"I know," Tony says, running his fingers through his hair. He's just irritable because he's stressed out. "Sorry."

He takes another sip of his tea and stares down into his mug. "I know it's asking a lot, for you to give him another chance," he continues quietly. "But when you got back, you were the one who told me not to go after him. Because hurting him back wouldn't fix what he'd done to hurt us. And I want..."

Tony looks up at his dad again. "We were friends, back in school. Even when he was just using me to get to the rings, we... we really did get along. It wasn't all a lie." He fumbles through the words, struggling to phrase this in a way that doesn't make it sound like he's just making excuses for Gene. "I'm not saying I don't blame him for what he did. But... there's no way to punish him here for what he did back home, and punishing him wouldn't change it anyway. I guess I want this to be a chance to do something better. To try to fix things, instead of just getting back at him."