Looking at the "hot gossip" happening in the world, Tony Stark scowled. What did they know of him? They didn't know about any of the things he felt. The pressure he is under was enough to make a grown man cry. But not this one.. After all, Starks are made of iron. The shame he felt for not being able to hold the Avengers together was a massive burden. These reporters didn't know anything about him, and they would never try to understand. It was as if they were made of stone. Who was it that they saw? The Mechanic? The Merchant of Death? The Playboy? Instead of seeing who he was for real, they saw all of Tony's masks.. If they saw how twisted his life was, then they'd scorn him. He was a Stark. Expected to be above all the rest of the world, no faults to ever be discovered.. Stark men didn't cry, no matter how much it hurt.
People wondered why Tony had a hard time trusting people, well the root of the problem was his messed up childhood. His father wasn't around, and his mother was calmly detached from her son.
Howard was always searching for the "great Captain America"... Even when he wasn't actively hunting for his greatest friend/creation, his mind was always somewhere else. Heck, on Tony's 10th birthday, his father didn't even show up to the party! Instead, he followed a dead end trail to the "good captain's" whereabouts. When the festivities were over, Tony was handed a birthday card.. It said, "happy birthday. -Howard."
You'd think that would be enough to give a man trust issues, right? Enter Obadiah Stane, the man who was practically a second father to Tony. He was Also the man who tried to assassinate Tony. The man Who ripped out the only thing keeping him alive... The equipment that kept the shrapnel out of Tony Starks beating heart... One can guess how many nightmares that that had caused. Having to learn to trust someone after that, was enough to make a man go mad.
Captain America, aka Steve Rogers was Howard Starks greatest accomplishment. Deep down, Tony had always resented the super soldier.. His father was only interested in how much better Rogers was in comparison to his son. When Tony first met the Captain, his first thoughts were that maybe, Captain Freaking America could see something nobody else could. Maybe, he could be useful to someone, other than as a bank. Perhaps Tony could be a hero, and finally do something to make his father proud. Of course, thinking these things, and actually saying them out loud were two completely different things. Steve Rogers shattered all of Tony's hidden hopes with just one simple statement... "Big man in a suit of armor.. Take that off, what are you? I know guys with none of that, worth ten of you."
Of course even Captain America wouldn't be able to see anything in Tony. Nothing was special about the billionaire anyway. He wasn't worth more than the scum off Steve Rogers shoe.
All it took was one sentence, to crush all the hope of doing something worth while. Nobody liked Tony... He could only count a few people that he could trust, and eventually they would all leave too. Pepper figured out that he wasn't worth the trouble he was putting her through; and so they broke up. Rhodey Could realize any moment that Tony was expendable... It wouldn't be the first time he was used and discarded for his tech. J.A.R.V.I.S was wiped from existence due to Tony's miscalculations. And Steve chose his parents' murderer over his teammate. More than half of the Avengers chose to side with the Super soldiers of mass destruction, and Tony was left to pick up the pieces. The more that he dared to believe that things would improve, the farther that he would fall. Tony wished to shut his brain down.. If he were senseless he'd prefer it. Anything was better than being alone again.
Howard had never lied, he told his son that it was cruel outside in the real world. He told Tony how he had to hide his true self... And maybe his words were as cold as stone. But they were true. Tony had disregarded that advice, and look where he had ended up. With a vibranium shield, that his father had made, stuck in his arc reactor! He would never expect anything other than pain again.
As he lay in Siberia, on the floor of a HYDRA base, Tony recalled the words of wisdom from Howard. "Stark men were made of Iron." He vowed that from that day on, his eyes would forevermore be dry... Never shedding a tear until the day he'd die, as if he were made of stone.
A/N: I hope that you enjoyed this! I'm writing it at night instead of sleeping, so it's not that great. This is inspired by the song: Made Of Stone, from Hunchback of Notre Dame, the musical.