Time • [T.S x reader]

Chapter 9;

You had spent the night in Tony's lab with Bruce. You didn't feel safe, which was silly thinking because nothing had happened to make you feel that. Apart from them telling you that such thing as a multiverse existed, which to anyone else would have blown their heads off. You had nothing else to worry about, yet.

"What if I don't make time travel a thing? We can alter time itself?" You suggested, playing with time was not something you wanted to do but if it meant you were out of danger, then so be it. You had every right to be selfish.

"Whether or not it happens in this universe will not make any difference if it happens in another." Bruce replied, hands through his hair.

"But that means, me, myself here right now won't be affected right? Why would they come after this universe me if I wasn't the one who made it?" This was a lot to wrap your head around, so much so you were feeling a headache come on.

"Because Sweetheart, you may be the easiest version of yourself to capture." Tony chimed in, walking up to you and placing a hand on your back. This gesture was comforting in a time like this.

"Did you just call me easy?"

"Wait no – Y/N, this is serious."

You were quiet for a while, "I know."

Bruce and Tony hovered around the hologram. You figured they were trying to see what planet this purple light originated from. To think last night, you were boogieing away on the dance floor and now you had been told your life may be at risk.

You hadn't texted or spoke to AJ in a few days. Not from not wanting too but life here just got you busy. The time zones were another thing. By the time you were going to sleep at night it was already the early hours of the morning there. Late night texts were sort of the market.

AJ would have known what to do in this situation, he would've been there to comfort you and call you a strong independent woman (as much as that started to get tedious, you wished he was here now to call it you). You missed your best friend dearly, and you weren't sure you knew how to deal with this new information all on your own.

But this was your life. Science. Making a name for yourself. You couldn't stop your passion project, for the sake of some 'aliens'. It was hard to make sense of it all. You were standing in a science lab with two Avengers who had successfully fended off aliens in the past and you were questioning if they were right or not.

"You'll have all of us, every step of the way." Tony said, now in front of you. You hadn't realised how long he had been stood there whilst you were deep in thought.

"All of you?"

"Earth's mightiest hero's, of course." He mocked. He meant the Avengers. The Avengers would have your back. Why? You thought, because Tony would tell them too or was it seriously a fact of saving the world.

You giggled at his child like tone, "If it's a matter of saving the world, then I'll leave this place. Never think about it or touch it again."

"A great idea unless all the other versions of you think the same." Bruce said, again reaffirming what he said earlier.

Tony's face was focused on you. He didn't want you to leave and never come back. He was growing attached to you, in a way a man of his age shouldn't to a woman of yours. Tony wanted you to be safe, but he felt you would be the safest with him around.

"You need to move out of that hotel," Tony suggested.

"And go where Tony? I don't have the money to live here yet. I am barely making enough to stay in that hotel." You didn't want to admit that to Tony, and you certainly weren't begging for his help.

"You don't need to worry about that, Sweetheart." Tony put his hand on your arm, you looked down at it and back up at him. He quite clearly cared about you but to what extent you didn't know.

"I'm not having you sort my life out for me, that was for me to be in control of." You protest.

"Then you pick where you want to live. It has to be close to myself or the tower."

"That is probably for the best, Y/N." Bruce said, seeing your deflated face. You knew they were both right. If you were to be safe, you couldn't be living in a hotel for the rest of your life and you couldn't be too far away from help, if you needed it.

However, having Tony Stark sort out your life, after knowing him for a mere few days and someone forming this attachment to him was not what you wanted. But you had to accept your fate, "It's so expensive round here."

"Sweetheart – "

"Yeah, I know, you are Tony Stark." You interrupted.

Tony laughed and squeezed your forearm with his hand, another gesture that made your stomach flip. You were scared you were forming a crush on Tony, which needed not to happen.

"I – we just want to keep you safe, that's all Sweetheart." He let is fingers drag down your arm as he walked off from you and towards the hologram again. He pressed a button and it disappeared from view, "Tomorrow we are going apartment shopping. Me and You."

If it was to be your fate you would enjoy the comforts it would bring. There was a small part of you that loved him caring about you enough to put you up in an expensive apartment. You hadn't grown up poor by any means but sometimes, money was tight. The only reason you even had a small lab in your shed back at home was because your dad had taken a loan out for it.

This was a lifestyle you were not accustomed too but you would learn, I'm sure.