⤷ december 21, 2012
━━━━━━━━━━━
When she sees the headline at first, she doesn't quite register it.
TONY STARK PRESUMED DEAD IN WAKE OF TERRORIST ATTACK ON MALIBU HOME
The second it does register, she finds she can't quite breathe.
Steve had been called in for a S.H.I.E.L.D. mission early that morning, so she was left alone in the apartment.
Left to suffocate by herself.
She crumples the paper in her hands immediately, letting out a choked gasp for air as she throws it aside.
Tony, dead?
No.
No, it can't be.
He couldn't.
He wouldn't.
Immediately, Irina brings out the burner phone she'd bought, and dials in the ten digits Tony had given her the day they'd sent Loki off.
She presses the phone to her ear, her heart rate increasing every time it rings.
Rrrinngg.
Pick up.
Rrrinngg.
Pick. Up.
Rriiinngg.
"You can't do this to me, you little shit," she hisses, eyes squeezing shut as the ringing continues. A repetitive pattern. "Not after all the godforsaken fuss you kicked up about family and meeting again."
Rrriinggg.
Rrriinnng.
Pick up!
Rrii —
The sound cuts off midway, and Irina feels her heart leap to her throat in an instant. She feels a sliver of hope, and then...
"The number you have called is not available —"
"Shit!" curses Irina as she slams her finger on the hang up button. She drops the burner phone harshly on the table, running her fingers through her hair and holding them there as she stares incredulously at the headline still in front of her.
TONY STARK PRESUMED DEAD IN WAKE OF TERRORIST ATTACK ON MALIBU HOME
It's not real. No. It isn't. He's alive, he has to be.
She forces the resolve to form in her mind, biting down on it and holding on for dear life.
He's not dead.
𓆩*𓆪
A few days later, her burner phone receives a text from Tony's number that was called days before.
Unknown:
Alive and breathing. Don't piss your pants fretting over me. <3
That one text alone, despite how arrogant it may seem, makes Irina's shoulders sag with relief.
He's alive.
She doesn't know if it's Emma Roberts worrying desperately over Tony Stark, her coworker, or Irina Stark worrying over her brother. She still can't put those two beings together when they still seem so separate, no matter how much she's still trying to wrap her head around it.
YOU ARE READING
𝒑𝒖𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒕 || s. rogers & b. barnes
Fanfiction❝ ironic, really. a name meaning peace given to someone who only fuels violence. ❞ ❝ i don't think you fuel violence. ❞ ❝ you'd probably be the only one. ❞...
