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Italian to English.

Lo Adoro - I love it

bambino - child


When they got back to the current empty mindscape of Tony, Peter tried valiantly to keep himself from crying. The experience had reminded him horribly of what happened with Uncle Ben and all the things he had felt as he watched him die.

It is weird to see how similar Mr Stark and I are, not just in our passions but our experiences too.

Peter almost choked on a staggered breath as he felt wet patches travel down his cheeks.

"Kid, are you alright?" Rhodes asked quietly, noticing Peter try to covertly rub his cheeks under the Mask. No one knew Spider-Man's backstory or identity other than Tony; despite this, Rhodey could tell that this recent memory had unearthed something traumatic for him.

"Sorry, I-I'll be fine, it's just those memories-" he sighed quietly, glancing around to the others (who thankfully hadn't noticed him crying) before staring Rhodey in the eyes. "They reminded me of how my uncle died." Frustrated with himself, he rubbed both cheeks harshly one last time. "We're here for Mr Stark, I shouldn't be- I'm fine now."

Rhodes nodded and patted his shoulder in a wordless gesture of support before looking at Wanda, who addressed them all.

"As much I hate Stark..." Wanda rubbed a hand across her face as the others' eyes snapped to her. "No one should see someone they consider a parent die in front of them. When the first bomb hit our apartment," she paused while Clint curled an arm around her shoulder - most of them had never heard her talk about the day her parents died. "My parents were buried in rubble; we barely had a chance to breathe before the next shell came through the wall and cut off any chance of reaching them." Her voice wavered slightly when she remembered her brother. "Pietro tried calling for them, hours after I had given up hope, but no answer came back. It was lucky… in a way, that they died like that. If they were in front of us-"

Wanda's breath hitched and her eyes filled with tears giving them a glassy, doll-like appearance. Noticing this, Clint rubbed her shoulder as Cap walked over and hugged her, murmuring comforting things into her ear and putting his bulk between her and the others' view. Concerned, Vision too floated over to her, although everyone else remained still.

Natasha simply kept herself from rolling her eyes at the display. Stark has clearly suffered worse. I have suffered worse. Yet here Wanda is, making it all about her. Such displays were dangerous in the brutality of the Red Room, but playing up the poor little girl act was a manipulation tactic we were taught early on. Clint can't even see what she's doing, blinded by affection. I like Clint, but sometimes he is an idiot.

In contrast, Bruce barely restrained a scowl. Although he was sympathetic with Wanda, he saw how she manipulated the situation to gain sympathy and attention from the others. They seemed to almost forget the reason they were actually here. Additionally, he saw Spider-Man being comforted by Rhodes beforehand. Clearly the boy had also actually seen someone he cared about die, like Bruce had seen his mother, but both had chosen to put that aside for the moment.

Wanda must've started this manipulation after Ultron. That's why it was so easy for the others to ostracize Tony from the group.

She tore them away from him, and he wouldn't be able to defend himself because he would be feeling guilty too.

And I left him alone with that.

Shit.

Thor had a small frown on his face, obviously thinking along the same lines as Bruce before he spoke up in his normal thunderous voice.

"My comrades! I feel for your plights, but I fear that we may lose focus if we become too fixated on our individual horrors." Thor watched for each of their reactions, seeing the darkness in various pairs of eyes ease back. Several of the group nodded to Thor and Natasha's lips twitched upwards at him. Only Wanda appeared offended, and unfurled herself from Steve's arms. "Witch of Scarlet, do not judge my words as unsympathetic. I have lost many in my long lifetime, including my mother and my brother - both of whom I watched die. Once we leave this place, we can grieve our individual horrors, but for now the Being wishes to show us more about Friend Anthony."

Bucky restrained a snort, thankful for Thor's speech pulling him out of his dark memories, particularly the ones of Howard and Maria which were in the forefront of his mind.

Good to know Thor was getting fed up of them coddling Wanda too.

The Being took this as their cue to appear, silently entering the mindscape and clapping his hands once more to make the room dissolve around them.

They found themselves directly behind young Tony, sitting alone cross-legged in front of Ana and Jarvis's freshly covered grave. A thick layer of both plastic and real flowers filled vases and were planted in the earth.

In the distance they could see Peggy talking with both Obadiah and Maria by the car while Howard approached the grave with a small plastic pink flamingo in his hands.

"Nice of you to show up this time." Tony didn't look from the gravestone as he said this but the hard cold note in his voice showed that he knew Howard was close by.

Howard's lips thinned, and he sighed as he glanced back to the trio waiting for them by the car. Then he consciously loosened the tension gathering in his shoulders and moved around to sit by Tony at the foot of the grave.

Planting the plastic flamingo in the Earth, Howard's lips twitched upwards as he noticed Tony raise an eyebrow at it in interest before he pointedly looked away.

"Of course I showed up, he was one of my best friends too."

Some friend you were. You were never here.

"You've got a lot on your plate," Tony's voice came out clipped and cold, like shards of ice. "What with running a billion dollar company and trying to find your long-lost frozen friend who is probably fish food right now."

Steve and Howard winced.

Clint's "Well shit." seemed to sum up nearly everyone's thought process perfectly as they could feel the bitterness well up to accompany these words.

"I have," Howard replied in a rigid voice before becoming exasperated. "Anthony we've had this conversation before."

Tony's jaw twitched slightly as he folded his arms across his chest, Howard continued as he placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Look, I know what you're going through-"

Tony laughed without humor.

"No you don't. I would've died to keep him safe- for god's sake I took a bullet for him last year! And this year," he tore his eyes away from the grave to glare at his father, "This year I watched him die in front of me. You have no idea what that's like!"

Howard's face became grim as he paused for a long moment.

"No I don't." They noticed Howard look back at Obadiah who tapped his watch. "Anthony, Obadiah and I need to go, company business, you get that right?"

Unsurprised, Tony frowned deeply at the grave before he looked to the sky.

"Yeah, the world doesn't stop for a personal tragedy right?" Tony looked to his father who had gotten to his feet with a steely expression on his face.

"Right."


Tentatively, Natasha felt Tony creep along the hall to his parents' room which must have been artificially darkened, if the sunshine brightening the rest of the house was any indication, and knock on the door.

"Madre? ...I know you said this morning that you felt today was a dark day and I know you don't like to be bothered when you have these days but I would really like you to show you..." he trailed off, staring at the robot plans in his hands before jolting as Maria opened the door.

Dark day? Widow wondered to herself; she would have to save this information for later to try and figure out Stark's meaning. She already had an idea but she wanted to be sure before she confirmed it.

"You said you wanted to show me something bambino." Maria's voice sounded tired and weary despite the subtle hue of enthusiasm tinting her words.

Maria looked a far cry from her normal beautiful self; she had no makeup on so it was clear to see that her eyes were ringed with dark purple bags and her skin appeared paler than usual. A loose shirt which was clearly an old one of Howard's hung across her chest and she paired this with some shorts which came up to just above her knees.

Actually she looked a lot like Tony after a lab bender. Natasha perked up in interest at this resemblance.

Maria held out a manicured hand to clasp the book that Tony held out to her. She stared intently at the pages but was clearly silent for too long.

"You don't like it. I get it. I...um ...it was meant to be a tribute to Jarvis but I can get rid of it if you want-" Tony hastily tried to backtrack as he reached out for his book.

"No Tonio. Lo adoro."

Sneaking a glimpse through Tony's eyes of the pages Maria was admiring, Natasha was greeted with the sight of plans for a basic AI named JARVIS, who would mirror the original Jarvis's voice and personality.

"Chances are I won't be able to mirror everything exactly. He would be different to the original J but, well, it's unfair to expect him to be totally the same... I haven't got what I need technologically yet and with MIT in, what, five months, as well as an increased SI workload... I'm under no delusions this will work yet. With all the improvements added of course that's another story. In my spare time, I'll make some other AI to be sure I can do it properly."

Tony almost dropped the book as it was thrust back into his arms and before Natasha knew it half of her vision was engulfed in long chestnut brown hair.

The phantom sensation of being hugged stayed with her even as the memory changed.

How long had it been since he had been hugged like that?


"Packing already Tony?"

Spinning around at the sudden sound of Obadiah's voice, he almost knocked over the suitcase perched on his bed as he smiled tightly.

"Oh hey Obie, yeah Howard is sending me to MIT. Figures with the Jarvis's gone he can't get rid of me quick enough. At least I got to spend my last birthday with J before he..." he coughed through a crack in his throat. "You don't want to hear about that, anyway. MIT should be fun right?"

Just going to be in another place where they resent me for being rich and smart.

"You're going to love it my boy." Obadiah boomed as he wrapped an arm around Tony's shoulders and shook him roughly. "If Howard were here right now he would tell you the same."

Tony snorted but carried on folding his things into the suitcase.

"He's a complicated man and his intentions are more altruistic than you think. Going to MIT is as much for your own good as the boarding schools were. Sometimes sacrifices have to be made to get the best results. You'll learn that when you get older."

"Altruistic? Next you're going to say he loves me. Obie, I get that you're dad's friend, but last year when I was in hospital I overheard him say that he wished he never had me. Don't insult my intelligence." Angered, Tony stared back at Obadiah and clenched the one of the sides of the case so hard that his knuckles turned white.

"What the hell?" muttered Bucky, outraged as he thought back on his friendship with Howard.

"I can't imagine him saying that." Steve frowned, "maybe Tony misheard or something."

Obadiah stepped forward, a mock sympathetic expression adorning his face, the combination of seeing this and hearing Steve's remark made the anger brewing in Rhodey spill from his mouth.

"Think you know Howard better than Tony, Rogers?" Rhodes hissed.

"I get that I was a surprise but for fucks sake! What the hell kind of father says something like that after their child got shot in the stomach? I just stopped J from taking a bullet for me!"

Scott and Clint exchanged tense looks, knowing that if that happened to one of their children they would hug them tight and never let go.

Tony swiftly turned around and pried the Captain America merchandise out of his suitcase before inspecting the pile in his hands. "Self sacrificial moves are only for Cap right? What a load of crap!" He split the merch evenly between both hands and threw it all at the wall with unnecessary force. "Howard can keep the crappy merchandise - maybe he'll make a shrine. Of our-of his perfect heroes. That'll be a sight for sore eyes. Don't you think Obie?"

He bent and straightened all his other things neatly in the suitcase.

Obadiah folded his arms to watch, expression guarded, as Tony then spent a few minutes savagely kicking the Cap things into a pile of originally suitcased items. The head came clean off a Cap doll as it smacked hard against the wall, which made Tony smile sadistically for a moment. However, unseen by Tony, Obadiah smiled then for a moment too and his eyes gained a unholy amount of satisfaction at the display, they could see the clogs turning in his mind, calculating how he could twist Tony using this. Tony then gathered the few pieces of Bucky Barnes merchandise, including a Bucky Bear, and put it next to the Cap bear on top of the pile.

"Bucky is cool. I like him. But I've got to keep the double act together." Tony explained as Obadiah raised one eyebrow at him in question and walked over to him.

Tony sighed, his gaze zeroed in on the Cap bear and he plucked the bear off the pile, holding it just above his eyeline as he balanced it on his outstretched palm. "The perfect Hero leading leading The Allies to victory against the Hydra Nazi's. The epitome of physical and moral goodness. How can I live up to that?"

Dispassionately he gave the bear a hard look filled with years worth of envy, sadness and anger whilst he tilted his hand downwards towards the pile. The bear tumbled down; past the Bucky Bear sat upright and unaffected at the top of the pile, all the books, the comics and even the corner of a small replica of Steve's Shield hit the bear, it only came to a stop once it collided off of Tony's feet.

"Heroes are for children, Tony." Obadiah whispered in Tony's ear as he slithered his arms around the young genius, squeezed him tight like a python. "When you become an adult you learn there's no such thing."

Tony pulled away slightly to look up at Obadiah. "But Dad?"

"Howard is clinging to false hope and old friendships long dead." Obadiah's mouth pulled down in a sympathetic grimace that only the spies could see was insincere - they knew Tony was fooled. "It's good to see you grow up in ways that he couldn't, my boy. MIT will be great for you. But if you get into trouble or if you need me," Obadiah kissed him on top of his head as he pulled him close again before ruffling his hair, "I'll be there."