Work Text:
Tony,
I’m glad you’re back at the compound, I don’t like the idea of you rattling around a mansion by yourself. We all need family. The Avengers are yours, maybe more so than mine. I’ve been on my own since I was 18. I never really fit in anywhere – even in the Army. My faith is in people, I guess. Individuals. And I’m happy to say for the most part, they haven’t let me down. Which is why I can’t let them down either. Locks can be replaced, but – maybe they shouldn’t. I know I hurt you Tony. I guess I thought – by not telling you about your parents I was sparing you, but… I can see now I was really sparing myself. I’m sorry. Hopefully one day you can understand. I wish we agreed on the Accords, I really do. I know you were only doing what you believe in, and that’s all any of us can do, it’s all any of us should. So no matter what, I promise if you — if you need us. If you need me, I’ll be there.
Steve
Rogers.
I am at the compound to help Rhodes with his rehabilitation and the medical facilities at the compound are state of the art since I built them for the Avengers. Once he is recovered, I plan to move back to my home.
I accept your statement that the Avengers are more mine than yours and I am trying to form them into a better team than the one Bruce called “a chemical mixture that makes chaos.”
I have been on my own since I was 17 which is when my parents were killed, but that seems irrelevant to any discussion we ever had or to the situation at hand. I understand from your letter that you have no faith in institutions (although it seems a weird sentiment for someone who enthusiastically fought on behalf of the government and participated in their experiments). I will say this, you have put your faith in individuals, such as me, and they have come through for you. I have placed my faith in individuals, such as you, and many have betrayed me. I would say that you have just been lucky or, perhaps, never had anything that anyone else ever wanted to take from you. But anecdotal evidence proves nothing.
I honestly have no idea what the hell you mean about locks, but I will say that I recognize that I left something valuable unprotected when I should have locked it away from you.
Thank you for recognizing that you (an individual I had faith in) hurt me. Believe it or not, I can actually understand not doing something that you should do to spare yourself pain. That is a very human impulse. Not a nice impulse, but a human one. I can get behind that sentiment and that is why I am reforming the Avengers and supporting the Accords.
I know that you believe that you are reliable and will be there for me if I need you. I, being a scientist and working from empirical data, find that belief unsupported by the evidence.
Stark