Dark Eyes

[marmolita]

Tony Stark does not remember much of his early childhood. He remembers taking things apart and putting them back together; building things. He remembers the distant and imposing presence of his father, smelling of gin and tobacco. His mother, skin soft and warm when she held him.

He remembers meeting other children, and being rejected by them. They weren’t interested in circuit boards or engines. They didn’t understand Tony, and so they mocked him. The first time, it had hurt. After that, Tony found that the circuits and engines and robots were his friends, and that was enough.

He doesn’t remember how old he was the first time his parents brought him along on a business trip to Gotham. He remembers the towering skyline, the bitter cold, and the dirty streets. He remembers being driven in a limousine away from the city center, to a large mansion with marble columns. He remembers meeting a boy there, close to his own age, who asked him about the notebook he was carrying. A boy who was curious about his circuit diagrams and drawings of mechanical devices. A boy who asked, “Did you really make one of those yourself?” and was excited when the answer was yes.

He remembers the boy’s dark eyes when the Starks returned to Gotham for the funeral.

When his own parents die, years later, Tony can still see the reflection of that boy in the man who claps a hand on his shoulder as the caskets are lowered into the ground. That is the last time he sees Bruce Wayne for ten years.