Summary: Tony and Howard are brothers. While the elder Stark goes off to war, the younger watches from behind the scenes as Steven Grant Rogers, his only friend, is transformed into the mighty Captain America. It's only a matter of time before Tony got into the thick of things.

They noticed him when he went to visit his brother on one of their mutual breaks. Working Dad's shops didn't give Tony a lot of time to relax, and neither did being at war for Howard. By the time he saw his older brother again, Captain America had finished his first mission, AWOL though it was. He'd rescued hundreds of prisoners from one of Red Skull's compounds, Howie said, and he hadn't lost a man.

"Yeah, that sounds like Stevie to me." Tony snorted. "Damn brat always got himself into stuff he could barely get out of."

"Huh. I almost forgot you were friends."

"You spent the last decade and then some telling me not to be. How could you forget? You're not that shallow, Howie."

"Of course not!"

"And what's that you got on that napkin, anyway? Is it gonna blow something up?"

"It's something I'm working on."

"Yeah, well from here it looks an awful lot like one of those guns they tried to reverse-engineer in the scrap shop."

"Well it's different, and why do you know that?"

"I may not be your level of genius, but I still got something between the ears… and fucking hell, buddy, are you trying to blow the men up before they have a chance to fire?!" He yelped.

"Quiet down!" Howard hissed, acid leaking through his tone. "And since you're so good at checking my math then you try coming up with something better."

"It's actually not half bad, but looking at it from a purely munitions perspective, there are at least three things I can spot that would lead to the demise of the wrong man."

"Fire away, kiddo." Tony grinned at his older brother and got to work, pointing out flaws in the plans as seen by his eyes.

"You know damn well why they won't let you fight, so don't bother trying."

"Yes, yes, heart sucks, but I'd rather do something boring than be stuck running Dad's shops. There's no point!"

"Tony-."

"I don't care about the fight, Howard. I just want this to be over."

"Whoa."

"Tony?"

"What the-?"

"Yeah."

"When?"

"Couple minutes after Buck left during your brother's show, I got recruited by Erskine."

"Remind me to kill that bastard."

"Please don't."

"What if it wasn't Erskine you ran into? You could have been taken right off the streets and no one would know because your so-called brother thought with the wrong head."

"That's not-."

"Okay? No, it's not. I might hold on the killing him part if he apologizes."

"For what, Tony? We're not kids anymore. No one's gonna watch out for us."

"Which is exactly my point."

"What are you doing here, anyway? I thought you got rejected. Did someone fix your heart?"

"You can't fix a birth defect, Steve."

"I still say it's an injury. No way were you born with bone fragments in your heart, Tony."

"Either way, I'm not a soldier. They've got me behind the scenes."

"So you work with Howard?"

"Yeah, and it's fuckin' awesome, Rogers! Who knows, maybe Howie'll let you see what we've been doing."

"I still can't get over that nickname you gave him." Steve snickered.

"Yeah? Find something else to laugh him outta town with, cuz I call dibs on that one."

"Howie… by the gods, you idiot, what have you left me with?!"

"Is there something I can help you with, Mr. Stark?"

"What? No, Obadiah. I'll be fine. There's not much you can do about my predicament so don't bother. Thank you for your time."

"Anything for the new head of SI."

Stane shut the door behind him and Tony sank into his chair. He'd need to keep an eye out for that bastard. Howard was stupid to trust anyone else with his secrets, but Tony knew well enough that trying to run this monstrosity on his own would likely have killed his brother, if the Winter fucking Soldier hadn't gotten to him first. Tony might not have been the raging genius his brother was, but he'd picked up a few things from their old man, and two of those qualities were a sharp eye for business and steady hands. He'd liked fixing things more than running the family business, but that didn't mean he couldn't do both. Walter Stark had taught them all about the business they would one day inherit, because while Howard was clearly going to be the CEO and the public face of the company, Tony was good with his hands.

He'd been in the car when it went off-road, but whatever the Asgardians did to fix his heart also made him invulnerable to injury, and against all odds, he survived what was once again, meant to kill him. Only now that he thought about it, this was probably an attack on Howard. No one actually cared about the invisible twin that was Anthony Stark, because any and every scandal there could possibly be was done by his brother. Tony had worked quietly enough behind the scenes that even his brother's business partner, Obadiah Stane, hadn't seen him coming. It was in their father's will, and attached to Howard's, that the company remain in the family and stayed true to its roots no matter how far it expanded.

"Well, I won't have any trouble with that second part."

Even still, he'd have to keep an eye on Stane.

"I'm sorry."

"What good could you have done? It's not like you built the train."

"He's your friend."

"He was your friend too. Or did you guys just get along for my sake?"

"Don't let your head get too big there, Rogers. Barnes was an alright guy. I wasn't as close to him as you were, but we definitely had our moments."

And they had, Tony recalled as he rode in a jeep back from his latest demonstration for the Jericho missile. Stane would be proud, he knew, but all Tony could think about as the soldiers (and airmen) heckled him about The Red Press was the only other time he'd done this, with actual friends. He and Bucky hadn't always gotten along, but they were definitely friends, and his squad was more than willing to accept him and his brother into the fold.

And then, because apparently this was going to be predictable, they got bombed in the Middle East.

(It was to his detriment, though not his surprise, that the terrorists had his company's weapons and gear. He was going to kill Obadiah when he got back!)

(But) First he had to get them back. (Those poor kids hadn't been as lucky as the Commandos.)

Yinsen was literally a godsend. He spent his nights thanking every god he'd met, and even the ones he didn't, that the man was there to keep him sane. Yes, Tony could hold his breath indefinitely but that's not the point! He's not the guy you're looking for! (Then again, Howie had been dead for years now, and not for the first time was Tony glad of this.) If only his brother could see him now… (He secretly wondered whether his brother and sister-in-law ever reached the Valhalla that the gods often praised. His brother had been a lot of things, and loyal was one of them. Haunted was another, because even after he spent his days off rejoicing the fact that his brother had returned, they never stopped looking for Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes.

("There's no way in Hell that Bucky is dead. Zola experimented on him. He was probably found by someone and we gotta make sure it wasn't Hydra!" (They were too late, Tony realized when he got a good look at the Winter Soldier. He would fight for Bucky now that he knew, but the poor bastard would have almost no chance of coming home and when he did, he wouldn't be the same. He'd be a million times worse than Howard ever was after the Manhattan Project.)))

He got out by sending them to a fiery death, which was far less than they deserved. (He wondered what their God would think when they met. He doubted the deity would approve of anything they'd done. You don't terrorize innocents for the hell of it.)

The first thing he saw when he got off the plane with Rhodey was Pepper, eyes redder than he'd ever seen them, even when she told him she needed a few days off for her father's funeral.

"Tears for your long-lost boss?" He joked.

"Tears of joy." She rebutted playfully. "I hate job hunting."

He wanted to hug her, but neither of them were all that touchy-feely and it could be taken wrong. Then he remembered that they had ten years together under their respective belts. If he wanted to hug her then he would, and if she refused then whatever. So he hugged her, which turned her stare from one of curiosity to one of confusion, and then acceptance.

"Don't worry, I'll fall apart in the car." He muttered when they broke apart.

"That's not my concern right now. I assume the doctors on base didn't let you go easy, so what do you want to do?"

"You'd be right, and two things. First, I really want a cheeseburger."

"Fries and a Sprite?"

"Hell yes!" He exclaimed happily as the trio walked to the car. "I need all the salt I can get right now."

"I'll see if we have time for In n' Out. If not then we'll find somewhere else. What's your second thing?"

"Happy, my man! I gotta say that it is really fucking good to see you." Tony offered as the chauffeur got in the car.

"Good to have you back, Tony." His friend offered warmly.

"Second thing is a press conference, but I have a plan and I need the utmost secrecy on this."

The other three agreed and he told them exactly how they were going to handle the company's shift from weapons.

When Howard and Peggy told him that they were starting an organization based off of Steve's idealistic view of the world, naturally, Tony was in. As time went on, he took less of a role in SHIELD but his interest remained the same. Which is why he recognized Agent Coulson when the man approached him after the conference, and they left the uproar of reporters for Obadiah to handle. He would pay for that later, he knew, but he didn't give a damn. He really didn't.

"Stocks have probably started plummeting by now. It's a good thing that weapons isn't all that SI is in the business of making. We have a pretty steady flow of customers awaiting the latest version of the StarkPhone and hospitals are clamoring for your ideas in terms of equipment and new tech."

Pepper wasn't telling her boss much that he didn't know, but it was relieving to both say and hear. He nodded along, so he obviously didn't mind.

Phil smirked.

"How long have you been waiting to pull the rug out from under Stane?" He asked.

"Awhile." Tony offered. "Weapons manufacturing was a product of war thirst that we never quite quenched. It's been working for us so far, but I refuse to let weapons for the United States military get into the wrong hands. We can still do protective gear and tech that'll spot IED's or something, but no missiles, no guns, nothing actively offensive."

"That's all well and good, Tony, but how are we gonna sell it to the brass?" Rhodey demanded. "We'd be losing our best offense."

"Would you rather have shitty weapons and awesome defense or the reverse? Anything can be made into a weapon and SI isn't the only company in the game. Let everyone else have a turn at matching what we gave you and the US might have a chance. If anything, it'll renew the spirit of competition. SI won't be wiping the floor with everybody."

"That's mean, Tony."

"It's true."

His plans for the next version of the suit he built would be instrumental in destroying the weapons caches that were scattered around the globe. Easy access had to be a thing, so the suit would definitely have to fly. This seemed to be a good time to send some ideas for repulsor technology down to R&D, but then Tony thought better of it. They could easily be abused as weapons, and if he had something like this mass-produced then that would mean chaos. He'd have to send something else down there, because this would stay his.

Flight was something else. It took several tries to get the repulsors under control, and thank you Trickster for giving him that applesauce because he was damn near invulnerable! He got thrown backwards, flipped a few times, and his landings definitely needed some work because that car was now scrap metal. Maybe if he took it apart, he could come up with something new. A better engine or a sleeker design. People were all about greener energy, so it was worth a shot. Hey, maybe he could remake some of Howard's flying cars.