A/N: Helloo amazing people
So quick heads up, this chapter has MAJOR SPOILERS FOR Far From Home and I'll put the spoiler starts and spoiler ends sign before and after the spoiler scene like last time. The scene is not particularly important to this chapter if you haven't seen the movie yet, but it is important to the future plot so I suggest that you come back and read it after you watch the movie.
Also, I know the chapter starts with the "it was just a nightmare" but the last chapter really happened and this chapter is a few days later. Just a little note to avoid confusion :)
Oriande Moonshadow: Hope you've seen Far From Home! I personally think it was a really great movie! And, yes, we are all very mad at Peter. Grr.
lizlil: You'll see why Tony and Pepper were mad in the last chapter...it's honestly kind of sad, but it had to be done :,( And Civil War is about to start full speed ahead and I'm very excited!
Shion Lee: Haha yes, Adie still doesn't know that Peter is Spider-Man yet and it is Chapter 46 but what can I say? This story is a very slow one ;)
Thanks to: Rellik693, ravencarr, CocoaFirefly, lizlil, Shion Lee, DearInfinity, KunaiKurenai, fairlystrange, and Oriande Moonshadow for either following/favoriting or leaving a review! Without you guys, this story wouldn't be here :,)
"You're gonna love the holiday
menu at the commissary."
A FEW DAYS LATER
Adelaide jolted awake with a gasp.
After her eyes adjusted to the dark, she realized that it had only been a really bad nightmare and she was still in her room.
There's no coming back from what you did.
She sighed, rubbing her face which was dotted with sweat. There was no way she would be able to sleep now, as much as she wanted to. It had been over a week since she had gotten to sleep. She felt like hell.
Things they'll do to you in hell when you get there, if you believe there is one.
She swung her legs over her bed, sliding her feet into her slippers and pulling a robe over her shoulders. She needed fresh air and a very strong cup of coffee to substitute for her lack of sleep. The teenager padded into the kitchen and started the coffee machine and quietly waited at the island for it to finish.
"Are you okay?" Adelaide had asked, watching the billionaire with worried eyes. They had been standing in his lab. He had been working on something, tinkering and Adelaide was standing a few feet away, not sure if she should reach out and comfort him.
"Yeah," he shrugged, "Why wouldn't I be? I'm fine."
"Okay..." she said quietly, turning away. "I'll be in my room if you need me." She hadn't believed him, obviously but if there was one thing she could relate to, it was pain.
And sometimes, when you were in pain, you just wanted to be left alone in your own misery.
"No, actually," he had said quietly, making her drop her hand from the door handle and turn around. He had been standing there, staring at the glass door behind her. He shrugged again, shaking his head. "I'm not fine...I...I miss her."
Adelaide bit her lip, feeling her eyes welling up.
"Tony..." she had whispered. He shook his head, waving his hand.
"I'll be fine, don't worry," he had said, "Oh she told me...she told me to tell you before she...none of this is your fault. It's me. I pushed her away."
"It's not your fault, Tony," she had said gently, fighting back tears.
"No, but it is. I never listened to her. I don't blame her for leaving. I actually judge her for not leaving me sooner."
"No you don't," she croaked. She had wanted to comfort him but she had been glued to her spot. She had seen his eyes when he looked at her, they were rimmed red and blinking back tears. They both just stared at each other, at a loss for words. Words didn't make easier, time did.
"I'm not going to go anywhere," she had told him, fighting back tears and the billionaire nodded, looking away and biting on his bottom lip.
The coffee maker beeped, letting her know it was finished. She poured the black coffee into a mug and took both the mug and pot with her to the balcony. When she stepped outside, she realized that someone had the same idea as her and was already sitting outside.
"Hey," she said quietly, making the billionaire look back at her as she closed the door behind herself.
"Nightmare?" he asked as she sat down beside him.
"Yeah," she muttered, staring ahead at the city.
"What was yours about?" he asked. Adelaide shrugged, sipping her coffee.
"The usual," she said, "Death. Yours?"
"Same," he replied and Adelaide took another sip of her coffee, feeling it as it traveled down to her stomach. They both fell silent as they stared out at the dark city in front of them. She and the billionaire were both similar in more ways than they realized.
They lost their parents, they both lived in fear of themselves, and they could never let themselves be happy. Maybe they owed happiness to themselves but they couldn't let themselves be happy after everything they had done. Besides, anyone who came close to them always ended up getting hurt.
It was easier to wallow in your misery alone.
"Are we still going tomorrow?" Adelaide asked quietly.
"Yeah, we're still going. We have to show off our BARF," the billionaire said, attempting to make a joke. Adelaide shook her head.
"You really need to change that name," she told him, finishing the last of her coffee. She refilled her cup from the pot and took another sip, cringing at the strong and bitter taste.
"I know..." he mumbled, his eyes looking far away and Adelaide could tell he was thinking about more than just his latest invention, "I know."
"Try to remember, the kind of September, when grass was green…Wake up, dear and say goodbye to your father."
"Who's the homeless person on the couch?" Howard teased, buttoning his blazer. Tony rolled off the couch, standing upright and stretching his arms out. He gave his father a look.
"This is why I love coming home for Christmas," he told him, "Right before you leave town."
"Be nice, dear, he's been studying abroad," Maria said gently as she continued to play the piano. Wishing that her husband and her son would get along was too much to ask for, even as a Christmas miracle, but she always hoped that one day they would stop fighting their relationship.
"Really? Which broad?" Howard asked his son, reaching out and pulling the ridiculous santa hat off his head, "What's her name?" He had hoped his son would have grown up by now but he shirked his studies and was always focused on girls that were not going to do anything to help his career.
"Candice," Tony sighed, giving his father a scornful look. His mother continued to play the piano as if she were trying to drown out the sound of their argument and pretend it wasn't happening. That was what she always did but Tony couldn't even find it in himself to blame her.
"Do me a favor," Howard started, "Try not to burn the house down before Monday."
"Okay so it's Monday," Tony said, walking over to his mother, "That is good to know, I will plan my toga party accordingly."
"Where you going?" he asked his mother, trying to sound indifferent.
"You father's flying us to the Bahamas for a little getaway," she answered with a small smile.
"We might have to make a quick stop," Howard added.
"At the Pentagon, right?" Tony asked, facing his father. He always did this.
"Don't worry," Tony reassured his mother, "You're gonna love the holiday menu at the commissary."
"You know they say sarcasm is a metric for potential," Howard told his son, "If that's true, you'll be a great man someday. I'll get the bags."
Tony sighed angrily, walking away from his father. The old man just couldn't help himself, could he? His mother stopped playing the piano, letting the silence stretch for a second.
"He does miss you when you're not here," she said, standing up, "And, frankly, you're going to miss us. Because this is the last time we're all going to be together. You know what's about to happen...say something. If you don't, you'll regret it."
Tony looked at his mother, feeling his anger melt away. How did she always know the right thing to say? Why could he never say the right thing? Why was he such a mess up? He sighed, letting his mother's words take over his actions as his father walked back into the room with the luggage.
"I love you, Dad," he said. The words felt foreign on his tongue and he didn't expect his father to say anything in return. He never did – never had, never would. But Tony didn't care, he was only doing this for his mother. He knew how much she stressed about his relationship with his father, or lack thereof.
"And I know you did the best you could," he said, speaking to his mother more than his father. Her tearful expression made him want to wrap his arms around her but he held himself back. She gave him a small smile and pressed a kiss on his cheek.
If only he had known then that that was the last time she would smile at him and kiss his cheek. Hell, even if he had known that that was the last time his father would anger him. He wouldn't have fought it, he wouldn't have let them go.
But that was his mistake, his biggest mistake.
And he stood there silently as he watched them walk away from him.
"That's how I wish it happened," Tony said as the room faded away. The piano, the sofa, himself. "Binarily Augmented Retro-Framing or BARF. God, I gotta work on that acronym. An extremely costly method of hijacking the hippocampus to clear traumatic memories. It doesn't change the fact that they never made it to the airport or all the things I did to avoid processing my grief but...Plus, 611 million dollars for my little therapeutic experiment? No one in their right mind would've ever funded it."
Adelaide was watching the billionaire from the side of the stage where no one could see her. She liked how passionate he got about these things. For the past week, this was all he had worked on. Maybe it was to keep his mind off of Pepper leaving but Adelaide was grateful that at least someone had found their distraction.
With a sigh, she checked her phone. There was a message from Ned, reminding her about the homework they had in Mr. Hans' class which she had forgotten to do. There were 11 messages from Peter, all which she deleted without even bothering to read. Her thumb hovered over Pepper's smiling face. Adelaide had taken it when they were baking together one rainy day and Tony had swiped whip cream onto their noses. That night they had both covered his face in his shaving cream after he fell asleep and they woke up extra early just to watch the billionaire wake up.
With a deep breath, Adelaide shot her a message.
Hey. Can we meet up?
Tony had made a point to tell the teenager that she had nothing to do with Pepper leaving. Adelaide suspected it wasn't the first time they had been apart. She couldn't argue with Pepper's reasoning either. Tony was Iron Man and he was never going to stop being Iron Man. After Ultron, Tony had, for the most part, abandoned his suit and gave all his attention to Pepper. That had worked well, until...well, until now. It was clear the billionaire wasn't willing to give up his suit so Pepper left him.
Tony had said they were only on a break and Adelaide hoped he was right.
"...And quiet as it's kept, the challenges facing you are the greatest mankind's ever known," Tony continued, "Plus, most of you are broke."
[SPOILER STARTS]
"He's good at that, isn't he?" a male voice said, startling her. Adelaide spun around. It was a man about Tony's age with brown hair and a beard and mustache, dressed in khakis and a polo shirt.
"Quinten Beck," he said with a smile, stretching his hand out. Adelaide shook his hand, still unsure of who he was.
"I work for Stark," he clarified but something was off about his charming smile, "See those? I designed them."
Adelaide glanced back at the glasses Tony was holding.
So you made them?
I didn't but one of my employees did. Quincy Baker...something like that.
Quinten Beck. He had designed the BARF glasses. Adelaide had to admit, she was impressed. It was one thing to work for Stark Industries, but it was an entirely different thing to create something this revolutionary.
"I'm sorry, but you haven't said anything in over a minute," he teased and Adelaide laughed, shaking her head.
"Sorry, I was just...I'm Adelaide Rivers," she said, "Tony told me about you. Well, he told me about Quincy Baker. Those glasses are really amazing, by the way — I tested them in the lab."
Something flashed across Quinten's face but it was quickly replaced with his charming smile before Adelaide could ask. Weird.
"Are you close with him?" he asked. Adelaide racked her brain for an excuse.
"I, well, I don't...
"Adie, let's go home," Tony called from behind, answering Quinten's question. She hadn't even realized that his presentation was already over but Tony seemed to be slightly off. Quinten gave her another winning smile.
"I see," he said and her smile faltered. Adelaide realized she was being paranoid, he hadn't said or done anything wrong. "It was nice meeting you, Adelaide."
He said her name strangely but he walked away before she could ask. Maybe he was just a little over...friendly? Shaking her head, she caught up with Tony who had already walked ahead of her.
[SPOILER ENDS]
"What's wrong?" she asked Tony, trying to keep up with his fast pace.
"Nothing," he answered, dismissing her question with a wave of his hand. A woman suddenly caught up to them, looking apologetic.
"Mr. Stark, I am so sorry about the teleprompter," she said but Tony didn't stop walking, "I didn't know Miss Potts had cancelled. They didn't have time to fix it."
Oh. So that's why he was acting weird. Adelaide pulled her lips in, staring at the ground.
"It's fine," he muttered in a way that implied that it wasn't. He put a hand on her shoulder, making her look up. "You go find Happy and get in the car, I-I'll be right back."
He rushed off before anyone could say anything to stop him.
A/N: Good news, I have three whole chapters written ahead of time already. :))
I also have a huge chunk of Far From Home planned out as well and let's just say this chapter plays a very important part in it...;)
Question: Should I make a playlist for this book? If so, then some song recommendations would be appreciated :)
