I married him,” Steve says.
“I guess so. He signed over the company to Tony this afternoon. So any new stories about Ross?” Bucky asks. Steve rolls his eyes and starts in on how Ross was on Bruce’s Banner’s ass again for no reason aside from disliking that the sorry bastard was dating his daughter.
*
“He’s ruining the company!” Howard shouts. “He’s had it for a day and he’s fucked it over!”
Steve has no idea what to do here so he just stays calm and hopes to hell he can convince Howard that Tony wasn’t ruining his company. “Howard, I… am a little at a loss here. I’m sure tony has a plan but I have no idea what it is and you get back here you are not going to confront your son in this mood,” he says, stepping in front of Howard before he could leave the room.
“Get. Out. Of. My. Way,” he all but growls at Steve, probably thinking he looked intimidating. He probably did to anyone who was afraid of him but Steve didn’t have much fear of Howard.
“No. You can rant and rave however much you want but I am not letting you go yell at your son so you can say a bunch of things you’ll regret in six months when he’s turned things around and you’re not pissed off at him. So over there and sit down,” Steve tells him, pointing at the bed across the room.
“You want me to sit down!” Howard yells and Steve holds up his hand. Shockingly it actually shuts Howard up.
“Yes, I want you to sit down. Not because I think you should calm down but because if you do pretty much anything else you’re going to regret it. So go sit down over there and I’m going to go talk to Tony and see what’s going on so you’ll get answers of some kind and there won’t be any yelling in the meantime,” he says. Steve is more than a little surprised when Howard goes over to the bed and sits down, head falling into his hands.
“Steve that company was my life and I just watched it get flushed down the tubes,” he says in a small voice, anger leaving him in a rush.
Steve walks over and kneels in front of Howard. “Look, if I told you I knew how you felt that’d be a lie and you know it. But I don’t think Tony would ruin your company, I just don’t. It means a lot to him too, and so do you. He wouldn’t throw that away on a whim like this so let me find out what’s going on and the I’ll come talk to you, okay?” Steve says softly, gently laying his hands on Howard’s thighs.
He sighs and takes Steve’s hands, “okay. Kill him for me if there is no plan and he just screwed over my company.”
He makes the promise even though he has no intention of killing Tony but he does set out to find him. When he does it’s clear Tony is expecting the worst but instead he finds Steve standing there so he lets him into his room. “On a scale of one to ten how badly does dad want to murder me?”
“I think you need a bigger scale,” is all Steve says. Bucky snorts a little and gets a glare from Tony for his efforts. “So uh, is there a reason for this decision?” he asks.
Bucky raises an eyebrow, “other than ethics? Didn’t you meet Howard when you all but told him what a piece of shit he was for profiting off war?” Bucky asks.
Steve rolls his eyes, “you damn well know Howard and I don’t share morals. I’ve explained over and over why what he does is wrong and given that you,” he looks at Tony, “grew up with the man I assumed you’d have a similar world view regarding weapons manufacturing. I watched your press conference so apparently you don’t. And Obadiah has been calling Howard nonstop.” Howard had been tempted to answer it too but Steve managed to talk him into not answering it.
Tony shrugs, “I used to think the same way he did but things have changed and green energy is the future. We’ve already started production for the mini reactors and we have several other things in the works. There’s no need to make weapons when have a new more profitable sector and one that’s a hell of a lot more ethical. Tell Howard that and do your best to stop him from murdering me.”
“He won’t murder you, not if I have anything to say about it anyways. And you’re right anyways not that I’ll tell him that. It’ll only piss him off more so I’ll just report what you said and leave it at that,” Steve says.
*
Howard was still pissed but Steve thought he did a decent job keeping him calm over the last two weeks, which were probably the worst with all the dropped stocks and criticisms of Tony and Howard both. His tactic was mostly a mix of distraction and telling Howard to sit his ass down and it seemed to be working just fine.
“Pass me the sugar,” Howard says and Steve wrinkles his nose as he complies. “Don’t you look at me like that, just because you’re an animal and you drink your coffee black doesn’t mean the rest of us lack taste buds,” Howard says primly.
“Some of us like our coffee as bitter as we are,” Steve says back and Howard laughs.
“You aren’t even twenty-three yet, what do you have to be bitter about?” he asks.
“Plenty of things, until I married rich I was basically fucked in this economy and doomed to a life of poverty. That’ll make anyone bitter.” He gives Howard a smug look and takes a sip of his coffee and Howard shakes his head with a small smile.
“Guess it’s a good thing you married rich, then,” Howard tells him, looking far too pleased with himself.
Steve smiles despite himself, “I guess it is,” he says softly. Howard reaches across the table and gently links his fingers with Steve’s. It’s sort of awkward at this angle but it makes Steve’s heart feel warm and soft nonetheless.
They sit there like that in the sunroom enjoying the view of the gardens, the sun, and their coffee for a few moments before Tony bursts into the room. “Dad, have you looked at the company’s financials lately?” he asks.
Howard goes from looking peaceful and pleasant to pissed off in a matter of seconds and Steve squeezes his hand. “No, I haven’t because I handed it off to someone,” he snaps though Steve knows he’s tempered his words.
Tony shifts uncomfortably for a moment, deciding whether or not to continue and then looks at Steve for some kind of cue. He gives Tony a slight nod and Tony takes a small step forward, “money is going to weird places, dad.”
“We donate to various charities all the time, look closer,” Howard snaps.
“I have because when I first noticed this I thought the same thing. But these numbers are all wrong and I don’t know what half of these accounts are,” he says.
Howard goes to open his mouth and Steve turns to face him, “Howard, your son knows you’re some pissed off at him right now and he’s been avoiding you for weeks. If he thinks something is wrong enough to risk dealing with your wrath, especially when I have a good suspicion your wrath is more like abuse, than I think you should listen,” Steve tells him in a stern tone. Whether it was the shock of Steve mentioning Howard’s past abuse of Tony or his logic Howard looks a little like he’s been smacked unexpectedly on the forehead. “Yes, I know plenty about your abusive past, I know how to read the signs Howard. And I had an abusive father too, everything about the way Tony acts around you taught me what I needed to know. But that isn’t the point here, your company’s strange financials are so I suggest you listen to your son.”
Tony stares at Steve in shock for several moments before he shakes his head, “no wonder Howard married you,” he says and Steve honestly had no idea what that meant because usually Howard didn’t like people who figured him out. They made him nervous.
“I’ll leave you two to talk about whatever these weird financials are,” Steve says and he leaves them, confident that Howard wouldn’t do something stupid now.
*
Hours later and no word from Howard or Tony later Steve and Bucky decide to investigate to make sure their respective significant others were alive mostly out of worry. “I hope you know if Howard killed Tony I have to avenge Tony’s death,” Bucky says.
“If Howard killed Tony I’ll kill Howard before you do,” Steve tells him. Bucky looks a little worried about that because Steve had a thing with fights and now he tended to win them, unlike when he was a kid. Though Steve was sure Howard hadn’t killed Tony, both of them were loud and dramatic, if there was some kind of showdown going down between the two of them half the damn country would know about it.
They find them in Howard’s office surrounded by a surprisingly organized hoard of papers all laid out around the room. “Uh, I guess the financials were weirder than expected?” Steve asks more than states.
Howard and Tony look up from the center of the room where their heads were close together looking over a notepad that looked like it’s seen better days. One of the ones from the lab, Steve knew, which was probably where Tony noticed the odd financials. “Yes, looks like Tony stumbled onto something I missed for… well two decades almost.” He sounds disappointed and Steve knows Tony takes that to mean Howard is disappointed in him but he knows that Howard was disappointed with himself.
“Well uh… want us to pick up some Chinese?” Bucky asks and Steve smiles. Bucky’s go-to was always food if he had no idea what else to do.
“Yeah, that would be nice. We’re going to be here for awhile,” Howard says, looking over the massive amounts of papers around them. For all the love Howard had for technology Steve thought it was almost amusing to find him in a pile of paper. Usually the man was glued to some kind of technology so it was somewhat jarring to see that he was currently distant from it, which was a cue something was more than a little off.
“Maybe we should call Obi,” Tony suggests, “he might-” he starts but Howard cuts him off.
“No, something tells me that two people running a company wouldn’t miss details this large, especially when someone has done a sufficient job covering it up. You’ve told JARVIS to cover our digital tracks, right?” he asks.
Tony rolls his eyes, “for the seventh time, yes. What are you saying though, that Obi had something to do with this?” he asks.
Howard gives the papers a hard look, “most likely, yes. I was an alcoholic for years, I missed things regularly and I trusted Obadiah completely. No one else would have the skill nor the place in the company to do something like this but him.”
“Its possible someone close to Obi might have messed something up,” Steve offers more because he disliked seeing Howard so upset than an actual belief in his argument.
Howard knows this and gives Steve a slight smile, “no, I’m pretty sure it was Obadiah. Tony, you have that assistant, the red head? Tell her to break into Obadiah’s office and see what she can find. And tell her to assume he’s dangerous.”
Steve and Tony both raise an eyebrow at that but Howard’s next course of action is even stranger. “Steve, call Ross and ask him about any unusual weapons activity over the last seven years at least.”
Bucky and Steve exchange a look of confusion but quickly go to do their respective jobs. Bucky finds out what everyone wants for Chinese and Steve calls Ross even if he didn’t want anything to do with the man.