Chapter 8
Tony doesn't faze quickly.
Having been a hostage to the Ten Rings, suffocating in space, and growing up in high society New York, Tony has seen and experienced his fair share of oddities and trauma.
This, however, does not stop the flicker of fear that grips his heart as he scrambles to yank Wade under the table with him. And when Tony feels a warm, wet hand grip his wrist, he thinks this might be what makes his heart finally give out.
He finally seems to have come across a situation he can't comprehend for all of his eccentricities and quick thinking.
With his ears ringing from the gunfire and the sounds of the kitchen staff screaming, he's painfully aware of how human and vulnerable he currently is. There's no Yinsen to offer silent encouragement, and there's no suit to glide over his body for him to stand tall and fearless.
This is why when he feels Wade's hand grip his wrist with enough strength that it bruises, his fear turns into confusion. And as he shuffles closer to Wade's legs and peaks up, his confusion doubles into morbid fascination.
He's no stranger to healing factors; being up close and personal with Rogers, Tony knows wounds never lasted long on him thanks to the super-soldier serum. However, the serum could not generate back brain matter and bone if Roger ever took a bullet to the skull.
It helped make Cap hard to kill, not unkillable.
However, Wade's body is stretching and forming new cells to replace the ones blown off in the gunfire. The holes in his chest swirling and closing to create familiar scarred skin. He's leaking blood as he lifts his left arm with a gun. A gun Tony didn't see him pull out, and, in quick succession, he fires out 4 bullets, his right hand still gripping Tony's wrist.
What the hell just happened?
Tony is not used to unknown variables, nor does he handle them well when presented. He goes to shuffle backward and scramble from under the table when the grip on Tony's wrist loosens as he feels the hand slide down his arm and pulls him upwards.
If not for the warm and sticky blood on his slide up Tony would have been able to appreciate the hard lines and questionable positioning he's currently in. Instead, his heart is beating a mile a minute as he's greeted with a bald and bloody Wade.
And it seems like the gore of the moment and the recent near-death experience really doesn't matter much when Wade leans their foreheads together and slides his left arm around Tony's waist while his right-hand burns a trail to his heart. And Tony thinks for the second time this might be what finally makes his heart give out. the too intimate position couples with the soft texture of Wade's forehead is really too much for someone with his heart problems.
But when Wade's voice causes his chest to rumble and vibrate, he really can't complain.
"Are you hurt?"
Tony blinks at the question, taking the time to actually let the adrenaline leave his body so he can be privy to any injuries that may have occurred. Though the only thing it seems Tony is at risk for is a heart attack.
"No... How aren’t you hurt?" Tony waits for a beat before adding, "or better yet, why aren't you dead?"
The iciness in Wade's eyes gives way to amusement as he slides both him and Tony out of the now-destroyed booth. It seems their height difference comes into play as the arm around Tony's waist prevents his feet from touching the floor as Wade speeds through the diner and out the door.
It takes the jingle of the door closing for Tony to shout out,
"What are you doing?! I have to help the work-"
"They're dead."
"We didn't even ch-"
"I doubt they're getting up from a bullet in the head Iron Babe."
Do you think you fight for us? You only fight for yourselves.
Who are you really protecting, Tony?
Playing at Hero doesn't make you a hero.
Logically Tony knows he couldn't have done anything to help, but he also knows those guys didn't randomly decide to shoot into a burger joint during the wee hours of the morning.
Merchant of Death
"Your self-preservation is unbelievably low, even by my standards. And I've tried to off myself in some fun ways." It's fascinating how Wade can switch between sounding like an over-optimistic kid to someone who should raise Tony's hackles, "I'm gonna take you home. Can't have your pretty head blown off before our second date, now can I?"
Come now, Tony, my boy, can’t have you drinking your genius away!
Not possible, Obie…
Tony knows better.
He knows better than to trust men who call him pretty and look at him with promises they'd never keep.
He knows better.
Which is why he begins to thrash and twist his body resulting in Wade tightening his grip and slipping into a dark alley with way too much ease for a man he met wearing a hello kitty mask.
Wade promptly drops Tony onto his feet and crowds him into the shadows away from view when Tony finally, with annoyance, gets out:
"Who the hell are you?"
"Iron Babe, are you telling me you really didn't go ahead and look into the strange man you met on a train."
"I have you know all I went looking for was your name... just in case you never showed up again." With a huff, Tony leans against the dingy wall. "Obviously, all this proves is that I really do have low self-preservation."
" I don't know if I want to wrap you in a blanket or torture whoever made you so susceptible to people showing even a little interest in you."
"Torture? Is that something you do? It would explain the gun you pulled out of thin air, that after being pressed so close to your body, I still have no clue you pulled from."
"I'm not bound by the same rules as you, though depending on how this goes, the voices in my head maybe more concerning here."
Honestly, Tony should know better. This means he should be doing better; he should be walking away with his sanity intact and telling Friday to book him a vacation far away from New York.
Instead, he feels his face burn with warmth and tears fill his eyes as he explodes into a rant about lies and betrayal and, “How could you? I thought you liked me” and if not for the group of people who walk by laughing about “Jeez, do you hear that? This is why I don’t date; girls are fucking crazy.” He would have felt offended that his voice was so high to strangers who thought he was a woman.
“Stop.”
At the command in the voice, Tony is embarrassed to realize he’s been screaming his head off hunched over with his eyes shut. But before he can open his mouth to continue, Wade’s hand is on the back of his neck, forcing him to look up.
“You can yell at me all you want after I get you home.” With a pause, Wade scans the alleyway spotting a parked car that has him once again picking tony up and maneuvering him towards. “Someone wants to kill you. Someone with enough resources that multiple gunfires don’t spawn a 911 call or police showing up since we left the diner. I’m taking you home.”
And Tony should’ve realized this wasn’t up for debate when he’s shoved into the passenger side and buckled in.
Tony really should know better, but it seems his heart loves things that aren’t nice.