Hello! So I wrote this for my amazing friend and they'll probably hate it but oh well. I've mixed up some universes nd changed some things so stick with me will you? This one's for you Tony, hope you cry your eyes out.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything used in this story
Prompt: "I know you don't want to stay, but … consider it. Please?"
Stay.
He had said the word so many times. He had begged. Pleaded. No one ever listened.
The first time he asked someone to stay, he was six.
He had finally snuck out of the house successfully. He had run all the way down the street, away from their large house and silence that came with it. There was a park at the end of the road, one he had been dying to go to, but one his parents were too busy to take him to.
Tony stared in awe at the place. His little mind trying to wrap around all the new contraptions he would get to play on. He decided to go to the swings first, running as fast as his short legs would go. The metal felt cold in his grip, but he came to enjoy the small bite it brought with it.
The swings quickly became his favorite, kicking and pumping his legs until he was as high as he dared to go. He felt like he was flying. So when he pushed too far out, and gravity took over, Tony wasn't scared, he was exhilarated. He flew through the air, hanging for a few seconds before he roughly fell to the ground. The impact brought tears to his eyes, but he only wiped his eyes and jumped right back into the swing.
He was still jumping from the swing an hour later when the nanny found him. She had scolded him harshly, dragging him back to the house by his arm. He wanted to say she was worried about him, but even though he was a little boy he could tell she didn't. When the women drug him in front of his parents, Tony wanted to be invisible.
They were dressed to the nines, his mother in a dress that probably cost more than any car they owned, and his dad in a nice tailored suit that was just as expensive, if not more. They were going out apparently. He kept quiet; his mouth glued shut as if that would avoid the wrath of his parents.
The tears were streaming freely by the time Howard was done with him. They whisked past their son, his mother sparing a second to kiss his forehead before she made it to the door. Her moment of affections gave tony the time to grip her dress tightly in his small hands.
"Please stay." He whispered his voice heavy with tears. "We can go back to the park, and I can show you what I learned today on the swings or we could–"
His mother smiled sadly at him and soon she was gone, nothing but the front door standing where she once was. He never went to that park again.
The next time he asks, he's grieving.
He's thirteen now, and his life is hell. He's the smartest kid in the class, and the jocks remind him enough of that. He knows that within a year or two he'll be off to college. He's going early, even his parents have told him that, so he bides his time. He can't wait to be far away from all of this. His mom barely speaks to him anymore, his father is always lecturing, and Tony has had enough, thank you very much.
He spends all of his time with machines. Computers, cars, microwaves, whatever he can get his hands on. His hacking skills had improved, which was more than likely the reason he was always in trouble, but what was the point in being a kid genius if you couldn't show off a bit?
The day he found the file was the same day he wished he had the IQ of the quarterback at his high school.
He was just messing around, trying to prove to his dad that he didn't need to be treated like a child. He stumbled upon it in the middle of his hack, and he couldn't take his eyes off the screen.
Arno.
That was the name.
He only had thirty seconds to retrieve information before the firewalls went back up, but he could only focus on the first two lines.
Arno Stark. His brother.
His sick brother that was living in the hospice that his parents owned. The brother no one felt the need to tell him about. Tony saw nothing but red for the next two days.
His parents were gone, jetting around the globe without a care in the world. Tony wanted to call, to yell and scream and throw a teenage fit because how was this fair? How had they kept something like this from him? He wanted answers, but that was the one thing his parents would never give him, and he knew it.
So on the third day, he marched straight down to the Hospice and demanded to see Arno. The nurses almost panicked, but Tony had seen his dad get by with enough stuff to know how to handle this situation. So with one quick slap of a high dollar bill on the counter, Tony was off down the hall.
It took him twenty minutes to build up enough courage to go in. The boy was pale, too pale, and the machines that beeped rang loudly in Tony's ears. The kid– Arno was sitting up in his bed, his eyes roaming back and forth over the small novel propped open in his lap.
"Arno?" The whisper left Tony's lips before he could even think about stopping them.
The boys head snapped up, and confusion formed on his face as he took in his new visitor.
"Tony?" The voice was weak and barely audible, but to Tony, it sounded like someone was shouting through a loud speaker.
"You know who I am?" He was frozen in his place, unsure of how to process the new information running through his mind.
"Of course, Mom used to tell stories about you all the time when she visited." His brothers eyes looked wistful, maybe a bit jealous, but full of love as well.
"I- they never told me about you. I just found out by myself a few days ago. If I would've known I–"
"It's okay. You're here now." Arno smiled, it was soft and Tony found himself smiling along with him. He had a brother; he had someone who he could rant about his parents to. Someone to laugh at his jokes and someone to understand him. He had hope.
"Now we just have to figure out what to tell mom and dad when they realize you snuck out of the house to come see me." The boys laughed, and after an hour of conversation, Tony left with a promise of returning the next day.
He went to the hospice every day for a week. Talking and laughing and joking with his brother. They were making up for years of lost time. Their parents were still gone, and the brothers' speech they had planned to give changed every day.
The eighth day Tony went to the hospice he knew something was wrong.
The nurses were in frenzy, running back and forth from the hall to the front desk. Tony soon joined them. When he reached Arno's room, his heart sunk down to his stomach.
"No." He whispered, feeling the pressure build behind his eyes.
"NO!"
The scream was ripped from his throat, and suddenly there were hands on him. Pulling and pushing, ripping him away from his only brother. He tried to break free, but he wasn't strong enough, and soon he was whisked from the doorway.
"Please... Please don't go! I need you. Don't leave me here, please stay."
He caught his brothers' eyes one last time, and then the steady beep filled his ears. The noise deafened him, just like his brothers still, unmoving body made him want to never see again. He cried for hours, until there were no more tears left to cry. He set in the plastic chairs of the waiting room, detached from the world around him. He hadn't moved a muscle, and he didn't say a word for hours.
His parents found him like this hours later, when they arrived after receiving the phone call. His mother took one look at him and burst into tears, pulling her last child into her arms tightly as she cried. His father even shed a tear, but Tony didn't have anything left to give.
When his parents died in a car crash years down the road, he goes through the same process. He cries and screams and he locks himself away because he can't deal with it. He can't acknowledge the fact that he's truly alone now. He has no family left. They're all gone. They've left him everything. Their business, their wealth, their belongings. He'd give it all away just to have them back.
Even if his dad never saw eye to eye with him and even if his mother was never the same after Arno died. He just wanted his family back. He gives the speech at their funeral, but it's monotone and bland and he can't find it in himself to fix that. The strangers are shaking his hand, giving their condolences. He knows they're really just trying to get the new CEO of Stark Industries on their side.
He's not as professional as his father though, so when someone even mentions the company to him he snaps. He doesn't even remember what he says, but he's informed the next day that they've lost a big investor. He doesn't care though. He never does. His family is gone, and even if they weren't the best family in the world, they were still his.
He doesn't ask Maria and Howard Stark to stay though, because he's learned his lesson, and if Arno didn't stay, then there's no way his parents will. He promises himself he's never going to ask anyone to stay with him ever again. If he doesn't ask, then they can't disappoint him. It's a full proof plan.
It doesn't stop him from destroying everything in his house though.
Pepper comes along soon. They argue and they bicker and he's sure she's going to leave because everyone else has. They all leave eventually. She doesn't though. She fixes him, stitches him back up and makes sure his pieces all fit together like they used to. He's happy.
He's different now, drinks less, works more, but she never says anything to him. She accepted him way before he decided to don an iron suit and become a superhero, back when he was nothing but an arrogant, self-centered playboy, so if she hadn't left by that point then he's certain she won't leave ever.
He was wrong.
She can't handle it anymore. Can't handle him. He's too reckless, too suicidal. She can't stay with him, can't start a family with him. He breaks his resolve, breaks his promise, begging her to stay with just as much vigor as he did his brother.
He's crying, and he's panicking because he can't do this without her. He can't do anything without her. She's crying too, but no matter how much he repeats the word, she still walks out that door.
His broken mantra of "Stay, please stay." Echoing around the room until he's too hoarse to speak at all.
He throws himself into the Avengers. Trying to be better, trying to prove that he's worth someone staying.
He ends up ruining everything.
The teams divided, and everyone's in hiding. Tony feels betrayed, his hearts broken and his old wounds are slowly ripping open again because his parents should be here. They shouldn't be dead. They should've stayed. They could've stayed. He breaks everything in his office; just like he did when he found out they had passed.
Steve leaves him a phone, and Tony feels a little better. He reads the note and then his world is crashing again because even if Steve left him this, he's gone. He can't come back. Tony might as well have made sure of that. He's alone, as always.
Until he's not.
Suddenly she's there, and she's telling him he's wrong and they're fighting. She walks away, and damn it, Tony's had it with people walking away from him, but he can't find the words to keep her here. He gives it an hour, and then he can't handle it anymore.
He tracks her down easily. She's locked away in her room, which is a good sign so far. It takes him thirty minutes of obnoxious knocking before the door slides open, and she's there. Her eyes wary and her hair pulled back away from her face, and suddenly he's talking a hundred miles an hour.
He doesn't even know if he's making sense but suddenly he's telling her everything. His parents, Arno, Pepper, all of it. He's spilling his soul out onto the floor for her and he can't even read her face to tell how she feels about it. He's out of breath, and he's bordering on a serious panic attack by the time he's done, and before he can stop himself, a question is hanging in the air between them.
"I know you hate me. I ruined everything and I've put the world into a crazy storm and I got your best friend thrown in a jail cell. I know you don't want to stay, but consider it. Please?"
She's silent, her read hair falling out of its bun and back into her face as she pushes off the door she's been leaning on. Her eyes are locked with his, but her face is void of emotion. She walks back into her room, but the door doesn't shut behind her and Tony takes that as a sign she wants him to stay there.
He almost loses it when he looks inside the room.
She's standing next to the bed, and on top of the folded sheets is a zipped up black suitcase. He breaks, and Tony knows this is seriously the last blow he can take to his already battered soul. His visions starts to fade slowly, but then her voice is ripping him back to reality. She's holding the suitcase in her hand, but instead of walking out the door, she chunks the thing back into the closet.
"Why would I leave? I kind of like it here anyways. Free everything."
Suddenly he can breathe again, and it's the best feeling he's ever felt. He's laughing, and she's smiling lightly at him and then he's hugging her like his life depended on it. She freezes, not used to the contact, but she lets it happen.
He's whispering "thank you Natasha, oh god thank you." Into her hair over and over again and she doesn't really understand it to the full extent, but she gets it enough. So later, when they're watching movies on the couch and trying to decide what to do now since Natasha is technically a fugitive and Tony's not, she doesn't bring up the fact that he cried when he hugged her. Just like he doesn't bring up the fact that he's all she has left now.
She tells him things won't change, and he acts like he believes her, but he doesn't believe her at all, because things have changed. Everything had changed, and Tony had no one to thank but Natasha for that.
Finally, for once his life, someone had stayed.