Thank you so much for everyone that reviewed! This really boosts my confidence! Please forgive me if the updates become a bit slow later on but exams are coming up so... Also, I'm not really sure I can write Tony well, please tell me what I could do to improve!

"Yes, thank you mum. Sorry for bothering you." Alex put down the phone on the kitchen counter, closing her eyes tightly. The woman's voice had had that fake sugary tone she used when people were present to see how they treated each other. She had faked concern for her when she had told her she needed her to call the school to excuse her for the rest of the week. As if she cared.

"Alex, I have to go home now but I'll be back tomorrow after school." Trey smiled at her from the couch as he got up to leave.

"Won't your parents think you're spending too much time with me?" She asked, looking at him blankly.

He shook his head. "I told them you weren't feeling well and that your parents were away for the week. They know I'll want to help you."

Alex sighed and walked to a cupboard. Swinging the door open she stuck her hand in a little jar and took out a small key. She threw it at him. "Here. In case I'm out. It was my dad's."

Trey caught it and stared at her. "Right. Thanks." He whispered, stunned. Shaking himself out of his stupor he opened the door and left, locking it behind him to test the key.

Alex numbly hit her head on the wall, not really knowing why, oh why, she had given him free access to her house.

"Jarvis, do I have anything planned for today?"

"You have a meeting with the board of directors today, miss Potts, as the CEO, would also be present."

"Cancel it."

"But sir-"

"Cancel it. I have just found something more entertaining." He turned the wheel and drove into another street, closing in on the sidewalk and lowering the window. "Alex! Fancy seeing you here!"

Said girl turned to look at him with a sour expression on her face. "Stark. Are you stalking me?"

"Not at all. Funny how fate brings friends together, isn't it?"

She turned away from him and kept on walking with her eyebrows twitching at the people staring.

"Hey-"

"Stop following me Stark, I don't want the press paying any attention to what I do, got it?" She bit out, glaring at him from the corner of her eyes. "And you're holding the traffic."

Tony looked in the rearview mirror, smirking slightly at the other cars honking impatiently. "Get in!" He called at her.

"Forget about it." She turned into an alley, swinging the plastic bag in her hands over her shoulder.

Tony scowled for a second before taking a sharp turn left and parking in a small space. He was just popping some coins in the time meter when he noticed a group of men running into the alley Alex had escaped him through. He followed, not worried since Trey had said she often got into fights, but curious. Keeping his head lowered so people wouldn't recognise him he hurried after her into the damp alley.

By the time he had caught up most of the men were already knocked out, all except one. She was holding him by the throat with her arm completely stretched. It was covered in a long red glove which he was certain she hadn't been wearing before. The man started bubbling at the mouth and suddenly stopped thrashing around. With a disgusted sound she dropped him and the red glove disappeared.

"That's a nice trick you have there."

Startled she turned around. Her eyes were wide as she took a few steps backwards, one her hands grabbed the fallen bag from the ground.

"You could get arrested for this you know? But I won't say anything, I don't want one of my friends in jail."

"What did you see?"

"Oh, nothing. Beat up guys, choking one, strange, not too stylish red glove disappearing…" He turned his eyes from his nails back to her only to find her too close for comfort. Her raised fist made contact with his face and his world turned black.

"Oh, you're back!"

"Trey it's been three days, I'm fine. How long are you going to keep cooking us dinner?"

"I'm not letting you eat any more takeaway! You've had enough in the last 14 years. What do you think of the sauce?" He lifted a spoon and blowed on it, offering it to her afterwards.

Rolling her eyes she tasted it. "It's good."

"You always say it's good."

"It always is. I'm not used to this kind of food. I normally eat chai."

Trey shook his head in exasperation. "Could you set the table?" At her nod he continued: "So what did you get?"

"I had to get some more notebooks, I ran out. Are you planning on cooking for me until graduation?"

"Of course not! We'll eat out sometimes."

Alex groaned. "Trey what- what is this? What are we? Why are you acting like my wife?"

Trey didn't look at her and kept on stirring the soup. "I don't know. I just don't want to leave you alone. Is the table done?"

Slightly shaken by the sudden change in topic she nodded. He smiled and set the food on the table, handing her the third plate, which she laid by her dad without saying a word, lest she burst out crying again. She then sat down in front of Trey and started eating, for once not wearing gloves.

"I punched Tony Stark on my way home today."

Trey choked. Frowning she clapped him on the back with a blood-hand.

"You did WHAT?"

"I got into a fight and he saw me using my blood, hopefully he'll think he just drank too much when he wakes up."

"Wakes up! You punched my father's boss! You knocked him out!"

"It's not my fault he's too fucking nosy. I had to."

Trey groaned and rested his head on the table

"Not okay?"

"No, not okay Alex."

"Sorry."

"Finish your dinner and we'll go pick him up."

"What?"

He looked at her with raised eyebrows and she shut up. She didn't want to argue with him. He was too good to her for that. She silently emptied her plate and put everything in the sink. Without saying anything she followed him out the door and led him to the alley.

The sun was barely setting and it was still easy to see. Trey found him hidden between the trashcans without much hassle and, thankfully, he hadn't been robbed or kidnapped. A least she hadn't left him in plain sight. He searched his pockets and found his car keys.

"Here, hold on to these." He then swung the shorter, older man over his shoulders. "Click the lock."

The car's lights turned on for a second and they walked to it. After dumping Tony in the backseat he sat behind the wheel and drove home.

"Don't ever do this again Alex. We'll get in lots of trouble."

She nodded. He found it incredible how she could be a badass fighter one second and then be told off like a child the next. He then proceeded to dump the man on her couch and slap his face until he woke up.

"Ugh, where am I?"

"In Alex's house."

"Ah, so that was all to get me to visit. You didn't have to, I would have graced you with my presence any day. You just had to ask."

Trey winced as he heard Alex slam the door to her room.

"Alex doesn't really want you here mr Stark."

"Tony. And why wouldn't she want me here?"

"Well… She's not really a people person. She just retreated into her room…"

"Then why did she knock me out?"

Trey couldn't answer. Tell the truth? No, Alex wouldn't want that. Lie to him? His dad could get fired. "Ah, that well…"

Tony got up and walked down the hall. A second later Trey followed nervously, until Tony reached the door to Alex's room.

"Tony don't-"

Tony opened the door, only to be greeted by a shirtless Alex throwing clothes around her room looking for something to wear. Her tight jeans hung low on her hips and her hair hung loose over her shoulders. Her head snapped up and her pale face burned red as she yelled and covered her breasts with her arms.

Trey hastily closed the door and pulled Tony back to the kitchen, still blushing a deep red.

"Well that was interesting."

Trey opened his mouth to say something but closed it again without any sound having come out. He winced as a door swung open and then shut again with a very loud bang. Alex strode into the room and grabbed one of the mugs from the cupboard, she raised her arm to throw it at Tony.

"No! Alex, no!" Trey launched himself at her and held her arms from behind. "No… Ah Tony just wanted to ask something… so-"

"And what was so important that you had to burst into my room without knocking, Stark?"

Tony acted as if he wasn't about to be attacked for the second time in a day, by the same girl no less. "Why did you knock me out?"

"Because you fucking get on my nerves."

"No, I don't. Or that wasn't it at least." He amended at both the teen's incredulous looks.

"Alex," Trey whispered. "Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to tell him."

She turned to look at him, her eyes narrowing. "He'll tell people."

"Maybe he won't. I don't think he will." He whispered into her ear, his eyes never leaving the man who was now opening random cupboards and looking inside. "Not if we ask him not to."

Alex relaxed her body but didn't move to make him let go of her, which he didn't. She fell backwards, resting against his chest as she thought.

"Do you think I should?"

"I don't think anything bad will happen."

"Sure?" She looked at him, she bit her lip nervously.

He smiled. "Yeah."

She sighed. "Fine but… you tell him. I can't. I'll show him after your done. Don't tell him about my parents."

Trey loosened his grip on her and just ran his hand up and down her arms soothingly. "Sure, okay. Don't leave the room though."

She nodded.

"Where have you been?" Pepper's reprimanding voice cut through Tony's thought process like a knife. She was glaring at him with an air of tiredness around her which reminded him of the old days when she would greet him like this everyday.

"We waited two hours for you to start the meeting! You even missed dinner, what have you been doing?"

"I found myself in the company of Trey and Alex and felt reluctant to leave, especially when he started cooking." He licked his lips, hoping that there would be some remaining sauce from dinner, but… alas. Nothing remained. "They invited me for dinner and I couldn't refuse."

"You could have told them you had a meeting."

"And break their hearts with disappointment? No."

"I doubt you would have broken their hearts."

"Of course I would have, don't be ridiculous." He walked to the bar and poured himself a drink. To be honest he still felt overwhelmed about what he had found out, and seeing an eighteen year old girl use her own blood as a lasso hadn't actually been on his list of 'things I want to achieve in my life', however… he could understand her reluctance in telling him. He rubbed the side of his face. She packed a mean punch though.

"I'm going to DC tomorrow-"

"What? Why?"

"We decided-"

"Without consulting me."

"We didn't need to consult you since you weren't there."

"Who's we?"

"The board and I. Anyway. I'm going to go to DC for a meeting, you can stay here and work on your things." She walked down the hall.

"Where are you going?"

"To bed."

Tony looked up at the sound of the doorbell, his face split into a grin and he put down his glass of whiskey. His long strides he walked to the lift and waited patiently for his guests to arrive. The whole living area had been lit up and it shone like a torch over the city.

The doors slid open to reveal Alex and Trey. Alex was wearing black leather pants and a loose fitting, long sleeved red shirt and high heeled leather ankle boots. Her hair was loose and the gold of her eyes stood out because of all the dark eye liner. This, he noticed, was her casual attire. She always wore heels and dark eye make up of some sort. Trey, on the other hand, was more casual, only wearing light blue jeans and a dark blue hoodie, opened to reveal a grey shirt.

He had been getting together with them more often since the day he found out the secret, especially since Pepper wasn't here and he didn't have to constantly make up excuses. It was now a week ago and Pepper was being held up in DC.

Trey greeted him warmly while she only nodded at him when they stepped out of the lift. It took a bit more for her to actually like him than for Trey. He was a more friendly guy. That didn't mean that she disliked him, not anymore at least, she had accepted him as a common member of their group now and had gotten used to him coming over for dinner. She even talked to him willingly and called him by his first name now… sometimes.

"Why good evening. Welcome to my not so humble abode." He did a mock bow and led them to the couches, on which they let themselves fall and Trey started talking about his usual topics. Which happened to be everything. And Alexandra just sat next to him and watched Tony. Not that Tony had a problem with it, he was made to be looked at.

After a few hours they had all relaxed some and Alex had even opted to take off her gloves and lean back on the couch, though Trey had gotten in the way and now she was leaning on him. She just looked out the window and commented something every once in a while, or answered questions when asked.

Tony raised his glass to his lips again and noticed he'd run out of whiskey, again. But the bottle was in the kitchen and he didn't want to get up. He could see it from where he sat. With a humph he left himself rest back and glared at the bottle. Trey chuckled and Alexandra merely rolled her eyes at his antics. She raised a hand and blood flowed out, stretching itself all the was to the bottle. With a slight twitch of her wrist it entwined itself around the glass form and lifted red ribbon then curled back around and laid the bottle down on Tony's lap. With a hiss of pain Alexandra pulled back the blood into her body and flexed her hand.

At the men's raised eyebrows she said: "Pulling a not so small amount of blood back into the system stings a bit."

"Does it? Director Fury will be very interested."

Quick as lightning all three head turned towards the voice. It was a small man in a suit, holding a briefcase that stood in the opened doors of the lift.

"Agent Coulson." Tony's voice sounded offended, almost upset. "What are you doing here?"

"Who are you?" Alex spit out venomously, so venomously Trey wrapped an arm around her waist to restrain her.

"Agent Coulson of S.H.I.E.L.D. Miss…?"

"Ah, so you found a new name!" Tony's complacent smile didn't reach his eyes. "Now get out."

"Don't bother." Alex stood up, sliding her gloves on as she did. "We're leaving. See you around, Tony." She grabbed Trey's shoulder and forcefully dragged him to the lift, pushing Agent Coulson aside to get in.