As promised, Martha was still there when Tony woke up the next morning. They had shifted their positions in the middle of the night and her back was now pressed firmly against his chest. His arms were looped loosely around her midsection and one of her hands was covering where the two of his jointed together.
Tony closed his eyes and tried to remember the last time he woke up with someone in his arms. Pepper. Just after New Year's once things had started to get back to normal. Before his insecurities wrecked everything. He sighed softly and a dark part of him wondered how long it would be before he wrecked whatever this thing was that he had with Martha.
"You must be pretty chuffed with yourself," she said mid-yawn, bringing him out of his head and back to reality.
"Hmm?" Tony responded, resting his chin on her shoulder in an attempt to better see her face.
"Spooning," she answered.
Tony was aware of their position, but her comment reminded him of their earlier conversations. "Well now that you mention it," he retorted with smirk. "You're not going to cut me, are you, Doc?"
"Not this time," she told him before pulling his arms tighter around her.
Yet again, Tony was momentarily stunned by the ease at which she initiated physical contact. "So you're not kicking me out?"
"Not just yet. It's my day off. I was planning on sleeping in."
"So what? You just gonna use me until you've had your fill?" he joked.
"If I wanted to use you, I'd already have a condo with my name on the lease by now," Martha teased.
"The offer is still on the table."
Martha shifted her position so that she could look at him over her shoulder. "Tempting, but as it stands…I only want to use you for your body."
Tony quirked a brow. "Is that right?"
"Afraid so," she answered, locking eyes on his.
"I hate to tell you, but you haven't made very good use of it."
"Think I could do better?" Martha challenged quietly.
"Absolutely. You haven't even taking advantage of my best feature."
"Which is?"
"I've always been good with my hands," Tony replied, pulling her closer.
"I see…" Martha said, leaning her head towards his. "Then maybe a demonstration is in order," she suggested breathlessly with lips just inches away from him.
Tony closed the gap, bringing his mouth closer enough to feel the heat of her breath, but stopping just short of kissing her. "That can be arranged."
"Good." Martha smiled brightly. "I take my eggs scrambled and my toast light," she announced before turning her head away abruptly. "Wake me when you're done."
Tony stared at her in disbelieve for a moment before rolling onto his back laughing mirthlessly at the ceiling. "Well played."
Martha chuckled softly. "Don't forget the coffee."
"Anything else?" Tony asked as he sat up and swung his legs over the edge of the bed.
"Yep, I expect you to do the washing up once you're done," Martha answered with another yawn.
"You're lucky I like being bossed around by attractive women," Tony retorted as he stood up from the bed and walked over to the kitchenette. He set the coffeemaker to brew before to starting on breakfast. As he cracked eggs into a bowl, his thoughts drifted to Pepper again. She was the last person he had cooked for, but she preferred omelets to scrambled eggs. "Always with the eggs," he muttered to himself.
Miraculously, Tony didn't burn the food or the building down and it took significantly less than three hours to complete the whole meal, which was a new record for him. He collected their mugs from the night before, rinsing away all remnants of tea and pouring up coffee for the two of them.
"Wakey wakey, Doc, eggs and…toast," Tony announced after setting their coffee on the nightstand next to her and returning with a plate of scrambled eggs and buttered toast.
"Such quality service," Martha commented with a soft mewl as she stretched her arms above her head.
"I'm a quality date," Tony retorted, setting the plate on her lap.
"Not a date," Martha reminded him with a hint smile as she lifted her fork.
Tony watched her take her first bite with anticipation. "So?" he asked once she had eaten a few more mouthfuls without any signs of gagging.
"Has anyone ever told you that fishing for compliments is an unattractive quality," she teased as she ripped a corner off one of the pieces of toast and popped it into her mouth.
"Gimme a break. My daddy didn't hug me enough as a child so now I'm in constant need of validation," he retorted, only half joking. "And maybe I'm wondering whether I have a future in culinary arts, if this billionaire thing doesn't work out."
Martha smirked. "Planning on dazzling people with your proficiency in egg cookery?"
Tony shrugged. "I've been told it's the most import meal of the day."
"It's always been my favorite." Martha met his eyes as she pulled her bottom lip into her mouth and nibbled on it. "If I tell you something daft do you promise not to laugh?" she asked as she painstakingly removed the crust from her toast little by little.
"No judgement," he promised. "Unless it's really ridiculous in which case there will be severe judgement," he added with a smirk.
"When I was a little girl, I always wanted one of those breakfast machines like Pee-wee Herman had," Martha admitted with a sheepish grin.
Tony quirked a brow. "You mean like a Rube Goldberg machine?"
"Well we call them Heath Robinson contraptions where I'm from, but yea." Martha shrugged and tore her uneaten crust into a bunch of tiny pieces. "I don't know why but I always thought it was the coolest thing ever." She met his eyes. "Pretty silly, yea?"
Tony returned her gaze. He immediately thought of at least half a dozen questionable things that done over the years. Ridiculous things. Dangerous things. Borderline illegal things. Actually illegal things. All of which would not only have been worthy of judgement, but would probably be enough to make her think twice about ever having allowed a train wreck like him into her life or bed. And here was Martha feeling genuinely embarrassed about wanting something that any kid probably would have wanted in her shoes.
"Not as silly as Pee-wee going through all that trouble and only eating one bite of his food," Tony responded as he broke eye contact with her and reached for his coffee. "Now finish your breakfast and answer the question. How does it taste?"
"It's good," Martha promised with a smile. "Really good." She offered up a forkful of eggs as proof.
Tony met her eyes again briefly before leaning in to eat from her fork. "Not bad."
"One might even say it's…eggscellent," Martha joked with a laugh.
"Seriously?"
"What? That joke didn't crack you up?"
Tony groaned painfully. "You're losing cool points with the puns, Doc."
"Peace offering?" Martha replied, pushing a second forkful of eggs in his direction.
Tony indulgently allowed her to feed him a few more bites of eggs before forgoing anymore in favor of coffee. "So I guess we should get down to business and discuss the logistics," he announced once she was finished eating. As promised, he dutifully carried her plate over to the sink to be washed. "I doubt you want me in your hair all day."
"Marigolds are in the cupboard below the sink," Martha informed him between sips of coffee. "And there's no rush for you to go." He turned to see her watching him over the top of her mug while he him pull on the yellow rubber gloves he had just retrieved. "I enjoy the company," she confessed.
