Kingdom Her • Avengers Soulmate AU

real life | the story we tell

the king parents stepped in first, followed closely by grace and rose. then the king children came in, their soulmates in tow. the brooks' family was next, leading the avengers in behind them.

when the doors closed, the whole room seemed tense. the air was already charged, expectant. they all slowed to a stop when they realised tony, pepper, cartia and jordan were already inside. seated. waiting.

tony stood in front of the sleek table, arms folded and face unreadable. cartia sat to his left, with jordan on his right. pepper leaned against the far wall like a queen holding court, her expression calm but sharp.

there was no coffee, no jokes, no immediate chatter. just a weight in the air, like the tension before a storm.

"well," tony said, tone dry, "don't all sit at once."

everyone obeyed in almost perfect silence. sam slumped into the chair beside cartia and gave her a subtle nudge with his foot under the table. she didn't smile, but she didn't flinch either. progress. she let herself lean a little into him.

tony stood at the head of the table, arms crossed. "right. let's get started. we need to figure out what we're going to say to the press."

there was a beat of silence.

not because they didn't understand - but because saying it out loud made it real.

"we talked about holding off," cartia said quietly, gaze flicking to jordan. "letting everything settle first. but i think that'd do more harm than good. for us. not for them."

jordan gave a soft nod of agreement. "it's already hard enough to go outside."

"what kind of angles?" spencer asked, his tone careful but direct. it wasn't suspicion - it was protection. a father's default.

pepper stepped forward. "we've put together a few potential approaches. nothing definitive. but starting points. gentle truths. no fabrications. just... controlled honesty. we've seen how ugly the speculation can get. we have to weigh sensitivity with clarity. if we're too vague, it gets twisted. if we're too blunt, it gets re-traumatised."

"what kinds of truths?" grace asked, tone crisp.

"there's the security breach narrative — that's straightforward. stark tower breached, safety measures evaluated, avengers responded. that's simple, responsible, and most importantly, true. but that doesn't explain why cartia and jordan vanished for days. or what it meant. mentioning that they were gone. that it was traumatic. that they're back now and being supported. no labels. no explicit details unless cartia or jordan decide otherwise," pepper replied.

"and no lies," cartia added. "that's important."

"exactly," pepper said with a small smile. "you tell as much or as little of the truth as you want. but it should be yours."

tony nodded once. "you told me last night what this silence is doing to you," he said to cartia. then looked to jordan. "to both of you. so we act."

sam leaned in slightly. "then let's figure out the version of the truth that you own. that doesn't give away anything you don't want to share."

"the story is: two people went missing. now they're home. and they're being supported," tony continued. "anything more than that - we take one step at a time."