Nora's surprise at Tony's unexpected invitation to his lab was palpable. She blinked, momentarily taken aback, despite being here for just a few weeks she knew one thing clear as ice, it was the fact that Tony cherished his sanctuary– his lab. Whenever things get a bit stressful or he has to take refuge from the team, that's where he goes.

Sometimes cutting even Bruce access to it. It hadn't happened in front of her, but she had heard Bruce mentioning it once.

"Join you in the lab?" Nora quirked an eyebrow, her skepticism evident in the way she looked around the common room as if expecting this to be a prank, "Is this some sort of elaborate plot to test my sanity or... perhaps an experiment to see how long it takes for me to flee in terror?"

The comment aroused amusement from Tony, he fought back a smile and leaned back on the couch with a shrug– feigning innocence, "Oh, come on. I promise the lab won't bite. Well, not unless you accidentally activate the malfunctioning A.I. prototype or get your hand stuck in the new gauntlet, but that's a minor detail,"

She sighed, the tension easing. "And here I thought you'd be too busy calculating the trajectory of your next world changing invention,"

"Ah, believe me, I am sure this new invention would change this world but I can spare some kindness of my heart by helping a lonely soul–gotta get some good karma, you know," he said, tapping his temple with a lopsided grin, "So, keep me company during the late-night tinkering sessions or you can say the late night world revolutionary sessions?"

Tony had never really invited anyone to his lab except Bruce because it was a place where he could pour his heart out during what he does best-- make things. Or just spent the difficult times of night, when the burden on his heart felt far heavier than the one on his eyes.

But he also couldn't bear seeing her in the common room, her frame looking so out of place and small in the vast setting while she probably dwells in thoughts she wants to forget. Not when, having her in the lab would give him a welcome escape from his thoughts too and maybe...a person he could share things with.

He quickly shook his head at the thought, No, hoping was painful, he had learned that the hard way. If he would expect something from this world, it would only hurt when it would break– once again tearing him apart.

And still...

He couldn't help but look at her emerald pools and wish that this time would be different. Maybe this time someone would be there to look at him and see him.

It was probably a futile hope stemming from the fact that he had seen the fleeting concern in her eyes when he refused food, the reluctance to leave him alone when his eyes do not have the same glow, how there is always fresh food on the plate near his lab when he locks himself in.

God, please.

Nora's lips curved into a wry smile, after she searched his eyes and only find sincerity and mischief, "So, what now? Am I your midnight muse? Should I expect a poetic ode to sleeplessness?"

"More like a limerick," Tony replied, huffing a laugh. And then there were also her witty quips that kept him entertained, wasn't she a package deal of perfect things? "Hmm, something like there once was a girl named Nora, who—"

"—who couldn't sleep, so she joined a billionaire's lab," Nora finished, shaking her head and hiding the smile that threatened to escape her lips, "sounds like the beginning of a twisted fairy tale,"

He leaned closer just a inch, his hand reaching out to remove the felt from her hair, his touch lingered for just a moment longer. All while her eyes flickered from his honey pools to his hand, leaning back, he stood up for some moments rocking on his heels, "And they all lived sleepily ever after?"

Nora shook her head, to clear the faintest flicker of warmth that ignited in her heart, "You're incorrigible,"

"Guilty as charged," he offered her his hand, the calloused scars that marked the edges creating a raw canvas in the light, "shall we, my insomniac accomplice?"

She hesitated for just a moment, before her hand rested on his, "Just promise me, no exploding experiments or... sentient robot,"

"Deal," he said, leading her toward the lab with a grin, "...but no guarantees," he completed earning a smack to his shoulder.

As they walked side by side, Nora realized that maybe—just maybe—Tony Stark wasn't entirely insufferable. Perhaps he was the unexpected ally she needed in her sleepless nights, a handsome distraction from the ghosts that haunted her.

And so, with a mix of curiosity and trepidation, Nora stepped into the heart of invention, wondering if this odd partnership would lead to answers—or more delightful chaos. And so, the night she once spent clawing at her memories started to turn into something more. In the morning the training session and the moon time was filled with seeing Tony tinkering with his stuff and a playful banter here and there.

She never thought she could achieve normalcy to this extent, but she was grateful for it.

─── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

The lab hummed with its glowing screens and whirring machinery, while Tony worked with furrowed eyebrows and a slight pout of lips, before the machine again short circuited the sparks flying in the air.

With a sigh he kept it away leaning back on his chair and running a hand through his face, grumbling something along the lines of 'stupid machine' and 'won't listen to me'.

This piece was irritating him more than usual, and that was quite evident in how he glared at it– like it was the reason for world destruction, or like it was plotting something against him.

"Stop glaring at the machinery, Tony, it isn't going to talk back to you or tell you how it will function," Nora said, as she entered the lab, the door shutting behind her while she made her way to the couch kept near his workbench.

A couch that wasn't there before, a couch Tony had ordered a few days ago and got it accommodated in his lab. When she had asked the reason, he had shrugged and said it wasn't needed before because there was no one who visited his lab or stayed here, but now since it had been coming here for a few weeks now, since they both spent the night together in his lab over a cup of coffee or occasional wine, he thought it would be better if she could sit or rest somewhere more comfortable.

He acted like it wasn't a big deal.

But for him it was, and he didn't realize how big it was for her too.

Despite how much he had tried to convince himself that he didn't need anyone, that letting someone in would just hurt him at the end, his heart wouldn't listen to him or his warnings. The heart which beneath layers of sarcasm and wit craves someone's presence wouldn't listen to him, since it had seen the hope, the light in her. Since it had realized that maybe she wasn't someone who would judge before knowing anything, and she matched his sarcasm with her wits– and that was something.

Maybe that's why the heart is called a betrayer too.

But what was life, if he wouldn't even try to grasp at the opportunities life place in front of him? So, why not try a last time on people too? And that's where he stands right now, trying to make her feel welcome and comfortable even when he had no idea how to do that.

It had been months since the couch had graced his lab.

For her, it meant so much more than a passing gesture.

He was trying to make her feel comfortable, she could see that. And it meant more than anything, to think that he would think about her or her comfort when she is not even in front of him. Spending the nights in his lab was already a favor she couldn't possibly repay him in her life.

Because for the first time in her life–for the first time she had escaped all the darkness and started living a life in search of a light for her darkness, had she smiled properly, had felt...happy.

Who could have thought that she would ever associate herself with that emotion, but standing beside him while he is working, talking with him about his past missions or when she talks about hers', she had felt the taste of it.

Because Tony Stark was surprisingly a very good listener and just as much as an amazing...person.

She never knew how good it felt by talking– by having someone to talk to about everything, the big things, small things, everyday matters, stupid stuff. She didn't know how good it felt before she started spending time with him.

She was wary at first, talking and opening up with him--even if he would just ask her about her standard SHIELD missions containing a lot of espionage and covering up identity (he had always found spy work cool)– even if it was far from her past. She had half expected him to get bored, or not listen at all... or worse--say something that she knew would cut her feelings deep.

But,he didn't. Not even once. He was a good listener--the best. He would hear her speak, while he tinkered with his stuff, giving her a smirk or amused smile in between whenever she reached any saucy part. If anything, he ground her, his quippy remarks whenever he would feel the undercurrent of sadness or uncertainty in her tone. The subtle change of topic, if he could feel it treading into an uncomfortable territory.

He was...nice.

And then there were also the times when he would talk about himself, his new inventions or the ones he is planning to make. She loved how his eyes would light up– almost like cosplaying galaxies– when he would realize that she was actually listening, how he would gesture wildly with his hands explaining stuff when she would ask a question.

And then there were also the nights when she would bring vodka or wine in with some glasses, and before both of them could think much they both would end up in couches with wine glass in hands talking about stuff they wouldn't normally talk about.

Him talking about his parents. Showing her a picture once when he was fifteen, he had his mother smiling cheerfully at the camera. Talking about how he sometimes feels like that time was all just a dream, how sometimes he wishes this time was a dream and he would wake up again for him to only be sleeping with his head in her lap. How he wanted to... correct things with his father too, despite how terrible he was as a parent.

Nora hadn't realized how terrible he was until he had confessed one of the worst moments of his life. When he was eighteen and his father hit him for the first time, how his heart had clenched more than anything, the ache much more than the sting on his cheek, how his mother had been angry and stood there but had done... nothing. She had loved Howard too much to actually do something seriously.

She talks about her time at SHIELD. How it had hurt when people would look at her differently due to the choices she had made in the past, how it had hurt more when they hadn't even given her a chance to explain herself– they had been contended in just distancing them from her, making her an outcast.

The slightly emotional confessions of how she didn't really know how a family felt like– joining SHIELD though wasn't her choice, but when it was offered there was a brief flicker of hope in her chest that she would find people she could call a family, some friends. But maybe she deserved it, maybe this was just her past repaying her.

And Tony? He had told her how it was the biggest mistake of their life if they didn't try to get to know her– the one person who could have become the most amazing person of their life. She had whispered that time, looking down at her wine, how he didn't know her past, how he didn't know the darkness that came with it. And he? He had told how it didn't really matter, all people at Avengers had done one thing or another that could be connected to darkness, and how atleast to him, there wasn't anything that would make him hate her. How even when she hadn't told him about her past, he had shrugged and told how it didn't matter to him, not when she was one of the best friends he could have hoped for.

It was a drunk confession, a confession he had told her not to bring up again the next day when they were sober. He had a reputation to maintain after all.

A confession she brought up from time to time to tease him anyway.

In all, what she wanted to say was that, he is an... amazing person, someone she is glad she took out time to get to know.

And for him, well, she had become someone due to whom he looked forward to the nights he dreaded before.

She flopped down on the couch, as she raised the vodka bottle droplets clinging to its surface due to condensation, "Another wine night full of stupidity and confession? What do you say, Stark?"

Tony cleaned his hand with the rag cloth beside his workbench before flopping down beside her and snatching the bottle away, "I say, that due to this stupid machinery, I very much need some stupidity and wine,"

The glass clinked with each other as he poured the vodka in, they both did a 'cheer' with their glasses before drowning them in.