[Out of all the things in Tony's life he has catastrophically misread? This isn't one of them. Gene's barely keeping his wits about him enough to talk - expecting him to use the rings now is like expecting Malicant to descend from the palace in front of them and launch into an award-winning tap-dance routine: both utterly absurd, and not gonna happen.
When Tony touches his shoulder, he flinches away violently, half-expecting an oncoming blow. But the hand is warm and human, not a creature of star-forged metal. And the worst thing about it, the goddamned worst thing, is that this is something he'd decided never to ask for, never to presume again, because he doesn't deserve it and he never had. Affection, friendship, human contact - those are all for other people. Not for him. Never for him, never again.]
Please, [he says, not entirely sure what he's pleading for. Please go away? Please don't leave? Please don't hurt me? Please don't look at me? Everything about this is painful, and he's not sure what's going to hurt more - if Tony leaves, or if he stays. Every direction is liberally sprinkled with broken glass, and he's at the bottom of a low sloping pit.
The hell of it is that the broken glass is coating the bottom of the pit, too, and whether he moves or doesn't, he's going to bleed. Is Tony here to help him climb out, or to stomp on his fingers when he tries?]
the saddest part about this is that the flashback there is explicitly canon
When Tony touches his shoulder, he flinches away violently, half-expecting an oncoming blow. But the hand is warm and human, not a creature of star-forged metal. And the worst thing about it, the goddamned worst thing, is that this is something he'd decided never to ask for, never to presume again, because he doesn't deserve it and he never had. Affection, friendship, human contact - those are all for other people. Not for him. Never for him, never again.]
Please, [he says, not entirely sure what he's pleading for. Please go away? Please don't leave? Please don't hurt me? Please don't look at me? Everything about this is painful, and he's not sure what's going to hurt more - if Tony leaves, or if he stays. Every direction is liberally sprinkled with broken glass, and he's at the bottom of a low sloping pit.
The hell of it is that the broken glass is coating the bottom of the pit, too, and whether he moves or doesn't, he's going to bleed. Is Tony here to help him climb out, or to stomp on his fingers when he tries?]