PALLADIUM CONCENTRATION: 89%
"Do you know which watch you'd like to wear tonight, Mr Stark?"
Tony quickly flicked off the hologram displaying the poisoning levels in his body, clearing his throat as he buttoned up his shirt to cover the arc reactor and turned to see Natalie entering the room, holding a box full of his different watches.
"I'll give them a look," Tony looked at the woman behind him through the mirror before turning to face her. "I should cancel the party, huh?"
"Probably," she responded as she walked toward him. "It's ill-timed, sends the wrong message, inappropriate."
Taking the drink that Natalie was handing him, Tony took a sip as he sat down in one of the arm chairs of his bedroom, looking up at Natalie as she stood beside him, waiting for instructions.
"Gold face, brown hand. The Jaeger. I'll give that a look. Bring them over,"
Natalie retrieved the box once again, handing it over to Tony before she sat down on the coffee table in front of him, crossing her legs as she waited and watched. The man flicked through the different bands, looking as if his mind was elsewhere.
"Something on your mind, Mr. Stark?"
"Yeah...can I ask you a question, hypothetically?" Natalie gave him a small nod as Tony rubbed his face nervously. "Bit odd. If this was your last birthday party you were ever gonna have, how would you celebrate it?"
"I'd do whatever I wanted to do with whoever I wanted to do it with," she told him simply, taking the case from his hands and rising to her feet, walking toward the door once more. She stopped in her tracks, looking at him from over her shoulders with a smirk. "...maybe start with telling your best friend that you're in love with her."
Tony snorted, shaking his head with a grin as his assistant left the room, leaving him to mull over her words.
It really could be the last birthday party he ever has...what did he have to lose?
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Stepping out of the vehicle and passing the keys to the hired valet for the night, Nathan and Audelia linked arms as they walked up the driveway toward the Stark residence, cameras flashing and questions shouted their way as the pair ignored them all and made their way inside.
"I can't believe I'm an hour late to my own best friend's birthday party," Deli grumbled under her breath, fixing her dress as she reached into her purse, popping another mint into her mouth before Nathan took her bag and placed it in the entryway closet.
"You were dehydrated and pale as a ghost, I wasn't letting you come until we got you back to stable levels," Deli raised an eyebrow at him as Nate held up his hands with a smile. "Perks of being engaged to a doctor, I know what I'm doing. We're here now, let's just focus on that."
Taking her hand inside of his, the couple was stopped at the sound of their voices being called from the front door. Deli turned around with a smile, letting go of Nate as she held out her arms to hug Rhodey as she approached them.
"How's he doing?" Rhodey asked her quietly as Nathan said hello to someone in the background. Deli only gave a shrug of her shoulders.
"Not sure, I've been sick so we just got here. Government still keeping an eye on him?"
"I'm here as a guest and as their little spy," Deli laughed at Rhodey's comment. "No, unfortunately I'm serious. I just stuck my neck out for him on the way over here, I just don't want him to make me regret it."
"It's Tony. If there's anything he's good at, it's making us regret things," the friends shared a laugh until they saw Pepper approaching them from the corner of their eyes. "Pep, you okay?"
"I'm just going to get some air..."
"What's wrong?"
Pepper silently led Rhodey and Deli over to the living room, Nathan trailing quickly behind them. A sigh left Pepper's lips as Rhodey and Deli's eyes widened at the sight of a drunk-off-his-ass Tony Stark stumbling around the room in the Iron Man suit.
"You gotta be kidding me," Rhodey muttered under his breath as he gestured angrily toward Tony. "I just stuck my neck out for this guy!"
"I know, I know. I just don't know what to do," Pepper replied as Nathan spoke to her, trying to calm her down. Rhodey looked around before leaning in toward Audelia, whispering in her ear.
"Did you bring your suit?"
"I thought I was coming to celebrate his birthday, not have to put on a suit and fight him," Deli shot back as she narrowed her eyes toward Tony. "I left it at home. Besides, if Imperial shows up here and no one saw me they'd put the pieces together too easily."
"Well, someone needs to get him under control somehow before I have to handle this myself, and that won't end pretty,"
"Give me a minute," Deli muttered under her breath, squeezing Rhodey's arm quickly and holding up a finger to Pepper and Nathan to ask for a moment before making her way toward her best friend.
Pushing through the edges of the crowd, full of women in short dresses (and almost nothing at all), Audelia moved along the edge toward the makeshift stage that Tony in the Iron Man suit was currently standing on top of with a microphone.
"You know, the question I get asked most often is, 'Tony, how do you go to the bathroom in the suit?'," Tony smirked, staring out at the crowd for a moment of silence before bringing the microphone back to his lips. "Just like that."
Audelia let out an uncomfortable laugh with the rest of the crowd, placing a hand on Tony's armor as she took the microphone out of his hands as the crowd cheered at the sight of her on the stage.
"Oh, Tony you know just how to throw a party," she said into the mic, faking a smile as she waved at the crowd. "You know, this party was so much fun, absolutely unbelievable. We can't thank you all enough for coming out to support Tony on his birthday, but all good things must come to an end. We've reached that point of the night where we all need to say good night!"
The crowd booed as Tony shook his head, turning Audelia to face him as she covered the microphone to keep everyone from hearing their conversation.
"No! No, Dell, we didn't even have the cake yet or blow out the candles..."
"Tony, you need to trust me on this," She told him seriously, almost pleading with him. "You're out of control, you're going to hurt someone or you're going to get yourself hurt."
"But- but there's things I wanted to talk to you about! I was going to tell you and then we were going to- going to celebrate!"
"Whatever it is you have to tell me, we can talk about it in the morning when you're not drunk," Deli told him, placing a hand on the chest piece of the suit as she pushed him back slightly. "Tony...please, if you keep this going you're going to do something you regret when you're sober."
"I don't regret anything when you're involved-"
"Tony, you literally just peed in your suit," Audelia cut in with a hard glare at him. "Shut it down, now. It's time to go to bed."
Tony sighed, rolling his eyes as Audelia handed him the microphone and took the alcohol bottle out of his hands. He banged slightly on the mic before turning to address the crowd before him.
"Audelia's right. The party's over. Then again, the party was over for me, like, an hour and a half ago. The after-party starts in 15 minutes!" Deli closed her eyes, taking a deep breath as she shook her head in anger. "And if anybody- Dell -doesn't like it, there's the door."
The shattering of glass had Deli backing away in shock, Tony having just shot his repulsor at the glass walls near the stairs. The crowd was stunned for a moment before cheering, many of the women in the crowd throwing items into the air as Tony shot them down for their enjoyment.
Deli's frantic eyes searched the crowd, finding Pepper and Nathan as they watched on in shock. She locked eyes with Rhodey, seeing him shaking his head in disappointment of their friend before he took off to some part of the house.
Clenching her fist, Audelia wasn't taking no for an answer.
Jumping off the stage and grabbing onto Tony's arm, she whipped her best friend around to look down at her, his helmet mask up so that he could see the anger in her eyes.
"We need to talk, right now," Deli stood her ground, glaring at him. "I mean it, right now."
Tony rolling his eyes, waving to the crowd as Audelia took hold of his armored hand, dragging him off through the crowd and through the door into the empty kitchen. The door slammed shut behind her as she turned to face Tony, standing directly in front of him with her arms crossed.
"You need to shut this down right now before the rest of us have to step in and do it for you," Tony rolled his eyes as Audelia grabbed onto his helmet, tugging his face back to look at her. "Don't look away from me when I'm speaking to you. You are absolutely out of control, Tony, you're going to get someone hurt. Why are you being this out of control?"
"I'm not being out of control-"
"Yes, you most certainly are-"
"Dell, I'm just having some fun-"
"At the expense of getting someone hurt-"
"Jesus, Dell, I'm in the midst of dying! Just let me enjoy my last birthday party ever!"
Tony's words froze the woman as a hand came up to hold her mouth, her feet stumbling away from him as he just stared at her, the alcohol messing with his head and prohibiting him from realizing the wight of his words.
"You're dying?" Deli whispered, tears pooling in her eyes as she stared at him incredulously. Her eyes trailed down to stare at the arc reactor within the suit, realization dawning upon her as anger coursed through her. "Palladium poisoning. The reactor has a Palladium core...how could you not tell me this! You're dying and you didn't tell me? You didn't tell anyone? Oh that's right, because Tony Stark thinks he can do everything on his own! How dare you, after what happened with my mother, think that you could hid this from me. I could've helped you, we could've worked together and found a viable replacement-"
Audelia Motter was cut off by Tony Stark pressing his lips against her own.
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Oops, did I do that? 😉