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Tony tucked a finally tiring Tiberius into his bassinet. It was early, daytime, and he had been up almost all night yet again. The large, blue-green eyes staring up at him weren't enough to get through, they never were. He thought, believed, that after the baby was born he would still love him with all his heart, but for some reason, Tony just felt... empty. He kept a fantastic mask, being perfectly nice around visitors and around Bruce, even, but it had just kept getting worse and worse.
The inventor padded out of the nursery and went downstairs to his workshop, intent on finding some way, any way, to drown out the lifeless feeling and maybe get back something of the happiness and excitement he remembered from before.
The music was turned on, but kept low and quiet. After all, who would want to know he felt this badly, especially regarding his own son, and he knew... if Bruce heard it, he would come running and so might someone else. Tony didn't want that. He worked half-heartedly on one of the newer car engines, something simple. Everything might have carried on as it was, except when one of the bolts came loose and fell to the floor, Tony had to kneel down to find it.
Instead of getting back up once he had retrieved the small attachment, the last of the stubborn inventor's energy went out the window and he curled up, sitting on the floor with his arms wrapped around his knees. 'Have to get up, have to stop being such a wuss, what the hell is wrong with you?...' The thoughts repeated over and over through his mind, leaving a firmer impression each time. Instead of making him stronger or making it any easier, though, they were just cause to become even more wracked with guilt. Now he couldn't even act like a normal, healthy person, let alone a good parent.
Dummy whirred over and nudged the end of his arm against Tony worriedly, but the engineer fruitlessly made a half-hearted attempt to brush him off. It was this sight that greeted Dr. Banner when he came through the main door of the workshop and went looking for his husband.