06 | dance with me

Hope

"As much as I appreciate you not making me your human blood bag, I still don't want you drinking that from my favorite mug."

My eyes snapped to the mug I was holding. It has a design of a cartoonized version of himself.

"This is you." I pointed out.

He winked at me with a matching cocky smirk tugged on his lips. "Exactly." He said before propping down to the couch across from me.

This has been our setup since we met. Wake up, train early in the morning, sit in one of his many living rooms to do our own thing, annoy each other, avoid each other to do our other own things, sleep, repeat.

This is the part of that setup that I hate, 'cause it's when I have to deal with him the most.

"Have you chosen a dress yet?" He asked.

Apparently, this charity gala that he has to attend later tonight is where Clarke will be waiting for us. And to blend in there, I have to wear a dress. Not that I can't kick ass in a dress, I just prefer not to.

"Tony, I have a feeling that the dresses you bought are not for me to wear but for you to satisfy yourself." I complained.

You should've seen the dresses he displayed in front of me yesterday. I think it's safe to say that modesty is not in his vocabulary.

"Are you calling me a pervert?" He said.

"I don't know, are you?"

"Why, do you want me to be?"

What did I say? Irritating.

"Have you run out of women to hit on? Because I've been on the receiving end of your skin-crawling flirts since I came here." I explained.

I knew he was a playboy. Believe it or not, I knew it the moment I saw him. He just looks like it. Even give off the same vibe. Not to mention one of the rooms in this house that was turned into a walk-in closet filled with brand new women's clothes solely for the purpose of satisfying his women after he was satisfied.

He assured me that neither of the clothes were worn by anyone because all of his one night stands always end early in the morning with Jarvis politely sending them out. Though, I refuse to wear the sets of lingerie in one of the closets. Like I said, modesty is not in his vocabulary.

"It's a default setting. Beautiful lady equals extensive flirting." He replied.

I wanted to call him out for the fact that he just complimented me but that would only make him think that I actually care about what he thinks. I mean, I do, but not in that particular topic.

"Except this beautiful lady is not interested." I just said.

"Aren't you, though?" He questioned.

If he has a way of making the conversation light in just a second, he also has a way of making it weird.

"If I pick a dress, will you shut up?" I asked. At this point, I'd do anything to make him shut his mouth.

"If you pick the black one, I might consider it." He replied, a playful smile on his lip. He isn't even flirting now, he's just fooling around.

"Not a chance." I answered before setting the empty mug down on the coffee table and made my way towards the closet to stop prolonging what I'm dreaded to do, pick a fucking dress.

—

To say that Tony Stark is goddamn annoying is probably the understatement of the century.

I had to magically modify one of the dresses to keep my chest from being exposed too much. Not that I have anything against people who wear these kinds of stuff, it's just not for me.

The dress was...simple. It's a sparkling silver and it has a high neckline with relatively thin straps. It ends down to my feet with a long A-line skirt. I paired it with matching silver jewelry and shoes, and that's all I needed.

Walking out of my temporary bedroom, I kept smoothing down the skirt of the gown, then running my fingers through the ends of my hair to soften the curls. It's been a while since I dressed up like this. I've never had the chance to do anything of this sort for a long time because believe it or not, my life has gotten pretty boring.

I guess Kai Parker sensed that and decided to spice things up.

I walked towards the living room to find Tony standing in the middle and looking down on his wrist as he adjusted his watch, the watch that I made him.

"For a moment there, you didn't look like an egotistical ass." I commented to make my presence known. It was true though. He cleaned up so well that he actually looked respectable. He usually looks like that one guy in the bar who's already drunk by noon...though he makes it look expensive, for some reason.

His gaze lifted from his watch towards me as I stopped and stood a couple of feet away from him, letting him notice the fact that I modified the dress. But it was taking longer than I thought because for five dreadful seconds, he was staring weirdly at me. His deep brown eyes slowly ran from my face down to the dress I was wearing.

"I-I don't remember buying that." He just said, clearing his throat right after.

"Exactly. I turned one of the dresses actually wearable." I responded.

For the short time that I've known Tony, I was really expecting him to have a counterattack because there's not a time where we don't disagree on something, especially when it involves me questioning his preferences.

But to my surprise, he simply nodded. Even saw his Adam's apple move up and then down as he did.

"Right. Let's go, Spunky." He only said before averting his eyes away from me and walking out of the house and into the garage, leaving me to follow behind.

Normally, calling me that would annoy me. But it was the way that he said that confused me. Like he was uncomfortable. Like he meant for it to sound as playful as he always does, but it didn't work.

Well, I guess there is something that could stop him from being so annoying. I just wish I know what that is.

—

Given the way Tony acted earlier, I really thought that the ride over to the charity gala was going to be silent, finally. But boy was I wrong. The ride over to the charity gala was practically an insult war between Tony and I considering we kept teasing and insulting each other, which, admittedly, we're both really good at. Neither of us dared to end the said war until we had to when we reached our destination.

Looking outside the car window while Tony drove, I can't help but swallow hard. The outside of the venue is packed with reporters and paparazzis. I felt as if every person on the other side of the window could see me as we passed by. And to make matters worse, due to my vampire hearing, I know that most of them are here for one person only. Anthony Edward Stark.

"Your full name is Anthony Edward Stark?" I asked, hearing it from one of the reporters.

I can tell he was surprised when I stated his full name by the look on his face. He was looking at me like I said something that I shouldn't.

"N-No." He answered.

This guy really can't lie to save himself.

"So, it is."

"I said it's not."

"You are a bad liar, Anthony."

"We should go." He said, dismissing my teasing.

The amused smile on my face was immediately wiped off when I once again averted my gaze towards the car window, seeing the crowd hover near the car as Tony drove past them. I'm still in the car but I can already feel myself suffocating.

My hands gripped the skirt of my gown while I continued to stare ahead.

"Never experienced something like this before?" I whipped my head towards Tony when he asked that. He might've seen me eyeing the paparazzis.

"It's the very thing I've been avoiding considering my identity." I answered before looking back at the people outside. They probably don't see me considering the windows are tinted. I'm also sure that these windows are tinted for the very reason that these camera flashes are blinding.

"Don't worry. We don't have to talk to them anyway. We just need to get inside." Tony said before pulling over in the front.

"Now I understand why almost all your cars' windows are tinted." I said, my eyes squinting because despite the tinted windows, vampirism unfortunately gave me the ability to see very clearly that even through these windows, the flashes are blinding me.

"That's one of the reasons." He only said, not bothering to spare me a look as he slipped his shades on.

"You ready?" Asked Tony while he adjusts his suit and his glasses before glancing at me.

I held his gaze for a little while and sighed. "Fine."

I once again saw that smug smirk of his before he opened the car door and stepped out of the vehicle.

As soon as Tony got out, the paparazzi and reporters went nuts. As he went around the car, I could already hear the questions people are throwing at him.

"Mr. Stark, how long have you been friends with Ryan Clarke?"

"Mr. Stark, can we get a photo of you and Ryan Clarke, please?"

"Was it really all just a prank, Mr. Stark?"

In spite of the staggering number of questions, Tony ignored all of them, and with style, which I refuse to admit to him, of course.

He casually throws the keys towards the hands of the valet. I noticed the confused look on their faces when they saw Tony make his way towards my side in the car. Does he normally go to occasions like this by himself? So much so, that the thought of bringing someone tonight never even crossed their minds?

Just when I thought things couldn't be worse, the door opened and the noise, the flash, the tension in the air came rushing in. My eardrums are this close to bleeding, my eyes are seeing white spots, and my chest is heaving due to the tension the crowd outside had built.

I can't do this. I was never meant for this kind of attention, for this kind of publicity. I can't do this. I refuse to do this.

"Andrea." I glanced towards Tony and saw him slightly bent down while offering a hand in front of me. I suddenly found myself gazing into his deep brown eyes. It helped me, his eyes. I know it shouldn't. It's not like he's someone important to me for him to have this kind of effect on me, for him to make me feel calm under this kind of situation,

But he did. And it felt weird.

"You don't need to be nervous. You look incredible." Tony said.

I glared at him. "Stop complimenting me."

"It's just so you would get out of the damn car." Tony joked.

I rolled my eyes and shook my head before accepting his hand and carefully stepping out of the car.

I had to abruptly close my eyes when Tony moved and more camera flashes appeared. I slightly stumbled back at the contact, lowering my head to recover from that.

"Let's lessen the photo taking, shall we? The papers are already filled with my face as it is." I heard Tony joke to the paparazzis and some of them laughed, but some just continued to flash their cameras at us.

"Come on, let's just get this over with." Tony whispered to me and simply nodded.

Tony offered his arm towards me and I linked mine around before we walked down the carpet.

Throughout the dreadful couple of seconds we were walking down the carpet, I was trying my best to not look anyone in the eyes and just focus on trying to get past this.

Once we finally reached the inside of the venue, I couldn't help but sigh in relief knowing that that part was over.

"Well, that wasn't so bad, was it?" Tony said.

"Are you kidding? I'm seeing spots." I replied with an annoyed tone.

I heard him chuckle at that which I could only shake my head at. Remember when I said that he could make me feel calm, yeah...I don't know what I was thinking. This man makes me want to explode in vexation.

"That's what she said." I heard him whisper to himself and before I could ask what he meant, he pointed at the door behind me.

"Let's go in." He said before pulling me towards the actual venue.

The room was already packed with guests in their elegant dresses and dashing suits. The ambiance here compared to the one outside was the complete opposite. Inside, the air is lighter, the music is soothing, the people are less in your face, and the light are very much toned down.

I let my eyes roam the room for a bit until it landed on a pair of familiar ones.

"There he is." I told Tony.

Tony averts his eyes towards the direction where I'm pointing and there he sees Clarke.

I watched as Tony and Clarke shared a glance, both of them probably thinking that it's a staring competition because a couple of seconds have passed and neither of them have dared to break the stare. I saw Clarke raise a glass towards us as a smirk curled on the corner of his lips before turning around to lean against the counter of the mini bar the venue has.

It was my turn to exchange a glance with Tony before we made our way towards him. Tony stood at Clarke's left while I stood on his right. I knew he felt our presence even without sparing us a look and just kept them on the glass he was holding, because a grin stretched on his lips as we stood on both sides of him.

"How did I do? I think I did pretty well. The people completely bought it." Clarke said before bringing the glass of liquor towards his mouth.

"Of course they did. You're deceitful." I said.

Clarke furrows his eyebrows and narrows his eyes at me before replying. "You don't even know me."

I actually do.

"It's a wild guess." Tony replied.

Clarke turns his gaze towards Tony before letting out a chuckle. "You told me you don't know her, and now you guys are like a dynamic duo."

"Well, first, I forgot about her. I'm sure you remember that because you had your witch pry into my brain with her magical little fingers. Second, she already filled me in on more stuff." Tony explained, all with a sarcastic smile on his face. Of course only the three of us would know that that smile is sarcastic because the rest of the people here would just assume that he's smiling because he's catching up with a "friend" of his.

Tony looked at the bartender before ordering a glass of scotch, which made me scrunch my eyebrows together because he just had one back at the house. I don't know if he's an alcoholic or we just make him one.

"Then you know everything about Malivore?" Clarke asked.

"I do. Like you said, it's this black pit that is a former monster that swallows other monsters aside from vampires, werewolves, and witches and wipes them from the collective conscience. And that Andrea being three of the creatures that created Malivore is the only one that can actually destroy that disgusting little thing. Quite interesting." Tony said.

I had to tell Tony a few things more about Malivore knowing that we would be meeting him tonight. I also had to leave a few things out, though. Some things are just better hidden away.

But Clarke didn't get the memo.

"That's it? That's all she told you?" Clarke said with a small grin on his face.

I felt a lump in my throat as my eyes looked over to Tony. I saw him clench his jaw as he took a deep breath. This is not going good so far.

"Clarke." I called him, my tone warning him.

"What are you talking about?" Tony asked, not leaving his gaze on Clarke.

My hands balled into fists. If taking Tony away from the real plan is his strategy, then it's working. Because I see the look on Tony's face and it's not exactly amusement.

Clarke looks between the two of us before slowly backing away. "I'd let her tell you, instead."

My eyes followed Clarke as he walked away and went to chat with someone else. And when I looked over to Tony, I found his face remained nonchalant as his eyes landed on me.

"Dance with me." Tony said, offering his hand once again.

"I don't da-"

"It wasn't a request."

With a clench of my jaw, I swallowed the lump in my throat and accepted his hand. He led us to the near middle of the dance floor. He placed his right hand on my left and his left one rested on my lower back while my right hand took a place on his shoulder before pulling me closer.

Our faces are beside each other and our gazes are roaming around the room to keep a lookout while we sway gently to the music.

"You know I hate being left in the dark. So, whatever it is that Clarke's saying, spill it." Tony said.

I pushed my mouth into a thin line. He does hate being left in the dark. He's stubborn. I already know that.

"I'm not sure if you're ready to hear it yet." I replied. Because honestly, I really am not sure he's ready for that. He might always be calm and ready in the face of danger, but he is prepared for my story. No one is.

"Andrea, you told me what you are. What can possibly be more shocking than that?" Tony asked.

Probably the fact that I came from the year 2033 and that I was pushed by a heretic sociopath into that very pit only to travel 39 years back in time.

"Fine. I'll tell you." I said.

I can't tell him the whole truth. Not yet.

"I was in Malivore."

Tony widened his eyes at my statement before responding. "What?!" he whisper-yelled.

"Malivore spat me out. That's why Clarke's after me. To know who I am." I added.

"Then that means everyone that you know has forgotten about you. I thought that Malivore doesn't go after vampires, witches, and werewolves? You're all three."

"Yes and yes, it doesn't. I was pushed in by a sociopath."

He pulled away from me slightly only to give me a puzzled look.

"You're the all-powerful tribrid and you got pushed in by a sociopath? That's embarrassing!"

"Oh, fuck you."

"Are you cursing me or is that your bucket list?"

I really don't know how he does this, how he can overturn a serious conversation in just a second. "You're disgusting."

He simply shrugged his shoulders and said, "I've been called worse."

"Yeah? Like what?" Hope asked.

Tony thought for a moment before coming up with an answer. "Anthony." He responded. I was going to comment on that when he spoke again.

"Wait. Stop changing the subject. Tell me the whole story." Tony demanded.

I sighed deeply and rolled my eyes.

"Fine. But not here." I said.

Tony pulled away from me completely, but his hand remained clasped with mine as he looked around, his eyes stopping at a door which looks like a fire exit.

"Come on." He said.

He gently pulled me while we made our way towards the exit but before we could even leave the dance floor, I felt myself stiffen in my position when my eyes landed on someone. Someone familiar. Being nailed to the floor as I stared ahead caused Tony to drop my hand.

"What is he doing here?" I managed to say despite myself being bewildered to the point that my hands started shaking.

His dirty blonde hair sat neatly on top of his head. His deep blue eyes held mystery in them. And the smirk he was wearing, it was the definition of mischief.

"That's...wait, I forgot his first name. But I think his last name's Peterson? Davidson? Or something like that?" Tony said while he tried to remember his name.

But I didn't need him to remember it. I already know who he is. Why wouldn't I when he's my dad?

"Klaus Mikaelson?" I said, wondering if that was the name Tony was looking for.

"Yes! That's him. Why, you know him?" He asked.

Know him? His blood runs in my veins. His vampirism lives in me. His mother's magic is practically my oxygen. His eyes are a mirror image of mine.

I thought that seeing him again would make me feel happy. I've wished to see him again for years. But now that I'm standing in the same room as him, I felt my chest become tight and my eyes pool with tears. My lower lip quivered when a shaky sigh escaped my mouth.

I was drowning.

I felt suffocated. Like everything was prohibiting me to breathe. The soothing music faded as a faint, high-pitched ringing echoed in my ears. The light became dimmer, the ambiance heavier.

Tony appeared in my line of vision and I saw both worry and fear in his eyes. He was saying something but I couldn't hear him. I couldn't hear anyone.

I felt his hand touch my face, his palm caressing my cheek but all I could focus on was the fact that my father, who sacrificed himself for me more times than I could count even when I was still in my mother's womb, is standing across from me.

How can I not break?

—

The next chapter contains a lot more new scenes. Be ready for that <3