An Act of... Love? [An Avengers Polyamorous Fanfic]

Chapter 3

I ended up crying myself to sleep on the floor and not getting any work done after Tony had left me alone. I woke up feeling awfully stupid and full of self-loathing. Why was I so stupid? Why had I even kissed Tony? And then why had I cried when he left? I'm sure some of it had to do with Mark. I groaned as I remembered Mark, wishing I could simply disappear. I kissed his boss, not even just his boss, like, his mega-boss! I kissed the owner of the company he worked for. And Tony had kissed me back... I touched my lips, a sort of longing falling over me. That kiss was the highlight of my year.

Eventually, I picked myself up off the floor and wandered the apartment until I found the spare room with my boxes of stuff. Compared to the room, and the apartment, the amount of stuff I had was extremely limited. There were three moving boxes in total, as well as my suitcase. I moved over to grab my suitcase and dragged it to the bedroom I had found while looking for the spare room. Tony hadn't lied, the closet was gigantic. I opened up my suitcase and looked at my very minimal wardrobe before I started to take items out one by one and either hung them up or put them into the built-in drawer system the closet had. Approximately twenty-five articles of clothing later, I was done. I found a step-stool in the closet as well so I used it to help me get my suitcase onto the top shelf that surrounded the closet. I also put my single pair of extra pair of shoes on the shelving space that was open for them. Within less than half an hour, I was completely done with putting my clothes away.

I went back to the spare room and focused on just unboxing everything. I had a set of blankets and pillows, some bathroom stuff, along with some intimate items locked away in lockboxes that took up the majority of one of the boxes. In the next box, it was mostly just kitchen stuff. Basic cookware, a basic dining set, and even a table cloth I splurged on once. Which meant that the last box was all of my office and living room stuff, which made sense why it was the biggest box. Inside the box, on the very top wrapped securely was my insanely old laptop, making me realize that I hadn't got the wifi password or anything. The rest of the box was mostly just books, paperwork, and research. I was lucky enough to get a grant for college, and so I had managed to gain a few degrees in the past couple of years. I enjoyed school a lot, honestly, even though I knew it wasn't something a lot of people enjoyed. Once I had everything laid out on the floor, I started putting things away in order of importance, my sex toy collection being the very first thing that made its way to a safe place in my new nightstands. I was extremely grateful that I kept all of my intimate items securely in lock boxes, therefore none of the movers had seen what was located inside the boxes. While I was at it, I put away all of the bathroom stuff and threw my soft safety blanket and comfortable pillows onto the bed without bothering to make it. Next, I focused on finding a place for all of my books, research, and my laptop. I left most of it in the living room, considering the office had a desktop in it anyway. And then I finished putting away everything else. It didn't take me terribly long at all, and then I was just left with silence. Utter, haunting silence that left me alone with my thoughts, which I absolutely didn't need.

"Friday?" I questioned quietly, still not quite sure how to interact with the AI.

"Yes, Miss Ollie?" she responded.

"What should I do with the moving boxes now that I'm unpacked?" I questioned.

"There is a recycling shoot in the kitchen you can utilize, ma'am."

"Thank you, Friday."

"My pleasure, ma'am." And so I got to breaking down the cardboard boxes and located the recycling shoot and threw them down. And then, there was quiet again. I decided to keep finding things to do, like putting my dishes in the dishwasher since they had been in transit. But within a couple of hours, I ran out of things to do. I had showered and gotten changed, so I figured I'd spend a few hours finding reference pictures and ideas to share with Tony and the designer so I wasn't running on complete nonsense. I ended up sketching out a design that separated the large living space into three tinier spaces that would be much more manageable and comfortable. One space would be blocked off by big, floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, separating what would turn out to be the larger of the three spaces and dubbed as the main hang-out area in the apartment with a large TV and a lot of plants, seeing as it was by the windows. The other space would be left a little more open, separated only by faux vine room dividers separating the two spaces to be made into a main entrance type area and a super cozy small escape. Once I was finished planning, I told Friday to inform Tony that I was ready whenever he was, and then I pulled my old large laptop into my lap and browsed for furniture I liked. It wasn't long until Friday was telling me that Tony and the designer were at my door, so I quickly went over to open it for them and let them into the large open space.

"Nice to meet you," the woman offered quickly, reaching her hand out. I shook her hand and noted, for the first time since I've been here, that she didn't send tingles all throughout my body. She quickly took to looking around the space, commenting on how she agreed that it was too open and needed some more closed-off spaces to feel cozier. I awkwardly hung around Tony, not knowing what to say to him.

"Did you sleep well?" he questioned after we stood in silence for a while as we watched Kim work. I let my eyes travel over to the floor, where I had spent my night.

"First night in a new place is always rough," I said, relying on half-truths. "I got completely unpacked this morning, though, so there is that!" I exclaimed with some excitement. Tony looked around briefly, and then he looked back at me.

"Not a lot of stuff, I take it?"

"Didn't have the money," I shrugged. "I was lucky enough to get a pre-furnished apartment within my budget the past few years. But then the price went up and I was screwed until you guys came along," I admitted. Kim interrupted us then before we got into the flow of a conversation and we all went to sit. We spent hours talking about my style, the way I wanted the place to look, and even looking at some things online. In the end, we decided to paint the main walls a dark green, to look nice against the array of plants and as a nice backdrop for an array of shelves and items to be hung on the wall. Working with Kim and Tony was rather pleasant, and soon we had a plan all laid out for everything we were going to do, and we even got everything ordered. It was the most efficient morning I'd had in a long time.

"We're all set here! I can come back after we get a lot of the pieces to help decorate and make sure things end up in a good and appeasing place and help you create your little sanctuary, but that'll probably take a week or two," Kim explained to me. I thanked her profusely and ended up showing her to the doorway, while Tony didn't move from my couch.

"You sure she knows her way out of here?" I questioned as I made my way back over to the couch.

"Yes, Buttercup. She has been up to the residential floors many times before," he assured me as I sat next to him, a decent bit of distance between him and me.