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synthneon2025-06-10 12:40 am
bubblesong) wrote in synthneon2025-06-10 12:40 am
Entry tags:
🫧 mcu/nikke || ❝ is this the love that i've been searching for? ❞
[ Little Mermaid slips quietly down the stairs into the glass doors of the workshop. Golden colored eyes scan the workshop, realizing that the lights are off. That alone is unusual for the ungodly early hours of the morning when it comes to the Malibu mansion, but also because there is no music.
Or sounds.
She can account for every car being in it's place from where she stands.
Her hand raises to unlock the door and she slips inside. Since the room is already quiet, she decides to not make any jarring noises if possible. Both hands quietly ease the door shut and she practically tiptoes through the usually loud and bustling workshop. Her hair is braided in an attempt to keep it from dragging on the floor, but yet it still manages to touch it with the ends regardless. ]
Uhmm... ooo.
[ The nervous hushed sounds come from her as she continues her tiptoeing search through the workshop. She's nervous to call out to the man she's looking for in case it startles him.
Everyone is aware that things haven't been the same since they returned from New York City those months ago. Little Mermaid had been overjoyed to return to the Malibu mansion, but made sure to keep the emotions to herself. Especially at seeing how rattled Tony Stark had been. Of course, he had been his usual abrasive, sarcastic, funny self, but they could all tell something was different. Rhodey tried to help when he could, but was brushed off. Pepper does what she can when she stops by after being at Stark Industries all day, but generally the conversations always break down into work and what not to do or what to do with the direction of the company.
She's wanted to help too. She's always wanted to help.
But, does someone like Tony Stark need her help? Does a hero like Iron Man who can fight along side people from other realities, spies, massive shapeshifting men, and even the original super soldier need her help? She's was designed to be a support not an attacker to her squad. The squad that was deemed such a failure it caused the Goddess of Victory project to come to a close. The squad that had been forced apart in their mission that was supposed to redeem them and rewrite their ending. She couldn't even take the hand of her dearest friend when her friend needed it the most. How could someone like Tony ever really need her help in anything?
That was why the comments from the interviewer had rattled her so much. She doesn't want to be a failure or just another woman that Pepper takes out of the house one day. She wants to be helpful, to have a place she belongs, to be more the failure she had been labeled. She wants to be special like Pepper is to him. Not the exact same, as one can never truly replace another, but she wants to be apart of his life.
Maybe one day she can truly earn the title of "Goddess of Victory" to someone.
Tony doesn't need a Goddess of Victory. He's his own maker of victories.
Little Mermaid stops at one of the work tables.
Then, she leans over it slightly.
Tony is sitting on the floor, pressed against the work table, breathing heavily and shaking.
She bites her lip to keep from saying his name in relief that she found him. Instead, she carefully and quietly, tiptoes around the side of the work table. Then, she moves down to be on her knees. She hasn't moved to be exactly next to him. There is still plenty of space to give him room. Her eyes drop to his shaking hands before looking back up at his face in what she can make out in the darkness. The light from his arc reactor is dimmed through his shirts, but she can at least make the outline out in the darkness.
Slowly, one hand reaches out to rest beside him. She hesitates with her fingers curling slightly. He hasn't reached out to her--should she even reach out to him first? ]
... Tony? [ Little Mermaid speaks in a whisper as to try and not startle him.
The notion isn't hard. There had been a time when that was all she could speak in. ]
Or sounds.
She can account for every car being in it's place from where she stands.
Her hand raises to unlock the door and she slips inside. Since the room is already quiet, she decides to not make any jarring noises if possible. Both hands quietly ease the door shut and she practically tiptoes through the usually loud and bustling workshop. Her hair is braided in an attempt to keep it from dragging on the floor, but yet it still manages to touch it with the ends regardless. ]
Uhmm... ooo.
[ The nervous hushed sounds come from her as she continues her tiptoeing search through the workshop. She's nervous to call out to the man she's looking for in case it startles him.
Everyone is aware that things haven't been the same since they returned from New York City those months ago. Little Mermaid had been overjoyed to return to the Malibu mansion, but made sure to keep the emotions to herself. Especially at seeing how rattled Tony Stark had been. Of course, he had been his usual abrasive, sarcastic, funny self, but they could all tell something was different. Rhodey tried to help when he could, but was brushed off. Pepper does what she can when she stops by after being at Stark Industries all day, but generally the conversations always break down into work and what not to do or what to do with the direction of the company.
She's wanted to help too. She's always wanted to help.
But, does someone like Tony Stark need her help? Does a hero like Iron Man who can fight along side people from other realities, spies, massive shapeshifting men, and even the original super soldier need her help? She's was designed to be a support not an attacker to her squad. The squad that was deemed such a failure it caused the Goddess of Victory project to come to a close. The squad that had been forced apart in their mission that was supposed to redeem them and rewrite their ending. She couldn't even take the hand of her dearest friend when her friend needed it the most. How could someone like Tony ever really need her help in anything?
That was why the comments from the interviewer had rattled her so much. She doesn't want to be a failure or just another woman that Pepper takes out of the house one day. She wants to be helpful, to have a place she belongs, to be more the failure she had been labeled. She wants to be special like Pepper is to him. Not the exact same, as one can never truly replace another, but she wants to be apart of his life.
Maybe one day she can truly earn the title of "Goddess of Victory" to someone.
Tony doesn't need a Goddess of Victory. He's his own maker of victories.
Little Mermaid stops at one of the work tables.
Then, she leans over it slightly.
Tony is sitting on the floor, pressed against the work table, breathing heavily and shaking.
She bites her lip to keep from saying his name in relief that she found him. Instead, she carefully and quietly, tiptoes around the side of the work table. Then, she moves down to be on her knees. She hasn't moved to be exactly next to him. There is still plenty of space to give him room. Her eyes drop to his shaking hands before looking back up at his face in what she can make out in the darkness. The light from his arc reactor is dimmed through his shirts, but she can at least make the outline out in the darkness.
Slowly, one hand reaches out to rest beside him. She hesitates with her fingers curling slightly. He hasn't reached out to her--should she even reach out to him first? ]
... Tony? [ Little Mermaid speaks in a whisper as to try and not startle him.
The notion isn't hard. There had been a time when that was all she could speak in. ]
no subject
She knows he loves to build, create, construct things. It's not simply because he has told her. It's the little things! How he treats JARVIS like a human. How he talks to his robotic arm friends as not creations or tools, but also people as well. How he spends hours pouring over minute details that would hardly matter to anyone other than him. How he cares so much about what his technology and creations do that he turned his entire company around. He turned himself around. Those things speak louder than if he had simply told her he was an engineer and that he loved to build. ]
It was about six months ago...
[ It hasn't even been a year since they met, let alone a year since the Battle of New York.
Still, she gives a firm nod. He doesn't need to open up and be vulnerable in words. She understands what he means by what he had said hours ago in the workshop. He doesn't feel safe. He doesn't feel as if he has the power or ability to fight what he had seen on the other side of the wormhole. It isn't just what happened in New York.
It's Afghanistan. The cave. What happened to his friend Yinsen.
She doesn't have the details, and she wouldn't expect Tony to truly tell her or give them to her even if she asked. Some would say that the Tony Stark that was captured in Afghanistan never came home. Little Mermaid disagrees with the idea. While she never met Tony before his kidnapping? She feels as if the Tony she sees in front of her right now is the real Tony Stark. What got stripped away in Afghanistan was what the public always believed was Tony Stark. He simply became...
Oh.
That's it, isn't it?
A loving smile shows on her face. Her fingertips brush down the back of his hand placed at her core. She gives another firm nod. ] Yes. I do know what you mean. It doesn't go away, but it's easier to live with when someone wants to hold your hand.
[ Her eyes close and her head tilts towards his hand, attempting to encourage him to touch her hair all he wants. Especially if it helps calm him down and center him. He often talks about how long her hair is and how she has so much of it. If he wants to know what it's like? He can touch it! It's okay. ]
I know it's not the same, but... [ Little Mermaid pauses, searching for the best words to describe the emotions and thoughts she has put together. What she thinks she has pieced together that is the puzzle of Tony Stark. Now, he can correct her if she's wrong. ] I wasn't the same person I was when Stane put me in containment. I would probably seem like I was, but, over time? I stopped being happy. There were times I lost hope that anyone would find me. I sent bubbles to find Abe and Cinderella, to bring them to me, but none of them ever reached them.... so, I just continued to exist. Making things out of bubbles to amuse myself and to help keep me from feeling how truly lonely I became.
I was always lonely to some degree. The other members of my squad could talk and share their feelings without the fear of hurting someone. There were times I had accidentally used the kotodama and scared them away. They eventually learned how to understand my sounds, but... it wasn't the same as talking. Expressing myself in the language everyone else could use but me.
[ She looks down for a moment with a sad expression, but it melts away the moment she looks back up at Tony. That loving smile returns to her face. As if he's the only thing in her world. Not just her hero, but her friend, her partner, and the person she loves the most. ]
I came out of my cave as 'Ariel.' You came out of yours as 'Iron Man.' That's why you are Iron Man. You were hammered and chipped away at, but, it didn't break you! It refined you into the better version of who you really are. Maybe the world can't see that, because they're blinded by who you showed them before, but I see it as clear as day. Iron Man isn't the suits that are apart of you--it's you.
no subject
"You see me", huh? That's the best thing anyone's said to me in a long time. Want to know why? Because it's not just words. It's not a platitude. I know you, and I know you mean it. 100%.
[ He lets his forehead rest against hers, eyes half-closed. The arc reactor hums between them like punctuation. For once he doesn't try to polish the moment with a joke; he just lets this be itself, lets it be real. ]
You're right. The cave changed me; so did a hundred little caves after that too. But it didn't take me out or take the me out of the equation. It just left me with a lot of work to do, and the work's easier when someone's holding your hand.
[ He slides a careful hand up to touch the side of her face while his other hand lightly ghosts over hers. ]
And you came out of your own hell and became Ariel. You didn't lose yourself. You became someone who can remake the world with bubbles and stubbornness and a weird, impossible... [ He searches for a word to finish that sentence and finds he's not exactly sure where that was going, but he goes on ahead anyway. ] That's not less than human. That's heroic in a way the world doesn’t always notice. [ And he knows a thing or two about the world not always noticing things.
A crooked, small smile tugs at him, because him and sentiment is complicated, but he can't stop the truth from spilling out. ]
no subject
Hot mess, suits and robots. All of it.
She leans her cheek into his hand to encourage him. It's okay to touch her! She won't break. She's strong and sturdy.
The smile on her face turns slightly bashful. What she doesn't say in words is that she wanted to become "Ariel" for him. The world doesn't need NIKKEs anymore. They have super heroes! But, she thinks, that maybe Tony needs someone at his side. Someone that can move with his jokes and build with him. A person that he can show to the world, but will still be on his side when the world tests him. She'll face the nervousness she has of the world seeing her in order to be the person she thinks he needs.
Her eyes close and she presses her forehead against his just a little more. ]
I don't think I need to remake the world with bubbles. [ A pause. ] Maybe just someone's world. Something that brings back something soft and nostalgic when the world constantly pounds on him to tear him down... and he keeps building himself back up.
no subject
You know, that's all I’ve ever wanted, really. Maybe not at the start of all this; maybe I wanted to go after some big idea to remake the world or something like that, but maybe that's not what I want anymore. Maybe all I want is this: just somewhere in the world that's ours. Even if it's full of too much stuff like suits and machines and a guy who can't stop talking sometimes... as long as it's got you in it? That's enough.
And... Ariel? You really don't have to be anyone but you, you know that? All the bubbles, all the magic, because hell, it might as well be magic. It's incredible, yeah, but it's not the only thing that matters. What matters is that you're here, and you're real, and you're you.
[ He shifts slightly closer, resting his forehead lightly against hers, letting himself stay there, choosing to just let the two of them have this, ignoring anything that might be going on outside so that they can just have a moment together. One of many moments, he hopes. ]