[ Yes, well. People this close. He has a hard time letting anyone get as close to him as she's managed to do, but once they're there, he has an equally hard time letting them go again. He might do a lot of superficial things that push people away, but the majority of his actions will - from his perspective, anyway - be to keep them nearby. There's an area where he likes to keep people for a while, and even when people breach beyond it, get closer than he was expecting, he likes to pretend that they're still in that comfort zone. Most people will go along with it - Rhodey, Max, they both usually let him pretend, because they know when things need to be pushed and when Tony just needs to feel like he's in control, even if everyone involved up to and including himself knows that he isn't.
And it isn't fair that she's being all insistent and offering when he's already exhausted and not all-together. It's much harder to say no to someone who is offering something that you want, but you don't want, but you know you need. Something like that.
And it doesn't help that he actually disagrees with her there. While this whole process is deeply unpleasant, and he'd like to be rid of it, there's a little part of him that can't help but think it's a good thing, to be periodically and forcibly reminded of all of this. It probably helps to keep him on the path he's chosen to follow so late, keeps him trying not to waste his life. He's promised not to do that. ]
I don't - [ He doesn't a lot of things right now, so he stops abruptly, pauses, lets his hands slide back and fall down into his lap, follows their progress with his eyes and holds them there for a few moments.
He doesn't know that that's true: that he doesn't deserve this kind of cyclical nightmare. He doesn't know how she can help. He doesn't know how to accept it even if she figures that part out for herself. He doesn't know what to do, with any of this. It's why he'd started working, because that's the fastest way to shove it out of the way and move on. ] I don't know how that would work.
honestly it makes sense with your edit or mine which is kind of hilarious
And it isn't fair that she's being all insistent and offering when he's already exhausted and not all-together. It's much harder to say no to someone who is offering something that you want, but you don't want, but you know you need. Something like that.
And it doesn't help that he actually disagrees with her there. While this whole process is deeply unpleasant, and he'd like to be rid of it, there's a little part of him that can't help but think it's a good thing, to be periodically and forcibly reminded of all of this. It probably helps to keep him on the path he's chosen to follow so late, keeps him trying not to waste his life. He's promised not to do that. ]
I don't - [ He doesn't a lot of things right now, so he stops abruptly, pauses, lets his hands slide back and fall down into his lap, follows their progress with his eyes and holds them there for a few moments.
He doesn't know that that's true: that he doesn't deserve this kind of cyclical nightmare. He doesn't know how she can help. He doesn't know how to accept it even if she figures that part out for herself. He doesn't know what to do, with any of this. It's why he'd started working, because that's the fastest way to shove it out of the way and move on. ] I don't know how that would work.