ㅤ𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐁𝐑𝐎𝐊𝐄𝐍 𝐀𝐒 𝐏𝐄𝐏𝐏𝐄𝐑 𝐋𝐄𝐅𝐓 𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐒𝐈𝐃𝐄 only a few days after the battle between Ultron and his team, Tony Stark couldn't help but sob; he was already damaged after Loki tried to conquer earth, even more since his best friend left, and now that he has no one, he doesn't know if he can cope anymore.
Tony slid down to the floor, clenching his hair tightly, as if trying to pull them all off as he continued to sob.
Why does this always happen to me? He asked himself again and again, and sometimes even wondering if he was even meant to live. I probably should've died a long time ago.
He was breathing heavily now, shaking as he punched the wall in front of him, causing his knuckles to cut open, his bones cracking. He hugged his broken hand and cradled it like a baby. He sniffed and let out a cry of agony.
"Why am I even alive?!" He asked desperately. "I should've died! I should've died! I should've just...just died," he started to whisper quietly to himself.
He stood up and begrudgingly walked towards his bathroom. He let his broken hand sit on the counter while his other, unbroken one tried to grab the things needed to fix the broken hand. As he picked up the scissors, he whimpered slightly and held it tightly and directed it towards his chest.
"Maybe I could just...I-I could just...m-maybe," he started talking to himself as he stared at the mirror, his gaze fixed on the reflection of the scissors. He lowered it closer, just above his heart.
But he quickly slammed the scissors to the counter, trying to refrain himself from doing the unimaginable. He ran his unbroken hand through his hair and sighed as he continued to sob.
He leaned down closer to the sink, his head dropped low and his hands placed on either side of the sink.
What was I thinking? He asked himself. I've never stooped that low.
He sighed as his sobs decreased, replaced by hiccups and short intakes of breaths. He looked up again, now staring at himself in the mirror.
"Pull yourself together, Stark," he scolded himself. "Don't forget that you are Anthony Edward Stark, a genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist who practically resides in a big suit of armor." Then he laughed to himself. "Is this what being crazy feels like?"
He jumped up and walked towards his room, still cradling his broken hand. But when he reached his door, black spots danced around in his eyes before he was enveloped in complete darkness.
Gasping as he woke up, Tony looked up at the ceiling with wide eyes, immediately recognizing the place he's in as a hospital. He looked towards his broken hand and it heavily casted, buried deep inside a rock-hard cast.
"Ah, Mr. Stark, you're awake," a doctor said as he came into his room. Tony almost wanted to reply with, No sh*t, Sherlock, but refrained himself and instead smiled at his doctor.
"How long was I out?" Tony asked curiously.
"Almost a month," the doctor, named now known to Tony as Dr. Martin, replied. "Your A.I., J.A.R.V.I.S., automatically called an ambulance, just about a second after you collapsed."
Tony sighed and ran his good hand through his hair, noticing that it grew a little before asking, "What was the damage?"
"Well," Dr. Martin started, "Broken knuckles, a little bit of broken bones and a lot of fractures on your right hand. But you collapsed due to losing a lot of blood. You should've called right after you punched that poor wall, Mr. Stark."
"Yeah, well, I couldn't think straight!" He yelled in defense. "I couldn't help myself! The only person left with me, left me too. I've lost too many people, friends, that I can't even count how many anymore."
"I know, Mr. Stark," Dr. Martins sighed. "I understand that you're going through emotional pain, but--"
"I don't recall you being a psychologist," Tony cut him off, already annoyed at the nosy doctor, who thought that he could help him. The only real way to him right now was to bring back the people he loves─his parents, his friends, Pepper and most importantly, Bruce Banner.
Tony Stark has always been known to be a playboy, a womanizer, but after he met Bruce back at the Helicarrier, he couldn't help but be attracted to him; especially his intelligence. Tony has never met anyone who can reach his level of intelligence. But when he met Bruce, he knew immediately that they would be great friends.
But before he can think more about his Science Bro, Dr. Martin snapped him out of his trance, calling out his name and snapping his fingers in front of Tony's face.
"Mr. Stark?" Dr. Martin snapped his fingers in front of Tony's face. "Mr. Stark? Hello? Excuse me, Mr. Star--"
"I can hear you, Dr. Martin!" Tony snapped. "Please, can you leave me alone, just for a moment? I need to figure something out. Oh and can you bring my laptop to me? That would be great, thanks."
"I--" Dr. Martin started to say.
"Go." Tony waved his hand dismissively.
Dr. Martin huffed and straightened his uniform before trudging out of Tony's room, looking frustrated, his face a bright shade of red. With that, Tony chuckled slightly before fiddling with his fingers.
He continued to think about his life, wondering what he should've done, shouldn't have done, and should've done better. Then he remembered his childhood, always craving the attention of his almost-perfect father, who he looked up too. He remembered his mistakes, and remembered how he learned from them. He remembered his childhood friends, then creating his suit, his prototypes. He remembered how he met Pepper and thought that his life was now complete. Then meeting the Avengers. Then meeting Bruce.
He smiled slightly, thinking of the times be made fun of his best friend, then ends up laughing with him right after. He thought of the times they spoke fluent Science. He chuckled, remembering the first time they met.
"It's a stabilizing agent," Tony answered Bruce's question, walking in with Agent Coulson, "Means the portal won't collapse on itself, like it did at SHIELD," Tony continued. Then he walked towards Thor and said, "No hard feelings, Point Break. You've got a mean swing." Then he talked about the iridium again. "Also, it means the portal can open as wide, and stay open as long, as Loki wants." Then he turned to the crew. "Uh, raise the mid-mast, ship the top sails." Then he pointed to someone. "That man is playing GALAGA! Thought we wouldn't notice. But we did." He covered one eye and looked around. "How does Fury do this?"
"He turns," Agent Hill replied to him, with virtually no emotion whatsoever.
Then Tony looked around the monitors and placed a button sized hacking implant under one of Fury's monitors without anyone noticing before saying, "Well that sounds exhausting." Then he continued on with talking about the main thing again. "The rest of the raw materials, Agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily. Only major component he still needs is a power source. A high energy density, something to kick start the cube."
"When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?" Agent Hill asked, looking slightly shocked and confused.
"Last night," he replied, earning confused looks from some people. "The packet, Selvig's notes, the Extraction Theory papers. Am I the only one who did the reading?"
"Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?" Steve asked.
"He's got to heat the cube to a hundred and twenty million Kelvin just to break through the coulomb barrier," Bruce commented.
"Unless," Tony started, "Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect."
"Well, if he could do that, he could achieve heavy ion fusion at any reactor on the planet," Bruce added.
"Finally, someone who speaks English," Tony grinned widely.
"Is that what just happened?" Steve asked particularly no one, flabbergasted at the geniuses in the room.
Tony and Bruce shook hands, a glimmer in their eyes showing as the mutual respect for each other shows.
"It's good to meet you, Dr. Banner," Tony started, "Your work on anti-electron collisions is unparalleled. And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster."
Bruce looks shocked and unsure before saying, "Thanks."
Tony chuckled slightly, remembering the look that Steve gave them, looking so lost and confused, as if he accidentally got sucked into another world.
Then when they worked on the Tesseract, conversing while doing so. And then when Bruce decided to stay in Stark Tower─now called the Avengers Tower─Tony couldn't be more delighted.
Now that he thought about Bruce, Tony is now slowly realizing how Bruce actually meant to him.
It can't be, Tony thought to himself. Can I really be in love with Bruce? Then he thought again. No, I can't. I can't be. I'm Tony Stark. But...I don't even know. Maybe I am, but I can't be sure.
That's when Dr. Martin came back to his room, carrying his laptop and a nurse trailing behind him, carrying a tray of disgusting hospital food─Tony couldn't help but grimace.
"Here is your laptop, Mr. Stark," Dr. Martin said, spitting out Tony's name as if it's poison. "As you requested."
Then the nurse placed the tray on the table beside him then moved it so the table top was right above him. With that, Tony clicked the button on the side of the bed that lifted his upper body up so he could eat his food. He also placed the laptop just beside the tray.
"Do you need anything else, Mr. Stark?" The nurse asked, smiling at him.
He weakly smiled back before saying, "I don't think I need anything else. But can you tell me when am I going to be discharged?"
"I'm going to ask Dr. Martin that," she replied. gesturing to the doctor who walked out just after he gave Tony his laptop, obviously still irritated and pissed off by him. "Anything else, sir?"
"No, it's fine."
"Okay, just press the call button if you need anything," and with that, she left, closing the door carefully behind her, leaving Tony in silence─apart of the sound that can be heard from the heart monitor.
Tony sighed before opening his laptop, quickly typing his password and said, "Hey Jay."
"Good afternoon, sir," his A.I. replied. "I've taken the liberty of alerting the hospital exactly after you collapsed."
"Yeah, I know," Tony sighed. "Any news from the Avengers? Pepper? Bruce?" Tony sounded like a lost puppy.
"No messages from anyone, sir, apart from Miss Potts," J.A.R.V.I.S. said. "Do you want me to open her voice message for you?"
"Sure."
It took a few seconds before he heard her voice. "Hey Tony," Pepper started, "I heard about you going into coma. I just wanted to ask if you were okay.
"I'm so sorry I left you. I know that it's to late to apologize, but I can't be with you anymore. It's not you, it's me. God, this sounds so stupid, but I left you because I couldn't deal with the thought of you getting hurt in all of you missions. I know that you laid low, just for the sake of me, but I know that you would always be in danger. I know I sound selfish, but please, forgive me.
"Goodbye, Tony. I hope you move on and fall in love again. Don't forget that I will always love you and that I would never forget you."
Then the line went dead. Tony couldn't help but wipe a tear off of his face; hearing her voice again...he can't even understand his emotions. He's never felt like this before.
And so, he decided that right after he gets discharged, he would send himself to rehab to try and get himself together.
"Thanks, Jay," Tony said softly.
"You're welcome, Sir," J.A.R.V.I.S. replied before Tony closed his laptop shut, and took a spoonful of his soup.
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