"I'll go with you—you should let me go with you." Natasha whines as she curls my long brown hair, giving me a pleading look through the mirror. I laugh, shaking my head, "Noo—you can't. Trust me I'll be completely fine. My family can be so embarrassing. I don't need the interaction between my work friends and my family yet." I roll my eyes.

My family is big, and they're a lot to deal with. There's so many of them and they're particularly protective. Especially now more than ever since both of my parents aren't here anymore. I appreciate Nat wanting to meet them, and wanting to go home with me so that I'm not alone—but I'll be just fine.

"Oh whatever. I know I'd love them because I love you."

I give her a thankful smile.

"Ahhh—they're a little more extreme than me, I'm not so sure how you'd feel about them if you were stuck with them all for a few days." I argue, shaking my head with laughter. Nat lets out a little laugh, shaking her head in disbelief as she begins to place the bobby-pins in my hair, pulling different curled locks together. I bite my lip, looking over my makeup in the mirror.

"I don't know about you, but I'm definitely having a few drinks." Nat says with an excited chuckle. I nod, "Oh, honey. You know I'll be doing the same—I need it." I say in agreement.

"Do you know if Bruce is going?" I ask after a brief moment of silence.

"According to Tony—yes. Tony bought him a brand new suit and everything."

"It's been five days, Nat. I haven't even seen him working in the lab." I groan with sadness. I can't help but remember our last interaction in my bedroom five nights ago.

"That's because he works in there in the middle of the night, when you're asleep—because he's weird." Tony says as he enters the room.

"Hey—you aren't supposed to be in here! We aren't ready yet!" Natasha scolds Tony as he waltzes right on in, making his way over to where I'm sitting. "What the hell is that supposed to mean? Is someone getting married, here? It's a party." He says with sarcasm and annoyance. Nat rolls her eyes, continuing her focus on my hair.

"You both look beautiful. Bruce is going to piss his pants when he sees you, Anson." Tony says, shoving his hands into his suit pant pockets. He watches me in the mirror, shaking his head at the mention of Bruce. I feel butterflies at the thought of Bruce seeing me all dressed up again. Will he even react?

"How is he?" I ask nervously, the concern very clear in my tone.

"A mess. It's taking everything in him to stay away from you—that's for damn sure." He says with a sigh, crossing his arms. "I've tried everything, to—to get him to stop with this idiocracy but he's a world renowned genius. He thinks he knows what he's doing. Idiot." He rolls his eyes. Nat laughs under her breath.

"Something tells me he'll be giving in tonight." She shrugs, showing off her work as she finishes up my hair.

"I don't think you're wrong." Tony agrees.

I blush slightly, my lips curving into a smile. "Oh hush. You all are too kind." I say with a little bit of sarcasm as I pretend to pose in the mirror. Nat laughs, giving my shoulder a little slap. I stand up from my chair, grabbing onto my large dress tightly. I pull it up, allowing myself to take a few steps—ensuring I can walk in these heels Nat has picked out for me. "You good skippy?" Stark asks. I roll my eyes, "I think so." I take a deep breath, checking myself in the mirror one more time.

"Nat and I will go down first. I'm playing the perfect song for your entrance. He's gonna shit himself." Tony says excitedly. I narrow my brows, "What? My entrance? What the hell Stark—."

"Shh. Just go with it. You walk in alone, just trust me on this."

"What about Pepper? Don't you want to walk her in?" Nat questions. "She and Clint are meeting us just before the stairs. Half the party is already there you slow-pokes. Including Bruce."

Nat blushes as Clint is mentioned.

I feel anxiety inside my stomach—I'm going to see Bruce.

"Let us go. See you in a few minutes." Tony says with a smirk, taking Nat along with him. Nat's beautiful, silk, gold dress leaves a trail behind her as she walks, her red head in an up-do.

The two of them leave the room, and I'm left alone. I take a few deep breaths, so nervous that it feels like I could just kill over at any second. This is the worst feeling in the world. I hate this.

I check myself in the mirror one last time, touching up my hair and my lip gloss.

I think I'm ready.

I grab my dress, and make my way through Stark Tower to get to the entrance of the large room where the party is located. I make it to the double doors that open up to the grand staircase, and an usher waits by the door, ready to open it for me. I take another deep breath, feeling dizzy from this ridiculous anxiety.

"You okay mam'?" The usher asks with concern. I quickly nod, "Yes!" He slowly opens the door, "Thank you very much." I thank him.

As soon as the double doors open I'm met with the beautifully decorated ball room. Golden sparkles and white bows everywhere. I can tell Pepper had a major hand in this. My eyes widen once I realize the amount of people down there. This was a terrible idea, I should just turn back around. See Tony, Nat, and Steve in the very corner of the room—all giving me encouraging smiles.

"You can do this." Tony mouthes to me.

I swallow thickly, shaking my head with a grin as I smile nervously.

The music begins, the song Tony chose to play for my "entrance". He is sooo dramatic—this is ridiculous. I don't even see Bruce.

"Queen" by Loren Gray plays over the speakers as I slowly make my way down the steps and into the room.

Another usher, a female this time, meets me at the bottom—taking my small throw off of me.

I take a deep breath, turning around to spot Bruce staring right at me—watching me like a hawk. He stands in the middle of the crowd near the large balcony. He wears the nicest suit I've ever seen him wear—he looks dashing...so attractive that I feel like I'm magnetically drawn to him immediately. As soon as I lay my eyes on him, he only stares at me for a few more moments before quickly turning away and disappearing inside the crowd.

I shake my head, sighing with stress as I quickly make my way over to the bar. I need a damn drink.

"Told you. Shitting himself." Tony says as he pops up from behind me. I practically jump at the sound of his voice. I roll my eyes, ordering a vodka—on the rocks.

"Oo! I'd like one if those too, please!" He points out to the bartender. "Seriously? This is so stupid, Tony. He doesn't even care." I argue, waiting for my drink as I face Tony now. Steve comes up from behind him.

"Oh so we're having one of those kind of nights I see?" Steve says with a little sarcasm but excitement lingering behind his words. He orders himself a beer—bottled.

"Oh, I am. Tony is just being his normal self."

Steve laughs at my remark, looking over at an annoyed yet admitting Tony Stark.

"Where is he?" Steve asks, insinuating Bruce. I sigh, closing my eyes as I shake my head.

I grab my drink from the bartender. "Lets not make this entire night all about Bruce—okay?" The words come out rather quickly as I down my straight vodka in seconds, slamming it onto the bar counter for another. Tony and Steve look at each other, and then back at me—wide eyed.

"Okay...uh, maybe you should go a little slower there, skippy." Tony says as he raises a worried brow. I shake my head, my brows furrowed in aggravation as I take my next drink from the bartender.

"Why do you keep calling me that?" I whine as I walk through the two of them, brushing past them.

Ugh, where is Nat? I need Nat.

"Woah, slow your roll there." Clint says as he places himself in front of me. "Everything okay?" I sigh, shaking my head in distress. "Where's Nat?" I ask, taking another sip of my drink.

"She's right over here—follow me—hey, are you okay?" He questions me again.

"Nope. I'm not, but you know what? I have liquor. And that's all that matters right now." My sentence is cut short as I finally lay eyes on Natasha. Her eyes widen, her brows raised as soon as she sees my face.

"What's wrong?" She questions immediately, pulling me a little to the side as Clint begins to talk to a few other guys around us. "This was a terrible idea. I think I need to leave." I grow, taking another large gulp of my vodka.

"Woah, woah! It's been five minutes, Ari. Please calm down. Here—lets get another drink and do some dancing. You need this!" She argues, taking my hand and quickly pulling me along with her. Sometimes you just need that person to tell you that you need to get plastered drunk and give in to your alcoholic tendencies—you know, let loose a little. What else are friends for?

Natasha and I make our way to the middle of the room, "All We Ever Wanted" by Hey Violet plays loudly over the speakers as we begin to dance our freaking asses off. The both of us jump up and down, getting into it and even getting the crowd into it. And just like that—all my anxieties, all my fears, my sadness, all the horrible emotions cease to exist. All that's left is an intense buzz, my head slightly dizzy as I sway it back and forth to the music. Steve and Thor even join us, getting into the mix of a drunk, dancing frenzy. I continue to drink—perhaps way too much. It gets to the point where I steal an entire wine bottle from the bar, and I'm drinking it out of the bottle in the dance floor.

I start getting out of breath, "One sec. Your girl needs a quick break." I say breathlessly to Nat, Steve, and Thor—walking over to one of the tables near the stairs. I put the wine bottle down on the table, and I grab onto my shoes—ripping them off quickly. My feet are practically throbbing. As I attempt to catch my breath, I look around the room and I spot Bruce for the first time in a few hours. He stands in the corner of the room, still near the balcony. He's having an entire conversation with a few agents, but his eyes are staring directly at me—watching me.

I feel my heart skip a few beats until the wave of sadness starts to come back again. I roll my eyes, turning to grab the bottle of wine again. I lift it into the air and begin to chug it.

Yeah.

Chug it.

Do I need to do that? No.

Is it that kind of night? Yes.

I chug it so quickly that it's numb to my throat and I finish the entire thing.

Yikes.

I put the bottle down onto the table roughly, feeling the dizziness coming over me now.

"Woahh..." I mumble out loud. I really, really didn't need more to drink. I blink my eyes tightly and rapidly, trying to re-gain my balance. I grab into the table, pulling the table cloth which drags the bottle along with it. It drags to the very edge, ready to fall. I gasp reluctantly, attempting to catch it and suddenly another hand catches it before I get the chance. My eyes widen and I look up to see Bruce.

"What are you doing?" He whispers to me, worry and concern all over his face and in his tone.

"Whatever I want." I say drunkenly, slurring on my words terribly.

Bruce places his hands on either side of my waist, pulling me closer to him and away from the table. "C'mon—lets go get some air." He whispers once more as he pulls me closely along with him, making our way outside to the balcony. As soon as the cool air hits my skin I feel a tad bit better, the breeze feeling amazing.

He walks me up to the balcony railing, looking over all of the city.

"What are you doing?" I question him, looking up at him as my dizzy and intoxicated self sways back and forth. He doesn't let go of me for a second which I assume is in fear that I might fall.

"What am I doing? What the hell are you doing getting this drunk?" He questions me, agitated and disappointed with me.

"I'm having fun. I deservereeer—to have f-fun..." I attempt to say, continuing to slur uncontrollably. Bruce sighs, shaking his head. "Yes...you do. But, you shouldn't get so drunk to the point where you could hurt your—." Before he can finish I feel a huge wave of nausea washing over me. My eyes widen, and I place a hand over my mouth quickly. He notices in an instant, his eyes widening as his sentence is cut short.

"I need—I need a—." I try to hold down the vomit as Bruce hurriedly searches the area for a place my vomit can go. He grabs one of the large metal buckets filled with ice and beer bottles and he dumps out the leftover ice, handing me the bucket as fast as he can. I grab onto it tightly, leaning over the edge of the balcony as I vomit into the bucket. Bruce places one hand on my lower back and uses the other to hold my hair back for me.

I cough loudly, gagging as everything I've drank tonight comes pouring out.

I sniffle, tears coming out of my eyes from chucking so hard.

"Ugh...yuck." I groan, my voice sounding like I have a stuffy nose now. Bruce grabs a few napkins from the table behind us, handing them to me so that I can wipe myself.

"You okay?" He asks quietly, his hand slowly beginning to softly rub my lower back. I take a minute to respond, wiping my mouth and throwing everything into the bucket. I turn away for a moment, throwing it all onto a waiters tray.

I nod, "Yeah—fine now." I groan in disgust. I turn to face him again, looking up into his eyes. He looks me over with concern, shaking his head at me.

"Are you judging me?"

"No, Arielle. I just don't want you to hurt yourself."

"I think you're lying."

"Believe what you want. I just want you to be safe." He says as he sighs deeply.

I pause for a moment, just looking up at him.

"What?" He asks, looking back at me.

"I just...forgot how handsome you are in person." I admit, the slurring beginning to lift from my voice. I'm not by any means even close to sober, but the dizziness is completely gone after puking my guts out.

Bruce swallows thickly, looking down at me in agony. "You look beautiful tonight." He says softly, his sad eyes blinking slowly. He's holding back so much desire and it drives me insane. I can see it's doing the same to him.

"Thank you..." I say, the sadness now very clear in my shaky voice.

I begin to blink my eyes again, the dizziness coming back to me. Not only am I still drunk, I just puked my guts out—which makes me even more dehydrated than I already was.

"Ari?" Bruce questions softly, grabbing onto my waist again.

"I think...I think I'm gonna..." Before I can finish my sentence, my words doze off—and so do I. I pass out from dizziness and drunkenness and everything in between. Everything goes black.

[[Bruce P.O.V.]]

Arielle falls into my arms, unable to hold herself up any longer. I hold onto her tightly, pulling her up so that she doesn't collapse to the ground.

"She all right?" Tony asks as he walks out into the balcony. He raises a brow, crossing his arms with a shaking head. "Obliterated. I'm taking her to the lab and hooking her up to an electrolyte banana bag and a fluid IV drip." I explain. I lift her up into my arms, carting her marriage style as her head leans into the crook of my neck. I hold her tightly.

"Need a hand?" Tony questions.

I shake my head, "No—I got it. I think a serious conversation needs to be had when she wakes up."

"That's my boy." Tony says with satisfaction, nodding his head in agreement. I nod, beginning to walk past him but he stops me for a moment—grabbing onto my shoulder. "Bruce—."

"Yeah?"

"Do me a favor and—just—listen to her, okay? If you won't listen to me..." He pauses for a moment, looking her over before making eye contact with me again.

"...listen to her." He nods.

I look at him, beginning to feel the realization of all of this. Am I making the right decision? Am I at fault for making the decision to step away from Arielle? To protect her from...myself?

I take a deep breath, slowly beginning to nod.

Maybe he's right.