wynnesome

The "Fourth Wall Breaking" fic bonus prompt has been elusive for Team Angst, seeming much easier to conceptualize as crack or humor. I finally realized that I could directly connect the premise of "aware of being a fictional character" to a heaping portion of my Tony Stark: Iron Man salt, and that put a certain author square in the audience seat as the "real world" personage for Tony to bespeak.

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Steve is tall and handsome and golden, and his warm, sure grip on Tony's elbow would be all it took to anchor him -- in any domain but this.

"Tony, I know I've given you grief about Extremis, and your "new body," but this idea in your head that you're not you anymore--" He shakes his head in exasperation, but the fondness is firmly evident. "The fact is, you can rebuild or modify or "improve" any part of yourself you like, and all that does is make you more you, not less, because that's what Tony Stark does. It's a part of who you are and have always been..."

It feels like that same strong, gentle grip reaches into Tony's artificial chest and softly squeezes his artificial heart.

"...and I hope that never changes about you."

He'd give anything not to have to tell Steve that it already has.

"I'm grateful to have your faith, Steve. More than you know. If there's anything in the world that could convince me I'm wrong... But this isn't where fairies are real as long as you believe in them. I'm not real. I'm a character in a work of fiction. I even know who's writing it. I found the signature in the code in my cells."

"Your Tony -- I... I'm sorry, He's gone. He died. He's not coming back. There's only this now--" He gestures up and down along the height of his frame. "--and I'm not him. I'm just a story based upon that man you knew and..."

Tony looks down and swallows thickly. "...loved. I-I'm a fictional character," he repeats, "being written by a guy named Dan Slott."

"Tony, no, that's not true," Steve protests, but Tony tunes it out, and wrests his arm free of the hold. Steve is wrong, no matter how well-intentioned. Tony doesn't merit that faith, and he doesn't deserve the comfort. He's just a figment, a stand-in, in Steve's world, and the less interaction he has here, the better. Until it's over. The less reason he can give any of them to continue believing the lie.

He thumps himself on the forehead. "Pull yourself together, Stark-- habit, fuck! I don't even know what to call myself. Doesn't matter so much, anyway." He laughs, bitterly. "How about this one, as fitting as ever: Get it together, 'Ol' Shellhead.' You know what you have to do."

Man as much metaphor as the thousand-yard stare, he looks off into the middle-distance, miserable and pleading.

"You, writer -- Slott -- if you can hear me, please. Put an end to this. What you're doing -- it does nothing but tarnish the memory of the man you modeled me from. Keeping him 'alive' like this isn't doing any good for anyone. Not for Tony Stark's friends and the people who loved him. Not for me -- and not for your readers, either. I know you have to tell your story, but please... this is no kind of life. if I can beg anything of you, this one thing is all I would ask. For all our sakes. Please. We've had a good run, but it's time to let go. Close the book."

"Don't drag out the ending."


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Username: wynnesome, steward of subversion
Work Type: Fic
Bingo Prompt: Free Space
Content Warning: Salinity Levels High Today
Extra Prompts: Fourth Wall Breaking
Main Universe: 616