hugtopia | Video

[From the feed, it's clear Tony's not the one holding the camera and as a dramatic contrast to his first message, he was smiling brightly with an excitement only a new project can bring. Aaah, spring.

Anyway, he's standing in the entertainment district with one of the old abandoned businesses behind him with a sledgehammer in his hands.]

Good morning Havenwall! For those who don't know me, I'm Tony Stark and that...., is Mr. Petunia.

[He points and the camera moves to include Gladio standing a few feet behind him with his trademark easy-going grin and a large industrial broom resting over one shoulder. He rolls his eyes and gives the camera a friendly wave and, when Tony isn't looking, flips the idiot off playfully.]

Just kidding, you dandelion, that's Gladio Amicitia!

We're here in front of what will be the new Insomnia 2.0 bar!

[Brief pause for effect.]

We're looking for some volunteers for helping us remodel this place and possibly, if you're hot and we actually can stand you, working here once it opens. Just think, the faster this bad boy gets ready, the faster we can drink and eat greasy bar food!

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Gladio didn't need a picture, he could imagine it and it made him laugh. It was easy to imagine Tony like that, knowing how he'd treated the kids on the Voidtrecker, he'd have done anything for them. And letting his own kid do his makeup seemed right up his street.

"Can't imagine that's the worst state he's seen you in." Gladio grinned. "Bet you looked pretty as a picture. A real Princess."

Tony continued to laugh and shook his head. "Not even close to it! He was there for all of my party years. He had to rescue me twice when some girl cuffed me to the bed and left with my clothes or hose me off after I'd drank too much and thrown up on everything including myself." He shook his head again. "The stupidity of youth." And desperate for his father's attention, but that was besides the point.

"The two worst ones were when I was rescued from been captured for three months by a terrorist group called the Ten Rings and then later when I was trapped in a spaceship without power for twenty days. I was rescued less than twelve hours shy of running out of oxygen." His arm went around Gladio a little tighter and sighed. "That's two of the nightmares that keep coming back." Pause. "I'm sorry, you said happy. I was supposed to be giving you happy memories."

"Youth? That was five years ago, admit it." Gladio grinned. He was being generous with five but assumed he wasn't doing any of that stuff with Pepper. Unless Pepper was the one to cuff him and leave him hanging. In that case he felt he could understand it. Sometimes Tony pissed him off that much too.

Gladio's own arm moved around Tony then, tightening to pull him closer. Yes, he'd said happy. He'd hoped for a lighter mood but something told him that maybe this was a thing Tony needed to talk about. Especially if it was something that caused him nightmares. "... You were trapped in space?" He asked as delicately as he could, doing his best to keep his tone even. It was touching on a fear of his own, one he'd never even realised he'd had until that first mission on the Voidtrecker.

Tony laughed and sat up enough that he could stick his tongue out at Gladio- since that's what mature people do. And yes, Pepper had been one once but she was smart enough to take his phone away before she left.

He wished he didn't need or want to share these stories with Gladio, but it was incredible how much needed to come out now that he was safe and loved. He knew Gladio's fear, so he had to be careful talking about this.

He nodded, "For a while. It was how the first battle with Thanos ended, the one we lost. He had this magical gauntlet that gave him practically limitless power. With it he made half my world's population disappear. After battling him on the small planet in middle of who-the-hell-knows-where with Peter and a few others, I watched as they faded away like they were made of smoke." He'd never fully recover from Peter evaporating into nothing in his arms.

"There was one other with me, a blue skinned alien girl who had gotten played by Thanos. We got a ship running and thought if we could travel far enough we'd reach somewhere we could send a distress signal or something. Instead, it ran out of power, then rations, and then we were waiting to die. It was a miracle, but just before the end we were saved."

"I was completely wrecked when I was rescued, both physically and mentally. Pepper and I got married by a chaplain while I was in the hospital because the big, grand wedding I'd wanted to give her suddenly didn't seem important anymore. We moved from my big fancy penthouse in the city to our cabin the woods and I stayed home with Morgan when she was born mainly because I couldn't do anything else. I could barely do that at first."

"I still remember what it felt like though to watch Peter fade or be that weak as I was on the ship. Steve and I got into a big argument shortly after I was rescued and I remember that a lot. The nightmares are usually about running out of air or Thanos finding us." He breathed a small laugh. "That's the kind of glamour they forget to tell you about when you sign up to be a superhero."

Gladio was quiet. Just listening. Listening and slowly rubbing a hand along Tony's back, just as he had been all along.

It was only when Tony was finished that Gladio stopped. And he only stopped so he could wrap his arms around the man and pull him into a tight hug. He wanted to wrap the rest of himself around him. Curl around him and shield him from all the pain and hurts of the world, and all the pains and hurts that had been done to Tony. But he knew he couldn't. All he could do was hold him in the here and now and hope that was enough.

"What I got from all of that... is you're a survivor, Tony. You've seen so much, been through so damn much, more than a person should. But you've survived. You can still smile and laugh and that's damn impressive." Because Gladio wasn't sure if he'd have been able to. Tony said he'd been wrecked, but Gladio... would have broken. He kept those thoughts to himself though. None of this was about him, after all. So what he did was lean in and press a soft, warm kiss to Tony's lips. "You're an impressive man. And I'm so sorry you've been through so much shit. But you ever have those nightmares... you come to me, alright? I'll help get rid of them."

Broken would've been a good word for it. There had been many times he felt that way. After everything he'd been through, messed up, and failed at, how could he be anything but broken? Being part energizer bunny was a curse as well as a blessing.

It had taken years to duct tape his life back to some semblance of what it used to be. The war came and then the train and now here. Whoever said you heal with time wasn't completely right. It's what you did in that time. Right here and now, he felt his soul healing by simply sharing his story.

When Gladio moved to kiss him, he lightly placed a hand over his roommate's heart. It was where his own heart was now even if the large man didn't know. "I already do," he promised with a warm smile. "That's why you should get a better bed or I should get a bell to ring and you come to mine."

"I'll get one eventually." Gladio chuckled lightly and moved one of his own hands to cover Tony's on his chest. They were just so busy that he hadn't really bothered with it. Half the time he ended up in Tony's bed anyway. Or crashing out on the couch.

"Just call if you need me, Tony. I'll be there." And he would. No questions asked. No hesitations. If Tony ever needed him, for anything, even just to hold him through the night, Gladio would do it. Like tonight. After this talk Gladio suspected Tony would need him tonight more than any other night.

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