The Man with no Heart (Tony Stark) - ON HOLD

Virginia

“Aw! Thank you so much, sweetie pie!” Mrs. Rhodes held me tight in her arms, as she always did.

I smiled at her “Don’t, Mrs. It’s Christmas, after all”

I had just offered the Rhodes this incredible mansion at the south of France as a Christmas present.

I think they liked it.

“You know you are welcome anytime, here” she held my face, kissing my cheek softly.

I am not going to lie, I love this lady.

The only one who would never judge me and one of the few who might still see through and get a glimpse of my real person, inside this cocoon.

And I will forever be thankful to her.

I will forever have a special feeling for her.

“Oh, I have been thinking, I might send some of my men here and kidnap you to come and cook for me, every once in a while, yeah”

She giggled “What about you come here more often?!”

I smiled at her “I will definitely give it a though” Kissing her forehead, I started giving my goodbyes “It is time for me to go now”

“Are you sure you don’t want to stay for dinner?”

“Yes, I am” I went to give a firm handshake to Mr. Rhodes “I have some work to do”

And I was not lying.

Well, maybe I was in a hurry to leave, yes.

The entire family was happy and exchanging nice words and sentiments in this special time of the year.

And I grew a small distaste for that, in the past years.

I had a good time with them. I ate a lot and was nicely welcomed, as always.

It just was not the same for me, anymore.

And I guess it will never be.

Driving back home, I drifted impeccably down the curve to my garage, but tragically ran Dummy over.  

“Ah! Idiot, what were you doing there?!”

I jumped out of the car and walked to him, who had a few pieces and gadgets shattered.

“You are going to fix the car, then” I picked him up and carried him to the other end of my workshop, where everything I needed was.

“Welcome back home, Sir”

“Hey, J. Had a good Christmas?”

“In the great company of the empty mansion, Sir, yes, I did”

Tony let out a sad smile “Yeah, J. I know it’s empty”

“Did you have a good Christmas, Sir?” Jarvis asked as I threw my jacket and tie away, ready to fix Dummy.

“No, Jarvis. There’s no Christmas”

I kept doing what I did best, getting no other answer from Jarvis.

And, on that night, I did not feel like leaving the mansion.

I had my drinks on my own.

And I was better like that than with any possible company.

It was only on the next day that I was forced to get up and go to Stark Industries. There were so many meetings and accounting issues to be solved, oh, it would obviously be a blast.