#yinsen

[navymaverick]

Remember that scene in Infinity war where Tony snaps his fingers and everyone thinks he's gonna die but then a figure walks in and is like "I didn't save your life in a cave all those years ago for you to die like this." And Tony is like "Yinsen?" And then Yinsen is a genius as per usual and saves him and Tony survives and Steve returns the stones and comes back with Nat and they all live happily ever after? REMEMBER???

[airas-story]

Everything and Something

“Is life after death real?” Tony asked.

It took a few moments for the words to compute and Stephen blinked as he looked up from his book. “What?”

“Life after death. You seem like the type of person that would know about stuff life that.”

Stephen raised an eyebrow at that. “I do?”

Tony shrugged. “You were the one who taught me that souls were real. Before you I was absolutely adamant that they weren’t. Plus, you’ve died before. Like… a lot.” He winced at the words and Stephen could see that Tony was hoping that hadn’t come off as insensitive.

Stephen wasn’t overly offended. It wasn’t like Tony was wrong.

“My deaths during both of my time loops hardly counted since there was little to no time between them and starting over,” Stephen pointed out. “And the time that Thanos killed all of us was different, we were only sort of dead, contained by the soul stone.”

Tony made a face at that. “So you’re saying that you don’t know?”

Stephen considered that. “Not for sure,” he acknowledged. “There are spells that allow you to talk to someone who has passed on. Though they’re not encouraged. But the fact that you can ‘summon’—“ it wasn’t quite the right word, but it worked for this explanation, ”—a ‘ghost’ it would stand to reason that they must have still been in some realm of existence.”

Tony hummed thoughtfully at that, brows furrowed.

“Why?” Stephen asked, curiosity tugging at him. “You’re not normally philosophical about this sort of thing.”

Tony shrugged. “I’m not exactly philosophical,” he defended, as though that was some sort of slight. But then to Tony, just maybe it was. “I just… I wonder, sometimes, you know. Sometimes… well, sometimes things feel so unfinished. Questions, you know?”

Stephen did. “What exactly are you thinking about?” Stephen asked, sure that there was something.

Tony watched him for a moment, clearly deciding whether this was a vulnerability that he was willing to show Stephen.

Stephen waited patiently. He knew that Tony had shown him more vulnerabilities than he allowed most people to see, but that was no guarantee that he would this time.

“I just… I wonder, sometimes, if I’ve wasted my life.”

Stephen raised an eyebrow at that. “Wasted your life? You? Do you recall working to save half of the universe?”

Tony shrugged. “Sure, but…” He frowned, as though trying to put together the right words. “I’m not sure that was what Yinsen meant.”

Stephen frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Yinsen. He was with me in Afghanistan. He… He saved me. And he… the last thing he told me was to not waste my life. Me. Not Iron Man.”

Stephen considered that. “What do you think he meant, then?”

Tony was quiet for a moment. “He once told me that I was a man with everything and nothing.” There was something in Tony’s eyes, a slow, heavy grief. “I still have everything… I just… sometimes I wonder if I’m any less empty than I was before." Tony looked away, shaking his head as though annoyed with himself. “It’s ridiculous.”

“It’s human,” Stephen contradicted. He reached out, taking Tony’s hand. “And, for what it’s worth, while I won’t claim I’m everything, I hope I count for something.” He met Tony’s eyes. “You have me.” Tony stared at him, awe and hope and pain. Some part of Stephen ached that after all this time Tony still couldn’t bring himself to fully believe it. It wasn’t a slight against Stephen; Tony simply didn’t believe he deserved good things. “You have me.”

[gurkenpflaster]

[johannepetereric]

“TONY STARK WAS ABLE TO BUILD [an arc reactor] IN A CAVE! WITH A BUMCH OF SCRAPS!”

First of all, While that IS exciting, that was actually Yinsen.

“Well, sir, I’m not Tony Stark.”

Two, that is HILARIOUS! All the explanation we need!

[truebookkitten]

More recognition for Yinsen, please.

[scottxlogan]

Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark in Iron Man (2008)

[gunsandspaceships]

Tony's surgeries in the cave: Part 2. First Surgery

All injuries caused by the explosion:

Shrapnel in the chest, mainly in the sternum area. Many barbs are too deep to be removed under these circumstances. Some of the shrapnel could have entered the heart through the blood vessels and damaged it, leading to sick sinus syndrome (arrhythmia).

Small wounds on the torso.

Long cut on the left collarbone.

Minor shrapnel wounds to the face and neck.

A trail of shrapnel wounds on the right forearm (with which he covered his face during the explosion).

Several barbs also hit the legs.

Blast injury (signs that we can see: lungs - wheezing; ears - bleeding; brain - confusion). The explosion itself could also damage the heart, causing arrhythmia.

Interesting fact - in the scene below, you can see that the explosion sent shrapnel through Tony. Barbs entered his chest and came out of his back. And you can see how big the wounds are.

Although while in the long run it's better for the shrapnel to go right through rather than get stuck in the body, in the short run he'd be very dead very soon.

For this reason and for the reason that there's no any sign of damage to his back after this scene, we should disregard this as a mistake made by visual effects specialists. But it's still a good idea for a fanfic.

What Yinsen did during the first surgery:

Stopped the bleeding.

Dealt with the consequences of the blast injury.

Performed sternotomy (cutting through the sternum and then reconnecting it). Removed the most dangerous shrapnel from Tony's chest.

Bolted an electromagnet to Tony's sternum and plugged it to a car battery to create a magnetic field that would attract the barbs and keep them away from Tony's heart.

Removed shrapnel from the rest of Tony's body.

Treated and stitched up the wounds.

What Yinsen did not do during the first surgery:

He did not remove Tony's sternum (sternectomy) because he didn't implant anything deep there.

He did not implant a pacemaker.

He did not implant the titanium socket for the reactor, because he didn't plan to implant it.

[kayvsworld]

FILM OF ALL TIME

[3twindragons]

Winteriron/ if they met during the first iron man movie.

[airas-story]

A Different Homecoming

It took effort not to grab Stephen’s hand—to make sure he was still there—as Tony stepped off of the plane. He didn’t, didn’t even look back as he strode forward to where Pepper and Happy stood beside the car, the sun too warm where it beat down on him.

He tried for a grin, even as he knew the expression was a swing and a miss as he took in Pepper in front of him, her eyes red, her hair just a little less put together than normal, her appearance just a little worn. “Your eyes are red. A few tears for your long lost boss?”

Pepper tried for her own smile, but it was just as weak as he suspected his own had been. “Tears of joy. I hate job hunting.”

“Yeah, well vacation’s over.” He looked back at Stephen. He looked tired, haggard. He looked how Tony felt. “Come on,” he said, voice going softer. “Get into the car.”

Stephen nodded, and Tony pushed him gently into the car, following after him and letting Pepper slide in and close the door behind them.

He could see the way Pepper watched Stephen; he wondered just what Rhodey had told her, what message he’d had about the man that Tony hadn’t let out of his sight since they’d escaped that cave.

Though at least that was mutual. Stephen was just as disinclined to let Tony out of his sight as Tony was to let Stephen out of his.

Trauma, Rhodey had called it.

Tony thought it was closer to a mix of trust and desperation. But then, maybe that was what trauma was, holding desperately to the only things left you could trust.

“Where to, Boss?” Happy asked him, voice almost gentle in a way that felt strange from Happy.

“To the hospital,” Pepper ordered.

“No.” Just the thought of it made Tony’s skin crawl. Of strangers’ hands touching him, of their eyes on the reactor in his chest.

“Tony,” Stephen’s voice was quiet, but no less firm for it. “You need a doctor.”

“You’re a doctor,” Tony protested. He grabbed Stephen’s hand, bringing it up to rest on his chest right over the arc reactor. “And you’re the only one I trust with this.” Yinsen had died on them, Stephen was the only one he had left.

A complicated look crossed Stephen’s face. Reluctance, because Stephen, unlike him, did trust doctors. Understanding because Stephen knew perfectly just how vulnerable Tony was right now. “Fine. For now.”

It was as much of a win as Tony was likely to get.

“Tony.” This time it was Pepper’s turn to be remonstrating. “You have to—“

“I don’t have to do anything,” Tony snapped, flinching a little at his own tone. He clenched at Stephen’s hand where he was still holding it. “We’ve been held captive in a cave for three months. I don’t have to do anything.” Pepper pursed her lips but nodded. “But there are three things that I want to do. I want an American Cheeseburger.”

Stephen sighed. “Tony.”

Tony ignored him. Because if anyone would convince him to change his mind, it was Stephen. Right now Tony didn’t want to be convinced to be ‘rational’, he just… he needed this.

“I want someone to find out what happened to a doctor named Christine Palmer—” 

Stephen stiffened at that It was his turn to tighten his grip around Tony’s hand to the point where it almost hurt. Tony could only silently pray that Stephen’s best friend was still out there somewhere, safe and sound. The two of them had been together, a short stint with doctors without borders, when Stephen had been taken. The question of her fate had haunted Stephen almost as much as the captivity had.

“—And I want you to call for a press conference.”

“A press conference?” Confusion colored Pepper’s tone, but Tony didn’t have the energy to try to explain everything to her.

“Yes.” He doubted it would be hard to organize, the media would be frothing at the mouth to get ahold of him. They weren’t going to like what he had to say, however.

But that sure as hell wasn’t going to stop Tony from saying it.

[take-me-to-that-kiss]

for @cowboyhorsegirl

[johannepetereric]

FUUUUUUUUUCK, I took too long to shit and now I missed two minutes of Movie!

I missed the building sequence after Tony said “I need him [Yinsen]. Good assistant”!

[pedroam-bang]

Iron Man (2008)

[witha-boxofscraps]

Tony Stark is a genius. Like Daredevil once said, you could chuck him naked into the middle of a desert and he’d fly out with a suit made of cacti. And we see this when he escapes the cave.

But, his escape was a team effort. He would not have been able to do it without Yinsen and yet it wasn’t really technological intelligence that Yinsen provided. Tony knew exactly what he was doing the entire time.

Yinsen provided hope.

Tony Stark is still everything without the suit because he will always have his mind but he is nothing without people around him. He was fully prepared to give up without Yinsen giving him something to live for, something to motivate him. He needed someone to force him to care about his life.

We see this repeated in every close relationship that Tony forms. He’s a genius. But it all means nothing when he’s alone.