Obsessions ⇢ Tony Stark

36 | Take My Hand, Take My Whole Life Too

June 1989

"Are you sure we we took the right turn? This feels a little... murdery."

"She said the first turn after the big tree stump."

"Okay, well I didn't even see the tree stump, I'm just trusting your word on that."

"It was there! You're just blind," Eleanora laughed, glancing between the map in her hands and through car window.

"Is this even a road?" Tony asked, narrowing his eyes, peering through the front windscreen. "Even for a dirt road, this is... very vague."

She bit the inside of her cheek and glanced around their surroundings, the forest growing thicker ahead of them. They had booked a woodland cabin for their anniversary weekend, but they were finding it much harder than anticipated to actually find the place. (The instructions that the lady who owned the place had given them were so not clear.)

Just as they were about to turn the car around, thinking they had indeed taken a wrong turn, they caught a glimpse of a faded sign for the cabin with an arrow pointing to the right. They followed the 'road' around a bend, coming out in a large clearing where the large wooden cabin stood, lit up by numerous lanterns and string lights.

After dumping all their bags just inside the door, Tony and Eleanora explored the house, opening every door, cupboard and drawer they could find.

"Found the hot tub!" Eleanora called, looking around the back deck with a grin.

Tony came up behind her and looked around appreciatively. "This place has so many windows... and they're all massive. Great for all the voyeurs out in the forest."

Eleanora sniggered and turned to face him. "Are you joking about people being out there or are you accusing the woodland animals of being perverts?"

"I meant people, but now that you mention it-" she let out a squeak as Tony wrapped his arms around her and pulled her flush against his body "-how about we give those pervy squirrels something to look at, huh?"

Eleanora snorted and shook her head. "Way to kill the mood, darling."

Later that night (against their better judgement) Eleanora and Tony managed to climb up onto the roof of the house and lay down on the tiles, staring up at the stars above them, hands between them linked.

"That's Ursa Major there," Tony said, using his free hand to point to the constellation. "See the four that are in a box kind of shape and then those three that form a kind of tail? And I think that one's Orion... yeah, see those three close together? They make up Orion's belt... and those ones are his bow." His eyes trailed around the sky for a few moments, contemplating, before he gestured across to the side where the stars were blocked by the trees. "I'm pretty sure Scorpius is over there somewhere... you see those two bright stars in that little gap between the trees? I think they're part of it."

Eleanora turned her head to smile at him, heart squeezing at the soft smile he returned. "How do you know so much about constellations?"

"When I was a kid, Mom and I would sit out the back at night and learnt about them. Looking back, I realise it was a way to get me out of the house and distract me when Dad was being a real ass, but... it was nice."

Eleanora shifted to rest her head against his shoulder, thumb tracing the pack of his hand. "How much longer?"

Tony peered at his watch. "Just a few minutes."

They sat in comfortable silence, just basking in each other's company, Tony glancing at his watch every now and again, until there only seconds left. He held up his watch so they could both watch the hand tick, and when it struck midnight, he turned to press a gentle kiss to her lips. "Happy anniversary, tesoro."