A/n: this is a gender neutral!reader, I thought I'd try that out again! Let me know how I did :)

This was requested by: iamKhrfan123

You met Tony at the beginning of your second year at MIT. The two of you had a class together, and nothing happened within the first few weeks of class. In fact, you really didn't even talk to him until the professor paired the two of you up on a project.

Not only did you two have arguably the best project out of the entire class, but you also grew feelings for each other. After a brief discussion, you two decided to go for it.

And boy are you glad you did. Well... you were glad. Three years together. Such great, fun, enjoyable years. The relationship started out as super fun, and then it got more serious and more meaningful. You even thought you were going to marry Tony Stark.

When his parents were killed in a car accident, you were his shoulder to cry on. He used it a lot, too. With you, he never felt the need to keep up the cool 'Stark' exterior. And things seemed to be okay when graduation was approaching. He seemed to be feeling better.

Things seemed to be okay, but they weren't.

"Are you fucking kidding me?! We have been together for three years and you decide to throw it all away on some... some dumb slut who doesn't even go to MIT? Some random chick from the side of the street was more appealing than your own fucking partner."

Tony sighed and rubbed his mouth. "Come on, (Y/n), I was mourning! I was in pain! I needed... I needed an outlet!" he tried to explain, sounding desperate at this point.

You let out a humorless laugh. "Wow, okay, using that excuse. It wouldn't hurt as much if you didn't have me, Tony! I was right here the entire time!" You were back to shouting, and you jabbed an accusing finger into his chest. "I told you I'd be here for anything. I thought I was. But clearly I wasn't enough for you... Clearly this relationship doesn't mean enough to you!"

"But it does!" Tony begged, chasing after you when you tried to turn away. He stopped right in front of you, hands on your shoulders to stop you from moving. "Honey, please, I love you so much. I do! I always have, and I'm positive I always will. Please... can you please forgive me?"

Biting your lip to try and stop the tears, you shook your head. You pulled out his grasp and took a couple steps back. "I don't know you anymore, Tony," you said, your voice wobbling on sobs, waiting to be released. You'd wait until you back to your apartment before you did that.

"(Y/n)-"

"Have a good life," you muttered, turning away from him completely and storming out of his apartment. He wanted to go after you, but his feet rooted him to the ground.

You needed time to cool off, he decided. He'd talk to you in the morning, see how you were. After all, you two were supposed to go on a trip in the summer. This couldn't be the end.

Could it?

Thirty Years Later

Tony didn't really want to go to this stupid college reunion thing. It felt stupid, and he didn't want to be bombarded with fans all night. That, or his haters. Tonight felt like one of those nights meant to be spent in the lab.

It was Steve who pushed him to do it. They'd grown a lot closer ever since the Accords, bombing, and subsequent huge reveal. For a while, it felt as if things were shattered forever. Until Nat showed up to the compound and had a genuine talk with Tony.

He didn't want to at first, but now he was so glad he did. Because now, the Avengers felt whole again, and even stronger than before. There was nothing they couldn't do.

Even convincing Tony to attended his Alma Matter for a little reunion. He really wanted that one to stump them.

The night was okay so far, though. He'd caught up with a couple buddies of his, signed a couple autographs for a couple kids who were in attendance with their parents, even did a couple photos. Of course he can't say no all the time.

At a point, he was exhausted and just wanted to go back to the compound and isolate himself in the lab. But that's when a familiar face caught his eye.

They were over by the punch table, chatting with a former professor- one of their former professors. The one who started it all between them.

Even with the shake in his hands, Tony decided to face it all. It had been a few decades, hopefully he was able to man up and face this. After all, (Y/n) deserved it.

You were finishing up a conversation with one of your favorite former professors when he looked over your shoulder and made an 'ah' noise. "Well if it isn't one of my other favorite former students! How are you, Stark?"

The name caused a pang of... something to hit your heart. You turned and Tony Stark came into view, reaching over to shake hands with Dr. Hauser first before he looked at you. "Tony Stark. It's been a long time," you said.

Despite the cool greeting, you felt the hand holding your drink tremble a bit.

Dr. Hauser looked between you two then nodded to himself. "Well then, I'll leave you two to catch up. It was great seeing you!"

You smiled at the professor, and we he turned around to leave, you knew it was time to face the music.

It seemed, however, neither of you knew how to start the conversation. You decided to try. "So, I see you've been a bit busy since we last talked. Saving the world a few times and all..."

Tony nodded, his hands getting shoved into his pockets in fist shapes. "Yep, yeah. Very, uh, very time consuming profession right there." You let out a small chuckle, so he knew you weren't completely pissed at him still. Thought you had the right to be. "How's life been for you?"

You cleared your throat. "Oh, well, I'm a kindergarten teacher. It's been really fun, the kids are so sweet. What's really nice is I have summers off, so I've been able to see some bucket list places."

A lightbulb went off in Tony's head. "Oh! Did you go see Athens? I remember you used to talk about it all the time..."

You nodded. "Yeah, it was really great. My husband and I went for two weeks and visited some other places in Greece while we were there. It was pretty easy since the country's smaller then some of the states here," you joked.

Tony listened to every word you said, but felt a strong pull on the word 'husband.' "You got married?" he asked, in a congratulatory sort of way, hands coming out of his pockets. He immediately went to look for a ring and found one, but it was on the wrong hand.

"Yeah," you answered, smiling and looking at said ring. "In 2006. Um, but he passed away four years ago in a car wreck. Some dude just... ignored all known laws of the road and careened right into him."

The mood took a very dark shift way faster than Tony was anticipating. "Oh, jeez, I'm- I'm so sorry, (Y/n). That sounds terrible," he said, reaching his hand out automatically to rub your arm.

You were't opposed to it, and were even sad when he took his hand away. "Thanks. It's been long enough that I'm feeling better most of the time. There are just the few moments where everything seems to crash down. I've got my cat to help me with those days," you joked, and attempt to bring the conversation back to a better mood.

He nodded, and for a second it felt like that was that. But you didn't want it to be that. "What about you? Anyone special?" you asked, hoping he didn't have a depressing story as well.

Tony shook his head, hands getting shoved back into his pants pockets. "Nope. I actually just ended a long term relationship. Pepper- we reached a point where we just couldn't see eye to eye on too many things. We both decided that it would be better if we broke it off and remained in our business relationship. She's still CEO of Stark Industries, and it works out well for us."

You nodded along, glad you were able to fidget with your drink with your hands. It was also a relief that he didn't have a sob story, too. That would just be downright depressing.

"I'm sorry, but it sounds like it ended well enough?" you offered.

Another nod from him. "Yep. Couldn't be happier about that, I don't know who else would be my CEO otherwise," he said, and it caused the two of you to laugh.

Another awkward silence ensued, and this time it was being filled with a lot of words being thought. It looked as if this was the time to bring up the past.

"I'm sorry-"

"I didn't-"

You both stopped and gestured to the other. "Go, I insist, please," you said, taking a drink for emphasis.

Tony lightly smiled and went ahead. "I'm sorry. I... what I did to you was wrong in every way and you absolutely never deserved that. You were one of the best things to ever happen to me and I kick myself every day for doing that."

You smiled at him. "I'm sorry, too. I didn't... I was hurt, which is fair. For one, I definitely shouldn't have called her a slut, that was rude of me and it makes me cringe all the time. But I also can't blame you for your grief."

"But you can," Tony said, picking up right where you stopped. "What I did is inexcusable. There's nothing I can say to make that the right move in any context. I don't know what I was thinking."

"You probably weren't."

He laughed. "That's a great point. But seriously, if I were to list out my regrets, cheating on you would be at number one. Fighting harder for you would be number two."

You smiled at him, feeling completely relaxed now. In all honesty, you didn't want to come tonight, thinking Tony would show up with a beautiful model on his arm- maybe even the girl he cheated on you with. Neither of those scenarios would be good for you, so you wanted to avoid any possibilities.

Man, were you glad you didn't listen to your anxieties.

"How long are you in town for?" you asked, finishing the last of your water.

He thought. "Honestly, for as long as needed. I only live in New York, so it's not that terrible of a trip for me to make."

You smiled and gave him a curt nod. "Good. Then we should get dinner tomorrow, catch up some more. Tell me the things that the news didn't report on," you suggested, causing Tony to grin.

"Sounds like a pretty good plan."

~Fin~

A/n: Here we go! This request was sent to me just last week, but I loved it so I went with it! I'm honestly falling into a bit of a motivation black hole for these imagines, so the timing here was awesome!

I hope you guys liked this, because I actually really enjoyed writing it. Maybe that peaks through in how I wrote this and you guys will like it more because of that, but who knows!

See you next week, but bye for now Lovelies!!!!!!!!