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1| on the fickle truth

Peter Parker
Call | Message | Video
+1 XXX-XXX-XXXX

Turning her phone off, Pepper sighed as she placed it on the table in front of her. The increasingly frequent calls with Peter had helped her soothe her nerves and anger but the news reports and annoyingly frequent inquiries from the nosy news reporters was making her reach her breaking point.

She knew with perfect clarity just where exactly her family stood in the eyes of the public. She knew, in vivid detail, the fickle nature of humanity.

After all, her husband had gone from being the media's darling to enemy number one and back in what seemed like mere seconds.

"News reports are pouring in live from Sokovia. Casualty reports climb higher and higher even now, a week after the battle. Avengers Initiative Spokesperson, Director Nick Fury, cites billionaire Tony Stark and scientist Bruce Banner, better known as the Hulk, as the creators of Ultron. Bruce Banner has been MIA in the week since the battle. Other sources…"

"Stark Industries has announced that the hospital bills of all injured will be covered by Tony Stark himself. Multiple twitter users claim this initiative to be a PR strategy to combat the numerous hate comments since the battle."

"Is Tony Stark the merchant of death?! Sources found him responsible for at least…"

"Casualties rises higher with another 100 dead. The people are calling for justice for Sokovia. Put Tony Stark on trial! Iron Man is no hero. Tony Stark is no hero! "

"Tony Stark is a hero! Incoming news reports detail the hero's last stand in the Final Battle as they've started to call it. Anonymous inside sources detail Stark's final act as a hero and-"

The many news reports started to pour in, completely bastardizing his sacrifice with cheap placation, half-hearted condolences and sensationalized imagined scenarios.

How dare they.

How fucking dare they.

How dare they claim that Tony had been a hero as if they didn't constantly drag his name, reputation and ability through the mud at the slightest mistake? It's as if she didn't have to constantly remind her husband that he was worth something, as if Peter didn't spend years of his life with Tony constantly telling her husband that he was doing something worthwhile.

As if they didn't completely obliterate her husband's self-esteem and self-worth for their own entertainment and views.

Pepper knew with vivid clarity that the world was fickle, that opinions change as easily as snapping a finger. Yet, it didn't take away the sting, the pain. Somehow, it had never occurred to her that the world would just… keep on turning. Act as if they were supportive from the get-go and not absolute bastards.

Even in death, Tony Stark was still not given the apologies and understanding that he had deserved.

Even when he died for them, the world still refused to acknowledge their wrongdoings to a man who had only ever tried to do, and give, his best.

Shame on them, she thought bitterly.

Turning off the television with an angry click, Pepper stood up to check on her daughter in an effort to stay calm. Shame on them.

[Excerpt from Musings of a friend, Chapter 2; James Rhodes]

He won't make it as a hero, they said. He's just doing it for attention, they cried. Tony Stark is nothing without his wealth, they sneered.

And then, when he's dead and gone, they claim he was the best of us. They claim he had the technology, the money, the resources and the drive to succeed.

They say, well it was only a matter of time.

Really, even in death, there's no winning.

However, it is not fate or money or anything of that sort that made Iron Man as one of the greatest heroes yet; not destiny that allowed the man to stand with and amongst giants.

It is so, so easy to attribute everything that he had worked for, had achieved, to his money, resources and even, fate. It placates the guilty conscience of the sinners who refuse to acknowledge that they have wronged him.

Something we do not understand - what we cannot hope to understand - is that it is not because of fate but despite it that Iron Man had stood as tall as he had.

Iron Man, they call him. Fitting, so ironically fitting. After all, it is Tony Stark they threw into the burning fires of judgement without remorse and it is Tony Stark who stepped out from the flames victorious.

Man of Iron, indeed.

The day Tony Stark defeated Thanos, he stepped onto the battlefield without any expectation of survival. As grim as the thought may be, Tony was, first and foremost, a realist and he could easily recognize that if the battle was going to go the way he thought it would go, he wouldn't be leaving the field today.

Damn.

Just the thought of it made Tony misty-eyed. He won't be leaving the field alive today. How depressing, Tony Stark, how utterly depressing.

Still, it is with practiced ease that he dons his armor and though he may not feel invincible, he was pretty goddamn close. Kissing the little pendant around his neck with the picture of Peter, Morgan and Pepper, Tony allows himself a brief moment to breathe in and sink into the love he had for his family.

Piecing himself together, he walks towards colleagues who, by all accounts, he had thought he would never see in a singular location ever again, easily arming himself with the usual easygoing grin. That too, was an armor.

I won't be leaving the field alive today, he thinks seriously. Well, in situations like these, there is really only one way to go about it. Let's make damn sure that the rest of these bastards die with me.

Making sure the gauntlet he had prepared as a worst case scenario was up and running, Tony jets into the air.

I'll be dragging the rest of these bastards right down to hell with me and it will be their tsunami.

"I am Iron Man."

Tony Stark may have closed his eyes surrounded by kneeling heroes; acknowledged and respected, with kings who kneel at his feet without hesitation, but he doesn't die until a week after the battle.

Nevertheless, the details aren't of importance - not when the man who died left two children and a wife in his wake.

To Pepper Potts, who sits by the now-still heart monitor, glassy-eyes and quiet, the details are the last thing on her mind. Her husband was dead.

She knew, with a morbid certainty, that her husband hadn't expected to leave the battlefield alive.

He did.

Perhaps that was worse. Perhaps, the pain of hope was worse than the devastation a quick death would have brought.

He hung onto life for a week; had given her hope for a week.

He died after a week, not enough time. Not nearly enough time. God, couldn't you spare her some time?

In the long years she had spent working alongside the brilliant minds of the most celebrated scientists of their generation, there has always been one thing they all agreed on, regardless of their differences or expertise: science triumphed over death. Knowledge never dies. It had been something that had fascinated both Tony and Peter to no end, the very reason her husband kept all of his research and findings locked with air-tight protection. Knowledge never dies.

Science triumphed over death.

She knew that. Tony never let her forget it.

She knew that.

So, why?

Surrounded by her husband's silent heart monitor, the lifeless body still beside her and the numb tears of both her children, Pepper watched as the doctors proclaimed her husband dead.

She wants to scream - has to scream.

Her husband is dead.

And as she stares unseeingly into the hospital room an hour later, Pepper closed her eyes, tears falling, and asks the wind, "where, science?"

Her husband had been one of the greatest scientist alive and yet.

Yet.

She asks, "where, science, is your triumph?"

But there is nothing but silence that answers her.

2 | the aftermath

Peter takes a seat beside Pepper calmly, trying his hardest to exude an aura of serenity to try and soothe his angry mother. Sighing softly, Peter hears a chime from his phone and reaches to read the incoming message.

Briefly glancing at the woman beside him, he watched as Pepper appeared to be absolutely seething as she stares at the television. Not surprising, given that every single news outlet has been airing out praise for his dead mentor, acting as if they hadn't been blaming the man for nearly every catastrophe that the planet had encountered just months before.

Watching as Pepper angrily clicked the TV off and threw the remote across the room and at the wall hard enough to break it, Peter shivered slightly.

Reading the message, Peter suppresses the urge to sigh and shifts slightly on the couch. He hears the unspoken message loud and clear. Why not do it now?

Hovering a thumb over the chat box, Peter played with the idea in his head. It wasn't as if Morgan would be able to hear it if the talk happened to end with a screaming match since she was currently being babysat by Bucky. Somehow, his baby sister had grown to like the man, perhaps due to Bucky's impenetrable calm demeanor, especially in the face of Morgan's constantly overwhelming emotions of grief and confusion.

If he talked to Pepper now, she'd inevitably explode and he'd prefer if his sister wouldn't be here to witness that. Well, Peter supposed now would be a good time.

Giving himself a resolute nod, Peter quickly sends off a reply,

Turning his phone off, he places it on the countertop and walks across the room to where his mother was angrily picking up the broken remains of their remote. Quietly settling beside her, Peter gently stops her angry movement with a hand on top of hers, pointedly ignoring Pepper's tears of frustration dripping onto the cold tiles.

"Do you wanna talk about it, Pep?"

Wiping her tears away, Pepper chokes on a sob and shamefully shakes her head, no. She shouldn't be the one breaking down now; not in front of her son who was also grieving the death of his third, and arguably most influential, father figure. She's supposed to be strong enough for them.

Everyone else was breaking down and she had to be the one who didn't.

She's breaking down.

Nevertheless, the tears didn't stop coming. She just didn't know what to do with this… anger. It was rage like she had never known before and Pepper didn't know how to let go of it or even try to process her emotions, only allowing herself to cry tears of bitter frustration as she watched the world martyr her husband's sacrifice and act as if they hadn't spent the last decade and a half defaming his character.

As if they didn't have anything to feel sorry for.

She's breaking down.

As if her husband didn't even deserve an apology.

The public was easily swayed, she knew. A herd's mentality so deeply ingrained in today's society. Yet… she couldn't find it in herself to care; to make excuses for the people who didn't even care enough to admit they were wrong.

SHE'S BREAKING DOWN.

So, she whispers, softly, as she sobbed into the arms of her son, "Tony's dead."

It is here, at this moment, that the numbness abates, that the anger clears, leaving her with the sheer agony and pain of knowing that her other half, her soulmate, her husband, Tony, was dead. It finally sinks in, as she whispers the words with finality to one of the last links she had to her husband; to Peter.

Peter had always been Tony's kid. It was her husband who took him under his wing and taught him heroics; who loved him like a son. It was only a few months later when Tony's protectiveness of the kid finally started to abate that she finally got the chance to slowly get to know the kid who had changed her husband's everything.

This was the person who changed Tony, who gave him the drive and the hope that the future was bright. This was the person who allowed Tony to realize, and accept, that he was worth something, because whoever Peter Parker chose to idolize must be amazing, right?

This was also the person who Tony had grieved and longed for the most in the five years following the snap, the person he made small videos for, his baby. The person who reminded Tony to keep going. The person who gave tony something to live for. The person that allowed Tony to love Morgan like the world.

This was Tony's baby.

This was their baby.

And Peter, and Morgan, were one of the last links to Tony she had. It was in his gentle and calming presence that she recognized Tony's mannerisms, in his kind eyes that she knew her husband lived on.

It was in their children that she knew Tony had left a legacy.

And it is in Peter that she knew she would know no judgement. This was their child. He may have died years ago but loving him again was as easy as breathing. It is Peter of all people who would know and understand nearly every single emotion coursing through her veins. The look in her son's eyes reflect understanding and a gentle reassurance so reminiscent of her husband that Pepper can't help but sob and hug him quietly.

This was their baby. Was it ever a surprise that she couldn't help but tell Peter everything?

She breaks down.

So, she screams.

She rages.

She sobs.

"Too late," she screams, "it's too fucking late!"

"I loved him! I loved him! And he's dead," she sobs, "he's dead."

"and now that he's dead, people have the nerve - the audacity - to say that they loved hm too, that they adored him and believed in him when it was the opposite."

"Tony was the screw-up; the hated superhero. The one they all pushed around, the one they all called fraud, their scapegoat. He was public enemy number one, no matter what he did, what he achieved, what he contributed, he was always public enemy number fucking one!"

"He was their enemy, and now that he died for them - now that he's fucking dead, - they don't even have the courtesy to admit they were wrong."

"So, they didn't," throwing the remains of the remote control at the TV screen, Pepper mutters, "they didn’t."

"Now, they make him invincible, made him a martyr, a symbol, someone to look up to. But, Tony wasn't a fucking symbol. He wanted to be loved. He just wanted to be loved, be thanked, be acknowledged! Was that so hard? Was that so fucking hard?!

"At the end of the day, he was just Tony. Just Tony, just my Tony."

Softly, she confides, "And I hate, I hate, that they don't even give him that. That they won't even let him be just Tony, won't even love him as just Tony. It hurts that even after death, they still put a label on him, even in death, Tony Stark still has a mask on."

Looking into the eyes of her son who had started crying too, she whispers with certainty, with a significance that she hadn't spoken with before, "but I knew him. I knew him."

Looking at her son who smiled at her with tears in his eyes, she tells him, "I knew him and I loved him for it."

"Why not do something about it," Peter asks carefully, hours later, as he absentmindedly washed the dishes.

"What?"

"If you hate it so much, which," pointing a wet spoon at her, sending water droplets flying in her direction, "don't get me wrong, so do I.."

Storing the spoon by the drying rack, he continued, "why not do something about it?"

Gesturing grandly at the kitchen around him, arms spread wide, Peter exclaims, "we have all the time in the world! Tony made sure of that. So… why not make something, a book or a… documentary, about Tony. Shut down the rumors and gossip once and for all."

Staring at the kid who was puttering about the kitchen, Pepper allows herself to think through his words carefully.

"He deserves at least that, right?"

Despite everything, the over-the-top persona and all, Tony Stark was the most human person she knew. He loved quietly, surprising given his penchant for grand gestures. It had been in the silent, encouraging pats on the back and the suits coded with every possible safety measure imaginable.

Tony Stark had looked at her like she was his everything, the same way he'd sometimes give Peter on one of his science rants or Rhodey when he finally managed to walk across the room after months of rehab. It's what he gives Happy when the man does something especially fond; it's how he looked at Morgan.

Despite his fame, his circle had been small and so he kept every single one of them close, tucked away safely.

Tony looked at his family, at Pepper, with adoration like no other and then he looked at himself and always saw someone who didn't deserve any of it.

It's a shame, a goddamn fucking shame, that he couldn't see what everyone else saw - wouldn't be able to see what everyone else saw.

But, that doesn't mean that they'd allow Tony to be buried like this, to be remembered like this.

He deserved better.

Nodding her agreement, Pepper says, "he deserved that and more."

Her husband deserved better.

And by god, he would get better, if it is the last thing they do.

[email correspondence between Pepper Potts, Kaylyn Janet and Wilson Pugh]

 3 | Invictus

In the fell clutch of circumstance, I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeoning of chance, my head is bloody but unbowed.

GIANT KILLING OFFICIAL INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT (UNEDITED; DO NOT DISTRIBUTE)

Rhodes: Is this a good place to start?

Interviewer: Yeah, we'll start in a minute or so.

R: Sure, we ready?

I: Yes, let's start off easy.

I: How did you meet Tony Stark?

[James Rhodes snorts, amusement clear in his face, and takes a sip of water before answering.]

R: I met him trying to snort drugs and failing miserably.

I: Seriously?

R: Dude, not only did he fail miserably, he was a fifteen year old in his emo phase. The eyeliner wasn't doing him any favors AND he tried to look more mature than he was. Meaning: he looked absolutely ridiculous.

I: Can you elaborate on that?

R: I mean, because he was a kid who grew up rolling around in riches, his assumption of anyone 'adult' was that they wore suits. [wiggles his eyebrows] You get what I mean?

I: Don't tell me… he wore a suit to the party?

R: [takes a sip of water] Let me set the scene. You walk into a college party, everyone's having a bad time because… college party. So, you take a beer and proceed to the back of the house hoping to wallow in loneliness only to be confronted by a fifteen year old in a suit trying to snort drugs and failing miserably. Why, you ask, was he failing miserably?

[Rhodes looks away with a look of fond amusement, shaking his head slightly.]

R: Apparently, the dealer at the party took one look at the fifteen year old kid in front of him, decided that he was much too young for drugs, charged him a price for the 'drugs' at nearly a fifth of the normal cost as a 'special offer' and handed him a packet of baby powder.

I: Was that how Tony was for most of college?

R: Tony in college… I think it was a lonely time for him. He was the youngest person in the room, hell, even in the whole university. Tony was… alone. His parents rarely came for a visit, if they ever did, and his age had isolated him. He was a fourteen year old genius surrounded by eighteen year old kids - the odd one out.

I: So, how did you become friends?

R: We didn't become good friends until he was 16. Not a fun age, I'll tell you. He was already neck-deep into drugs and alcohol because of the lack of parental guidance but nevertheless, Tony had a maturity to him that even I, as an 18 year old, didn't have. By that point, Tony had been in college for more years than I was already. You know… I think the loneliness got to him. The eyes he had that young… it was the eyes of someone who had been forced to grow up far too soon. I stumbled on him making his first AI, DUM-E, and it grew from there, you know? Hit it off right away and been friends ever since.

"Tony Stark officially reported missing in action during trip to Afghanistan. Authorities report…"

R: The day I received news of Tony's disappearance, my heart stopped. Tony had wormed his way into my cold, dead heart and became my best friend through the years. At this point, he was already one of the focal points of my life; he was family and so, to see just… gone, it was terrifying.

At the time, Tony had just gone through a terrible funeral. He was a fucking mess. drugs, alcohol, women, you name it. He was in the process of becoming the playboy he would be known to be in a few years' time.

Tony was just a kid, grieving the loss of his parents while, at the same time, questioning it. Despite their wealth, the Stark family wasn't all sunshine and rainbows. Tony had grown up in an empty house, to a cold father and distant mother. His only parental figure, at the time, was Jarvis. To Tony, who hadn't really ever had his parents, the sudden absence of their presence was… normal. And that in itself was hard for him.

He was lost. He had needed an anchor, especially as he was getting hounded by the press at every moment possible, not to mention the fucking mess Obie had been as his guardian. At this point in time, the world was starting to turn against Tony Stark and I felt, correctly, might I add, that they weren't going to look for him. Not well at least; not for Tony Stark.

So, I did.

Addiction hit him hard. Especially in the events surrounding the Stark Expo way back when. At the time, Tony had been convinced he was dying. He made Pepper CEO. He had started making arrangements for his… departure.

Tony Stark had been human, perhaps the whole world, by the end of it all, understood the concept. However, at that point in time, Tony was the golden boy of America. Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist. A superhero of his own making.

He was so good, people started to look closely just to find a flaw; something to criticize.

That something happened to be his coping mechanism - alcohol.

His parents were dead. No siblings, no family; just an AI named after Jarvis.

There was no one to turn to so, he turns to the next best option. He started drinking. He had figured that he was dying anyway, what difference did it make?

The problem was, no one else in the world knew that this was his last hurrah. To the rest of the world watching him under a microscope, he was becoming more and more unhinged. So what if he saved people? So what if he's a Stark?

People loved to criticize more than complement. Jealousy was a human's nature.

The criticism just made him dive further into the deep end.

That was why, when he finally decided to quit, cold turkey, the withdrawal hit him hard.

Yet, it was something that he had had to deal with on his own. Tony was always a man of action but, he wasn't ready yet, not for us. He had had to focus on himself for a while, allow himself to recalibrate in a world post-ten rings.

It didn't last long. At least, not at first.

After all, he had escaped hell to get home, only to find that he was, once again, on the verge of death. He was being saved by the very thing killing him.

In this world, where gods and men interact and heroes like Captain America exist, it is easy to connect the dots. Because of A, B happened. Cause and effect situation. Classic.

In a world like this, prophecies may not be real but it may as well be.

Tony's prophecy was his father's legacy.

"You'll be the face of Stark Industries. Look like it."

And perhaps that was where everything went wrong.

Surrounded by ever-present flashing cameras and the scrutiny of the public eye, even, and most especially, in the death of his parents, Tony didn't have a lot of things to turn to. His guardian at the time, Obie, made it worse by tacitly implying that alcohol was a good avenue. And for Tony, who had lacked the positive encouragement any child or teenager should have had, it would be no surprise that he had quickly become a drunkard.

In a few months, the name Tony Stark would be infamous in gossip magazines with all the mentions of which actresses and supermodels he frequently got caught messing around with. In a few months, Tony Stark had hit rock bottom.

But, you know what they say, when you finally hit rock bottom, there is no way to go but up.

"I am Iron Man," he had said, arms wide, back to the crowd. No hesitation, no remorse. He stated it as a fact. I am Iron Man. It was just so Tony that, to this day, I still laugh about the moment he arrived home, realized what the fuck he just said, and promptly vomited in the toilet twice.

Tony hit the ground running.

Every single time, whether that be in academia, business, or heroics, Tony didn't do things in halves. That was why Tony being Iron Man had surprised me so much. There was such a clear distinction between the two individuals that the only thing linking the two together was maybe Tony's name.

It was as if they were two halves of a whole.

Maybe that was what made the moment Tony had become Iron Man so distinct. He came home after saving a kid (who we, years later, would find that it was actually Peter Parker), and whispered so softly, delicately, with awe and amazement in his voice, as if saying something of utmost importance, 'he said I inspired him, Rhodey.'

The lines started blurring.

Suddenly, Tony Stark was slowly but surely becoming his superhero persona and vice versa. He was starting to allow himself to heal, to find peace in the violence. […] It was an astonishing process and when I finally was able to confront him about it, he'd told me that 'he had people who looked up to him' and he did.

Tony Stark was an icon. Getting a degree as a teenager, managing a multimillion dollar company, establishing a name for himself in academia outside of the Stark legacy, becoming Iron Man. Tony was an inspiration to a lot of people and for so long, he didn't even know it.

The urge to drink never left. Not once did his hand stop twitching every time he smelled his favorite brand of wine or tequila. Instead, he had found things that were worth more; that were more important than the brief relief alcohol could have provided him.

Three years in, Tony finally realized that people looked up to him and that changed him. In a good way. He actively started trying to become a hero and not just conveniently saving people along the way like he did before. He worked on himself. That's what mattered. He started working on himself.

I guess, that's the best anyone could ask for.

He was nearly 5 years sober when he died.

4 | the people behind the hero

[excerpt from Chapter 3: The people behind the hero, James Rhodes]

"I will be the best," he told me. At the time, he had said it like a promise, but looking back, he said it like it was an omen. When you get to where Tony was, when you're a person like Tony who dreamt the impossible dream, the view at the top is no longer as satisfying as you think it would be, even if he was only 18 when he told me. When you finally reach the top of the mountain, when you climb cliffs and fall giants, the view is not what you feel most. No, it is the feeling of loneliness, and… a possibly never-ending wait for an equal.

Tony had only ever wanted an equal.

That equal came in the form of Pepper Potts and then, much later, in the figure of Peter Parker.

Pepper was the rock, who grounded him to reality. Peter was his first taste of the skies. The kid was… electric, you could say - infectious. The night Tony dropped the kid off from their first lab day together, Tony had flown all the way to my home across the state and said, eyes shining, "The future is bright, Platypus, it is so so bright."

To a scientist, who worked to gather and impart knowledge, to Tony, who treated science like an old friend, the knowledge that the next generation was going to be just as brilliant as you hoped was… cathartic.

He didn't drink a single drop of alcohol that night.

Yet, when Tony finally made for his home, he was drunk with glee.

Tony was a brilliant man. He had a brain that could change the world  but that in itself presented a few problems.

When you're a genius, you forget how the minds of the commonfolk work. Meaning, Tony didn't know shit about how to interact with people, especially those he was supposed to treat as equals.

When I first met him, Tony was a cold man. Calculative in every single move he did. He was Tony Fucking Stark, one of the richest men in the world. It wasn't all rainbows and daisies that made him one.

He knew everything he needed to do, when he needed to do it and how to get there.

The playboy image was a front, I can say that with certainty.

After he leaves the women behind and straightens out his suit, Tony walks into the office and all the frivolous energy would disappear into nothing. Once again, he would be all business. Day in and day out.

I used to wonder, 'what kind of person would be able to make this man warm?'

The answer came quietly, years later.

Over the years, Tony had gradually thawed, so unnoticeable that sometimes, I would think back to when I first met him and be shocked that he had changed so much.

Perhaps, it was Tony gradually building his support systems block by block, person by person. Perhaps, he was finding himself.

Perhaps, it was because Tony, who had grown up too soon, who had dealt with so much abuse and slander… had stood, face to face, with death and was ready to leave with him.

When you accept your lot in life, there is serenity, in the knowledge that you have accepted literally everything that has happened to you.

Tony, who lost his parents far before their death, who was tortured, who was beaten, who was betrayed.

Tony Stark who had stood there and took it, took one look at himself and simply… allowed himself to let go.

Somewhere along the way, Tony had realized that no matter what he did, no matter who he did it for, there will always be someone left unsatisfied. He might as well make sure that the person left unsatisfied was never himself.

Tony allowed himself to love someone. First, that was me. Then, Rhodey came; Happy, Peter, May, even the rest of the Avengers when all was finally settled.

Tony allowed himself the chance to have a family of his own choosing, to build traditions and memories with others who would accept him for him.

What kind of person makes Tony Stark warm?

The answer would be his family.

- Pepper Potts for Time Magazine

5 | flight

"The Avengers were falling apart." Steve Rogers says, "I'll be honest enough with myself to admit that. It wasn't just because of the Accords. It was an accumulation of things, little tiny things that, after piling up for so long, had finally broken the camel's back, so to speak."

The interview ran long, yet the hero patiently told his story to this reporter. When asked about the status of the Avengers during the infamous 'Civil War', the aftermath and how they had gotten over it, he replied with, "that battle in Siberia… I should have told him. I know that now. There were mistakes made on both sides. Miscommunication errors, stubborn attitudes and petty pride. It was something that both Tony and I actively worked to get through. Years later, after we finally got the chance to sit down and talk; to admit that the whole team was a disaster in the making and that we were all going to come down crashing one way or another, we decided on meeting up for coffee."

He goes on to say that they frequently met up for coffee in the shop by Stark's property. "One cup turned into two and then suddenly, we were regularly meeting up. It was an experience. To sit down and talk to a friend - to Tony - without heroics getting in the way."

After detailing the first fight with the alien known as Thanos who had caused the deaths of half of the universe with the 'snap', Rogers' face turned hard, voice reminiscent. "The snap hit us all hard. But for Tony, who had lost his son, Peter, it was like nothing he had felt before. He was spiraling into depression, throwing himself into work; losing himself.

You could tell, that there were things that just… reminded him of Peter. Sometimes, it was the color of red or the odd pair of glasses that one guy wore that looked just a little bit too similar. Sometimes, it was a haircut or the way someone else laughed."

Then, as a final question, this reporter asked what the main characteristic of Tony Stark was, he replied with a long answer but a good one nonetheless.

"What was his most prominent characteristic? You know, when I first met him, he introduced himself as 'billionaire, playboy, philanthropist'. Yet, he never really made it his entire personality. Tony Stark, at his core, was a family man. That's how we got so close in the years following the snap. At first, he'd talk about Pepper then, after he healed and got therapy, he'd talk about Peter too. Morgan came after, spitfire that she was. He had endless things to say about his two kids and wife. He loved them. It was that simple.

Rhodey [that's James Rhodes, by the way] once mentioned that before every event, be that when he was 18 or 40, Tony would whisper, softly, just enough to be heard, 'Let's put on a show, Tony Stark,' and then the mask of easygoing playboy nonchalance slips on. It was his armor, unbreakable at the time, because no one had seen through it. Not really. That is… no one but Pepper fucking Potts.

Tony loved his family. He adored his wife. So much that I'd even go as far as say that in life, Tony was Pepper's husband, and in death, he would be her ghost.

He told me once, when I asked him over coffee why he kept doing what he did, why he kept saving people when they mostly ended up ungrateful. He answered, looked me in the eyes, said, "I had something to prove. To myself or to others, I don't know, but, I wanted someone to look at me, see what I've done, and ask, 'who is Tony Stark' and say something good. One good thing. That's what I always wanted. One thing to never regret." Thirty minutes later, we walk out the coffeeshop with his daughter on his shoulders and complete utter adoration in his eyes and I knew, for a fact, that he finally got it. His one good thing. Tony was a family man through and through, whether that be for Peter, Pepper or Morgan. I told him so. When I did, he stared at his daughter, eyes fond and so, so devoted, he replied, 'Don't I know it.'"

- Steve Rogers for VOGUE

As Peter watches the little plaque float away, a tear falls.

For so long, they had worked to give Tony the send-off he deserved, had made sure that Tony Stark was remembered the way he should be. Yet, as he watches the little plaque that said 'proof that Tony Stark had a heart' float away, Peter is hit with so much grief that he nearly staggers from it.

The grief is still fresh, the pain is still present.

Yet, as he watches the people that surround him today, he can't think of a single regret here. One way or another, he knew that Tony would go out this way somehow. Chuckling as he wipes the tears falling, he thinks fondly that Tony didn't stop at saving the world. No, it's go big or go home with the man. He just had to save the universe.

Honestly.

It's the saving people thing. He was sure of it.

Still, as he hugs his mother close and rests his head on top of his sister's sleeping form when it all ends, he can almost feel a ghost of a hug; of warmth and security.

This is what it was all for.

Tony had given this to him, had given him a family and a home; had given him affection and care and security that sometimes, despite the man's absence, he can feel it almost tangibly.

He knows his dad would scold him to hell and back if he even made an attempt to thank him for this. The man would always insist that when doing things for family, thanks was unneeded.

Instead, Peter closes his eyes and whispers to the air, 'I love you, Dad. They’re safe with me.'

When he wakes up, he can almost feel the warmth of a ghost's hug.

[Excerpt from Chapter 20:  freedom and skies]

"In truth, Tony Stark would never be defeated, he just wasn't that sort of man. You could kill him, hurt him, destroy him but you would never be able to defeat him. Tony Stark was a man of Iron, ironic it may be. He did not break, did not bend. He just… ends. Despite everything, he had never backed down, not from things that matter. Tony is dead, but not defeated.

Tony didn’t die a hero. He died a simple man, who had wanted to hug his son one more time and keep his wife and daughter safe.

He was just Tony, just amazing, brilliant Tony.

As crazy as the thought may be, Tony Stark had been a man who stood among giants and won.

Everyone knows the tale of David and Goliath; that David walked away the winner.

The giants had been tall, had seemed insurmountable at times. But to Tony, who knew for a fact that the sky was blue, that roses were red, and that the only limit was how far up you could go… To Tony, the giants were nothing more than an obstacle.

So to defeat the giants before him, Tony had sat down, got to work, and built himself wings.

Fly high, Iron Man. Fly high."

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