There were not only significant meetings between Tony and the Soldier. But somehow Tony cherished the small ones even more.
Since I hinted at those small meetings in the last chapter I thought I should make it clear that their relationship does in fact not only consist of those big, important meetings. These small ones always happen between the different parts of the series, and I just wanted you to have an idea as to what happens there. I hope you enjoy this.
Between the meeting when Tony was twelve and the next significant meeting with the Solider several years passed.
During this time there were a few other meetings that Tony remembered. Not only the brief viewings of the Soldier like before when he was younger but actual meetings.
The older Tony got the more he noticed that other people didn't quite understand him and especially not the people his own age. So he tended to keep to himself and he started avoiding his parents and going home as much as he could. Sure, Jarvis was still there and his workshop was also in there but Tony found that it was more important to avoid his father.
Tony noticed that he could think quite well when he was on his own, away from the judging stare of his father, and wandering about and so that was what he did. And that was where he met the Soldier.
Or rather where the Soldier found him because on that particular day Tony was sitting on a bank when the Soldier suddenly sat down next to him without a noise. He didn't say a word, not even the confused 'I know you' Tony sometimes got, and so Tony also kept his mouth shut and after a few minutes the Soldier got up and left again.
It happened a few times after that but only ever when Tony walked deserted paths or chose to walk in private places; once Tony figured that out he did it all the time. The meetings happened more regularly then and after a year Tony started to look forward to the next time he would meet the Soldier even though nothing really happened. The Soldier would keep him company for a few minutes, sometimes longer, but then he would vanish again. No words were spoken and if Tony hadn't met the Soldier before he would think it was nothing but a coincident.
There were some periods where Tony wouldn't see the Soldier for weeks, sometimes even months, but in the end he always came back to him. Tony had once tried to search for him when the time between their meetings stretch closer to six months than Tony liked but he couldn't find a trace and soon he gave up, frustrated to no end and quite worried until the Soldier found him again.
He usually joined Tony on a bank but sometimes he would walk with him for a short time before he vanished again and it was comfortable company even if no words were spoken. There was something about the calm presence of the Soldier that made Tony feel safe even if the Soldiers get up spoke a different language.
The Soldier always wore the same technical gear though sometimes it was drenched in blood and sometimes it was torn in places but it was always the same. The Soldier also occasionally brought a bag which held his weapons, Tony guessed, and very few times he was obviously armed. Those times where the shortest they spend together. It always seemed like the Soldier had somewhere to be but couldn't stop himself from staying with Tony even for a short amount of time.
Tony tried not to think about where the blood came from or what he did with those weapons but when he got older and couldn't help but wonder about it he also found that he didn't particularly care.
So maybe the Soldier killed people and maybe he did it because he liked his job or just simply because he was told to but all that Tony cared about was that the
Soldier came back to him. It was a constant in his life, even with the irregular meetings, that Tony wasn't willing to give up.
He had never told anyone about the Soldier and once he started showing up with the blood on his clothes Tony figured that it was probably for the best that no one knew. And it wasn't like his father would be interested in listening to him and there were no friends to speak of that Tony could tell. And the Soldier was one of the few things that belonged only to Tony and he was hell-bent on keeping it like that.
When they met like this Tony never tried to work on the arm unless the
Soldier showed him that something was wrong, which happened a few times. Tony always carried his tools with him for those cases but it seemed like someone finally took care of the arm because he rarely had to use them.
Still he cherished those somewhat intimate meetings and if they gave him more reasons not to go back home then that was even better.
Tony had feared that their meetings would stop once his father shipped him off to boarding school and after that straight on to university and Tony had contemplated to leave a message for the Soldier somehow, maybe on one of the benches or something, but in the end he didn't have time to go back to the park one last time to do that. His father was a bit hasty in his need to get rid of him and Tony was practically shipped off over night. Tony worried about the Soldier and wondered if he would come to the park, looking for Tony and how long it took him to decide that Tony ditched him.
After a few weeks at the boarding school Tony realized that his worrying hadn't been necessary because when he took one of his night strolls through the park, in reminiscence of his times with the Soldier, he suddenly joined him.
He silently fell into step besides Tony and while his sudden appearance startled Tony he couldn't help but smile. "Thank you for finding me" he gratefully said and the Soldier nodded. After that they fell back into their usual routine and walked around the park in silence.
And so even though Tony had started a new life the Soldier was still by his side.
So I know this is not really what you expected but I broke my finger and didn't want to leave you hanging. Since the doctors decided to put my whole arm into a cast writing is a bit hard and the next normal chapter will have to wait for two weeks. I'm terribly sorry for the delay.
I am still blown away by all the positive feedback I got on this series and I wanted to say thank you again. It means a lot to me.