[Third Person's PoV]
"Wait," Melissa said as she sat back up on Tony's waist, looking down at him in confusion. "There's actually something I don't understand—"
Tony raised an eyebrow at her deadpan expression.
Melissa chuckled, catching the look. "Alright, maybe a lot of things I don't understand. But what I do want to know is—how does your past life fit into all of this? How did you recreate everything from this universe over to ours?"
Tony glanced to the side, his expression suddenly hesitant, which only deepened Melissa's confusion.
"What's there to hesitate about? You already told me what you are. What could possibly be more shocking than that?" Melissa asked, narrowing her eyes.
Tony scratched his cheek, letting out a long sigh. "Maybe... the fact that we're in a comic book movie?" he muttered, bracing himself for her reaction and peeking through one half-open eye.
"..."
Melissa blinked, her head tilting slightly to the side. "What?" she asked flatly, her face unreadable.
Without warning, she grabbed Tony by the collar and yanked him up, lowering herself to meet him halfway.
"The hell did you just say?" Melissa hissed, disbelief creeping into her voice.
"Yeeeeaaaah…" Tony drawled, offering no further elaboration.
"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN A COMIC BOOK MOVIE?! EXPLAIN EVERYTHING TO ME—FULLY!!" Melissa shouted, shaking Tony back and forth like a rag doll. "AND DON'T LEAVE ANYTHING OUT!"
"What happened to the part where I'm allowed to keep some secrets?" Tony asked with a raised eyebrow, trying to maintain some composure despite the whiplash.
"To hell with that—and your secrets!" Melissa scoffed. "You can't honestly think I'm just going to let this go after you've dropped the Nuke of Hiroshima right on my head!"
'What a weird-ass analogy,' Tony thought, wisely keeping that comment to himself.
"Where do I even begin?" Tony muttered, scratching his cheek in thought. "Well... I guess I should start with our Heavenly Father, Stan Lee, and the start of Marvel Comics, followed by the MCU…"
"Tony," Melissa interrupted, her tone dangerously calm. "You know I'm not someone who normally curses... But what the fuck are you on about?!" she snapped, twisting her head as if trying to refocus.
"Alright, alright," Tony said, raising his hands defensively. "I'll explain everything as best as I can, so bear with me…"
And with that, Tony launched into his story. The more he spoke, the easier the words flowed, and the weight of his secret slowly lifted from his shoulders. By the time he finished, he wore a peaceful expression.
'Maybe it's true what they say—the truth really does set you free,' Tony thought contentedly.
That peace, however, evaporated the moment he caught sight of Melissa's deeply disturbed expression.
"Or… maybe not," he muttered under his breath.
Melissa stood abruptly, pacing across the room, her brow furrowed in concentration. "Alright, let me get this straight—correct me if I'm wrong," she began, her voice steady but sharp.
"In your previous life, there was this major comic series with thousands of stories and millions of characters, all interconnected, called Marvel." She shot Tony a glance for confirmation.
"Correct," Tony nodded, standing up as well.
"From that comic series, a group of individuals came together to form what's now commonly known as The Avengers…"
"There were more groups, but yeah, the Avengers were one of the most popular and well-known," Tony agreed.
"And then, someone decided to take this comic series, pick that group, and make a movie about them."
"Multiple movies, actually—about the individual characters first, which all led up to the formation of the Avengers," Tony clarified.
"Right, right," Melissa nodded, her mind racing. "These movies came to be known as the MCU."
"Yup!" Tony nodded enthusiastically, a reminiscent smile spreading across his face. His excitement suddenly bubbled over as he clapped his hands. "Oh! Oh! Now that you know, we can watch them together! I can have Friday pull up my memories, and we can have a Marvel Marathon! I've always wanted to do that!" he said, practically bouncing in place.
"Right…" Melissa said slowly, trying to keep up with his energy. "And the first movie that kicked off the MCU… was Iron Man. That Iron Man, just a few rooms down from here."
Tony hummed and nodded, still riding his wave of excitement.
"The universe we're in right now… is the MCU, isn't it?" Melissa asked, one eyebrow raised.
"Perfectamundo!" Tony replied with a beaming smile.
"And when you reincarnated… you realized you were reborn as a Marvel character in a Marvel world?"
"Nope!" Tony said quickly. "I'm based off a Marvel character. Our world is actually a manga—" His eyes widened in horror as his hand shot up to slap over his mouth, realizing too late what he'd let slip.
"…"
"HMMM?! A MANGA?!" Melissa shrieked, her voice echoing through the room.
Melissa started breathing heavily as her eyes shook, a hand slowly rising to cover her mouth as her breathing increased.
Tony let out a sigh cursing himself under his breath, he stood back and wrapped Melissa in a tight embrace while caressing her back, "It's alright… It's okay… it's no big deal"
"No big deal?!" Melissa asked, her voice sounding frightened.
"That's it's no big deal" Tony said in a calm and subtle tone.
Melissa was still breathing heavily as she pressed her head towards his chest, "How… Can you be so called… How haven't you freaked out… We're practically a figment of someone's imagination, we're not real–"
Tony backed away from Melissa and held out his hand towards her, "Give me your hand" he ordered her.
"Wha–"
"Just give it here, see," Tony said, grabbing Melissa's hand.
He then enclosed his hands on hers and pressed down on it. "You feel the warmness of my hand?"
Melissa, who couldn't speak properly due to her new found knowledge, nodded her head, her eyes still shaking.
"Are you saying that's not real?"
"Well no but–" Melissa started to retort but Tony cut her off before her thoughts spiraled further.
"Well if you have doubts about whether that's real or not, Do you have doubts about your feelings for me? Didn't you just finish saying to have more trust in your feelings for me? Are your feelings for me fake or of someone else's imagination?" Tony asked with a smile as he stopped pressing on her hand and started playing with her hand until their fingers intertwined.
"Absolutely not" Melissa said fiercely and with an assured tone that even she herself was taken aback by how sure she sounded.
Tony chuckled by her surprised expression and how she clenched her fingers over his, Tony sensually moved his hand past her cheek and brushed a hair to behind her ear and with a sincere bright smile said, "Good, because mines aren't either, My feelings for you are mine alone, and they're 100% real, there's no ifs or buts about it Missy"
Melissa's eyes widened as her cheeks turned a natural pink shade, appearing flustered. Melissa couldn't contain herself and rose to her tip toes and kissed Tony. The trouble of her minds seemingly becomes inconsequential.
Melissa slowly lowered herself and blushed, she grabbed her hair and hid her face slightly, "Why did you have to sound so cool all of sudden… Lolicon"
"Ugh!!" Tony sounded as if he had been physically struck.
"Why are you suddenly acting like a Maiden in love?" Tony scoffed.
"S-Shut it! You perv! How old were you when you died anyways, you grandpa! Oh my God you didn't die of old age did you!?" Melissa asked in disbelief, she dramatically fell to the ground and was on all fours.
"I…I slept with a grandpa…"
"I WAS 17 YOU DUNCE!" Tony said knocking her on the head, "I got mixed up with the wrong group trying to make money and died"
"OUCH!!" Melissa exclaimed, holding the top of her head as a large bump appeared on the top of her head. "You abuser!! You woman hitter! Is this how our future relationship is going to be?! I made a comment and you threw a bottle at me demanding for more liquor!?!"
"What kind of fucked up Fantasy do you have inside that head of yours!? In what way do these events correlate?" Tony exclaimed in disbelief.
Both were glaring at each other sparks flying between them.
Their cheeks suddenly puffed up and their lips protruded out… "Hahahahahahaha!!" They both suddenly began to laugh.
Both were on the ground laughing contently and happily with each other. Their laughter started to die down after a while and Melissa exhaled, "I'm from a Manga huh…"
Tony smiled towards her reassuringly, "Melissa, we've just discovered that the multiverse is real, and what everyone always says when they discuss the Multiverse; They are an infinite possibilities. In some universes we might be real people while in others we could be merely figments of someone else's imagination. Hell we could even be in some fanfic for all we know, but as long as you think the us, right now is real, then that's all that matters"
Melissa had her legs tucked in together and had her head on her knees, looking at Tony with a smile full of love of affection, "You're really cool, you know that Tony? I think I'm falling in love all over again"
Tony scratched his cheeks as his ears turned bright red as he himself was now getting flustered.
Melissa had a hand over her owe and had a mischievous look, "Phttt, Lolicon"
"I beg of you, for my sanity, please stop" Tony pleaded.
They soon grew quiet as Melissa continued to stare at Tony resting her head along her knee, her lips twisted in contemplation before asking, "Did you really die when you were just 17?"
Tony had his hands on the ground behind him, his legs stretched out on the floor as he sighed, "You have to understand, when you live at an orphanage and get to a certain age you are practically on your own and have to quickly learn that people don't want you anymore and that no one but you can take care of your needs. It turns out when Starting a family people don't want a troubled and moody teenager, they want newborns, toddlers that they can raise and nurture"
There was a short and heavy pause before Tony began once more "I was just 16 years old…"
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