Tony gave him such a hurt look that Seth felt a stab of guilt, but he knew this was something that needed to be done. There was no way Tony was ever going to straighten himself out if everyone just kept coddling him. He would just keep insisting that he used to be different and he wasn’t always such a moody bastard.
“She was the one that broke up with me,” Tony said.
“Yeah, that last time,” Seth said. “All the times before that were all you. It was like you would reach a point of too much happiness and you would suddenly feel a desperate need to wallow in misery. So you would wreck everything, spend a few weeks bathing in angst and woe, then you would be scratching at Ashley’s door again, desperate to get her back. Why did you always want to get her back?”
“Because she was the love of my life,” Tony said dumbly. He seemed shocked that Seth would ever come back at him.
“I don’t really think that’s true,” Seth said. “I mean, sure, you loved her a lot. But at the end of the day, all she really was was your enabler. She always came back to you no matter how much of a jerk you were. She’d take all your abuse and still come running when you called her name.” He shook his head, giving Tony a sad look. “I’m sorry, but your relationship was the farthest from a healthy one that I have ever seen before in my life.”
“I can’t believe you would say something like that to me,” Tony said.
Seth shrugged. “It’s been a long time coming. And this whole thing with Solar… that’s a super bad idea right there. She’s on your team and you and I both know that you don’t really feel all that much for her, do you?”
Tony at least had the grace to look guilty. “I can already tell that things are going to be bad.”
“What do you mean?” Seth asked.
“She ran off, which isn’t usually a very good sign.” Tony sighed. “I think I really screwed up.”
Seth was kind of surprised. He hadn’t expected Tony to be so mature about being criticized, but there he was already moving past it as though it didn’t mean a thing to him. Which either showed a growing maturity, or more realistically meant that he was going to come back later ten times as hard.
If there was one gigantic flaw in Tony’s makeup, it was the way he refused to just let things go even when he should. Hopefully it wasn’t going to be one of those things that got him killed someday.
“It’ll be all right,” Seth said. “Solar is a big girl and I’m pretty sure she’ll be able to handle everything. The one you’re going to have to worry about is Pulsar. Once he realizes what you’ve done with his sister… well, it’s not going to be too pretty.”
Tony grimaced. “I hardly thought of him at all. He’s really going to try and kick my ass, isn’t he?”
“You did sleep with his precious sister.” Seth shook his head. “That dude’s gonna make you wish you were never born. He really seems the type to hold a grudge too.”
“Great.” Tony scrubbed a hand down his face. “Why can’t everything be simple?”
“Because it’s never simple when you’re trying to replace someone with someone else. There was no possible way that Solar could ever take the place of Ashley, so all you did was end up hurting someone, which was kind of a dick move.”
“Well, my apologies your holiness, in the future I’ll maintain your crazy strict ideal.” Tony leaned his head back against the couch, his body spread open in false welcome.
Seth couldn’t help running his eyes down Tony’s bared throat to his muscled chest and all the way down his long legs which were spread in casual abandon. He had to fight to keep from superimposing the image of naked Tony over the clothed one he was seeing now. That way only lay trouble.
“You just gotta be more considerate,” Seth said.
“You’re telling me to be more considerate?” Tony lifted his head to look at him in surprise.
“What?” Seth shrugged. “Have you ever seen anyone get so mad at me over something I’ve done that they’ve tried to beat me to death or anything? No. Why? Because I don’t mess around with peoples’ feelings. If you’re going to have mindless sex, stick to people that aren’t totally in love with you.”
“Wait, so Solar’s in love with me?”
Seth stared at him for a long moment. “You’re joking with me, aren’t you?”
Tony still looked confused. “You’re the one that said it.”
“Oh my God, you honestly didn’t know that Solar’s been panting after you from the first time she saw you? Where have you been living, underneath a rock?” Seth couldn’t help a twinge of pity for Solar, even though she wasn’t one of his most favorite people. “How could you not have realized that she’s been trying to get into your pants for years? Her jealousy of Ashley could have melted steel with the heat of her passions.”
“Well, that’s pretty melodramatic.”
“Melodramatic, but true.” Seth reached into his pocket and pulled out a roll of Tropical Fruit Mentos. “Want one?” He offered the roll.
Tony scoffed. “No thanks. I’ve totally screwed everything up and you think eating a bunch of candy is going to make things better?”
“Hey, it can’t make things much worse.” Seth peeled the wrapper and ate the first candy off the roll. “They’re tasty.”
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“Fine, give me one.” Tony held out his hand. Seth smiled a little and dropped a couple of candies into his palm. “Just watch everything get worse.”
“Who ever thought the great Teen Steel would be such a pessimist? I feel so disillusioned.” Seth shook his head mock-regretfully. “My dreams have been burst like soap bubbles.”
“Have you thought about being a poet or something?” Tony asked.
“That’s my fall-back job,” Seth said, “you know, if the whole being a superhero thing doesn’t work out.”
“Well, at least you have job opportunities. If things don’t work out for me, I’d probably end up flipping burgers or something.”
Seth couldn’t help laughing, covering his mouth with his fingers.
“It wasn’t that funny,” Tony said.
“No, no, it was just that I had this sudden image of you in a paper hat slinging burgers. So funny.” Seth shook his head. “You’d be absolutely ridiculous.”
“Well, I’m glad that at least one of us is having a good time.” Tony couldn’t help laughing though. He stopped and gave Seth a solemn look. “How do you do that?”
“Do what?” Seth asked.
Tony shrugged. “Make even the most God-awful days seem as though they can somehow be all right.”
“It’s a gift.” Seth licked his lips. “Look, I know you totally screwed up with Solar and all that, but I’m not going to hold it against you. And maybe someday she’s going to get over it. You just better hope that Pulsar doesn’t end up killing you in the meantime.”
Tony grimaced, looking around. “Do you really think he’s going to come after me or something?”
Seth snorted. “You don’t? He’s totally obsessed with his sister, and I highly doubt that anything would be able to stand in the way of him ‘guarding her honor.’ Least of all whatever excuses you could come up.”
“Oh crap, I really screwed up, didn’t I?” Tony rubbed his face. It just seemed as though every time he turned around he ended up screwing something up. It sincerely had him wondering if he hadn’t been cursed somehow.
“I won’t let him seriously hurt you,” Seth promised, “but it’s going to be pretty awkward around here for awhile. There’s a reason why you’re not supposed to mess around with your co-workers or anyone else that you still have to deal with afterward. One night stands are only supposed to happen with someone you’ve only met one time and never again. It’s to keep things from getting too ugly.”
Tony groaned pathetically. It seemed like it was starting to sink in that he had totally screwed things up. He looked so dejected that Seth wanted to reassure him that things were going to be all right, but he knew that he couldn’t, not if Tony was going to learn a valuable lesson anyway.
Seth didn’t ever really plan on going anywhere, but sometimes things didn’t work out as expected and he would rather that Tony knew how to handle himself. It was a lot better than having to scramble around cleaning up his mess afterward.
Just because he liked the guy–probably much more than he should–didn’t mean he was going to let himself be snow jobbed.
Seth sat beside Tony in silence. He figured the other boy needed the chance to realize just what he’d done.
He just knew there was going to be trouble and there wasn’t a whole lot he could do about that.
Tony had made his bed. Now they were all just going to have to deal with it.
* * *
Things had gotten pretty awkward and he didn’t know what he was supposed to do about it. He’d really screwed things up and no amount of apologizing was going to make things right again.
Every time Solar looked at him, he couldn’t help cringing a little. Hopefully no one else had noticed, but he really felt guilty.
She’d never been his favorite member of the Teen Demis, but she was one of his teammates. He knew better than to mess around with her, but he’d done it anyway, and now things were coming around to bite him on the ass.
He could already tell things were about to blow up. Especially considering the poisonous looks Pulsar kept sending him.
Tony didn’t think Solar had said anything directly to her brother, but Pulsar had a sixth sense about her. And he wasn’t the kind of guy to let anything go.
So it was kind of a given that there was going to be some kind of giant clash of the “one night stand” and “wrathful brother” variety. There was just no avoiding it.
He was destined to always be the kind of guy to mess shit up.
Tony found himself spending a lot of time with Sunfire, just hanging around and talking, playing video games, and basically just getting his life back to the way it was supposed to be. Ashley was still dead and he still had a gaping emptiness inside where she used to be, but he was starting to think that maybe his life would be able to go on, even without her in it.
He just had to keep living through each day as it happened. There was nothing else he could do. At some point all of the awkwardness would either come bubbling to a head or dissipate away.
He couldn’t help hoping that it would all just slip away. He could live a life with quiet resentment if it kept him from facing such a volatile situation.
There really should have been no surprise for him when everything decided to blow up. It was something destined to happen.
One minute he was playing video games and had actually managed to forget his problems, the next he was flying headfirst into the large TV screen. All he could do was close his eyes and ready himself for a painful impact.
His ankle was caught by one super strong hand and he was jerked backward to slam against Sunfire’s chest. The dude really did have amazing pectorals. Not that Tony was noticing their niceness or anything.
“Thanks.” He tugged his shirt straight, then turned to give Pulsar a hard glare. “What’s the deal, man?”
“What the fuck did you do to my sister?” Pulsar’s eyes blazed golden fire and he seemed barely an inch away from going full on meltdown.
Tony felt unease creep through his lower belly, though he didn’t let anything show on his face. “So what, you’re now the guy that tries to kill people first, then ask questions afterward?”
“You wouldn’t have died,” Pulsar scoffed. “I’d have to work at it a little harder than that.”
“Wow, that is so completely not comforting,” Tony said. Sunfire was a line of warmth at his back, just the backup he would need if Pulsar decided to go all homicidal or something.
“Tell me what you did to my sister.” Pulsar’s hands were clenched into fists at his sides. “Tell me, or I pound it out of you.”
It was only survival instinct that kept Tony from mouthing off about Solar and “pounding.”
For one thing, he would never say anything so rude about a girl he’d slept with, and for another, he really didn’t want to die. And if he said anything like that, from the look in his eye, Pulsar would definitely kill him, no ifs, ands, or buts.
“Look, she and I really considered getting together, but we came to the mutual decision that it just wouldn’t work out between us. We’re just too different.” Tony felt a bit as though he were tap dancing on very thin ice, but it wasn’t like he had very much choice. Not if he wanted to make it out of this situation unmaimed.
Pulsar gave him a very suspicious look before turning on his heel and leaving the room as soundlessly as he appeared.
“I really don’t think this is over,” Tony said.
“Ya think?” Sunfire rolled his very green eyes. “Once he figures out the truth–and he totally will–that guy is seriously going to kill you.”
“Thank you for being such a comfort,” Tony said sarcastically.
“I try.”
Rolling his eyes, Tony sat back down on the couch and picked up his controller. He didn’t really feel much like playing anymore, but he didn’t know what else he was supposed to do.
If Pulsar seriously decided to kill him, well, then he’d be dead. There wasn’t a whole lot he could do about that.
* * *
Seth kept shooting Tony worried looks. He had no idea what he was supposed to say and his stomach felt like it was bound up in knots.
He was pretty upset that he hadn’t even realized Pulsar was there or what the guy was planning on doing. It was only quick reflexes that had him saving Tony–though if he had been even a second too slow…
He hated how screwed up everything was getting. More than anything he wanted Tony to stop being so damned self-destructive. Because there was no way Tony hadn’t known–even if it was just on a subconscious level–that Pulsar would go apeshit once he realized something had happened to his precious sister.
The guy was practically pathological and Seth had some serious concerns for him. There was no way his sister obsession was healthy. No way at all.
The fact that Tony had been willing to put himself in the middle of such an explosive dynamic made it clear that Tony really was not in his right mind. He was in desperate need for someone to save him from himself.
After weeks of stepping in to be the willing distraction, Seth had noticed that Tony was actually beginning to come out of his broody funk.
Of course, he’d already fucked Solar, and there was no way Seth was bitter about that. And it wasn’t like Seth ever lied to himself at all.
He sighed.
“What’s wrong?” Tony asked, not looking away from the TV screen. His thumbs kept working the controller as he killed zombies. “It wasn’t like you almost got murked by your own teammate.”
“The fact that you’re not bothered by what happened is what’s wrong.” Seth raked a hand through his hair. “He could have killed you and you didn’t do a single thing to stop it.”
“He kind of took me by surprise. Who ever expects something like that?”
Seth growled in frustration. “You should have been expecting something to happen from the minute you decided to mess around with Solar.”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m an idiot,” Tony said, “I know. I realized it was a mistake not long after it happened. Probably as soon as I got off. But at this point there’s nothing I can do to change what happened. Done is done.”
“At least you’re willing to face reality,” Seth said. “I guess that’s something.”
“Sure, just call me Captain Obvious,” Tony said.
“And I’ll be Captain Hindsight since I saw this coming more than a mile away.”
“I’m pretty dumb, huh?” Tony paused the game and looked right at him out of soulful brown eyes.
Seth couldn’t help himself and slid across the couch to give him a comforting bro-hug. “Yeah, you are pretty dumb about some things. I’m thinking that’s probably why I’m around. To keep a close eye on you and make sure you don’t screw stuff up too badly.”
“Thanks, but if that’s the case, then you completely dropped the ball this time,” Tony joked. He leaned into the comfort of Seth’s loose hug.
It took a lot of willpower on Seth’s part not to sniff Tony’s hair or pop a boner. He was actually pretty proud of his self-control. “I’d just like to say, when it comes to your latest total screw up, I am but a man, an incredibly handsome man, but a man nonetheless.”
Tony snorted a laugh, glancing up at Seth out of the corner of his eye. “Please don’t use your hero voice to say stuff like that. I don’t think I’ll be able to take it.”
“What are you talking about, ‘hero voice?’ I was using my regular voice,” Seth protested. “That’s how I always talk.”
“Sure.” Tony sat up straight, his face becoming a forbidding mask. His voice was a few octaves lower when he spoke, “I am but a man. Please, gentle citizens, do not bow down before me, as I am just a man like you. An incredibly awesome man.”
“I don’t sound like that!” Seth yelled. Then he quirked a smile, “You really think I’m awesome?”
Tony shoved his shoulder playfully. “I’m surprised I can even fit into the room with both you and your ego.”
Seth couldn’t help smiling at him. Sure, Tony was facing a psychotic Pulsar, but he also seemed to be coming back to life. He’d been in such a dark mood for so long that it was nice to see him going back to normal. It was just so good to see it.
“Whatever, dude,” Seth said, standing up. “You wanna go get something to eat?”
Tony chewed his lip thoughtfully, then shrugged. “Sounds like a plan. I really think I need to get out of here before things get all crazy.”
“Gee, I really appreciate being your excuse to get out of stuff,” Seth said, going to retrieve his jacket from the hall closet. He figured that if they went out in Joe Normal mode they could eat without being bothered. “You’re lucky I’m actually pretty hungry or I would just leave you here.”
“That’s so hurtful,” Tony said.
“Whatever.” Seth threw Tony’s jacket at him. “Let’s get out of here.”
He waited by the elevator for Tony to find his wallet and his keys and whatever else he thought he needed. It seemed like he spent most of his time waiting for Tony. It didn’t even bother him anymore.
