Steve gets amnesia and he ends up mistaking Tony for Howard and just generally being /nicer/ to him.
They were taking turns staying at the hospital. It seemed easier than having the entire team huddled around Steve’s bed while the poor guy slept, and when Clint had called saying he wanted to get some food, Tony had gone in to take his “shift.” This was usually what they did when one of them was hurt. They would take turns staying by the hospital bed, hoping that having the injured person waking up to a familiar face would prevent panic. And, well, that’s just what friends did.
Tony thought it was weird to consider the Avengers as friends now. Sure, he’d invited them to live in his tower, but he never imagined things to work out so well. He’d found a great lab partner in Bruce, and even if they each wanted to work separately at times, it was nice to have someone close by to come to for help or questions. It turned out that Thor loved watching movies, so Tony and Thor had declared Friday evenings “movie night,” and they oftentimes stayed up talking about the films they watched. Clint was.. creepy, and sometimes Tony swore he slept with his eyes open, but the guy did have a sense of humor that he loved. Natasha was usually happy if Tony made her knives, and Tony sparred with her on occasion. And then there was Steve.
Good ol’ Captain America.
There were times when Tony liked to think they might become friends. He gave the guy technology tips if he seemed stuck, and Steve always came to movie night, but for some reason the Captain was just distant.
There was also the fact that, after almost every assignment or call to save the day, Steve and Tony fought. Steve always thought Tony was reckless, Tony always thought Steve was being too self-righteous, and it was just ugly. The team seemed to steer clear when the two blew up at each other.
But, hey, it didn’t keep Tony from sitting beside the guy’s bed after he took a hard fall. Steve had smacked his head pretty hard, but with the serum everyone thought he’d be just fine. He just needed to wake up first.
So there Tony sat. He played on his phone as the heart machine beeped, and really, he didn’t even know the guy had woken up til he heard a groan. “Hey, Sleeping Beauty. Finally time to wake up, huh?”
He was met with silence as Steve undoubtedly tried to take in his surroundings. He chuckled when eyes landed on him and Steve just stared.
“I know I’m gorgeous, but really. A picture would-“
“Howard?”
The name made Tony freeze, and for a moment he was silent.
“Howard, what…?”
Steve said the name again, and Tony jerked back as if he’d been burned. Howard? What the hell?
Scrambling out of the chair, he looked away. “I should tell the nurse you’re awake.” Without another word, Tony was out the door.
-
Leave it to the damn guy to hit his head and get amnesia. The doctors didn’t really have an explanation as to when it would get better, but they said with time Steve should remember. Apparently these things happened sometimes. Whatever. That was fine, or it would have been fine if Steve hadn’t mistaken him for Howard, of all people. Did he really look that much like the bastard? Tony knew there was a resemblance, but he didn’t think he looked just like the man he’d been striving to forget.
To make matters worse, Steve didn’t remember that he practically hated Tony. On his first day home, he’d actually offered to make Tony breakfast, and then he’d wanted to come down to the lab. On the second day, he’d asked Tony to join him watching television so they could talk about Stark Trek. There were days where Steve would stop Tony while he was on his way to the lab or to refill coffee for a simple chat, or a “how are you?”
It was unnerving. Tony didn’t like it.
Okay, so maybe he did like it, and that was the problem. Because when Steve got his memories back, he would remember his hatred for Tony Stark and the cold shoulder would be on once more, and Tony saw no reason in getting used to this nice treatment. Not at all.
So after a week, he locked himself in his lab and revoked all access. It was easier this way, he told himself. Everything would go back to normal soon enough, and they could forget all about nice-Steve who liked fucking Howard Stark, yet hated his son. Bastard.
