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Written for;
Romance Awareness, Day 5 - You have your soulmate's name on one wrist, and your mortal enemy on the other.
Auction - Dark Green
Word Count - 921
Doomed To Failure
Tony didn't let anyone see his wrists. Ever. Even when he wore short sleeves, he covered his wrists with thick watch straps and tight fitting bracelets. People understood, they said. Soulmates and enemies were private, and nobody begrudged him keeping them secret.
As Tony's fame grew, so did the curiosity about the names on his wrists. Tony couldn't let anyone know. He could just imagine the reaction if people knew that his soulmate and his mortal enemy were one and the same, even if the names were different.
He didn't need that kind of pity.
He was just fine.
…
Tony woke to a hospital room, and a tired, scared looking Pepper. She still looked beautiful in a dark green jumper, but the expression on her face as she tried to look over paperwork at his bedside made Tony's heart ache.
"Pep," he whispered, wincing when the speech hurt his throat.
She looked up, blinking rapidly when she saw he was awake. He saw the way her eyes grew watery and he held his arm out to her.
"Oh thank god you're awake," she murmured, taking his hand in her own. "I'm so happy to see your eyes, Tony."
"How long?" He asked.
"Three weeks," she admitted. "Nobody… nobody was sure if you'd wake up. It's been… the worst three weeks of my life."
He squeezed her hand, trying to push himself into a more upright position, slumping back when she scolded him for moving.
"I'll go and find the doctor," she told him, standing. She pressed a kiss to his temple before she left the room.
Tony lifted his arms painfully to look at his wrists. Black sweat bands had been placed over his marks, a note in his medical file ensuring complete privacy beyond those who absolutely had to look.
He pulled the bands away, tears falling from his eyes as he stared at the two names side by side.
Steve Rogers
Captain America.
A soulmate and an enemy.
He'd tried to keep his distance for this very reason, ignored Steves attempts to get close to him because he knew, he knew that one day, it would go wrong.
He didn't think it would go quite this wrong, but…
Hearing footsteps in the corridor, Tony covered his wrists and wiped the evidence of his tears from his cheeks.
…
Turns out, that taking a vibranium shield to the chest and being left in a bunker in the Siberian wilderness wasn't conducive to good health.
It took Tony three months to recover fully, with both Pepper and Rhodey behaving like overprotective mama bears the entire time. In that time, Tony had examined and pushed away his feelings over what the media dubbed the 'Civil War', choosing to ignore anything and everything to do with the 'rogue Avengers.'
Rhodey tried to talk to him a couple of times about it, but Tony diverted the subject immediately, and his honeybear allowed it, clearly realising that Tony wasn't ready to discuss anything about Steve.
…
The day the Avengers returned to the Compound, Tony was ordered to be there, and to be welcoming. He fought against it, even though he could see the logic in putting on a united front. He didn't want to see Steve, or any of the others for that matter.
He was done being the fall guy for every bad thing that happened. If he was honest, he was done being an Avenger.
He'd demanded that, for him agreeing to put on a show for the press, Iron Man could return to being a freelance superhero. He'd also demanded that he no longer be responsible for anything to do with the initiative.
As far as he was concerned, they could lay the blame for anything that went wrong at somebody else's feet.
Sunglasses firmly in place, Tony greeted Steve and his merry band of miscreants politely, shaking hands with his press smile firmly in place. He made small talk with them, and played nice until the last of the press were ushered away.
As soon as they were alone, Tony's smile disappeared, and he moved to stand between Rhodey and Pepper. Offering Steve a nod, he turned away, ready to leave the compound for the last time.
"Tony!"
Tony turned back, raising his eyebrow. "What?"
"Can I talk to you? Just for a minute. Please?"
Sighing but waving Rhodey off when he opened his mouth to presumably tell Captain America to take a hike, Tony followed Steve onto the balcony.
"What do you want?"
"Tony… I. I'm sorry. For… for everything."
"Is that it?"
"Please, Tony… We're… we're soulmates… you can't just walk away," Steve begged, holding out the wrist that had Tony's name scripted on it in elegant scrawl.
Tony lifted his own wrist, shifting the band he had over Steve's name. "You're right," he replied quietly. "We are. And in another life… maybe we could've been happy." Lifting his other, he shifted the second band, hearing Steve gasp when he saw the name there. "In this life… we were always doomed to failure."
Tony covered his wrists and turned away, leaving Steve on the balcony to stare after him. Tony rejoined Pepper and Rhodey and the three of them walked away.
They'd see each other again, Tony knew. He might have turned his back on the Avengers, but he was still Iron Man, still a superhero, and he'd still put in an appearance whenever his help was needed to save the world.
But Tony Stark was done.