Tony dropped his eyes, and went back to work. He knew he needed to be better at accepting a compliment, he'd used to never have a problem. But that felt like a once upon a time. Once upon a time, before Ultron.

His dad had been one of those dads. Always shouting, telling Tony what a disappointment he was when he payed any attention to his son at all. He'd never touched Tony, but he'd never needed to. He'd gotten his point across.

"I don't know that I would be if the situation was a little different, but please keep stroking my ego. And make sure you move in circles when you do the ceiling to avoid streaks."