Book of One-Sh!ts

[Iron Man x Captain America] The Right Dance Partner

Big man in a suit of armor, take that away and what are you?

The question had been plaguing the mind of Tony Stark for sometime now. Sure, at the moment he had answered the only way he knew how, with snark, but inside he was whirling with alternative answers. The truth of the matter was: he wasn't anything without the suit. Without the suit he was a genius-billionaire-playboy-philanthropist. In short: the most empty man alive. He was no better than a walking shell. He didn't deserve the money, fame, or even the occasional 'thank you.' He didn't deserve to be a hero. Most importantly, he didn't deserve Pepper Potts. The only thing he truly deserves: is hell. 

Everything about him was a facade, a mask, a persona that he built to protect himself from feeling. For, if you feel, even the slightest bit of emotions, that makes the betrayal all that much harder to handle, to erase. It hurt him with Obadiah, and later, with Steve Rogers. He deserved it. It was karma. That's what he told himself. It was because he had built weapons for war. It was because he had slept will all those women, drank all that liquor, denied all those charities. It was because, deep down, he was Tony Stark and that was his biggest sin. 

No matter what he did he couldn't change that. He couldn't stop being Tony Stark. When he had created the suit, or rather when he had created Iron Man, people could no longer see his face. His mask was hidden behind another mask and he could fix all of his wrongs. He could make it all okay. He could save people. He could have purpose outside of his father's company. It brought him safety. 

Until, that is, the NYC incident. The Avengers Initiative. The wormhole to another dimension. He thought he was going to die; that he might have failed. He lived the scene over and over and over again. What could he have done better? What if he hadn't made it? What if he did die? Would anyone mourn him? 

The only solution he could come up with is this: that he should've died. With him around no one is safe. Not Pepper. Not himself. Not even the world. He was worthless. Even when he tried to help people, he only made things worse. Tony Stark was cursed. Every choice he made was the wrong one. That was what he had accepted. 

I was just trying to be like you...

I need you to do better. Because no one should be him. He's not worth it. He isn't even a good man. Please. Do better. The world only needs one Tony Stark. The world cannot handle two screw-ups. I'm going to need the suit back.

But I'm nothing without the suit. It was then that Tony understood, this kid, this Peter Parker was following in his footsteps. That's not good enough. That's not going to end well. He needs to stop it before it turns into something miserable. He needs to end this before this kid does something that he will regret; before he is reckless and dies. What if he makes a bigger mistake than Tony's Ultron? Or the Accords? It needs to end here; it must. 

So he took the suit. He should've known taking it wouldn't have stopped him. He should've tried harder. He should've said different words. As long as Peter is going to continue, he might as well bring him into The Avengers. You could not have imagined the relief that flooded through him when Peter walked out those doors; when Peter refused. Good. He wouldn't be in harm's way anymore. He could be the 'friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.' That's better. That's much better. 

But now Tony Stark was alone again.

There was no one for him to put his energy into. He had to turn all those reporters away. Pepper had figured out something other than an engagement as an excuse. It was official. Tony was alone. Tony being alone was never a good thing. However, that was always how he ended up in the end. Drinking in his own personal room. He couldn't live in a mansion alone so he moved in with The Avengers. He lived with everyone here. His room was in the basement of the building. It was too big to be even categorized as a 'room' but he didn't care. This was his place. No one was allowed here. Not even Vision, who could go through walls. He wasn't alone but he was at the same time. Funny, how life works that way.