Everything and Something
“Is life after death real?” Tony asked.
It took a few moments for the words to compute and Stephen blinked as he looked up from his book. “What?”
“Life after death. You seem like the type of person that would know about stuff life that.”
Stephen raised an eyebrow at that. “I do?”
Tony shrugged. “You were the one who taught me that souls were real. Before you I was absolutely adamant that they weren’t. Plus, you’ve died before. Like… a lot.” He winced at the words and Stephen could see that Tony was hoping that hadn’t come off as insensitive.
Stephen wasn’t overly offended. It wasn’t like Tony was wrong.
“My deaths during both of my time loops hardly counted since there was little to no time between them and starting over,” Stephen pointed out. “And the time that Thanos killed all of us was different, we were only sort of dead, contained by the soul stone.”
Tony made a face at that. “So you’re saying that you don’t know?”
Stephen considered that. “Not for sure,” he acknowledged. “There are spells that allow you to talk to someone who has passed on. Though they’re not encouraged. But the fact that you can ‘summon’—“ it wasn’t quite the right word, but it worked for this explanation, ”—a ‘ghost’ it would stand to reason that they must have still been in some realm of existence.”
Tony hummed thoughtfully at that, brows furrowed.
“Why?” Stephen asked, curiosity tugging at him. “You’re not normally philosophical about this sort of thing.”
Tony shrugged. “I’m not exactly philosophical,” he defended, as though that was some sort of slight. But then to Tony, just maybe it was. “I just… I wonder, sometimes, you know. Sometimes… well, sometimes things feel so unfinished. Questions, you know?”
Stephen did. “What exactly are you thinking about?” Stephen asked, sure that there was something.
Tony watched him for a moment, clearly deciding whether this was a vulnerability that he was willing to show Stephen.
Stephen waited patiently. He knew that Tony had shown him more vulnerabilities than he allowed most people to see, but that was no guarantee that he would this time.
“I just… I wonder, sometimes, if I’ve wasted my life.”
Stephen raised an eyebrow at that. “Wasted your life? You? Do you recall working to save half of the universe?”
Tony shrugged. “Sure, but…” He frowned, as though trying to put together the right words. “I’m not sure that was what Yinsen meant.”
Stephen frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Yinsen. He was with me in Afghanistan. He… He saved me. And he… the last thing he told me was to not waste my life. Me. Not Iron Man.”
Stephen considered that. “What do you think he meant, then?”
Tony was quiet for a moment. “He once told me that I was a man with everything and nothing.” There was something in Tony’s eyes, a slow, heavy grief. “I still have everything… I just… sometimes I wonder if I’m any less empty than I was before." Tony looked away, shaking his head as though annoyed with himself. “It’s ridiculous.”
“It’s human,” Stephen contradicted. He reached out, taking Tony’s hand. “And, for what it’s worth, while I won’t claim I’m everything, I hope I count for something.” He met Tony’s eyes. “You have me.” Tony stared at him, awe and hope and pain. Some part of Stephen ached that after all this time Tony still couldn’t bring himself to fully believe it. It wasn’t a slight against Stephen; Tony simply didn’t believe he deserved good things. “You have me.”
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Steve: So, I'm bringing beans, Clint's bringing Mac and cheese, Scott's bringing pasta salad, Bruce is bringing chili...
Natasha: I've got drinks.
Wanda: Vision and I will handle utensils and napkins.
Bucky: I'll make sure no one gets hurt. Again.
Tony: I'm hosting, so I'm providing the venue. What about you, Stephanie? What's the plan for you and the kid?
What If! and Tony's!Stephen, with their country asses: *With More Aggression Than necessary* RUNZA!
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best friends steve and eddie who think it would be funny to have a fake engagement photo shoot and send out wedding invitations and a gift registry to famous people.
best friends steve and eddie who get a keurig from oprah, a knife set from samuel l. jackson, a set of wine glasses from tony hawk, and a plethora of other household items they’d been eyeing for their shared apartment with robin and nancy and laugh so hard they can’t breathe.
best friends steve and eddie who keep up the charade and swindle free cake samples out of all of the local bakeries and eat cake until they’re sick.
best friends steve and eddie who know they’d be the talk of the town attending their high school reunion back home hand in hand and don’t see the issue with keeping it up a little longer.
girlfriends robin and nancy wondering how long steve has to keep wearing his ring around the house and eddie has to keep referring to him as his fiancé to their friends before they figure out that maybe it’s not pretend anymore. maybe it never was.
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I HAVE A FIC IDEA vol #5
• Tony and Peter start spending some time together after the events of Homecoming. Sometimes Tony would invite Peter over to the compound to tinker in the lab, other times he would join Spider-Man on some mission a little over the teen's level.
∘ While these meetings become something more frequent, they always end up doing something that requires his influence, is connected with a lot of public, his status as a superhero etc.
• Gradually, Tony finds himself spending more and more time checking in on the kid, whether it is through the baby monitor protocol, talking with May or the kid himself.
∘ Rhodey points that fact out one time they decide to have a drink at a bar together, joking about Tony becoming quite parental when it comes to Peter, and that leads Tony to the realization that he does in fact view Peter as his kid.
∘ At the same time he realizes that Peter must feel nowhere near the way he does. To the hero-worshipping kid he must only the "OMG it's freaking Ironman!", and he figures out that he is quite bothered by that fact. He has to change it.
• Tony devises a special plan to do as many awesome (read: fatherly) things with Peter as possible, to distance himself from the media image of Tony Stark.
FOR EXAMPLE (but doesn't have to be any of these)
∘ Building a tree-house together
∘ Teaching Peter how to make Italian pasta
∘ Going camping with him and Rhodey
∘ Organizing a Movie night with snacks
∘ Telling Peter some more casual/wild stories from his youth, (ones that Peter could relate to)
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