[ As far as parties go, this one's perfect. There's no wild dancing, no glasses being thrown around and shattered, and there's no Tony Stark in one of his Iron Man suits playing DJ at the record player.
... In other words, it's boring, and highly annoying. Pepper insisted that he make circuits around the room, talking to people and making nice with them, but she's also quick to elbow him in the side if his comments start getting too pointed for her liking. Tony just rolls his eyes at her, as if asking her without words: "What did you expect? Me to stop being me? Fat chance."
But Tony has to make up for the travesty that was his birthday party last year, so in a way, this is like penance. And as far as Tony's concerned, it's the worst punishment possible. The food's all right, anyway, and at least the drinks are flowing, even though Pepper's keeping a sharp eye on him so that he doesn't drink too much. Killjoy.
She raises an eyebrow at him when he takes two pieces of cake, but all he does is give her a flat stare that quickly turns into a cocky grin. The cake's not for him, but for the person he knows is waiting back at home. Honestly, he really can't wait to get back there. This party's boring and dull and dragging on too long, and if he has to talk to one more stuffy bigwig in a suit, well... He might say something that won't be stopped even by the sharpest of elbows from Pepper.
Finally, after hours upon hours of forced mingling, the party winds down, and thankfully, there's no afterparty. Tony can't believe he's even saying that, but this is one party that should have ended hours ago.
Pepper all but puts Tony in the limo despite his protests, and she tells him to go home. She has some things she has to take care of first, but then she'll join him when she's done. With a roll of his eyes and some grumbling, he gets in the car. Truthfully, though, he doesn't mind leaving.
His mind's already on the project he has going in his workshop, but he's also thinking about something else... about someone else. Maybe it's stupid, but he went out of his way to make sure the two slices of cake he grabbed stayed in good condition. Why does he care? Even he's not really sure.
But by the time the limo pulls up and Tony gets out of it, he's more than ready to get downstairs and hopefully find Little Mermaid still there too.
When he gets to the workshop, it's quiet and no one's there, but his gaze zeroes in immediately on the paper that he remembers not being there before.
He stands there for a good 10 seconds, still holding the cake slices, and looking at the note from Little Mermaid and the string of seashells she left there too. She's probably asleep by now, or whatever it is that NIKKEs do at night, but he knows he wants to go find her. He almost sets the cake slices down, thinking it might be stupid to bring them at this hour, but he decides to take them along anyway.
He goes up to her room, notes that the door is closed, and- well, he can't tap on the door with his hands full, so he decides to try and say something and see if she hears him. ]
no subject
... In other words, it's boring, and highly annoying. Pepper insisted that he make circuits around the room, talking to people and making nice with them, but she's also quick to elbow him in the side if his comments start getting too pointed for her liking. Tony just rolls his eyes at her, as if asking her without words: "What did you expect? Me to stop being me? Fat chance."
But Tony has to make up for the travesty that was his birthday party last year, so in a way, this is like penance. And as far as Tony's concerned, it's the worst punishment possible. The food's all right, anyway, and at least the drinks are flowing, even though Pepper's keeping a sharp eye on him so that he doesn't drink too much. Killjoy.
She raises an eyebrow at him when he takes two pieces of cake, but all he does is give her a flat stare that quickly turns into a cocky grin. The cake's not for him, but for the person he knows is waiting back at home. Honestly, he really can't wait to get back there. This party's boring and dull and dragging on too long, and if he has to talk to one more stuffy bigwig in a suit, well... He might say something that won't be stopped even by the sharpest of elbows from Pepper.
Finally, after hours upon hours of forced mingling, the party winds down, and thankfully, there's no afterparty. Tony can't believe he's even saying that, but this is one party that should have ended hours ago.
Pepper all but puts Tony in the limo despite his protests, and she tells him to go home. She has some things she has to take care of first, but then she'll join him when she's done. With a roll of his eyes and some grumbling, he gets in the car. Truthfully, though, he doesn't mind leaving.
His mind's already on the project he has going in his workshop, but he's also thinking about something else... about someone else. Maybe it's stupid, but he went out of his way to make sure the two slices of cake he grabbed stayed in good condition. Why does he care? Even he's not really sure.
But by the time the limo pulls up and Tony gets out of it, he's more than ready to get downstairs and hopefully find Little Mermaid still there too.
When he gets to the workshop, it's quiet and no one's there, but his gaze zeroes in immediately on the paper that he remembers not being there before.
π»πΆπ π π π΅πΎπππ½πΉπΆπ, π―πππ.
He stands there for a good 10 seconds, still holding the cake slices, and looking at the note from Little Mermaid and the string of seashells she left there too. She's probably asleep by now, or whatever it is that NIKKEs do at night, but he knows he wants to go find her. He almost sets the cake slices down, thinking it might be stupid to bring them at this hour, but he decides to take them along anyway.
He goes up to her room, notes that the door is closed, and- well, he can't tap on the door with his hands full, so he decides to try and say something and see if she hears him. ]
Hey, Ariel, you still up?