"I don't know. What would I tell him?" Tony laughed again, nodding in appreciation for the water. The world seemed to be fading away, and it was as if he was having a conversation with his own conscience. He was in an entirely different state of being--the kind of version of himself that could express himself without the several layers of sarcasm and frigidity that composed his outer shell.

"That--That I wish I'd been a better teammate. A better half. That I could detach myself enough from what's looming up in the sky to remember what I've got here on earth for two goddamn seconds."