Vogue | Tony Stark

SIXTY ONE - ANOTHER LIFE

The first two months of the new year were chaos to say the least. Estélla threw herself back into work with all the strength she had, catching flights between New York and Paris to work on upcoming shows and collections, signing brand deals and meeting with her lawyers to run through contract after contract.

Tony started working again too. The world was safe thanks to him, and while the darkness of what he'd endured was a heavy price to pay, Tony was starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel.

The winter weather was slowly fading into spring and with it came longer days and warmer air, the sunshine reminding Tony less of the infinite blackness of space and the isolation he felt, reminding him instead of how much he had to look forward to that year, how much brightness was ahead of him.

He hated it when Esté was away, though. The house was quiet and still and there was nobody to make a cup of coffee for in the morning or to kiss goodnight. Tony felt alone on those days and often spent his evenings back at the Stark Tower instead, not liking the way his own home felt without her there.

He was used to living alone, that wasn't the problem, it was the fact that it was their home now, not just his or hers. It didn't feel right to be there alone in a bed that they shared half empty, one less seat used at the kitchen table.

The longer time went on, the more Tony realised that everything he'd said about Esté being the other half to him ran deeper than he'd ever understood before. She truly was in his bones and in his soul, and when she wasn't around, Tony could never be himself.

It was early March when Estélla wandered down the streets of the West Village, a bottle of wine in her hand and a trench coat swaying behind her as she strolled through her old neighbourhood.

She was heading to Katy's place for a girls night while Tony and the boys went to catch a basketball game. Even though she'd landed back into New York just four days earlier after two weeks away, Tony insisted it was fine that she spent her Saturday night with her friends instead of him, only she found out about the basketball tickets after he'd reassured her it was alright.

Still, Esté didn't mind, content knowing that regardless of what they did that evening, they'd end up asleep beside each other in the early hours of the morning anyway.

"Alright, what are we ordering?" Alicia said, spreading out a plethora of folded take out menus across the kitchen counter, "Italian? Chinese? We could even do Greek, a new place opened a few blocks away."

"Hm," Katy pulled a face and shook her head, "Not Italian. Greek sounds good. Esté?"

"Greek is fine with me. Are we doing white?" She said, holding up the bottle of wine that she'd brought.

"Perfect." Alicia said.

The girls began making a list of their order on her phone while Esté reached up to grab some wine glasses from the top shelf, setting three of them down on the counter.

It took fifteen minutes for them to agree on what they wanted to eat, going back and forth adding and taking things off of their order before Alicia took charge and stormed out of the room with the menu, announcing that she'd decide herself.

Esté nor Katy argued with her, happy that at least one of them had the ability to make a decision. Estélla grabbed the bottle of wine and twisted the cap off, pouring two glasses of white wine before Katy snatched away the third glass.

"I'm not drinking tonight," she said, putting the glass back and grabbing a Diet Coke from the refrigerator.

Esté frowned, "How come?"

Katy scratched the side of her head and sucked in her cheeks, an awkwardness suddenly washing over her as she tried to think of her answer. Esté just stared at her, narrowed eyes piercing through her shifty gaze and evasive demeanour, the total opposite to how she normally was.