Forget Me Not

3: Find Me Soon

Anthony Stark was dying. The burning sensation in his chest, the edgy looking patterns on his skin, that dull ache behind his eyes; it was palladium poisoning. His blood kept getting more and more toxic, the problem seeming a good few steps ahead of his fight to fix it. He wanted to do everything he could before he died. To wrap up his life with a bang and go out with as many people to appreciate his existence as he could muster up. He sold his art collection, made Pepper CEO, and followed through (or planned to soon) on almost every idea he'd had. Well, except one. There was nothing more he could do to see Percy.

He kept searching, using JARVIS even, only to be disappointed as always. Pepper mothered him, trying to keep him from spinning out of control, but the real reason he didn't go bat-shit crazy was that he wanted to see Percy one last time before he died. He needed to see him.

And it was before his birthday party when he went out for a walk, his assistant Natalie on his tail, when they both found themselves at a very familiar bar with blue siding. Tony could've cried. His mind literally stalled for a moment and did a double take, completely taken off guard by the unassuming little structure now magically wedged between a beauty parlor and a nondescript brick building. Tony blinked a few times, as though this were a hallucination and if he only focused a little harder it would vanish. Then his heart skipped a beat, shuddering at the thought of accepting what was right in front of him as fact. With fear and emotion clogging his throat, the billionaire ran in while Natalie followed slowly behind. Ripping the door open revealed the same bar from his memories, the only difference being there was now a large, flat-screen TV in the middle of the wall across from the bar and above the booths now. On it played the silent news coverage from his latest excursions, the subtitles at the bottom the only way to know what was being said.

He turned to the empty bar, his eyes scouring the place, only now noticing that the fire was out and the lights were dim in a creepy kind of way. He walked forward with hesitant steps, not sure what to do. He heard Natalie enter, staying by the door, but easily ignored her when a figure appeared silently from the kitchen.

Pale clammy skin contrasted pitch black hair in a short sloppy low ponytail with that familiar white streak running through it. Emerald eyes were glassy, the whites tinted pink, surrounded by bags and a look that basically told him to fuck off.

"We're closed." Percy spoke, his voice scratchy, coming in and out of sound. "I can't do this today so-"

"Percy?!" His eyes widened at the sound of his name, and things clicked in his head. The man knew his name, which obviously meant... Percy walked around the bar and straight up to Tony, Natalie wondering idly if she should interrupt, and deciding against it.

When they stood toe-to-toe, quicker than anyone could think to stop him, Percy punched the billionaire right in the face. His head snapped to the side as he hunched over slightly in pain. Natalie took a step forward, but Tony stopped her with a raised hand.

"I deserve that." Tony shrugged and wiped the blood from his split lip onto his suit sleeve.

"Ya think?! A godsdamn whip-wielding electro-freak? Are you fucking kidding me?! First you get abducted and held captive- oh, and of course it's in the middle of the fucking desert where I can't do a damn thing to help." Tony let him rant, looking slightly sheepish at the fury on his lovers face even as he stood in awe while Percy's coloring returned to its healthy tan and his sea green eyes remained somewhat restless but grew less like the walking dead. At the same time, the lights of the bar grew brighter, warmer, and a fire crackled to life in the hearth. "Then you come back injured and not once do you find this place! After which, you go put yourself on the line to create world peace, piss off the government and face off against a psychopath. Then, like it's nothing, you walk in here knowing who the hell I am and- Who's your friend that looks like she's about to go into shock?" The Stark glanced at Natalie to see she had a very different reaction to Percy's change in countenance and the bars' spooky connection to the man. Tony could almost see the gears turning in the woman's head as she tried to unravel how Percy could go from looking like death warmed over to a healthy (and rather handsome) young adult in seconds. At finding no plausible solution, she was left looking frozen. Unable to sort out a plan for such an unexpected situation. Her eyes a little too intense as her skin paled in the knowledge that there was something off about this particular bartender, and she didn't even want to think about the bar itself.