Chapter Text
Jane lay sideways on the couch, staring angrily at the screen. This was supposed to be an action movie. She remembered it being an action movie.
As Jane watched, Keanu Reeves held Sandra Bullock so tight it was a wonder she could still get her lines out. He stroked her hair like she was the most precious thing in the universe while Sandra Bullock repeated, "You didn't leave me. I can't believe it."
Jane pressed her lips firmly together and rewound the moment to watch it again.
"You didn't leave me. I can't believe it. You didn't leave me."
Again.
"You didn't leave me. I can't believe it. You didn't leave me."
The kiss hit her like a punch to the chest, and Jane had to blink back some tears. She sniffed in a breath and swallowed a lump in her throat, but it was no good. The tears still fell.
She let the movie keep playing as she swiped at her cheeks, trying to get rid of the evidence of her crying. As if that would erase the fact that she had.
"I have to warn you. I've heard relationships based on intense experiences never work."
Jane scoffed out a curse, but then her lower lip started trembling and she rewound the scene again.
There was a knock at the side of the room and Jane twisted around, half sitting up, and took another swipe at her cheeks with the palm of her hands.
"Tony?" she asked.
"Hey," he said softly. Then he nodded to the TV. "You know, if that was a VHS the tape would've snapped by now," he joked.
Jane managed to puff out a chuckle as she continued to blink back tears.
"That makes two of us," she retorted wryly.
As she pushed herself upright and tugged the afghan back over her legs, Tony smiled at her in a way that said he knew how she felt.
She wasn't surprised. He was going through a breakup of his own.
"Wanna talk about it?" Tony asked.
He made his way into the lounge and sat beside Jane on the sofa. Taking her hand in his, he slowly pried the remote out of it and turned off the TV before setting the remote on the coffee table.
He didn't let go of her hand, though. Just gave it a squeeze.
"Not really?" Jane answered.
She offered Tony a slightly watery smile, but when he gave her hand a little tug, she fell easily against his shoulder. This wasn't the first time he'd found her on the sofa crying over a movie, although this was the first time that the movie in question wasn't a romance.
Tony lifted up his arm and wrapped it around her shoulders, pulling her in tight against his chest and just cradling her there. Jane closed her eyes and breathed in the familiar scent of him. His cologne. His deodorant. Underneath both, a hint of metal shavings and singed cotton.
She felt herself smiling. No matter how many times JARVIS tried to warn him, he never did wear a leather smock when he was welding.
After some companionable silence, Tony gave her a little squeeze.
"So," he began. "Speed?"
Jane laughed and pushed herself back up with one hand on Tony's thigh.
"There's a romantic subplot!" she pointed out reasonably. "And-" her bravado faded and her face dimmed again.
"I heard," Tony nodded. "He stayed with her."
Jane nodded. Then she sighed.
"Relationships based on intense experiences never work."
She was quoting, but the emphasis was all her own. She knew from experience, now.
Meeting Thor had been the most intense experience of her life, and he'd literally swept her off her feet. But that wasn't enough to base a relationship on. Not when he was never there. Not when he barely even remembered she existed most of the time.
"Neither do workplace romances," Tony agreed with a sigh of his own.
What a pair. A couple of romantic losers who wanted the epic highs of a love affair for the ages but were destined to be left behind and left alone.
Jane leaned back over and rested her head on Tony's shoulder again. She wished that things had worked out between him and Pepper. Tony was a great guy, and he really deserved to be happy.
"Want me to make some popcorn?" she asked. "You can pick the movie?"
Tony breathed out a chuckle. "Sure, why not?"
It was becoming a habit, the two of them watching movies together in the middle of the night. What else was there to do at 1am?
"How about Alien?" Tony suggested as Jane got up to go to the kitchen. Then he grinned. "Unless you think the tension between Sigourney Weaver and the xenomorph will be too much?"
Jane tried to swat him but he ducked out of the way.
"Watch it, Stark!" she said, wagging a finger at him.
"Or what?" he laughed.
"Or-" Jane paused, mouth open. "Or I'll think of something, and you'll really hate it."
"Uh huh. I'm sure I will."