The penthouse is still quiet when he arrives; Pepper must be elsewhere again. He starts the coffee machine and leans against the kitchen units as it brews.

'Is Pete bouncing on Tony yet?'

'Not just yet, Captain,' Jarvis replies. 'He is awake, however.'

'I best go and save his Dada then,' Steve grins and pours a mug of strong coffee.

'Sir would likely appreciate that.'

He steps into Tony's room to find Pete sprawled on his father's back,

'Daaaaaadaaaaa...' Pete whines.

'Jarvis,' Tony's voice is muffled where his head is under his pillow, 'please tell me Steve's on his way.'

'Already here,' Steve laughs.

'Cap!' Pete scrambles to the edge of the bed and holds up his arms expectantly.

'Hey, Pete,' he scoops the boy onto his lap as he sits down on the bed.

'Is that coffee?' Tony peers out at him.

'Just the way you like it,' Steve can't help but smile as Tony levers himself up.

He tries to keep his gaze from slipping to Tony's bare chest.

'I really do love you, Steve,' Tony has no idea what he's saying before his coffee has kicked in.

'I'm glad,' he smiles as he hands over the mug.

Tony makes an obscene noise as he inhales the rising vapour.

'Breakfast, Cap!' Pete pats his chest.

'Alright,' Steve grins.

As he moves to stand up Pete suddenly throws himself backwards out of his arms and scrambles across his father's legs to the other side of the bed,

'Pete?' Steve asks in alarm and then grins as Pete collects a couple of items from his side of the bed.

The blanky has got to be relatively normal. The sword, not so much.

'Those are coming with us, huh?' Pete scrambles back over into his arms and manages to jab him in the neck with the sword hilt.

'Thor says I should always carry it so my arm gets stronger,' Pete tells him.

'Alright,' Steve agrees and shifts Pete in his arms until he isn't being stabbed. 'Tony, are you coming?'

The only response he gets is Tony kicking off his sheet but he takes it as a yes.

Tony pads along after him, just wearing some loose pants, as he gets Pete dressed and pours him a beaker of milk. He's getting the ingredients together for French toast as Tony slumps next to the coffee machine and refills his mug.

'Did you go to bed late?' he asks.

'Didn't sleep well,' Tony shrugs a shoulder and doesn't look at him.

'Oh,' a rush of shame floods his chest, 'I'm sorry.'

Tony glances up at his tone and blinks sleepily,

'Hey,' he shakes his head, 'no. Not because of yesterday. Not because of you. Just a lot on my mind.'

'I could look after Pete for a few hours, if you wanted to go back to sleep?' Steve offers.

'Nah,' Tony shakes his head, 'let me finish this and I'll be back to normal.'

'Coffee isn't food, Tony,' he smiles.

'Lies,' Tony shifts closer and slumps against his side.

Steve is getting far too used to this.

'Not sure I can make this with only one arm,' he teases as Tony practically nuzzles his bicep.

'You're so warm,' Tony informs him.

Steve valiantly doesn't keep thinking about how Tony is half naked.

'You could put some clothes on if you're cold,' Steve hopes his voice sounds steady.

Tony merely grunts.

'Are you falling asleep on me?' Steve smiles and flips over the toast to brown the other side.

'I probably would if you didn't keep moving,' Tony gazes up at him with big sad eyes.

'Oh, well, I am sorry,' he smirks and steps away to plate up the toast.

Tony grumbles but follows him to the table and cuts up Pete's toast for him.

After eating Tony does seem a little more human. Steve is now hoping that if Tony notices him staring at his chest he'll assume he's looking at the arc reactor.

Pete settles himself on the floor a selection of his plastic animals, some cars and lots of paper and pencils. That he's hugging his blanky as he draws and his sword is on the floor beside him rather completes the picture.

Tony sits down on the sofa with another mug of coffee cradled to his chest. Steve sits beside him so he has a good excuse to avert his eyes.

'Tony, can I ask you something?' he asks a few minutes later.

'Sure, Cap,' Tony's gaze is alert again.

'I just... Yesterday you said...' he pauses.

'You have questions,' Tony waves a hand. 'Jarvis had to threaten to shoot you to keep me from going completely off the rails, you deserve some answers. So, one time offer, shoot.'

'Your mother...' Steve trails off. He knows that, regardless of what he just said, Tony's walls will be up for this conversation.

'My mother beat me on a semi regular basis from as early as I can remember until I was sent to boarding school,' Tony reports mechanically.

'And Howard?' Steve almost doesn't want to know.

'He didn't hit me, if that's what you're asking,' he replies. 'He ignored me for the most part; told me to keep out of his way. If he knew that Maria... what was happening, then he never let on.'

'I don't understand,' Steve admits. 'You always act like Howard was such a terrible father but...' he falters when Tony gives a fake laugh.

'It's human nature, Cap,' he sees Tony's gaze slide to the bar for a moment before flicking to his son. 'They prod at what they think is the story. All the time I'm the poor spoilt rich boy, whose hero of a father just didn't have time for him, they don't think to ask about my mother.'

There's a pause where Steve cannot think of anything to say before Tony continues quietly,

'I don't like talking about my mother.'

Steve can't imagine having anything but the highest degree of love for his mom.

'I don't understand how anyone could let that happen,' Steve tries to keep his voice from cracking. 'You were barely more than a baby...'

Tony has one arm crossed over his bare stomach and his other hand covering his arc reactor.

That's twice in two days Steve has managed to make Tony that defensive.

'I'm sorry,' he blurts, 'this is none of my business.'

'I'm fine,' Tony retorts, 'you have a free pass.'

'That doesn't mean...'

'Just ask,' Tony scrubs a hand across his face.

Steve swallows,

'You know that her being a monster has no bearing on you?'

'Sure,' Tony agrees quietly.

'Tony...'

'Something must have set her off,' Tony just sounds defeated, 'and she definitely resented me.'

Tony should never sound like that.

'Hey,' Steve risks gripping his friend's shoulder, 'you were a baby. What could you possibly have done to deserve that?'

Tony just shrugs; he looks to be caught in his memories.

Steve should never have asked.

'Someone should have stopped her,' Steve can hear his own distress. 'How could nobody notice what she was doing?'

'She probably paid them off,' Tony turns to look at him now, but his eyes are shuttered.

'And Howard?' Steve can feel his distress turning to anger. 'What possible excuse could he have for ignoring the abuse of his only son?'

Tony glances to Pete,

'Yeah, well, I'm just glad we found Pete when we did.'

'Pete was relieved when you told him he wouldn't see his mom again,' Steve has a bad feeling.

'Nature verses nurture,' Tony's expression ignites with his anger before collapsing back with a sigh. 'They couldn't be sure what made me into me so they kept everything as close to the same as they could.'

'They had a someone beat him while claiming to be his mother?' Steve can't help the growl in his tone.

Tony nods,

'Yeah. You can't see it now, it's healed, but she broke his arm early last year and that matches pretty perfectly with when Maria broke mine.'

Steve feels sick.

'It's also why he recognised me, you see?' Tony continues. 'They had someone who looked like me, or was wearing one of those masks to be me, and they had him exist in the way Howard did for me back then.'

'And he just ignored you?' Steve asks quietly when Tony falls silent.

'Yeah,' Tony shrugs, 'but if he could see me at all Maria never touched me. At Pete's age he was my hero; he kept her away and he sometimes told me stories. I mean, he was mostly drunk when he did that and the stories were always how amazing Captain America was and how no one else could ever compare, but it was more than I got from anyone else so...' he shrugs again.

'Pete trusted me from that first day,' he turns to Steve, 'because he thought he already knew me.'