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Previously:

(After attack on the beach)

"Jeez, Short Stuff…"

I barely heard whoever said that as I leaned my head against the cold, wet sand, spitting out the last of the bile.

At least I could breathe better…

My nose scrunched heavily as the smell hit me suddenly. Maybe it wasn't better to be able to breathe if this was what I was –

I was yanked back by the scruff of my sweater and I cried out in surprise, falling back on my ass. Who the fuck?! Why –?

Oh…

I blinked as another wave crashed where I had just been laying, thankfully washing away the remnants of the content of my stomach. Thankfully, I had been moved because the waves were getting more and more violent and that one would definitely have crashed over me.

I finally realized the pull on my sweater just as it was released. Who…? I blinked, wiping the hair plastered to my face away, feeling sand scratch my skin as I did so. True… I had placed my face in the sand…

I used my sleeve to remove a chunk of sand and water away as I turned my head, trying to spot who – who… My eyes widened at the sight of the two men, unconscious further away, trapped in some high-tech, fancy looking net.

Who had…?

My eyes widened. What…?

Tony.

TONY of all people was standing not too far away, shouldering some gun shaped weapon as he stared down at me.

What. The. Fuck?!

"You know you're damn well lucky JARVIS monitors the edge of my property," stated Tony with a wave of his hand in the direction of his house. "Damn lucky."

I frowned, scoffing at his tone and his words. "I thought you'd be happy to get rid of me," I snapped weakly, wiping my face once more. Ugh… I still felt the sand…

"You were nearly drowned, Short Stuff. That's no way for someone to go," he stated with a shake of his head as he turned heel, already heading back. "You're welcome, by the way."

I watched him for a moment before glancing back at the still unconscious men. What…? I stumbled to my feet and –

I groaned, falling to my knees. I hadn't noticed the throbbing in my leg until now. One of those assholes had stepped on it and I only just realized it hurt. This may be a problem getting back to the house. But, that was if I was going back there.

"What about them?" I called out, glancing at the men.

Tony didn't slow down nor did he turn around. "Police are arriving in 11 minutes. It'll be their problem."

I stole one last glance at the men once more before slowly getting to my feet, placing most of my weight on my left leg instead. Well, I knew I didn't want to be here when the police arrived: I wouldn't know where to start with explaining what had happened, especially to complete strangers.

And how these men went from unassuming to a threat within moments.

I began my slow progress of following Tony towards the hidden staircase, limping as I avoided placing too much weight on my right leg.

I didn't exactly want to think how climbing those stairs was going to be once I reached them…

Wiping my face once more – damn sand was STILL stuck – I glanced ahead of me, wondering how far ahead Tony was and – and…

Wait. He didn't seem that much further than before which was bizarre. I was LIMPING. He was FINE. I slowed down even more, frowning in confusion until I spotted the briefest of glances behind him as Tony pretended to look out onto the ocean.

"You coming, Short Stuff?" he called out, probably having realized I noticed him.

"Trying," I mumbled, picking up the pace once more.

Tony, however, hadn't started moving just yet as he eyed my right leg. He opened his mouth but I beat him to it.

"'m fine," I said as I passed him, still heading towards the stairs. That may not have been what he was going to ask but I was covering my bases just in case.

Besides, it wasn't like he actually cared.

Right…?

I pushed that thought aside for now as I focused on a more pressing question. Like how fucking far had I walked from the stairs?! I truly had been lost in thought, hadn't I?

Tony was keeping pace next to me but we weren't talking to each other which gave me a chance to sort through everything that had happened.

Like, who were those men? They had placed themselves far enough away from Tony's property, probably to not draw attention to themselves but still close enough to have figured out that I came from the house.

No, not a house. A mansion.

Stark's mansion. Those men had called it Stark's mansion.

That name had thrown me off, I had to admit.

Tony Stark.

I stole a glance in Tony's direction, trying to be discreet while studying his features, trying to spot something that may look familiar. It did seem like he had some of Howard's traits but… That may just be some wishful thinking from my part.

Like I wanted Tony to be related to Howard so I could possibly have one link to the past, to everyone I had lost in 1945.

As I said wish – wishful thinking…

Wait.

Would that have been the reason the Gate had dropped me in Tony's basement? Because of that link?

And is the name 'Tony' short for 'Anthony'?

Is Tony Howard's SON?!

Was that the piece of the puzzle I had been missing? The key to understanding all of this confusion?

"Are you going to be able to climb the stairs, Short Stuff?" asked Tony, making me jump, pulling me away from my thoughts.

I blinked, trying to process what Tony – Howard's son? – had just said.

"Hey, stay with me," stated Tony, snapping his fingers in front of my face.

But, if Tony was Howard's son, why hadn't he said anything? Why not tell me? Why HIDE it?!

Why hate me?!

"Short Stuff, hey, did they hit your head too?" asked Tony, taking a step closer and studying me carefully.

But… He could have just left the police to deal with it. He said they were on their way. He didn't NEED to come down. He didn't even NEED to wait for me.

He didn't need to care.

But, if he hadn't come down, hadn't cared…

"Thanks," I mumbled, lowering my gaze and toeing the sand.

It looked like Tony faltered at that word and I caught him, from the corner of my eye, making a show of cleaning his ear.

"Yes, I do think they hit your head. That, or I've gone delusional because I thought I heard –"

"Thank you," I repeated with more force, rubbing my nose.

He almost looked like he wanted to be smug but he couldn't seem to pull it off. Instead, he just shrugged, motioning towards the stairs. "It's gonna rain soon and I don't particularly care to be outside when it does."

I glanced up at the sky that had gotten even darker than before and the wind had picked up drastically.

And that meant that pain was starting to spread from my ports as the pressure was dropping drastically.

Great… Just great…

"How fast can you climb those stairs?" wondered Tony as we neared the base of them several meters away.

I shrugged, eyeing the tall cliff that housed the ridiculous amount of stairs that lay ahead of me. "Why, you don't want to get your hair wet in the rain?" I mumbled, rolling my eyes.

"Amongst other things," said Tony with a smirk but he motioned to my automail with a wave of his hand. "And the drop in barometric pressure is known to cause pain to people with prosthetics."

My jaw dropped as I stared at him in disbelief. Not only from the fact that he knew about the pain but… that he cared enough to mention it.

What. The. Fuck. Was. Happening?!

"Don't give that look, Short Stuff."

"Why do you care?!" I blurted out, still in shock. "Since when do you care?"

Tony huffed, looking away, even rolling his eyes at my very valid questions.

"Why –?"

My question was cut off as lightning struck nearby followed by a booming crash of thunder. I gasped out, ducking as I tried to figure out exactly where that lightning hit because it was definitely not a good idea for me to be anywhere near a thunder storm.

I was a walking lightning rod with my automail!

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!

Almost tripping, I limped as quickly as I could towards the stairs, almost praying that the next lightning strike wasn't anywhere near us. This would not be the best way to go if –

I hadn't noticed that Tony had gotten to my right side until he lifted my automail arm and swung it over his shoulders, pulling me close by the waist as I felt the weapon he was carrying hit me on the hip. He was nearly dragging me with him towards the staircase. I could faintly hear the soft cursing under his breath in several languages as my mind tried to keep up with what the FUCK was going on.

Had I somehow crossed over into another alternate dimension?!

We reached the hidden staircase just as the rain dropped from the sky in an almost uniform sheet of water and another lightning strike illuminated the sky, thunder following a second later.

"Fucking shit," I mumbled, turning around to stare out onto the beach.

Tony had quickly let go of my arm, letting it fall back against my side as he took a deep breath, also glancing out.

And we were quiet, just the rain falling and our breathing the only sound I could hear.

Along with the occasional booming of thunder.

So… What was I going to do now?

Why – why was Tony acting this way? Did he feel guilty about what had happened? I nearly scoffed at that thought. Highly unlikely from my experience from the past week. He… Well, maybe… Maybe a little part of him was. As I had figure before, he didn't need to come all the way down here.

And yet… He did.

I stole a glance towards him and he quickly caught me, tilting his head and sending me an unimpressed look. Asshole… I just rolled my eyes.

He bypassed me without a word, climbing a few steps before flopping down, leaning against one of the walls and laying his weapon down.

"What? Tired already?" I mumbled, stuffing my hand in my pocket.

"Sit down, Short Stuff. You're not climbing these stairs any time soon with that limp of yours," he said off-handedly with a wave of his hand. "And I'm not exactly in the mood to drag you up them."

"Alright, what the fuck is going on?" I exclaimed throwing my hand in the air before wincing as another boom of thunder echoed around us. "Since when do you actually care about me?"

Tony sighed heavily, crossing his arms as he slouched, leaning even more against the wall. "You are being a pain, Short Stuff."

I groaned out in irritation, passing my hand through my hair as I flopped onto a lower stair. "No, YOU'RE the one being a pain. Just answer the damn question! You don't like me, you've made it clear since the moment I landed here and yet, here we are," I even made a show of waving my arm around frantically, "because you somehow grew a conscious in the last couple of hours! Why? What changed?!"

"Who said something changed?"

I stared at him in disbelief for several heartbeats before growling out and punching the stair. Unbelievable. Fucking unbelievable. And I believed for even a moment that Tony was Howard's son? Yes, Howard pissed me off from time to time but this was beyond ridiculous!

Besides, if Tony was actually the Stark heir, then Howard would most likely have told him about me and Tony wouldn't have such a horrible opinion of me! He would have… would have…

Prodigy.

Smart enough.

Intelligent.

Wait…

No…

No fucking way…

What – what if Howard had talked about me to Tony? But… It had the opposite effect? Like how the teachers used to compare me to Al growing up? How I wasn't as calm or as caring as him in school? That had pissed me off before I learned not to care about that.

And also having left school at an early age as well to go train with Teacher did help.

But Tony… Howard had passed away in 1991. I didn't know Tony's exact age but I would say he was in his 40s. Then, he would have been in his teenage years, late teenager years when he lost his father.

More than enough time to hear too many stories about myself and…

And of Steve.

Golden boy.

"Holy fucking shit," I gasped out, leaning forward, covering my face. "Damn…"

"Short Stuff?"

I slowly glanced towards Tony, my eyes wide as pieces starting falling into place, fitting all too well and making just so much sense.

"I get it," I murmured, nodding more to myself at that point.

If Howard had compared us, then that would be why Tony hated the idea that it was me that had landed in his basement. He had mentioned something along those lines when I had arrived. That is was specifically me! That damn Gate had decided to drop me in that specific basement. The Gate had made that decision because Tony was the only link I had to 1945: everyone else apart from Peggy was gone.

And Peggy wouldn't exactly be able to help me, not with my automail.

Tony could.

The Gate wasn't toying with me.

It just left me with someone who had grown up hating me…

No, Tony would have hated the person Howard had told him about. Maybe that was why he was acting different as the week went on. Who I actually was versus who Tony thought I was.

It made sense.

"You gonna share your eureka moment, Short Stuff, or am I leaving you alone down here?"

And that's why he hid who he was. Who Pepper was. If people knew who Tony was just like they knew who Howard was, then they would probably know who Pepper was if she worked for Tony. Information on her would have given Tony's identity away.

That missing piece was "Stark" and the rest of the puzzle became so much clearer.

And… In the kitchen, during our fight. Well…

Actually looking back at it, Tony had stopped reacting halfway through, had stopped defending his actions, had stopped making excuses. He had stopped and had been just staring at me. He hadn't lowered his gaze but…

He had looked… defeated?

"Short Stuff!"

I jumped in surprise, focusing back on the present, turning towards Tony, studying him carefully before I finally managed to articulate, "Howard fucked up."

Finally. I finally got a reaction from Tony. It wasn't the flashiest but it was just enough to tell me that I had hit the nail on the head: he had tensed, his gaze shifting to the side for just a moment but it was enough.

I. Was. Right.

Fucking shit. I was RIGHT?!

"What are you talking about?" asked Tony but his voice was too even, too controlled.

"You're Tony Stark," I said and he didn't untense. "Those men called your house Stark Mansion, called you Tony Stark! That's the reason the Gate dumped me in your basement; the reason you hid information; –"

"Short Stuff –"

" – even the reason you don't like me! Howard. Fucked. Up! I – "

"Quit while you're ahead, will ya?"

"Stop interrupting me! I GET IT!"

"Whatever you think you figured out, it's not –"

"My father was an asshole too."

Finally… That comment stopped him from running his mouth, stopped him from continuing to deny what I had figured out. Honestly, it was one of the few times since I had arrived that I had seen him being so emotional. His gaze was lowered, his body tense as he breathed deeply, his jaw clenched and a hand pressing firmly against his chest.

And he had stopped trying to come up with excuses.

"Can we just stop?" I asked softly but he didn't move. "I know who you are now, especially since you haven't denied anything since I brought Howard up." I noticed Tony taking a deeper breath at the mention of his father and confirmed that somehow, Howard had truly fucked at some point… However, there was a question that had been bothering me since this realization. "Why didn't you just tell me?"

Tony finally huffed loudly, running a hand through his hair, messing it up before massaging his face. He looked deep in thought as he leaned back and began fiddling with anything he could get his hands on.

"Telling you wouldn't have made a difference," he ultimately said with a sigh.

"Really? Not knowing –?"

"I'm NOT my father," he snapped, finally looking in my direction and I shut my mouth quickly. "I'm not him and telling you would just have had you wishing he was around instead or that I was more like him."

Well… That was a fair point. Because I had compared Tony's lab to Howard's. It may have been just a matter of time before I compared the two as people. But… I should be the last person to do so. "Maybe I would have but, I also know what it's like to be compared to a father you don't particularly care for," I explained softly, playing with my hair. My hair and eye colour came directly from him, a constant reminder whenever I saw my reflection. "I get it, it sucks…"

"Then why would it have mattered if you knew I was a Stark or not?" he asked with a wave of his hands. "You'd magically like me? Trust me?" He only gave me a moment to think about it before continuing. "And based on what? A man you used to know? As I said, I am not my father."

We stared at each other for a moment before I nodded in understanding. "Fine. You make a good point. Maybe I would have given you a better chance, maybe it could have been worse. But," I frowned, pointing at him, "you do know that you based not liking me on whatever Howard had told you. You didn't like me and acted like an asshole for the past week because you knew who I was. Supposedly knew who I was. Maybe that's why you weren't always such a jerk, because what you expected wasn't like what you saw."

Tony and I kept staring at each other before he rolled his eyes, somewhat nodding. "Point taken."

"Good."

"Good."

And, for the first time, the air around us wasn't tense nor awkward and I could breathe easily, slouching against the wall, listening to the rain fall outside.

"So, do we start over?" I suggested, glancing towards Tony.

He rolled his eyes but nodded anyway. "Fine. But I'm not calling you anything but Short Stuff."

"Yeah, still an asshole."

"Still short."

I flipped him off as I tried to stop myself from smiling. "Alright, so, if I do let you look at my arm, what are you going to do with it?"

Tony glanced towards my automail for a moment before answering. "Either I figure out how it works and fix it or, figure out how it works and upgrade it. Starting with how damn heavy it is. What is it made of anyway?"

I had to admit, the mention of an upgrade got me excited. I haven't had a newer version on my limbs in over three years, since Winry had fitted me with the winter automail when we were at Briggs. "This version is made of aluminum and carbon-fiber," I replied, lifting my arm and laying it on my lap. "It was made specifically for cold weather."

Tony nodded, staring at it. "Sure, but it's still heavy. I already have some combination of metals that could be better and not put a strain on your body."

"Really?" I couldn't keep the excitement out of my voice at that news.

"That is, if you let me look at the arm."

Well… What the hell. "I can, on one condition."

He rolled his eyes, waving me to continue. "I know, I know, I won't run away with it. You already men – mentioned…"

As he had been rambling, I had bent forward, grasping the end of my jeans and rolling them the best I could up, revealing my automail leg as well. That got him to lose his train of thought as he stared in surprise at my leg.

"The condition is you do the same for my leg. Deal?"

Tony stared for a moment longer before nodding. "Deal, Short Stuff."

Voila! Thank you all once again! Let me know what you thought! :D