Distraction Intervention

[madimpossibledreamer]

The next Shadowed Suspicion chapter is about half written but I want to take my time figuring out the next characters I'm introducing, so it's probably not 'airing' at least tomorrow.
~Dreamer~

Main Points:
Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Iron Man Crossover (Self-Made Hero)
Summary: Buffy just wants to make sure Xander's okay.
Word Count: 405
Rating: Gen

        Buffy doesn’t say a word when Xander returns.  She just pulls him into a hug.  Fortunately, they’d already stress-tested the Paladin armor against a Slayer’s strength, so it didn’t immediately crumple in on him like Andrew crushing a can.  Or, you know, equally hopeless as Andrew’s crushes.
        Xander’s faceplate is up, and he’s smiling.  It’s kind of striking how different a real, open, genuine smile makes him look.  She’s been on the receiving end, lately, of the Tony Stark Superstar smiles, the ones he uses when he’s trying to convince the world that he’s invincible and doesn’t have a beating heart.  It’s an utterly ridiculous act the more so because it’s convincing.  Now that she thinks about it, she doesn’t think she’s really seen him smile since…since the thing with the eye.
        At the time, she’d been more caught up with her own guilt than his pain.  Thinking back, she should have sat there with him in the hospital, maybe smuggled in one of his secret ‘experimental’ video phones and watched a geeky TV show with him.
        And then she hits his arm.
        “Ow.”  He rubs it, pouting at her, and she rolls her eyes.
        “You’re fine, you big dummy.”  She pauses and lowers her voice because she’s pretty sure he doesn’t want her advertising his issues to what’s left of the Scoobies.  “Star told me what happened in Canada.”
        He shuts down.  It’s not obvious.  It looks like nothing’s changed on the outside, but the light’s gone from his eyes.  “Oh.”
        “You should’ve given yourself time to grieve.”  She’s not going to mention Anya’s name but he knows exactly what she’s talking about.
        “Buffy, Leading Lady of the Weirdness that is my Life, throwing myself into overwork and making inappropriate quips about the situation is how I deal.”  Given her reading on Tony Stark, that’s probably not entirely inaccurate, but…
        “Or, as an alternative, you could see if you can even beat me at Mario Kart.”  She raises an eyebrow.  Just because she messed up didn’t mean she couldn’t fix it now.
        He considers it for all of two seconds before the smile, though a little sad, returns to its genuine state.  “Or I could do that.”  He pauses, then adds, “Though I still say Slayer reflexes are cheating.”
        “It’s called using what you got,” she corrects mercilessly, and he winces.
        “Ouch!”  But he’s the exact opposite of hurting right now, so it’s okay.