Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Toni is sipping a margarita in her newly acquired cabin in Italy when her doorbell rings. Humming, she signals for FRIDAY to lower the music. “It’s not work, is it? I’m on vacation!”

“No, boss! It seems you’re being visited by Xanxus and Squalo of the Varia. Should I turn them away, boss?” FRIDAY shouldn’t sound that cheery about assassins showing up on her doorstep.

Maybe giving her baby girl that much firepower was a mistake…

Nah.

This is unexpected. If anything, she had been waiting for the rogues to show up at some point. “Nope, let us see what the mafia wants with little old me.” She does activate her hidden weapons with a thought, though. Just in case.

Whatever it is that they were expecting when she opened the door, it was not her and Toni finds herself wondering at the hilarity of their expressions. A little difficult to find her by accident, though. Her cabin is in the middle of nowhere for a reason. Damn paparazzi. “Yes?”

Silver-hair is outright gawking at her while Whump&Glum beside him glares like Toni killed his puppy. Alright then, she rolls her eyes and snaps her fingers at Sailor Moon. “Eyes up here, Romeo.” To be fair, though, her AC/DC shirt could stand fewer oil-stains. He’s likely looking at that.

A crash sounds from inside and Toni blinks, startled for half a second before she whirls around and stalks inside. “Dum-E! That better not have been you!” A quick check with extremis confirms that it had, indeed, been the bot. “Dum-E! I swear to science, I’m donating you to community college. Go to the corner and think about what you’ve done!”

With a sad whirl, Dum-e turns to look at her, arm lowering in sadness.

“Oh no! Don’t you give me that look! Off to the corner with you!”

She watches, hands firmly on her hips, until Dum-E gets to the corner, making sad noises all the way, and only then does she turn back to her guests. Guests who have, rather rudely, followed her inside. “Well then, gentlemen. To what do I owe the pleasure?”

That gets her a red-eyed glare, venomous enough to belong to the Scarlet Witch and, just for a second, Toni panics. The weapons hidden all around her cabin start charging in response and Toni wrenches herself back into control. Lowering her sunglasses to look at this man, she arches her brow. “Well?”

“VOOOI!” Sailor Moon exclaims, almost breaking the tension. “We just want to talk.”

“Really now,” she murmurs, sipping from her margarita. “Is that why you’re trying to hack my servers?”

Both of them startle and she resists the urge to snort at them but she does roll her eyes. Did they expect to get away with it or something? Arrogant much? Xanxus recovers quickly, though. “What the fuck are you playing at, bitch?”

“Charming,” she snorts. “You’re the one crashing on my vacation. If that’s all, help yourselves out the door before I help you.”

“VOOOI!” Sailor Moon, again. “Let us calm down and talk.”

“Then talk.” Toni has no patience for this idiots.  

Sailor Moon looks at Whump&Glum to continue the conversation but Xanxus remains stubbornly silent. Toni is about to just throw them out when Sailor Moon finally decides that if he wants this to go anywhere, he’s going to have to do it himself. “We believe,” he says, and Toni can read the nervousness in him, “that you two might be related.”

Something inside of her goes cold with fury and she doesn’t resist the mindset. If they want to play this game, they can deal with the Merchant of Death. Toni is out of fucks to give. “Is that so?” She murmurs, half-muffled by the edge of her glass. Sauntering forward, she asks: “Your proof?”

“Proof?”

Smiling with all her teeth, she gestures at a table for them to leave the proof upon. “Yes, your proof. You did not just show up uninvited to throw this “relations” at me without proof, did you?”

Open-mouthed, Sailor Moon looks at Toni like he’s not sure what to make of her. “Voi! If you give us a little blood, we can run the tests then. We’ll know for sure that way.”

Toni hums, “is that your angle? How cliché.” Is it extremis that they’re after? With a thought, she lets the weapons around her activate fully and watches them tense as they realize they’re at gunpoint. Or laser point, cannon point. Toni is beyond paranoid these days. 

“Let me give you some advice. For free, of course, you cannot afford me. Fire whoever is doing your cyber-security. They suck, also, cancel that meeting on Thursday. Seems fishy to me. That said, goodbye gentlemen.” She gives them a happy wave even as red-dots appear on their chests. 

They leave, of course. Toni watches them go as she finishes her margarita. “FRIDAY?”

“Yes, boss?”

“Bug them.”

It takes Squalo and Xanxus about two hours to return to the Varia Castle. It's not necessarily that they're so far apart and more like Xanxus couldn't quite stop himself from trying to shot Squalo more than a couple of times. 

That said, the whole encounter won't leave him alone. Maybe it's foolish, maybe it's not. But the fact remains that Xanxus can't stop himself from turning things over in his head.

Xanxus can admit, silently and only to himself and, maybe, Squalo that he might have been too fast on jumping to conclusions. He had just been far too furious to think straight. But the look on her face, the absolute cold fury reflected at him, Xanxus knows it all too well.

He’d seen it on his face more times than he’d like to count. He wonders, in the privacy of his office, for the reason behind hers. Xanxus knows the roots of his, sometimes he thinks Timoteo has branded him far too much. Is it like that for her?

Her dormant flames had felt like they could resonate with him but Xanxus had ignored that, enveloped in his anger as he had been. Now, though, now he’s just curious. Because she had thought they’d claimed relation just to use it against her. Her line of thought had been the same Xanxus had.

And Xanxus wonders what sort of power she has that she expects people to want it.

That’s not even taking into account that she had led his hackers into a wild goose chase. All the while hacking the Varia in return, she even left some commentary on his schedule and, more worryingly, in the schematics of some of their security measures.

All they know about her is that the cabin she’s living in is owned by Stark Industries. An employee perhaps?

Well, relation or not, Xanxus recognizes Quality when he sees it and she did advice them to fire the cyber-security team. Might as well give it a try.

He’s probably more surprised than he should be when he makes it all the way to the cabin without Squalo breaking his silence or an unspoken threat from the resident. But well, she had said she was on vacation. With any luck, she’s already bored. Xanxus knows the type.

Xanxus doesn’t even get to knock on the door.

His phone rings and Xanxus picks it up. “Xanxus here.”

“Commander, if you’d walk around. Boss lady is on the BBQ.”

Tensing, Xanxus takes a look around for cameras, from beside him Squalo does the same. They can’t find any. “Who are you?” He growls but his only answer is the call disconnecting.

Fuck it.

They make their way around, battle-worn instincts keeping them tense.

“Would you look at that, if it isn’t Sailor Moon and angry Don Corleone. What is it this time? My time-travelling son? A long lost cousin? No?” Finally catching sight of the folder on Xanxus’ hands, her mouth pulls down. “I’d offer you meat but I don’t want to.”

Snorting Xanxus offers her the folder and drops it on the table when she gestures to it. She honestly sits back down to eat, doesn’t even bother to offer them so much as water. Xanxus is not sure if he should be amused at the level of pettiness or fucking incensed. 

Something tells him the shitty shark finds the entire thing amusing. Xanxus hands twitch towards his guns and without even looking at him, the woman in front of them tuts at him. “Nope, ah, ah! Behave yourself, Dark&Angry.”

Almost lazily, several weapons slide into view and Xanxus grits his teeth but settles down all the same. 

“VOOI! We just!” Whatever Squalo was about to say gets lost in a haze of white foam.

Xanxus snorts.

“Dum-E,” her voice is delighted, “good job! Well done buddy. Come here, let mama give you a kiss.”

Before this, Xanxus had no idea that a robot could look both proud of itself and bashful but Dum-E pulls it off.

That little bit of humour seems to put her in a good enough mood that she finally reaches for Xanxus’ folder. She reads through it faster than Xanxus had expected and then laughs in his face. Xanxus longs for his weapons but he’s nothing if not stubborn and dedicated, there’s a reason why he could land an Arcobaleno.

Taking a sip of her wine, she sprawls back on her chair. “Boring,” she pouts. “Besides, didn’t I tell you already? You can’t afford me.”

Next time he comes, with a different proposal, Xanxus brings along a bottle of one of his best whiskies. At this point, it has nothing to do with possible relation and everything to do with the fact that this woman is quality and Xanxus will somehow get her for the Varia. Even if that means poaching from Stark Industries.

He keeps coming back, every day for a month and he still keeps coming back. No matter that she hasn’t even bothered reading his proposals since the first time. Toni half wants to hate him for it and yet can’t help but wait for him. Every day at 6:30 pm, like clockwork.

Every day he comes with a bottle of whisky and a folder and every day she ignores both, drinks from her own stash in silence, pretending to ignore his company. And that’s the heart of the matter. Toni is just so lonely. 

6:24 pm.

Xanxus’ the only physical human presence she’s had around her for a month. Extremis heats under her skin as a reminder and she closes her eyes. 

6:25 pm.

Standing up, she makes her way to her liquor cabinet and pulls out her favourite bottle of whisky. It’s not like she can get drunk anymore, not with extremis on her veins. Taking two glasses, she sets them on the table. 

6:26 pm.

Doom&Glum hasn’t even mentioned the whole “related” business, doesn’t push for his proposals. It’s not like she doesn’t recognize the strategy, she has even used it herself. It’s just that nobody has ever bothered before, not without knowing just who she is. 

6:27 pm.

And she’s angry, she recognizes. Angry that even though she knows what he’s doing, it’s still working. She’s already starting to look forward to every night of quiet company. 

6:28 pm.

Like the little prince and the fox.

(“My life is very monotonous,” the fox said. “I hunt chickens; men hunt me. All the chickens are just alike, and all the men are just alike. And, in consequence, I am a little bored. But if you tame me, it will be as if the sun came to shine on my life. I shall know the sound of a step that will be different from all the others. Other steps send me hurrying back underneath the ground. Yours will call me, like music, out of my burrow. And then look: you see the grain-fields down yonder? I do not eat bread. Wheat is of no use to me. The wheat fields have nothing to say to me. And that is sad. But you have hair that is the colour of gold. Think how wonderful that will be when you have tamed me! The grain, which is also golden, will bring me back the thought of you. And I shall love to listen to the wind in the wheat …”) 

6:29 pm.

“I’m an idiot,” she groans. FRIDAY doesn’t answer. They both can tell the isolation is weighing on her.

6:30 pm. FRIDAY opens the door and Xanxus of the Varia steps in.

Toni can see the moment he realizes there are two glasses on the table. His expression doesn’t change but there’s something like victory on Sailor Moon’s eyes. Toni snorts but pushes the bottle Xanxus’ way regardless. The label is both a dare and an invitation.

It’s a pricy brand. She knows he can afford it, occasionally. But every night? No. She can, though. Let him realize that he really can’t afford her, let her see what he’ll do with that information. And still, she’s lonely enough that she hopes he takes her up on it.

She knows he realized what she means when he sends her a long look and grits his teeth. Stubborn little shit, this one. But Toni is starting to respect that. There’s a brain along with his pride.

He can tell she’s upset, she knows but Toni doesn’t mention it and Xanxus remains quiet, watching. Toni ignores the orange hues under her skin in favour of watching disinterestedly as her glass melts on her hand.

Dum-E pushes a bucket of icy water her way and Toni sighs, ducks her arm inside and ignores the steam that comes out of it, the uncomfortable sensation of the glass hardening over her skin. She breaks it easily enough, the skin knitting together even before she takes her arm out of the bucket.

A waste of good whisky, that’s true. But Toni doesn’t feel like drinking anymore. With a mental nudge, Toni prompts FRIDAY to open some of her non-sensitive projects. The holograms light up the room and modern Don Corleone straightens in his seat.

This is the first time he’ll see her work, she realizes but doesn’t linger on that thought. For now, his presence is comforting enough.

Xanxus doesn’t come for two days after that and Toni ignores the pang of disappointment by burying herself in more projects. It’s unhealthy but if extremis has any advantages, it’s that it’s made her far more durable.

During the third day, he shows up with the same bottle of whisky she’d offered him before and a flash drive. It contains a series of unfinished projects, some of them actually challenging enough to be interesting. Toni can’t help it, she throws back her head and laughs. “Alright, Santa. What do you want to eat?”

The assassin smirks at her, entirely too pleased with himself. “Steak.”

Squalo would like it known that when he decided to follow Xanxus, the bratty sky with the potential of a burning star, it had been out of awe at the destruction the man could leave in his wake. Young Squalo had been star-struck at his brilliance. He had not, however, signed up to be the man’s babysitter.

Babysitting two geniuses with the emotional intelligence of a dumpster fire is nowhere on his job description. Especially when one of them is not even his. But he won’t complain, much. They’re finally making some progress. it’s slow going but it’s there, that’s something at least.

They’ve graduated to dinner along with their drinking and now they finally exchange actual words, every now and then. Progress, damn it. Even if it took months.

This had not been what Squalo had been expecting when he had noticed those dormant flames during his return from a mission, so achingly familiar to Xanxus’ that they could be nothing but family.  in hindsight, this is exactly the kind of thing he should have been expecting, since when do things work easily for him?

He had been expecting Xanxus to be difficult to convince, he never saw her scepticism coming. But it’s working out regardless so not everything is lost.

Xanxus is the one with a bad mood tonight. Squalo would intervene if it wasn’t for the almost considering looks the woman keeps sending his sky. Squalo recognizes the way Xanxus drums his fingers absent-mindedly, and he knows that if it wasn’t for the threat of weapons aimed at them, his boss would be taking his guns apart before putting them back together.

“Alright, John Bernard. Follow me.”

His boss sends her a sour look for the nickname, already used to her antics but visibly deciding whether or not to pick up a fight. Squalo, very carefully, lets out enough rain flames to push his boss into a peaceful decision. The man eyes Squalo grumpily but he does stand up to follow her so that’s a win.

She guides them all the way down some stairs to a set of glass doors. “This is your stop, Sailor Moon.” She tells him, pointing at a place beside the door and Squalo breathes in carefully. Ok, no pressure! It can’t be that bad, those two can handle conversation without supervision for a little while.

It’s fine. Everything is fine.

Clapping her hands, she walks inside, “wake up boys! Mama’s here.”

That’s a sight, for sure, the entire lab lights up. Squalo can see the way Xanxus straightens, curiosity overriding his bad mood and he has to wonder whether that was her intention. She’s 21 at best but in some things, she seems far more experienced than they are.

“Well, then, bad boy, pick one,” Toni gestures to the line of classic cars parked at the edge of the lab. “We’re tinkering.”

Squalo can see his boss’ eyes light up as he approaches a red 1959 Cadillac. “This one.”

“Oh, nice choice,” she coos at the car. “We’re going for speed?” At Xanxus’ nods she continues, “baby girl, where’s my music?”

“On it, boss!” Comes the cheery reply and Xanxus startles, looks around and then gapes.

Toni’s smile is smug as she gestures for the black-haired man to join her under the hood.

By the time they resurface, Squalo is almost asleep, clutching the empty pizza box FRIDAY had ordered for him. It’s almost midday now but those two had barely reacted when Squalo had tried to snap them out of their tinkering haze and the doors wouldn’t open for him.

Xanxus and he drive away on the new car (”keep it, it’s at least 10% your baby") after lunch. Xanxus is quiet, calm but lost in his own thoughts. “Maybe,” he murmurs. “Maybe. Her flames do feel similar to mine.”

It’s full of something close to fragile hope and Squalo closes his eyes, curses Timoteo Vongola for what feels like the thousand times. “They do.” Looking at his boss like this, a little nervous, a little vulnerable, it’s easy to remember that this man is now 8 years younger than Squalo.

For all that Xanxus’ genius compensates.

“How do I…? Squalo, she won’t give us her blood. There’s no info on her.”

Squalo nods because that’s true. it’s what raised all those flags before they came the first time. “Slowly, boss. She trusts you better now, doesn’t she? She let you into that lab.”

His boss doesn’t answer, just keeps on driving but Squalo knows the Wrath realizes it’s the truth.

Chapter Text

It’s probably a bad thing, Toni admits to herself, that she has started feeling rather possessive of the damn brat. She’d like to lie to herself, tell her own mind that it’s just bored indulgence and idle curiosity but she knows it’s not. Toni... She has a habit of getting easily attached by things or people she likes. It's an entire thing, has caused a lot of problems along the years.

Of course, when it works, it works. Rhodey, Happy, Pepper, Harley, Peter... And now this new brat: Xanxus. 

Which will it be with him? Toni wonders and watches but she's content enough to allow it to remain as is. Xanxus... He reminds her terribly of herself, of the strong facade hiding so many wounds. It's easy and frightening, to imagine him as effortlessly manipulated as Obadiah played her.  

Xanxus is nothing like Peter, who is sweet and genuinely good, eager to please. More like Harley with his snark and bravado, though still not the same. One couldn’t get those two to shut up, Xanxus, on the other hand, is mostly silent. There's enough of both in him for Toni to know that she has a type when it comes to strays. He's still his own person, Xanxus.

But the three of them have the curiosity, the thirst of knowledge, the imagination, the brain and the utter stubbornness to hold on and not let her escape them. 

[“We’re connected, mechanic.”]

[“Ms Stark, have you seen my messages?”]

[And Xanxus coming back every night at 6.30 pm with a bottle of whisky he really can’t afford anymore.]

And much like he keeps in contact with Harley, opens the compound to Peter, she’s given Xanxus access to her little lab. She guesses it’s just an inevitable realization. Because here Xanxus is, guns dismantled on the table as she walks him through a problem that has him stuck and she hadn’t even hesitated. All that story she has with weapons manufacture and still... Not an ounce of doubt.

Because she wants the stubborn brat safe. 

It seems cruel because she recognizes what he’s doing. When Toni had been a little girl, too smart for her own good in a house too big for only herself and the Jarvis’ couple, she had hoped for more family too. For someone to come one day and claim her for their own.

She can see the tentative hope in this kid too. And isn’t that the kicker, for all that he acts mature, for all his training and his brains, this is still a 19-year-old kid. 

“Toni?” Xanxus asks, eyeing her discreetly. 

“Ugh,” she groans, hand coming up to push his head down. “Fine, brat. You win.” And then softer, because she can see the way he’s looking at her, “I can’t, won’t, give you my blood, cucciolo. But…” Sighing, she gives him a personalized Stark phone. “That’s got my personal number on it, emergency contacts, all the resources l can give you to keep you safe. You have them now, use them." 

Dropping a kiss on his forehead, she stands and pretends not to see the tight grip Xanxus has on the phone. "Come back, kid. It’d get boring without you." 

They both know what she means.

"And if I just want to call?”

Turning to look back at him, Toni drags her hand through his hair. “I might not always be able to answer quickly, bambino. Not when I’m back to work but I’ll do my best.” She has learned her lesson from that whole fiasco with Peter. 

“Not a kid,” Xanxus complains but there’s a pleased edge to his voice.

“You really are,” Toni snorts. “Now come on, let's get some food in you.”

Weeks pass by before he uses it. Toni would be more surprised if it wasn't exactly the kind of move she could have seen herself pull off at that age. She most likely did more than one similar tactic to Rhodey and Pepper, even Happy himself. 

Xanxus is not entirely sure of what he’s doing, not entirely sure of what he’s trying to accomplish, only that it’s meant to do something and that it has his heart beating far faster than it should. Xanxus has never been particularly good with emotional situations. 

He’s had the phone for about two weeks now, brings it along with him pretty much everywhere he goes. But he hasn’t used it, hasn’t so much as send a text with it. Somehow having the certainty of Toni either answering or not seems worse than the doubt. 

Offering somebody resources like that, it’s a meaningful move. Xanxus just doesn’t know what it means. 

There are probably better ways to handle the situation, he knows. But this one seems especially useful because Xanxus needs to know. Before he goes around trying to push the entire thing forward, he needs to know just how much he can trust her. 

She never leaves her cabin for more than a couple of hours. Toni might call it a vacation but Xanxus can see that it isn’t, not really. Not with just how much she goes out of her way to remain away from society, with the way her skin glows orange with heat during the bad days. 

Xanxus is many things, stupid is not one of them. 

There’s absolutely no information about her. She claims her name is Toni, she’s a genius, she might work for Stark Industries. That’s all he knows, one fact and some conjectures. It drives him crazy.

So here Xanxus is, doing something stupid enough to force her out of isolation. Squalo is going to scream himself hoarse and Lussuria is going to send him the sad looks of despondent worry but Xanxus is going to do this anyway. 

Clutching the phone tightly in his hand, deep in enemy territory, Xanxus takes a deep breath and lets himself be seen. 

He’s not sure what exactly he’s expecting but the veritable army of bots showing out of thin air to save his ass as soon as he sent the distress signal wasn’t it. The notification that she’s on her way feels a little like vindication. When Toni arrives, she takes one good look around, one long look at him and then nods. “Come on, Xanxus. Get in the quinjet." 

The thing is a technological marvel and Xanxus would be taking it all in if the tension in the air wasn’t so high. It’s been a long time since Xanxus has felt this nervous around someone.

"You know,” she starts, oddly pensive, “long before my parents died I promised myself I wouldn’t have children. Terrible mother material and all that. Somehow I ended up with three.”

Sitting in front of him, she catches his eyes. “Maybe it’s a legacy thing or maybe it’s just how stubborn the three of you are. Fact remains that I have three. From the three of you, I had hoped none got my.. Self-destructing tendencies.” When Xanxus doesn’t say anything to that, she nods. “Walk me through your thought process.”

“I…” It just feels stupid now, with her looking at him like she’s hoping he has a good enough reason. “I wanted to know that I could trust this.” Xanxus shrugs, a little uncomfortably.

“Yeah… I figured it was like that.” Toni admits, “same thought progress as me, I think. All that genius and none of it translates to emotional stability.” Before he can get offended at that, no matter how sad she looks, Toni continues. “I care, Xanxus, despite my best attempts not to. Did you get enough data?" 

Probably, there’s still too much that Xanxus doesn’t know but… one leap of faith, just one more. "You’re not on vacation, you’re adapting. That power you have, it’s new. You can’t control it." 

"Not yet, no.” Toni admits, looking at him. 

“It’s connected to your blood somehow, it’s why you won’t give us blood for the test,” he goes on and she nods. Xanxus takes a breath. “You work for Stark Industries? High up enough to have very good access." 

Toni smiles at that, almost amused. "I guess you could say that. That’s classified, kid." 

"Not a kid,” Xanxus protests, by force of habit. “You’re only a few years older than me.”

“Almost forty,” she corrects and then lets her skin glow orange in silent clarification. 

“Oh." 

They travel all the rest of the way in silence but before they can disembark, Xanxus snatches her wrist and pulls her down beside him. "I’ll give you my blood. I’m sure you can run the tests here." 

"I can,” she sighs, arm coming up to give him a half hug. “I’ll be honest with you, cucciolo, I’m pretty sure that’s going to come out negative. But if it’s important to you, I’ll do it anyway. Just remember that you’re one of my kids now, there are no take-backs. Your own fault for being this stubborn." 

Toni is more than content to sit down and enjoy this comedy show happening in her living room. It’s probably not very sporting of her but it’s highly hilarious if a little bittersweet. She’s glad that Xanxus has this, she just can’t help but wonder why the Avengers were never like this. Too jaded, perhaps. Too used to working alone, for some of them. 

It doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things, for all that Toni mourns how it ended. She’s a futurist, the Avengers are her past. Xanxus sends her a pleading look and Toni snorts, cracking a beaming smile his way, “Oh no, tesoro. Your friends, your responsibility. Besides, this way I don’t have to lecture you too, I’d feel like a hypocrite.”

Xanxus snorts and Toni carefully ignores just how smug Sailor Moon looks. For some reason, that brat is very invested in her relationship with the bad-tempered mafia boss. The man FRIDAY identified as Lussuria (the equivalent of the team medic) just sends her a considering look. “Is he hurt?" 

Busted, Toni supposes. "FRIDAY?" 

"No major injuries were found on the scan, Mr Lussuria,” FRIDAY reports out loud, Toni already knows. “There’s some bruising on his stomach and arms but nothing more." 

"Luss is just fine, darling!” The man answers far happier now that some of his concern has been dealt with. “Where are you?" 

"I am everywhere,” FRIDAY answers, mischief clear in her voice and Toni can’t help her own smile. 

“She is,” Toni confirms when Xanxus turns to look at her. “FRIDAY is an A.I., her consciousness is everywhere on the cabin.” And many other places but there’s no need to go into details on that. The accords don’t affect Xanxus. 

The kid doesn’t ask whether FRIDAY is hers. They both know it, Sailor Moon and less angry Dr House seem alright with following Xanxus lead. The young man allows himself to be fuzzed over for a little while before he comes back to drop beside her on the couch. By now, she’s learnt to understand his cues and she’s become good enough at handling extremis to answer them. 

Making herself more comfortable in the couch, she pulls on him until he collapses on her side and Toni cards fingers through his hair. “Not again, ok cucciolo?” She murmurs, Xanxus grumbles at her and Toni pulls one lock of his hair in retaliation. 

“Fine, fine,” he concedes. 

They stay like that for a while, Toni humming a tune she just barely remembers and Xanxus just sprawled in place. Both of them ignoring the not so subtle hovering of Xanxus’ men around them. When Xanxus finally has enough of her touch, he sits up. She lets him go, still humming under her breath. “Are you staying the night?” Toni probably shouldn’t offer but it’s late enough that she doesn’t feel comfortable sending him back out. Mafia boss or not. 

Some of it must have shown on her face because Xanxus sends her a baleful glare. “Not a kid,” he complains. 

“Could have fooled me, bambino.” She retorts, “let me at least feed you before you go." 

Xanxus huffs at her but he does wait until she is happy with the amount of food on his stomach. "We do the test tomorrow." 

"Fine, kid. Off you go." 

She’s not sure what she’s expecting when he comes back the next morning, early enough that Toni is bleary-eyed and still in her pyjamas. Whatever it is, it’s not this. With her technology and the lack of a waiting line, the test takes no time at all. And Toni has looked everywhere, has turned over every rock to try and find blood family. First out of the same deep longing that drives Xanxus and then out of sheer habit. 

And Toni, with all her resources and all her intellect, has never found a soul. Not one person left on either her mother’s side or her father’s side. So she’s very sure about the results. 

But there it is, glaring at her from the screen she has it displayed on for Xanxus’ benefit. Her brother. She has a little brother, a little brother just as lonely as she once was, with scars all over his skin. A little brother she should have been looking after instead of driving herself to the ground for a team that was lying to her face. 

"What does this mean?” her little brother asks, obviously not making sense of all the graphs on display and unhappy about it. Genius he might be but biology is not something he has dabbled in before. Toni had no choice, not after Afghanistan. 

Toni takes a deep breath, ignoring the tears that want to choke her up because she has a little brother now. And it fills her chest with far too much, with happiness, with regret, with hope. So she reaches for him, pulls him in on as tight a hug as she dares. Damn him for being already so much taller than her. She’s far too emotional and losing control to extremis terrifies her but she doesn’t let go. 

“Toni?" 

"I’m sorry. Oh, cucciolo, I’m so sorry. If I had known, I’d have found you so much sooner.” Toni hopes he believes her, she hopes she can protect him. All of the sudden, his lacking cybersecurity is not so funny. 

It must be enough of an answer for him, though, because they’re suddenly clinging to each other, silently crying in each other’s arms. She’ll be the best older sister there is, Toni thinks to herself, nobody will touch him. 

Xanxus might be overreacting just a little. He knows this, alright? He just can’t help it. After the initial shock of realizing that no, this is not a suspicion anymore, he does, indeed, have a sister, there had been delight. Because he has a sister. 

Then there has come a little awkwardness because what does one do with older sisters again? But Toni had distracted him with a bottle of whisky and they spent two days straight tinkering in the workshop. Xanxus and Toni built a car from the ground up and it now sits proudly in Xanxus’ garage. 

Nobody better so much as look at it. 

But now, waking up back at the Varia Castle, Xanxus has time to think. And so think he does. Because he has a sister. A genius sister, he thinks, smugly. But genius or not, she’s also a civilian. And Xanxus is the Varia Commander. 

Which means the Varia Commander now has a civilian sister, that is a liability. That’s the kind of thing Xanxus has exploited in enemies before and he had about zero intent of seeing his sister ending that way. No matter how protected she is in her cabin, Toni does occasionally leave it and Xanxus’ paranoia is itching under his skin. 

So he watches the training of some of his trusted recruits during the morning and then he sequesters himself in his office with Squalo. In a couple of hours, they have an emergency type security going while they work on something better. 

The assassin gets distracted from their planning by his phone ringing. The new one. Xanxus blinks, “Xanxus here." 

"Kid-Boss!” A cheerful voice answers him. “Are the goons yours?" 

"Not a kid!” He groans, “yes, they’re mine.” He’s thankful he doesn’t even need to explain his job description. That’s one hurdle out of the way. 

“Ok! I’m tapping into their comms though,” FRIDAY replies. “And running background checks." 

"VOI! She can do that?” Squalo winces, sharing a worried look with Xanxus. 

That’s not a good sign. Varia tech shouldn’t be so easy to tap into, no matter how much of a genius his sister is. 

“In my defence,” Toni’s voice comes in, “I panicked a little." 

Squalo looks almost pained, "voi, Toni. What does that mean?" 

"Boss-lady took over your cybersecurity. I’m officially your security girl until boss finishes my own little brother."  FRIDAY explains. 

"Also, cucciolo. You might want to come over to pick up your new guns and body armour.” Toni admits, sounding slightly sheepish. 

Xanxus rolls his eyes at Squalo’s long-suffering look. As far as Xanxus is concerned, this is a good thing. It must show on his face because Squalo pulls his hair in frustration. “There’s two of them." 

"Can you come over?” Xanxus asks instead. Because he would feel better with her at the Varia Castle, actually. If only until he sets up a better patrol. 

It’s not really rational, he knows. Toni is probably the safest in her cabin. But the Varia Castle has been his sanctuary for years. 

“Extremis is stable, bambino. But I still haven’t mastered it.” Toni admits, “I’ll go visit if you set me up somewhere with a lot of insulation." 

"Training grounds,” Squalo offers. 

‘We’ve got a place,” Xanxus assures her after his phone lights up with a thumbs-up emoji he assumes comes from FRIDAY.

Chapter Text

Toni V

In her defence, Toni might have jumped into this whole having a little brother thing with two feet and as much restraint as she's well known for but it's all for a good cause. Her little brother is adorable and she'll have no slander contradicting that. 

That said, ignoring her lawyer's calls in order to cluster herself with her baby brother in his training ground turned lab space? Not her best idea to date. 

Which is why she winces when Pepper's call connects, "Antonia Stark! You better be fine, so help me!" 

Sailor Moon chokes and crashes in the background. Xanxus, immersed as he is in his own project, doesn't even twitch (a true science child that one, she's so proud), Toni rushes to the screen to try and make some damage control. "Pepps, Pepp! Light of my life, Pepper Pots! I," Toni pauses for dramatic effect, gesturing grandly at her baby brother's table, "have a little brother!" 

Pepper chokes, eyes going wide in incredulity as she checks the files FRIDAY sends over to her. Some of her anger and worry bleeds away but it turns to exasperation just as quickly. "Toni, Xanxus doesn't need an island." 

Springing up from his spot on the floor, Sailor Moon swears, "voi! Shitty boss wouldn't know what to do with one! The paperwork would fall on me!"

That has Xanxus raising his head from his project with a scowl and Pepper looks up like she can't deal with the lot of them. Fair enough, the first rule of interacting with a Stark is that you don't tell one they can't do something. They'll do it out of spite. See herself for reference, she told herself time travel wasn't possible and then invented it to spite her self-doubt. 

And for Peter. Because he deserved better. 

Trying to avert that fight for the moment, Toni reaches for Xanxus, tugging him beside her and in front of the screen. "Meet my baby brother. Xanxus, this is Pepper Pots, without whom I'd be completely lost. Pepps, my baby brother." 

The CEO sends her a look that tells Toni the other woman is not done with the previous topic but she smiles at Xanxus anyway. "Hello, Xanxus. It's a pleasure to meet you." 

It's only the fact that Toni knows Pepper well that lets her see the way the blonde looks Xanxus over, careful and already a little protective. She's thankful that FRIDAY thought to send the CEO Xanxus' files, even if the relation had to be sprung later. It does help that Pepper was already vaguely approving of this stubborn teenager that kept her friend company. 

"Hello," Xanxus answers with a shrug, a little embarrassed and trying to hide it. 

Pepper's smile turns fonder at that, "ah. Yes, I can see it. Welcome to the family, Xanxus. Do me a favour and don't be as stubborn as your sister, let us take care of you." 

"VOI! Wait!" Sailor Moon comes flying at them, suddenly standing right beside Xanxus. "Toni Stark, as in the Toni Stark? Suit of armour and all that?"

Toni blinks, "well yes, that Toni Stark." 

She knew she was forgetting something.

Xanxus V

Before Xanxus mind can finish imploding, a voice comes from the monitors. “That Toni Stark, yes,” Potts looks amused but she’s also looking Xanxus over like she’s worried about him and Xanxus refrains from squirming. He’s not used to being coddled. 

Toni does it, all the time. She bombards him with food, she hugs him and touches him, keeps calling him bambino. She distracts him with her lab when Xanxus’ mind is going to dark places. Even before they knew they were siblings. This is not new. 

It’s not bad, Xanxus actually likes it. He rebels in being a little shit and having her react with amusement and exasperation, sometimes worry. It’s nice, something different than what he’s used to. 

“That said,” Potts brings his attention back to her, “that does bring us to the next question. Xanxus, how involved in the company are you planning to be?”

With the company? 

Xanxus… He wasn’t expecting this. Stark Industries is enormous, powerful and has a reputation to maintain. Xanxus is the leader of the Varia, an independent assassination squad. Xanxus’ mere presence screams mafia. It’ll do the company no favours to have him on board. 

And Xanxus… He would have been happy with a couple of visits every now and then. He would have understood. Without meaning to, the words escape from him. “I… Can I?”

Potts frowns but Xanxus is immediately distracted by Toni’s hands on his face, pulling him down until they’re locking eyes. “You’re my brother,” she states like it’s a fact set in stone, immovable. “You’re my brother, Stark industries is as much yours as it’s mine.”

To Xanxus, who always had to fight to prove that yes, he’s worthy of the Vongola name, having this given to him so easily… He doesn’t think Toni knows how much he loves her for it. He allows himself a moment to bend, to hide his face against the neck of the sister he never knew he had. “Ok.”

“I’m sending Rhodey,” Potts tells them, looking at Xanxus carefully. “In the meantime, I’m sending over the files to you, Xanxus. Just let us know what you’d like to be a part in. Squalo, is it? Send me your contact information, we have things to discuss.”

Toni ignores what Xanxus thinks is her friend plotting murder to card her fingers through Xanxus’ hair instead. “You’ll see, cucciolo, my Platypus makes everything better.” 

Xanxus hums, pulling away from her to return to his guns. Too many feelings, really. He’s probably reached his quota for the month. She smiles at him, amused like she knows what he’s thinking. “He’ll love you, you’ll see.”

Maybe.

He hopes so, anyway. 

(Rhodey I)

Rhodey arrives at the Varia Castle early in the morning and makes his own way to the new lab area with nothing but FRIDAY’s instructions in his ear. It probably shouldn’t be this easy, he decides but stops worrying about it as soon as he enters the lab. 

He stops short at what he sees, caught between fond exasperation and actual irritation. It’s not bad, no, nowhere near as bad as Rhodey knows it can get. Geniuses left to their own devices in a lab full of toys… Of course that they’d lose all concept of time, forget to sleep and end up collapsing.

What had Rhodey expected?

Still… it’s strangely cute, he’s actually hesitating to wake them up. 

Xanxus is on his back, legs slightly parted and one arm perpendicular to him, hand loosely holding some stained cloth. Probably for cleaning purposes at some point, given the smudged oil all over his cheeks. His face is slack, mouth wide open as he sleeps.

The other arm is holding his sister to him. Toni is plastered to his side, face on his shoulder with her long hair held on a bun via drawing pens and some sort of thin metal stick Rhodey can vaguely recall having seen somewhere. 

She’s cuddling what looks like a robot cat, of a decent size too. Toni’s curled around it, the glow of the now permanent arc reactor dancing over the thing as the reactor shifts with her breath. Rhodey hates the damn thing but he’s glad that he’s able to see it. For what it means, if nothing else. 

None of that changes the fact that these two organized a meeting with the rest of the Varia. Today. At this very moment. 5 minutes ago, actually. If it were about anything else, Rhodey would probably let them sleep. But it’s about the new security measures and Rhodey knows Toni.

Which means that this place is now more secure than the Pentagon and Xanxus’ officers need to know how not to blow themselves up. So Rhodey has to wake these two up. That said, nobody is stopping him from collecting blackmail. “FRIDAY, you took pictures, right?”

“Of course,” she answers, smug. “Already in your phone, colonel man.”

“Good girl,” Rhodey prizes her and then gestures to the robot. “Do you have any idea of what that is supposed to be?”

“It’s an A.I.,”  FRIDAY’s voice gives the impression of a shrug. “Beyond that, I’m not sure. They started communicating with hand gestures and grunts halfway through. It’s heavily weaponized, though.”

Of course it is. They’re Starks, their gut reaction at seeing anything go boom is “ok, but can I make the boom bigger?”  The answer to that, Rhodey has learned, is usually ‘yes’. 

(Tsuna I)

This, he thinks despairingly and with a certain level of raising panic inside of him, seemed like such a good idea at the time. It really, honestly, did. He’s not sure now, maybe he should start begging for his life immediately. He, Tsuna supposes with an internal shriek, had a good life while it lasted. A little on the crazy side by the end but still good.

“So let me get this straight, Courage,” Xanxus’s older sister declares low and hissed, “you have a personal Katz by the name of Timoteo, Xanxus’s so-called father. Who already froze him once . And now the voice inside your head is claiming we should be careful because he might get it in his head to do it again .”

No, Tsuna understands suddenly, the extra sense on the back of his skull stilling with realization, Tsuna isn’t about to die. But Timoteo might wish that he did. 

“Mr Sawada,” the professional-looking blond calls for his attention, eyeing him up like he’s being sized, “are you being coerced?”

Tsuna hadn’t thought Xanxus’s sister could get any stiller but it feels like she’s barely breathing. They make a striking contrast, Tsuna supposes, and he’s no longer sure whether his heartbeat is so quick out of fear only. Virginia Potts, white suit, high heels, long hair held up by a ponytail and perfectly manicured nails. She looks impeccable. And Toni Stark, in torn blue jeans and a band t-shirt stained with oil, long black hair messily pushed out of her face in a bun.

They look like two women who should have nothing in common. Except that at the moment, they both look sharp enough to cut. Xanxus, Tsuna cries mentally, is going to geld him. Because Tsuna is starting to suspect that he now has a crush, the size of a mountain, and he’s helpless to stop it. For a moment, he wishes he still was enamoured with Kyoko. 

“Mr Sawada?” Potts presses, gently but firmly.

“I don’t want to be a mafia boss,” Tsuna blurts out and he can’t help the way he crings, waiting for Reborn to ambush him from somewhere but he doesn’t. “I want to take Vongola back to their vigilante roots.”

And Toni Stark smiles .

Oh no, Tsuna mourns, why him? Xanxus will cut him up in tiny little pieces.