Proof that Tony Stark has a Heart

Chapter 6

It was JARVIS who made me realize. Tony and I had been in Tony's workshop, the billionaire working on... something, and I absently playing catch with Dummy. Well, it was more fetch, because Dummy rarely caught the tennis ball and kept having to race after it to retrieve it, whirring happily. 

"Sir, don't you think you should work on the jet engines first?" JARVIS piped up. "They're due at the conference in nine days." 

Tony looked up, eyebrows rising.

"Is it the 8th already?" he asked, surprised. I froze, then winced as the tennis ball hit me in the face. "Dummy! Play gently, you know you're not meant to throw things at people's heads," Tony scolded, and the bot made a sad clicking noise, ducking his 'head' in apology. I offered the machine a smile, reaching over to pet him gently.

"No worries, Dummy, it was my fault; I wasn't paying attention," I replied, and Dummy brightened up, immediately going after the ball.

"Everything okay?" Tony asked, getting up from his place on the floor and wandering over, a faint frown on his face. 

I shrugged, leaning into Tony's side, ignoring the motor oil and grease stains on his t-shirt and arms.

"I fly out on the 14th," I murmured, feeling Tony tense.

"Oh. That sucks." 

I snorted, tilting my head to look up at the older man.

"Understatement." Tony's hand rested on my neck, leaving a black-brown smudge as his thumb gently stroked the skin at the nape of my neck.

"You could stay longer," he suggested. "I'll pay for your hotel room as long as you want, no big deal. Or you could have one of the guest rooms here; it's not like I don't have the room." 

I was tempted to point out that if I stayed as long as I wanted, I'd never leave. I couldn't, though; I had a life to get back to in England.

"I can't," I replied forlornly. "I have to go home eventually. I have college to prepare for, and I need to get back for my godfather." 

I always hated the thought of Remus alone in Grimmauld, even though the werewolf insisted he was fine on his own. Tony hummed, shifting around to sit straddling my lap.

"Guess you'll just have to make the most of your last week here," he mused, my arms automatically coming up around his waist. 

I smiled, leaning in for a kiss.

"Guess I will," I agreed against the other man's lips. 

My chest tightened at the prospect of leaving Tony, but I didn't voice my trouble; Tony was probably waiting for me to leave so I could get back to my life. I'd enjoy my last week, then leave, and try to forget the amazing man I'd met on holiday.

Tony cursed as a tennis ball whacked him in the back of the head, turning around to glare at Dummy. 

"Damn it, can't you see I'm busy! Playtime is over," he scolded, and Dummy wheeled forward, tugging on Tony's shirt. "Oh Jesus Christ you are such a spoiled brat, why did I make you," he muttered, making me laugh.

"He just wants attention from his dad," I teased, and Tony rolled his eyes.

"Like I said; spoiled brat."

.-.-.

Tony was busy for most of the next day, and I went home that morning after breakfast with Tony and Pepper, having spent the night with Tony on the cot in the workshop. I had a nap in my hotel room, catching up on missed sleep from the night before, then found somewhere for lunch before going back to pack away all the presents I'd bought for people. I had to do it carefully; there was only so much stress I could put on the expansion charms before it would falter, surrounded by so much technology on the flight back. And I bought a lot. I considered shrinking up a package and finding somewhere to hire an owl to carry it home but saved that as a last resort idea.