Shadowplay | Tony Stark

EIGHTEEN - NEW YORK CITY

"Will you stop pacing? You're making me dizzy."

Bruce groaned and sunk his head into his hand, growing sick and tired of watching Tony pace back and forth in front of the window fifty stories up above New York.

It was a beautiful spring day and the sky was the clearest it had been all year, not a single cloud in sight and a bright, glowing sunshine that had warmed the city and blossomed its flowers shone amongst the blue.

New York seemed happier in the sunshine and although part of Tony loved seeing it in the rain, he too felt brighter in himself whenever the sky was clear and he could feel the sun on his skin, even if it was still deceivingly colder than it looked outside.

"I should've just driven them myself..." Tony mumbled, shaking his head as he shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans, pursing his lips in thought.

"They'll be here when they'll be here, and they'll be fine. I thought you told me you weren't in love with this girl?"

Tony glared at Natasha who was leaning against the wall with her arms folded, one brow raised as she watched him slowly go insane thinking about absurd possibilities just because Mila and her son were running a little bit late.

"I'm not." Tony snapped, choosing to say nothing else.

It had been five days since Mila and Tony kissed for the first time, and they hadn't had chance to even so much as discuss what had happened that night at the bar, let alone act on it.

Tony had been out of the house working in New York City most days and by the time he came home, Mila was barely able to find the energy to hold a conversation with him, simply exhausted from her days.

Tristan had been more than a handful over those five days, throwing tantrums and acting up more than he usually did. Tony felt guilty that he wasn't around to help in the daytime and even though ultimately the child wasn't his responsibility, he had grown accustomed to jumping to his feet when he heard Tristan cry and running to his aid.

He hadn't planned on taking on a parental role when he took Mila and Tristan into his home, but it became almost impossible for them to not slowly morph into a strange version of a family over that first month.

Two evenings ago when he walked back into the lake house and saw Tristan laying on the floor kicking and screaming to himself while Mila simply sat on the sofa staring blankly at the wall, he decided that enough was enough, they needed to get out of that house.

He couldn't let them go back to Chicago, and as much as he wanted to let them wander around the small town near the lake house, Tony still felt uneasy about them going anywhere without him.

The next best compromise was bringing Mila and Tristan to the only other place he spent most of his time if he wasn't with them, which also came with an overbearing introduction to the rest of earth's mightiest heroes.

"Oh it's fantastic, there's a jacuzzi and a sauna, you'll have to get Tony to show you."

A flurry of nerves paralysed Tony's heart when he heard Rhodey's voice down the hallway accompanied by a second set of footsteps. He wasn't sure why he felt so on edge about seeing Mila, he'd only said goodbye to her a few hours earlier that day, but a pleasant anxiety riddled his bones and made his skin begin to burn, waiting in anticipation to see her face.

Rhodey held open the door and Mila walked into the room with Tristan on her hip, a shy red flush in her cheeks as she felt everybody's eyes turn to her, though she instantly looked across the room to Tony, needing a familiar face to settle her own nerves.