Apple Strudels and Smut
"Mister Stark?"
With his nerves shot, Tony jumps, slamming his knee against his desk. The pain throbs throughout his leg, but he just winces; it's no worse than the headache that's been breaking against the inside of his skull. On the bright side, the painkillers are finally starting to kick in, so now it's just done to a dull and occasional thud. Rubbing his sore knee, he twists around in his seat, looking towards the doorway of his room. Well, his room on Desunt Cetera, anyway. Standing there is a familiar-yet-not figure, bright gold eyes presumably staring right at him. Ienzo immediately hunches his shoulders.
"My apologies. It was far from my original intention to surprise you. I knocked, but I assume you didn't hear me...?" Almost helplessly, he holds out a plate, piled high with little pastries. "I made apple strudel and brought milk!"
Blinking in exhaustion, Tony gives a weary grin. "Thanks. Didn't expect room service here; Xandra seemed to make that pretty clear unless I felt like walking with a limp, and not the nice sexual kind."
"Mmm, yes, she can be rather threatening on occasion," Ienzo muses, coming further into the room. Behind him, a Circuit rolls along, holding a cold pitcher of milk and a pair of glasses. All of this is set on the desk, a nice distance away from his laptop. "As for this, well..." Taking a few steps back, the Heartless clasps his hands together and peers from beneath his curly soft bangs. It's a disconcertingly innocent look; Zexion never looked at anyone that way. Tony squeezes his eyes shut. No, no, wrong thing to think about... "May I take a seat, Mister Stark?"
"Call me Tony," he says with a wave of his hand, "and knock yourself out." When he opens his eyes again, Ienzo is seated on his bed, hunched into a tiny little shape.
"The other Heartless..." For a moment, Ienzo trails off, head slowly moving to the side as he watches something before he shakes his head. "My apologies. The other Heartless have informed me that you have given up alcoholic beverages."
"********." He runs a hand through his already messy hair, twisting his chair around so that he's facing Ienzo. Reclining in his seat, he briefly glances at the apple strudels and feels his stomach twist nauseously. No... definitely not hungry at the moment. "I figured I might as well give Pepper a break and stop doing one of the things that gives her a heart attack." He can feel the eyes staring at him, burning a hole into his neck, and he sighs, slumping. "Also, miss him."
Gnawing on his lower lip- another thing Zexion never did, showed nervousness, only hesitance at worst- Ienzo hugs himself. "I see. I've read that the withdrawal symptoms can be quite troubling. I was hoping there was some way I could help." Neither of them mention how Tony's been pushing all others away, sometimes evading contact even with his most trusted of friends such as Rhodey and Steve. "And... your emotions smell..."
Of course. Besides Jean Gray, there's one person on here who has the ability to read him like a book. Tired beyond belief but somehow unable to go to sleep, Tony let's his eyes close. "Alcohol and dealing with this isn't exactly the best combination." Since this is a losing battle and ********, he barely cares anymore, he adds, "If it's not liquor, it's him. If it's not him, it's liquor." But most of the time, it's him. He doesn't need to mention who 'him' is. They both know. "Nothing I do is a good enough distraction."
Ienzo perks up at that like a kid at Christmas time. "You merely need a distraction?"
"Up to the challenge?" He cracks open one eye and is subject to the most child-like and adorable smile he's seen since that Hayes girl stole Deadpool's boots when Chase bet her a twenty she couldn't. Zexion never was a smile kind of guy, unless it involved books.
"I believe my skills in that area are quite excellent, as a matter of fact! I am quite adept in conversation, or so I have been informed. You are an engineer, correct?" From that point on, with exuberance rarely seen on this ship in these kind of times, Ienzo happily rushes into a chatter about just about anything his mind can land on. Tony has to hand it to him - just like Zexion, Ienzo seems to know just about everything when it comes to technology and engineering. Shouldn't be a surprise, but it is a shock to see how lively the Heartless becomes. Of course, this is only when Tony pays attention; half the time, his mind ends up wandering and his eyes end up focused on some inconspicuous spot on the wall as he wonders what it'd be like to have some bourbon down his throat again or Zexion's dark and richly confident voice against his ear. It doesn't take long for Ienzo to notice this, of course.
With Tony's gaze focused on the wall and his mind elsewhere, Ienzo frowns. This isn't working... What else can he do? There has to be something. What does he know of Tony's psychological profile and background? Hmm... Slowly, an idea hits him, and Ienzo grins. Well! That should do quite nicely. Not exactly... a public conversation topic of choice, but this is strictly in private, oh yes. "You know," he begins, eyes narrowing teasingly, "the relationship between a Heartless and its corresponding Nobody can be truly fascinating." There we go, he looks up at that and, smirking, Ienzo continues. "A heart really does want to return to its body, but it's far too bloated with darkness to properly fit. At best, it can only get close..." His voice drops just a bit lower. "Physically."
A pause as the implications of that word hit home. Tony feels his jaw drop just slightly and the smirk on Ienzo's face becomes all the more like Zexion's usual. "It's not often that a Heartless and their Nobody meet," he continues, spreading out his legs so his hands can grip the mattress beneath them as he leans forward. "However, it's also not often that a Heartless is sentient enough to purposefully chase after their Nobody. He never really did like seeing me; a dark heart has quite a strange effect on its old body and that was possibly the closest he came to feeling. Often it was spent yelling at me and the like, but always, we often found ourselves against the nearest flat service, and, well..." His eyes are narrow golden slashes against white, filled with delight. "He makes such thrilling noises, doesn't he?"
Tony finds his mouth pretty worthless right about then, and whenever he tries to think of words to say to that, all that appears in his skull is an image of the two of them together. He's seen Zexion's naked body enough for it to be embedded in his brain cells, and he just knows that Ienzo isn't that different - thin but with hints of firm muscle here and there. It shouldn't be so clear to his mind's eye to see Ienzo on a bed, arms stretched above his head and fingers digging into his pillow while Zexion hooks his legs over his shoulders, nipping at his neck and murmuring soft but somehow distinctly lustful and heavy words... And then a pause and Zexion peers past a pale throat, smirking at him-
Tony almost knocks his own chair over as he stumbles out of it, the words "Need to use the bathroom" rushing out of his mouth. In seconds, he's out the bedroom and down the hall. Cheerfully, Ienzo hops off of the bed and dusts himself off. He manages to run right into a stunned Pepper Potts as he leaves the room. "I think I managed to get his mind off of depressing matters!" he chirps, clasping his hands in front of his chest.
Adjusting a stack of papers in one arm, Pepper reaches up to hold her other hand to her head. "What did you say to him?" At that, Ienzo pauses.
"...Things."
