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Given the reactions of Stephen’s coworkers and Tony’s department heads, their bonded status is going to get out to the press sooner rather than later, so Tony calls Pepper and Rhodey over to break the news. Neither of them would ever forgive him if they found out he’d bonded from a news segment.
Right now, he’s kind of wishing they hadn’t found out at all.
“Bonded,” Pepper says flatly. She lifts a hand and rubs her forehead. “By accident. I didn’t even know you were seeing anyone seriously.”
“He’s not,” Rhodey jumps in. “Strange is just his latest alpha hook up.”
“Hey,” Tony bristles. Rhodey isn’t entirely wrong, but the way he says it, it sounds sordid. “It might have started as casual sex, but it’s more than that now.”
“Because you’re bonded now,” Pepper says, pursing her lips. “It’s new, right? We can look into breaking it.”
Okay, fuck this. “No, ‘we,’ can’t,” Tony says, glaring and making sarcastic air quotes. “This is my personal life, which means it’s my decision, no matter how much you think I need managing. Stephen and I have talked about this already. We’ve decided we want to remain bonded. That’s not up for discussion. I thought my friends might be happy for me, or at least might want to meet my bonded before passing judgment.” Tony wants to kick them out, at least for the moment, but he knows them well enough to know they won’t go that easily, so instead he leaves.
Stephen’s shift should be over by now; with a little luck, he’ll be home by the time Tony gets to his apartment. Hopefully his day went better.