Let Me Love You

Surprises

Tony's POV

"So then I guided the missile into space and barely made it back alive. I guess you could say I'm sort of a hero." I shrug, bragging about saving the entire city to a group of people who then cheer for me.

"Hey, playboy!" I hear a voice yell from within the crowd of cheers and my eyes widen in realization.

"Kitten?" I ask, looking past the crowd to see her smiling.

"I brought presents." She holds up the two bottles and I make my way over to her. On impact, I pick her up in an embrace and spin her around before kissing her cheek.

"You look beautiful." I take a step back to admire her and bite my lip. "Let me put those away." I offer, taking the bottles from her and walking over to the bar to put them on the shelf. "Have you met the team?" I ask, she shakes her head. "Come on, I'll introduce you."

Steve's POV

"I'm in, but where would we go?" Bruce asks. We have been discussing ways to get out of this dreadful party.

"Anywhere but here would be an improvement." Clint chuckles.

Bucky and Sam are across the room hitting on girls while Thor is showing off his hammer to everyone he meets, challenging them to pick it up.

"Hey guys." Tony speaks from behind us. "I'd like you to meet someone."

We all turn our attention to him and I lock eyes with Kate.

"We don't need to know who you'll be doing tonight, Stark." Nat rolls her eyes as she takes a swig of her drink.

Kate furrows her eyebrows and looks at Tony, who clears his throat. "No, guys, this is Kate. She's my girlfriend." He smiles at her.

I feel my heart drop to my stomach as I process his words. I had only barely known her for a few hours, why did this hurt so much?

The others introduce themselves and Kate greets them. She reaches her hand out to me and introduces herself with a wink.

"Alright, let's go find Thor." Tony says, pulling her away by the hand.

Kate's POV

"Hey babe," I look up at Tony as he's looking for Thor, "why did Natasha assume I was a random girl you were sleeping with tonight?"

"Not sure." He says, not looking at me. "Found him, c'mon." He pulls me toward the tall, muscular blonde who's tossing a hammer up and down.

"Tony." I pull his arm back to make him face me.

He groans. "Can we talk about it later, Kitten?"

I sigh and press my lips together as I follow him to Thor. "Ah! Tony! What a beautiful selection." He smiles at me, obviously drunk.

When Tony introduces me as his girlfriend, the handsome god chokes on the beer he had been drinking.

"Nice to meet you." I smile at him, which he returns. We chat with him a bit as he goes on about the nine realms and his home planet.

"Ah, I just saw a business partner. I should go say hello." Tony says, kissing my cheek before wandering off and leaving me with Thor.

"Lady Kate, why don't we join the others for a bit of fun." He suggests, holding his arm out. I smile and wrap my arm around his as we walk back over to the couch.

Bucky's POV

"What happened? You were all giddy and lovestruck an hour ago." I furrow my eyebrows as I sit beside Steve.

"Nothing Buck, just leave it." He says, obviously annoyed. I throw my hands up and follow his wishes.

"Friends! Have you met Lady Kate?" Thor shouts as he plops down on the couch.

I can't help but eye her a bit as she sits across from us. "I don't believe I've had the pleasure." I smirk at her. "The name's James Barnes, but my friends call me Bucky." I wink at her, making her blush.

"And that's Sam." Steve suddenly speaks up, introducing them. She nods and says hello. I give Steve a confused look but he doesn't even glance at me.

"Can any of you pick up Thor's hammer? I heard it's impossible." Kate breaks the silence between all of us.

"HA! Only in their midguardian dreams!" Thor laughs.

"It can't be that hard." Clint says. Thor smirks as he places Mjolnir on the coffee table for his to try.

Clint stands up and grabs the handle before forcefully prying on it, to no use. Bruce and Natasha opt out of the challenge, getting a kick out of watching the rest of us. Sam goes next, yelling at me to stop distracting him as he tries and fails to pick it up.

I step up, grabbing the hammer with my metal arm and taking a deep breath before also failing to lift it. I notice Kate staring at my metal arm when I sit back down but she looks away once she meets my eyes.

"Alright punk, you're up." I say, nudging Steve. He sighs before standing up and rolling up his sleeves.

Kate's POV

Watching them all goof around and laugh made me feel like I was already one of them. I sat beside Thor, laughing at his remarks as each avenger attempted to pick up his hammer, but he stayed silent once Steve got up. I glance over at him to see sweat forming on his forehead before turning back to Steve.

I watch, on the edge of my seat, as Steve wraps his hands around the handle and fixes his stance before pulling on it. I find myself staring at his arms, his flexed muscles and protruding veins, as he attempts to pick it up. The hammer seems to wiggle a little bit, but not much happens before Steve pulls his hands off of it in defeat. Thor sighs in relief and laughs to hide his nerves.

"Kate, why don't you give it a try?" Clint speaks up, the others agreeing.

"Oh, no, I couldn't possibly-"

"Come on, what've you got to lose?" Sam adds.

I sigh and stand up, all of them cheering. I stand in front of the hammer and wrap one hand around it. Why am I so nervous? Just as I'm about to place my other hand on the handle, I'm interrupted and quickly move away from it.

"Woah woah woah, what's going on here?" Tony asks. "You're having a competition without me?" He must've gotten bored now that everyone else is gone.

He quickly takes his turn at trying to lift the hammer and resorts to using his iron man suit when he fails the first time. It's no surprise that he also fails the second time.

Tony scoffs. "It probably only works with Thor's fingerprints. C'mon Kitten, let's go to bed." He says, grabbing my hand and pulling me away from the others.

I say a quick 'goodnight' to them before I'm pulled into the elevator. The doors open onto a dimly-lit floor and Tony leads me to what I'm assuming is his bedroom. He locks the door behind him before pulling his shirt off and pressing his lips to mine. We kiss for a while, until the taste of alcohol on his tongue makes me sick.

"What's wrong Kitten?" He asks, his lips hovering over my neck.

"You're drunk, Tony." I say, pushing him away from me.

"Aw c'mon, you're really gonna act like this? I haven't seen you in months, you can't blame me for wanting to get it on!" He argues.

"It's your own fault you haven't seen me. I've tried calling, writing, even visiting a few times but you always seem to be busy." I shake my head. "You know, if it wasn't for this party I doubt I would've been able to even see you today!"

"Kitten, I told you, the hero life is-"

"Demanding, I know." I sigh, cutting him off. "I'll just sleep on the couch tonight. Get some rest." I kiss his cheek before walking out of the room.