Disclaimer: I do not own anything Marvel, I just play with the superheroes they create.

"You remind me of him sometimes."

Tony Stark glanced up from his glass of beer and squinted at Steve Rogers curiously. "Who?"

"Your dad, Howard." Steve twisted his glass in circles on the table. He didn't really drink, but he hadn't wanted to seem rude when Tony offered him a beer. It was kind of out of character for Tony to offer him anything but a snide or sarcastic comment.

"Humph," Tony snorted, smirking, "was that supposed to be a compliment?"

Steve frowned. "Maybe. Unless we aren't thinking of the same Howard Stark." He took a sip of his beer and tried not to make a face.

"I'm thinking of the Howard Stark that was an alcoholic, a workaholic, and a total jerk," Tony stated, allowing more pain to glare through his voice than he'd intended. He cleared his throat, and unable to clear the lump that was forming, took a deep swig of beer.

"I'm sorry you didn't get to meet the Howard Stark I knew," Steve said quietly. He was watching Tony's reaction carefully, well aware that he was very good at wearing his facade of genius inventor, playboy, millionaire turned iron clad super hero.

Tony's features softened slightly as he stared at the wall past Steve's shoulder. "Yeah, me too."

Steve waited for the question Tony was dying to ask. He was not going to volunteer anything. If there was one thing he knew about Tony Stark, it was that he didn't listen to anything he didn't want to hear. You'd have more luck talking to a brick wall.

He was stubborn, headstrong, and listened more to his personal feelings than logic or protocol. Just like his dad.

Finally, Tony's gaze shifted to Steve. "What...was he like? My dad. When you knew him."

"When I first saw Howard Stark, he was trying to demonstrate his new hover-car." Steve chuckled at the recollection and the look of amused, muted surprise on Tony's face. "It hovered for all of five seconds, just enough time for the crowd to gasp, before it crashed."

Steve told everything he remembered about Howard Stark, from the shock he'd had when he first found out Stark was in on the Super Soldier program to the faith he put into the man he learned was actually lending his true scientific genius into the war effort behind closed doors.

It wasn't hard to remember, because, to Steve, it felt like it had all happened just a few months before

"If it wasn't for your father, I wouldn't be Captain America. I'd be some guy who did shows for a living back during the war." Steve sighed and smiled. "He was a good man."

Tony was playing with his empty beer glass, turning it over in his hands again and again. "Thanks, Cap. I appreciate it."

"Thanks for listening," Steve said sincerely. He laughed sadly. "Ever since I've been found, it feels like everyone knows my story better than I do. Nobody wants to listen to some old guy reminisce about what they already know."

"You might of been born over eighty years ago, but you still look and act like a guy in his twenties. You haven't really aged..." Tony paused, and then gave Steve a stern look. "I'm about to tell you something that if I find out you even breathed it to anther soul..." he left his threat unfinished, satisfied that Steve got the idea. He continued in a softer tone, "Whenever I'm around you, I feel a little," he hesitated, "old."

Steve grinned. "Your secret's safe with me."

END