Mark XLVII or Marc Jacobs?

“I prefer to be around to balance your father’s manic energy.”  Pepper eyed the menu, trying to decide how she’d prefer her caffeine today.  “The exact energy that smirk implied,” she chuckled before placing her order.  Her own eyebrow rose in a match to his.  She loved encouraging the interest in actually running the company.  “And which department were you volunteering to run for me?”

“God knows somebody’s gotta do it. Nobody seems to have the gift like you do,” he grinned, ordering a vanilla latte with a double shot of espresso. And it was true, nobody could reign in the head of the Stark household (or even tell him what to do) like his mother could. He’d always admired that about her. Blue eyes lit up when she asked James which department he’d run. “Uh- I mean, any of them! Which one do you need the most help in? Which one do you think I’d be able to  handle the best?” He asked, sounding a bit more frantic than he’d meant to.

Pepper flicked a brow at the car - she was certain this hadn’t been his car last time they’d talked, but then again sometimes these things changed often.  “I just arrived,” she replied, then gave her own restrained smirk. “I’m sure we’ll hear the board from here when they realized I’m no longer in the city, but the benefits of having multiple branches is that I have multiple offices. They just have to come to me for now.”

It didn’t take long to get to the coffee shop but James didn’t exactly drive the speed limit either. “What, didn’t trust Dad to watch us by himself?” He gave his mother a smirk that probably looked eerily similar to the ones his father gave. As they entered the coffee hop a brow popped up, “Another big benefit of having multiple offices is that you can give one to your son so he can help lighten the load for you, right?” He asked in almost a singsong voice.

“Hmm.” She returned his hug, doing her best to ignore the blood since he seemed to want it overlooked.  “I’m never too busy for you.  And coffee sounds fantastic.”

“Awesome,” he walked towards the parking lot, finding the blue Aston Martin he’d just traded Howard for and opening the passenger door for his mother before hopping in the driver’s seat heading to the coffee shop close to campus. “So when’d you get in? And what’d the company have to say about you leaving?”

“But that was a sweet enough try that I’ll let it slide this time…as long as you’re truly alright?”

“Scout’s honor. I feel like a million bucks.” He nodded, and walked over to hug his mother, careful not to get any blood on her. “Or at least, I will after I get to have a cup of coffee and talk with my mom? If you’re not too busy, of course.”

“I should hope so.  Do I want to know caused that?”

“Uhm... Would you believe me if I said I was banging my head against a wall because I missed you so much?”

“Seriously, James?” she arched a brow at him, shaking her head. “That is more than ‘just a little boo boo’. What the hell even happened?”

He wiped some of the blood out of his eye. “It seriously isn’t that bad. I fell off a skateboard, no big deal. I ended up hitting a rock at just the right angle, that’s the only reason it looks this bad.”

“Signy was forged by some of the best ironmakers on Asgard” she said, as she dodged his fire.  “And she’s been in my family for generations. Remind me again how long a suit lasts in your family?” She smirked. She may have heard stories about James’s father back on Asgard.

He had to smile at her last comment from under the helmet. “The suit itself is the legacy. We pride ourselves on constant improvement.” ‘Improvement, or replacement, sir?’ “Nobody asked you, DIANA.” He flew up a few feet in the air and attempted a few more shots with the repulsor beams.

“Who are Rick and Morty? And why are you watching them? That’s kind of creepy” she said with a confused look. She jumped as the suit’s pieces flew into the room. She wasn’t sure she would ever get used to that. “Signy and I are going to crush you and DIANA” she said. Then she swung her sword at him.

“What? No, they’re not people, it’s a sh- OH shit!” He barely had enough time to fire the thrusters in his hands and feet to get him just out of range of her sword which still managed to leave a nice cut in his chest plate. “Well, unless Signy is a highly intelligent copilot designed by yours truly, I still think we hold the advantage,” he bantered as he fired a concussive repulsor blast from his right hand.

winnie sipped the excess drink from her glass before filling it with more juice, wincing and giggling. that was awful, but she didn’t mind it so much. she looked over at james and found herself grinning wider at his laugh. “are you making fun of me?” she asked, beaming. she’d allow it, even if he was. wetting her lips, winifred sat back with a smile. there was so much she could say… the only stark child she’d spoken about her previous trip to east timor had been james (howard didn’t get it, and dora was too young), so she wouldn’t mind telling him. but she didn’t want to bore him. “oh, you know. as heartbreaking and as wonderful as you’d expect. tell me about what i’ve missed. look at you – when did you get this handsome? pretty sure you didn’t look like this five years ago.”

He grinned and held his index finger and thumb a small distance from each other. “I mean, a little bit. Maybe like this much.” He leaned back in his chair, sipping from his drink. James wondered what she meant by as heartbreaking and as wonderful as he’d expect. If it had been him, that could have meant any number of things, but with someone as innocent as Winnie, there was no telling. A laugh broke when she asked when he got this handsome. “Who, me? Well, I could have sworn, I’ve always been this handsome.” He thought back, “But then again, I did have that mop on my head last time you saw me, didn’t I?” He recalled with a chuckle. “But really, I could say the same thing to you. When did you grow up so much?” He took a longer drink as he prepared to fill her in on the events in his life she’d missed. “Let’s see.. When we last spoke was I at MIT or Cambridge? Well, either way, graduated from both schools, went to two more. Did an internship with mom at SI before I decided to come here, uh.. what else?” A pregnant pause. “Oh, right. Did you know I was engaged for a while? I think you were already on the other side of the world when Chloe and I started dating.”

the redhead couldn’t even bring herself to sit up when he walked in, but she had noticed his entry; she seemed to be coming back around. that was probably a good thing. she didn’t say anything, but instead caught his hand as he sat beside her. winifred didn’t really have words to express how she was feeling. she wasn’t okay, despite the fact that it had been james trying to contact her being a comforting thought. she linked her fingers through his and said nothing for a very long time. not being able to for a very long time.

she’d had a moment like this, once, in their childhood. bruce had told them she was tired, but james had stuck his head in to check on her anyway. he’d laid beside her for ages, distracting her from her thoughts. he’d rescued her then, and it seemed he was doing the same. winifred wondered if he thought she might’ve hurt herself. she didn’t blame her. with a heavy sigh, she managed two words: “i’m sorry.”

James knew something was up when she didn’t sit up to greet him, instead grabbing his hand as he sat down. He knew that she was in a bad state of mind, but didn’t want to force her to speak on it. He figured she wasn’t in much of a talking mood, so he just sat there, fingers intertwined with hers. He didn’t mind the silence and thought it was much better than him trying to say the right thing and failing. Knowing her history and what had happened to her mother, James just wanted to be sure she was safe. He’d sit there as long as he needed to to make sure she was okay.

When Winnie finally broke the silence, it almost startled James who’d grown used to the quiet. He shook his head and shushed her when he heard what she’d said. “No, no, no. You have nothing to apologize for, Win, nothing at all.” He ran his free hand along her back attempting to comfort her. “I was just worried about you, that’s all. With all this craziness going on, I just wanted to make sure you didn’t end up missing too, or.. Or hurt or anything else.”

Her reaction had been more of a muscle memory than anything. Over the years she had helped clean him up numerous times but the way she saw it, she was at least putting her medical training to good use. On impulse, Chloe ran her finger along his jaw but the moment she realized what she was doing she pulled her hand back like she’d been burned. “Wait, you ran into a tree?” She asked to make sure she’d heard him right. To stop herself from busting out laughing, the half-Kryptonian bit into her lip so hard she tasted blood. “Shouldn’t your suit have protected you? Isn’t that kinda the purpose of those?”

An absent smile came across his features at her touch. The touch that always let him know everything was going to be better, no matter how badly he’d hurt himself. Her finger ran along his jaw and all he wanted was to kiss her the same way he used to when they were in this position. But he knew he couldn’t do that now, it was apparent by how quickly she’d pulled her hand back snapping him out of the memory. He nodded, a bit embarrassed by the source of his injury. “Yeah, I hit a tree. Go ahead and yuk it up, I know you want to.” He looked down to the floor, “Yeah, it’s not DIANA’s fault, I was a little distracted. I was actually, uh... sending a text.” He admitted sheepishly.

@ironbornheir​

although winifred hadn’t stayed the night in her room the night of the bonfire, the second she had returned to it she had gotten into bed and stayed there since. she’d drifted in and out of sleep for hours, dissociating wildly. how dreadfully, frighteningly like her mother she was. faintly, she heard her phone vibrate again. how many times had it gone off? winnie couldn’t bring herself to care.

He’d heard from Dad that Winnie was having a difficult time after the events of the bonfire. It was her roommate that had gone missing after all, so James was sending texts to the redhead to make sure she was okay. After a while of his messages not getting a response, he grew worried. After about four unanswered texts, he’d had enough and was on his way to check on his friend. 

“Winnie?” He called from the other side of the door, but got no answer. It didn’t take him long to pick the lock, he was a little better at it than he cared to admit, but he let out a huge sigh of relief when he saw the girl in  her bed unharmed. “Oh my God, there you are. You know I’ve been trying to get a hold of you for like an hour, why haven’t you answered your phone?” He titled his head when he noticed all the lights were off and she just lay there. “Hey, you okay?” He asked, sitting on the edge of the bed without waiting to be invited.

Grabbing him by the chin to get a better look, Chloe sighed. “Oh, for Rao’s sake… who did you pick a fight with now?”

“Chloe, really, it’s not-” By that time she was already taking a closer look. “It’s nothing, really. I didn’t pick any fights with anybody this time,” he smiled proudly. “Just flying around a bit, wasn’t looking where I was going and hit a tree.”

“I mean, you could always have a pool party for your birthday? That’s a positive. I don’t think I could handle that sort of craziness of having my birthday on or close to New Year’s Day. Oh, out of curiosity I suppose and it’s today actually.

“Yeah, after the first few, pool parties kinda get old. Having a New Year’s Eve party that just becomes a birthday party, though? That’d be kickass.” His eyes widened. “It’s your birthday today?! Aw man, I wish I had a gift to give you!”

“Look, I’m not saying no. I just need some time to think things over, that’s all.”

“Hey, suit yourself. I’m just saying, it’s not every day somebody’s willing to pay you to help them prank their little brother. Pretty easy money if you ask me.”

Nervously fiddling with her necklace, Ariel sat outside and looked up into the sky with a sigh. “You ever just wish that your birthday wasn’t on the day that it was? Would you rather have one during the holidays, or when you’re stuck working or at school?”

James shrugged at the question. “I mean, I guess. My birthday’s in August, so most times it’s pretty hot.  If I could pick a day, i guess it’d be cool to have my birthday on New Year’s Day, but I’ve never given it too much thought to be honest. Why do you ask, when’s yours?”