afterglow - tony stark

17

        What are you?

       She never wanted to be something that people feared especially to people she cared about. But that is exactly what she was: a fear, a weapon, a monster.

         Jason wanted nothing to do with her after that night. He had said that he couldn't love someone that wasn't human. She tried to explain to him that she was just an experiment but he wouldn't hear it.

             He was scared and it made her scared of herself. She had these powers that could demolish the whole world if she let them get strong enough; perhaps, she was something other than human, something that shouldn't be.

             But she couldn't change what she was no matter how much she wished she could. There was nothing left in the world for her except to be alone. She guessed that those fairytale endings were only in the movies. No such thing as happily ever after existed.

              That was what she was thinking about as she sat at the bar at her usual restaurant...where she met Jason. He had just told her that he never wanted to see her again.

             At first, it didn't quite hit her. She was a bit numb after hearing it. But as Natalie slid her a pina colada smoothie with only a soft smile and without her asking for one, she started to break down.

              No one wanted anything to do with her. Not Tony. Not Jason. Not anybody. She was alone and her heart ached at the thought that she would always have to give up everyone that she cared about.

           She started to sob as she sucked on the straw of her smoothie and she had to put it back down on the counter. Natalie came over to her and gently wrapped an arm around her, "Hey, come on. It's no fun to cry especially over someone that doesn't deserve it..."

              "But he was a good guy," Eira argued. "He was."

               "Yet he didn't stay," Natalie made a point.

                That made some of her tears slow down as Natalie spoke again, "I'm going to clock out for the night and then you and I are going to have some fun."

               That made her frown start to turn upside down as she smiled a bit, "You'd really do that?"

               "Of course," Natalie smiled. "Just hold on."

              _____

             Natalie took her to some club and the music was loud. She watched some of the dancing crowd that was grinding with wide eyes, "Do I have to dance like that?"

                "You can dance anyway you want," Natalie said. "And no one will say a damn thing."

               She giggled as Natalie grabbed her hand and pulled her into the large crowd. They were lost in the sea of people and it took her a bit to feel comfortable.

        But it wasn't long before she had her hands in the air, screaming to the songs she heard and dancing to the beat. She even tried to copy some dance moves she saw which she completely butchered but she had fun trying.

"That was so fun!" Eira did a little skip as they exited the place before her eyes landed on a restaurant. "Ooh, Chinese!"

She might've had one too many Jell-O shots. She had banned alcohol but she ended up liking the swirl of colors it came in and decided to try some.

Eira grabbed her hand and pulled Natalie along towards the food. The redhead chuckled as she went along with it.

_____

They were now back at her apartment eating Chinese food on her couch. Eira ate it happily and a bit sleepily as Natalie asked, "So why did loverboy break it off?"

Natasha felt kind of bad for asking but she was required to spy on the girl. She had to learn everything she could.

Eira blinked lazily as she spilled, "He's afraid of me...everyone eventually is."

Eira looked at her with a deep frown, "You will be, too, and you won't want to have fun with me anymore."

Natalie sighed, "I'm pretty sure it'll be the other way around."

"What?" Eira asked as Natalie had only muttered.

Natalie took a deep breath before she answered, "Why would anyone be afraid of you?"

"Oh, well, everyone thinks I'm a bit like an alien," Eira said before looking at her flower pot in the room. "See."

The flowers grew and sprouted bigger towards the ceiling before coming back down. Natalie felt her eyes widen before she looked back at Eira and she put a hand on her shoulder, "Eira, promise me you won't ever tell anyone other than the people that already know."

Nat felt a bit protective over the girl and she did not want people to come after her for her powers. It needed to be kept secret.

"Okay," Eira smiled tiredly. "Promise."

Then Nat hugged Eira, "And if anyone ever hates you for being who you are, you don't give them a second thought."

"Thanks, Nat," Eira smiled and hugged her new friend tightly.

Nat let go of her and Eira stared at the red marigold. She looked at it sadly as she admitted, "I miss Tony."

Eira rested her head on the back of the couch as her eyes started to close. Nat ended up putting a blanket over her.

_____

The next day, Eira was hungover and she had a headache all day. She didn't remember what she told Nat at all but the redhead offered to stay with her all day.

At lunch, Nat suggested that they order a pizza and Eira practically screeched, "Not pizza!"

Nat's eyes widened in surprise and Eira replied sheepishly, "Sorry. Just not pizza."

"Okay," Nat agreed. "Not pizza."

They ended up ordering something else as they watched movies all day. At the end they were watching Titanic.

"No, Jack," Eira cried as stupid Rose let go of his hand.

Nat couldn't help but chuckle lightly. Eira felt everything so deeply that it was both humorous yet so endearing.

"You are such a softie, aren't you?" Nat teased.

"Shut up," Eira elbowed her. "It's sad."

Nat chuckled as she responded sarcastically, "Yes. Very sad."

"It is!"

AN: alright we're gonna be starting up iron man 2 in the next chapter and Tony will be back