Prompt: Lights (part 1)
Pairing: N/A / Fandom: Marvel
Christmas always had a bitter taste for Tony. It was around this time that his parents had died and he always did everything in his power to mask his pain by throwing outrageous Christmas parties. But since Adele came into his life, he learned that he didn't need to do that.
He had learned how to deal with the pain and how to honor his parents during that time of year, by doing charity and truly grieving his parents passing. He had been able to come to terms with what had happened, even going as far as forgiving their killer, all thanks to Adele. She was his light in the darkness, a light he didn't know he desperately needed.
Looking out from the rooftop of Stark Tower into the city lights, he thought of how much different Christmas was for him now. Before, he would have a room filled with strangers being obnoxious, talking too loudly and with him being drunk out of his mind, all to try and forget the pain he had inside. Now, he had a room filled with Avengers, still talking too loudly but was mixed with laughter and he was as sober as a priest.
What a difference a few years can make. Never in a million years would he have thought that this would be his life, fighting evil and having super soldiers or a Norse God as some of his closest and best friends. Not to mention the beautiful and down to earth woman he called his.
He had met Adele after the Battle of New York, while going around the city assessing what needed to be recovered and fixed, after their little fight with Loki. She was down on the streets, helping people clean debris from their stores and helping anyone that needed help. He saw her struggling with a piece of plywood and went to help her. She thanked him and moved on to the next piece of debris. She didn't even bat an eye at him, the mighty Tony Stark.
At first, he thought that maybe she didn't recognize him and tried to get her attention again. Let's not forget that he was a cocky bastard back then. But she didn't care about his status or name, all she cared about was how could she help everyone around her.
Tony began going more often to the streets to help with the clean up efforts and always choosing were she would be. He was the first to admit that, in the beginning, it was for completely selfish reasons but the more he spent time cleaning up the mess he and the rest of the Avengers had made, the more he realized that he was actually enjoying it.
Time went by and she started noticing him, not for who he was but for what he was doing. Eventually, he asked her out to coffee, only to be shut down. She told him that she didn't go out on dates with playboys and if he ever changed his ways, then maybe she would consider it.
It took almost two years for her to accept going on a date with him. It was around Christmas and she teased him saying that it was her good deed for Christmas. They had coffee on a small coffee shop that they both had helped clean up of debris. She didn't ask him the usual questions: what it was like to be Iron Man or who which Avenger was single. She asked him questions like what was his favorite color or his favorite movie. It was refreshing.
About a week later, Tony took her to the rooftop where he was standing now and they had a romantic dinner under the stars. That's where they also had their first kiss, with snow starting to fall around them. He would never forget that night. The night that he became more than just the Tony Stark or Iron Man. He became Tony, her Tony.
They have been together through hell and back. In the two years they've been together, they've seen it all, from Bucky coming back from the dead to robots coming to life, but she stuck by his side through it all. Even when she almost died at Ultron's robotic hands, her love for him never wavered. That's why, just a few months before, he had asked her to marry him. Tony knew that he would never find someone like her, ever again.
The lights of the city never looked brighter, as Tony remembered how much his life has changed since he met her. But he also knew that, no light was as bright as Adele's. And he was eternally grateful for that.