Here you go guys! Just a little idea that floated into my brain and wouldn't go away. My mind decided I should write it and the idea wouldn't leave me alone until I wrote it down. So, enjoy my completely unedited trash that I wrote down on spur of the moment. Hope you enjoy it! Leave a review telling me what you think!

Tony gasped in pain as the bullet wound pulled. He tightened his grip on Steve, dragging him towards the door as the flames licked at his legs. His mind was in tatters and he couldn't think straight. The Hydra soldiers had gotten the drop on them, it had been bad. Everyone had managed to get out except Steve and Tony. Steve was only semiconscious, but he was slowly starting to regain his strength. He was picking up more and more of his own weight as Tony lost more and more of his. Tony was waning, but he didn't drop his hold on his teammate. He tried desperately to reach the exit. And he did. Despite all odds, with his Iron Man suit falling to pieces around him, he got Steve out. Rhodey was waiting for him and as soon as they were clear of the building, he held Tony's weight, just like he always did. Rhodey was always there to hold Tony when the man couldn't do it himself. Tony glanced over at Steve as Clint helped him to the quinjet.
"I...I saved him...?" Tony questioned, gripping Rhodey's shirt and trying to keep himself from falling over, "he's... He's okay...?"
"Yeah," Rhodey assured him, "you saved him, Tones. He'll be okay."
Tony collapsed against his friend, his exhaustion taking over. Rhodey caught and lowered him to the ground, yelling for help.
"Tony," Rhodey exclaimed, trying to keep him awake, "come on, man. Don't do this to me!"
"Steve," Tony gasped out, his mind muddled, "he's okay...?"
"Yeah man," Rhodey assured him, turning Tony a bit to be able to see Cap, who was just shaking the shock off, "see, he's okay."
Tony expression turned so desperate that it nearly broke Rhodey's heart, "dad'll love me now?" He asked, fading quickly as Bruce approached him.
Out of the corner of his eye, Rhodey saw Steve's head jerk up, "what?" The super-soldier breathed, his voice laced in horror.
"I did good, right? I saved Cap. I did good right...?" Tony asked desperation lacing his every word, "dad'll love me now... right?"
Rhodey gripped his friend gently, "yeah, Tony, you did great."
Tony nodded, leaning into Rhodey and breathing a gentle sigh of relief, "he'll love me now..." He whispered, his voice quiet as he dropped into unconsciousness.
"Yeah Tones," Rhodey murmured as Bruce ran over to him, quickly assessing his injuries.
He looked up, meeting Rhodey's fearful gaze, "he's okay, Rhodey. The bullet was a through and through. I'll patch it up and he'll be okay within a couple weeks. He just pushed himself past his limits this time. He just needs to sleep."
Rhodey slumped backwards against the quinjet wall, Tony's head resting on his lap. He glanced over, meeting Steve's stricken and confused gaze. He sighed, he'd have to have a conversation with the super-soldier later.

As soon as Tony was settled in a room in med-bay, Rhodey found Cap. He knew that Tony didn't talk about his dad much, but Steve deserved to know why Tony said the things he did. And why he acted the way he did. He found the older man beating away at a punching bag in the gym, two broken and battered ones already lying on the floor in the corner.
"Steve," Rhodey spoke up, snapping Steve out of his routine, "hey, we need to talk."
"How's Tony?" Steve questioned, not stopping his pummeling of the bag.
"He's fine," Rhodey replied calmly, "he's just sleeping now. He'll be just fine after he sleeps some."
"Good," came the short, clipped reply.
Rhodey sighed, "look, Steve-"
"What did he mean?" Cap whirled around, his eyes red rimmed with exhaustion, "what the hell did he mean, Rhodey?"
Rhodey sighed, dropping to the bleachers and gesturing for Steve to join him, "he meant exactly what he said," he replied matter-of-factly, "Howard changed after you, Steve. For his entire life, Tony was compared to you. Anything he did was evaluated by Howard based off of what you would have done. Tony never felt like he measured up to his father's standards," he sighed, rubbing the back of his neck, "what he asked up there was raw, unguarded vulnerability. His whole life he's tried desperately to measure up to what his dad wanted him to be, tried to measure up to you."
"That doesn't sound like Howard," Steve frowned, looking around and trying to avoid meeting Rhodey's gaze.
"Well it was," Rhodey snapped sharply, "I don't care what Tony says, Howard was abusive. Maybe not physically, but he rarely let a day pass when he didn't make Tony feel insignificant or small in some way or another. Howard was a genius, yes, but he was also a verbally abusive drunk," he spat, "and anyone who tries to tell you anything different..." He sighed, his anger abating somewhat, replaced by a deep sadness, "they're very wrong. He was horrible to Tony and not much better to Maria," he frowned, trying to gauge Steve's reaction, "what you saw from Tony up there was him without his masks. I'm sorry, Steve, I know that Howard was your friend but he was a godawful father."
Steve rubbed a hand over his face, "he saved me..."
"I know Howard saved-"
"Not Howard," Steve spat, "I'm talking about Tony," confusion dripped through the cracks in the super-soldier's mask, "his dad did all that, compared him to me, belittled him because of me, bullied him because of me..." Steve looked up at Rhodey, his eyes searching desperately for an answer, "so why did Tony save me?"
Rhodey sighed, "because you aren't his father, Steve," he explained, "look, to understand the way Tony acts you have to understand Tony. He cares a lot more than he lets on. From the time he was learning to walk he was being trained by the media to not let his emotions show. He was also trained to take responsibility to protect people. Every time someone he knows screws up, even if he didn't really have anything to do with it, he takes the responsibility. He takes the blame. It's been drilled into him for his whole life that he can only make mistakes," Rhodey sighed, "he graduated college at 16 and his father got mad because he didn't graduate at 15," he glanced around, wondering if he should reveal anything more, and then decided he needed to, "there's a reason that only a few people ever really handled Tony when he was drinking. And it's because he would let his guard down while he was drunk. He talked about things that he wouldn't usually," Rhodey stared off into space a bit as he told the next part, not wanting to see Steve's expression, "when he got drunk the first time, he was in our dorm. I came back from a late class and he had downed an entire bottle of vodka. I tried to get him cleaned up but he wouldn't stop crying. When I asked him why was wrong, do you know what he said? He just looked at me and said 'why couldn't Captain America have just parachuted out of that stupid plane and lived. Then maybe dad would love me'. He was 14, Steve. No real father would ever make his child feel like that. Howard was a horrible father. That's what Tony meant when he was in the plane. He wanted to know if his dad actually loved him now. He forgot for a moment that he was a forty-some-odd year old grown man and could only focus on the fact that he was hurt and wanted his dad to love him. But despite all that, he doesn't hate you. He points out every mistake you make to show himself and others that you're not perfect. He gives you a hard time because it's his reassurance that you're human. And that he's human. It's his way of coping with all the crap that his life has dealt him. Just remember that he doesn't hate you, okay? He's just coping."
Steve was silent for a moment, then sighed, "How do I make this right, Rhodey?"
"Treat him with respect," Rhodey replied quickly, "let him see you without the whole Captain America persona, every once in a while, and just be Steve. Let him get to know Steve Rogers and see through Captain America," Rhodey dropped a hand to his teammates shoulder, "it'll be hard, and he'll think you're acting weird as hell at first but gradually, he'll get used to it and he'll come around. Just give him time."
Steve nodded slowly, "I can do that..."
"Then you two will be just fine," Rhodey assured him, "I am warning you though," he smiled a bit, laughing gently, "when he lets you inside, he'll have his moments where you want to strangle the ever-living-daylights out of him and smash a bottle over his head," he smiled wider, standing to go check on his friend, "but it'll be so worth it, I promise."
Steve looked up at him, "thanks Rhodey. And thank you for telling me."
Rhodey nodded, "you needed to know."
Steve stood, crossed to the punch bag and resumed his methodical wearing down of it. Rhodey walked out, leaving Steve to his thoughts.
Steve glanced over as the door shut behind Tony's best friend. He rested his hands up against the punch bag, thinking over what Rhodey had told him. He shook his head and resumed punching the bag. He would fix Howard's mistakes. He would fix this.

I just... Imagine all the things that would have gone differently had Steve actually given a crap about actually understanding Tony. I like to think that CW would have gone VERY differently and Tony and Steve's relationship would have evolved into a deeper friendship. One where they could actually understand each other and relate. I'm of the very unpopular opinion that Steve and Tony are literally the same person, they just have different ways of showing it.

Ambitious - Tony wants to be great; Steve wants to be greatest Protective - the entire Bucky storyline; Ultron. Just Ultron. Antagonistic - Tony's sarcasm; Steve's constant orders an treating everyone as soldiers Insecure - Tony hides it behind sarcasm and masks; Steve hides it behind a mask of self-righteousness Genius - Tony in all senses of the word; Steve is a brilliant tactician Socially inept - both of their insecurities and reservations keep them from being able to relate to each other Leaders - Iron Man; Captain America Courageous - Steve jumping on the grenade; Tony flying through the wormhole (also, Endgame) Adoptive Tendencies - Tony and Peter; Steve and Wanda Problematic - Tony with his tendencies to not sleep and disobey orders; Steve with his tendencies to be overbearing and think he knows best Deceptive - Tony when hacking into SHIELD; Steve when lying to get into the army Selective/close friends they would die for - Tony= Bruce, Pepper, Happy; Steve= Bucky, Sam, Wanda (for both pre-CW, the entire team) Family problems - Tony with his mentally abusive father and absent mother; Steve with his physically abusive father

The biggest difference I can think of between the two is the Tony is always willing to give Steve the benefit of the doubt and a second chance, whereas Steve isn't willing to exchange the same curtesy to Tony. He refuses to give Tony any slack; when Tony literally breaks the law to help Steve. And even after everything Steve does to him, he still refuses to stop the man from breaking the others out of the raft. He gives and gives and gives until he can't give anymore. (when he gives Steve the arc reactor in Endgame) And yet he still keeps giving him chance after chance to reconcile. That's the biggest difference. Tony is willing to try over and over again to make things work; Steve just doesn't seem to want to try hard enough.

There are so many other similarities between the two but those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head. I just wish they'd tried harder to understand each other. Imagine if they'd ended up being really close and working together well. They would have been an unstoppable duo! I will forever be sad at the way their friendship turned out.

Anyways... That was a bit longer than I intended... I think my AN is about as long as the story itself. Whoops. Sorry, not sorry. Hope y'all enjoyed both the story and my rant. Leave me a review (or pm) telling me what you think! Love y'all!

-Storyspinner16