Captain America: Civil War | Shattering Relations | MIT University

"Try to remember the kind of September…" A middle-aged woman sang with the soft tone of a piano backing her words, "When grass was green." Her fingers elegantly pressed on the keys in a way that showed she had played this song a hundred times before. She knew what she was doing, and it was beautiful the music she could create with just two instruments.

Suddenly, a man slightly older than her came into the room from the door behind her. He was tightening the tie around his neck. He wore a black business suit that screamed authority but there was some humbleness behind his posture. His pearly white hair was combed back, and even the small mustache above his mouth looked brushed through. The woman, on the other hand, was also dressed nicely. They were going out by the looks of it. She wore a satin blue woman's coat with a matching skirt and a pair of simple black heels under her feet. Her make-up was pristine and she was dressed as well as her husband. Her jewelry also showed expensive taste as did the way they looked.

The woman didn't turn away from her piano but spoke to the young man hidden underneath the large red, fluffy blanketed cocoon. "Wake up, dear." She told the hibernating boy, "Say goodbye to your father."

The boy woke up just as his father lifted the blanket off him and threw it over the back of the couch.

"Who's the homeless person on the couch?" The father questioned, and his tone wasn't one of complete happiness. There was a little disappointment in it, but the man did still love his son – he just didn't know the best way to show this properly.

This young man was Tony Stark, but he was much younger than the age he is now.

Surprisingly, he still had a red Santa's hat on his head, despite having fallen asleep at some point.

The young Tony Stark gave a chuckle at the comment, but it was a little more sarcastic than it really should have been. He didn't see his father making a joke, "This is why I love coming home for Christmas." He commented, standing up from the couch with a bit of tiredness still in his eyes. "Right before you leave town." This time, there was resentment in his tone. This happened practically every year, or at least, for the last four to be exact.

The house was always empty on Christmas Day and to be honest, he hated it.

In the background, the mother continued to play her soft music as the two men talked behind her.

"Be nice, dear." She told her husband still without looking behind, "He's been studying abroad."

"Really?" The father raised an eyebrow, not impressed by a certain part of his son's life, "Which broad? What's her name?" This was a common mentioning in this family. He always heard more about his son's partying and lifestyle ways than the academic rewards he should be getting to live up to the family name. There was also a new girl in his son's life every few months, he goes through them like a stick of deodorant. It needs to be replaced every time the last finishes it's purpose.

Tony just sent a humorless smile, "Candice." Which was true, it was his girlfriend at the time. She only lasted a couple of months in the end, like the others. He loved his father, really, but he was just so hard to stand most of the time.

"Do me a favor." His father started in return, "Try not to burn the house down before Monday."

Tony, in his usual dealing mechanism, went into a party planning mood, "Okay, so it's Monday." He said, double checking even though he already knew what day they were supposed to be coming back. He brushed passed his father as he continued, "That is good to know, I will plan my toga party accordingly." But, in reality, he wasn't actually going to throw a party. All he usually did this time of year while they were away was curl up in his bed and watch movies – maybe design some stuff in secret that he may make later in life. He did have big plans, whether his father knew or not, it didn't matter to him these days.

He went and stood behind his mother who was still sitting at the piano, playing her calming tunes. "So, where are you going?" He asked, looking nonchalant as he stuffed his hands into his bottom pockets.

"Your father's flying us to the Bahamas for a little getaway." She replied, smiling lightly but a little piece of her heart wrenched because they were leaving their son, yet again for Christmas. There was also another reason as to why they were leaving this time, although, it was something Tony had already figured out.

"We might have to make a quick stop-" Tony's father started voicing, his hands also pocketed as he paced over slowly. He was looking down as his son interrupted him in the middle of his sentence, looking guilty about something.

"-At the Pentagon." Tony finished, "Right?" He glanced at his mother and father as they both sighed at his guess. He noticed the looks, but more specifically on his mother, "Oh, don't worry." He waved his hand, trying not to look irritated but the sarcastic comments he usually uses to distract himself overpowered it, "You're going to love the holiday menu at the commissary."

His father looked at him with scrutiny, "They say sarcasm is a metric for potential." He noted, sensing a lot coming from his son at this second – combining it with most of the boy's life at the same time, "If that's true, you'll be a great man someday."

If only he knew.

Tony made a little scoff under his breath as he walked away, keeping his back towards his father as the man left the room to grab the bags. He was disappointed, angry, and more than a little upset that he couldn't go with them on the trip this year – again. In the past couple of years, it had been his fault that they weren't home for Christmas because he never knew what he was doing at the time until the very last minute. But this year, he gave his parents plenty of notice. And still, they were going to the Bahamas and taking a trip to the Pentagon of all places at the same time.

It didn't feel fair.

Tony leaned against the opposite doorway as his mother ceased making the delightful melodic music that came from the piano. The woman looked up, but not towards her son specifically, "He does miss you when you're not here." She told him softly, using the tone a mother would comfort her child. She turned to him and started getting up from the chair she had been sitting on, "And frankly, you're going to miss us." She said with knowledge hidden behind her words.

The young Tony looked down from where he stood, feeling his loving mother come up beside him and place a dainty hand on his shoulder. He had to listen as she continued, her voice feeling like a heavy weight pulsing in his brain. Her voice was clear to remember, and so hard to hear at the same time. He longed to replay this moment repeatedly but it would do him more harm than good.

"Because this is the last time we're all going to be together." Her son looked up towards her as she shouldered her small bag, giving him a sympathetic look, "You know what's about to happen."

Tony swallowed hard and shifted in his stance uncomfortably as he nodded. He knew exactly what was about to happen and it wasn't making him feel any better at this given moment.

This wasn't a true exact replica of the true memory because parts have been altered to fit the desired scenario.

"Say something." His mother pleaded with him quietly as her husband walked back into the room with a bag on own right shoulder and a suitcase in his left hand. "If you don't, you'll regret it." And he did regret this moment, it's why the older Tony kept revisiting it again and again. Trying to get him past the fact that he needed to accept that he hadn't been the best son before they died.

It did take a couple of seconds before Tony finally looked in the direction of where his father stood, connecting eyes with his old man.

"I love you, dad."

His father smiled slightly hearing his son say that and gave him a small nod of acknowledgment.

Tony turned back to his mother; the woman he missed more than anyone he's lost in this world, "And I know you did the best you could." His words made his mother's heart lift as she placed a goodbye kiss on his cheek.

The younger Tony had to watch as his mother and father walked out of the 3D imaging memory converter with a heavy heart because he knew this would be the last time he'd ever see them again. On Christmas or any other occasion. Behind him, the older and currently real Tony Stark stood with dark shades on his head that matched the black suit and clothing he wore underneath. He was looking down as the scene finished playing, still feeling undeniable crushed by the fact that this ending had never really happened. It was just a façade for what really happened.

In the real memory; the younger version of him had kept the pissed off state going throughout the conversation and never spoke nicer words. He never even said he loved his father and he barely even said a goodbye to his mother. It killed him every time he thought back to it and partly - this is why his invention has helped him in some way.

"That's how I wish it happened."

The current Tony Stark began to say as the flashback froze in front of an atrium full of people. MIT students. He was currently in the middle of giving a lecture to the school he used to attend, intent on bringing some people inspiration for the field he had wanted to desperately succeed in, back when he was just a young man himself. He also needed something to keep his mind of several things these days, including a certain redheaded woman that walked out on him a couple of months ago.

Not that he blamed her.

"Binarily Augmented Retro-Framing … or BARF." He chuckled a little for the show as he walked forwards, tracing through one of the many old memories he had looked back on with his newly-built device, "God, I really gotta work on that acronym." A few people among the crowd laughed with him, "An extremely costly method of hijacking the hippocampus to clear traumatic memories."

Stopping next to the materialized piano, he tried putting out the candle that was lit in the memory-form. It took a few blows but it did eventually dematerialize.

"It doesn't change the fact that they never made it to the airport or all the things I did to avoid processing my grief, but…" He paused, finally taking off the glances that have mostly helped him come to terms with his parent's demise. The 3D memory started to fade around him, no longer having a picture to project for everyone in the audience to see. "Plus, $611 million for my little experiment? No one in their right mind would've ever funded it." It was harder than it looked to get funding for projects these days. Investors are more interested in the financial gain of a project for them and not what it could bring for the future of humanity.

He placed the glasses on the blank set that was left behind once the 3D memory was gone. All that was left behind were real boxes and a plain white piano that wasn't really a true instrument. It was an object made to look like one for the memory to properly work and for it to feel more real.

Pushing aside the projected show he had put on and walked towards the edge of the stage, speaking to the audience as a whole.

"Now, help me out, what's the MIT mission statement?" He asked the audience who should clearly know by now, well before even starting at the school of their dreams. They began following his speech as he carried on, "To generate, disseminate and preserve knowledge."

"And to work with others." Tony continued, gesturing to them all, "To bring it to bear on the world's greatest challenges and well, you are the others." He started pacing from each side of the stage as he talked, keeping them engaged. "And, quiet as it's kept, the challenges facing you are the greatest mankind's ever known. And plus … most of you are broke." This caused many of the people in the room to laugh - because it was true. They'd never be as rich as THE Tony Stark was – it was simply a fact.

"Oh wait, I'm sorry. Rather, you were." Tony backtracked what he said, doing as he had planned long before coming to the University this day. Many in the audience began to look bewildered, and for good reason, but the explanation was about to come very, very soon.

"As of this moment … every student has been made an equal recipient of the inaugural September Foundation Grant." The students in front of him gasped with eyes widening with shock, "As in … ALL of your projects have just been approved and funded."

The entire hall broke into applause and cheered, including the students and teachers standing around the edges. Never, in the history of MIT, has someone like Tony Stark ever offered something like this to the people of their school. For some, it was a miracle and for others, just a dream come true because they could build the things they wanted to now with a large fund in their pockets.

Tony felt his heart filling with something he could only describe as happiness by the fact that he was changing hundreds of lives, maybe even the world if some of these students were to create magnificent things. He looked down at all the faces staring at him in amazement and it made him feel at peace in that moment, knowing he had done something right, a thing that feels like he hasn't done in a very long time.

"No strings, no taxes, just … reframe the future!" He loudly read from the teleprompter showing up in front of him, one the audience couldn't see. These were all his words, but just so that he didn't have to read from a piece of paper, he had it put up on a machine where he could read and keep his face looking towards the audience. "Starting now."

Suddenly; Tony froze on the stage as he witnessed the next part of his speech come up for him to read. His heart stilled when he read someone's name written on it. It was the name he had specially told someone to take off before he came up on stage just before coming out.

Pepper Potts.

Everyone occupying the room didn't understand why he stopped and simply stared out in front of him. They thought he had more to say but he just stood there, almost as if he were staring into space and trapped within his own mind.

Tony eventually snapped out of it as quickly as he could and placed a smile without feeling on his face. He pretended he hadn't just nearly made a fool of himself and rushed to finish the lecture, "Go break some eggs." He said with a final note. He didn't leave it another moment before taking off towards the side of the stage, done for the day and no longer in the mood to speak to anyone right now. The memories of his past lover started to come back to him, weighing him heavily down to the floor.

As he left with a wave of goodbye, the racket of another round of applause led him out along with a mountain of cheers. As happy as Tony felt before, he now felt awful again after seeing Pepper's name.

Much to his displeasure, one of the more irritating teachers met him backstage with an annoying amount of enthusiasm. The feeling he really despised as of this moment.

"WOW!" The man exclaimed with a massive grin on his face, his eyes bulging out just because of how he felt. He didn't give Tony a second to prepare himself for the bombardment. "Just WOW! That took my breath away! So much money, WOW!" With the amount of time's he's said 'wow', he'll probably scorch the dictionary placement of where that word used to be.

Tony calmly let the guy who controls the volume and speakers take off the wire he had been wearing during his lecture. He tried to block the sounds the teacher was still making, but the guy was making it very hard to accomplish that. All he wanted to do was get out of here.

The teacher who wore a simple gray sweater underneath a dress coat and thick black glasses chuckled nervously as he began to give the billionaire a question. "Out of curiosity…" The man started, following Tony as he started walking away. Tony was heading towards the elevators, or what they'll soon think, the restrooms, "Will, um, any of that grant be made available to faculty? I know 'Ooh, gross' but just hear me out…"

Tony didn't hear him out – more like tuned him out.

A young blonde woman suddenly appeared before Tony and she had the look of apology written all over her face. She appeared next to them just as he began to ask the man where the Restrooms were. He wasn't going to use them, it was just a ploy to get away from this place so he could leave. He's said and done his bit, now he wanted to leave and go back to his tower for lonesome company.

"Mr. Stark," The woman started to say, her tone completely apologetic as she started to profusely apologize, "I am so sorry about the teleprompter. I didn't know Miss Potts had canceled and they didn't have time to change it."

Tony had never seen her before and she hadn't been the one he instructed to take Pepper's name off the machine before the show. He should say it's okay, it happens, but he wasn't really in the talking mood anymore. "It's fine." He said instead with two simple words. "I'll be right back." He lied, brushing past them and thankfully neither the teacher nor the woman followed him out.

…

He walked out of the backstage door and was greeted by a blast of cool air that made him calm down … a little. The hallway was near enough empty and that made it quiet - something he really wanted right now. As he approached the elevator just down the hall, right next to the washrooms, he met a woman in front already seeming to be waiting for the mode of transportation he wanted to take.

She was a fairly small black woman with dark clothing and a short dark brown bob for hair. Glancing over to Tony as he came forward, she had a distant and broken look in her eyes, one that Tony had seen many times before in a lot of other people. One being himself on a daily basis.

They were standing in a noiseless hallway until she decided to speak.

"That was nice, what you did for those young people." She commented as she broke the silence. She kept her head staring towards the silver elevator door with a passive look on her face.

Tony just gave a small shrug at the mention of what he had done just a couple of minutes ago, "Ah, they deserve it." He replied with honesty. Every young person deserved the chance to follow their dreams and hopefully, he's been able to give many of them that chance today. "Plus, it helps ease my conscience." He couldn't help but say as an add-on.

There was another moment of silence before the woman's head finally turned towards him, "They say there's a correlation between generosity and guilt." She disclosed, giving a small one-shouldered shrug, "But … if you got the money … break as many eggs as you like. Right?" Using the last standing remark he had given to the students before leaving the stage. She had watched the entire thing backstage, hidden away as best she could. There was something she wanted to get into Tony Stark's head and this was the only opportunity she's been able to have in months to do so.

Tony couldn't help but agree with her there.

Glancing towards the elevator, he wondered why it was taking so long to come down to this floor. It wasn't like there was much traffic now and there were only a couple of floors it needed to travel between. It was when he noticed that the elevator button wasn't shining like it should. It made him pause. There was no light surrounding it at all. Creasing an eyebrow of wary confusion, he moved forwards slowly to press it in and in return, the light finally came on.

Tony looked over to the woman before cautiously asking, "Are you going up?" His body and mind started to feel more alert given the circumstances he's had to live with for many years now. And since she had been standing there, alone and waiting, it was almost as if she had been waiting for him. That's the situation he was beginning to grasp at.

The woman shook her head, "Oh no, I'm right where I want to be." She answered, sounding vague but the response started to ring alarm bells in Tony's head. He's had too much experience to know that it may not mean a good thing if someone says that and does certain things. She went to reach into her handbag but abruptly, a hand gripped at her wrist tightly out of reflex to stop her from reaching in further.

The snappy reflexes inside of Tony were thinking she was pulling out a gun.

The woman looked up at him but didn't seem startled by what he had done - she just stared at him, displeased at the fact that he was touching her and nothing else.

Realizing what his hand had done; he started to loosen his grip but didn't immediately take his hand of her limb. "Sorry," He apologized, "It's an occupational hazard."

She just stared into his eyes, "I work for the State Department." She explained, feeling his grip finally fall off as he retreated his hand back to his side. She could tell he was still wary, though, she didn't blame him. There was something else she did blame him for – and others, but mostly it was Tony Stark. "Human Resources." She was all dressed and ready for work and this was just a pit stop to visit Tony Stark before he rushed back to his tower to hide away again.

"It's boring-" She continued, never looking away from his face, "-but it enabled me to raise a son." She felt her voice waver slightly at the last word. Her son's face flashed before her eyes and a painful tear began clawing at her heart. "I'm very proud of what he grew up to be." She finally took her hand out of the bag she had been reaching into and grabbed the picture before slamming it onto Tony Stark's chest.

Tony jerked in his spot but stayed where he was, looking down to see a photograph of a boy now plastered on his chest. It was being held in place by the woman's hand.

"His name was Charlie Spencer." Her voice shook, feeling her eyes ring with tears. "You murdered him ... in Sokovia."

Tony just stared at her, not knowing what to say. What could he say to that? He couldn't deny it because it was partly true, the Avengers' had played a part in countless deaths that day and most of it was on his shoulders. He had created Ultron and if he hadn't, the whole thing would have never happened.

It was his fault.

"Not that it matters in the least to you." Tony felt nails digging into his chest from her hidden anger, but he didn't feel pain. He just felt numb, "You think you fight for us?" She questioned him, narrowing her eyes this time, "You just fight for yourself and whose supposed to avenge my son, Stark?" She shakily took her hand away from the photo as Tony grabbed it from her, "He's dead … and I blame you."

Tony stayed stood in his spot even as the elevator doors opened for him and closed a minute after. He watched as the woman walked away towards the staircase and all he could do was stare down at the photo of a young man who had his life so full ahead of him. A young man that could have changed the world, just as he had thought about the MIT students doing with their newly gained grants.

Tony clutched hard at the photo in his hand.

Charlie Spencer.

~ NOTE ~

With Shattering Relations, I'm going to try my utmost best to update once a weekend (twice if I'm feeling up to it) because you guys have waited a long time for me to restart my writing process again that you really deserve it for being extremely patient with me. Thank you, everyone, so much for the continued support with the Avery Rogers series! You guys are the absolute best! I feel like I don't say this often enough.

CJ/OddBall: Haha, thank you so much! That makes me feel better : ) When Bucky and Steve (or just one of them, I haven't really decided yet) goes to find her, yes, she will be in Bucharest. I hope you enjoyed this chapter too!