Iron Man 3 spoilers. Many thanks to everybody at The Beta Branch.
He'd kept his word. Pepper had been made better, he'd gotten rid of the arc reactor, and he hadn't built another suit.
Not that Tony didn't want to, sometimes.
He still consulted with SHIELD, if they asked, but ever since New York it simply wasn't the same. Agent – Phil – had somehow made the difference. Tony didn't know why, but suspected it was just something in the man's personality and demeanor.
He knew that he was hurting Pepper with how stubborn he was being about the fact that he still was having nightmares and flashbacks, but he really couldn't trust anybody but his closest friends not to betray him. Rhodey was off being Iron Patriot – still a stupid name – and he didn't want to burden Pepper with too much, not when she was having nightmares of her own. Bruce, for all his saying that "I'm not that type of doctor, Tony," and his occasional bursts of anger, was actually one of the better listeners.
Even if Bruce fell asleep most of the time.
Then, one day, his world fell apart. Again.
It was a normal consulting visit to the Helicarrier. As he was crossing the hanger deck to the Quinjet, he saw him. Agent. Phil.
He looked surprisingly good for a dead man.
"Sir? Mister Stark?" The voice at his elbow made him jump. "Everything okay?"
"…he's not dead. Why is he not dead, he was stabbed through the chest and we were told he was dead?" Tony knew he was babbling, but that was normal enough. Keeping his voice calm and the anxiety at bay, that was harder.
"Agent Coulson? No, he isn't. It's all very secretive." Too much excitement in the kid's voice. Tony thought about trying to find out more, but…no.
He wasn't surprised. Not completely, knowing what Tony knew about what really happened at SHIELD. Suddenly, he was glad that there were no more suits. No suits meant no Iron Man. No Tony Stark in the Avengers Initiative. "Sir?" This kid was getting annoying.
He'd made the mistake once of letting Phil get too close.
Pepper, Rhodey, and Bruce. Tony stared at the hanger deck and started walking again, ignoring his name being called out by a voice that was painfully familiar. Nobody else. He'd just end up betrayed again.