"Tony." Steve shifts towards him again, curling his fingers around his. "I can't say I love you and keep something like this from you."

It would have ruined everything they had built together if he kept this from Tony. How the hell would Steve have lived with Tony with a secret like that? He couldn't look him in the eye knowing his best friend killed Tony's parents with Tony none the wiser. God, he'd be some sort of monster.

"I owe you everything. This is going to sound so patronizing right now but I really wasn't living before you. I was figuring it out, sure, but you kind of helped me find it sooner." Steve reaches up with his free hand and holds Tony's cheek against his palm. He tilts his face up. He searches his gaze, makes sure he can see the sincerity in his words and the truth of them.

"We're partners. I'm not going to keep secrets from you." It's not a partnership if there's secrets between them. It's part of why he got so mad about Ultron. Tony kept that from him, kept it from all of them except Bruce. Steve still couldn't believe Tony had talked Bruce into that one.

As long as they were together Steve was going to be honest with Tony. He couldn't feel like equals if he kept secrets like that.