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Tony has a big, kind heart despite popular belief. No one knew the truth but Pepper- because she always knew. She knew that Anthony Stark had a heart even when evidence should have told her he didn't.
As a child, Tony had hair that was dark brown, eyes that weren't quite innocent but dark brown, and a heart that still loved regardless of the dark that surrounded him.
Tony used to have his mother to thank for that.
His mother, tried as she might, could not shield Tony of his father's alcoholism. His father couldn't contain that vicious drink, not like how Tony learned to- despite the appearances that he also wasn't able to.
Tony looked nothing like his mother. Maria had dark wavy auburn almost brown hair, dark gray eyes, but that same loving heart that shone through any darkness.
Looking in the mirror, Tony learned to hate his reflection. He hated he didn't look enough like his mother to remember what she gave him (her loving heart)- he always saw Howard Stark the Alcoholic. The same alcoholic genius that didn't have quite as big heart.
Maria Stark wasn't the same genius as Tony and Howard were. She couldn't figure out the physics of the reactor, nor could she solve the most difficult of problems...
Instead, she was her own proper genius. She had a big, kind heart that inspired the Maria Stark Foundation. The same big, kind heart that nursed Tony to the man he was- despite the alcoholism. Which, because of her, would one day conquer his personal troubles.
The only difference Maria and her son's heart, is that her's shone. It was obvious. Tony's heart hid in his father's shadow till one day, many years later, he was taken captive in Afghanistan.
That's when his heart learned to shine, so like his mothers, and people began to see. But it was always Pepper who saw, who always knew.
Maybe it was the way Tony showed compassion in never bedding her, or maybe it was simply seeing him personally in his own home.
When he gave the old reactor to her to throw out, she did the exact opposite and encased it. Like it was special.
And it was. It truly was. Pepper would never know what that simple act did to him. Because with the encasing she had also engraved the words "Proof That Tony Stark Has A Heart."
If Pepper knew, Tony figured that it was okay no matter what other's thought.
People instinctively figured that Maria Stark had a big, kind heart. She didn't need a reactor to shine through the dark. Maria did that on her own, with her own genius.
People eventually saw that Tony Stark had a big, kind heart. He not only needed the reactor to show others the truth, but to show himself as well.
And although that one fateful day in Afghanistan held the most tortured memories, it also held friendship and new makings of a heart that learned to shine.
Quite literally, in fact.
So Tony spoke, saying syllables that formed words and would one day become a part of his legacy.
"I am Iron Man."
But, really, as those same people shouted and those cameras flashed, it was almost like saying, "I have a heart."
-end-