Chapter 1
Tony curls on the couch with his hands wrapped around his middle cringing in pain. “Tony… I don’t know if this is such a good idea,” Peter says, looking pale and worried.
He sighs and closes his eyes for several long moments before opening them again, “it’s my choice now leave me be,” he says as gently as he can. It wasn’t Peter’s fault for thinking the way he did; it wasn’t anyone’s fault really. But this was the right thing to do, he and Steve just weren’t meant to be and they were never going to work. It wasn’t as if either one of them gave up easily either, but nothing was working. Right off the bat he and Steve disliked each other so much that they didn’t even notice the glow until Bruce pointed it out. Tony just thought Steve was angry enough that he his cheeks were flushed and his skin was bright with it. He was certainly that pissed off, but when Bruce pointed out the glow it seemed obvious.
“I know it’s your choice but you’re in pain,” Peter says. He looks so worried and Tony is flattered that he even cared. They hadn’t known each other all that long and honestly he didn’t much expect him to stick around to clean him up. Usually this would be Pepper’s job but… well even she got sick of his shit eventually and Rhodey was currently trying to work out how to function with his new body. Tony had fully expected to deal with this on his own but then Peter had come around and then he kept coming around even though Tony looked like hell and probably smelled worse.
“It’s just the bond breaking, it’ll be fine,” Tony says. All he had to do was hold out until the bond broke even if it hurt like hell in the meantime. It was better this way.
“Just the bond breaking? Tony that’s really not good,” Peter says.
He can’t help but let out a small laugh at that, “I’ll be fine Peter, once the bond breaks I’ll stop being in pain and whatever and it’ll be okay. Can you get me some water?” he asks. His constant shivering and sweating took a surprising amount of energy from him.
*
Tony isn’t sure why he ever thought the whole being soul mated to Steve would have ever worked out for the better. They both knew right away the bond wasn’t romantic given that Tony had been with Pepper with no intention of leaving her, but at this point Tony wondered if it was more like an enemy bond or something. Technically those existed, Bucky and Sam seemed to have one of those bonds but it was different with them than with Steve and Tony. From what he’s gathered from T’Challa they were essentially just really mean to each other but had a strange amount of investment in the other’s safety and well being.
He and Steve have never really been like that. Sure, Tony cared about whether Steve lived or died, he spent a whole lot of time making sure Ross’s goon squad didn’t mow him down but Steve didn’t much seem fond of reciprocation on that front. After Siberia and Steve just about killing him for almost killing Bucky, which he will freely admit was a stupid plan on his behalf even if he still wanted nothing to do with the man, he wondered if Steve cared about him at all. Bucky, Steve dropped the whole fucking world for Bucky but he insulted Tony by sending him a damn flip phone. Was it so much to ask to have an up-to-date burner phone? Even T’Challa had been lost on how he got that given that Wakanda was actually pretty ahead on the tech front, meaning there were no flip phones to be found. It was almost like Steve went out of his way to insult Tony even if he knew that probably wasn’t true.
Steve isn’t a bad man and Tony knows it, which is why he was so damn confused about this bond thing. Obviously they were never meant to be, Steve belonged with like Bucky or something and Tony… he gets along with near anyone else but Steve. He gets along with Ross better and he hates Ross. The guy is a stuck up government asshole, even if he made a few good points about the Avengers and whatnot. Ross is still an insufferable jackass, good points or no. Hell, he and Steve were so out of sync that when Tony was trying to tell him that Pepper left him Steve thought she was pregnant. He wasn’t entirely sure what about his word stumbling and obviously upset body language indicated pregnancy but alright. And it wasn’t Steve’s fault, or his fault; aside from the things they deliberately did to affect each other none of this was anyone’s fault.
They have always been a disaster, right from the first fight that nearly ended in a physical fight. At best they were a mess that sometimes worked out okay and after this whole ‘Civil War’ thing he was out. Enough was enough, they were a horrible pair and he was breaking the damn bond. The problem is that Steve wasn’t very impressed with this for one, and for two breaking a bond required zero contact and a whole lot of pain until the bond finally went away.
When he first made the decision to cut his losses, cut Steve’s losses, Steve was in Wakanda with the rest of the team and he had just gotten the letter and the phone. Yet another thing that proved how god damn terrible they were for each other. When the hell had the Avengers ever been more his than Steve’s? They straight up hated him more than they didn’t- which technically mimicked Tony’s actual family exactly but still. And the entirety of the Civil War… god knows he understood where Steve was coming from, he didn’t trust the government much either but shit, they were worse. Plus, and this was key, not only did Tony actually break the Accords by going to help Steve in Siberia because he wanted to get that solved before Ross made some crap attempt and got people killed, but Steve thought that he wouldn’t.
The thing he has been known for more than most anything else is his willingness to break the rules, it was a trait that drove Steve nuts actually and for some reason he thought that Tony would be a mindless government lapdog. Uh, no. Of course now the Accords were finished and over with until something new came up and Tony… he was out. Giving up being a hero isn’t something he wanted but in the last few years he hasn’t made a single positive decision as a hero so maybe it was best to give it up.
What he hadn’t expected was one very new hero that was like six years old to latch on to him for hero advice. Peter was doing well on his own long before Tony came along but he seemed intent on sticking around for Tony’s advice. Honestly it was flattering and also kind of nice to have someone around for him, especially since Rhodey was doing his best to recover and Pepper… well she had her own stuff.
The other unexpected thing to happen was the strange chemistry he had with the lovely King of Wakanda. He had noticed Steve’s symptoms before Steve had and strangely enough he had gone to Tony before Steve with it. They had been working together for nearly a month at that point to try and work something out with, well, everyone to get the Avengers off the charges laid against them. It was considerably difficult work and as much as Tony wanted to punch Clint in the head he had kids that missed him. So when T’Challa called he figured it was to talk about their case like it was pretty much any other time. Instead he ended up having an extensive conversation about all the ways he and Steve have failed each other over the years and how he was done with it. They weren’t meant to be and he was finished with pretending that they had some sort of salvageable bond when they were so… explosive together and in all the wrong ways.
T’Challa, much to Tony’s surprise had been rather understanding of the whole situation. Soul mates… they’re a pretty important thing in America and Tony wasn’t sure how Wakandans handled it but T’Challa was open minded about the whole bond breaking thing. Steve? Not so much once he figured out what was going on. Tony didn’t blame him, it literally hurt to be away from him with no intention of going back but he was done with all the heartbreak that came with being Steve’s soul mate. Steve had to be done with it too; he was always on Tony’s ass about something new this week so Tony had no clue why he clung to the clearly failing relationship.
The downside of the whole thing was the media backlash to the whole thing once they found out. When it had come out that he and Steve were soul mates- bond type pending- everyone had flipped out and claimed Steve was too good for Tony. That was a basic truth, Tony got it, but now that he was giving up the bond people were just as pissed off. Too good to be with him, but he couldn’t leave without being the villain either. Typical media bullshit, but it didn’t make Twitter very fun. FRIDAY has started to learn how to filter the hate out though, which was nice. Her unlearning English and deciding that Italian was going to be her new language was less nice but she’s on a learning curve so Tony forgave her for it, mostly because he can speak Italian. Peter was lost as hell until she relearned English though.
*
T’Challa wasn’t entirely sure he wanted anything to do with the Avengers after getting them safely out of his country. He had chosen to house them because he owed it to Bucky to help him after nearly killing him several times when he was innocent. But then he started working with Tony Stark and there was something drawing about the man. T’Challa felt it that first time they saw each other at the airport but he had been too caught up with Bucky to pay much attention, and then again when he followed Tony to Siberia. He sometimes dreamed about the way Tony’s face looked when Steve told him that he knew how Tony’s parents had really died after lying to him. The hurt, the betrayal there, and then the anger. T’Challa never would have guessed that they were anything other than casual friends, so when he discovered that they were soul mates he was shocked.
Steve never mentioned Tony outside some battle stories and casual mentions. There was nothing to indicate that they were even remotely bonded- Steve appeared more bonded to Bucky than Tony. The only reason he even knew the two were soul mates at all was because the American media was currently capitalizing off of the ‘star crossed lovers’ trope despite the fact that the two had never been lovers. Steve had not been impressed when he finally figured out what the pain he was in was caused by, and he hadn’t been impressed that T’Challa had kept the knowledge that Tony was ending the bond to himself.
But T’Challa knew what it was like to have a no good bond that needed to go, even if it caused pain. His own soul mate, B’Tumba, had been his best friend since childhood and they had done everything together. It did not last though because B’Tumba grew jealous some time in his late teens and by their early twenties they had a falling out and then… and then B’Tumba died in a rather nasty accident. T’Challa had felt the whole thing, and unlike his friend he did not get the option of death to end it. For weeks he had phantom pains, even phantom memories of B’Tumba’s that revealed just how long he had resented T’Challa for being naturally talented. It was extremely painful but it was an awful bond that trapped them together when they would have been better off apart.
He admired Tony’s courage to end his bond with Steve knowing that it was no good because he would not have had that courage himself. In Wakanda soul mates were extremely important- opting out of a bond was not an option no matter how bad the bond got. It was assumed that you were paired with your soul mate for a reason and that you would find the reason eventually but T’Challa did not agree. Sometimes even the strongest of bonds did little more than bring you pain and suffering and there is no bond on earth that is more important than a person’s wellbeing and health.
So he had kept Tony’s decision to break his bond with Steve to himself because he understood, and because Steve would feel it eventually. When Steve came to him with strong words and accusations T’Challa simply asked if he planned on forcing Tony into the bond. That brought the good Captain up short and T’Challa told him that if he had no desire to violate Tony’s bodily autonomy in that way then he did not need to be so upset with him- he obviously knew about Tony’s decision now. There was no way T’Challa could have hid that. He would have assumed with such an obviously weak bond the pain would be short-lived and relatively weak but that has proven to be false. Poor Tony was in a constant mess of shivering and pain and Steve appeared to be suffering some nasty side effects too.
His main concern, though, is Tony. In the process of freeing the Avengers and soul mate talk they started something of a tentative relationship that T’Challa would like to explore some. Tony seemed happy to explore that option too, at least when he did not feel like he was dying.
“Peter is such a sweetie. He brought me Chinese earlier,” Tony says, grinning at him from across the couch. He looks pale and small but T’Challa has seen Tony’s strength and his weaknesses too- he will be fine even if he did not look it right now.
“Actual Chinese or that bastardized American version?” he asks.
“Oh come on, bad Chinese food is awesome T’Challa. Leave the poor kid alone, he’s like seven,” Tony says. The smile on his face indicates his genuine happiness with Peter’s actions. T’Challa found his budding relationship with Peter interesting and rather pleasing to watch because the two clearly cared deeply for each other even though both of them pretended they didn’t.
“I maintain that if Peter really cared about you he would have gotten you real Chinese food,” he says.
Tony rolls his eyes at him, “Chinese elitist. You have to get used to American food, the fact that it’s bad makes it good, T’Challa, that’s how it works.”
T’Challa wrinkles his nose, “in Wakanda we do not think food that is bad is good because it is bad. It is just bad.” Americans, they were extremely confusing at times. Tony laughs softly and carefully shifts himself across the couch, pressing himself into T’Challa’s side. He happily wraps an arm around Tony, enjoying the solid feeling of him there until he starts to shiver. “Are you alright?” he asks.
“Fine,” Tony murmurs, “this just happens sometimes. Can you grab me that blanket?” he asks, gesturing to the blanket that was folded on the floor on the other side of T’Challa. He hands the blanket to Tony, who wraps himself in it carefully before leaning back into T’Challa’s side. “Sorry,” he says softly, pressing his head to T’Challa’s shoulder.
“It is fine, Tony. You cannot help it.” Tony lets out a sigh of relief at T’Challa’s words and closes his eyes, relaxing further into his side. He holds tony carefully and gently and hopes that the bond he had with Steve will break soon.