trying to have fun in the meantime
Tony and Ikol ended up being the last ones up. Unsurprisingly, as soon as they got back everyone went to bed except the new bestfriends because they wanted to drink more.
And they had fun, they managed to finish half of a puzzle, only half because Tony hit the table, dumping a bunch of puzzle pieces onto the floor and ruining them by knocking over his drink in the process. Ikol doesn’t remember much after that but she does remember Tony showing her his fucking nipple piercing.
And then the alcohol kicked in again and gave her some courage. She said something to him, she can’t remember what but it must’ve been wild judging by Tony’s response.
“you’re not as hot as you think you are” Tony says coldly, successfully keeping his real emotions hidden “so stop trying to get in my pants”
“I’m not hot?” Ikol repeats as she gets closer, Tony’s heart speeding up as she places a hand on the back of the couch and leans over him. “is that whyI can hear your heart beating faster?”
“I don’t have a heart when it comes to you”
Ikol smirks “then start acting like it” her smile grows as she caresses his cheek “you’re so obviously obsessed with me that it’s sad”
“fuck you”
“wouldn’t you like to”
Tony raises a brow, no expecting that “and they think you’re the innocent one”
“I was never the innocent one” Ikol mumbles before getting up and Tony takes a deep breath, the sudden weight on his chest fading as Ikol walks away.
Ikol woke up to the sound of meat sizzling and dishes banging together, followed by laughter and Tony shushing them.
Ikol doesn’t even bother changing or washing up before she drags herself out of the room and down the hall. “I don’t know, it’s not my job” Ikol rounds the corner and heads straight for the couch. She watches Tony pace the space in front of the window as he continues speaking on the phone “is that not the whole reason I hired you?”
Ikol raises a brow, as he listens in “we can not study dead cells because there is no activity”
Tony sighs, walking over to the couch and waving his hand, telling Ikol to move her legs. “so what can you do?” Tony states as Ikol lifts her legs, letting Tony sit down before draping her legs across his thighs. He barely reacts other than resting his arms on her shin “okay you know what, nevermind I’ll get my guys to do it”
Tony hangs up and throws the phone down on the couch beside him.
“nothing?” Ikol asks just to see if Tony will tell her the truth. He shakes his head, surprisingly telling her the truth. Ikol takes a breath and cranes her head back to look at everyone in the kitchen.
She watches as Clint and Nat continue cooking, moving around each other like this was routine. She looks at Sam talking quietly at the table with Bucky while Peter and Bruce talk about something to do with science, and Wanda, sitting by herself and quietly drinking her coffee as she reads a book.
Ikol tries as hard as she can to engrave this memory into her brain, this feeling. Feeling safe and calm for once. She tries so hard to burn it into her head because she’s going to be gone soon.
And if there’s one thing she could take with her it would be this.
Tony taps her hand laying on her thigh and she looks back down at him, he mouths “it’ll be okay” with a soft smile as he rests his hand over hers, giving it a light squeeze “I promise”
If she could take one thing in death, it would be this.
The knowledge of being loved.
“you’re dying”
Ikol tries to ignore the voice as hard as she can, focusing on the movie she’s watching with Tony and Nat. Watching as some red-head walks down the hall with her friends and they’re all dressed, head to toe in a hideous pink.
“you’re dying Ikol”
She takes a deep breath, trying not to think about the bottle in the fridge because she realized, the voices are quiet when she’s intoxicated.
Natasha asks “how was this movie popular?” in disgust as she watches the red-head non stop talking about some Regina George.
“you’re dying and there’s nothing you could do”
Ikol growls as she rubs her head. Not noticing both Natasha and Tony sharing looks and staring at him in concern. “kol?”
She blinks, looking up at them.
“you okay?” Nat asks, despite seeing that Ikol is not okay at all.
Ikol nods— “you’ll never forget about us”
She growls, spinning around and yelling “shut the fuck up!” at the empty spot where the voice is still coming from.
“I will never leave you alone”
Ikol is breathing so hard as she spits “you will when I’m dead”
the voice sounds so damn happy as it says “dead?” it laughs “I’m already dead”
Her heart drops as the room spins around her. “what?” Ikol asks in a shaky voice and the other voice doesn’t reply “what do you mean?” she asks, looking around until she makes eye contact with brown eyes filled with tears.
Tony swallows and asks “who are you talking to?” in a shaky whisper.