Taking a swig of his drink, Tony contemplated how he'd ended up in this shady little nightclub at two in the morning. Ever since the Chitauri attack, he'd been frequenting his favorite bars and clubs less and less, instead opting for obscure dives in neighborhoods where he could hope nobody would recognize him.
Tonight, he had chosen Club Impulse.
He'd almost laughed at the name, lit up in an electrifying shade of blue beside the door. It was years ago he figured out that the name of a club gave you a pretty good idea of what you'd find inside. Club Impulse was no different; alcohol and smoke and lust saturated the air while the techno rhythm drowned out all but the loudest patrons. Tony enjoyed clubs like this for the same reason most detested them: it was too loud to hear himself think. He could lose himself in the noise and heat and excitement of it all—pretend that nothing had changed since he was young and impulsive.
Someone sat beside him at the bar, beer in hand, a lazy, drunken grin on his lips. "First time here?" he called over the music.
Tony wasn't even aware he nodded until the man began prattling about his first time here, reminiscing about something he'd done to piss off the owner.
"Anyway, you get what I'm saying."
No, Tony wanted to retort, I don't, because you don't make any sense. Instead, he nodded again, bringing the glass up to his lips as he finished his whiskey. He scanned the club again, blinking when he noticed the man lounging at the edge of the room, his arm wrapped around the waist of the younger man seated on his lap. They watched the patrons lazily, as if the atmosphere of a nightclub were no more interesting or exciting for them than a game of Solitaire.
Tony's new companion followed his gaze. "That's Avery, the owner. He's real particular about the kid on his lap." His next sentence sounded like some garbled version of "No one's even really sure if he's legal," but Tony wasn't exactly paying attention anymore.
Said kid leaned up, turning Avery's face towards him to give him a quick kiss before slipping into the crowd.
The track switched to one of god knows how many bad remixes the DJ had played tonight, and someone had the bright idea to switch on the strobe lights. Time to head out. Flashing lights had always triggered his migraines; it had only gotten worse since he came crashing back down to Earth. It seemed interdimensional travel did that to a man.
"Hey, are you alright?"
Tony braced himself against the bar stool, unsure if the sudden onslaught of nausea was from the alcohol or the pounding music. He didn't look at the newcomer. "I'm fine," he replied tightly. He pressed the heel of his free hand into his temple.
"I can ask someone to call you a cab."
"I said I'm fine." The words came out angrier than he intended, but perhaps he would be left alone now.
"Sir, you are not fine, and I'd rather not have another guest pass out because they're too stubborn to notice when they're clearly drunk-"
"I'm fine!" Tony let go of the barstool and turned towards the door. It wasn't that far to the car; he could just sit there and let JARVIS drive him back to the tower. His legs felt like they couldn't hold his weight, but he didn't want this stranger's help. He would be alright if he could just get to the door. The music felt too thick, too heavy, and he spent a second trying to figure out how that was possible before grabbing at the nearest solid surface because his knees decided to give out.
Instantly, it felt like his heart stopped. His grip went slack.
Next thing he knew, his head bounced off the tile and people crowded around him.
Moaning, Tony pushed himself up on his hands and knees, but it seemed to take longer than expected. His muscles felt weak, almost like he'd just run a marathon. This wasn't from alcohol; he knew that much.
The kid in front of him trembled, fingers digging into the flesh of his upper arms while he sank to his knees. If it weren't for the strobe lights still flashing overhead, Tony would have sworn he saw electricity crawling across the kid's skin. It was a trick of the light, conflated by his worsening migraine.
Finally, he could find enough strength to get back to his feet. He pulled the collar of his shirt down to check that the arc reactor was functioning at reasonable—he would say optimum, but he still wasn't sure what happened and what effect it had on his arc reactor—capacity. The glow of the fusion core was a bit dim, but other than that there appeared to be nothing wrong. Running his fingers through his hair, he heaved a sigh so deep that his chest actually hurt a little.
When he bent down to help the kid up, Avery grabbed his arm and leveled a cold glare at him. "Don't touch him," he growled, tightening his grip with each syllable.
"Is he okay?"
Avery pulled the kid upright and held him against his chest. "He's a little overloaded, but it's nothing that he can't handle." He breathed reassurances against the kid's hair as he held him close. After a minute, he looked back at Tony. "If you have questions, come on." He scooped the kid up into a bridal carry and walked to the door.
Still trying to figure out what just happened, Tony followed. Once they were outside, he opened his mouth to ask what was going on.
Avery cut him off. "First, names. I'm Avery Kingsley, owner of Club Impulse. This,"—he set the kid on his feet and brushed a stray lock of hair from in front of his eyes—"is Kelley. He helps out generally wherever he can. Best employee I've ever had." Kelley gave a little smile at that, tangling his fingers with Avery's.
Tony cleared his throat and introduced himself.
"I'm aware."
There was a quiet sort of malice in the man's voice that set Tony's teeth on edge. "What happened back there?"
"Kelley and I are mutants. Electricity-based powers." Avery waited for an acknowledging nod before he continued his explanation. "I generate excess electricity, while he absorbs and stores it. Unfortunately, Kelley isn't at the point where he can control what he absorbs from."
"I'm working on it," Kelley muttered almost defensively, his gaze locked on the ground.
Avery cast him a tender look. "I know, hon." He turned back to Tony, the steel back in his voice. "When you grabbed him, he absorbed the bioelectricity in your nervous system—and a little extra, considering that arc reactor of yours. You were only able to get up so quickly because of how brief the contact was; if it were any longer, your heart might have gone into fibrillation."
Kelley squeezed his eyes shut and bit his lip as if fighting back tears.
Tony was silent as he mulled over this information. Something about Avery rubbed him the wrong way, but he could wonder about that later. Finally, he found the right words. "This isn't a safe environment for him."
Avery seemed caught off guard. He blinked for a few seconds. "Excuse me?"
Although Kelley's shoulders stiffened, he didn't bristle like the older man had.
"This is a nightclub, and if he can't have skin contact, it isn't a good environment for him to be in, much less work in. People don't watch their step. They're drunk, having fun, and it's not going to cross their minds that they can't grab at him if he's close." Tony dug in his pockets for his wallet, but his hands were still clumsy from the whiskey and Kelley apparently draining his bioelectricity. "He needs a better place to learn how to handle his powers, whether that's with SHIELD or with the X-Men."
"He's been doing just fine for the last six years with me here." Avery practically spat the words, ripping his hand from Kelley's to wrap it around the younger man's waist and yank him close. Kelley didn't protest. "I was lucky to have found him when I did, else he probably wouldn't have lasted much longer. You have no right to come here and take him away from me." His blue eyes grew brighter, and tendrils of bluish-white electricity rippled over his arms.
"It's okay!" Kelley exclaimed, panic edging his voice. He grabbed at Avery's hands, pulling them up to rest over his chest. "I'm not leaving you. I promise, I'm not leaving you."
The electricity died down, fading back into Avery's skin until it vanished.
Triumphantly extracting his wallet, Tony fumbled with the pockets until he found what he wanted. He cleared his throat and held the business card out to Kelley. "If you want more information, or if you just want to talk, go ahead and call."
Delicately, Kelley took the card. Only a slight nod indicated he had heard Tony.
Avery, however, again leveled Tony with a cold glare. "He won't."
"That's up to Kelley to decide." With that, Tony strode—or at least stumbled in the most dignified manner he could—to his car, flopped into the driver's seat, and not-as-politely-as-he-intended asked JARVIS to drive him back to the tower.