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JARVIS was dead.
That was a fact that the other Avengers seemed to brush over. They told Tony to get over it, he was just an AI, and though they were all upset that he was gone it was nothing to have such a dramatic reaction over. But they didn’t understand.
JARVIS was more than ‘just an AI’. JARVIS was the creation he was proudest of. JARVIS was the one who was always with him at his highs and lows. JARVIS was his assistant when he worked, and was always there to offer a sassy remark whenever Tony needed it (and often when he didn’t, too). JARVIS never judged him or his choices, but still kept him to stay healthy and stopped him from making some very stupid decisions. JARVIS showed concern, something even Tony didn’t think was possible, because he was learning and he was more than an AI.
And JARVIS was the last connection he had to Jarvis. Edwin Jarvis. The very real, very kind human being that was more of a father to Tony than Howard could ever even attempt at being.
Jarvis was the man who changed his diapers, fed him, bathed him, cuddled him, read him bedtime stories, watched him take his first steps, took a bullet for him, taught him discipline, supported his life choices, gently scolded him when he went too far, challenged his Dad when he hit him, and comforted him when his parents died.
“Jaabis” was Tony’s second word, after “Mama.” But Jarvis had been the one to teach him that, too.
Edwin Jarvis was the single biggest impact on Tony’s life. And having JARVIS around had kept him in some form of blissful denial. He knew that the man was dead, Tony had never cried more than at his small funeral, but he’d convinced himself that there was at least a part of him inside JARVIS. Somehow, he was living on through the AI. (He knew it was just programming, but having that mindset helped him to get up in the mornings.)
But JARVIS was gone. Destroyed by Ultron in the slowest, most painful way an AI could go.
And Jarvis was too.
That fact hit Tony like a truck, and his knees felt weak. He fell to the ground, memories of the butler clouding his mind. He pulled out his phone and searched for his saved pictures. He scrolled down until he reached the very first one.
A picture of an old printed photograph. On it was a younger-looking Jarvis smiling down at a tiny Tony who was chewing on his tie. A bigger Tony’s vision blurred with tears.
Tony had lost more than an AI. The Avengers wouldn’t ever be able to understand that.