Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
𝐎𝐗𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐑𝐄, 𝐄𝐍𝐆𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐃
TONY
▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃
The solitary form Tony found merely unsettling about Elle's childhood home was that he had grown too attached. Maybe because it was the kind of country he would like to retire to when he was fed up with everything or the company he shared yet every time when it came up at his agenda to leave, his heart would feel heavy. It was browbeating to come to accept that you had come to love this place as your own even when he considered himself a realist. A cynic okay with nowhere to belong. Neoteric. He never thought he could feel so attributed towards anything but Iron Man, the course of events had proven him wrong. He hadn't felt the glaring twitch that would grow between his fingertips when he didn't keep his mind occupied - a stress upshot - even without a wrench between his hands, he'd been able to breathe. Elle had made him feel wildly conflicted with his decisions and bringing in her family in the process of it raised the stakes.
So when he soaked in his surroundings like every other time he was here, in this woodsy house in the smack dab in the middle of the fallow land, he had forced himself out of the affluence. The usual rush of adrenaline was out of grip, the only handle he had was onto reality. When the warm afternoon air warped around the creaking veranda swing he was seated in with the rolled-up newspaper beside him and a piping cup of freshly brewed tea - he almost broke out into a laugh as he imagined himself exactly like this forty years down the road.
"Now when I remember spring, all the joys that love can bring, I will be remembering..." Elle softly sang under her breath, eyes unfocused at the paper stacks in front of her.
Tony sighed. Yep, this was it. This was what told him all of this shit was worth it.
"The shadow of your smile," she hummed off, distracted.
He had never appreciated the cosiness of the estate. In the last six months, he had not been vigilant of his surroundings and the only place that acted as his retreat. To be near Elle when everything transpired around had managed to dampen the nerves, arresting his ever-moody self in the past. He tried to keep to himself and forced his mind to stay focused on his part. With the mire of dysfunctions that transpired when Elle was knocked out, he started to realize the importance of having a shoulder to lay on. And the random visits to this place had managed to keep him up and running. For Mrs Preece, he was forever grateful for letting him crash in on those unexpected nights and disappearing without warning.
