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I Am Iron Man (MHA) Chapter 205: Parent Advice (2)
🕑 Added 2025-04-12 16:10:35 +0000 UTC[Third Person's PoV]
“Are you just going to keep staring at me stupidly, or are you actually going to give me the advice I need?” Tony grumbled, clearly embarrassed by how proud his parents were over something he hadn’t even thought twice about. “Because I swear, I’ll leave.”
“The thing is, Tony,” Howard began, sounding a bit awkward, “I don’t really see what you’re having trouble with. You’ve got two beautiful girls saying they wouldn’t mind dating you together—what’s there to be confused about?”
Howard wanted to help his son, truly, but he wasn’t quite sure how. This was a situation he’d never even imagined—two women willingly wanting to date the same guy, and the guy being conflicted about it? It just made him realize how strange, and surprisingly moral, Tony could be.
Maria shot Howard a sharp look and asked, “What do you mean you don’t see the problem? Are you saying if I brought home some random floozy and told you it was okay to date her, you’d just go along with it?”
Her warning glare made it clear—Howard was dangerously close to earning himself a night on the couch.
With a wry smile, Howard replied, “But it’s not just some random floozy Melissa picked up off the street. It’s Momo—someone Tony knows and trusts. In your example, no, of course I wouldn’t agree. But in Tony’s case, where he knows the other girl well, I can see how it would complicate things.”
Maria’s expression hardened, but she couldn’t dismiss the logic in Howard’s words.
“Honestly, if I were in Tony’s shoes—where I knew both people and both were okay with the arrangement—I don’t really see the issue,” Howard said with a shrug.
Maria slowly turned her head toward him, rotating it like an owl. “Care to repeat that again?”
“However,” Howard quickly added, “that’s not the case for me. I’m not Tony. Howard Stark only has eyes for the most beautiful woman in the galaxy.” He batted his eyes dramatically at her.
Tony let out a deadpan sigh. “Guys…”
“Right, sorry…” they both said, backing off. Maria reached out and gently placed her hand over Tony’s.
“Listen,” she said with a faint smile, “why don’t you try something I always do when I’m facing a problem that feels too big to handle?”
Tony gave her a questioning look.
“Break it down,” she said. “Cut it into smaller pieces and work around those. It’ll lighten your load and help you realize how small the problem might actually be.”
“What’s there to cut down?” Tony mumbled under his breath.
“Alright, let’s start simple,” Maria said. “Do you like Momo?”
“I don’t know. I never really thought of her like that… until recently,” Tony admitted, shrugging.
Maria nodded thoughtfully. “Okay, say you never met Melissa and instead met Momo first. Do you think you would’ve fallen in love with her?”
Tony frowned. “That’s an unfair question. You’re asking me to imagine a situation that never happened. If I never met Melissa, then yeah, I guess I could’ve fallen for Momo. I could’ve fallen for any other girl, really.”
Maria raised an eyebrow. “Really? Any other girl?”
“Well, not exactly,” Tony muttered. “That’s not what I meant. You know what I meant.”
Maria held his gaze. “Tony, I meant it like this: since you already know Momo—her personality, her principles, her aspirations—do you think, honestly, that you would’ve fallen in love with her?”
Tony ruffled his hair as he began to understand what his mother was trying to tell him. “I suppose so?”
“Alright, see? Part of the problem is already resolved,” Maria nodded. “It’s not that you don’t like Momo—in fact, it sounds like you like her enough to picture yourself dating her.”
She then smiled at Tony, eyes twinkling. “I guess what you’re struggling with is the moral ambiguity of the situation. Do you feel like you can’t—or rather, shouldn’t—say yes to their proposal because it would be unfair to Melissa?”
“I mean… kinda. Isn’t dating more than one person wrong? When I pictured my future, it was always just me, a wife, and maybe a couple of kids. Not… this.” Tony swirled his glass of juice before taking a sip to wash down the last of his breakfast.
“I see your problem now,” Maria chuckled, while Tony frowned slightly, still not sure he did.
“You’re struggling with the concept of faithfulness. You think accepting this proposal would somehow betray Melissa—and that thought doesn’t sit right with you, does it?”
Tony gave a small nod.
‘How cute,’ Maria thought with a soft smile. “Tell me, Tony—what does being faithful mean to you?”
“Uhhh, I guess… being loyal? Committed?”
Maria raised an eyebrow. “Very textbook of you. That’s the dictionary answer. But let me tell you what I believe it means: being faithful is following the rules.”
Tony blinked. “What?”
Before he could question it further, Maria continued, “Every relationship has rules—spoken or unspoken. Look at your father and me. Howard knows that if he ever cheats on me, I’ll kill him.”
“Huh?!” Both Tony and Howard turned toward her, eyes wide.
Maria burst out laughing. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding,” she said, waving them off casually.
Then she glanced at Howard and silently mouthed: I’m not.
Howard shivered.
Clearing her throat, Maria continued, “In all seriousness, to me, being faithful means honoring the rules of the relationship. Now, what those rules are depends entirely on the people in the relationship. Relationships are complex because they’re not all the same, each relationship is unique in their own way. They each have their own values, their own boundaries.”
She leaned in a little. “So let’s say Melissa brings Momo into the relationship, and you agree to it. Then new rules come into play—like the three of you are exclusive with each other. If you stick to those rules, that’s not being unfaithful. But if you go outside that agreement, that’s when you’d be unfaithful.”
Maria took a sip of her drink. “You see where I’m going with this?”
“That’s… actually surprisingly helpful advice,” Tony said, staring at her in mild awe.
Maria beamed with pride at the praise, It felt nice to still be dependent upon by your child after all.
Tony turned to Howard. “Useless.”
“Wha—?” Howard blurted, completely caught off guard by the sudden verbal jab.
Tony turned back to Maria. “By the way… why does it seem like you’ve been encouraging me to say yes?”
Maria rolled her eyes. “Because you said you liked her, Tony. If you’d said you didn’t, I would’ve helped you figure out how to gracefully bow out. But you and Melissa both seem to genuinely care about Momo. She must be a special girl if both of you like her that much. What you need to focus on now is building a relationship that works for all three of you. Figure out what that looks like—and if it truly makes you happy, then nothing else should matter.”
“I see…” Tony said softly, giving his mother a warm, sincere smile. “Thanks. I think I have a better idea of what to do now.”
“Anytime baby,” Maria said sweetly, cupping his face and smothering his cheeks with kisses, making him blush.
Comments
Juanpa Issler
I would like that, instead of giving him armor, Tony and Melissa teach Momo how to make his own armor using his Kuirk.
DerkKill
Now the question remains: how to address the issue of how to have hidden dates, and the solution would be to also give Momo a symbiote that disguises her face with Tony's for their dates, and then for Melissa to instruct her for Momo's big first time.
