That will be enough

Jarvis saw his boy sitting in front of the journalist. He looked confident but he knew him since 15 minutes after he was born: a little tic with his fingers, his eyes looking at the corner of the room, the way he swallowed, all indicates Tony Stark, now 15 years old, was a bit nervous for his first public interview.

The lights turned on to illuminate him. Jarvis noticed how his boy looked nervously around until he met his eyes behind the camera: Jarvis nodded at him and he led out a little smile with the corner of his mouth.

“You’ll be fine” Jarvis remembered to have told him while he was helping him with his tie a few moments ago. “You’re your father’s son: you were born for this, Mr. Stark!”

He has taken his hands and mumbled: “I’ll always be your son too… am I not?”

“Sure, my boy! Sure!” Jarvis had confirmed. He had kissed his head to wish him good luck.

“Let’s start from a simple question, Mr. Stark” the journalist from the Bulletin, Ben Urich, said, while the cameras have started to record. “Why have you decided to talk now? And why did you want to talk with me in particular?”

“I guess the timing is pretty obvious, due to the recent events” Tony replied, swallowing heavily after each pause. His voice wasn’t trembling, though. “And about you, I’ve read your articles for the Bulletin, as well as every other articles from the different journals about us, but in particular about my family’s personal life and our relationship with Mr. Stane… my relationship in particular…”

He paused a bit, squeezing uncomfortable on his chair. Urich took the moment to get into that topic: “So you wanted to talk with me because my articles on the Bulletin… do you think I’ve been more gentle with your family?”

“Well, more than the Bugle for sure!” the boy replied. Jarvis heard the crew members laughing.

Urich himself smiled a bit, but he asked: “So you wanted to release this interview because you thought I’ll be gentle with you and your family even in front of the evidences or a murder and the suspect of terroristic activities?”

Tony shook his hand but he was expecting that question: they’ve prepared that interview and he was ready.

“No, Mr. Urich. I’m not pretending you’ll be gentle just because I’m a boy or something. That will be insulting your professionalism!” he paused, looking the man in the eyes. “I wanted to talk with you because you were the only one wishing to look for the truth behind the rumors and the voices, the only one who didn’t stop at the surface and asked questions… even uncomfortable ones!”

Urich took the compliment with elegance, but then he counter-attacked: “So you’re going to tell us the truth tonight?”

Tony scoffed, sitting back in his chair and fixing his jacket: an Howard Stark’s maneuver to fake control.

“I’ve heard a good priest once saying that the truth is a gift from God, not from men” he replied. Jarvis could imagine father Latom jumping on his chair by hearing a quote from his last homely on national TV.  “So, no Mr. Urich, I won’t tell you the truth, but I wish to tell you my truth for once. Apparently everyone had his own version of the facts, so I wish to tell you mine… whether or not it could be consider “the truth”, these are the facts as I’ve lived them, if you wish to listen to what I have to say.”

Urich opened his arms, palm up: “I’m all ears, Mr. Stark. From when do you wish to start?”

Tony has smiled sadly. “Well, I guess it’ll be better to start from the beginning… like in fairy tales, you know? So my tale could start like this: once upon a time there was a little knight who lived in a high castle. He believed his castle to be his world and that nothing bad was going to happen to him as long as he remained in his castle…”

Jarvis saw him pausing and looking for his eyes behind Urich’s chair. He managed to control but the tears were clearly visible while he continued: “Until one time a monster made his castle fell, and the little knight found himself on the run with the only company of his loyal squire…”

Urich gave him time to regain control, then he asked to explain his metaphor, one question after the other.

And Tony went again through everything: how he loved to run around his father’s office and lab since he has managed to walk, how he called Mr. Stane ‘uncle Obie’ and jumped into his arms while the man shouted at the Board meeting, how he liked to create things from scratch and had a book full of his ‘projects’ as he proudly called them; how he has started to fix things, small circuits, objects, then working with cars, and shortly after he was fixing a rifle his father said he wasn’t going to shoot. Only that it shoot, and it did it in a lab full of explosives.

“Jarvis was the only one able to reach me and drag me out from the fire and smoke!” Tony remembered, by looking once again at where he stood. “I’ve fainted, so they told me later. Jarvis got intoxicated and he was hospitalized as well. So when I woke up, I was with my uncle Obie and he was very pissed. He told me I’ve made a mess… that was the first time he called me ‘naughty boy’ maybe… he told me I have mental issues but he proposed me to hide my problems, because nobody likes broken toys and my father was going to send me away in a mental institution. But he got a solution for me, a special therapy or so he called it…”

He paused for long before continuing with eyes on a point behind the cameras: “T- that was the first time he naked me completely and then he hurt me, and touch me in a way… I didn’t have a name for it back then, but he made me feel ashamed and dirty! Now I know that he was abusing me… but back then, I only felt guilty and… broken!”

He had to pause to catch his breath: his knuckles have turned white for as much he was grasping at his trousers. The silence that has fallen in the room was thick and even Ben Urich had to make up his mind before asking him to repeat: for sure he was not expecting this kind of revelation. Nobody was.

“How old where you back then, Mr. Stark?”

“I’ve just turned 6, and we’ve had a party at home, only the three of us… I mean, myself, my mother and Jarvis. Dad and Obie were at the company for work, so I and Jarvis reached them later. That was when the incident happened!”

He paused again, squeezing in his chair.

“Do you wish to pause, Mr. Stark?” Urich asked by having him served a glass of water from the troupe.

“No, I’m fine… I’ve been worse!” he replied, by drinking his glass fully.

Urich waited for a moment then he asked: “Did he touch you again?”

“Every time I did something bad, according to his judgment… well, it tends to happen if you let a kid working with explosives! Then it escalated quickly and he did those ‘therapy sessions’, as he called them, every time he managed to be alone with me… which were many times, because my father and mother trusted him!”

“Wasn’t Mr. Stane your godfather?”

“Yes, he was. And he was also at my parents’ wedding too, or so they told me.”

“So you’re telling me no one knew what was going on? Why didn’t you tell your parents or… Mr. Jarvis?”

Tony looked up at where Jarvis stood with a sorrowful expression. “Because Stane made me believe I wasn’t worth their love. He made me believe I was only a liar naughty boy and nobody was going to believe me… but Jarvis… Jarvis believed me that day, and he came back! He was supposed to follow my father, but I was so scared to stay alone with Obie for the whole afternoon… I was 10 and I was scared… so I- I’ve begged Jarvis to stay, but he couldn’t! Stane menaced me and broke my toy, and he was beating me when Jarvis came back… unexpectedly!”

He looked down and murmured: “Sometimes during these years I wished that he hasn’t come back, that he hasn’t discovered what was going on, because from that moment things have gone very bad… but in reality I’ll always be happy that he has trusted me and saved me from my monster. I owe him more than life…”

Jarvis felt a single drop falling on his cheek while he nodded at his brave boy.

The interview went on evoking every moment after Mr. Stane’s death (they maintained the cover of Maria Stark’s responsibility, and Urich a bit surprisingly didn’t ask too much) and what happened to the former ‘golden boy’ and his loyal squire after the Starks’ arrest. Tony didn’t spare the details, by remembering both the good and the bad things, and the good and bad people they’ve met along their way, with names and surnames if he managed (he had problems remembering names, but Jarvis was sure everybody understood perfectly who he was referring to… too bad for them, especially for that hotel director!).

They didn’t pause until they reached the final part of the story, its climax: Stark Industries’ auction.

“So, Mr. Stark,” Ben Urich asked, “how do you feel about it?”

_________________________________________________________________

(Six months ago)

“Now we’ll wait” Tony has mumbled looking at the sunny sky of June.

They’ve come back to their ordinary life. They were now a bit poorer than before, but it was nothing compared to when they’ve started. Having a safe roof over their head, hot water and a couch changed their perspectives with respect of their first time without a dollar in their pockets. They also knew that now they had real friends: the Rhodes likely hosted Tony and Jarvis every time they needed, and they met regularly for dinner on Saturday night; Mr. Cohen made Tony work hard to repay his loan, but he also gave him lunch for free with himself and his wife every day, and sometimes also dinner; father Latom was a necessary psychological help, especially for Jarvis, and Jarvis’s boss Amanda Weller allowed him to make some extras to earn a bit more in the first months.

This helped them feeling less lonely in the battle which was literally a David against Goliath, like in the Bible.

The journalists have gone mad at guessing who has made the last-minute proposal on Hammer’s face, but officially the envelopes were still sailed, and they were only speculating. Someone has heard the name “Stark” circulating that day and suspected a front man, but Howard Stark was under trial now, and then maybe he wasn’t him but his boy Tony, who however was underage… how old was he? Every reporter had his guess and information grew very messy.

“I’m bad with dates and numbers, but they had to find an agreement on my actual age or I’ll get confused!” Tony joked one morning while they were having breakfast and watching the news on TV (it was a recent innovation in their ordinary life, but they needed to check what was happening).

“I could swear you’ve turned 15 last May, my boy!” Jarvis confirmed with a smile, by taking his bag and kissing him on the head as always. “Be good by Mr. Cohen and give my greetings to him and his wife. And tell her she had to teach me the recipe of that Kugel you’ve brought home because it was delicious… don’t forget to bring the casserole back too, my boy! See you for dinner!”

Jarvis was still working as “Second van leader” at the cleaning company, but he has been spared the service at Hammer’s offices, not to create fake rumors later. Everyone was now also economically or emotionally involved in the operation, and they were creating a sort of wall against the random journalists asking around for a boy named “Tony” which could be the heir of the Starks under cover. Jarvis has instructed Tony not to open the door to anyone or answer to the phone if he didn’t recognize the caller. Tony has built a special device to recognize the incoming numbers, so that he could answer only whether on the other side there was Rhodey (from MIT or from home), father Latom, Mr. Cohen, or Jarvis from his work.

But one day, Ben Urich has come really close to the boy, since he has managed to follow a trail leading to Mr. Cohen’s pawn shop. Luckily for them, the old man has smelled a journalist from a mile and has kept the boy in the back of his shop until the man was gone. He has taken Tony up to his home for dinner, before escorting him personally back home in a taxi he has paid.

“Don’t put me into troubles!” he has told him, but then he has given him an extra slice of Kugel to bring home to his father. And he hasn’t asked him to repay the taxi.

Unsurprisingly, their real inside man has become James “Rhodey” Rhodes, who was at MIT with the Hammer boy, Justin. He called home every Saturday evening, when he also knew Tony and Jarvis were there for dinner.

“Justin is going completely crazy!” he told his ‘Little T’, as he called Tony. “He was out of his mind last week! The term has just started and I seriously doubt he will survive… especially now that everyone knew he’s a cheater!”

Since the Hammer boy liked to talk and to talk aloud, Rhodey had an easy way to just listen to him and later confirm three fundamental things. One, the Hammers didn’t know who was behind the last-minute offer. Two, Hammer senior officially acted cool by saying that it was probably a start-up or something, without competences, and so that they, whoever they were, didn’t represent a threat. Three, he has tried to corrupt someone to get the results in advance. And, finally, that the Hammer Industries have huge debts, and that only the acquisition and then selling of Stark Industries was going to balance their finance.

Two days later the journals reported Hammer senior has received an inspection from the anti-corruption service after the journals have reported a conversation quite similar to the one Rhodey has reported them on Saturday.

“Tony…” Jarvis mumbled, by rolling his eyes.

“Uh? I’ve done nothing!” the boy defended himself, but he looked guilty from a mile. Indeed he added: “It’s not my fault if that idiot talks aloud… and someone could have listened and made an anonymous email to the journals through a common library account!”

“You’re too smart for your own good!” Jarvis had to admit, by wishing him a good day while he went to work.

Autumn was not that cold, but Jarvis feared the random blast of the wind because those were the ones to cause the cold… and he couldn’t allow himself to get sick!

It was around the beginning of December when he saw Tony arrive running at his working place, almost tailgated by Mr. Cohen who was shouting him not to break his neck and to walk like a normal human being.

“There’s a summon to a public hearing next week!” Tony revealed with excitement. “They’ve just told on the radio: the judges have reached a decision on the two offers and they were revealing the proponents’ identities and then the winner altogether! It’s going to be a huge show!”

It was really a good news, and everyone was starting to make plans to assist at the hearing that day, or at least knowing live the results from the TV: the economic channels were already crazy. Although Hammer expressed security at every public appearances he made, there were now more doubts on his account after the recent visit by the police.

For Jarvis the major problem was how to properly dress his boy for the hearing: he needed a suit but they didn’t have one, and they couldn’t afford one, not even with the nicest possible price made by Mr. Yussuf. Jarvis had a blue suits he has found in their new apartment: it was the only one left, while the other have been sold to pay for their meals after they’ve made their offer. But the boy’s suits have been confiscated at the beginning of their journey, and his old one has been sold at “Second hand” as well. Jarvis remembered their first terrible moments of embarrassment and then the realization of what it meant with a frown and a small hand trembling.

“It’s fine, now!” he repeated to calm himself down. “It’s over. We went through worse… we’ll manage!”

He didn’t have to look around for long for a nice suit, because when he went to collect Tony at his job by Mr. Cohen, the kid went out with a black suit, a shirt and a tie in his hands.

“It’s a loan!” he specified. “Three working days, Saturday included, and I have to return it cleaned and ironed!”

“I’ve always wondered how a Jewish manage to work on Saturday…” Jarvis reasoned aloud, while they were at home trying the boy’s suit. It needed to be fixed on some points to fit the boy’s size, because Tony was still a bit short, but with the necessary adjustments it would have fitted perfectly. Jarvis only hoped this wouldn’t cost him an extra.

“Oh! Mr. Cohen actually doesn’t work on Saturday!” Tony revealed by admiring himself at the mirror they had in the bedroom. “He and his wife went to their temple, or church… I don’t know how’s called!”

“Synagogue, my boy.”

“Well, that one. The store is officially closed, but I’m inside working. Mr. Cohen left the keys on a secret place he only shared with me and his wife, on Friday evening. I collect them, entered from the back door and closed everything like there’s no one there. I have to repair the things he has left me, clean the shop, do the count of the incomes and outcomes of the week, and prepare the letters or mails to the sellers and buyers. After my turn, I’ll bring the keys upstairs to him or his wife. Mr. Cohen would check on Sunday that everything is okay, especially in my calculations, and we discuss eventual problems on Monday. It’s good because I could work without being disturbed, and if I’ve finished my task I could simply remain there studying. And they always left me something to warm-up in the microwave for lunch, and I can take all the tea and biscuits I wanted… it’s my favorite day of the week, actually!”

Jarvis was a bit astonished: so the serious and scrooge Mr. Cohen was in reality tutoring the boy on how to run a business! And he also provided him a warm shelter in the winter! And that suit?

“They didn’t tell me but I’ll suspect it was of one of their boy for his Bat Miztvah… maybe the youngest one since it appeared a bit new. The oldest ones have moved to Israel with their family now, or so they told me, but the youngest went to college in Houston or around there. Mrs. Cohen missed him a lot, as he missed his many grandchildren! You should see their family picture!”

Jarvis smiled at the idea that the Cohens, as well as the Rhodes, have officially adopted Tony. It was a nice sensation knowing that someone would have taken care of his boys if something was going to happen to him… not that he had any intentions of leaving him alone!

He finished to fix the suit and made Tony tried it on again.

“Oh!” the boy exclaimed by looking in the mirror. “I am… fabulous!”

“And modest… like every Stark I’ve known!” Jarvis smile at him.

But he had to agree: Tony was really looking good in that suit. Despite the age, he appeared very professional and up to the offer he has made. They needed only to fix his hair a bit, but Jarvis knew how to deal with it.

The night before the hearing they didn’t sleep much, both quite tensed. They were staring at the ceiling, where two glowing stars reminded them of the life they had… and that they were trying to have back!

“Jarvis?” Tony asked by his side. “Are you sleeping?”

“No, my boy…”

“I was wondering… what if tomorrow it goes bad? What if we’ve lost the money and the company?”

“If we lost the offer, the money will come back… taxes excluded” Jarvis remembered him for the tenth time in a night. “A small comfort.. but we may manage to buy back the Stark Mansion!”

“A house we couldn’t afford to maintain for long, Jarvis” Tony replied, cynically.

They stayed silent for a while until he asked again: “Jarvis? Are you still awake?”

“Yes, my boy…” he yawned.

He felt him moving to spoon by his side. Despite the time, Tony has always had problems at sleeping alone even if since they’ve moved there they’ve tried. But Tony needed contact and tenderness, like he was constantly looking for a shield between himself and the world.

“I love you, Jarvis” he mumbled to him. “You’ll always be my father!”

And Jarvis kissed his boy’s head and replied: “I know, Tony… and I love you too. However it ends tomorrow… I’m proud of you, my boy!”

__________________________________________________________

They arrived at the tribunal with a small bus father Latom has borrowed for everyone and which included: Jarvis and Tony, immediately followed by Rhodey and Matt Murdock; then there were the Rhodes, wife and husband, both the Cohens and Mr. Yussuf with his two wives and their oldest son, Miss Chavez and girlfriend, Miss Rhane Sinclair, and Sean Dolan. Jarvis’s boss has remained at work to run the activity, and she and the other workers cheered for them when they passed by with their bus. Father Latom was both driving and discussing theology with Mr. Cohen, while Mr. Yussuf scoffed. Tony, instead, was kept looking nervously at his papers.

“It’ll be fine, Little T!” Rhodey said from the back seat. Tony smiled at him but he, like Jarvis, was very tensed.

“I’ll park some blocks from the tribunal, so that we won’t attire much attention!” father Latom announced.

“Your driving skills have to be revised, priest!” Mr. Cohen told him, and Mr. Yussuf had to agree with him.

They mixed with the public allowed inside since the decision was going to be public. They’ve arrived quite early to be sure to find place, but still they found themselves on the back rows.

“Could you see my father, Jarvis?” Tony asked by stretching his neck and jumping up because he couldn’t see past the men in front of him.

“Will you allow me, boy?” Mr. Dolan asked, then he raised him over the crowd.

“Did you see him?” Jarvis asked, quite worried himself, when the man put him down.

“Nope! I can only imagine he was sitting in the front rows… there was a group of agents over there, but I couldn’t see him…” Tony replied, a bit disappointed.

It was on every news that Howard Stark has been declared innocent of all the crimes attributed to him, and he was actually under witness’s protection because of the revelation he has made. He was going to be present in tribunal, heavily escorted by special agents of an unknown international agency called SHIELD.

Hammer senior and junior were clearly visible, because they kept showing off like peacocks in their colored fancy suits, like they owned already the victory. They heard them addressing directly to “the dear Howard”, not so covertly mocking him, so they knew Mr. Stark senior was really there.

When the judges arrived the silence felt in the room.

“We’re here today for the auction for Stark Industries founded by Howard Anthony Walter Stark and declared bankrupted with sentence 2576…”

They kept enumerating rules and codes, and Jarvis saw Tony sighing.

“Keep calm, my boy, it’s the procedure!” he told him.

After ten minutes of introduction, the judge said: “We can officially communicate that we have received and evaluated two offers. First offer, by Hammer Industries in the person of Mr. Adrian Justin Gerard Hammer, actual CEO of said company. Second offer, by a group of micro-investors coordinated by Mr. Edwin Jarvis, on behalf of Mr. Anthony Edward Stark, underage.”

The room practically exploded with the flashes of the journalists, the loud comments, and Hammer’s shouts. Jarvis saw that Howard Stark has jumped on his chair and he was frantically looking around, while the agents were trying to push him back to his seat. Jarvis tried to intercept his glance but he wasn’t sure Mr. Stark has seen him.

“That’s ridiculous!” Hammer shouted. “The kid is underage and he’s the son of the failed man there! This is only a prank your honors!”

The judges claimed order in the room then one of them explained clearly that the offer has been regularly presented by Mr. Stark junior and by Mr. Jarvis as his legal caregiver, but there was legally nothing wrong.

“But he isn’t even there!” Justin Hammer objected with an acute annoying voice.

Rumors went through the hall, until a young voice was heard from the back rows: “I’m here!”

Everybody turned in perfect silence to face a young teen who was being hold up the crowd by a muscular man.

“Are you Anthony Edward Stark?” the judge asked while flashes started to hit.

“I am!” Tony confirmed. “And I’m here with Edwin Jarvis and a selection of our investors!”

“Then come up here, all of you!”

The hall was murmuring and everybody started to push them a bit by the sides, while they were making their way to the front rows, Tony in front, with Mr. Dolan escorting him like a bodyguard, and Jarvis following him with the documents. Jarvis has also grabbed Rhodey to follow, and with him all the others of the crew: they made really a weird picture (or “The NY soul” as they would call them later).

Once in front of the judges, Tony stated his name once again and he introduced everyone by remarking they were micro-investors of the future “Stark Industries & Co.”, if he managed to win his company back. Otherwise, he was going to build a start-up with that name or a similar one.

“He’s but a boy!” Hammer senior objected again, incapable of believing what was happening.

“We’ve already addressed this issue, Mr. Hammer, and I don’t like to repeat myself!” the female judge silenced him.

Jarvis quickly glanced at Howard Stark who was sitting silently like he has seen a ghost or he was not believing himself that his boy was there, safe and soul, trying to save the thing he has loved more than himself and his boy put together: his company. He saw also a tall black man with a patched eye murmuring something in Howard’s ear, and the man nodding with a sad expression.

“Mr. Stark… Tony. May I call you Tony?” an old male judge followed, by addressing the boy.

“I’d prefer Mr. Stark junior, if you don’t mind” Tony interrupted him, by taking a surprised “oh!” from the audience. “Or would you address to Mr. Hammer here as simply “Adrian”?”

They all laughed a bit while the judge turned red. Jarvis felt very pleased by his boy, and he saw a proud grin on Howard’s face as well.

“Well, Mr. Stark junior then…” the judge followed. “Are you aware that we needed to inspect whether you and Mr. Jarvis have the requirements to present this offer?”

“I’m sure you have to, as well as you did for Mr. Hammer’s offer!” Tony replied. “Actually, since we’re here I hope you’ve already inspected everything…”

Everybody laughed again. Tony looked perfectly in control of the situation, like he was born for this.

“Of course, we did! Okay, then… before proceeding we wish to ask you a couple of questions, though!”

“Only me?” Tony asked back. “It’s because I’m a 15 years old or…”

“It’s because you’re your father’s son!” the female judge intervened. “Mr. Stark junior, this commission needs to know if you have received information, help or pressure from your father, the former owner of Stark Industries Howard Stark or by anyone connected with him.”

There was an astonished murmured around, but Tony looked perfectly calm while he answered: “No, your Honor. I could swear on father Latom’s bible that I haven’t received pressures or suggestions by my father or anyone connected with him… if we excluded Jarvis here who helped me with the bureaucracy! But he is not ‘connected’ with my father since the day he left him on his plane and went back home to me!”

Jarvis felt something hitching near his heart at the memory.

“How can we be sure Stark… I mean Howard didn’t write the projects himself? Or even this Jarvis here!” Mr. Hammer objected.

It was Jarvis’s turn to intervene and he replied: “Because I was too busy cleaning shit to provide my boy here a decent meal for dinner! And besides, I don’t have the competencies to prepare such projects!”

The amazed noise around was covered by Hammer shouting once again that they could have talked to Howard Stark at any moments.

“Actually, I haven’t seen my father since he has been pushed on the floor, handcuffed and dragged away under my nose, more than 5 years ago!” Tony replied. Only at that point he dared to turn and look at his father and a strange feeling passed between them, before Howard Stark shyly smiled and nodded at his son.

The tall one-eyed man beside Howard Stark took a step forward and said: “Your honor, as you know, I’m colonel Nicholas Fury and I’m in charge of Mr. Stark’s protection since last year. Mr. Stark hasn’t received any phone calls or has had any meetings with anyone in the last twelve months. He has been under SHIELD custody and worked together only with myself and close collaborators, which are all SHIELD agents ready to confirm that since today we’ve never seen Mr. Tony Stark and Mr. Edwin Jarvis, and that we also feared for their lives.”

Jarvis glanced at Howard, who briefly winked at him: Howard perfectly knew where they were, but apparently he hasn’t told even his protectors.

The judges however haven’t finished and they asked again: “Mr. Stark junior, so did you write every project presented in the attached documentation alone?”

“Partially alone” Tony specified. “I’ve designed the vast majority of the projects, as you can see by the signatures, but for some of them I was helped by my friend Mr. James Rhodes here. He’s a brilliant engineer graduated at MIT, and he was going to be my future vice-CEO!”

“Would you make as believe that a boy and a black student wanted to run a company this huge?” Mr. Hammer shouted again. The press wasn’t going to take that racist comment easily.

But Jarvis saw how the Hammer boy was staring alternatively at Tony and Rhodey, and then whispering something in his father’s ear while he was still shouting outraged. The big man paused a bit, then he turned towards Tony, red in the face: he seemed like a bull ready to charge.

“YOU!” he shouted indeed. Jarvis automatically put himself between the fat man and his boy. Mr. Doland and Mr. Cohen were doing the same. “You were the one behind my boy’s almost suspension from MIT!”

They needed to block him, while Tony stated aloud that he didn’t know what Mr. Hammer was talking about.

“How could I have done that? After all, I’m but a broken toy!” he stated, by looking at Justin Hammer in his eyes with a fierce look that reminded Jarvis of Maria.

The Hammer boy turned to Rhodey who just shrugged.

“As my mom uses to say: shit happens, Justin!” he stated with a low-five to Tony.

The judges needed to battle to have order re-established in the hall, by also menacing to throw everyone out.

Finally, they were ready to read their sentences.

__________________________________________________________

The news of the day was but one: at age 15, Anthony ‘Tony’ Stark has won his father’s company back after a declared bankrupt and was going to convert the notorious weapons’ company into the production of tech devices for communications and green devices.

“They got it the other way round, but that’s okay!” Tony commented with his tie released and shirt unbuttoned while they were celebrating with cheeseburgers and fries.

“If you stain that suit, you’re going to work for another month for me, Mr. Stark!” Mr. Cohen pointed out, by stressing his surname. He got soon scolded by his wife for having stained his own trousers with ketchup.

“You were simply amazing, Tony!” Mrs. Rhodes complimented him.

“Have you seen Justin’s face, little T? I was betting he was going to explode!”

“You shouldn’t have called my bible’s into cause, but it’s fine, my boy! You did a good job!”.

“Cut the crap, father! Tony was amazing! I’ll work for you as soon as I graduate as an attorney!”

But Tony wasn’t listening, focused on the TV where they were interviewing Howard Stark after the sentence. He only managed to say that he wasn’t expecting that but that he was glad the apple hasn’t fallen far from the tree. Then he has looked in the camera and added: “Tony, Jarvis, I know you’ll watch this, so I want to tell you that I’m proud of you… and one day, we’ll meet again at our home!”

Then he has been dragged away by Colonel Fury and the other agents. The news went on by enumerating the exceptional arrests that have been made after the sensational confirmation of Mr. Stark’s witnesses about a huge Hydra net infiltrated in the government. There was also the request to revise the process against Mrs. Stark for the shooting of Obadiah Stane, since now it was clear that the man was one of the main pawn in the Hydra game. The director of the Bugle has already pointed out the main flaws of Stane, by confirming that they’ve always known what kind of man he was, especially if compared to the poor Mrs. Stark, a noble and courageous woman.

Tony and Jarvis only needed to glance at each other from the opposite side of the table, without the need of further comments.

“I’m proud of you, my boy!” Jarvis smiled at him. Then he proposed a toast “To Tony” they all made with Coke or Lemonade.

_________________________________________________

The winning of the auction wasn’t the end of their problems. On the contrary, it was the beginning of new ones.

Turning back a company from its ashes seemed a difficult task theoretically, but since the real work has started they’ve found complications at every corner. Likely they found a good managerial support in Miss Kanma Chander, who now went under the name of Mrs. Natalie Brown. Jarvis knew that she and Tony have had a private chat at the beginning, but after that they’ve commonly decided not to address their past anymore.

One evening, however, Jarvis found Tony smashing things in Stane’s former office, after they’ve worked all day to decide which locals could be used for what, and having had an estimation of the costs.

Even with Mr. Cohen’s investment, money was again an issue, and they have had to sell their safe shelter, so that Tony and Jarvis basically lived in Howard’s former office. But the relocation, their precarious situation, and the proximity with Mr. Stane’s office have caused a new worsening in Tony’s anxiety crisis and that last explosion of his nerves was but a confirmation that he was mentally exhausted.

“If you meant to re-decorate, this is a bit extreme!” Jarvis commented, while the boy was smashing Stane’s desk with a giant hammer he has found God knows where.

He dropped it down and looked around with tears in his eyes.

“He used to do it here… his therapy sessions…” he told him. It was the first time they talked openly about that. “He dragged me here, even when he knew you or dad were around. He never locked the door so I was always so scared you would enter here and see me naked over that desk.. he put something inside my mouth so that I couldn’t scream too loud… and he spread my legs, and touched me… down there…”

He collapsed on his knees, crying and gasping for air. Jarvis was soon by his side, hugging him and letting his head resting over his shoulder as they used to. He cuddled his abused boy, this young genial man who hided his scars in front of the others but was always struggling with his own monsters.

“It’s over, my boy!” Jarvis told him. “It’s over, he… he’s gone! He couldn’t hurt you anymore! He’s death!”

“You’re damn right he is!” Tony replied. “I’ve shot him in his chest!”

Jarvis moved him away to look him in the eyes: in all these years they’ve never ever discussed this, they’ve never told to anyone what has really happened that afternoon at the Stark Mansion, after Jarvis has interrupted one the ‘therapy session’ of Obadiah, and he has started an impossible fight with the though man. Stane was going to smash his head with a big vase while he was laying on the ground, when he has heard the sound of a gunshot coming from behind him. And when Jarvis has looked again, a huge blood stain was opening on Obadiah’s chest. The bald man was looking up at a point behind Jarvis.

“Naughty boy…” Stane had murmured before falling partially on the floor and partially on Jarvis himself, smashing the vase and covering Jarvis with his blood.

And once he has stood up, Jarvis had seen Tony trembling in a corner near the piano, with a small gun smoking in his puffy hands, that has been later recognized as Mr. Stane’s personal gun. It has probably dropped during the fight, and when he has seen him in danger, Tony has shot.

Jarvis has taken him upstairs, cleaned him with hot water in the tub, and then rolled him up in a covert while the kid was in a deep state of shock. Then Mrs. Stark has arrived and Jarvis, still all covered in blood has taken the blame of everything… before Mrs. Stark decided to act differently.

In all these years, Jarvis has supposed to be the only one to know or remember how things have really gone, since Tony was so shocked to have probably removed everything. Instead, he has just discovered that his boy remembered everything, and he was also talking aloud about that moment.

“What… what did you remember?” he tried to question him.

Tony was a bit hesitant but then he replied: “Everything, Jarvis. I’ve always remembered everything… especially the look in Obie’s eyes when he said his last words: “Naughty boy”… I- I think I’ll never forget his eyes in that moment for as long as I’ll live!”

He sighed heavily and added: “That’s why I don’t want to work with weapons anymore… every time I look at a gun’s or rifle’s project or try to sketch one I feel in my ears the echo of that shot and his words “naughty boy”, and I see his bright eyes turning empty…”

He swallowed then he asked: “Have you ever killed a man, Jarvis?”

“No, my boy… not even during the war. I- I was an assistant… So I don’t know how you may feel… I’m sorry! I’ll keep disappointing you when it’s about Stane!”

Tony shook his head.

“You’re the best thing that has ever happened to me, Jarvis!” he said with an hesitant smile. “I’m not sure you can say the same about me…”

But Jarvis didn’t let him finished and hugged him firmly.

“You’re my brave knight!” he told him. “And I’m honored to be your squire and also your second father!”

__________________________________________________

The first results of “Stark Industries & Co.” were in the form of patents realized by Tony Stark and sold to other companies by James Rhodes, who was still trying to take his second degree from MIT (this time in Economy). Tony has also been formally accepted at MIT but he couldn’t run a company, attending his therapy sessions (of the true kind, this time!) and go to college at the same time, so he has decided to pause this idea until the company was starting to run on his own feet… at least for the majority of the time.

With Tony’s patents they’ve managed to officially hire Mrs. Brown as head of the economic department, and also a Jeryn Hogarth as head of their lawyer office. By following Mrs. Hogarth’s lead, Tony has managed to have a huge refunding back from the Government, since they could prove they’ve forced Stark senior to close his activity under false accuses, and also they’ve done wrong to Tony when he was but a 10 years old kid. They’ve also managed back Jarvis’s money, since he has been previously cleared from all accuses, but he had his bank accounts still blocked.

With the money, they managed to finish the restoration of their main factory, and to buy the materials to start the production of their first product, which was going to be a weird tech artifact Tony proudly called a “Stark phone”. Mobiles have started to circulate among lawyers and other white collars, but Tony’s product was aiming at the general audience since it was smaller, faster… and way more economic that its concurrency! Last but not least, Tony was working on a technology to improve internet communication even between phones.

They needed to hire workers for their new factory, but once again they had help from a certain Miss Sinclair and a certain Mr. Donovan who knew many people in search of a job. And some of them hold a MA, or were former workers at Stark Industries, so they were up to their task after a small training provided by either Tony himself or by Jarvis.

“We did it, Little T!” Rhodey shouted on his phone live from Times square where they were selling the first set of Stark phones.

“What do you mean we did?” Tony replied from his working station at the lab. Jarvis was trying to feed him his veggies but the boy kept escaping him to fix something weird he had in front of him. “You’ve started two hours ago… How many did you sell?”

“How many?! T, it’s sold out! These babies sold themselves! And we have reservations for three times the actual amount! You are a fucking genius, T!”

“Sold out!!” Tony exclaimed with mouth open. Jarvis took the occasion to put a broccoli inside it, almost causing him to suffocate.

“Jarvis… bloody hell!” Tony cursed. But he sounded so weird in his mouth that they were both forced to laugh.

After the Stark phone came other brilliant inventions, like a watch that measures the pulse and could also connect to the maps to always tell you where you were (“You really need this one, Tony!” Jarvis mocked him), and also robotic limbs for veterans and kids. And with the incomes, they restored the second factory, where Tony implanted their ‘green artifacts’, which included high functioning solar panels, the water filter he freely donated to poor houses, a thing that caught the mold and cleaned the walls which he has labelled “Mold knight”, and other medical stuff to help breathing in case of pneumonia. With respect to the ones already available, Tony’s devices were smaller and quite economical. Under Jarvis’s suggestion, a huge set was donated at public hospital in Hell’s Kitchen, directly in the hands of nurse Claire Temple.

Tony was now working on something weird, huge and really expensive he has called ‘arc reactor’: even if they didn’t have the funds for this, his project and the small prototype have been nominated for an international price in Bern.

“We’re going to France!” Tony exclaimed.

“Switzerland, my boy!” Jarvis corrected. “Bern is in Switzerland!”

Geography has always been is Achilles’s heel.

That was the first time since ages both Tony and Jarvis took a plane (second class flight) together with Rhodey and his parents, who wanted to take a holiday break (they’ve earned quite a sum from their investment in the company). And when they came back they were not alone, since they brought with them a young talented Afghani engineer, doctor Ho Yinsen, who quickly became Tony’s second in command inside the labs. Rhodes managed the buying and selling, and with legal and economic department covered, their company was slowly growing. For sure, they were out of immediate danger of closing… the same couldn’t be said for someone else.

“You should consider buying the Hammer Industries… they’re almost at their bankrupt!” Jarvis commented one day after having read the journal during his lunch break.

“Uhm, tell the journalists we made an offer: 10,000 dollars!” Tony smirked. “It’s a symbolic price after all…”

After less than 3 years, when Tony came at age, Stark Industries (& Co.) was more than back on his feet: it was a solid reality and the investors were starting to bet more on them, even on the most hazardous of Tony’s project like, in fact, the arc reactor. The company was still small, with few fixed people at the highest rank, but they were growing.

“Not too fast!” Tony has imposed them. “One step after the other, like my old man used to say…”

And he winked to Jarvis.

They were still living at the factory, since they were using all their money to fix the economic position of the company, and also because sometimes they needed to work until quite late at night.

They’ve arranged a small place to look like a small one-room apartment and on a different floor with respect to Howard’s (now Tony’s) former office. Stane’s previous office has been dismantled and he was now occupied by the guys and girls of the legal office coordinated by Mrs. Hogarth.

About their apartment, Jarvis had said nothing, but he has noticed that the disposition imposed by Tony resembled the one of their first shelter when they’ve been kicked out from their fancy hotel room. At least, this one had a brand new kitchen with a functioning oven, and no mold on the walls. They’ve also put two separated beds, even if sometimes Tony looked for Jarvis’s hand before managing to fall asleep, and sometimes, if he woke up from a bad dream, Jarvis found him carving space next to him despite his age and actual size. He was not quite high, especially if compared to Rhodey, but he was definitively not a boy anymore.

“My therapist said I need time…” he mumbled against his shoulder one night after a bad dream. “Do you mind it, Jarvis?”

“No, my boy. Never…”

Obviously, Jarvis has dropped his previous works, and he was now in charge of managing Tony’s mails, both on papers and online, to help at coordinating his official communications and public appearance, like he has done with the first interview Tony has done with Ben Urich, one month after they’ve bought the company back and they’ve sold the first patents. They have received many pressures for interviews, so Jarvis has managed that one (they made quite an income, but Tony has insisted to devolve it into charity). That interview has also had a huge impact on public opinion, and Tony has been contacted by different associations against child abuse, so Jarvis had to filter their charity activity (they couldn’t afford many donations, but Tony has accepted to speak at some of their events).

Howard Stark has also managed to contact his son, but his calls had to be very short because he was still in hiding. Jarvis has silently cursed him, because he has noticed Tony was usually very sad that his father wasn’t talking to him, but he has said nothing aloud. Jarvis was there for his boy, and he would have always been there for him.

And after some months after that interview, Tony has decided to ask for psychological help and to regularly see a therapist because he has found that talk with Mr. Urich quite liberating. Mrs. Hogarth made sure Tony’s therapist, doctor Moira McTaggart, was fully aware of the privacy of his client, even in front of the most dangerous accuses. Jarvis has wondered whether Mrs. Hogarth knew something more, and she calmly told him that many have had the same suspect after reading that Mrs. Stark has accused herself of the crime and spontaneously confessed it… even when the evidences were more than dubious, starting from the timing of the shooting, and the fact that the last shot has hit a dead body.

“I’ve thought to see him moving!” Mrs. Stark had declared, with her lawyers asking for mental instability.

There were many others mitigating circumstances, like the fact she has just finished a cancer therapy and she was followed by a psychologist, but in the end she was charged of second degree murder and sentenced to twenty years. Now they knew it was a mission impossible to have her free or at house arrest, because Hydra wanted both her and Mr. Stark death, and also the young Tony and Jarvis. And all the judges of her case were on the Hydra pay book. Jarvis and Tony have been really ‘lucky’, all things considered, to have managed to disappear during that period.

Jarvis has also forced Tony to take a full medical check now that money was not a huge issue anymore. Tony insisted Jarvis had one as well so they were recovered together for a couple of days to make all the texts.

“Hospital tour!” Tony joked, but he was more tense for Jarvis’s results than for his own.

Jarvis’s values were surprisingly good, with only a first sign of arthritis on his knees, but in general he was healthy like a man 10 or more years younger than his actual age.

“You’re truly made of steel!” Tony mocked him. “Tell me, were you a robot or a life-model decoy all this time?”

“Enough, my boy… now let’s hear what the doctor could tell about your status!”

Tony’s medical record was not bad but not good either. The pneumonia has left like scars on his lungs, and he would always remain a bit more fragile there and in need to be extremely careful whenever he caught a cold or something. That was the bad news. The good news was that Tony was in general a healthy young man, without any digestive issues or hormonal disease as they’ve feared since he has developed quite lately.

“You were just a late bloomer like many others, Mr. Stark!” doctor Reyes said. “And I guess you should thank your father here: from what I heard during that interview, he really did something exceptional to have you eat well. And that’s why you’re now almost perfectly fine!”

Tony smiled at Jarvis, and for the old man was more than enough to be repaid for the humiliation, the starving and the issues he had had to face. His boy was fine, and that was more than enough.

_____________________________________________________

It took many years to Mr. Stark to be finally released from all accuses. And as soon as he could, Howard has asked for a revision of his wife’s process. Obviously he hasn’t counted the possible consequences on both Jarvis and Tony; he has thought only on erasing that stain on his wife’s memory, a good and rather useless act.

But Howard Stark didn’t know the truth. Howard Stark has always been persuaded that Maria has invented that fake rape to cover for Jarvis, to manage to have Jarvis escape justice and go away with Tony and protect their boy. No, Mr. Stark has never known the truth about his former vice-CEO’s death.

Jarvis was certain that, conversely, Maria Stark knew perfectly what she was doing and whom she was protecting: because Jarvis has appeared all covered in blood, and has told her to have shot Mr. Stane for what he has seen him doing to their boy. But what Jarvis hasn’t told to anyone, not even Tony, was that after having heard him, Maria Stark has looked him in his eyes and stated: “You haven’t ever killed a man, Jarvis!”

Then she has created proofs that weren’t there, like putting his skin under Stane’s hands, or shooting him again only to have gunpowder over her hands and her fingerprints on the gun. She has also stained and ripped her dress to simulate an attempted rape. Then she has come upstairs and consoled her boy until she has been dragged away by the police officers. She has always defended “her truth”: that she has come home earlier, that Tony was upstairs with Jarvis, Stane has tried an approach, she has refused, he has insisted and menaced her with her gun, ripped her dress. But she has hit him (exactly in the same points Jarvis has hit him) and took the gun from his hands. They had a full signed confession and all the proofs matched.

And yet, her last words to Tony were that she was proud of what he did, she was proud of her brave knight who has defeated his monster. Maria Stark knew, that was certain. And Jarvis admired her more than ever, while he feared her sacrificed could be for nothing if Howard went further in his plan for the process’s revision. Jarvis has tried to contact him for weeks without other results than Tony started to be stressed by his behavior. And when he has expressed his doubt to him, his boy has smiled and said that it was fine, that for sure his father was not going to hurt him… he has never had the intention to really hurt him, even when he was drunk, and for sure he wouldn’t have tried that time.

“To clean my mother’s name doesn’t mean to throw you in the mud!” Tony has sentenced, by emerging from an engine. “He only wants that they declare she was defending herself and that she has been treated unjustly… try now, Yinsen!”

“Yes, Mr. Stark… but only if you get out of that!”

But Jarvis remained nervous, and when an envelope from the High Court of Justice arrived, he opened it with trembling hands by fearing the worst. Instead, he had a nice surprise.

He worked for one day and a half, while Tony was too busy fixing a new huge prototype engine that worked with carbon dioxide to pay attention to him. Jarvis was but thankful that Ho Yinsen was a responsible lad who at least made Tony drinking and eating snacks every couple of hours.

On the afternoon of the second day, though, Jarvis dared to interrupt them while they were still working around that engine again. He asked Tony whether he could get out from work a bit earlier because he was preparing him a surprise.

“Which surprise?” Tony asked with a mix of curiosity and anxiety. He didn’t like surprises too much because he hadn’t control over the situation; surprises caused him stress.

“Don’t you trust me, my boy?” Jarvis asked. “I wouldn’t keep the secret if it wasn’t extremely important! So, just manage to be ready to leave from here at 6 PM. We’ll take cheeseburgers on our way, if you wish!”

“All this mystery…” Tony mumbled with his head engineer Ho Yinsen.

At 6 PM Jarvis was waiting Tony outside Stark Industries with the company car (they had but one and Jarvis usually used it to take around either Tony and Rhodey, if the latter arrived quite late at the airport).

“Where are we going?” Tony asked curious by jumping on the passenger’s seat.

“Safety belt first… then please you have to put this on your eyes… It’s just an old man mocking you, Tony, but if you feel uncomfortable we’re doing another way!”

Tony managed to keep his eyes closed for half the journey, then Jarvis saw he has started to sweat and to grab at his trouser.

“My boy, calm down and remove your blindfold, please!”

“Are we there?” Tony sighed relieved by having his sight back.

“No, my boy, but we’re close. And I don’t want you to panic… so I change my plans. Dinner first.”

“Oh, I’ve ruined the surprise…”

“Not at all! Let’s grab dinner first, then you’ll see!”

After dinner they got back in the car, Jarvis could see as Tony was extremely relaxed to be with him even if he was leading him into the unknown once again. As always, his boy trusted him completely.

“My boy, please, take those papers you see there. Take them and read them aloud while I keep driving until we reach our final destination! Eyes on the papers so you won’t ruin your surprise!”

“Okay, Jarvis!” Tony cheered, by turning the car light on. “The High Court of Justice has reunited today to discuss again the case State against Maria Carbonell-Stark for the murder of Mr. Obadiah Stane… in light of the new evidences against Mr. Stane… in accordance to the attempted circumstances presented by her lawyers… this court declares that Mrs. Carbonell-Stark has been unreasonably sentenced 20 years of prison for second degree murder. This court also declares that Mrs. Carbonell-Stark’s moving into Texas federal prison was unjustified and caused the said Mrs. Stark a worsening of her conditions finally leading to her decease. No connection, of any kind, has been found between Mrs. Carbonell-Stark and the terroristic organizations known as Hydra, The Ten Rings and AIM respectively. For this reason, the estates of Mrs. Maria Carbonell-Stark have been unjustly confiscated and should be returned in possession of Mrs. Carbonell-Stark immediately. Since Mrs. Carbonell-Stark has deceased during her confinement in prison, this court establishes that her estates, in the form of buildings, shares and bank accounts, should be immediately returned to her direct and only heir, Mr. Anthony Edward Stark. A notification to Mr. Stark should be sent immediately with the acts of properties of said estates. In faith…”

Tony was reading again and again the same passages, aloud.

“I- I don’t understand…” he mumbled. “Not completely… it means my mother has been sentenced unjustly?”

“It means that she was guilty but not of second degree murder, so the sentence was unjust as well as her transfer that caused her stress and the lack of proper cure for her disease, finally leading to her death.” Jarvis explained. He has talked with their law office the whole previous day after having received the papers, and with their lawyers he has also managed the following steps.

“So I was right!” Tony said. “That was what dad wanted, after all… what does it mean for me?”

“It also means, my boy” he said by slowing down while he entered a private street up a hill, “it means that you’ve got your mother’s estates back into your possession. And those included quite a huge amount of money on different bank accounts, shares in many high ranked companies, including Stark Industries, and also her physical properties… like, for instance, the houses under her name!”

He stopped the car and smiled at his boy who was still looking at him without understanding or wanting to understand fully. Jarvis pointed in front of him until he followed his suggestion and looked: and in front of them there was the Stark Mansion, without the police sigils, and also with his entrance a bit cleaner than the last time they rushed there. Only the gates have been left open, and Jarvis slowly drove till the front door before turning the engine off.

Tony got off the car, still a bit astonished.

Jarvis followed him by remaining a bit aside, giving him time to living again his painful memories consumed in that same place, when they have opened their luggage and robbed them of their things, when the child self has shouted hugged at his books of “Advance mechanics”, when Jarvis has raised him and put him in a taxi who was taking him away and into the unknown.

Tony had 10 years back then, and 10 years have passed since that moment, but Jarvis knew that a part of Tony’s mind has remained in that courtyard, painfully attached to that moment.

The only time he has come back there, Tony was wasted by the news of his mother’s death and has run all his way from Hell’s Kitchen to there, without really knowing how he has managed to arrive there without asking for direction, by arriving at night, playing her mother’s song on the piano, and crying himself to sleep in his former bedroom, under the glowing stars Jarvis has put on the ceiling for not fearing darkness. And now Tony was sleeping at the company he has won back from destiny, but he still had Jarvis at his side, and two glowing stars attached to the wall next to his bed, to help him sleep well.

In front of his old house, the only place Tony has fully called “home”, the 20 years old genius and now again billionaire dropped on his knees, big tears flushing from his eyes. And Jarvis was as always by his side, gently hugging him while he repeated that it was fine, they were home now, they have gone home.

“Is it- is it true?” Tony asked, still unbelieving it.  “Could we… really live here again?”

“It’s true, my boy” Jarvis confirmed with a tender and yet moved smile.

“But the house… they’ve sold it!”

“They had put it on sale… But they couldn’t have. So I’ve bought it at a fair price with the money I’ve got back thanks to Mrs. Hogarth. I’ve bought it and put it under your name, as it was in your rights! Don’t worry, I’ve worked with our lawyers to fix all the paperwork!”

He made him looking in his eyes and he smiled to him: “I bought your house back to you, my boy, like you did with my wedding ring and all my things… as you said, there are things we don’t need and things we do… and you needed your home back, my boy!”

Tony was still not fully believing that he wasn’t dreaming.

“But there were sigils… it was under custody… and the interiors…”

“I’ve checked with my legal office and put this estate as top priority. They’ve removed the sigils this morning and I’ve send a special team coordinated by Miss Weller to clean every floor, and especially our rooms upstairs. They changed sheets and cleaned the toilets, and also fixed a bit the living room and the kitchen, where I’ve already stuffed something for tomorrow breakfast. There’ll be lots of work still to be done, especially for the painting on the walls and some broken furniture, but from tonight on this could be our home again… if you want to!”

Tony looked at his house.

“Our home…” he nodded, and hugged Jarvis among tears. “Thank you! Thank you, Jarvis… thank you for bringing me home!”

“You’re welcome, my boy!” the other said with a kiss on his head. “I’ve made a promise to you. I’ve promised that whenever I could, I would have brought you back home! And now I did… Come on, it’s time for the little knight to come back to his castle and to rest after his long journey!”

They went inside after Tony has regained control over himself.

Despite Jarvis’s reassurances, Tony seemed surprise that the electricity worked and all seemed more or less as they have left. Well, apart from the graffiti on the walls, the lack of some piece of furniture… and, obviously, that blood stain in their living room, a constant reminder of what has happened there. Someone has put a carpet over it, but they all knew it was there.

“They’ve managed to remove the police signs but the blood entered in the wood, as I feared since the beginning…” Jarvis commented by frowning a bit.

Tony fixed it for long, then he shrugged and turned to the piano: he caressed his black surface, then he slowly played the notes of his mother’s song with only one finger.

“We should seriously think of changing the floor and redecorating!” they heard a voice from the door that made them jump for the surprise. Leaning against the door, Howard Stark was smiling at them with a tray of glasses in his hands.

“A Martini?” he offered by coming closer and putting the tray on the piano. “I’ve heard you like Martini with olive, Tony, but try not to exaggerate like your old man did… that’s me, by the way! Jarvis, a cabernet? And a juice fruit for me… hey, something’s wrong? Why the long faces?”

Jarvis didn’t know exactly how to react, and neither he could predict Tony’s sentiments. He hasn’t told Howard that he has bought the Mansion back but he should have known one way or the other. But what was Howard doing there? He has probably entered from the back door, but the problem was that now this wasn’t his house anymore, but Tony’s. And what would have Tony done with a father who has beat him when he was afraid of monsters at night, who has failed to protect him twice at least, and who has left him in poverty and danger? Most of all, what would this 20 years old young man think of his father after having heard only a couple of minutes from him in almost ten years?

“Why are you here?” the boy indeed asked. Jarvis noted that he was not upset, but he seemed undecided and a bit scared. Instinctively, he moved closer to him.

“To see you… nothing more!” Howard replied with a honest smile. He glanced at them with a bit of… was that remorse in Mr. Stark’s eyes?

“I’ve heard of the court decision and I’ve imagined the first place you would have come was… well, home!” Howard was following. “So, yeah, I went in first… I’ve brought few things as well to celebrate…”

He kept glancing at the carpet under which Stane’s blood has permeated the floor.

“We shouldn’t really be having this conversation here…” he mumbled.

 “Why did you want to see me, dad?”

Tony’s tone was harsh, but Jarvis knew he was hiding his fears. He saw Howard been taken aback, and then staring at his son with pitiful eyes.

“I- I wanted to apologize to you!” he said and one could tell he meant it. “I’ve been an asshole! I’ve never been a good father for you… I- what I did to you… and I’ve been blind! I’ve thought he was not going to hurt you! I’ve thought he was fond of you, like you were his little nephew or… I’ve been stupid and arrogant and…”

He stopped, overwhelmed.

“I wanted to see you” he said once again, “just to tell you that I’m sorry!”

Then he drank his juice with one sip and turned around to leave.

“Where are you going now?” Tony asked, angrily.

“I’ve come here just to see you and tell you that I’m sorry… but I don’t want to ruin your first night home with your other father so…”

“So are you going to leave me once again?” Tony replied. “Well, fuck you, dad!”

“Tony!” Jarvis tried to calm him down.

“No, Jarvis! What the hell do you think you are, dad? You came here uninvited after having talked to me only a couple of minutes in all these years… and you say you’re sorry but you’re ready to leave! You’re a fucking coward, dad!”

That hit the point because Howard turned back, pissed.

“How have you called me, boy?”

“A coward!” Tony repeated, while Jarvis was automatically putting himself between the two Starks. “Oh I know what you’ve done to dismantle the network, discover Hydra secret agents in the government! It was everywhere: Howard Stark and his heroic sacrifice! But have you ever asked yourself what you made me sacrifice? Or Jarvis or… mum? What has my mother sacrificed to cover your shit up?”

Howard knew he was right because he didn’t reply.

“Damn, dad!” Tony went on, with tears in his eyes. “Say something!”

“What do you want me to say, Tony? I’m a failure as a father just like my father has been with me…” there was sorrow in his eyes, but then he managed to smile at his boy while he continued: “But at least, contrary to my father, maybe I’ve done one thing right…”

“You haven’t done everything wrong with me!” Tony added, by trying to come closer. “Do you remember that book that you bought me when I was 3?”

“Advanced mechanics?” Howard asked. It was strange enough that he remembered. “Your mother bought it, together with Jarvis. I’ve only…”

“You read it with me on the carpet, every evening” Tony went on. “And you read me that fairytale with a golden knight in a red cape! Jarvis made the cake, mum played the piano and we ate dinner together… we were happy! All together: you, me, mum, Jarvis… I wish… I wish to have that back! I’ve worked hard to have it back! Not this house or the company or anything else but that! Please…”

Now he was crying overtly. “Please don’t leave me again, dad…”

And Howard for once did the right thing and hugged his grown-up boy, and he let him cry over his shoulder and comforted him like he needed to. Jarvis saw Tony’s hand stretching towards him and he came closer to, taking his hand and patting him on his head as well.

“You’ve always said to have two fathers!” Howard scoffed him and they managed to laugh.

“I miss my mum…” Tony said by glancing to the piano and then to the carpet covering the blood stain.

“I miss her too, my boy!” Howard said. “And you were right: she was the one to make the hugest sacrifice. She knew what it was going to happen that night, she knew what she was going to face… and yet, she choose the best for you: she choose to let you go away with Jarvis, taking the blame for having killed that damn bastard…”

“It wasn’t Jarvis” Tony stated, by taking Howard aback.

“W- what?”

Tony looked at Jarvis as for asking his permission, and he simply nodded: it was time for the boy to free him of his burden.

“It was me” Tony said to his father. “I’ve been the one who shoot Obadiah right in his heart… right from there, under the piano. Not that I was aiming or something… I just wanted him not to hurt Jarvis anymore!”

Different emotions passed through Howard’s eyes as this realization hit him in all his meanings. He stumbled back a bit, while he murmured: “You… well, now it makes sense! Maria’s determination… and her last words… She knew… she has known for the whole time!”

Then he looked at Jarvis and there was a trace of smirk when he said: “I should have known! After all these years, old pal, you’ve never killed a man!”

“Well, don’t try me now, Mr. Stark!” Jarvis replied with a smile. “You still owe me, well us, a big depth for that house keys…”

Howard shook his head. Then he looked up at his son with the only sentiment Jarvis knew that Tony has always wanted to see in his father’s eyes: proud.

“I’m proud of you, my boy!” he stated. “Your mother has been proud of you too, and I am… I’ve always been! I’m proud for how you’ve managed everything… and you don’t have to blame yourself for nothing! You did what you could to protect yourself and your beloved ones… a thing that I’ve failed miserably!”

There was such sadness in those words, that Jarvis felt real pity for him. Tony patted him on his shoulder and then said: “It’s nobody’s fault but of the monsters that were chasing us!”

Jarvis was sure he has told him the same thing, many years ago.

“But now the monsters are gone, aren’t they, dads?” Tony was again by looking alternatively from Howard to Jarvis.

“Yes, they’re gone… all of that!” Howard assured.

“You’re safe now, little knight!” Jarvis confirmed.

Tony smiled at both his fathers, as he has called them in that piece of paper written for school so many years ago. Then he sighed in relief.

“Very well, then it’s decided!” he said.

Jarvis and Howard looked at each other, without understanding.

“We’re going to live here together again!” Tony continued. “All together… I’ll have mum’s ashes moved there as well. We kept the piano but redecorated everything else. And we… we start again from here!”

Jarvis agreed immediately and patted his boy on the shoulder. Howard took more time, like he wasn’t believing his luck once more.

“Once again you’ve saved me…” he mumbled, while tears formed in his eyes. “I’ve failed you so many times as a father… and yet you keep saving me! Now you would tell there’s a position at Stark Industries…”

“Actually, you can’t have official position in the executive sections, dad. That’s the law, you know!” Tony stated, by leading them outside the living room. Jarvis noticed that he went back and he closed the door with two turns of the keys.

“We should really remove this floor as soon as possible!” Jarvis said.

“First thing tomorrow, I’ll ask father Lantom to come and bless this house… and this room in particular!” Tony added.

“Why?” his father scoffed. “Have you become superstitious?”

“It’s called faith, dad” Tony replied. Then he winked at Jarvis and added: “Let’s say… I’ve faith you’ll find a good senior consultant to work for my company… I need an expert’s opinion on various projects, included the arc reactor… maybe an old genial and yet jobless engineer… do you happen to know someone up to the ask, dad?”

And Jarvis saw Howard melting once again, while he hugged again his child with gratitude.

“I love you, Tony” he said. “I knew I haven’t told you enough… I’m an asshole, I’m perfectly aware! But I love you! I’ve always loved you!”

Jarvis noticed that Tony was still with his defense up with his father, but he let them down a bit that night. He wished him “Goodnight, dad” before he went to this former Master room, and Jarvis and Tony headed towards theirs.

“Will he be fine?” Tony asked by looking at his parents’ door.

“He needs to stay alone with his ghosts… but he will be fine! It’s like you, my boy: strong!”

Then he caressed him on his head and asked: “Do you wish to sleep in your old bedroom or in mine, my boy? I’ve prepared both this afternoon!”

Tony glanced at Jarvis’s door, but then he shook his head.

“I- I guess I’d try to finally grow up for real and sleep on my own, as my therapist suggests!” he stated. “I’m home now… and the castle is safe…”

Still after a moment of hesitation, he asked: “Could you… could you stay with me until I fall asleep though?”

“Of course, my boy!” Jarvis replied with a smile. “Always…”

THE END