Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/ works/297422. Rating: Explicit Archive Warning: Underage Category: M/M Fandom: Captain_America_(2011) Relationship: Steve_Rogers/Howard_Stark Character: Steve_Rogers, Howard_Stark, Sarah_Rogers Additional Tags: Alternate_Universe_-_Modern_Setting Series: Part 12 of Young_Lovers Stats: Published: 2011-12-21 Words: 2319 ****** Lover, Soldier ****** by blakefancier Summary Some important truths are brought out into the open. "You pissed Tony off again," Steve said about a half an hour into their trip back to New York. "I always piss off Tony. Or he pisses me off. It's a part of our father-son dynamic." Howard shrugged and spared a glance at Steve. "You know what might help?" There was an awkward pause, then Steve continued, "If you gave him his car back." "Wow, really?" He raised an eyebrow and looked at Steve, who was turning bright red. "Did he actually think that would work?" "He suggested that I… I take my clothes off first." Howard groaned and shook his head. "Well, when you talk to him, tell him I said no." "You could tell him yourself, you know." "I could, but I'm pretty sure he's not going to be taking my calls for the next month or so." Steve let out a huff of frustration. "You know what your problem is, Howard? You and Tony are too alike." “Yes, I’ve heard that hypothesis before. If I admit to being an asshole, can we dispense with the psychoanalysis? I’d really like to talk about something else.” Steve put a hand on his knee and squeezed gently. ”You’re wonderful, Howard. You just need to figure out a new way of interacting with Tony.” He opened his mouth to speak, but found he didn’t know what to say, so he cleared his throat instead. Steve snickered. “You’re blushing.” “Shut up.” He laid his hand on Steve’s. "You know, you're supposed to have both hands on the wheel." Howard rolled his eyes and lifted his hand to the steering wheel. "Oh, so you're criticizing my driving now, are you?" "I'm just saying that according to the DMV manual, both hands should be on the steering wheel." Steve slowly slid his hand up Howard's thigh. He shifted, spreading his legs a little more. "That's going to be distracting." "Too distracting?" Steve stopped and looked at him. "Afraid so," he said, reluctantly. Steve pulled his hand away and sighed. "Too bad this isn't a bench seat, I could give you a blow job." Howard let out a soft gasp and his cock stiffened. "That would *definitely* be too distracting. Fuck! Now I'm going to spend the rest of the drive with a hard on." "We could pull off somewhere," Steve said, hopefully. "You could fuck my mouth- -" "Seriously, you need to shut up right now." "But—" "Ah!" Howard held up his hand in a 'stop' gesture. "Shut it." Steve gave a huff of annoyance. Howard didn't give a damn because if they got caught, Steve wasn't the one who was going to get thrown in jail. But of course, this was Steve, so he should have known that wasn't the end of it. Because, he loved the kid, he did, but Steve was like a dog with a bone when it came to sex. Mostly it was great, but sometimes… Well, sometimes, it ended with them in the car and Steve undoing his jeans and pulling out his cock to jerk off. Howard's mouth went dry and he did *not* look over at the fucking sixteen year old kid moaning and thrusting beside him. His cock throbbed painfully and he bit his bottom lip hard to keep from moaning in response because Steve, fuck, fuck, fuck, Steve was making those desperate little sounds and choking out Howard's name like… like they were fucking or something. "You little shit," Howard said, his voice thick. "When we get home I'm going to fucking… I'm going to fucking *ruin* you. I'm going to shove you over the nearest flat surface and screw you until you can't move." "H-Howard. God, yes, Howard!" Steve's breath hitched in his throat and the sound of Steve jacking himself suddenly got more frantic. Howard took a deep breath, which was a bad idea because the car smelled of sex and Steve. He gripped the steering wheel and tried to ignore the desperate little whines Steve was making. God, oh, God, he hoped that Steve would finish quickly. He hoped that no one in the cars driving by would look over and see Steve… see Steve jerking off. He was so fucking hard it hurt. Then Steve… Steve made that soft sound in the back of his throat and Howard's mouth went dry because, yeah, Steve gave a sharp gasp as he came. Of course, that wasn’t the end of it, No, no, of course it wasn't. Steve very noisily licked and sucked the come from his hand; it made Howard's eyes blur just a bit. "You sure you don't want to pull over somewhere, Howard?" Steve asked, his voice soft and just a bit slurred. "Fuck you," he said, his voice hoarse. "You could." Steve leaned over and put his head on Howard's shoulder. "You could do anything you want. I'll do anything you want. I love you." And Steve sounded so sweet and innocent, but Howard knew what they'd do together would be filthy. Steve would spread himself wide for Howard and in that sweet voice, that innocent voice, he'd ask Howard to bruise him and bloody him and choke him and, God, *God*, Howard could almost taste Steve's blood, could almost feel that soft skin break against his fingernails. "I love you, too," he choked out, shivering, and pressed a quick kiss to the top of Steve's head. "But let's wait until we get home. Okay? Please?" "Okay," Steve said and sighed. ***** Howard lazily sucked a mark onto Steve's neck, then laved at it until Steve shuddered and made a happy sound. They didn't have much time left for this: Sarah would be by in another hour to pick up Steve and yell at him. "You smell good," he said and nosed at Steve's temple. Steve smiled and trailed his fingers down Howard's back. "Yeah?" "Yeah." Howard pulled back enough so he could look into Steve's eyes and smile back. "You're beautiful, too." "Only girls are beautiful, Howard." Steve rolled his eyes. "Guys can be beautiful. And you are, you're beautiful. You're… perfect." He stroked Steve's cheek. Steve frowned, suddenly, and pulled away. "I'm not. I'm not perfect. I…" He swallowed hard. "You shouldn't say that." Howard laughed. "Why not? You're perfect to me." "I hurt you!" "Steve, we hurt each other." "No, no, it's not the same. It's…" Steve pushed at Howard's chest until he moved away. "I lied to you. I lied to my mom." He frowned and shook his head. "About what?" "About…" Steve bit his bottom lip. "I suppose if I asked you to promise not to tell my mom something, you'd say no." "You'd suppose right. I won't keep something from your mom if I think she needs to know, promise or not." "Parental oath," Steve murmured. "What?" "Nothing." Steve sat up and ran his fingers through his hair. "I have something to tell you. Show you, I guess. But I can't do it here. Let's go to your workshop." "Steve, what is this about?" "I'll tell you, I promise, Just… just wait until we get to your workshop, okay? Please?" He let out a huff. "Yeah, all right." ***** After a quick shower, they went down to Howard's lab. He watched, curiously, as Steve picked up a thick piece of rebar and tested its weight in his hands. "Steve, what's going on?" Steve took a deep breath and gave Howard a nervous smile. "I just want to say, I'm not a mutant." "Why—" His mouth snapped closed as Steve folded the rebar in half, not once, but twice. Suddenly, everything seemed to click into place: the hacking incident, Tony's words, Fury, Steve's actions. Steve. "H-Howard?" Steve said, hesitantly. He knew that he should reassure Steve or maybe yell at him, but when he opened his mouth, the first thing out was, "I am going to fuck Nick Fury right in that empty eye socket of his. That sick, twisted, diabolical motherfucker, that manipulative piece of shit. My boy. *My* boy! Oh, I'm going to dismantle SHIELD from the ground up. I'm not going to leave anything but a fucking crater!" "Howard!" He blinked, the red haze of anger momentarily lifting, and turned to Steve, who looked pale and scared. "What's wrong with me? Am I going to die?" And just like that, the anger was gone. He pulled Steve into a hug and held him tightly. "No, oh, no, babe. No, no, you are *not*… there's nothing wrong with you." "Are you sure?" Steve asked, his voice rough with tears. "Oh, babe, you're… you're perfect. You're absolutely perfect." And that was the truth. ***** Howard really wanted a drink. He wanted a drink so badly he could practically taste it. From the way Sarah was looking at that twisted up hunk of metal on the coffee table, she could use a drink, too. She swallowed and sat down, hard and sudden, on the couch. "How? H-How? If you're not a mutant, then how?" Steve sat down next to her and took her hand. "I don’t know. But Howard does." Bourbon. Vodka. No, whiskey. Yes, this was definitely a time for whiskey. "How the hell does Howard know?" She glared up at him and it took an enormous amount of effort not to flinch. Howard took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Back when I was in my late twenties, I was part of a… clandestine group… Okay, no, let me back up here. Back in my late twenties, I, and a group of other brilliant people helped found a clandestine military agency that vowed to… Well, let’s just say we dealt with things that were outside the scope of other agencies.” “SHIELD,” Steve said suddenly. “The Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division.” At Howard’s surprised look, Steve shrugged. “Tony stole some of your personal files, too.” “That little—“ Sarah made an angry sound. “What does this have to do with Steve and his… powers?” “Not powers. Back when I was with SHIELD, our science division was trying to… to create the perfect solider. We… They were trying to find a way to help humanity reach its full potential.” Sarah opened her mouth to speak, but Howard waved for her to keep quiet. “They weren’t very successful, but they heard talk of a scientist who seemed to have made progress. They tried to recruit this scientist, but he refused. His heart was in pediatrics.” “Doctor Erskine,” Sarah said and put her arm around Steve's shoulders. “Yes. He wanted to…He wanted to tap into humanity's potential in order to save lives, not destroy them. What Steve is… his… they’re not powers, Sarah. His DNA has been unlocked. Steve, and I imagine, Isaiah, are the peak of human potential. Erskine made the perfect man.” Steve blushed at that. He smiled. “It’s true, babe. You really are perfect." "Bullshit!" Sarah stood up, her hands clenched into fists. "Utter bullshit! "Mom!" Steve looked at her, scandalized. "Steve is a child! Isaiah is a child! And you're trying to tell me that they're… they're super soldiers! That's goddamn bullshit, Howard!" "Sarah, I know—" "No, Howard, you don't know! Your son wasn't experimented on, he wasn't used as a… a guinea pig for some military experiment." "No," he said angrily, "he wasn't used for a military experiment, Sarah, just a medical one. And it saved his life." "We don't know—" She clapped a hand over her mouth, her eyes wide and full of tears. "I'm okay, Mom," Steve said softly. He got to his feet and held her. "I'm really okay." "And we're going to make sure he stays that way. Both him and Isaiah." Howard walked over to them and he took Sarah's hand. "I promise you, Sarah, I will protect him. I will use every tool at my disposal to make sure he's all right and that he stays that way." She blinked rapidly and straightened. "How?" "SHIELD has been watching Steve, and Isaiah too, I'd imagine. The director is the one who told me about Steve and Tony hacking the DOD." "I think I've seen them. Tony said they were paparazzi." Steve made a face. "Creepy." "Yeah, well, creepy or not, they've got all Erskine's files. They have the resources to make sure everything is all right with you." Howard touched Steve's cheek. "I don't like this," Sarah said. "Neither do I. But we don't have much choice." He looked at Sarah. "SHIELD does a lot of good for this country, but…" "But they're a clandestine military group?" Sarah smiled wryly. "Yeah. I know the director very well, he won't touch the boys without parental permission, not until they're eighteen." "And when we are?" Steve asked. "Then he'll do his very best to manipulate you into joining up with SHIELD. And he's very good." Steve nodded, then looked from Howard to Sarah. "What about school?" "What?" Howard frowned. "I mean… this is all very exciting, but…" Steve shrugged, "I'm more worried about school. I think I've been expelled." Sarah laughed and Howard couldn't help but do the same. "What? That's important, too!" Steve crossed his arms over his chest and gave them a very disapproving look. Howard took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Stark Foundation could always give you a scholarship to a private school?" "I want to graduate with my friends." Sarah hugged Steve. "Don't worry about it, honey. I'm sure between Howard and I, you'll be back to school in no time." "Okay." Steve bit his bottom lip. "Can we take a break from all this conversation and get something to eat? I'm starving." Howard ignored the sudden twinge of fear at those words. No, no, Steve was *not* starving; he'd used that expression countless times and he was fine. Howard pasted a smile on his face. "Of course. If I know Jarvis, he probably has something prepared for us." Please drop_by_the_archive_and_comment to let the author know if you enjoyed their work!