Heartlines | Steve Rogers

I

ONE
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"I'll race you back."

"I don't think that's a bet you want to make."

"How many times have my boosters absolutely destroyed yours? I'm faster and you know it." A chuckle emitted from her lips. "Three, two—"

Tony rolled his eyes as she shot off before ending the countdown. He flew off after her. "You're only going to beat me because you cheated."

"It sucks to suck." She replied, zooming towards the tower. Tony caught up with her quickly.

"Who sucks now?" He asked as he passed her, giving her a wave. She narrowed her eyes at him, though he couldn't see, before taking a shortcut, weaving around the tall buildings of New York. "Meredith, be careful!"

"I am careful." She replied, then met back up with him, easily passing him.

"You two, this isn't a competition." Pepper scolded them from her place inside the tower. Meredith flew up and put her hand on the building gently.

"I win."

"Whatever, I wasn't even trying." Tony scoffed. "Pepper, light her up."

"Here it goes..." She flipped all the switches. "Are you sure this is gonna work?"

As the tower slowly began to light up from the bottom to the top, her question was answered. They watched as their name brightly shone through the sky. "The first building to run off entirely clean energy. Isn't it incredible, our name lit up on the side of it?"

"I guess, if you're as egocentric as yourself." She shrugged. He rolled his eyes at her.

"It's your name, too. Don't act like you don't love it." He flew up to the platform and landed on it. Meredith followed after him. Jarvis began removing their armor.

"It does look beautiful." She agreed. They both joined Pepper in the living area as she stood at the holographic monitors. Tony pulled up the stats of the building.

"Looks like everything's working in good order. We did it." He grinned at the two girls he loved most in the world.

"Well, looks like we should celebrate." Pepper insisted, and right on cue, Dum-E showed up with a bottle of champagne and three glasses on top of a serving plate.

This was a moment for Meredith and Tony. They'd completed something revolutionary, something they never even thought could be possible before. The two of them are an unstoppable force when it comes to their genius. But, their lives weren't always this easy and exciting. It took a long time for them to get where they are now. They suffered so many hardships together. Because of this, they have an inseparable bond. Even when only one is suffering, the other is, too.

Tony was twenty-one when their parents died in a tragic car accident in 1991. He had graduated from MIT early at seventeen, but he was just wasting his life away those few years after. He called it taking a break, but really, he didn't know what he wanted to do with his life. Maybe he was going through a type of crisis. He spent it partying, and messing around with countless different girls. That was just Tony. Until he got a wake-up call.

Meredith was thirteen when their parents died. She was still going through high school, although she was going to graduate early like her brother and father before her. All she was worried about during that time was boys, prom, chemistry, and college. But, when her older brother came to pick her up early from school, she knew something had happened that was going to change her life forever. It was heartbreaking and terribly hard for both of them, but Tony wasn't allowed to show his emotions. He knew he had to stay strong for Meredith. He loved his sister more than anything in the world, more than he ever thought was possible. He vowed, the day he'd got the call that their parents had died, that he would never let anything happen to Meredith. He decided then and there that he'd do anything to keep her safe, whatever it takes.