The Wordsmith's Forge

>> He has a hypothesis and data points to try and correlate. Plus he has a tentative reasoning and that can go a long way. Whoo! <<

I'm glad you liked that. I figured that Tony, being a geek, would approach sex/romance from a logical perspective.

>> Go Tony, he's trying so hard to be supportive - he doesn't really know how - so he's fixing that.<<

Yeah, his examples of "support" growing up consisted of his parents (nearly nonexistent except for cash), Obie (who abused him), and Edwin Jarvis (who basically raised him). That makes it hard for Tony to figure out how this part of human interaction is really supposed to work. I think Rhodey and Happy helped a lot, though, once they came along. And Tony basically built his botfamily so he could have help that wouldn't pick on him.

>> Love the shovel talk with Tony and Clint. <<

Yay! :D

>> It feels very authentic that Tony asks JARVIS for reading materials <<

I'm happy to hear that. It seems to be Tony's approach to life:

"When did you become an expert on thermonuclear astrophysics?"
"Last night."

LOL which means by the end of the week, Stark Industries will probably have an acespec company club and a platonic lounge.

>> and therefore technically, tentatively coming out to his son <<

They're still so enmeshed at this stage, I don't think it even occurred to either of them as "coming out." Tony doesn't seem to keep secrets from JARVIS.

I think Tony's decision to tell Pepper was less about coming out, and more about 1) getting a second opinion from someone who actually understands this stuff as to whether "aromantic" is a sound hypothesis, and 2) attempting to fix a relationship that he values but has performed poorly in the past.

>> but how you included Clint by making it clear that JARVIS and Clint have left the pamphlets out was lovely. <<

By leaving a few basic resources in shared space, they make it easy for their teamfamily to learn more or open a conversation. Anyone who doesn't want to can just ignore it. This is a lot more discreet than bringing it up in person.

>> Clint gets platonic flowers, Pepper gets platonic flowers, everyone gets platonic flowers! <<

Platonic flowers are awesome. :D The flower language is sophisticated enough that you can have whole conversations in it.

>> I really hope that Pepper knows the language of flowers and that she always reads the cards Tony has sent with the multitude of flowers that he's sent over the years. <<

Possibly; I suspect that varies across iterations. Since LIFC is meant to be better than MCU, I'm going to bet that 1) Pepper knows at least basic flower language and the cards probably have a translation on them anyhow, and 2) she does read the cards, probably hoping that Tony would get better at romance.

>> I just really hope she's accepting of Tony's revelation and that both of them can be happy as best friends - or happier now that both of them are comfortable in their dynamics. <<

In this case, it's got a good chance. Pepper has been tangential to this series, but not abusive like in Iron Man 3. I think that Tony and Pepper will make much better friends than romantic partners.

>> This was a lovely read :D

Thank you! \o/