Building Yourself Better
After The War, Tony went home-if you could call it a home to go to.
His friends were gone, Rhodey couldn't walk, Pepper had left him, and he now had an additional heap of emotional trauma to work through. For awhile it was bad, trapped in that weird cycle of self-loathing, anger, and sorrow. Hatred of himself driving everyone away, anger at that stupid phone and letter Steve had sent, sorrow over all he had lost. Tony had two options at this point-he could wallow in this misery, lose himself in drink and hurt. It sounded easy, almost appealing. Or he could set his shoulders and soldier through the pain, building himself better as he went. That sounded hard, and he didn't really want to try. So Tony gave himself one week to feel sorry for himself, before going with Option #2. After all, it was the right thing to do.
And, piece by piece, he built his life up again.
It started with Rhodey-fixing his legs became Tony's obsession. Rhodey hated to see his friend work himself to the bone, know that he was blaming himself for Rhodey's injury, but ultimately, it was the best thing for Tony. Throwing himself back into his work, continually tweaking and perfecting the prosthetics was cathartic. Vision helped, seeking means to atone for the accident he had caused. Rhodey could walk again, almost the same as before. When he took his first unaided step, he smiled with tears in his eyes. At that moment, Tony felt some of the ice Siberia had left encasing his heart crack and thaw a little.
This new technology in prosthetics was revolutionary, and Tony arranged a meeting with Pepper to start a new project in SI. They poured over plans for the new prosthetics division, hoping to get affordable technology to the public by next fall. Weeks passed, and the stoic and awkward meetings over a desk turned to brainstorming in coffee shops which turned to planning on the couch in the tower, tossing popcorn into each other's mouths and Pepper's bare feet shoved under Tony's thigh. They knew they couldn't go back to before-there would be no more romantic evenings between the two-but they focused their energy on rebuilding their friendship and furthering the company. Eventually, Pepper moved back out to Malibu, but flew into New York every 2 weeks to visit and check on the East Coast branch of the company. Tony was relieved he hadn't lost her entirely, and had to admit they were more suited as friends than lovers.
Then life threw Tony a curveball that came swinging in in the form of an awkward 15 year old named Peter. When he recruited the kid to help in Germany, he had never expected him to nest himself so firmly into his heart. The dorky kid tried his best to be a superhero, and Tony found himself wrestling with fatherly instincts. He refused to follow in Howard's footsteps, and resolved to mentor the kid as best he could. And if Tony couldn't always be there to protect him, he could damn well make sure that Peter had the best tech and safest suit possible. The Tower was open to Peter for emergency patch ups, homework help, or simply to swing by and hang out.
Vision and he teamed up to rebuild Jarvis' code from the remnants Tony had and from what Vision could remember. The new Jarvis wasn't quite the same, but he had all the memories and knowledge of the old one, and they were slowly reintegrating him into the tower and suit. Friday helped show him the works, and Tony was sure that he would soon be back to his normal self.
Lastly, and most unexpected of all, an itsy bitsy spider came crawling home. To this day, Tony is adamant that he did not screech when he saw Natasha standing with an apologetic look in his kitchen, but Friday had the video feed to prove it. Secretly, Tony was glad she was back. Although harsh words had been traded, he didn't feel betrayed by her and could understand her actions. Nat was blunt and easy to get back into the swing of things with. Tony enlisted her help with attaining pardons for the Rogue Avengers, dealing with Ross, and revising the Accords. He became accustomed again to her presence in the tower, and a genuine trust and friendship deeper than they had before began to form.
So yeah. Rhodey was walking, Pepper and he were on friendly terms, he had somehow adopted a Spiderling, Jarvis was back online, and Vision and the Black Widow were living in his tower and had somehow become his friends.
Life was...surprisingly alright.
Then Steve Rogers, followed by the Rogue Avengers, broke into the Tower and everything came crashing down again.