Archive of Our Own

When Anthony Edward Stark was brought into the world, Edwin Jarvis knew the boy had one hell of a shine to him. It was clear as fucking day. 

On top of all his other duties to the Stark family, Jarvis took the time to teach the boy how to used his shine , what it was and how- not matter how far apart they were- Tony would always have a way to call for Jarvis. 

As Tony grew he figured out more and more ways to use his shine , including reaching out and befriending a young boy named Jim. 

From what Jarvis knew, Tony and Jim talked about everything. They were as thick as thieves and Jarvis thanked his lucky stars that the two didn’t know each other in real life. They would be nothing but chaos. 

Tony and Jim had been trying for months to see each other. They had gotten close a few times, the world seemed to tilt on its axis, but they never saw a glimpse of each other. 

The world suddenly seemed to turn on its axis and when Tony could see clearly again he found that he wasn’t in his room anymore. The room he was in now was smaller. Instead of lying in his bed- like he had just been doing- he was not sitting on a cream colored shaggy rug. The room was bathed in golden light. The bedroom he was in was smaller than Tony’s own bedroom, but it was far cooler. The blankets on the bed had planets and spaceships and astronauts all over. On top of the blankets rested a peculiar looking stuffed animal, it was brown and it had a beaver tail, but the nose was all wrong, it was long and flat and Tony figured it must be some kind of alien creature.

The room, as it turned out, was full of space stuff, and planes and jets. And when Tony looked up at the ceiling he saw glow in the dark stars. He grinned at the sight of them and wondered if Mom would let him do the same thing to his room.

When Tony looked at the rug he was sitting on he discovered a toy jet lying in front of him. He reached for it and immediately froze. His skin was… not his skin. His skin- but not his skin- was the exact color of the soil that Ana liked the garden with, a deep, rich color that Tony always liked.

whoa

And then the world shifted again and Tony found himself back in his own bed, his head was killing him.

that was so cool! was that your room?!

Sending the message didn’t help the pounding in his head, but he was too excited about what had just happened to care.

yea! I can’t believe we traded places!

Tony continued to talk with Jim until they both decided that their chatting was not helping their headaches and they would switch places again when they were older so hopefully neither of them would be in pain afterwards.

Tony couldn’t wait for that to happen, he had been a whole other person! That was so cool! He liked seeing Jim’s room, maybe one day he would be able to see it again, but for real.

He laid back in his bed, a wide smile on his face. He managed to fall asleep even with his head aching.

“Master Anthony,” Jarvis’s voice startled him out of his sleep.

“J?”

“Have you been sleeping this whole time?”

“My head hurt,” Tony said.

Jarvis’s expression softened and he pressed the back of his hand against Tony’s cheek. 

“Jim and I traded places!” Tony said excitedly. 

“What?”

“The whole room kind of… turned? And all of a sudden I was in Jim’s room! I was in his body! I think that means he was in mine though,” Tony said as his brows furrowed.

“How do you know you were in his body?” Jarvis asked. 

“His skin is different- and his room was so cool! He has all kinds of space stuff and different kinds of planes and jets!” Tony enthused. 

“You must be careful with this gift, Master Anthony,” Jarvis warned.

“I know. We’re not gonna try it again till we’re older,” Tony told him.

“I think that would be for the best,” Jarvis agreed, carding his hand through Tony’s hair.

“It was so cool,” Tony said, his eyes wide with wonder.

Tony sat in front of the tv, he had a bowl of cereal in his lap and his stuffed dragon sat next to him- Ana had made it for him and it was his most favoritest thing in the world, it was red and gold and Tony never watched a Scooby Doo episode without it.

this episode is the best

this one? No way! The spooky space kook one is way better

Tony scoffed and shook his head. Jim clearly didn’t see how great the Jeeper Creeper was. Plus the song mentioned someone being in love with an ostrich and Tony thought that was hilarious. He and Jim watched the episode together- even though they were thousands of miles apart- and talked the entire time. 

Tony and Jim watched cartoons together on the weekend, on the weekdays they helped each other with their school work. When one of them had a test, they absolutely used each other to get help for questions they didn’t know the answer to, and when it came down to math tests- a subject they were both proficient in- they challenged each other to see who could get the better grade. During breaks they talked to each other almost nonstop, showing each other drawings of a bot he hoped to build- in Tony’s case- or drawings of rocket ships and airplanes- in Jim’s case. They were each other's best friends.

As Tony grew older it became more and more difficult to get a hold of Jim. Using the connection felt like pushing through molasses. It wasn’t something he brought up to Jarvis. He was afraid that Jarvis would tell him that he was losing his shine. It wasn’t a conscious decision to stop trying to reach Jim, one day Tony simply didn’t have the energy to reach out to his old friend and never tried to do so again. 

When he was 15 he got into MIT. His mamma took him to the ballet to celebrate. Howard didn’t seem too invested, and Tony didn’t use what was left of his shine to find out if his fathers emotions matched his actions. 

He was 17 when he graduated. Two years of nonstop work and grueling classes gave him two bachelor degrees and two masters degrees. Was that possible for anyone else? Probably not. But Tony had loved MIT. He had loved being out from under Howard’s thumb, he had loved being given free reign to design and create whatever the fuck he wanted to make. He loved Dum-E so much. The bot was probably one of the greatest things he was ever going to build. Unfortunately, his wonderful robot son was too clunky and awkwardly shaped to bring anyway, so Tony struck a deal with his alma mater that the bot could remain in the engineering lab to help out other young engineers and Tony could come visit him whenever he pleased. 

Tony was 19 years old when Howard and Maria were killed in a car crash. The grief over losing his mother almost ruined him. 

Tony was startled awake, his heart pounding in his chest. He wasn’t entirely sure what had woken him until he heard shallow, rasping breathing coming from the far side of his room. Tony pushed himself up on his elbow and squinted into the darkness. The rasp continued. Without pulling his gaze from the far side of his room, Tony reached over to his bedside table and flicked on the lamp. The room was thrown into a soft yellow light. There was nothing on the far side of the room.

Tony was 19 years old, but he slept with the lights on that night, unable to get the rasp out of his head.

After two or three days of nothing strange happening, Tony was ready to brush the encounter off as a particularly vivid dream. Then, he woke once more in the dead of night to that terrible, shallow, rasping breathing. Tony glanced at the far side of his room and saw what looked to be a silhouette of a man. Terror clawed at him as he scrambled to turn on the light. His fingers found the switch and the room was thrown into a soft yellow light. There was nothing on the far side of the room.

“Shit,” he breathed.

He stared at the corner for a few more minutes, studying the walls intently, but he still couldn’t find a source for the silhouette. He made a move to turn off the light but hesitated. 

He slept with the light on once more. 

The noise kept happening, every few days he would wake up to the rasp, and in the corner there would be the silhouette. Then, one night, the silhouette took a step toward him, and when Tony turned on the light it didn’t vanish immediately, giving him a chance to finally see who- or what- had been haunting him. 

Howard Stark’s long dead face was twisted with rage. 

Tony didn’t tell Jarvis about seeing Howard. He hoped that the situation would work out on its own, that whatever power Howard was using to manifest in his room would simply fail. 

How utterly fucking foolish he was. 

Howard kept getting closer and closer. Tony didn’t know how to make him stop. One night, Tony woke up and Howard was standing right next to his bed. Tony froze up, his body unwilling to move, unwilling to flee. He raised two bloated, grey hands and wrapped them around Tony’s neck. Cold and clammy and tight and unyielding-

Then he was gone. Tony collapsed on the hard ground, coughs and sobs wracked his body as he tried to breathe. His throat felt like it was on fire, and his body ached, he didn’t know if it was from the oxygen depravation or from the fall from his bed to the hard floor, but he hurt all over. He didn’t know how long it took for him to get his breathing in order, but there was one thing he knew for certain, if Howard came back the following night Tony knew there was nothing he could do to stop him.

He sat on the floor until the first rays of sun lightened the room. He shakily pushed himself to his feet and shuffled downstairs so he could talk to Jarvis, hopefully his father figure/mentor might have some sage words of advice for his murderous ghost father problem.

That certainly wasn’t a problem he ever thought he’d have.

“Master Anthony? You’re up… what happened?” Jarvis demanded, his eyes locked on Tony’s neck where no doubt there was some god awful bruise.

“Howard,” Tony said, his voice coming out as a harsh rasp.

Jarvis stared at him for a moment, dark eyes wide with worry. Then he was bustling around the kitchen, making Tony what appeared to be a cup of tea.

“Hot water, lemon, and honey,” Jarvis said as he set the cup in front of Tony.

“Thanks,”

“How long has this been going on? How long have you been seeing him?” Jarvis asked.

Tony took a sip of his drink before he answered. It was hot and not particularly delicious, but it did help his throat feel better.

“Once a week for the past month and a half,” 

Jarvis just nodded.

“First time he touched me,”

The worry was back in Jarvis’s eyes.

“I don’t know what to do, J,” Tony confessed, tears burning in his eyes.

“I have something, wait here and finish your drink,” Jarvis said before he walked out of the kitchen. 

Tony did as instructed and continued to take small sips of the fake tea. He was nearly done by the time Jarvis returned. He rounded the island and silently passed Tony an ornate box, it was red with a golden relief. It was beautiful albeit a little ostentatious for a small box.

“What is this?” Tony asked.

“Familiarize yourself with it,” Jarvis said.

Tony eyed it carefully, flipping it around so he could see all six sides before he opened it up. The box was empty, there wasn’t a single thing inside of it.

“It’s an empty box,”

Jarvis nodded.

“Build yourself one of these in your mind, and the next time you see him, trap him in it,”

Tony eyed the box again.

“Are you sure it’ll work?” he asked softly.

“Worked for me,” Jarvis told him.

“You’re stronger than him, Master Anthony, you always have been. Once he’s in that box he’ll never be able to get out, not unless you let him,”

Tony nodded and held the box tightly.

“One day, Master Anthony, you’re going to meet someone like you, who Shines so bright it hurts, and I hope when that day comes you teach them everything they need to know,” Jarvis said softly. 

Tony knew he was right, but still the thought of having to be a mentor scared the shit out of him. He really wasn’t that good with kids and if anything he was fairly certain he’d just fuck things up for the kid.

The door to Tony’s room creaked open. Tony watched once more as Howard Stark stumbled into his room, all filthy suit and swollen skin. Tony swung his legs over the edge of his bed and concentrated on the box inside his head.

That was when Howard started screaming.

When the deed was done and what was left of Howard was locked away for good, Tony at last felt at peace. Howard had haunted him for so, so , long and now he was finally free. Howard would not touch him again.

For the first time in weeks, Tony fell asleep with ease, and he woke up feeling refreshed.

When Jarvis died, Tony lost himself to the bottle. He couldn’t hold down a job, he breezed from town to town, never holding down a job long enough to stay in one place for more than a few months. He drifted aimlessly for years. He knew if Jarvis was alive, that he would be disappointed with the way Tony was living his life, but still Tony didn’t change his lifestyle.

His wake up call didn’t come for years after Jarvis died.

His wake up call came with raspy breathing in the middle of the night.

His wake up call came in the form of Obadiah Stane.

He hadn’t gone to Obie’s funeral. He didn’t even know how his godfather had died. He didn’t know why Obie was haunting him the same way Howard used to.

Tony couldn’t seem to picture the box in his mind. It wasn’t enough, he wouldn’t be able to hold Obie. Tony took half a step back from the ghost and then just as suddenly as he appeared, he was gone.

“Fuck,” Tony said shakily.

Tony tried to run from it. He didn’t want to deal with Obie. He didn’t want to deal with any of it, so he ran. He got on a bus, one that would take him across the fucking country, and he let the bus take him all the way to New Hampshire.

Tony stepped off the bus, squinting into the harsh sunlight. He stood there for a moment, listening to the sound of the bus pulling away from the stop. The bus had dropped him off in front of the Rose Hill Community Center. 

Snow as fine as lace danced around him as he took in the shops that lined the wide main street. The shops, no doubt, catered to skiers who came in December, and summer people who came in June, and probably even saw a fair amount of leaf-peepers during the fall months. As the mainstreet was all but deserted, Tony figured that Rose Hill didn’t have a draw for springtime. Not that spring was a particularly exciting season in New England, it was mostly grey and cold.

Tony slung his bag over his shoulder and started to walk north. He came to a stop outside a large Victorian house with an iron wrought fence. There were two newer brick buildings on either side of the house. They were connected to the old Victorian by covered walkways. There was a turret on the left side of the house, but not on the right side. It gave the old house a lopsided look that Tony kind of liked. 

The sign on the front lawn, gold letters on a dark red sign read, JANET VAN DYNE HOUSE. 

They have a cat in there , Tony thought to himself.

A tortoiseshell cat named Jay .

(This would turn out to be partly true, partly untrue. There was a tortoiseshell cat, but it’s name wasn’t Jay).

Tony continued his walk through Rose Hill. He eventually stumbled upon what seemed to be a miniature version of the town. It looked like an exact replica. Near what Tony had dubbed as Teenytown, there was a small train that didn’t look like it could fit any passenger bigger than a child. 

(Tony would soon find out how wrong he was). 

He made his way over to the locomotive and found a footstool near the drivers cockpit. He dragged the stool closer to the train and stood on it to get a better look at the inside of the train. 

“Like it?” the voice came from directly behind Tony, almost causing him to fall off the stool. 

A large hand wrapped around his arm to steady him. The voice came from a guy in his late forties, he wore a dark jacket and a hunting cap with the earflaps pulled down. In his other hand he carried a toolkit with PROPERTY OF ROSEHILL MUNICIPAL DEPT taped across the top.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to-” Tony started as he slowly stepped down from the stool.

“It’s alright,” the man said with an easy shrug.

“People stop to look all the time. Usually model-train buffs. It’s like a dream come true for them. We keep them away in the summer when the place is jumping and the train runs every hour or so, but this time of year there’s just me, and I don’t mind. Harold Hogan, but most people call me Happy. Town maintenance crew,” the man said, offering his hand.

“Tony Stark,” Tony said as he took the offered hand.

Happy eyed the duffel bag slung over Tony’s shoulder.

“Just got off the bus? Or are you hitchhiking?”

“Bus. What does this thing have for an engine?” Tony asked, curiously.

“Well now, that’s interesting. Probably never heard of the Chevrolet Veraneio, have you?” Happy asked. 

Tony didn’t pretend to be an expert on all types of engines, but he knew what kind it was because Happy knew. Tony hadn’t felt such a clear shine in years.

“Brazilian Suburban, wasn't it?” Tony asked. 

“Turbodiesel,” Happy confirmed, grinning at Tony. 

They talked about the train for a while longer before Happy offered Tony a job and then showed him how the train sat passengers- which made Happy look comically large compared to the size of the train.

Tony’s new boss was a man named Ho Yinsen. He seemed like a good man, no bullshit, no tolerance for drinking- which suited Tony as he was trying to fucking quit- and generally seemed like a good guy to work for. 

Tony was hired as a maintenance man. He liked the work, kept his hands busy, and for the most part when he was done for the day he was too tired to do anything other than sleep.

He had a small apartment in the attic of an old Victorian house. His landlady told him that the previous occupant had been a college student who had covered one of the walls with chalkboard paint. Tony used it to keep track of jobs he had to do at work, and occasionally to doodle on. His little attic room had an attached bathroom and a very small fridge, all of his cooking would have to be done in the communal kitchen. 

For all intents and purposes, he was doing fine.

Then, suddenly, he wasn’t doing fine. 

It didn’t take long for Obadiah Stane to show back up. Tony knew if he didn’t do something then he was going to be absolutely fucked. Howard had nearly killed Tony before Tony got his shit together and asked Jarvis for help. He didn’t want to give Obie- Stane- the time to try and kill him. 

Happy had offered him help, and Tony needed to take it.

Tony knocked on the door to Happy’s room. It was early in the morning, and he felt a little bad about waking Happy up, but he needed help. Obie- fuck Stane- wasn’t backing down and Tony needed to get sober. He needed to build a new box, and he couldn’t do that when the bottle called to him like it did.

The door to Happy’s room opened, and Happy stood there in pajamas and a fluffy blue robe.

“Tony?”

“I think I need help,” Tony said softly.

Understanding washed over Happy’s face and he nodded.

“Let me get dressed, I’ll take you to Yinsen,” 

If Ho Yinsen was surprised to see Tony sitting across from him in his office, then he didn’t let it show on his face. 

Yinsen didn’t have the shine that Happy did, it was more of a twinkle, but it was there. 

“Happy sent me,” Tony said when it became clear that Yinsen wasn’t going to start the conversation. 

Yinsen still said nothing. He seemed to be waiting for Tony to dominate the conversation, to tell him the words he had said to Happy earlier. But those words were harder to say to Yinsen than they were to Happy. 

“I need help,” Tony said quietly. 

Yinsen leaned forward slightly. 

“You’re sick and tired. That much I can see. But, are you sick and tired of being sick and tired?” Yinsen asked. 

“You don’t know how much,” Tony whispered, fighting back tears. 

“Maybe I do,”

Yinsen told him about the AA group that met in Rose Hill, and how it had helped him overcome his own drinking problems. He had a 15 year chip. 

So Tony joined the AA group and hoped- almost desperately- that it would help him find the will to lock Stane away for good. 

Then, one night Tony woke from a deep sleep. His fingers fumbled for the light next to his bed and soon light flooded the room, illuminating the deranged form of Obadiah Stane. Tony sat up slowly, watching Stane from the corner of his eyes. He had been sober for weeks now, been in AA for two of those weeks, he hoped it was enough to trap Stane.

The spirit, specter, apparition- whatever the fuck it was, moved closer. Tony let him. 

The box he built for Stane was dark grey, thick and strong, and probably more than he needed to keep Stane locked up. Tony closed his eyes, and Stane started to scream. 

Tony didn’t go back to sleep that night. He stayed awake, thinking about the two men who were locked away in boxes in the darkest corners of his mind. 

Howard wasn’t a surprise. Tony had always known Howard disliked him on the best of days. But Stane? Holy fucking shit his godfather had taken him entirely by surprise. He wanted to know so badly why Stane haunted him. What sins had Tony committed to make his godfather turn on him? When had Stane changed his mind about Tony? Or had he been like Howard, and always hated him? There were so many questions that Tony wanted answers to, so many questions that Tony was afraid of the answers. 

When his alarm rang he was still awake. 

When the busy season ended in Rose Hill, Yinsen got Tony an interview at the Janet Van Dyne House. He had experience as an orderly, he hadn’t ever been able to keep the job in the past, but this time would be different. It had to be. 

Tony sat at the nurses station, looking at the forms that needed to be filled out when a cat jumped up onto the counter. It was a beautiful tortoiseshell cat with blue eyes and a blue bowtie for a collar.

The cat’s name starts with a J , Tony thought to himself.

“Hello there,” he said quietly, holding his hand out for the cat to sniff.

“So you’ve met J then?”

Tony glanced up to see Bruce Banner, one of the hospice doctors.

“J?”

“It’s the only name he responds to,”

“And you just bring him to work?”

“Oh he’s not mine, he’s… just here,” Bruce said with a kind smile.

Tony scratched under the cat’s chin, eliciting a purr from the small animal. Tony smiled softly.

“I love you,” he said to the cat.

J blinked slowly at him. 

The years passed slowly. Tony continued to work at the Janet Van Dyne House, continued to attend his AA meetings, and miraculously maintained his sobriety. Strange enough as it was, he found himself using his Shine more than he had in the past decade of his life. When death came to call on his patients, he was the one who eased them to sleep, to soothe their worries, and to make their passing as comfortable as possible- however, the only reason he knew that death was coming to collect, was because of J (whom he had lovingly renamed Jarvis). Whenever the cat hovered around a patient, Tony knew that it was time. His coworkers had long since stopped questioning how it worked.

Tony rolled the coin between his fingers, it was red and gold and there was the number 4 on one side. He wasn’t really listening to the person talking, but he knew he had to look like he was listening or else Yinsen would be disappointed and Tony would rather not have that happen.

He glanced down at his notebook to find he had written something not AA related in the margins. 

Riri

He had no idea who or what that was meant to be. He didn’t know anyone with that name. He continued to stare at the name until the meeting was over.

“You seemed distracted,” Yinsen commented as Tony helped stack the chairs.

“Wrote a name in the notebook, not sure what it means,”

Yinsen didn’t know about the Shine, but Tony had a feeling Yinsen knew there was something up with him.

“Maybe it will be someone you will meet,” Yinsen offered.

“Yea, maybe,” Tony agreed.

“Next time, make sure you listen,”

Tony ducked his head.

“I will,”

Yinsen patted his cheek softly before he continued helping put the chairs up. Tony only left the center when the chairs had all been put away. He went to his attic apartment, took a shower, and before he went to bed he stared at the blackboard across from his bed, dark eyes reading through the patient information he had written. Nothing had changed since the last time he checked the information- last night, and that was good. He studied the names one last time before he got into bed and crashed.

The years kept passing. Tony remained sober. He kept his job as an orderly. He kept performing his duties as Doctor Sleep. He found himself content with his life- maybe for the first time ever. 

“You’ve got one, Doc,”

    “Pym or Lee?” Tony asked, not taking his eyes off the forms in front of him.

    “Neither. That cat of yours has been hovering around Mr. Parker all day,”

    Tony blinked and looked up at his coworker. From what he recalled from earlier that day, Mr. Parker had been fine, he had been sitting up in bed, fully coherent. 

    “I’ll see what J’s up to,” Tony said.

    Maybe, just this once, maybe J was wrong, maybe Ben Parker would be fine and Tony wouldn’t have to let his slightly terrifying wife, May, know, or their two nephews who Tony really was very fond of.

    Tony stepped into the room to find Ben Parker sitting up in bed looking calm. JARVIS was lying at the man’s side, watching Ben with big blue eyes.

    “I’ve been here long enough to know what this means,” Ben stated, gnarled fingers combing through J’s fur.

    Tony pulled up a chair to sit next to Ben.

    “Sometimes-” Tony started, but Ben just shook his head.

    “That cat hasn’t been wrong in the entire time I’ve been here,” he said.

    That certainly was true. Hell, the cat hadn’t been wrong the entire time Tony had been there, and Tony had been here for nearly two decades. J showed no signs of slowing down.

“The cat and Doctor Sleep,” Ben said softly.

Tony just smiled softly. It had been 10 years since he first started being referred to as Doctor Sleep. He didn’t mind it much, he liked that he got to soothe the patients before they died. He didn’t want them to be afraid of what comes next.

it’ll be ok, just like falling asleep

Ben smiled softly. 

“Have you always been able to do that?”

“My whole life,” Tony said.

Ben relaxed against the bed, his eyes glossy. Tony took hold of his hand and for a few moments they were silent. Tony could pick up on a few things coming from Ben, the older man was worried about Harley and Peter. 

they’ll be alright, they’re good boys

Ben’s eyes finally started to flutter shut, soothed by Tony’s Shine. Tony squeezed his hand gently. 

i don’t know much, but what I know for sure is that this isn’t the end, there’s more after this, and it’s just as easy as falling asleep

Ben exhaled for the last time, a white mist slipping past his lips. Tony watched it hover over the man's body for a few moments before it vanished. Tony sighed. He needed to call May and fill out a form. He squeezed Ben’s hand one last time before he stood up. 

“C’mon, J,” he said tiredly.

He walked out of the room, and the cat followed. Tony sat down at the front desk and grabbed the phone. He dialed up May Parker’s number and waited for her to answer. There was a click and for a moment Tony heard nothing but silence. 

“Tony? Did… did it happen?” May asked.

“I’m so sorry May,”

He spoke to her for almost half an hour, assuring her that Ben had been at peace when he passed and that Tony was so fucking sorry for her loss. Before she hung up she told him that she and the boys would be there in the morning. Tony set the phone in its cradle and started to fill out the paperwork. 

J jumped up on the desk, rubbing his head against Tony’s pen. 

“Had to be Mr. Parker, didn’t it?” he asked. 

The cat just stared at him with big blue eyes and said nothing. Tony gently pushed him away- ignoring J’s particularly dramatic mewls of protest- and continued filling out the paperwork.

“You should go home, Doc,” Natasha said. 

Tony glanced at the clock and rubbed his eyes with the palm of his hand. It was well past the end of his shift. 

“I’ll be in early tomorrow. May Parker is going to be here with Harley and Peter,” he said.

“Just make sure you get some sleep,”

Tony nodded and cleaned up the desk. He grabbed all his things, clocked out, and headed to his attic apartment. He ignored the blackboard across from his bed, he didn’t want to update Ben’s information. He could do it in the morning. 

He slept pitifully that night and woke far too early. He eventually forced himself out of bed and shuffled toward the blackboard. He stared at Ben’s name for a while before slowly erasing the information.

It was only a knock sounded from his door that he pulled himself away from the blackboard. He crossed his small room and pulled the door open to see Happy, he was carrying two cups of coffee. 

“Pep told me what happened,”

Tony swallowed thickly and took one of the cups. 

“Thanks,”

“May and the boys are getting in soon, I should…”

“Of course, yea, I just wanted to stop by. I know how much you liked Ben. He was good people,”

Tony smiled softly. Happy had a bit of Shine to him, just enough to get a good read on people. Tony really liked having him as a friend. 

“Thanks Hap. I’ll swing by later today for lunch,” Tony said. 

May Parker rushed into the lobby followed closely by two teenage boys, Harley Keener and Peter Parker. Harley and Peter had been friends for years before Harley had been adopted by May and Ben when his mother died. 

“May,” Tony called as he stood up. 

She turned to him, her eyes rimmed red. He rounded the counter and pulled her into a quick hug. 

“I’m sorry,” he said as they parted. 

The words didn’t feel like enough, but he still felt like he had to say them. May didn’t say anything, but she did place her hand on his arm and squeeze gently.

“Um… Dr. Banner can walk you through your next steps,” Tony said softly, leading her to Bruce.

Bruce led May off and Tony turned to the boys.

“We’re going to let your Aunt May talk with Bruce, and we’re going to hang out in the break room,” he said to them.

“We can’t see him?” Harley asked.

“I won’t stop you if you want to, but-”

“I don’t want to see him like that,” Peter said suddenly.

Harley looked at Peter for a long moment before his shoulders fell and he nodded.

“I don’t think I do either,”

Tony swallowed thickly.

“He loved you, and he was proud of you, that much I know,” he said, his hands on their shoulders. 

“We just going to sit in the breakroom till Aunt May is done?”

Tony grinned at them and pulled a deck of cards out his pocket.

“So video games, cool,”

Tony let out a snarky laugh and led the two back to the breakroom. They sat at the small table, terrible hospice coffee’s in front of them, and Tony started to shuffle the cards. They ended up playing what was supposed to be a calm game of bullshit while May was signing forms and making arrangements for Ben’s funeral- but when it came to Harley and Peter there was no such thing as a calm game. 

For one, both boys had just a touch of Shine. In Harley it manifested as a god damn internal lie detector, and for Peter it was more of a sixth sense that bad things were happening in his near vicinity. In other words it meant Tony had both of them ganging up on him the entire fucking game. Tony, of course, could use his own Shine as an advantage but he wasn’t going to cheat. He had to be better than the devious teens in front of him. 

“Bullshit,” they said simultaneously before he even put down his cards. 

Maybe a tiny bit of Shine-related snooping wouldn’t hurt. 

“You know what? This is bullshit,” Tony exclaimed after losing his third consecutive round of the game.

“You’re just a bad liar,” Harley said with a shrug.

“It’s ok, Tony,” Peter said at the exact same time.

Tony shook his head and glanced at his phone. It was lunchtime which meant Happy would be stopping by soon. 

“Happy’s going to be here soon for lunch, put those away, will you?” he asked.

“Harley don’t-!” Peter exclaimed as Harley shuffled the cards wrong and sent them fluttering around the room.

For a moment both boys were silent.

“52 card pick up?”

Tony snorted. He stood up and headed out to the hallway where May was still on her phone.

“Happy and I are going to take them to lunch, do you want to come?” he asked once he got her attention.

“Sure,” she said.

They ate lunch at the best burger place in town. By the time they finished their lunch it was nearly time for Tony to start his shift. The boys went with Happy to spend a few hours in Teenytown while May finished up the last of the paperwork and phone calls. 

Before Tony knew it he was saying goodbye to the Parker family. May made him promise to keep in touch with the boys, a promise Tony fully intended to keep. 

“We have a new patient coming in in a week,” Bruce said, his dark eyes glued to the file he was holding.

“Who is it?”

“His name is Terrance Rhodes,”

Tony scratched the base of J’s tail and looked up at his friend. 

Rhodes. The name sounded vaguely familiar to Tony, but he couldn’t place it. He shrugged off the familiarity of the name and continued showering J with love. 

The week passed quickly, and the next thing Tony knew, they were moving the new patient into his bed. 

Tony made a mental note to update his chalkboard in his apartment so it included Mr. Rhodes information. 

“And of course this is Tony Stark, one of our orderlies,” Bruce said. 

Tony smiled at the family, shaking their hands and trying his best to commit the names to memory. Roberta, James, and Riri.

I hope grandpa will be ok

The voice came from the girl, from Riri. Tony glanced at her, focusing all his attention on her. He hadn’t felt a shine that big since… well since he had met Happy, and even then, Happy had nothing on this girl.

He’ll be comfortable here

Her eyes widened almost comically as she looked at Tony. 

YOU CAN HEAR ME?!

Tony winced slightly. 

… she’s loud. No wonder Jarvis winced when I talked to him . 

Rhodes hadn’t heard the voice in well over 20 years. His gaze flicked first to the hospice employee- what did he call himself? Stark?- and found he was looking at Riri. He cocked his head and smiled softly as if Riri had just asked a particularly interesting question. 

“I um…” the man tore his gaze from Riri, a smile still quirked at his lips.

A fluffy tortoiseshell cat leapt up onto the counter next to the man and Riri gasped in delight.

“This is Jarvis, J for short,”

The name rang a distant bell in Rhodey’s memory, but he couldn’t for the life of him remember where he had heard it before. 

Rhodes thought about the voice for a while. It had been a long time since he had heard a voice that wasn’t his own- and sure, maybe he heard Riri every once and a while, but he always shrugged it off as coincidence. 

But the voice he had heard early wasn’t Riri. It was oddly familiar and reminded him of his childhood. 

It had been a very long time since Rhodes had used his abilities. Someone had told him once what it was called… the Shine or something. He’d been able to use it with ease when he was younger, but once he hit puberty something had changed. He hadn’t thought about his imaginary friend Tony in quite some time. Tony had felt so real to him. The competitions between them about who could get better grades on tests, practicing spelling words with each other, watching Scooby Doo on Saturday mornings… it had all felt so real.

Maybe it was real.

Rhodes closed his eyes and tried like hell to bring his shine back. 

Tony blinked at the blackboard on the opposite wall, for years the only thing he had ever written on it was patient information and now, scrawled messily but familiarly, there was an extra word, one that Tony had no memory of writing.

HELLO

It… Tony touched the word gently, a small smile on his face. It was how he used to talk with his friend… the imaginary one, Jim. He slowly grabbed the eraser and swiped at the word before picking up a blunt piece of chalk. He tried his best to focus his Shine on that ancient bond and wrote his own greeting on the chalkboard and hoped that wherever Jim was, he had gotten the message.

Less than a mile away Rhodes watched as a single word appeared on the hotel stationary.

Hello

Rhodes let out a sharp exhale, a small smile growing on his face. It had been real. All of the things he remembered about Tony, the competition, the spelling words, the cartoons, it was all real.

Tony was real, and he was out there somewhere.

Rhodes couldn’t stop smiling for the rest of the evening. 

Rhodes sat next to his fathers bed, his hands clasped together. 

“You want some coffee?” 

Rhodes turned to see the orderly, Tony. His niece, Riri, absolutely adored the man. Rhodes had a sneaking suspicion why. 

“Sure,”

Tony led him to the staff break room and poured them both a mug of coffee.

“There’s sugar and milk if you need it,” Tony said as he handed the mug to Rhodes. 

“I’m good, thanks,”

Tony nodded and took a sip of his own black coffee. 

There was a loud and demanding yowl from the door and both men turned to see Jarvis. 

“You dare yell at me?” Tony asked, a small smile on his face. 

The cat sat down on his haunches, blue eyes staring unblinkingly at Tony before he slowly looked at the fridge. Tony let out a dramatic sigh before he stood on his tiptoes to grab something from on top of the fridge. 

“Are you kidding?” Tony asked, staring at the food bowl. It was black with little red fishies on it. 

“This is full. You’re out of your mind, J,” he said as he set the bow back on the fridge. 

The cat made a low sound of protest before walking off. 

“Does he always talk to you like that?” Rhodes asked, trying and failing to fight a grin. 

“He’s very disrespectful, isn’t he?”

Rhodes snorted and nodded in agreement. 

“Jarvis is an interesting name for a cat,” Rhodes commented.

“Hm?”

“Oh, his name was just J when I arrived, but I renamed him after the man that raised me, Edwin Jarvis,” Tony replied.

“Usually just end up calling him J, though,” he added with a small smile.

That’s about when it all clicked for Rhodes. His not-so-imaginary friend, also named Tony, had been raised by a man named Jarvis. And there was that moment, when he and Riri had first met Tony at the hospice and Riri seemed to communicate with Tony without any words.

Rhodes glanced up at Tony and tried to focus all his Shine on Tony.

hello

Tony jerked back the instant Rhodes sent the thought. Rhodes couldn’t stop the smile that grew on his face.

“Holy shit,” Tony said softly.

it’s you

The thought echoed around Rhodey’s head in Tony’s voice.

“It’s me,” Rhodes said out loud.

For a second they just stared at each other and then they were hugging. Rhodes didn’t know who moved first and he didn’t care. 

“I can’t believe it,” Tony mumbled.

They pulled away from each other and for a moment they could do nothing but stare at each other. 

“When we were little, you had this weird stuffed animal, it was brown, had a beaver tail but it didn’t look like a tail-“

Rhodes laughed. 

“It was a platypus,” he said. 

Tony nodded, a smile spreading across his face. 

“A fucking platypus,” he repeated quietly.

“You remember that?” Rhodes asked. 

“Couldn’t figure out what it was for the life of me,” Tony said. 

“I remember those… drawings of a robot? With one arm?”

Rhodes projected a hazy image of one of Tony’s first drawings of Dum-E. Tony couldn’t stop the grin that spread across his face. 

“I built him,”

“Bullshit,”

Tony laughed. 

“In MIT. He’s still there. I get email updates from him once a week,”

“Bullshit,” Rhodey said again. 

Tony fished out his phone and pulled up his latest email from his beloved bot. Rhodes took the phone from him and held it up. 

“Hello, dad!” he started. 

Tony looked down, trying to hide his smile. 

“This week I held a flashlight so two friends could work on wires! When they were finished they gave me pats and told me I did a good job. I also made three smoothies with no motor oil. I hope you visit me soon. Love, Dummy- ok Tones this is the cutest fucking thing I’ve ever seen,” Rhodey said as he handed the phone back to Tony. 

“You’re going to go see him, right?”

Tony hesitated for a moment. He hadn’t been down to see Dum-E in a very long time. He was afraid the bot would be ashamed of him. 

“I-“

“C’mon man,” Rhodes said, nudging him gently. 

“Only if you come with me,” Tony said before he could stop himself. 

Rhodey’s gaze snapped up to meet Tony’s. 

“Really?”

Tony nodded. 

“You were the one who encouraged me to build him, that makes him like… 12% your son,”

“ Twelve percent ?”

“An argument can be made for 15,”

“You’re unbelievable,”

Tony flashed him a grin.

“It’s only an hour and a half drive. We could go tomorrow,” Tony offered. 

“Sounds good,” Rhodes said. 

Tony finished off the last of his coffee and set the mug in the sink. 

“I’m really glad you weren’t a figment of my imagination,” Rhodes said. 

Tony grinned at him, his cheeks pink. 

“Me too,”

They spent the drive to MIT catching each other up on their lives- or as much as they could in the hour and a half it took to get to MIT. 

Tony decided to spare his friend the details of his hauntings by Howard and Stane, but he did admit to his past drinking problem. Rhodes told him about the Air Force, and his turbulent relationship with his sister, Jeannette. 

Before either of them knew it, they were at MIT. Tony couldn’t keep the smile off his face as they wandered through the campus. Despite everything, he had had a great time at the school. 

Tony pushed the lab door open and for a moment there was silence, and then there was a flurry of beeps as a one armed robot shot toward him and Rhodes.

“Dum-E!”

The bot chirped excitedly, gently pulling at Tony’s clothes. He laughed and wrapped his arms around the bots strut.

“Missed you too, kid,” Tony said quietly.

He pulled away from Dum-E and turned to Rhodey.

“Platypus, this is Dum-E. Dum-E, this is Rhodey,” Tony introduced.

Dum-E beeped, he wrapped his claw around Rhodey’s sleeve and very gently bobbed up and down.

“It’s nice to meet you too,” Rhodes said, a massive grin on his face.

“Tones, he’s amazing,” 

Tony flushed.

“He’s something,” Tony agreed.

“Alright kid, why don’t you make your dear old dad a smoothie?”

The bot chirped excitedly and zoomed off toward the back of the lab. Tony watched him go with a small smile on his face.

“He looks exactly like I expected him to,” Rhodes said quietly.

Tony grinned at him.

“I tried not to deviate from my original drawing,”

“So he stays here, then?”

Tony nodded. 

“I uh… never really had a place for him, so he stays here and he helps other grad students with their projects,”

“Amazing,” Rhodes said quietly. 

“Riri would love him,”

Tony smiled. 

“They would be an unstoppable force,” Tony agreed. 

“Shit. That reminds me,”

He patted his pockets and pulled out a small black notebook. It was his AA notebook from over a decade ago. When he had slipped it into his pocket he hadn’t been too sure why he had done it, but now he knew. 

Tony held out his AA notebook, it was opened to a page from 2004. Rhodey’s dark gaze was drawn to one word written in the middle of the page. 

Riri

He looked up at the top of the page- to the date- to find it was dated with Riri’s birthday. 

“What is this?”

“It was you, so excited about your niece that it made it all the way to me,” Tony said quietly. 

Rhodes rubbed his thumb across his niece's name and smiled softly. 

“That’s amazing,”

“She’s got one hell of a shine on her,”

“Good thing you’re going to teach her to use it, like you taught me,” Rhodes said. 

Tony flushed. Rhodes threaded his fingers together and gave his hand a gentle squeeze. 

------------------------------------------------------