Priorities (Tony Stark x Reader).
Leaning all of your weight against Tony as you stumbled around his lab, the laughter coming from you two and the gentle hum of a Black Sabbath record playing was the only sounds that could be heard inside the walls that were usually filled with mechanic buzzing and whirring, empty whiskey glasses were on the desk instead of metal parts.
“Come on, Tony!” You yelled, somehow smiling and pouting at the same time, moving in the direction where you knew he kept them: his suits.
“No, (Y/N), I’ve told you no so many times. It’s not happening. You’ll breathe wrong and they’ll all fall to pieces.” Tony smirked. Okay, so you were a little clumsy…and you might’ve ruined a few projects of his already because of this…but still, you deserved a chance!
Obviously Tony knew you wouldn’t break his suits. As much as you loved to accidentally cause chaos in his lab (a trait he secretly found endearing), he really just kept refusing because it was amusing to him. He was an ass like that.
You huffed, crossing your arms across your chest and looking up at him with a raised eyebrow, a glare in your eyes. As tough as you had just tried to come across as, it just caused Tony to have a grin on his face.
He pretended to consider it, narrowing his dark eyes.
After a beat, “Still no, babe.” He said simply.
Deciding it was a lost cause, you rolled your eyes and moved over to the drinks on his desk, filling one up for him and one for you. You’d try again later.
Once later rolled around and you had gotten Tony sufficiently tipsy, you knew you were going to be able to break his resolve. Looking him in the eyes, you sighed. “Please, Tony. I know how much those suits mean to you…I don’t like knowing there’s a part of your life that I haven’t seen yet.” You said, knowing just how to tug right on his heart strings.
Tony let out a long breath…’damn you’, he thought to himself. “Alright, alright. Stop with the dramatics. Come here.” He said offhandedly, motioning you over with the nod of his head.
Biting your lip to hold back the smug smile on your face, you followed closely behind, watching as Tony asked JARVIS to bring up all of the suits.
Like a kid in a candy store, you gasped, finally seeing the suits up close and personal.
Tony watched you closely, a wistful look in his eyes. He couldn’t lie to even himself, it made his heart swell with pride to see you so impressed with them. He took you through each of them, explaining when he made it, why he made it, what was special about it, etc. Tony swallowed hard as he passed over one in particular, choosing to ignore it, quickly moving onto the next.
“Wait, who’s he?” You asked with a frown, purposefully pointing out the one that he had skipped over.
“Oh, just a prototype.” Tony shrugged it off, the short tone of his voice clearly meant that he wanted to move on. “Anyways, this next one-“
“Wait, no, that’s sad. Tell me more about it or else it seems lonely.” You interrupted him, still focused on the suit that he was trying so hard to ignore. It was slightly smaller than the rest, the design different than any of the others that you could see.
Tony looked at you briefly before rolling his eyes. On most occasions he found your stubbornness cute but when it was pointed at him, he realized how infuriating it could be. “That is um…”He started, fidgeting, “A prototype for someone…other than myself.” He tried explaining in a way that would save his ass.
“Well, for who?” You asked instantly, recognizing that Tony was uncomfortable but feeling the need to continue to pick at him. Why the hell was he acting weird? It was annoying, frankly.
“No one.” He answered quickly, too quickly. When you didn’t budge, Tony’s jaw clenched and he shook his head. “You are so god damn aggravating, you know that?” He asked, more to himself than even to you.
You said nothing though there was a faint smirk on your lips as you watched the gears turn in his complicated mind.
Tony shut his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Uh…” He mumbled, “You.” He said shortly.
You were silent for a moment, confused, which caused him to continue.
“You. I built the prototype for you.” His eyes finally met yours again with a look that said ‘are you happy now?’. Before you could respond, he kept talking which was his usual way of making sure the other person couldn’t question him, he just didn’t shut up. “I have this idea, a big idea, probably a little too big- I want to build suits for all the Avengers. Just in case they need it during a fight… But that takes a lot of time and energy and resources…I had to make priorities.”
He’d been nervous to tell you. Truly, he was just going to keep it a secret and use it if he really had to. He didn’t want you to become paranoid that a suit might just show up to your rescue at any moment.
You were shocked…Tony built a suit just for you? “I-I don’t fight…I’m not an Avenger, Tony.” You said with a breathless chuckle, the idea of that seeming comical.
Tony let his guard down a little then, seeing that you were only surprised and not disapproving. He moved to cup your cheek, looking down at you with a smile on his face. “I made it to protect you, if anything ever happened where I couldn’t get to you, I needed to at least try to make something that could keep you safe…Like I said, you’re my first priority. Always.”
