Tony is cleaning out the mansion because, despite Steve’s letter, he felt more at home in a house that was more of a prison to him growing up than in the Avenger’s compound. He had been nice enough to gift most of the properties to the team but he had kept a couple to himself. He hadn’t intended on living there though, even if the mansion needed a lot of work to properly fit his tastes. Most of the work was done already so now it was mostly finishing touches and furniture that was needed but given how large the place was that was no small feat.
At nearly two in the morning the last thing Tony expects is a knock on the door. He looks up from his online hunt for the perfect couch and looks at the door for a moment, wondering why FRIDAY hadn’t alerted him to someone’s presence but then the AI speaks. “Sir, there were two people at the door,” she tells him.
“Little late there, FRIDAY. These are cues you should be giving me before they knock,” he tells the fledgling AI.
“Noted, sir,” the AI says and presumably goes off to code that into her pattern recognition and command centers.
For a few moments Tony wonders if he should leave them there but then they knock again so he sighs and gets up. There were two options for who was at the door- either a couple of heroes or a couple of villains. At this point Tony wasn’t even sure what the damn difference was but he goes to the door anyways, keenly aware of the watch that wasn’t really a watch around his wrist as he turns the knob. If he had been shocked to find that people were knocking on his door he was far more shocked to see who was behind it.
They stare at him for a long few minutes but eventually Howard Stark smiles, “hey, kiddo,” he says with more warmth and happiness in the greeting than anything he ever said to Tony when he was alive.
Tony nods at Peggy Carter. “Nice to meet you, you weren’t really around much when I was a kid but I’ve heard all the stories,” he says. He ignores Howard.
*
Howard had been tinkering with some stuff as usual, trying to grasp hold of space and time but it was more of a joke than anything. He had hardly anticipated his invention to go absolutely haywire and then suck him and Peggy into the future nearly one hundred years. For the first ten minutes Howard accepted Peggy’s yelling at him about recklessness, letting out a string of obscenities that would make a sailor blush. Then they had to make a plan.
Of course he knew he was likely dead in this timeline, Peggy too, unless he figured out immortality between now and then so they couldn’t rely on their future selves. As it turned out they had something that was just as good, something Howard noticed when they were walking past a newspaper stand (he couldn’t believe they still had those with all the lights and moving billboards around them).
On the front page of the newspaper was a picture of a man that Howard could tell was his kid even before he read the headline. Something about Tony Stark’s stance on something called ‘The Accords’. He didn’t pay attention to it because his kid was famous! Of course he would be, Howard would expect nothing less but still, it made him proud. So he and Peggy set out towards Howard’s old mansion, sure it was there now. Breaking it turned out to be a right bitch, his kid clearly inherited his tech abilities from Howard except this stuff was all stuff Howard has never seen. Peggy ends up getting them in by stabbing the keypad he was trying to hack, giving him a look when the doors to the property open.
“Showoff,” Howard mumbles as they walk in. Peggy just laughs at him, re-sheathing her knife as they walk up to the doors and knock. Howard half expected some kind of electronic defense or something but nothing comes. He isn’t sure if that was relieving or disappointing. He takes relieving because after being tossed into the future on his ass with one very angry woman he figured he’d take the calm yard that was both very different and not at all the same from what he’s used to.
Howard knocks on the door and steps back. “What if Tony doesn’t live here?” Peggy asks him after a moment, giving him a look.
He shrugs, “than we’ll ask someone where he lives. If he’s on newspapers someone has to know a city at least. That’ll narrow our search considerably.” Peggy gives him a skeptical look but they stare at the door for a few more moments. He starts to get nervous as he knocks again but it’s only a few more seconds before someone pulls the door open
Tony looks a lot different in person. First of all his kid was now technically older than him if the age lines were telling the truth, and he looked tired and bruised. Howard wonders about that but it’s overshadowed by the happiness of seeing his son! He had no idea who he was really but he had a kid! A successful one! “Hey, kiddo,” he says, smiling brightly.
It’s about then that Howard notices how unimpressed Tony looks with his presence, especially when he ignores Howard and talks to Peggy. He lets them in but in the next two hours of recounting what happens all Tony says to him is to get him a list of the things he used in his invention so he could reverse engineer it and send them back.
“Is it just me or does your kid hate you?” Peggy asks in a low voice as Tony walks off to make some phone calls. His phone, Howard has never seen anything like it but Tony doesn’t give it a second glance.
“It’s not just you,” Howard tells her, turning his attention away from Tony’s technology. Probably made by him, maybe even a custom model. “What do you think happened?” he asks.
Peggy shrugs, “I guess you didn’t have a good relationship with your son, Howard. I’m sorry,” she says softly.
He shakes his head though, “why would I have a bad relationship with my son though? I’ve always wanted a son.” He just couldn’t imagine that, after all these years of wanting a son only to have a bad relationship with him. it didn’t make any sense.
Peggy looks like she’s going to say something but Tony returns, “Steve is on his way to pick you two up. You can stay with him,” he says in a cool tone. Howard notices that he stands across the room with his arms folded across his chest looking unimpressed.
“You found Steve?” he asks, perking up. That was great news! Tony doesn’t seem to think so because he rolls his eyes.
“Yeah, you get your wet dream back,” he snaps. “And I guess you can have that dance he cared so damn much about,” he says to Peggy. “No offense,” he adds when he realizes how sharp his tone was.
Peggy frowns, “where did you find him?” Tony just shrugs and says something about SHIELD, which causes Howard and Peggy to exchange a look. “So SHIELD continued into the future, we’re only just founding it where we’re from,” Peggy says, shaking her head in wonder.
“No it doesn’t. It turned out to be HYDRA for most of the time it was functioning,” Tony says in a bland tone. Howard and Peggy’s jaws drop and they exchange another look. They obviously had some things to change if SHIELD turned into HYDRA. “You can ask Steve about all that. And Barnes, he isn’t dead after all. He kills you and mom but you can ask Steve about that mess too,” Tony says and he gets this look on his face, like the thought of Steve explaining this brought him some kind of twisted amusement.
“Barnes kills me?” Howard asks, shocked. “Why?”
Tony shrugs, “he got found and tortured by HYDRA, they used him as an assassin. But like I said, Steve can explain all those little details to you, he knows more than I do,” he says in a dark tone.
By the time Steve comes to pick them up Tony has given them both more than enough information to be very curious about the future. What concerned Howard though was his supposed death. He had been torn before about whether to believe Tony’s words given the look on his face but when Steve’s excitement at seeing Peggy quickly turns to guilt when he looks at Howard he knows Tony is telling the truth.
*
“That was stupid of you and you damn well know it,” Rhodey tells Tony. He loved his best friend, he did, but this was taking things a bit far.
Tony glares at him with a shocking about of venom though and Rhodey sighs. “He didn’t tell me that my own parents were killed for two years Rhodes, and then he had the gull to send me some bullshit letter about how it was basically my fault anyways. ‘Sorry we disagreed but I was right and your feelings got hurt about it, opps’,” Tony snaps, summarizing Steve’s note fairly accurately. “He wants to be a selfish asshole than I don’t see why I can’t do the same.”
That wasn’t it at all and Rhodey damn well knew it, Tony did too. “No Tony. You want to punish Steve by forcing him to tell his friend that he lied about his death to his son for years and you want to punish Howard for comparing you to Steve for all those years by ruining his image forever. Come on man, that’s not right and you know it,” he says.
“What’s done is done,” Tony says, shrugging like it couldn’t be helped. Rhodey sighs and they sit in silence for a long time after that, looking out over the ocean that was Rhodey’s new view. While the Malibu house had been destroyed Tony had left it for a few months before deciding to rebuild something on it. Everyone told him it was impossible and too unstable especially since a bomb or ten had been dropped on it but that’s what they said the first time too. Tony had rolled his eyes and built something on it anyways. Rhodey was here now with a team of people looking after his rehabilitation because Tony thought the view would be encouraging. In his defense he was right.
“Would you have done anything different?” Tony asks eventually. “Be honest.”
It takes a long time for Rhodey to think that through because in actuality he had no idea what it was like to be in Tony’s position. Would he do something like this? He tries to imagine himself in a bad relationship with his father but he just couldn’t imagine his involved and loving father as someone like Howard Stark. It just didn’t fit with the gentle man he knew. Same with his mother. So he wonders how it would feel if someone he knew and spent a lot of time with lied about their deaths for years, looking him in the face every day and even having the balls to call him out on keeping secrets.
It doesn’t take long to make his decision. “Or worse, yeah I’d do it. In a heartbeat if it even took that long. That doesn’t make it right though,” he points out.
Tony shakes his head, “why is it that everyone holds me to higher standards than they do themselves? I mean I can’t keep secrets but Steve and Natasha can. Wanda worked with Ultron but the team acts like I’m the devil for running a test that I never could have anticipated would end with a genocidal AI. I mean it was my fault of course, but still. Wanda never gets shit for working with the bot or HYDRA. T’Challa can try and kill Bucky out of grief for his parents but I’m the bad guy when I do the same. I was wrong but I mean it was understandable what I did. And now you admit that you’d do the same thing I did but once again I get shit for doing what anyone would. Why is that?”
“I can’t speak for the Avengers especially on Wanda but for me… I guess I expect you to be better than most people. But you’re right, you’re only human and I shouldn’t hold you to standards I know I couldn’t meet myself. I’m sorry,” he says and he means it. So Tony was a good person, Rhodey liked to think he was too, so Tony acting like a normal human would should be expected even if it isn’t right. Everyone made mistakes and even if he didn’t agree with Tony’s petty revenge he couldn’t really argue that most people wouldn’t get satisfaction from forcing Steve to look Howard Stark in the face and explain what happened between him and his son. Rhodey absolutely would.
Tony shifts his weight and leans on Rhodey a little so he puts his arm around Tony’s shoulder and they continue to stare out the window at the crashing waves.
*
Peggy couldn’t believe her ears. She had had no idea if Tony was telling the truth or not and given that self-satisfied look on his face she had to wonder if the information was somehow a pointed barb of revenge on Steve, which made the information questionable at best but… but it was true. She sits down in a chair as she processes the news that Steve had lied to Tony about his parents’ deaths for years. How could someone do that?
Steve cited Bucky, that he wanted to protect him but Howard shakes his head and says what Peggy is thinking. “You don’t protect people by lying to them, Steve! What about me? Who protected me? And my wife? What about Tony? Who protected him? I saw the look on his face when he told me about this; he was hurt and angry at you. How does any of this protect Bucky? And why is he more important than everyone else, Steve?” Howard asks, shaking his head and running his hand through his hair. He looks flabbergasted and angry and Peggy doesn’t blame him.
“He’s my friend,” Steve says softly.
Howard shakes his head and angrily swipes at a tear that escapes his left eye. “So was I Rogers, but I guess that doesn’t matter to you does it?” Steve goes to reach out to Howard but he steps away, giving Steve one last shake of his head and storming off. Peggy can’t say she blamed him.
She takes a steadying breath after a few moments and decides to get to her other concern of the night. If there was more disappointment to be had she might as well get it all over with. “What is this ‘Accords’ thing? Tony mentioned it and Howard and I saw it on some newspapers,” she says.
Steve stops staring after Howard and rubs his hands over his face. “The Sokovia Accords is a piece of legislation that was designed to essentially own the Avengers,” Steve says.
Peggy picks up the news paper on the table and skims the article on Tony’s stance, noting that he seemed to agree with the Accords and that he was calling for superhero accountability. “Tony agreed,” she says, “I’m guessing you didn’t.”
He shakes his head. “Unfortunate, that. But what’s done is done,” he says.
“This… legislation. How was it to own the Avengers? Tony seems to think, according to this article at least, that it will hold superheroes accountable for their actions. It sounds more like he’s advocating for laws around your actions. You do have laws around your actions, right?” she asks. No, they had to have them. Nothing good came from being lawless in entirety. Look at the Nazis. Laws certainly weren’t always fair, she knew that better than most really but they were useful when written right.
“Tony feels guilty for his screw-ups, most of the reason the public doesn’t trust us is because of him anyways,” Steve says.
Peggy turns back to the article in her hand, “this says something about Washington and you with some Winter Soldier,” she says. “What’s that about?” Whatever it was it was one of the reasons for the Accords, that and something about an Ultron that was attributed to Tony, some dead people in a city called Lagos that was attributed to someone Peggy didn’t know, some event with aliens in London that were attributed to a god of all things, and a few other smaller events.
“That… was Bucky. There was a lot of property damage and SHIELD turned out to be HYDRA. It’s part of why I didn’t trust the Accords. I put too much trust in SHIELD and it went wrong,” he says, shaking his head sadly.
“Was there any evidence that this legislation was influenced by HYDRA? This article sites that 117 countries signed onto this set of laws, that’s a lot of people. That doesn’t rule out HYDRA of course but if there was evidence that HYDRA tampered with this I understand why you would be hesitant to sign it,” she says. That made sense; she would refuse to sign something she thought was influenced by Nazis too. Maybe Tony didn’t know about the HYDRA influence, Steve hardly seemed forthcoming to him, it would explain why he agreed with the dubious legislation.
“That’s the point Peggy, HYDRA is too good at hiding. I can’t know for sure that it wasn’t influenced by HYDRA,” he says. His eyes are wide and he’s leaning forward slightly like he’s doing his best to convince her of his argument. After what happened with Howard she could see why.
“Fair enough,” she says. “So I’m assuming you fell back on whatever was in place before, how were you sure that those laws were uninfluenced by HYDRA?” she asks. The look on Steve’s face indicates that she’s about to dive head first into a wasp nest and she doesn’t like it.
“SHIELD gave us laws and regulations to follow. After that we didn’t have anything really, this was supposed to be the SHIELD replacement,” Steve explains.
Alright. This was not going to places she thought it would but she could handle this like a rational human being. “So you were lawless, that’s what you’re saying?” she says so she knows she has this straight.
Steve gives a weak shrug that she takes as an affirmative.
“Alright. I understand your reservations with this… Accords thing, clearly we didn’t do a very good job stamping HYDRA out in my time,” she mumbles, shaking her head. “It sounds like this was brought up somewhat hastily too, so suspicion was more than fair. So what did you propose in it’s place? Obviously you need some kind of laws to follow, you’ve been causing large disasters. They may be unavoidable in the cases listed here but if there was an event that wasn’t unavoidable than something should happen,” she says. Steve looks away and Peggy frowns. “You did suggest something in its place, right?” she asks slowly.
“Peggy-” Steve starts but she holds up her hand and he stops talking immediately.
“Hold on, before we go on making snap judgments and all that give me a moment. So you had some kind of regulation with SHIELD but then they turned out to be infiltrated by HYDRA. This made you especially suspicious of the legislation that came through the works, that makes sense, but in the meantime you had no laws, regulations, or limits. Which you seemed to advocate to… continue?” she asks, frowning. That didn’t sound right. She certainly didn’t agree with the law all the time, several laws tried to keep her out of the military and that was just absurd given her skill, but she would vote to abolish those laws, not all of them. That… she must have misunderstood, that’s all.
“Peggy, the best hands were our own. I can’t trust that the government isn’t HYDRA if a top secret spy agency was!” Steve insists.
Peggy sighs and does her best to try and rationalize this out. “Fine. So you can’t trust any outside influences- a very disastrous mindset if used incorrectly but fine I’ll accept it for the sake of the argument. But how are you sure you will always make the right choice? The point of laws, and teams, and different people being involved in decision-making is to ensure that voices are heard even if that doesn’t always happen. Do you think if women were involved in writing laws that we would be actively discriminated against like we are? Are we still? Doesn’t matter, you know what it was like in the forties. But no, men took all the power and decided they weren’t misusing it even when we weren’t considered people. How can you ensure without a shadow of a doubt that you aren’t going to be like those men?”
“Well it’s never led me wrong before,” he says, shrugging.
She rubs her temples and does her best to hold back her judgments. “Steve, the public obviously disagrees. Keep your mouth shut; I don’t care if it was mostly Tony or what else happened. Laws are designed to keep the public safe and running well. You and I both know that doesn’t always happen so I understand why you would be skeptical of the Accords. But with no other solution in place and the public calling for change you cannot possibly tell me that running around doing whatever you want because you have good luck is a reasonable solution! Come on, that is lunacy,” she says, shaking her head.
“Well Tony’s solution wasn’t better. He said we could ratify the Accords but what if that didn’t work? What then?” Steve asks, getting annoyed.
“What if you made a bad call and killed millions of people, what then? You continue doing what you want with no consequences? You think you should have no limits that may prevent something like that from happening? Maybe Tony wasn’t right but you certainly weren’t either. No, don’t talk. You will never convince me that one man deciding his luck is good enough that the whole world should let him work in a lawless state is a good idea. I know what lawless men look like Steve, and they have never done anything good for the world,” she tells him, standing up and walking off.
*
Tony doesn’t expect to find Howard and Peggy in his lab looking some pissed off so he frowns. “Aren’t you two supposed to be with Steve?” he asks, looking around for the aforementioned person.
“Fuck Steve Rogers,” Howard spits and Tony barely keeps himself from wincing because the anger wasn’t directed at him. This version of Howard seemed less cold than his own, not that Tony had any trust in him.
“Okay. Guess he told you about Bucky then,” he says, “that doesn’t explain why you’re here,” he directs at Peggy.
She sighs and shakes her head, “Steve Rogers is not the man I remember.” That’s all she says in her own defense.
“Okay then. Mind telling me what you’re doing?” he asks Howard specifically. He was toying with an old reactor. Tony wasn’t sure which year they sprang forward from but he didn’t look more than twenty six, which meant the war had only just ended for him. It also meant he’s never seen an arc reactor before let alone stolen a design of a Russian scientist whose son will come to hate Tony for it for some stupid reason.
“I’m trying to figure out what this is. It appears to be some kind of light… disk… apparatus,” he says, frowning at the reactor.
“It’s none of your damn business, stop touching my stuff. I got all the things you listed so if you two don’t mind I have a freaking time machine to build I guess,” he mumbles. “There’s plenty of rooms upstairs for you to sleep in, food in the kitchen, if you need help just ask FRIDAY,” he tells them and makes a gesture for them to shoo.
Howard looks confused but Peggy gently pulls him out of the lab, giving a brief nod to Tony as she passes. He doesn’t pay much attention to either of them because the crap Howard stuck on that list had nothing to do with somehow managing to manipulate space and time so he has to figure out how that ended up being possible.
It takes hours and several configurations but he does eventually figure out what must have happened and that Howard left some important things off his list.
*
Tony was dead tired and ready for a nap, which was probably why Howard ambushed him then. “What the hell did I do to you, kid?” he asks, shaking his head.
For a long moment Tony considers Howard in his youth. He looked somewhat like Tony had at his age though Tony thought he was the better looking one without that god-awful mustache. He also looked extremely confused, like he really did have no idea why Tony didn’t seem to like him at all. “What kind of parent do you think you’d be?” he asks eventually, taking a drink out of his coffee cup. It was cold and the single sugar had settled at the bottom but he didn’t care. He was going to need the energy to face this so he drank.
Howard considers the question; cue one that he wasn’t the same man Tony knew. “Before I met you I thought maybe I’d be a good father. Clearly I wasn’t though or you wouldn’t hate me so much,” he says, shrugging and looking surprisingly small.
It’s about then that Tony notices that, despite Howard’s height, he looks small and confused. It wasn’t a look he’s ever seen on his father and he can’t tell if he’s unnerved or satisfied. Probably unnerved. “No, you weren’t. You’re a shit father and an even worse husband. You used to beat us and berate us all the time, like it was some kind of hobby,” he says in a soft, dangerous voice. He can feel the pain on his face, the hatred. Howard can see it too because he swallows heavily, taking a small step back. Of all the daydreaming Tony used to do about overpowering his father he had no idea he could do it with his voice alone. It doesn’t make him feel as good as he thought it would. Actually it makes him feel awful.
“I… did I love you?” he asks at last.
Tony shakes his head. “You left me some tapes that claimed you did though. You told me that I was the future, that I’d change the world, that everything was riding on me. You said I was your greatest creation, Howard, but I’m not a thing. And leaving me some tapes that told me that you cared about me for about five minutes doesn’t make up for the years of abuse,” he tells him, setting his coffee cup on the counter and turning to walk away.
“Wait!” Howard says, reaching out to grab Tony’s shoulder. “I can fix this. When I go back to the future I know about things now, I can change things for you, be a better father. You deserve it. I’ve seen what you can do and my god Tony you are so much more than I ever will be. The Iron Man suit! That’s a thing of beauty! Everything you do it, you’ve turned engineering into an art form no one will ever surpass. You do the impossible all the time and I know that now. I can’t… I can’t possibly be so... so cold to you knowing that. I’ll do better, I promise,” Howard says, almost begs.
Oh and hasn’t Tony wanted to hear that for almost as long as he could remember? But he shakes his head and there’s no malice in it. He doesn’t have the energy for it anymore. Howard, this one anyways, wasn’t even the one who treated him like his father had. This was a different man, a better one. “No, you can’t,” he says in a low tone.
Howard shakes his head, “Tony I have to. I can’t just let things stay the same, that’s not right,” he says, frowning. He believes it Tony can tell so when he sighs it isn’t because he’s annoyed.
“No, you can’t,” he repeats. “You can’t do anything different without fucking the entire future over. So when I send you and Peggy back I have to wipe your memories so that you’ll continue on like nothing every happened. I’ll pin a little note to your lapel to tell you not to go jumping into the future any time soon. Or ever,” he says, shaking his head.
He shakes himself free of Howard and turns to walk away again but Howard calls his name. “I’m sorry,” he says, “I know it’s too little too late, or early in my case, but I’m sorry. For everything.”
Tony considers this for a long moment and nods. “I know you did the best you could do. I love you anyways, even if I probably shouldn’t,” he says, saying the words he’s wanted to deliver to Howard for years but couldn’t because he was dead.
*
To say Howard and Peggy were disillusioned about the future was an understatement. Howard learned that he becomes a raging alcoholic asshole, which Tony had later admitted he became too until he got his shit together. Peggy learned that all her hard work with SHIELD and Steve turned out to be a total bust even if she chose to believe that somewhere in there Steve was still a good man. He just lost his way. Howard couldn’t say he agreed after discovering how he lied to his son about his death and, apparently, disregarded their entire friendship. Peggy said it was out of guilt for Bucky but Howard couldn’t really find it in him to pity Steve after learning that he didn’t care about Howard at all, nor did he care for his son.
They stand in front of a time machine though Tony’s looks less shoddy than his own experiment. True to his word Tony pinned a little note to Howard’s lapel that told him that time travel was a shit idea. He chose to add his own bit to it that it was true and Tony pinned it to a suit jacket that he borrowed from Tony. They were close enough in size though Tony’s torso was shorter than Howard’s. Still, he thought the jacket was dapper and he intended to have it altered to fit him right when he got home.
“Remember to use those things, you two can’t go messing up the future and even if you try you’ll probably get mobbed if you try and slam a national icon when you get there,” Tony reminds them for at least the millionth time.
“Kid, we get it. Wipe our minds,” Howard says, shaking his head.
“Honestly this whole thing has been a disaster and I will be happy to wipe my mind of this,” Peggy says, shaking her head. “I suppose at least Bucky is alright.”
“Bucky kills me!” Howard reminds her, outraged.
“Howard, the man hardly had a choice,” Peggy says.
“Well forgive me for not having the warm and fuzzies for my future murderer,” he mumbles.
“Okay you two, stop your bickering and prepare yourselves. This thing has a ten meter range so I’m going over there,” Tony points to a spot on the grass in the mansion’s back yard with an ‘X’ on it, “to over see this thing safely. Good luck,” he tells them and he goes to step away but Howard steps forward.
“Thank you, Tony,” he tells him and he hugs him. It was something he gathered he didn’t do a lot of in the future. Tony hugs him back surprisingly hard considering how much hatred he had for him when he came back to the future. He suspected that after all that mess with those laws and learning about his parents’ murders and all the things Howard’s future self did to him he didn’t know how to feel. He probably wouldn’t be happy to find himself on his doorstep either after all that mess. It was too bad Tony didn’t get to see his mom but Howard had no clue who the hell Maria was anyways. He guesses he’ll find out.
“It’s no problem really, the world couldn’t handle having you in it twice,” Tony tells him, smiling. “And world definitely couldn’t handle having you in it twice,” he tells Peggy. “God knows you did wonders the first time around, the second time around you’d probably end up the president or something. Still haven’t had a female president, I’d vote for you,” he says and Howard laughs.
“Me too, provided you cut me a little slack,” he says to Peggy, winking.
She rolls her eyes, “absolutely not. The last time I left you alone for too long I found with a harem and a god damn time machine that sucked me into the future, where I learned that everything I work for ends up useless. You need limits Stark, I made myself a note,” she says, pointing to her scarf. Sure enough it had a note on it to give Howard limits and also to slap him. He figured he deserved that.
“See? You’d make lovely president,” Tony tells her. “Now get back on marks, I don’t want to find out how finicky this thing is when one of you leave a limb behind accidentally.”
With that Tony steps back to his own mark and gives them a thumbs up. Howard presses the button on the machine and just like the last time he feels like he’s being torn apart and put back together, which was kind of what was happening anyways.
When they land back in Howard’s lab Peggy vomits and Howard is certain he’s got heart problems. “Lets never do that again,” he croaks out, forgetting how painful that was in the last couple days.
“Agreed,” Peggy mumbles. After several minutes on the ground recovering from their journey though time the both sit up and sigh. Jarvis chooses then to bust into the room and Howard laughs, “perfect timing, as always,” he says as his butler rushes over to him and helps him up.
“Where have you been! You were gone for almost five days!” he says, worried.
Howard smiles, “we went to the future. You wouldn’t believe the things they have there. They have phones that can fit in pockets!” he says excitedly.
“Unless they’re ladies’ pockets, you can’t even fit a quarter in those things,” Peggy says, stumbling to her feet. Ever the gentleman Jarvis rushes over to her and she waves him off, leaning against one of Howard’s counters.
“The future hmm? I don’t suppose you found some common sense there while you were at it?” Jarvis asks. “Honestly, what were you thinking?”
He’d been thinking of what an amazing discovery a time machine could be but it didn’t turn out as awesome as he thought. “I wasn’t and no, I didn’t find some common sense but listen. I have a son in the future and I’m not so good to him so please, Jarvis, can you promise me that you’ll make sure he’s loved? Please?” he asks. He doesn’t care that Peggy is sitting right there listening, he just wants to make sure that his son knows someone loves him at least.
Jarvis looks confused but nods, “of course, sir.”
Howard breathes a sigh of relief. “Thank you, Jarvis. Now if you don’t mind I need a few moments alone with Peggy,” he says.
The butler gives him a look and tells him not to go anywhere but he leaves them alone with each other. They both take out the mind wiping devices from Tony, who had given them strict instructions not to tamper with unless they wanted no memories, and take a deep breath.
“Well, here goes nothing,” Peggy says softly and at the same time they activate the device.
“When did you get here?” he asks Peggy, who also looks confused.
“No idea. What is that?” she asks, pointing at Howard’s time machine.
He grins, “that’s a time machine! Or I hop it will be,” he says, walking over to give it a pat.
“Why do I have a note pinned to my scarf? And why do you have a note pinned to your lapel?” Howard looks down and sure enough he does have a note there. He pulls it off and reads it, scoffing at the ‘time travel is a terrible idea’ note until he reads the bit underneath that agrees and is unmistakably in his own handwriting.
When he looks up Peggy slaps him and he puts his hand to his cheek, “what the hell Peggy!” he asks.
“What? The note said to give you limits and to slap you. Honestly I was looking for an excuse,” she says.
“Sir?” Jarvis asks, poking his head in the door to his lab.
“Jarvis, hey! Get in here. What were you doing out there?” he asks as his butler walks in.
He frowns, “you told me to go. You also said you’d been to the future. Apparently they have cell phones that can fit into pockets, though not ladies pockets,” he says, smiling at Peggy, who just looked confused.
“Well I must have thought it was a bad idea, I left myself a note,” he says, pointing at his writing.
“Who wrote the first bit?” Jarvis asks. “The writing looks like yours but it isn’t, I memorized your writing long ago.”
Howard shrugs, “who cares? I have a million other projects anyways, guess this one was a bust.”
*
Tony was flipping through old pictures out of curiosity more than anything when he starts laughing. Rhodey looks up from the book he was reading and raises an eyebrow, “what?” he asks.
“Come look at this,” he says and Rhodey wheels over, leaning over Tony’s photo album.
“The jacket,” Tony points to Howard and Rhodey frowns.
“What about it?” he asks.
Tony laughs, “Rhodes, the jacket is mine. I wore it three days ago, remember?” Rhodey takes another look at Howard in the picture and tilts his head to the side.
“Holy shit that is your jacket,” he says, shocked.
“It’s longer but yeah, that’s the jacket I gave to Howard before I sent him back. He loved that thing; I used to think he loved it more than me. Turned out he got it from me. I always thought that jacket was weird- it never really did fit into fashion trends of the time. I bought the one that I got because it reminded me of this one and I was feeling nostalgic. I bought the fucking jacket I gave Howard in the future because I was feeling nostalgic about the same jacket in the past. Amazing,” he says, shaking his head.
“That’s trippy as hell,” Rhodey says, shaking his head.