[1] Lions Inside | Tony Stark

twenty five

[Jade]

"There you go. You're doing great sweetie."

"If you're going to help me with walking I would appreciate it if you could do it without teasing me."

It had been a few days since Jade woke up in the hospital room. Her legs were still very much bruised, but they were healed enough for her to start walking again, though she had asked for Tony's help just in case her legs would fail her.

"You know me, Jade. I couldn't be quiet even if my life was on the line."

"Then how about you be quiet for the sake of my sanity?"

Tony only laughed as he renewed his grip on her, one arm around her waist and the other hand holding her arm in a light grip. She felt his hands leave a tingling sensation on her skin but decided it was because of the heavy pain-killers she had received.

They had been walking through the corridors of the slightly broken Stark Tower so that Jade could reach her destination: the living room. She felt like she had been slowly going insane in that room were there were no colors, only white. So she asked Tony to help her to where she could actually see the outside and imagine the wind going through her fur -or in this case hair- again.

"You know, maybe it would've been easier if we had put you in a wheelchair instead of walking," Tony said as he helped her sit down on the couch before joining her on her right.

"And how would my legs ever get better if I didn't use them?" Tony seemed to realize that she was right since he didn't say anything else about it. Instead, his gaze was directed towards the bandages around her feet, mainly because they had loosened from her walk.

"Do you mind if I?" he said with a gesture towards her legs.

She put on a playful smile on her face. "Chances are if I don't let you do it, you'll get Dumm-e to do it."

Tony only grinned at her as he carefully picked up her right leg so that she wouldn't feel any pain. He put her leg over his before he unwrapped the bandages and carefully started to wrap it around. They sat in silence as he worked, the only sound from the few hisses that escaped Jade. She had seen him work on his suits several times in his workshop, but she never knew he could be so delicate with his hands when they were so used with metal. She kept looking at his face, how his eyes looked when he was concentrated and how focused he seemed to be over such a simple task.

When he was done he put her leg down and she quickly turned her gaze towards the window when he looked at her to see if she was in pain. He gave her a small smile before lifting up her left leg and started the same procedure as before. She looked at his face again, though this time he seemed more aware of her eyes even though he didn't say anything or even looked at her.

He put her leg down and leaned back to get more comfortable on the couch. Jade turned her attention towards all of the destruction New York had been through only a few days ago. But the people had started to move on and the streets were filled with people who were all going somewhere, though she could still see the aliens that were being cleaned up from the streets.

"Isn't it admirable?" Tony looked at her in confusion.

"What is?"

"How people can go back so quickly to their normal lives after almost dying because of a bomb. And I guess the Chitauri might've been a problem too. Point is that if people could move on like that with other things in their lives, wouldn't the world be better then?"

"What do you mean?"

"I spent over 100 years, almost all my life, fearing humans just because two of them caused me so much pain. If I had moved on instead of living so long in fear maybe my life wouldn't have turned out this way, maybe I would have enjoyed more of it if I realized how much time I would lose."

Tony gave her a sad smile and put a comforting hand on her knee before his expression changed that is.

"Hang on a second. Did you say 100 years?"

Jade winced slightly at his question. "When you say it like that I sound old. I told you that I had to start running when I was eight years old when we met."

"I guess you left out the tiny detail of when you were born," Tony said more to himself than her. "When you talked about your past it all seemed so recent."

"Does it bother you?" Jade didn't know if those words hit her or Tony the most. Maybe he wouldn't think of her the same anymore just because she wasn't really supposed to live this long.

"Of course not. I like you as-" Tony seemed to cut himself off for a second before re-phrasing his sentence. "You're my friend, Jade. Your age doesn't matter to me."

His smile and his words made her heart more at ease. Of course, he wouldn't think of her any different, it was Tony she was talking with.

"But I do have a question," he started and waited for her nod before continuing. "How have you been alive for this long? Don't get me wrong, you look great for your age but last time I checked people don't usually get that old."

Jade had to laugh at him. "I have my own theory. I age differently because I transform into animals with different life spans so it affects my human body in a weird way, or it could just be because of my healing abilities that I age so slowly. But when I'm human I can feel my body aging faster, so I could die of old age like any human if I stay like this more than any other form."

Tony was quiet during her whole explanation and nodded so that she would know that he had heard her. "So if you wanted to you could live for another few hundred years?"

Jade smiled at his curiousness, well aware that it was in his nature to just know. "I'm unsure, I would have to try to know."

His face remained indifferent, but she could imagine what he felt when she said that she could keep living while he would die sooner or later. But something in her said she wouldn't want to live for that long, knowing that everyone she knew and all of her friends would die without her if she did.

"I won't leave you," that made Tony look into her eyes. "I won't leave when I know that I have people who care about me, people I know I couldn't just stand by and watch while they grew older and moved on with their lives without me. I don't want that," by now she could feel her eyes starting to water.

He smiled at her and grabbed her hand, holding it tightly as if she would suddenly disappear when he blinked.

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that then."

And so they were left in comfortable silence, their smiles assuring the other that everything would turn out alright as long as they believed it would.

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And here we have chapter 25! Just a few more chapters left before this book is over and what a fun journey it's been so far!

Thank you so much for reading and please, STAY AWESOME (also know as: yourself)