Tony Stark/Ishida Ryuuken 36 + 93

– anonymous

(36: Text/Letter Fic, 93: makeovers – I’m doing MCU, and also shoving the Bleach timeline around to fit how I want it to)

Tony Stark first reaches out to Dr. Ryuuken Ishida through an email.  Dr. Ishida is (one of) the best surgeons in the world, and he needs that knowledge, that skill, at his disposal if he ever wants to get his Rhodey walking again.

(Of course, Dr Ishida is not the only doctor Tony contacts, he’s only one of many. He’s not even the one that Tony considers the most interesting, because Dr Ishida is a man married to his work, and married with a child on top of that, and his assistance is dust-dry and vaguely condescending no matter how useful it ends up being.)

But because Tony is Tony and he likes to keep track of what’s going on in the lives of those he’s working with, Friday informs him the moment Dr. Ishida’s wife falls into a coma and dies. He doesn’t know what sort of words might be appropriate, but… he emails the man and offers his condolences. Offers to pause their collaboration while Dr. Ishida rebuilds his life but–

The man refuses. Almost clings to the contact and the work in a way that Tony… understands. He understands burying grief in work, blocking out the world in favor of a safe constant.

But Tony is older than the barely-adult who lost his parents and threw himself into work and partying in order to cope. He’s a mentor now, with two teens looking up to him and the bitter, bitter memory of a father who never seemed to care.

So he needles Dr Ishida, sharp and sly and cunning, dragging the man into acknowledging his son, dragging the man into acknowledging that his son needs help as well. He throws himself into fixing things, because that’s what he knows how to do, and maybe along the way his own grief starts to dull.

He doubts Ryuuken Ishida will ever be capable of true emotional displays, but that’s alright. Anything is better than nothing, in a way, and sweeping young Uryuu up as his youngest protege is hardly a trial. The boy is quick and intelligent and sharp, and introducing him to Harley and Peter was probably not the best idea ever, but at least this way Uryuu won’t quite grow up cold and alone and unsure of his father’s care.