Every time I watch Iron Man, particularly Iron Man 2 and after playing with these wonderful Tonys and Tonymuns, I can’t help but picture Summer in the workshop scenes, just out of frame, sprawled sideways on a couch or hunched over a tiny worktop of her own, absently listening to Tony mutter and smiling slightly to herself. I have this idea that sometimes he calls her over when he’s particularly pleased with something, or she hangs over his shoulder while he’s switching palladium cores. That sometimes she gets to substitute for Dummy in holding magnifying glasses, or fire extinguishers. That he lets her interject her thoughts when he’s trying to work through something, because she may not be a scientist or engineer (too damn much math) but she thinks in abstracts and concepts too and sometimes her out of the box leaps surprise them both.

And then when he’s falling asleep over the keyboard she coaxes him upstairs to bed, no matter what time it is, and lets herself be turned into a cuddle-pillow. And sometimes when he’s just frustrated with whatever’s going on, or not going on, instead of banging his head on it down in the workshop like he used to do he seeks her out and makes her coax the issue out of him until they’re both wrung empty, but he feels better and sets about making her feel better too.

She doesn’t really participate in his parties, although she’ll dress up for him if he asks and occupy a corner quietly, and he can always look over at her and know she’s watching out for him, but she’s not ever going to tell him to stop or be different.