A/N: I ended up deleting a few chapters I'd written, so this kind of makes a massive jump, sad talks ahead just to warn you, not exactly a happy chapter.
Chapter 14: To Those We've Lost.
"I'm in the semi-finals now" Tony spoke softly, absent-mindedly fiddling with the sleeves on his sweater, "I really wish you could see me now, I'm healthier, not just physically, and I'm doing good at my new school, and I have this best friend named James, but I call him Rhodey, and he's awesome."
Tony looked away from his fidgeting hands and to the grave marker that bore the name Edwin Jarvis, "I'm sorry I haven't been by as often as I'd have liked too, you must be lonely."
The grave was as silent as ever, a fresh arrangements of flowers left lovingly on the marker, "would you believe that I'm even friends with the guys that tormented me at Shield?" Tony gave a soft laugh.
"It's crazy Jarvis, I would never have expected that something like that would ever happen in a million years, and things are good now, better than good." He continued voice gentle.
Tony heaved a sigh as he settled on the ground, sitting cross legged in front of the grave, "I haven't really seen or spoken to Howard or Maria, so I can't tell you how they're doing, good I guess, Howard made the front pages again, something to do with a new long-range missile."
There were a few minutes of silence in which Tony fondly regarded the grave, "I really miss you Jarvis, more than anything. I got to get back now, I promise I'll come by and see you before I have to leave to go back to Cali, I just want you to know, I'm not afraid to be me anymore, I'm proud to be here, happy to be here, and I know if things go downhill again, I won't be alone, I have Rhodey and the others, and I have you, I know you'll always watch over me. Take care Jarvis, I love you."
Tony stood and ran his hand affectionately across the grave marker, lingering for a moment before walking away, tucking his hands into his sweater pockets.
It was nearly an hour later when Tony entered his hotel room, only mildly surprised to find it packed with everyone, "what's going on guys?" Tony asked shedding his sweater and climbing to sit beside Rhodey on the bed.
It was a Saturday and with that Bruce and Jane were able to join the others for a bit, they were in the midst of a rest period where the final matches were being sorted by the tournament officials.
Clint lying languidly on the floor on his stomach, head cushioned by his hands lifted his head to look at Tony "Where were you?" He asked, curious.
"Visiting a dear friend" Tony responded, stretching his arms over his head and yawning, "I have to ask, I'm a curious person, who's your friend?" Tony sighed softly, a sad look flickering over his face.
"His name was Edwin Jarvis, and he was the family butler, pretty much raised me my whole life, up until he passed away." He answered quietly, "and he remains to this day, the greatest person I have ever known."
There was a sombre silence, "My parents died when I was young" Natasha suddenly spoke up, she had a vacant look on her face, like someone seeing the past over again, her eyes distant.
"I don't have many memories of them, I was taken in by a… let's call him a friend, of my father's and he's raised me for the better part of my life."
"Do you miss them?" Bruce asked gently, fixing Natasha with a sympathizing look, Natasha shrugged, "hard to miss what you can't remember" she answered vaguely, blinking her eyes and snapping back to the present time.
"So when did you move to America?" Tony asked, leaning sideways and lounging on the bed, "I was 11 when we moved, times were hard on my guardian so he decided to move us here, land of opportunities and all that."
Natasha sighed a soft breath, "the hardest part wasn't leaving my life behind, it was learning how to speak English, so many different words that sound the same, sometimes spelt the same, but mean different things, it was very frustrating trying to communicate the first little while we were here."
"How long did it take you?" Tony asked, Natasha hummed, "about a year to learn it properly, once I got the hang of it, it wasn't that terrible, just frustrating."
"I had the same problem with French" Tony laughed, "you speak French?" Steve asked, surprised. Tony nodded, "there's a Stark Industries office in Paris, I went with Howard a few times on business trips, he left me with a day care type thing a lot of the time, hard to talk to the other kids when they don't understand what you're saying, so I learnt their language instead."
"Dude! You speak French, what does this mean 'voulez vous coucher avec moi ce soir'?" Clint asked excitedly, "you've been watching Moulin rouge again haven't you?" Natasha asked with a raised brow, Clint shrugged, "what can I say? Nicole Kidman, what a babe."
"Do you want to sleep with me tonight?" Tony said, staring at Clint amusedly, "Uh…I like you Tony, but I don't like you like that" Clint stuttered nervously, Tony rolled his eyes, "no idiot, that's what it means, voulez vous coucher avec moi ce soir, do you want to sleep with me tonight? Or Do you want to go to bed with me tonight?"
"Oh" Clint laughed, "makes sense," "Do you speak any other languages?" Jane asked, still chuckling a little at Clint, Tony nodded, "I speak fluently in English, obviously, French, Italian, Mandarin, and Cantonese, and Japanese, and I know a little in German, and Russian."
"Why so many languages?" Bruce asked, frowning in thought, Tony shrugged, "I learned French because I think it's a beautiful language and I've been to France a few times, Italian I learned because Maria is Italian, and back before shit hit the fan, she'd speak to me in it while cooking, really I learnt it from listening to her, after a while I picked up what she was saying, I didn't actually take formal lessons in it until a year or so ago. The rest, I don't have an acceptable answer" Tony laughed, "I like learning new things and Jarvis knew how to speak Mandarin and Cantonese, so I learnt most of it from him."
Tony's expression suddenly fell melancholic, "he loved to travel and he's been pretty much all over the world. Jarvis used to say that people always have something to teach you, even if you didn't realize it at first, so listen to the way they speak, the stories they tell, the songs they sing, the way they dress, the way they interact with each other, and you'll see that there's all sorts of things you never knew about the world."
"You really miss him don't you?" Jane spoke softly into the sudden silence of the room, Tony nodded, eyes cast downwards at the red sweater he'd left on the bottom corner of the bed.
"Before I transferred schools, I was in a private boarding school, Jarvis was the only one who was happy to see me when I came home. He taught me to enjoy life, that everything happens for a reason, and no matter how hard it gets, you can never go back so may as well keep moving forward, he taught me that there is always something good to be found in the bad, that every cloud really does have a silver lining, you just have to look for it to see it. I'll always miss him; he's still a big part of my life."
Tony leaned forward and picked the sweater up, running his hand over the soft fabric fondly, "this was the last gift I ever got from him, and it's my most prized possession. I saw it in a store and loved the color of it, red's my favorite color, and I mentioned it to him offhandedly, just in passing that I saw a sweater I liked and wanted to get as soon as I got the chance to go back for it. A few days later, I had a really bad day, came home and found it folded neatly on my bed, he'd left a note saying that sometimes it's good to give a gift for no reason, never underestimate how much a little kindness can brighten up someone's day. This sweater, kind of seems silly to say, but it represented in that moment that no matter how bad my life got, I had Jarvis, he was the only one that cared, that there was an adult in my life that gave even an inch of a damn. He died a week later."
Rhodey stood from the bed, and began passing out cans of soda he had stashed in a drawer, he cracked his open, gesturing for everyone to do the same. "I can say that we've all lost someone important to us at some point, a parent, a guardian, a friend, or even a pet. So a toast, to those we've loved, and lost, but will see again." There was a sombre rising of the soda cans, and a quiet murmur of a toast given to the memory of those that'd never leave their hearts.
A/N: Bit of a solemn chapter, but I felt it was needed, give everyone insight to the struggles some of them have had.