Healing Love: A Tale Of Two Souls

Introduction

"You're in my arms, you don't even know me, I don't know you, I want you to show me!" You sang loudly and bobbed your head to the beat as you drove down the highway. You were doing anything you could to distract yourself from the anxiety washing over you. You hated driving on any day but today especially. Today, you were on your way to an engagement party for your old roommate, Pepper Potts. She was to wed the famous Tony Stark. You and Pepper were old college roommates. You two had drifted a bit after college but always kept in touch through emails and the occasional letter. You weren't quite sure why you'd let Pepper's polite invitation actually drag you away from a quiet evening at home. "This is good for me. Socialization is good. People are good." You thought out loud. You had been seeing your therapist for several months now and the time had come to do your exposure exercises. You were so lost in your own thoughts and mantras that you didn't even realize you had almost reached Stark Tower. You pulled up to the valet, took one deep breath, and stepped out of your car. "This place was massive and you weren't quite sure how you were going to make it through the evening. "Your name, miss?" you heard a strange voice come from the door. "This must be Jarvis, Tony's AI", you thought to yourself. Y/N, Y/L/N. It only took a moment before he responded to you. "Welcome, please come in and enjoy the party." You took another deep breath and stepped through the door. You could see the elevator clearly but you absolutely couldn't stand them so you decided to look for the stairwell. You knew it would be a long haul but it was better than climbing in that small metal box. You wandered around looking for the entrance to the stairwell and simply couldn't find it. You sighed and walked back to face the moving torture chamber and reluctantly pushed the button. You took yet another deep breath and stepped inside. Your deep breathing exercises had come in handy thus far so you closed your eyes and focused on your breathing while what seemed like an eternity had passed and you heard a ding. The doors opened and you were instantly filled with regret. You thought hurriedly about pushing the button and simply going home but it was too late. "Y/N!" You heard Pepper call out to you. No getting out of this now, you conceded to yourself. You waved happily to her as you stepped into the room. She quickly made her way over to you, Tony Stark following close behind. "I'm so glad you could make it! It's been so long, it's wonderful to see you again!" she said as she gave you a gentle hug. You returned the hug as you said, "Hey, Pepper, congratulations! Thanks so much for the invitation!" She smiled and turned to a tipsy and curious Tony. "Y/N, I'd like to introduce you to..." she was cut off by Tony. "Tony Stark, Iron-Man, entrepreneur, philanthropist. You may have heard of me.", he smirked. Pepper rolled her eyes at him as she turned to introduce you. "Nice to meet you, Tony.", you smiled at him. You mustered up a pretty good smile for them but you started to feel the anxiety wash over you again. You brushed it off and quickly spoke as not to be a total weirdo. "Well, I certainly never expected to be rubbing elbows with a billionaire superhero but this is pretty cool." you smiled. Pepper chuckled and Tony grinned. "Wow, this guy really does have a huge ego.", you thought to yourself. Tony took a drink of his whiskey."Well if you think this is cool, Y/N, how would you like to meet the rest of The Avengers?", Tony asked. You felt your stomach turn in knots at the thought of meeting all the superheroes you'd seen on TV. You had hoped you could scoot by this evening without too much excitement. After all, you didn't plan on staying that long. You just wanted to come and congratulate your friend and her new fiancé, maybe have a drink with them, and leave soon after. You snapped out of and hurriedly replied, "Woah, really? That would be fantastic!" You grabbed a mimosa from a tray as a waiter passed by. They led you around introducing you to everyone. You had met everyone except for the Asgardian prince named Thor. You were a little disappointed as you thought he'd probably be the coolest to meet. You wanted to question his whereabouts but didn't dare speak more than was necessary to hold small talk. You grabbed another mimosa and quickly downed it as you looked around the room, suddenly starting to feel your stomach knot again. Yep, that was that. You decided you had been polite enough and wanted to leave before you actually had the panic attack you had been warding off all night. You stood up from the couch you had been sitting on, listening to stories of adventures from the team. "Well, I have thoroughly enjoyed meeting all of you but I really should get back home now. Pepper had noticed your seemingly nervous behavior and decided not to try to convince you to stay. She stood up to give you a goodbye hug and Tony drunkenly piped up. "Wait, where's Thor? Y/N can't go home without meeting Blondie!" You started to shake your head in polite protest when you heard a door slam. You all looked toward the loud slam and there he stood. The God of Thunder himself. "Where ya been Prince Thunder? Tony called out to him. Thor shook his head in what seemed to be frustration and began walking over to your group. "Sorry for my absence, I was trying to calm my brother. He's not amused with the festivities and wishes to return to Asgard. He wasn't very happy when I explained that I haven't had nearly enough ale and camaraderie to return home yet!", he exclaimed with a smile. "His brother? Loki? The guy who tried to take over and rule Earth? What the hell was he doing here? Ah, well, it must be fine if he's here with Avengers", You thought to yourself. "Who is this fair lady?" Thor asked politely. You instantly felt another pang of anxiety bubble up inside you. Pepper introduced you to him as he reached out to grab your hand to kiss it. You smiled kindly but the gesture made the bubbling anxiety grow. "It is nice to meet you, Lady Y/N." You smiled again and said, "It's nice to meet you, Thor. Nice hammer, by the way!" He grinned proudly as he glugged down some ale. "Well, now that you've met Thor I guess you can go home." Tony said dryly. Thor quickly began to protest. "I have yet to regale Lady Y/N with tales of home! Please, madam, won't you stay a bit longer?" You were really torn between the desire to run fast and far away from the noise and people and staying to hear fun stories from a God. You smiled to him and sighed, "Sure, Thor! I'd love to hear your stories! Let me just grab another drink." Fuck it. When would you ever get the chance to hang out with an Asgardian Prince again? Pepper looked to you and asked you to walk with her to get a drink. You walked with her to the bar and sipped another mimosa. "Y/N, you okay?" she asked with a hint of obvious concern. You really didn't want to get in to explaining your fragile mental state to your friend on the night of her engagement party. You choked back the truth with a forced smile and said, "I'm fine, thank you for asking. I just haven't really been out in social situations much lately so this is all a little overwhelming. I just need to take some air and I'll be fine, thank you." You said as calm as you could pretend to be. "Well, alright, but please join us again after you've had a breather." she replied with a caring smile. You made your way to the balcony door quickly opening it, gently closing the door behind you. As soon as you saw no one was paying attention to you, you rushed over to a dark corner and crouched down with your back against the wall. You finally gave in to the panic and heaved deep breaths in and out. "You're fine, Y/N. You're fine. Get it together. Hold it together." You muttered to yourself. "Are you alright, Miss?" You instantly jolted at the sound of another voice. You stood up quickly and began to apologize, trying to catch your breath. "I'm so sorry, I didn't realize anyone else was out here." you said, fumbling to compose yourself before you were completely found out. You had completely forgotten that Thor mentioned his brother after returning from the balcony. Out of the darkness on the other side of the balcony appeared a tall, dark haired man clad in green and black leather, looking at you curiously.