Connections

Tony hadn't realised how much he’d missed the Mansion until he was back there, in the grounds. The bit of wood surrounding it was still undisturbed, surprisingly, and he could walk it with his eyes closed, even the trees familiar enough to him from his childhood that he could work out where he was from the few near to him.

The sun was only just rising, hues of red and gold - how fitting - shining through the leaves onto his face, and he squinted as it hit his eyes. No one else had been awake when he’d gone out, only the sounds of the wind touching the leaves and the quiet chirps of birds in the branches were audible now, and it felt nice, having the world to himself for a few moments, not needing to worry about hiding, or saving the city.

Even so… he couldn’t help but think. The rest of the first week they’d been at the Mansion hadn’t gone much better than the first day. Natasha had barely left her room, apparently opting to finish some paperwork for SHIELD rather than deal with anyone there, and she’d only talked to Clint and Steve since the Dining Room incident, avoiding the kids and him especially. Steve hadn’t been much better, though Tony suspected that was more awkwardness than him hating the kids. Clint, thankfully, seemed to be enjoying hanging around with them, and had started teaching some of them archery in the grounds, while Bruce was helping out with a couple of the science lessons during the day. Still, it wouldn’t be great to have them divided while they were fighting, not with who they were fighting against.

Almost as if reading his thoughts, the sky darkened as clouds collected, blocking the sun and crackling with energy.

“Hey, J? Mind checking that out for me?”

“The readings are synonymous with those of the Bifrost, sir. It appears Thor is finally arriving at the Mansion.”

Well, that explained the theatrics. Tony jumped up from the log he was perched on, beginning the walk back up to the Mansion.

He still couldn't get Thor quite figured out. There were times that he appeared completely oblivious to anything Midgardian, where the only one who seemed to understand him was Rogers, where his loud warrior side seemed to be the only part of his personality anyone would see. The enthusiasm he held for any of their more… violent missions wasn't well hidden, but something else was.

He wasn't as naïve as he made out to be, and Tony could see the knowledge he had - after all, Thor was centuries old, heir to a throne, and Asgard was already hundreds, if not thousands of years ahead of Earth technology-wise (although he couldn't say the same social-wise). On the chance occasions he and Thor had got a chance to talk alone, he seemed a completely different person, speaking passionately of his mother's and brother's magic, of the Bifrost, of Yggdrasil, of Asgard's technology and how different Earth was to it, and they'd got on well, despite what everyone said about his hatred of anything to do with magic.

Point was, Point Break was intelligent. He might not have been book-smart like Loki apparently had been, but he knew people, and he knew the universe better than most, even if the way he explained it seemed different to what people were used to.

Thor confused him. But he couldn't hold that against him for a moment.

(And as long as he didn't react like Natasha did to the kids, they wouldn't have any problems.)

Tony could see him in front of the doors to the Mansion, looking mildly awkward, although not uncomfortable, as if he couldn’t decide whether to enter the building or not. “Thor!” Tony waved, grinning as Thor turned to face him. “How was Asgard?”

He half-listened to a recount of a alliance made with Alfheim to last at least the next few centuries, smiling warmly as Thor promised to take him on a tour or the realms at some point, and making a note mental note to ask about Niðavellir when he had the chance (metalwork and magic in one - it couldn't get much better, and they'd probably give him some good ideas), then quickly checked his watch. Eight o’clock.

“Do you want to head inside? Some of the kids are probably up by now, and they've been asking for a while to meet you.”

“Of course!” Thor smiled enthusiastically, and Tony pushed open the door for him, leading him to the larger living room where most of the kids seemed to have gathered for the morning.

If Tony was perfectly honest, out of all the Avengers, he'd probably trust either Thor or Bruce the most with the kids - Bruce seemed to understand them better than anyone, especially the ones whose families hadn't exactly been open to having a kid with powers, or those who were afraid of what they could do (and they were just the cutest interactions to watch). Then there was Thor - he'd grown up with a brother who could do magic, and Asgardians were technically gods, so he was used to people with unusual abilities.

Tony wasn't wrong in thinking they'd get on well.

He watched as Thor retold a story of one of his off-planet battles, surrounded by faces hooked on his words, and smiled. They were adorable.

"-And just as they started closing in, I held my hand up, and Mjölnir came up from behind them and hit them in the back of the head, and before they knew what happened, we tied them to the tree and ran."

Some of the younger kids laughed, and the older ones seemed happy enough, so he turned from the room into the corridor, making sure he wouldn't disturb them before he asked quietly, “Hey, Jarvis, how're your brothers doing?”

There was silence, for a moment, and Tony took his phone from his pocket, checking his signal quickly just to make sure there wasn't a problem with it. “J?”

“It would appear you didn't speak that question out loud, Sir.”

What?

“I feel it would be best for you go and speak to Professor Xavier.”

He had to be imagining things. Fuck.

It was stress.

This wasn’t good.

This really wasn't good.

He took a breath, rubbing a hand over his forehead to wipe the sweat off it as he opened his door. There was a weirdly familiar burn building behind his eyes, almost like a migraine, but different in a way he couldn't quite place.

His powers were acting up, random objects were shifting noticeably on tables or floating from shelves, and for some reason there was a buzzing of voices in his head that just wouldn't shut up.

He probably should've taken Jarvis’ advice.

In his defence, it did sound completely crazy.

But Tony could feel everything: the kids running through the corridors upstairs, slowing down as they reached someone he was pretty sure was Ororo; Xavier down the hall in one of the classrooms; Bruce and Hank in the basement; the tech buzzing next to them- He couldn't-

He couldn't breathe.

It was pressing in on him, information from all directions pushing into his head and the only comfort seemed to be the pressure of the wall against his back and his hands over his ears blocking out the sound he could, but he could feel it anyway, feel the movements of everyone and everything and the buzzing was getting louder and wouldn't fucking leave.

This was too much.

Help, Jean, please.

He pulled his knees tighter to his chest, the movement somehow relieving some of the squeezing in his lungs as he sucked in another breath-

“Stark?”

“Tony, try to breathe with me, okay?” His hand shook as he grabbed the arm of whoever the hell was in front of front of him, managing to at least slightly ground himself where he was sitting. “Logan, find the Professor.”

He could feel the movement both through the vibrations in the floor and in his head, and the buzzing only grew worse once he felt Xavier's wheelchair approaching a few moments later.

“Tony?”

He managed to lift his head for barely a second before it burned again, and he pressed his eyes back into his knees, but it was good enough to show he'd at least heard him talking.

“Tony, Logan's going to help move you to the bed. Is that alright?”

Not even bothering to try and speak this time around, Tony gave him a thumbs up in answer, and a hand moved to his back to help him off the ground. His legs shook as he stood and took a step forward, but someone holding to his waist kept him from collapsing face first on to his bed, and instead twisted him around to lie on his side.

He was pretty sure that someone was speaking quietly somewhere off to the side, though he couldn't discern a word of it. The buzzing in his head had only gotten worse when the Professor had entered his bedroom, and, god, he just wanted it to stop.

“-going to try something.”

Cold hands pressed to either side of his head, and he shivered slightly in weak protest, but then-

It was quiet.

He gave himself a second to actually breathe, before wiping his face on the pillow under his head and sitting up slowly, three pairs of eyes watching Tony in concern as he spoke softly, voice hoarse,

“I don’t suppose any of you can explain what the fuck that just was?”