"Look! It's snowing."

Esté was right, it was snowing. It was only a light dusting of icing sugar across the tops of the townhouses and the patio outside, a fine layer of sparkling white decorating the windowsills and frosting the glass, but it made the world look so beautiful.

Tony, however, wasn't looking at the snow. He couldn't have cared less about the weather outside, or quite frankly anything right then. Estélla was stood naked by the window, her blonde hair in tangles from her sleep down her back, the two dimples at the bottom of her spine making him smile.

She pushed up onto her tiptoes with her hands resting on the windowsill, looking both ways outside at the way the snow had turned her neighbourhood into a pretty, wintery village.

"I've never known anybody to be so excited about snow," he said, chuckling as he remembered how fascinated she'd been by the sight of it when they'd spent Christmas Day together two years earlier.

She eventually turned around to face him and still, obviously, he paid no attention to the frosted treetops outside. Esté stretched her arms above her head with her fingers interlinked before running a hand through her hair, padding over to the side of the bed in search of a t-shirt.

"You want a coffee?" She asked.

Tony looked at her. He was lying with the covers sat below his waist, one hand behind his head and the other resting on his chest, head tilted towards her and a placid smile on his face, eyes not knowing where he wanted to look next.

"Not really," he said, smirking as his gaze roamed her chest.

It had been three weeks since Tony's return and in those twenty one days, things had been perfect. They'd made the most of having a stretch of time without any interruptions, getting happily used to living together at Esté's place and spending every hour of every day with each other.

There had been no arguments, not even any bickering, things just felt right. Esté missed her job but she would've missed Tony more had she been dragged on flights to Paris or London, not knowing if she'd have been able to stomach another goodbye to him just yet.

It didn't matter to her though since seeing his bruises heal and knowing he'd slept without a being forced awake by a haunting nightmare was more important to her than anything else. She'd talked him into going to therapy once a week and while Tony had been reluctant at first, offloading onto a stranger he had no ties to made the weight on his shoulders noticeably lighter. He didn't feel guilty about telling the therapist his problems because he didn't particularly care about him, and so it didn't seem like he was passing on a burden the way it did when he spoke to Estélla.

She still pushed for Tony to tell her what was on his mind when he fell unusually quiet or did happen to be troubled by a nightmare, and he continued to open up to her because it felt safe to do so. Estélla calmed him down, soothed him, protected him and reassured him that everything was fine. Just liked he'd promised her, she promised him that she wasn't going anywhere, ever.

"What do you want?" Esté asked, one brow raised.

Tony looked up at her with a grin, outstretching his hand that she was slow to take before pulling her back down into bed with him.

"You drive me crazy, you know that?" He breathed, holding her hips as she sat on top of him, legs either side of his body.

She rolled her blue eyes, "You see me naked every day, Tony."

"So? You see the moon every day but you always stare at it like you've never seen it before."

He raced his hands up the sides of her body and down her thighs, eyes carving across every inch of her skin before meeting her gaze again, captivated by the way she looked at him with a shy smile and sleepy eyes.

There was no part of Estélla that wished she'd never taken that step with Tony, no part of her that regretted their kiss in the Stark Tower that changed everything. She had spent a long time worrying about whether they'd made the right decision, whether sleeping with each other would wake them up from a daydream and give them a reality check that going from friends to lovers wasn't the right thing to do, only that hadn't been the case.

Whether they'd always had that tension, that desire burning inside of them or whether that had grown out of a simple kiss, Esté and Tony had been addicted to each other from the first taste. She loved the way he made her feel, the way he touched and kissed and moaned her name. Esté adored how gentle he could be and just how rough too, how spontaneous and equally romantic, always being made to feel like she was the only girl in the world in his eyes.

But to Tony, that's exactly what she was. He didn't care for other women, didn't have a wandering eye or an any doubts about a what if with anybody else. He was head over heels in love with Esté and he craved her body like nothing he'd ever known, constantly floored every time he looked at her, overcome with a desire to please her, to make her see those same stars she put into his eyes.

"The moon is beautiful," she nodded once with a thoughtful smile.

"You're prettier than the moon could ever be. Give me a kiss, come on."

Esté leant forward and flipped her hair over one shoulder, pressing a gentle, hesitant kiss to Tony's lips that he grinned against, enjoying the way she teased him. It took her by surprise to feel him inside of her suddenly, a gasp making Tony laugh under his breath at the way her nails dug into his shoulder before her teeth sunk into his bottom lip, her soft kiss turning hard.

She rode him like an angel and Tony was quite sure he'd died and gone to heaven as he looked up at her, feeling her grind back and forth against him pulling lucidity across his mind and dousing his body in an inexplicable pleasure that almost didn't feel real.

Estélla was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen, beating the span of the galaxy and all of its stars that had fascinated him more than anything else ever had. She, however, was more beautiful than the universe could ever compete with, made up of stardust and the shreds of the galaxy to stand tall, to stand alone above the rest.

They made love twice that morning, Tony not being able to help himself from taking seconds with her body beneath him and their hands intertwined, the sheets gripped between their clasped fingers as they looked into each other's eyes and confessed their love with a glance and a kiss, no words needing to be spoken. 

By the time they'd finished, Tony did want a coffee, and so Esté left him in the bedroom to head downstairs and make a start on breakfast. He lay in breathless silence for a while before finding the energy to get up and join his girlfriend, swinging his legs over the side of the bed and checking his phone.

The news of Brad Pitt's newest movie premiering that evening in the city came as a surprise to Tony. Esté hadn't mentioned it once and he knew she would most definitely have been invited. While he knew the history between her and Brad, Tony had also understood by that point that he'd been a good friend to her when she'd needed one and had tried to forget about the sickening fact that he too had seen her naked.

Despite his health improving since living with Esté, Tony still felt guilty about her giving up her work for a while. She undoubtedly needed a break herself to take time to heal and recharge, but he knew that she missed her job and the excitement and fulfilment that came with it, and that included the red carpet appearances that she made in support of her friends.

"I didn't know Brad's movie was premiering tonight." Tony said as he wandered into the kitchen in checked pyjamas pants and a black vest.

Esté glanced over her shoulder as she stirred the coffee, "Yeah, some fancy theatre up town."

"You didn't feel like going?"

She paused before answering, "Not really."

Tony knew straight away that she was telling a lie, walking over to her and grabbing two plates from the cupboard for their bagels.

"Why don't we go, hm? I'm sure he'd like to have you there."

Esté stopped what she was doing and looked at him, one brow raised in confusion, "Really? Y-you want to go to that? Brad's movie?"

Tony had worked hard on banishing his innate jealousy and while the thought of anybody else laying a finger on his Stella made him sick, the reminder that nobody else ever would provided a respite that he clung to with both hands.

"Why not? It'll be fun."

He watched as her face lit up, a smile reaching her eyes and flicking a sparkle into the blue. Her shoulders lifted and her excitement was clear, clear enough for Tony to swallow a hard pill and put her happiness first the way she'd done for him.

"I'll call him now," she said excitedly, "As long as you're sure you feel up to it?"

Esté placed a hand on the side of his neck, kissing his cheek once as she looked up at him with concerned eyes. He wrapped his arms around her waist and held her there with a grin and a lick of his lips.

"Honey, I just hit deeper inside of you than I've ever hit before without breaking a sweat. I can handle a red carpet."

Eight hours later, Tony and Estélla stepped out onto that red carpet hand in hand, looking like a million dollars. The cameras went wild and nobody could hear a thing besides the shouting of their names over and over again, and although it was overwhelming for Tony when he first stepped out of the car, the way Estélla grabbed his hand and gave it a tight squeeze made the anxiety disappear.

She looked stunning in a floor length red gown and high heels, the heat from the lamps and bright lights keeping her bare arms warm on the short walk down the carpet into the theatre. It was still snowing and small, white flecks landed on Tony's shoulders and in his hair, a tailored Armani suit slowly becoming covered in a soft sheen of white.

They were ushered over to an interviewer after posing for the photographers, happy to answer the generic questions that everyone attending that night had to do.

"It's so wonderful to see you both here, we weren't expecting you tonight." The reporter smiled and held out a small mic.

Tony was stood ever so slightly behind Esté, one hand curved protectively around her waist while the other was loose by his side.

"It was a last minute decision but we're super happy to be here, and so delighted for Brad, too. I'm a huge fan of everything he's a part of and I can't wait to see what a wonderful job he's done tonight."

"And Tony, we're all so relieved to see you back to your normal self. How do you feel after everything that happened?"

Esté had to bite her tongue to stop herself from answering for him, instantly worried that the reporter's question would trigger some dark memories that they'd worked hard together to help him overcome. She felt him stiffen behind her and placed a hand on top of his own that touched her waist, curling her fingers around his palm and looking up at him with a reassuring smile.

Tony caught sight of Esté's blue eyes looking into his own and felt the warmth of her fingers on his skin, giving him extra strength that he didn't know that he needed before it hit him.

"That's very kind, thank you. I feel good, I feel strong, but I wouldn't be here right now if it wasn't for my girl. She's the reason I get up the mornings and fight to get better, the reason I was so determined to make it home in the first place. Sure I'll take the praise for saving the world but...I couldn't have done it if it wasn't for her."

Estélla didn't let go of Tony for the rest of the night. Whether she was holding his hand, his arm, touching his thigh or stealing a kiss between talking to friends inside the theatre, she refused to go a second without having the feeling of him on her in some way.

The only exception was when she went to the bathroom, leaving Tony stood alone by a bar for a few moments before he was joined by a familiar face.

"I'm glad you could make it," Brad Pitt gave Tony his Hollywood smile, extending his hand towards him and returning a firm shake, "Esté around?"

"Bathroom," Tony nodded, "Congratulations on the movie, by the way."

He hadn't had the pleasure of speaking to Brad many times in his life but had held a prejudice against him since seeing him kiss Estélla in the pool at her party in the Hamptons, but the longer they spoke that night, the more Tony started to realise that he was actually a half decent guy.

Not knowing what was taking Esté so long, the two men conversed over another round of drinks and slowly started to get to know each other. Brad had held equal suspicions about Tony after hearing the rumours telling tales about what he might've done to Estélla, but it turned out that the superhero wasn't as bad as the papers sometimes made him seem.

"How is she? Estélla? I haven't spoken to her in a while."

"She's good, yeah," Tony smiled at the mentioning of her name, "Lucky to have her, you know?"

"Totally," Brad sipped his champagne, "She's a good girl, got big heart, a lot of people care about her. You'll look after her, won't you?"

It wasn't jealous that Tony sensed from Brad, but genuine concern instead. He knew that Estélla had a lot of people that cared about her, and that only made him love her more. She was adored by so many hearts but none of them loved her like he did, but not many of them had ever been given the chance.

He, however, had been given a rare second one that he probably shouldn't have been gifted and that time, Tony wasn't going to let it slip for anything.

"Always."

Brad excused himself a few minutes before Esté returned, everybody slowly finishing their drinks and heading to find their seats. He watched her make her away across the foyer, being stopped every two feet by someone wanting to kiss her cheek or give her a huge hug. Tony felt no jealousy though, only pride at how admired she really was, and the fact that it was him she was walking towards, not anybody else.

"We should probably go sit down," Esté said, polishing off the last of her drink.

Tony just smiled, brushing hair from her face with his knuckles and kissing her lips slowly, pulling away with a fierce flame burning inside his chest and a look of eternal love in his eyes that shone only for her.

"I love you," he said quietly, hand still caressing her cheek.

She blushed at the unexpected kiss and words, but smiled nonetheless, her heart skipping a beat at the way he looked at her like she was the only thing he saw, like they were completely alone in a room full of people.

"And I love you," she replied, "You okay?"

Tony nodded, teeth sinking into his lower lip as he searched her face. Everything about her reminded him of something good, something warm and something intimate, sacred and holy only to be understood by the two souls that it concerned. He knew her, he'd always known her and yet it excited him to look at her and feel like there was a future that he hadn't discovered yet, more things about her that he'd end up loving to no end.

"Never better," he whispered, kissing her forehead and taking her hand inside his own, "So long as I've got you, sweetheart."

an;;
it feels SO good to be able to write about them being happy instead of in literal ruins lmao I'm so sorry for all the stress and heartache, *hopefully* they've reached the promise land now but honestly who knows xxxx
thank you for reading besties!!!