What I Lost || sequel to Worth It

Two

3rd person POV

No one knows where (Y/N) Stark went after she disappeared. There have been sightings all over the world, blurry photos and the occasional video. None were real.

After (Y/N) left, Tony didn't know how to handle it for months. The knowledge that his daughter intentionally left him, he had just gotten her back and she chose to leave.

It took him a long time to get back to semi normal. He wasn't exactly the same as before she left, the lighthearted tone that was usually ever present in his words had disappeared. He started going back on missions about nine months after she left. He felt that if he couldn't help her, at least he would help others.

"Hey Mr. Stark!" Peter entered the lab.

After he graduated high school, he got a job at Stark Industries. Most of his work was done alongside Tony.

"Hey kid." Tony greeted him.

"What are we working on today?" Peter asked, pulling off his coat.

"Um, this." Tony pushed a pile of tangled wires and jagged metal across the desk.

"What is this supposed to be?" Peter inspected it.

"It was supposed to be an upgrade for Barnes' arm but I got distracted and kinda spaced out."

"Didn't he just get an upgrade a few months ago?" Peter asked and Tony nodded. "Does he want an upgrade?" Tony shook his head and Peter sighed. "So you're just keeping yourself busy until the next mission?"

"Basically." Tony admitted.

"You need a hobby, one that doesn't involve staying in the lab 24/7."

"I don't need a hobby, I'm fine."

"Then talk to someone else, like a therapist. You can't just keep yourself occupied so you don't have to deal with your emotions."

"That's exactly what I'm gonna do."

"It's not healthy."

"Neither is getting stabbed, but you seem to do that quite often." Tony replied.

"I don't choose to be stabbed, it just happens."

Tony sighs and runs his fingers through his hair.

"I'll talk to someone." He lied.

"Good."

Peter worked in the lab for a few hours before going upstairs to the common room.

"Hey guys." He said as he exited the elevator.

"Hey, any progress?" Natasha asked from the couch.

"Not really," Peter sighed. "He said he would talk to someone but I think he was lying."

"It's been two years, he can't keep bottling everything up." Steve said.

"Try telling him that."

Tony's POV

I left the lab and went to Wanda's floor.

I walked down the hall until I stopped at the multi-colored door.

"Are you painting your door?" I asked (Y/N).

"Why yes I am." She responded with a smile.

"Any particular reason?"

"It was boring, everything is so pristine and white. My door needed a splash of color."

I just laughed and smiled at her paint smudged face. She turned back to her door, a look of concentration spreading through her features.

I didn't let anyone touch her room. Two years and not a single item was disturbed. Her bed was still unmade and there was still an empty glass on her nightstand.

I sat on the edge of her bed, examining my surroundings. Her walls were covered in printed out photos, some of the avengers, some of her and Ophelia, some of just the two of us.

A part of me knows that keeping her room put together and the same as it was before she left is useless.

She's not coming back. It doesn't matter what she said in that note, she's either moved on or... whatever.

I grabbed an empty shoebox from her closet and walked around the walls, plucking photos from the wall. I stopped when I got to one from her 16th birthday. She was standing in front of her car with her arm slung over Peter's shoulders, both of them were beaming. I placed it in the box with the rest of them.

I continued around the whole room until the walls were bare. The shoebox was put back in her closet with her Polaroid camera inside.

I felt like I was getting somewhere, like I was beginning to let her go. People come and go, it's how life is. No matter how happy I was before, I have to accept that this is how it is now.

Am I ready to completely let go? Of course not, I probably never will be. But moping around and feeling sorry for myself isn't helping.