Innocent Bystander | T. Stark ✔️

twenty five ▼ a change

Juliet savored the feeling of the warm California breeze on her skin. She smiled when Jarvis greeted her as she entered the mansion for the first time in what felt like years.

The house was quiet. Tony was at the newly rebuilt Stark Industries having the arc reactor removed from his chest. With extremis inside of her Juliet knew that the radiation from the reactor couldn't harm her, but he'd insisted.

"It's time to move on," he had told her.

And she respected his decision. The reactor was a reminder of so many events in his life, but Tony was a constantly changing person. He was always developing his suits and growing as a person.

Juliet stood on the balcony, unaware of the passing time as she gazed at the rolling ocean. It was one of the rare moments in life where everything seemed to take a hopeful undertone. Bad things still happened, but they were easier to weather.

Her heartbeat pounded in her ear. It hadn't stopped since she had woken up and she was beginning to doubt it would. It beat faster than usual, which she assumed was an effect of the virus.

Extremis. The word still held a terrifying weight. Juliet had waited for something to happen- for her skin to spontaneously combust or for her mind to take over and turn her into a rage monster.

Yet nothing had happened. She told herself that she couldn't be that lucky, that there had to be some side effects besides rapid healing and the ability to walk on flat surfaces without falling.

She heard Tony's footsteps behind her before she saw him beside her, leaning against the balcony railing and giving her a sidelong lopsided grin.

"No more reactor?"

He shook his head and pulled up his shirt to reveal a line of stitches where the hole in his chest. "Good as new. I particularly enjoy the lack of shrapnel trying to pierce my heart." His eyes narrowed as he studied her. "You're worried about something."

"Just the usual," she shrugged.

"Almost dying and being brought back from the edge of death by a physiologically altering virus isn't the usual, Jules."

"Oh, that's right. Aliens and Norse demigods is the usual," she teased.

He took her arms in his hands and pulled her to him. His lips hovered just above hers, close enough that she could feel his breath tickle her lips. Every fiber in her body wanted him closer to her. Arching his neck, he kissed her shoulder and the corner of mouth, slow and tantalizing.

When their lips finally met she smiled against his mouth and dug her fingers into his shirt.

"We're going to figure this out. There's always a way," he assured her as he took her hand.

She smiled. "I believe you."