Avengers P.O.V:
Tony Stark let out a groan as he leant back in his chair and stretched after a long evening hunched over, working on the delicate parts of one of his many new projects. In the back of his mind he considered that it would be much more sensible to work on things one at a time, but the notion was laughable to him- there were just too many things that he needed to be done straight away, so why not do it all at once? The lab was his comfort place, and it was no shock to anyone that he spent the vast majority of his time there; a quick glance at his watch alerted him to the fact that it was once again 03:30. He never seemed to get much sleep.
"Another late night," he pondered to himself out loud. "Or, a really early morning if we have coffee." He counter argued as he began shutting things down to leave the lab.
"You know I wouldn't advise that, Mr. Stark." FRIDAY's voice was loud in the otherwise quiet room. She even sounded fed up, and Stark marveled at his own genius for creating the AI. "Not that you'll take my opinion into account." If she had eyes, they would most definitely be rolling.
"You're right this time," Tony chuckled, pushing back his chair, dropping his tools and standing up to leave. "But you know I listen to you any other time. Finish up will you?"
"No problem, Sir," FRIDAY responded, and the lights slowly turned off one after the other as Tony left the lab, heading up the stairs before tapping the button for the elevator several times. The elevator took him up higher into the building and when it stopped he exited before the doors were even fully open, making his way to the nearest room and bee-lining for the pristine kitchenette. 'I appreciate it, but why does Cap need everything to be so clean?' He thought to himself as he finally poured himself a hot, comforting cup of coffee. He contemplated taking a seat on one of the luxury sofas, perhaps relaxing for a while, but decided against it, feeling a little too restless to just sit even before he'd taken a sip of caffeine. He decided to wander around the floor he was on as he did take a few soul-reviving sips, every now and then walking into different rooms and looking out the windows, greeted by a slightly different view of New York at night each time.
Tony's mind wandered just as he did for a while, but came back to the present when he realized he was near the accommodation corridor where Nova was staying. She had originally been spending most of her time walking all round the tower exploring the place- no one would ever try to, but there was no way to keep her in one place for very long. That was until recently. Tony had noted that she had disappeared for a while, willingly staying in her room, which seemed odd for someone who had been locked away for so long. He hadn't wanted to intrude on her freedom, but he was getting slightly concerned, and as he subconsciously moved closer to her bedroom door, he was sure he heard faint sniffling coming from the other side.
"Sparks?" He called out gently, tapping his knuckles on the door. "It's Tony, can I come in?" After hearing a muffled 'yes' in response, he opened the door and stepped inside, closing it behind him. "Are you okay? I thought I heard you- oh," He stopped as soon as he saw her. The bedside lamp was on, illuminating her huddled form on the bed as she held an open book to her chest; closer inspection revealed it to be Harry Potter and the Deathly hallows. 'Uh oh,' He thought. He glanced at the bedside table on the other side, noticing the pile of the rest of the Harry Potter books, accompanying other piles with titles such as the Twilight Saga and The Hunger Games; He assumed that was the 'read it' side. On the table with the lamp waited a set of The Hobbit and The Lord Of the Rings- not only that, a full bag on the floor with The Chronicles of Narnia peeking out among others. "Oh, Sparks, some of these books are a bit emotionally heavy, you probably could have done with a warning," Tony gestured at the book in her hands as he moved closer to the bed, meeting her wide, tear-filled violet eyes.
"I... I hadn't even processed Dobby..." She sniffed, the emotional trauma of losing beloved characters etched on her face as tears continued to fall. "Now Fred...? What about poor George? And..." Her face contorted with emotion as her throat tightened, and Tony couldn't help but let out a small chuckle as he moved to embrace her, smiling more as she shifted and moved the duvet to give him room as he took a seat next to her. He gently prized the book out of her hands and, after finding the bookmark to save her place, wrapped a comforting arm around her and let out a sigh.
"I have no idea how long you've shut yourself away reading these but something tells me you need a bit of a timeout," He murmured as he gently rubbed her shoulder, feeling a few tears seep through his T-shirt as she nodded against his chest. "Part of me also suspects that you haven't really slept either?" There was a pause before she shook her head no, which made Tony laugh. "I thought so. Definitely take a breather."
"I didn't expect to get so emotional, or so attached" She admitted, quietly appreciating Tony coming to find her more than she thought she would be. "I just wanted to catch up on some books that I missed out on growing up, well, in a cell... Happy was very helpful, he went out and got them all for me, I just didn't think it would be so hard to stop reading!" Tony sighed, realizing that he had indeed told Happy to introduce himself and make her feel comfortable and welcome if he ever came across her on her wanderings around the tower. He must have been extremely accommodating to get all this for her, and Tony didn't know whether to praise him or call him an idiot.
"I think Happy has turned you into a bookworm by accident, Sparks. The smart thing to do would be to take a little break from reading, and get a good night's sleep," He suggested, and she looked up at him with a sheepish smile even though her eyes were still watery.
"You're right." She admitted, rubbing her tired eyes as it hit her just how long she'd been awake with her head in books. It felt like she was in another universe and had just returned to reality. "I'll be more focused after a good sleep- it'll be easier to read such sad books then," She decided, then laughed when Tony rolled his eyes. They sat in a comfortable silence for a little while, before Nova began to get comfortable. "Will you turn out the light?"
"No problem, you want me to leave?" Tony asked as he reached over to turn the lamp off, beginning to move to get up, but Nova shook her head.
"No you can stay," She said simply as she lay down and adjusted her pillow, leaving Tony both surprised at how safe she had started to feel around him compared to before, but also relieved as he had gotten himself physically comfortable and didn't really want to leave the warmth of the bed anyway. He shuffled until he was laying down beside her, and she smiled as she noticed his Arc reactor let off a comforting glow from under his shirt. "Goodnight, Tony," She murmured, already slowly drifting off to sleep.
"Night Sparks," He responded quietly. The last thing he felt was Nova rolling toward him, placing a gentle hand on his chest just by his Arc reactor, before he himself fell into a deep, comfortable sleep, for the first time in quite a while.
Author's Note: Darling readers, I know this isn't officially a 'new chapter', instead it's more like a little snippet of time between the events of this story that you don't see, I simply just felt like adding it! Partly because the thought of Nova catching up on all sorts of things after a whole life of not being able to made me curious as to how she'd react; partly because I liked her and Tony's companionship throughout the story- and also mostly because I get so many notifications that people have added my story to their libraries, voted on some chapters and even left the odd positive comment here and there- long after I'd finished it. It truly gives me a warm feeling to see that people are actually still finding and enjoying something that I made, and so I thought I'd try writing a little more for you all, so my apologies if it's not that great- I'm a little rusty! Now, I hope you all have a magical Christmas if you celebrate, and you all deserve a marvelously Happy New Year! xx
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Flawed Minds
FanfictionMistreated from a young age and sent away in her teens by her parents, she all but disappeared off the face of the Earth. Years of abuse from her new 'guardians' almost drove her mad- until at 22 she was taken by Hydra and spent the next year the su...
