Chapter Text
Tony milled around, trying to waste time from getting back to the house. There was a fifty-fifty chance of his bonded being back at the house too. He runs a hand through his hair as he walks back to where he lived. He couldn’t call it home because home was where you were happy at but he wasn’t happy there.
Marcy, his bonded, had insisted that they had to buy a house because she couldn’t deal with him being at the tower all of the time. She said it encouraged him to spend all of his time down in the lab where he worked on new ideas for R&D. Having a normal house didn’t stop him from having a lab though. He built one under the house, making sure that no one could get into it without his permission.
The bright glow of the Christmas lights surrounded him as he walked up to the door. He looks at the door before wiping his feet on the placemat before walking in. He expected Jarvis to greet him but he forgot, just for a moment that she also requested him to keep Jarvis at the office. She said it was slightly creepy that there was always an AI watching them.
He holds back a sigh before slipping off his shoes. Marcy hated him tracking in dirt from outside. He looks around before making his way into the living room. There she is. Macy is sitting on the couch, her back towards him. Watching her, he slowly strips off his jacket and hangs it up.
It takes her a moment to realize he was home. She sits up and looks over at him before rolling her eyes and turning back to the tablet.
No. No he wasn’t going to mention the fake date. It wasn’t worth it. She blew him off all of the time, why should he care if she blew him off again. It’s not like it mattered to him.
Bringing a hand up he rubs at the base of his skull, his fingers skimming over the raised edge of his mark. Shaking his head, he pulls out his phone and goes and sits on the couch.
For the first minute, he scrolls through his tumblr (under a fake name of course). After he saw that nothing interesting was happening, he pulls up his contacts. He looks through them stopping on Steve’s number. Something tugs in his heart. He frowns softly before biting his lip.
Marcy looks over at him before leaning back more against the couch. She starts chatting his ear off as he starts to talk to Steve. Maybe it was best not to mention the date because if she would have gone, he could have never met Steve. Plus, she would have hated that he met someone that she didn’t know and that she didn’t approve of.
He rests his head back against the couch as he continues to talk. Soon enough though, she stands up. She shimmies over to him before kissing him gently on the lips, saying
something about how she was going to bed. Marcy makes her way back to the bedroom, closing the door gently.
Tony stands up and quickly makes his way down to his lab before she could come back and ask him for something. He sags against the wall of the elevator once the doors close. Jarvis greets him loosely as he makes his way into the lab. Rubbing at his eyes, he pulls up a stool.
Around one o’clock in the morning he looks down at his phone and notices that it was receiving a picture. He presses his lips together, biting back a hiss as the mark on his foot warmed up slightly. Pulling off his shoes and socks, he walks around the cold lab, trying to take his mind off of the burning. He hasn’t felt the burning in a while. He still doesn’t know what causes it and no soul doctor or regular doctor or psychic can tell him anything.
His phone makes a small beep when the picture was received. He waits a few moments before going over to his phone and opening the message. He frowns when he sees the message underneath of the picture. ‘I think we are soul mates. –SR’ Pressing his hand over his eyes, he rubs at them. This couldn’t be right. He already had a soul mate.
Removing his hand, he looks down at the photo. When he sees his neat signature on Steve wrist, his throat seizes up. He takes in a ragged breath before setting his phone away. He runs his hands through his hair and tugs at it. This couldn’t be happening. He makes a small noise in the back of his throat. Why was this happening to him? The best he could do was to ignore it but he couldn’t do that to this guy that he had just met.
He couldn’t let Marcy see it. She would go berserk on this guy that he barely knew. He swallows before biting his lip hard. What was he going to do about this? He takes a deep break before running his hands over his face. The best thing he could do was see if this thing was real or not. He slumps down into one of his stools, picking up his phone.
‘Can we meet up tomorrow? For lunch or something? –TS’ He types out before he sends it to Steve. He sees that it sends but it was read. Steve must have fell asleep. He groans softly. Now his world was tilted the wrong way because she never showed up to their coffee date. Shaking his head, he goes back to his project that he was working on for R&D.
Around four in the morning, he makes his way back to his bedroom where his soul mate was sleeping. He shakes his head and puts on a small smile before slipping into bed with her. Wrapping his arms around her waist, he pulls her close. He falls asleep shortly but soon wakes up due to his alarm set up at five thirty.
He yawns softly before pressing a kiss to the back of her neck. Just because they didn’t get along doesn’t mean he could just ignore that they were supposed to be together. Slipping out of bed, he goes and gets dressed for his work day. He puts on the three piece suit and looks in the mirror. He didn’t see the same person in the mirror. The one he was looking at looked dead in the eyes. He shakes his head before looking away and walking off to get himself some coffee.
Once he got his coffee, he grabs his bag before walking down to the lab. He touches one of the walks gently in greeting to Jarvis before going and grabbing the device that he was working on last night. He looks at his phone before pocketing it. He sets the device in the bag before making his way out of his house and into his car. It was a short drive until he gets to his work.
His phone buzzes in his pocket. Steve must have been an earlier riser. He gets out of the car before looking at the text. He smiles softly before pocketing it.
‘Yeah of course we can get lunch together. We can go down to the pizza shop on the corner of Third and Sixth. –SR’
He walks into the building before making his way up to his office. He sets his bag down the goes and sits in the chair behind his desk. He swirls around in the chair once before pulling his phone out again. He chuckles softly. This Steve guy was growing on him.
‘Pizza sounds good. I’ll meet you there around 12:30. –TS’