1969
Howard Stark squeezed his wife's hand although he himself was trying not to wince from her incredible strength. He was dizzy, but dizzy with excitement. He would never miss this in a lifetime.
"Alright Maria, he's almost out, keep pushing, darling." Howard cooed.
"SHUT UP HOWARD I KNOW WHAT I'M DOING!" Maria nearly screamed in pain as she gave birth to their firstborn son.
A small boy with tufty wispy brown hair and screamed loudly.
The mid wife took the child away temporarily to clean the firstborn before the other midwife proclaimed "Alright, we're almost there Now Push."
Howard's eyes widened before he felt wobbly and uneasy. "We're...we're having twins...?"
Howard's grip went limp as he fainted, the prospect of twins overwhelming as he heard his wife scream in pain followed by a small cry...
1971 -2 years old
Sherlock and Tony ran around their father's lab, tying unknown copper and silver wires together effectively making a knot into some very valuable wiring.
Tony ran away from Sherlock wailing happily. Sherlock followed his twin, accidentally tripping into Tony, causing both five year olds to fall and sustain light scrapes against their father's hard rough grooved flooring that had yet to be replaced.
Both Sherlock and Tony whined and cried, their chubby cheeks stained with tears and fingers covered with mechanic oil from playing in their father's work lab.
Arguing of the two adults upstairs stopped as the cries of the twins permeated their ears.
"Shit." Howard merely growled under his breath, already irritated as both parents walked downstairs to his lab.
"Howard! I told you to keep your lab doors closed!" Maria yelled, rushing more than her husband to get to her children. He had gotten home no more than twenty minutes ago and he couldn't relax and drink his scotch without his troublesome two year old tykes getting into something and not stay in their toy room.
He opened his glass lab door to see an utter mess of his projects, his diorama of the future blemished with greasy oil prints of two year olds playing with the hover cars and the glass skyscraper tilted.
Howard grew red in the face as his fury grew. What was with his kids messing in his lab!?
"SHERLOCK! ANTHONY!" Howard yelled walking toward his children who sat on the floor before his wife grabbed his arm and chastised him and told him to stop scaring his own children.
Howard's eyes flitted between his twin boys whose cheeks were red and flushed and stained with tears and big brown scared-looking eyes looking up at him.
Howard sighed loudly and left his work station, his models ruined, his mood worsened.
"I had to put the twins back to sleep again, alone."
Maria's voice was cold as she saw her husband drinking liquor near the fireplace.
"When are you going to be an actual father to your children, Howard? I can't continue doing this alone."
"...They ruined everything. My work, my research, Maria. Its so much more than those rascals getting into my lab." Howard took another swig, clearing his throat as the liquor warmed his insides.
"Are you listening to me Howie? Can you understand that a-a-fter him, that man you helped make, you are always in that DAMNED lab, never spending time with your sons? Tha-"
"His name was Steve Rogers, Maria. A great mannmn... he was the pinnacle of something new..-" Howard slurred.
"HOWARD! can you not hear yourself? A drunk man, babbling about a man who's dead, rather that spending time with his family, you go god knows where to search for a man that's been gone for decades!"
"GOD DAMNIT, WILL YOU QUIT YELLING?! AT THIS POINT I CAN FUCKING CARE LESS!"
Howard stood in front of her, bottle still in hand, glaring at his wife with drunken eyes.
Maria stood there silent staring at her husband, until her face turn from sadness into one of coldness.
"If you can't take care of them, of us, then we are done Howard."
"What the hell do you mean Maria?"
"I want a divorce."