The scars will last forever, but nothing compares to the pain that put them there.
• • •
"Red or white?" Tony awkwardly asked, fidgeting with his collar as they sat in a secluded area in a fancy restaurant.
"Red."
The waiter nodded quickly, even he sensed the tension and the awkwardness of the atmosphere between the two of them.
"So...how've you been?" Leaning across the table, he tried to force a smile, and yet to his shock she let out a groan, and snapped.
"Just fucking ask why already, Stark!"
She knew.
She knew that what happened this morning was still fresh on his mind, and it was quite clear that it was all he was thinking about.
"Alright fine! Why?" He frowned.
Not anger.
No.
In confusion.
"I don't understand, Evelyn. If anything her insults to me should have made you feel better. Why...why were you defending me?"
"I know you hurt me. I know you didn't sleep with her, but it still hurt me that you had her next to you. I know that, Tony, I do. But that doesn't mean she gets to talk about you that way. You're still my friend, you're still my...family. And yeah, maybe things didn't work out between us, but I'm willing to try and be your friend."
Evelyn gave him a smile, and to her surprise, his frown deepened, and his face fell even more.
A few minutes later, they both hadn't said anything, just simply gazed into each other's eyes, and awkwardly looked away.
"You kissed him," And as if it had to get more awkward, "that night. You kissed him."
Tony nodded to no one in particular, remembering how every fibre of his being suffered as she did so.
"I did." She agreed.
Playing with the food on his plate, he peered up at her, his brown eyes piercing through her facade.
And in that moment he knew, that she was anything but okay.
"What happened, Evelyn?" He dropped his fork, and leaned closer to her with a concerned frown.
"What do you mean?" Her resolve was crumbling, she knew that he saw right through her.
He always did.
"No, hey. Don't." He stopped her when tears welled up in her eyes, and stood up abruptly, and threw an absurd amount of money on the table, apparently paying for the food, and walked them out of the glass doors.
"Why are you crying?"
"I'm not." She protested.
"You will in just a second." And just when he said, she threw herself in his arms, heavy drops of wet tears sliding down her cheeks, soaking his white dress shirt.
"I hate them." He said, referring to his tears.
"I know." She barely even chocked out, nuzzling her face into his chest, as she sobbed.
"I'm tired, Tony. I really am tired, and I want to leave." She shook her head, creating a few distances between them.
"Why did you kiss him, Evelyn?" Tony Stark raised his arm up a bit, as if shielding himself from the rain that was falling all over the both of them in the dark night sky.
"I didn't kiss him! I used him! I fucking used him, he was my friend, and I used him for my own selfish benefit. I used him to get the one thing I never got from you. I knew he fell in love with me, it was written all over him. I knew he loved me, and I couldn't help but resent you for that. I hated you because you couldn't give me that. I used him, I used him..."
He didn't want this.
Tony Stark didn't want to listen to her anymore, he didn't want her to feel the way she felt because he knew, deep down that it is his fault.
Running his hand through her now wet hair, he pulled her towards her, savouring every minute he touched her.
Savouring every moment he had her this close to him.
"Shh."
Placing a kiss on top of her head, he rested his chin on top of it, and whispered.
"You didn't. You didn't use him, Vee, you were...moving on. You were looking for a man who wouldn't hurt you, a man who could give you the things that I couldn't."
He was trying to assure her, to tell her that she wasn't using him, but every word that left Stark's lips felt foul on his tongue.
Every word that left made his heart hurt more.
"I wanted to answer you." She whispered, nuzzling her face into his warm neck, shielding herself from the rain.
"What?"
"When you called back then...I wanted to answer you. I wanted...I wanted to answer you, Tony."
"Why didn't you?"
"I was scared." Wrapping her arms around his neck, she watched as he slowly wiped each one of her tears and gave her a kiss on each eye lid.
"What were you scared of?"
"Running back to you." Evelyn chuckled, pathetically.
"Hon, I'm not sure if you're aware of it, but it's kind of the other way around here." He smirked, and listened to the sound of her laugh.
"Listen...I know that dinner went horribly, and judging by your tear stained cheeks, I believe that you agree with me, so I was wondering if we would give this another shot. If you'd like to meet my friends? The team?" He smiled slowly, running a hand through his wet hair, that fell on his forehead.
She hesitated.
"Come on, Vee. Let me make up this dreadful night with something fun, and I promise I won't kiss you this time when I do ask you." He chuckled, giving her a view of his pearly white teeth.
"Alright...what did you have in mind?" She asked.
"Do you want to come over tomorrow? I'll even serve you a Stark-made lasagna if you do." He was trying his luck here, but he hoped that she would agree.
"You burned down the kitchen last time you tried to do that." She reminded him of last year's incident.
"Never mind that. I'll bring your favourite wine, too." He nodded, enthusiastically, feeling that she might actually agree.
"Alright, fine." She nodded.
"Okay, yay." He chirped like a kid in a candy store.
"Should I bring desert?"
And she just had to ask.
"I don't want to say something very cheesy and inappropriate right now, so I'm just gonna settle for a no." Leaning down, he threw her over his shoulder, ignoring his protests, and made his way towards his orange Audi.
A warm feeling settling deep inside him.
That she just might take him back.