You know...I read this once upon a time, many years ago. And it has been one of two stories that I have ever bothered to remember the exact plot of. I only read it once. Years ago. And yet here I am. I have been off-handedly searching for this one. singular. story. that has stuck itself into my mind and somehow very being if that makes sense. I do not know why this is one rare one that i bothered to keep in my conciousness. I dont think i ever will to be honest... I just..i dont know. I dont really know what i'm trying to say in this comment. Maybe i'm trying to express some sort of gratitude? ...That seems about right. You managed to take a character, Anthony Edward Stark, that i connect to in more ways than anyone in my entire life knows, and make him even more...i dont know. relatable? real? i..i really dont know.
The effect this story had on me, all those years ago, is one i cant describe... This one just stuck..with it's terrifyingly beautiful reality, with the fact that...somedays, we all just want to bash our head into a wall... Not saying that your fic promotes depression or suicide in anyway though, dear. Merely stating that it is all too real, to me at the very least. It shows that..i shouldnt, i guess. Your story has the words "Reviews are gold!" at the end of every chapter...but you give yourself too little credit. This beautiful piece of writting of yours is what is gold...I guess what i'm trying to say..is that you managed to do something very few, if maybe only one other, authors manage to do. You made me feel.
Thank you. Thank you for making me feel something that..is truly mine. An emotion that isn't somewhat forced, or fake all together. Your work has done something. And i am readily thanking you. I hope you maybe pursue a career in writing, or have at least managed to make other..better, as you have made me better. Please never take this beauty down, if you can help it. You've done good today. Even if you never read this, and never know. You've done something great for me. So..thank you.

oh god i'm crying and i feel sick with horror

there's something utterly glorious in the way that you write, the way you create the story by writing out the seemingly-innocent parts first, showing the big picture, especially with the numbering of the days, before you zero in and that "and again" repetition genuinely kills me

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
so i love this ending (? was it meant to be an ending? maybe not) and i love this stor very very very very very much, and although i want the two Idiots in Love to talk it the fuck out aaaAAAA THOSE LAST SENTENCES AND THIS WHOLE THING AND AAAAAAAAAA GOD I LOVE IT KUDOS TO YOU D AM N

holy sHIT

i and i adore it so much this is sO GOOD IM SCREAMING

WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE?! THEY CANT JUST CONTAIN ANYONE! AT LEAST SEND SOMEONE TO TALK, DAMNIT! THIS STORY HAS WAY TOO MANY FEELS TO MAKE ME BEAT ROGERS AND WRITE IN CAPSLOCK! GAH!

*deep defeated sigh*

I gotta say the test was wow. Seriously didn't see it coming.

But...I'm just meh at this point. You set up this great situation only to have it just kinda fall apart, at least to me. Like 'everyone is forgiven and it's actually all Tony's idea and ladadada'. Because you let go of the actual pain the rest of the story unraveled.

Sure of course Tony still deals with a certain form of betrayal but it destroyed him for nothing.

idk just weird. Like I love how huge the twist is but sad it went this way because I feel the test ended up doing more harm than good.

I'm crying.

God they are all monsters. Doing something this cruel to a person is horrendous.

Tony Stark deserves better and I feel like you're gonna try to get them back together but god do I hope you don't. I see the story is completed so if it went the Happy do da way, I'm sad to say I'm glad it hasn't been finished then.

God poor Tony.

Dear God I want to strangle everyone in sight. The absolute cruelty that they allowed, even if it was unitentional, "good intentions" be damned.

I want to cry for Tony. Over 3 months in isolated containment? To someone with PTSD and past trauma experiences and trust issues?!

Fuck them.

Do you plan to update this story?

So good. Literally dying from the amazing writing. -Felicity

"I had thought my lesson learned, and yet, I find that I have again fallen to it. It was arrogant of me, of us, to believe that we knew what was best for you, without your consult. To think that our actions were warranted, and unquestionable in their righteous intentions. To hope that you might wave the act away, that you might not have suffered needlessly."

Yes, it was. They didn't even doubt it once they put him in there. If they'd just fucking trusted him and told him... Well, all I can say is the moment where Thor's hammer wouldn't come to him was a nice touch- VERY appropriate.

PS: This story was amazing and heartbreaking and infuriating- keep it up.

So basically, they caused the one thing they were trying to prevent. If they'd just TOLD him, worked with him, they could've taken the villain on together, but they hid it from him lied to him. He found out of the danger himself, and he found out that they planned to lock him up if needed without telling him why, and that's what made him do it.

"The weather outside is a warm 72 degrees. There is a 45% chance of precipitaion for this afternoon, beginning at 3:00 P.M. There was a robbery at the Wells Fargo bank on 45th, but it was a minor incident handled aptly by local law enforcement. Also, Sir Stark has returned and is currently downstairs with Dr. Banner."

Details, details. Jarvis, I love youXD

They should've known he'd find out. And if you're that scared of him doing so, then you KNOW what you did was wrong, more than words can say.