366 Days
Title: 366 Days
Fandom/Pairing: Dollhouse (Tony, with a little Tony/Priya)
Rating: PG
Spoilers: For ‘Epitaph 2’
Summary: Tony is bored.
366 days, that’s what Echo told them. A year and a day to wait out the pulse and keep their selves intact. 366 days, an instant compared to holding on to a lifetime of memories.
It only took 3 days before Tony became mind-numbingly bored. T was fine: playing with Topher’s old toys, exploring every nook and cranny of his new home, and just generally being a little boy. Priya spent her days tending to the wounded and preparing food and, in the quiet moments, painting albeit only with watercolors. And Echo? Echo was either busy tearing apart the tech or wandering about in her head, a dreamy and, to Tony at least, slightly creepy smile on her face.
But Tony was bored. He was a man of action, of sunlight and fresh air, of heavy breathing and a heavier sweat. He was trapped and he was bored and he couldn’t say a word about it, at least not in Priya’s hearing. He knew what she’d say, some snap about missing his tech and their family not being worth a little boredom, and then she’d be hurt and distant and he definitely couldn’t survive a year and a day down there with her like that. He needed her and he needed his son so he kept quiet and suffered through the boredom and felt the time crawl.
He’d mentioned it once to Romeo, in passing, but he had only grunted and redirected his focus back to the weights in his hands. Tony wasn’t surprised, Romeo was normally content if he had something heavy to lift and talking wasn’t really his ‘thing’. Tony had though about interrupting the “Sapphic seduction zone” as Echo had called it but the look Mags gave him as he hovered awkwardly near the door made him change his mind. He could talk to Echo, he supposed, but there was just something about her dream-filled expression that told him she’d much rather spend this year, if not the next 10 years, alone.
So he swam and climbed and read and played with T and was just, generally and completely bored out of his mind and he kept it locked away, reminding himself that he was doing it for his family and it was only a year and a day until freedom.
“Are you really going to just sit here and stare into space all day? I think this place can handle only one Echo for now.” Priya settled down next to him on the couch and tucked her legs up, her whole body seeming to meld into his with that simple act. He rested his hand on her bare knee, grateful that he was once again allowed to, moving his fingers slowly and automatically in their own special rhythm as he smiled at her. “Tony, are you sure you’re alright?”
“Just a little bored,” he replied, willing her to not get upset.
She ran her fingers lightly over what remained of his tech, harsh physical reminders of a sometimes unpleasant past. She smiled at him then, brushing a kiss against the side of his face before unfolding herself from the couch to stand before him.
“Come on,” she said, the smile still firmly in place as she reached down to grab him by the collar and tug him to his feet.
“Come on where?” He was confused - did she want to fight in private? But she was smiling, so maybe she just wanted his help in the kitchen although he thought it unlikely since she had witnessed more than one of the his cooking fiascos in the early days. If only Topher had given him those cooking skills like he’d offered…
“To somewhere a little more private.” Private? Oh god, she really did want to fight. But then she was kissing him, hard and insistent, and her hands were wandering toward his waistband and… “I know one very good way to relieve the boredom.”
Suddenly, 366 days didn’t seem so bad.
Fandom/Pairing: Dollhouse (Tony, with a little Tony/Priya)
Rating: PG
Spoilers: For ‘Epitaph 2’
Summary: Tony is bored.
366 days, that’s what Echo told them. A year and a day to wait out the pulse and keep their selves intact. 366 days, an instant compared to holding on to a lifetime of memories.
It only took 3 days before Tony became mind-numbingly bored. T was fine: playing with Topher’s old toys, exploring every nook and cranny of his new home, and just generally being a little boy. Priya spent her days tending to the wounded and preparing food and, in the quiet moments, painting albeit only with watercolors. And Echo? Echo was either busy tearing apart the tech or wandering about in her head, a dreamy and, to Tony at least, slightly creepy smile on her face.
But Tony was bored. He was a man of action, of sunlight and fresh air, of heavy breathing and a heavier sweat. He was trapped and he was bored and he couldn’t say a word about it, at least not in Priya’s hearing. He knew what she’d say, some snap about missing his tech and their family not being worth a little boredom, and then she’d be hurt and distant and he definitely couldn’t survive a year and a day down there with her like that. He needed her and he needed his son so he kept quiet and suffered through the boredom and felt the time crawl.
He’d mentioned it once to Romeo, in passing, but he had only grunted and redirected his focus back to the weights in his hands. Tony wasn’t surprised, Romeo was normally content if he had something heavy to lift and talking wasn’t really his ‘thing’. Tony had though about interrupting the “Sapphic seduction zone” as Echo had called it but the look Mags gave him as he hovered awkwardly near the door made him change his mind. He could talk to Echo, he supposed, but there was just something about her dream-filled expression that told him she’d much rather spend this year, if not the next 10 years, alone.
So he swam and climbed and read and played with T and was just, generally and completely bored out of his mind and he kept it locked away, reminding himself that he was doing it for his family and it was only a year and a day until freedom.
“Are you really going to just sit here and stare into space all day? I think this place can handle only one Echo for now.” Priya settled down next to him on the couch and tucked her legs up, her whole body seeming to meld into his with that simple act. He rested his hand on her bare knee, grateful that he was once again allowed to, moving his fingers slowly and automatically in their own special rhythm as he smiled at her. “Tony, are you sure you’re alright?”
“Just a little bored,” he replied, willing her to not get upset.
She ran her fingers lightly over what remained of his tech, harsh physical reminders of a sometimes unpleasant past. She smiled at him then, brushing a kiss against the side of his face before unfolding herself from the couch to stand before him.
“Come on,” she said, the smile still firmly in place as she reached down to grab him by the collar and tug him to his feet.
“Come on where?” He was confused - did she want to fight in private? But she was smiling, so maybe she just wanted his help in the kitchen although he thought it unlikely since she had witnessed more than one of the his cooking fiascos in the early days. If only Topher had given him those cooking skills like he’d offered…
“To somewhere a little more private.” Private? Oh god, she really did want to fight. But then she was kissing him, hard and insistent, and her hands were wandering toward his waistband and… “I know one very good way to relieve the boredom.”
Suddenly, 366 days didn’t seem so bad.