Chapter 7
Tony realizes that slamming the door on Rhodey was probably a bad idea. He can feel the confusion and pity rolling off the man, even through the door. It actually sickens him, literally, and the teen makes a break for the bathroom.
Resting his head on the toilet seat Tony really thinks about his life choices. If he hadn’t been such a douche to a majority of the people in his life they might be with him now. Rhodey was just trying to help. And while help was foreign concept to the boy, it wasn’t something he wanted to so easily throw off.
And so Tony gathered himself. Brushed his teeth in the sink, fixed his hair, and opened the front door of his apartment. A twenty year old blinked up at him with confused eyes and smiled, and Tony met his first friend in pretty much ever.
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MIT progressed a whole lot smoother with someone watching his back, and Tony came to trust some of the staff and students. Rhodey helped.
Then Tony met Tiberius, and he could feel the attraction between the two of them and it was so hypnotizing Tony forgot that he wasn’t supposed to feed the power, that feeding the power was to chase the rabbit. And that rabbit went and dragged him down a hole which ended up with a sixteen year old Tony dating the twenty one year old Tiberius Stone of ViaStone a company that turns out, rivaled Stark Industries. Not that Tony cared. Howard was good as dead to him.
But love conquered and Tony and Ty were unstoppable, ignoring any disapproving glares from Rhodey or others. And life was good. The sex was good (not that Tony knew any other kind), Ty took Tony on romantic dates and Tony learned to forget the nagging empathy in the back of his mind more often than not.
Then something Bad happened. Something Bad involved a party. And Ty. And alcohol. So much alcohol Tony couldn't see straight. Then he was puking and Ty was there and concern and panic and hurt and too many emotions and Tony threw up his hands and the lights crashed down. Every electronic component in the Frat party burst into a shower of a thousand sparks and Ty grabbed a now unconscious Tony and left, ran got anywhere except that room.
And three days later when Tony still wasn’t awake Ty accepted a call from a private caller asking for Tony, Ty poured the story out to this stranger who claimed to know Tony. The kind sounding stranger sounded worried when he told Ty that a white haired woman would be there to pick up the younger boy and to not worry and how did he know how badly Ty was worried. And Ty hung up the phone and pet Tony's forehead and tried not to think how this was his fault, how he made Tony go that party. Fully knowing everyone would underage and piss drunk. And now Tony was potentially dying after having an unexplainable episode and he, Ty, Tony’s boyfriend, was about to allow some stranger to take him away.
And that’s what he did. The stranger came in, picked up the smaller boy and walked out. Leaving Ty sitting in Tony’s apartment wondering what he had done with his life to get to this point.
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When Tony came to it was to the sound of gentle breathing and a faint electronic humming. He blinked the sleep out of his eyes and allowed himself to acknowledge the persistent need for water now that he was more coherent. A quick check allowed him to confirm that yes, he was still alive, no he was not in his or Ty’s apartment, and no, he did not remember much of anything.
And suddenly there were hands touching him and emotions and Tony screamed. It was unlike anything he had ever experienced and a voice in his head shouted ‘secondary mutations’ and it wasn’t Tony’s voice. Wasn’t Tony. And he looked up into the worried eyes and for the first time not only did he feel the emotions of one Charles Xavier, he heard them as well.
With a prick in his arm Tony ceased the struggling he didn’t know he had been maintaining since he woken up and fell into a troubled sleep again.