[Hey, he honestly doesn't blame him. Tony would have been taking a swing, in his position, and it's not like it's the first time he's been punched on the barge for being an asshole. At the very least, he wasn't left staring up at Steve's not-dead girlfriend this time.
Still, he rolls his jaw, making sure that nothing's going to freeze up on him in protest. Wasn't the worst punch he'd ever gotten, but still. When you're not a supersoldier, creepy assassin, Norse God or, apparently, a mutant, fist to the jaw still smarts.]
A punch a week? Didn't realize therapy had a violent aspect. [His eyes are pinching just slightly at the sides as he tries and fails for another smile, not quite having the energy to put up a front just yet. At least not for that comment. He has a feeling he'll need it in just a minute.
A feeling that, honestly, is proving completely true. It isn't the mention of Erik's memories, the pointed reminder of what he'd been through during the Holocaust, the fact that he really needs to lay off. No, those are all things he can get to later. What's making him grin, a tense sort of amusement in his mind, isn't that.
It's the mention of Afghanistan.]
You know how many people called those three months a sham? How many fake rehab claims we had to filter through? I got up on a podium in front of dozens of news stations not even two hours after I'd landed back in the states, they saw me beat the hell up and in a sling, they heard me tell them where I was, and they still called it a sham. A cover-up for a mental breakdown. [He shrugs a shoulder] I woke up in a cave strapped to a table, my chest cut to ribbons and a guy drilling through my sternum, I stayed awake as he cracked bones and carved out muscle. They were terrorists in a cave, and they wanted something from me. Not that hard to jump to torture even if I never said it. The press knows every bit of that story, no transparency, and I still get people who don't believe it happened, who think I made the whole thing up just to cover up some mental break, to lie low while they bury some hooker I apparently killed.
[Not the point, he knows. But it struck a cord, pissed him off. It's something else to focus on, to keep Charles from the truth of the situation. The pettiness of his retaliation. The way Tony always responds when people get too close. By pushing them away so hard they have no choice but to logically hate his guts.]
I get it. I'm just some rich asshole who spent three months in a cave. Not comparable to Death Camps at all, that's not what I'm saying. [There's an annoyed, almost challenging glint to tony's eyes, all of a sudden.] I'll make light of his shit the same way everyone makes light of mine. The second he stops talking like some two-bit dictator who wants to punish people who weren't even alive when World War II went down just because they fight for their country and the people they care about back home I'll stop pissing him off.
[Tony will probably never let go of that one conversation he had with Erik, the way he'd been talking about punishing people Tony fought tooth and nail to protect, people Tony'd watched get blown to bits right in front of him, by the weapons he'd created...
Some things just aren't fixable, Charles. It sucks, sure. But they just aren't.]
spam
Still, he rolls his jaw, making sure that nothing's going to freeze up on him in protest. Wasn't the worst punch he'd ever gotten, but still. When you're not a supersoldier, creepy assassin, Norse God or, apparently, a mutant, fist to the jaw still smarts.]
A punch a week? Didn't realize therapy had a violent aspect. [His eyes are pinching just slightly at the sides as he tries and fails for another smile, not quite having the energy to put up a front just yet. At least not for that comment. He has a feeling he'll need it in just a minute.
A feeling that, honestly, is proving completely true. It isn't the mention of Erik's memories, the pointed reminder of what he'd been through during the Holocaust, the fact that he really needs to lay off. No, those are all things he can get to later. What's making him grin, a tense sort of amusement in his mind, isn't that.
It's the mention of Afghanistan.]
You know how many people called those three months a sham? How many fake rehab claims we had to filter through? I got up on a podium in front of dozens of news stations not even two hours after I'd landed back in the states, they saw me beat the hell up and in a sling, they heard me tell them where I was, and they still called it a sham. A cover-up for a mental breakdown. [He shrugs a shoulder] I woke up in a cave strapped to a table, my chest cut to ribbons and a guy drilling through my sternum, I stayed awake as he cracked bones and carved out muscle. They were terrorists in a cave, and they wanted something from me. Not that hard to jump to torture even if I never said it. The press knows every bit of that story, no transparency, and I still get people who don't believe it happened, who think I made the whole thing up just to cover up some mental break, to lie low while they bury some hooker I apparently killed.
[Not the point, he knows. But it struck a cord, pissed him off. It's something else to focus on, to keep Charles from the truth of the situation. The pettiness of his retaliation. The way Tony always responds when people get too close. By pushing them away so hard they have no choice but to logically hate his guts.]
I get it. I'm just some rich asshole who spent three months in a cave. Not comparable to Death Camps at all, that's not what I'm saying. [There's an annoyed, almost challenging glint to tony's eyes, all of a sudden.] I'll make light of his shit the same way everyone makes light of mine. The second he stops talking like some two-bit dictator who wants to punish people who weren't even alive when World War II went down just because they fight for their country and the people they care about back home I'll stop pissing him off.
[Tony will probably never let go of that one conversation he had with Erik, the way he'd been talking about punishing people Tony fought tooth and nail to protect, people Tony'd watched get blown to bits right in front of him, by the weapons he'd created...
Some things just aren't fixable, Charles. It sucks, sure. But they just aren't.]