“Ahh.” Summer didn’t turn around until she was sure she had her expression under control. “Tony. Um. Should I — ” She hesitated, then gave up and plunged in. “What you told Dummy. Is it what you want? I can stop. If you need me to.” ‘I think,’ she couldn’t help but add, in her mind. “I mean that you two love each other, and I don’t want to be in the way. Or, I can talk to Dummy?”
Tony lifted his head enough to give Summer a look so flat it made the bar top look like a washboard. “No. I brought it up and distressed him into shooting himself just for shits and giggles,” he replied. “Fucking seriously? We’re bringing this up now?” He curled one arm on the couch and dropped his head down on it, voice muffled when he said, “Has it just not occurred to you that if I wanted you to stop I would tell you to stop?”
“Shut it a second! I wasn’t there, I have no idea how things went between the two of you. Okay? And I’m not actually saying this because of /you/. It’s not, as should be clear right about now,” she bit out, “all about you. For all I know, polyamory was brought up because you’re seeing, oh, Thor on the side or something! Or he’s involved with fucking JARVIS!” The fire blazed up, high and hot and crawling wide to the edge of the hearth.
“We’ve never, ever defined the boundaries of our relationship, Tony. Not at all. You pet my ego when I get insecure, and that is /it/.” Summer stalked over to stand over the couch, fists clenched. “So I am telling you, for /Dummy’s/ sake, for your sake, that if what he needs and you want to give is monogamy, then I will do that. For the two of you. In the meantime,” she breathed out hard, “should I talk to Dummy?”
“Then say what you mean,” Tony replied calmly, sitting himself up. “You just asked me what I wanted. You told me you would stop, if that is what I wanted. So do not start in on it like I’m ignoring everything you’re saying. If you want to talk about you, then talk about you.”
He folded his arms over his knees, hunching over them and looking up at her. “We’ve never defined it because I was never aware we had to. You told me you love me, and that as long as I didn’t throw you out and I let you know when you were going too far, it was enough; to date, I’ve asked you to leave once, and I have never actually thrown you out. So pardon me for taking you at your word. Pardon me for just treating you like family, because god forbid I not give more when you aren’t asking. Pardon me for not giving more when all you’ve ever actually asked me for is a bag of M&Ms or more time, when I’ve already got an open door policy where you’re concerned. Pardon me if I’m willing to listen to anything you need to say, but you think I’ll break into pieces the instant you stop talking about sunshine and daisies.”
He got to his feet. “In the meantime, you need to not burn down my living room. I’m going to bed. You can stay, you can go, take your pick. But if you’re going to talk to Dummy, at least wait until the entire situation has settled down.”
“… I’m supposed to ask?” It was all she could get out, completely confused by the rush of words. The fire subsided back to a normal blaze as she stared at him. “I — I was trying to — I didn’t — I didn’t want you to think it was about your money. Or anything at all but just you.” Summer opened her mouth to apologise, shut it again. Drew a deep breath, let it out slowly, like meditation.
He was right. She wished it could have come out in any other circumstances but these, but he was right. She’d been flinching for six months, waiting for him to tire of her, and every sense she owned had been telling her it wasn’t going to happen. Tony cared enough about her, about what they had, to tell his oldest and dearest friend that — insecurity tried to whisper, ‘maybe he didn’t mean you’, and she smashed it.
“Tony, may I have a kiss before you go to bed? I’d like to stay, with both of you.” With every word, the fire died down a little more, until it was glittering coals. “I’ll try to … take you a little more for granted.” Summer offered that with a half-smile, trying to joke. “And I, um, can I have a bath first?”