Always Smiling

>for the first time in a while, Stella's household was quiet
>in light of the recent events, the lively discussion about the next course of action could be heard even at midnight
>but now, the stress and excitement were diminished
>the usual sleep schedule for the human inhabitants of this appartement took it's rightful place in their lives yet again
>only the quiet strokes of pen could be heard, hastly scraping against the paper
>a mostly unmoving figure worked it's way through a stack of documents placed on the kitchen table in quick succession
>this barely audible symphony of work, however, was joined by another sound
>a sound of steps, approaching the first one's source

>"Hey."
>the figure jerked it's head to meet the gaze of sleepy-looking young girl dressed in the oversized t-shirt and a pair of shorts
>"Stella, it's late."
>the girl, trying to rub the sleepiness from her eyes, retorts
>"Yeah, yeah. I just..."
>"You look tired. What, is someone's wrong on the Internet again?"
>"Heh, no, not this time... Just need a sip of water, that's all."
>after getting a full glass, she sat herself at the opposite side of working Metal Man
>"Sooo... This is about Stainless, isn't it?"
>"After our previous encounter with him, I'm starting to suspect that he might've had some ulterior motives for coming to Earth. Well, besides hunting us down, of course."
>Stella caught herself on a thought of how quickly she got used to this kind of language
>"And that's..."
>"A field report. I will send it to General for evaluation."
>a small sip
>"Wow. Sounds boring."
>"It is. But someone has to do it."
>another small sip
>"Yeah, I guess so... But shouldn't others help you? I know that Chrome has been riding off to somewhere like every night as of late, but it's really not like Bronze to ju..."
>"Stella, what is this about."
>Iron's deadpan expression caught the girl off guard
>it wasn't even a question, just a blank, emotionless statement
>she'd normally knew that attemping sly, innocuous small-talk on him was never going to work, so this error in judgement could be attributed to post-sleep brain fog
>"PFFFTSHEESH, Iron, whydoyaalway-"
>"It's two in the morning. You're staring at me doing paperwork with a glass of water in your hand."
>Stella rested her forehead on a clenched fist
>"Okay, fine. Look, can you... can you tell me about dad?"
>"...Can't this wait until morning?"
>"It is morning, dangit!"
>Stella clenched her entire upper torso along with teeth, as not to make any loud noises
>her mom's condition has stabilized about 3 days ago, waking her up for anything, let alone for something like this, would be awful
>on the especially bad nights she had no sleep at all, pain medication done not a whole lot of help at this point
>this Stella has kept in mind at all times
>"Well... What do you want to know, exactly?"
>"Gee... I dunno, wacky adventures... shenanigans you all had before me and mom..."
>"You'll have to be more specific. Your fascination with history is admirable, but..."
>another promptly stifled wave of frustration washed over Stella's body
>"Not like that! I want to know about dad. Like, what did he say, how he acted, how did his..."
>Iron's hand stopped
>all of his attention was directed at Stella
>"Stella. We've been over this already. Your father was..."
>"I know, goddammit!"
>compared to the half-whisper dialouge the two were having, this felt like a full-on shout
>Stella held her breath, carefully listening for any rustling that might've came from the living room
>Iron was still unmoving
>After 10 or so seconds of total silence, the girl has relaxed her posture
>"I know, alright? I know that he was strong enough to benchpress a building, that he never lost a game of chess, that he could walk around during the pouring rain while swinging his sword and return completely dry. I know that..."
>Stella stared at the half-spilled glass in her hand
>"I know that he always smiled."
>"...Stella..."
>"I've been having a dream, Iron. I see it every other night or so. I don't know if I've ever seen any other dreams, but if I did, I don't remember them. It's about us, all of us. We're all lying on the ground, except for dad. I drag myself towards you all, but everything feels so heavy."
>"..."
>"Eventually, I stop. My arms, like the rest of my body, give up on me. I lie there for a while, until he comes up to me. He extends his hand to me, smiling. And yet, somehow... I do the same. And that's what I remember the most about him. The smile. This is all I can really remember him for. In every single memory I have of him, he's smiling. Always."
>"And how does it make you feel?"
>Stella directed her eyesight at Iron and then lowered it back to the glass
>"Like I don't know if I know him. Like I don't know if I can know him, if that makes sense. He was such a great person, that's what everyone says... But this smile's messing with me. It's like I'm not allowed to see anything else behind it. To see who he really was... This is stupid."
>with those words and a heavy sigh, Stella's forehead plummeted on table's surface
>she felt like this conversation wasn't worth crying over, all of her venting was already done, but no alternative course of action seemed more or less appealing
>and so she sat, in silence
>"He did smile a lot, you know."
>Stella raised her gaze and saw Iron, with his paperwork put aside
>"He couldn't help it, he was awful at hiding how he felt. This is the the part of him that puzzles me to this very moment: even back on Forge, he couldn't keep a straight face, even when it seemed like our lives depended on it."
>Stella's face somewhat lit up, with corners of her lips barely extending upwards
>"If you can't trust yourself on this, take my word for it: if he did ever smile, he did it genuinely. He loved you, Stella."
>the following silence between them was pressing enough to cut with a knife
>right after it, Iron's stack of papers was in front of him yet again and as soon as the pen clicked, the work begun anew

>"Iron..."
>"Yes?"
>"Did he laugh a lot?"
>"He laughed at everything. It was horrible."
>"Haha. Neat."
>"..."
>"...Iron, I'll close my eyes for 5 minutes. Just nudge me or something if I'll start falling asleep, 'kay?"
>"...Yeah, okay."
>"Thanks."