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You take a step back, reeling from Freddy's outburst. You can feel a lump rising in your throat, and a feeling in your chest like a dam is about to burst. You don't want to lose your composure, not here, not now, not in front of all these objects you barely know. Without another word, you turn on your heel and walk away, biting your lip to keep the tears from falling. Not yet, please not yet.
You climb the stairs, racking your brain for a place you can go to get even a crumb of privacy while you calm yourself down. As you reach the second floor of your house, your gaze falls on the breaker box closet. It's not perfect, but it will have to do.
You shut yourself inside, sliding down the wall and pressing yourself into the corner. The dam finally breaks, and the tears come flooding out, your chest heaving with sobs.
You wrap an arm around your stomach and one across your chest, squeezing to apply some comforting pressure as you force yourself to take deep breaths. You screw your eyes shut and rock gently back and forth, whispering comforting things to yourself.
"You're alright. You're okay. Shhhh, I've got you." It feels a little strange, but you have found that comforting yourself as if you are someone else is quite effective. You would prefer for someone else to do it for you, sure, but in a pinch, you are very good at comforting yourself. It comes from years of practice.
"Hey, uh, you okay?" That gruff accent can only mean one thing: Tony is standing there looking at you. Great.
You sniffle, keeping your eyes shut and your arms wrapped tightly around yourself. Your voice comes out a little wobbly from the tears, "No, not really. But I've got it handled. I just need a minute, okay?"
"I mean, sure, yeah, you look like you got it handled. I was just wonderin' if you might want someone else to... handle it for you, you know?" He sounds a little unsure of himself, but you can tell his offer is genuine.
"If you want to help, get down here and give me a hug?"
"You got it!"
Tony awkwardly gets down onto the floor next to you; there's not much space in this closet, and he's not a small guy. He opens his arms, and you collapse gratefully into them, sighing in relief.
"Thanks, Tony."
"No problem, sweetheart. You wanna tell me what's got you so upset?"
You are silent for a moment, contemplating. "I'm scared it's going to make me sound like an asshole."
Tony's voice comes out as a reassuring purr, "Oh, I don't think anything you say or do could ever make me think that. You're the most selfless person I've ever met."
"That's... Sort of the problem."
"How do you mean?"
"Well, all of this, meeting all of you guys, it's been so wonderful, and I'm having a lot of fun. But, it's also exhausting. You all need my help, and I'm more than happy to give it, but I have this terrible habit of giving and giving until there's nothing left. I'm... I'm tired, Tony. My battery is drained. But I can't stop because I need to get you all Realised so the Dateviators don't end up back in Valdivian's hands! There's so much pressure on me right now, and I'm trying so hard to be perfect all the time, but sometimes people can be so mean..." You choke out a sob, and Tony tightens his grip a little.
"What happened, sweetheart?" Tony asks, his tone gentle but with an underlying tension. "Who was mean to you?"
"It's not his fault. I pushed him too hard, if I had just walked away when he told me to-"
"Who?" Tony asks, slightly more forcefully.
You sigh in resignation. Reluctantly, you mumble, "Freddy. There was some mouldy food inside him, and when I insisted on helping him clean it up, he yelled at me."
Tony practically growls with anger. "Goddamn fridge, I should've known. How dare he treat you like that, especially when you were being so kind to him? I oughta give him a piece of my mind."
"No, please don't," you say, hurriedly. "Let me handle it."
"No way. Nobody gets to yell at you like that. Not if I have anything to say about it. Which I do."
You lift your head so you can look him in the eye. "It's very sweet of you to be so protective, and I really appreciate that, but this is between me and Freddy, okay?"
Tony grumbles.
"Hey... I can fight my own battles." You put on a playfully assertive tone as you add, "Down, boy."
He laughs. "Okay, okay, I'll stay out of it. But you gotta promise me you'll stick up for yourself. You didn't deserve that, no matter how pushy you were being about helping him clean up."
"Yeah... I guess you're right."
"Of course I'm right, I'm always right. And if he, or anyone else for that matter, gives you any more shit? They're gonna face the wrath of Tony, I can promise you that. I mean, I know Freddy's a big guy and all, but I reckon I could call in some backup from a lotta places around the house. There's a lotta people round here who would ride into battle for you no questions asked."
You blush. "I don't know about that..."
"Well, I do," he says, definitively. "You think Dasha or Dorian would just sit around and let that happen? No way! If they knew about this, they'd tear Freddy a new one. Several new ones."
You pull a face. Tony grins.
"Yeah, not the best mental image, huh? But you get my point! You got your own personal protection squad right there for you if you need it. And..." He suddenly looks a little shy. It's quite sweet. "You can always come sit in my closet any time you need a break."
You smile. "Thank you. I really appreciate that."
"Yeah, yeah, just don't go tellin' everybody. They'll think I've gone soft."
You wipe away the last of your tears, taking a deep breath.
"You okay?" he asks. The tenderness in his eyes makes you want to melt into a puddle.
"Yeah, I'm good. I just... I think I just need to sit here a little bit longer."
"Alright. My lunch break is over, so I gotta get back to work. You stay here as long as you need to, okay?"
You nod, and Tony leaves, somewhat reluctantly. You stay for a few minutes to collect yourself, then step back out into the house with renewed confidence. Time to date some more household objects!