[OOM: Howard Stark]

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

London, 1943

Downtime is both precious and rare when you're in an elite military force. Steve spends it at Milliways when he can, and at the pub that's become their local when he wants to stay in London.

(Which he often does, despite the air raids and curfews. He's come to love this dark, sprawling city. It's not New York, but it'll do until it's time to go home.)

So Steve is having a drink and smiling at the singing. Another thing to like about the English--no matter what, they keep on singing.

Comments

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

"I feel like I'm in the middle of a John Wayne picture sometimes. Only better, 'cause no screenwriter could make the treatment seem real.

"I think, for me anyway, it'll happen when it should. If it should."

[thefirststark]

"That's how it is for all of us. It's not like I'm spending much time worried about finding a wife either."

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

"But you still date. Why, if you not looking for a wife? For the company?"

[thefirststark]

"For the company, the sex, the escape. Like a lot of men do. They just don't like to admit it sometimes." He doesn't care what others might think.

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

Steve toys with his glass. He has things he doesn't want to admit himself, and he wishes he could.

"Yeah, I know they do," he says quietly.

[thefirststark]

"Look, you'll figure it out when you figure it out. Just don't think about it that much. You have a lot to deal with as it is, and dating shouldn't consume you." At the end of the day, Howard's first love isn't women or sex. It's science.

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

"Oh, it doesn't," Steve assures him. "But sometimes, it seems like it would be nice to have somebody just ... there for you."

[thefirststark]

"I understand that." Mavis, and Peggy, and all the others, they're fine for a night or two, but after the war, it might be time to find someone.

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

"Plenty of time," Steve says and knocks back his drink.

"Though I do wonder...if I were to have kids, would the serum affect them, do you think?"

[thefirststark]

"I don't know. In theory, it shouldn't affect your genes or your sperm since it altered you as an adult. Taking vitamins doesn't change things, after all.

"But the radiation we used...it was pretty unpredictable as it was. Safe but unpredictable." This is a bit of a fudge, since "Vita-rays" were and are untested. Safety is far from guaranteed. "You would probably need tests we haven't developed yet to know." Or Dr. Erskine, rest his soul.

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

"That's what I thought," Steve says quietly. "One or both of them would mean it's a bad idea."

[thefirststark]

"After the war, I'm sure we can figure out a few tests to get a better sense of things." Maybe. "The SSR knows a lot of good doctors and biologists who would be able to handle it. There are some men at Oxford I could recommend."

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

"Another thing to worry about after the war," Steve says wryly.

[thefirststark]

"I for one long forward to worrying about life after the war." He's sure they win - the Bar convinced him of that, not that he needed convincing - but it still seems a long way off.

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

Steve toys with his glass a moment more, then blurts out, "I don't know what's going to happen to me. What use is there for a soldier when the fighting's over?"

[thefirststark]

"Can I tell you something that I've heard whispered about? By Philips and the brass?"

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

"Please," Steve says.

[thefirststark]

"No one trusts the Soviets. Even if they're in the fight to the end on our side, the expectation at the top is that there will be another war. The army won't completely demobilize. You would have what to do if you wanted. So would I, come to think of it." A prospect that doesn't fill him with delight, but that also doesn't entirely scare him.

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

Steve frowns--the prospect of more wars is never good--but nods anyway.

"Then I'll be of some use. All right."

[thefirststark]

"And even if there's real peace, there are things you could do. Police work, or the FBI. J Edgar might kill for an agent like you." Though odds are J Edgar might just use Steve for another dog and pony show.

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

"I'm certainly racking up the experience to be of use in covert operations," Steve says, dry again.

[thefirststark]

"I'm sure it will all work out. Heck, I bet you could even take Bucky and the Howlers with you." But only by waving the flag. Which, come to think of it, Cap would be good at doing.

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

Steve laughs at that. "I'd better. I couldn't do this without them."

[thefirststark]

"Then maybe once this is over, you can get the colonel to help find you and the gang something to do. Maybe he'll even surprise you and want to keep you around."

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

"He hasn't called me a chorus girl lately," Steve observes. "That's a good sign."