"And now Mr. Stark has prepared a statement. He will not be taking any questions. Thank you."

Tony Stark adjusted his tie and walked up to his designated place behind the podium. Rhodey was on his right and a sea of reporters - vultures, more like - were in front of him. They waited in anticipation, recording devices angled with care and their knuckles white around their pens. One of them was probably going to keel over under the stress of biting their tongue; Rhodey's speech be damned, they would all be asking questions the moment they could. Tony knew this game.

He knew exactly what they wanted to hear, too. A 'yeah, that was me' or an 'I am Iron Man' would probably suffice. They would all collectively lose their shit afterwards and it would be the story of the season. No one would be able to escape his moment in history - it would be picked over for centuries to come.

But he wasn't going to say what they wanted to hear. All because Pepper and some Agent told him not to.

"Been a while since I was in front of you. I figure I'll stick to the cards this time."

Laughter. He scanned the crowd, noting each television station and journalist.

Christine Everheart, a blonde Vanity Fair harpy by day and a contortionist by night, hadn't taken her eyes off of him since he'd come up to the podium. She was calmer than the rest of her peers, a notepad balanced on one long leg that crossed over the other. She smiled at him. He looked at the his cards and read aloud.

"There's been speculation that I was involved in the events that occurred on the freeway and on the rooftop-"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Stark," she interrupted, "but do you honestly expect us to believe that that was a bodyguard in a suit that conveniently appeared, despite that fact that you…"

Here it goes, he thought. Spinning bullshit for the press was his specialty, but he generally wasn't one for shying away from the spotlight. The speculation was already starting. The questions were being asked. He couldn't help but wonder - who in their right mind would lie about being a real-life superhero? Why should he?

"I know that it's confusing. It is one thing to question the official story, and another thing entirely to make wild accusations or insinuate that I'm a superhero."

The crowd gave a quiet snicker.

"I never said you were a superhero."

"Didn't? Well, good, because that would be outlandish and, uh, fantastic." Fantastic was one word for it. Awesome was another, and amazing and badass and- "I'm just not the hero type. Clearly. With this laundry list of character defects, all the mistakes I've made, largely public-"

Rhodey leaned over to put him back on track.

"Just stick to the cards, man."

Stick to the cards. Stick to the lie.

"Yeah, okay. Yeah. The truth is…"

Attempting to resign himself to a life of Tony Stark by day and Iron Man by night, he held Pepper's carefully crafted cards out in front of him. He glanced up one more time to steel himself for the reaction. Disappointment, disbelief, protests and outrage. Who would yell at him first?

Someone slipped in through the door at the back of the room. Tony raised a brow - why was security letting people in late? - and then the newcomer turned his gaze forward. Their eyes met.

Tony's mind went abruptly blank. Everything screeched to a jarring halt and for one heart-racing second, he couldn't form a proper thought.

When his brain reset, his first thought was green.

He had green eyes and a green-gold scarf, matched with a pendant that hung low on his chest. It gleamed gold like Christine's hair, and his complexion was like her's too - pale, unmarked, and nearly as white as his shirt. The black suit he wore contrasted sharply against his skin and his hair had the same effect in framing his face. It was slicked back, shining black against the harsh fluorescents.

The sea of reporters between them became painfully vivid. Every blue and grey was a different, unique shade. Every black was as deep as the nighttime ocean. White was blinding; camera flashes fragmented into rainbows. The cards Tony held in front of himself were a calming shade of blue against the chaos.

Tony blinked, but the world didn't right. Something made his fingertips buzz. Green cut through his reality with merciless precision. A warmth collected behind the arc reactor. He felt alive, he felt light, like the suit was carrying him thousands of feet into the sky.

In that moment of color and life, he made a decision. Whether it was reckless or completely calculated, no one would ever be completely certain. Whatever it was, it was undeniably classic Tony Stark.

"I am Iron Man."

The crowd erupted.

The man in green and black smiled.

For the 2014 FrostIron Fest.

Prompt: Soulmate AU where Tony is speaking to a crowd/holding a press conference and suddenly the colors get brighter and more vivid, and everything's so much more alive because Loki's there. But its further complicated because Tony can't figure out exactly who set off the colors in the crowd, and its even harder when Loki's a slippery fellow that prefers to go unnoticed.