When Jarvis announced that the jet would be landing momentarily, you made your way to the hangar. You stood to the side, arms crossed over your chest as you watched the team unload. Your gaze ran over them, relief flooding through you when you saw only the typical minor injuries.

Your friends shouted their hellos until they got close enough to see the bruising on your face. "What happened?" Clint demanded.

They gathered around you with a variety of concerned expressions. "Was it Bucky?" Steve asked in a low voice. "He said there was an incident."

You rolled your eyes. "It wasn't that big of a deal, Steve and no, this isn't from Bucky."

"Then what—"

Bruce cut Steve off as he steered the team toward the hall where their lockers were. "When she wants to tell us, she'll tell us." He stopped at the door and glanced over at you. "He went in upstairs. Good luck."

You nodded once and hurried up to Tony's floor, not wanting to lose the little nerve you had left. When you arrived in his apartment, you didn't see any sign of him. "Tony?" you called.

"I'll be right there."

With your arms crossed over your chest, you wandered over to the window to glance out at the city below. His floor wasn't that much higher than your own, but something about the view up here was just better.

"There's my girl," he announced as he came into the room and you were suddenly terrified.

What if he was disappointed that you were his soulmate? He'd try to hide it if he was, but you'd know. God, why did you think any of this was a good idea? Coming to New York, finding Tony Stark, going to work for him, it was all a horrible idea.

Tony let out a soft laugh behind you, closer now but still plenty of distance between the two of you. "You going to turn around, sweetheart?"

Knowing you couldn't hide from him forever, you turned. His eyes went wide as he saw you and he closed the distance between you in several long strides. He laid his hand along the unbruised side of your face and his eyes searched you as if looking for any other injury. "What the hell happened, baby?"

You darted out your tongue to moisten your lips. "I was hoping you could tell me."

His brow furrowed in confusion. You saw the moment he made the connection. The fingers of his free hand trailed over his own bruising. "Do you mean..."

He trailed off and you nodded in answer to the unfinished question.

A smile, brighter than any you'd ever seen from him, crossed his face. You only had a moment to appreciate it before he cupped your face in his hands and pressed his lips to yours. The kiss was happy, you really couldn't think of a better word to describe it. After a moment he pulled away and pressed his forehead to yours. "When did you realize?"

"What?" you asked, needing him to clarify as you were still in a daze from his kiss.

He laughed again and linked his fingers with yours to pull you over to the couch. You both sat, your knees touching as you turned toward each other. His fingers stayed intertwined with yours. "When did you know you were my soulmate? Was it after you saw the reactor? I can only imagine the scarring you have there. I'm sorry about that." He frowned. "Wait. My shoulder. Your shoulder."

A second later, he was turning you so he could lift your shirt to see the bruising on your back. His fingers ran over it causing you to shiver as he tickled your skin. "What happened? You were scared. I felt it."

"I woke Bucky up from a nightmare, stupidly getting in his space to do so. When he shoved me backward, I hit the doorframe."

"He what?" His voice was low, little more than a growl and you weren't certain you had ever heard him so angry.

You spun quickly and grabbed his hands in yours. "I'm fine. It was instinct. He didn't mean to hurt me and he feels terrible."

"He should," Tony snapped. Once he took in the look on your face, he relaxed a bit. "I'm sorry. I've spent most of my life worrying about a woman I didn't even know. Then you show up and suddenly all I can think about is you. And now, I find out you're the same person. I'm bound to be a little protective."

His thumbs ran along the back of your hands. "Now, for the third time, how did you find out? Why didn't you tell me the moment you knew? Surely you couldn't think I'd be anything but thrilled. I mean it's pretty obvious that I think you're amazing. And we've had this connection from the moment we met. I guess the universe does occasionally know what it's up to."

You pulled your hands from his and stood. When he moved to follow, you motioned him back down. You took a deep breath. "Actually, I had no idea how you would react." You twisted your fingers together. "And no idea how to tell you. I didn't even know you."

Tony's gaze was heavy as you paced the floor in front of him. "I was doing my laundry when I glanced up at the TV. You were holding a press conference I was only half listening to, but there was your face with injuries that matched my own."

You risked a glance at Tony only to find you were unable to read him at all. He merely kept his gaze locked on you as you continued to ramble out the story. "That was when you first came home. I didn't tell anyone. I couldn't. No one would believe me anyway. But my parents figured it out and bought me a plane ticket to New York."

"I tried everything I could to make contact with you, but I couldn't get through. Finally, I just showed up and the lady at the desk mistook me for whoever you had an appointment with and, well, I guess you know the rest."

The silence stretched as Tony simply sat there with a blank look on his face and stared at you. Finally, he stood in front of you. When you reached for him, he took a step back and you let your hand fall. "So, you knew the entire time and said nothing."

It wasn't a question and you didn't know what he expected you to say anyway, so you remained quiet.

"You never once registered with any of the databases. I know because I looked for you. For years I looked. As soon as I knew you existed, I started trying to find you. The thought that someone out there was made for me. That the universe thought I was worth having a soulmate..." He trailed off and shook his head as he turned away from you.

Your heart ached as you watched him try to calm himself down. He ran a hand down his face before turning back to face you. Pain swam in his eyes causing your own sorrow to well in sympathy. "You didn't try to find me. But once you discovered who I was, well that was a different story, wasn't it? Tony Stark, billionaire. You can overlook a lot of shit for that much money, can't you, sweetheart?"

Now you were pissed. You didn't care about Tony's money. You never had. "How exactly did you propose I go about finding you, Tony? Ninety percent of my marks were love bites and claw marks on my back. I suppose I could have made a post in one of the databases that said I was fairly certain that my soulmate had slept with everyone within twelve miles of his dick." You'd never cared to admit how much it hurt you that your soulmate slept around so much. Especially once he was aware of your existence.

"It sounds like my sex life bothered you, but once again, we can look past that if the bank account comes with enough zeros, right? After all, that's the most important thing about me. The money, the fame, everyone knows that."

You could tell from the way he said it that he meant it and you were torn between being pissed at him for your own sake and being pissed that he thought so poorly of himself.

When you didn't immediately respond, he scoffed. "Pepper told me you were up to something. I should have listened to her."

You laughed, harsh and angry. "Yes, because Pepper Potts has no interest in either your money or your fame. Nice judge of character there, Stark."

"I know she never asked me for a credit card when she knew me for less than 48 hours, but you go ahead and tell me how it's not about the money." He shoved his hands in his pockets and rocked on his feet as he looked you over.

You barely resisted the urge to smack him across his smug little face. "I don't think there's any point in telling you anything. You know everything after all. Maybe I should just leave."

A flash of panic was visible for a moment so short it was easy to convince yourself that you imagined it. "Maybe you should."

Your jaw ached as you ground your teeth together to keep from saying anything you'd regret. His back was turned toward you as you stepped into the elevator and instructed Jarvis to take you to your floor. This was so not how you'd pictured this conversation going.