Yay! Another chapter!! I was going to leave it as it was because of lack of inspiration, but thanks to my sister's good sense of humour, she gave me some more motivation for another chapter. Enjoy! ^^
Tony put away the last piece of cutlery with a relieved sigh. After the mess he had made out of breakfast, it had taken him a long time washing and wiping up the plates and saucepans, as well as cleaning away the irritatingly stubborn stains all over the once glistening counters and oven hob.
There was no way he was going to even touch the inside of the oven. It was caked with crumbling soot and had belched so much smoke that the smoke detectors had shrieked urgently about four times. Better leave the cleaning of the appliance's charcoal-black throat to the professionals. Whoever they were.
The lights dimmed sleepily as he closed the door on the kitchen. He walked into the lounge and was embraced by warm, mid-morning sunshine. The rolling waves sparkled almost magically in the light, seagulls visible as pale streaks gliding on the soft breeze. Tony smiled. His hectic lifestyle hardly left him time to admire the magnificent location of his favourite house; his home.
Ok, time's wasting, he thought What to do now?
He looked down at himself, and could have slapped himself for his stupidity. How could he fail to realize that he was dressed in nothing but dark blue boxers? As much as he would have preferred just lounging around all day in his underpants, he thought it would be better to get some clothes on. He could imagine what the pizza guy would say when he would arrive later on.
He went up to his bedroom and headed for the wardrobe. When he first entered the room, he realized how little time he spent in here now. Very few nights had he actually slept in the bed beside him, instead snatching a few hours on the couch in the basement or in the lounge and only using the bed for other purposes.
The bed was a mess of tangled sheets and the pillows were tossed on the floor. There was even a rip in the duvet. The last time he'd slept here, he'd had nightmares.
Tony had had nightmares ever since he was captured by the Ten Rings. Most of his dreams were haunted with images of the torturing he had suffered, broken images of Yinsen inserting the old car battery into his chest, his fights with the treacherous Obadiah Stane and other enemies. But mainly Pepper featured in his nightmares. Almost every time she was in danger, and he'd rushed as fast as he could to save her, rescue her, but he'd always been too late. He shuddered as he played her screams in his mind.
He pushed aside morbid thoughts of dark dreams and focused on the wardrobe. He slid it open and frowned.
It was almost empty. The only clothing in there were clothes he hated and had no idea why he had them, or unsuitable for staying at home, such as one of his favourite tuxedos.
He closed the wardrobe and wondered what he could wear.
"Perhaps Miss Potts left some clothes in the laundry, Mr Stark?" suggested JARVIS. The AI's toneless, mechanical voice caught Tony by surprise, but he nodded in agreement.
"Good thinking Jarvis."
He ventured through the enormous house to the small utility room. This room was foreign to him; it was more of Pepper's domain. Two washing machines and a tumble dyer lined the far wall, and an ironing board was propped up against the right hand side. There was a basket of clothes nearby, but by the looks of them, they were all dirty. There weren't any clean clothes lying around. Pepper must have forgotten to make sure his wardrobe was full. That was unusual for her.
"Looks like I'm gonna have to clean some of these" he said, picking up some clothes that smelt of his sweat.
"Are you sure you will be alright doing this, sir?" asked JARVIS, a note of panic in his voice. After what the AI had seen from breakfast time, Tony couldn't blame him for his concern.
"Of course" Tony replied hotly, not wanting to be defeated by another simple task. Once was a little embarrassing, but more than that was just plain humiliation.
He rummaged through the basket, picking out some clothes. He settled for some jeans and a plain white t-shirt. He walked to the washing machine, then stopped. There were different settings for different materials. What settings to use?
He placed the clothes in the washing machine on the right, closed the door and looked for some washing powder or liquid. He spotted a bottle of liquid on a nearby shelf and poured in a little of the stuff in the compartment. He paused, and then poured in a lot more. Judging from the smell of the clothes, he thought they would need a great deal of scrubbing.
Now, to figure out the settings. Hot or cold? He decided on about 37°C. He leaned back against the wall nearby, waiting. The washing machine rumbled to life and its metallic drum slowly filled with water. It was rather unsettling to watch. It reminded Tony of when a ship was sinking and water was gushing into the hold through a tear in the craft's fabric, drowning all inside…
Relax, Tony! He told himself. Just a washing machine for crying out loud!
After a while of watching the churning, bubbling liquid of the washing machine, his thoughts began to wander. They turned to Pepper, off on vacation in Dubai, probably relaxing on some warm, sandy beach, in her bikini. Pepper in a bikini. Not a bad thought he chuckled to himself.
"Erm, sir?" asked JARVIS tentatively, dispelling the image from his head.
"Hmm?" he said absent-mindedly.
"It appears that the washing machine is, how shall I put it, out of control."
"What!" he exclaimed.
Tony gasped in alarm as the washing machine was trembling violently, shuddering as if an earthquake was trapped within it. It growled and snarled like an angry beast, pulling away from the wall as it lurched forwards like a drunken man. The flex was as taut as a bowstring.
But the most terrifying thing was that thick, ebony smoke curled out from the back, the first flickers of fire visible. For the fifth time that day, the smoke detector wailed.
"Bloody hell!" Tony cried, spluttering and coughing as he searched for a fire extinguisher. Where was that damned robotic helper when he needed it?! It could mist him with foam when he wasn't even combusting, but when there was an actual fire….
He lunged forwards and unplugged the thing, and soon the wild appliance started to become still, but it still spat out black smoke. Swearing to himself, he dashed upstairs and grabbed a nearby fire extinguisher. He ran back down again and almost ferociously battled the flames. He resisted the urge to shout "DIE!"
After a minute or two of frantic foam spaying and a volley of swear words interrupted by coughing fits, the flame died down and vanished. Tony threw open the window, trying to banish the last tendrils of smoke.
Panting, he collapsed to the floor in front of the once-possessed washing machine. The fire extinguisher fell from his hands with a hollow clang and rolled away slightly.
"Sir?!" JARVIS cried.
"I'm OK" Tony mumbled in reply. When escaping the Ten Rings's camp in his Mark I suit, he'd been resistant to the orange flames that scorched the metal plating. He was no fireman, so he knew he'd been lucky battling the almost inferno that had spouted from the machine.
Growling, he got to his feet and kicked the broken thing with all his might and cursed it. With an almost comical wheeze, the door opened and his clothes tumbled out.
Picking them up, he saw that he had ruined them. The white t shirt was now stained a pale blue from the jeans, and the jeans themselves were all crumpled. Tossing them aside, he took out some different clothes from the laundry basket, not caring that they were stinky.
Stupid Pepper! If he hadn't been daydreaming about her, perhaps this disaster wouldn't have been so bad. Damn her perfect figure!
"Don't feel so annoyed with yourself, sir," said JARVIS, a hint of dry humour entering his voice. "At least you didn't use the iron. We would have had to rush you to A & E."
"Shut up, JARVIS."
Hope you enjoyed it! A few more chapters coming up in the future!