²𝘼𝙉𝙂𝙀𝙇 𝙊𝙁 𝘿𝙀𝙎𝙋𝘼𝙄𝙍 - 𝘪. 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘬 ✓

019. old habits die hard

you gotta fight for your right to party
you gotta fight for your right to party
party
party

beastie boys ⸻ fight for your right

Stark Mansion
May 29th, 2011

Bella sat at the vanity in her bedroom. Below her, she could hear a steady thump of music and people laughing. It had been a day since they had arrived back from Monaco, and everything seemed to be going to hell. The government and the press were on her father's back, condemning him for what happened in Monaco. Bella didn't really understand it. Why were they so mad when her father had literally saved the day and got the attacker arrested?

Pepper and Natalie had been on calls to various news outlets all day while Rhodey was busy arguing with his superiors to stop them from taking the Iron Man suits. Bella was pretty sure her father had been in the workshop all day, but she wasn't certain. They hadn't seen each other much since he told her he was dying, something Bella felt guilty for. Bella had practically not left her bedroom since they got home. After sleeping for twelve hours, she had sat on her floor looking at various pictures of the two of them from throughout her childhood.

Now, it was Tony's birthday party and he had invited God knows how many people. He hadn't thrown a party since before he was kidnapped, more than a year ago. Bella was slightly nervous, remembering all those nights she spent locked in her room while her father threw house parties, got blackout drunk and hooked up with random women. But she tried to push those fears aside and remind herself this very well could be his last birthday, so he was entitled to do what he wanted.

Sighing, she finished running a brush through her hair and looked over herself in the mirror. She was wearing a short, red, sleeveless, silk dress and black Loui Vuitton stilettos. To complete the look, she had a gold necklace with a single B on it, gold hoop earrings and various bracelets. Her shoulder length hair was blown out and her makeup was flawless, winged eyeliner and bold red lipstick.

She stood up and grabbed her father's birthday present. Tony Stark was notoriously hard to shop for. Being a billionaire he generally just bought whatever he wanted, so Bella got him a very personal gift. It was a picture of the two of them taken a few months ago when they went to the beach together. They sat together on a towel, each licking ice cream cones and smiling. She knew he would love it.

Bella walked downstairs to find over a hundred people standing in her living room. Her father was dressed in the Iron Man suit and was scratching record. In his hand was a bottle of alcohol and he was clearly drunk. Bella closed her eyes and silently prayed he wouldn't do anything stupid.

She spotted Pepper across the room with a look of anger on her face. Slowly, Bella weaved through the crowd over to her.

"Hey Pep." Bella spoke as she came up beside her.