don’t say things you don’t mean
He sighs and wipes a hand down his face as Bruce looks up at him, “what?” he asks a bit harshly.
“you should take a break” Bruce suggests softly, he knows that Tony only snaps at people when he’s stressed out, it’s one of his habits that he could not break. “I’ll keep trying to figure out what’s wrong with them”
“you know I didn’t mean that right?” Tony asks the wrong person, “I didn’t mean to-“
“I know” Bruce says in reassurance “we’re all stressed out right now, Clint knows you didn’t mean it”
Tony scoffs “yeah, sure”
and that’s when Bruce notices the dark circles coming back “did you sleep last night?”
“for a few hours yeah” Tony knows Bruce is about to tell him to go and rest so he reminds Bruce that “I’m renting out my room so..”
“then go sleep in their bed”
Tony agrees even though there’s a slight problem with that. Tony can’t sleep anywhere but his own bed. And it proved to be true and not just his pickiness when he spent the next four hours tossing and turning.
He really didn’t want to, but he is so fucking tired so he sucks it up and goes up to his room. Tiptoeing in so he doesn’t wake Ikol, he contemplated taking the couch across the room but even on that couch he had a hard time sleeping.
He really has no choice but to lay with Ikol, he’s just thankful that he got himself a king bed so there’s inches upon inches between them. Even then Tony can feel a breeze radiating off of Ikol.
And he fucking loves it. He hated cuddling with Pepper becayse he would always wake up sticky with sweat, his mouth dry and his entire body throbbing from the heat but now he doesn’t have to worry about that
In fact that was the best sleep of his life.
He didn’t wake up and take off before Ikol woke up like he planned, he was the one that woke up to an empty bed.
He frowns, looking around the room to see any sign of life and he notices the bathroom door is closed. He sighs and lays back down for a few minutes before getting up and heading into his closet. He throws on a Metallica t-shirt and changes out of his jeans from yesterday, throwing on a new pair before walking out.
Suddenly he remembers that Ikol is in the bathroom, for way too long and she’s being way too quiet. “Ikol?” he knocks on the door and hears something fall over.
He hears her groan before the door clicks and he opens it, accidentally hitting her leg in the process. Her fault for sitting right in front of the door “jesus Kol” he grumbles at the sight of her.
She’s leaning against the counter, eyes barely open,
breathing heavily with her hair all messed up and Tony’s heart twists as she mumbles “make it stop”
Tony takes a breath and sits down with her “you need to eat” she moans in disgust “you’re puking up green shit aren’t you?” and her silence is enough of a reply. “you need to eat and drink something, trust me I’m the King of Hangovers”
“I’ll just puke it back up”
“that’s why you’re taking a Gravol shot”
“shot?”
Tony says “needle” and Ikol stares at him with wide eyes,
“I don’t need the gravol” she blurts.
and Tony notices that fear “you got the blood transfusions” he says in confusion “this needle will be way faster than that”
“yeah but this needle is going through layers, all the way to my muscle”
Tony gives in “okay whatever I’ll get you the pill then” he says quickly. Sighing and rubbing his face was the wrong thing to do because when he looks back at Ikol she looks like she’s about to cry.
“I’m sorry” she blurts and looks at the wall instead of him. She knows she’s a pain, she knows she asks for too much, takes too much and never gives back. She knows she’s a burden “I’m sorry, I know I ask for too much” she mumbles “I should just be grateful for this” she says without realizing.
“I never said that” Tony says softly, and then realizes. It’s what Ikol heard before, a sentence that has been said to them so much that it sticks even when they forget everything. “anyways we’re going to see a Biologist in California, Bruce thinks that if they both try and look at your cells than maybe they could figure out what’s wrong”
“why to California?”
“because California has the best doctors and tons of parties” Ikol’s eyes lighten up at that.
After the flight and more tests, they all went out to dinner at a fancy restaurant that Tony swore was the best restaurant in California. Ikol felts out of place until Natasha and Wanda started talking to her and by the end of the night, they were friends dare she say.
Natasha taps his arm and demands “look” and as soon as Ikol does his blood boils. It was the same guy that was following them earlier, the same guy that was stealing drinks from them and calling them down for hours.
They put up with it at the last club since they were coming to this club but, turns out the guy followed them and is currently trying to get past security in order to get to them. “what’d you think he wants?” Ikol asks
Nat shrugs “money, rep, oh maybe he wants your number”
Ikol scoffs out a laugh “not my type”
“lemme guess your type is short smart brunette that has an obsession with technology and sunglasses?”
“no, it’s a sassy and annoying man that doesn’t know how to shut up”
“so Tony and Sam?” Ikol doesn’t answer, instead taking a sip of her drink and watching the man that’s still trying to sneak past security. “oh my god” she mumbles before her voice rises “you like T-“
Ikol quickly slaps a hand over her mouth “shhh!” and she can feel Natasha laughing against her hand.
And thats when she sees the guy out of the corner of her eye, successfully sneaking past the bouncer
Ikol instantly stands up and basically walks over the table to get to the guy. “Ikol stop!” she doesn’t know who’s voice is who but she can hear basically all of them yelling at her to stop.
Too bad she’s already up in the guys face “what’s your problem?” Ikol pretty much yells in his face, making the guy back away with every step she takes closer. “I asked what your problem is?” she says loud enough that the bouncers finally realize what’s going on.
The bouncer gets in between them “I’m talking to you” Ikol barks out, watching the bouncer pullthe guy away and escort him out of the club while another bouncer holds her back, stopping her from following him or escalating the situation.
To say that Tony loved it was an understatement. His entire body is on fire, seeing Ikol basically scare that dude away because she was ready to fight him has got to be the hottest thing he has seen in his life. The crowd starting to chant her name as they boo the other dude just makes it so much hotter.
Tony slings an arm around her as she sits back down “I’m getting you all the guys tonight” he jokes making Ikol bust out laughing “no seriously you deserve a line up after that”
“I’m okay with just you” she says and Tony’s brain goes blank.