TM 196 - Congratulations! You've been granted one wish. What is it?
Tony has three pictures on his desk, in the SHIELD director's office.
One is of his parents, smiling and young. One shows Tony himself, with Rhodey and Pepper, and Happy, in simpler times. The third, a little larger, looms behind the others. He doesn't know who took it -- probably Jan, because otherwise she ought to be there. It shows the sitting room of the old Avenger's mansion. They are all -- with one exception -- in costume, but it's a casual shot. Clint is leaning against wall, because someone once told him leaning looked cool. Wanda is laughing at something he must have said, while Hank Pym and Thor frown over an old book. And then, a bit apart, Steve Rogers, in full regalia, is standing with a hand on Tony's shoulder. Not Iron Man, but Tony Stark, who in those days pretended to be only the money man. Cap is touching him on the shoulder, and they both look at the camera, a little dazed, as though surprised in some private moment. Tony can't believe that anyone can look at that picture and not see it for exactly what it is, a startling confession of intimacy.
And yet, and as far as he can tell, no one has ever come into this office and given the photo a second look. Everyone thinks they know what it stands for, a token tribute to times past.
No one ever sees it as a message about the present; nobody ever sees it as a wish for the future.
Alone in his office, Tony reaches into a manila folder and takes out a wallet sized snapshot of a smiling girl. It was included in her application packet for the Maria Stark scholarship. He picks up the photo, holds it to the light, and finds himself seeking a likeness, although that is silly. Even in the other world, Sally was never their daughter by blood. But, then, it seems no sillier than the times when he looks at his own image in those old pictures, and cannot manage to trace a resemblance of himself.
Tony opens the picture frame, pulls back the cardboard, and with a last look at Sally's face, slips her picture behind the photograph from the old mansion. He snaps the frame shut, the new photo securely hidden behind the old, and places it back on his desk where it can remain -- an icon to all the truths Tony has spent his life hiding, in plain sight.
One is of his parents, smiling and young. One shows Tony himself, with Rhodey and Pepper, and Happy, in simpler times. The third, a little larger, looms behind the others. He doesn't know who took it -- probably Jan, because otherwise she ought to be there. It shows the sitting room of the old Avenger's mansion. They are all -- with one exception -- in costume, but it's a casual shot. Clint is leaning against wall, because someone once told him leaning looked cool. Wanda is laughing at something he must have said, while Hank Pym and Thor frown over an old book. And then, a bit apart, Steve Rogers, in full regalia, is standing with a hand on Tony's shoulder. Not Iron Man, but Tony Stark, who in those days pretended to be only the money man. Cap is touching him on the shoulder, and they both look at the camera, a little dazed, as though surprised in some private moment. Tony can't believe that anyone can look at that picture and not see it for exactly what it is, a startling confession of intimacy.
And yet, and as far as he can tell, no one has ever come into this office and given the photo a second look. Everyone thinks they know what it stands for, a token tribute to times past.
No one ever sees it as a message about the present; nobody ever sees it as a wish for the future.
Alone in his office, Tony reaches into a manila folder and takes out a wallet sized snapshot of a smiling girl. It was included in her application packet for the Maria Stark scholarship. He picks up the photo, holds it to the light, and finds himself seeking a likeness, although that is silly. Even in the other world, Sally was never their daughter by blood. But, then, it seems no sillier than the times when he looks at his own image in those old pictures, and cannot manage to trace a resemblance of himself.
Tony opens the picture frame, pulls back the cardboard, and with a last look at Sally's face, slips her picture behind the photograph from the old mansion. He snaps the frame shut, the new photo securely hidden behind the old, and places it back on his desk where it can remain -- an icon to all the truths Tony has spent his life hiding, in plain sight.