Vogue | Tony Stark

FIFTY FIVE - LIES

Esté and Tony had joined the rest of the Avengers back at the Stark Tower, all of them choosing to unwind together that evening with several boxes of huge pizzas, conversation and music.

Despite being invited to the afterparty for her show, Estélla didn't have to think about declining the offer that night. She didn't have the energy to keep up appearances for much longer after the toll of the day anyway, let alone now Tony was back at home, and so she ditched her Jean Paul Gaultier dress for comfortable sweatpants and a fluffy blanket on Tony's couch.

It was around midnight when everybody decided to turn in for the evening, some of the team heading to spare rooms on different floors of the tower while Alicia and Katy headed back home with Steve and Bucky. Esté had longed for the privacy and quiet of her own home since crawling out of her bed that morning, but it didn't matter to her where she slept that night so long as Tony was next to her.

After saying goodnight, the couple were finally alone once they reached Tony's floor, heading towards the bedroom in a comfortable silence in the low lights that illuminated artwork hung on the hallway walls.

Esté brushed her teeth and changed into one of Tony's t-shirts and was about to slip beneath the cool silk covers she'd missed, only stopped in the doorway to the bedroom, a frown on her face.

She watched as Tony pulled off his clothes, stretching his arms above his head in just a pair of white boxer shorts. His skin was covered in cuts and bruises, stitches holding together fresh wounds and grazes and scars pulsed red across what seemed like every inch of him.

Esté had gotten used to seeing Tony with a couple of cuts and a black eye here and there, but the sight of his wounds sent a shiver down her spine and pulled a lump into her throat, the thoughts about what kind of hell he'd been through making her almost start to cry.

"What?" Tony said once he noticed her staring from across the room, "I thought you once said the bruises were hot."

She managed a small laugh then but it quickly faded. Esté padded across the floor towards him, eyes tracing his body as a gentle hand reached out to touch the stitched wound running across his chest above the arc reactor.

"Not this many," she whispered with a shake of her head, "I don't like it, I hate to think about what happened to you. You being hurt, i-it hurts me, too."

Tony could see the concern on her face and in the way she was hesitant to touch him, her fingertips scarcely grazing his skin across every bruise and cut. He knew exactly what she meant, since seeing the way she looked so much thinner and lifeless than when he'd left had made his heart bleed too, the burden of their pain always being shared.

"Hey," he took her face into his hands, tilting up her chin to meet his eyes, "I'm fine. You should see the other guy."

Esté scoffed and laughed again, smiling at the way Tony's humour masked such darkness. She didn't pry or ask any questions, knowing by that point that if Tony ever wanted to talk, he would.

They fell asleep within minutes of their heads hitting the pillows, exhaustion wiping them out and the comfort of having their other half beside them eased them both into a peaceful slumber, anything that had worried them for the last two months now holding no weight.

Esté could hardly remember what it was like to sleep alone as soon as she got into bed with Tony again. Feeling his presence beside her and hearing him breathe, the heat from his body and the warmth of his hands brushing against her skin as they slept made it seem like he'd never even been away at all.

Only, that wasn't the case.

A bright yellow light made Esté wince in the darkness, the harsh glow burning through her closed eyelids and forcing her to shield her face with the palm of her hand. She stirred in the blackness of the night, being snapped out of a deep sleep and only then hearing Tony's whimpering beside her, feeling him twitch as he mumbled something beneath his breath, his eyes still closed with one hand beneath the pillow.