The Hamptons' House

2009: Part 3

Tony had changed. Not the core man that had made you want to agree to the arrangement the two of you had started all those years ago. That Tony - the Tony who had come to your rescue, and made you feel safe and sexy and important - the Tony that could make you laugh, and loved science, and was very insecure but hid it with a mask of bravado - he was still there. What had changed were all those things that had kept you from taking what you had here into the real world.

He still wasn't at the point of his life where he would want what you already had with Kurt - this Tony wasn't ready for marriage or kids and he still had trouble sitting still for very long - but if he had been the way he was now when you had finished your Ph.D., you would have moved to LA with him without question. It was a melancholy thought, especially with the added weight of the knowledge that his arc reactor was slowly killing him but you were glad that the horrific thing that had happened to him did have some good come out of it.

The first thing you noticed was he wasn't really drinking anymore. Sure, he might have a beer or a glass of wine with dinner, and he had had a Scotch or two over the week, but it was no more than most people would drink on a vacation. You and Rhodey were easily matching him drink for drink. His lips no longer tasted of lingering Scotch. Now you were more likely to see him with a chlorophyll smoothie in his hand than an old-fashioned with three fingers of Scotch.

He also seemed to have a different view of work. Being Iron Man was important to him. He seemed to be carrying the burden of what being a weapons manufacturer for so many years had actually meant in the world, and even in the brief time he'd donned the Iron Man armor, the world had been experiencing its longest period of peace. It was important to him that he make up for all those years he'd been profiting from war.

It wasn't just Iron Man that was important to him. He had completely turned the direction of Stark Industries around. Where he used to be happy to just do the inventing and cash the checks while being the face of the company, and letting Obidiah steer the company in the direction he wanted, now he had clear visions of leading the world in clean energy and biotechnology. He wanted to heal the world and he didn't care how much a hit his bank account took doing it.

He spoke of ideas he had for free clean energy and medical equipment, and for the Iron Man armor. He talked about plans for the new Stark Expo that was going to be held next year and how he wanted it to be full of ideas for things to help fix the world. He never spoke about work with you normally and it was nice seeing him so passionate about it and letting you into that part of his world as well.

Not that the incident hadn't left him without scars. Aside from the looming fear of death over him, he flinched when he got in the shower or if someone slammed a door. He didn't trust strangers at all, and in the few incidents you'd seen him interact with them, his armor went straight up and he acted as the overly confident man who dominated the conversation. He had nightmares - though they didn't wake him. There was definitely PTSD that he wasn't being treated for, but generally speaking, this man you were spending the week with was everything you had hoped he'd be back in your early twenties.

Only now he also spoke about Pepper Potts all the time too.

"I wish you would just tell her how you feel," Rhodey said, repeating a phrase that he'd obviously said a lot.

It was Friday and you would be going home in two days. It was also Tony's official birthday. He was 39 and you, Rhodey, and Happy had taken him out for dinner again. He'd ordered his first Scotch in two days and for once let the rest of you choose your drinks. He'd also been talking about Pepper for the past twenty minutes.

"You know the boss has me carrying around a ring?" Happy said.

"Hap!" Tony yelped. "That's private."