Disclaimer: I do not own any content recognisable as belonging to the MCU or HDM Multiverses. All rights go to the respective owners. (Title from Could Have Been Me by The Struts)
19-year-old Tony Stark lay stretched across the couch, his dæmon Kayacia equally sprawled out on the cool floor just next to him, her tabby cat tail occasionally twitching from side to side. The tired red couch heaved with the weight of the teenager combined with the sagging heat of the day, and the polished coffee table in the centre of the dark rug was swimming with littered cheeseburger wrappers that were starting to smell. It was the summer of '92, his parents were both dead, and he was trying to seriously consider his purpose in life. Trying to.
The life of Tony Stark was one massive rollercoaster of parties half the time, the other half was spent uselessly coasting through various university grade engineering, maths, and science problems, some of them fun, but all just too dead easy. He already had all the degrees he wanted, or needed, anyway, and so the past few weeks he and Kaya had often found themselves wandering the streets of Manhattan together, perusing through deep, almost philosophical, thoughts. Despite this, Tony rarely needed to think. He could whip off direct, correct answers to any and all kinds of questions, the more difficult only took a few seconds longer. Truth was, though he hated to admit it, Tony was bored, and in desperate need of motivation.
The Stark family was known for having, often exotic, animal 'companions', because dæmons were so rare, and, surprisingly, a well-kept secret. Years ago, one of Tony's ancestors had crossed over from another world, another universe, and decided to stay. He only lived for ten years or so after that, but died with an eight year old son. Every child that was born from that line since, one in each generation, had had a dæmon by their side.
They had been the only ones. The only children born of a world missing a single gene. A gene that gave souls voices, and forms that could be seen. The gene Howard Stark and his dæmon, Tatiana, had only succeeded to recreate once.
Steve Rogers, Captain America, was undoubtedly Howard Stark's greatest creation. Or, at least, his dæmon was. Lyra had been created from a gene inserted into the super soldier serum, and, well, Steve had agreed to be part of a lab experiment. She took the form of a golden retriever, but Steve thought her just to be a stray dog in need of a home. From what Tony had heard from his father, she never spoke, and never left his side. Captain Rogers had loved her. But always worried that she followed him everywhere. That he kept telling her to stay at the camp, to run away from the guns, but she stayed. She couldn't leave, but still chose to stay.
It was only after he'd been lying on the couch for a couple of days that he finally decided who he wanted to be. I mean, he thought, the genius part is obvious, and I'm already a billionaire. I'll just continue STARK Industries and be set for life. He wanted to investigate ARC-reactor technologies, and finish his father's work in recreating the gene. He wanted to have fun outside of the lab too though, just drinks and chicks and flirting with whoever the heck he wanted. He'd be a weapons manufacturer, artillery provider; it was the family business, the job would be fun, and it had so much potential. He'd be famous, he already was, anyway. He wouldn't live by people's expectations, he didn't need to satisfy anyone. He had already established that he was smarter than the entirety of the US government - when he graduated from MIT at fifteen.
Tony sat up a bit straighter on the couch, and as Kaya jumped up onto his lap, contentedly purring, he scratched the top of her furry head.
"I think I've figured it out, K." His voice had a bit of a croak, probably from not using it for three days, so he cleared his throat. "I reckon I've got it."
"Tell me."
"Genius, billionaire, playboy…" The string of words felt foreign on his tongue, but came naturally, and he knew they were supposed to be there.
"Philanthropist," said the voice of his dæmon. "I want us to give to others, too."
"Philanthropist," he agreed. "Alright. Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist."
"I like it."
"Me too."
And with those final words, the tabby cat butted her head into the centre of his chest, and nuzzled her way up to his chin. He stroked her again, all the way down her back. He felt her weight leave his lap as she leapt up into the air, changing as she went. In a swirl of golden sparks, Anthony Edward Stark felt his dæmon settle at last.
A/N: Just a new idea I had. I'll put the daemons mentioned in the chapter and their forms and pronunciation down here, so it doesn't get too confusing to read. I named Steve's dæmon Lyra because I wanted to have her come into the story somehow, and the name worked. I pictured her as being the rule-defying part of Steve, the one who encourages him to make choices for himself, like with the Sokovia Accords in Civil War, though of course in the 1940s their conversations were very one-sided, because Steve thought he was talking to an ordinary dog.
Tony Stark - Kayacia [Unsettled] (Pronounced KAY-us-yah)
Howard Stark - Tatiana (Pronounced TAT-ee-ahn-ah) - If you have any suggestions for the animal, please PM me or drop a review!
Steve Rogers - Lyra [Golden Retriever] (Pronounced LIE-rah)
