It was a topic that had been weighing on you for months now, and with each passing day, your fear of talking to your father about your wavering and uncertain sexuality only grew more daunting until you finally thought that you'd never be able to do it. It was something so personal and probably inappropriate to bring up to him that the idea made you almost physically ill. Your roommate at the tower was in a similar situation with her own dad, and you thought that maybe she would have some insight for you, but it turned out that her concerns only mirrored your own.

You had spent the day studying together, lying on your floor in piles of books and notes scribbled on papers scattered around you. The lack of organization looked the way you imagined your mind to be, with thoughts jumbled and mixed, with no rhyme or reason as to how they were put together. Of all of the things you had read and tried to focus on all day, not a single one had stuck in your memory other than your own worry.

"Have you talked to your dad yet?"

"Yeah, right," you scoffed with a roll of your eyes, "have you?"

"Oh, totally. I'm not terrified at all. Picture of bravery over here, just like the old man," your best friend answered snidely, sounding exactly like her father, the always-brave Captain Steve Rogers. "What's holding you up? Tony's probably the most laid-back dad ever."

"It's not that," you sighed, "it's that I don't know where I'd even start. Talking to my dad about this stuff isn't something that I thought I'd ever have to do. I mean, seriously, how do I start? Hey, pops, how do I decide if I like girls, or guys, or maybe both, or possibly neither? Have you ever thought about guys to think that they might be an option for you? If so, how did that go?"

"Sure, that could work."

"Smartass. Okay, fine, if you've got it all figured out, how are you going to tell Steve about the girlfriend that you've been hiding for over a year now?"

"Who says that I have to?"

"Libby, come on," you warned, "you can't keep hiding her from him. You know that when he finds out, and he will, that he'll be hurt if you didn't tell him first."

"You say that like you've completely forgotten who my dad is, (Y/N). Like he isn't actually from the 40's." She stood up from her place next to you on your bedroom floor, pushing aside the stacks of books from your study session with a loud groan as she thought more about her predicament with Steve. She flopped down onto her bed with a heavy exhalation that filled the room, letting the mattress settle for a few minutes before saying more. "He's not going to understand this. He's not like Tony."

"That's for sure," you muttered, only to turn your head at her silence and realize that she had heard you. "No! Libby, you know that's not what I meant. I love Steve. If I could have anyone else as a dad, it would be him, so don't go there. I just mean that one Tony is more than enough to have around."

Taking her cue that studying was done for the day, you stood up and took a seat on her bed next to her, finding yourself growing more and more pessimistic and believing that the day would never come when you could be open with your dad about the questions that you had. It was frustrating to no end, not being able to sort through this yourself, especially when it pertained to you directly, and the thought of needing his help did nothing but make you uncomfortable with the entire topic.

"Well," she said quietly, breaking the silence, "we could just go talk to them together. Strength in numbers?"

"Or at least we won't die alone?"

"Wow, (Y/N), you really are like your dad."

~~~

Your nerves were already raging when you walked into the living room to talk to Tony and Steve, but the sight of them looking back at you with cautious smiles on their faces only sent you into a spiral of panic and doubt. You tried to turn and run, but your friend stopped you, taking your arm and pulling you along so that you couldn't get away.

"Hey, girls," Tony greeted first, "study time is over already?"

"Looks like something's up," Steve added, "anything wrong?"

Libby pushed you out and in front, halting herself when she finally made eye contact with Steve and felt her own doubts take over to make her think that this wasn't the best idea after all. "Nothing's up, Dad, we're good," she smiled weakly, her voice beginning to crack, "just taking a break to say hi."

"Chickenshit," you muttered under your breath, taking a step back, "you were supposed to go first."

"Says who?" she whispered harshly in reply.

"This was your idea!"

"But that doesn't mean that I have to go first!"

"Ahem," Tony broke in, and when you looked up to face him, both he and Steve were now standing in front of you, their arms tightly crossed over their chests and looking worried as to what they were waiting to hear. "One of you needs to go first, so decide, or we'll decide for you."

You threw a cautious glance to your friend and opened your mouth to start, but she put a hand on your arm to stop you, seeing that your fear was hitting you harder than her own was. "Fine," she relented softly, "I can go first." Taking a few steps past you and towards Steve, she stopped and pushed her hands into her pockets nervously, looking at her feet and mumbling something until he had to stop her when he wasn't sure what he had heard.

"Hold on, Lib," he interrupted, "say that last part again."

"I said, I've been dating someone for the past year and haven't told you...because..." she stopped, looking back to you to gather a final push of strength, "because she's a girl."

Steve stood perfectly still with an unreadable expression; Tony joined in with you and Libby in staring at him expectantly, waiting for any words to come out of his mouth just so that you would know which way he would take this news. You started to think that maybe your friend was right; Steve was from a time when this kind of thing wasn't exactly accepted, and maybe he was stuck in that belief too. Tony finally broke his concentration and looked to you, now fully curious as to what news you had for him if this is what she had brought.

"Okay," Steve finally spoke, "I can't say that I'm not disappointed."

"Dad-"

"You've been dating someone for a year and I haven't met her yet? Is it me? Do you not want her to meet me for some reason? Did I do something?"

"Wait," Libby chuckled, holding a hand up to stop him, "you're worried that I didn't introduce her because of you? Dad, I haven't introduced her because she's a girl."

"Does that matter?"

"No!" she squealed, running to him and jumping into his arms when she was overtaken with relief. "Oh my god, you're the best!"

"Hey, hold on, I haven't had a turn yet," Tony added, turning to you, "let's not judge who's best quite so fast. Unless you have an illegitimate family hiding out somewhere, I think I can be in the running here too."

"No illegitimate family," you groaned, realizing that your turn to talk was upon you. "No...well, there's nothing...actually."

You had his curiosity more than piqued now; he relaxed his posture a bit and closed the space between you, taking your hands in his to wait for you to continue. When you didn't go on and continued to avoid his eyes, he reached up and lifted your chin so that you would have to respond, doing his best to stay calm when all he felt inside was fear. "Sweetheart, it's okay. Just say what you need to say."

"I'm just so frustrated," you began, and without your control, your words began to spill forth as fast as you could say them, like a floodgate had been opened. "I can figure out almost any problem, right? I can take any situation, work it out, run the figures, collect the data, and come to a conclusion that makes sense, and I never run into problems like this where I just don't see an answer."

"Right?"

"But I'm totally confused, and I can't see an answer here. For Libby, it was clear. She likes girls and has a girlfriend. For you, it's even clearer, and we all know that you're a world-renowned ladies man-"

"Careful," he interjected, though he wore a slight grin despite his stern tone.

"But me? I have no clue what's going on in here," you sighed with a tap of your finger to your head, "and most days I barely know who I am let alone who I would be interested in to share my life with. I just feel like I'm destined to be alone forever because I'm never going to figure this out."

Tony stood silently for a moment and let his thoughts run, failing to see the urgency in what you were telling him; you had your whole life ahead of you, certainly many more years that he had left. "Alright, so is there a reason that you're in such a hurry to find out? Wouldn't you rather have the time to figure out what you want and do it right?"

"Yeah, but I've been trying for a while now."

"Maybe you need to stop watching the pot," he offered with a shrug, "it's never gonna boil if you don't quit staring at it."

"So you think I'm trying too hard?"

"I think that if you just live your life without worrying about it every minute of the day, and stop pressuring yourself, the answer will come to you. Most of the crap that I've come up with around here hasn't been anything other than a happy accident and just letting things happen." His expression changed to a lopsided grin and a mischief in his eyes, glancing over his shoulder at Steve before turning back to you, "for example, look at Steve and I. We only made out that one time, and I immediately knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that I was as straight as one of Barton's arrows."

"We did not!"

"There's nothing to be ashamed of, Cap," Tony laughed, "experimentation is more acceptable now than it was back in your day."

"Seriously, you guys," Steve objected emphatically, "we didn't. He's making that up."

"That hurts me. All you have to say is that I'm not your type," Tony gasped, clutching his chest in mock pain, "you don't have to be so mean about it. I thought we had something special, even if it didn't work out."

"Tony, so help me..."

"Yeah, Dad," Libby joined in, "there's nothing to be ashamed of. Live and learn."

"Steve, you could do a lot worse than my Dad," you smirked, "he's one hell of a catch."

"Thank you, honey."

You had felt like a ton of weight had been lifted from your shoulders, just knowing that your dad understood and was supportive in helping you to understand yourself, no matter how long it may take, and no matter the outcome. Libby looked just as relieved, finding that the two of you had been carrying this fear for far too long for nothing. "Thanks, you guys," you offered seriously now, "you're both the best, really. We feel so much better."

"Sure, doll, anytime," Steve agreed, turning to take his leave, "I'm glad that someone feels better. Personally, I think some time apart might be in order," he pointed to Tony, who playfully replied with the blow of a kiss in his direction. "Yeah...a lot of time apart."