Shadowplay | Tony Stark

FOUR - A FAVOUR

It was nearing one o'clock in the morning when Tony finally decided that he'd done enough work for the day, agreeing with himself to get some sleep and carry on fixing the last few parts of his suit when he woke up.

Mila and her son had been out of the house all day again, returning not long before seven o'clock. Tony had carried on working through the evening, determined to get his suit back up and running and out of Mila's way as quickly as possible.

He was incredibly grateful to the young mother for her kindness and hospitality, his work that night being interrupted only by Mila bringing him a can of Coke and a meatball sub for his dinner. Tony hadn't asked for any food, but Mila had probably noticed that once again, her kitchen had remained untouched all day.

Admittedly, Mila was nervous about leaving Tony Stark in her home alone all day. She had kicked herself for even opening the door to a stranger that late at night when he'd first knocked, but the kindness in her heart had outweighed the precautions and initial judgement sensed a glimmer of warmth in the stranger's eyes before he'd even said his name.

Tony was quiet and kind, at least that's how he'd acted since meeting Mila. She was shocked at his shyness since it was almost the polar opposite to the way she'd seen him on TV and how she'd read about him in magazine articles, though that certainly wasn't a bad revelation.

Even though he was a household name, Mila wasn't sure she liked the idea of leaving a man she didn't know with free reign of her home and everything in it, though Tony had quickly proven after the first day that he was there to fix his suit and nothing else.

She hadn't minded having an extra tenant in the end, Tony being no trouble to her apart from now running low on bandages and having to pay for an extra pizza and sub to make sure he'd eaten at least something while he was staying with her.

Exhausted from the week, Mila crashed into bed that Friday evening around eleven, falling asleep not long after. Tony had told her that he would be carrying on working in the garage quite late that night, which wasn't a problem to her. She made sure to remind him to lock up the house whenever he was done and to be as quiet as possible, not wanting her son to wake up.

Tony did exactly that, bolting the garage shut once he was finished for the night and kicking the snow from his boots on the porch before locking the front door behind him, letting out a heavy sigh as he rubbed his tired eyes.

Exhausted wasn't a strong enough word, Tony felt more than that. He hadn't slept properly in what felt like forever, not being able to recall the last time he got anything close to a full eight hours.

Old memories kept him awake at night and future possibilities haunted him too, making him unable to shut off his mind unless he drank enough alcohol to knock him out, which Tony always avoided doing if he could help it.

He felt the familiar sensation of his eyes becoming heavy, begging for the darkness of a blacked out bedroom and the comfort of a soft duvet, though he knew that as soon as his head touched the pillow, his mind would become the single loudest thing in the world.

He checked that the front door was locked once more before wandering though to the kitchen and filling up the kettle with water to make himself some tea. The cup Mila had made for him the night before after cutting her hand had actually helped Tony drift off to sleep, though he awake just a couple of hours later and struggled to relax again afterwards.

In hopes that the tea would help him sleep again, Tony grabbed a mug from the cupboard and found the honey, deciding to leave the lemon that evening. He thought that Mila wouldn't mind him making a quick drink since she had reminded him again that morning before she'd left for work that he could take whatever food and drink he wanted, though as the kitchen door crept open with a shallow creek, it was clear that someone did mind.