Days as a Spiritual Mentor in American Comics

Chapter 5867 - 4889: Marvelous Shadows and Scenes (15)

"I think you’re overestimating ordinary people a bit." Stark obviously considered himself among the ordinary. "How can I not do it?""I said you need a little training." Chris laughed. "Or rather, you don’t need very strict training; just a little reminder will do. After you show up in the crew with this image, there will definitely be some tabloids spreading rumors about you. How do you plan to explain it?"

Stark immediately put on a bitter face, his entire expression collapsed. He rubbed his hands together vigorously, then put his thumb on his lips. "I don’t know, I can only try my best to explain it to Pepper, she’ll believe me."

"Of course, your wife will surely understand you." Chris nodded and said, "But to give her better peace of mind, why not take the initiative?"

"Oh, of course, I can’t wait for her to see those reports and then explain, that would be too late." Stark showed high emotional intelligence in this regard, he said, "I’ll tell her when I go back today."

"How do you plan to say it?"

"Just say, some unscrupulous tabloids might write some baseless articles..."

Chris looked at Shiller, seemingly waiting for Shiller’s evaluation. Shiller changed his posture, drank some wine, and said, "Why not complain to her?"

"Aren’t I complaining to him?" Stark showed some distress, "Those gossip tabloids will write anything for traffic, completely baseless stuff, and insist on putting two people together, and you might all get dragged into it..."

"That’s not what I meant." Shiller seemed amused, his interest piqued, "Why not complain about someone coveting you?"

Stark was stunned: "Really?"

Even Strange couldn’t help it, "The collective gaze on you from the crew could probably melt the snow on top of Mount Everest, and you say you don’t know?"

Strange looked like "Come on, you’re a playboy, don’t pretend." Stark wasn’t pretending to be innocent, he said, "It’s all because of Shiller, I was almost scared to death by how he looked, who had the time to worry about who was staring at me?"

"Indeed, many people are eyeing you." Chris said reasonably, "Maybe some are curious because they’ve never seen a young Tony Stark, but in less than ten seconds, that curiosity turns into... would using ’lust’ be too offensive?"

"Ah, it’s not their fault." Stark said, "I know I have a bad reputation, there are countless people who have flirted with me this way before, I’ve let them succeed too many times, so naturally, many would feel there’s still a chance..."

"You are quite understanding." Shiller said, "Then just say that to Pepper."

"That won’t do." Stark shook his head to a blur, "Why would I dig up my dark past? Who wants to hear their husband’s love history?"

"So how should I say it?" Stark was a bit anxious.

"I think Pepper seems quite generous." Shiller said deliberately, "Didn’t she handle those past tabloid stories you caused?"

"That was different." Stark quickly emphasized, "We weren’t dating or married at the time, we were purely in a work relationship, maintaining my reputation was part of her job responsibilities, she was just professional."

"But when we became boyfriend and girlfriend, and eventually husband and wife, she had the right to be furious over any similar things. Because loyalty is a fundamental quality of a partner, and the foundation of a stable relationship is mutual possession, a relationship without possessiveness has no affection."

"Interesting." Shiller said, "I didn’t expect your view on relationships to be like this."

"It’s because I’ve been through it that I can tell." Stark showed some reminiscence, "I didn’t care at all about what my past flings did before or after being with me, they could immediately fly into someone else’s bed, doing the same things with someone else, I didn’t spare a single brain cell on those matters, I wasn’t even aware this was an issue."

"The first time I realized Pepper was different was when I started to care where she went and what she did after leaving me, whether her kindness to others was just polite or meant something more. At the peak of it, my head was filled with these thoughts, I even forgot the parameters of my equipment."

Stark just kept talking. An anxious person is often engrossed in expressing themselves, he didn’t notice that the other three people present were engaged in immersive listening, and none of them were the type to spend time listening to others talk about their love life.

The main reason was that the emotions Stark conveyed through his eyes could clearly transmit his every bit of confusion, anxiety, sadness, and happiness at that time, making the narration more than just a story, it felt like a lively performance, or a rich romantic comedy.

"...Then I said, ’No, you can’t do that, I’d really be heartbroken,’ and even I was shocked when I said that. I was actually trying to use my sickness to emotionally blackmail someone. I couldn’t believe I could be so despicable, I didn’t know if I was impulsive or desperate, but Pepper almost immediately... just immediately, she hugged me. She must have whispered something in my ear, but I don’t remember..."

Stark was still rambling, suddenly he snapped out of it, showing an awkward expression, and then said, "Sorry, why am I suddenly talking about this..."

"No problem, keep talking." Director Chris was quite interested, apart from listening to the content, he was also observing Stark’s eyes, which truly inspired him more and more.

"Let’s focus on the present." Stark said, "If there’s any way, just tell me quickly, I really don’t want to make her angry!"

"I know it’s supposed to be me coming up with a solution, but my mind is a bit chaotic. If you have any good suggestions, I will definitely adopt them..."

"I’ve already told you, you can complain to her." Shiller shook his wine glass, the ice cubes rattled, "Pepper is someone who likes to show her sense of responsibility in every aspect. She can derive happiness from taking on responsibilities, especially towards people she has a good impression of."

Stark didn’t disagree with this point. As Pepper’s husband, he certainly knew his wife well. Sometimes Pepper and Wanda behave similarly, both displaying parental care, but with different motivations.

Wanda is always trying to strengthen her maternal instincts, her motivation is more "compassion for the weak". Because she feels the other party is pitiable, she extends help, it’s a subjective emotion, she helps whoever she feels is pitiable, irrespective of whether the person is actually pitiable.

Pepper, on the other hand, is responsible for those who objectively need to be cared for. Someone may be pitiable, she might not necessarily help, but if she has a responsibility towards that person, regardless of pity, she will do her best to assist. Her meticulous care for Stark started from the responsibility demands brought by her duties.

She became Stark’s personal assistant, in order to fulfill her responsibility towards her boss, she tried her best to excel. Had they met without such a relationship, in scenarios like a one-night stand where no responsibility is required, Stark could lie drunkenly on the roadside and Pepper wouldn’t care.

"You need to give her the opportunity to be responsible for you." Shiller had no choice but to make the message clearer, "You are her husband, she inherently holds some responsibility towards you, and she happens to be someone who doesn’t view responsibility as a burden, but rather feels happy to take it on. The best way to comfort her is to give her this kind of opportunity, isn’t it?"

Stark fell into deep thought. He put himself in her shoes. Most of the time he couldn’t help Pepper much, but what if Pepper encountered trouble one day and came to him, and he managed to resolve it? There wouldn’t be a square mile in New York that hadn’t heard his laughter, even if he restrained himself.

"I get it." After a brief thinking, Stark came up with a solution, "I’ll go complain to her. I’m just changing my appearance for a movie, and suddenly there are so many people staring at me, I don’t even know where to look. In case I make eye contact with someone, those gossip tabloids will definitely write nonsense again, and I can’t argue with them..."

Shiller snapped his fingers, and he and Chris clapped hands to celebrate Stark finally coming around.

The difference between this and Stark’s previous way of saying things is that it more straightforwardly emphasizes his distress and helplessness, because only this way, can one clearly express the need for help, rather than leaving it up to the other person to guess, or wanting to act but afraid of overstepping.

"This way, she might directly help me deal with those damned tabloid reporters." Stark punched the table, "They’re finished!"

He knew he was playing the pitiable card, but he also knew Pepper would fall for it. His old face worked, if this new face couldn’t make him invincible?

Stark instinctively reached out to touch his eyes, recalling the gaze he saw in the mirror. He suddenly realized that this change would bring him far more than just trouble; it might make him unbeatable in emotional exchanges, after all, even Shiller and Strange had succumbed.

Stark is such a staunch materialist, if you say this is an innate talent for attracting psychopathy, he’d have to hurry back to normal, but if you say it’s a skill that can improve his current life situation through learning, he would study it more avidly than anyone.

"So, this is..." Stark made a gesture. Shiller smiled and nodded.

"But I don’t understand, how do you do it?" Stark was a bit puzzled, knowing his eyes took advantage, but Shiller’s appearance didn’t really...

Just as he thought of this, Shiller’s gaze changed. Those seemingly calm, slightly smiling gray eyes suddenly became vivid.

Gray is a color representing inorganics, usually giving an impression of coldness, hardness, mystery, unrelated to vibrant vitality. Stark also knew, Greed’s gaze when taking off glasses was a bit cold, making it hard to discern emotions, thus instinctively sensing danger.

He never imagined these gray eyes could convey such rich emotions. He couldn’t identify authenticity, just marveled.

"I seem to understand why you people suddenly praise my eyes." Stark realized, "Changing the window to the soul really makes a difference."

But in a moment, Shiller returned to calm. The transition was really fast, as if those emotions just now were an illusion, because they were too freely handled, instead like an automatically running program rather than a person, making Stark’s hair stand on end.

"Then let him be a detective." Stark adjusted his body backward, swallowed, and softly said, "...at least a detective can’t be the murderer."