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It started out so subtly that you didn’t think much about it: a missed text here, an unanswered phone call there. Tony Stark was and always had been a busy man. Between his saving the earth from intergalactic threats and his various celebrity antics, you couldn’t expect him to be at your beck and call no matter what the definition of your relationship. You doubted that sleeping with him would suddenly transform him into the kind of guy who wanted to spend every waking moment with his girlfriend. But the cold shoulder didn’t end with lengthy pauses in your electronic communications.
“Hey, Tony!”
He started at the sound of your voice, an action that looked even more ridiculous coming from a man dressed neck to foot in armor. To his credit, he did not blast off into the sky at your approach. Less to his credit, he didn’t sound enthused when he greeted you.
“You want to go get lunch after you clean up?” you asked him.
“You know, thanks for the invite, [Name], but Steve and I already have plans.”
You wouldn’t have believed him if he hadn’t walked off with Steve that very moment. Plans? With Steve? That Tony preferred to plans with you?
But you did your best to shake it off. One thing you knew about Tony long before you started dating? He was moody. You also knew he didn’t like to be pressured into explaining his reasons for a mood. Maybe he had arc reactor trouble, or someone had notified him about Hammer’s probation. The best way to really get Tony mad at you would be to throw a fit over being ignored.
So you kept trying: Dinner? Drinks? A walk in the park? Every few days, you’d call with an offer of something, and every few days Tony would give you some strange excuse for not being able to go.
“Sorry. Promised Barton we’d talk about the tower’s duct system tonight.”
“Bruce is going through a very critical period, emotionally speaking. He needs me.”
“Natasha insists that I get some training done this evening.”
“Look, Thor asked for a babysitter for his kid brother this evening, and I volunteered.”
Okay, you had to call bullshit on that last one. Tony still had nightmares about Loki’s attack on the city. The call ended before you could say as much, though. That was Tony’s big mistake. You hung up your phone with fire in your veins and a vague plan in mind.
Unfortunately, given all the traffic between your home and Tony’s, your plan hadn’t gotten more defined by the time you arrived at Avenger’s Tower. When you hopped out of your taxicab, you knew only one thing: Tony would own up to lying to you for the past two weeks.
“Miss [L Name],” JARVIS greeted you the second you stepped inside the building. “To what do we owe—”
“Do me a favor, JAR. Don’t tell Tony I’m here,” you interrupted.
He made no reply. You had no way of knowing if he’d do as you asked or if Tony already had you on camera. The longer the endless elevator ride went on, the more time he had to prepare, and that was the last thing you wanted.
“Anthony Stark!” you shouted, bursting your way into his top-floor living quarters.
Clearly, JARVIS hadn’t warned Tony of your impending arrival. Good. This gave you the satisfaction of seeing him jump about a foot off his chair and scatter delicate silver instruments across the surface of his desk when you showed up. He didn’t quite manage to sound casual when he said, “[Name]? What are you doing here?”
“Oh, nothing important.” You bristled in front of him. “Just thought I’d pop by and break up with you.”
All the color drained from Tony’s face. “What? Why are you breaking up with me? We haven’t spent any time together in two weeks!”
"Yeah, genius. That’s why! You obviously want to break up with me, so I’m beating you to the punch.”
“Since when did I want to break up with you?”
“Since you started making up excuses to avoid me!”
The shock of your sudden appearance in his living room seemed to have worn off by then. Usual color returned, Tony carefully set aside the arc reactor in his hand, then crossed his arms over his chest to shoot you an appraising look. “Name one time I made up an excuse to avoid you.”
“Hm. Let’s see.” You tapped your chin with one finger and rolled your eyes up to the ceiling. “Bailing on me to go hang out with Steve.”
“He didn’t want to go see Peggy for the first time alone,” Tony said at once.
You glared at him. “Bruce being emotionally unstable.”
“Ross was in town looking for him.”
“Clint and duct system!”
With each suggestion, your voice rose in pitch. By the third, you were practically screeching. Tony was not so quick with an answer this time. You gazed down at him in triumph. Then he stood up, walked around his desk, and took both your hands in his.
“We were discussing enlarging them for him. You can check on all of these. They’ll be on some record somewhere.” Before your indignant swelling could burst into a demand to know how he explained training with Natasha, he went on, “But you are right about one thing. I have been avoiding you.”
Even though you knew that to be the case, his admission caused ice to slide down your spine.
“Not,” he added hastily, “because I want to break up with you. It’s because I need to tell you something that’s hard for me to say.”
You braced yourself for the worst—though what could be worse than Tony breaking up with you, you didn’t know. Did he want to set up a ménage à trois with you, himself, and Pepper? Had Steve confessed to him his undying love? Was Tony’s arc reactor acting up again so badly it would kill him?
Instead, he said the very last thing you expected: “I love you.”
“You—”
“Love you,” Tony said into your bug-eyed gaping. “Yeah. Which is kind of a new experience for me, all things considered, so you’ll have to forgive me for having a bit of a freak out once I realized. Or, you know, you could do what you came here to do and break up with me.”
He knew he’d stopped your anger in its tracks; you could tell by the smirk on his face. Somehow, despite your ill intentions, he’d managed to both surprise and please you.
“Shut up,” you managed to croak, just before you leaned forward and kissed him on the lips.
Sure, it would have been easier for him to just tell you he loved you or ask you for some space. Lucky for him, his kissing quite nearly blotted out any doubts you had from your mind.
“Wait,” you said, pulling away a few minutes later. “If you’ve always been telling me the truth about what you were doing, where’s the villain you’re supposedly babysitting?”
Tony’s smirk grew about a mile. Your gaze followed the pointed look he shot the armchair in the sitting area a few feet away. There sat a very unhappy Loki, his wrists and ankles handcuffed in front of him and a look of utmost disgust upon his face.
“Oh, don’t mind me,” he sneered. “I’m just getting an up close and personal look at the mating habits of Midgardians.”
Turning back to Tony, you found him grinning from ear to ear. God, you loved that grin. And if it punished the guy who hurt the man you loved…Smiling yourself, you put your hand behind Tony’s head and pulled him in for another long kiss. Secrets be damned, this one was too good to heckle him for keeping it so long.