afterglow - tony stark

42

           Eira went back to Malibu with Tony. Home. The Avengers Tower was finished and she wasn't doing missions (she wasn't even sure if she ever wanted to continue as she was very content to spend all her time with Tony) so they decided to go back.

         It was currently night time and Tony had a nightmare. His panicked breathing had woken her up and she blinked her eyes open to him trying to catch his breath as he laid awake.

           She reached out and rubbed his shoulder soothingly, "Was it New York again?"

          This wasn't the first time that she had to sooth him back to sleep. But his nightmare had always been about New York and the wormhole.

          Tony turned on his side and played with her fingers, "No. You've given me a new nightmare: losing you."

            She frowned, "Tony, I'm okay."

           She took his hand and pressed against her chest as she gave him a small smile, "See, heart is beating. It will continue to do so as long as yours does."

             "Promise?"

             "Promise."

     Then she ran her fingers through his hair softly as she mused, "You have all these nightmares. Where are all your dreams?"

          Tony smiled a bit as he kissed her knuckles, "I can think of a few."

           All of his memories of her. They were his dreams, his happy thoughts. He was only happy if he had his Snowflake.

            "Then dream of those," she whispered softly and he entwined his hand with hers, cradling it towards his chest before he fell asleep again. His nightmares didn't come back that night; they were chased away by the person he thought of as an angel.

_____

A party.

It was a small, low-key party for Stark Industries. The other shareholders were going to be there and Pepper had tasked Tony to mingling with them and assuring them the stocks would be fine with the new tech he had coming out. He didn't make weapons anymore but Stark Industries was now the biggest name in computers and phones around the world.

But Tony had a hard time completing his task when he was utterly distracted. He couldn't focus when Eira was in the room looking like a dream in a green dress.

So he completely gave up on his task. He stayed leaning against the bar with a drink in his hand as he watched her. She did more talking than he did and accomplished his own task as her mega-watt smile won over all the shareholders.

"Tony!" Pepper scolded as she came over. "You're supposed to be mingling."

Tony didn't even pay attention to what she said as he uttered, "She's beautiful."

"What?" Pepper furrowed her eyebrows before she followed his line of sight and sighed. Of course.

"Sometimes, it gets me," Tony scratched at his chest like he couldn't breathe. "Just how perfect she is."

Pepper couldn't help but smile a bit, "A little tip: every girl wants to hear this."

"You're right. Great idea, Pep," Tony said as he started to leave the bar. "You enjoy this...party."

"No, Tony!" Pepper quietly scolded before he disappeared in the crowd. "I didn't mean right...now."

Pepper sighed before grabbing and downing whatever Tony had left in his drink. Then she put on a smile for all the shareholders that could be watching.

Eira had been dancing politely with a shareholder until Tony interrupted, "Sorry, excuse me. If you could just...give me back my date."

The shareholder left and Tony replaced him. He placed his hands on her waist that gave her electric feels as he stared down at her with a wide smile, "Hi."

She squinted her eyes at him as they slow danced, "Are you drunk?"

Tony rolled his eyes, "No."

"Tony, you're supposed to be mingling," she lectured.

"I am," he argued. "With you."

"Tony," she scolded.

"I love you," he blurted out before he tucked her hair behind her ear slowly. "I want to spend every second of my life with you. Life is short and I don't want waste time talking to people I don't care about even if that's ten feet across the room from you..."

"I don't want to leave you. Ever. Call me clingy but, god, I don't want to miss any moment with you," Tony continued before he smirked a bit. "Especially, when you look as stunning as you do tonight...."

She stared at him in shock and her lips were parted in surprise. Her voice was quiet as she responded, "Where is all this coming from?"

"I wanted to tell you..."

"Right now?" she breathed.

"There's no better time than the present, Snowflake," he leaned his forehead against hers.

She looked down with a bit of tears in her eyes, "How can you even love me that much?"

She thought of her crime. She always thought that maybe, yes, he could love her after finding out. But she didn't think he could ever love her that much; that any love from him would always be held back in some way.

"Because it's you," Tony smiled. "You're always going to be the angel I fell in love with."

"You're such an idiot for doing this to me right now," she said, still with tears in her eyes, and she felt like she might cry at his confession. "But I love you...."

"I'll love you forever, Tony Stark," she promised before she sealed it with a kiss of evermore.

A kiss that spoke of the gravity that could bring two hearts together. The force that always remained between them and always stayed the same. The force that started in a cave...