Vogue | Tony Stark

FOUR - KITCHEN NIGHTMARES

"You know, you really wouldn't be able to tell your father is one of the richest bankers in the world. You are God awful at this game, you've gone bankrupt twice now."

Esté glared at Tony who just gave her an antagonising raise of his brow. He wasn't lying, she was shockingly bad at Monopoly but her constant desire to win at everything meant that his teasing words only frustrated her more.

"Would you shut up? I'm trying to concentrate."

Tony scoffed, "I've been trying to let you win for the past hour because I know how competitive you are and it's literally impossible. Just throw in the towel at this point, wave your white flag and surrender."

To her pleasant surprise, Esté's Christmas Day had been perfect. She and Tony had stayed out a little later than they probably should have the night before and so it was almost one o'clock in the afternoon by the time Esté dragged herself out of her hotel suite and made her way across town to Tony's place.

The Tower was lit from top to bottom both inside and out, red and green festive lights and decorations decked out every corner of the building, a sprig of mistletoe hanging in the elevator and above every doorway. He had a plethora of Christmas trees scattered around his home, but Esté was truly breath-taken by the one in his living room.

It must've been almost sixteen feet tall, though the high ceilings would've allowed for double the height. Golden lights were strung around in the most delicate pattern and red and yellow ornaments hung daintily from the branches, a single star on the top of the tree glittered when the sun shone through the windows.

Esté felt bad turning up empty handed but as she stepped foot in her friend's home for the first time, it became clear that there probably wasn't anything in the world Tony Stark needed that he didn't already have right at his fingertips.

He dismissed his staff that day and together, Tony and Esté spent three hours preparing a traditional Christmas Dinner. With it came a lot of arguing and loss of patience, but by the time five o'clock in the evening rolled around and they were both collapsed on the couch not saying a word to each other because they'd eaten so much, they knew the hassle had been worth it.

They relaxed and watched The Polar Express for a while before Tony grabbed an aged bottle of Port and found a stack of board games in a closet, leading to both of them sitting down on the floor by the Christmas tree with tired eyes and a slow loss of interest in a game they'd started over an hour ago.

"You've not been playing properly? Do you know how pissed off that makes me?" Esté groaned and rolled her eyes.

"Look, this game isn't for everyone. Maybe we could find something a little more on your level, snakes and ladders or-"

Esté picked up one of the little plastic houses from the board game and threw it at Tony's face, covering her mouth with her hand as she laughed at her unintentionally perfect aim when it hit him right on the eye.

"Did you seriously just throw that at my face?" He pulled his head back in bewilderment and Esté just laughed, shaking her head as she tried to calm herself down.

"I didn't mean to hit your eye," she said between giggles, "I'm sorry, I-"

"Yeah you better be."

Tony scrambled across the floor and Esté shuffled backwards before hauling herself to her feet, laughing wildly as she sprinted across the room away from Tony who was a few paces behind her. She darted around the tree, narrowly escaping catching her hair on the branches as he was hot on her heels, both of them shouting obscenities at each other like children.