Never Alone Again

Part Eleven - A Serious Conversation

Your dreams that night were scattered. It was all about him. No matter what was happening in your dream, Loki was always there. You woke up in a cold sweat, sitting straight up. The clock on your nightstand displayed 4:30am. You sighed, flopping back onto your pillow. The past few days have been insane. You'd never expected your life to take this kind of turn, and you didn't understand how something so wrong could feel so good.

You wanted to be around him all the time. To listen to his stories, his worries, his jokes. You had never felt this way before. There were others you had loved in the past, but nothing could compare to what you were feeling now. Your heart raced at the thought of him. You wanted him. The good, the bad, all of it.

And you hated yourself for it. You knew what Tony would think. Hell, you knew what all of the Avengers would think. How could your heart betray everything you've ever known like this? You didn't understand, and there was no one you could go to for advice.

You sighed, propping yourself back up in your bed. "Jarvis?"

"How can I assist you, y/n?" Jarvis immediately responded.

"What do you do when you're in love with someone you're not supposed to be?" You questioned.

"I'm not sure I can answer your question, y/n." Jarvis replied.

You knew this would be the answer. "That's okay, Jarvis. Thank you."

You looked back over at your clock. 4:35am. With a frustrated sigh, you pulled yourself up and out of bed, and decided to go for a walk to clear your head. You thought about stopping in the sparring room to work out some things while you trained yourself.

You reached the sparring room and flicked on the lights. After prepping yourself, you made your way over to a punching bag and started to vent your frustrations.

This is wrong. You thought. I need to get over myself. It's not worth the trouble.

You had begun to work up quite a sweat. Your knuckles were red, so you stopped for a moment, sitting down with your back against the wall. You looked up at the ceiling, still thinking to yourself.

The door to the room cracked open, and you looked over, startled.

"Hey, kiddo. Everything okay?"

It was Tony.

You burst into tears as soon as you saw him. You were so overwhelmed you couldn't stop yourself.

"Woah, hey, what's wrong?" Tony quickly made his way over to you and sat down next to you.

You shook your head, not wanting to talk about it. Tony pulled you in for a hug and the two of you stayed like that for a moment, while you calmed back down. When you were ready, you pulled away, leaning back against the wall. It was difficult to find the words to explain to Tony what was happening.

You looked over at him, eyes red and puffy from crying. "We need to have a serious conversation."

"Alright, but let's get you cleaned up first." He said as he pulled you to your feet.

You nodded and took a moment to go wash your face and recollect yourself. You stared at yourself in the mirror, and took a deep breath.

Okay, you can do this. You told yourself. You can do this.

When you returned to the room Tony was in, he offered you a seat on the couch next to him. You sat down, not saying anything at first.

"Take as long as you need." Reassured Tony.

You nodded. "It's been an eventful week for me. I have some things to tell you that might be hard to understand."

"I will do my best." Said Tony.

"I..." You bit your lip, struggling to get yourself to say it. "I have telepathic powers."

Tony laughed. "Good one, kid."

You shot him a glare, immediately connecting to his mind.

I'm not joking.

"Oh, what the hell?" Tony exclaimed, immediately serious. "How did you do that?"

"It started the day I sat in on your meeting. The one about Loki." You explained. "I thought it was him at first, but it kept happening even when his powers were suppressed."

Tony nodded, listening.

"That night, I was stressing about it, so I went down to his room to ask him what happened." You continued. "He told me I had powers. He was bored, too, so he let me practice using them with him."

"So this whole time..." Tony muttered.

"Yes. This whole time I've been talking to Loki in my mind."

Tony was lost in thought. He sat quietly, drumming his fingers on the armrest of the couch.

"Tony?" You whispered.

He looked over at you, listening.

You were afraid. "What are you thinking about?"

"I don't understand how this is possible," He stated. "And why didn't you come to me sooner?"

"You didn't want me talking to Loki. I didn't want to lose that connection." You explained.

"You trusted the criminal over me?"

You looked down. He was right. That was exactly what had happened.

"I didn't want you to shut me down." You said, your voice barely audible. "I was afraid of what you'd think of me. You're important to me. I can't lose you over something like this."

Tony was quiet, too. "Y/n, I'm never going to leave you behind. I'm sorry I made you feel like that."

The two of you hugged it out for a moment before you spoke again. "There's another thing. Unrelated to the powers."

"Go on." Prompted Tony.

Somehow, this was even harder for you to talk about. "Well... while you were gone on your mission for a while, I met this... guy."

Tony squinted at you, mildly suspicious. "Right..."

You continued explaining. "And I know I'm not supposed to feel the way I do about him, but there's a part of me that can't keep him off my mind."

Tony just listened.

"I just don't know what the right thing to do is." You murmured.

Tony smiled reassuringly. He placed his hand on your shoulder. "Y/n, that's not a decision I can make for you. I'll support you no matter where you go. If you get hurt, we'll always be here for you to fall back on. Just be careful, okay?"

You nodded.

"Now, why don't you go back to bed and get some more rest. You seem like you have a lot to think about. I'll make breakfast later and we can talk about your whole brain power thing then. How's that sound?" He asked.

You hugged Tony one more time. "Thanks, dad."

He smiled softly, holding you tightly. "Anytime."