The Tower

Open Communication

Steve and Clint returned just fine. The worry was absolutely over nothing. When he got home, I punched him in the arm and told him not to scare me like that. He pulled me into his arms and held me against his chest, resting his cheek on the top of my head.

"I'm so sorry for scaring you. I just wanted you to know." He said.

I wrapped my arms around his waist and breathed him in. "I guess I'm going to have to get used to the whole 'going out on missions' thing, aren't I?" I said into his chest.

"Well, the good thing is there are eight people here you can talk to when you're freaking out. We've all got your back." He said. I looked up and he leaned down and kissed me softly. "I love you, Elly."

"Love you too, Steve," I said with a smile.

The missions were tough. It was one thing when it was just one or two of them, but when it was all of them I had trouble doing anything. My work suffered, my stomach was constantly in knots, and I couldn't sleep. I ended up seeing a therapist. It wasn't until I started, that I realized how badly I needed it. Not just for the stress of losing them. I was in a relationship with eight people. Eight superheroes who were famous, and could absolutely never come clean about the lives they lived because of the expectations society put on them. It was surprising how much that had been weighing on me. Having someone objective helping me and just listening to me was a godsend.

One of the issues I had was coming to terms with the fact that Tony kept throwing money at me. I was fine with the way he spent it on himself or the others, but if he came to me with anything more than a t-shirt the first words out of my mouth were 'Tony, no.'

It was something Tony had trouble with too. He had the kind of money that spending it was nothing to him. He could buy and sell companies without a thought. So buying me a piece of jewelry or a little Knick Knack was nothing to him. Having someone balk at the way he showed affection was painful for him too.

One day he came into my apartment while I was sorting out my finances. Mostly paying off the different debts I had accrued since I ran away from home.

He dropped down on the couch next to me and draped his arm over the back of the couch behind me. "I thought we could go out." He said.

"Yep, just give me a minute," I answered, giving his thigh a rub.

Tony looked over my shoulder at what I was doing. "Is that how much debt you're in?" He said, dragging the computer over to him.

I snatched it back so I could continue doing what I was doing. "Some of it," I said going back to what I was doing.

"I can take care of it for you." He said pulling out his phone.

I took the phone from his hand and put it on the coffee table. "Tony, please."

"What? It's nothing. Let me do this for you." He said, picking his phone back up again.

I moved my computer away and put my hand on his phone. "Okay, time for some open communication. You ready?"

"Oh shit. What did I do?" Tony groaned.

"Nothing. Nothing." I moved his phone back to the coffee table and took both his hands in mine. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "So, out in the real world, you have a lot of fans. You may have noticed that."

"Who can blame them? I am Tony Stark." He teased.

I chuckled and kissed the back of his hands. "The term 'sugar daddy' gets used a lot out there. I just... don't want you to ever think that's why I am here. I don't want you to think I only care about you for your money. You could go bankrupt tomorrow and I'd still want to be with you."