Shadowplay | Tony Stark

NINE - GOOD KARMA

"How is he? He asked what's going on or anything?"

Mila walked through the front door of Tony's home at the same time he resurfaced from working downstairs. He'd been in the basement since the early morning and while Mila reserved judgement and decided not to pry with any questions on what he was doing, she was still incredibly intrigued.

"He's fine. Asked if he had to go to daycare and I told him no because we're on vacation and he hasn't said anything else since. I think he likes it here, he loves the little dock you have over the lake."

Tony had told Mila to make herself at home and help herself to any food or drink, which unlike him when he'd been staying in her house, Mila had actually done, not being able to afford shy politeness when she had a hungry toddler to take care of.

She grabbed a glass from the kitchen cupboard and filled it with some juice for Tristan, peering out of the window and smiling softly at the sight of her son chasing a bird around the garden, laughing wildly to himself as he did so.

"Good, I'm glad he's not afraid. How are you, though? I know that might be a stupid question."

Tony leant against the wall with his arms crossed, head tilted with inviting sincerity and a tender pull of a smile. He was dressed in jeans and a navy t-shirt, comfortable since the home actually having the heating on during the colder months compared to Mila who tried her best to save money by having the heating off unless Tristan was at home.

"You want an honest answer?"

"Of course." He replied, nodding with furrowed brows.

Mila let out a sigh and lifted herself up to sit on the countertop, her hands in her lap as she twisted around the sapphire ring on her pinky finger, her hair scraped back out of her face in a ponytail and her skin bare.

"I-I just can't get my head around it. I can't understand why someone I've known my entire life could be a part of something so twisted. I can't understand that my hometown has been housing HYDRA weapons, and I can't understand that I'm no longer safe in the one place I always found comfort in. None of it makes sense to me and as naïve as it sounds, Tony, I just want to go home and have everything be alright."

Mila turned her head to glance out the window once she'd finished speaking, watching her son with eyes like a hawk, yet ones filled with an eternal amount of love. He'd watched the mother pretend like everything was rosy in front of Tristan, and applauded her for it. It wasn't easy for people to mask their emotions and while Tony was good at keeping the things that cut him deepest to himself, he had yet to meet another person who was just as good as it as he was.

It was only when Tony looked back down at Mila's small hands and how her dainty fingers continued to repeatedly twist the blue stoned ring that he remembered just how young she was and how emotionally taxing the entire ordeal must've been for her.

She was strong-willed, Tony knew that from their very first encounter and the fact she'd lived through what he assumed was Hell after being abandoned by Tristan's father, he was well aware that even the strongest of people were capable of crumbling.

"Me and the team are going back in a couple days to check on the situation. There's a chance that everyone will have been arrested and remanded and in that case, there's a chance you and Tristan can be back at home in no time."

Mila looked back at Tony, an emptiness in her green eyes.

"But?" She urged, one brow raised.

"But," Tony repeated, "The details of this are a lot more complicated than just making a few arrests. We don't know who's working for them, if they have another armoury somewhere holding more HYDRA gear...we just don't know. And what I'm not going to do is send an innocent woman and her son back into no man's land."

There was an inkling Mila felt in herself to counter everything Tony had said, to insist again that he was wrong and that they would be safe back at home and that the people she trusted most from her hometown weren't working for HYDRA.

Despite that, Mila knew that The Avengers were good people, people on the right side of the law. She wasn't sure why Tony Stark felt so in debt to her since she thought nothing of extending her hospitality to him, though she guessed that the good karma she'd hoped for in return was exactly what she was getting through his desire to keep her and Tristan safe.

Mila swallowed her worries and chose acceptance that moment in the kitchen, looking out the window once more just to check that her son was still OK. As she watched him sit on the grass with his rabbit in his hands, talking to the soft toy as if it was his friend, Mila knew that the right thing to do, the easiest thing to do in her situation, was to let someone take care of their situation for her, just for once.

"I want to do some good. I've done a lot of bad things in my life and I just want to try and claw some it back, you know?"

"So you're using me and my son to attempt to cross out the red you've got in your ledger?"

Tony's face fell as he looked across the kitchen at Mila, instantly feeling his stomach drop in embarrassment as she stared at him with an unimpressed glare.

"N-no, I just meant that I-"

"I'm kidding," she scoffed and jumped down from the counter, "I appreciate it, seriously, the fact you're looking out for Tris and I means a lot."

Tony gave her a small nod and she walked over to the refrigerator, standing with one hand on her hip for a moment before pulling ingredients out and placing them on the countertop.

"What are you doing?"

Mila turned over her shoulder while grabbing a couple of red peppers and adding them to the pile, "I'm making us dinner, it's the least I can do."

Shaking his head, Tony walked over to the stove and began digging around in drawers, pulling out a frying pan and three plates.

"When was the last time anybody made dinner for you, hm?"

Mila parted her lips to shoot back an answer, only found herself struggling to pinpoint her last recollection of anybody doing anything for her, let alone making her dinner.

Tony stood with one hand on the counter and a brow raised, clearly expecting either a genuine or sarcastic answer from her. Instead, he was met with silence that showed itself through the haze covering her eyes as she racked her brains for a memory.

"That's what I thought," he said, kissing his teeth and grabbing a chopping board and knife, "Go have fun with Tristan before it gets too cold, I'll take care of dinner."

He began chopping up the peppers, turning to look back at Mila who was still stood by his side, a look of bewilderment on her face reminiscent of the time he'd offered to take out the trash when he was staying at her place, only making it more painfully obvious how little help the single mother had with every aspect of her life.

"I'm serious," Tony said with a gentle laugh, watching as her eyes lit up when the sound escaped his lips, "Enchiladas are good for you guys, right?"

Mila just nodded silently, her round eyes lifting with a quivering smile and pink cheeks that radiated thanks from deep within her, not a single word of it needing to be said out loud.

"Yes, that'd be great."

He smiled at her once more before speaking up, "You can sometimes see deer at sunset just past the driveway if you wanted to take him down there for a little bit."

"He'd love that," Mila said, grabbing Tristan's coat from a hook by the front door, "Thank you, Tony."

The superhero said nothing, only watched her close the door behind her with a placid smile on his face and a still beating in his heart, knowing again that Mila was saying thank you for so much more than it seemed on the surface.

an;;
sorry this chapter was short and a lil uneventful but I low-key loved how cute it was!! Hope you guys enjoyed reading, I'll be updating again soon!!