❝I am Iron Man❞

           tony smiled at the choice of words, ❝that is exactly what i was talking about❞ he said letting out a small laugh before his features turned serious. it was hard for him to stop joking about everything, it was a coping mechanism, or at least he guessed that’s what his therapist would’ve said if he had seen one. ❝you know i’ll pay you well. i-... please jess❞ he said looking at the ground, ❝i just want to know if they are okay. this stays between us. i- i’m not even going to reach out to them, i just need to know...❞

           tony felt like he was sinking in quicksand, no matter what he did, what he said, tried to fix, nothing seemed to work out. and it didn’t matter if he knew he had done the right thing, he still felt guilty for everything that had happened after. all he wanted was for the avengers to be the best version of themselves, and he had ended up causing the end of the team. there were few left to tony to trust, pepper, rhodey, and tony loved them, but he knew they were biased. if he wanted advice he would have to visit an old friend. one that no matter how close they were, and how much they’ve been through would not sugarcoat things for tony. it seemed like a lifetime ago when toddler tony who could barely run without falling would follow bruce around. at times the memories felt like they belonged to someone else. maybe they did. to boys who didn’t grow up to become what they had become. 

           ❝i need advice❞ tony said with a long sigh, he was known for having a flair for the dramatic, and short of throwing himself across the sofa, ❝bruce❞ he said almost sounding like a toddler again, ❝how do you do it? how❞ he couldn’t even put it into words, ❝how do you keep everyone’s at arms length. i- i want to stop feeling this like this...❞ tony said burying his face in his hands. 

         to say that tony had not lost things after the disaster the accords brought upon would be an understatement. and yet people were always quick to blame him for it. as if he didn’t know he was guilty. it didn’t matter how much pepper and rhodey tried to convinced him it wasn’t just his fault, that there was plenty of blame to go around, tony would not stop feeling like the one responsible for everything that had happened. and the repercussions it had on everyone around him. perhaps the thing that hurt the most was realizing how quick everyone turned against him. he had been a fool to believe his teammates -he should’ve stood firm on his position of not playing well with other- were his friends. maybe it was the imminent threat of death and destruction, but after what happened at the street fest tony decided it was time to make amends. even if he had a feeling his apologies would not have the desired impact, he still had to try.

          ❝hey barton❞ tony said with a smile, ❝your uh sidekick? protege? what is the deal with you and bishop? anyways she said i could find you here❞ he shrugged, ❝she also said not to say it had been her that told me❞ tony said with a dismissive hand gesture. ❝you do know you are still welcome to the complex, right? i- uh i built that place for you... all of you.❞

part i. genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist;                                                                                a tony stark playlist

         tony had been keeping a close eye on whatever unfinished business the disbandment of the avengers had left behind. the accords had originally been about making amends, but whatever good intentions that had carried had been lost along with his friends. the things they had to account for, the responsibilities they should’ve taken, still sprawled across his work table.

         after ultron things like s.h.i.e.l.d. and hydra had moved to another plane. somehow they had lost sight and focused on the big things, but it had been the fact that hydra thrived under their noses that made it impossible for tony to let go of. so instead he had been reading files, trying to find assets -weapons, building, people- all across the globe. a surprise had popped in new york, so he obviously had to find out more. 

        now he had never been good at spy work, or at subtly. tony was brash, direct, and it had landed him in trouble. but really would he have it any other way? ❝umm excuse me❞ tony said approaching the young man, ❝i couldn’t help but notice you’ve been spending an awful lot of time around my friends❞ former friends, they hated him now, but for dramatic purposes that what he called them, ❝i don’t think we’ve had the pleasure of meeting before❞ tony said with a smile before offering his hand, ❝tony stark❞

“No wonder aliens are constantly trying to take over,” she muses as she turns to look at him.  “we’re a goddamn mess.” she’s not surprised to see tony here, but she is surprised that he’s alone and far back in the crowd. she figured he would be on stage making a speech about peace and pledging a donation to the family’s harmed by the destruction. she cocks an eyebrow at his question. “no, i’m not alone,” she admits. “the others are here somewhere. incognito.” she leaves the ‘because they have to be. because we’re fugitives now.’ hanging in the air between them. “and you, tony? are you here on your own?”

         tony smirks at her words. it would be a lie to say he hadn’t miss her jokes. to say he had not missed her. he has missed all of them. but she was right, she was always right. they were a mess. and they had always been. not as a team, but as their own individual mess. tony had been foolish enough to believe that coming together as a team would fix that. it didn’t. the mess only grew in size. tony couldn’t do much aside from nodding. he felt guilty that his friends, the people he had believed were his friends had been forced to be on the run. of course pepper and rhodey had tried to rationalize with him, that it wasn’t his fault. but it didn’t matter, tony felt responsible, he had broken up the avengers. ❝yup. i uh i’m alone❞ he said looking at the ground. ❝are we going to work together on this?❞ this being the chaos around them, depowered heroes, a mad titan on his way to destroy the planet.

hello lovely people! i’m so sorry i went away for so long!! but i’m so ready to jump back into action! so please give this a like for a starter from tony! ( if you have multiple muses let me know for which one! )

ps. i posted what i had on my drafts so feel free to wrap/drop the threads if you feel time has passed and wanna do something else!!

also if you want to plot or talk about connections&relationships hmu!

‘ herr stark! i am very happy to see you here — ’ like with other groups of powered individuals, the x-men had had their … complicated history with the avengers. kurt understood that those things will take time to resolve, if ever. however, as an individual, kurt saw tony stark – the iron man – as a man of great honor and moral judgement. witnessing his actions after the explosion and seeing him jump into their aid without hesitation right now only affirmed kurt’s opinion of the man.

‘ ja, ze teachers need time to evacuate zeir students. if we can hold zem off —- ’ he looked back at the youngsters still being ushered away by their x-men guardians. if only he had … — mr. kurt !! somebody yelled his name. he turned to the source of the voice, and before he consciously registered what happened, his hand had caught the handle of the sword thrown to him. it was made ad hoc, composed of various materials — tin cans, plastic, nylon fabric from a folding chair — torn to shreds and reconstructed into the form of a single-edged longsword. kurt locked eyes with the one student responsible for this little creative solution, a young mutant with the ability to manipulate materials by turning them into shreds and restructure into a different form. however the new form will only hold for a certain period of time before falling apart, like …

— you got an hour with it, mr. kurt!

‘ danken, cinderalla. ’ kurt smirked fondly at his handy weapon and nodded at his student who gave him a big thumbs up before running off with the rest of the teens. he then turned back at stark, with an anxious but determined twinkle in his eyes, ‘ sorry i cannot teleport us outta here. but i promise not to be a burden to you, mein freund. ’

          tony was on the edge of a breakdown, but then again he had been on the edge of a breakdown ever since one of his own weapons almost cost him his life. from the moment he step foot outside of that cave his entire life changed. and yet that seems like a lifetime away. it’s not like heroes -or superpowered individuals- had not existed before he cockily announced to the world that he was iron-man, but that’s when his life, his new life had started. 

          he wished he could say that from then on it had been smooth sailing, but it had been more trial and error than anything else. thankfully there were others who had done it long before he ever thought about saving the world. the x-men for example. and while they often had more disagreements than collaborations, when it came down to protect the innocent and save those who could not save themselves, every argument was put aside and they fought side to side.

          everything around tony was chaos. people screaming and running from the attackers. how could this happen? tony’s paranoia was ever-growing and the reason why despite pepper’s and rhodey’s opposition he had the arc reactor again, but he honestly had not seen a family friendly event turn into this.

          ❝f.r.i.d.a.y. set phasers to stun❞ tony said with a cheeky smile, knowing full well that if the ai had a body it would be rolling it’s eyes at him. tony watched as kurt got a weapon, he would never stop being amazed at all the different mutations from kurt’s students, ❝i don’t think it’s possible for you to ever be a burden kurt. hold the line ‘til everyone gets to safety? should we also perform some civilian arrests?❞