fanfic idea: an angst story of ftm tony stark. right. stick with me okay? iron man 3. he goes into surgery to get the little shards that are killing him taken out, right? (shrapnel? idk its been a while since i watched it) well what if he didn't.
what if a tony stark who isn't publicly trans refuses to get top surgery- or either of the surgeries, really, done. because he doesn't want people to think of him differently just because he wasn't born a man, you know? so even when pepper and rodey encourage him to, he just can't bring himself to get the metal removed because he'd have to be shirtless for the surgery, and what if the doctors said something? what if they say something and it gets out to the media? he's a huge advocat for being yourself, because fuck what other people think... unless you're him. in which case be the version of yourself other people want to see. he also doesn't regularly go in for checkups, so he's slowly but surely dying over time- faster than he should be. he's giving away more of his things, etc.
hypothetically he could just die
OR
ftm peter comes in. and, when eventually tony reveals the fact that he is in fact trans to peter- possibly after he's collapsed once or twice because of the metal in his body (is it shrapnel???? i don't knowwww) and he explains that's why he hasn't had the surgery done, even if it could be done with relative ease. and it's peter who's finally able to convince him to get the surgery done. and tony- well, he's weak for the kid, okay? plus, he wouldn't be being a good mentor if he didn't take care of himself, okay? so he has to get the surgery done now.
