Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Jeremy groaned, sitting up and cracking his joints. It had been a strange night, he maybe got an hour of sleep in his bed before getting up to work. He didn’t like sleeping, he liked being productive. That usually meant he would work until he just…passed out. It was a system that he actually enjoyed.

“I need coffee,” Jeremy muttered, getting up from his seat. He made his way over to the coffee pot, finding that it was already brewing. “Thank you buddy.”

“You’re welcome, Sir,” Squip beeped. “As a reminder, your parents will be here within the hour.”

Jeremy paused his movement, his hand halfway reached for a mug, “Excuse me?”

“Last week you agreed to have them over. They hired you a bodyguard.”

Jeremy wrinkled his nose, “I don’t remember agreeing to that.”

“You had been drinking at the time, the board of directors quarterly dinner was as you said, “Boring as fuck” and chose to find a way to enjoy yourself.”

“Can I cancel?”

“The work contract has been signed, you at least have to deal with your new housemate for three months. Given the events of last month I feel it would be best to go along with things.”

Jeremy rolled his eyes, pouring himself a mug of coffee, “It’s my own fault for setting down my drink. Besides, nothing actually happened to me.”

“Your parents are still coming, and the bodyguard will still be arriving today. If you want to prove your parents wrong perhaps a shower and change of clothes will help.”

Jeremy groaned, chugging the mug in his hand. He needed to wake up pronto. He poured himself a second mug and downed it while walking upstairs to his room, changing into clean clothes while he was at it. The water and caffeine helped him wake up, and Jeremy was able to sip at his third mug of coffee while waiting the final few minutes for his parents to arrive. He looked as well put together as any other normal person, but his parents would probably know better.

“Mrs. Jennifer and Mr. James have arrived at the gate, Sir.”

Jeremy took a deep breath, “Let them in.”

He didn’t go to the door to greet his parents, he never did. Jeremy sat on his couch, scrolling through designs on his phone. He had several saved, and usually pulled them out when he wanted something from his parents. If he needed them to back off or just wanted them to pretend that they were proud he would make one of the designs and present it at a board meeting. The board loved him despite his scandalous streak. How could they not? He was their perfect little poster boy most of the time. Jeremy was charming, he was smart, they needed him to keep their deep pockets full. No weapon design would make his parents change their mind on this though.

“Good morning Jeremiah,” Jennifer walked in, seating herself next to him. She forced him to look at her, searching his face for something.

“Hello,” Jeremy responded, continuing to swipe through ideas.

“Hey Jeremy,” James walked by the back of the couch and tousled his hair. Anyone else would get chewed out for it, but Jeremy allowed the action when it came from his father.

“Hi Dad,” Jeremy sighed, turning to look at his father. “Coffee is in the kitchen.”

James smiled at him, taking Jeremy’s mug to refill it before vanishing into the kitchen. He returned Jeremy’s mug to his hands and also had one for himself.

“You need to tell me where you get your coffee,” James hummed, sipping at his mug.

“If I do that I can’t use it as a gift every birthday and Father’s Day,” Jeremy teased, clicking off his phone.

“Darling,” Jennifer cut their banter short. “Your new bodyguard is named Michael, he’s a very accomplished young man and appears to be very kind.”

“You do realize how stupid it was hiring someone, right?” Jeremy glared at his mother. “You’re just risking someone finding out company secrets, and what if this guy is an obsessed crazy? What if he murders me in my sleep?”

“Michael is trustworthy,” James assured. “And if there are any issues we will take care of it. He’s going to protect you, if he steps out of line we will just find someone else.”

“Sir, a Mr. Mell is at the gate,” Squip beeped, ending their conversation.

“Oh, the computer is still here,” Jennifer mused, glancing at the speakers in the ceiling.

Jeremy rolled his eyes, “Let him in.”

Jennifer continued to babble about how he needed a bodyguard. Jeremy just blocked her out, not wanting to listen to her rambling. He was already being forced into the situation, he didn’t want to discuss it further. Jeremy stared into his coffee, itching to get back to work.

“Oh, Jeremiah!” Jennifer called his attention back to the conversation. “This is Michael.”

Jeremy flitted his eyes over to meet Michael’s. His parents hadn’t been kidding when they said he was young. Michael looked to be about his age. He eyed up his new housemate before turning back to his mother, “I don’t need a babysitter.”

“It’s not a babysitter,” James stated, giving him a warning look. He was an adult. Why did he let them get away with this shit? “Michael is here to protect you, nothing more.”

There really was no stopping this, “Fine, we can try it.” He stood from the couch, gripping his mug in one hand and his phone in the other, “I’m going back to work now.”

Jeremy made himself scarce, his parents could deal with the babysitter. He went back to work, finishing up coding the computer system for a missile line his mom would be releasing soon. It was kind of funny, his mother was arguably better talented than him, but she still asked Jeremy to do all the coding for her. Jeremy was good at computers and robots, he had made Squip after all. He sent off the code for her to review, knowing she would probably not respond unless she found an issue–which she wouldn’t.

“Lock the door, buddy,” Jeremy muttered, glancing around the workshop. “I don’t trust our new guest to not go snooping at my work.

“Are there any other rooms you would like off limits?”

“My room, anything else is fine,” Jeremy answered, walking across the room to his shelves. His diploma sat on the shelf, along with all of the robots he had built for fun while in college. They had been practice for making Squip. The small devices were physical signs of his growth. One of the last devices actually was a complete fail. Jeremy picked up the old reactor, staring into the device. It had been meant to create green energy, Jeremy had dabbled in finding ways to make Heere Industries have a better eco footprint. The reactor had ended up being unstable, nearly blowing up in his face. The core had been the root of the problem, but Jeremy had never bothered to figure out what exactly had gone wrong. By the time that had happened he had finished Squip, and that became his top priority.

“Q, do I still have files on my arc reactor project?” Jeremy asked, flipping the device around in his hand.

“Yes, Sir,” Squip beeped, pulling up the files on his computer.

Jeremy scrolled through, checking over the blueprints he had drawn up years ago. The device was way too metal heavy, conducting inside was another problem his young brain had missed. Jeremy opened a new file, changing the original design to have less conductive metal near the core. He spent a long time trying to figure out what had gone wrong in the core of the device. The sky grew dark as he pondered it further, considering different ideas.

“Q…palladium,” Jeremy hummed, blinking away from his screen for the first time in hours. “Run a simulation with a palladium core.”

The simulation popped up on the screen, Jeremy watching as all levels stayed stable. It would work. The new design would work with a new core. At least he would have a new project to keep himself busy while his new babysitter was around.

☼

Michael followed Jeremy around the gala like instructed. It hadn’t been all that long, but Jeremy seemed to completely detest him. He was rude at every opportunity. Michael had only ever tried to be kind. There was a nice person in there, Michael knew it. The morning they had breakfast together was proof of it. Jeremy clearly hadn’t wanted Michael to be around, so he could understand his frustration a bit. Still, he didn’t have to be an asshole about Michael doing his job.

Jeremy was currently flying around the room with a girl, Michael humming quietly as music played. He liked dancing, his mother had taught him at a young age. If he couldn’t enjoy the dancing he could at least find joy in the music. Jeremy eventually walked the girl over to the bar, soon leaving her with another young woman and walking up to him. There was something in his expression, a sense of anger maybe. Why was Jeremy mad at him? He hadn’t done a thing!

“Dance w–”

“Jeremiah!” Jennifer walked over with James. “Michael, you look stunning, go find a dance partner! We can watch Jeremy for a few minutes.”

“Fuck you,” Jeremy muttered.

Michael took his leave anyway, Jeremy was upset over something and he didn’t want to be a part of it. Jennifer and James had raised him, they could handle Jeremy better than he could. Michael glanced around the room, not finding any guys who gave Michael the vibe that they would dance with him. The room was very heterosexual.

“Excuse me, you’re Michael Mell, right?”

Michael whipped his head over, finding a young woman standing next to him. Her dress was beautiful, Brooke would have been foaming at the mouth if she saw it. Purple was absolutely this woman’s color.

“Uh, yeah, I am,” Michael nodded, smiling at her. “And you?”

The young woman stuck out a hand for him to shake, “I’m Chloe Valentine. I’m James’s right hand woman, we balance out Jennifer and Jeremy. James has been talking you up nonstop since you were interviewed, it’s nice to meet you.”

Michael felt a bit proud, having one of the most influential men in the country speak highly of him meant the world, “And you as well, Chloe. Would you like to dance?”

Chloe let out a nervous laugh, “I…I don’t, uh…”

“I’m gay, if you’re worried about flirting,” Michael added. “I just like dancing and everyone here is way too important for me to approach.”

Chloe nodded her head, “Then yes, I would love to dance.”

Michael led them out on the dance floor, Chloe utterly flying around. Her dress was gorgeous, flowing out in the skirt as Michael spun her around. He couldn’t help but grin at her, dipping Chloe without warning.

“You’re strong!” Chloe yelped, a nervous smile tugging at her face.

Michael grinned back, “I get that a lot. You’ll have to let me know who designed your dress, my best friend back in Jersey would be losing it right now.”

“Oh, my parents gifted it to me,” Chloe hummed, her hand wrapped in his as they waltzed around the room. “Brooke Lohst I think, she’s fairly new but her work is all amazing.”

Michael couldn’t help but beam, “Uh, Brooke Lohst may or may not be the friend I was just talking about. That explains why I thought she would love it, she designed it.”

“No way! I’m glad I wore this dress! You’ll have to send her my compliments, or if you ever end up in New York for a meeting with us perhaps I could thank her myself?”

“She would love that,” Michael chuckled.

When the music drifted out Michael escorted Chloe over to Jennifer and James, the two greeting her warmly. Jeremy looked just as upset, a champagne flute in his hand as he stood at the bar. Michael walked over as well, ordering water. He didn’t drink as it was, and he was working so it was definitely out of the question.

“I’m ready to leave,” Jeremy stated, downing his drink and setting the glass down.

Michael followed, Jeremy leading them out to the car. He was silent the entire drive back to the house, Jeremy vanishing down to his workshop once they were inside. Michael shrugged it off, making his way into the kitchen. He undid his tie and started cooking, figuring that if he left food for Jeremy outside the workshop he would at least eat. He didn’t want to get fired for letting Jeremy starve himself, and he had never seen the other man even touch a pot of water. He made one of his mother’s pasta dishes, leaving a plate outside the workshop and putting away the leftovers. Michael turned in for the night, sending Brooke a quick text about who he had met and sending his moms a photo of the suit to their family group chat. It was way too late for them to be awake, but they would see it in the morning and probably tell him how nice he looked. They were still riding the pride around his new job, him actually dressing up would only fuel the fire.

He had high hopes, sure Jeremy was a bit uptight–but they didn’t need to be best friends. He wanted the job to work out, he wanted to move on from his previous career. This was his chance to leave his past behind.

Chapter Text

“Jeremy?”

He sat up in his seat, hurrying over to the door. He had dozed off. Unfortunately he wasn’t fast enough and Michael was able to slip inside before Jeremy could shut him out.

“Get out!” Jeremy pointed to the door. “You aren’t welcome in here.”

Michael held up his hands in surrender, “Jeremy, I just wanted to know if you were hungry. You’ve been in here for days—”

“I’m not hungry, and I’m not asking you again. Get out of my workshop!”

There was a flash of frustration in Michael’s expression for a split second. The look was enough to scare Jeremy silent, Michael had never appeared angry like that before. But the second passed and Michael reverted back to his usually calm self. His babysitter silently left the room, annoying Jeremy by not closing the door behind him. Jeremy slammed it shut, muttering under his breath.

The vibration from slamming the door caused a few notebooks to fall from the shelf. Jeremy let out a big sigh and trudged over to pick them up, finding his old college notes to be what fell. He wasn’t sure why he had even kept them. He flipped through one, just to see if there had been something he had missed.

There didn’t appear to be anything substantial. Just random notes that clearly didn’t have any thought put into them. Jeremy started to close the book when something else caught his eye. In the corner of the page there was a doodle Jeremy had made. His childhood dream of making a flying armor. Jeremy hadn’t thought of the idea in years, he had been busy working for his parents. He was smarter now, though. Why not go for it, fuck around and find out what was really possible?

Jeremy started with research, armor was typically metal, he needed to choose the right one. Something lightweight to help create lift. Steel seemed like an obvious choice, but if there were to be a crash steel wouldn’t protect him very well. Maybe that experimental metal his father had gifted him? The shit was strong, but it didn’t really follow the laws of physics. Eventually Jeremy decided on a titanium alloy and went to work designing.

It was fairly late when Jeremy finally emerged. Michael was still awake, silently watching a movie. Jeremy ignored him as best as he could and made his way to the kitchen. Michael had clearly left him food to eat, but he was still upset so Jeremy grabbed a pot. He would just cook for himself.

Jeremy set the pot to boil, cranking the heat to the max on the burner. While waiting Jeremy started searching his cabinets for a pasta to boil, finding he actually had food in them for once. That had to be Michael’s doing, Jeremy couldn’t remember the last time he had ordered groceries.

“Jeremy!”

Jeremy whipped around, finding his pot had gone up in flames. How did this always happen to him?!

“Q!” Jeremy yelped, staring at the flames.

Squip had the ceiling sprinkler deploy, putting out the fire in seconds. His counters were a little wet, but the house was safe. Michael turned off the burner, staring at Jeremy with wide eyes.

“How did you manage to set water on fire?!” Michael snapped.

Jeremy shrugged, “Destruction just happens sometimes.”

“This has happened before?!”

“Sir has caused twenty fires in the past six months from cooking alone,” Squip spoke up.

“That’s nearly one a week! What else caused fires?!” Michael looked terrified.

“Michael…I make explosives for a living.”

Michael rubbed at his temples, “Yeah, you aren’t allowed to cook anymore.”

Jeremy blanched, “I’m sorry, what? This is my house, sweetheart. I do what I want.”

“So keep setting your house on fire,” Michael shrugged. “I can cook without causing disasters, let me know when you’re ready to grow up.”

Michael walked away, leaving Jeremy alone in the kitchen with his failed pot of water. Jeremy muttered to himself, cleaning up the mess he had made. He always forgot about his cooking curse until it was too late. Once everything was dry again Jeremy caved and ate the leftovers Michael had left. Although he wasn’t happy about it.

“Q, can you donate ten grand to the local food banks?”

“Each?”

“Yeah,” Jeremy grumbled, stabbing his food. “It’ll make me feel better.”

“The payments will be processed in the morning and I have notified your accountant.”

“Thanks buddy.”

Jeremy tried going to sleep after cleaning up, but his mind was too active to actually get to sleep. He just sat on his bed and stared at the blank walls, his mind kept drifting between his two arguments with Michael and his discovery with his old armor doodles. After about an hour Jeremy pulled himself out of bed, heading back down to the workshop to at least be productive.

“Q, could I run the armor on the reactors? So I never have to charge anything?”

“Yes it could. That could even help simplify wiring and create less weight than a chargeable component.”

“Awesome,” Jeremy chuckled, pulling up his designs. “Let’s add that in there.”

He messed around until he found a place for the reactor to go, and it ended up being in the middle of the chest. He instinctively reached for a coffee mug, but his fingers couldn’t find one. Jeremy furrowed his brow, glancing around the room. Where had he put his coffee mug? Had he brought it upstairs? He didn’t remember doing that, but maybe he had.

Jeremy got up, making his way back to the darkened kitchen. His mug had been placed next to the fridge at some point, though Jeremy had no recollection of placing it there. Either way Jeremy picked up the mug and moved to sit on the counter. From his position he could perfectly see the rocky shore outside the far window. Jeremy sat watching the waves crash in the moonlight while sipping at his coffee. Hot or cold, Jeremy would drink it anyway.

He wasn’t sure how long he sat there. At some point his coffee mug had been emptied so he made a new pot. At least he could make coffee without setting anything on fire, although technically Squip was the one turning on the coffee pot half the time. It was a shared responsibility and Jeremy had yet to cause a problem with it.

Jeremy heard a commotion, finding Michael stumbling into the room soon after. He appeared to be almost hyperventilating and his expression seemed scared. Something was clearly wrong.

“Lovely weather we’re having,” Jeremy spoke up, swinging his legs.

Michael must not have noticed him, as he flinched. Jeremy just waved his fingers, trying to keep casual despite his curiosity.

“Why the fuck are you on the counter?!” Michael wheezed, falling back into a chair at the table. “Oh my god!”

Jeremy merely shrugged, sipping at his mug, “Are you okay?”

Michael was actually shaking, but he gave a quick nod before lowering his head into his hands. Jeremy reached over and turned up the lights a bit, finding that his babysitter had a tattoo on his left arm. He hadn’t ever noticed it before. Other than being shocked by how…nice Michael looked in his suit at the gala he hadn’t ever bothered paying attention to how he looked.

“What’s wrong?”

Michael looked up towards the ceiling, “Night terrors.”

Jeremy pressed his lips into a line, unsure of what to do. Michael was annoying to him, he didn’t want to be nice. But something inside his darkened soul said to at least attempt, so he did.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

Michael narrowed his eyes, the scary expression returning to his face, “A bomb with your company logo blew up in my face. I nearly died.”

Hold on, what?

“My parents mentioned you were in the service, why would someone be so careless with weapons like that?”

“It’s not carelessness, it was an attack,” Michael stated. “We did inventory checks, nothing was out of place on our end. Someone has the weapons that they shouldn’t. And I’m lucky to be alive.”

Jeremy was silent, Michael’s words were scarier than his frustration. He’d never caught word of weapons being misplaced before. His family was so…distinguished. His name was one of importance, if the weapons his family made were being misplaced…that was bad.

“I…I’m glad you’re okay,” Jeremy said, filing away his new problem to look at later.

Michael rolled his eyes, like he didn’t believe him. Which…yeah Jeremy hasn’t given any notion that Michael existing was something he enjoyed. But Jeremy didn’t dislike Michael. Michael was stubborn, sure. But he was also kind, and talented, and attractive, and strong. He had seen Chloe and him dancing at the gala, he had nearly picked her up off the floor without even a sense of strain.

“Seriously,” Jeremy got up from his spot and walked over. “If you weren’t here I would have started so many more fires.”

Michael snorted, wiping away tears that had gathered in his eyes, “Thank you, Jeremy.”

Jeremy shrugged, “Not a problem. And I’ll look into that whole weapons thing, anything being misplaced is unacceptable and I won’t stand for it.”

Michael actually smiled at him, small but genuine, “I appreciate it.”

They fell quiet again, Michael was clearly doing better than when he had walked in. Jeremy didn’t know what to say, so he went back to the counter and continued to sip at his coffee.

“Are you seriously drinking coffee at three in the morning?” Michael chuckled.

Jeremy shrugged, “Yeah.”

Michael sighed, “You’re insane. Uh, can I ask you a favor?”

Jeremy nodded, setting his mug down again so he could pay better attention.

“So, um…I have two moms,” Michael explained. “And they started this tradition years ago where our family and friends go to pride. I wasn’t able to go last year because I was deployed, but I was hoping to fly them out this year so we could find an event here. Would…would you be willing to just…stay home while I’m visiting with them? I would appreciate it.”

Jeremy already knew all about Michael and his moms. His parents hadn’t told him much about Michael, so he had done his own research. Michael also had a girlfriend back home. Michael didn’t post that much, but the girl did. There were years worth of photos of the two of them on her page.

“Yeah, sure,” Jeremy hummed. He would be busy building his armor as it was, with Michael gone there would be less questioning about his hours. “Just let me know when they’ll be around and I’ll make sure to cancel my lunch date with Taylor Swift.”

“You know Taylor Swift!?”

Jeremy wheezed out a laugh, “No. I think she follows my social media, but no. I’ll just hang around the house, I’ve got work anyway.”

Michael nodded, getting up from his chair, “Thank you Jeremy. I’m going back to bed, and you probably should too.” Michael eyed the coffee cup, “And maybe drink some water. Caffeine is bad for your kidneys.”

Jeremy only hummed, watching Michael walk away. Once he was gone Jeremy grabbed his mug and went back down to his workshop. He turned up the lights and started blasting music.

“Alright Q,” Jeremy hummed, cracking the joints in his fingers. “Let’s get to researching our new possible weapons problem. And when Michael’s family book their hotel rooms find a way for me to pay for it, the guy probably hasn’t seen them in months.”

“Of course, Sir.”

☼

“So,” Jake smirked, knocking an elbow against him. “The personal bodyguard of Jeremy Heere. That sounds like one of your childhood fantasies, dude.”

“Fuck off,” Michael grumbled, holding out a hand so Brooke could paint his nails. “I’ve been over him for years. Besides, he can hardly stand me. He nearly threw a wrench at me the other day because I poked my head in his workshop. Other than watching him get shitfaced in clubs he’s pretty quiet. He’s either working nonstop or out drinking, I’m not even sure if he sleeps.”

“Has he mentioned anything about his future plans for the company?” Rich asked, wiggling his way to Jake’s side.

Michael shook his head, “No, not really. I…I brought up the whole…” Michael tapped his chest with his free hand. “Weapons thing. He said he’d look into it, and seemed pretty pissed that it happened. Unaware that anything was wrong.”

“Well if he’s either drunk or high on caffeine it makes sense,” Maria hummed, walking over to kiss the side of his head. “He’s a brilliant young man, but even smart men can be stupid.”

“I still can’t believe his assistant wore my designs,” Brooke was beaming as she spoke. She switched hands, Michael keeping the first one still while it dried. “Or that Mikey willingly danced with a girl.”

“It’s not like any gay guys were roaming around in the room full of rich and powerful people,” Michael grumbled. “None that I would ever have the nerve to talk to anyway. Chloe is nice, and I’m pretty sure she gets hit on a lot because she looked relieved when I told her that I’m gay.”

“It’s official,” Rich groaned, looking between Brooke and Jake. “Michael gets more women than either of us and he doesn’t even like women.”

Jake scrunched his nose, “Rich, we’ve been dating for eight years.”

“And I would still make out with Brooke if she liked guys,” Rich shrugged.

Brooke finished his nails and moved to do his makeup. Michael wasn’t the biggest fan of makeup, but he loved Brooke and would do anything for her.

“We’re married, I think we win that stupid contest,” Darcy chuckled, pulling Maria into her arms. “That suit looked beautiful on you Michael, I can’t believe you got better dressed up for a party you didn’t want to go to than your own prom.”

Yeah he figured they would say that. Darcy was especially prideful.

“Jeremy doesn’t dislike you, dear,” Maria added, looking at Michael. “The boy paid for our rooms.”

Michael whipped his head over, “What?”

Maria nodded, “Apparently it was paid for by him, we were never charged.”

Michael was surprised, other than the night in the kitchen Jeremy had been nothing but a bitch. How had he even figured out when his parents had booked the rooms? Actually, Jeremy had Squip…anything was possible. Still, he would have to bring it up at some point. At least thank Jeremy for his kindness.

Michael partied his heart out all night. He danced with his moms, sang along to the music playing with Brooke, and helped Jake keep Rich from acting too crazy. Rich was maybe two steps away from becoming a pyromaniac, he needed to be kept on a short leash when drinking.

“Throwing empty bottles in the fire,” Rich was loudly—and very much off key—singing along to the current song. Michael was bopping along next to them, Jake just staring at his boyfriend with a dumbfounded awe. “Whiskey’s got us singing like—”

While singing Rich made a move to slap Jake’s ass, something Jake hated but tolerated for Rich’s sake. However, something made Rich stop singing. He kept one hand over Jake’s back pocket, his eyebrows raised.

“Jacob Dillinger,” Rich narrowed his eyes a bit, patting the pocket he was covering. “What is in your pocket?”

Michael stopped his tired excuse of dancing when Jake actually blushed. Jake Dillinger didn’t blush. The last time Michael had seen him blush was the day he asked Rich out.

“I uh…nothing?” Jake offered up, staring down at Rich.

Rich moved fast, digging in Jake’s pocket before he could react or try to stop him. Michael couldn’t help but beam when Rich revealed a ring had been inside the pocket.

“Jacob Dillinger, were you going to ask me something?” Rich was being an asshole and he knew it.

Jake shrugged, “I was thinking about it.”

Rich handed the ring back to him, rocking on his heels, “Well, ask me.”

Michael beckoned Brooke over, his moms were too engrossed in the actual street party to be paying attention. Brooke caught on fast, letting out a squeal as she burrowed into Michael’s side.

“I uh,” Jake smiled, his voice going soft. “Richard Goranski, I love you with all of my heart. Will you marry me?”

Rich grinned, “Like high school lovebirds! Gonna have a blast, make it last forever!” He held out his hand. “Fucking obviously! Yes!”

Michael and Brooke cheered, Jake slipping the ring on Rich’s hand and pulling him into a kiss. Michael chose to pull Brooke away, letting the two just enjoy each other alone for a while. Brooke took some more photos, Michael allowing her to repeat her yearly tradition of insisting on a selfie where she kisses his cheek. When Brooke’s feet started to hurt from all her dancing Michael carried her around on his back, not feeling exhausted in the slightest. Maybe missing out last year had been worth it, he got to see two of his favorite people get engaged after all.

Michael didn’t get back to the house until late. Maria begged him to just stay at the hotel for the night, but Michael felt the need to at least make sure Jeremy was breathing. Or drinking water once a day. Either one would be a reasonable concern. He ended up not even bothering to shower when he got back, he just confirmed that Jeremy was fine via Squip and crashed into bed.

Come morning he was ready to keep moving. His family was only going to be around for a few days and he was going to make the most of it. Michael decided to make breakfast first, figuring he could at least leave food for Jeremy and just hope he would eat something. Michael pulled his headphones on and played the music as loud as his ears could handle, humming to himself while he cooked.

“Fun night?”

Michael looked up from the stove and spotted Jeremy leaning against the far wall. He pulled down his headphones to rest around his neck, “Yeah! I’m sure I look like shit, but it was awesome last night. Two of my best friends got engaged! And I got to see my moms and Brooke, I didn’t realize how much I missed them. We definitely made up for missing last year.”

Jeremy twitched, sipping from the mug in his hands, “Good. Don’t get glitter on my furniture.”

Jeremy vanished, leaving Michael confused. Why did he act like that? He had said good, but it sounded more like drop dead. Jeremy was a complete enigma, Michael couldn’t figure him out.

After eating Michael took a shower and changed into clean clothes, finding his old glasses resting on the vanity. He picked them up, eyeing the frames with a nostalgic sense. He didn’t need glasses anymore, he had perfect eyesight now thanks to…yeah. He still didn’t want to think about it. After brief consideration Michael popped out the lenses before setting the frames over his nose. There, he looked like his old self and he could see. His family wouldn’t notice, Jake and Rich’s news would be too important for them to notice the lack of a glare over Michael’s eyes in the sun.

He had shopping plans with his moms, but stopped outside Jeremy’s workshop before heading out. He knocked on the door, not bothering to touch the handle. He didn’t want things thrown at him.

Jeremy poked his head out of the room a moment later, his breathing a bit ragged. What the hell was he working on?

“Just letting you know that I’m heading out for a while,” Michael shrugged, rocking on his heels. “And I left breakfast if you want to eat.”

“You look like a nerd,” Jeremy stated.

Michael sighed, offering a halfhearted shrug, “That’s a compliment, Jeremy. You better watch it, people might think you actually tolerate me.”

“Oh my god, fuck off,” Jeremy groaned. “I don’t hate you, Michael. Have fun with your moms and little girlfriend.”

Jeremy shut the door after that, Michael heading out towards the garage. That wasn’t quite how he would describe Brooke, but considering they used to pretend to date it wasn’t the worst thing in the world. Michael sighed happily, driving out to the hotel everyone was staying at. He was going to make the most of their visit, and no amount of changing attitude from Jeremy was going to stop him or ruin his good time.

Chapter Text

“Jeremiah, please,” Jennifer begged, following him down the hall. “You know that investors love you, darling.”

Jeremy turned and walked into his dad’s office. James seemed to get the picture, getting up from his desk to make Jennifer back off. While they talked Jeremy made his way over to the desk, inserting a thumb drive to his dad’s computer. He had designed a little export of Squip to search the files and copy things to Jeremy’s server. To play off his snooping he reached for the candy bowl that sat on the corner, digging around inside.

“Oh, those are all from New York,” James smiled at him. “One of our R&D interns recommended it when we stopped by last week.”

Jeremy smiled back, popping one of the candies into his mouth. His phone buzzed in his pocket when the drive was finished with the instructed task, Jeremy unplugging it and pocketing the little device.

“Darling, investors dinners are important,” Jennifer approached him again. “It’ll be a family dinner almost. Us, some investors, Chloe, and Michael.”

At the mention of his name Jeremy looked over to the doorway to the room. His babysitter was chatting with Chloe, not a care in the world. Jeremy sighed, running a hand through his hair.

“What’s in it for me?” Jeremy asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

“A strong future for the company you will be running one day,” Jennifer stated, her eyes narrowing. “I don’t ask much of you, Jeremiah.”

“If you go and behave we won’t ask you to speak at the expo come September,” James offered an actual deal. “I know that it’s boring, but these dinner parties are how we stay strong. We run a good company and the more personal we are with investors the better.”

Jeremy rolled his eyes, “Fine. I’ll go if there’s no expo expectations this year.”

James walked over and ruffled his hair, “I appreciate it. And I’ll make sure that the wine is actually good this time, you were right about that last one basically being sand.”

“Jennifer, I have the final list of candidates for the new project director of the software team,” Chloe walked in and handed Jennifer a clipboard. “Hi Jeremy.”

Jeremy offered a wave, finding his eyes drifting back over to Michael. He just stood near the door, not saying a word. It was kind of annoying, Michael never did anything wrong. He never spoke to anyone unless they approached him first, he was always alert, the worst thing Michael had done was go spend time with his family. No one could be mad at that, if his parents actually cared Jeremy would go visit them more often. Usually people did more than tolerate their parents. Jeremy was the odd one out.

Jeremy was quick to leave the office building, not wanting to hang around his family much longer. He had only gone there to break into his dad’s server. To see if anything was awry on the sales end of things before going after the engineers.

“Hey, uh, Jeremy?” Michael actually spoke to him, the two walking in time towards the car.

“Yeah?”

“Uh, thank you for paying for my friends and family to stay at the hotel. You didn’t have to do that.”

“It’s nothing.”

“Yeah, but—”

“Seriously, don’t mention it.”

Once back at the house Jeremy beelined to his workshop. He plopped down in his desk chair, turned on his computer, and went about searching for the files he had copied.

“Everything appears to be in order, Sir,” Squip beeped. “Sales match inventories.”

Jeremy sighed, “Double check it, just to be safe. And we should build a map of where weapons should be so we can get rid of the ones that are out of place. Where was Michael located when he served? We should probably start there.

“Mr. Mell’s military records are mostly classified, Sir,” Squip stated. “The only public information was his discharge and him being awarded a Purple Heart due to his injuries.”

“What?” Jeremy wrinkled his nose. “Michael isn’t special. Break in, what is he hiding?”

The screen changed to show the hidden documents. Jeremy scrolled through them, confusion clouding his brain. Michael had been in a hospital setting for the majority of his time serving, albeit they didn’t say if he was a patient or not. However, he did have an actual location for the last six months. Everything about his records was as bare bones as you could imagine. And it was kind of suspicious.

“Where is Michael?” Jeremy asked, saving a copy of Michael’s record just in case.

“Mr. Mell is currently in the gym.”

Squip pulled up the live camera feed, allowing Jeremy to look in on what Michael was doing. Nothing out of the ordinary, just stretching. At least the gym was actually getting used now, Jeremy wasn’t even sure why he had it. He was about as strong as cooked pasta.

“Sir, your map is complete,” Squip announced.

Jeremy snapped himself out of it, blinking away from the screen. That was not like him, he didn’t typically zone out unless he was about to fall asleep. And he was wide awake.

“That was creepy,” Jeremy muttered, closing the camera footage. He looked over the map, his excitement in this new secret project dying just a bit. There were a lot of places for weapons to be, and that meant more places for people to misplace things.

“Q, most of my designs are traceable,” Jeremy stated, his eyes drifting around the map. “Break into cameras or security systems, whatever you need to do, check for my designs specifically. Once I figure out how to track Jennifer’s designs we can go back for hers. Besides, my designs are arguably better made—if you’re going to have a Heere Industries weapon it would be best to have mine.”

“Of course, Sir,” Squip said, silently beginning his task. “Your render of the armor is complete.”

Jeremy couldn’t help but grin, switching gears as Squip pulled up the render for him to see. It looked awesome, and if it actually worked it would mean all the bruises he had taken from getting the flight component right would be worth it.

“All silver is a bit boring, no?” Jeremy hummed, getting up to grab a cup of coffee.

“How foolish of me, and I thought you wanted to keep a low profile.”

“Throw in some blue,” Jeremy sighed, watching the render change to fit his request.

“Of course. Very subtle.”

“Let’s make it,” Jeremy smirked, glancing over to the map. “We’ve got our work cut out for us.”

☼

Michael sighed, glancing out the window. Part of him wanted to go outside, maybe enjoy himself for an afternoon. But Jeremy had officially locked himself in his workshop for five days straight and Michael was beginning to actually worry. Plus with the investors dinner Michael had to make sure Jeremy actually made it to James and Jennifer’s house.

“Squip—”

“Sir is fine, Mr. Mell. I expect him to start getting ready in about an hour.”

Michael nodded to himself, walking back to his room. Jeremy was fine. Obviously he was fine. Squip wouldn’t let Jeremy get hurt.

Michael opened his closet, picking out the clothes James had sent him to wear for the dinner. Michael had made it clear that he was clueless on what to wear at most events, and his boss was helpful in explaining things and making sure Michael actually had what they were looking for. Tonight was more casual, button up shirt and dress pants. To kill time he scrolled through Instagram, finding Rich had gone a bit crazy and kept posting about his outings with Jake. All of the posts had (my fiancé) somewhere in the caption. It was cute, Michael was happy for them.

“Sir has left the workshop,” Squip announced.

Michael got up, hurrying to the living room. Jeremy was just trudging up the stairs, and he looked like hell. His eyes were tired, his hair was plastered in all different directions, it was a nightmare.

“What the fuck happened to you?” Michael asked. “You look like shit!”

Jeremy looked over, his eyes widening as he took in the situation. Jeremy bumped into the couch, shooting the furniture a dirty look for being in his way.

“Orgy in the workshop, too bad you weren’t invited,” Jeremy snapped, his eyes narrowing. “Now please excuse me, Mister Classified Military Documents, I have to go get ready for dinner.”

Michael moved fast, blocking Jeremy’s path, “What did you do? What do you know?”

Jeremy rolled his eyes, “I got curious, and I’m smart enough to hack files. Calm down, sweetheart.”

Michael glared, “Whatever you saw—whatever you think you know…forget it. I took this job to move on, don’t drag me back because you can't keep out of people’s business.”

“You don’t need to be such a little bitch about it,” Jeremy grumbled, walking around Michael to go to his room. “It’s not my fault my parents shoved you in my house without telling me anything.”

Michael took a calming breath as Jeremy vanished. Clearly he didn’t know anything substantial. If he did Michael probably would have been tied to a table to be prodded at by one of the smartest people in the world.

When Jeremy emerged it was like he was a different person. He still looked pretty pissed off, but he looked like a functioning human being. Jeremy was clearly dressed more casually than expected on purpose, a blazer and graphic tee instead of something like what Michael was wearing. Michael followed him out to the garage, getting into the passenger seat without complaint. Jeremy had made it clear fast that he didn’t want Michael driving him around. When they were out on the road Michael spoke up.

“What do you want to know?”

“Excuse me?” Jeremy looked over quickly.

“You’re right, we don’t know each other that well. What do you want to know about me?”

Jeremy kept his eyes on the road, “What’s the dumbest thing you’ve done to get someone to like you?”

Michael thought about it for a moment, “I joined the basketball team my sophomore year of high school. Rich, Brooke, and I thought Jake would be a good friend and I was the only one who was willing to actually reach out to him. I…I hate sports.”

Jeremy arched a brow at him, “Michael, no offense, but you’re a brick wall. My parents hired you for a reason.”

“Working out is different. Sports are dangerous, at least with casual working out you can pace yourself and keep safe.”

“How long have you and that blonde girl—Brooke? Uh, how long have you two been dating?”

Michael laughed, “What? Me and Brooke? No way! That will never ever happen! I didn’t realize you actually meant girlfriend before.”

“You aren’t dating?”

“No! Brooke is gay! All my friends are some flavor of not straight!”

Jeremy hummed, taking in the information. Michael couldn’t help but shake his head over the idea. He loved Brooke—loved her to pieces—but them dating was like a fantasy world, not possible.

“So you’re just the token straight?” Jeremy hummed.

Oh dear god he was clueless. Michael pulled his phone out, showing Jeremy his lock screen when they stopped at a light. It was a photo of him at his first pride parade after coming out. His moms had made a big deal of it, given him the honorary flag to wear on his shoulders for the day.

“We don’t have a token straight, Jeremy,” Michael said slowly, just in case he couldn’t understand.

“Oh.”

Jeremy sounded so genuinely surprised, Michael had to keep from laughing. He didn’t want to ruin a good interaction.

“Any other questions?”

Jeremy sighed, “Any hobbies? Besides working out.”

Michael nodded, “I like video games, I used to want to be a game designer but I’m not good at coding.”

Jeremy smiled, “Yeah, your tattoo didn’t give that away at all.”

“Leave Pac-Man alone!”

“Can’t believe my parents hired a nerd to protect me,” Jeremy chuckled, turning down a quiet road. “My dad adores you, it’s kind of creepy.”

“James is nice,” Michael shrugged. “He asked a lot of questions about what I liked and was interested in when I had my interview. Maybe he was looking for a nerd.”

“Yeah, maybe.”

James and Jennifer’s house was huge. And Michael had thought that Jeremy’s place was big. They walked in together, Michael finding the small group had already gathered. He hoped that they hadn’t been late.

“Jeremiah, darling!” Jennifer swooped in, taking Jeremy by the arm. “Let’s chat with our investors before dinner, darling.”

Michael followed from a distance, James pulled away from his conversation to greet him.

“How have things been going?” James asked, eyes curious. “Nothing too crazy?”

Michael smiled, “Jeremy keeps some odd hours in his workshop, but other than that it’s been pretty good.”

James nodded, “That…that’s good. He looks a bit tired, but I haven’t seen him that calm with Jennifer in a while. Usually there’s a look or some sort of comment from him. I have hope for this, Michael.”

“It’s been an honor, sir,” Michael assured. “I hope that I’m doing a good job.”

Soon dinner was underway, Michael seated between Chloe and Jeremy. He was introduced to the investors joining, but Michael didn’t bother remembering their names. He hadn’t ever been to a dinner party before, he faked his way through the etiquette of the ordeal, but he kept his mouth shut for a reason.

“Pardon me,” Jeremy mumbled, getting up from his seat. “Dad, the layout hasn’t changed, right?”

James nodded, “Just the color on the walls, Jeremy.”

Jeremy walked away, probably to use the bathroom. Jennifer continued to talk business with their investors, James adding comment when prompted. It was a lot like Michael’s interview, James was quiet while Jennifer took charge. Chloe also seemed content in staying quiet, smiling softly at her employers as they talked. It was…surprisingly nice.

And then it was ruined.

There was a large crash, Michael getting up to block Chloe from any possible harm since she was closest. A flying robot had crashed through the front windows, the blue light of the eyes looking at James and Jennifer.

“Take accountability for your company,” the robot spoke, flying above the table. “Your lack of care ends now.”

Jennifer was pale, terrified and clinging to James. The robot flew off, vanishing from view. There was another audible crash upstairs, James jumping to his feet.

“That was Jeremy’s room!”

Michael bolted, heading in the direction of the second crash. James followed, helping Michael around the house.

“Jeremy?!” James opened the door, revealing Jeremy on the ground, a bookshelf had fallen on top of him. Michael swooped in and picked it up without a second thought, pushing the furniture against the wall to keep out of the way.

“Are you okay?” Michael asked, helping pull Jeremy to his feet.

Jeremy nodded, brushing small pieces of glass from his hair, “Yeah, that was scary though.”

“Oh thank god!” James pulled Jeremy into his arms. “I was so scared!”

“I…I’m okay,” Jeremy awkwardly patted his father on the back, pulling out of the hug. “What now?”

James sighed, “I…I don’t know. I’ve never seen anything like that before. I doubt we can go to the police about it…let’s just go check on your mother. Chloe, everyone, make sure they’re okay.”

They walked back down together, Jennifer was talking to investors while Chloe typed away on her phone.

“I’ve already contacted contractors to come out and fix the damages tomorrow,” Chloe assured. “Jennifer said not to report anything to insurance, she wants you to talk to the investors. Jeremy, you can go home if you’d like.”

“That’s it?” Jeremy furrowed his brow, the pissed off expression returning. “We were attacked and we’re just brushing it aside?”

Chloe shrugged, “It’s not my call, Jeremy. I hope you’re okay.”

“Just peachy,” Jeremy muttered, crossing his arms.

Michael looked over again and found that James was now the one talking to the investors. Jennifer had vanished, probably to check security cameras if they had any. Jeremy marched out, Michael following behind. They were quiet the whole way back to the house, Jeremy practically glaring at the road.

“What’re you doing?” Michael asked, grabbing Jeremy by the arm before he could go down the stairs to his workshop.

“Making sure my house wasn’t targeted too, obviously,” Jeremy explained.

“Squip, is the house okay?” Michael asked.

“Yes, Mr. Mell, all is safe.”

“See, we’re fine,” Michael assured.

“Just let me get back to work—”

“Do you like ice cream?”

Jeremy scrunched up his nose, “What?”

“Ice cream? Is that something you billionaire-genius-playboy guys like? Or are you above simple treats that us commoners enjoy?”

Jeremy snorted, rolling his eyes, “Yes, I like ice cream.”

Michael grinned, taking Jeremy by the arm and dragging him into the kitchen, “Awesome. You’re going to help me make some, I’m teaching you to cook if it’s the last thing I do. We can start with something fun. What’s your favorite flavor?”

Michael pulled out an ice cream maker from a cabinet, earning wide eyes from Jeremy.

“I…I didn’t know I had that,” Jeremy mused. “Uh…chocolate?”

“See, I’m more of a coffee flavored kind of guy, but since you enjoy—”

“No! Fuck that!” Jeremy pulled off his blazer with a halfhearted scowl. “I didn’t realize coffee was an option, we’re making coffee flavored!”

Michael sighed, rolling up his sleeves, “Okay then. There’s cream in the fridge, grab that for me.”

Jeremy hurried over, Michael smiling softly. They were finally getting somewhere. It was messy, and Jeremy somehow nearly started a fire again, but they did manage to make a batch of ice cream. Jeremy sat on the counter eating his bowl while Michael sat at the table, the two quiet while they ate.

“…Thank you, Michael,” Jeremy mumbled, staring into his bowl to avoid eye contact. “And I’m sorry for breaking into your files.”

“You’re welcome,” Michael hummed, his eyes drifting over. “And I forgive you, but in the future just feel free to ask questions. I’m mostly an open book.”

Jeremy nodded, holding up his spoon as he spoke, “I’ll remember that.”

They were going to be okay.

Chapter Text

“Oh my fucking god,” Jeremy groaned, watching a dozen more locations pop up on his map. “How has this much happened so fast? A few weeks ago I didn’t even know this was an issue, Q!”

“Whoever is behind the distribution is clearly well versed. And based on what Mr. Mell has said this has been an issue for at least nearly two years.”

“I don’t know what to do,” Jeremy groaned. “It won’t stop even if I keep blowing things up! Did we run the check on all our department heads?”

“Yes, and the worst crime any of them had committed was a parking violation.”

Jeremy paced the room, “And me attacking the house did nothing to my parents? Not even a police report?”

“No, Sir. It appears that Iron Man is going to be kept a secret among the party attendees.”

That wasn’t helpful at all! Jeremy let out a yell, falling back into his chair. His company was doing bad things, he needed to fix it!

“What is Michael doing?” Jeremy asked, reaching for his coffee mug.

Squip pulled up the camera in the living room, Jeremy finding Michael cleaning of all things. Where had Michael even found a vacuum? Jeremy had robots that cleaned the house for him.

He fell quiet as he watched, an uneasy feeling settling in his stomach. He had been doing that a lot lately, watching. He felt like a creep for it, but he didn’t stop. Jeremy was actually starting to enjoy hanging out with Michael when he wasn’t being an asshole over his workshop hours.

Not to mention how angry Michael had become when Jeremy let slip that he had been snooping around his files. Michael was hiding something, and that meant there was something interesting going on with him. Jeremy was curious by nature, he wanted to know what was going on.

“Who did Michael serve under when he was in that hospital?”

“General Melissa Swan, she’s on the attendee list for the charity gala coming up.”

“Didn’t we just have a gala?” Jeremy grumbled.

“It appears that your parents are hoping that with larger crowds an attack on them won’t happen again.”

Jeremy sighed, “Well yeah, I don’t want to hurt anyone. Was I invited?”

“Naturally.”

“…I think I have a plan, Q,” Jeremy smirked. “But for now…let’s go knock out the nearest location, it’ll make me feel better about all the bullshit going on.”

Squip pulled out the armor from the hiding space in the wall and Jeremy suited up. He would be gone for a few hours, nothing that Michael would notice.

Why did he care all of a sudden? Michael only complicated things for him, getting in the way of him actually being able to finish his missions with the weapons. Although without Michael he wouldn’t have ever known the wiser. He hated how he was feeling.

“What’s Michael doing now?” Jeremy asked, turning the armor to autopilot.

Squip brought up a different camera, this one from the gym. Michael had switched activities, currently doing pushups. Jeremy kept the camera in the corner of the HUD, soaring above the clouds. Michael kept moving for minutes on end, not seeming to tire out or look at all strained. Wow.

Jeremy kept watching, growing more impressed the longer Michael went without stopping. No wonder Michael had been able to lift the bookshelf off of him so easily, Jeremy had needed the armor to help push it over. Jeremy had seen pictures of Michael before his deployment, the military had clearly changed Michael.

“Sir?”

“Yeah?” Jeremy looked away from the camera.

“We've been at the location for three minutes.”

Oh. Jeremy went to work, breaking into the building and locating the weapons. He then flew around, assuring that no one was inside before dropping in an explosive and flying out the way he came. The building went up in flames, Jeremy flying away before anyone could come and notice him and his flying armor hanging around in the sky.

Jeremy went back home, putting the armor away before leaving the workshop. It was just starting to get dark, and Michael was at the stove.

“Hey,” Michael greeted, stirring his food as it cooked.

“Hi,” Jeremy nodded his head, trying to seem like he hadn’t just flown around faster than the speed of sound.

“My mom sent me a soup recipe, figured I could try it,” Michael shrugged. “How was work? Or can you not tell me that? I don’t want you to risk breaking government contracts because I like listening.”

The weird feeling came back again, but Jeremy brushed it off, “Uh, well…it’s weapons. So…explosive?”

He had to bite his cheek to keep from laughing, it wasn’t even that funny but c’mon. Michael’s nonchalant expression didn’t help.

“Squip said there’s another gala coming up?” Michael hummed, moving to grab bowls from a cabinet.

Jeremy sighed, “Yes, my expectations as a little trophy son never end.”

It was a fairly calm evening, Jeremy was finding it easier to get along with Michael if he willingly joined in on meals every few days. It meant pulling more trips in the armor instead of longer ones, but it did help keep suspicion away from him too.

The sooner he figured out who was behind all the weapons bullshit the better.

Jeremy took a calming breath, walking into the party. He had a plan—he technically had two plans—and he needed to be seen at the party for things to go well. He mingled with board members and employees, spending more time talking with each person than he normally did. He needed an alibi in case things went wrong. It meant boring himself to death a little, but he needed things to go well.

He had broken into his dad’s computer, sure. But not Jennifer’s. By the end of the night he hoped to.

Jeremy was about to move on to phase two of his plan for the night when music started up. It threw him back to the previous gala, what he had tried doing. Originally he had wanted to piss people off, get reactions out of people, but now…maybe he could play that idea to his strength.  Make sure people saw him at the party without needing to talk to everyone.

“Q, is the armor ready?” Jeremy whispered into his phone.

“Yes Sir, floating above the building as we speak.”

Jeremy pocketed his phone before turning on his heel. Michael was there, silent and calm. Jeremy strided over, walking up to Michael with a smirk.

“Michael,” Jeremy struggled to keep his expression at least partially casual. “Dance w—”

“Michael Mell as I live and breathe!”

Godfuckingdamnit! Jeremy whipped his head over, finding General Swan staring Michael down. A glance over at his babysitter revealed his face suddenly drained of color. Jeremy recognized Swan thanks to Squip, but Michael clearly wasn’t happy to see his former leader.

“Let’s dance, Michael,” Swan pulled Michael away, oblivious to his terrified expression. “Please excuse us Mr. Heere.”

And there went his second plan! He was going to chat up Swan about Michael, but she just dragged him away! And she had stopped Jeremy from making Michael dance with him! Jeremy’s fingers twitched and he made his way outside through a side door.

“Q, armor.”

Jeremy kept his face neutral as the armor came flying down, Jeremy allowing it to be assembled around him. He took off towards the office building, finding the place abandoned in the late hour. He broke in using a random employee’s security information, if they got fired Jeremy already had a better job for them lined up anyway. Jeremy flew his way to his mother’s office, repeating the process he had done with his father’s computer. He flew out just as fast, not wanting to hang around anywhere too long with the armor.

“How are the numbers looking, Q?” Jeremy asked, flying back to the gala center.

“Inventory matches sales,” Squip stated.

Okay, that meant it was probably one of the people on the military side of things who was behind the weapons being misplaced. That made sense for why the sales and inventory matched.

“Sir?”

Jeremy halted his flight above the gala center, hovering above the building, “Yeah?”

Squip pulled up a file on the HUD for him to read. Jeremy scanned his eyes over the document, his already poor mood growing worse the farther he went.

“Get me out of this armor before I hurt someone,” Jeremy whispered.

Squip complied, taking him back to the landing site and removing the armor from Jeremy. The armor flew off back towards the house and Jeremy returned to the party.

Not only had he missed the chance to dance with Michael again, not only had he missed his chance to talk to Swan, but his mother…she was behind the weapons.

She had a fucking computer program set to destroy her electronic trail of something was to happen to her. She was making the inventory and sales match on the computer when they didn’t. She…it was her fault Michael had been hurt. Why innocent people were dying every day. Jeremy had always known his mother was cold, money hungry, overall just a bitch. But this was evil. This was worse than when she had been mad at him for getting kidnapped as a kid, this was worse than her choosing to fly across the planet when he graduated from college, this was worse than using him to gain a positive opinion with the press and with investors.

Hell, she had plans set to kill his dad or him if they ended up in the way! She had a plan in place to fake her own death if shit hit the fan!

Jeremy couldn’t let her know that he was suspicious, couldn’t let his own dad get a whiff of the truth. Their lives were now in Jeremy’s hands, and he wasn’t about to hurt them. However, Iron Man could be useful. Iron Man could fight her bullshit.

But right now? He was pissed. He was angry and wanted to scream at his mother. But he couldn’t. Not yet at least.

Jeremy made his way over to the bar, finding the painful knowledge was easier to handle when alcohol could numb him. Jeremy smiled at a girl he spotted across the bar, unsurprised when she walked over to join him. He would ruin Jennifer tomorrow, but tonight he wanted to forget.

☼

There were a lot of things Michael didn’t like about Jeremy. The horrible working hours, the rude behavior, the lack of care for his own health. But his least favorite thing was the drinking.

It was already bad enough that Swan had tracked him down. He had been hoping that he would never see her again. But by the time she let him leave Michael found Jeremy several drinks in and with an oblivious girl on his arm.

Squip was their saving grace for the ride home from the gala. Even though Jeremy was wasted he insisted on driving, but attempted drunk driving happened so frequently that Squip could remote the car home without Jeremy having to do a thing. It was the only thing keeping Michael from throwing Jeremy into the backseat and driving them home himself.

Jeremy and the girl vanished, Michael just going to bed. Jeremy had been doing well on not drinking, it was something Michael paid attention to. Growing up friends with Rich and Brooke he found a strong hatred for alcohol and what it did to people, and Jeremy wasn’t excluded from those thoughts.

The worst part was that Michael actually cared. He had tried to distance himself at first, insisted that he didn’t need to be friends with Jeremy, but now? He liked Jeremy, despite his frustrations. He wanted Jeremy to have a happy and healthy life, he found himself thinking about Jeremy all the time. Rich would mock him for it but spending all the time with Jeremy that he did had brought back some of the feelings he used to have. At least now he was an adult and wouldn’t behave stupidly and try to act on his feelings. He was mature enough now that he could just let them pass by. And hopefully they would pass soon because the twinge of jealousy he had felt when Jeremy had brought the girl along with them in the car had been completely uncalled for.

Come morning Michael got up and made breakfast. There was a chance that Jeremy would join him, he had been showing up for meals more frequently as of late. Although given all the drinking the night prior he doubted it, Jeremy would probably wallow his way through a hangover in his workshop.

“Oh no.”

Michael looked up, finding the girl from the night prior standing in the doorway. She looked terrified.

“Hi, I’m Michael,” he waved at her, trying to appear welcoming. “Jeremy’s bodyguard.”

“Oh no,” the girl had tears well up in her eyes. Michael moved fast, turning off the burner on the stove and standing beside her.

“Are you okay?”

She looked over to him, her eyes frantic, “Did I seriously sleep with Jeremy Heere?”

“I mean…I wasn’t there but probably. Jeremy doesn’t seem like the type to bring you over just to watch a movie.”

She fell against his chest, sobbing into his shirt. Michael patted her back, unsure of what exactly was happening. The other times Jeremy had guests they just…vanished in the morning. Not a word.

“I’m supposed to be better than that!” She whispered, pulling back to look at Michael. “I just graduated! I’m supposed to value myself enough to not swoop down to hookups!”

Michael sat her down, “Okay, no offense but you are being way too negative right now. Forget everything else, did you have a good time?”

The girl nodded.

“Okay, then you had a good time. At minimum how cool would it be to brag to your friends? Can they say that they slept with Jeremy Heere? No. That’s your fun fact for trivia night. When you get older, if you have kids you can tell them about how their father was almost Jeremy Heere to make them squirm. Don’t put yourself down for having fun and being human.”

The girl nodded, “Yeah, you’re right.” She wiped away her tears. “Thanks Michael.”

Michael just shrugged, “It’s not a problem. Are you hungry?”

The girl stayed for breakfast, calling herself an Uber when she was done eating. Michael sighed, cleaning up the dishes and taking out meat to thaw for dinner. The entire day so far had just felt odd.

“Why the fuck did I put a couch here?!”

Michael turned around, finding Jeremy glaring at his living room again. Michael chose not to say anything, he wasn’t in the mood to deal with Jeremy being hung over. But his poor mood seemed to be more than a hangover, he wasn’t just in pain there was a proper frown on his face.

“Are you okay?”

Jeremy looked over, and he did seem to be genuinely sad about something.

“Doesn’t matter,” Jeremy muttered.

Michael walked over, “Maybe, but you can still talk to me.”

“No I can’t!” Jeremy glared at him, marching into his space. “You don’t understand anything! You’re such an asshole sometimes!”

“You aren’t feeling great right now, I understand. But—”

“Fuck off!”

Michael held up his hands in surrender before turning on his heel and walking away. He didn’t want an argument. Michael sighed, starting down the hallway to head back to his room.

And then Michael felt a force against his back. Michael turned his head and found that Jeremy had thrown himself at Michael, clearly hoping to knock him down or something to that degree.

“Okay, you need to quit being an asshole,” Michael muttered, reaching back to grab Jeremy by the arms. He pulled the other man forward so he was being carried around like a potato sack, earning several shouts and curses from Jeremy for the mistreatment. Michael brought Jeremy back over to the couch and dropped him there, glaring as Jeremy started to make a move to get up again.

“If you don’t want to talk, that’s fine,” Michael said, keeping a hand on Jeremy’s chest so he couldn’t move. “But I didn’t do anything to you, Jeremy. Whatever you’re upset about…it isn’t my fault. Get over yourself, stop being a dick. I’ll be here when you want to talk, because I do actually care about you. But until then you need to stop acting out towards me, we can talk again when you’re calm.”

Michael let go of Jeremy, walking away. He pulled his phone out, finding he had a text from James requesting him to come to the office alone. Michael thought it was odd, but he wasn’t about to say no to the nicest boss he’d ever had. He grabbed his keys from his room and made his way to the garage, noting that Jeremy had simply vanished from the living room in the time he had been gone.

Once inside the office building Michael made his way to James’s office, finding the older man seated at his desk. Michael sat across from him, his nerves running a bit high. Was he going to get fired? Had he messed up?

“Jeremy is at home?” James asked, drumming his fingers on the desk.

Michael nodded, “He’s hung over, so he won't be going anywhere today.”

James sighed, “Okay. Michael…I am genuinely worried for Jeremy’s safety. You’ve done a fantastic job so far, but recent events make me nervous.”

Right. The robot attack.

James beckoned him over to the other side of the desk, Michael finding camera footage pulled up on the computer screen.

“That thing was here last night,” James mumbled, pointing to the robot. “Whatever it is—or whoever it is…they’re searching for something specific. I’m terrified that Jeremy will get pulled in the middle of this and get hurt.”

“Mr. Heere, I promise I’ll keep Jeremy safe.”

James turned to face him, “How do we protect ourselves against a robot, Michael? We don’t know what that thing is capable of, and we’re just people. The worst part is that Jennifer doesn’t even understand how that thing works—she keeps trying to push this aside. Jennifer always understands, but this? She’s paranoid, all these parties won’t protect her forever. How am I supposed to keep my family safe? How are you supposed to protect Jeremy from a robot?”

“I—” Michael hesitated, unsure of what to say. “If anyone was to keep Jeremy safe from something like that…I am probably your best bet. I’m not…normal, Sir.”

James furrowed his brow, “What?”

Michael wished he could take back his words but he’d been dying to tell someone and once he started going… “I was experimented on in the military. I'm weird now. I can lift a car with one hand.”

James arched a brow at him, “Michael…”

“I'm serious!” Michael assured, walking over to a filing cabinet. “This is full of things right?”

“Yes, and that’s heavy.”

Michael wrapped his arms around the cabinet and picked it up, it was awkward in shape but he could lift it with ease. He set the cabinet down after making sure James could see that he was fine holding it, turning back to face his boss.

“Oh my god,” James whispered. “The bookshelf—”

“Yeah we were both worried about Jeremy so I’m not mad at myself for that little slip up,” Michael hummed. “I just…I’ve never told anyone this before, Sir. And if we could keep this between us I would appreciate it. Jeremy will be safe, I can promise that. And so long as Jeremy is here I’ll do what I can to protect your business as well.”

James got up from his chair, “Of course, this won’t leave the room. I’ll introduce you to the security team and get you a—”

“I'm not going to hold a gun, Mr. Heere,” Michael stopped him before he jumped ahead. “I respect the work your business does, but I can’t use weapons myself.”

James sighed, “I guess I can respect that. I’ll think of something else in the meantime, thank you for trusting me.”

“Focus on Jennifer, Jeremy will be fine.”

Michael made his way back to the house, finding that Jeremy was still hiding from him. He made his way down to the workshop, finding the door was locked. Again.

“Squip, just tell Jeremy that I’m going to make dinner tonight, and if he wants to he’s welcome to join me.”

“Sir is currently busy, but sends his thanks.”

Right. Because Jeremy was mad at him for some reason. It wouldn't surprise him if Jeremy didn’t come out for days.

Michael just hoped that Jeremy was doing okay, that he was able to work through whatever was going on with him. Because whatever it was…it was eating Jeremy alive.

Chapter Text

“I’m noticing a problem, Q,” Jeremy groaned, spinning around in his desk chair.

“Your mother selling weapons under the table?”

Jeremy sighed, “No, not that. Although I am taking great joy in ruining Jennifer’s secret operations. It’s Michael.”

“How is Mr. Mell a problem?”

Jeremy paused his spinning, glancing at the computer screen. On the screen was paused security camera footage.

“There is clearly something wrong with me, I keep watching camera footage of him.”

“Have you ever considered that you might like Mr. Mell? As more than a friend?”

Jeremy snorted, “What?”

“You have never previously accepted the chances to become a better person before. Mr. Mell is the first person you have actively improved yourself for. He has mellowed you out, made sure you’re healthy.”

Jeremy rolled his eyes, “Q, buddy. I’m Jeremy Heere. When people say my name they think of all the women I’ve slept with.”

“But that’s changed since Mr. Mell came around. You haven’t been in a gossip magazine since before he showed up. He’s been good for you, and you’ve never acted this way before around anyone else.”

“I’m acting normal.”

“None of your past overnight guests have had the pleasure of enjoying meals with you, Sir—”

“He lives with me.”

“None of the others have challenged you before—”

“He’s my babysitter.”

“None of the others have said that they care about you.”

“That—” Jeremy trailed off. “That’s not the point. You’re trying to imply that I’m gay, Q. And I know that I’m not. I’ll give it to you—if I was—I sure as hell would be hiding it, but I’m not.”

“Sexuality is a spectrum, Sir.”

Jeremy knew that. But he didn’t like guys. He was content with who he was. Michael was just interesting. That’s all. It was curiosity just working its way through his system.

“You’ve canceled missions to make him rest easier, you’ve started this whole Iron Man operation as a way to help make up for mistakes that aren’t even your fault. All of this because you cared about the pain that Mr. Mell told you about. You didn’t even check to see if he was lying.”

“He wasn’t though,” Jeremy crossed his arms over his chest. “Michael doesn’t lie.”

“But you didn’t know that.”

Jeremy sighed, rubbing at his temples, “Whatever. What is Michael doing now?”

“Mr. Mell left for a meeting with Mr. James about twenty minutes ago.”

Perfect. He wouldn’t be missed. Jeremy pulled out the armor and suited up. Jennifer wasn’t changing fast enough for his liking.

He soared over to the office building, hovering outside his mother’s office. She was typing away on her computer, not noticing his form watching her. If Jennifer wasn’t going to act then Jeremy would.

He flew through the glass, startling her from her work. She let out a scream as Jeremy approached her.

“Jennifer Heere, your secret deals end now,” Jeremy stated, having the armor alter his voice. “You can’t hide from me.”

“Sir, incoming.” Squip beeped.

Jeremy looked over just in time for a giant metal frisbee to hit him in the chest, knocking him back. The metal bounced around the room before returning to the owner. Whoever they were they covered the majority of their face with a mask, only a sliver of forehead was visible along with dark hair. They almost looked like they had walked out of an armory, the dark blue top of their outfit was clearly made to be bulletproof. Modified kevlar was probably in the material. Jeremy had to cut some style points for the basic brown pants and combat boots, but fingerless gloves did give a little bit back.

“Who the fuck are you?” Jeremy asked, glaring at what he now realized was a shield and not a frisbee being held by the stranger. A silver shield with dark blue lines painted on to match the color of the shirt.. That was pretty lame. This guy couldn’t even get a proper theme together, at least Jeremy had an actual idea! This looked like something an uninspired person would put together. You could hardly call it a color scheme.

“I could ask you the same thing,” the stranger responded, moving to stand between Jeremy and Jennifer.

“Not so fast Ultimate Frisbee, I asked first. I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours.” Jeremy snapped, unsure of where this guy had even come from. Had Jennifer hired a normal dude to fight a robot?

“Captain,” the stranger stated.

“That’s it? Just Captain? Okay Cap, I’m Iron Man.” Jeremy fired a repulsor at the stranger, finding Cap was more agile than anticipated. He rolled out of the way, Jennifer fleeing from the room while he was busy. Captain threw the shield again, the force knocking him backwards once more. This time he caught the shield when it flew back.

What the hell was that thing made of? Jeremy started to charge up the chest repulsor, but Cap ran at him and tackled him, the two of them flying out the window and heading towards the ground.

“You’re a dick!” Jeremy snapped, flipping them over so Cap hit the ground first.

Jeremy got up and fired the chest repulsor. He didn’t want to hurt anyone but technically Captain had made the first move. What Jeremy hadn’t been expecting was for Cap to block the repulsor with the shield. Or for the blast to bounce right back off the shield and back towards Jeremy. That wasn’t how metal was supposed to work.

“Oh shit,” Jeremy muttered, already seeing the damage done to the armor. “Q?”

“Sir—” Squip fizzled out. Shit.

Jeremy could hardly react before Cap swooped in again. He started punching the armor and was actually damaging the titanium. Oh no. The shield kept being thrown in at random, hitting the faceplate. Jeremy didn’t start to panic until the HUD actually flickered. Jeremy had been wrong, this guy wasn’t normal. There was either something about him or it was his outfit making him strong. And Jeremy seriously doubted that it was the outfit given how boring it was. Jeremy was speaking from experience, you don’t make a powerful outfit and have it look like you walked out of a Cabela’s.

“Okay, later!” Jeremy rocketed out of there as quickly as he could. He wouldn’t be winning against Cap. At least not today.

Jeremy collapsed in his desk chair once he was free of the suit, looking at the broken armor. If he had stayed any longer it could have become inoperable.

“Send the armor to be fixed,” Jeremy sighed, checking himself for injuries. He looked okay, so hopefully no one would notice. But internally? He was terrified. No one should have that kind of power naturally. Someone was experimenting on humans. And it was uncalled for.

“Mr. Mell has returned from the office, he appears frantic.”

“Well yeah I just attacked the place.”

“He is searching for you. I feel you should go see him.”

Jeremy sighed, getting up from his chair. He made his way out of the workshop and started up the stairs. He nearly walked straight into Michael at the top, he had been focused on the floor.

“Oh thank god!” Michael whispered, pulling Jeremy into a hug.

Jeremy squeaked, not expecting a hug of all things. Still, this wasn’t exactly unwelcome. Jeremy returned the hug, finding his face shoved into Michael’s shoulder. Why did Michael have to be so tall?

“The robot attacked the office building and then it flew in this direction, I thought it went after you next!” Michael explained, still not letting Jeremy go.

Jeremy raised his brows in surprise, he hadn’t considered that as a possible issue before. He would have to start looping around to throw people off. Maybe fly off the coast line a bit and then fly towards home. At least for when he went back to the office–because he doubted Jennifer would fix things without another warning.

“All is fine and dandy in the house, Michael,” Jeremy assured.

“Okay,” Michael whispered, giving one more squeeze before letting go. “Have you ever played Apocalypse Of The Damned?”

Jeremy cracked a grin, “Hell yeah, back in college between classes.”

Michael beckoned him to follow, “I’ve got my old copy in my room. Want to play?”

Jeremy hadn’t been in Michael’s room yet. He nodded, following him into the bedroom. It hadn’t changed much since Michael moved in, but the small changes were enough to actually give the room character. There were framed photos along surfaces, all of Michael with his friends and family. A small pride flag sat in a cup on the nightstand. That would have been useful to know about sooner. The room still looked like Jeremy’s own blank slate, but Michael had clearly done his best to make the space his own.

They sat down in front of the television, Michael starting up a new save file for them to play. Jeremy couldn’t remember the last time he had played a video game, or done anything just for fun. Well, maybe drinking was something he did for fun, but he didn’t exactly want to count that in the same category as something like video games. Building the armor? Well…it had started as a fun idea but now it was a job. He needed to fix the weapons situation. And now with his new opponent…he would need to up his game. Build new sensors, increase the charge time for the repulsors, add a few more tactical defense mechanisms; building an entire new armor might be his best bet.

He didn’t want to replace the Mark Ⅰ so quickly after building it, but he hadn’t designed it with fighting enhanced humans in mind. Plus now he could optimize the transportable parts of the armor. The Mark Ⅰ armor could pilot alone, and assemble around him without assistance from the proper platform he had made, but it was clunky and awkward. If he designed this armor to come apart maybe he could have the pieces fit together like a puzzle and seal once together. That was a good idea to keep in mind.

“Jeremy?” Michael nudged him with his elbow. “You need to pick your starting stats.”

“Oh, shit!” Jeremy jumped back to reality. “Sorry, started thinking about work.”

“Sounds about right.”

Jeremy glanced over at Michael as the opening cutscene played. Michael had genuinely been worried that he had been hurt, he had rushed home just to make sure he was okay even though Michael didn’t stand a chance against the armor. Jeremy had faced kidnapping threats from an early age, and no one ever bothered to put in the care like that. Jennifer was too busy building her empire and his dad had been dragged away with her. He knew his dad had tried. They were still distant, but he at least made an attempt.

But Michael had been forcefully caring since day one. The food and sly comments on his caffeine addiction, the demands for breaks from working or just to sleep, Michael had become a rock in Jeremy’s life. Tying him down to reality before he drifted away in the waves of his work. Even when they argued he still made a point of showing that he was still going to be there for him. He wasn’t sure how he had managed before Michael. Maybe having him around wasn’t as bad as he had thought.

Michael grinned at the screen as the gameplay started, clearly passionate about the game. Jeremy played along, but his main focus was on Michael. He could play this game with his eyes closed, he didn’t need to look at the screen.

None of the others have said that they care about you.

Maybe Squip had been right…

He would look into sexualities when he had free time.

☼

Michael flipped the shield around in his hands. He hadn’t been expecting it, but he did like it. It was light, although everything was light to him. The versatility was also nice. He’d managed to get the robot–Iron Man–away from the office after all.

“I’m just saying, I look like a mud puddle,” Michael hummed, glancing at the camera footage James had pulled up.

“And somehow don’t have a single bruise from the fight,” James hummed, examining his knuckles again. “I’m not all that smart when it comes to this stuff, but Jennifer said it looked like the robot was made of titanium. And you dented it like it was a soda can.”

Michael sighed, “Yeah, like I said…I’m weird.”

“As for the outfit…I did my best. The engineers know that I hired a new security guard, this is what they came up with. The kevlar has been modified somehow to be stronger, I was told how but most of the science jargon goes over my head. I’m a businessman, not a scientist. Did the mask hold up?”

“Yeah, Jennifer didn’t recognize me.”

“Captain was an interesting choice of a name,” James chuckled. “Although I guess it’s better than anything I could come up with on the spot.”

“Was thinking of my old military days. The rankings came to mind.”

“Michael, you’re twenty four. Your military days were what, two years ago? Less than that?”

“You know what I meant,” Michael rolled his eyes. “I spent most of my time tied to a hospital bed, learning how rankings worked was a rushed process and I’m lucky I remembered to address my superiors correctly once they threw me into the field.”

“That reminds me,” James tapped a folder on his desk. “I’m having Chloe submit your request for a restraining order to the courthouse when she goes with my building permit requests. I’ve also had Chloe blacklist General Swan from all future events hosted by the company or my household. She won’t get near you again. I can’t stop her from sending someone else to do her footwork, but you’re safe.”

“Thank you,” Michael sighed, walking over to the wardrobe in the office. James kept a proper suit in there in case he needed it, and it now held Michael’s outfit and shield when he wasn’t using them. James had made a copy of the key for the lock so Michael could get in if he wasn’t there.

Perfect timing, as Chloe strutted in. How she managed to walk on the thin heels boggled Michael’s mind. Her heels made her nearly as tall as him today, and her sundress was a very pretty shade of purple. Brooke would want it to have some form of pattern, he was sure of it, but Chloe was a very pretty person.

“Hi Michael,” Chloe greeted, walking over to James. “I think I have the final list of guests for the employee party, Jennifer is busy so I can’t have her approve of it right now.

“I trust you, Chloe,” James assured.

“You’re throwing another party?” Michael asked, rocking on his heels. He was itching to get home. James had called him up out of nowhere, wanting to talk through the fight that had happened a few days ago.

“Jennifer is going a little party crazy,” Chloe hummed, looking to their boss.

James sighed, “I know, but crowds make her feel safe. She’s been so paranoid lately, and I understand why. We are being targeted, but we also haven’t been harmed. It’s all words. “Take accountability,” that means nothing. We’re a responsible company.”

Michael bit his tongue. He wasn’t about to tell his own boss that his company had nearly killed him. Besides, Jeremy said he would take care of it.

“Besides, this party is something we’ve been meaning to throw for a while,” James added. “Usually we try to please board members, or investors, but this is the employee bash. This party is about…well, you two. We invite all the employees at the New York location for one night, and all the California employees for another. Jennifer, Jeremy, and I attend so we can talk to those that we never had the chance to, but other than that it’s just a few formality invites. We haven’t had a chance to host in a few years, if Jennifer is going to become party obsessed this is a good event to have.”

“When is the party?” Michael asked.

Chloe checked her phone, “Next week? New York is first, then California a few days later. You’ll join in the company jet with us, Michael. Don’t worry about plane tickets.”

“I’m going to the New York party?”

Chloe shrugged, glancing over to James quickly, “Where Jeremy goes you go, I just assumed…”

“If you want to, you can go,” James assured. “Otherwise, Jeremy will be with us the entire time and you could have some time off.”

Michael sighed, “He might have a point about those babysitter comments, we talk about him like we share custody of a child.”

James chuckled, “Well if he wasn’t so careless we wouldn’t need to talk about him like that. I love him, but Jeremy is a “jump off the cliff and hope for the best” type of person, he always has been.”

“This includes actual cliff diving,” Chloe added, typing away at her phone. “TMZ had a field day with that one.”

Michael pressed his lips into a line, “I remember that report. Jellyfish sting, right?”

“Yep.”

Michael turned back to James, “Is there a chance I could invite my family to the New York party? I haven’t had a chance to see them much since moving out here.”

Chloe grinned at him, “Invite Brooke too! I want to meet her! I’ve been stalking her fashion Instagram account and I think I’m falling in love with her.”

“Of course, I would love to meet your family,” James nodded, a warm smile on his face. “They raised you after all, and you’re up there as my favorite employee. Unfortunately Chloe does take the cake, I’d be drowning without her.”

“That’s a second place I’m happy to hold,” Michael assured. “I’ll make sure they’re available. Thanks James. I should probably get back to the house before Jeremy starts a fire.”

“Good luck,” Chloe chuckled, waving at him as he walked away.

Michael returned the wave before leaving the office. He pulled out his phone to text his moms, finding Chloe had emailed him the actual date for the party. While he was at it he invited Jake, Rich, and Brooke, figuring that James wouldn’t mind. Brooke was instantly spamming his phone, sending dress designs for him to look at. Michael smiled at his phone before pocketing it, starting his drive back to the house.

When he walked inside his ears picked up on what sounded like music. His hearing was heightened so he could usually hear anything said in the open parts of the house, the walls being sound proof was a blessing given that he knew Jeremy liked to try and kill his eardrums when he was working. This music was calm, however. Michael made his way through the house, finding Jeremy perched on the coffee table–of course it was the coffee table and not the couch–a guitar in his grasp. Michael watched from the doorway, finding that Jeremy knew how to play. He hadn’t known that before, and Jeremy was good at it. Jeremy Heere and art of any kind just didn’t make sense together in Michael’s mind. But this changed things. As his ears adjusted to the sound of the room Michael picked up on Jeremy singing quietly while playing, probably not wanting his voice to be all that audible.

“–keep a straight face,” Jeremy sang. Michael had known that Jeremy could sing, he tended to mumble whatever song was currently his earworm when he was walking around the house, and Michael had noted that Jeremy kept a tune quite well. Usually it was aggressive songs with harsh lyrics, but this was a nice change of pace. “And I’ve always lived like this, keeping a comfortable distance. And up until now I had sworn to myself that I’m content with loneliness. Because none of it was ever worth the risk–”

Oh not this song. Jeremy sounded genuine in his singing, and stepping back to look from his perspective it was true. Jeremy was a loner all things considered. Sure he had a reputation, but his flings weren’t ever real connections. Michael properly stepped into the room, Jeremy stopping his strumming to look up at him.

“Hey,” Michael waved, leaning over the back of the couch so they could talk.

“Hi,” Jeremy greeted, setting the guitar down.

“I didn’t know you played,” Michael hummed, nodding to the guitar with his head.

Jeremy shrugged, “Piano, guitar, Jennifer made sure I was well rounded in my knowledge back when she had control over it. I picked up ukulele and drums just to piss her off.”

Michael smiled, “I play a little guitar, but Brooke made me take an independent music study in high school so I could learn piano for her. She would sing and I would play for her. Love her to pieces but the girl cannot multitask for shit. I think she made me soft to a solid piano ballad. They just sound good. Plus I was able to learn a ton of video game music on piano, that was fun. I’d probably be shit at it now, it’s been like six years.”

Jeremy nodded, his eyes wide, “Cool. Who’s your guilty pleasure artist? Who are you mad that you enjoy listening to? I have a bit too many Fall Out Boy songs on my playlist for it to be ironic.”

“No, no that fits you perfectly,” Michael chuckled. “Oh god, I guess probably Taylor Swift? Brooke got me hooked, I thought I was too much of a stoner back then to enjoy her music.”

“You? Stoner? Michael, you’re like…the perfect human. You can’t do anything wrong!”

Well his stupid powers ruined recreational drugs for him, so there was that.

“I was young, thought I had a whole identity figured out. Rich is the one who made me actually figure out who I am.”

“Wow, secret backstory,” Jeremy mused, resting his chin on his hands. “Got any other secrets to spill, Michael?”

Yeah, he could throw a train car. But he couldn’t tell Jeremy that, not when James was keeping the whole Captain thing quiet. Rich would bring up that stupid poster Michael used to have on his wall of Jeremy, but that was creepy as hell to mention now. Not when Jeremy was finally an actual person to him, not when he actually knew Jeremy, not when Jeremy somehow became better after meeting him.

“Uh…no, not really. Nothing I can think of at least.”

Michael started on dinner, Jeremy vanishing down the stairs with his guitar. While waiting on the oven Michael scrolled through his phone, finding the group chat of family and friends going crazy. Brooke was now going to personally make everyone’s outfits for the party. She was going to be exhausted by the time the actual event rolled around, but Michael trusted her to get it done. Michael had what James had given him, he didn’t want to change that.

“Pasta?” Jeremy reappeared in the kitchen, staring at the stove.

“Lasagna, so yeah,” Michael hummed. “Will you be joining me?”

Jeremy hopped up to sit on the counter, “Hell yeah, I’ve been working all morning anyway.”
“Cool, give me twenty minutes,” Michael grinned, finding their faces level for once with Jeremy’s added height from the counter.

Jeremy returned the smile, “I don’t mind waiting, I know I’m not to touch the oven.”

This was going to kill him slowly, but what a way to go out. Melted by Jeremy’s warm smile. Michael wouldn’t want it any other way.

☼

Jeremy sighed, stepping out of his room in the apartment. It wasn’t his favorite place to stay, but his parents always ended up insulted if he tried to book a hotel when he visited New York. We’re family, Jeremy! Well, it didn’t really feel like it most of the time.

“Oh, you look stunning, darling,” Jennifer rushed over, straightening his bowtie.

Jeremy had switched it up for once. Usually he wore classic suits to parties, but Michael’s colorful options inspired him. Tonight he would wear blue. Bowtie instead of his usual suit tie. He had even switched up his cufflinks. Usually they were boring, plain silver, but tonight he had the ones with the company logo formed on them, they had been a gift from his dad over a decade ago. His bar mitzvah had been a big deal to James. And from the smile his dad was wearing he had taken notice.

Jennifer looked over his shoulder, “Wow, Michael!”

Jeremy turned and felt his breath catch. Micahel was hot. Holy shit. His suit was just–wow. Had he changed his earrings? His hair looked different, he must have actually done it up for once. Jeremy actually felt his mouth water and he felt his face burn. That was so embarrassing. At least Michael wouldn’t even know. 

“I was told this party is for employees, I’m allowed to be extra,” Michael shrugged.

Oh god his nails were painted. Jeremy hated that Squip had been right but it made things so much easier in his mind. He was bi, another secret to keep for the rest of his life.

“Let’s get going!” Jennifer cheered, grabbing his dad by the arm and dragging him towards the elevator. “Chloe is already waiting with the limo.”

The car ride was torture. Not only because he was stuck with someone else driving, but because he was shoved next to Michael for the ride. They had a whole ass limo. Why was he sitting next to him?

Jeremy grabbed a champagne flute when they walked in, if only to have something to keep his hands busy. He wasn’t planning on getting wasted immediately. Jennifer and James went to work greeting employees, Chloe vanishing to chat with her work buddies. Michael technically had the night off so he wasn’t following Jeremy around for once. He sipped at his glass, avoiding the busy parts of the room. He wasn’t ready to be social yet.

He found himself searching the room for Michael, finding his babysitter running over to a group of people. Oh shit Michael had invited his family. Jeremy smiled, watching him scoop each of his moms up in an arm and spin them both around. Michael loved his moms so much, he talked about them all the time. And they all looked stunning, granted there was a fashion designer among the group. Rich and Jake clung to each other in their matching suits, clearly still riding the high of their engagement. Jeremy started to walk over, hoping he could at least get in an introduction before going about the party like he was supposed to.

“Boo,” Jeremy hummed, poking Michael’s shoulder as he walked over.

“Oh!” Michael grinned at him. “Jeremy, this is my family. Guys, this is Jeremy.”

“It’s an honor, Mr. Heere,” Darcy said.

“Please, the honor is mine,” Jeremy held out his free hand for them to shake. “I hope you all enjoy the party, I’m glad you were able to attend. Ms. Lohst, I’m going to assume these wonderful designs were your doing, I’m impressed.”

“Stop sounding so posh,” Michael elbowed him. “They’re normal people, not your board members.”

“You all look hot as fuck,” Jeremy corrected his wording, earning an eye roll from Michael. “Brooke, Chloe is over there in the purple, I think she’d like to meet you.”

Brooke followed his pointing, her face growing pink as she locked on to Chloe, “Oh, wow she’s pretty. And her suit is just…wow. Is that a corset? She is…stunning.”

“Stop having a gay crisis and go talk to her,” Michael nudged her forward.

Brooke flipped Michael off as she walked over. Jeremy continued to chat with Maria and Darcy about Michael, earning several more dramatic eye rolls from his babysitter as they continued. This was much better than talking to employees who he would never be able to remember all the names of. These people were important to him, Michael’s family mattered.

Music started up, Darcy pulling Maria away to dance. Rich and Jake also paired up, the two of them clearly not as well versed in waltzing as Michael and his moms were. It left Michael and Jeremy alone standing next to each other.

The first time had been spite. The second time had been an alibi. Now? Jeremy just wanted to dance with Michael. How hard could it be to say three little words. Ask a single question. It didn’t have to be a romantic gesture, he wasn’t trying to start anything. But he was dying to know if Michael would lead or not. He wanted to know how Michael’s hand would feel in his. Would Michael even be happy to dance with him? Or would he view it as an obligation because of his job? Would Michael dip him like he had Chloe? He had picked him up like he was a piece of paper back when he had been hung over.

“C’mon Mikey!” Brooke ran back over and pulled Michael away.

Jeremy hadn’t looked away from him during his entire inner monologue. And Michael had been staring right back. He had probably made him uncomfortable. Jeremy took a deep breath before downing the rest of his champagne. He was done. Why did he even bother thinking about it?

“Jeremy!”

He turned to find Chloe approaching him. He felt like human garbage. Why was he so pathetic?

“Did you want to dance?” Chloe held out her arm. “You can’t trip on my dress this time, I’m not wearing one.”

That had happened one time. Jeremy sighed, setting his empty glass down on a nearby table, “Yeah. Just for a bit.”

Chloe took his hand and they started to waltz around the room. Jeremy could dance like he could breathe, it just came naturally. With that in mind, he didn’t actually focus on the dance. His eyes kept tracking Michael and Brooke, watching the two laugh together as they danced. Brooke was around his height, maybe a bit shorter, that could be him. Those smiles could be for him.

“Jeremy, Brooke doesn’t like men, don’t even try it,” Chloe warned, watching where his eyes wandered.

Jeremy blinked back to reality, “Huh? Oh no–I wasn’t! Sorry, I just spaced out.”

Chloe sighed, towering over him in her heels, “I’ll believe you this time.”

When the song ended Jeremy made his way over towards Michael, hoping he could try asking again when the next song queued up. But he never had the chance. People kept approaching, kept talking to him, kept him away. Jeremy didn’t want to be rude, this was a party for employees of the company. He just didn’t care about the company at the moment. He was trying really hard to not turn into a dick but he hated being a show boy for his parents to show off when they felt like it. It’s all he ever was to them!

“Okay, I’m so sorry to cut this short but Mr. Heere has an important call to make.”

Jeremy looked up to find Michael stepping between him and the current employee, quick to drag him away from the crowd and over to a quiet corner of the room.

“Are you okay?” Michael asked, eyes genuine with concern. “You looked ready to punch that poor lab tech kid.”

Jeremy sighed, “I hate these events. The ones where I’m expected to constantly talk. The other parties are different, I can walk away without feeling guilty because it’s not the point of the party, but this is. I’m here to make the employees feel welcome, but I can’t because all I want to do is–”

Just one dance. It was a stupid thing to obsess over but god he wanted it. And yet he couldn’t even get the words out. How was he supposed to run a whole company when he couldn’t even say three words to his hot babysitter? He was so pathetic.

“You’ll be okay,” Michael assured.

“I need booze,” Jeremy groaned. If he was drunk he could talk to Michael without any problems. If he was drunk he would probably kiss Michael. That would get the point across!

“How about not,” Michael suggested, wrapping an arm around him in support. “You’re usually grouchy afterwards, and I’m the one who has to deal with that.”

He’s never wanted to bury himself before but if possible Jeremy would just disappear into Michael’s arms. Arm. Whatever.

“I just don’t want to be here,” Jeremy whispered.

“Then let’s go,” Michael smiled at him.

“But your family–”

“They don’t need me. Rich and Jake have each other, my moms are having fun, Brooke is swooning over Chloe, it’ll be fine. I’ll cover for you with James and Jennifer too, say you got sick or something. Let’s get the fuck out of here.”

They walked back to the tower, Michael’s arm not lifting from Jeremy’s shoulder. It was torture, wanting to lean against him. Once back to the apartment Jermey shed himself of his suit, changing into comfy clothes. He made his way over to the guest room where Michael was sleeping, knocking on the door.

“Hey,” Michael welcomed him in.

They ended up watching a movie together, stretched out on the comforter of Michael’s bed. It was so much better than being at the stupid party that Jennifer was only hosting so Jeremy wouldn’t attack as Iron Man. Well, the Mark Ⅱ armor was nearly done, and that would be helping in his operations a lot. Jennifer and her parties be damned.

Jeremy drifted off, his head falling against Michael’s shoulder as he fell asleep.

If this was peace he never wanted to leave.

Chapter Text

Michael sighed, glancing at his calendar. Checking the date did make him grin, he’d officially lived with Jeremy for two months. Originally he hadn’t thought he would make it that long. But now? Things were easier. Jeremy and him were friends. Michael was crushing on him again, but he would get over it.

He got up from his spot on the couch, stretching out his back. He probably wanted to get ready for the second party. He had high hopes for this one, even though the first one had been cut short Michael had enjoyed himself. Besides, watching a movie with Jeremy was better than a party.

Speak of the devil, Michael looked over to find Jeremy hurrying up the stairs. He’d been a bit quiet since the party last week, spending a lot more time in his workshop. Currently he looked like shit. Michael had made the decision to just leave him alone after the almost meltdown, but now part of him regretted that choice.

“…Do I want to know what happened?”

Jeremy sighed, “No, not really.”

Michael just nodded, turning to go back to his room so he could get ready. He was going to be working this time so he went back to a more simple look. Didn’t bother looking extra nice, just a normal amount of nice for one of these parties.

Michael made his way back out to the living room, finding Jeremy had already beat him there. The man’s ability to turn himself from what looked like a drowned sewer rat into a properly functioning member of society blew his mind.

Michael thought he was cute either way, but still.

“Are you going to be okay?” Michael asked, feeling the need to check in after last week.

“I promise not to hit any employees or get mad at them,” Jeremy sighed, holding up his hand like he was taking an oath. “And if I do get overwhelmed I promise not to get wasted.”

“I would appreciate that,” Michael hummed, offering up a small smile.

Jeremy returned the grin before his eyes drifted up towards the ceiling, “Q, is everything set?”

“All is well, Sir. Have a good night.”

They walked out to the car, Jeremy taking them to the event center. Jeremy did seem to be having an easier time around at this party, actively smiling and talking to employees as they approached him. James offered him a smile, one arm locked with Jennifer’s. Tonight would be good, he was sure of it.

Jennifer and James walked over with a guest, Jeremy still sporting his smile as they approached. Chloe appeared beside them, keen on listening in.

“Here he is,” Jennifer beamed at Jeremy, reaching out to pat his cheek. “Jeremiah, darling, I was just talking about how talented you are. You know Jeremy recently programmed our newest release of weapons. He’s such a bright young man.”

The party guest nodded, “Yes. Your mother was telling me about your other gifts as well, outside the family business.”

Jeremy chuckled, “Like what? I’ve done a lot of things.”

The guest shrugged, “Jennifer says you’re quite the musically gifted young man. My wife, she loves music.”

Jeremy laughed, it was clearly forced, “Oh I’m not that good. It’s just a hobby I picked up between classes in school.”

“We have a live band tonight, Jeremy,” Jennifer was glaring at her child. “How about you sing for our guests?”

Jeremy raised his eyebrows, “Seriously?”

Jennifer hummed, taking Jeremy by the arm to walk him away from the guest. Michael followed, tuning his ears to what she was saying.

“Do not start this shit tonight,” Jennifer hissed. Squeezing Jeremy’s arm tight. “Without his support we won’t make it through the next quarter.”

“Is making a fool of myself really worth a slight increase in sales. We’re fucking billionaires. This is ridiculous!”

“I seriously don’t ask much of you, Jeremy. Just do this.”

“I’ve seen your sales percentages, we’re fine.”

Jennifer got in Jeremy’s face, her eyes narrowing, “You may be an adult, but I am still your mother. I’m not an idiot, your father and I both know you lied about being sick last week. You owe us. Go, or I’m forcing you up there myself.”

Michael watched as Jeremy hung his head, walking over towards where the musicians were setting up. Jennifer turned around and spotted him, a smile forming on her face.

“Come along Michael, Jeremy will be fine for a few minutes. You can dance with Chloe, you seemed to have such a good time before.”

Michael followed, turning his head back to look at Jeremy. He looked exhausted. And between whatever he was working on and the social event he was bound to get overwhelmed. Michael didn’t blame him at all, especially with how bitchy Jennifer was acting towards him.

Guests turned to look at Jeremy as he approached the microphone, hundreds of eyes on him.

“Good evening everyone,” Jeremy said, his voice monotone.

Chloe snorted beside him, “Oh wow, he’s actually going to do it. Wow.”

Jeremy leaned away from the microphone to speak to the band members before returning to his expressionless stance at the microphone. Oh god, he wasn’t about to be spiteful and sing something that would make his parents mad, right? It felt like something Jeremy would do.

But no, a slightly jazzy tune started playing, Chloe offering up a hand for him to take. Michael sighed, taking her hand to lead them around the room. Michael swore he could recognize the music, but he just couldn’t remember the name of the song.

“Guess mine is not the first heart broken,” Jeremy started singing. “My eyes are not the first to cry.”

Oh god. It was a good thing Michael could multitask, because if he hadn’t been able to, Chloe would have just been left standing in the room. Michael couldn’t look away from Jeremy. He knew Jeremy could sing, but there was something about now that just pulled him in. A quick glance at Chloe revealed her happily nodding her head along to the music, not noticing his lack of attention.

“But now, there’s nowhere to hide. Since you pushed my love aside, I’m out of my head. Hopelessly devoted to you.”

Oh man he was actually falling for Jeremy wasn’t he? This wasn’t a stupid crush anymore. He didn’t want to get over Jeremy, not when he liked how good Jeremy made him feel. Frustrations or not. Jeremy was one of his favorite people.

“My head is saying, fool, forget him. My heart is saying, don’t let go. Hold on to the end, that’s what I intend to do…”

Originally, way back in high school, Michael had liked Jeremy because he had appeared to be this genius who just happened to look beautiful. He got over it because that’s what happens when you grow up, you realize what’s actually possible and move on. But now?

He was living in the same house as Jeremy. Jeremy was right there. Jeremy was better than the idolized version Michael had in his head before. And other than him being the straightest man Michael had ever met…it didn’t feel as impossible as before. Michael would never actually say anything, he was mature enough to know better, but it was tempting. He respected Jeremy now, and understood how he operated as a person. There was no more questioning of who Jeremy was, Michael actually knew him now.

He knew that Jeremy liked loud music. Knew he lost track of time when working. Knew about his family dynamics. He knew that Jeremy’s favorite food was anything pasta related. He knew that Jeremy had a caffeine addiction. Jeremy was prideful, and so fucking smart, and he was talented.

Jeremy Heere had started as some unreachable person, who was too good to be true. And now? Michael got to know the real man behind what the public saw. And Michael liked him all the more for it.

“Hopelessly devoted to you, oh-oh.”

The song ended, Michael letting go of Chloe. She offered him another smile before walking away to talk to her coworkers. Or maybe James, he really wasn’t paying attention to her. Michael made his way over towards where Jeremy had moved to. He looked so tired, it was a little confusing. Jeremy was usually so full of energy.

“Hey, you feeling okay?” Michael asked, fully ready to remove Jeremy from the party by force if he needed to.

Jeremy sighed, “I…yeah. Would you believe me if I said I haven’t had coffee in three days?”

“I believe you, but I don’t know why you would do that to yourself,” Michael hummed. “You sleep when you lock yourself in the workshop, right?”

Jeremy shrugged, “Sometimes, not really this week. I’m going to get some air before I go back to socializing, I’ll be back in a few.”

Michael nodded, allowing Jeremy to step outside through a side door. Michael kept an eye on the door while he walked back over towards James and Jennifer, finding the couple had found another party guest to chat with. Something about optimizing coding, Michael didn’t really care.

And then the skylight shattered. Luckily no one was standing directly under the glass, but the crash scared the crowd. Michael cursed under his breath, spotting Iron Man flying in through the hole in the ceiling. Or was it a different robot this time? The metal looked a bit different from last time. Granted Michael had done a decent job trying to break the robot.

“Michael!” James grabbed his arm, eyes frantic. “Where’s Jeremy?”

“Outside,” Michael stated.

“Jennifer Heere! I’m sick of warning you!” Iron Man snapped, scanning the room for her.

The building was quick to startle, people running for exits. Jennifer was long gone, not even bothering to wait for her family. James dashed over to the side of the room, Michael following him. He was handed a large bag, James giving him a firm look.

“Good luck, I’ll find Jeremy,” James said, turning to run out to find his son. Michael ducked his way into a bathroom, finding a small group cowering inside. He managed to get them running outside where it was more safe, changing into the dumb mud puddle outfit once the room was empty. When he had dreamed of being a video game character with a cool costume, changing hadn’t ever come to mind. It made things a lot less cool. Michael ran back out once the mask was in place, finding Iron Man was about ready to fly out the way he came in. Michael tossed the shield, knocking into the legs of the metal.

“Oh what the fuck, you’re here?” Iron Man sighed, firing the energy bursts at him. “How have you been Cap? I upgraded while we were apart.”

“I’d rather skip the banter and get back to saving these kind people,” Michael stated, jumping around to dodge the energy bursts.

“Alright. Let’s dance, Cappy.”

Iron Man played it smart this time, using distance to help him. Micahel was strong, but he was just a guy with a wacky metal shield. A inhumanely strong man with a wacky metal shield, but still. All he could do was throw the thing and hope for the best when it came to range. But the longer Michael kept Iron Man busy the farther away all the civilians could get.

Actually, Iron Man seemed chatty for a robot. Maybe he could shed some light on why he was targeting the Heere family. Michael sighed, flipping around as he was fired at.

“What’s your problem with the Heere family?”

“I thought you didn’t want to chat, Captain,” Iron Man somehow managed to sound full of shit despite his voice being robotic. “Jennifer is an evil bitch, if you must know.”

And the word choices seemed so…crude for a robot. Squip was essentially the same thing and he was always polite. He didn’t really have tonal shifts in his voice, and it made what jokes he did try to tell all the more funny.

“I mean, she’s not winning any awards, but that’s rich people for you,” Michael grunted, tossing the shield. Iron Man flew off to the side, the shield missing the target. Michael had to run after it, in the empty room there weren’t many walls for it to bounce off of.

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m not here to hurt people, I’m here to save people,” Iron Man stated. Michael let out a hiss of pain as he was shot in the back. “Also you’re basically just really tough meat without that shield. Sorry, I didn’t want to hurt you. Unibeam.”

Uni-what? Michael turned back around just in time to see the bright light from the chest of the armor firing at him. Michael felt the burns forming, collapsing to his knees. The shield was just out of his reach, if he had been an inch closer…ouch.

Iron Man landed in front of him, crossing his arms over his chest. Michael struggled to keep his breathing steady. His movement felt too real, it was creepy. Maybe someone was remotely piloting the robot. Motion tracking and such. Jeremy would have been better able to explain it than him.

“Jennifer Heere is dealing weapons under the table,” Iron Man stated. “I’ve been flying around the globe destroying what’s been misplaced. My encounters with her have been to tell her to stop, so far she hasn’t listened. She has plans in place to kill her husband and son if they find out too much, I’m trying to keep them safe. I’m sorry if it seems like I’m being malicious, but innocent people are being hurt.”

Michael growled, leaning over just enough to get his fingers on the shield, “You’re shitty at keeping people safe.”

Michael used a burst of strength and shoved the shield into the face of the robot as hard as he could. But Michael was in pain, he wasn’t as coordinated as he would have liked to be. He nearly missed, the shield hitting around the top of the face. The metal crushed under his strength anyway, Michael falling back over as he smirked.

“You’re a fucking asshole!” Iron Man stated, pulling the shield out of his face. Michael’s confidence in his work died as the shield hit the floor. There was a solid gap in the face from Michael bending and cutting through the metal. And on the other side of the metal casing wasn’t wires. It was blood, and flesh. There was a person inside the robot–armor, whatever it was.

Fighting a person was a whole different ball game.

“At least I can fucking fix this,” Iron Man muttered, flying back up. “Stay down, Captain.”

Michael watched as Iron Man flew away, struggling to get up. He managed to get out of his mud puddle outfit and back into his suit. Michael stumbled outside, finding that James had lingered behind to wait for him.

“Where’s Jeremy?” Michael asked, eyes wide.

James seemed panicked, “I don’t know, I can’t find him. His car is still here, What happened in there?”

If Iron Man was telling the truth…Michael couldn’t tell James what he knew. He couldn’t risk his life like that.

“It’s not a robot,” Michael groaned, putting pressure on his injuries. “It’s a person inside a suit. Made him bleed, and now I feel gross.”

Michael handed back over the bag holding his things, James not appearing more relaxed in the slightest.

“Michael? Dad?”

They both looked over, finding Jeremy walking over. His hair was messy, and there was a nasty gash on his head. Michael ran over, pulling Jeremy into his arms for a hug. Thank god.

“I got locked out and then trampled by the crowd,” Jeremy explained, gesturing to his head. “People are brutal.”

“We were worried,” Michael whispered, squeezing Jeremy again before pulling back.

James glanced back and forth between the two of them before settling on Jeremy, “I’m glad you’re okay. You two should get the hell out of here, I’ll handle the authorities.”

Jeremy nodded, Michael noting him hesitating before pulling his dad in for a hug. They waved to James as they hurried off, Michael doing his best to play off his injuries so Jeremy wouldn’t suspect anything. He needed to get that gash on Jeremy’s face cleaned before it ended up infected.

“Sit down, I’ve got a first aid kit in my bathroom,” Michael pointed to the couch once they were home. Jeremy actually listened for once, Michael pulling off pieces of his suit as he walked around the house. He ditched his suit jacket and tie, tossing them towards his laundry basket as he walked by. He rolled up his sleeves as he grabbed the first aid kit, making his way back out to Jeremy. He was lucky that his own injuries weren’t visible through his white button up he had under the suit jacket.

“Okay, this is going to sting,” Michael warned, dabbing antiseptic solution over the cut.

Jeremy hissed, but otherwise kept quiet. Once the wound was clean it revealed that the cut wasn’t actually that big, just deep enough to cause concern.

“I fucking hate this couch,” Jeremy groaned, keeping his head slightly tipped up so Michael could work easier.

“Get a different one,” Michael hummed, digging for gauze to cover the gash. “You can afford it.”

Jeremy sighed, “You’ll have to come furniture shopping with me, I clearly have a shitty taste in decor. My own room is boring as all hell.”

“That sounds like a fun afternoon,” Michael murmured, placing a bandage over the gauze. “There, all fixed up. Try not to scratch at it.”

“What, you aren’t going to kiss my ouchies better?”

Michael snorted, cleaning up his first aid kit, “Do I look like your mother?”

“Jennifer would never let herself show an ounce of affection for me, Michael,” Jeremy drawled, his eyes playful.

Michael let out a large sigh before leaning back over and pressing a chaste kiss over Jeremy’s bandage.

“See, that wasn’t so hard,” Jeremy teased, getting up from the couch.

Michael hummed, watching Jeremy walk off towards the kitchen. Michael followed, finding his friend had quickly seated himself on the counter and was eating cold leftovers from the container.

“Damn, what if I was going to need that?” Michael asked, leaning against the doorway.

Jeremy flipped him off, “That’s bullshit and you know it. I know you keep shit made that I’ll eat without prompting in the fridge.”

It was true, Jeremy was kind of picky when it came to food. Although growing up the way he did it made some sense. Jennifer and James seemed like the type to enjoy pretentious food. Complicated things that probably didn’t appeal to kids. Thus, Jeremy had a preference for more simple meals. Has Jeremy ever had boxed macaroni and cheese before?

“You know, you really do have a beautiful voice,” Michael said, walking over to grab a glass of water. “I know you didn’t want to sing, but you did a good job.”

Jeremy spoke through a mouthful of food, “Vocal lessons for five years.”

Michael walked over to stand in front of Jeremy, his jaw dropping when Jeremy stole his water glass. What the fuck?! He wanted to be upset, but Jeremy was willingly drinking water. Michael just went back over and grabbed another. He lived with an asshole.

“I’m so tired,” Jeremy grumbled, hopping back down to the floor to take care of his dishes. “Q, remind me not to work tomorrow.”

“I’ll do my best, Sir,” Squip beeped. “However, reminders have never stopped you before.”

Jeremy hummed, undoing his tie, “Yeah, good point.”

Michael found himself grinning like an idiot at Jeremy, unable to suppress it. There was just something so…amazing about Jeremy, it drew him in.

“Are you going to bed? Or did you maybe want to watch a movie?” Michael asked, managing to reel in his smile to a normal looking one.

“Yeah, just let me change out of this stupid suit,” Jeremy nodded his head. “Living room or your room?”

Michael chuckled, “Well I don’t want to force you to sit on that couch you hate so much.”

“Okay, your room in five, got it,” Jeremy walked towards his room, leaving Michael in the kitchen.

Michael moved fast, putting things away and changing into comfy clothes. He would let Jeremy pick the movie, figuring he would appreciate the choice. Jeremy knocked on his door, Michael letting him in without a thought.

Jeremy chose an action movie, something Michael had seen a hundred times and didn’t mind watching again. They stretched out on his bed, like they had in New York. It was nice, knowing they could have some peace after the disaster of an evening. Michael looked over to say something, but found Jeremy had conked out. He kept quiet, not wanting to disturb him.

☼

“Have you considered telling Mr. Mell how you feel?” Squip asked.

Jeremy sighed, leaning back in his chair, “Have you considered that your only real exposure to human interaction is me. I’m not a good example for how social interactions should go.”

“Well, you aren’t telling him.”

Jeremy had built a snarky asshole, wow. That actually made a lot of sense.

“I can’t tell him,” Jeremy groaned, making his chair spin in circles. “It would be too weird. We’re friends now. Besides, according to everyone in the world I’m straight. It would probably be way too much pressure for Michael to be the first guy I’ve ever liked.”

“You could come out.”

“You make it sound easy,” Jeremy rolled his eyes. “I know you’re built to put my happiness and all that first, but coming out would ruin my future. Jennifer would cut me from her will, the media would have a field day, and I’d be hounded to be some form of poster boy for queer people in science. Gay people can build bombs too! Or something stupid like that. At least with the way I’m portrayed now people kind of just brush over my life as normal.”

“What if you told Ms. Valentine?”

Jeremy wrinkled his nose, halting his spinning, “Chloe? Why her?”

“She’s your friend. You don’t have many of those.” Ouch. “And she can be someone who can give you the human response you’re looking for. All I can do is support and suggest options, she can have a real opinion.”

“You have opinions.”

“Not like she does.”

Jeremy thought about it for a few minutes. Chloe was a solid option. He trusted her not to tell anyone, she cared about the future of the company as much as he did. They would probably be running it together once his parents retired, Jeremy already knew he would be doomed without her.

“Okay, fine,” Jeremy sighed, getting up from his chair. “I’ll treat Chloe to lunch.”

“Don’t forget you have plans with Mr. Mell this afternoon.”

Right, furniture shopping. Or at least viewing. Jeremy sighed, “I’ll be back before that, it’s still pretty early. Where’s Michael at?”

“Mr. Mell is currently in the gym.”

Jeremy made his way out of the workshop and upstairs to the main floor of the house. He stepped into the gym, finding Michael doing pull-ups. Oh wow, he was strong. Jeremy couldn’t even do one.

“Hey,” Jeremy called out, still standing by the door. It felt weird being in the room, it had become Michael’s space since he had moved in.

Michael spotted him and dropped to the floor, smiling at him, “Hi.”

Jeremy rocked on his heels, “I’m going to lunch with Chloe, do you need to follow me for that?”

Michael hummed, “I trust you. Have fun.”

Jeremy smiled, “Thanks. I’ll be back in a few hours.”

He made his way out to the garage, driving out to the office building. He wasn’t quite sure where to find Chloe, but she usually appeared in his dad’s office at some point. Jeremy walked into the office, earning a small smile from his dad.

“No Michael?” James glanced around, like he was expecting Michael to always be right behind him.

“I was let off the leash for once,” Jeremy sighed, walking over to the desk. “Where’s Chloe?”

James raised his eyebrows, “She’s tracking your mother down for some signatures, she’ll be back in a few minutes. Did you want to talk about something?”

Jeremy frowned, “No? Did you want to talk about something?”

James pointed to the healing cut on his forehead, “What really happened there? You weren’t trampled in the crowd, I–”

“So we’re back to you not believing me again, great,” Jeremy muttered, turning to walk away. “I don’t know why I fucking bother with you guys–”

“Jeremy,” James got up and moved to stand in front of him. “I’m just worried about you, we have a dangerous robot after us.”

“No, it’s after Jennifer. You and I are fine,” Jeremy corrected. “It attacked her office, it was looking for her at the party, and it targeted her house.”

He was destroying her illegally sold weapons.

“How do you know it was looking for her? You had already left the building by the time the robot showed up,” James whispered.

Shit. “I saw the reports, witnesses were eager to talk.” That should work.

James let him go. Jeremy walked around the room, letting out a small sigh as Chloe walked in.

“Oh, hi Jeremy,” Chloe passed over a clipboard to James.

“Want to go get lunch?” Jeremy offered, hoping she wasn’t busy.

“Uh, sure! James, I–”

“Have fun,” James shushed her.

Jeremy brought them to a quiet restaurant, somewhere that he could stay away from any lurking press. They tended to flood the streets looking for anyone of note. Chloe arched her brow at him, resting her chin on her hands.

“So, what’s up? You and I never have plans.”

Jeremy pressed his lips into a line, “Can you keep a secret?”

Chloe nodded, leaning forward in her seat a bit more. Jeremy hesitated, what if she didn’t support him? He hadn’t ever talked to Chloe about anything personal before, maybe excusing the time he had been drunk and babbled about his shitty relationship with his parents. But that had been years ago, when Chloe had first been hired.

“I…I’m bi,” Jeremy mumbled, avoiding eye contact.

“Seriously?” Chloe seemed surprised. “But you’ve always…woah.”

“I like Michael.”

“Jeremy!” Chloe reached over to squeeze his arm. “Like you actually like him or you just want to sleep with him?”

Jeremy lowered his head to the table, “Can I say both? Chloe this fucking sucks, I’ve never liked someone before.”

“You would actually have a steady relationship with him?” Chloe sounded so dumbfounded.

“In a fucking heartbeat,” Jeremy whined, not looking up. “It’s killing me, I miss when I thought he just made me feel gross. Now I know that it's a good feeling and it sucks.”

Jeremy spilled his guts to her, Chloe eating up every detail he shared. It was nice to get it off of his chest and not get the robotic response of “Just tell him” that Squip always had. He loved Squip like one would love their first born, really, but Squip was a computer at the end of the day. Jeremy hadn’t programmed him to be all that empathetic. He had morals and ethics built in, but that was the extent that he was able to grow.

Jeremy brought Chloe back to the office after lunch, driving back to the house once she was delivered to work. Michael was all set, so they took off to look for a new couch. Jeremy laughed, watching Michael flop over on the show furniture to test how comfy they were. Sometimes Michael could be just as dramatic as him.

“I like this one,” Jeremy hummed, sitting on the back of one of the several couches.

Michael rolled his eyes, “That’s not how you sit on a couch, Jer.”

Jeremy shrugged, “It’s how I sit on a couch, and that’s what matters.”

Michael sighed, “Well, let’s keep looking anyway. We can come back to this one if you don’t find anything else you like.”

They walked around the rest of the show room, not finding any others that Jeremy liked. They walked back to the nice couch and Jeremy pulled out his phone so he could order the model online.

“And this one is smaller than the one I have now,” Jeremy said, a smile tugging at his face. “Maybe now I’ll stop tripping over it.”

Michael chuckled, “I hope so, I think you’ve given the furniture more dirty looks than me.”

They could leave now, go back home. Mission accomplished. Jeremy hesitated, glancing around the room. He was having fun, he didn’t want to leave.

“C’mon,” Jeremy grabbed Michael by the arm, pulling him towards the bedroom showroom. “We’re fixing the blank slate that is my room while we’re here.”

Chapter Text

Jeremy sighed, flying towards home. He had found another couple dozen places with the misplaced weapons. Although he wasn’t even sure if misplaced was the word for it anymore. Jennifer had sold them. It wasn’t just moving already created inventory, it was a purposeful sale. And now he spent his days flying around at mach five in hopes of getting rid of everything she had done. He could fly faster than most military fighter jets were willing to go, all in the hopes that he could fly across the globe and get back in time for dinner every few days.

Jeremy had given her three different warnings. It was time to take action. All Jennifer had done was try to ignore her problems. Now? Jeremy had to forcibly stop her.

His logical jump would be to shut down the weapons department, but Jeremy couldn’t control the company. He had no real power over what happened outside of maybe having employees try to please their future boss. And there was no way his dad would practically kill his company at Jeremy’s request without reason. Jeremy couldn’t even give a reason, not without risking their lives.

Jeremy knew how Jennifer planned to take them out if her family ended up in the way. She would stage a car crash for his dad, Jeremy would be blown up with a company bomb. It was a cover that made both look like an accident, Jeremy was known for being destructive and he designed bombs for a living. His dad had a busy life that often involved a lot of driving. And Jennifer could fake her own death if needed by just placing herself at the crash.

No, Jeremy couldn’t do anything. Not as himself at least. But Iron Man? The media didn’t know what he was. Sure, his operations were no longer a tightly kept secret, but there was power behind anonymity.

Jeremy had a plan, he just didn’t want to execute it.

He landed outside the workshop exit and made his way inside, stepping on the assembly platform. Q worked without prompting, removing the armor from his body as he stood there. The Mark Ⅱ armor was stored away in the wall and Jeremey was free to walk around as himself again.

Jeremy made his way upstairs, finding Michael in the kitchen. He wanted to pop in and see what he was making, but he needed to change out of the undersuit. He felt gross from being in the armor for two days.

“Jeremy?”

Ah shit he hadn’t been quiet enough.

Jeremy walked into the room, earning a strange look from Michael.

“What the hell are you wearing?”

He had recently changed the undersuit to be better fit with the new armor. Admittedly, it looked a bit odd without context.

“Uh, testing a new spandex material,” Jeremy lied through a smile. “Hopefully this is more durable.”

It was a shitty lie even for him. But Michael just nodded and turned back to his cooking.

“Okay, dinner should be ready in a bit if you’re hungry.”

Jeremey hummed, continuing his trip to his room. It was still weird to walk in and see color instead of his empty canvas he had been living in for about five years. Or was it six? He couldn’t remember.

Jeremy changed into regular clothes before making his way back down to the kitchen. He tried to casually make his way over to the coffee pot without mentioning it. He knew it was late in the day for coffee but he had gone two days without any.

“I fear for your kidney health,” Michael mumbled, grabbing plates from the cabinet.

“Sir is doing quite well in all health related things, Mr. Mell. He is almost at a healthy weight, and that is probably thanks to you.”

“Q, I know you aren’t a doctor, but try to follow some form of hippocratic oath,” Jeremy sighed.

“Squip tracks your health?” Michael seemed more interested in the computer than what had actually been said.

Jeremy shrugged, “It’s easier to have Squip tell me things than waste valuable time with doctors. Mine and theirs. He’s probably tracking yours too, since you live here. Though I didn’t tell him to. Q?”

“What I have examined shows that Mr. Mell is in excellent health, Sir,” Squip beeped. “And his strength is quite impressive for even someone at his stature.”

“That’s military training for you,” Michael chuckled, setting two spots at the table. “So, Jer, it dawned on me that you’ve probably never had boxed mac’n’cheese. I’d rather make it from scratch, but it’s an experience that everyone should have at least once in their life.”

Jeremy eyed the pot that Michael had on the stove, “That looks like plastic.”

“If you really do hate it I’ll make my mom’s recipe as an apology tomorrow,” Michael assured, serving them both. “But this is part of the human experience, and despite your billions you are a human, Jer.”

Turns out plastic was the perfect word to describe what Michael had made. It wasn’t inherently bad, but Jeremy wasn’t going to be chomping at the bit to ever have it again. Maybe in another world he could see the appeal. But not the one he was in now.

“Oh, I have a meeting with your dad in the morning,” Michael hummed, happily eating his own plate. “Do you want to come with me? He tends to talk about you.”

Jeremy felt anxiety pool in his stomach, “You’re going to the office building, right?”

Michael shrugged, “Uh, I mean that’s usually what happens. James has talked about giving me a tour of the whole facility, but we’ve usually been distracted. I’m not sure, but I’ll probably just be in the office building, yeah.”

Jeremy nodded, “Okay, good. Uh, I have some tests I need to finish tomorrow, so I can’t join. But I hope it’s nothing bad, your meeting.”

“Nah, it’s usually just to check in on how I’m doing. I, uh, fairly recently mentioned the whole…” Michael waved a hand around. “Night terrors thing. Not what caused them, obviously, but…he’s been pretty insistent on making sure I’m doing well mentally ever since.”

“Is…is there a problem going on that I can help make better?” Jeremy asked, eyes curious. He didn’t want to be causing Michael any stress.

“No, uh, everything has been getting a lot better recently,” Michael hummed. “I got a restraining order filed and now my old General isn’t allowed near me, it’s helped a lot.”

“Swan?”

Michael nodded, “Yeah, you saw her at that party. She…was not a good person.”

Michael had said his night terrors had been because of the accident, what did Swan have to do with it? Jeremy filed the question away in his brain, he would look into it later. He wasn’t going to badger Michael about it and possibly upset him over his rough history.

“So, am I making an apology macaroni tomorrow?”

Jeremy chuckled, “Well, maybe not an apology macaroni, but if you’re cooking it I doubt it’ll be this…pathetic.”

☼

Michael hummed, following James around the factory. He hadn’t ever been inside. James made it clear that while he maybe didn’t understand all the science behind his company, he valued it and what he had accomplished in his life alongside Jennifer.

“How has Jeremy been doing?” James asked, turning back to look at him.

Michael sighed, “Good, I think. I’m never sure what he’s working on since he doesn’t allow me into his workshop, but things have been great.”

“That’s…that’s good,” James hummed. “You guys talk? You’re close?”

Michael hummed, “I mean, yeah. I know it’s not really my job to be his friend, but Jeremy is…awesome. It’s kind of hard not to like him. Don’t tell him I said that, he already has a huge ego.”

James hummed, “Jeremy has always been charismatic. I uh, I haven’t seen him in any gossip stories lately, can I assume that he’s calmed down with the whole…playboy look?”

Michael shrugged, “I try not to bother with what Jeremy does in his social life, but he hasn’t dragged me around to a club lately.”

James fully turned around to face him, “Michael, do you like him?”

Michael felt his face burn, “What?”

James offered a shrug, “After the incident at the party, you two went in for a hug like it was an expectation. He doesn’t do that, and maybe that’s my fault, but he’s never been normal about casually showing affection. And in New York he fell asleep in your room. I’m not upset, if that’s what you’re wondering. I’m just trying to figure it out.”

Michael wanted to walk into the ocean, “Is it that obvious?”

James offered a smile, “I fucked up as a parent, and now I overanalyze everything I see when it comes to Jeremy. I try to memorize what candy he likes, I try to take his side when he and Jennifer get into it, I’m not perfect. Far from it. But I pay enough attention to notice when two people like each other.”

Michael shook his head, “Jeremy doesn’t like me back, he…I’m happy being friends with him.”

James rolled his eyes, “I wouldn't sell yourself too short.”

Michael opened his mouth to speak when he heard a crash up the hall. Michael looked over, his eyes widening as Iron Man came flying into view. How had he gotten in? Michael grunted as both he and James were picked up by the man, being flown out of the building. A crowd of employees were already out there.

“Stay out,” Iron Man ordered before flying back in.

James pushed him towards the office, “Go!”

Michael took off, his feet pounding into the pavement as he ran into the office building. He didn’t even have time for the key. Michael broke the lock with his hand, pulling out his “costume” and shield. But by the time Michael was changed and running back out it was too late. He saw from a window as Iron Man flew out of the building, and a moment later the building exploded. Michael felt his breath catch in his throat, watching the smoke build in the sky. Iron Man had evacuated the building before blowing it up.

“No!”

Michael looked over, finding Chloe had fallen to her knees, tears already streaming down her face. Michael approached, pulling down the mask as he got closer.

“Chloe?”

She looked over, her makeup already smearing. She didn’t seem surprised that it was him. “Kick. His. Ass.”

Michael nodded, pulling the mask up before running to the stairwell. He made it out to the roof, finding that Iron Man was still hovering above the damage he had caused. James and Jennifer’s lives were ruined. Jeremy just lost his future. Chloe was heartbroken.

And Michael? Michael saw red.

He backed up to the opposite side of the roof before running across. Michael used his momentum and speed to throw himself at Iron Man, grabbing hold of the armor as he made contact.

“What the fuck?!” Iron Man yelped.

Michael was silent, clinging to the armor as Iron Man tried to escape. They flew together towards the coast line, Michael not letting up his grip. He wouldn’t let go, not until Iron Man was willing to fight him and stop running like a coward. Michael held tight with one hand and grabbed the shield with the other, slamming the metal into the armor. Sparks fired but nothing else happened. Michael kept going, hitting the armor where he could. He kept quiet and fought for everything Jeremy had lost.

Eventually Iron Man crashed them at a beach. Michael got tossed into the sand, quick to hop to his feet.

“Unibeam!”

Michael held the shield ready, deflecting the blast as it went off. He charged, tossing the shield to throw Iron Man off balance. A smaller energy burst hit his leg, but Michael kept moving. He didn’t feel any pain as he was hit, he just kept focused on his target. When Iron Man tried to fly away and get distance Michael jumped, clinging to him until he went back down.

“Cap, I had to do it! Jennifer wasn’t going to stop making weapons!”

“You ruined Jeremy’s future!” Michael snapped, tossing the shield as hard as he could. It hit the chest of the armor, implanting it there. Michael had to run forward to retrieve it, slightly disappointed that he didn’t manage to break all the way through the shell.

“I’m sure it’ll be fine!”

Michael didn’t care. He managed to knock Iron Man to the ground, dropping the shield so he could use his fists. He bent the metal out of shape, ripped pieces off of the armor if he could manage it. Still, he didn’t see any skin yet.

The center beam fired again, frying Michael’s skin. It hurt, but Michael stayed focused. Iron Man tried to punch him back, but Michael caught his fist, crushing the metal between his fingers.

“Ow!”

“So you are in there,” Michael hissed, reaching for the shield. “Good.”

Michael reached for the faceplate, pulling hard as he raised the shield over his head with his free hand. He tossed the metal aside, grabbing the shield with both hands for better impact. He was ready to slam the shield down, make Iron Man regret messing with the people he cared about. Michael looked down to see if they were scared and his heart stopped.

Jeremy.

Michael dropped the shield, it landed somewhere off to the side. Jeremy was terrified. Jeremy…Jeremy had been in the suit the entire time. The dinner party, Jennifer’s office, the employee party, the reports coming in of a robot blowing up weapons depots. Jeremy hadn’t been trampled, Michael had practically stabbed him. He wasn’t locking himself away, he was keeping Michael from noticing his absence. Jennifer was behind everything, and Michael was the reason that Jeremy had found out.

Michael went limp as Jeremy fired at him again, allowing him to get back up to his feet. Michael wasn’t sure if he was breathing or not. He watched from the corner of his eye as Jeremy took off, flying towards the house. Michael just laid there, unable to move.

He wasn’t sure how long he was there, Michael just stared out at the blue sky and felt wave after wave of guilt hit him like a truck. He had nearly killed Jeremy several times. Jeremey had only been trying to rectify a problem. And Michael was out ruining his plans every step of the way. He must have staged the attack at Jennifer’s to keep suspicion off of him, and it had worked.

Michael could never face him again.

“Michael?”

He managed to look over, finding Chloe running down the beach towards him, her heels held in her hand so she could move easier. Michael sat up, pulling down the mask.

“Oh my god!” Chloe saw the scattered bits of armor on the beach. “Are you okay? What happened?”

“He got away,” Michael managed to get out. He wouldn’t dare expose Jeremy, not after ruining everything else. Michael managed to get up and started picking up the pieces of armor. Jeremy probably wouldn’t want anyone getting their hands on what he had built. Michael decided it was better to just destroy the evidence, so he crushed each piece of metal in his hands until it couldn’t be recognized. He threw the pieces into a garbage can as he and Chloe walked by, at that point they just looked like crushed soda cans as it was. No one would know the wiser.

“C’mon,” Chloe brought them to her car. “I’ll get you back to the office.”

Michael was silent, eyeing the rips and holes in his shirt. He was buried pretty badly from the fight, but Michael couldn’t find it in himself to care. He deserved all the pain he had and so much more. He pulled the mask back up as they arrived, Chloe sneaking them in through a side door. The factory was surrounded by fire trucks and police cars. James and Jennifer would be busy for hours. Days even.

Michael changed into his normal clothes, putting the tattered outfit back into the closet. However, he did grab the bag that kept the shield safe and decided to bring it with him. He had to come clean to Jeremy. It was only fair. Hell, nothing about this was fair. But it was the least he could do.

Chloe helped him get off the property without being questioned. Michael felt empty as he drove towards the house. He wasn’t sure what he was supposed to be feeling, but internally he felt like garbage. If that counted as a feeling at least. Michael trudged his way through the house, making his way down to the workshop.

“Sir is quite busy at the moment, Mr. Mell,” Squip stated, not even letting Michael attempt to knock.

Tears welled up in his eyes, “Can…Can you please just tell him to come out for a second? The explosion and…”

A moment later the door opened, revealing Jeremy to be…perfectly fine. He acted as if he hadn’t nearly been killed via Michael nearly an hour ago.

“I heard about the explosion, I–”

Michael pulled Jeremy into his arms, “Thank god you’re okay!”

Jeremy hugged him back, Michael was scared to let go. He didn’t want Jeremy to hate him.

“I mean, obviously,” Jeremy chuckled, pulling back to offer him a small smile. “I wasn’t even there. But you, did you at least get out of there before everything went to shit?”

Jeremy already knew the answer to that. Michael let out a broken laugh, his burns didn’t appreciate it though.

Jeremy must have seen his discomfort, “Michael, seriously. Did you…” Jeremy reached forward and tugged up the hem of Michael’s shirt. One of the burns was instantly visible. “Oh my god! I thought you got out! Come on!”

Michael was pulled into the workshop, Jeremy pushing him to sit on a table. The armor was nowhere to be seen, although Michael caught what looked like a blueprint on the screen of Jeremy’s computer for a fraction of a second before it was closed.

“Jeremy, stop,” Michael grabbed him by the wrist, halting his movement. Michael passed over the bag that was in his other hand and hung his head. “I’m so sorry.”

Jeremy glanced at the bag, hesitating for a moment before opening it. Jeremy pulled out the shield, his eyes widening.

“I didn’t know it was you,” Michael whispered, getting up from the table. “I’m so sorry, are you okay?”

Jeremy flipped the shield around in his hands a few times, “You’re…You’re Captain?”

Michael nodded, “And you’re Iron Man.”

Jeremy set the shield down, “Holy shit.”

Michael started to back away, “I should leave. I just wanted to tell you the truth–”

“Q, lock the door!” Jeremy ordered, walking over to him. “Michael, you can’t leave.”

“I hurt you–”

“Yeah, and I hurt you too! I don’t care! You aren’t leaving!”

Michael shook his head, “I can’t, Jer. I don’t think you understand–”

Jeremy held Michael’s face in his hands, “I understand that you and I were both keeping secrets. I understand that you were trying your best to protect me from harm, when the harm ended up just being myself. I understand that I need you here, and that you can’t just leave me because you’re beating yourself up over something we didn’t know. Would it have been different if it had been anyone else?”

“Yes!” Michael cried out. “You make all the difference, Jer!”

“Don’t leave me,” Jeremy whispered. “It all makes sense now, you can’t leave me,”

Michael pulled away, but Jeremy just moved his arms to be wrapped around his shoulders instead.

“Please,” Jeremy begged. “I don’t hate you, I want you. Michael, this is your home. You need to stay.”

“Jeremy–”

Michael didn’t get a chance to finish his thought. Jeremy stretched up on his toes and kissed him, Michael losing his train of thought on contact. Jeremy…Jeremy had kissed him. Michael hadn’t initiated it.

Don’t sell yourself too short.

Holy shit. Holy. Shit. Michael didn’t even get a chance to kiss back before Jeremy pulled away, his face bright red.

“Was that enough to convince you or do I need to try again?” Jeremy murmured. “Or did I just read everything wrong and totally fuck up, because that’s always an option.”

Michael couldn’t help but roll his eyes, cupping Jeremy’s cheek to pull him in again. A large part of him still wanted to turn tail, but Jeremy had kissed him and that took up more space in his mind. He backed Jeremy into the table and had him sit there, slowly dragging his lips over Jeremy’s. If it weren’t for the pain scattered across his body he would have assumed he was dreaming. Jeremy buried a hand into his hair, dead set on not letting him go.

“We need to talk,” Michael whispered, moving to kiss Jeremy’s jaw.

“We can talk tomorrow if you don’t leave,” Jeremy responded, a hesitant smile on his face.

Michael hummed, pulling Jeremy into his arms, slowly spinning them around the room, “Okay. Tomorrow.”

☼

Jeremy hadn’t ever had to put in any real effort to get someone to sleep next to him. Jeremy was a bit of a catch, all things considered. And this? Right now? Was probably the hardest he had ever worked.

He hadn’t let Michael go all afternoon. He followed him through the house, sat on the counter as he made dinner, and eventually just followed into his room to go to sleep.

They did need to talk, get shit figured out, but they had time to wait. Jeremy could just enjoy Michael for an afternoon before they had to talk about feelings and lies.

Since Jeremy hadn’t left Michael alone he never went to his own room to change. Michael had offered up a worn red hoodie, and Jeremy was practically drowning in it but he already knew he never wanted to take it off. He had never taken himself to be sentimental.

But now here he was, fully rested with sunlight drifting in the windows and staring at Michael’s sleeping form. He still felt a little light headed, thinking about all that Michael and he had done over the past day. Blowing up the factory, the fight, everything Michael related, it was insane.

Jeremy hadn’t ever been in love before, but he had a pretty good feeling that this is what it was like. Maybe without the crazy superpowers and robotic armor.

Jeremy drifted his eyes over to the now exposed burns on Michael’s chest and arms. He felt so fucking guilty over them, but Michael hadn’t been lying when he said he healed fast. The burns were already only tinged pink from the healing process.

Jeremy considered scooting back into his arms and going back to sleep, but he was wide awake and wanted coffee. So, Jeremy slipped out of bed and padded his way to the kitchen. He had left his phone on the counter and casually scrolled through it while waiting for the coffee to finish brewing.

There was a lot of news on the factory, but Jeremy chose to ignore those notifications. A text from his dad asking if Michael had made it home okay. He responded positively, not finding much more for updates.

Jeremy sat on the counter and sipped at his coffee mug, watching the shore through the windows. It was beautiful out, kind of typical for the area he lived in but still. The view from the kitchen was his favorite thinking spot outside the workshop.

“Hi,” Michael hummed, walking into the kitchen.

Jeremy got up and walked over to him, stretching up on his toes to plant a kiss on Michael’s cheek.

“Good morning,” Jeremy grinned, allowing Michael to pull him into his arms. “We’re okay?”

Michael nodded, hiding his face against Jeremy’s shoulder, “Yeah. We’ll talk after breakfast, but we’re okay.”

“Michael,” Jeremy made them look each other in the eyes. “I want to be with you, a serious relationship with all the commitment needed. Okay?”

Michael nodded, “I should call your dad.”

Jeremy wrinkled his nose, “I don’t think that’s what people typically say after agreeing to be in a serious relationship.”

Michael chuckled, hiding his face again, “Jer, I work for your parents. That could be problematic. Especially since I’m paid to protect you. It’s a whole mess, I need to quit to prevent problems from forming.”

Jeremy nodded his head in understanding, Michael moving about to make breakfast for them. Jeremy sat on the counter to watch, finding Michael passing him dopey smiles periodically while cooking. It was such an awesome morning so far.

After breakfast they both cleaned up before splitting off to get dressed, Jeremy placing the hoodie by the foot of his bed so he remembered where it was. Michael beat him back to the living room, his phone pulled out as he was waiting.

“Let’s talk in the workshop,” Jeremy offered, leading the way down the steps.

Michael took in the space as they walked in, Jeremy realizing that this was probably his first time properly taking in the space. It was fairly large, taking up the entire lower floor of the house. Jeremy pulled out the two armors from the wall, Michael walking around to examine them.

“So,” Jeremy rocked on his heels. “Who wants to go first?”

Michael shrugged, picking up his shield from where it had been left the day prior, “Um, I guess I can. What do you want to know?”

“Have you always been that strong?” Jeremy asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.

Michael shook his head, “No. General Swan liked to experiment on people. When I served under her I spent my time strapped to a table. They nearly killed me, the experiments. Then one day…it worked. No one noticed, Swan’s project was shut down, I was sent off to be a regular soldier. And then…you know the rest. Explosion, surgery, moving here. All that stuff.”

Jeremy hummed, “Who all knows?”

Michael sighed, “You and your dad. That’s it.”

“My dad knows?”

Michael nodded, holding up the shield, “He gave me this.”

Jeremy’s jaw dropped, “Oh my god, it’s made of fucking vibranium! That makes so much more sense!”

“I was just told it was strong, and it has held up, so…”

“Vibranium is the strongest metal on the planet, the most rare too,” Jeremy explained. “It doesn’t follow the laws of physics, practically indestructible. Completely vibration absorbent. I should have figured that out sooner. My dad fucking gifted me some years ago when he found a vein of it while the company was having a dig.”

“...Cool,” Michael grinned at his shield.

Jeremy hopped up on a table, swinging his legs, “I guess that’s all I was really curious about. What did you want to ask me?”

Michael gestured to the armors, “How long have these been around.”

Jeremy shrugged, “Not all that long after you moved in I started building Mark Ⅰ. I think the night I started my last kitchen fire was when I got the idea back in my head, I’ve wanted to do something like this for most of my life. It was a dream as a kid.”

“So all your weeks of locking yourself in here…”

“I’ve been out flying around, destroying the shit Jennifer caused,” Jeremy nodded. “There’s…there’s a lot more than I was originally expecting. So I started trying to scare her into stopping. Warned her about her actions. It didn’t work, so yesterday happened. That still might not stop her, but at least it’ll slow her down. Acting as Iron Man was the safest option, I can’t do much to her as myself.

“She really has a plan to kill you?”

Jeremy nodded, “I broke into her office while we were at a party one time, I’ve got a copy of all her secret files. I know she’s awful, but I wanted to give her a chance to just quit. She’s too obsessive to stop. I’d be blown up and my dad would conveniently die in a car crash.”

Michael flipped the shield around in his hands, “I only told your dad because he was terrified of you getting hurt by Iron Man. I thought it would calm him down, knowing that he had my weird shit to help protect you. He wanted me armed and dangerous, I’m enough of a threat on my own. I don’t need weapons, so he had this built as a defense system.”

“It fucking works, you fried my system the first time we fought,” Jeremy sighed, getting back up. “I actually got worried that you managed to hurt Squip, he quit talking to me.”

“He’s in the armor?”

“Yeah, I’d never get anywhere without him,” Jeremy assured.

“...I think that’s all my questions for now,” Michael hummed, setting the shield down. “If I think of any others I’ll ask. I know why you did what you did yesterday, and as much as it pains me to say…you probably made the right choice.”

Jeremy walked into Michael’s arms, keeping him pulled close. They were going to be okay. He had Michael, they were safe, the weapons literally couldn’t be built right now, it would be okay. He was sure that the coming weeks would be absolute hell, but at least he had Michael to be there with him for it.

Chapter Text

Despite hell being at their doorstep and them having no way to escape, Jeremy and Michael managed to find a few days to just stay home and let their newly established relationship flourish. Part of Jeremy still couldn’t believe it. He had a boyfriend. Him. It was still weird to think about, the word was strange and new to his vocabulary, especially when referring to himself in the same context. Jeremy Heere had never been one to be described as boyfriend material, and yet here he was. He had somehow fallen ass backwards into the arms of the kindest, strongest–both physically and emotionally–people in the world. Michael absolutely deserved someone better, but Jeremy didn’t really try to focus on that. If Michael was going to be with someone, the other person with wacky abnormal abilities–granted his were man made–seemed like a good option.

“Sir,” Squip beeped. “Mr. James is calling.”

Jeremy broke off his kiss from Michael, his nose wrinkling, “What? He never calls.”

“Would you like to answer or not?”

Jeremy sighed, unable to suppress a grin as Michael pulled him into his arms, “Yeah, put him through.”

“Jeremy?” James’s voice filtered through the speakers in the ceiling. “I meant to call sooner, it’s just been a crazy few days. How have you been doing?”

Jeremy wrapped his arms around Michael’s shoulders, “Yeah, it’s been kind of crazy over here too.” Michael hid his face against the crook of Jeremy’s neck, planting a kiss there. “But I’m doing great. Uh, all things considered at least.”

Because people weren’t typically happy when their future literally went up in smoke.

“Do…do you have any idea why Michael is considering quitting?” James asked, Jeremy could imagine him spinning around in his desk chair just like he tended to do. Jeremy is pretty sure it’s a habit he picked up from his father. “I…I know that everything has been crazy, but I thought he was doing well. Did you two fight? Is he even there?”

Well, they had fought, yes. But now they had hardly left Michael’s room except to eat.

“I didn’t want to risk outing you to him,” Michael whispered, moving his head to kiss behind his ear.

“He’s still here,” Jeremy assured, running a hand through Michael’s hair. “But, uh, you know…explosions are scary.”

And it didn’t help that both Jeremy and his dad were trying to keep secrets from each other. The conversation would have been a lot easier if everything was just out in the open.

“Could you two just come in today?” James suggested. “We need to talk with your mom and Chloe about our next steps, get a press release planned and all that, and I can talk to Michael and try to convince him to stay.”

Jeremy closed his eyes, “Yeah, we’ll be there as soon as we can.”

“Thank you, I’ll see you when you get here.”

The call ended and Michael propped himself up on one arm. Jeremy grinned at him, finding a matching smile being passed his way.

“So we actually have to get up?” Michael hummed, leaning over to kiss him.

“Or we could make him wait,” Jeremy shrugged.

“Sir. Your company is in ruin, you could at least pretend to care about the damage.”

“And that’s our cue to motivate,” Jeremy grumbled, sitting up in bed.

It was high time they actually went and faced the music, more Jeremy than Michael. But hiding away inside the house was so much easier than going and talking to your family after you destroyed their lives without them knowing. Jeremy hadn’t wanted to destroy the factory, but it had been the only option.

“Your dad knows that I like you, by the way,” Michael said, following him out to the car. “He was also convinced that you liked me back, but I didn’t believe him.”

Jeremy smirked, “Well I’m glad I convinced you otherwise. Did he seem mad?”

Michael shook his head, “No. I think he was actually trying to push me forward. It’s your choice if you want to tell him, I won’t make you do anything you don’t want to.”

Jeremy was quiet for a moment, lacing a hand with Michael’s as they drove towards the office. He was going to have to tell his parents eventually, it just felt rushed because everything had happened so fast. Jeremy had been convinced that he would hide in the closet for the rest of his life, but now…he was ready to do whatever it took to be with Michael. No one had ever made him feel complete before.

“Well, his business is in ruin,” Jeremy hummed, staring out at the road. “If he was pushing you to make a move I don’t want to hurt his feelings. Besides, then he’ll handle you quitting a lot easier.”

Michael snorted, squeezing his hand as they zoomed down the streets. The office was still crawling with media around the edge of the property, but security was holding them off from actually getting into the building. Jeremy and Michael made their way to his father’s office, finding James and Chloe pacing the room like chickens without heads. Jeremy felt guilt hit him at the sight of Chloe’s bloodshot eyes. She had been crying. A lot.

“Jeremy! Michael!” Chloe ran over, pulling both of them into a quick hug. Jeremy was shocked to have Chloe focus her attention on Michael, “How have you been doing? Better?”

Michael nodded, “Uh, yeah? Oh! Right! Yes, I’m all healed up.” He turned to Jeremy, “I forgot she knows too. We were both in the hall when…”

Jeremy nodded, “Got it, cool.”

James walked over, “What did I miss.”

Jeremy held back a laugh as Michael waved his hands around the room, “Everyone in here knows about my freaky strength.”

James hummed, “Good to know. Chloe, could you give us a minute?”

Chloe nodded, vanishing from the room without another word. James had them all sit down, Michael and Jeremy across the desk from him. James started with Jeremy, turning his attention towards his son.

“We haven’t heard from you in days, Jeremy,” James whispered. “Everything has been a mess and you didn’t even bother to stop by.”

Jeremy hung his head, “I…I’ve been busy.”

James turned to Michael, “And you. I guess I don’t need to hide it around Jeremy, so what the hell happened during your fight with Iron Man that you suddenly want to quit? Are you hurt?”

Michael shook his head, “No, I’m fine. I just…the fight isn’t why I want to quit, James. I have loved working for you, but…”

Okay, he needed to say it now, “Dad, Michael wants to quit because dating the person you’re paid to protect creates a bit of a messy situation legally.”

“Dating? You mean…”

Jeremy offered a sheepish smile, reaching over to lace a hand with Michael’s, “Surprise?”

It had been a long time since Jeremy had seen his dad smile like that, “Oh thank god! Yes, Michael, I accept your resignation. Wow.” James then made a face, “Really? You’ve been busy?”

Jeremy rolled his eyes, “Shut up!”

“Another thing,” Michael squeezed Jeremy’s hand as he looked at James. “I’m not fighting Iron Man anymore.”

Jeremy…hadn’t considered that to be a thing Michael would bring up. But it made sense. Michael knew it was Jeremy, knew his motivations.

His dad didn't, however, “What?”

Michael sighed, “I don’t think he’ll be showing up around you or Jennifer again any time soon as it is. Not after destroying your factory.”

“Yeah, pretty unlikely,” Jeremy hummed.

Pretty soon Jennifer and Chloe came walking in, Jennifer was particularly upset, not even acknowledging Jeremy for once. They discussed the press release, what options they had. Jeremy did his best to seem like he was concerned, but honestly Jennifer being a mess was exactly what he had wanted.

“Jeremy, I think you should speak on the future of the company,” James said. “You’ll be running the place within the next ten years, it’s important for you to start speaking more when we have events going on. Your mom and I will cover the current problems at hand, but it is important that we try to end things on a positive note.”

“I’ll write you up some notecards,” Chloe hummed.

“And I’ll see what we can do legally against Iron Man,” James nodded.

“No!” Jennifer snapped. “James, that thing is a robot! We can’t have a robot arrested! We should just move on and take this as a chance to expand.”

Oh shit Jeremy hadn’t considered that a possible problem.

“Jen, we can’t just forget.”

“Yes, it’s the best option for us. So we can.”

“Look what trying to forget has gotten us so far!” James stood from his seat. “Our employees are at risk! We are guilty of putting people in danger the longer we go without resolving this!”

Chloe’s phone chirped, “James, I need to get going.”

Jennifer turned to glare at Chloe, “Like hell you’re leaving now, young lady!”

Jeremy had never seen Jennifer yell at someone like that before. Everyone fell quiet as Chloe looked close to tears again.

“I requested this afternoon off months ago, Mrs. Heere!” Chloe stated, gathering her things. “So excuse me that I’m going to pick my mother and father up from the airport! We are all stressed right now, but you are acting out of line! I’ll be back tomorrow morning with everyone’s notes.”

Chloe practically ran from the room, Jeremy staring after her with wide eyes. This whole situation was going a lot worse than he had planned.

“We should go,” Jeremy mumbled.

“Fine, go back to your drinking and your pretty girls that will never love you,” Jennifer growled. “Leave your family when they need you most, it really shows how much you care about this company.”

“Fuck you Jennifer,” Jeremy spat, getting up from his seat.

He stormed out of the room, not looking back. He heard footsteps behind him, not having to look to know it was Michael. Once the elevator door shut behind them Jeremy finally faced his boyfriend, finding Michael had his arms outstretched for a hug. Jeremy walked into his embrace, reveling in the affection.

“She fucking sucks,” Jeremy stated, eyes narrowed.

“I know.”

They started back home, Jeremy trying to think of what he could do to fix things. If his parents expanded it could become more difficult to keep things from being distributed.

“Have you considered just…telling your dad?” Michael asked, staring out the window.

“About Iron Man, Jennifer’s secret sales, or her plans to kill us?”

“…All of it.”

Jeremy shook his head, “No. I can’t do that to him.”

“He took me having actual powers really well.”

“I’m not going to risk him, Jennifer is clearly getting scared. She’s acting suspicious.”

Jennifer not wanting to go to the police was a big red flag. She was probably mad enough about the authorities needing to be involved when it came to the damages to the factory, but her not wanting to go after Iron Man was her biggest slip up yet. Jeremy never hid that he knew about her secrets as Iron Man, so she had reason to fear him. Maybe this could just lead to her spiraling, acting out in fear and trying to kill his dad anyway despite him not having a clue. Shit.

He was not letting his dad get hurt.

Once back at the house Jeremy practically bolted down to the workshop, pulling out the armors from the wall. Michael followed, a grin forming on his face when he spied the armors. And Jeremy had to smile back, despite everything Michael thought the armors were cool. It meant the world to him.

“What are you doing?” Michael asked, walking over to lean against a table.

Jeremy sighed, plopping down into his desk chair and turning on the holographic screen, “I am going to send the Mark Ⅰ armor in to do recon, follow my parents home when they leave today and all that. Jennifer could snap at any given moment and I refuse to let my dad get hurt.” Jeremy typed away on his computer for a moment and he soon had access to all of the security cameras in the office building. “I also designed their security camera system, so I’ll keep an eye on them from here too.”

“Now you’re the paranoid one,” Michael hummed, walking over and spinning the chair so Jeremy was facing him. “Jer, your parents are fine. You can’t put your life on pause just because you’re scared. Jennifer isn’t going to try and kill your dad with a press release just around the corner. If you want to send in the armor to give you some peace of mind, I can understand that. But watching their every move isn’t going to help you.”

“Mr. Mell is correct, Sir,” Squip beeped. “I will be piloting the Mark Ⅰ myself, and will notify you if something of note does occur.”

Jeremy sighed, “Fine. Q, get going.”

Jeremy closed his camera access as the armor started moving. With Q it was always a bit more stiff than when Jeremy was controlling the armor, but that didn’t really matter. Jeremy pulled up his plans for the next armor, quickly typing away at getting the computer sequences inside to stop sending errors.

“New armor?”

Jeremy hummed, already getting sucked in. It was weird, having Michael in the room with him while he worked. Although it wasn’t exactly bad. Jeremy got up to walk over to the coffee pot when Michael blocked his path.

“Jeremy, I’m serious. You need to take a break from all of this for a minute.”

“I’ve been taking a break for days now, Michael,” Jeremy pointed out, eyes narrowing slightly. “Besides, armor designing is my new hobby.”

“I don’t think it counts as a hobby when you never do it for fun.”

Jeremy opened his mouth to protest again when Michael just scooped him up like he was nothing, carrying him out of the room. Jeremy wrapped his arms around Michael’s shoulders, trying and failing to glare at him as they made their way back upstairs.

“What is the normal person equivalent to carrying me?” Jeremy asked.

Michael paused to think on it, “Like…carrying a math textbook.”

Oh god that was nothing.

“How do you not break everything you touch?”

“A lot of self control, usually not touching anything if I’m upset, and practice. Everything is like glass, and I am the bull in the china shop. But I’m used to it now, I have healthy ways to use up all the pent up energy from being gentle.”

Jeremy was set down in the living room, Michael smiling softly at him. He already knew he would give up everything just to make sure Michael always smiled at him like that.

“The world is your oyster, we can do whatever you want except go back into that workshop,” Michael offered.

Jeremy grinned wickedly, “Can we return to our honeymoon phase? Because I was fully planning on not letting you out of bed for at least a week.”

Michael snorted, “I don’t think we can get away with that long, but your wish is my command.”

☼

Michael sighed, watching Jeremy approach the microphone. Jennifer and James had already spoken, now it was Jeremy’s turn.

“Hello everyone,” Jeremy greeted the crowd of reporters and photographers. “My parents have already covered the reason why we all met here today. I’m here to hopefully raise spirits. I’ve been reminded recently that within the next decade I will be the face of Heere Industries. And with that means I should start properly planning what my course of action will be as CEO of this company. So I thought today I would share the obvious details.”

Michael glanced over at James, finding him smiling softly at his son. That probably meant things were going well.

“For starters, those of you who have seen Ms. Chloe Valentine in the past know that she’s a vital part of this company,” Jeremy continued. “And I will gladly continue to accept her support when I am passed the mantle. Obviously I’m not the same person as my parents, and I have my own desires for Heere Industries that I hope to bring to light once the time comes. I see this place as a chance for growth, and betterment of the world. A personal special interest of mine that I’m currently researching is that of clean energy, and I can assure you that I will be finding ways to bring Heere Industries to a neutral carbon footprint or even a negative one. I will also continue to accept guidance from my family even as they step into retirement, they built this company and I would hate to bring a scorn to the place I grew up loving with all of my heart. Thank you everyone for coming out today.”

Jeremy hurried off the small stage they had set up, sticking himself next to Michael. With Jennifer around they couldn’t risk being outright affectionate, but James rolled his eyes at them either way.

“I think that went well,” James said, one arm linked with Jennifer’s.

“Yes, just don’t go around giving people false hopes, Jeremiah,” Jennifer hummed. “We are running a weapons company, so keep the side projects out of the spotlight.”

Jeremy visibly tensed, but didn’t utter a word. Jennifer’s phone buzzed, her eyes widening at the screen.

“Excuse me, this is important,” Jennifer practically bolted from them, hurrying off probably to go to her office.

Chloe was sent in as crowd control, taking questions from the reporters for them. Michael wasn’t sure if that was how these types of events always played out, but James didn’t seem worried for once.

“I left my coffee in the car,” Jeremy sighed, turning to walk out to the parking lot. “I’ll catch up in the office.”

With that in mind Michael and James started the walk into his office. Michael hadn’t actually been alone with James since before he and Jeremy were dating. Were things going to be weird now?

“Relax,” James chuckled, patting his arm as they walked. “I wanted you two to be together, remember?”

Michael nodded, “Right.”

James opened his door, “Besides, I’m usually–”

Michael looked up to see why James had stopped, finding Jeremy in another fucking armor just standing in the room. How did he have time to get in there? When had he built the armor?

“Hey,” Jeremy waved. “I’m not here to cause problems, I swear.”

“Michael!” James looked terrified.

Michael sighed, walking over to Jeremy, “I told you I’m not fighting him anymore, James.” He turned to Jeremy, “What are you up to?”

“You were right,” Jeremy shrugged. “He should know.”

James hesitantly shut the door, his eyes darting back and forth between Michael and Jeremy. Michael remained calm as James slowly walked over to his desk, taking a seat so he could listen to them.

“What should I know?”

Jeremy sighed, “Jennifer is selling weapons to your enemies under the table. She’s messing with your sales and inventory numbers so you don’t suspect. And she has plans to kill you if you get in the way. I found out about it and have been trying to stop her, that’s why I destroyed the factory. She can’t sell weapons illegally if she can’t even have them made.”

James seemed to freeze up, his eyes widening, “How do you even know about that? It could be a lie!”

“James,” Michael sighed, avoiding eye contact. “A Heere Industries weapon was used to bomb the car I was in, I saw the logo. Inventory checks were done, it wasn’t misplaced by us. It was intentional. I know it’s hard to process, but this is happening. And the scale is way larger than I imagined things to be.”

James still seemed scared, “And you? How do you know anything?”

Jeremy tried rocking on his heels but he couldn’t in the armor. Michael had to stifle a laugh, earning a metal faced glare from his boyfriend. Even with the armor he could imagine the pouty expression on his face.

“I broke in here one night to see if I could find an electronic trail, that’s how I found out everything,” Jeremy explained. “I have copies of all the files I found if you want further proof, but I wouldn’t lie about this.” The entire back of the armor opened up, allowing Jeremy to step out without a full disassembly. That was cool. Holy shit. Jeremy walked around in front of the armor, offering his dad a sheepish smile. “I wouldn’t ruin my own future without reasoning.”

James ran a hand down his face, “Of course it’s you. God, you’re a sneaky bastard. Fuck.”

“Dad,” Jeremy crossed his arms over his chest. “She has plans in place to kill both of us if she finds out we know.”

“Well, then I guess she can’t find out,” James hummed. “I’ve always known that your mom was…money hungry, but I didn’t think she would ever swoop that low. What do you need from me?”

Jeremy froze, “You’re just going along with this?”

Michael also seemed a bit surprised, this was a lot of information to dump on James at once and he was just continuing on like it was nothing.

“I trust you, Jeremy,” James assured. “I’ll do what I can to help.”

Jeremy turned towards his armor, “Q, you can fly home.”

Michael watched as the armor started moving of its own accord, Jeremy pushing open a window so the armor could fly out. So that was how he had made it inside so fast. Michael sat down as Jeremy walked back over, smiling at his dad.

“The next step is shutting down the weapons department,” Jeremy stated, eyes focused.

There was no way that Jennifer would let that happen, and they all knew it. James sighed, tapping at his computer for a moment.

“She won’t let us do that, Jeremy,” James sighed.

Michael reached over and laced a hand with Jeremy’s, unsure of how he would respond to that. Jeremy was determined, but he couldn’t make Jennifer shut down almost the entire company.

“We won’t have to worry about it if we can get the CEO position in my name,” Jeremy said. “And I think we know someone who can get her to sign documents without looking.”

Michael was in love, he was sure of it.

Chapter Text

“You’re fucking insane,” Chloe scoffed, reading over the documents.

“No, I’m a genius,” Jeremy corrected, crossing his arms over his chest. “Can you get her to sign them or not?”

Chloe sighed, “I…probably. Jeremy, I could get fired for this.”

“Not if I’m your boss,” Jeremy insisted. “Chloe, I need you to trust me.”

“How did you even get these?” Chloe whispered, closing the folder. “You would have had to contact James and Jennifer’s lawyer to even get a copy of this.”

“Just do it, please,” Jeremy begged. “I wouldn’t ask if I had any other options.”

Chloe frowned at the folder in her hands, “If I do this what are you planning on doing?”

Jeremy rocked on his heels, “Shut down the weapons department.”

Chloe passed back the folder, “No. Things are bad enough as it is. I can’t ruin my career for your selfish agenda.”

Jeremy sighed, “Fine, follow me.”

Chloe followed him down to the workshop, Jeremy having the Mark Ⅱ armor pulled out of hiding. He hadn’t wanted to expose everything to her, but this was more important than his own secrets. He told her everything, excluding Michael’s secrets. Those were his to share and Jeremy wouldn’t take that from him. Granted there wasn’t much that Chloe didn’t already know, but still.

Chloe still seemed hesitant, “Jeremy, running a company isn’t a joke, you’ll actually have to work.”

“Not if I just hire my dad as an employee and have him do all the shit he’s been doing,” Jeremy smirked. “It’ll be the exact same, just with me as the actual poster boy instead of my parents. Chloe, we can save people’s lives. I could have never met Michael and it would have been her fault, please.”

Chloe looked at the armor, “Fine. So long as nothing changes.”

Jeremy whooped, running over to hug her.

“Oh god, Michael has softened you up! Ew!”

“Fuck you, I’m still prime asshole material.”

Chloe was visibly holding back laughter, “I’m sure Michael thinks so too.”

Jeremy made a gagging sound, “Never talk about my sex life again, I hate you so much.”

Chloe laughed, falling into Jeremy’s desk chair, “Yeah, you hate me so much that I’m breaking the law for you. Mister sleeps with the first pretty boy to smile at him.”

“Seriously, fuck off,” Jeremy walked away, towards the stairs. “Michael is not the first pretty boy to smile at me by far. Get her to sign the papers so I can avenge my boyfriend.”

“He’s not even dead!” Chloe called after him.

Michael came walking into the room, pulling off tape from his knuckles, “Who isn’t dead?”

Jeremy fell down on the couch, “You.”

Michael hummed, walking over and bending down to kiss him, “Nope. All good.”

Chloe flipped through the folder one more time, “I’ll see what I can do, if she catches on I’ll make up an excuse saying lawyers just stopped by to review the will or something. I’ll see you guys later.”

Jeremy gave a half-hearted wave, “Bye bitch!”

“Later Chloe.”

Once Chloe was gone Jeremy scrambled back up, moving to sit on the back of the couch. Michael rolled his eyes in response, but there was still a smile on his face.

“I’m going to change,” Michael gestures to his gym clothes. “Figure out what you want for dinner.”

Michael started down the hall, Jeremy smirking at his retreating form. A minute later Michael came walking back in, nothing about his outfit was different.

“Jer, where is all my stuff?”

Jeremy cackled, hurrying off towards his room. Michael followed, walking in to find all of his things had been transported to Jeremy’s room.

“I figured that if we were going to sleep together at night this would be easier,” Jeremy shrugged. “But I can put everything back if you want. I probably should have asked first, sorry.”

Michael didn’t seem to be listening. He was staring at the dresser, where Jeremy had moved most of his photos to. He had also thrown in a new one of them. He wasn’t one for taking photos but he had been skimming over his security footage and had found a section where they had just been watching a movie together on the couch. He had Squip print off the screenshot and he had framed it to put among the photos of Michael and his friends.

“No, this is great,” Michael turned to look at him. “Thanks, Jer.”

Jeremy shrugged, “I had to do something while waiting for Chloe to show up.”

Michael walked over, leaning down to kiss him. Jeremy hummed against him, wrapping his arms around Michael’s shoulders. He hadn’t been dating Michael for that long, seriously less than two weeks, but even looking at him made Jeremy happy. He couldn’t remember ever feeling that happy before. Michael was just…perfect.

Well, maybe not perfect, but at least he was perfect to Jeremy.

Michael continued his walk around the room, finding that Michael’s tiny pride flag now had a friend. Jeremy didn’t want to be loud about his sexuality—if and when it got out to the media it would already be a subject for debate—but the flag was a small and simple reminder.

“So, what do you want for dinner?” Michael asked, digging in the dresser for his street clothes.

“Pasta,” Jeremy answered, falling back against the bed. He had finally switched up his comforter, now a navy blue to match the accent wall and wall art. He liked not living in an empty blank canvas.

Michael sighed, “You can’t always say that.”

“Watch me.”

Michael vanished into the bathroom to change, “I’ll be nice and make you what you want tonight, but if you can’t come up with something else for tomorrow then I’m picking.”

Jeremy rolled his eyes before getting back up. He was positive things were going to work out with Chloe getting Jennifer to sign the papers. They were only blank at the moment so Jennifer didn’t bother looking twice at them. It wasn’t often that a signature was needed from both her and his dad, and they didn’t want to risk anything. Once Jennifer signed them James would sign as well, and then Jeremy could finish off Jennifer’s evil scheme.

Part of him kept considering turning her in to the authorities, but he couldn’t find it in him to do it. He didn’t want to hurt her, despite everything. She could live out her days being mad about the slight decrease in sales and suck it up.

☼

Michael charged forward, throwing the shield ahead to knock Iron Man off balance. He was being fired at, but he didn’t feel the burn. Rage filled his system, adrenaline keeping him moving. He tackled Iron Man to the ground, dropping the shield so he could use his fists. This was personal now, Iron Man didn’t deserve the pleasure of having a barrier between him and Michael’s anger.

He tore apart the metal of the armor, exposing pieces of pale flesh as he moved. He didn’t quit, didn’t stop hurting him. Iron Man needed to pay for what he had done. For daring to hurt those that he cared about. For ruining Jeremy’s future.

Michael ripped off the helmet, finally reaching for his shield. He raised it above his head before slamming it down. Repeatedly. The silver and blue shield began to turn red at the impact point. Iron Man screamed, but Michael didn’t hear it. Michael was shaking by the time he let go of the shield once more. He looked down at Iron Man, ready to stare into his pathetic eyes as life left him. The blood on his hands would be more than worth it. Avenging Jeremy would be worth anything to him.

Jeremy stared back, battered and bruised. Not moving. His eyes were already staring into nothing. His mouth open in a silent scream. His fluffy hair matted down with blood. He was hardly recognizable, with all the cuts from Michael nearly decapitating him. But Michael studied that face. He knew every freckle that Jeremy had. Jeremy was dead.

And it was Michael’s fault.

Michael sat up, a scream caught in his throat. He couldn’t breathe. He wasn’t breathing. Jeremy. Where was Jeremy? Was he okay?

“Michael?”

He flinched, letting out a yelp as he fell out of bed. He felt sick. He still wasn’t breathing. Michael felt tears rolling down his face and it didn’t help him. Oh god. He had killed Jeremy.

“Michael?”

Michael finally looked up, finding that he was on the floor in Jeremy’s room. In their room. Jeremy was sitting on his knees, leaning over the edge of the bed and staring at him. Michael started openly sobbing, unable to hold himself together. He hated himself so much. Why was he so awful?!

“Michael!” Jeremy scrambled out of bed, kneeling next to him. “I’m right here, sweetheart. You’re okay.”

Michael couldn’t speak. He was hardly able to breathe. He buried his head in his hands, scared to reach out to Jeremy. What if he hurt him? Again.

He wasn’t looking, but he could sense when Jeremy got up and walked away. Good. He was a monster.

He flinched again when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Michael peeked up, finding Jeremy was holding a water glass in his hands.

“Drink this for me, please,” Jeremy whispered, offering the glass to him.

Michael managed to grab the glass, being careful to not touch Jeremy as he took it. The water helped him catch his breath. Jeremy took the glass back once it was empty, setting it on the nightstand without looking away from him. His crying let up enough for him to be more aware, guilt still racking his system as he looked into Jeremy’s eyes. He didn’t deserve to be in the same building as Jeremy.

“Can you get up?” Jeremy asked, sitting on the edge of the bed. “I don’t want you to move until you’re ready. Take your time.”

Michael managed to get to his feet, his lip quivering as he waited for Jeremy to tell him to get out. Swan had turned him into a monster, he wouldn’t blame Jeremy in the slightest for it.

“Come on,” Jeremy scooted back over to his side of the bed. “Back in bed.”

Michael listened, sitting with his back against the headboard. Jeremy tossed the blanket over his lap before scooting up next to him.

“What happened?” Jeremy asked, holding Michael’s face in his hands. “Swan? Explosion?”

Michael started crying again, “I killed you.”

Jeremy’s eyes widened, “…You didn’t. See? I’m right here.”

Michael wanted to run away, “I…I almost killed you…”

Jeremy burrowed against his shoulder, his arms wrapping around Michael, “You didn’t.”

“You were—it would’ve been easy. You were…”

“Hey, I’m okay. We’re both okay.”

Jeremy moved to kiss his cheek, running a hand through Michael’s hair. He brushed away Michael’s tears, Michael finally reaching to grab Jeremy’s wrist. He was hardly holding on but he was too scared to put any more effort into the touch.

“What do you need from me right now?” Jeremy asked, continuing to brush his thumb over Michael’s cheek.

He didn’t want to answer, but he also didn’t want to lie, “…You.”

Jeremy kissed his forehead, “Just me?”

Michael gave a pathetic nod, “I think so.”

“You have me,” Jeremy assured, his other hand resting on the back of his neck. “I’m right here, sweetheart.”

Michael looked down at his lap, he didn’t deserve any of this. He was a monster, and even without his stupid powers he was still a pathetic excuse for a human. All he ever did was get in the way. Even when he tried helping he fucked up.

“Hey, look at me,” Jeremy tilted his head back up so they were facing each other again. “I’ll be here. Always. For as long as you can stand me.”

“Stand you?” Michael let out a small chuckle, although there wasn’t really any humor behind it. More like disbelief. “I never want you to leave.”

Jeremy pulled him in for a proper kiss, Michael finally wrapping his arms around Jeremy. He didn’t want to let go, he was so fucking terrified that he was just going to wake up and be alone.

But Jeremy was there with him. In bed next to him. Wearing his old sweatshirt. Kissing him.

He was still scared, but Jeremy was there at the moment, and that was what mattered.

I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you.

☼

Jeremy paced around his father’s office. Chloe had been gone for nearly an hour, he needed to know if the papers were signed or not. He glanced over at Michael as he walked around, finding his boyfriend silently staring out the window. They both slept like shit after the night terror, and it was obvious that Michael was still beating himself up over what had happened in the nightmare. They tried to play it off like it was a normal morning, but the tension was practically visible.

Jeremy knew that Michael would never hurt him, but that didn’t mean Michael wasn’t scared.

Jeremy changed his course of direction, walking over to Michael so he could snake his way up next to him.

“Hi,” Michael hummed, a small smile tugging at his face as Jeremy practically buried himself into his side.

“Hi,” Jeremy returned the grin, stretching up on his toes to plant a quick kiss to his lips.

They stared out the window together, looking out over the city from their view. Chloe needed to get back before Jeremy went out searching for her.

“Did you want to try another cooking lesson when we get home?” Michael asked, lightly squeezing his arm. “Pizza isn’t that difficult, I’ll just do all the oven parts.”

Hearing Michael refer to the house as home made Jeremy stupidly happy. Home meant Michael wouldn’t leave him. Home meant Michael felt safe.

The house had originally been Jeremy’s escape from his parents. His way of making sure that he was able to separate himself from Heere Industries, even if it was only when he was sleeping. It hadn’t become a proper home for him until Michael had come around. No matter how much he wanted to deny it.

“That sounds nice,” Jeremy nodded, throwing his arms around Michael.

“You’re trying to teach Jeremy how to cook?” James chuckled. Jeremy had forgotten that he was even in the room with them, startling slightly and turning to look at his father. “He nearly set our house on fire several times as a kid. He would have starved by now if he couldn’t order out all the time.”

“I have faith in him,” Michael said. “And I’ve seen his curse, that’s why he’s not allowed to touch the stove.”

“It’s my house, why do I let you bully me like this?” Jeremy whined, hiding his face against Michael’s shoulder.

“Someone has to try and knock your ego down a few notches,” Michael shrugged.

Jeremy wrinkled his nose, “We’re dating! You’re the one person who shouldn’t do that!”

Michael only shrugged in response. Jeremy started to open his mouth to argue again when Chloe came breezing into the room, several clipboards in her arms.

“Well?” Jeremy turned his direction to Chloe.

Chloe set down her pile of clipboards and pulled one from the bottom of the pile, “She signed them!”

Jeremy cheered, jumping into Michael’s arms so they could spin around the room together. James got up from the desk, pulling Chloe into a hug.

“Okay, let’s get this finished,” James beamed at all three young adults in the room. “Jeremy, you need to come sign these too.”

Jeremy squirmed, Michael setting him down so he could hurry over. James and Jeremy signed their sections of the paperwork with shaky hands. Once handed in to the lawyers it was done. Jeremy was pretty much the new CEO.

“Chloe, you get a press conference set up for this afternoon,” James ordered, sending the young woman running. “I’ll get this to the lawyers. Jeremy—”

“Celebratory booze!”

“Not yet!” James let out a little chuckle. “Go home, get changed. You can’t have your first event as CEO while dressed in ripped jeans and a tshirt you’ve had since you were fifteen.”

Jeremy couldn’t help but laugh, “Why not? It’s my company.”

Michael grabbed his hand, dragging him towards the door, “I’ll make sure he looks nice.”

They had done it. All they had to do was give the official notice. And Jennifer didn’t have a fucking clue!

“I don’t want to wear a tie!” Jeremy whined, watching Michael pull out an outfit better suited for the occasion.

“Your dad wears them when he does things, and considering you are hiring him to keep the place running I think you should follow his lead,” Michael hummed, walking into the closet.

“Will you at least dress up with me?” Jeremy begged, rocking on his heels.

Michael walked back out of the closet, handing Jeremy a blazer—it was actually his favorite blazer but he wouldn’t tell Michael that—and a button up that was clearly not for Jeremy.

“Of course,” Michael hummed, beginning to search the rest of his clothes.

Jeremy went into the bathroom to change, Michael switching places with him when he walked out. Jeremy redid his tie a few times, finding his hands way too shaky to actually get it done properly.

“Here,” Michael walked over and helped him, the tie looking perfect once Michael was finished.

“Thank you,” Jeremy sighed, throwing his arms around Michael’s shoulders.

Michael leaned down to kiss him, the two of them trying to merge into a single being. Things were going to be okay. Jeremy was going to destroy everything Jennifer had done.

“Sir, Mr. Mell,” Squip beeped. “As exciting as today is, you should try to not wrinkle your outfits.”

Jeremy stepped back, rolling his eyes at the comment. Michael kept a hand wrapped in his as they made their way through the house, Jeremy leading them down to the workshop. He ignored the exasperated look from Michael and grabbed an abandoned coffee mug from his desk and started sipping at it. If he was going to get through the day he was going to need coffee. While he was at it Jeremy pulled out the Mark Ⅲ armor from the vault.

“Q, pilot the armor to the office building to stand guard,” Jeremy hummed, watching his suit start moving of its own accord. “I don’t trust Jennifer to take this calmly and the armor might be the only thing she fears.”

Squip did as asked, the armor walking out the side door before flying away. Jeremy then moved to his computer and started pulling out all his files for the designs of the rebuilt factory that he had drawn up. This design included no space for weapons to be made. While sending them to his father Jeremy watched Michael pick up his shield from one of the tables, flipping it around in his hands a few times. Jeremy had noticed that Michael seemed content on leaving it to gather dust since their fight, not that he really had a need for the shield now that Iron Man wasn’t someone to fight anymore. There was now a distressed look in Michael’s eyes as he held the shield. He was scared of it, of what he could do with it.

Jeremy got up from his chair, “Can I see that?”

Michael handed over the shield without a word. Jeremy slid it on his arm with the straps on the back, finding the thing was absolutely massive. Giant frisbee had been the correct term for the thing. Granted, Jeremy was nowhere near the build of Michael and it looked normal next to him.

Jeremy then threw the shield as hard as he could, watching it bounce around the room. He yelped as it came flying back towards him, a grin forming on his face when Michael reached out and caught it before it could hit him.

“Why did you do that?” Michael asked, his eyes slightly panicked.

Jeremy brushed a thumb over Michael’s cheek, “First of all, I just really wanted to throw it. Second, to prove to you that you won’t let me get hurt. Especially with the shield. It would have really sucked to show up to my first press conference as CEO with a bruised face from managing to hit myself with the strongest metal on the planet.”

Michael dropped the shield and pulled Jeremy into a hug. Jeremy let out a sigh, squeezing Michael as tightly as he could. They were going to be okay. Michael would be okay. And if there were other night terrors Jeremy would be there to help him through it.

Michael ended up bringing the shield back with them to the office building, carrying it around inside the case his dad had given Michael to keep it safe. Jeremy peeked inside the press hall, finding the place absolutely crawling with people. Chloe was good. James returned, a warm smile on his face.

“Jennifer and I are officially retired,” James sighed happily.

Jeremy smirked at his dad, “Hey, want to come out of retirement and work for me?”

“Oh, absolutely.”

Jeremy was hardly keeping himself from laughing, “Great, my assistant Chloe will draw up your work contract. And your wife is banned from working for me.”

“What is going on?”

Jeremy turned to find Jennifer walking over. She was completely oblivious to the situation. James took her hand, leading her into the press hall and having them stand off to the side.

“Jen, dear, today is just a big day for us. Let’s watch and be happy.”

Michael walked over, pressing a kiss into Jeremy’s hair, “Good luck, I’ll help James keep your mom from trying to ruin everything.”

Jeremy grabbed his sleeve before he could walk away, “At least give me a real one.”

Michael leaned over and gave him a proper kiss before walking into the room and standing behind Jennifer. Chloe looked frantic, hurrying over and trying to fix his hair.

“Chloe, we’re fine,” Jeremy batted her hands away.

Chloe sighed, “Okay. Yeah. Everything is fine.” She elbowed him quickly, “Boss.”

Jeremy wrinkled his nose, “Oh I hate that. Draw up my dad’s work contract so you can keep working for him instead of me.”

Chloe nodded, “I will once we survive this. I got the local news stations here to broadcast this, I’m so scared.”

Jeremy squeezed her hands in his, “Chloe, it’s technically already done. We’re just letting people know. We’re saving lives, Chloe.”

She let out a slow breath, “Right.”

Jeremy watched as Chloe walked into the hall, approaching the podium. Jeremy watched her set what looked like note cards down, probably for him to read, before she looked out over the crowd.

“Good afternoon everyone,” Chloe began speaking. “Thank you all for gathering on such short notice. Today is a monumental day in the history of Heere Industries. Just a mere two hours ago James and Jennifer Heere officially signed over the CEO position of their company to their son Jeremy.” Jeremy slid into the room, finding his dad was covering Jennifer’s mouth with one hand while Michael held her down to keep her from moving. It was a good thing they were out of view from the press or they would have a field day. “It is with great pleasure that I welcome the brand new CEO of Heere Industries, Jeremy Heere.”

Jeremy walked up to the podium, Chloe squeezing his shoulder as she passed by him. Jeremy glanced down to see what she had written up for him to say, a smile forming at the sight of the notecard.

I believe in you!

Right. He could do this.

“Hi everyone,” Jeremy began to speak. “This is a very sudden change, I’m sure none of you were expecting this to be what you were called out here for. I’ve spent my entire life planning for what I would do as CEO of this company. From simple ideas, to who we as a company should partner with, to even what the starting pay should be for employees. I’ve thought long and hard about this topic for years, and now I’m finally at this point. There has been a lot of drama and chaos surrounding my company as of late, and while I can’t give all the finer details at this moment in time I do plan on explaining all once I’m able to. The most important thing to know right now is that there has been a lack of accountability on this company’s behalf, and I find it unacceptable. I vow as CEO to deal with this problem at the corporate level. Which is why…effective immediately, I am shutting down the weapons manufacturing department of Heere Industries. Until such a time that I feel this company can handle the legacy that has been built. That could be mere weeks from now, or it could be never. I will not be taking questions, have a good rest of your day.”

Jeremy walked away, the crowd shouting after him. His family and friends all followed him out of the room, Jennifer making a giant fuss while Michael held her down. They all walked to James’s office, Jennifer finally being released once they were all behind the closed door.

“Are you fucking insane?!” Jennifer yelled, looking around the room. “Jeremiah, you are not CEO! James, this practical joke is not funny! Chloe, pack your shit and leave! You’re done! And you! Michael! Go ahead and run back to whatever grimy little hell hole in Jersey you crawled out from! I don’t want to see your face ever again!”

Michael was calm, “Jennifer, I quit nearly two weeks ago.”

“And you did sign the company over to Jeremy,” James added. “I’ve got a copy of the paperwork right here.”

“So you don’t have the authority to fire me, Mrs. Heere,” Chloe piled on.

“Heere Industries will no longer be working with you, Jennifer,” Jeremy stated. “You can pack your things and leave. Enjoy retirement, you need to calm the fuck down.”

James passed his wife a copy of the paperwork, her hands beginning to shake with anger as she saw her own signature on the papers.

“I hope that this karma makes sense,” Jeremy continued to talk, walking over to the window and opening it. “Because you quite literally brought this upon yourself, Jennifer.”

The armor flew in, Jennifer screaming as she caught sight. The back of the armor opened up and Jeremy stepped inside.

“Oh, and if you even try to pull one of your little schemes to kill me or dad,” Jeremy hummed. “All of your secret files about all your under the table bullshit will be turned in to the authorities. I am going to destroy every last one of the weapons that you sold, and you will never be able to stop me. I’m being generous, you can keep the money you have and we all agree to not speak a word about what you did. You still get the honor of your name.”

“I…I’ll make sure you never get a cent from me when I die!” Jennifer cried.

“Oh no. I don’t get your dirty money? Good thing I don’t need you! And talk about how shitty of a person you’ll look like when the public finds out that you wrote me out of your will as your only son. Yeah, you’ll really be doing yourself a lot of favors in terms of the legacy you’ll leave behind.”

Jennifer burst into tears, running from the room. Jeremy stepped back out of the armor and smiled at the rest of the group, everyone cheering.

“She’ll calm down eventually,” James sighed. “I better go follow her before she leaves me here without a way home. I’ll see everyone in the morning.”

Chloe also dipped out, stating that she had a date to get ready for. Jeremy tried pressing her for details, but she insisted on waiting until after the date to talk about it. That left Jeremy and Michael.

“Nice job,” Michael grinned, pulling Jeremy into his arms.

Jeremy gladly welcomed the kiss Michael offered, the two of them enjoying the peace around them. Jeremy couldn’t help but grin into the kiss, the joy from finally making progress towards his mission building up inside.

Michael was okay. Jeremy was okay. Everyone was okay.

Jeremy was in love.

Chapter Text

“Sir, Mr. Mell is calling.”

Jeremy grinned, answering the call, “Hey.”

Michael’s voice came through the speakers of the armor, “Where are you?”

Jeremy hummed, “Currently? Flying over the Atlantic, I should be home in a few hours. What’s up?”

“Uh, you have some sort of dinner party to get to tonight?”

“The board of directors requested dinner with you, Sir,” Squip beeped.

“Yeah, that,” Michael sighed.

Jeremy whined, “Fine. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

Jeremy ended the call and had Squip pilot the suit the rest of the way home. With the computer in control he could safely fly at top speed without fear of crashing. He hadn’t expected running the company to focus so much on socializing. He had been bothered by all sorts of people every day since taking over. James and Chloe were doing their best to help him deal with all the craziness going on, but Jeremy could hardly breathe. He’d been so swamped that this was his first proper outing in the armor since fighting Michael.

Jeremy hurried up the stairs to find Michael scrolling through his phone while stretched out on the couch. He was already not looking forward to some dumb dinner party with people that were mad at him for ruining the family business, but he didn’t have much choice in the situation. If he avoided them for too long they could try and have him forcibly removed as CEO. And that was the last thing he needed after working so hard to get Jennifer removed.

“Your dad will be here soon to come take you to dinner,” Michael said, not moving from his spot.

Jeremy paused his march to the bedroom, “You aren’t coming?”

Michael got up and walked over, “I wasn’t invited. Besides, if we don’t spend some time apart we’ll get sick of each other eventually.”

Jeremy didn’t even hesitate to wrap his arms around Michael’s shoulders and jump, his boyfriend not missing a beat and catching him, “I quite honestly think it’s impossible to get sick of you, Michael Mell.”

“And the same could be said about you,” Michael murmured, leaning in to press kisses along his jaw. “But either way, I wasn’t invited.”

Jeremy pouted about it, but he got ready for dinner without further stalling. It would have at least been tolerable if Michael was coming with, but of course even if the board members knew that he was dating Michael they sure as hell wouldn’t invite him to their events. Jeremy was on thin ice as it was.

“Oh this is just mean,” Jeremy whined, walking into the kitchen. Michael had moved to the stove, making his own dinner. “You’re making pasta and I’m not even having dinner with you?!”

Michael popped his hip, “Uh, no. I’m making pasta for when you come home after probably not eating anything those pretentious assholes serve. I’m having leftovers.”

Jeremy hurried over, wrapping his arms around Michael, “You’re the best.”

Michael kissed the top of his head, “I try to be.”

“Sir, Mr. James is at the gate,” Squip announced.

“Let him in,” Jeremy sighed, moving to seat himself on the counter. It didn’t take long for James to come in and find them, Michael still focused on his cooking.

“No Jennifer?” Jeremy hummed.

James gave him a bored look, “No. She’s taking the betrayal quite poorly. She left to visit our vacation home in the Philippines. She didn’t say when she was coming back, but I checked bank statements and it looks like it’ll be around your birthday, Jeremy. At least according to the plane ticket she bought.”

Jeremy honestly didn’t care what Jennifer did. She couldn’t hurt people anymore, and that was what mattered.

“Heh, that’s kind of cool,” Michael mused.

“What is?” Jeremy slid off the counter and to the floor.

Michael shrugged, “You have a vacation home in the Philippines, I’m Filipino. Just…a weird coincidence. Play nice.”

“We’ll be back before midnight,” James assured, walking towards the garage.

Jeremy followed, at least James tended to let him drive when they had to do these things. They never talked about Jeremy and his problems, but they had silent agreements that were usually abided by. It made things a bit easier.

“There’s our man of the evening,” whoever was hosting welcomed them inside the house.

Jeremy was already set to go home. If not for his dad making him be there he just wouldn’t have gone at all.

“James,” his father was given a simple nod. Strained. The board was mad at him for passing over the CEO position, but his father was still welcome because he and Jennifer were majority shareholders. Between James and Jeremy they had control of the company.

Dinner was difficult to get through, being thrown questions at every turn that he couldn’t answer. Jeremy did his best, but he was desperate to just get the stupid dinner over with so he could leave. James couldn’t protect him from everything.

Jeremy found solace in alcohol. It was never something he was particularly proud of, but drinking had always been his way to end the corporate torture that came with his last name. From parties and galas as a teenager and through his now young adult years, booze was his friend in these times of crisis.

It didn’t help that bartenders were terrified to say no to the billionaire kid, but Jeremy never blamed them for his habits. If anything it was Jennifer’s fault, she had been the one who used to throw her wine glasses in his hand to shut him up when he would talk about his ideas.

“Holy shit, Jeremy Heere.”

Jeremy looked over, finding a girl his age walking around the house. He had zero clue who she was. Probably a child of one of the board members, although considering how old some of them were she could have been a granddaughter. Jeremy offered her a simple nod before turning his attention back to his glass.

“How have you been?” the girl approached him anyway. “Haven’t seen your face in a gossip magazine lately, I wasn’t sure.”

Jeremy sighed, throwing back his glass so he could refill it, “I’m great. Just wish I wasn’t here.”

The girl took his hand, “How about we escape this place and go up to my room.”

Jeremy blinked, his brain was either a bit slower than normal or a bit faster than normal while drunk. Tonight was a slow night. “Are you trying to hook up with me?”

The girl chuckled, “Obviously. I only agreed to play nice because you were coming. Let’s hurry before they notice.”

Jeremy shook his head, refilling his glass, “No. No, I’m good.”

“What?” The girl laughed. “Come on, Jeremy.”

“No thank you,” Jeremy got up from his seat. “I am off the market.”

That got him a proper round of laughter from the girl. Jeremy walked away, searching for James. He seriously wanted to leave now. Was him being in a serious relationship really that hard to believe?

Jeremy found his father talking to the host. Jeremy finished his drink and set the glass down, hoping to play off at least some of his drunkenness around his father.

“Dad, remember I have those tests to finish before too long,” Jermey hummed, not wanting to outright admit that he was wasted and ready to leave.

“Daddy,” the girl came walking in, her eyes slightly narrowed. “Did you know that Jeremy is with someone?”

“Finally settling down, that’s a good decision,” the host hummed. “How long have you two been together?”

“Still less than a month,” Jeremy mumbled, wishing he hadn’t set his glass down. He wasn’t sure where it was now.

The host chuckled, “Well, bring the nice lady the next time we have an event. You want everyone off your ass? Show us how much you’ve grown. It gives us faith.”

Jeremy opened his mouth to correct the asshole speaking to him, but James cut him off. It was all a blur, and then suddenly Jeremy was back in his car.

“What?” Jeremy blinked, finding the space a bit blurred around the edges.

“Squip, take us back to the house,” James instructed from the passenger seat.

“Of course, Mr. James.”

Jeremy looked over to his father, “What just happened?”

James sighed, reaching for his hand, “You nearly told one of the most homophobic people I’ve ever met that you’re dating a wonderful man. I didn’t want that to be a decision you made while drunk, kiddo.”

“But I don’t want to hide Michael,” Jeremy whined. “He’s fucking awesome!”

“I know he is,” James nodded. “Let’s just save this secret for when you’re sober. That way there won’t be any doubt about it.”

“He makes me really happy,” Jeremy mumbled, staring out his window. “I know I’m supposed to find a girl and all that but–”

“Jeremy, you’re fine. You could be with Michael for the rest of your life and that would be okay,” James reached over and squeezed his hand. “I only want you to be happy.”

“I love him,” Jeremy whispered.

“I can tell. Have you told him?”

Jeremy shook his head, “Can’t.”

“Why not?”

Jeremy let out a huff of laughter, “I don’t want to get hurt again.”

James furrowed his brow, “What do you mean?”

Jeremy rolled his eyes, “Jennifer never loved me. I’ve always been this thing for her to control. And us? We dance around all our bullshit because it’s easier than playing pretend with her but we don’t know each other. We’ve only been talking as much as we have been lately because of Michael. My own fucking parents don’t love me, why the hell would he?”

“I do love you, Jeremy.”

“Where the fuck were you my entire life?”

James hung his head, “I know I fucked up, Jeremy. I’m trying to apologize, I just don’t know what to say or do to convince you.”

“I just don’t know what I did wrong,” Jeremy felt tears welling up in his eyes. “I tried so hard to be a good kid.”

“You were one,” James stated.

“Then why weren’t you there?”

“Because I’m a bad parent,” James said. “You? You’ve always been this genius, you were well behaved and polite and such a charismatic boy. I was so proud to watch you just fly through school. But I made mistakes, and I chose to put work first. Jennifer was insistent that we make ourselves important to the world, and I went along with that idea. I didn’t realize that I had lost you in the process until suddenly you were just gone. Off to college across the country without saying a word. And you were what, fifteen? And then instead of visiting for Haunkkah you just sent us weapon designs and stayed on campus. I had this whole welcome home dinner planned for when you graduated but then…work got in the way again. Next thing I knew you were moved into your house. It’s not your fault, Jeremy. I love you, I should have been there. I’m sorry.”

☼

Michael hummed, walking around the house. Jeremy would be home soon, everything was fine. Sure, he spent his evening alone bored out of his mind, but his life didn’t need to be a constant roller coaster.

There had been a time in his life when spending an evening alone was his favorite thing to do. Maybe have his friends around if he was feeling social.

But now he was practically not human and dating one of the most important people in the world. Chaos was to be expected.

“Michael!”

He turned to find Jeremy drifting over to him, his footsteps slightly off kilter. Michael practically caught Jeremy as he went in for a hug, his boyfriend was clearly wasted.

“It…it was rough,” James sighed, leaning against the wall. “Do you got this?”

Michael nodded, Jeremy mumbling something into his shoulder.

“I’ll get home, good luck,” James hummed, walking over to ruffle Jeremy’s hair before heading out.

Michael managed to get Jeremy over to the couch, his boyfriend moving to sit in his lap the moment Michael sat down next to him.

“You’re the best,” Jeremy stated, pressing a kiss to his cheek.

“Thanks,” Michael sighed, brushing his thumb along Jeremy’s jaw. “Are you hungry?”

Jeremy snorted, “No, I’m Iron Man. Wait! I’m not supposed to tell you that!”

Oh dear god he was gone. Michael picked Jeremy up, carrying him towards their room.

“Please throw me against the wall, it would be hot,” Jeremy whispered, hiding his face against Michael’s shoulder.

“I—we can talk about that when you’re sober,” Michael responded, depositing Jeremy on the bed. “Uh, you should brush your teeth and get changed. I’ll warm up the pasta.”

Jeremy scrunched up his face, “Why am I brushing my teeth? If I’m eating?”

Michael started backing towards the door, “I’m not kissing you until your breath doesn’t smell like booze. So do it.”

Michael closed the door behind him before Jeremy could protest. He made his way back to the kitchen, heating up the food he had made for Jeremy. After a few minutes Jeremy came walking into the room, drowning in Michael’s old hoodie and a pair of joggers.

“You’re lucky I had that washed earlier,” Michael chuckled, passing Jeremy his bowl as he hopped on the counter.

“It’s comfy,” Jeremy mumbled, throwing the hood over his head. “Thank you.”

“You don’t need to thank me for food Jer—”

“For just being here,” Jeremy cut him off, shoving food into his mouth. “And dealing with me when I’m drunk. And living with me. I know I’m an asshole, and I lied to you a lot.  But you’re still here. I didn’t have anyone before you. You’re the best thing to ever happen to me. I was alone before you.”

Michael swooped in, pulling Jeremy into a hug. His bowl was set to the side, Jeremy clinging to him. He didn’t say anything for a long time, just kept Jeremy close.

“I don’t plan on going anywhere, Jer,” Michael assured. “I’m right here.”

“Thanks for making me dinner,” Jeremy sighed, pulling out of the hug to grab his bowl. “I didn’t really even get to try and eat, all those assholes kept making me talk.”

Michael kissed his cheek, “Anything for you, Jer.”

Michael took care of cleaning up so Jeremy didn’t have to stress about it. Michael offered up watching a movie together, Jeremy grinning at him as he took off towards their room. Michael walked behind, wincing as Jeremy tripped on the rug and fell to the floor. Jeremy at least landed with his hands out, so he didn’t smack his face off the floor. Michael waited for the annoyed comment about furniture placement, but it never came.

“Ow!”

Michael walked over, Jeremy rolling on to his back, his face scrunched up in pain.

“What…what happened?” Michael didn’t understand. He had tripped. People did that.

“I…I think I broke my hand?” Jeremy hissed.

Michael reached out, brushing his thumb over Jeremy’s left hand. Between the very not correct feeling and Jeremy’s yelp of pain, it was probably correct to assume as much. Michael ran a hand through his hair.

“How the hell did that even happen? You fell!”

“Don’t know!” Jeremy whined.

Michael helped Jeremy to his feet, the two making their way back to the kitchen. Michael pulled an ice pack from the freezer and wrapped it in a hand towel before handing it over to Jeremy.

“You need to go to the ER,” Michael said, running to grab Jeremy and him shoes.

“No! I don’t!”

“Can Squip x-ray your hand?” Michael yelled back, grabbing a pair of sneakers for both of them.

“Not yet,” Jeremy pouted, letting Michael help him.

It took a bit more arguing, but Michael managed to get Jeremy into the car. Squip directed them since Jeremy was drunk, finding the place surprisingly empty for once. However, despite the low number of patients in the hospital it was still a slow process. It was late, and Michael didn’t blame Jeremy in the slightest for nodding off while they waited. Michael just made sure the ice stayed on his hand. He wasn’t going to let inflammation get worse if he could help it.

“Jeremy?”

Michael shook his boyfriend awake, the two of them following the nurse that had finally called them back. Jeremy sat on the exam table in the tiny room, Michael standing beside him.

“Okay, Mr. Heere…” the nurse glanced between his paperwork and Jeremy’s face. “Oh my god. Jeremy Heere. What brings you in today?”

Jeremy sighed, “I tripped, and now I think my hand is broken.”

“You tripped and landed on your hand?”

Jeremy nodded. There were a lot of questions, but they would be able to get an x-ray done within an hour.  Michael kept quiet, confusion still lingering in his mind. A simple fall like that shouldn’t have broken his hand. Jeremy had been perfectly fine earlier, he had been halfway around the world in his armor.

The wait was the worst part, Jeremy didn’t like sitting still for as long as he was. Whenever they were left alone Michael moved in, pressing kisses along his face.

“This fucking sucks,” Jeremy grumbled.

“Hello Mr. Heere,” a doctor came walking in. “We’re going to get that hand of yours casted up. From the look of your x-ray it seems like you have several hairline fractures throughout your hand. It looks like the pressure from you falling caused the bones to finally snap, and your fingers are still healing from the initial injury. Do you have any idea what could have caused this?”

Michael felt a pit form in his stomach, looking at the x-ray they had taken. This had to be from when he had crushed Jeremy’s hand in the armor. There was nothing else that could line up with the injury.

“Up until recently I’ve worked in some not great conditions,” Jeremy mumbled. “I’m sure I just got hurt and didn’t notice.”

“It could take anywhere from six to twelve weeks for your hand to heal, keep resting and staying healthy and you should be better before you know it.”

“Three months?!” Jeremy seemed outraged.

“We can only hope for the best.”

Michael stayed quiet the remainder of their time at the hospital. Between the late night out at the dinner party and the long wait they walked back out to the car with the sun just starting to rise.

“This is bullshit, I didn’t even get to sleep off the booze,” Jeremy sighed, swinging his cast around as they walked. “And I’ll have to put off any armor trips until this is off.”

Michael didn’t say anything. He wanted to rip his own hands off. He was so sick of being a monster. All he ended up doing now was hurting people.

“Babe,” Jeremy caught his attention. “Do you want to get breakfast before going home?”

Michael swallowed the lump in his throat, “Uh, you pick. I’m exhausted.”

Jeremy hummed, apparently deciding to go home. Michael followed him to bed, Jeremy curling up next to him and falling asleep in a matter of minutes. Michael couldn’t sleep. He wanted to, sure, but he never felt himself doze off. He just sat in the quiet bedroom, the sun slowly rising and filling the space with light. Jeremy didn’t seem to care about what Michael had done, his limbs wrapped around him like an octopus. Michael didn’t have a choice but to see the cast that was resting on his chest. It was as good of a punishment as he could come up with for the time being.

Jeremy didn’t stay asleep all that long. He was up after a few hours, Michael quickly joined him in the process. He started on breakfast while Jeremy showered, still feeling sorry for himself.

“I have to join my dad to meet with the contractors for rebuilding the factory,” Jeremy sighed, clearly struggling at using one hand to get himself a mug of coffee. “And then I have lunch plans with Chloe. Did you want to come with me?”

Michael shook his head, “Nah, I was hoping to call up my moms today.” Liar. “See how the wedding progress has been going with Rich and Jake.”

Jeremy hummed, “Okay, if they need any help just let me know. The friends of my boyfriend are my friends, right?”

Michael just laughed, helping Jeremy get through the rest of the morning as quickly as he could. With Jeremy out of the house Michael went to work. He walked into the gym, his mind set on working through his frustrations. He couldn't be that dangerous. Jeremy trusted him enough to sleep next to him at night, he couldn’t be a complete monster. He was just in his own head about everything, he had been fine yesterday.

And then the punching bag broke under his fist in a single punch. People weren’t supposed to be able to do that. People were supposed to get bruises when they hit things. Michael didn’t bruise when punching titanium. He was still flesh, he still could be burned, but bruises were a thing of the past.

Michael was stronger than titanium, he was a freak. If he could go back and never enlist himself he would do it, sure it would probably mean having never met Jeremy…but he could at least be normal. He could actually squeeze someone in a hug without risk of breaking their spine. He could have lived a normal life without the freaky powers and the fear of hurting someone at every turn.

Michael made his way down to the workshop, finding his shield resting against a table. He flipped it around in his hands a few times, eyes narrowing as he looked at the metal. His shield was stronger than titanium too. He had hurt Jeremy with it. Maybe…

Michael tossed the shield, watching it bounce against the far wall before flying back towards him. He caught the shield on instinct, and in his brain came a thought. Titanium couldn’t bruise him, but what about vibranium? 

Michael threw the shield, not bothering to catch it when it came flying back. Michael winced as he was hit, but it didn’t really hurt. He picked up the shield and threw it harder, clipping his arm on the way back. He kept going, throwing the shield harder after each toss. It was a cycle he couldn’t bring himself to break. He wasn’t sure how long he stood there, repeating his throws, he only knew time was passing because his body began to ache from the self-inflicted injuries.

“Michael!”

He caught the shield, turning to find Jeremy running over. He seemed frantic. Michael set the shield down, trying to play off what he had been doing.

“Michael, your arm!” Jeremy gasped, his eyes welling with tears. “Why did you do this?!”

Michael couldn’t form a proper response, “I–”

“You’re a fucking idiot!” Jeremy snapped. “Is this about my hand?!” Michael’s silence was louder than an actual admission. “You did not break my hand, Michael!”

“Yes I did!” Michael cried. “It’s my fault! I could have killed you!”

“Shut up!” Jeremy threw his arms around him. “You aren’t allowed to do this ever again! Okay?! You are my favorite person in the world, Michael! You aren’t a monster! You are a good person who has managed the impossible by making me a better person! I love you, Michael, and I don’t fall in love with monsters. I know you can’t help it when your night terrors happen, but I never want to see or hear about you blaming yourself for shit you can’t control. I’m right here, I’ll be there for you. You can talk to me about anything.”

Michael couldn’t hold back his own tears, “I’m sorry.”

Jeremy brushed his tears away, pressing a kiss to his forehead, “Promise me you won’t ever do something like this again.”

Michael nodded, hiding his head in the crook of Jeremy’s neck, “I promise.”

They were quiet for a long time. Michael didn’t want to move, he felt too guilty to look Jeremy in the eye again. Eventually Jeremy jumped, Michael catching him without prompting.

“Jer?” Michael finally managed to look at him.

Jeremy gave a small smile, “Yeah?”

“I love you too.”

Chapter Text

Jeremy let out a small sigh, staring up at the ceiling. He should be asleep, but it was just one of those nights where it wasn’t happening. It had been fine earlier, he had been asleep for a few hours. But then Michael woke up screaming and it just hurt to see him like that. Jeremy helped calm him down, managed to get him to fall back asleep, and now it was him who was wide awake.

He wished there was more he could do to help Michael, anything to make things easier for him. It wasn’t fair that his boyfriend had to suffer all the time.

Jeremy sighed again, turning his head to check on Michael. He was still asleep, his face relaxed. Jeremy sat up and leaned over. Pressing a kiss to his forehead. After that he admitted defeat and got up, trudging out of the bedroom and through the quiet house.

“Q, coffee please,” Jeremy mumbled, making his way towards the stairs.

“Of course, Sir.”

Jeremy padded his way into the workshop, grabbing a mug of coffee before sitting down at his desk. He couldn’t do much since his hand was still useless to him, but he could program all he wanted. He could still move his fingers, he could still work.

If he was going to design more armors he needed somewhere else to put them. And that meant building a vault—a proper one—underneath the workshop. Jeremy switched gears and started designing blueprints, working until the sun was in the sky.

“Sir, Ms. Valentine is at the gate,” Squip beeped. “And she brought a guest with her.”

Jeremy glanced over at his computer for the time, “It’s still early as hell, what the fuck is she doing here?”

“She also has coffee and breakfast with her,” Squip continued. “Shall I let her in or not?”

Jeremy sighed, getting up from his desk, “Yeah, go for it.”

Jeremy actually met Chloe at the door, welcoming her inside. And right behind her was Brooke. What the fuck?

“Wow, heart boxers, so charming,” Chloe teased, making her way through the house. “Jer-Bear, you’ve met Brooke, right?”

Jeremy nodded, “Uh, yeah. Hi. Chloe, fuck off about what I’m wearing you literally showed up at the crack of dawn!”

Chloe poked her head out of the kitchen and just shrugged.

“Sorry for showing up unannounced,” Brooke mumbled. “I just…”

Jeremy shook his head, “It’s fine. I’ll go get Michael up. Make yourself at home.”

Jeremy made his way back to the bedroom, finding Michael still out like a light. Jeremy crawled over to him and started pressing kisses around his face. Michael cracked open his eyes and pulled him in for a real one.

“G’morning,” Michael hummed.

“Hi,” Jeremy chuckled. “You need to get up, there’s a surprise waiting for you in the kitchen.”

Michael gave him a questioning look, but he did get up. They made their way out to the kitchen together, Michael locking on to Brooke the moment they were in the room.

“Mikey!” Brooke ran over and into his arms for a hug.

Michael spun her around the room, “Hi! What are you doing here?!”

Brooke was set down, the two friends beaming at each other, “Well, uh, I’m being transferred to LA for work. And…instead of struggling to find a place to stay I’ve decided to just commute and move in with Chloe.”

Jeremy cocked his head to the side, “I didn’t realize you two were that close.”

Brooke shrugged, “Well, we were talking for months before actually meeting.”

Chloe walked over, “Bonding over fashion turned into actual conversations. And then Michael was a dear and invited Brooke to the company party. You guys left before much happened but…”

Jeremy gawked as Brooke stretched up on her toes and pressed a kiss to Chloe’s cheek. No fucking way.

“This has been your secret date?!” Jeremy cried.

“Brooke!” Michael cheered, pulling her into a hug again.

“Okay, now you need to tell me who your secret boyfriend is,” Brooke laughed. “It’s not like you to just vanish from all our phone calls.”

Jeremy looked over to Chloe, finding her offering up a shrug. She started mouthing something at him.

It’s not my place. She’s trustworthy.

“Oh, well…” Michael clearly didn’t want to force Jeremy into anything. But Jeremy wanted him to tell his friends.

Jeremy walked over, throwing his arms around Michael, “You’re keeping me secret?!”

Michael let out a laugh, “Apparently?”

Brooke let out a gasp, “No! Michael Mell, you did not manage to ask out Jeremy Heere!”

Jeremy couldn’t help but grin, “Actually, I asked him out.”

It was a busy morning. Michael and Brooke were instantly chatting over breakfast, leaving Jeremy and Chloe to look on at their loved ones. Jeremy still couldn’t believe Chloe wasn’t straight. He had thought she would just marry herself to her job, since she never seemed to interact with people outside of work. Brooke was a pleasant surprise.

Brooke and Chloe went home after breakfast, but Jeremy caught bits of a conversation between Brooke and Michael planning to catch up once she was settled in. It made Jeremy feel a lot better about everything that had been going on lately, Michael being able to see any of his friends was surely going to be good for his mental health.

“Sir, the render for the Mark Ⅳ armor is complete,” Squip announced.

Michael scrunched up his nose, “What happened to no armor trips until your hand is better?”

Jeremy sighed, heading down to the workshop to see what had been rendered. Michael followed, looking over Jeremy’s shoulder at the hologram.

“I know I can’t go out, but that doesn’t mean I can’t design,” Jeremy explained, having the render animation play. It showed that the armor was able to be stored into a much smaller space. “This one looks like a briefcase!”

“Ah yes, that just screams young new CEO, how blind I must be,” Michael teased.

Jeremy rolled his eyes, “Q, make it.”

“Of course, Sir.”

They managed to get ready for the day, Michael vanishing into the gym while Jeremy poked around the house. He hated not being able to use both hands. He wanted to go blow up Jennifer’s shit. He had an appointment to check on the healing process coming up, and he was hoping that meant he could just get the fucking cast off so he could do shit again. His hand couldn’t have been that broken if he had gone several weeks without the fractures mattering.

He was also lying to Chloe and his dad, insisting that he just broke it working in his shop while drunk. He refused to admit that he just fell and Michael would blame himself if given the chance. Jeremy wasn’t about to encourage his bad thoughts to fester. He was going to help him feel better.

One day at a time.

☼

Michael felt about as tense as Jeremy looked. Jeremy clearly hated being in a cast, and Michael still felt guilty every time he had to see it. He wanted the x-ray to have good results for them.

“Alright Mr. Heere,” the doctor finally came in. “I’ve got good news, your hand is healing quickly and beautifully. Your fingers are fully recovered from the initial injury, and–”

“Can I get the cast off or not?” Jeremy interrupted.

It took effort not to laugh. Michael loved Jeremy but he was so impatient. Michael wanted the cast gone too, but he could at least let the doctor talk.

“Yes, the cast can come off today,” the doctor just chuckled. “You’ll need to wear a hand brace for a few weeks just to ensure that you finish healing correctly, but you can take it off for showers and such. I think you’ll find work much easier now.”

Jeremy was utterly glowing with excitement. Michael found that the brace made him feel a lot less guilty. Even just watching Jeremy be able to properly grip the steering wheel in the car with both hands felt like relief.

“This means I can do shit again!” Jeremy cheered.

Michael laughed, leaning over to press a kiss to Jeremy’s cheek. The drive back to the house was filled with Jeremy listing mundane things that would be easier once again. Michael just grinned, more than happy to listen to Jeremy talk. It didn’t surprise Michael in the slightest that Jeremy beelined to the workshop once they were home. The brace had a lot less bulk than the cast, meaning he could actually go in the armor without worrying about his hand.

“Where are you going?” Michael asked, watching the armor assemble around Jeremy.

Jeremy shrugged, “Wherever the nearest place for me to blow up Jennifer’s shit is. Q?”

“There are a few small locations in Canada, they could be dealt with before dark.”

“I’m going to Canada,” Jeremy hummed. The faceplate fell into place, covering Jeremy’s smile. “I’ll be back soon.”

Once Jeremy was gone Michael hurried back upstairs, going through his checklist he had made on his phone. Jeremy’s birthday was right around the corner and he wanted it to be a good day. He had reached out to Chloe to ask questions, but all he had learned was of loud parties from years past.

“Mr. Mell, a delivery truck is at the gate.”

Michael looked up from his phone, “Uh, I guess let them in? What did Jeremy buy?”

“A piano.”

Michael froze, his hand halfway to the door handle, “Why?”

“According to past footage because you said you like piano.”

Michael craned his neck up to the ceiling, the closest he could get to looking at Squip, “I told him that before we were dating!”

“I can’t control him, Mr. Mell.”

Michael sighed, letting in the delivery people. Jeremy seriously bought an entire grand piano just because he mentioned it one time. How had he fallen for him again? Michael was all for emotional decisions, but not emotional spending. Well, Jeremy was a billionaire, he probably didn’t even think about it.

Michael found himself refreshing his mind to playing either way. If Brooke found out she would demand he start playing for her again. And with her being so close now? It probably wouldn’t take her all that long. At least the piano helped fill out the fairly empty room.

Michael made a point of not mentioning the piano when Jeremy came home. He wanted to see how long it would take for him to take notice. Jeremy, for all his smarts, was pretty oblivious.

And then his phone rang. Michael was in the middle of cooking, finding Rich wanted to video call. Jeremy was actually helping for once, cutting up vegetables. It didn’t involve fire, so Michael trusted him to not cause disaster. And he could actually hold the knife with his brace on, so it was making happy to use his hand.

Michael perched his phone on the counter between them and answered the call, “Hey!”

Sitting in the frame of the camera was…everyone. His moms, Rich, and Jake. Oh god.

“Were you ever going to tell us about your wooing of one Jeremiah Heere?” Rich demanded, moving to sit in Jake’s lap. “Or is that something you only share with your friends who move to California?”

Michael sighed, “I did plan on telling you, yes.”

Jeremy poked his head into frame, “Hello!”

“Ooh, domestic bitches!” Rich cackled.

“Rich, be nice,” Maria scolded. “What are you doing for work now, dear?”

Michael avoided looking at the screen, focusing on the stove, “Uh, nothing right now.”

“Michael Luis Mell!” Darcy went into angry mom mode the moment he spoke.

“I don’t know if you’ve seen the news, but it’s been kind of busy over here!” Michael tried defending himself.

“Yeah, robots attacking and hunky masked men, it sounds like your dream video game Mikey,” Jake mused.

“Fuck off,” Michael sighed. He glanced over to Jeremy to see how he was doing and had to drag a hand over his face. “Jer, what did you do to the poor carrots?”

Jeremy glanced at the cutting board, “I chopped them?”

Michael glanced at what used to be carrots, “No, you pulverized them. It’s almost impressive, that’s nearly liquid consistency.”

“Oh no,” Maria couldn’t see what he could but she sounded horrified. She was the one who taught Michael to cook afterall.

“Hey Jeremy!” Rich got his attention so he walked into frame. Michael pondered how he could salvage the carrots.

“Hi,” Jeremy hummed.

“Did Michael ever tell you that he had the biggest crush on you when we were in high school?”

Michael whipped his head to attention, “Rich, shut the fuck up!”

Jeremy moved fast, snatching Michael’s phone and fleeing from the room, “No, please tell me more.”

Jeremy was fast, and he ducked around the furniture with ease to avoid Michael.

“I’m pretty sure in his room he still has a poster,” Jake piled on.

“Guys, I’ll ditch your fucking wedding I swear!” Michael yelled, managing to cut Jeremy off and snatch his phone back. “Feel free to never call back!”

He ended the call and silenced his phone, pocketing the device before turning to Jeremy. He had a stupid grin on his face and was rocking on his heels.

“Michael, was I your gay awakening?”

Michael didn’t respond, just returned to the kitchen. He continued cooking, Jeremy traipsing his way over to snuggle up against him.

“Michael, you were my bi awakening, it’s okay,” Jeremy assured.

“I was over you, and then you just swooped in and were…well, you,” Michael sighed.

“I’m such a catch, you just couldn’t help it,” Jeremy sighed, reaching up to caress his cheek.

Michael sighed, leaning over so he could kiss Jeremy, “Yeah, let’s say that.”

Jeremy grinned, wrapping his arms around him, “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

☼

Jeremy sighed, messing with his cufflinks. He was getting tired of dressing up for random shit all the time. First Jennifer and her party craze, then taking over the company, and now this. The board of directors was hosting a party to celebrate both the beginning of reconstruction to the factory and Jeremy’s birthday. His birthday wasn’t for a few more days, but it was a way to make them look like they cared. Jeremy was going to make the most of it. Michael was coming, and he was going to dance with him at the party. Nothing would stop him. He wouldn’t even leave his side the entire night, that way even if people interrupted he would have another chance.

“Doesn’t the press view this as a waste of money?” Michael asked, emerging from the bedroom while doing up his tie.

“Oh I’m sure,” Jeremy nodded, buttoning his suit jacket. “But my dad and I aren’t funding this one, so it looks more like a gift to celebrate the good. I’d rather stay home, but when it’s a party for someone you’d hope that the guest of honor would show up.”

Michael finished fixing his collar, “And we aren’t expecting any Iron Man appearances?”

“No robots, no singing, no incessant talking, it should just be a normal party without any cause for drama.”

And dancing. Jeremy was going to make it happen. He didn’t care if it made him seem rude, he would walk away from anyone if it meant he could dance with Michael.

Jeremy held Michael’s hand the entire drive to the party, although he was hounded by the press the moment he stepped out of the car and wasn’t able to reach him until they were inside. It was intense, everyone who caught sight of him approached to wish him well for his birthday or talk about the company. But he had Michael right next to him, squeezing his hand. Things were going to be okay.

“Mikey!”

Both Jeremy and Michael turned, finding Chloe approaching with Brooke on her arm. Brooke was clearly fantastic at her job, both of their dresses were probably the most beautiful thing Jeremy had seen in the world of fashion. The fun clash of purple and yellow helped the pair stand out.

“Hi!” Michael moved in to hug Brooke while Chloe looked on with a grin.

Music started playing, Brooke glancing between Chloe and Jeremy, “Can I steal Michael for a dance?”

Jeremy had all night, “Go for it.”

Chloe walked over and kissed her cheek, “Have fun.”

The two friends took off, Chloe fixing a stray lock of hair as she moved to stand next to Jeremy. She wrapped an arm around his shoulders, clearly trying to use her height over him to her advantage.

“Happy early birthday,” Chloe sighed, kissing his forehead. “You know you’re my best friend, right?”

Jeremy wrapped his arms around her, “Yeah, you’re mine too.”

Chloe just smiled at him, “Want a drink?”

Jeremy nodded, “Please, before another person asks if I’ll consider reopening the weapons department.”

They walked over to the bar together, both grabbing a champagne flute to carry around. Jeremy looked out over the crowd and spotted Michael and Brooke, the two laughing as they went spinning around the room. That would be him within an hour, he was sure of it.

“There’s my two favorite people!” James came walking over, pulling both of them into hugs. “And I spotted number three out dancing, so I’ll reach him once he’s done.”

James got his own drink before standing next to Jeremy, ruffling his hair. Jeremy rolled his eyes, tapping his glass with his fingers.

“Your mother flew in earlier,” James said. “But she couldn’t come because of jet lag.”

Jeremy hummed, not exactly bothered by Jennifer being gone. The past few weeks without her being around had been great.

“Does she know about me and Michael?” Jeremy asked.

James shook his head, “That’s your place to say. She only knows about Iron Man, and that’s because you told her. Everything else has been kept secret.”

That made him feel a bit better. He didn’t want her to know about their relationship. It was weird, he would rather make a public announcement than tell her personally. She didn’t deserve his time.

As the music faded out Michael and Brooke came walking over, Chloe pulling her girlfriend into a hug as they approached. James patted Michael on the back, getting the other two their own champagne flutes. Seeing Michael hold a drink felt weird. And it was clear that Michael caught on to his thoughts.

“I do drink occasionally,” Michael shrugged. “I just don’t make it a habit. Besides, alcohol doesn't work on me anymore.”

With a small crowd formed of friends and family most people didn’t bother approaching Jeremy anymore. Jeremy just took Michael’s hand and enjoyed the peace. Another slow song started playing, Jeremy setting his glass down before turning to Michael.

“Dance–”

“Michael Mell?”

Jeremy glared at the person approaching, “He’s busy.”

“He’s under arrest,” the person stated, revealing a badge from his pocket.

Fucking what?! Michael seemed confused, “What?”

The officer nodded, “If you would please come with me, I’d hate to make a big scene at this party. James and Jeremy Heere, you’ve been requested to come in for questioning.”

They all followed the officer out a side door, Chloe staying behind with Brooke to cover any questions. Jeremy couldn’t do anything as Michael was put into the back of a car.

Jeremy drove them to the police station, hardly keeping himself from blowing up. This was bullshit. Michael hadn’t done anything!

“We’ll get this sorted out, Jeremy,” James assured. “Michael is a good person.”

“I know!” Jeremy snapped. “I’m dating him!”

James didn’t say anything else for the rest of the drive. Jeremy felt a little bad for snapping, but the whole situation was pissing him off. At the station Jeremy and James were brought to a room for questioning, being left to their own devices for a while. Jeremy glared at the wall, seriously considering suing the entire department. Chloe would help him do it.

“Good evening,” an officer came in. “Let’s make this quick. Were you, James Heere, the employer of Michael Mell?”

“Up until recently, he quit about a month or so ago,” James nodded.

The officer hummed, “We have reason to believe that Mr. Mell has stolen government secrets. Under the supervision of General Melissa Swan we were directed to Mr. Mell and his crimes. Did he ever share anything with either of you in regards to his time in the service.”

This was about Michael’s powers. What. The. Fuck?!

“No,” James shook his head, lying with ease. “He mentioned some possible PTSD, but nothing like that. I can assure you that Michael is one of the kindest people I’ve ever met. He’s not the kind to steal anything or cause trouble.”

“And you, Jeremiah?”

Jeremy sighed, “Same here. He’s got some troubles from trauma, but he’s not a thief. Are you actually going to charge him or not?”

“I cannot tell you that. Your company has recently been attacked by these two unnamed individuals,” the officer showed them grainy photos of Iron Man and Captain. “Do you think there is a chance that Mr. Mell would have initiated this attack as a result of his position being terminated?”

Jeremy clenched his hands into fists. He was ready to break something. Scream at the officer. Anything.

“Those attacks happened before Michael left the company,” James stated. “And I’ll repeat myself, Michael wasn’t fired. He chose to leave his position due to some personal matters. I’ve respected that decision and have had a positive relationship with him since.”

“What were the personal matters?”

“It’s irrelevant,” James was starting to sound pissed. “And I would like to stop answering questions until we can have a lawyer present. You should have offered us that when we walked in.”

“I can’t wait to tell the board about how we’ve been treated,” Jeremy piled on. He didn’t care if he was using his bitchy rich kid abilities. “Heere Industries has always valued working with local law enforcement and fire rescue teams. I believe your department specifically was gifted all new vehicles as a thank you just last year. It’s a shame that all the niceties were just for you to gain something from us.”

“We, we can let you contact your lawyer–” the officer was scared now.

“I’d like to see Michael, make sure he isn’t also being treated so poorly,” Jeremy growled.

The officer got up, “I’ll see what I can do, Sir.”

Jeremy crossed his arms over his chest once the officer was gone. He was ready to send in an armor and remove Michael by force at this rate.

“Nice work,” James hummed, patting his shoulder. He was going to contact a lawyer anyway.

Jeremy wasn’t surprised when they were escorted to where Michael was being held. Jeremy held off his excitement until they were shut in, quickly pulling out his phone and hacking into their camera and microphone systems. There, they were safe.

“Okay, the room is no longer bugged,” Jeremy sighed, walking over to Michael. His boyfriend had been handcuffed to the table, unable to get up and greet them himself.

“They think I stole government secrets,” Michael whispered. “Swan must have figured out what happened to me and did this since she can’t come after me herself.”

“Hey,” Jeremy wiggled his way on to Michael’s lap, “We’re going to be fine. You didn’t steal anything. Swan is the one who let you go, she can’t hurt you.”

Michael sighed, lowering his head to rest on Jeremy’s shoulder, “I would break these and hug you but I don’t want to be suspicious.”

Jeremy smiled, pressing a kiss to Michael’s cheek, “I can wait.”

Jeremy got back up, walking around the room while his dad went to work contacting their lawyers about what they could do once Michael was let go. He flinched when the door flew open, an officer walking in and unlocking the cuffs that held Michael to the table.

“Sorry about the inconvenience, Sir,” the officer mumbled, quickly vanishing from the room.

A short young woman came walking in, her face stern enough to scare away even Michael. She approached Michael, offering a hand for him to shake. It was almost funny, Michael was well over a foot taller than her.

“Michael, I’m so sorry for this,” the woman said. “General Swan was just arrested for her human experimentation cases that were dismissed. You shouldn’t be bothered about her ever again.”

Jeremy swore he had seen her before. He just couldn’t place where.

“Uh, thanks,” Michael seemed shocked. “And you are?”

The young woman smiled, “Christine Canigula, I’m with the Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division.”

“Holy fuck that’s a mouthful,” Jeremy huffed. Had he danced with her at a party once? Government people got invited all the time, it was possible.

“I get that a lot,” Christine sighed. “Anyway, you’re free to go home, all of you.” Christine handed Michael a business card. “If you’re ever bothered again about this topic feel free to contact me. Have a good night, gentlemen. And happy birthday, Jeremiah.”

And just like that she was gone. Jeremy put the cameras and microphones back into place before leading everyone back to the car. James was brought back to the party, but Jeremy was too overwhelmed to even think about going back in. Michael seemed to be on the same page, and they went home. They just went to bed, Jeremy curling up around Michael.

Yet another dance opportunity had slipped through his fingers.

Chapter Text

Michael sat up, glancing at the time. He wanted everything to go perfectly today. Michael slipped out of bed, making sure Jeremy was still asleep before making his way into the bathroom to get ready. He walked into the kitchen and started cooking, starting the coffee pot for Jeremy while he was at it. Once he had two plates set he walked back into the bedroom and started to kiss Jeremy awake.

He was incredibly pouty over being woken up. Michael ignored the whining and continued his mission.

“What the fuck do you want?” Jeremy whined, reaching one hand out to rest against Michael’s cheek.

“Happy birthday,” Michael hummed, leaning in to kiss him again.

Jeremy opened his eyes just to roll them, “Thank you, but it’s too fucking early for this.”

Michael ignored his pouty behavior and scooped Jeremy into his arms. He received several more complaints, but he managed to get Jeremy into the kitchen. He set his boyfriend down on the counter and handed him a plate before going to grab him a mug of coffee.

“Have you considered that you’re too nice sometimes?” Jeremy asked, stabbing his food.

Michael shrugged, sitting at the table with his own plate, “I like doing things for you.”

Jeremy sighed, “Well don’t expect the same treatment on your birthday.”

Michael laughed, “Oh hell no. Not trying to cook is gift enough.”

After breakfast Jeremy changed into his undersuit, having already said the day before that he would be spending his birthday flying around destroying weapons. Because Jennifer suffering is the best way for me to spend my time. Or whatever he had said.

“You’ll be back for dinner?” Michael asked, watching the armor assemble around Jeremy.

“Yes,” Jeremy said, lifting the faceplate so Michael could see his face. “I love you.”

Michael grinned, pressing a kiss to Jeremy’s cheek before he could walk out, “Love you too.”

Once Jeremy was out the door Michael hurried back up the stairs. He had planned Jeremy a normal birthday party for when he got home. From what he could tell Jeremy hadn’t ever had a normal birthday party before.

It was one of the normal human experiences Michael wanted him to have at least once.

Michael spent his morning cooking, Jeremy’s favorite foods were a requirement on his birthday. And Michael wasn’t about to disappoint. He didn’t bother decorating all that much, as loud and dramatic as Jeremy was; he never seemed to want his house to be a mess. Which was a bit strange given that his workshop constantly looked like a tornado had gone through, but maybe his workspace was put in a different category.

Chloe and Brooke arrived right after lunch with the cake, small and simple for the five people that would be at the party. Michael had made James promise to not bring Jennifer with, he was sure that seeing her would only ruin Jeremy’s mood. And that was the exact opposite of what Michael wanted for Jeremy on his birthday.

 Brooke being around now made Michael extremely happy. He hadn’t realized how much he had missed her and all of his friends. Brooke was this affectionate girl that Michael would commit crimes for, and she knew it. But, then again, Michael would probably commit crimes for any of his loved ones.

Squip alerted them when Jeremy was on his way back, Brooke slightly oblivious about where Jeremy had even gone. It was Jeremy’s choice to tell her about the Iron Man project and they didn’t know each other all that well. Chloe made an excuse that he had just gone out for a drive, and it seemed to please Brooke.

“Mr. Mell, Mr. James is at the gate.” Squip announced.

“Let him in,” Michael hummed.

They all gathered around the living room, waiting for Jeremy to come up the stairs. Brooke had brought little confetti poppers to shoot at him, and so everyone was ready to fire. Soon enough Jeremy’s perpetually messy hair appeared along with the rest of him, Brooke being the first to shoot her popper.

“Happy birthday!” They all cheered, covering Jeremy in confetti.

Jeremy turned to glare at Michael, but the harsh look wasn’t effective with his huge grin, “God, you’re an asshole.”

Michael swooped in, pressing a kiss to Jeremy’s cheek, “I love you too.”

It was maybe the most fun Michael had managed to have since moving in. Just getting to pamper Jeremy and show him that he was loved. It was almost reminiscent of family dinner nights with his moms, just without the usual chaos that Rich tended to bring to the table. Brooke seemed to think the same thing, the two of them following their typical routine as if they were back home.

They didn’t do any gifts, Jeremy was a billionaire so it felt a bit pointless, but James brought a wine bottle and Chloe started playing music for them to dance to. It was stupid, sure, but Jeremy was beaming. And that meant everything was worth it.

Jeremy walked up to him, holding out his hand, “Dance w–”

“Sir, Mrs. Jennifer is at the gate,” Squip announced, pausing the music.

Jeremy dropped his arm, “What?”

“Should I let her in or not? She has brought a gift.”

Michael already knew that Jeremy didn’t want anything Jennifer had to offer him.

Jeremy scoffed, “Seriously? She hasn’t even bothered to send a text since I was sixteen and now she’s here with a gift? Fuck it, let her in. She probably wants something from me.”

Michael stood by his side, watching as Jennifer stepped into the house. She had a small package in her hands, clearly awkward among the group of friends. She didn’t even seem all that comfortable around her husband. She shuffled up to Jeremy, passing him the package. Not a word being exchanged.

Jeremy opened the box, revealing a bundle of papers. He narrowed his eyes, scanning over the papers.

“What is this?” Jeremy asked.

Jennifer sighed, “That is my letter to my…associates, stating that I’ve lost control of the company and cannot assist them any longer. In their eyes I still have power to fix things, but you and I know better.” Jennifer drifted her eyes over to Michael, “Why is he still here? He quit.”

Michael didn’t say a word. He wouldn’t do anything to hurt Jeremy.

“It’s nice to have friends around on your birthday, Jennifer,” Jeremy muttered, passing her back the box. “Too bad you don’t have any. Get the fuck out of my house.”

Jennifer seemed shocked at his forwardness, “Jeremiah, I am your mother–”

“You gave birth to me, don’t try to act like you care now,” Jeremy cut her off. “You just want the company back, it isn’t happening. Now leave.”

Michael rested a hand on Jeremy’s back, hoping to silently reassure him. Jennifer seemed to catch notice, rolling her eyes at them.

“Oh wow, this explains a lot,” Jennifer laughed, turning her attention to Michael. “Good luck, I’m not sure if he’s capable of love.”

“It’s not my fault you never bothered to try and love him,” Michael whispered.

Jennifer sauntered off, Jeremy falling into his arms the moment she was gone. It was eerily quiet with everyone unsure of what to do. Chloe started up the music again to break the tension, Brooke–ever the anxious one–just started dancing to avoid talking to anyone. Jeremy didn’t bother moving from his spot.

And then he jumped to attention, turning on James, “How the fuck are you married to her?! She’s the worst!”

James stared into his wine glass, “I know. Jennifer…she’s always been egotistical, but…”

Jeremy kept going, “She fully planned on murdering both of us! And yet you let her live with you–share a bed with you–like she did nothing wrong!”

Michael placed a hand on Jeremy’s shoulder, “Jer, calm down.”

Although Jeremy did make a good point. James and Jennifer weren’t ever…close. They acted like a perfect couple when they had to, but James never denied the horrible things Jennifer did. He only tried to keep things at a mutual point when it came to Jeremy and Jennifer’s relationship. He just tried to keep his family in one piece.

“No we don’t,” James mumbled, swishing his glass. “We, uh, we haven’t actually been together since…you were fifteen, Jeremy.”

Both Michael and Jeremy froze, and Chloe also seemed a bit shocked. Brooke was continuing to dance away the tension around her, either not listening or just ignoring what was being said around her.

“What?” Jeremy finally said something.

James shrugged, “After…after we missed your graduation I called it off. I was mad that she wouldn't ever let you come first. We didn’t dare legally split, it would have ruined the company, but we did stop acting like a married couple when we didn’t need to. Our house is big enough, we have our own rooms. We’re business partners, you’re our son, but we don’t really…talk outside of that. I’m not missing anything, we weren’t ever really a loving and doting couple. Even before the company, we married for convenience. Jennifer and I…it just made sense for us to be together. We got married, had you, it was all we really needed out of the relationship. Being a couple in business helped boost each other, Jen was taken more seriously with me at her side, I was viewed as smarter than I am because of her. It just…worked.”

“I…” Jeremy stared off into space for a moment, contemplating his past. “You know what…that makes sense. Holy shit, forget fix-it babies, I was a business transaction!”

“I wouldn’t put it like that,” James sighed.

Knowing the truth seemed to clear a lot in Jeremy’s head. They were able to continue the party like normal, cake and wine to boot. Everyone agreed to head home before it got too late, Chloe and Brooke squeezing Jeremy in the tightest hug they could manage. James ruffled Jeremy’s hair and patted Michael on the shoulder before leaving, finding the house quiet for the first time all evening.

“So, anything else you want to do for your birthday?” Michael asked, brushing a thumb over Jeremy’s cheek.

Jeremy’s eyes lit up, “So, I mentioned wanting to be thrown against a wall, right?”

Michael did remember that comment, “And you were being serious?”

“Dead.”

Michael sighed, scooping Jeremy into his arms, “Okay, fine.”

The excited squeal that came out of Jeremy’s mouth would be worth it.

☼

Jeremy sighed, walking into the tower. He now had to attend board meetings, something he despised doing even at a young age. Still, he had to at least pretend like talking to a bunch of old people would be worth his time.

To Jeremy’s surprise the weapons department wasn’t the first thing everyone wanted to discuss. Jeremy still would have rather been with Michael, but his boyfriend had made the decision to visit his parents while they were on the correct side of the country. Jeremy would just have to hope that his suffering ended soon.

“Jeremiah, James, the thing we need to discuss is the robot,” a member stated. Jeremy couldn’t be bothered to learn their names, they were all old and going to die any day as it was. “The thing is still targeting weapons depots, I’ll be it they’re ones that we never worked with or those that were never mapped even to the government.”

That was because Jeremy was smarter than all of them. But they couldn’t know that.

“We haven’t been targeted since the factory was hit,” James spoke first. “I don’t think we will be targeted again.”

“You need to press charges,” another member spoke up.

Jeremy laughed, “Against a robot? What good will that do?”

“It shows that we as a company will not stand for this behavior,” the first member stated. “And you won’t allow this company to be injured and viewed as weak. You need to reopen the weapons department, Jeremiah. This company is doomed without it.”

“Heere Industries has much more to offer this world than blowing shit up,” Jeremy corrected. “We have forces helping stop world hunger, our R&D department is helping cultivate the future, we can be viewed as a force of peace instead of a threat to the planet.”

“Building bassinets won’t save this planet, Jeremiah,” the second member growled. “And if you don’t do as we say we will have to remove you by force from this board, pass the CEO position on to someone who can actually understand how the world works.”

Jeremy rolled his eyes, “You can’t do that without a unanimous vote, and my father won’t be voting against me. And if you try to remove him I won’t vote against him either. You’re stuck with me, fellas. Heere Industries will change this world for the better, and we will do it without anyone else innocent being hurt.”

“James, you can’t seriously–”

“I trust Jeremy,” James said, voice calm and firm. “We as a company will not be pressing charges against the robot, we will not be reopening the weapons department, and we will not be removing my son from the position he was born to hold. You’ve watched us play the same game for decades now, let’s give something new a try. Jeremy isn’t going to just let the company drift away, he has plans for us.”

“And what do those plans entail?”

Jeremy smirked, “You’ll just have to wait and see, reconstruction will be done before you know it.”

There was a collective silence in the room for a moment before they switched topics.

“The Heere Expo is coming up, what are we planning on doing if we aren’t making weapons?” another member asked.

Jeremy already had that planned out, “I’ve compiled a list of companies to invite to the Heere Expo, all of them focusing on different advancements in the world of science. Health related fields, STEM, even a few local New York high school science clubs. The expo will be reinvented to celebrate the growth of everyone, big and small. No weapons needed. It will be an actual expo for the first time instead of seven different companies trying to show off their biggest guns. Chloe Valentine is currently sending out the invites and scheduling the advertisements for me back in Malibu. The only thing left that needs to be decided is who will be hosting.”

“Jennifer won’t,” James stated. “I will if you’d like.”

“No,” the first member glared at Jeremy. “If the young man is co competent and confident in his decisions then we can allow Jeremiah to host.”

“With pleasure,” Jeremy barked back.

The rest of the meeting went by without much further incident. Jeremy happily bolted from the tower, not quite sure of where he was going but knowing it needed to be away from his family business. He was sick and tired of their bullshit. Jeremy couldn’t even tell them why he was so adamant on keeping the weapons department closed. Jennifer was keeping her end of the deal, so he wouldn’t be exposing her. Jeremy might have been a spiteful bastard, but he was a trustworthy one too.

“Jeremy!”

He turned his shoulder to find his father running after him. Jeremy slowed his pace, allowing his father to catch up. They walked in silence for a while, still no solid destination in mind.

“Where did Michael run off to?” James asked, shoving his hands into his pockets.

Jeremy sighed, “He went to visit his moms, one of them works part time at a bakery somewhere around here. I think his friends are there too. I don’t really want to bother him.”

James rolled his eyes, “That’s bullshit. He’s your boyfriend, he loves you. Go on, let’s go meet up with them. Maria and Darcy are wonderful ladies, I would love to chat with them again. Especially now since you’re with Michael romantically.”

“Fine,” Jeremy groaned, pulling out his phone. “Q, buddy, show me where Michael is.”

They were directed to a bakery that was a few blocks away. Jeremy stepped inside, finding Michael and his family crowding up a few tables inside the bakery. James and him walked over, being welcomed in warmly. Maria and Darcy clearly loved Michael more than anything, it was sweet to see how much they cared for him.

“So, Mikey has refused to tell me,” Rich turned to him with a smirk. “How’s the sex?”

Jeremy laughed as Michael lowered his head to the table, “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

Rich just laughed, turning his attention back to Jake. The two were made for each other, it didn’t take much to see that. Jeremy hoped that he and Michael looked that happy together.

“So, Heere, are you planning on stealing Rich from me too?” Jake asked, eyes narrowed playfully. “First Michael, now Brooke, you better not be coming after my man next.”

“You can keep him, I technically only stole Michael,” Jeremy hummed, locking an ankle with his boyfriend beneath the table. “Chloe is the one who nabbed Brooke from you.”

“You goddamn Californians,” Jake shook his head in fake distaste. “I can’t believe you.”

Jeremy glanced over, finding his dad chatting with Darcy and Maria excitedly. Michael seemed to be listening in, clearly just happy to be around his family. As much as Jeremy hated going to New York for meetings, if he could give Michael more easy opportunities to visit his family he would gladly put up with them. Okay, maybe not gladly…but he would at least tolerate it.

Either way, Jeremy was happy when they finally flew home that afternoon. He wanted to go out in the armor for a few hours, if only just to fly around. He was finally making proper headway into destroying Jennifer’s schemes, but now all his projects sent him across the globe. He couldn’t go missing for days on end when he was running an entire company.

“We have a press conference,” James reminded him at the airport, crushing Jeremy’s dreams of a high flying afternoon. “We have to announce the expo infromation, it’ll be quick.”

So, change of plans. Jeremy went back to the house with Michael briefly to change into a different outfit for the conference, because god forbid Jeremy wear the same outfit to two separate events he had going on in one day. The board already hated him enough. Michael made things a bit easier, keeping Jeremy company throughout the entire plane ride home, and all afternoon until the press conference.

James insisted that Jeremy speak for it since this was technically his first event planned as CEO. He scowled, seeing Jennifer walking around the press hall. She kept to herself, and Jeremy hadn’t banned her from the property, but seeing her walking around put him on edge. Chloe was off at a meeting with the construction team leading the rebuild of the factory, so he was all on his own. No note cards to keep him from putting his foot in his mouth, nothing.

“Good afternoon everyone,” Jeremy greeted, walking up to the podium. “It’s been a while since you’ve seen me, and I just wanted to let you all know that reconstruction on the factory is going wonderfully. Now, as many of you know the bi-anual Heere Expo is coming up fast. Within the next twenty four hours the dates will be posted, but rest assured that all is running well on that front as well. I’m so excited to share what I have planned for this event, but my grand reveal will have to wait until the opening presentation. And my apologies if this is a bit late, but thank you to everyone for the birthday wishes. If I bothered to touch social media more than twice a year I would have posted something, but I hope that this will do. Did we have any questions?”

A large number of people raised their hands. Jeremy pointed to a young woman near the front, hoping to just get a few questions out of the way and be done with the whole song and dance.

“Mr. Heere, what do you have to say about the robot that attacked the factory?”

Oh shit, “Uh, let’s try to keep questions on topic.”

“Are you in denial over what happened?”

“No, Iron Man destroyed the factory, what’s done is done,” Jeremy sighed, gripping the edge of the podium. “We at Heere Industries have agreed to not pursue the topic any further.”

“Iron Man? So this robot has a name?”

Jeremy wanted to smack his head off the microphone, he was so fucking stupid sometimes, “Yes, Iron Man is the name of the entity. Any other quest–”

“How can you be so sure that Iron Man isn’t a threat to your company?” the reporter kept pushing. “If your company could be destroyed once, who can say that it won’t happen again?”

“Because he isn’t!” Jeremy snapped. “If you could bother to look back at our previous statements and reports you will see that Iron Man was targeting a specific person and that issue has now been dealt with. Mind you that this all happened without a single civilian injury or casualty.”

“That doesn’t prove anything.”

“I can personally assure you that Iron Man will not cause threat to this company ever again,” Jeremy stated. “And Iron Man will continue to do nothing but help protect people, even if in unconventional ways. Look, the truth is…”

Was he seriously going to do this? It would get the board off of his back. The expo would surely be a success. He might get hounded by the press for a bit, but wasn’t that worth it? It felt like it was worth it.

“...I am Iron Man.”

Fuck it, we ball.

Chapter Text

“Jeremy!”

Jeremy looked up, finding Michael skidding into the room. He offered a wave before returning his attention to his phone.

“What the fuck is going on in the workshop?” Michael asked, eyes wide. “It sounds like there are explosions going off!”

Jeremy drifted his eyes back up, a smile tugging on his face, “Nope. I hired some people to build a vault underneath the workshop. They should be done in a few days.”

Michael sighed, leaning against the couch, “Okay.”

Jeremy couldn’t help but chuckle, “Did you think I was actually just blowing up the house?”

“With you I can never be sure.”

Okay, that was a fair statement.

Jeremy got up from the couch, walking around to pull Michael into his arms. It was still so…new to him. Having someone who wanted to consistently show affection towards him. He didn’t really have a proper childhood and his parents had never been the affectionate type. It was one of the areas where James had tried more than Jennifer, but in the end it didn’t really add up to much on Jeremy’s end. And with his nanny specifically being told to not get attached to him, Jeremy grew up kind of adverse to any kind of casual affection.

He hadn’t realized how much he had wanted it, or even needed it until Michael came around. Michael had been a hugger even before they started dating. And now that he had seen Brooke a few times…he realized that normal people got hugs from their parents as kids. And friends actually cared about each other. Jeremy had been raised to practically be a shell of a human, he didn’t get to emote. He was this sponge of a person, soaking in all the information given to him, but he didn’t have a sense of proper empathy. But now? It was different. He cared now, about a lot of things. And he was becoming a better person because he cared.

“So, how’s the new punching bag treating you?” Jeremy asked, burying his face against Michael’s shoulder.

Because, yeah, he noticed things. Designing and building were some of Jeremy’s passions, helping his boyfriend out was an obvious choice.

“I haven’t broken it yet,” Michael chuckled, returning the embrace. “Are you ready to face the music?”

Jeremy sighed, “I could just not go to the expo.”

“Yeah, reveal to the world that you blew up your own business and then not show up for the biggest event your company hosts, seems like a smart thing to do.”

“All everyone is going to do is ask why I blew the place up!”

“Just don’t elaborate,” Michael lifted him into his arms. “Tell them it has to do with you becoming CEO or something vague like that. If you don’t tell them anything all they can do is theorize.”

Jeremy grumbled, leaning in to kiss him, “Stop being logical.”

“Never.”

Jeremy complained about it, but he did pack his things for the flight. He didn’t want to be stuck on a plane with Jennifer, he would have rather just flown in an armor alone, but he wouldn’t dare make Michael deal with her alone. Every time that they saw her now she made some comment like Oh wow you’re still together? And it was annoying as hell. Sure he hadn’t publicly announced that he was dating anyone, or that the specific person he was dating was a guy, but he didn’t need to. Jeremy could be happy without telling the entire human race about the hunk he managed to fall into the arms of.

“Did your family get back to you on those passes?” Jeremy asked, setting his bag down on the bed. He just needed to find Michael’s sweatshirt and he would be ready to leave.

“Yeah!” Michael poked his head out of the closet to talk to him. “They all took a week off to spend time with us. I know Jake and Rich wanted my help with some wedding stuff, they wouldn’t elaborate on what, but I figured it wouldn’t take too long. So I’ll probably just take off with them for a bit between things.”

Jeremy located the shirt back inside the dresser, Michael must have put it away. Jeremy tossed it into his bag before sneaking down to the workshop. The place was more of a mess than usual. Although the construction team seemed to ignore him. When they were paid as well as Jeremy had them they didn’t seem to mind interruptions. The annoying part had been cleaning the room for them to come in. All of his tools had been stored away properly, the tables were clean and shoved against the walls, despite the room being clean for once it was a disaster in Jeremy’s eyes. He made his trip quick, quietly asking Squip to pull out the Mark Ⅳ from the wall. He grabbed the briefcase and hurried out, not wanting to bother the people he had working any longer than he had to. Although as a last second idea he also grabbed Michael’s shield. He didn’t want to risk it being taken by the workers, even thoughhe trusted them for the most part.

They were the last ones to arrive at the airport. His parents, Chloe, and Brooke were waiting in the plane for them. Michael was quick to take a seat away from Jennifer, Jeremy following his lead. He just needed to get to New York without blowing up at her, he could do this.

“I’ll book us a hotel room when we get there,” Jeremy mumbled, locking one arm with Michael.

But his dad heard him anyway, “We’re family, Jeremy! You have a room in the tower. Brooke and Chloe are already staying with us, why split up the group?”

Jennifer whipped her head to the side, “What?”

James shrugged, “I see no reason that Chloe should need to spend money on a hotel. She’s vital to this company and she’s a friend.”

Jennifer huffed, opening a book that she probably wasn’t reading. Jeremy ignored her, deciding to watch a movie with Michael for the duration of the flight. It was something to keep his mind off of the fact that he was stuck in vicinity with Jennifer. Brooke and Chloe were quiet, seeming to have a similar idea as them. Now that Jennifer had nothing to gain from Jeremy she stopped even pretending to care. No more fake smiles or feigned worries, it was just her sour attitude that she usually kept hidden under a sweet exterior.

He had to open the convention in less than twenty four hours, he had to actually go out in public for the first time since telling the world that he was Iron Man. There was no getting out of it. He was the CEO of Heere Industries, it was his responsibility. He would be fine.

Everyone went straight to the bedrooms once they arrived in New York. It was already kind of late when they left California, and now they had traveled across the country. Jeremy and Michael quickly changed into sleep clothes, both ready to get the whole dramatic event over with.

A knock on their door stopped that.

Jeremy opened the door, revealing Brooke with a box in her arms. Chloe was behind her, resting her chin on Brooke’s head. Jeremy let them in, sitting beside Michael on the bed. Brooke grinned, handing the box to Michael.

“So, after learning about Jeremy’s whole thing,” Brooke was practically bouncing in place, Chloe just grinning at her girlfriend. “I realized that you, Mikey, are the hunky masked man that I’ve been seeing reports of.”

Michael opened his mouth but sound didn’t come out.

“It’s not all that obvious,” Brooke continued talking. “But I’m your best friend, and it just makes sense. I won’t ask for details, I trust you to tell me when you’re ready. Anyway, what really made me mad was that you would dare be photographed wearing a complete mud puddle of an outfit! Superpowers I can understand, that clearly has to come with baggage, but I raised you better than this Mikey! You know that blue isn’t your color! And brown washes you out! At least you’re wearing a mask, it mostly fixes the issues. And I even understand the choices in design, but the colors, Mikey!”

Michael blinked a few times, “You done?”

Brooke thought about it for a moment, “Yeah, I think so.”

“She’s been talking my ear off about it since she connected the dots,” Chloe chuckled, pressing a kiss to Brooke’s cheek. “So I agreed to help her out.”

Jeremy watched as Michael opened the box, revealing a near replica of the original outfit. The only changes were that the kevlar top was now red instead of blue, and the pants were now black instead of brown. Simple changes that probably made all the difference in Brooke’s eyes.

“I’m going to have to get the shield repainted,” Michael mumbled, clearly still in shock over Brooke figuring everything out.

“I’ll take care of that too,” Brooke assured, a smirk set on her face. “Just bring it to me and I’ll have it painted.”

Jeremy chuckled, reaching for his bag, “I guess it’s a good thing I grabbed this then, huh?”

Jeremy pulled out the shield, passing it over to Brooke. Michael didn't even seem phased by Jeremy bringing the shield, although he already knew that Jeremy had brought an armor with.

“Brooke, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you–”

Brooke held up a hand, cutting him off, “I already said that it’s okay. I won’t go blabbing to anyone, and if you ever feel comfortable about it we can talk. You don’t owe me your trauma, Mikey. I’m here to support you either way.”

Michael pulled her into a hug, “I fucking love you.”

Brooke squeezed him back, “I love you too.”

Would Jeremy have rather been in a hotel? Sure. But maybe that happening would be worth it.

☼

Michael hummed, walking into the bakery. Jake and Rich had requested they meet early in the morning. Sure enough his friends were already seated at a table, discussing something on Jake’s phone. Michael took a seat across from them, offering up a smile to his friends.

“Yay! Tall-Ass is here!” Rich cheered, lightly kicking him beneath the table.

Jake just rolled his eyes, pressing a kiss into Rich’s hair, “He’s not that tall.”

“Fuck off, he’s taller than you!” Rich cackled.

“What did you need my help with?” Michael asked, not wanting to bring the height argument back up.

“Right!” Rich jumped to attention, wiggling out of his chair to get down on one knee in front of Michael. What the fuck was he doing? “Michael Luis Mell, the bro to my hoe, my brother from two different mothers, my beautiful brown eyed babe—”

“Holy shit you’re droning on,” Jake complained.

Rich flipped him off, “—and absolute beefcake, will you be my best man?”

Michael grinned, “Seriously?!”

“Oh you know it, muscle man,” Rich nodded.

Michael pulled Rich up so he could hug him, “Yeah! Of course!”

“Brooke already agreed to be our maid of honor,” Jake explained. “And she insisted on making our suits for the wedding, so I’ll let her know to add you to the list.”

“What color scheme did you pick?” Michael asked, letting Rich go so he could sit back down.

Rich hummed, “We were thinking of red and blue, but Brooke convinced us to go with yellow and white instead. We trust her judgment and Maria seemed to agree with her.”

They continued to discuss their wedding plans for the remainder of the morning. They didn’t plan on inviting all that many people, but made sure to insist that Jeremy was obviously welcome. Michael was just happy to see that things were going so well. Brooke and him and been waiting for years to see who would propose first.

Michael did his best to help Rich and Jake out with the questions and ideas they had. He wasn’t perfect by any means, but he liked being helpful to them. Even if all he did to help was be a deciding vote in what font their invitations should be printed in.

They all got a cab over to the park where the expo was being held. Michael had brought along the passes Jeremy had given him for his family, and passed them along to Rich and Jake as they walked around. Brooke had texted them saying she would be there soon with his moms. Technically the expo didn’t officially open until Jeremy’s opening presentation, but even just watching the small companies set up their stands and booths was amazing. Jeremy had clearly put in a lot of thought into who was invited, there were companies from across the globe big and small.

Once the group was all together Michael led the charge in tracking down Chloe and James. Jeremy was probably getting ready for his presentation, so Michael didn’t try to bother him with a text. Jennifer was also milling around behind the main stage, though she clearly looked bored. She deserved it, with everything she had done. What Jeremy and Chloe had pulled together was such an improvement over the old expos. Michael had attended a few expos in the past, usually because Jeremy had either been giving a presentation that Michael wanted to watch or because Rich just needed out of the house. Michael really hadn’t been subtle about his crush on Jeremy when he had been in school, no wonder Rich used it to poke fun at him now. It didn’t matter in the end, somehow Jeremy actually liked him. Despite everything so clearly wrong with him, Jeremy had asked him to stay. And Michael had a hard time saying no to Jeremy.

“Where is he?” James walked over, eyes slightly panicked. “Jeremy is supposed to start his presentation soon, and he hasn’t even told me a thing about it.”

“He’s not answering his phone!” Chloe was more worried, Brooke keeping her from pacing by pinning her in place with a hug. She had a giant tote bag swinging from one elbow that kept bumping into Chloe as they swayed back and forth.

“He’s probably stuck in traffic,” Michael shrugged, trying not to worry. Jeremy wasn’t technically late yet, he didn’t need to worry yet.

“Jeremy doesn’t have a car here and he refuses to get in a cab unless he’s forced to,” James stated, gripping Michael’s shoulder. “If he’s not here soon I’ll have to speak for him, and it will just upset the board. It’ll make everyone mad.”

“He’s not coming,” Jennifer tsked, fixing her hair. “He doesn’t actually care about this company, James.”

James turned on his wife, “Yeah, that’s why he went through so much effort to keep you from ruining it.”

Jennifer glared right back, “I was saving us from financial disaster.”

Time ticked forward, the clock struck and it was time for the presentation to start. No Jeremy. James sighed, straightening his jacket before turning to Michael.

“I guess I’ll speak for him, it’s better than–”

Music blared from the speakers, cutting James off. Michael covered his ears from the sudden burst of sound and the group hurried over to the monitor showing the stage. Nothing was happening yet, and the tech crew was running around like something had gone wrong. What the hell was Jeremy doing? It had to be him. Michael peeked through the curtain to look out at the crowd, finding nothing apparent but a growing excitement among the audience. He happened to glance up and felt a laugh escape his lungs. God he was in love with Jeremy. Sure enough Jeremy came swooping in above the crowd in his newest armor. Michael chuckled, watching Jeremy land on the stage, the armor beginning to disassemble around him. It wasn’t as fast as the Mark Ⅲ armor, but it was just as cool. Soon enough Jeremy was out of the armor and simply had a briefcase at his feet. With Jeremy safely on stage Michael made his way back to the group, watching along with them from the monitor.

“Good evening ladies, gents, and all you funky gendered people in between!” Jeremy greeted the crowd, a huge grin on his face.

Rich elbowed him in the ribs, “You are one lucky son of a bitch.”

Michael just beamed back. He knew he was lucky. Not just anyone got to be the boyfriend of the incredibly smart idiot standing on that stage.

“Welcome to the bi-annual Heere Expo!” Jeremy continued his opening speech like he talked to crowds of thousands on the regular. “While once an event dedicated to showing everyone what the protection of the world looked like, this is now an event to show improvements across all fields of science! As many of you know my parents hosted this event for the first time thirty six years ago when they started Heere Industries, and as the new CEO I’m honored to have the chance to reinvent this two week long event and bring us closer as a planet as we bond over everything from cancer research to improvements of solar energy! To kick off this event I would like to thank–”

Michael felt his heart stop as he watched the microphone stand literally blow up in Jeremy’s face. Loud, large, and bright. Jeremy hit the ground and all hell broke loose. All coherent thoughts left Michael’s head. He ran, hurrying to Jeremy’s side. He was hardly able to move, he was so scared. Michael was shaking as he checked Jeremy for a pulse. It was there, thankfully, but probably growing faint. He wasn’t quite sure. There was blood, it scared him.

“Michael!” James appeared next to him. “Jennifer is gone!”

Rage. Dumb costume or not, Michael could ruin Jennifer just as easily. Michael charged back behind the curtain, finding security trying to clear everyone from the area. He needed to find Jennifer. This was her fault, it had to be. No one else had literal fucking plans to blow Jeremy up.

“Mikey!”

He turned, finding Brooke pushing her way through the crowd to get to him. She held out her giant bag for him to take, her eyes serious and dark.

“Find who did this. I’ll be with the others.”

Michael opened the bag, finding his shield and the new costume staring back at him. Brooke must have grabbed it so the colors matched on the new paint job. Michael gave her a firm nod, running to hide in what looked like a possible storage closet. The changing was still pretty dumb, but at least with his face hidden Michael didn’t need to hold back. He placed the shield on his arm before running back out, to at least check on Jeremy.

James had moved the armor case to Jeremy’s side, and Squip seemed to be taking it from there. There was no way an ambulance would get there in time, so Michael wouldn’t complain. James looked up at him, tears clouding his vision.

“Squip will take care of him,” James whispered. “Go.”

Michael nodded before running off. He had no idea where Jennifer was, but she had been with the group up until the explosion so she couldn’t have made it far. Michael tore through the park, startling the fleeing pedestrians as he charged through. He was essentially looking for Jeremy with long hair, that wasn’t hard. He knew what Jeremy looked like. If he didn’t end up okay…

Michael would kill her. Eye for an eye. But for now, he just wanted to scare the shit out of her.

Michael caught sight of familiar fluffy hair and chased after it. Sure enough Jennifer was trying to blend into the crowd. People ran out of the way as Michael came closer and he tossed the shield ahead, just barely missing the top of Jennifer’s head. She screamed as the shield bounced off of a lamp post, a dent left in the wake of the force. Michael caught the shield as it came flying back, quickly knocking Jennifer to the ground with a quick swipe beneath her legs. She yelped, cowering as Michael towered over her.

“You aren’t going anywhere,” Michael stated, eyes narrowed.

Michael practically dragged her back to James, hardly keeping himself in check enough to not just crush her wrist with his hand. James glared as they approached, Jeremy was gone from the stage. Squip must have taken him to a hospital in the armor.

“What the fuck did you do?” James growled, getting in Jennifer’s face.

“This wasn’t me! I swear!” Jennifer whispered. “Why would I do something that could ruin what little I have left?!”

“Bomb squad will still check you for residue,” James snapped. He then turned to Michael, “Thank you for your help, I can handle this from here.”

Michael let her go, stomping away back behind the curtain. He changed back to his regular clothes before tracking down Brooke again to return her bag. He hated to do it, but he ditched his family before they could ask any questions on where he had been. Michael sprinted out of the park, pulling out his phone.

“Squip, where is Jeremy?” Michael asked, growing more frantic.

“Sir had a plan put in place soon after learning of Mrs. Jennifer’s plan to hurt him,” Squip stated. “I have acted on that plan, and he will be fine. Sir is currently in the medical bay of the tower, my port to the armor is operating on him.”

Michael wanted to rip his hair out, “Can you even do that?!”

“This is what the protocol instructed me to do, so yes,” Squip confirmed. Michael kept running down the streets towards the tower. “Sir wouldn’t have survived if he was to have waited for surgery, even in emergency situations like this. He will be fine, Mr. Mell. Sir prepared for this situation specifically. His operation will be done shortly, the medical bay had much of what the armor needed. Once the operation is complete the armor will pilot home to be cleaned and sanitized.”

The fact that Jeremy had been forced to prepare for this was probably the worst part. Michael bit back his anxieties and kept focused on running. He made it back to the tower and had Squip direct him to where Jeremy was. He found Jeremy asleep in a makeshift hospital bed, and besides a few scrapes on his face he seemed to be okay. His breathing looked okay, he had color to his face, and reaching out confirmed that his hand was still warm. Jeremy was alive, he would be okay. The armor was still there, movement stiff from Squip controlling.

“He is just sleeping now, Mr. Mell. Do not worry,” Squip assured, his voice coming from the armor. “I’m sure Sir will appreciate you being here when he wakes, however. The armor will now return to Malibu.”

Michael watched as the armor opened a window and flew out. Michael closed the glass before pulling up a chair and sitting beside Jeremy. He kept hold of his hand, hardly thinking to message the others and let them know that Jeremy was okay. All that mattered was that Jeremy was still alive. They could deal with Jennifer, or whoever else had hurt Jeremy, once he was awake.

Michael wouldn’t be sleeping until he saw Jeremy wake up.

Chapter Text

Jeremy stirred awake, pain setting in all around his body. Right. Because Jennifer had actually tried to kill him. Jokes on her, he had prepared for her bullshit. He glanced around, finding that Michael had been gripping his hand the entire time.

“Hey sweetheart,” Jeremy mumbled.

“Oh thank god!” Michael swooped up, pulling him into a hug. It hurt a bit, but he didn’t dare complain. Jeremy just hugged him back. All things considered he was feeling pretty good.

“So, please tell me that Jennifer got punched in the face,” Jeremy whispered into Michael’s shoulder.

Michael pulled back, “She’s claiming that it wasn’t her, Jer. And from what James told me whatever the explosive was made of doesn’t match anything that Heere Industries has ever made. As much as I hate to admit it…I really don’t think it was her.”

Great. Now someone else was trying to kill him. Jeremy sighed, “Well, I guess it can’t ever be that easy.”

Jeremy wiggled out of bed, biting back the protest of pain in his chest. He was fine. Michael followed him, keeping one hand at his back for support. They made their way back up to the apartment, finding James pacing around the place.

“Hey,” Jeremy greeted, knocking James from his thoughts.

James ran over, pulling him into a hug, “You scared the shit out of me!”

Jeremy sighed, hugging his dad back, “I had nothing to do with this. Is the expo okay?”

James pulled back, “Yeah, police said that the stage would be back in operation later today, and everyone you had scheduled understood why they were canceled. You can stay here and rest, the board will understand.”

Jeremy shook his head, “No. I’m not hiding when there’s some asshole after me. I’m not Jennifer, I don’t hide from my problems. Let’s get back out there.”

“Jer, you had surgery…” Michael seemed hesitant.

“It was noninvasive,” Jeremy lied, walking towards his room. “Besides, I’ll have Q launch the Mark Ⅲ armor and if something happens I can always get out.”

Jeremy quickly pulled out his phone to do just that, the armor would be there within a few hours. He then went into his room, pulling out clothes to change into before stepping into the bathroom. Now that his presentation was over he was free to walk around the expo like a normal person. He wasn’t going to hide from anyone.

As Jeremy was changing his shirt he glanced in the mirror at the bandages covering his chest. He should take them off before going out and about, Michael might notice and get upset. Jeremy unwound the bandages, staring at the bright glow that now came from his chest.

It was just temporary, any shrapnel that Squip hadn’t been able to remove couldn’t get to his heart now, and if there was another incident he would still be protected. Once all the chaos was over he would go and properly have the remaining shrapnel removed. It was a safety idea he had come up with right after learning of Jennifer’s plans to potentially kill him. He had been carrying around a spare reactor and magnet set up with him ever since. There was one in his car, one hidden in his night stand back home, a few littered around the workshop, one he snuck into James’s desk, and he had brought one with on the trip to New York. He could have just taken a reactor that was powering the armor, but then the armor wouldn’t be functional and that was just pointless to him.

Jeremy pulled on his shirt, mentally slamming his head into the sink vanity when the glow showed through the fabric. He couldn’t have that, someone would notice. He wasn’t going to mention it until they were home, it was pointless to bring it up now when everyone was already scared. He sighed, pulling out the first aid kit from under the sink. With some gauze and medical tape he made a cover for the light, finding the extra padding kept the light from shining through his shirt. He would wear a sweatshirt just in case.

Jeremy walked out after cleaning up, finding Michael and his dad were ready to leave. Jeremy zipped up his sweatshirt and made his way over, taking Michael’s hand as they walked into the elevator.

“Can we stop for breakfast?” Jeremy asked, leaning against Michael.

Michael sighed, “That depends, are you actually going to eat something or are you just going to sell the place out of coffee?”

“Why not both?”

Michael rolled his eyes, planting a kiss to the top of his head, “Fine, we can get breakfast first.”

Jeremy let out a small cheer, finding his dad smiling at them. He felt bad about scaring them, but it honestly hadn’t been his fault. Part of Jeremy was still convinced that Jennifer was behind the explosion, but he trusted what Michael had said about the components not adding up. He would be cautiously optimistic that Jennifer hadn’t tried to kill him in front of thousands of people. He just didn't know who else wanted him dead. The board hated him, sure, but none of them wanted him gone that badly. He doubted any staff working the expo had any ill wishes against him, he was funding their jobs for the next few weeks and Jeremy made sure to pay well over their usual rate. It was possible that it was some of the conspirators that tended to lurk online. Loads of people ranted about wishing Jeremy ill, especially the gun obsessed people. Jeremy tended to avoid the internet outside of what was needed, but he knew the people existed.

There would always be people who would view Jeremy as the source of all evil in the world, it was just how things worked when you grew up as the child of two prominent military contractors. Part of why Jeremy avoided social media was all the people who insisted that he was a selfish nepo-baby who didn’t have any actual talent. He would never deny that his family was a part of his success, but Jeremy was his own person. He obviously had different plans for his company than James and Jennifer did. He was smart, and while he absolutely had an ego the size of Alaska…he didn’t consider himself selfish. He already had Chloe working on raising pay rates for all employees, he donated tons of money to charities and organizations that focused on the things he saw useful to the world, he was trying his best to make the planet safer and just better in general. Launching the green energy department would be a big help in that process, but Jeremy really didn’t ever think to put himself first when it came to most things.

James must have been feeling bad for him, because they walked to the park instead of getting a company driver to take them. Jeremy wasn’t about to complain, he hardly ever got his way when it came to the driving thing in New York. His body didn’t exactly appreciate the abuse, but Jeremy was strong. He could handle a few hours of walking around the expo that he was hosting.

As they walked around a new anxiety filled Jeremy’s chest. He had tech literally inside him now. If something was to go wrong he had no way of telling. Squip couldn’t tell him what was going on inside his body, at least not yet. He seriously needed to work on upgrading the health sensors and abilities for his AI. But for now? He had no clue of what was actually going on inside his body when it came to the arc reactor. And while he had a potential idea for how to fix that problem, he wasn’t quite sure if it would work.

But he needed to at least try.

“Oh man, I’m tired,” Jeremy sighed, glancing over at Michael to see if the babysitter instincts would kick in.

Michael was quick to pause their walking and check in, “Are you feeling okay? Do you need anything?”

So that was a yes. Babysitter Michael was still in there, he probably never left.

“I mean, I’m kind of sore,” Jeremy mumbled, trying to pretend like he didn’t want to leave. “But I should be okay.”

Michael stopped him, “How about we just go back to the tower? I know you want to be here and all, but everyone would understand if you needed to rest.”

Jeremy let out a large sigh, pretending to admit defeat, “Okay, fine.”

Michael led them back to the tower, James opting to stay behind and keep an eye on Jennifer just to be safe. Once they were in the elevator Jeremy brought them to one of the lab floors, earning a questioning look from Michael.

“If I’m going to sit around I could at least be productive,” Jeremy shrugged, stepping out of the elevator when it stopped. “I’ll be sitting down at least.”

Michael pressed his lips into a line, “Fine. Is it okay if I hang out with you, just in case?”

Jeremy nodded, “Yeah, of course.”

Michael followed him, and once Jeremy took a seat at one of the desks he leaned over to press a kiss to Jeremy’s cheek. Jeremy rolled his eyes, searching his phone for the plans he had come up with for his idea. He rolled around the room, picking up supplies he needed from different desks. Michael sat at a neighboring desk, quietly playing with his phone.

If he had been at home it would have been easier, but Jeremy managed to complete the little pill sized port of Squip. In theory the computer would route to his brain and take care of any internal worries about tech. And Squip could alert Jeremy from the outside if something was to go wrong with the port inside his head. Although that was doubtful to actually happen, Jeremy was a genius when it came to computers.

“What is that?” Michael asked, glancing at the completed device.

Jeremy smiled, “A really cool idea.”

Michael squinted at the computer, “It’s a…pill?”

Jeremy nodded, “Yeah, kind of.”

“What do you mean kind of? Jeremy, what does that thing do?”

Before Michael could stop him he popped the computer into his mouth and swallowed. In return he earned a very panicked Michael.

“What the fuck did you just do?!”

Jeremy just shrugged, getting back up. It would take a few minutes to know if the device had worked. Michael followed him back up to the apartment, Jeremy seating himself on the couch like nothing was wrong.

“Jeremy, seriously,” Michael sat beside him. “What did you do?”

Jeremy sighed, “I made a tiny port of Squip, and now hopefully it’ll end up in my brain.”

“…You put a computer in your brain?”

Jeremy nodded, “Essentially, yeah. The port will be able to track abnormalities around me, it could help prevent me from being blown up again.”

Michael pressed his lips into a line, “Is it working yet?”

Jeremy shook his head, “No, not yet but—”

“Calibration in progress. Please excuse some mild discomfort.”

Oh. That meant it was working right? Jeremy winced as it felt like his entire spine was being electrocuted. He fell against Michael, trying to bite back the pain.

“Jeremy?”

“It’s turning on!”

“Calibration complete, access procedure initiated.”

He hadn’t planned on the process being painful, but if that was what it took to get some peace of mind he would take it. Jeremy just focused on breathing, a smile forming either way because he built a computer for his brain! He was so fucking smart!

“Accessing neural memory. Accessing muscle memory. Access procedure complete. Sir, welcome to your Super Quantum Unit Intel Processor. I am Squip.”

The pain ceased, Jeremy sitting back up and looking around. Nothing appeared to be different yet. Had it worked?

“Hello Sir. It appears all is well with your newest experiment. The internal arc reactor is functioning perfectly. How can I be of service?”

Jeremy wheezed out a laugh, “It worked!”

Michael laced a hand in his, “Squip is in your head?”

Jeremy nodded, pulling Michael into a kiss. This was awesome!

Nothing could take him down.

☼

Michael sighed, glancing over at Jeremy’s sleeping form. He was starting to worry. Jeremy had been acting weird since waking up from surgery. Well, maybe not weird, but different. Maybe it had to do with the whole Squip in his brain thing, but Michael could just tell that something was off.

He sat up, scooting a bit closer to Jeremy to get a better look at him. Everything seemed okay now, but he was still confused. Michael reached out, wanting to see if he could feel Jeremy’s stitches through his shirt. He didn’t feel anything right away, but as his hand hit the center of Jeremy’s chest he felt…not skin. Something metal.

He didn’t want to go farther without waking Jeremy up. He wanted him to have the choice to be honest. Michael leaned his head down, pressing kisses along Jeremy’s face in hopes of waking him up.

“What?” Jeremy whined, reaching a hand up to lightly bat his face away.

“I need you awake for a minute,” Michael hummed, grabbing Jeremy’s hand and pressing a kiss to his knuckles.

Jeremy opened his eyes, blinking away sleep, “You’re too calm for a night terror, what’s up?”

Michael reached down and lightly tapped the metal hiding under Jeremy’s shirt, “What’s this?”

That made Jeremy alert. Michael watched him sit up, expression growing defensive.

“Don’t worry about it.”

Michael held his hands in his lap, “I won’t worry if you just tell me. It’s the not knowing that scares me, Jer. Please.”

Jeremy hesitated, but he did eventually let out a sigh of defeat. Michael watched him pull off his shirt, revealing a patch of gauze hiding the metal beneath.

“You promise not to freak out?”

Michael nodded, offering up a reassuring smile. Jeremy reached and pulled off the gauze from his chest, a blue light filling the room as he did so. Michael blinked to adjust to the lighting, finding the light matched the glow of the armors.

“This is powering a magnet in my chest,” Jeremy explained. “It’s keeping shrapnel from entering my heart. Once everything is calm again I’ll go and have it properly removed, but this will keep me safe until then.”

Michael nodded, taking in the information. He could understand why Jeremy would choose what he did. He wasn’t irrational.

“So, free flashlight?”

Jeremy huffed, grabbing a pillow and smacking Michael with it, “Don’t be an asshole.”

Michael leaned forward, giving Jeremy a quick kiss, “I love you, Jeremy.”

Jeremy grumbled, pulling his shirt back on before crawling into Michael’s lap, “Yeah, I love you too.”

They snuggled up, the light from the reactor slightly dimmed from Jeremy’s shirt covering it. The rest of the night passed with ease, Jeremy curled up into his side.

Come morning Michael continued life like it was normal…well, at least his definition of normal. Jeremy was eager to get back to the expo, and Michael had to admit that he was excited too. He was proud that Jeremy had managed to reinvent the whole event so seamlessly. He had grown up a bit scared of the expo, and now it was a welcoming event where everyone was welcome.

“So, do we have any sort of plan for figuring out who tried blowing you up?” Michael asked, walking in time with Jeremy.

His boyfriend nodded, “Q is scanning the police database for when the report comes back for the specific materials in the explosive. If it’s a company I should be able to figure out what one uses the same materials. If it was a solo act it’ll be a bit harder, but we can scan the internet for whoever tries to claim responsibility and follow from there.”

“…That sounds like breaking a lot of privacy laws, Jer.”

“If the NSA can do it without complaint then so can I.”

“Jeremiah!”

Michael couldn’t help but chuckle, watching Jeremy’s expression fall sour.

“Oh fuck, kill me now,” Jeremy muttered under his breath, turning around.

Michael followed suit, finding a man approaching them. Michael had no idea who the guy was, but Jeremy clearly didn’t like him.

“Jeremiah, how are you doing son?” The man held out his hand for Jeremy to shake.

Jeremy forced a fake smile, “Doing well, Patrick. I never knew how bombs could make you feel warm inside. Or maybe that was the internal bleeding, I’m not quite sure.”

Okay, Jeremy really didn’t like this guy.

“Well, it’s good to see you up and walking,” Patrick continued on like nothing was tense about the situation at all. “I have to ask, is the masked man an employee of yours? I asked Jennifer and she said that she didn’t associate with him.”

Michael avoided eye contact, not wanting to give anything away.

“He’s a friend of my dad,” Jeremy stated. “What I find odd is that I don’t remember inviting Reyes Tech to this event. Weapons companies aren’t allowed, no matter what your company name is.”

Patrick laughed, “Always the spitfire, Jeremiah. You never change. I’m just viewing as a guest. Your mother asked me, she wanted to see a familiar face. Don’t you miss the little rivalry, Jeremiah?”

“You mean my designs kicking your ass to the moon and back even as a teenager?” Jeremy crossed his arms over his chest. “Yeah, I miss making you look like a preschooler. Now, please excuse me, I’m showing someone around.”

Jeremy was quick to pivot on his heel and march away, Michael following behind. Apparently that guy worked with another weapons company, and Jeremy didn’t like him. Good to know.

“So, do I want to know who that is?” Michael asked, lightly elbowing Jeremy.

Jeremy threw his head back and sighed, “That dumbass was Patrick Reyes, he’s the CEO of Reyes Tech. He thinks he’s this genius weapons designer but he probably doesn’t know how to use a hair dryer without some form of assistance. All of his best ideas were stolen from his employees without credit, and he has lost several lawsuits because of it. Typically the designers end up working for HI where they can actually hone in their talents and be given proper compensation and credit. Jennifer and him went to college together, they always played things like a fun rivalry. I’ve never hesitated to call out how pathetic he is, but he tries to act like he’s my uncle sometimes and it’s really fucking creepy. If he tries to talk to us again I give you permission to throw him off a skyscraper.”

Michael hummed, “Tempting, but I’m saving that privilege for Jennifer if she ever earns it. If I’m going to jail I’m going for the right reason, Jer.”

Jeremy froze mid step, Michael turning to see his eyes had spaced out. He waved a hand in front of Jeremy’s face, hoping to snap him out of his trance.

“Report came back,” Jeremy mumbled, eyes still not back in focus. “…Q, run the results against known manufacturers…”

Right. Computer in his head. Man, it was weird. Cool, but weird.

Jeremy blinked back into focus, eyes narrowing, “It matches Reyes Tech. That snarky asshole!”

Michael followed as Jeremy started to storm back over towards Patrick. He flinched as Jeremy’s armor came flying down in front of them, Jeremy stepping inside seamlessly between steps. Michael watched as Jeremy approached Patrick, grabbing him by the arm and startling the man.

“I’m borrowing you for a bit,” Jeremy stated, flying off with Reyes in tow.

Michael couldn’t do anything as they soared out of view. He could only watch and hope that Jeremy wouldn’t actually hurt Patrick until they knew what was going on for sure.

But they were probably in trouble either way…

Chapter Text

Jeremy groaned, wanting to sink into the floor as he saw the room filling with people. Go figure the billionaire wannabe superhero going to court would give reason for the crowds to gather. The worst part was that Michael wasn’t even there. James had needed him for something and that left Jeremy alone in the courtroom. Well, alone except for Squip at least.

“It’s always a pleasure to be appreciated, Sir.”

Yeah, he still wasn’t used to it. Squip was fairly quiet in his head, and Jeremy had never been adverse to him being casually in background mode at the house…but in his head was a lot different. Squip was in his thoughts when he was sleeping, when he was working, when he was with Michael…always. He would never be able to lie to Q again.

“Let’s get this started,” the senator who was running the whole debacle managed to get the crowd to quiet down. Jeremy wasn’t going to bother learning his name, this was a waste of time. He could feel all the cameras on him, watching for his every reaction. It was his own damn fault really. He announced that he was Iron Man, proved it publicly, was nearly killed, and now was in court over being Iron Man. All of it done without speaking a word to the press.

“Mr. Patrick Reyes, ladies and gentlemen,” the senator introduced the idiot like he mattered. “Our fine country’s main weapons contractor. He will be speaking as an expert in weapons.”

Jeremy didn’t hesitate to roll his eyes, Patrick was a fucking creep. An idiot that somehow waltzed his way into owning a company. He hadn’t even been the one to start Reyes Tech, originally the company had been under a different name entirely. Patrick changed the name when he took over. The dick only had the power that he did because Jeremy had shut down his own weapons department. Hopefully Jeremy could embarrass him on live television, it would make the whole event worth it.

“Let the record show that I personally doubt Mr. Reyes and his abilities,” Jeremy spoke into his microphone. “And I don’t just mean in terms of weapons, the man isn’t married for a reason. Ladies, I’m sorry if you’ve ever encountered this man.”

Patrick, like always, played off Jeremy’s insults like he was joking around, “See Jeremiah, you’re so quick like that. And yeah, compared to you I probably look like a fool, you did make the Iron Man weapon after all.”

Jeremy wanted him mad, “Seriously dude, when is the last time you got laid?”

Chuckles emerged from the crowd, Jeremy smirking as Patrick faltered.

“That is enough, Mr. Heere,” Senator Douche-Canoe sighed. “Patrick, please continue.”

Reyes adjusted the papers in front of him, “Sir, if I may, we all know why we’re here. Over nearly the past four months Mr. Jeremiah Heere has taken law into his own hands. Jeremiah and his Iron Man weapon have destroyed hundreds of thousands of dollars in property damage—some of which against his own company. He has threatened countless lives, including my own, and yet he has the nerve to call this weapon an armor. This weapon is beyond comprehension for us at this point, as there have already been multiple different versions of the weapon created already.”

The tv monitors in the room flashed different images taken of Jeremy in the various armors. Some were professional shots from the opening presentation of the expo. Others were grainy and hard to look at.

“And the worst part, Sir,” Patrick kept talking. “Is that Jeremiah hasn’t even given an explanation. He has broken countless laws and expects us to bless the ground he walks upon.”

“Deep breaths, Sir.”

“Thank you Patrick,” the senator hummed. “Jeremiah, would you like to give any sort of explanation? Or shall we continue without any context from your side?”

Jeremy glanced at the monitors around the room. He needed access to them, he had been purposely blindsided. He had only been told about the court date the night prior. He needed some form of leverage.

“On it.”

Oh yeah, he just needed to stall, “Forgive me if I’m slow, I did recently undergo an operation and it has left some things difficult for me.”

“Your voice box works fine, Mr. Heere.”

Jeremy sighed, “Of course. A few months ago I…”

“Access granted.”

Jeremy summoned up the faked sales and inventory counts, startling the people controlling the monitors, “I learned that weapons from Heere Industries were being produced to sell to the enemy. As the—at the time—future face of the company I felt a sense of responsibility to make sure that those weapons were destroyed before they could hurt innocent people. I built the first Iron Man armor to help me complete this task with a sense of anonymity and swiftness. The more I worked the more I learned, and when I realized that instead of being misplaced they were being specifically made to be sold…I upped the stakes. I tried to scare the higher ups of my own company as Iron Man in hopes of ending the chaos, but that did nothing. Then, working with my father, I made the decision to destroy the factory where the weapons were made. I was made CEO and stopped everything from escalating further.”

Jeremy then had Squip pull up the ballistics report from the expo, “And Patrick, the only reason you ended up involved is because the bomb that tried to kill me last week perfectly matches your company and their designs. So, respectfully, fuck you for trying to kill me. You couldn’t even do that right.”

The crowd was growing loud with whispers, Patrick quite poorly trying to play off his guilt over the situation.

“Quiet!” The senator quited the room again. “Patrick we will return to that statement once this is through. Mr. Heere, do you have any witnesses to attest to these rumors you’ve shared?”

Jeremy hesitated, “I…yes. I didn’t just discover what was going on, I was told about it by a victim. But he isn’t here—”

The doors into the room flew open, James and Michael hurrying in dressed for court. Oh thank god. They were allowed to sit beside Jeremy at his table, Michael offering a quick reassuring smile.

“James,” the senator greeted.

“I brought the witness Jeremy was speaking of,” James explained. “My apologies for being late, I just couldn’t get out the door this morning. This whole debacle has my wife very anxious.”

Jennifer would sooner try to sabotage Jeremy than let James help him. It was probably her who tried to keep them busy. His mother was a bitch.

“And who is this witness?”

“Michael Mell, Sir,” James continued to talk.

With all the cameras Jeremy couldn’t risk showing any affection towards Michael without risking outing himself. He didn’t even mind the idea of publicly coming out, but sitting in a courtroom felt like the wrong place. Maybe more for Michael’s sake than his own.

“Mr. Mell, how do you know the Heere family?”

Michael leaned into his microphone, “For a short period of time I worked for James as a bodyguard for Heere Industries. The position was filled by someone better fit and I’ve stayed friends with James and Jeremy since. A few years ago I enlisted in the military, I was the victim of a bombing attack and was discharged.”

“Thank you for your service young man.”

Jeremy caught a slight twitch in Michael’s face as the senator spoke. Because yeah, Michael hadn’t exactly enjoyed any of his time in the service. He spent nearly the entire thing either being tortured or almost dying.

“Thank you,” Michael said, because he had to. To be polite. “The weapon in question was a Heere Industries product, I saw the logo as did the few troops who were also in the accident. We did inventory checks afterward, it wasn’t something on our end. I mentioned my past to Jeremy and things were found out from there.”

Jeremy just wanted this over with. Patrick continued to insist that Iron Man was a threat, James defended him. It went back and forth for what felt like hours. Michael ended up being dismissed from the room, leaving Jeremy alone with his father. As Michael got up to leave Jeremy saw James whisper something to him, probably about where to wait for them or to just not panic about the whole thing. Michael gave a single nod before patting Jeremy on the shoulder and walking out.

With James around, who was pretty much taking up a lawyer role, Jeremy didn’t have to speak. He was bored. Nothing would actually come of the situation. Jeremy would sooner destroy the armors than hand them over. If he was ordered to give over designs he would just have them destroyed too.

Oh god he was starting to sound like Jennifer.

“You are a far better person than her, Sir.”

At least he would always have Squip. Michael was still the only one who knew about that. He didn’t want to bother explaining it to James yet.

And then the doors flew open again.

“Do we not have security?!” Senator Asshole snapped.

Jeremy hoped it was Michael coming back in to drag him away, insisting he had post-op medical care to get to or something. Jeremy looked over his shoulder, his eyebrows raising. It was Michael, but not in the same sense as before. This time it was Captain marching in. It was impressive, how much Michael changed about himself when in the super soldier getup. From his posture to the way he carried himself, he really did seem to be a different person. Jeremy eyed his mask, finding it pulled up to cover the bit of his forehead that was usually exposed. Along with that Michael had flattened his hair so he appeared different on that front as well. The shield was nowhere to be seen, but there was no way he would have gotten in with it.

“James—”

And Cap also had a bit of a reputation. Mostly about wanting to beat Jeremy to a pulp according to the news outlets. Now though? Jeremy was pretty confident that Michael would sooner lock himself away than let him get hurt.

“Captain is an associate,” James explained, having Michael sit back down. “I requested he come to speak as well.”

Patrick was staring, eyes wide and scared. It made Jeremy feel good inside, watching him fear Michael. Jeremy glanced over at his boyfriend, finding his eyes behind the lenses of the mask. He couldn’t see Michael’s face, but his eyes were enough to tell that there was a smile underneath the mask. He was enjoying this too.

“Can we get a name?” Senator Dick-For-Brains asked.

“Captain,” Michael spoke into his microphone.

Oh good! The voice changer worked in his mask. While Brooke had taken the shield to be painted Jeremy had tinkered that feature into the mask, finding it to be more useful to Michael than him now. It had been only partially finished when Jeremy had been nearly blown up.

Michael gave another statement from his perspective as Captain. About his trust in Jeremy and James. It probably wouldn’t amount to much in context of the case, but the crowd knew that Cap was a good guy. There would be backlash for not trusting him. Something about hunky masked men sent the public into a frenzy.

Jeremy couldn’t judge, he was dating said hunky masked man.

“You should consider joining the military, Sir,” Senator Soggy-Toast hummed, trying to act like he had any form of a chance against Michael. “You could change your name to Captain America.”

Oh that just sounded wrong. Jeremy held back a snort, drifting his eyes over to Michael.

“I’d rather die than become a tool for you,” Michael stated. “Besides, so long as I’m a captain of nothing, doesn’t that really make me a captain of everything? Why limit myself?”

It was the lack of emotion that startled Jeremy. Knowing that Michael meant what he had said. Jeremy almost reached out, but he stopped himself. It could wait until later.

And the doors flew open again.

“Okay, who do we need to fire?!” Senator Pain-In-The-Ass yelled.

Jeremy glanced over to the doors, finding the Christine girl from the really long name agency marching up to his current tormentor. She snatched his microphone and turned to the courtroom as a whole.

“This trial event is now over, Jeremy Heere and Iron Man are protected under the Avengers Initiative as is Captain. Have a good rest of your day.”

She might have been short, but damn that woman was powerful. No wonder Jeremy had liked her.

“Who gave you the authority—”

“I’m with SHIELD, Sir,” Christine pivoted on her heel to glare. “You don’t have the power to make me do anything, if you have a problem take it up with my director. Patrick Reyes, you are under arrest for acts of terrorism due to your involvement in the bombing of the Heere Expo. Please come peacefully.”

Whoever Christine was, whatever her agency stood for, she clearly knew about what had happened to Michael. She didn’t exactly say it outright, but it was the only thing to make sense. So long as she didn’t go around ruining Michael’s life he didn’t care, and so far she only seemed to be protecting Michael.

Patrick obeyed, Jeremy taking great joy in watching him be dragged away by Christine’s underlings. Jeremy didn’t even know what the fuck initiative he was protected under, but he wasn’t about to complain.

“Later asshat!” Jeremy got up from his seat, marching towards the exit. James and Michael followed, all the media that had been shoved into the room snapping photos of them as they walked by. James directed him towards a car, everyone piling in. Instead of a paid driver Chloe sat in the driver's seat. Once they were a safe distance away Michael pulled down his mask, offering up a smile as he fixed his hair.

“I think that went well,” James hummed, squeezing Jeremy’s knee.

Jeremy nodded, he was pretty sure that he wouldn’t be bothered again about the legalities of Iron Man.

☼

Michael let out a large sigh, walking into the kitchen. He had enjoyed visiting New York, at least for the most part, but he was glad to be back to the quiet and calm of the house. At minimum it was nice to get away from Jennifer. She kept passing him dirty looks. It wasn’t his fault she made bad choices, it wasn’t his fault that Jeremy didn’t love her.

Michael started lunch, pulling on his headphones and playing music as loud as he could handle while cooking. Rich had sent an entire playlist of songs he had picked out as potentials for his first dance song with Jake for their wedding. Michael hoped to go through and pick what ones he liked best to give a second opinion. It didn’t surprise him that he ended up gravitating towards the Taylor Swift songs Rich had thrown in. They probably wouldn’t pick any of them, but Michael enjoyed her music.

“Sweetheart!”

Michael pulled down his headphones to rest around his neck, watching Jeremy walk into the room. The muted glow from his chest was still a bit startling, but Michael was growing used to seeing it. Jeremy sat on the counter, swinging his legs as he looked over at Michael.

“Do you have any adversity to going to a dumb retirement party?” Jeremy asked, eyes begging. “I don’t want to go alone.”

“We just got home last night,” Michael pointed out, moving to grab plates for them. “What party is so important?”

Jeremy rubbed his eyes, “My favorite teacher from high school. She was a bitch, but I loved her. You don’t exactly make friends when you’re twelve in a private high school full of rich kids. I befriended the teachers.”

“Well, if it’s important to you, yeah,” Michael nodded, walking over to press a kiss to Jeremy’s cheek. “When do we go?”

Jeremy smiled, “Tonight? We don’t even have to get dressed up for it, it’s just a normal event with people I’ve never met.”

Michael served Jeremy’s food and passed over the plate, “Sounds like fun. A casual night out.”

After lunch Jeremy went back to work in his workshop, Michael hesitating before following. Jeremy didn’t say a word, typing away at his computer.

“What are you making?” Michael asked, eyeing what looked like a pile of dirt that was sitting on the desk. Well, it almost looked like dirt. If dirt could be silver.

Jeremy turned in his chair, a grin on his face, “Nano-tech.” He gestured to the pile, “I’m trying to make this into an armor.”

Michael pulled up a stool, “Woah, really?”

Jeremy nodded, rolling over to a different table and picking something up off of one of his machines, “Yeah! In fact…” Jeremy brought the device in his hands over to the pile, setting what looked like another reactor on the pile. Michael watched as Jeremy entered a sequence on his computer before the pile came to life. The tiny robots flooded into the reactor Jeremy had put down, leaving the desk clear. “I think my first model is complete.”

Michael watched Jeremy reach for the reactor, attaching it to his chest over the one he had inside him. Jeremy tapped the reactor and the tiny robots started moving. Michael felt his heartbeat pick up as the robots covered Jeremy’s body, forming an armor around him. It was clearly different, the other armors had given Jeremy a bit of height, but this was clearly thin. It looked like the other armors, but this one fit Jeremy's body.

“I mean, I still need to program the correct colors in,” Jeremy gestured to the pure silver coating on his body. “But the main test is flight.”

Michael felt pure awe fill his system as Jeremy casually started to hover off of the ground. Jeremy was so smart. His ambition and passion was incredible to experience. Michael stood up, grinning as Jeremy flew in small circles around the room. Jeremy landed in front of him, the robots pulling back to reveal Jeremy’s face grinning at him.

“What do you think?” Jeremy asked, eyes bright.

“I love you,” Michael whispered, pulling Jeremy into a kiss. The metal covering Jeremy was cool to the touch, but Michael didn’t mind. He wrapped his arms around him anyway.

“I love you too,” Jeremy murmured, nuzzling his face into Michael’s shoulder.

Jeremy pulled back and tapped the reactor again, this time sending the robots back inside. Once the armor was back inside Jeremy set the reactor down, Michael was still just awe stricken.

“I don’t even know how you come up with this stuff,” Michael chuckled, running a hand through his hair. “Jer, this is incredible.”

Jeremy just shrugged, “I just…it’s always just clicked for me. Robots and coding are like a second language to me. There is a reason Jennifer had me programming all her weapons. This feels like a better use of my talents.”

Michael hummed, pressing a kiss into Jeremy’s hair, “I agree.”

Michael spent the afternoon watching Jeremy work. He didn’t exactly know what all Jeremy was working on, but watching him work was enough for him. Jeremy’s passion was one of his favorite things about him. Soon enough they were getting ready for the retirement party, Jeremy making sure to cover his reactor so the light didn’t shine through his shirt.

Jeremy had made it sound like the party would be casual. And maybe it was, but that changed when Jeremy and him walked into the house where the party was being thrown. Every eye in the room turned to look at Jeremy. It made sense, Jeremy’s face was plastered on every news outlet across the globe. It was impossible for him to step outside without being recognized and hounded.

“There he is!” An older woman came running over, patting Jeremy’s cheek. “My star pupil you’ve always been a dramatic son of a bitch! Come, let’s catch up, Jeremy.”

Michael found himself reverting to his bodyguard tendencies. He felt awkward and out of place, but following Jeremy around was something he knew how to do. So he trailed his boyfriend from a distance as everyone around them went back to business. Apparently the shock of Jeremy being around wore off fairly quickly. Michael hummed to himself as music played quietly in the background, content with how things were going.

“So, who’s the slab of meat you brought with you?” Jeremy’s teacher asked.

Michael rolled his eyes at the comment. He didn’t ask to be turned into a piece of meat. It was kind of annoying how often it was brought up. He had other qualities. No one ever went up to Jeremy and told him how he was practically a human twig.

Jeremy turned and beckoned Michael over, taking his hand when he approached. “This is my boyfriend Michael.”

The teacher raised her brow at them, “Boyfriend for tonight?”

Jeremy grinned, shaking his head, “We’ve been together for about two months.”

Holy shit had it really been that long? Time had felt like it was flying for so long Michael hadn’t even noticed. It still felt like yesterday Jeremy had first kissed him. Michael squeezed the hand wrapped in his, joy coursing through his system.

“Wow,” the teacher chuckled, a genuine smile forming on her face. “That’s wonderful to hear, Jeremy. You deserve so much love.” Her smile turned sly, “If he hurts you be sure to let me know. I’ve got connections.”

Oh if only she knew the half of it. Michael and Jeremy chuckled, brushing off her words. They let her socialize, Jeremy walking them back out to the main area. Jeremy held a soda in his hand to keep them busy and they kept to themselves. Jeremy didn’t recognize any of the other guests as it was.

Michael tuned back into the music, grinning as he picked up on the lyrics. T Swift was always welcome to play in Michael’s ears! “The lingering question kept me up. Two a.m. who do you love? I wonder ‘til I’m wide awake.”

Jeremy chuckled, humming along as Michael continued to quietly sing. Michael pulled him into his arms, keeping the noise between them.

“This night is flawless,” Jeremy finally joined in. “Don’t you let it go. I’m wonderstruck, dancing around all alone.”

Michael beamed, pressing a kiss to Jeremy’s lips. He was so in love it felt ridiculous.

Jeremy took his hand, “Dance w—”

Michael watched his eyes space out. Squip must have started talking in his head. Jeremy blinked back into focus, his eyes narrowing.

“Reyes was let out on bail.”

Michael furrowed his brow, “Who the hell paid it?”

Jeremy frowned, “Good question. Q…”

Jeremy spaced out again, marching off towards the door when he came back to reality. Michael followed, slightly confused as to who he was mad at this time.

“We need to make a quick stop at home,” Jeremy muttered. “And then we go drop Jennifer off a building.”

“She…”

“Paid his fucking bail.”

Their stop at home was brief, Jeremy jogging in through the side door while Michael sat in the car to wait. He watched his boyfriend return with the new reactor in his hand, his face stiff with anger as they made their way to James and Jennifer’s house. Jeremy didn’t even knock, he just barged in, Michael following because someone needed to keep Jeremy from acting too irrationally.

“Jeremiah!” Jennifer seemed shocked to see them, lounging in a sitting room with a wine glass. “Did we invite you over?”

Jeremy stood in front of his mother with his arms crossed, Michael silently supporting him from behind, “You paid Patrick’s bail!”

Jennifer rolled her eyes, “Yes, friends support each other, darling. You would understand that if you had any.”

“He tried to kill me!”

“You don’t know that—”

“It was literally his weapon, Jennifer!”

Jennifer set her glass down, standing up to meet Jeremy’s eyes, “Don’t start the first name bullshit, Jeremiah.”

“Oh fuck you—”

“Patrick is an asset to you,” Jennifer didn’t let him finish talking. She jabbed a finger into his chest, just barely missing the reactor. “He is a wonderful friend, you need him. You need to grow up.”

Michael watched as Jeremy attached the portable reactor to his chest, the robots flooding out to cover his right arm. Michael gasped, watching a giant repulsor form on Jeremy’s arm instead of the armor. Jeremy pointed the repulsor at Jennifer, fear flashing across her face.

“Jer, she isn’t worth it,” Michael whispered.

Jennifer flicked her eyes over to him, “Yeah Jeremiah, listen to your little boy toy. With how pathetic his parents raised him to be, you surely trust his word more than the woman who raised you. Go on Jeremy, listen to the man who didn’t even manage to keep a father in his life.”

Michael had dealt with a lot in his life. He had watched one of his best friends deal with abuse for years, he had gone through the torture that was being a gay kid in high school. Comments about himself he was pretty much immune to.

But no one was allowed to talk bad about his moms.

Michael reached forward, grabbing Jennifer by the collar of her shirt and hoisting her in the air with one hand. She yelped, kicking her legs at him in an attempt to be let go. Michael hardly noticed.

“Sweetheart—” Jeremy couldn’t finish his sentence.

Michael walked Jennifer over to the window, pressing her against the glass. She continued to whimper, trying to pry Michael’s hand from her.

“At least I know how to love people,” Michael said, pressing Jennifer into the glass a bit harder. Just a bit more and the glass would shatter around her.

“You’re a freak!” Jennifer yelled.

“I’m well aware.”

“Michael!”

He turned his head, finding James marching over. He seemed unsure of who to confront first; Jeremy and his giant repulsor or Michael two seconds from throwing Jennifer out a window.

Michael was more of an immediate threat. James placed a hand on his shoulder, “Put her down, please. You’re a good man, Michael. Don’t let her ruin you.”

Michael let go, Jennifer falling on her ass instead of landing on her feet. James then turned to Jeremy, simply giving his son a disappointed look was enough to have Jeremy put away the repulsor. Michael shuffled over to Jeremy’s side, shame washing over him. He was supposed to be better than her. Jennifer had wanted him mad. She hadn’t known how he would react, but she had wanted to hurt him.

“Go home,” James pointed to the door, a small frown on his face. It made everything feel so much worse. “We can discuss this tomorrow.”

Michael took Jeremy’s hand, the two of them trudging towards the door.

“He doesn’t love you!” Jennifer stated, staggering to her feet. “He’s hiding you for a reason!”

Jeremy pulled his phone from his pocket, glaring at his mother, “Fuck you, Jennifer!”

Michael watched as Jeremy quickly typed out a simple message on his phone, posting it to his social media. Michael stared at his screen, his eyes widening as he read the message.

I’m bi <3

And attached to the message? A photo of Michael and Jeremy kissing at his birthday party. No hiding, no beating around the bush, just them.

I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you.

Chapter Text

Jeremy regretted his decision to visit the office building when he saw the horde of media and paparazzi gathered just outside the entrance. With the factory being rebuilt they couldn’t get into that section of the property, but the office was fair game as long as they didn’t go inside without an invite. Jeremy parked his car, ducking his head down as he made his way inside.

“Mr. Heere, what do you have to say to the young LGBT science minds of tomorrow?”

“Jeremy, how long have you known of your sexuality?”

“How long have you and Michael been dating?”

“What does the board of your company have to say about your recent coming out?”

“Do you worry about the drop in sales that you have brought to your company?”

“What do James and Jennifer have to say about your sexuality?”

Jeremy ignored them, walking into the building. He made his way up to Chloe’s office–formerly Jennifer’s office–and poked his head inside. Chloe had just gotten control over the room, Jeremy insisting he didn’t need an office since he didn’t actually do anything related to the business of his business. Jeremy chuckled, watching Michael stand in the center of the room holding the desk in the air above his head. Not a care in the world.

“I think it would look better by the window,” Chloe said, gesturing to where she wanted the desk. “And then we can move the filing cabinets against the far wall.”

Jeremy shut the door behind him, choosing to simply watch Michael work. It was almost comical, watching Chloe roll her desk chair over to the desk while Michael casually moved around the giant ass filing cabinets. How had he ended up so lucky?

“James needs help, I’ll be right back,” Michael said, checking his phone quickly while he set down the last cabinet. As he walked over to the door he spotted Jeremy. “Oh! Hey Jer!”

Jeremy received a kiss to the top of his head before Michael slipped by to go help out James. Chloe rolled her eyes, plopping down at her desk.

“Hey, Chloe, you love me right?”

Chloe looked up, her eyes narrowed, “...Do I want to answer that honestly?”

Jeremy pouted, “I need your help.”

Chloe sighed, getting up from her seat, “Fine.”

Jeremy beamed, taking her hand and dragging her down the hall to Jame’s office. He found Michael leaning against the wall as he listened to James talk. Jeremy started to walk over casually, Chloe still unsure of what he wanted from her exactly.

“Okay, I need you to squat, and don’t let me fall,” Jeremy mumbled, pushing Chloe to stand in front of Michael.

“Wait, what?”

Jeremy moved fast, pushing Chloe into a squatting position and climbing up so he was standing on her thighs. He held one hand out, using the wall to brace himself. Chloe nearly fell, but she grabbed him by the knees and held steady. Michael looked on with an amused smile, having to actually look up to meet Jeremy’s eye for once. He was fully craning his neck.

“Hi,” Michael chuckled.

Jeremy smirked, leaning over to kiss the top of Michael’s head, “Hey.”

“Shit!” Chloe yelped, her stupid skinny heels slipping out from under her. They both fell down, Michael moving fast and managing to catch both of them. Jeremy sighed, finding himself being carried like a potato sack while Chloe was only saved from falling on her ass by Michael pretty much dipping her like you would in a dance.

“And good morning to you too, Jeremy,” James laughed from his desk.

“Shut up!” Jeremy whined, unable to see his father since Michael’s body was blocking his line of sight.

Chloe was pulled back up to a standing position and then Jeremy was put back on his feet. Jeremy was quick to bury himself into Michael’s side, ignoring the aggressive eye roll Chloe gave him for his actions. He was allowed to be clingy when the entire world was trying to rip into his relationship.

The morning was a bit boring. As CEO he had to attend so many pointless meetings. But this one was different. Jeremy had yet to meet several of the department heads of his company. Many of which Jeremy had inadvertently ruined the lives of by blowing up his own factory.

And now they all knew that he was the one who left them without jobs for months on end. The weapons department had all been relocated to jobs fit for their qualifications thanks to Squip, but everyone else? They were bound to be mad at him. Jeremy and James had made sure they were still all paid for their time, they didn’t want to lose everyone. But for a few months Jeremy had essentially ruined their lives.

“Mr. Heere,” one of them spoke up to address him, fear painted across her face. That was honestly a fair reaction, Jeremy was their boss and he had the armors. “What exactly is your plan for us? Weapons were our main source of revenue. This company can’t survive with our other departments as the face.”

Jeremy hummed, reaching into his pocket and pulling out the arc reactor that had originally been hiding in his father’s desk, “This is an arc reactor. You guys might recognize them from the blue light of my armor. They are a purely green energy source that I originally designed in college. This little device powers my armor, and has the ability to do so for years on end. I want this company to be a source of good, and we can achieve that with the reactors. Construction of the factory is almost done, once I have the okay from the contractors I want to build a giant version of this device inside the factory. It will power the entire building, we won’t need the city power grid. Even the office could be hooked up.”

“And your goal after that?”

“We will become an empire in green energy,” Jeremy explained. “We can work with other companies and help them turn to green energy. The avenues we can take are endless. So you guys can start researching, figure out how the arc reactors can help your departments. I know it has seemed like all is lost, but this is just the beginning for us.”

James helped wrap up the meeting, Chloe snatching the reactor from his hand to examine it. Michael poked his head into the conference room once all the department heads were gone, approaching Jeremy from behind.

“There is still a crowd outside,” Michael mumbled into his shoulder. If you want to head home I can just get a ride.”

Chloe looked over, “No, I’m the one who dragged you here so you could help me rearrange my office. I’ll drive you back home.”

Jeremy smirked, “Nah, I’ve got a better idea.”

Jeremy took Michael’s hand and started pulling him towards the front door. Once they were out of earshot Jeremy smirked, grinning up at Michael.

“Q, you can take the car home,” Jeremy stated, confusing his boyfriend.

“Of course, Sir,” Squip responded in his head.

“What are you doing?” Michael looked so lost.

“You trust me, right?”

“...Yeah.”

Jeremy beamed, pulling out his nano-tech suit. He attached the device to his chest before properly lacing his hand with Michael’s and stepping outside. Cameras flashed, people were shouting, it was entirely overwhelming. And it was probably worse for Michael because of his sensitive ears. Hopefully this wouldn’t take long.

“What are we doing?” Michael asked.

“Giving them something to talk about,” Jeremy shrugged, turning to face his boyfriend. “Kiss me?”

Michael playfully rolled his eyes before leaning in to kiss him. Jeremy stretched up on his toes a bit to meet him halfway, hearing more shouting as they moved. Once they pulled apart Jeremy smirked, activating the armor. Once the HUD turned on Jeremy reached out, wrapping his arms around Michael and taking off. Michael yelped, clinging to him.

“You suck!” Michael cried.

“Calm down, at least I’m making sure you don’t fall this time.”

“Last time I was rageful and tried to hurt you!”

Jeremy flew them home, Michael seeming to appreciate the solid ground once he was back on it. Jeremy put the suit away before following him into the house, Jeremy heading down to his workshop. He started designing the blueprints for the giant reactor, getting sucked into the design process. With the larger size he had to change a few things, but nothing that would be too different from a functional standpoint.

“What do you want for lunch?” Michael appeared beside him. “Don’t say pasta.”

“Pasta.”

Michael let out a large sigh, “How about chicken?”

“Oh!” Jeremy swiveled around in his chair to face Michael. “I forgot, I made something for you!”

Jeremy rolled across the room to a table, handing Michael the device he had made. Michael seemed confused, staring at the device.

“...It looks like your suit reactor,” Michael mused. “Just not glowing.”

Jeremy nodded, “Yeah, just used a different material so you couldn’t see the light inside this time. Try putting it on.”

Michael sighed, but placed the device on his shirt like Jeremy asked. He followed what movement he had seen turning on the reactor. Jeremy was practically bouncing in his seat, watching the nano-bots do as programmed. In a matter of seconds Michael was covered in a replica of his Captain uniform.

Michael held a hand in front of his face, “...It’s not shiny?”

Jeremy shook his head, “Programmed them to look different. It is metal, but it doesn’t look like it. I figured this would protect you better than cloth, and now you can’t complain about needing to change. The reactor fits in your pocket!”

Michael tapped the reactor again and the robots went back inside. Jeremy squeaked as Michael pulled him from his chair and into his arms, kisses being pressed across his face. Jeremy melted against him, reveling in the touch. He loved Michael so much, he hadn’t ever thought he would actually end up with someone who made him this happy.

“I also made you an armor,” Jeremy chuckled, wiggling to be put down. He held up a second reactor that had been on the table, this one in a gold colored casing and showing the light of the reactor.

“Jer, I don’t need that–”

“You’re allowed to want things, Michael,” Jeremy chided.

“Sir,” Squip beeped from the ceiling. “We have a situation.”

Jeremy hurried back over to his computer, checking in on what was wrong. Michael followed, the two watching as Squip pulled up Jeremy’s map he had made of the weapons locations. The numbers had been dwindling, Jeremy had been destroying anything he could find of Jennier’s mess. But now? At least a dozen new locations had popped up. Some right over where he had originally destroyed the weapons.

“Q–”

“These new weapons are the same designs, they only lack the company logo.”

“Fuck!” Jeremy pulled at his hair. “Where is Jennifer?!”

“Unclear, Sir. but she is not at home.”

“Fucking find her! Security systems, whatever it takes!”

Michael reached for his hand, “Jer, take a breath. It’ll be okay. We’re going to find her, she won’t get away with this.”

Jeremy pressed his lips into a line, turned towards Michael and stepped into his arms. Every time he got somewhere things went wrong. He tried stopping Jennifer with fear, Michael ended up accidentally getting in the way. He blew up the factory, he was forced to fight Michael for his life. He made actual progress in his mission to destroy the weapons, he nearly gets blown up while outside the armor. He’s ready to start moving his company from weapons, and now more weapons were showing up!

Why was the entire world against him?

“Sir,” Squip beeped. “I found her. She’s in New York, at the tower.”

Jeremy took in a breath, opening the vault and pulling out the Mark Ⅲ armor with a thought. He was seriously considering throwing her off a building now.

“Woah!”

Jeremy turned around, finding Michael had put on his new armor. He was staring at the bright red and gold metal, his expression covered by the faceplate. The voice changer had been an addition made because Michael’s identity was still a secret. It only added to the humor of the situation.

“What are you doing?” Jeremy asked.

“Well I’m not letting you carry me all the way to New York,” Michael explained. “When we get there I’ll switch to the other reactor. Although at this point I’m pretty sure Jennifer has my whole shtick figured out.”

Michael picked up his shield from a table and placed it on his arm, then turned to look at Jeremy. He rolled his eyes, stepping into his own armor.

“Q, auto pilot him to follow me, at least until he figures out how to fly on his own.”

“Of course, Sir.”

Time to go kick Jennifer’s ass.

☼

Michael couldn’t help but grin, soaring above the clouds with Jeremy. Flying was…amazing. Probably his second favorite thing he had ever done.

The first favorite was kissing Jeremy.

“Having fun?” Jeremy’s voice played through his helmet.

“Yeah!”

Jeremy’s addiction to the armor made so much sense now. Who wouldn’t want to be able to fly wherever they wanted?

“Should I let you pilot yourself?”

That sounded a bit scary. At least with Squip in control he was for sure safe. Still, if something went wrong Jeremy would help him. He made a noise of confirmation and Michael felt the shift take place. He nearly faltered, but the flying controls were surprisingly simple. Soon he could hear Jeremy laughing at him as he spun around in the armor.

“Holy shit I’m dizzy,” Michael chuckled, glancing out to see Jeremy flying right ahead of him. He pushed the thrusters a bit harder and managed to get side by side with Jeremy, watching the armor head turn to look at him.

“You’re ridiculous,” Jeremy chuckled.

“Sir, Mr. Mell,” Squip spoke up in their helmets. “Mrs. Jennifer has left the tower and has stepped into a company car. I believe she is going to the Reyes Tech facility in New Jersey if her texts are anything to go off of.”

“That isn’t far from where my moms live,” Michael hummed.

“Reroute us, Q,” Jeremy said.

They grew quiet as they approached the building. They landed on the roof so Michael could switch to his Captain uniform, clinging to Jeremy as they flew down to Patrick’s office. Sure enough Jennifer was inside talking to him. Jeremy reached out and tapped on the glass, startling the two older adults.

“Gentlemen!” Patrick didn’t seem phased, opening the large glass pane for them to get inside through. “How have you been?”

“Not here for you this time, asshole,” Jeremy said, approaching his mother.

Michael silently stood guard, watching over Jeremy as he trained his eyes on Jennifer. She clearly was scared of the armor.

“Did you seriously recruit this idiot to help with your side projects?” Jeremy hissed.

“Jeremiah, you’re young,” Jennifer said. “You don’t understand how the world works. All I’ve ever done was try and make sure that you have a sound future. This is for your own good, and since you can’t appreciate that I’ve had to outsource to a friend.”

“You stop this now or I will step forward. You don’t deserve another chance, but I’m nice.”

“Jeremiah, you and your masked friend are trespassing,” Patrick stated. “I’m calling security.”

Michael rolled his eyes, “You let us in.”

Still, Jeremy backed off. They left the way they came, not wanting another public debacle after just getting through the court case. They made their way back to the tower, Jeremy stepping out of his armor so he could pout on the couch. Michael sent his uniform back into the reactor before sitting beside him. The armor simply stood guard on the balcony where they had landed.

“I will turn her in if she doesn’t stop,” Jeremy growled.

“I know.”

Jeremy continued to pout, Michael silently supporting him. If he had a choice in the situation Jennifer would have been turned in months ago, but he understood why Jeremy had held off. They were different people who had different ideals, and Jeremy would probably feel guilty if his mother was locked away for the rest of her life because of him. No matter how much she deserved it.

“…Do you hear something?” Michael asked, his ears picking up on a quiet buzzing sound.

Jeremy shook his head, “No. Do you want to go out tonight? I feel like we haven’t gone on a proper, normal, date yet.”

“Jer, nothing about us is norm—” Michael cut himself off as the buzzing noise increased in his ears. Michael turned to look behind them, jumping up to get between Jeremy and a strange man. He had no idea who this person was, but he had electric whips held in his hands. Michael winced as the whip was cracked at him, burning his shoulder as it made impact.

“Heere!”

Jeremy yelped, backing towards his armor. Michael charged at the attacker, knocking him back so Jeremy could get out. The whips were cracked at him again, this time managing to wrap around his neck. Both burning him and cutting off his airway.

“Stay down,” the greasy man hissed, marching towards Jeremy.

Michael coughed as he was allowed to breathe again, looking over in a panic. The armor was fast, but Jeremy wouldn’t get inside in time. He felt his heart stop as Jeremy chose to ditch the armor and jumped off the balcony instead. The armor flying after him of its own accord. Michael got to his feet and activated his new reactor. He had fought Jeremy at full force and ended up fine. Sparkle Fingers was nothing.

“Hey Twinkle Toes!” Michael barked, jumping over the couch to retrieve his shield. “I could do this all day!”

He threw the shield forward and chased after it, catching the metal disk as he charged at the attacker. The electrical whips couldn’t burn him through the metal casing surrounding him. Jeremy was a genius in designing, Michael had no fears. Michael toppled the greasy man over the edge of the balcony, smirking beneath his mask as Jeremy came flying back up with their attacker flailing. Jeremy dropped the greasy stranger from ten feet up, the man falling on his ass. Michael moved fast, ripping the whips from their holder, rendering the devices useless. His neck was still burning, and it hurt to breathe just a bit, but he and Jeremy were an effective team.

Jeremy landed back on the balcony, aiming a repulsor at the attacker, “Tell us who sent you and maybe I won’t fire.”

“I wish I could say your mother,” the stranger sighed. “But Reyes couldn’t kill you, so he hired me.”

Michael seriously considered pushing him off the balcony again, but took a breath to calm his rage before smacking the man across the face with his shield. Thus rendering him unconscious.

“You probably just caused him head trauma,” Jeremy mused, his faceplate lifting to reveal a contemplative expression.

“He tried to kill you and attempted to strangle me, I feel justified,” Michael responded, glancing around the balcony. “What do we do with him?”

Jeremy shrugged, “You broke his weapon…I guess turn him in to police custody? I’m kind of just making this superhero guide book as I go.”

“Oh yeah? What’s chapter one?”

“How to effectively hide your identity from your live-in babysitter, with side steps on how to figure out if said babysitter has a dual identity of their own. It’s a serious guide, almost autobiographical in nature. Quite possibly my best work.”

“Better than the armor?”

“You can’t make me pick a favorite creation! Squip would obviously win! It’s like asking a parent if they have a favorite child!”

“We’re both only children, we can’t make that analogy.”

Jeremy’s metal encased hand flipped him off, “Fuck you, Cap.”

Michael stayed behind while Jeremy dropped off their attacker to be handled by the authorities. He removed his uniform once more, making his way into the bathroom to examine the burns. They didn’t look pretty, but they would heal fast. It had been a miracle that they hadn’t managed to destroy the entire apartment.

Jeremy was gone for a while, probably making a statement with the police. Michael ended up texting Rich to pass the time, mentioning the fight briefly. Mostly about Jeremy’s part. He still hadn’t talked to Brooke about the whole super strength thing, he wasn’t about to go spilling to another friend.

Michael looked up when he heard the armor land once more. Jeremy stepped out, making his way in and doing his own inspection on Michael’s burns.

“I’m fine,” Michael assured, holding Jeremy’s hands in his. “This is nothing.”

Jeremy made a face, “You don’t have to be okay. You were hurt.”

“I can handle it. He can’t hurt us now.”

Jeremy sighed, falling against Michael’s uninjured shoulder, “I love you, you selfless piece of shit.”

Michael pulled Jeremy into his lap, wrapping his arms around him, “I love you too.”

They were quiet for a while, just enjoying a moment of calm in their ever chaotic lives.

“Fuck, I need to take care of Reyes,” Jeremy whined into his shoulder.

Right. They couldn’t just let him walk free. They would have to fly back to Jersey.

Unless…

“What if I contact that Christine agent?” Michael offered up. “She said I could contact her.”

“Yeah, for Swan related shit. I’m still not sure if I trust her, she knows about what happened to you.”

Michael shrugged, moving Jeremy back to his own couch cushion before digging his phone out. He had taken a picture of the card she had given him. It was worth a shot.

“Wait,” Jeremy snatched his phone from his hand. “Let’s have Squip contact her. Just in case.”

Michael didn’t complain. He watched Jeremy’s eyes space out as he conversed with Squip in his head, the two likely going over what to say to Christine. Jeremy blinked back into focus and passed his phone back.

“Q emailed her and added the booking records from where I dropped Sparkle Fingers. It should be enough. Now about that date I mentioned earlier…”

Michael reached for Jeremy’s hand, “I would love to go on a date with you, Jer.”

Jeremy actually cheered, sending Michael into a laughing fit. They had already been together for a few months, it felt a little silly to get so excited over a date. Then again, Michael had no idea what Jeremy constituted as a date.

He let Jeremy do all the work. Jeremy insisted on dressing up, so Michael had to dig around to see if he had anything spare in the apartment. It was a bit of a surprise to find that he did, but he had also been an employee at one point and James had been supplying his fancy wardrobe.

“This feels a little excessive,” Michael chuckled, buttoning his suit jacket.

Jeremy appeared dressed in the suit from the party they had ditched together. It felt like forever ago. But seeing Jeremy embrace his creativity by wearing more color had been so sweet to experience. Introducing Jeremy to his family, being nervous that Jeremy would catch on to his feelings, god at one point Michael had been convinced he and Jeremy had just stared at each other for nearly a minute without saying a word. Dancing with Brooke had been a highlight, he loved her and viewed her as family. But honestly…leaving early with Jeremy was more fun than hanging around a crowded party.

“I was just hoping to dance with—Someone. Other than Chloe.”

Wait a minute…

“Jeremy?” Michael followed his boyfriend into the elevator, the two riding down to the ground floor. “…How long were you interested in me before we uh…figured that out?”

Jeremy flushed, “Honestly? Uh, I’m pretty sure I thought you were hot the moment I met you, and then there was…uh, embarrassing things I’m not ready to tell you about yet. I don’t really know. I went through a whole five stages of grief about my sexuality while drooling over you. Squip was there trying to push me the entire time. I probably liked you for a lot longer than I’m willing to admit. Why?”

Michael lightly tugged at Jeremy’s suit jacket sleeve, “The company party, when we walked home together. That was only a few weeks before our whole…incident. You said you wanted to dance with someone. I just assumed some girl actually managed to get you to catch feelings but…were you talking about me?”

Jeremy made a croaking sound in the back of his throat as the elevator doors opened. Michael didn’t get a response, Jeremy just walked away and towards the lobby door.

“Jeremy!”

Still nothing in response. Michael followed Jeremy out to the street, finding his boyfriend opening the door to a company car.

“Jer!”

Jeremy was absolutely bright red, pointing into the car, “Get in the fucking car, Michael!”

Michael listened, sliding into the backseat. Jeremy sat next to him, his grip on his own arms tightening as the driver took off with them. Michael felt his heart soften, Jeremy was trying to be casual about his car anxiety for him.

But looking back on their previous experiences was funny as hell.

“Were you actually upset about being there or—”

“Shut the fuck up!” Jeremy whined.

“Jeremy!”

Michael earned an aggressive glare for his laughter.

“You almost punched someone in the face because—”

“Fuck you!”

Michael was wheezing, tears gathering in his eyes from laughing so hard, “Wait were you jealous of Brooke because—”

“If I say yes will you stop?!” Jeremy exclaimed, eyes wide. “It was both! Jealousy and I felt like shit!”

Michael leaned over and pressed a kiss to his jaw, “I love you.”

Jeremy’s cheeks were still burning, his arms still hugging himself, “I love you too.”

Michael pulled one hand free, wrapping it in his own, “I appreciate you doing all this, Jer. You don’t have to put this much work into something so simple.”

Jeremy met his eye, “I’ve never been on a date before, Michael. I just…don’t want to make a mistake.”

“I wouldn’t think differently of you if you did. You’ve done so much just today, Jer. I mean…the armor? The uniform? I know that you think I’m selfless and all…but you’re not exactly the selfish person the media tries to make you out to be.”

Jeremy surged forward, smashing their faces together in a kiss. Michael hummed against him, one hand moving to rest on Jeremy’s side and the other digging into his hair. Jeremy swung a leg over so he was sitting in Michael’s lap, Michael having a passing thought about how they weren’t wearing seatbelts. But he couldn’t bring himself to care at the moment. Not when his apparently jealous boyfriend was throwing himself at him.

They both had to fix their hair before stepping out of the car. Michael didn’t recognize the restaurant they were at, but he did feel a sense of intimidation at how nice it was. Even Michael’s past boyfriends hadn’t ever been treated so well. Michael’s idea of a date was a semi-decent restaurant and a movie afterwards. Michael Mell and fancy hadn’t been words that mixed until meeting Jeremy.

But the lighting made Jeremy look stunning and Michael wouldn’t dare complain. And he was trying so hard to make Michael happy. He couldn’t help but grin, reaching across the table to hold Jeremy’s hand in his. He brushed his thumb over Jeremy’s knuckles and smiled at his utterly ethereal boyfriend.

They made the decision to walk home. With autumn setting into motion they were relying on the light of the city to navigate while the chilly breeze whipped past them. Michael was fairly convinced that it was an excuse for Jeremy to cuddle up next to him, not that he would ever deny Jeremy that.

“Are we flying home tonight or are we staying here?” Michael asked, pressing a kiss to Jeremy’s head.

“Considering Jennifer is here I got us a hotel room,” Jeremy said, pressing himself further into Michael’s side. “Dates are usually ruined by parents' interference, right?”

Michael shrugged, “My moms usually left me alone with past boyfriends. Although Mama actually scared off my last boyfriend right before pride month. I don’t think she meant to, she just looks scary.”

“I really hope they like me,” Jeremy confessed, having them turn a corner. “I know that we haven’t really talked much…but your whole family seems great.”

Michael chuckled, “They like you, Jer. If anything they’re frustrated with me for how obsessed I am with you. Working for HI was probably the most proud they’ve ever been of me and I kind of threw that away in the name of love. Especially given my past with the company.”

“Well…you’ve made me a better person. And that’s a full time job in and of itself.”

“I know.”

They both laughed, Jeremy bringing them to a hotel. They made it up to their room, Michael laughing as Jeremy’s armor came flying to the balcony of their room carrying Michael’s shield.

“We can’t have Jennifer getting her hands on them,” Jeremy shrugged, pulling off his suit jacket.

Michael swooped in, picking up Jeremy from the floor and into his arms. The entire day had been a roller coaster, Michael was just happy that he had Jeremy to share it with.

“Good date?” Jeremy hummed, pressing their foreheads together.

“Yeah,” Michael nodded, catching Jeremy’s lips in a kiss.

“I love you.”

“Love you too.”

Chapter Text

Jeremy wiggled his way under the arm of the Mark Ⅲ and started adjusting the joints. He had noticed some stiffness in his last trip, and sometimes it was nice to do the work himself. He loved Squip and all the help he brought to the table, but it was nice to have some form of manual labor on his part for the armor.

“Jer?” Michael’s voice called out from near the door.

Jeremy sat up, smacking his head on the piece of the armor he was under. He cursed, scooting his way back out from the armor. Michael had made his way over by the time Jeremy had managed to get back on his feet.

“Hi,” Jeremy sighed, rubbing at the spot where he had hit his head.

Michael gave him an expectant look, “Aren’t you supposed to be at the factory right now?”

Jeremy groaned, “I mean, I guess? I have all day, Michael. The engineers can keep their pants on and wait for me.”

“They’ve been waiting for months to have their jobs back.”

“Fine!” Jeremy hung his head before pulling off his hoodie and slapping on the nano-tech suit to his chest. He already had the undersuit on, so it was just a matter of getting over to the factory. Jeremy rolled his eyes playfully as Michael joined him in putting on his own suit. It didn’t surprise him in the slightest that Michael ended up just as addicted to flying as he did.

At the factory Jeremy was quick to get to work with the engineers. Despite his own desires to put off the reopening he did need to get to work. He owed it to his employees to give them their lives back, or at least give them as close to their lives back as he could.

Building the reactor on such a scale was a precise process. Jeremy took joy in the work, hoping that he would seem like less of a prick for being helpful towards his company for once. Chloe had been the one to allow a few reporters in to watch, Jeremy just ignored their photographers and judgmental stares. The only eyes he cared about were Michael’s, and he happily let his boyfriend sit and watch him work.

He got sucked into his work like usual. He vaguely remembered telling the others to go to lunch but he was so focused that he didn’t bother to actually look away from what he was doing. He found himself hanging upside down from the top of the reactor, welding parts of the core together. If Squip didn’t have the ability to forcibly stop his own bodily control he would have forgotten to put goggles on. Luckily Jeremy’s eyes were saved thanks to the best super computer ever created.

“You truly are a charmer, Sir.”

Jeremy rolled his eyes before adjusting his grip on the welder and continuing his work. Why had he wanted to put this off? He loved this kind of work. Computers were always going to be his favorite, but building and construction were right behind. It’s what made the idea of the armor so great, all of his talents and strengths put into one project.

“Uh, Mr. Heere?” One of the engineers had approached.

Jeremy didn’t look away from what he was doing, “Mr. Heere is my father, I’m much too young to be called that.”

“Sorry, uh, Sir. Uh, your,” Jeremy could hear the terror in the employee’s voice. “Um, boyfriend? He’s asking you to come down…”

Jeremy turned off his tools and flipped back around so he was standing on top of the reactor. He lifted his goggles to his forehead so he could see, and sure enough Michael was staring up at him from the ground.

“Thanks,” Jeremy hummed, setting his tools down. He glanced over at the employee, he was probably only a bit older than him, just starting out. “It’s Zach, right?”

The employee seemed shocked, “Uh, yeah.”

“Thanks Zach,” Jeremy repeated himself, turning to smirk at Michael. He raised his voice so he could be better heard, “What do you want?”

Michael yelled back up, “Lunch! Chloe stopped for us!”

Jeremy sighed, glancing around. Zach was currently climbing down the scaffolding they had assembled. The goal was to lower the reactor down once all the electrical work had been done and then hook up the source to the building. Michael was standing at the bottom of the scaffolding, staring up at him.

Without really thinking about it Jeremy jumped off of the reactor. It would be faster than climbing down again. And Michael was at the bottom to catch him.

“Sir, you have an armor attached to you!”

“Jeremy!”

Michael caught him, Jeremy letting out a small oof on impact. He had forgotten all about the nano-tech attached to his shirt. Still, he couldn’t let his employees think he was that forgetful.

“Thanks babe,” Jeremy hummed, pressing a kiss to Michael’s cheek before wiggling out of his arms. He could feel Michael’s barely concealed outrage towards his behavior, but Jeremy didn’t dare acknowledge it in the room full of people. They walked together back over to the office building, Michael cornering him when they stepped into the elevator.

“What the fuck was that?!” Michael demanded, eyes wide. “You can’t just jump from thirty feet up, Jer!”

“It wasn’t that high up,” Jeremy reasoned.

“That’s not the point! It’s reckless, and dangerous, and—”

“And you were there to catch me.”

“But what if I hadn’t been there?!”

“Then the nano-tech armor would have deployed and saved me,” Jeremy said, concerned by how worried Michael was acting. “Do you really think I would intentionally put myself in danger like that? I’m not stupid, Michael.”

“I’m not saying you are, Jeremy,” Michael groaned, running a hand through his hair. “But you have done reckless and crazy shit before. You don’t look before you leap—”

“What have I done recently that's so reckless?!”

Michael shot him an incredulous look, “You jumped off of a skyscraper—”

“And I was fine.”

“You spend your free time blowing shit up!” Michael wrapped his arms around himself. “Hired killers have gone after you that have weapons that I couldn’t even imagine! You’ve fought me without hesitation! You’re flying across the globe in a personal fighter jet! You have a piece of machinery literally keeping you alive right now! I’m fucking terrified, Jer! What you’ve accomplished is incredible, but I’m scared! What if you get hurt again?! I nearly killed you multiple times! You were nearly blown up! What if I can’t be there, Jer?!”

“Michael—”

“You never think about your own safety and it pisses me off! I can’t watch you get hurt again, Jeremy!”

Jeremy reached a hand out, brushing his thumb along Michael’s cheek, “Why didn’t you say anything before now?”

“It won’t change anything,” Michael mumbled, averting his eyes. “I don’t want to change you. I’m just scared all the time. You’re always going to do what you think is best, I’m always going to jump between you and the danger you don’t see right in front of you. You’re the smartest man I’ve ever met, and I love you, but your big brain tends to forget some logical things. And I worry about what happens when you ignore or don’t notice the obvious.”

“I…I’m sorry.”

Michael shook his head, “Don’t. It’s just my stupid brain overreacting like usual. I trust you, Jeremy. I’m just…I’ll always be worrying about you.”

“Hey,” Jeremy forced them to make eye contact. “You were traumatized, Michael. You’re allowed to worry about me, don’t dismiss your feelings. I’m a man of science, the only stupid brain I’ve ever encountered is Reyes’s. I should take better care of myself. I’m just so used to having my own personal superhero around that I don’t think to worry about myself. I’m sorry that I act impulsively, hopefully it will get better soon. I’ll do my best, but you’re probably right about me not changing. I do need to keep doing what I have been. You know that.”

Michael nodded, “I’m sorry for yelling. I could have handled that better.”

“I love you.”

Michael pulled him in for a kiss, Jeremy jumping on impulse so Michael was holding him. Maybe it was just his growing obsession of having a sense of weightlessness, but Jeremy liked Michael carrying him. It was also a wonderful excuse to get as close as possible without question. He got lost in the slow drag of his lips against Michael’s, burying his hands into his boyfriend’s hair. Michael walked forward until Jeremy’s back was against the wall, the two of them still breathing each other's air.

Wall wall wall wall wall wall wall wall!

He would never get sick of Michael, he was sure of it. He felt goosebumps break out on his skin when Michael moved to kiss along his neck. Nope, Jeremy was obsessed, there was no turning back.

“Holy shit!”

Jeremy and Michael both looked over, finding Chloe staring at them with a disgusted look on her face.

“Uh—”

“You two have a house!” Chloe cried, Jeremy noting that Michael was turning bright red. “You don’t need to get it on in my elevator!”

Jeremy arched a brow, “Technically it’s my elevator—”

Chloe pointed to the hall, “Go! I was wondering what the hell was taking you so long!”

Jeremy was put down, the two shuffling down the hall to Chloe’s office. She already had lunch set out for them, so they quietly started eating before she could try and start up some form of conversation. Michael still looked mortified. For the most part Jeremy was immune to people commenting on his antics, making out in an elevator was pretty low on the scale in terms of what he had been recorded doing.

“How has construction been going?” Chloe asked, changing the subject.

“Good,” Jeremy hummed, kicking his feet up to rest on top of her desk. She glared at him hard enough to just scare him out of the action, dropping his feet back to the floor. “I’m working on the more intricate parts right now, but the shell looks good. I think it’ll be complete soon, did we get any updates on how the wiring is going from the electrician team?”

Chloe tapped around on her phone for a moment, “Looks like they’re ahead of schedule. They’ll be done in a day or two if there aren’t complications. Are you sure this will work, Jeremy? Reactor doesn’t fill me with confidence when it comes to powering our company.”

“It runs the armor just fine, think about how much we will save without being on the city power grid. Power outages will be a thing of the past!”

Chloe nodded her head, “Okay, I trust you. I’m still nervous…but I trust you.”
Jeremy just hummed, poking around at his lunch. He wanted to get back to work, but Michael wouldn’t let him leave without eating something substantial. It was equally annoying and endearing of him.

Still, he was finally getting somewhere with his plans as CEO, and he couldn’t ask for much more.

☼

Michael watched from the sidelines as Jeremy approached the podium they had set up. They were officially reopening the factory, Jeremy’s employees would have their jobs back. Jeremy was making the most of it, willingly wearing a suit as James had requested of him. Still, this was Jeremy, he was making it his own. He had apparently compromised to wear his sneakers with the suit, and while maybe a little silly it felt shockingly right. Chloe stood at his side, messing with her hair as they watched on.

“Hello everyone,” Jeremy greeted the crowd, his bright show boy smile on full display. “I know security just did a sweep, but let’s hope we can get through this presentation without something exploding, yeah?”

Laughter filled the crowd, although Michael still felt a slight unease at his casual mention of prior trauma. Michael hadn’t been able to sleep for weeks after he had nearly been blown up, how did Jeremy just move on like it was nothing? Jeremy’s resilience was incredible.

“Today is another momentous day for Heere Industries, although I know I’ve already had quite a few of those in my brief time running this company,” Jeremy continued to joke around, trying to win over the press that had been so hell bent on ripping him apart the past several weeks.

“God I wish James was here,” Chloe whispered.

James was currently watching over Reyes and his trial, speaking on behalf of Jeremy so they didn’t have to go. Michael squeezed her arm in support, wanting the event over with. They were flying out to Jersey for Rich and Jake’s wedding once the whole reopening was over. Brooke was already back home, helping Michael’s moms get the venue ready. Michael had wanted to fly over a few days ago, but he figured it would be better to stay and support Jeremy. He knew that all the reporters were keeping an eye on him to make sure their relationship was healthy. Reading headlines made up about him and Jeremy had been pretty hilarious to go through.

Secret Lover? The Strange Nobody Capturing the Hearts of Billionaires

Jeremy Heere: Bisexual or Attention Hog?

The Brawn and the Brains

Jeremy and Michael: Power Couple or Doomed Lovers?

It was all crazy, and all speculation, but Jeremy viewed the chaos as free advertising and Michael couldn’t exactly argue with him over it.

“Today we take a step forward in saving our planet,” Jeremy continued his speech. Chloe had given him notecards, but it didn’t look like he was using them. “Starting today Heere Industries is no longer a company with a core in destruction. Heere Industries will now be powered by a giant arc reactor, a clean energy source I designed. With the help of my wonderful engineering team we have recreated the power source of my armor sets on a scale big enough to power this entire property. Heere Industries is now fully run on green energy here on the California side. I welcome you all to a new era of this company, where we have now raised all of our starting position pay rates, given each employee a proper and fitting raise, and embrace all kinds of science. This would have never happened without the support of my father, Chloe Valentine, and Michael Mell. I love you all, and thank you for doing everything in your power to assist me as I built this new foundation. And of course, thank you to my employees, I would be nothing without you supporting me. Let’s get this party started!”

The crowd of media cheered and cameras flashed. Michael laughed as Jeremy motioned for him and Chloe to join him at the podium, the two of them both rolling their eyes at his insistence. Chloe seemed so proud, beaming out at the crowd. Michael felt his heart skip a beat as Jeremy stretched up on his toes to kiss him. Part of him was still convinced that Jeremy didn’t want to be out of the closet publicly, but he kept proving him wrong. Michael kissed him back, cupping Jeremy’s face in his hand.

They all hurried out to avoid the crowd, Jeremy driving all three of them out to the airport where a smaller company jet was waiting for them. Chloe spent her time working on her laptop, and Michael spent the flight watching a movie with Jeremy. Despite money not being a problem Maria and Darcy had insisted that they all stay at their house instead of getting a hotel. Michael had tried protesting at first, since Jeremy and them didn’t know each other that well, but Jeremy had been the one to assure him that it was fine. Chloe didn’t have an issue with it either, more than happy to get the chance to better get to know the people Brooke considered family.

They arrived in time for dinner, Jeremy chatting happily with Rich while they spread out across the living room to eat. Jake couldn’t stop grinning over at Rich, and it was clear that he was more than excited to finally get married. It had been eight years, it was high time.

“Hey Brooke,” Michael scooted over to her, offering her a small smile. “Could you come on a walk with me?”

Brooke nodded, the two of them setting their empty dishes in the sink and slipping out of the house. Brooke pulled a beanie over her head, the wind whipping past them as they walked. It was actually getting cold out, but Michael was fairly immune to weather and the extremes brought by it.

“What’s up?” Brooke asked, walking next to him with a slight skip in her step.

“I just…I wanted to talk to you about…” Michael didn’t really know how to gesture to what he meant so he shrugged. “My whole…deal.”

Brooke nodded, burrowing against his side, “You don’t have to if you don’t want–”

“I’ve wanted to tell you since it happened,” Michael assured her, wrapping an arm around her. “I just…it’s a lot harder than I thought. It’s a miracle I told Jeremy. I just…I’m worried.”

Brooke looked up at him, her eyes wide and bright, “You can say as much or as little as you want, Mikey. I love you either way”

Michael nodded, taking in a breath to calm his nerves. And he talked. He told her his story, what had happened when he went overseas. He kept some of the more…gory details to himself. Brooke was more anxious than him, and he didn’t want her worrying about things that she couldn’t control. He told her about how his powers hadn’t finished developing for a while after he initially got them, about how he was originally breaking everything he touched, about how he had been terrified to even ask for a hug.

He told her his coping methods, about how cool it felt to be Captain. About his desires to not hurt anyone. His initial disgust in himself when he had learned there was a person inside the Iron Man armor and it wasn’t just a robot that he was fighting. He went into more detail about his big fight with Jeremy, and his guilt over the situation that he still harbored. He told her about the night terrors, and how they were getting better now that he was at peace. He told her how much he had missed her over his time being separated from everything and everyone he loved. About how he worried about her and Rich and Jake and his moms the entire time he had been gone. They walked and talked for hours, and the sky grew dark long before he was finished with his story.

“I love you,” Brooke whispered, squeezing him as tight as she could manage. “And you’re not a monster, Mikey.”

“I’m trying to believe that,” Michael mumbled, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. “We’re getting there.”

“I still don’t forgive you for ever allowing yourself to be photographed in that mud puddle of an outfit,” Brooke warned.

Michael rolled his eyes, “It wasn’t my idea, Brookie. And I’m wearing the right colors now, so it’ll be okay.”

Brooke hummed, “Yeah, I guess. Carry me back to the house?”

Michael chuckled, stopping his movement so she could climb on his back. Michael carried her back home, the pair walking in to find Rich and Jake had already gone home. Chloe was stretched out on the couch, scrolling through her phone as she waited for Brooke to return.

“Have fun?” Maria asked, laughing at Brooke’s shivering figure.

“Always,” Michael chuckled, depositing Brooke in the living room.

He wished his moms a good night before making his way down the stairs to the basement. He found Jeremy in his childhood bedroom, analyzing the shelves that had random trinkets and memories scattered across the surface. Michael chuckled, walking up behind him and wrapping his arms around Jeremy’s middle.

“What’s up?”

Jeremy sighed, “Honestly? Looking for that poster that Jake mentioned. I want to see what photo of me was so good it was put on a poster for you to obsess over.”

Michael sighed, making his way to the closet and pulling the dreaded poster from the floor. Jeremy examined the poster, laughing at the image of his younger self. Michael just sighed, letting him get the curiosity out of his system.

“I do look like hot geeky shit,” Jeremy chuckled, passing the poster back. “I can’t blame you for falling for me.”

Michael sighed, putting the poster back in the closet to hide, “I talked to Brooke about my powers.”

Jeremy grinned at him, “That’s good. How do you think it went?”

“Uh, good I guess,” Michael hummed. “It felt nice to have everything out in the open. I…I don’t think I can tell the others yet, but maybe someday?”

Jeremy squeezed his hand, “You don’t owe them anything. But if you want to someday, that’s fine.”

They both got ready for bed, squishing together in Michael’s old bed. Michael pulled Jeremy into his arms, spooning his boyfriend beneath the covers. Things were finally going well. He told Brooke about what had happened to him, his best friends were getting married, Jeremy was making progress on his own goals. Things couldn’t be better.

Michael sighed, letting Brooke fix his tie for him. The suits for all of them had turned out incredible. There was a reason Brooke had the job she did. Not to mention that Brooke and Maria’s dresses looked just as beautiful, the bright yellow color emphasizing the happy day they were going to have.

“You look great,” Brooke said, most likely to make herself feel better. It was clear that she was nervous.

“Hey,” Michael reached out and grabbed her hand. “You did a great job, Rich and Jake love you.”

Brooke nodded, squeezing Michael’s hand, “Right. Thanks Michael.”

Maria walked in with Jake, and Michael almost started crying at the sight of Jake hardly keeping himself together.

“I’m fine,” Jake assured, blinking back his tears. “But if we don’t get this over with soon I’ll just grab Rich and run.” Jake walked over and pulled Michael into a quick hug, “Thanks for putting in all this effort, dude.”

Michael squeezed him back, “It’s not a problem.”

With that being said, Michael picked up the guitar he had sitting on a bench and turned to Brooke. It had been a decision fairly last minute for Michael and Brooke to sing instead of having a wedding march play. Michael had taken the liberty of learning an entire song for the wedding, and Brooke had learned the lyrics. Jake had made a good choice, and he was pretty sure Rich would start crying when he heard the music.

“Let’s do this,” Brooke grinned.

Maria opened the door for them, and Michael started playing. Most of the attendees were coworkers of Rich and Jake, and they filled the small space well. Everyone stood and Michael started walking down the aisle with Brooke. Playing guitar while walking wasn’t the easiest thing in the world, but he managed fine. Once they made it to the front Michael and Brooke situated themselves in front of the microphones they had set up, Brooke beginning to sing.

“All those days watching from the windows. All those years, outside looking in.”

Michael glanced out at all the guests, spotting Jeremy and Chloe seated next to each other. Jeremy, in a move that surprised Michael to no end, had decided to wear a pale pink suit to the wedding. He looked gorgeous in it, and it complimented Chloe’s pastel purple dress shockingly well. He had to assume that Brooke had given some input to their appearance, but he wasn’t quite sure.

“And it’s warm and real and bright. And the world has somehow shifted.”

Jake and Maria started walking down the aisle, Michael taking pride in his moms giving Jake and Rich away. Jake’s parents were still in prison, and would be for a long time, and Rich hadn’t told his dad about the wedding. Not that Michael blamed him, Carl was an asshole and would ruin the whole event.

“All those years living in a blur. All that time never truly seeing things the way they were.”

Maria pressed a kiss to Jake’s cheek before going to sit down. Rich and Darcy approached next, and sure enough Rich was already crying. Brooke reached over and squeezed his arm, a silent conversation about how happy she was for them.

“All at once everything is different. Now that I see you. Now that I see you.”

The wedding was beautiful. Jake poured his heart out into his vows, and Rich somehow managed to be just as heartfelt but also comical. Michael and Brooke cheered when they kissed, finding both of them were in tears by the end.

The reception was fun, Jake and Rich didn’t look away from each other once. Michael made his way over to Jeremy, the two of them watching Darcy and Maria both ensure that Jake and Rich had the opportunity to have a mother and son dance.

“You did a good job singing,” Jeremy said, stretching up on his toes to press a kiss to Michael’s cheek.

“Thanks,” Michael chuckled, rocking on his heels. “But I’m not done yet.”

Jake had picked the wedding march song, so Rich picked their first dance song. Michael had agreed to sing for both if it was within reason. So Rich picked a song Michael liked and felt fitting for a first dance.

Michael walked up to the stage where they had the music set up as Maria and Darcy ended their dance with Jake and Rich. He knew that both of them had been practicing dancing with his moms for their wedding, and it was sweet to see them put in the effort. Michael grinned at his friends as the music started playing for their first dance, Rich pulling Jake as close as he could.

“You’re the kind of reckless that should send me running, but I kinda know that I won’t get far.”

Michael couldn’t hope that he would end up as happy as Jake and Rich were together. He wanted to end up with a happy wedding surrounded by friends and family. At least someday he did, maybe not now. He loved Jeremy, but commitment was a new thing for him and Michael would hate to scare him off.

“I’m on my guard for the rest of the world, but with you, I know it’s no good.”

Michael mentally cheered when Jake actually dipped Rich mid dance, clearly throwing his husband off balance. It was adorable, watching Rich get flustered. He heard an actual cheer from Brooke at the action, so at least his excitement was expressed in a way. Even if not by him.

“And lead me up the staircase, won’t you whisper soft and slow? I’m captivated by you baby, like a fireworks show.”

He couldn’t hear them, but Rich and Jake were whispering to each other as they danced, dopey smiles set on both of their faces. Michael drifted his eyes over towards the crowd of guests watching, spotting his boyfriend paying more attention to him than the newlyweds. Michael felt a grin crack on his face as he made eye contact with Jeremy. Today was all about love, and it was all Michael could feel.

“‘Cause I see sparks fly whenever you smile. And the sparks fly. And, oh, baby, smile. And the sparks fly.”

Michael made his way back over to Jeremy, more party based music playing as guests filled the dance floor around Rich and Jake. His boyfriend had acquired a champagne flute at some point, but it looked like Jeremy just wanted something to keep his hands busy rather than simply wanting to drink. Michael hummed along to the music and rocked back and forth on his heels, watching over the crowd. Brooke and Chloe were already flying around the room, not caring if the song was meant for waltzing or not.

“Hey,” Jeremy set his glass down and reached for Michael’s hand. “Dance—”

“Michael?”

Michael whipped his head over, his eyes widening at the sight of Rich’s brother. What the hell was he doing at the wedding?! Rich hadn’t mentioned him once!

“What do you want, Steven?” Michael growled, fully ready to kick him out by force if he tried to start something.

Steven held out his arm, and envelope in his hand, “Uh, this is for them. I know they don’t want me here but…I just wanted to drop off the card.”

Michael accepted the card, “I’m sure they send their thanks. Get lost before Jake and I beat your ass.”

Steven ignored him, always an asshole, “I just want to say hi.”

“No,” Michael blocked Steven’s path. “You don’t get to say hi, you weren’t invited. Besides, wherever you go it’s most likely that your dad will show up. Now fuck off before I drop kick your ass all the way to Canada. I’m not asking again.”

Steven scoffed, “I can’t even wish the little bitch well in his marriage?!”

“No, because last time you spoke to him you were arrested!” Michael shoved Steven back. “All you fucking do is hurt him!”

Jeremy stepped in, “Hey Douche-For-Brains, you know who I am?”

Steven seemed shocked to see Jeremy, “Holy shit!”

“Yeah, dumbass,” Jeremy narrowed his eyes. “Don’t know who the fuck you are, but if you aren’t gone in five seconds I’m sending my army of armors to carry you off to space. Now scram.”

Steven turned tail, Michael letting out a sigh of relief. He hadn’t wanted to get into it with Steven over the wedding. It would only hurt Rich, and that was the last thing he wanted to do, especially today.

Michael brought the card over to the basket where all the others were being put. He figured that not mentioning anything would be best. Rich could read the card and simply speculate how it got there instead of finding out that his asshole of a sibling had shown up.

“Richard!”

Michael swore under his breath. Why did he have to be right all the time?! Rich had taken a break from dancing, and was frozen in place at the sound of his father’s voice. Michael and Maria hurried over to him, standing between Rich and his dad. They had dealt with him the most in the past.

“Fuck off, Carl,” Michael barked.

“Rich!” Carl was already starting to slur his words, the man was already wasted. “You got married? And you didn’t even tell your old man?”

“Go home,” Rich said, hiding part of himself behind Michael and Maria. “You weren’t invited.”

Carl scoffed, “I can’t even meet my daughter in-law?”

Jake stepped forward, his arms crossed over his chest, “Son in-law, actually. My husband asked you to leave, Carl.”

Carl’s glazed over eyes turned angry, attempting to charge at Rich, “You did not marry this disgusting—”

Michael swooped in, blocking Carl from getting to Rich. Maria joined him, her angry motherly glare not doing much against Carl.

“Move, boy,” Carl barked. “Or I’m kicking your ass just like I will his.”

“Carl, leave!” Maria yelled, her hands clenched into fists.

“I’m not letting you near him,” Michael stated. “You’re a pathetic excuse for a man, Carl.”

Carl let out a yell, attempting to swing a fist at Michael. Michael caught the fist easily, hardly stopping himself from squeezing and pulverizing his hand. Instead Michael reached forward with his free hand, grabbing hold of Carl’s shirt and hoisting him into the air.

“May I?”

Michael turned his head, finding Jeremy suiting up in his nano-tech armor. Michael shrugged, dropping Carl to the ground so Jeremy could take care of it. Michael smirked, watching Jeremy raise his repulsor to aim at Carl, the older man growing pale.

“You have until the count of three,” Jeremy stated. “One—”

Carl bolted, Jeremy cackling at his retreating form. The armor was put away, Michael turning back to find that Jake and Rich were holding each other tight in their arms.

That could have gone better, but at least no one got hurt. Michael walked over to his friends, giving each of them a hug. They deserved it after going through that whole mess.

“Let’s get this party going!” Rich cheered, picking up the mood again.

Michael laughed, following Rich’s lead. They were going to be okay.

Chapter Text

Jeremy was bored out of his mind. But he smiled on anyway. Some science magazine wanted an interview and Chloe had agreed so now he was posing for photos. It was the first interview since his entire debacle had started, and it had gone about as well as one could have hoped. Meaning Jeremy hated it. He played nice and was polite, but he would have rather been stuck in a board meeting.

“Alright, I think that’s everything,” Chloe chuckled, walking over and trying to adjust his hair to sit differently on his head.

“Can I go home?” Jeremy begged, batting her hand away.

Chloe nodded, “Yeah, I’ll meet you in the car—”

“Fuck that, I’m flying,” Jeremy grumbled.

“Oh! Mr. Heere!” The photographer jumped to attention. “Could we get some shots with your armor?”

Chloe shot him an amused look as Jeremy drooped his shoulders. He hated being a show boy. Why was this his life? In another world he could have been a normal kid with mommy issues, but no. He’s the CEO of a major ex-weapons company. He still has the mommy issues either way, because Jennifer was clearly incapable of being a good person.

Jeremy kept posing for photos for another half hour. He hated every second of it and bolted the moment he was set free from his prison. He was doing his best to not be a dick towards the people they were working with as a company, so Jeremy had been forced to silently suffer. Chloe probably got some form of amusement out of his pain, she seemed set on making him regret his and Michael’s previous make out session in the elevator.

“Have you considered that Ms. Valentine is just doing her job?” Squip asked, echoing slightly through the helmet of the nano-tech suit.

Jeremy rolled his eyes, rocketing towards home. He had plans now that his interview torture was complete. He was going to go home and eat dinner with Michael, and then he was going to fly across the globe to blow up Jennifer’s weapons.

Jennifer…had essentially vanished from his life over the past few weeks. Reyes was now in prison, the company being run by some old dude in his absence. Old and crabby he was, but a traitor to the country he was not. Jennifer had nothing now. No friends to help her make her dirty money. No company to back her. It was peaceful. And from what Jeremy could tell she seemed content with staying in New York. He wouldn’t complain, the more distance the better.

“Michael?” Jeremy called out, walking up the stairs into the living room.

“Kitchen!” Michael yelled back.

Jeremy started to make his way over when something caught his eye. He paused his movement, staring at the piano in his living room. He hadn’t ever noticed it before…

“Jer?” Michael walked in, finding him still staring. “Food is done.”

“How long have we had a piano?” Jeremy asked.

Michael raised his eyebrows at him, “You just noticed that now?! Jeremy, you bought that months ago.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really!” Michael sounded equally amused and frustrated. Which was honestly a fair mix of feelings when it came to Jeremy.

Jeremy shrugged off his own oblivion and made his way into the kitchen. He wanted to get his big trip over with so he could rub it into Jennifer’s face that he was actually getting somewhere while she was doomed to fail in her corrupt goals. He didn’t quite care if it was petty of him to show off his progress, he was doing good and spiting his mother. It was a wonderful mix of two of his favorite things.

“Okay, so I’ll be gone for a few days,” Jeremy explained, ignoring the bewildered look he was shot for his statement. “ A week at most. But Q and I have mapped out places for me to eat between stops, and I can sleep in the armor. And obviously if something big happens here I’ll come right home. I’m not a total douche.”

Michael clasped his hands together, “You’re going to stop and eat?”

“Yes.”

Michael sighed, “Okay. You’ll send updates?”

Jeremy got up from his seat and crawled into Michael’s lap, “If you miss me that much I’ll start writing poetry for you.”

“Sir, Ms. Lohst and Ms. Valentine are at the gate.”

Jeremy wrinkled his nose, “Let them in. I just saw Chloe so I’m not sure what she wants.”

Michael got up to fix them plates while Jeremy met them at the door. Brooke had two wrapped boxes in her arms while Chloe was out of her work attire and changed into casual clothes. She must have stopped at home.

“Hi Jeremy,” Brooke greeted, stepping inside. “Sorry for not texting but I just got these in and–”

“You’re good,” Jeremy assured, welcoming them inside. “So long as your name isn’t Jennifer Heere you are more than welcome at any time.”

Everyone sat down at the table, Chloe silently accepting the food Michael offered. While they ate Brooke passed one package to Jeremy and one to Michael. They both opened the boxes, Jeremy cracking a grin at what was inside. Brooke had framed several photos of them and their friend group. Which was weird to think about. Jeremy didn’t have friends. At least not until a few months ago he didn’t. Sure if anything he had Chloe, but Michael’s friends had accepted him without a second thought. Jeremy was still relatively stupid when it came to normal interactions, he was good at pleasing people but not much else.

“This is cute, Brooke,” Michael grinned at her. “Thank you.”

“I’d say hang them on the wall in your room but considering Jeremy likes to fuck like a rabbit I’m scared they would just fall off,” Chloe mused.

Jeremy wheezed out a laugh while Michael turned red. She clearly had been saving that comment.

“Chloe, I’m immune to slut shaming and you know that,” Jeremy chuckled. “The changes I have made because of Michael extends far past me just being a better person.”

“Jer!”

Chloe leaned across the table a bit, “Do tell.”

Brooke seemed a bit hesitant, but willing to listen in. Michael on the other hand looked ready to keel over.

“Well for starters I had to use my vibranium supply to make a new headboard,” Jeremy continued on talking, ignoring the evil looks being passed his way by Michael.

“Jeremy!”

“Huh?” Brooke seemed lost. Chloe was already crying from laughing so hard.

“Well Michael shattered the wooden one,” Jeremy explained.

“Why do I put up with you?” Michael got up from the table and left the room.

“And yeah, I could just keep replacing it, but then the wood splinters get in the bedding and it’s just not comfy. Y’know that’s just not the kind of wood you want to find in your ass.”

Chloe fell out of her chair from laughing so hard, and Brooke looked equally horrified and amused. Jeremy just continued eating his dinner like normal, he was fairly immune to comments on his sex life. At age sixteen he had been put on a magazine cover and an entire article had been written about how he had no taste and would sleep with any girl that so much as walked within ten feet of him. He remembered an angry complaint from Jennifer, probably because it messed with her own image, but Jeremy hadn’t cared. Despite all the bullshit Jennifer had tried to put into his head Jeremy liked himself. He knew who he was and didn’t care what other people said. Sure, the media and paparazzi would always annoy him, but what they said about him would never outright bother him.

After a few more minutes Michael came back into the room and they all agreed to move on to a different conversation topic for his sake. Brooke mentioned having a work trip and it got the ball moving. They had fun going around the house and putting up the photos to display after dinner. Jeremy hadn’t had any photos to put up before, the first time he had taken the time to frame a photo was when he added the one of him and Michael into his boyfriend’s collection in their room. It felt a bit odd, looking around the house and seeing actual signs of inhabitants. Jeremy kept his house so…blank. It was a nice change.

Once Chloe and Brooke were on their way home Jeremy made his way down to the workshop. He pulled out the Mark Ⅲ armor from the vault and started to suit up, finding Michael watching on with a small smile.

“What, no goodbye kiss?” Jeremy teased him.

Michael walked over, giving him a quick kiss, “Don’t do anything stupid.”

“I’ll do my best,” Jeremy assured, lowering the faceplate. “Love you.”

“Love you too.”

☼

Michael sighed, finishing his rep before dropping from the pullup bar. He was getting tired of not having anything to do with his life. He’d been unemployed for nearly three months. Sure, playing pretend at being upper class was fun, but Michael was the child of an immigrant. Working hard was in his blood. Also if he didn’t have a job by the next time his moms called they would fly over and beat his ass. Super strength wouldn’t stop the rage of the Mell family.

It didn’t help that his life had been pretty directionless since…forever. Michael wasn’t a genius like Jeremy, he got decent grades in school. He went to tech school and got a liberal arts degree, he wasn’t even sure what that meant for him in hindsight. Michael didn’t have any big passions to drive him into the workforce. He had been a nerd and a stoner without a care in the world until he decided on a whim to join up in the military. And now he was a nerd, drugs didn’t work on him anymore, and he was stronger than a tank.

Michael didn’t even like exercise all that much. He only worked out regularly because it was a coping method to help him manage his freaky mutated body. If he could go without it Michael would gladly ditch the basketball shorts and sweaty shirts. He despised almost every comment made about his body. He knew people mostly didn’t mean to upset him by it, but it sucked that he was being objectified by the entire world as Jeremy Heere’s “hot piece of ass” and that was all.

Michael loved Jeremy, and he was pretty sure nothing would change that, but having the entire world watching felt so…exhausting. He wasn’t sure how Jeremy had managed like that his entire life.

Still, Michael needed to find something to do with his life. He couldn’t lounge around Jeremy’s mansion for the rest of his life, though he was sure Jeremy wouldn’t complain. So Michael got changed and made his way over to the office building. If anyone could help he was positive that James and Chloe could. That is if they weren’t too busy, he didn’t want to bother them.

“Hi Michael,” James greeted him warmly. Michael hadn’t ever had a father figure, and James was probably the closest he would ever get. Go figure he was as nice as ever. James and him spent the afternoon looking into potential jobs for Michael to consider. They talked things through, and James even offered to see if he had any company sway in getting Michael hired at a few jobs they located. It felt like too much, but Michael didn’t protest too hard. One of the options was a video game tester and that sounded like heaven.

Michael made his way down the hall to Chloe’s office, figuring he could at least stop in and say hi to her. Brooke was utterly enamored by her and it made Michael feel good to know that his best friend was so happy. Brooke deserved to be happy, Michael would give anything to ensure that she stayed happy for the rest of her life.

“Michael!” Chloe jumped to attention, hurrying across the room to him in her tall heels. “Have you heard from Brooke?”

Michael made a face, “No? Is she okay?”

Chloe ran a hand through her hair, “I’m not sure. She didn’t text or call last night, and I thought maybe she was just tired from work but she hasn’t messaged me at all since yesterday morning. Am I being paranoid? I can’t really tell.”

Michael pulled out his phone and dialed Brooke’s number. It wasn’t like her to not at least send a text, even if she was busy. Michael frowned at his phone as he was sent straight to voicemail. That…wasn’t a good sign.

“Okay, we know she’s on a work trip,” Michael tried to stay calm about the situation. “So the next step is to call her boss. I’ll be the first to admit Brooke can be a bit of an airhead but she’s not stupid. Maybe her phone is just broken.”

“Fuck,” Chloe didn’t seem calmed in the slightest. Still she called Brooke’s boss, pacing the room and biting at her nails. Michael listened in as she talked, Brooke’s boss confirming that he hadn’t seen her since the day prior. He crossed his arms over his chest as the anxiety started to build, he didn’t want to risk breaking something.

“Can you call Rich?” Chloe looked close to tears. “Maybe he’s heard from her.”

Michael nodded, taking a calming breath before uncrossing his arms and pulling out his phone. He called Rich’s phone, a pit forming in his stomach when his phone also went straight to voicemail. He tried Jake next, finding the same results. Something was wrong. Maybe two of them having phone issues was plausible, but all three? No. Michael called Maria in a panic, Chloe standing in front of him with tears rolling down her cheeks as the silence of the room grew painful.

“Hi honey!” Maria’s voice sounded cheerful. Michael actually fell back against the door and slid down to sit on the floor. Thank god she was okay. “How are you?”

“Have you heard from Brooke, Jake,or Rich?” Michael tried to keep his tone casual, but his free hand was shaking.

“Nope. I know Brooke has her big work trip right now so I’m sure she’s just busy honey. And I know Jake and Rich haven’t been over because the beer we keep in the fridge for them hasn’t been stolen, so I bet they're still in their honeymoon phase. Did you need something?”

“Uh, nope!” Michael squeezed his eyes shut. “Just have them call me if you hear from them.”

“Sounds good. I love you Michael.”

“Love you too Mom,” Michael responded, ending the call.

All of his friends were missing. That couldn’t be good. What if his moms went missing next? Or Chloe? Surely there was a reason for this!

“Fuck!” Chloe wiped at her tears, her distress turning angry. “What do we do?!”

Michael got up from the floor, clenching his hands into fists so they stopped shaking, “We find them.”

Chloe nodded, opening the door for them so they could leave. They didn’t mention anything to James, his life was finally back to normal and they didn’t want to disturb him. Michael focused on keeping his body in check while he drove them back to the house, the two going down to Jeremy’s workshop.

“Squip, can you track where Brooke went yesterday?” Michael asked, turning on the holographic computer. “She’s not answering us. Maybe track her phone to her last location?”

Of course, Mr. Mell,” Squip beeped, pulling up security camera footage from the hotel Brooke was staying at.

Michael and Chloe watched Brooke traverse through the hotel, leaving for her work meetings. The cameras followed her as she walked out to the street. And then as Brooke turned a corner she just…vanished.

“The next available camera has no footage of Ms. Lohst.” Squip explained. “And her phone was last located just a few hundred yards from where the footage is from.”

“What about Jake and Rich?” Michael asked, watching Chloe fall into Jeremy’s desk chair, her tears returning.

The footage changed, showing Rich and Jake out walking together. This time they got to see as the two walked for quite a while. And then once they were on a quiet street Michael felt his heart stop as the two of them were both jumped and dragged into a vehicle that was just out of frame for them to properly see.

His friends had been kidnapped.

“Their phones have also gone dead near where they were abducted,” Squip stated. “However, Mr. Jake Dillinger was gifted a watch from Sir at his wedding. Sir designed it himself and the watch is powered by an arc reactor. I can track the reactor due to their unique energy output. It appears that the watch is located in rural New York. An abandoned military base.”

That had to mean it was because of him, right? This was his fault. His friends were gone and it was because of him and his freaky body. Who the hell wanted to get to him this time?

“Mr. Mell, would you like me to alert Sir about what is happening?”

Michael squared his jaw, “No. I’ll handle it.”

Michael grabbed his ractors, pocketing the Captain uniform and turning on the armor. He was getting them back. As the nano-tech covered his body Michael grabbed his shield, finding the armor helped keep it from falling off his arm while flying.

“Wait,” Chloe got up and kicked off her heels. “Take me with. If they’re hurt I can help carry them out.”

Michael glanced at Chloe through the faceplate of the armor. She was going to be beating herself if she didn’t come with him. He knew he would do the same if the roles were switched. He sighed, turning towards the vault. It almost felt wrong, using Jeremy’s tech for his own needs.

He would understand.

“Squip, can Chloe wear one of the armors?” Michael felt startled as his voice was changed by the armor.

“Of course. The Mark Ⅱ armor would be best for easy assembly.”

The vault opened, Chloe nervously moving into position for the armor to be put on her. Once she was suited up Michael opened a comm between them before leading them outside. Michael had Squip auto pilot them, Chloe clearly scared of the speed that the armors could travel at. Still, this would be for the best.

They were mostly quiet for the flight, the two of them either too scared to speak or just too upset to find something to talk about. Maybe both. They landed outside the base, Michael switching to his Captain uniform before they moved in.

The place was quiet, Michael still tracking the signal to a specific building. He pulled the door open, finding that the space was clearly being used if the bright lights had anything to say about the situation. Michael didn’t let his brain process, he just ran in. Whatever this place was it was clearly being kept nice for a reason. Chloe followed him down the stairs, finding another closed door at the end of a hall. They were underground now. Michael tugged on the handle but the door didn’t budge. He sighed, pulling the door off of its hinges without a second thought.

“Oh damn,” Chloe mumbled, following him into the darkened room.

Michael kept walking, letting his eyes adjust to the change in lighting. He kept quiet, the only noise coming from Chloe moving in the armor. Michael approached where Squip said Jake’s watch was, his stomach clenching at the sight of a person-shaped lump on the ground in front of him. Fuck.

“Jake?”

No response. Michael started to panic, lightly poking the lump with his foot. He heard a familiar voice let out a whine of pain and Michael sighed. Not dead. Thank god. Chloe figured out how to turn up the brightness of the reactor in the chest of the armor, Michael looking to take in Jake’s appearance better. His friend was just laying there, it was too dark to tell if his face was dirty or bruised. Michael knelt down next to him, reaching out to brush his arm. Jake properly stirred, his eyes opening.

“Jeremy?” Jake looked at the armor first. “You need to find Brooke and Rich! I don’t know where they took them!”

Michael turned to Chloe, “Get him out of here, I’ll keep looking.”

Chloe nodded, helping Jake to his feet. Michael watched as he nearly collapsed, Chloe having to catch him. Once Jake was situated in her arms bridal style Michael continued forward, holding his shield in front of him just in case. The next door wasn’t locked, and Michael made his way inside. It was quiet for a moment before he heard screaming. Brooke screaming. Rich screaming. Michael started running, finding his friends tied to hospital beds that felt way too familiar.

Swan had found a way to get to him after all.

“Brooke! Rich!” Michael hurried to their sides, feeling sick to his stomach as he saw IV bags attached to their arms. Shit shit shit shit shit shit! He moved fast, pulling out the needles from their arms. Oh god if they ended up hurt because of him–

“Make another move and you’re dead, Michael!” Swan shouted, the lights turning on as she stepped into the room. “Turn around slowly!”

Michael pivoted on his heel, glaring as Swan was aiming a gun at him. He didn’t speak a word, just kept his eyes trained on her gun. If she hit him he would be fine, he was tough enough to take a bullet, but if she missed she could hit Rich or Brooke. And he couldn’t risk them.

“You showed up a bit sooner than expected,” Swan mused. “Then again, I should have known Heere would figure it out. He’s a smart man, it’s a shame he wasted his talents.”

Michael clenched his jaw, pondering how fast he could move. If he could scare Swan she would be less likely to fire at his friends and more likely to shoot him. Michael charged, tossing the shield forward. Swan fired at him, Michael not feeling the bullet hit. The shield hit Swan, knocking her to the ground. Michael could only see red, grabbing the shield again before grabbing Sawn by the throat and lifting her from the ground. It wouldn’t take much to end her mess. He could kill her right now. He was so much stronger than her.

“Mikey stop!”

He turned his head, finding Brooke struggling to sit up with how her body was tied down. Michael lessened his grip, not wanting to scare Brooke. He turned back to Swan, ready to set her back down when she pressed her gun to the exposed part of his head.

“Try me,” Swan wheezed out.

Michael moved on instinct, using his free arm to hit Swan with the shield. She went flying off to the side and she fired again. Michael felt his skin turn hot just above his ear, fear shocked his system, but he was still standing. The gun fell from Swan’s hand as she hit the ground. Michael kicked it across the room before standing over the woman who tortured him.

“You’re pathetic!” Swan hissed.

Michael didn’t respond, he just smacked her across the face with the shield. Albeit a lot lighter than he wanted to. Swan was out cold, allowing Michael to turn his attention away from her. He trudged his way over towards Brooke and Rich again, finding the pain in his head a bit harder to ignore now. He reached a hand up, feeling a small groove where the bullet had grazed him. On the plus side, it hadn’t gone into his skull.

But there was still a lot of blood. He needed to get everyone out before things got worse.

Rich was out, so Michael focused on Brooke first. She appeared sweaty and was noticeably hot to the touch. What the fuck had Swan done to them? Michael broke her restraints, helping her sit up.

“Mikey, you’re bleeding,” Brooke whined, her face flushed and she was clearly struggling to breathe.

“Don’t worry about me,” Michael shushed her. “Chloe will be back in a minute and she’ll take you out of here.”

Brooke squeezed her eyes shut in discomfort, “I feel like I’m on fire.”

“You’re burning up, probably too warm. Do you have something on under your sweater? Maybe less layers will help.”

Brooke nodded absentmindedly, peeling off her sweater to reveal a tank top beneath. Michael turned to Rich, breaking his restraints like he had with Brooke. He wasn’t awake but his face was contorted with pain and his breathing wasn’t quite even.

“Mikey!”

Michael whipped his head over, Brooke’s hands to be the color of lava and held out away from her body. Shit. What the fuck had Swan done to her?!

“Brooke?” Chloe came walking in, still inside the armor. “Michael?”

Swan stirred, apparently Michael hadn’t hit her hard enough. Chloe acted fast, raising her arm and firing a repulsor at the evil bitch.

Michael felt his sense of control slipping. He was still bleeding, Brooke was literally hot, and Rich was still unconscious. He didn’t know what to do. How could he help them? Could he help them?

He turned to the armor, “Squip, contact Christine and tell her where we are. Tell her it’s urgent.”

The armor beeped, confirming the request. Michael turned his attention back to Rich, checking to see if he would end up in a similar state as Brooke. He didn’t feel hot to the touch, but something about his arm didn’t look right. Michael reached out, finding his arm squishy. His other arm appeared to be fine, but something had gone wrong in his body for him to have a squishy part of his body.

“I’ll go get Jake,” Chloe said, hurrying back out.

It didn’t take too long for Christine to get there, she barged her way in with a handful of underlings, Swan being apprehended and taken from the room. Michael watched her approach, a small smile on her face.

“I’m glad you know how to listen,” Christine said. “Brooke, are you able to stand?”

Brooke got to her feet, her hands still burning. Christine instructed her to follow one of the other agents, Michael assuring her that she was safe. Jake and Rich were both carried out on stretchers, although luckily Jake hadn’t been messed with. He was injured, but Swan hadn’t properly gotten her hands on him yet.

“Heere—”

“I’m not Jeremy,” Chloe corrected. “He’s occupied.”

Christine sighed, “Okay. Change of plans. Ms. Valentine, Michael, you two are free to go home or you can follow me. I’ll be taking your friends to our base, making sure they’re healthy and safe before they return home.”

“I’ll head home and work on covering for Brooke at work,” Chloe said.

Michael turned off his uniform, pocketing the reactor and following Christine. With Chloe flying home he at least knew that everyone was safe. Christine noticed the blood slowly matting down his hair, her eyes widening.

“You were shot.”

Michael nodded, “Twice, actually. I think my uniform absorbed the first bullet. Jeremy designed it to be bulletproof.”

“Do you need a medic?”

Michael shook his head, “I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.”

Christine hesitated, but listened. He got into a car with her, the group of vehicles all taking off to wherever Christine was located for her job. He didn’t feel like talking, and was content on just watching over his friends as they were treated. Unfortunately it wasn’t that simple. Christine sat him down once they arrived and had him explain everything that had happened, separating him from his friends.

“Agent Canigula?” The door opened and another agent poked their head in. “Jeremiah Heere is requesting word with—”

“Is Michael in there or not?!” Jeremy’s voice yelled from outside.

Christine sighed, “Let him in.”

Jeremy barged his way in, swooping down on Michael.

“You are a self sacrificing piece of shit!” Jeremy grumbled, inspecting Michael’s head for injury. “Squip alerted me that Chloe wanted the armor, next thing I know you’re both across the country! What the fuck?! Why didn’t you want Squip to contact me?! And you’re fucking bleeding! Did you even try cleaning the wound or are you just hoping you’re immune to all illnesses?!”

Michael didn’t respond, he just dropped his shield and pulled Jeremy into his arms, hiding his face against his shoulder. Jeremy stopped his rant and hugged him back, silence passing over them for a moment.

“Heere,” Christine broke the silence. “I would appreciate your help in curing Ms. Lohst. I’ll send a medic to Michael, but Swan’s work is chaotic and unorganized in every way. You might be the best one to figure out what she did.”

Jeremy turned to Michael again, “Swan? I thought she was arrested.”

Michael shrugged, “I don’t know. Please help Brooke.”

Jeremy nodded, pressing a kiss to his cheek. Christine showed him out of the room, leaving Michael alone. His head was pounding from the blood loss, but he was fine all things considered. A medic came in and cleaned up his wound, even doing up some stitches to help stop the bleeding. No one stopped Michael from roaming, so he walked around the building they were in and tried locating his friends. The shield on his arm seemed to scare almost everyone into letting him do what he wanted.

“Michael,” Christine appeared out of nowhere. “I’ve got your boyfriend working on a cure for Brooke. But unfortunately there isn’t anything we can do for Rich. Nothing that can fix what was done at least.”

Michael felt sick to his stomach, “What happened?

Christine pulled a phone from her belt, showing Michael the screen, “Whatever was being put in his body caused his bones to melt. Luckily you got there before the damage could spread all that far, but his bones in his arm are fully liquified. He can’t heal from that. I’m going to suggest to his husband that we amputate the arm. Rich is currently sedated because of the pain, his nerves are all messed up because of the damage. If we don’t amputate he will be in insurmountable pain for the rest of his life

Michael pressed his lips into a line. This was all his fault. Brooke was turning into lava, Rich was going to lose an arm. All because of his actions.

He followed Christine to Jake, finding that at least one friend was left mostly safe. There was a bruise on his forehead, but Jake was okay. He listened to Christine explain the situation, but Michael wasn’t actually hearing anything. Jake’s eyes kept twitching between the shield on Michael’s arm and Christine. He felt like human garbage. This felt worse than when he had learned that Jeremy was Iron Man. At least Jeremy was able to defend himself. His friends had been helpless.

Michael turned on his heel and walked out. He couldn’t handle the guilt. He asked someone to point him to an exit, he wasn’t really processing what was happening. Michael attached his armor and turned it on, eyes clouded with tears.

“Take me home, please,” Michael whispered.

Squip beeped and the armor started moving. Taking Michael away from his mistakes, but not his guilt.

Chapter Text

“What’s my offense this time?” Jeremy sang along to the music pounding from the speakers of the workshop. He paused his work long enough so he could adjust his grip on the tools in his hands and he could mime playing along with the drums of the song. “You’re not a judge but if you’re gonna judge me, well, sentence me to another life!”

He went back to work, the loud music helping turn off his brain from outside distractions as he worked. He was nearly done with construction, and that meant he could try and get life back to normal faster. At least, hopefully things would be normal again.

Michael…hadn’t left the house in nearly three weeks. He didn’t join for visits to the office, he ordered their groceries to the house instead of going to the store, and he just seemed…off. Jeremy wasn’t stupid, he knew what was bothering him. But he had never seen Michael so lifeless.

Things had been going so well. Michael hadn’t been having night terrors as frequently, things were looking great. And now if he didn’t wake Jeremy up from screaming Jeremy caught him sitting up in bed in the middle of the night while silent tears rolled down his face. Stiff as a statue and scared to reach out for help.

And it had been every night. Jeremy didn’t know what to do. Michael knew that Brooke was okay. Jeremy had figured out a cure in a matter of hours. Rich…he was less okay, but he was alive. But it didn’t really matter.

Because Michael wasn’t speaking to anyone. He hardly spoke to Jeremy, and they lived together. Every time Jeremy saw his boyfriend he looked like a kicked puppy. And it hurt to see. Jeremy couldn’t get him to hold a conversation.

So now Jeremy was pulling his old shit to try and get his boyfriend to talk to him. Jeremy had shut himself in the workshop bright and early, and now it was starting to get late. Babysitter instincts would have to kick in and get Michael moving.

But the hours kept ticking by. Jeremy finished construction and moved on to programming, waiting for a knock at the door or a message from Squip. And still nothing happened. Jeremy made a fresh pot of coffee before moving on to cosmetics for his project, pulling up his reference images and getting to work—still half heartedly singing along to the music that threatened his eardrums.

“I think you hate me because you want me,” Jeremy scooted his chair closer so it was less likely for him to mess up his lines. “You only want what you can’t have. I’m just being who I want to be, but you can’t deal with that!”

Once all the outlining of what he wanted for the designs were done he sent the device off for Squip to paint. He was pretty sure Michael wasn’t coming to babysit him. He sighed, pondering if he should give in and go to sleep or wait it out and pull an all nighter.

The music automatically stopped as the door opened, Jeremy spinning around in his chair as Michael walked in. It was clear that he had woken up from another night terror just from his posture alone. Jeremy shot up, making his way over.

“Hey, talk to me sweetheart,” Jeremy brushed his thumb over Michael’s cheek.

“Can’t,” Michael managed to force out something. “Not now.”

Jeremy walked them back upstairs and to their room, pressing a kiss to his cheek as he pushed Michael to climb back into bed. Jeremy kicked off his jeans before following him under the covers, attaching himself like a leech.

“I love you,” Jeremy murmured.

“Love you too.”

Jeremy sighed, shimmying so he could use Michael’s shoulder as a pillow. It was most likely that his boyfriend wasn’t going to talk to him. At least not now. He loved Michael, but his unwillingness to talk to anyone was getting frustrating. He wished that there were qualified therapists for human experimentation victims. Unfortunately that wasn’t something common enough to require the position. He sighed again, concocting a plan in his mind. If Michael wasn’t going to face his problems, Jeremy would make him face his problems.

“As you wish, Sir,” Squip beeped in his head.

☼

Michael sighed, absentmindedly scrubbing a plate that was already clean. He found himself zoning out a lot lately.

It didn’t help that every time he closed his eyes he saw all of his loved ones drop dead.

He felt pathetic. He couldn’t decide if what he was currently feeling was worse than when he had broken Jeremy’s hand or not. It was a toss up. Both made him feel like actual human garbage.

He had turned off his phone after he had received a text from Rich. He wasn’t sure what all they knew. Jake had probably put the pieces together that he was Captain, but had he shared that information or not? He couldn’t stand to see the notification when he wasn’t ready for his friends to bash him into the pavement.

Not to mention Jeremy was getting sick of him and his bullshit. He was counting down the days until Jeremy decided he wasn’t worth it anymore and would to kick him out.

It shouldn’t be so hard to reach out to someone, but it was.

“Sweetheart!” Jeremy’s voice called from the living room.

Michael dried his hands before walking out. Jeremy was covered in grease. What the hell had he been doing?

“I’ve got some people coming over,” Jeremy explained, brushing his hair out of his eyes and leaving another streak of grease in his wake. “Nothing major. Just get the door for them so I can shower.”

Michael nodded, letting his boyfriend vanish towards their room. Michael sighed, heading to the front door and opening it. He saw a cab in the driveway, his heart rate picking up at the sight of Jake stepping out of the cab.

Jeremy Heere you conniving piece of shit.

Michael kept his eyes trained to the ground. He didn’t want to look up. Didn’t want to see Jake’s face. They had all been kidnapped because of him. Rich had lost an arm. Brooke had been turned into a weapon. He couldn’t…he couldn’t face them.

“Dude!”

Michael flinched, feeling an arm wrap around him. Just one. Michael patted Rich’s back before forcing himself to look up. Jake had a suitcase in each hand.

“How…” he paused to clear his throat. “How long are you staying?”

“A week,” Jake shrugged. “Is that a problem?”

Michael looked back down, “No, no! Uh, come in?”

Michael showed them to one of the guest rooms, finding that Rich was all smiles given the situation. Meaning Jake hadn’t told him. Jake bumped into him as he walked in, Michael seriously considering running away. He could leave, he could walk into the ocean and never look back.

“I have to piss, I’ll be back,” Rich stretched up on his toes and pressed a kiss to Jake’s cheek before vanishing into the bathroom.

Michael glanced over, “You didn’t tell him?”

Jake got in Michael’s face, “Do you have any idea how fucked up it is that I have to keep secrets from my husband? Of course I didn’t tell him!”

“You can tell him, it’s your choice—”

“No! Fuck you! You can tell him, Michael. It’s not my job to share your secrets. Brooke too, she deserved to know.”

“She does know.”

Jake backed up, pulling his phone out, “Of fucking course she does. What, were we the last to know?”

Basically, “I haven’t told my moms yet…”

Jake rolled his eyes, “Why don’t you go post on Instagram about it with your billionaire boy toy first? I’m sure that’ll make them so proud of you—”

“Don’t drag Jeremy into this!”

“Hey!” Rich walked back into the room, his head whipping between the two of them. “I get that life is pretty shitty right now but now is not the time for you two to start fighting! I just lost the easiest eight or nine pounds of my life! Let’s try and be positive!”

Jake and Michael fell quiet. All he had to do was tell him the truth. Be honest for once. He had wanted to tell them the entire time, why was it so hard?

“Rich, I—”

“Hi!” Jeremy came sliding into the room. That was the fastest shower ever. Michael looked over, finding Jeremy’s hair was still dripping. He must have been rushing. “Rich, I have a gift for you, c’mon.”

They all followed Jeremy down to the workshop. Michael noted that his shield had been hidden away, probably so no one saw it and thought to get upset over it. While Jeremy showed Rich around the room Jake put a hand on his shoulder, stopping Michael in his tracks.

“And I don’t want to hear a fucking word of you thinking that I hate you, Michael. We’re adults now, I’m not that petty. I’m pissed off, but I don’t hate you.”

Michael gave a single nod, letting Jake return to Rich’s side. He watched Jeremy hand Rich a properly wrapped box. He hadn’t ever seen Jeremy put that much care into something trivial like a gift.

Rich had to set the box down in order to try and open it, but he managed to tear the paper open. He lifted the lid and his eyes grew wide.

“Jeremy…”

Jeremy shrugged, “I hope I’m not being too forward, but this seemed important.”

Rich reached into the box, lifting out a metal arm from the inside. Michael’s eyes widened, finding that Rich’s tattoos had been incorporated into the design of the arm.

“I’ll be honest, I’ve had this idea in my head for years, but this is the first time I've had a reason to work on it,” Jeremy continued. “Want to try it on?”

Rich nodded, Jeremy walking over to help attach the arm. Jeremy was clearly trying to be careful given that Rich’s stump was still bandaged. Jake and Michael watched on in silent awe as the arm attached to Rich’s stump and turned on. In a matter of seconds the hand of the robot arm was flexing and moving in sync with Rich’s other arm.

“How does it do this?” Rich asked, moving the robotic hand to wave.

“A lot of science jargon that I don’t want to bore you with,” Jeremy answered, offering a smile. “I would suggest waiting to use this full time until after you’re all healed up from surgery, but it is waterproof.”

Rich turned to Jake with a smirk on his face, waggling his robot fingers at his husband, “We are going to make a whole new level of freaky sex.”

Jake facepalmed while Jeremy started laughing. Michael rolled his eyes, go figure that Rich would find a way to make it weird. Jeremy helped him remove the arm, passing the box over to Jake to store away.

“Good luck getting through TSA with that,” Jeremy chuckled. “Joking, I’ll send you with the private plane.”

It was an awkward afternoon, Michael never found a chance to talk to Jake and Rich about what was all going on. Rich was just happy to be around and it broke Michael’s heart a little bit each time he mentioned it. He wasn’t going to be able to do this without wholly crushing him. Maybe just showing the shield would be the best option.

“Jer?” Michael approached his boyfriend while his friends were bickering over what food to order. “Where’s my shield?”

Jeremy hummed, “Brooke wanted to fix up the paint. We can pick it up tomorrow.”

Well there went that idea. Dinner went about as well as it could given the tension between Jake and Michael. Rich seemed to think they were just arguing over his condition, which was partially true, but he brushed off what was going on in favor of obsessing over Jeremy’s home.

“Tomorrow I’ll give you guys a tour of the factory,” Jeremy said, locking an ankle with Michael’s as they sat at the table.

They all watched a movie before going to bed. Jake seemed to be calming down, at least until they made eye contact and Michael received a glare from his friend. He sighed, averting his gaze and staring into the screen. Should he have said something sooner? Yeah, probably. But it wasn’t easy to just put out all the trauma. Sure he could maybe try to just avoid that part of his story, but what good would that do if he just shared a half assed story about getting fucking superpowers and skipped over the how he got them part. Brooke knew for over a month before he had managed to actually talk to her.

It wasn’t going to be pretty, but at least he would have everything off his chest.

Michael was the first one up. It wasn’t all that surprising, he didn’t exactly sleep well anymore. He had woken up at one point during the night from night terrors, but he hadn’t woken Jeremy up. Sleeping was just something that didn’t really help him anymore.

Michael pulled himself out of bed and went through the motions of getting ready before making his way into the kitchen. He started cooking, finding some peace in the action. At least his disastrous emotional state the past few weeks hadn’t caused him to break anything. Usually keeping his emotions in check was needed in order to not become destructive, but this time had been fine.

“You guys have coffee?”

Michael looked up, finding Jake standing in the doorway. Michael gestured with his head towards the coffee pot, Squip starting the brewing the moment coffee was mentioned. Jake nodded, walking into the room. Michael paused his cooking long enough to give Jake a mug, avoiding eye contact the entire time.

“Do you know how strong you are?”

Michael pressed his lips into a line, “Very. More than should be possible.”

Jake pulled out a chair and took a seat, “How long has Brooke known?”

“…She…she found out but we didn’t talk about it until before your wedding. She just…put the pieces together.”

Michael started plating food, setting seats for everyone when they got up. He really didn’t want to talk about it. The repeat questions sucked, but it was a torture he deserved.

“When did it happen—”

“Breakfast? Mikey you shouldn’t have!” Rich came walking in, taking a seat next to his husband.

Michael noted that Rich had taken off the bandage on what little he had left of his arm. The skin was still a little pink with irritation, but the scar seemed to be healing nicely. It helped with the guilt a little to actually see the damage. It didn’t fully take away the gut wrenching feeling, but it was easier to see that Rich was healing. And taking the loss like a champ. Losing something so vital like a limb seemed like something that would take months just to accept, but Rich was rolling with the punches like it was another average day. There were hints to obvious frustrations, like not being able to grab things all the time, but Rich was still moving forward like his bones melting was just something that happened to people.

It was a miracle that Rich was left handed, he at least still had the arm that he used for most basic tasks. And he still got to wear his wedding ring. Losing that would have fully crushed him, Michael was sure of it.

Jeremy came walking in, not saying a word and beelining to the coffee pot. Michael was honestly impressed he managed to pull on a pair of sweats, Jeremy was the kind of person who would walk around naked if he had the choice.

Correction, Jeremy did walk around naked when given the opportunity. There had been a few sneaky photos taken of Jeremy at nude beaches in the past, but surprisingly nothing that was overtly revealing. Somehow there was always a rock or cooler in the way, something to keep Jeremy from being exposed for all the media outlets to hound over.

Once Jeremy had half a mug of coffee in his system he started chatting with Rich like normal. Michael watched and listened, not feeling up to actively participating just yet. It was nice to see Jeremy and his friends get along so well, granted Jermy could make a rock like him if he tried hard enough. There was something about Jeremy that was inherently likable. And getting to know him only proved the idea. Jeremy hated all the board members of his company, and he had a shitty reputation to go along with it, but somehow up until recently they had all adored him. It wasn’t until Jeremy started being himself that he started to be disliked by the people who shared the control of the company with him, and to the public that distaste was never shared.

Jeremy was a genius, and that was the only explanation that Michael could come up with that made any sense.

Michael was a silent follower as Jeremy pulled everyone into the car to visit the factory. Rich was wearing his new robot arm so Jeremy could show off his work to James and Chloe, still adjusting to the controls as they drove over. Michael took up the rear of the group, letting Jeremy show them around the newly designed factory. It was blatantly obvious how proud Jeremy was of the rebuild. It maybe hadn’t been his original plan, but Jeremy had taken the best out of a horrible situation and made things fit to how he wanted. Even walking around Jeremy actively said hi to a lot of the department leaders they passed while walking. He knew their names and respected the work they put in. And Jennifer had sent Chloe running around to make lists of who needed her attention at the given moment.

After the factory they made their way across the parking lot to the office building, stopping in to see James in his office first. Michael watched as Jeremy showed off the robot arm, his eyes bright as he talked a mile a minute at his dad about nerve sensors and programming and a lot of other words that Michael didn’t comprehend. James clearly didn’t understand either, but he nodded and smiled along, patting Jeremy on the back when he stopped rambling. How the hell had Jeremy gone from hardly tolerating his father to actively seeking his praise?

“Anyway, Chloe–aka my bitch–is down the hall. And I’m pretty sure she brought Brooke with her today so–”

Rich bolted down the hall, “Brookie-Cookie!”

Chloe’s office door opened, Brooke stepping into the hall, “Rich!”

The two met in the middle for a hug, Michael watching them turn in a circle as they hugged. Jake went next, picking Brooke off the floor to hug her. She looked like she was doing well, go figure since Jeremy had helped save her.

“Mikey,” Brooke held out her arms and made grabby hands at him. “Stop ignoring me and come here.”

Right, he had pretty much ghosted everyone he cared about. Michael still hadn’t turned his phone back on, he was scared of what he would find. He gave a small nod, walking over and into her arms. Brooke squeezed him as hard as she could, while Michael gave an appropriate amount of force given what he was capable of.

They all walked into Chloe’s office, Michael holding back a snort at the sight of Jeremy sitting on Chloe’s desk while he talked to her. She was glaring at him to move, but he either didn’t notice or didn’t care. Michael rolled his eyes, moving on. If Jeremy got his ass beat by Chloe he probably deserved it.

Brooke offered him a small smile, passing him the bag that carried his shield. Michael returned the smile, taking the bag in his hand. All he had to do now was open the bag and pull out the shield. It couldn’t be that hard to put the pieces together from there. Denial and disbelief could maybe cause some issues, but the proof was right there. And from the look Jake passed him he knew what was in the bag. It was kind of obvious if you knew what was going on. Giant circular bag? Perfectly indestructible shield shaped? Maybe the common onlooker wouldn’t think much of it, but the people currently in the room? It didn’t do anything to hide what was inside besides the bag being opaque. 

“But if we could produce these for the masses–” Jeremy was talking Chloe’s ear off about the potential of his robotic prosthetics. And like usual when things seemed to finally be going well, all hell broke loose.

Several crashes in the hall ended all conversation. Michael opened the door, watching as what looked like small explosives came flying through the windows of the hall. Shit.

“Get back!” Michael barked, pushing everyone against the far wall. He wasn’t sure how strong the explosives were and didn’t want to risk anyone getting hurt.

While the explosions were going off Jeremy checked the security camera footage. Michael watched on as black clad individuals began storming the building. What the fuck was happening?!

“The hall is clear, get everyone out,” Jeremy pushed Michael forward. “I’ll handle tracking everything.”

Michael nodded, leading the group out into the hall. They all rushed for the stairs, Jeremy breaking off to grab James. Jeremy probably had a reactor on him, so Michael didn’t worry. Everyone was quiet, hurrying down the emergency staircase.

“This is why we don’t come visit,” Rich tried to keep things humorous.

“Shit!” Michael heard people running up before he saw them. He groaned, pulling out his Captain uniform and turning it on. He tossed the shield bag back to Brooke as he put the shield on his arm, hopping over the railing to fall down the stairs a few floors. He caught himself on the railing, swinging back over and meeting the intruders head on. He was silent, disarming immediate attackers and knocking them unconscious. He blocked multiple gunshots with the shield, the bullets firing back at the attackers and hitting them in the shoulder or arm. Once a weapon was in his hand Michael crushed it under his fist, rendering them useless. He finished up the crowd of attackers as his friends came running down.

“Mikey?!” Rich screamed, eyes wide.

“We don’t have time for this shit! Let’s go!”

Everyone agreed to save the hysterics for later, hurrying down the rest of the stairs. He didn’t know who these people were, but he wouldn’t let them hurt his family. Michael brought them out to the main hall, tossing the shield forward when there was another group of attackers waiting for them. He knocked the first target down, catching the shield as it came flying back. He tried not to think about possible brain damage he was causing these people. Michael appeared to be the person of interest, the remaining attackers trying to dogpile and fire at him while ignoring the small group behind him. All was going well until he felt the cold of a gun pressed against the exposed part of his head. He seriously needed a full helmet.

Michael took in a slow breath, raising his arms slowly in surrender. He wasn’t the best at math, but he was going to risk the odds in surviving again. He swooped a leg back, knocking out the knees of his current attacker. He turned quick, blocking his head with the shield as a shot rang out.  He grabbed the gun, crushing it with his hand before lowering the shield. The attacker seemed fine for the most part. But Michael still bonked them with the shield to be safe. He looked back to his friends, his eyes widening as another attacker began to approach them from behind.

“Guys!”

Michael’s jaw dropped as Rich turned, spotted the attacker, and swung his metal fist. There was a gross snapping sound of the attacker’s cheek bone shattering, but they collapsed to the ground right after. Michael hurried back over, Rich seemingly shocked with the power behind his new arm.

“Woah,” Jake murmured.

“Let’s get out of here!” Chloe got them back on track, hardly keeping Brooke from going into an anxiety attack. Not that Michael blamed her in the slightest.

They made it outside, hurrying over to the parking lot. He practically shoved everyone into Jeremy’s car, putting Chloe in the driver’s seat. He needed to go back for Jeremy and James, but they would be safe.

“Squip, get them out of here!” He ordered.

“Of course Captain,” Squip beeped in return.

With the car driving away Michael turned to run back inside. He watched as James’s office window opened, the man tumbling out the window as Jeremy’s armor assembled around him, carrying the man to safety towards Jeremy’s house. Fuck, that couldn’t be good.

Michael just made it to the door when he heard another single gunshot go off from above. He swore beneath his breath, charging inside. Jeremy didn’t have armor, he had nothing.

Fuck!

☼

Once Michael had everyone heading towards the exit through the stairs Jeremy made his way into his father’s office. He needed to get his dad out. James was frozen in place at his desk, Jeremy finding Jennifer leaning over him. When the hell had she returned? It didn’t matter, it wasn’t safe for any of them. He needed to get them both out before someone came in trying to attack them.

“Yo! We need to leave!” Jeremy jogged over, hoping to snap his parents out of it. Their frozen states were unnerving.

He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the gun in Jennifer’s hand.

“Sit down,” Jennifer pointed to a chair that had been pushed to the side so it was out of her way. Jeremy couldn’t risk his dad’s safety, so he did as his mother said. The nano-tech suit was burning a hole in his pocket, but if he scared Jennifer she could react poorly. He didn’t dare risk her shooting James in retaliation for a scare. He was a sitting duck. They both were.

“It’s time for a quick little family meeting,” Jennifer said, glancing between the pair she had cornered. “I really didn’t want things to end up this way, but you’ve always made things difficult, Jeremiah. So, in a few minutes one of my associates is going to come in and sneak you two away. You can live out your lives in a little cave until I fix all of the messes you made, Jeremiah. I’ll probably have to have them hurt you so you don’t remember everything, and I’m sorry about that, but you’ve forced my hand. Once it’s safe for us you can come home and we’ll be a happy family again. Understand? No more science experiment boyfriends, no more boyfriends in general if it can be helped–it’s bad for our image, no more ruining my life, we’ll be perfect again.”

Muted gunshots kept going off on the floors below, scaring Jeremy into thinking the worst. What if it was Michael getting hurt? Or their friends? He couldn’t even help because he was stuck in a stupid chair!

“The Captain uniform is holding up well, Sir. And camera footage shows that everyone is currently unharmed. Ms. Lohst is possibly going to have an anxiety attack, but Ms. Valentine is helping her through the building.”

That helped a little bit. But every muted bang still sent a slight shiver down his spine. Because each one could mean the life of someone he cared about. He needed to get everyone out. He needed to make sure his employees were safe. How had he managed to fuck things up for everyone so badly?

“You need to at least let them go,” Jeremy begged, his mouth opening before he could fully process what was going on in his own head. He had at least half of a plan–probably not a whole one. “They don’t deserve this.”

Jennifer sighed, “Sure, your little friends can go home if they make it outside. If it means so much to you.”

“Jennifer please,” James whispered. “This isn’t right.”

“Neither is our son ruining our lives, James!” Jennifer snapped.

Jeremy took in a shaky breath, “Can I just look out the window? To make sure they make it out?”

Jennifer nodded, allowing Jeremy to stand. James hesitated before following Jeremy to the window, the two watching out the glass in silence. Jeremy could feel the gun trained at them, terror wracking his system. Jeremy spotted the group hurrying outside, and Jeremy turned to pull his dad into a hug. He needed to move fast.

“It’ll be okay, Jeremy,” James assured, squeezing him.

Jeremy nodded, kicking open the window. He pushed his father out, attaching the reactor to his chest as he tumbled out. He needed his dad to be safe, more than himself.

“Routing Mr. James home, Sir,” Squip beeped in his head. “Emergency services will arrive in a few minutes.”

Jeremy turned back on his heel, finding Jennifer glaring at him. The gun was now fully trained on him, Jennifer slowly walking over to him.

“You shouldn’t have done that,” Jennifer said.

Jeremy flinched as the gun made contact with his body, staring into his mother’s eyes. She surely wouldn’t kill him, right? He was a better asset for her if he was still breathing, right? Tears formed in Jennifer’s eyes, a single one rolling down her cheek.

She wasn’t actually going to…

Jeremy felt his own eyes well up, “Mom?”

Jennifer leaned forward, pressing a kiss to his cheek, “I’m sorry, Jeremy.”

The gunshot was loud, Jeremy felt shock hit his system, his knees locking and causing him to fall forward to the ground. He looked up, watching Jennifer wipe her prints from the gun before turning on her heel and bolting out of the room. Jeremy laid there in silence, slightly confused when he didn’t feel pain. Why didn’t he feel anything? Was he already dead?

“Sir, the arc reactor is offline.”

Holy shit! Jeremy sat up, lifting his shirt and pulling off the patch he had covering the reactor in his chest. The glow was gone, and there was a bullet sized hole in the center of the reactor. Jennifer had shot the reactor, not him. He was alive.

Not for long, there was shrapnel heading straight for his heart. He needed a new reactor. And he needed it before cardiac arrest set in.

“Armor, now,” Jeremy mumbled, getting to his feet. He started digging through Jame’s desk, looking for the reactor he knew he had placed inside. He had planned for this kind of shit, where was it?!

“Mark Ⅲ has been deployed. The spare reactor was moved to Ms. Valentine’s office, Sir.”

Jeremy hurried, tearing open the door. Holy shit he felt weak. He collapsed before making it to Chloe’s office, trying to crawl his way inside. Why did he feel so weak?

“Jeremy!”

Jeremy could hardly process Michael running up to him. He could see his boyfriend but couldn’t hear him properly. Oh god was he dying?

“Reactor,” Jeremy said, unsure of where his eyes were looking. “Chloe’s office.”

He vaguely heard Michael run inside. He spaced out, needing a second to breathe and focus. He flinched, feeling the familiar weight of a reactor in his hand. Jeremy moved on instinct, pulling his shirt up and unscrewing the broken reactor from his chest. He haphazardly removed the old one from the baseplate in his chest, quickly maneuvering his hands to place the new one in and get it connected. Once the new reactor was screwed in it was a waiting game. He came back to his senses as the armor came flying through the already broken window. Jeremy staggered to his feet, his mind set on a goal.

“Jer?”

Jeremy stepped into the armor, looking over at his boyfriend already suited up in his uniform. At least he was safe.

“It was Jennifer,” Jeremy explained, tossing the broken reactor over to Michael. His boyfriend caught the device and crushed it between his fingers. Yeah, rage mode was on. “Find her, don’t let her escape.”

Michael nodded, taking off towards the stairs again. Jeremy sighed, turning his focus to expanding a scan done by Squip. He located all the intruders inside the factory and took off back out the window. He charged up the tranquilizer shots as he flew over, firing once he had a good view of the danger. The cornered employees all seemed shocked, Jeremy flying into view.

“I hope you can all forgive me, this wasn’t on my agenda for the day,” Jeremy said, flying above the crowd. “I’ll explain, I swear.”

He took off back outside, finding his boyfriend just in time to watch him throw the shield and hit Jennifer in the back, knocking her to the ground while the shield came flying back. Jeremy sighed, landing beside his boyfriend. Jennifer was cowering, and Jeremy wasn’t going to let her off easy this time. He was done.

“Q,” Jeremy sighed, raising his faceplate so Jennifer could see that she failed. That she hadn't managed to kill him. “Post all of my records of Jennifer’s crimes. She broke the deal.”

“Jeremy, please–”

“Of course, Sir,” Squip used the speakers of the armor so that Jennifer could hear.

“We’re done,” Jeremy said, narrowing his eyes at his mother. “No more second chances, I’ve given you more than enough. All of this is your own damn fault, Jennifer.”

He stayed long enough to make sure that Jennifer didn’t get away. He watched her be dragged to a police car, Squip muting his phone notifications once the news got hold of the information. It was going to be a long week.

Chapter Text

Jeremy was seriously considering calling in the armor and faking an emergency. Quarterly dinners sucked. He hated them, hated going, hated the food, hated every single aspect of the stupid dinner parties. Nothing good had ever come of them.

“Technically speaking, if not for these quarterly dinners you never would have met Mr. Mell,” Squip beeped in his head.

Okay, fine, one good thing had come of them. One really good thing. But everything else was still shit.

Jeremy grumbled his way through dinner, his wine glass was his best friend. The board members had made a point of not extending Jeremy’s invite to Michael, and with James across the country dealing with Jennifer’s trial Jeremy was alone in his ventures as CEO.

He had already planned to celebrate once his mother was in prison. He wasn’t quite sure how he was going to celebrate, but he would.

“Sir, given your health these past few weeks I would advise against the idea of a party. Even now, I would suggest putting down the wine glass. If your BAC goes any higher I will have to turn off the internal port.”

“Didn’t ask,” Jeremy mumbled under his breath.

“Jeremiah!” Another board member approached him. Jeremy faked a smile, finding it a bit easier with alcohol in his system. “Son, how have things been going with planning the company Christmas party? I know investors have been itching to get a look at our new products and talk to you.”

Jeremy bit back his sass as best as he could, “The company holiday party is being planned by Ms. Valentine. If she was here you could ask her.”

Jeremy left the moment it was appropriate for him to do so. He made his way back to the car, Squip driving him home. He coughed into his elbow, a little shocked at how long the coughing fit lasted. He just needed to go home and sleep.

Once he was home Jeremy stumbled into the house, making his way into his room. He mumbled something at Michael as he passed him, but prioritized getting his stupid suit off. The moment he was free from the confines of his dress pants he crashed into bed, burying his head under a pillow.

“Jeremy?”

“Jeremy’s not here, he’s sleeping,” Jeremy mumbled, not removing the pillow.

He could sense Michael kneeling down next to the bed, scooting over to get level with him, “Really? No requests to be thrown into the wall? No flirting? Are you okay?”

“I’m not horny I’m tired,” Jeremy explained, pulling the blanket up higher over his shoulders. He poked his face out from the pillow, “And I’m drunk. Why? Are you offering?”

“No, you’re drunk,” Michael chuckled. “Just confused. Do you need anything?”

Jeremy reached an arm out, trying to pull Michael on the bed, “Hold me.”

Michael sighed, but he got up to change. He picked up Jeremy’s discarded clothes as he went, vanishing into the bathroom briefly. Jeremy rolled into his arms the moment Michael was under the covers, clinging to him.

“Love you,” Jeremy whispered, pressing a kiss to Michael’s shoulder.”

Michael kissed his forehead, “Love you too.”

Jeremy didn’t stay asleep long, he woke up in another coughing fit, doing his best to quiet down as he sat up. He knew Michael was a light sleeper with the advanced senses, and bit back the coughs as he looked over. Michael was thankfully still asleep. Jeremy pulled himself out of bed, quietly pulling a shirt on before slipping out of the bedroom. Once the door was shut he let out the suppressed coughs, trusting the soundproofing of the house to protect Michael’s rest.

He felt kind of winded after the coughs subsided. Jeremy shuffled down to the workshop, grabbing a mug of coffee as he walked in. Squip was a godsend.

“You’re welcome, Sir,” Squip beeped from the ceiling. “Your BAC is low enough that I can turn back on the internal port.”

Jeremy hummed, plopping down in his chair and rolling over to the far wall. He grumbled, finding he had forgotten to remove the patch over the reactor in his drunken state. He pulled off the patch of cloth, turning on the machine in front of him. He was sick, he couldn’t deny it. Maybe he had pneumonia. He wasn’t sure how he would have caught it, but it was possible.

“You would need an x-ray to check if there is fluid in your lungs, Sir,” Squip said. “We still don’t have a radiation safe zone designed into the workshop.”

Right, he needed to build in order to do that without a doctor. Jeremy sighed, grabbing an alcohol wipe from a drawer and wiping down the crook of his elbow. He set his arm down on the base of the machine, Squip working and doing a blood draw with robotic precision. Once his arm was free Jeremy sat spinning in his chair, waiting to see if anything came back in the list of illnesses Squip could check for.

“Perhaps influenza?”

“No, a cough isn’t enough for that. I think you just want to jab a stick up my nose, buddy.”

“I have no desire to cause you discomfort, Sir.”

“Mhm, okay.”

Jeremy rolled back over to his coffee, drawing up designs for potential robotic prosthetics while he waited. Rich had been reporting only positives, other than people looking twice at the sight of the arm. Jeremy offered to change the design so it looked more realistic, but Rich liked the robot aesthetic.

“You have nothing in my list of illnesses, Sir.”

Was that good or bad? Jeremy wasn’t quite sure, probably bad since it meant it was something less common.

“Sir, I have concluded what is wrong.”

Jeremy made a face, his eyes drifting up to the ceiling, “You just said—”

“Sir, your blood is becoming toxic. Palladium poisoning. Your toxicity rate is at 49%.”

“What?! How?!”

“Sir, you’ve had an arc reactor in your chest for nearly four months. The reactor is keeping you alive, but will slowly kill you if you continue to use it inside your body.”

Jeremy made a face, glancing down and lifting his shirt up. He winced, eyeing the gross lines that had formed around the reactor. That…wasn’t good.

“So I need to find something to run the reactor that isn’t palladium. That can’t be too hard.”

“Sir, finding something to run the reactor was the hardest part of making them. You’ve exhausted every material already.”

Jeremy shook his head, “I’ll figure it out. I’m pretty good at doing the impossible.”

“I have faith in you Sir, but perhaps you should consider simply removing the reactor and shrapnel.”

Jeremy hesitated, “I…I can’t do that yet. You know that.”

“I understand why you have reservations over the idea but—”

“That’s final. Let’s start running simulations, I’ll come up with compounds as we go. There has to be something I can use instead of palladium.”

☼

Michael sighed, glancing over at the time. He had been writing up a review for work for nearly an hour. Jeremy was in his workshop, and had been since early in the morning. Hell, he had spent the last few weeks there nearly constantly.

“Squip, is Jeremy—”

“Sir is fine, Mr. Mell.”

“No, is he busy? Why was that your default response? Is he okay?”

“Sir is currently preoccupied with a project, given history I assumed that you were asking of his well-being. So long as I am able to I will alert you if Sir was to be under any distress. Your happiness is my second priority.”

Michael sighed, “Can I join him?”

“Sir’s current project requires no disruptions, lest he accidentally electrocute himself. The workshop will be in lockdown until Sir says so.”

“Okay. Thanks.”

Michael finished up his report on the current game he was testing, sending off the information once he was done. He made his way through the house, part of him wishing they could decorate for the holidays. Jeremy seemed adamantly against it, and while Michael could understand his distaste in Christmas decorations, he saw no reason that they could put up some string lights in the living room. They lived in Malibu, it’s not like there was snow on the ground to remind him that the year was going to be over soon.

“Mr. Mell, Ms. Valentine and Ms. Lohst are at the gate.”

Really? He hadn’t been expecting them. “Let them in.”

Michael met them at the door, Brooke running in with a big box. Chloe walked in behind her, offering Michael a small smile as she glided into the house. Her ability to walk on popsicle stick heels impressed Michael to no end.

“Mikey!” Brooke set her box down on the coffee table. “My beautiful girlfriend informed me the other day that Heere Industries is throwing a holiday party.”

Michael hummed, “Jeremy hates holidays, makes sense he wouldn’t mention it.”

“He hates Christmas specifically,” Chloe corrected. “Wish him a happy Hanukkah at the right time and suddenly you’re best friends. I think it’s a spite thing.”

“It usually is when it comes to Jeremy,” Michael nodded.

“Anyway,” Brooke reeled them back on the right path. She opened the box she had brought in, “I made all of us themed outfits for the night.”

She pulled out a red gown that had sparkles, a tasteful slit off to the side, and pointed to Chloe. Next out of the box was a champagne colored dress covered in stars, probably as close to yellow as Brooke could get while staying on theme. Michael was shocked she managed to get the dress into the box given how poofy it was. Brooke was a princess to those who loved her, and her choice in dress style reflected that. After the giant mass that was Brooke’s dress she pulled out a blue suit that had tiny snowflakes stitched into the fabric. Obviously for Jeremy.

“Brooke, did you stitch these by hand?”

Brooke shrugged, “No two snowflakes are the same, Mikey. But no, I finished the jacket and gave up. The pants were done automatically, so they look neat and organized.”

The last outfit pulled from the box was a red suit, it was for Michael of course it was red. Michael saw that the suit had poinsettias embroidered on the suit. Luckily this didn’t appear to be hand stitched, Brooke’s hands would have been destroyed if she had done everything by hand.

“It’s awesome, Brookie,” Michael assured her, walking over to press a kiss to her forehead. “You didn’t have to do this—”

“I released a line of socks for the holidays, Michael,” Brooke shuddered. “I needed something fun to do. Plus it’s an excuse to put my girlfriend in a sexy dress.”

Michael couldn’t argue with her over it. He took his and Jeremy’s things and brought them into their room, hoping Jeremy would be open to the idea of snowflakes. He had been so grumpy lately it was probably going to be a fit of whining from him.

Michael came back out to find Brooke putting the dresses back inside the box. Chloe had made herself comfortable on the couch, her eyes shut and phone off. It was a little weird to not see her working.

Jeremy came walking up the stairs, a smoky smell coming with him. Michael hurried over, checking Jeremy for injuries.

“Stop, I’m fine,” Jeremy batted his hands away. “Chemical reaction, that’s all.” He clocked Chloe laying on the couch, “Hey bitch.”

Chloe playfully flipped him off, “Slut.”

Jeremy chuckled, making his way towards their room, “Always!”

Michael offered for their friends to stay for dinner, Brooke jumping at the opportunity when Michael mentioned Maria sending him another recipe. They both missed family dinner nights, and it was nice that they could try and replicate them here. Jeremy was quiet, not trying to bicker with Chloe for once.

There had to be something wrong with him. The grumpy attitude, the secretive behavior, being quiet, he wasn’t making anything up.

Maybe it was Jennifer’s trial getting to him? She had more power than expected, and the jury against her had been replaced several times already. They had made little progress with the trial, and it had been a few weeks now. James was sending updates, but it was clear that Jennifer was going to pull every card she had in order to try and get off without punishment.

Michael and Brooke cleaned up while Jeremy and Chloe discussed work. He kept an eye on his boyfriend, looking over any small detail he could find that seemed out of place. Was he pale? Or did he always look like that? He looked tired.

Why was he freaking out? Jeremy would tell him if something was wrong. Jeremy was probably just stressed about Jennifer, once things cleared up with her he would be fine. No one else seemed to notice anything going on, he was just in his own head about it.

☼

“Sir, you have run simulations on every known element. Nothing has worked as a substitute for palladium.”

Jeremy cursed under his breath, spinning his desk chair in slow circles. He was going to die. There was no other way to put it. Every element and still nothing.

He would have to draw up a will, make sure that Jennifer couldn’t possibly get her hands on anything. He would have to destroy all the armors, all blueprints for them, make sure no one could replicate his work. His dad was going to be crushed.

Oh fuck, Michael was going to be pissed.

“Sir, you could just have the shrapnel removed.”

“Not happening. I’ve still got time, I’d rather use my time to perfect my work.”

“Mr. Mell is wondering if you will be attending the holiday party with him.”

Shit, he still had to go to that? Jeremy sighed, halting his spinning. He didn’t want to go to that stupid party, he had been enjoying the break from company functions, but life couldn't give him a break. He got up from his chair, checking over his appearance in the mirror. The gross lines had spread across more of his chest, and were beginning to creep up towards his neck. Hopefully they wouldn’t be visible with the suit on.

Jeremy hurried out of the workshop and into his room. He took a quick shower, blow dried his hair, and got dressed. He needed to look put together enough to fool an entire party. His head kept suggesting possible ideas as replacements for palladium, but Squip rejected each one.

He winced as another coughing fit took over. They were getting more painful, but luckily he was usually alone when they hit. If he woke himself up with one he would leave to the workshop so Michael could rest.

And there was blood on his hand. Shit. He washed his hands, turning to the mirror hanging on the wall.

“How do I look?” Jeremy asked his reflection.

“A bit pale, Sir. But I doubt anyone will notice.”

Jeremy sighed, pulling on his shoes. Brooke did a good job on the suit, he would have to thank her for it. He made his way out to the living room, finding Michael already set to leave.

“Hello beautiful,” Jeremy grinned, wrapping his arms around Michael’s shoulders.

“Hi,” Michael murmured, pulling him in for a kiss.

He really didn’t want to break Michael’s heart. He would have to figure something out. Would vibranium work as a replacement? It didn’t follow the laws of physics sometimes but maybe it would work in the reactor.

“No, Sir.”

Damnit.

Jeremy patted his pocket, confirming he had his nano-tech suit before leading Michael out to the garage. Chloe had done most of the work for the party, mostly because Jeremy didn’t like the holidays. They walked in and in hand, cameras flashing as they stepped into the building. Was this their first time at a company party since Jeremy had come out? Probably.

There was a lot of talking this time. He was CEO, Jennifer was currently on trial, and his dad was out of state at the trial. With Chloe off conducting her own business Jeremy had no one to help get rid of all the people who were demanding to speak to him.

Michael sticking by him and holding his hand was the only thing keeping him from snapping. He didn’t want to spend what could be his final days talking to a bunch of money hungry assholes, but at least he had his favorite person at his side.

“Jeremiah!” An older man approached, Jeremy recognized him from previous events but couldn’t think of his name. He was working hard to remember employees, rich pricks weren’t something he cared to remember.

“Uh, hello,” Jeremy greeted. If one more person asked him about reopening the weapons department he was going to snap, super soldier babysitter boyfriend or not.

“We spoke at a previous gala,” the man explained. “I’m sorry about your mother, none of us had any idea.”

No one…no one had said sorry yet. It was a little refreshing. Because…yeah, it sucked. Jennifer was a bad person, Jeremy had been the one dealing with it from day one.

“Uh, thank you,” Jeremy mumbled, unsure of what else to say. He hadn’t been expecting an apology.

“And congratulations,” the man gestured between Michael and Jeremy. “Love…it’s a precious thing. My wife…she recently passed. It’s…widened my eyes a bit.”

“Your wife loved music, right?” Jeremy started to recognize the man. “You…you asked me to sing at a gala for your wife.”

The man nodded, “Yes, and I’m sorry that Jennifer pressured you into it, I didn’t realize what had been going on and I can’t imagine how stressed you were at the time…”

Right. Jeremy had crashed his own company party. Had fought Michael. He had fallen asleep in Michael’s old room that night.

He had belted out an entire ballad to Michael and still they hadn’t figured out how they felt about each other. How had they been so blind?

“How about I play something?” Jeremy offered, trying his best to be polite. “Your wife, she…”

The man smiled, “Before everything went crazy, she told me she thought you had one of the most wonderful voices she’d ever heard. I appreciate the offer, but don’t force yourself into something you don’t want.”

“I’ll do anything to remind people that Michael is my other half,” Jeremy stated, squeezing his boyfriend’s hand. It was usually tradition for one of the board members to do something silly at the holiday party, something to make Heere Industries feel more human. They weren’t just a major corporation, they had quirks like normal people. Jeremy had personally skipped the past four years, because fuck winter holidays, this was going to happen eventually. Maybe it would get the board off his ass, it would be nice to live out his final days without their bullshit looming around every corner.

Jeremy gave Michael’s hand one more squeeze before approaching the stage. He could already feel the eyes of the board members on him, if he did the wrong thing it would only make his situation worse. He couldn’t be a douche and play something that made fun of the holidays. However, he would never be caught singing a Christmas song—they were blacklisted from possibly touching his playlists at home.

He tried to be casual, quietly tuning up a guitar while more and more people took notice of him. Jeremy was everywhere these days, it was hard to miss him. There were crowds of Iron Man fans flooding the edge of the Heere Industries property, just like there were Jennifer apologists doing the same. Jeremy had recently taken to flying to the factory just to avoid being hounded.

Not to mention everyone who was making the biggest deal ever over his relationship with Michael. There were fan theories going around about whether perhaps Michael was behind the design of the armors since his suit was red instead of blue. It was stupid, something Jeremy laughed at. But it was harder now, just living his life. Jeremy had gone from a nepo baby into a full fledged celebrity.

“Hello everyone,” Jeremy greeted the crowd, speaking into the microphone. The band that Chloe had hired didn’t complain as he took over, Jeremy technically was the one paying them after all. “Uh, it’s no secret I’m not a fan of the holiday season. However, it’s been a…really crazy six months. So I figured, while maybe not the correct holiday, it would be nice to celebrate love.”

Jeremy started strumming the guitar. It wasn’t exactly a slow song, but people started pairing up and dancing anyway. It was slow enough.

“I’ve rejected affection for years and years…”

He spotted Chloe dancing with Brooke, the two of them clearly enchanted with each other. Jeremy hoped that he looked at Michael like that. He felt like he did, he wanted it to be obvious how he felt.

Oh fuck someone probably had their phone out to record this, people were going to start calling him soft again. And his chest was hurting, the singing was probably a bad idea.

“He tells me I’m pretty, don’t know how to respond. I tell him that he’s pretty too. Can I say that? Don’t have a clue.”

The older man Jeremy had spoken too was ginning, swaying at the side of the room. He nearly laughed, watching Michael approach and offer his hand. It was stupid, but the man took Michael’s hand anyway. They danced around in a small circle, the man laughing and walking after a moment. Short and sweet.

Holy shit his chest was aching.

“‘Cause I think I’ve fallen in love this time. I blinked and suddenly I had a Valentine.”

Brooke and Chloe made their way over to Michael, the three of them attempting to dance in a triangle shape. It didn’t really work, and Michael somehow ended up dipping both girls at once. It was a good thing he had the strength for it, Jeremy would have probably dropped one of them. Even without him being sick, he wasn’t exactly known as strong.

“I still feel a shock through every bone. When I hear an “I love you” ‘cause now I’ve got someone to lose.”

Michael adjusted to have both hands on Brooke’s hips. He effortlessly lifted her into the air, spinning her around in circles. Jeremy couldn’t hear her, but Brooke had her mouth open in a laugh. Once she was set down Michael offered the same to Chloe, Jeremy watching her roll her eyes before allowing Michael to spin her like he had Brooke.

“How the hell did I fall in love this time? And honestly I can’t believe I get to call you mine. I blinked and suddenly I had a Valentine.”

Jeremy finished strumming, trying to not cringe outwardly at the applause he received. He hated it, but kept a neutral expression as he put the guitar back down and hurried back over to Michael. His actions caused more people to approach, Jeremy swallowed down the pain in his chest so he could talk to them. He was going to be a good CEO tonight. As much as he hated it, the future of the company could be changed by this party. Investors were everywhere.

Eventually people stopped approaching. Jeremy took a breath, finding the room finally giving him space to breathe. His ears clocked a slow song, his main desire returning to his brain. He was still kind of upset he hadn’t managed to ask yet.

“Michael,” Jeremy turned to his boyfriend and held out a hand. “Dance w—”

Another coughing fit took over, cutting off his request. It was a little painful, his lungs burning a bit as he struggled to end the fit. Jeremy cleared his throat, trying to offer a sheepish smile. Something that made it seem like the coughing was random, and not as painful as it was.

“Sorry. Did you—”

“Jeremy,” Michael reached for his sleeve. “You’re coughing up blood.”

Jeremy sighed, glancing at his jacket sleeve. Sure enough the crook of his elbow had spots of blood staining the blue fabric.

“I’m fine, Michael. It’s a cough.”

What was his blood toxicity at? 49%? Somewhere around there?

“55%, Sir.”

Oh that wasn’t good.

“How is my favorite superhero doing?”

Jeremy and Michael looked over, finding Christine standing in front of him. He didn’t remember inviting her.

“I’m doing fantastic, Agent,” Jeremy greeted.

Christine arched a brow at him, “You and I both know I was talking to Michael. I know you aren’t doing well, Heere.”

“Hey, who the fuck invited you?”

Christine laughed, “Anywhere and anything that is important to Michael is important to me. It’s my job to ensure his safety, and frankly being around you in public is asking for disaster.”

“I’m doing fine, Christine,” Michael ended their bickering. “Did you need something?”

Christine offered him a smile, “We found another place Swan operated out of. Wanted to offer you the chance to come dig through her shit. She completely rerouted your life, maybe burning her old notes would be therapeutic?”

Michael blinked a few times, “Uh, that would be awesome.”

Christine patted his arm, “I’ll contact you when we plan to go.” She then turned to Jeremy, “Have fun with the palladium poisoning.”

Christine walked away, leaving Jeremy with his jaw dropped. How the fuck had she known? Why did Christine know everything?

“Sir, Agent Canigula’s place of business has metal detectors as you walk in. It wouldn’t be hard to scan your body and find the reactor, thus putting the pieces together from there.”

The sass wasn’t appreciated, but it was good to know. Jeremy sighed, glancing over at Michael. He was currently whipping his head back and forth between Christine’s retreating figure and Jeremy.

“What did she say about poison?!” Michael hissed.

Jeremy played dumb, “I’m not sure—”

“Jeremy, don't bullshit me right now.”

Goddamnit Christine! Jeremy took Michael’s hand, leading him over to a quiet corner of the room. He unbuttoned his shirt enough to reveal the marks of the reactor poison that was spreading through his body. Michael just gaped like a fish, his hand frozen half way between them, like he wanted to touch and see if there was any irritation.

“It doesn’t hurt—”

“What’s causing it?” Michael crossed his arms over his chest, his expression growing frantic. Jeremy fixed his shirt, regretting his decision to share. Michael only ever did that when he was scared he would break something.

“Prolonged exposure to the reactor. The core is powered with palladium, and—”

“So get it removed,” Michael whispered. “We know who was trying to kill you, Jer. Reyes and Jennifer can’t hurt you anymore.”

Jeremy shook his head, “Not yet. I’m working on finding a replacement core. Once I do I’ll be fine.”

Except every known element didn’t work in the simulations, and his in person tests with actual reactors either ended in explosions or the reactor just not working. Nothing would work. He was doomed. 

“And you’ve tested how many different options? How many have you tried?”

Jeremy looked to the floor, “All of them.”

“Everything?”

Jeremy nodded, looking to the floor. He hated disappointing people. Hated the looks. Michael of all people didn’t deserve this.

“I’ve tried every known element, Michael. I am going to keep trying but…”

Michael tilted his chin up, “I’m sorry if this sounds crazy or stupid, I’m not a genius like you, but have you considered looking into unknown elements? Surely something theoretically could work, right? Something people haven’t synthesized yet?”

“I mean, that’s the whole point of theory, but if it doesn’t exist—”

“Jeremy, I hate to break it to you but we live in a world where superheroes exist. We have metal that doesn’t follow the laws of physics. Reality isn’t something that should be applying to your research right now.”

He…he had a point. What would the potential element look like? Maybe…

Jeremy pulled his phone out, rushing over to a table and setting the phone down to put into hologram mode. Michael followed, watching Jeremy work with the tiny projection.

He kept adding and changing to a model, sending off potential atoms for Squip to test. He was still getting rejections from the simulations but maybe he could find the right makeup and…

“Element accepted,” Squip beeped. “This would work in theory, however, synthesizing does not appear to be possible.”

Jeremy stared at the hologram. The worst thing he could do was try, right? Surely he had the parts at the factory to build a synthesizer?

“Jer?” Michael snapped him out of his thoughts.

“This will work, I just need to make it,” Jeremy mumbled. “I just need…a lot of shit.”

Michael grabbed him by the wrist, “Let’s go then.”

Michael practically dragged him out, Jeremy jogging to keep from tripping over his own feet. Jeremy brought them to the factory, feeling slightly guilty over disrupting the space of his employees. They would understand, surely. This was his life they were dealing with.

“I can’t take you seriously in that suit,” Jeremy confessed. “You look hot and all but…”

Michael rolled his eyes, “What do you need me to do?”

“Need a mallet or something,” Jeremy sighed, touching the wall of the room. “Need more space, the wall is in the way. The coils won’t fit and—”

And Michael casually punched a hole into the wall. The concrete wall.

“Or I could just move the tables. Holy shit, Michael!”

Michael dusted off his hand, “Why wasn’t that your first idea?”

“Why did you punch my wall?”

“I…I’m trying to not freak out, I jumped the gun. You just told me that you’re dying, Jer.”

Jeremy sighed, turning to push tables out the way. Michael helped, the room clearing fairly quickly with Michael’s strength helping. He would have to assemble coils, redesign the reactor again. This was going to take a while.

“Q, buddy, send over the Mark Ⅲ armor with some essentials for us,” Jeremy mumbled, pulling out his phone and taking a seat on the floor. “Also be a dear and direct Michael to the coils I need.”

A few random lights started slowly flashing, leading Michael to the coils. Jeremy worked fast, designing a new reactor for the potential new element. He didn’t react as his armor came flying in, the back opening to reveal a bundle of clothes falling out. Jeremy paused his work long enough to go change, finding it easier to focus once he was back in his usual attire.

His chest was hurting, but he had hope.

Michael came walking in with two giant coils in his arms. Jeremy grinned, attaching the nano-tech suit to his chest and turning it on so he could help. While Michael took his turn to change Jeremy started building, using the repulsor of the armor to help weld. Even if he failed, at least he wasn’t at the party anymore. At least he was spending time with Michael.

Q flew the Mark Ⅲ back home, Jeremy losing himself in the building process. Michael did the heavy lifting while he wired up the coils, the two of them building a particle accelerator for their potential element in a single night.

“Okay,” Jeremy sighed, turning off his suit. He placed the triangular glass tube in the center of his circle of coils. Something to keep the element in check if it was reactive. Michael grinned, walking over and pulling him into a kiss.

“I believe in you,” Michael whispered, leading them out of the circle.

“Uh, Sir?”

Jeremy startled, spinning on his heel to find an employee hesitantly standing at the edge of the room. Fuck, what was her name? Tricia? Tammy?

“Toni!” Jeremy waved, at least pretty sure that was her name.

“Sir, you could have asked me, I am in your brain,” Squip reminded him.

And while that was always an option Jeremy prided himself on just knowing who worked for him.

“Did I miss something?” Toni seemed a bit confused.

Jeremy clasped his hands together, “Right, uh, no this was last minute. Sorry, slight change of plans for the foreseeable future, if you could get your coworkers to not come in today that would be awesome. Inform everyone that it’s mandatory PTO that won’t change their current standings. All approved by me.”

Toni nodded, pulling out her phone, “Did you need to contact Ms. Valentine?”

Jeremy shook his head, “Nah, fuck Chloe. Although I do feel like we should contact someone more important.” Jeremy turned to face Michael. “We could get a Nobel Prize if this works. What should we name the element? Personally I’m thinking badassium, but you’re just as much a part of this so I need to get your ideas too.”

Michael shook his head, “If you think you can get away with badassium I fully support that name.”

“Oh god we would get to name it on the periodic table! What letters should we use? Bd? Is that taken yet? Michael this is like a dream! Every scientist dreams of this shit!”

Michael squeezed his hand, “Maybe make sure it’s possible first, Jer.”

Right. First he had to create badassium. Jeremy set in the reflective base, their focus point of energy, and started up the particle accelerator. Just his luck he had the base facing the wrong way. The beam of energy was off target, attempting to burn down the factory. Shit shit shit!

“Jer!”

Fuck! Jeremy hurried forward, trying to use the handle to rotate the base. It was stiff with the accelerator online, nearly impossible to move.

“Michael, put your biceps to use!” Jeremy barked, backing away. Michael turned the handle with ease, the beam rotating to the tube in the center. Once the beam hit Michael stopped turning the handle, the room lighting up as the reaction started. Jeremy flipped off the accelerator, the beam turning off with it. And sitting in the center of the accelerator was their glass tube, now glowing with a bright light.

Jeremy jumped over the coils and ran in, staring at the tube. Holy shit. Had they…

“Congratulations Sir,” Squip beeped in his head. “You have created a new element.”

Jeremy dashed back over to the tables, grabbing his newly designed reactor. He was vibrating with excitement, using a forceps to pick up the tube and set it into the reactor. He watched the case close, the reactor whirring to life. Everything seemed to be working so far…

“The reactor has accepted the badassium core. I will begin running diagnostics.”

“We did it!” Jeremy cheered, raising the reactor above his head. Michael ran over, pulling him into a kiss, the two of them spinning around the room together. Holy shit! New element! Badassium!

Michael brought them over to the office building, the two of them dashing into Chloe’s office. Thay had been working all night, and Chloe was out of her party attire and dressed for work.

“Where the hell did you two go last night?” Chloe demanded. “You can’t just vanish Jer-Bear!”

“Science called,” Jeremy brushed off her words. He set the new reactor down on her desk, lifting up his shirt and unscrewing the palladium reactor from his chest. Chloe made a noise of protest when he set it down on her desk, but Jeremy ignored her as he screwed in the new reactor. It was like a jolt to his system, the new design had a stronger energy output.

“All levels are stable,” Squip stated as Jeremy lowered his shirt. “Your blood should be healthy again in a week or so, Sir.”

Jeremy turned to Michael, offering him a grin, “Guess who’s cured?”

Michael swooped in, pressing a kiss to his cheek, “Good. If I catch you being self destructive again I’m going to break down your workshop door, got it?”

Jeremy nodded, brushing his thumb over Michael’s cheek, “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Chapter Text

Jeremy couldn’t help but smirk, leaning back in his seat. Jennifer was finally going to be charged for her crimes. Within the next few days she would be behind bars for good. She had weaseled her way into house arrest while the trial was going on, but soon the walls of the tower wouldn’t be able to protect her.

Technically Jeremy could have denied her access to the tower, he was the owner. But getting to leave the courtroom and gloat every night was fun, damnit! He couldn’t do that if she was locked in a cell at night!

Watching her reputation fall apart at the seams was filling a hole Jeremy hadn’t known was in his heart. Sure, Michael had shown him the unconditional love and affection he had missed out on in life, but to finally see Jennifer fail was just as good. The world was finally seeing things for how they were. Jeremy was a hero without questioning. There were little to no worries about Iron Man and the armor Jeremy had made. He was a kid who had discovered something bad and did his best to fix it. And he had fixed it. All of the misplaced weapons were destroyed, though Jeremy would check in on things in a few weeks just to be sure, and with all the company patents in his name no one could legally recreate the weapons his family had designed.

Jeremy was finally seen for more than a wild rich kid. He wasn’t looked down upon nearly as much, the board members still didn’t like him that much but they needed him. Jeremy was a genius, he was a hero. Not just as Iron Man. He was actively trying to save the planet from a climate crisis, he and Michael had created a new element! All the years of dread, the looming threat of Heere Industries, was gone. He hadn’t been thrust into his position like he would have been if he had waited until his parents had retired. It was something he wanted, and he was reinventing the company with support from loved ones.

There would probably always be people trying to convince him to turn back, to make weapons again, but things were clearly improving. He had been comparing the employee surveys that they did every few months. He was working with his dad and Chloe to make improvements to employee benefits and quality of life changes inside the workplace. The well deserved raises for everyone had probably been a big help, but with Jennifer and her results only bullshit gone Heere Industries was approachable. Jeremy was running a good company that cared about more than profits.

Jeremy having no real concept of budget and impulse control was something they were working on. He had grown up with money, he hadn’t realized the difficulties of business until recently.

“I believe we are ready to call a final recess,” the judge said, clapping the gavel. “We will regroup when the jury has made their verdict. Adjourned.”

Jeremy hung back as everyone filed out. He had been keeping his jacket hood pulled over his head to keep some of the stares off of him, but it turned out that wearing a hood inside a courtroom was just more suspicious. James was the one in charge of keeping Jennifer in check along with the security officers they had been required to allow access to the tower. They just sat in the lobby to make sure Jennifer didn’t try to sneak out in the night. Although Squip was able to just lockdown the tower if she tried anything.

“Michael is having dinner with his moms,” Jeremy said, approaching his father. “So I’m going to—”

“Mr. Heere!”

Both of them looked over, finding a reporter approaching them.

“No comment,” James stated, nudging Jeremy to start walking.

“Jeremy, how long of a wait will it be until we hear about your next conquest?”

What?!

“Sir, she is trying to get a bad response from you, think before you speak. Or better yet, just walk away,” Squip spoke up in his brain.

And from the way James was looking at him his father thought the same. Still, Jeremy didn’t want to hear the questions about his relationship anymore. It had been six months and—

Had it really been six months already?

“Yes, six months as of two days ago.”

“I’m perfectly happy in my current relationship, and I have no plans to build a new one,” Jeremy said, walking away with his father.

The crowd outside the courthouse was massive. It had been every night. Jennifer was usually escorted through the back of the building to a car, so to help take some of the buzz off of his father Jeremy casually turned on his nano-tech suit. He flew off, much of the crowd looking up to watch him. James was able to get to his vehicle without problem.

Jeremy made his way over to Jersey, landing outside Maria and Darcy’s house. He turned off the suit as he walked up the steps, ringing the bell and rocking on his heels.

“Hi sweetheart!” Maria beamed at him, pulling him into a hug. “Get in here, it’s freezing!”

“The armor is temperature regulated,” Jeremy assured, stepping inside. He kicked off his sneakers, following Maria into the kitchen. Michael was seated at the island, his laptop open and typing away.

“We’re going out tonight, but we’re waiting for this one to finish his report,” Maria explained, leaning against the counter.

“At least I have a job now, Mom,” Michael mumbled, not looking up. “A job I’ve had for two months now.”

“I really don’t think you were qualified, but it’s nice to know you’re working,” Darcy hummed, walking into the room.

“I wasn’t qualified for the security job either and I got that one,” Michael muttered.

Maria made a face, “Minamahal, have you looked in a mirror?”

“You were discharged because of medical leave. How could you not have been qualified?”

“The jury is making their final decision,” Jeremy did his best to change the subject before they ended up treading into Captain related waters.

Maria leaned over to grab his hand, “Are you doing okay? I can’t imagine what it must be like.”

Jeremy shrugged, “Jennifer was never really a mom to me, once she’s charged I’ll feel a lot better.”

“And finished!” Michael closed his laptop. He got down from his stool and embraced Jeremy, Maria and Darcy joining in on the hug and squishing Jeremy completely.

Jeremy bit his tongue as Maria led them out to the car. He didn’t want to be rude to Michael’s parents and fly ahead just so he didn’t have to get into the car. He trusted them…just not with driving.

Michael squeezed his hand in reassurance as they started down the road. He just…of all the dumb things to freak out over. Testing the flight capabilities of the armor didn’t scare him, honestly even fighting Michael hadn’t scared him like this did.

“Sir, Mr. James and Ms. Jennifer have returned to the tower safely. Mr. James wished you a good night should you and Mr. Mell decide to not come back.”

Holy shit traffic in New York sucked. Granted Jeremy could fly wherever he wanted, but—

Hold on, Ms. Jennifer? Not Mrs. Jennifer?

“Before you arrived Mr. James filed for divorce. Given the court arrangement Ms. Jennifer had to sign the documents. With the company in your name their assets were simply split, although Jennifer’s stock in Heere Industries has been revoked and given to you. You have been the majority shareholder for about a week now, Sir.”

“What?” Michael nudged him with his knee. Jeremy looked over, finding a small smile on Michael’s face. He tapped Jeremy’s temple, “I can tell he’s talking to you, you always space out.”

Jeremy sighed, “Apparently Jennifer’s stock was given to me because of a loophole in her divorce papers. Also my parents are divorced.”

“Jer, James told us that the other day,” Michael cocked his head to the side.

“Really?”

“Yeah, we were both…oh. It was when you were trying to beat eggs for me. That explains it.”

A task Jeremy had done with mostly success. The eggs had been almost correct. Michael had said he was improving.

“So, basically I hold all the power in the company now,” Jeremy shrugged. “The board can’t do shit to me.”

Michael nodded, “Well that’s nice to hear.”

Maria parked at a curb, everyone piling out of the car. Jeremy kept his head ducked as they walked into the restaurant, eyeing a news broadcast covering the events from the courtroom for the day. The last thing he needed was to be hounded in public. Again.

“Sir—”

“Turn off the brain port until we get back to the tower,” Jeremy mumbled. He wanted a quiet brain for once.

Or at least as quiet as he could manage for himself. They were all seated at a table, Jeremy staring at the menu in front of him. He didn’t quite care what he got honestly.

“I haven’t been here in years,” Michael hummed, looking across the table at his moms.

Darcy shrugged, “We wanted to take you after you came home from deployment but…”

Michael closed his menu, “Yeah. Well, better late than never.” Michael looked around, taking in the room. He locked on to a person across the room and his expression morphed into one of distaste. “He still works here?”

Maria chuckled, “Michael it’s been how long? Get over it.”

Jeremy craned his neck, “What?”

Darcy laughed, “Michael’s first boyfriend works here.”

“Oh fuck he’s walking over,” Michael whined. “Kill me now.”

Maria kicked at him under the table. Jeremy took his chance and eyed up the old boyfriend. He…was nothing like Jeremy. He looked kind of creepy. And holy shit his cologne was fucking strong. Jeremy could smell it as he approached, how the fuck was Michael not dying? A quick glance over at his boyfriend confirmed that Michael was trying to casually cover his nose, his eyes watered in discomfort.

“Maria, Darcy!” The ex boyfriend greeted them warmly. “It’s so nice to see you.” He pivoted on his heel to look at Michael and Jeremy, his eyes lingering on Michael and setting Jeremy’s blood to boil. “Have we met?”

Michael dropped his arm to the table, “Hi Matt.

Matt raised his eyebrows in surprise, dumb notch shaved into the left one and all, “Oh my god! Michael! I didn’t recognize you! Without the glasses and now you’re…” He put a hand on Michael’s shoulder, “How have you been?”

Okay that had to be flirting, right? You don’t just touch people.

Michael brushed his hand off, “I’ve been pretty good. Uh, this is Jeremy. Jeremy, this is Matt.”

Matt looked over, Jeremy forcing himself to put on the show boy smile so he wasn’t glaring. He was going to try and be civil, but if the creepy bastard touched any of them again he was going to seriously consider pulling out the nano-tech.

“Hi Jeremy,” Matt hummed. “And you are?”

“Boyfriend,” Jeremy pointed to Michael. What the hell had Michael seen in this guy? He didn’t seem to have anything exciting about him going on.

“You seem familiar too,” Matt was eyeing him up, trying to place Jeremy in his mind. Maria and Darcy were eating the interaction up, holding each other as they watched on. At least someone was enjoying this.

“I get that a lot,” Jeremy nodded his head.

“What do you do for work?”

Michael looked exasperated, but Jeremy was happy to play this game. Anything to make himself look better than Frosted Tips Matt across the table.

“Philanthropist, I engineer, code, I’m in the green energy market, I’m a bit of a peacekeeper in my spare time, there’s a lot of different things I do.”

“So you have a business?”

Michael was silently begging him to end the pain. Still, he was just starting to intimidate Matt. And it was entertaining Maria and Darcy.

“Oh yeah, family business. Although I changed it a lot since taking over last summer.”

“What’s the name? Maybe I’ve heard of it?”

Michael had his head lowered to the table, probably just waiting for the pain to end. Jeremy locked an ankle with him beneath the table, a smirk forming as he looked at Matt.

“Heere Industries.”

Matt laughed, clearly not believing him, “Yeah right, you’re Jeremy Heere?”

“I also respond to Iron Man, dude, and if you’re this guy,” Jeremy pointed to Michael. “Babe. But yes, most people just use Jeremy. My mother, who I unfortunately share a face with, is on your tv right now. She’s on trial for betraying the country.”

Matt looked over, his eyes shifting between the end of the news story on Jennifer and Jeremy. His eyes widened, mouth opening and closing without noise escaping.

“I’ll give you guys a few minutes to look at your menus!”

Matt scurried away, Maria and Darcy quietly laughing as he left. Michael lifted his head, his eyes tired.

“You couldn’t have done that sooner? Holy shit he smells so strong that I have a headache.”

Jeremy reached over and squeezed his hand, “What the fuck did you see in him?”

“I was fifteen.”

“What did he offer you weed?”

“That’s besides the point.”

Matt came back over after a few minutes and let them order. Jeremy spent his time waiting catching up with Maria and Darcy, Michael squeezing his hand as they talked. It was nice, having a calm night out for dinner.

“Jeremy?”

He looked over to Michael, finding his boyfriend with a concerned expression on his face.

“You okay?”

“Just…” Michael lowered his voice so his moms couldn’t hear, although they were discussing repainting their kitchen so they likely wouldn’t notice. “Can you scan the room for explosives? I know I’m being paranoid but I swear I can hear something.”

Jeremy nodded, pulling out his phone and signaling for Squip’s brain port to turn back on.

“Sir the tower is under attack.”

Jeremy shot up from his chair, startling everyone else at the table.

“Wait, is there one or not?” Michael asked, getting up while Jeremy fumbled for his reactor.

“Explosive located, it is outside.”

“Outside,” Jeremy mumbled, turning on the reactor. “Maria, Darcy, I hate to leave but I need to go.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Are you okay?”

“Jer, where outside?” Michael demanded, eyes frantic.

Jeremy opened his mouth to speak when the explosive detonated. The wall nearest to them crumbled, the people in the restaurant panicking. Through the dust came a small group of black clad foot troops. He wasn’t sure if this was Swan’s work, Reyes’, or Jennifer’s. Either way they would be getting their asses kicked.

Jeremy fired a repulsor, knocking one target down, this wouldn’t be too difficult—

And they had guns. Of course they did.

“C’mon,” Michael grabbed both of his moms and hoisted each one over a shoulder, running out towards the kitchen. What part of the crowd could follow did so, leaving Jeremy with less people to worry about.

“How many can I get with the darts?” Jeremy asked.

“The nano-tech suit only has the repulsors, Sir. That’s the point of them, they’re so light because there aren’t any added defenses.”

“Fuck,” Jeremy hissed. “Mark Ⅱ?”

“Already launched, ETA three minutes.”

“Okay, I can keep them busy for three minutes,” Jeremy sighed, holding up his palms.

He could keep them busy, but couldn’t fire at them yet. Not without risking the civilians. And so far he had been doing good on not letting innocent people get hurt. Jeremy let out a laugh as a giant pot was thrown at the attackers, knocking one out. It threw everyone off guard, allowing Jeremy to fire at two more. He saw a flash of Michael running in, his captain uniform on, and with that Jeremy took his chances. Michael aided as a distraction and was able to knock people out with one hit, the two of them working fast to get the foot troops disarmed and incapacitated.

“Tower,” Jeremy said, turning to look at Michael.

Michael wrapped an arm around Jeremy and the two took off, flying back to New York. They met the Mark Ⅱ armor on the way, Jeremy ordering pieces of the nano-tech back into the reactor as the armor came flying up to meet him. Michael and him moved seamlessly, the two of them managing to make the switch without issue.

There was smoke drifting into the sky from the top of the tower. Jeremy flew them in through a broken window, Michael dropping down and rolling once he hit the floor. There were a few lingering attackers among the wreckage, a mistake for sure.

“Oi douchebags!” Jeremy yelled, firing up the chest repulsor. “You picked the wrong tower.”

Michael came jogging in, his shield now on his arm and covered in debris, “I’ll check the rest of the floor, we need to find James and Jennifer.”

“Mr. James is in the master bedroom, Sir.”

Jeremy took off  down the hall, finding the door busted in. His dad was laying on the floor, a fallen beam from the ceiling on top of him. Jeremy ran in, lifting the beam off.

“Dad?!”

James didn’t respond, not a sound or movement. Jeremy hurried out of the armor, clamoring down so he could reach his father.

“Dad? Dad! Get up!”

Still nothing. Jeremy started to panic, reaching a hand down to check for a pulse. He couldn’t feel anything. He…he had no pulse he…

“Fuck!” Jeremy shouted, pulling the reactor off of his chest and on to his father’s. “Q, shock him! Defibrillators are for when you don’t have a pulse, right?!”

“They are for cardiac arrest patients and those who have had a heart attack.”

“Just do it!”

Jeremy kept his hands away as Squip used the nano-tech suit to shock James. Once it was over Jeremy reached a hand out, his eyes welling up as he still couldn’t feel a pulse.

“Dad!” Jeremy screamed. “Wake up!”

Q shocked him again at Jeremy’s request, Jeremy unable to keep his emotions in check. He couldn’t breathe. His dad was gone and Jennifer was who the hell knows where. She had finally done it.

She had killed him like she planned to.

“Sir, we have a pulse, Mr. James needs medical attention. His lungs aren’t working—”

“Use the suit, make him a breathing machine,” Jeremy ordered. He watched the robots spill out of the suit, forming a device that could breathe for his father. “And a gurney or something, I need to float him out.”

The suit made a flying cot, lifting James from the floor without disturbing him. Jeremy got back into the armor, following the hovering cot out the broken windows and to the ground. It was a slow and steady descent. But James made it to the ground safely. The medics on sight had him transferred to their bed inside the ambulance, with them taking over with their own breathing tools Jeremy got his reactor back. He flew back up to the apartment, finding Michael standing in the middle of the rubble.

“I couldn’t find Jennifer,” Michael said. “But found a few more idiots to hit with the shield. James?”

“Ambulance,” Jeremy whispered. “Fuck, Michael…”

Michael threw his arms around him despite the armor. Jeremy quietly cried, keeping Michael pulled close. He was terrified. His dad had nearly died, or had been dead for a short time. He didn’t know anything. He was fucked.

“It’ll be okay,” Michael assured. “Maybe not right away, but it will be okay.”

☼

“You do the honors,” Christine gestured to the door in front of them.

Michael nodded, stepping forward and kicking open the door. Christine and him walked inside, her gaggle of underlings standing post outside while waiting for her orders.  The room was dark, everything covered in a layer of dust from the absence of Swan. He cringed at the sight of literal shelves full of different IV bags and vials of random formula. Her entire career had been dedicated to trying to create Michael, or something stronger.

“All of it gets destroyed,” Christine explained, grabbing a bulging binder from the desk. “But enjoy breaking her shit. She’s nothing now.”

Michael nodded, running his hand along the viles. It was insane how much pain Swan had caused in such a short period of time. Michael had only been part of one of her attempts. She had been shut down at least three times legally.

“I’m shocked your boyfriend didn’t tag along,” Christine mused, filling her garbage bag with items from the desk.

“He…he isn’t doing great right now,” Michael confessed, flipping through the bags before tossing them into the bag he had in his hand. “I mean James…his heart has quit four times already. This is a lot for him. I hate to say it but James probably won’t survive.”

“…Oh.”

Michael shrugged, “It sucks, I’m just trying to be there for him. I almost didn’t come for this, but he insisted he would be fine for an afternoon. I thought maybe some breathing room would do him good.”

Christine nodded, “Well, I’m glad you’re here.”

Christine had filled her bag by that point, walking out to explain to the underlings what to do with it. Michael sighed, turning to the vials in front of him. He started dropping them in the bag when one caught his eye. They all had labels, different numbers and codes. And this one stuck out in his mind.

When Michael had been tied down he had usually been too weak to do much. However, about a day or two before his powers started developing he had been positive he was going to die. He had stared at the label on the bag he had been attached to, hoping to ask someone to cure him. And now the same label was staring back at him again. Michael picked up the vial, examining the contents of it. It even had the same bright blue color that had scared the shit out of him so much. This was the formula that worked.

And as much as he trusted Christine, he couldn’t risk her figuring that out.

Michael tucked the vial into his hoodie pocket, returning to his destruction of Swan’s experiments. He kept his eyes peeled for any other possible vials or bags, but it seemed like there was only the one. He would take care of this one himself.

Getting to throw everything into a trash bag was nice. Knowing that Swan couldn’t hurt people anymore. He hoped this would help with the night terrors, maybe it wouldn’t but it would be nice.

“All of this gets destroyed,” Christine said, handing over another bag.

“But Director V—”

“I don’t give a shit what Director Vizinni says,” Christine snapped. “If you’re too scared to do it I will. Our job is to protect people, not look into deranged power hungry idiots who want to mutate people.”

The underlings took the bag. Michael and Christine cleared out the room, leaving Swan with nothing. It was calm, quiet, empty. Everything was going to be destroyed, and that was good.

Michael followed them back to their headquarters, without the shield no one gave him a second glance. He still didn’t quite understand what was going on with Christine and her whole agency, but they did seem to want to do good so far.

“I was assigned to monitor you when we heard of Swan possibly having tried to mutate people,” Christine explained, the two of them watching over a group of agents train. “Unfortunately Heere never makes things easy. He has tough security in his house that we can’t break, so we tried a social approach. I knew that there was no way I could convince you to date me, so the next best goal was going to be getting Heere to “date” me. I went to a party with a fake invite, and I managed to get as far as dancing with him but…I couldn’t go through with it.”

“Thank you for not seducing my boyfriend, Chris,” Michael chuckled.

“Well for starters, I don’t like men. So we had a complication there,” Christine sighed, glancing up at him. “But also…my fiancée was with me on the trip. And I just…I couldn’t do that to her. I love her, and I’m sure she would understand it being a job, but…I can’t risk it.”

“You have a fiancée?”

“I’m not telling you her name, I need some secrets!”

“Is she a spy too?”

“She’s aware of my career.”

“Things worked out, that’s all that matters,” Michael shrugged.

Michael eventually put on his suit and started the fly home, finding that while still fun, it wasn’t as enjoyable without Jeremy. He didn’t get to hear him laugh or smile, it was just quiet. Maybe not the worst quiet in the world, but still quiet.

Michael walked in through the front door, an empty house greeting him. He sighed, walking down the stairs towards the workshop. He hesitated by the door, his hand reached out halfway to the handle.

“How is he doing?” Michael asked.

“I am concerned for Sir’s mental well-being. His thoughts are dark and he seems to have very little care for his own safety.”

Michael frowned, grabbing the handle, “I’ll go talk to him.”

“Sir has requested that—”

“I don’t give a shit, either let me in or I break the door down. The damage will upset him more than me being here.”

Michael turned the handle, the door opening. As he walked in Jeremy’s music paused, causing his boyfriend to jolt up from whatever project he was hunched over.

“Q, what the fuck did I just—” Jeremy pivoted in his chair, his eyes locking on to Michael and cutting off his rant. “Oh.”

“Hi,” Michael walked over, wrapping his arms around Jeremy.

“Michael, don’t—”

“Talk to me.”

Jeremy broke, sobbing into his shirt. Michael scooped him up, Jeremy clinging to him with both his arms and legs. He brushed a hand through Jeremy’s hair, trying to give him some form of comfort. Anything to help him feel better.

“They put him on do not resuscitate! If his heart stops again they won’t save him!”

Michael hummed, processing the information. He had figured that would happen. James shouldn’t have survived the attack on the tower, him making it this far was insane.

“I’m sorry, Jeremy,” Michael whispered. “Do you want to go see him?”

“I can’t, not if—” Jeremy cut himself off. He started to wiggle, trying to get Michael to put him down. “I just want to work.”

Michael pivoted on his heel, taking them out of the workshop and upstairs to their room. Jeremy whined, demanding to be put down, but Michael ignored his complaints. He dropped Jeremy on the bed, leaning forward and unbuttoning his jeans.

“This is the least sexy way anyone’s ever stripped me,” Jeremy stated, letting Michael pull his pants off.

“You hate sleeping with pants on, you need a nap.”

Michael changed into joggers before crawling into bed with Jeremy, letting his boyfriend cling to him.

“I love you,” Jeremy whispered.

“I love you too.”

Jeremy kept adjusting to make himself comfortable, his arm eventually knocking against Michael’s sweatshirt pocket. Before Michael could react Jeremy had grabbed the vial from his pocket and was holding it up to examine.

“What’s this?”

Michael sighed, grabbing back the vial from his hand and leaning over to shove it into his nightstand, “That…is what turned me into Captain.”

“They let you have it?!”

Michael shook his head, “No, I grabbed it. I…I want to make sure it gets destroyed myself.”

Jeremy nodded, “Okay. If you want help let me know.”

He brushed a hand through Jeremy’s hair, managing to get his boyfriend to fall asleep. The last week had been torture for him, between the media craze and Jennifer vanishing and James…he needed rest. Michael was going to do all he could to make sure Jeremy had some peace.

Eventually Michael drifted off as well. When he woke up Jeremy was gone from their room, leading Michael to get up. He made his way to the living room, finding Jeremy curled up on the couch. There was a broadcast playing on the tv and Michael sighed when he noted that the people were bashing Jeremy for letting his mother escape. Michael turned it off, pulling Jeremy into his arms.

“Let’s go see him,” Michael suggested, carrying Jeremy into their room so he could put his pants back on.

They got dressed, Jeremy reluctantly leading them out to the car. He didn’t actually drive, instead requesting that Squip control the car for them. Michael didn’t say a word. He just held Jeremy’s hand.

The hospital was busy, so it took them a little while to get to the visitor desk. The receptionist looked up, clocking Jeremy from the news.

“Go ahead Mr. Heere, Mr. Mell.”

Jeremy trudged forward past the desk, Michael walking in time with him and keeping an arm wrapped around his shoulders. That had happened the last time they had visited too. There were no questions, they were just allowed up. The elevator ride was quiet, Michael pressed a kiss into Jeremy’s hair if only to remind him that he was still there.

They walked into James’s hospital room, finding Chloe seated beside him and gripping his hand. Brooke was seated on a couch in the corner, her laptop open. Jeremy walked over to Chloe, Michael watching her release James’s hand and stand up. She pulled Jeremy into a tight hug, the two of them bursting into tears. Michael walked over to Brooke, sitting beside her on the couch.

“Hey Mikey,” Brooke mumbled, pressing a kiss to his cheek.

Brooke closed her laptop and set it down, letting her head rest against Michael’s shoulder. Eventually Chloe and Jeremy let each other go, Jeremy being offered the chair at James’s bedside. Chloe crawled onto the couch, her body stretched across Michael’s lap so her head could rest in Brooke’s.

“Hi Chloe,” Brooke whispered, bending over to press a kiss to Chloe’s forehead.

It was a pretty miserable evening. No one really wanted to talk. Jeremy stayed hunched in his seat, gripping his father’s hand like a lifeline. Chloe didn’t move from her spot, Brooke brushing a hand through her hair.

And then Jeremy jumped to his feet, running from the room. Michael scrambled after him, leaving Chloe and Brooke in the hospital room. Michael caught sight of Jeremy entering the stairwell, chasing his boyfriend and watching him clamor over the stair railing and jump, plummeting down.

“Jer!”

Michael followed, vaulting over the railing and beginning to fall. He watched as Jeremy’s suit formed around him, the suit kicking into flight as they reached the bottom. Michael reached out and caught himself, his shoulder straining slightly from the force. They both landed on the ground floor, Michael catching Jeremy’s hand before he could run away again.

“Jer, what the fuck is going on?”

The faceplate of the suit pulled away, revealing Jeremy with angry tears in his eyes.

“She’s at the vacation house. Q caught her on a camera for a split second before they all turned off.”

“Let me come with,” Michael whispered.

Jeremy nodded, the two of them running outside together. Michael held tight as Jeremy flew them back to the house. He ran into the house, grabbing his two suits and his shield. Jeremy had given him a sort of harness with a hook on the back so he could carry the shield around without it being on his arm. He turned to check on Jeremy, finding him in a new armor. This one was mostly silver in color, the blue only running in a stripe along the sides of the armor. Michael didn’t question it, he just pocketed his captain uniform and turned on the suit.

“Let’s do this,” Jeremy sighed, leading them back outside.

☼

They made the decision to land a bit further from the house than originally planned. Just so the noise from the suits didn’t possibly startle Jennifer. When they landed Michael switched into his captain uniform, the two of them walking up the private beach.

Michael stepped forward and kicked in the front door, shattering the wood into pieces. They walked inside, a small yelp escaping from Jennifer as she spotted them. Jeremy trudged forward, his head empty except for his thoughts of revenge. What would he do? Carry her to the maximum height the armor could go and have her freeze to death? Drop her into the ocean from two hundred feet up? Have Michael bash her skull in with the shield?

No. No this was his fight. Michael was just there to support him.

“Did you seriously think you could hide from me forever?” Jeremy called out, aiming a repulsor so he could fire if she poked her head out.

They both saw the explosive bounce towards them, but Michael acted fast and kicked it out of the way. The device exploded, setting a far wall ablaze.

“What? Are you pissed off that bullets didn’t work the first time?” Jeremy kept walking forward. “Sorry! Guess we’re just built different!”

She threw another explosive, but they again kicked it a safe distance away before it could detonate. Jeremy didn’t stop marching, forcing Jennifer into a corner.

“You’re a disgrace to our family name!” Jennifer cried.

“Look who’s fucking talking, murderer!” Jeremy snapped.

Jennifer pulled a gun on them, her hands shaking as she pulled the trigger at them. Michael blocked the bullets from hitting them with the shield, Jennifer’s magazine emptying before she could possibly hurt them.

“Let me go!” Jennifer screamed as Jeremy caught her wrist with the armor.

“Sir, emergency services will be here soon to put out the fire.” Squip alerted him.

Jeremy made sure his grip was tight enough that she wouldn’t fall and took off, flying towards the ocean. He was vaguely aware of Michael scrambling after them, but he couldn’t find it in himself to focus on his boyfriend. All he cared about was ruining Jennifer, making her pay for everything she made him do. Scaring innocent people, blowing up his own factory, making him fight the man he loved, stealing the company out from under her, making Iron Man into a job when it used to be his dream. It was all her fault. His dad was going to die and it was because of her.

“Put me down!” Jennifer demanded.

Jeremy cocked his head to the side, releasing his grip on her wrist. Jennifer screamed, plummeting down towards the open ocean. Michael swooped in and caught her, saving Jennifer from hitting the water like a cement brick.

“Michael!”

“I know you’re pissed, but killing her won't make you feel better.” Michael’s voice echoed through their comm.

“Doubtful, I think it would help a lot.”

“Jeremy, let her lose everything. Let her watch what little she has be ripped away.”

Jeremy sighed, “Fine.”

They flew towards home, Jennifer still screaming and crying when she found the energy for it. He paused his flight, hovering in the air. Michael had to circle back to reach him.

“What?”

“It’s a long flight,” Jeremy explained, having the arm of the armor open up. He had designed the Mark Ⅴ to be an improvement upon the Mark Ⅲ. Now instead of just the back opening up he could open any part of the suit. With that in mind he opened the side of the armor as well, digging into his hoodie pocket and pulling out his nano-tech suit. He floated over to Michael, ignoring Jennifer’s screams as he attached the device to her chest and turned it on. “Q, buddy, she has no control. She follows me. Okay?”

“Of course, Sir.”

The suit made Jennifer stand upright, the flight system kicking in so she was hovering beside them. Jeremy made sure to mute their comm on her end so she couldn’t hear anything before closing his armor back up and continuing the flight home. Jennifer didn’t deserve to experience the armors, but it was better than Michael carrying her the whole way.

Jeremy had been blocking his calls since getting into the armor, but he sent Chloe a message to update her as they flew across the ocean. They were bringing Jennifer back to New York, and she was going to pay for her crimes. Michael sped up his suit so they were flying next to each other, wrapping one hand in Jeremy’s.

“This doesn’t work very well,” Michael chuckled at their awkwardly connected hands.

Jeremy didn’t care. He would hold robotic armor hands with Michael any day.

Michael opted to fly straight home while Jeremy deposited Jennifer back into police custody. He landed them both outside a precinct, removing the suit from Jennifer with a thought. He shoved her forward, ignoring the looks and stares from the crowd he was getting. He didn’t care about them.

Jennifer was cuffed, screaming about how Jeremy had tried to kill her. No one listened, it was common knowledge now that Jennifer had tried to kill him first.

Jeremy set the armor to maximum speed so he could catch up with Michael, the two of them flying in sync. He was exhausted. Flying around the globe and back was horrible. He needed to go to bed, or drink an entire pot of coffee. Either one would do.

“I’m thinking we can order something today,” Michael said, flying around Jeremy in circles. “We’ve been in the suits for what? Eighteen hours? Give or take? I am ready to just stretch out and be done for the day.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Jeremy bit back a yawn.

The house was a welcome sight. Jeremy beelined to their room the moment he was out of the armor, Michael two steps behind him. He kicked off his pants and fell into bed, Michael at least taking the time to change before crawling in after him. They could eat in the morning, sleep was more important. Michael seemed to be in agreement. They had done good. They were going to be fine.

“Love you,” Michael murmured, pulling Jeremy into his arms.

“Love you too,” Jeremy assured, pressing a kiss to Michael’s chin.

Jeremy’s last thought before letting sleep claim him was to block all notifications. Unless Jennifer escaped or his business was being targeted he didn’t want to be disturbed. He had earned a good night's rest.

Jeremy woke up practically on top of Michael, their limbs a jumbled mess and his chest acting as a pillow. He sat up, admiring how peaceful Michael looked in the morning light.

“Sir, we have a situation.”

Oh fuck off. Jeremy got out of bed, reaching for his phone. What the hell was going on now?

Squip pulled up a video on his phone, one taken of Jennifer being transported into a car. Most likely to be taken back to court for her sentencing.

“Michael Mell is Captain!” Jennifer was screaming in the video. Jeremy felt his heart stop. She wouldn’t…

What was he thinking? Of fucking course she would!

“Get rid of it,” Jeremy ordered.

“I have deleted the video several times but it keeps being reuploaded.”

“Fuck,” Jeremy groaned, running a hand through his hair.

“Agent Canigula is at the gate, Sir.”

“Double fuck,” Jeremy started walking towards the door. “Let her in.”

Christine walked in like she owned the place, her hands clenched into fists. Jeremy tried to act casual, but he was freaking out.

“Really Heere? You couldn’t put pants on?”

“It’s early.”

“It’s eleven.”

“Triple fuck.”

Christine glanced around, “Where is he?”

Jeremy grumbled, trudging back to his room. Michael was just pulling on his shirt, grinning at Jeremy as he walked in.

“Hey Jer,” Michael pressed a kiss to his cheek. “I need to call my moms, they tried calling like four times yesterday.”

“Christine is in our living room,” Jeremy grumbled.

Michael followed him back out, the three of them seating themselves around the living room. Christine handed Michael her phone, the video already pulled up. Jeremy clung to Michael’s arm while he watched, worry pooling in his stomach as Michael visibly tended. This wasn’t fair. Michael hadn’t asked for this.

“The Avengers Initiative can protect you to a point, but this is out of our control,” Christine whispered.

“Squip is taking down all the videos we can find online,” Jeremy assured. He wondered if any threats had been sent yet?

“A few demanding that Mr. Mell be locked away for possessing his power.”

Those needed to be rid of, Michael didn’t need the stress.

“Of course, Sir.”

“Shit,” Michael handed Christine’s phone back, burying his face in his hands. “I tried so hard to keep things under wraps, I—”

“It isn’t your fault,” Jeremy murmured.

“I couldn’t even tell my own moms,” Michael let out a broken laugh. “How am I supposed to face them? They weren’t supposed to find out.”

“If there’s anything SHIELD or I can do to help just give me a call,” Christine said, eyes soft. “I can’t undo anything, but if you want we could relocate you.”

Michael got up from the couch, Jeremy unsure if he should follow. He wasn’t gone long, Michael came marching back in with the vial from the nightstand in his hand. He held out the vial to Jeremy to hold.

“Fix me,” Michael whispered, tears welling up in his eyes.

Jeremy glanced at the vial in his hand, “Michael…I can’t.”

“You fixed Brooke, why not me?”

Jeremy offered the vial back, “Brooke had a virus. You were mutated. You can get over an illness, but evolution can’t be turned back.”

Michael cursed under his breath, pivoting on his heel and walking away again. Jeremy closed his fingers around the vial, hanging his head. If it was possible he would do it, but Michael had been changed completely—down to his DNA. There wasn’t any way to undo that.

“How long has he had that?” Christine asked, eyeing the vial.

“You aren’t getting it,” Jeremy growled.

“No, no. It’s not safe with me. Destroy it. Please. I don’t want anyone else to end up like him.”

Jeremy nodded, shoving the vial into his pocket. He would fire a repulsor at the vial just to make sure. If he couldn’t get rid of Michael’s mutation he could at least destroy the blueprint for causing it.

Christine stood, “I’ll keep in touch. He…he needs you, Jeremy. I’m sorry about your father, James is a good man.”

Jeremy nodded, leading Christine out. He made his way back into his room, showering and getting dressed for the day. He poked around at the leftovers in the fridge, bringing his bowl of pasta with him into the workshop. Jeremy pulled up the gym camera feed, watching Michael beat the shit out of his punching bag. He wished there was something he could do. Something more than keeping threats away.

“Sir?” Squip beeped from the ceiling. “Mr. Mell is talking to himself, I believe he wants to leave.”

“What?!” Jeremy jumped to his feet, bolting from the workshop. He hurried into the gym, nearly crashing into Michael as he walked out.

“You can’t leave!” Jeremy blocked the doorway.

“Jeremy, I—”

“No! You’re all I have! You can’t!”

“I don’t want to make your life more complicated. We weren’t ever going to last forever anyway, I’m not good enough for you.”

“What? Michael, I love you—”

“All I’ve done is made things harder for you, Jer. I can’t—”

“Marry me!”

Oh god what the fuck was wrong with him?! They both froze, Jeremy still processing what he had said. Michael recovered first.

“You don’t mean that, Jer.”

“Yes I do!”

Michael shook his head, “No, you just don’t want me to leave. I’m sorry Jer, I can’t do this. I’ll be gone by the end of the week.”

Michael budged past him, Jeremy stuck frozen in the doorway. Michael vanished from sight and broke, falling to his knees and sobbing.

Jennifer had managed to take his dad and Michael from him.

He was going to be alone.

☼

Michael glanced around the living room, unsure of what to do. He was going to reach out to Christine in a bit, have her look into relocating him. Maybe things would calm down one day and he could see his friends and family again, but that wouldn’t happen for years.

“Squip?” Michael looked up to the ceiling. “Where is Jeremy?”

The past few days had been hell. Every time they passed each other it was sad eyes and silent begging. He felt like garbage, he didn’t want to leave Jeremy. But a disingenuous proposal was too much.

“Sir is currently visiting Mr. James at the hospital with Ms. Valentine and Ms. Lohst.”

He should say goodbye to Brooke before vanishing on her. Again. Michael sighed, working up the courage to call an Uber. It wasn’t fair that he was going to up and vanish on his moms and Jake and Rich, he could at least try with Brooke. She could pass along the news that he was alive and just gone.

Michael kept his head sucked at the hospital. His face had been plastered everywhere recently, right alongside Jeremy’s. There was no way out, people knew what he was.

He poked his head into James’s room, finding Jeremy was nowhere to be seen. He stepped inside, startling Chloe from her spot next to James.

“Hi,” Michael waved pathetically.

Chloe glared at him, “Get out.”

“I’m leaving,” Michael assured. “I just wanted to say goodbye to Brooke.”

Brooke looked up from her laptop, “Where are you going?”

Michael shrugged, “Not sure. Wherever Christine puts me. I don’t know anything yet, I just don’t want to leave without saying anything again.”

Chloe made a face, “Wait, I thought you were moving back with your parents?”

Michael shook his head, “No. I can’t go there, it isn’t safe for them.”

“Why’d you dump Jeremy?”

Brooke gaped like a fish, “You dumped Jeremy?!”

Michael hung his head, “I didn’t really have a choice. I don’t want to, but it isn’t fair to ruin his life. And then I scared him into proposing so now it’s worse, and—”

Chloe held up a hand and silenced him, “I’m sorry, Jeremy proposed to you?”

Brooke whipped her head back and forth between him and Chloe, “Jeremy proposed and you dumped him?!”

Michael nodded, “He didn’t mean it though.”

Brooke got up and walked over to him, “Mikey, he loves you. Maybe it took drastic measures to get him to say it, but he’s clearly in love with you. Hell, every time someone asks he says he doesn’t want a new relationship, that he’s happy with you. You’re Michael and Jeremy. Captain and Iron Man. You belong together.”

Chloe stood up and got in Michael’s space, “You are going to waltz your way back over to that house, beg your ass off, and hope that Jeremy takes you back. Jeremy and the word proposal didn’t belong in the same sentence before you showed up. If you two aren’t kissing and making up by dark I’m going to legally get you two married myself. Understand?”

Michael hesitated, “You’re joking.”

“His mother is a war criminal, his father is on his fucking death bed, and he’s convinced he is going to lose the first person he’s ever loved, get your head out of your ass and face the fucking music. Oh no, the world knows you’re a superhero. Guess who else is one? Your fucking boyfriend!”

“I’ll drive you,” Brooke offered.

“Wait, so Jeremy isn’t here? Squip said he was.”

“Squip was probably instructed to lie to you, now go!”

Brooke and Michael hurried out of the hospital and into the parking ramp. Go home, beg, get married to Jeremy. That wasn’t hard, right? Unless Jeremy didn’t want him anymore. Fuck. Jeremy probably hated him now.

“Don’t get in your head over it,” Brooke warned, reaching over to squeeze his hand. “He loves you, Mikey.”

Michael nodded, not trusting his voice. He could do this. Jeremy didn’t think he was a monster. So what if he was new to commitment, Jeremy was new to creating elements and he had done that. The past six months had been some of if not the best of his life. Jeremy deserved better, sure, but he wanted Michael. And Michael wanted him.

Michael made his way into the house, going down to the workshop. He didn’t ask, he just tried the door. It didn’t budge. Michael sighed, glancing up at the ceiling.

“Squip, please.”

“Sir had placed me in do not disturb mode, I cannot request the door be unlocked.”

Michael sighed, “Fine. I’ll just break it.”

He snapped off the handle, prying the door open after digging the lock mechanism out. Jeremy was sitting in his desk chair, his feet propped up on the desk. A guitar sat in his hands and he was quietly strumming. There were two coffee mugs sitting on the desk, both with coffee in them.

“To the heart and mind,” Jeremy was singing under his breath, his back was turned so he couldn’t see Michael. “Ignorance is kind.”

Oh fuck not Careless Whisper. Michael took a step forward, unsure of what to do. Jeremy clearly hadn’t heard the door break.

“And waste the chance that I’d been given. So, I’m never gonna dance again, the way I danced with you.”

Michael walked up behind Jeremy, his hand hovering above Jeremy’s shoulder. There was no way he could fix this. He had hurt Jeremy again. He wouldn’t take him back now. He’d be stupid to do that.

“Tonight the music seems so loud. I wish that we could lose this crowd.”

All he had to do was lower his hand and check. Jeremy’s expression should be enough to tell. And if Jeremy didn’t want him that was fine. He had been the one to turn away, Jeremy deserved the chance to say no.

“But now, who’s gonna dance with me? Please stay.”

Michael bit the bullet and lowered his hand, “Jeremy?”

Jeremy flinched, nearly throwing his guitar across the room. He whipped around in his chair, his eyes wide. Michael lowered his hand back to his side, terror wracking his system.

“What the fuck are you doing in here?” Jeremy asked, setting the guitar down to rest against the table.

“I love you,” Michael stated, forcing himself to not look away. “And I’m fucking terrified. But hurting you is worse than fear, and I’d rather be happy and scared than miserable and calm. So, if you still want me, I…I would love to spend my life with you, Jeremy.”

“You…you want to marry me?”

Michael nodded, his hands beginning to shake. He was fucking terrified.

“Really?”

God he sounded so hopeful. Michael nodded again, reaching for Jeremy’s hand, “Yeah.”

Jeremy threw himself out of his chair, jumping into Michael’s arms. Michael caught him, letting his lips catch over Jeremy’s. Holy shit. He still wanted him. They were going to be okay.

“Wait—” Jeremy scrambled back to the floor, digging through the mess on his desk. Michael let out a watery laugh as Jeremy pivoted back around and dropped on one knee, holding out a ring in his hand. “Michael Luis Mell, will you marry me?”

Michael grinned, “Of course, Jer.”

Jeremy slid the ring on his finger before launching himself back into Michael’s arms. He buried a hand in Jeremy’s hair, losing himself while kissing his boyfriend. Fiancé. Holy shit he was engaged. Fuck.

“Don’t leave me, please,” Jeremy begged, pressing kisses along Michael’s jaw.

“Never, I promise,” Michael whispered.

Jeremy buried his face against Michael’s shoulder, the two of them embracing. So what if people knew he was Captain? He couldn’t get rid of his powers, there was nothing they could do about it.

“Did you break my door?” Jeremy had tilted his head up and spotted the broken door handle.

“You had Squip muted, I had to break in.”

Jeremy pulled back from the hug, dropping his feet to the ground, “Oh yeah. Buddy, you can talk.”

“Congratulations Sir, Mr. Mell,” Squip beeped. “Shall I notify Ms. Valentine of the good news?”

Michael chuckled, “Nah, I think she knows.”

The two of them walked back upstairs, Jeremy not bothering with the broken door for the moment. Michael sighed, grabbing his bags he had sitting out. Now he had to unpack his shit again.

“Don’t worry about it right now,” Jeremy shushed, making him drop the bag. “Right now we need to discuss my least favorite thing, the public opinion.”

“What am I getting myself into?”

“No take backs, you said yes.”

“Sir, Mrs. Maria and Mrs. Darcy are at the gate.”

Michael whipped his head towards the speaker on the ceiling, “What?”

Jeremy seemed just as lost, “Let them in. What the hell are they doing here? How did they find my address?”

They both stepped outside, Michael watching his moms hurry out of a car and towards him. He held his arms out for a hug, but they stopped short.

“You haven’t called us in weeks!” Darcy yelled, eyes angry. “You fucking vanished at the restaurant! And then everyone is saying that you’re a masked vigilante?!”

“What the hell is going on, Mikey?” Maria asked.

Michael tensed up. Shit. He had been hoping to face his moms in his own time.

“I…I am Captain,” Michael stated. “And it’s been crazy lately, I’m sorry I didn’t talk to you about any of this. It was something I wanted to tell you when I was ready, it’s been a slow process.”

“So those videos…it’s all been you?” Darcy looked horrified.

Michael nodded, “I’ll explain if you come inside. I promise.”

“You better fucking explain,” Darcy grumbled, marching past them into the house. “I didn’t realize I married into supernatural genetics.”

Maria followed her wife inside, Michael turning to Jeremy. Jeremy stretched up on his toes and planted a kiss to his chin.

“Maybe we should keep this a secret for now, I don’t want to overwhelm them,” Jeremy murmured, tapping on Michael’s ring.

Michael nodded, slipping the ring off and into his pocket, “Good idea. One major life change at a time.”

They were going to be okay.

☼

Jeremy sighed, taking a seat beside his father’s bed. He had been in a coma for nearly three weeks now. Jennifer was imprisoned, Michael’s moms knew about everything going on, and now the world was trying to convince Jeremy that his relationship with Michael was abusive.

Iron Man and Captain used to fight! Now they’re happily together? That’s impossible!

And Jeremy fully intended on keeping his engagement a secret. It would make things easier. If he could have it his way he would just get the legal shit taken care of and then announce that Michael’s last name was suddenly Heere.

He still couldn’t believe Michael had changed his mind. It might have been a please stay tactic, but he did want to marry Michael. It was like their first night together all over again, he couldn’t keep away. He was clingy.

But visiting his dad was a bit more important than trying to glue himself to Michael’s hip.

“Hey Jer,” Chloe came walking in, glancing around the room. Her face fell and she hurried over to him, “No Michael?”

Jeremy shook his head, “Just me.”

Chloe threw her arms around him, “Oh, I’m so sorry! I know how much you loved him. If you need anything let me know, okay?”

“What?”

“I’m your best friend, it’s my job to be there for you when there’s a breakup.”

Jeremy scrunched up his nose, “What? We didn’t break—”

“Huh?!” Chloe seemed outraged.

“He literally ate me out last night, Chlo.”

Speak of the devil, Michael walked in. He looked mortified.

“Is nothing secret with you?” Michael whispered.

“Not the worst thing he’s said to me,” Chloe shrugged. “So, you two are still together?” Both of them nodded. “And how would you set your relationship status if you cared to set it?”

“Engaged?” Jeremy wasn’t quite sure what she was trying to get at.

Chloe cheered, throwing her arms around him again, “Oh! I’m so happy for you Jer-Bear!”

“We aren’t telling people yet,” Michael warned her, walking over to them. Jeremy leaned against him, Michael’s fingers scratching at the base of his neck. He didn’t want to move.

“Have you thought of wedding details yet?” Chloe asked, taking a seat next to Michael on the couch.

“No,” Michael shook his head.

“I was thinking of just going to a courthouse and getting it done,” Jeremy said, reaching for James’s hand.

“No, you aren’t allowed to elope,” Chloe shushed him. “I’ll help with planning, if you forget to invite someone on the board they’ll never let it go.”

“I don’t want those old bastards at my wedding,” Jeremy whined.

Chloe kept listing things they would need to do, and Jeremy tuned her out. It wouldn’t really matter because his dad wouldn’t be there. He didn’t want to think about how James wouldn’t be at his wedding, but staring at the unchanged pale face in front of him it was hard not to. If not for Michael they wouldn’t have actually started talking, and then his entire life was ripped out from under him. Lawyers were hounding him about inheritance and his employees couldn’t go much longer without someone in the driver’s seat. Chloe was getting done what she could, but she was grieving just like him. His engagement was one happy moment in a sea of terror.

He would do anything to fix things.

“Jer,” Michael appeared next to him, wrapping an arm around his shoulders.

“I’m sick of crying,” Jeremy whispered.

Michael pressed a kiss into his hair, Jeremy leaning into his touch. He was trying so hard to stay calm about everything but he was watching his father die. If he hadn’t muted Squip he could have saved him.

“Wait,” Michael pulled back, digging in his jacket pocket. He pulled out the vial of super soldier serum, holding it between the two of them. “What if…what if we give James some of this?”

Chloe made a face, “What the fuck is that? It looks like windex!”

Jeremy shook his head, “I’m not risking my dad ending up like you, no offense.”

“This isn’t enough to mutate him, I had two whole IV bags dripped into me before I mutated. If we give him a small amount it might be enough to boost his healing rate long enough for him to recover enough that he wakes up.”

Jeremy glanced at the vial in front of him. He was scared of the risk, but if he could save his dad? Even if he ended up a super soldier, Michael could help him adjust. It’s not like his dad couldn’t live if he ended up all buff.

“One drop, that’s it,” Jeremy whispered.

Chloe got up, walking towards the door, “I love you Jer-Bear, but I’m not going to be a witness to whatever the hell you’re doing. I’m going to go get us coffee, I’ll be back.”

Once the door closed behind her Jeremy got to work. He walked over to the medical supplies cart, cursing under his breath when he found it locked. Go figure hospitals had basic security. Michael walked up next to him and casually pried the first drawer open, Jeremy finding a syringe easily. He opened the vial and put the smallest amount he could manage into the syringe.

“Okay, Q,” Jeremy whispered, holding the syringe in his hand while Michael sealed the vial back up. “Control my body, one drop of this shit for my dad.”

Having his own control take the backseat was a strange experience. His movements were stiff and calculated, like a robot. Still, he approached the IV drip and attached the syringe at the access point. He watched the speck of blue go through the tube, slowly entering his dad’s arm. With that Jeremy detached the syringe and he was given control back.

“Fuck,” Jeremy whispered ditching the syringe in the bio hazard trash can. “That better not kill him. How long until we know if it worked?”

Michael shrugged, “A few days? I’m not an expert, I just have experience.”

They all stayed at the hospital for the remainder of the afternoon. Jeremy found himself tapping on the reactor in his chest. He knew he could get it removed. All the threats were gone. But he was terrified. The reactor had been keeping him safe for months now, and it had saved him from Jennifer shooting him point blank. It was like a form of armor.

But he didn’t want Michael to have to marry a man with a flashlight in his chest. How soon could he get it taken care of?

“I can schedule you for a consultation in fifteen minutes, Sir. It appears that a qualified surgeon was just hired on and is looking for patients.”

Yeah, that would work. Jeremy got up, Michael catching his wrist before he could walk away.

“I’m just going to go on a walk,” Jeremy assured. “I'll be back in a while, might track down Dad’s doctor if I can.”

Michael nodded, releasing his wrist, “Okay, have fun.”

Jeremy smiled, making his way towards the elevator. He was casual, following Squip’s directions to the correct floor and into the lobby of the consultation area. He got his vitals taken by a nurse, finding he didn’t have to wait long to meet with the surgeon.

“Hello Mr. Heere,” the young lady greeted him. “I’m Dr. Jenna Rolan, I see here you’re looking into a potential medical emergency?”

Really? An emergency?

“Sir, shrapnel victims are an emergency.”

Jeremy nodded, lifting his shirt and removing the patch he had over the reactor, “Yeah. I have shrapnel in my chest from an explosion back in September. This thing is keeping it out of my heart.”

Jenna recovered from her shock quickly, “Yeah let’s get you an x-ray.”

It didn’t really surprise him that Jenna was insisting he be operated on as soon as they could manage it. Jeremy bit back his own anxieties over the ordeal and agreed. He could be operated on in the morning at the earliest. He could get everything taken care of. Maybe when he woke up his dad would be beginning to get better.

“Can I share my dad’s hospital room?” Jeremy asked the nurse helping him fill out paperwork. “It’s big enough.”

“Of course Mr. Heere.”

Jeremy made his way back up to the room, finding another hospital bed had been wheeled in. Michael and Chloe were both confused, watching a nurse fill out a whiteboard beside the bed with Jeremy’s basic information.

“Jeremy, what the hell is going on?” Michael asked.

Jeremy tapped his chest, “I’m going to get it removed.”

Michael threw his arms around him, “Oh my god you idiot. It’s about damn time.”

One really difficult day down, hopefully not that many more to go.

Chapter Text

“Chloe, is this really necessary?”

Chloe looked up from her phone, “This is your wedding, Jer-Bear. Yes.”

Jeremy grumbled under his breath, he didn’t see the need for a big party. Just get the legal documents signed, that’s all marriage was. He didn’t need a big deal made over everything.

But Michael did want a wedding. So maybe he could put up with all the dumb shit for him.

Jeremy glanced at his reflection in the mirror, “Why am I wearing white again?”

Chloe looked up again, “Because you and Michael agreed on it.”

Brooke came walking back into the room, about five different ties draped across her shoulders, “Okay Jeremy, which one?”

Jeremy pointed to the far left tie, the darkest shade of blue Brooke had offered. Brooke nodded, stepping up on the platform she had Jeremy standing on and quickly adding the tie to his outfit. She then pulled a small box from her pocket, offering it to Jeremy.

“I reached out to a friend and had these made, what do you think?”

Jeremy opened the box, finding cufflinks inside. Brooke had them made in the shape of the Iron Man helmet. He grinned, looking up at her.

“This is awesome.”

Brooke beamed, taking the cufflinks and adding them to his suit. She stepped off the platform, walking over to Chloe and nudging her to look up. Jeremy let out a chuckle as Chloe’s eyes welled up. She might have looked at him between working on her phone, but this was her first time seeing him.

“Oh, Jer-Bear!” Chloe got up from her chair, walking over and taking his hands in hers. “You’re getting married!”

Jeremy was finally allowed to change out of the suit and into his normal clothes, Brooke taking the outfit from him to keep safe until the wedding. Chloe and him walked out of the building together, the two of them getting into the car.

“Okay, next is cake,” Chloe hummed, typing on her phone. “Squip, you know where to take us.”

“Of course, Ms. Valentine.”

Jeremy didn’t complain as the car started moving of its own accord. He would rather Chloe be secretive and have Squip drive than have her drive. He pulled his phone out, scrolling through his playlist to find a good song.

“If you try to blow my eardrums out I’m going to steal your company from you,” Chloe warned.

Jeremy sighed, continuing to scroll. He ended up picking a different playlist entirely, one he was still working on perfecting. He was picky about his music taste.

I know a girl who likes to drink her coffee black. ‘Cause sugar no she don’t got time for that.

Chloe nodded her head, continuing to scroll through her phone. Jeremy stared out the window, wishing he was home working. Chloe had already done all this shit with Michael. Jeremy was only going so there was a second opinion.

“Sir, this is your wedding, you deserve a say in it.”

Jeremy just sighed. He was tired, between the wedding planning and his surgery and his dad still not recovering? He was worn down. Michael and him had agreed to just get the wedding done before the media could freak out, but that meant a lot of rushing. Planning an entire wedding wasn’t exactly easy, and they were trying to do it in secret. They would have been doomed without Chloe.

She had designed the invites, keeping the actual event secret, she found their venue, she had food picked out for the reception, she was doing all of that while still running her regular job.

His dad no longer needing breathing assistance was a huge boost to their morale, it meant he was getting better. The hospital officially called off the DNR, and Jeremy had actually cheered when he had been updated by a nurse. If things got worse again his dad could be saved.

“Are you sure you don’t want to at least send an invite to Jennifer?” Chloe asked. “So she can know?”

“Nah, maybe next time I’m in New York I’ll visit and tell her. Maybe not though.”

Chloe just nodded, going back to her work. The car pulled up to a bakery, the two of them stepping out of the car practically in sync. Jeremy kept his head down as they entered the store, not wanting to draw any attention to himself.

Chloe and the company had been contacted by hundreds of news organizations big and small to try and get an interview with Jeremy, Michael, or both of them. Them both being superheroes was a big deal as it was, but society freaked out when the two superheroes of the world were also in a relationship together. Jeremy had thought it was bad when he had come out, but things were getting so much worse.

It was kind of funny to watch dumb fan edits of them online. Horribly blurry and pixilated photos of their suits flying with you so fucking precious when you smile playing in the background never failed to make him laugh. All of Michael’s friends had to private their social media to protect their own privacy, which Brooke had been hit hardest by. She built her career with her social media, but now she was being flooded with questions about Michael and Jeremy.

The hate…wasn’t exactly easy to filter and work with. Jake had ended up getting harassed by a coworker just for knowing Michael. Now Jake had a new job thanks to Jeremy and Chloe finding a safer company for him to work for. Maria had customers pestering her about her child. Rich had mentioned wanting to move. Things were out of control socially and Jeremy wasn’t sure how to handle it. Squip was doing what he could, protecting personal information and deleting anything directly threatening, but with them being on opposite ends of the country not much more could be done. Jeremy did tell all of them that if they needed they could stay at the tower, but they were all hoping it wouldn’t come to that.

“Hello again Ms. Chloe!” The employee behind the counter greeted her warmly. “Right this way!”

Jeremy followed Chloe, keeping his eyes trained on the floor until they were to the back room. Jeremy tried about twenty different cake flavors, the employee trying way too hard to make sure that he was happy. He appreciated the thought, but it was hard to just behave normally when people treated him like royalty. God, Michael had apparently been obsessed with him at one point and had only ever treated him like a normal person.

“You two ogled each other far too much for a casual friendship, Sir,” Squip beeped in his head. “Must I remind you of your frequent security camera—”

They didn’t need to talk about the security cameras! It was his first crush, he hadn’t known how to process it.

“If you had to pick two,” Chloe finally spoke to him, her eyes lifting from her phone for more than five seconds. “What cake flavors?”

“Red velvet and lemon,” Jeremy answered.

Chloe rolled her eyes, ruffling his hair, “Michael said that too.” She turned to the employee, “How about red velvet for the actual cake and lemon for the cupcakes?”

“Of course, I’ll put in the order.”

Chloe grinned, “Thank you.”

They went out to the car again, Jeremy driving them towards the office. Chloe finished tapping on her screen and clicked her phone off, dropping it into a cup holder and draping an arm over her eyes.

“You okay?”

Chloe shrugged, “Fucking exhausted. My parents asked if they could fly out to visit but I just don’t have time. I want them to meet Brooke but we can’t take time off right now.”

Jeremy frowned, “Can I do anything to help?”

“No. No. You don’t touch the company, you’ll blow it up again. Just invent your ideas and leave the busy work to me. Michael said your wedding ring is set so at least I have that going for me.”

“Do you know what it looks like?”

Chloe shook her head, “Michael did it himself, maybe he’ll give it to you when you get home.”

Traffic was pretty shitty while driving back. Jeremy sighed, the car rolling forward with the snail pace. He glanced over and found Chloe had fallen asleep, her breathing calm and even. Jeremy turned off the music, keeping quiet so she could rest.

He ended up just taking Chloe home, pulling up to her house and putting the car into park. Her getting some rest was more important than whatever work she had waiting back at the office. He sent a message to Michael, asking him to fly over to them. In a matter of minutes his fiancé was strolling up, pocketing a reactor as he approached the car. Michael carried Chloe inside while Jeremy got the door, the two of them depositing her in the bedroom without disturbing her. Jeremy made sure Chloe’s phone was silenced before setting it down on the counter so she could find it. They walked back out to the car, Michael taking Chloe’s place.

“Fun day?” Michael asked, the two of them driving towards their own house.

“Secret wedding planning was a hoot as always,” Jeremy deadpanned. “Courthouse wedding is still on the table.”

Michael reached over, taking one of Jeremy’s hands in his, “I can’t wait to marry you, Jer.”

“Yeah, I’m excited too.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

☼

Michael woke up first, rolling on his side so he could watch Jeremy sleep. The sun drifting in gave Jeremy a glow and it was hard to not find him ethereal. Michael grinned, leaning over and pressing a kiss to Jeremy’s shoulder. He still couldn’t believe that he was going to marry him.

Michael got up, padding his way into the kitchen to start breakfast. He couldn’t suppress his smiles, turning on the coffee maker for when Jeremy got up. He chuckled, feeling arms wrap around his stomach and a face pressed into his back. Michael turned around, lifting Jeremy up and setting him on the counter. He cupped Jeremy’s jaw, pulling him in for a kiss. Jeremy gripped his shoulder, the two of them grinning at each other when they pulled back.

“Hi,” Jeremy yawned, stretching so that the joints in his back popped.

Michael pressed a kiss to his cheek before returning to the stove, “Hi.”

Jeremy slid off of the counter, walking over to the coffee maker and pouring himself a mug. Michael watched him quietly sip at it for a moment, his eyes perking up as he held the mug in his hands. Michael plated their food, Jeremy quietly eating.

“Jer.”

“Hmm?”

“We’re getting married tomorrow.”

Jeremy beamed, “Yeah.”

“What should we do during our last day as bachelors?”

Jeremy shrugged, “Sex marathon?”

“Pretty sure that’s what the honeymoon is for.”

Jeremy sighed, glancing out the window, “It’s nice out, we could go to the beach.”

Michael hummed, “Y’know, I haven’t been to the beach yet since moving here. Not counting when we fought on the beach.”

So it was decided. They got ready together, Michael letting out a small sigh of relief when Jeremy tugged off his sleep hoodie to reveal that his chest scar was practically fully healed. He’d been watching it carefully, just making sure Jeremy didn’t have an infection.

Jeremy drove them out to a beach, the two of them sitting in the sand and watching the waves crash. It was beautiful, Michael letting Jeremy rest his head against his shoulder.

“What if I changed my last name just to fuck with people?” Jeremy chuckled.

“Oh yeah, Jeremy Mell, CEO of Heere Industries. That makes so much sense. Chloe would kill you.”

“Michael Heere doesn’t sound much better.”

“No one cares about my last name,” Michael argued.

“Excuse me, you’re a fucking superhero. Having double initials is one of the cool parts!”

“Maybe I’ll hyphenate.”

“Maybe I’ll hyphenate.”

Michael wrapped his arms around Jeremy, pulling them both down so they were laying in the sand. Due to it being winter it wasn’t exactly warm sand, but it was decent enough outside for things to not be unbearable. They turned their heads to face each other, Jeremy leaning in to kiss him.

Michael chuckled, pulling back and hopping to his feet. He pulled his nano-suit from his pocket and attached it, turning to smirk at Jeremy.

“Last one to the office makes dinner.”

Michael pivoted on his heel and started running, letting the suit form around him so he could take off. Jeremy was scrambling behind him, the two of them flying towards the office building.

“You asshole! We have a car!” Jeremy whined, catching up to him.

Michael only laughed, flying in loops around Jeremy. They caught hold of each other, hovering in the air as they pulled back the helmets of the suits.

“I love you,” Jeremy whispered, his cheeks flushed.

Michael pressed a kiss to Jeremy’s pulse point, “Love you too.”

Jeremy pulled out of their embrace, zooming forward once again. Michael laughed, having his helmet form back on before following. Jeremy landed on the roof first, Michael right after him. They turned off their suits before heading inside through the roof access door, Jeremy jumping into his arms as they were walking down the stairs. Michael carried him to Chloe’s office, the two of them barging in like they owned the place. Which Jeremy did.

“Oh good!” Chloe motioned for them to sit. She passed them both papers. “Marriage licenses. We’ll take them to the courthouse after the wedding and make it legal.”

Chloe already had most of the paperwork filled out, making the decision for them that Michael was changing his name and not Jeremy. Michael didn’t mind, happily signing off on the papers.

“Your family is flying in today,” Chloe said, her attention turned to Michael. “They’re currently under the impression that we’re throwing you two a surprise party, if you want your moms to give you away you need to tell them today.”

“No,” Michael shook his head. “If James can’t give Jeremy away I don’t want my moms to do the same with me.”

Chloe nodded, holding out her hand, “Rings?”

Michael slipped off his ring and handed it over, then pulled the box with Jeremy’s from his pocket and passed that over as well.

“At least let me see it!” Jeremy whined.

Chloe put the rings into her bag, shaking her head at Jeremy, “Tomorrow, dumbass.”

Chloe took their papers from them, sending them on their way. They stepped outside, Michael laughing as the car pulled up in front of them. Jeremy hurried over to the passenger side door and opened it, motioning for Michael to get it.

“You’re so ridiculous,” Michael chuckled, planting a kiss on Jeremy's cheek before getting inside.

They drove around the city for a while, Jeremy eventually parking near a plaza. They got out and started walking around together, the streets surprisingly quiet. Michael had been living in Malibu for what, nine months? And he still hadn’t ever taken the time to actually walk around the city.

“Michael?”

He looked over, finding Jeremy looking up at him, “Yeah?”

Jeremy threw his arms around him, “You should have your moms give you away.”

“No, it isn’t fair—”

“There’s a lot of shit that isn’t fair. This is your wedding, and I’m hoping you only have one, so you can’t miss out just because of me.”

Michael shook his head, “Nope. I don’t want to. I want to surprise them just like everyone else. You can’t make me.”

“Stubborn asshole.”

“Hi pot, meet kettle.”

Jeremy sighed, leaning against him as they walked. Part of Michael wondered if they would go visit James. It was up in the air how Jeremy was feeling, sometimes he was ecstatic over progress and other times he was miserable because James wouldn’t be at their wedding. Michael was just happy that James was improving. Slowly but surely there were small increases in his health. James might wake up. And might was a lot better than probably not.

“Mr. Heere! Michael!”

“Oh fuck,” Jeremy hissed.

In a matter of seconds they were surrounded. Cameras flashing, shouting, it was overwhelming. And Jeremy looked pissed. They were too close to take off in the suits without risk of hurting someone.

“Jer,” Michael reached for him. “Jump.”

Jeremy did as asked, locking his arms around Michael’s shoulders and throwing his legs around his waist. Michael spotted a gap in the crowd and bolted. He hurried down the road and slid into an alleyway. Just to be safe he jumped up on top of a dumpster, Jeremy getting down so he could crawl up the fire escape ladder next to them. They managed to get to the roof of the building, the two of them falling back against the cement.

“Holy shit, you’re fast,” Jeremy chuckled.

Michael shrugged, “Hey, I was your bodyguard at one time. It was my job to get you out of shitty situations.”

They got up, moving to sit on the ledge of the roof. Michael pressed a kiss to Jeremy’s jaw, brushing his hand through his fiancé’s hair.

“Want to go home?” Michael asked.

Jeremy shook his head, “I’ll order us lunch and maybe we could go visit my dad?”

Michael squeezed his hand, “I like that idea.”

They flew over to the hospital, Michael heading up to the hospital room while Jeremy waited for their food. He sat on the couch, watching James’s chest rise and fall. There hadn’t been any major updates since his lungs started working again, but they were hoping that it meant the serum had worked in boosting his healing rate for at least a short while.

Jeremy walked in, the two of them quietly eating while keeping watch. It was a quiet afternoon, no one came to visit outside of them. Michael laughed at a text from Rich, asking if Jeremy and him were celebrating an anniversary soon. They were clueless, and it was probably for the best. Rich liked to fuck around online sometimes, it wouldn’t be out of character to let slip about their wedding if told.

“We didn’t plan our honeymoon yet,” Jeremy noted, throwing their garbage into the trash can. “Where do you want to go?”

Michael shrugged, “I don’t really care. You can pick, it’s not like we’re limited on options.”

Jeremy stretched out, using Michael’s lap as a pillow, and started researching. Michael ran a hand through his hair and focused on enjoying the peace. He already knew that their wedding would cause another round of chaos for them, but Jeremy was worth it.

Chloe called as the sun was beginning to set, demanding they get home so they could get a decent amount of sleep. They both grumbled about it, but made their way home. Michael chuckled, finding Chloe’s car in the driveway.

“Q, you didn’t even ask if I wanted her in,” Jeremy whined.

“You weren’t home, Sir. Ms. Valentine and Ms. Lohst are welcome guests according to prior statements so I assumed they were welcome today.”

Jeremy sighed as they stepped into the house. Michael found the girls running around like chickens without heads. Chloe had two phones in her hands while Brooke had a roll of fabric trailing behind her as she ran around.

“Veronica, I swear if you don’t come to this event you or any company you work for will never get an interview with Heere Industries again,” Chloe was threatening the phone in her left hand. “No you can’t quote me on that! Do you want a future in the hell hole you call a career? Because we have the power to take that away!” Chloe pulled the phone back and switched to her right hand. “No! No pork I said that weeks ago! They’re a kosher family why the fuck do you think?!”

Michael pushed Jeremy forward, the two of them going down to the workshop so they could hide from the mess upstairs. Jeremy dropped into his desk chair, spinning in circles while Michael grabbed a stool to sit next to him. It still didn’t feel quite real. Even with Chloe threatening the lives of people upstairs, the idea of him getting married seemed crazy. He and Jeremy were young. Sure life was already insane, but marrying someone as important as Jeremy was bound to bring life changes. Would he have to run the company with him? Michael wasn’t stupid by any means but he wasn’t the brightest bulb in the box either. What would his moms think? They had always insisted he put his happiness first, but he had hurt them a lot recently. The lies and secrets added up quick, and while he wanted to hope for the best he was terrified of losing his moms over hiding his wedding.

“You look like you’re starting to panic,” Jeremy noted, hauling his spinning. Jeremy grew concerned fast, “Do…do you want to call things off? It’s not too late. I get it. If you don’t want—”

Michael got up from his stool, picking Jeremy up from his chair and into his arms. He set him down on the desk, kissing into his mouth so he wouldn’t ramble.

“I have never wanted something as much as I want to marry you, Jeremy,” Michael whispered, holding Jeremy’s face in his hands. “I love you. You’re my favorite person. I need you. It’s you and me ‘till the end of the line.”

Jeremy nodded, his face flushed and pupils blown, “I love you too.”

“Guys!” Brooke came running in. “Chlo wants you upstairs.”

Michael scooped Jeremy up without another word and followed Brooke back up the stairs to the living room. Chloe’s phones were put away and she had a physical clipboard in her hand. The paper on the board was covered in notes.

“Did you two write your own vows?” Chloe asked.

“No,” both of them answered in sync.

“Okay. Brooke, Michael, you make dinner while I go over music with Jer-Bear.”

Jeremy cocked his head to the side, “Why can’t Michael talk music and I cook?”

Chloe shot him a bored look, “Michael won’t bite my head off if the music vibes are slightly off. You’ll blow up the fucking house if you cook and destroy the factory if we play the wrong song and then we can’t have a wedding. Let’s go, it’s getting late.”

Michael and Brooke worked fast, making something simple as to not stress Chloe out further with possible time delays. Her and Jeremy spent dinner bickering over song choices, Jeremy eventually letting Chloe have her way. Michael had appreciated her help since day one, he had no idea how to plan a wedding. Sure he wanted one, but after a while the idea didn’t seem possible. He hadn’t expected Jeremy to want him enough for marriage, and with the whole powers thing? It had just felt unrealistic to get his hopes up or have any ideas in his mind.

But now he was going to be married to the man of his dreams in less than twenty four hours. And he knew that everything would go well. All thanks to Chloe.

“Bed time,” Chloe announced, ushering Jeremy towards their room. Michael started to follow when Brooke grabbed his hand and stopped him.

“Chloe wants you guys to sleep in separate rooms. For the whole “don’t see the groom until the wedding” thing.”

“That’s bullshit!” Jeremy protested.

“Jer-Bear, it’s one night,” Chloe sighed, running a hand through her hair.

“C’mon, we’ll be fine,” Michael stepped forward and brushed a thumb over Jeremy’s cheek. “We’re hoping we only get married once, right? Why not play along?”

Jeremy sighed, “Fine.”

Michael followed him into their room so he could change, Jeremy fully pouting at him as he started towards the door again. Michael walked back over to him, pressing a kiss into his hair before leaving.

“I love you!” Jeremy shouted after him.

Michael pivoted on his heel and poked his head back into the room, “I love you too.”

Michael was back in the guest room for the night. The room felt so empty without his personal belongings. Clean sheets and silence. It was strange, not having Jeremy next to him for once. He instinctively chose his typical side of the bed even though he could sleep in the middle if he wanted to.

The room wasn’t cold but it felt inherently wrong. It was too perfect. They really needed to decorate the spare bedrooms. He couldn’t sleep.

He got up after a few hours, trudging through the house. Maybe he could beat up his punching bag and wear himself out enough to sleep. He paused as he passed by the kitchen, the smell of coffee hitting his nose. Michael poked his head into the room, finding the coffee maker had about half a pot left inside. Jeremy was awake too.

Michael walked downstairs to the workshop, opening the door to find Jeremy seated in his desk chair with a mug in his hands. He was watching something on his computer, Michael walking over to join him.

“Can’t sleep?” Michael murmured, pulling up a stool.

Jeremy glanced over, setting his mug down, “I’ve spent nearly every night for the past seven months cuddled up with you, obviously I can’t sleep.”

Michael glanced at the time, finding it still wasn’t midnight. Chloe couldn’t be pissed at them yet.

“Yeah, me too.”

“I keep waiting to wake up,” Jeremy said, turning his chair so they were facing each other properly. “I never…I was so content with sleeping around before you showed up. Having a form of contact without connection was easy. I honestly never thought I would get a steady relationship, let alone actually fall in love with someone. I’m so scared I’m going to wake up and be alone again. I didn’t…I didn’t know how lonely I was.”

Michael scooted his stool closer, taking Jeremy’s face in his hands, “I’m not leaving, Jeremy.”

“I know,” Jeremy nodded, offering a small smile.

They got up from their seats so they could properly go in for a hug. Michael held tight, pressing kisses into Jeremy’s hair. Jeremy pulled him in for a real kiss and jumped into his arms. Holy shit he was in love.

“Fuck me,” Jeremy whispered, eyes wide.

“Gladly.”

There were a lot of times that it was amusing, but Michael really did appreciate that Jeremy hated pants. Michael carried him up the stairs, Jeremy clawing at his shirt to try and get it off. He couldn’t help but laugh as he pressed a kiss to Jeremy’s jaw.

“You’re so needy,” Michael mused, balancing Jeremy against a wall so he could pull his shirt off before Jeremy ripped it.

“That’s your fault, having a superpowered dick.”

Michael just rolled his eyes, tugging off Jeremy’s shirt and pressing a kiss against his chest scar.

“Oh my fucking god, you have bedrooms!”

Michael turned his head, finding Chloe standing in the archway to the room.

“This is not the worst thing you’ve caught me doing!” Jeremy argued. “We’re on our way to the bedroom!”

“Leave!” Chloe pointed towards their room. “You have guests in the house why would you fuck in the living room?!”

Michael wrapped his arms back around Jeremy and started to carry him towards their room.

“Take your clothes!”

Michael pivoted back around, bending over to pick up the discarded shirts. He then hurried into their room before Chloe could say anything else, dropping Jeremy on their bed.

“I love you,” Jeremy murmured, a bright grin on his face.

“I love you too.”

☼

“Good morning Jer-Bear!”

Jeremy whined, pulling Michael’s pillow over his head so he didn’t have to open his eyes. He was tired, why was he being forced awake?!

“I’m not dealing with this shit today,” Chloe warned, grabbing his arm and dragging him out of bed. “We already let you sleep in later because Michael made breakfast. Get up, it’s your wedding day.”

Jeremy pulled his arm free as his body slid to the floor. He tossed the duvet back up on the bed, glaring at Chloe as best as he could from his position. He got to his feet and trudged to the kitchen. Michael was nowhere to be seen but there was a plate and mug of coffee resting on the counter for him. They were taking their wedding bullshit seriously.

“Brooke what the fuck?!” Michael’s voice cried from down the hall. “You can’t just throw glitter at me!”

“No glitter in my house!” Jeremy shouted. The shit never went away once it was in the house.

“Sorry!” Brooke yelped.

After eating Chloe felt the need to follow Jeremy as he walked into his bathroom to brush his teeth. He flipped her off but didn’t kick her out. She had put in all the effort, he would allow her to be picky over the whole wedding event.

“C’mon Jer,” Chloe pulled him into the bedroom and dragged in a chair from the kitchen table. He whined as she sat him in the chair, pulling random products from a bag she had sitting on the dresser. Jeremy grit his teeth as she started massaging one of her products into his hair. Still, he didn’t complain. He trusted Chloe to make sure he looked nice.

“How old were you when you started pulling all nighters?” Chloe asked, brushing his hair into place how she wanted it.

“I dunno, like eight? Younger?”

Chloe tsked, “You have such dark circles under your eyes.”

“Love you too.”

Chloe rolled her eyes, pulling three different makeup tubes from her bag. She held them up to his face, picking one and tapping it into his skin.

“I hate this,” Jeremy grumbled.

“Too bad, it might be your wedding but this is my day. I want your wedding photos to look good in five years.

“Hey,” Brooke slid into the room, her hair pinned back from her face. “Do you have the mousse? Michael’s hair is flat as hell.”

Chloe tossed a product over to her girlfriend, the other girl running back across the house.

“Close your eyes,” Chloe ordered.

Jeremy listened, flinching as Chloe sprayed something on his face. At least it didn’t smell bad.

“Holy fuck do you have a face care routine?” Chloe grumbled, running a small brush over his eyebrows.

“I wash my face, I moisturize.”

“Consider adding in an exfoliating scrub. You do a lot of heavy work and I’m sure you get tons of dirt in your pores.”

“Chloe, now isn’t the time to try and keep me youthful.”

Chloe rolled her eyes, walking into his closet and returning with his suit. Jeremy accepted the hanger, walking into the bathroom to change. He glanced at his reflection in the mirror, finding that his hair was a lot taller than normal. He scrunched up his nose, flattening it to the normal height. There, that looked better. He changed into the suit, stepping back out into his room. Chloe did up his tie for him and attached his cufflinks, handing him a pair of socks and shoes.

“You look beautiful, Jer-Bear,” Chloe grinned, squeezing his shoulder.

“Thanks Chlo.”

“Okay, let’s go out to the car.”

Chloe brought him out to the car, Squip taking them to the venue. She brought them into a quiet room, handing him his phone.

“I’ll be back, I need to get ready. When I come back we should have the videographer with us so you can finally see Michael, okay?”

Jeremy nodded, pulling up his armor designs on his phone. It was so quiet, waiting for everyone to arrive. He still couldn’t believe he was getting married. The reality of the situation hadn’t hit yet. Maybe because his dad wasn’t there…

Jeremy zoned out while he waited. He didn’t like sitting still, and he hadn’t even had a chance to try and bring a project to tinker with while he waited around.

“Q,” Jeremy called out to the empty room. “Fly over the nano-tech suit for me please.”

“Of course, Sir.”

It didn’t take long for his suit to come walking in, allowing Jeremy to take some time to manually polish up the reactor. It wasn’t particularly dirty, but he never bothered trying to clean the thing before. Once the glow of the reactor was to his liking he turned the suit off, catching the reactor and shoving it into his pocket.

“Jer-Bear, close your eyes,” Chloe’s voice came from the other side of the door.

He did as asked, Chloe coming in and taking his hand. He was led out to a different room, Chloe positioning him to where she wanted him to stand. He could hear her heels clicking on the tile, but other than that it was quiet in the room.

“Okay, open your eyes on three,” Chloe sounded giddy, now standing off to the side. “One, two, three!”

Jeremy opened his eyes, finding Michael standing in front of him. Their suits matched, the main difference being that Michael’s tie was red while his was blue. Jeremy had to admit, the slight shimmer in Michael’s hair was a sweet touch.

Michael’s smile turned wobbly, “Hi.”

The emotion in his voice made Jeremy weak, “Hi.”

“You look beautiful,” Michael murmured, cupping Jeremy’s cheek.

Jeremy let out a weak snort, “Look who’s fucking talking.”

Jeremy stretched up on his toes and pulled Michael in for a kiss, reveling in the way Michael held him close. Holy shit they were getting married.

“Ah ah ah!” Chloe rushed forward and swatted both of them. “Don’t ruin each other's hair!”

Jeremy pulled back, rolling his eyes at Chloe’s words. He glanced over at her, finding Chloe dressed in the colors of the Mark Ⅰ armor. A dark blue suit with gray patches mixed in to mock the silver of the armor. Hell, her nails and earrings were the same shade as the reactor. If you were going to put the armor into clothing Chloe was wearing the closest to it!

“Woah,” Jeremy chuckled, taking in Chloe’s appearance.

“I figured you’d like it,” Brooke chucked, walking over to stand next to her girlfriend.

And Brooke was dressed similarly. Her suit matched the look of Michael’s Captain uniform. Dark red and black. Her earrings looked like the shield, and she was even holding the shield on her arm. What the fuck were they doing?

“Here,” Brooke passed the shield over to Michael. “We didn’t get a bouquet for you to toss, so this will have to do.”

“You guys look awesome,” Michael laughed, sliding the shield on his arm. “I thought you were trying to not show us up at our wedding.”

Chloe offered them both a smile, “Well, I realized that it was kind of shitty for you guys to walk down that aisle alone. So Brooke called some friends and had these made for us yesterday. Your parents aren’t giving you away for obvious reasons, so we’ll do it for them.”

Jeremy felt close to crying, “Chlo…”

Chloe shook her finger at him, “I love you, you snarky piece of shit. I know I’m not James, but we’re family, okay?”

Jeremy threw his arms around her, squeezing Chloe as tight as he could. It meant so much to him that she would do this. He had been dreading walking down alone.

“I love you too.”

“Oh!” Brooke pulled a few hair pins from her pocket along with a circular piece of cloth.

“Is that a kippah?!” Jeremy squeaked, letting Brooke pin the cap to his head.

“I wasn’t sure if you would want one, but I thought it wouldn’t hurt to have one ready if you wanted.”

“I haven’t worn one since my bar mitzvah,” Jeremy confessed. “But I think my dad would appreciate it.”

“There. Now if only we had a wedding party,” Brooke mused, squeezing Michael.

“I can do that,” Jeremy hummed. He just needed Squip to launch all the armors.

“Of course. Launching Mark Ⅰ through Ⅴ.”

“Let me see your reactors,” Jeremy held out his hand to Michael.

“It’s your wedding, why would he have that?” Chloe argued.

Michael passed over both reactors. Jeremy shot Chloe a smirk before turning on both of Michael’s suits. The armor and Captain uniform formed, but without anyone inside to control them. The latter looked kind of odd without Michael inside, but the purpose was still there.

“We’re superheroes, Chloe,” Jeremy hummed, pulling out his own reactor and turning it on. “We don’t leave the house without our costumes. Especially when they’re pocket sized.”

Michael nodded along to his thinking. Chloe just rolled her eyes, pulling Brooke into her arms. Jeremy’s armors came filing in, Jeremy controlling them with his mind to get them to line up. Each armor got a partner, and to make things more even Jeremy had the Captain uniform stand with the Mark Ⅴ so that the nano-suits could be together.

“One wedding party at your service,” Jeremy gave Chloe a fake bow. “Will that be all Ms. Valentine?”

Chloe rolled her eyes, “That will be all Mr. Heere. I think everything else is set, let’s do this!”

Michael and Brooke would be the first to walk down after the armors, Jeremy and Chloe last. Chloe sent a text on her phone, the wedding march music starting up a moment later. Jeremy cackled at Chloe’s pissed off expression when she heard the metal guitar playing.

“Jeremy!” Chloe hissed. “We agreed on Bad Romance!”

“This is Bad Romance!” Jeremy insisted. “Just not the fucking piano version you wanted! It’s a compromise.”

The first duo of armors walked through the doors and down the aisle. From what Jeremy could see it didn’t really look like a wedding. It looked like guests were already seated at tables and the armors were just walking into the room.

I want your drama, the touch of your hand. I want your leather-studded kiss in the sand. I want your love.

Brooke and Michael were nodding their heads along to the music, and Chloe seemed to be warming up to it. She really should have seen this coming, he had a habit of hijacking music when he didn’t like it.

I want your horror, I want your design. ‘Cause you’re a criminal as long as you’re mine. I want your love.

The armors kept walking in under Jeremy and Squip’s control, Chloe taking his hand and squeezing it. Jeremy felt like his chest was going to explode, holy shit. He was actually going to get married. This was it.

Michael and Brooke started walking, Chloe adjusting her grip so that they were locked at the elbow. Jeremy wasn’t quite sure if he was breathing. Was he breathing?

“ Yes Sir, you are just nervous.”

J’veux ton amour, et je veux ta revanche. J’veux ton amour, I don’t wanna be friends.

The clarification wasn’t actually needed, but it was appreciated. Chloe and him walked in time, the two of them ignoring the looks from the guests. It was starting to become obvious what was going on and it was causing a lot of whispers.

“The fuck?!” Rich’s voice squeaked loud enough for him to hear.

“Shut the fuck up!” Jake slapped a hand over his mouth.

Chloe let him go next to Michael, Brooke holding his shield while she made her way to her seat. He felt like his heart was going to explode. It took an effort to not burst into tears as Chloe moved to stand between them. Of course she would officiate so they didn’t have to risk spilling the wedding secret.

“Hello everyone,” Chloe clipped a microphone to her suit jacket. “We are gathered here today to, as you may have guessed, welcome Jeremiah Heere and Michael Luis Mell into marriage. As someone who has known Jeremy for six years, I can say that I’ve never seen a pair as dedicated to each other as these two. Not even secret identities could come between them.”

Jeremy rolled his eyes, hardly biting back a snarky comment about her dumb jokes. Chloe had them turn to face each other, Jeremy now able to see Maria and Darcy in the corner of his vision. They looked like they were crying. He hoped that was a good thing.

“I don’t want to drone on because I feel like something bad will happen,” Chloe chuckled. “Can I have the rings?”

Brooke walked over again, handing over two rings from her pocket. She moved too fast for Jeremy to see what his ring looked like. Brooke was back to her seat in a flash, nearly hip checking Jeremy with the shield. Chloe handed him Michael’s ring, Jeremy looking up to find Michael on the verge of tears. Fuck, holy shit. He was in love.

“Jeremy, you can start,” Chloe was beaming at them.

Jeremy nodded, taking the ring in his hand and sliding it on Michael’s finger. He still hadn’t explained the ring to Michael yet. How special it was.

“With this ring I promise to make you my life partner,” Chloe was starting to tear up now.

“With this ring I promise to make you my life partner,” Jeremy repeated, his eyes locked on Michael’s.

“In good times and bad, for richer or poorer.”

“In good times and bad, for richer or poorer,” Jeremy felt his eyes welling up but he didn’t care if he cried anymore. “Although knowing me it’ll be richer.”

Michael wheezed out a laugh, a tear rolling down his cheek.

“I promise to listen and be understanding, in sickness and in health.”

“I promise to listen and be understanding, in health and not sickness because you can’t get sick.”

“Stop being funny,” Michael was beaming through his fake annoyance.

“And I promise to love you until death do we part.”

“And I promise to love you until death do we part,” Jeremy murmured, brushing his thumb over Michael’s hand. “Because like this vibranium ring, our love is unbreakable.”

Michael glanced down at the ring and back to him, his eyes wide.

“Yeah I saved a bit to make sure I could make you a ring,” Jeremy chuckled. “I’ve been ready to marry you since I first kissed you, Michael.”

Michael brushed a hand over his cheek, “Mahal ko…”

Jeremy felt his face burn, he didn’t know what Michael had just said but it kind of sounded like the nickname Maria had for him and he knew it was special. Michael could explain it later, preferably while they were naked.

“Okay, your turn Michael,” Chloe snapped them out of their blubbering.

Jeremy held out his hand, Michael sliding the ring on his hand. He stared at the ring, finding a tiny reactor glowing on his finger, and the band a paneling like the armor.

“Michael…”

“I had Squip help me,” Michael confessed.

Chloe had Michael repeat the vows, although Michael didn’t try to make them funny. He couldn’t even bother to care over the fact that the board members were judging him, Jeremy hadn’t ever felt so happy. He was going to spend his life with the man he loved.

“By the power vested in me by the online course I took,” Chloe teased, her eyes warm and bright. “I now pronounce you Mr. Jeremiah and Michael Heere. You may kiss your groom.”

Jeremy stretched up on his toes and threw his arms around Michael’s neck. Michael pulled him impossibly close as they met for a kiss. Holy fuck he was in love. He was married! Jeremy managed to get himself to pull back before Chloe scolded them, Michael pulling him in for a hug before they fully separated.

“Yeah Mikey! Get that dick!” Rich whooped, causing Jeremy to laugh.

“Okay, these two need to get to the courthouse and then we can celebrate!” Chloe cheered.

Jeremy eyed the skylight above them. He wondered if it could be opened.

“Yes Sir, remotely.”

Oh. Perfect. The armors could fly out through it. They needed to get back into the vault.

As he thought it Squip went to work, opening the skylight and having the armors fly out. People were startled slightly, but it wasn’t too disruptive. Jeremy called over the nano-tech suits, having them open up so he and Michael could step inside.

“Race you to the courthouse,” Jeremy laughed, rocketing up.

“Oh my god, Jer!” Michael hurried after him, their comm connecting so they could talk. They rushed through the city, landing in front of the court house and turning off the suits. The two of them walked into the building hand in hand, knowing Chloe had already dropped off their paperwork.

It was a boring process to get the legalities taken care of. Jeremy’s lawyer had been informed earlier in the morning and was waiting for them, pretty much demanding Michael sign a bunch of papers saying he would never speak poorly of Jeremy in public if they divorced.

They flew back to the venue and walked in through the doors, Michael’s moms nearly knocking them over once they were inside.

“Minamahal!” Maria squeezed Michael in a hug. Jeremy felt a wave of anxiety wash over him as Maria turned to him. Shit. This was his mother in law now. Maria patted his cheek, pulling him into a more gentle hug. “Hang on, I have to think for a moment,” Maria chuckled. She pulled back from the hug and her eyes looked bright. “Talining, I’m so happy for you.”

Jeremy gave her a watery smile, glancing over to find Michael and Darcy in a bear hug. She made eye contact with him and waved him over.

“Get over here you little shit!”

Jeremy joined in their hug, Maria piling on next to him so all four of them were squished together. Michael managed to pick them all up, spinning the group in a small circle before setting everyone down.

They all went back to their tables, Michael and Jeremy getting their own away from the busy crowd Chloe had invited. The lack of camera flashes was strange, he was so used to his life being put on blast for the world to see. Besides the wedding photographer Chloe had hired he only spotted one person with a camera on them. Was the news public yet?

“Your wedding is a top trending search on all major social platforms, Sir. Congratulations.”

Oh boy. Jeremy looked over at his husband—holy shit husband was a fun word—and reached for his hand.

“Hi,” Michael murmured, a bright smile on his face.

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Their dinner was a boring event all things considered. Chloe and Brooke had to fend off people wanting to talk to them just so Michael and Jeremy could eat. Jeremy hated to admit it, but he was enjoying having an actual wedding. Seeing Michael so happy was a big reason why he was enjoying it, but having a day to just celebrate their love was nice.

“Christine!” Michael greeted the agent warmly. “I didn’t know we invited you!”

“You didn’t,” Christine chuckled, approaching their table. “Jeremy invited my fiancée, I’m her plus one.”

“You’re capable of human emotion?” Jeremy made a face.

“You’re capable of holding a relationship?” Christine shot back.

Jeremy tipped his champagne glass towards her, “Touché. Who’s the fiancée?”

Christine looked over her shoulder, passing a smile to the table she had been seated at before turning back to them, “Dr. Jenna Rolan. Soon to be Dr. Jenna Rolan Canigula. It pains me, but I have to thank you Jeremy.”

“I beg your fucking pardon?”

Christine and Jeremy didn’t get along. They only tolerated each other for the sake of Michael.

Christine sighed, “Jenna and I were going through a rough patch a while back. It…almost ended our relationship. Long story short visiting you two about Michael’s identity being exposed gave us time to calm down and breathe. So, thank you for apprehending your deranged mother, you inadvertently saved my relationship.”

“You’re welcome.”

Christine waved as she started back towards her table, “Mazel Tov.” 

After dinner they started dancing. The first dance was supposed to be the parents giving away their kid, and Chloe stepped up once again while Michael got to dance with his moms. He couldn’t believe she was willing to put so much effort in for him.

“Hey,” Chloe got his attention. “You’re like my brother, even when you piss me off I’m still going to love you.”

Jeremy smiled at her, “Love you too Chlo.”

Jeremy glanced over at his husband—still loved that word—finding him managing to dance with both of his moms like it was nothing. Maria and Darcy looked so happy, and knowing how worried Michael would be about their reaction it meant the world. He wasn’t quite sure how he was going to explain his marriage to his dad, but he had faith.

The song ended, Chloe walking Jeremy over to Michael. Oh yeah, that was how weddings worked. After the parents it’s the couple’s first dance. He still hadn’t ever danced with Michael yet. Michael was grinning at him, his parents and Chloe walking over to their friend group.

“Hi,” Michael murmured.

“Hey,” Jeremy couldn’t suppress his grin. He heard guitar notes beginning to play. Fucking finally. He had been wanting to do this since he first saw Michael in a suit. “Dance with—”

“Sir, Mr. James has woken up.”

Jeremy felt his breath catch, Michael clocking his shock. Holy shit.

“Jer?”

“My dad woke up,” Jeremy whispered, his hands beginning to shake. “I—”

“What?!”

Jeremy let out a shaky laugh, “My dad woke up!”

Michael pulled him into a hug, the two of them spinning around the room. Holy shit. His dad was up. He…he needed to leave. It was his wedding but he needed to go.

“Fuck a wedding reception, let’s go,” Michael scooped him up into his arms and carried him away. Chloe caught Michael’s sleeve and stopped them.

“Nope, you two aren’t ruining this for me. Get your ass back on that dance floor.”

“My dad woke up, Chloe!” Jeremy exclaimed. “We need to go.”

Chloe’s eyes widened, “Oh. Oh my god. I…”

Brooke squeezed her arm, “Go with, I can handle a crowd.”

Chloe turned and kissed Brooke’s cheek before following them out of the building. Michael set him down, the two of them turning on their nano-tech suits. Chloe clung to Michael and the three of them took off to the hospital. They were a well dressed missile, locked on to their target while they marched through the hospital. No one stopped them, the trio wordlessly making their way to James’s room. Jeremy began to clam up as they got closer, Michael taking his hand in support as they walked in.

And there his dad was, sitting up and slowly clenching and unclenching his fists. The three of them walked up, James grinning at them.

“Hi,” James greeted, his voice a bit rough. “I…I heard I was out for a while.”

Chloe broke, crying against James’s shoulder. James moved a bit slow but wrapped her in a hug.

“You’re so strong, sweetie. Thank you,” James whispered into her hair. Chloe pulled back, trying to pull her emotions together. James glanced between them again. “Did we throw a gala while I was out? You all look so nice…” James narrowed his eyes as he locked on to Jeremy’s head. “Why are you wearing a kippah?”

Jeremy couldn’t find his words, whipping his head back to look at Michael, “I—we—uh—” Jeremy held up his hand with his wedding ring, “Surprise?”

James blinked, “You…you got married?”

Jeremy nodded, not trusting his voice.

“Today?”

Another nod.

James beamed, “That’s wonderful, Jeremy! I’m sorry I wasn’t awake for it, did I interrupt?”

Jeremy threw his arms around his dad, “Like I give a shit?”

“I hired a videographer, you’ll be able to watch the footage,” Chloe assured.

Jeremy pulled up a chair and sat next to James. He talked with his father late into the night, Chloe and Michael falling asleep on the uncomfortable couch in the room. There was so much to catch him up on.

Jeremy ended up falling asleep in his seat, his hand still wrapped in his father’s.

“If you need a break just let me know,” Jeremy said, standing beside his father.

“I’m fine, Jeremy,” James assured.

“Uh, you’ve only been walking for a week, you aren’t fine. Michael and I are willing to fly you out if your legs get tired.”

James rolled his eyes, “When did you turn into a pessimist?”

“You nearly died, Dad.”

Jeremy took in a breath, opening the doors for him and his father. The board had decided to throw a party to celebrate his dad waking up. His marriage was swept under the rug as quickly as possible, and Jeremy was so tempted to make Michael co-CEO just to make them notice his husband. Their refusal to acknowledge Michael as his family was annoying as hell. Michael still hadn’t been invited directly to the party. He was still technically going as Jeremy’s plus one to the party celebrating his fucking father in law.

Hell, the board would invite Jennifer if they could. If Jeremy and his badassium hadn’t been so profitable for the company they would have revolted. He was useless to them unless he was filling their pockets.

His dad was swept up in the crowd quickly, everyone wanting to talk to the man they had been missing for over a month. Physical therapy had been going well, Jeremy had postponed his and Michael’s honeymoon to ensure he was able to help his dad if needed. James recovered quickly, already able to go without walking assistance for the most part.

“You should take a break and sit, “Jeremy chided, trying to direct his father to a chair.

“Jeremy, I am fifty nine years old, I can take care of myself,” James laughed. “Let me socialize, please. Could you fetch me a drink?”

Jeremy nodded, breaking off to make his way towards the bar. He had to weave through dancing couples, not caring that he was brushing off multiple people who wanted to talk to him. This party wasn’t about him so he didn’t give a shit. He stood at the bar waiting for his and his dad’s champagne flutes when he felt a hand on his waist.

“Hey beautiful, you come here often?” Michael asked, pulling him into a loose embrace.

“I will if it means I can see more of your hot ass!” Jeremy laughed. “Hi sweetheart,” he stretched up on his toes to pull Michael into a kiss. He was slightly tempted to just make out with Michael and let the rich assholes be pissed about it, but Michael didn’t like negative attention so he backed off and just buried himself against Michael’s side. As he reached for his flute he caught the glow of his wedding ring in his vision, a dumb smile forming on his face. He loved his ring, loved the thought Michael put into it, loved how the glow distracted Chloe when he talked to her while she was working.

Michael followed him back over to James, the two of them squeezing through the crowd to get him. It was clear that his dad was having a good time. He was grinning and laughing along with the board members that were talking with him.

“So, James,” one of the older men approached him. “When are you going to find time for a new woman?”

“I’m not,” James shook his head, accepting the glass from Jeremy. “I’ll start training Ms. Valentine soon in some of the more difficult tasks I have so I can take a step back.” James gestured to Jeremy and Michael, “My son is married now! I want to be able to spend time with my future grandchildren.”

Jeremy made a face, “We got married a few weeks ago, Dad.”

“I said future!”

“Will you both have a natural child or just Jeremy?” A board member asked.

Jeremy was shocked they almost properly acknowledged Michael, “Uh it’s kind of early to think about that.”

“Well with the mutation I imagine you’ll want both of your genes to be passed down.”

Jeremy was starting to get annoyed , “We haven’t been married a month, I don’t—”

“Kids will be something to think about in like a decade,” Michael squeezed his hip in support. “And adoption is always an option to consider. I would never curse someone to end up like me, not to mention that my mutation thankfully made me infertile, so if we did have a biological child they would have to be Jeremy’s. Please excuse us, Jeremy and I have superhero business to discuss.”

Michael pulled them away, walking them over to Chloe and Brooke. Goddamn Michael was good at removing him from situations.

“Hey slut,” Chloe greeted.

“Look, just because I seduced my babysitter doesn’t make me a slut,” Jeremy chuckled.

“No it’s the one hundred plus ex lovers that did that,” Chloe didn’t skip a beat.

Jeremy flipped her off, pulling Michael into a kiss.

“Domestic bitches.”

Jeremy brushed his thumb over Michael’s cheek, grinning at his husband. God he loved that word.

“Mr. Heere!”

Jeremy took a breath to steady himself before turning to greet the approaching investor. He vaguely heard Michael saying something about getting Chloe a drink, but he was so focused on the person talking to him that he didn’t respond. He talked about potential patents the company was working on, Chloe adding on information that Jeremy missed. Brooke was silently clinging to her girlfriend, her face flushed. She clearly wasn't sober.

Jeremy glanced over his shoulder, finding Michael being talked at by a crowd of people. The board might not like Michael, but investors loved him. Michael was a superhero, the strongest man in the world. Chloe had been the one to note that profits had gone up drastically since his wedding, the entire planet fangirling over the fact that the first two superheroes were married. Chloe had rejected nearly a hundred different interview requests, making a public statement on their behalf that Jeremy and Michael would be waiting for James to be fully recovered and for their honeymoon before speaking publicly on record. Whatever worked to protect his life from the demanding public.

Jeremy could tell Michael was getting nervous, the crowd around him growing. Jeremy clocked the music playing, noting the end of a slow song. Chloe had helped him pick the music for the night, and he knew what song would be next. He moved fast, passing Brooke his champagne flute before bidding a quick goodbye to the investor in front of him. He waved through the crowd as quickly as he could, lightly shoving his way to Michael.

“Michael!” Jeremy grabbed his hand, dragging his husband towards the dance floor. The first notes of the next song were playing, the floor was empty. It wasn’t a slow song. “Dance with me!” He was practically demanding it.

Michael made a face, “Now?”

“Yes, now.”

They made it to the dance floor, Michael’s hand finding his waist. Jeremy didn’t focus on anything but that feeling. He wrapped Michael’s other hand in his and rested his own free hand on Michael’s shoulder. Michael led them around like they danced together every day. He looked into the eyes of his husband, finding all the warmth and love he had ever wanted staring back at him.

Fresh regrets, vodka sweats. The sun is down and we’re bound to get exhausted and so far from the shore.

Jeremy couldn’t help but beam, Michael spinning him around the room. This is what he had been wanting since nearly day one. He wanted them. He wanted to dance with Michael and forget the world around them existed.

We don’t have to talk. We don’t have to dance. We don’t have to smile. We don’t have to make friends.

Michael dipped him, Jeremy’s head flying towards the floor. But it was Michael. He paused short of the tile, finding his husband grinning at him.

“Dramatic asshole,” Jeremy chuckled.

“Look who’s talking,” Michael smirked at him, pulling him back up.

You’re never gonna get it, I’m a hazard to myself. I’ll break it to you easy: this is hell, this is hell.

Jeremy let out a laugh as Michael picked him up off the floor and spun him around. Go figure the super strong guy wanted to show off his strength.

“You’re ridiculous,” Jeremy huffed.

“I love you,” Michael murmured.

Jeremy rolled his eyes, “I love you too.”

This is hell, yes. Literal hell.

Jeremy caught sight of his father smiling at them from the side of the room. It took him a moment to notice they were the only ones dancing. No one had wanted to dance to the song not meant for dancing, go figure. Jeremy pulled Michael in for a kiss as the final notes of the song played, just happy to have the man he loved with him.

They walked back over to Chloe and James, Jeremy clinging to Michael as they walked. He finally had gotten what he had been after, and dancing with Michael was every bit as magical as he had been hoping for. His dad ruffled his hair as they approached, Jeremy biting back a remark about it.

“So, you leave for your honeymoon tomorrow, right?” Chloe asked, brushing a lock of Brooke’s hair from her face from where she was slumped over. 

“Yeah,” Jeremy confirmed. “Michael is making me mute Squip and everything.”

“If the world isn’t ending why do we need to be bothered?” Michael hummed, pressing a kiss into his hair.

“So if the world is ending we can contact you? What’ll you do without your workshop and armors for two weeks?” Chloe teased him.

Jeremy made a face, “Don’t remind me!”  He craned his head up to smirk at Michael quickly, “I’m hoping he’s literally too far up my ass for me to notice.”

Michael made a face, his cheeks burning. Everyone else around them was immune to Jeremy’s sense of humor. Excusing Brooke at least.

“God I hate men,” Brooke mumbled, pressing a kiss to Chloe’s shoulder. “Chloe, I think I’m drunk.”

Chloe kissed the top of her head, “You have been for a while sweetie.”

Jeremy laughed quietly, watching Brooke stare up at Chloe with pouty eyes, “Can we go home? Last time I was drunk at a party the house caught on fire.”

Michael offered to carry Brooke out to the car, Chloe trailing behind. Jeremy stood next to his dad, the two of them sharing a hug in their quiet corner.

“Have fun on the honeymoon,” James chuckled. “I’m so happy for you, kiddo.”

“Thanks Dad,” Jeremy sighed.

Another group of investors approached, all greeting his dad like a long lost friend. The grip James had on the investors was inside, and without Jennifer quieting him he was much more vocal and happy. Divorced life was going to treat him well.

“Jer!”

Jeremy looked over, finding Michael jogging over with his shield on his arm and a reactor attached to his suit. What the hell, they had left the shield on the car?

“Christine called,” Michael explained. “SHIELD wants us to help them with a case, potential attempted recreations of the armors.”

Jeremy sighed, pulling his reactor from his pocket and attaching it to his chest. He and Michael hurried out of the building, the two of them flying east.

There was never any rest for superheroes.