Leap Of Faith

|Chapter 22| Tony and Natasha talk elves

Tony Stark took a sip of his whiskey, as he stared at the TV in contemplation.

Elves, huh?

Tony had read Tolkien as a child and had always loved the writer's version of elves. He especially enjoyed the mysticalness of them, their ethereal presence. He loved how they spoke, how they acted, everything.

And elves were actually real!

They weren't exactly what Tolkien had said they were, with a mix of all skin tones and bodies, but they had the utter beauty and ancientness of the elves of Middle Earth.

Tony bit his lip as the reveal continued, and the elves went into further detail on their society. His head turned as the door opened, and he saw Natasha walking in, holding a can of coke.

She sat at the seat next to him, fidgeting with a coin as she sat. She placed the coin on the table with a finality that made Tony smile. "The worlds gone strange, huh?" He said, taking another sip.

"The world was already strange," she mused, "It's just gotten even stranger. I wasn't expecting elves."

"What did you expect?"

"Something like Carol or Wanda. Humans with extraordinary powers. Elves, that threw me off." She told him.

"You'll find your feet. Do you think they're related to the stones?" Tony asked her.

"I don't think their abilities come from the stones if that's what you're asking. But I have a feeling they've know about them for a very, very long time."

"Why you say that?" He said, glancing at her.

"Their ancient, Tony. The stones have been around for an even longer time, and they seem to know a lot about the universe."

"So like how the elves in Lord of the Rings knew about the rings when everyone else didn't really. And even then it was a few elves, so do you think only a few of them knew?" Tony said, sipping his whiskey yet again.

Natasha tilted her head as she thought over the comparison. After a moment she gave a sort of nod and spoke again, "That's a fair comparison. But you never struck me as the Tolkein type."

"I'm a man of many surprises," Tony said.

Natasha laughed and raised her can of coke, "Cheers to that!"

Tony returned the gesture, and they both took sips of their drinks. They sat in comfortable silence for a few moments before falling into a conversation. Their conversation bounced from topic to topic before finally landing on Peter Parker, the spiderman.

"I would love to give him some training," Natasha said.

"And I'm willing to bet he would love to take you up on that offer. May help get his mind off the whole Mysterio situation," Tony said curling his lip at the mention of Quentin Beck.

"I thought it was solved?" Natasha said, her brow furrowing in confusion.

"Yes and no. We cleared Pete's name, but that doesn't stop the fact that his identity was revealed. The kid's barely gone on patrol." Tony frowned over his barely full glass.

Natasha gave a sigh. "We'll have to fix that. I'll talk to him. He's coming to the compound this weekend, no?"

"Unless something changes within the next 48 hours, yes."

They sat in silence for a few moments, before Natasha spoke, her words lighter. "He kinda reminds me of those elves we met in New York. Peter's younger than them, but they all are young adults with unnatural abilities."

Tony smiled, "Can't disagree. But they're also so different, you know?"

Natasha nodded. Crossing her arms she spoke again, "I can't stop thinking about those screams." Tony shuddered, remembering exactly what she was talking about.

"I wonder what happened."

"Nothing good." Tony nodded, before finishing off the last of his drink.

He stood up and walked to the bar, and put his cup in the sink. Natasha walked over, sitting at one of the barstools. He offered her a drink, to which she politely refused.

Natasha thrummed her fingers against the table, and the other hand played with her coin again. She flipped it once and caught it. "A flip of a coin..." she muttered.

"What?" Tony asked, having not quite heard her.

"You know how in that movie Knives Out when Blanc flips his coin, the genre switches?"

"Yeah..." Tony said, unsure as to where this was going.

"This is gonna sound cheesy, but this whole reveal reminds me of that. The coin was first thrown up when we first got in contact with them. That whole cut scene with Marta and Harlan is all the battles and stuff. And that reveal, that was the catching of the coin."

"Huh."

Natasha raised an eyebrow, before shaking her head. "Real eloquent Stark, just saying huh."

"What can I say, I'm a man of many talents."

"So not only are you a man of many surprises, you're a man of many talents now." Natasha said.

Tony gave a laugh, "Yes, yes, I am."

"Okay, I'll add that to your file. Right below arrogant, playboy, billionaire, and philanthropist." Natasha quipped.

Tony groaned, "You remember that?"

"How could I forget? You managed to pretty much sum yourself up in three words," Natasha said, feigning an air of innocence.

"That accursed spy mind of yours," Tony hissed.

"You think I'm bad? You should see how much Bucky remembers all the stupid shit Steve would do," Natasha commented.

Tony looked at her, "I'm one to believe that less of a spy mind thing, and more of a friend/parental figure/ I'll probably need to put this on his medical records thing." Tony argued.

"Don't disagree."

They sat in silence for a few more minutes, watching as the TV wrapped up the reveal. "Elves," Tony muttered as a commercial came on, "Who would have thought?"

I legit finished the first Lord of The Rings book last night. (No spoilers for Two Towers or Return of The King, please!) Anyway, it was super good and all yall should read it. And I am already in love with Galadriel, even though shes in like three chapters. Also I know I said I would post two chapters at a time, but I've been in such a writing slump I really wanted to get at least one chapter published. 

Also Tony and Natasha is a BROTP that I stan so much.