[1] Lions Inside | Tony Stark

fourteen

[Jade]

In Jade's opinion, having a birthday party wasn't the best idea when you were slowly dying.

She stood behind Tony, a frown on her face when she looked at the number '89' on the mirror.

"Tony..."

"I know what you're gonna say. But just for tonight, please don't." He said, meeting her eyes in the mirror.

She let out a sigh before putting on a smile. "Fine, but only for tonight," said as she walked with Tony out of the bathroom.

Jade was caught slightly off guard when Natalie entered the room, for once not listening if there were any footsteps approaching.

"Do you know which watch you'd like to wear tonight, Mr. Stark?" Natalie also seemed to be caught off guard, clearly not expecting someone else with Tony. "A friend of yours, Mr. Stark?"

Jade cursed herself as she walked over to greet Natalie with a handshake. "Lola... Smith. A pleasure to meet you."

"Pleasure's all mine."

Jade walked back inside the bathroom to escape any questions from Natalie and to fix the rest of her hair. Her short hair made it almost impossible to style, but finally, she decided to just use a nice hairpin to pin half of her hair behind her ear.

Her hand was on the door when she heard Tony's voice. "Can I ask you a question, hypothetically? Bit odd. If this was your last birthday party you were ever gonna have, how would you celebrate it?"

She felt sad knowing he thought this would be his last birthday, at least she hoped it wouldn't be his last.

"I'd do whatever I wanted to do with whoever I wanted to do it with."

Jade waited until Natalie had left before opening the door.

"So, birthday boy. Got any other bad ideas? Mabey this time you shouldn't have one that could possibly kill you."

"A few actually." He said while standing up. "Come over here for a sec."

"Tony I already told you, I don't want to snog with you."

Tony put his hand over his heart, acting as if he was wounded. "Your words hurt me, Jade. Can't I ask a pretty girl to dance with me on my birthday before I do something stupid?"

Jade felt her cheeks burn. "I don't think that's a good idea."

"What, you only know breakdance or something?"

Jade subconsciously scratched the back of her neck. "I actually don't know how to dance. I never really had the time to learn it."

Tony motioned for her to come closer. "C'mon, I'll teach you. It's not that hard."

She walked towards him, knowing that this was probably the first time that she had been embarrassed in front of him.

He grabbed her hands and put them around his neck. "Okay, your hands go here."

"And my hands, go here." His hands were on her hips, pulling her slightly closer to him. Her breath hitched and she tried to look anywhere but his eyes. She had never been this close to someone else in this way before.

He started swaying them a little and spinning them around slowly. "And now, you are officially dancing."

A smile broke out on her lips, still not meeting his eyes. "Thank you, Tony."

"You know, you usually look into the eyes of the one you're dancing with."

She took a shaky breath before looking at him, his eyes already on her.