[ No, you don't leave when you're mad, but he does. Tony leaves, when he's so angry he feels like he's about to crack into shards and fall apart on the floor, when he knows that the things he is starting to want to say are going to be immediately to his own detriment in several fashions, because they're petty and childish and ill-thought-out. He leaves when he feels like he's about to do something even he - with his slim awareness of this - feels like he'll regret later. It's a tactic, and it looks like more of one than it is, because it's not so much self-defense or preservation as it is the need, and recognizing the need, to not Completely Fuck Up these particular relationships. Some of them are special, sacred, like this one, and if leaving and pissing her off is how he knows to prevent burning this bridge down too, then he's only got the one option available to him, doesn't he?
He sighs a little, because he knew that was going to be the answer regardless. It's not that he doesn't believe her, that she can keep her reaction to herself - he almost completely believes her, but they're so close, and she's not going to be able to control her shields and her walls and her face and her mouth like that, perhaps. He's not sure, but he wants to believe her. ] The brief, then. [ Looking at her but up through his eyelashes, because he's tilted his face down and is looking up at her in that gesture for imperative attention. ] Brief. Three, then boarding school. Twice there. Twice in high school. Maybe three at MIT. After that, at least one or three attempts a year until about twenty-five. Died down. Only one attempt between twenty-five and Afghanistan. Two or three with the Avengers, because there's now a sixth reason for doing it. [ He stops working entirely, but he's long since stopped looking at her. He's looking down, a little, off towards the side she's standing on but not near her, just zoned out on something he found safe to look at. ] Three ransoms, three rescues, two just let me go again. Lots of people tried, but I'm not an idiot. Talked one of them into taking me back to my hotel. Paid me for the trouble. Works out a little better when the don't put a gag in, obviously. Got away from several. By myself. [ He looks her right in the eye for a moment, to see if she's making good on her promise to keep herself to herself and also just to see what her reaction then therefore is. Just as abruptly, he's full of life, going back to what he was doing. ]
no subject
He sighs a little, because he knew that was going to be the answer regardless. It's not that he doesn't believe her, that she can keep her reaction to herself - he almost completely believes her, but they're so close, and she's not going to be able to control her shields and her walls and her face and her mouth like that, perhaps. He's not sure, but he wants to believe her. ] The brief, then. [ Looking at her but up through his eyelashes, because he's tilted his face down and is looking up at her in that gesture for imperative attention. ] Brief. Three, then boarding school. Twice there. Twice in high school. Maybe three at MIT. After that, at least one or three attempts a year until about twenty-five. Died down. Only one attempt between twenty-five and Afghanistan. Two or three with the Avengers, because there's now a sixth reason for doing it. [ He stops working entirely, but he's long since stopped looking at her. He's looking down, a little, off towards the side she's standing on but not near her, just zoned out on something he found safe to look at. ] Three ransoms, three rescues, two just let me go again. Lots of people tried, but I'm not an idiot. Talked one of them into taking me back to my hotel. Paid me for the trouble. Works out a little better when the don't put a gag in, obviously. Got away from several. By myself. [ He looks her right in the eye for a moment, to see if she's making good on her promise to keep herself to herself and also just to see what her reaction then therefore is. Just as abruptly, he's full of life, going back to what he was doing. ]
Them's the brief.