Anyway the Wind Blows (Avengers Fanfiction)

அ Chapter Fourteen அ

If you do not do it another one will.

Nikolas spent most of the night watching as his dad moved through the room.

Every so often reporters would come up to him and he would speak to them in a kind way, though never about too serious of topics. It wasn't until a blonde woman joined him at the bar did he realize the cautious predicament that he was in.

"Endeavour Stark."

Addressing him by his first name was her first mistake. Nikolas glanced over to her, noticing her stilettos that gave her the air of being miles taller than the doctor. "It is Doctor Stark to you." Nikolas did not attempt at pretending to be kind, he sipped his drink.

"Doctor Stark, fancy seeing you here." She lifted her hand, ordering a vodka martini from the bartender and turning her body towards Nikolas. She looked him up and down in a disapproving way, but the doctor ignored it in favor of standing a bit taller. "You have a lot of nerve showing up here."

Nikolas paused, his eyes finally moving to look at her.

"Can I at least get a reaction out of you?"

He resisted the urge to shrug. "Annoyance."

The reporter huffed and rolled her eyes. "I was referring to your company's involvement in this latest atrocity."

Without considering it, Nikolas began to search the room for his dad. "They just put my name on the invitation, but if you are not happy-"

The reporter's voice rose sharply, "Is this what you call accountability?" She reached for her purse and Nikolas panicked and grabbed her wrist. Holding it tightly as her fingertips moved through the clasp of the purse and removed a handful of photos with a smug grin. "It's a town called Gulmira, heard of it?"

Nikolas dropped her hand but did not apologize as he accepted the photos from her. The images taken were heartbreaking at first and then they made him angry. The name was familiar, his mind trailed off to Yinsen. "When were these taken?"

He reached his mind into the ballroom, searching for his dad as he listened to the reporter's response. "Yesterday."

A familiar hand touched his shoulder, his dad's voice quiet as he spoke. "We're going." Nikolas knew that the words were solely spoken for his sake, he held the photos in his hand tightly, moving through the room with a sole focus on the hand guiding him.

"Dad-" Nikolas' voice failed him, his teeth clicking shut as he found himself unsure of what to say next.

His dad ignored him as he led towards Happy and the car. Nikolas stopped in his tracks, his eyes finding Obadiah and turning towards him without considering it.

"Obadiah." Nikolas called his name verbally and mentally at the same time, the sound jarring to both Obadiah and Tony as he moved towards his dad's mentor. 

Obadiah turned, a false grin on his face as he looked between the father son pair. His words were directed to Tony, as if Nikolas was not capable of speech. "Tony- let's take a picture."

Nikolas frowned, lifting the pictures into the man's line of sight and speaking harshly, "Have you seen these pictures? What the hell is going on in Gulmira?"

Obadiah sneered, putting one arm over Nikolas' shoulder and the other around Tony's. He put himself between the Starks and the attention of the photographers and reporters calling Tony's name gave Obadiah the chance to speak to Nikolas without being overheard.

"Look at you, little Endeavour Stark-" The tone and use of his first name made Nikolas flinch. "Finally with the guts to speak for himself despite how naive he sounds."

Nikolas tone hardened. "You know what Obadiah. I was naive before when you told me here's the line, we do not cross it. This is how we do business." The doctor tightened his grip on Obadiah's shoulder to the point of it being painful for the older man. "If we are double dealing under the table-"

"Mr. Stark! Doctor Stark! Obadiah Stane!" The reporters called and Nikolas faced forward with a terribly fake smile as the camera's flashed.

Obadiah's tone was threatening as he spoke again, "Who do you think tried to lock you out? I filled the injunction against you-" He leaned closer, his lips brushing against Nikolas' ear in a way that made the man feel sick. "We can't have an insane queer man in charge of Stark International."

It was a low blow in every regard and without considering the social repercussions Nikolas stepped away from Obadiah and started down the stairs without help, which was of course a terrible idea. The hem of his dress caught under the toe of his flat and he was falling without any way to catch himself.

The heels of his hands hit the ground first, the action jarring as he attempted to not think beyond holding back the tears that threatened to fall. Nikolas solely felt embarrassed, and cursed his mind for reaching towards those around him, their emotions heightened as he tipped over the verge of being overwhelmed to almost at the point of a meltdown.

And then a familiar and welcomed hand was on his waist, lifting him from the ground in an easy way and placing him back onto his feet without a question.

"Hold onto me," His dad's voice spoke through the crowded emotions.

Nikolas complied, tucking his head into his dad's shoulder as he attempted to push away the overwhelming crowd around him. He limped as he walked, his prosthesis must have been knocked out of alignment but no matter the case the embarrassment and frustration that filled him almost made him angry.

"You need to breath Nikolas," His dad's voice was soft spoken and clear in Nikolas' ears. "The tech around us is starting to act up."

Nikolas complied, taking a deep shuddering breath just as his dad lowered him into the back row of the car. The moment the door shut behind his dad headphones settled over his ears and glasses over his eyes, the melodic sounds of Tchaikovsky filling his head.

He couldn't find any verbal words, but his hands moved in a specific way in the direction of his dad. "A reporter told me about Gulmira," Nikolas frowned as he said it. "We have to do something."

His dad simply nodded and frowned. Tony knew that his son hated lying, so obviously Gulmira had something to do with his reaction and consequential fall, but something told him that Nikolas was holding something back.

And he hoped more than anything that time would tell what.