Prompt# 347 – Sister - Room for Improvement/ extra - Tekia – Exalted/the Avengers

[tekia.livejournal.com]

Title: Room for Improvement (extra)
Fandom: the Avengers/ Exalted
Prompt: sister
Warnings: none
Rating: PG
Summary: After coming home Exalted, Tony has plans and ideas all but pouring out of his ears. Back in Creation, there was magic everywhere, and a little hard work wasn’t going to stop him from finding those wells of magic in his own world.


Tony had a habit of falling asleep wherever he happened to be when his body gave out on him. True, since exalting, that point came after far longer stretches than before, but White Song had conditioned him to sleep when she commanded. If he hadn’t known any better, he would have claimed it to be her Essence at work. Making him sleep when she demanded.
Iron Dust seemed to know White Song’s special power, and whenever he thought Tony needed to rest, he coerced him into White Song’s presence and then into sleep. Which was where he was at the moment, hands folded over his chest, head resting on her lap as he snoozed away.
Well, he had been sleeping until the soft, low rumble of Steve’s voice woke him. White Song’s fingers had settled in his hair, her nails scraping against his scalp. Her voice was soft as she spoke with Steve. Tony kept his eyes closed and his breathing even, even as he knew that White Song, and probably Steve as well, knew he was awake.
They kept their voices low in deference to him, and he let his mind wander off.
Iron Dust and he had spent quite a while talking about Yinsen, and, while Tony hadn’t had a break down, it had been emotionally exhausting. He hadn’t told anybody about Yinsen beyond the basics until Iron Dust and White Song. It almost scared him how easily he opened up to the two of them.
They were his circle and that thought brought a warmth to his chest he hadn’t thought he was capable of feeling ever again.
White Song’s fingers combed through his hair, the tips of her fingers touching the tips of his ear and sending shivers down his back. She leaned over him, her golden cloud of hair settling around his face. He blinked open his eyes, and she smiled.
“Dreaming about your manse, still?”
His lips curled up. “Always.”
“And here I thought Iron Dust had knocked that out of you.” She carefully slid out from under him and settled his head on the pillow. She pressed a kiss to his brow and nodded at Steve as she left the room. Tony pushed himself up onto his elbows and watched her glide out of the room.
After she was gone, he turned his gaze to Steve and found him staring at him with a smirk. Tony rolled his eyes.
“What?”
“You’ve really bonded with them. Maybe not as fast as you did with Bruce, but it’s a far stronger bond.”
Tony rolled his eyes. “You sound like Iron Dust now.” He kicked his feet off the couch and sat up, running a hand through his hair as he yawned.
“Iron Dust may have mentioned something about bonds and close relations between the three of you.”
Tony’s eyes snapped open. “Did he now?”
Steve nodded. “We had a chat last night. He told me all about what you’ve been through.” That smile Steve was giving him was far too fond for Tony. “He said there was a special bond between you.”
Tony reached under the couch and found his tablet. He didn’t turn it on, just yet, and carefully avoided Steve’s stare. “Yeah.”
“Tony,” Steve said, his tone enough to bring Tony’s eyes snapping to his. “Why do you feel guilty about that?”
“I don’t,” Tony said, reflexively, before he shook his head. He took a deep breath, collecting his thoughts. “It’s just- I pressed so hard to be a part of the Avengers. And then I was, and we worked so well together in a fight. And then it took so long for us to be friends off the field. Then, when I met the two of them, it was like finding my place.” He folded his hands before him and rested his elbows on his knees. “I wanted to get back here so bad, because this was the team I had always wanted, but then they were the team I was meant to have.”
Steve didn’t say anything, but that wrinkle between his brows said enough. Tony shook his head again.
“For a moment there, I didn’t want to come back.”
“You were happy.”
“Yes.”
“Are you not now?”
Tony started, “I am.”
“Then why do you feel guilty for something that didn’t happen?” Before Tony could open his mouth to speak, Steve stood and placed a hand on Tony’s shoulder. “You’re allowed to want to be happy. And you’re allowed to fall in love.”
Tony’s eyes went wide. “What?”
Steve’s eyes flicked in the direction in which White Song had disappeared. “You haven’t been in a relationship since Pepper.”
Tony frowned. “You’re wrong on so many different counts, I don’t even want to count the ways. But I will. First, there’s no ‘since Pepper.’ We weren’t officially together, and thus we weren’t officially separated. Second, she’s far more like a sister than anything else. Remind me sometime to tell you about soul mates, and how I’m not hers.” He paused. “And neither is Iron Dust, for that matter. JARVIS, remind me to ask about that.”
“Of course, Sir.”
“I thought for sure,” Steve started before he broke off, confusion clouding his features. “You and Pepper…”
Tony nodded. “She was my circle here, before the Avengers. It had always been just the three of us, her, Rhodey and me.” He wrinkled his nose, because that wasn’t right. “They are my family, and Pepper is the light of my life. And I want her to be happy.” And wasn’t that something odd coming from his mouth, the mouth of a self-proclaimed narcissus? “And the only way to do that is to take our time.”
“And White Song? A sister, really? The way you and she touch.”
Tony snorted. “She’s like that with everybody.”
One fine brow rose in skepticism.
“Really, she is.”
Steve laughed. “Only with you and-“ He blinked. “Is she and Iron Dust, then?”
Tony rolled his eyes. “If she could get away with it, yeah, but Iron Dust won’t have it.” Steve looked like he wanted to ask about that, but his manners stopped him from asking.
“So then, you have the Avengers and your, uh, circle, all here. And from where I’m sitting, everybody seems to be settling in and finding ways to be happy. So why are you so unhappy?”
Tony opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He- he didn’t know.