Kendis didn’t really give a shit about the decor of the bedroom. It was nice, but all she wanted to do was to lie down in a dark room for a few hours. She wanted to shut out the world and pretend that her life wasn’t a complete and utter mess.

She squinted against the sunlight that spilled through the windows. Fluffy white clouds moved against a bright blue azure sky, while the ocean water stretched endlessly across the horizon.

Kendis looked for curtains or some blinds, but couldn’t find any. They opened their mouth to ask, but they couldn’t get the words past their lips.

“Are you in need of assistance?” Jarvis’ disembodied voice made her jump, and it took everything in her not to summon her wand. Because Tony had already been generous enough to let her stay there, and it wouldn’t be nice for her to destroy every electronic device in the vicinity.

Kendis rubbed her aching forehead. She could use one of Madam Pomfrey’s headache potions right about now. Tony said to ask Jarvis for anything, but she couldn’t be bothered; Muggle stuff didn’t help much, anyway.

Kendis was ready to strip down and slide into those inviting sheets. She could barely stand the feel of her cotton t-shirt and her denim jeans against her skin. This was typical for her during a shutdown.

Kendis sighed and pinched her nose. ‘I reckon I am going to have to ride this shut down the old-fashioned way.’ Kendis closed her eyes and managed to push the words from her lips, “Jarvis…sun.”

Suddenly, the curtains slid out from the wall to cover the windows. She sighed in relief as the room was only lit by the dim light of the lamps. Then she walked over to the bed and brushed her fingers against the white duvet.

It was just as soft as she thought it would be. ‘This will do just fine,’ Kendis thought to herself and then she stripped off her t-shirt, jeans, bra, and knickers.

Kendis grabbed her bonnet out of her duffle bag and slid it on her head before pulling out her mobile and checking for any messages from Dr. Lan’s office. There was nothing, and with a sigh, Kendis put her phone on the end table.

“There is a charger in the drawer that will fit,” Jarvis said.

Kendis nodded in thanks and took out the charger and hooked up her phone. She wanted to make sure she didn’t miss any messages or calls from Dr. Lan. He’d said Alke would be fine, and he wasn’t one to sugar coat a situation. But Kendis couldn’t help but still worry about her dog.

Kendis shook her head and slipped inside the duvet. She relished the feeling of something soft against her skin. And lucky for Kendis, Tony was posh enough not to skimp on quality even when it came to duvets. Kendis slipped down the sheets.

But the lights just went out on their own. Kendis sent a mental thanks to Jarvis as she let herself relax into the soft feeling of the Egyptian cotton sheets against her body.

As she laid in the dark, she tried to close her eyes and sleep but Kendis couldn’t stop thinking about everything that had happened in the last 24 hours.

She wished she could hook her phone to a speaker, as she had a playlist on Spotify that she played when she was overstimulated.

Kendis could ask Jarvis, but she was barely able to speak at the moment.

As she laid there, Kendis couldn’t help but second guess all of her decisions.

Tony had insisted that she stay with him, but had that been a smart move? Should she have just gotten a hotel room? This wasn’t Tony’s problem, and if he had a lick of common sense, he should have run the moment she had lost it on her front porch.

Thank Merlin, Kendis had protections in place, which had shielded her magic from any muggle who might’ve been walking by the fence. But those protections hadn’t saved her from the humiliation of having a magical meltdown in front of Tony.

Kendis felt her cheeks flush at the thought, and she turned in the sheets as she recalled how Tony comforted her when she gave into her tumultuous feelings and cried on his shoulder.

Kendis hadn’t thought a man like him would be capable of caring for anyone other than himself. Because Tony was a spoiled, rich fuckboi whom she’d planned to have a hot one night stand with before she went back to her normal, predictable life. But surprisingly, Tony actually cared about her.

Even when Kendis was at her weakest and most emotional, Tony had remained unfazed by it all. He had let Kendis lean on him without coddling her. Only Ron and Hermione ever saw Kendis’ vulnerable side. Although Kendis had loved Josefa deeply, she had been too scared to let her girlfriend see that side of her.

The unpredictability of others made dating as an autistic person feel like walking through a minefield.

Yet, to her surprise, Tony Stark was not what she had expected at all. He wasn’t the 2D caricature she’d assumed he was. Kendis felt a pang of guilt. As someone who has been part of the public eye off and on since she was a baby, she knew all too well how the press could twist and construe something until it barely resembled the truth.

With Chester after her, it was probably safer for Tony to cut ties, but he’d stubbornly stayed by her side. And the Gryffindor inside her couldn’t help but respect that type of courage.

Kendis pulled a pillow over her head and screamed.

‘Why is everything so bloody complicated!’ Kendis thought to herself.

“Mx. Black, are you alright?” Jarvis asked, startling her.

Kendis simply waved him off and wondered if Jarvis could even see her in the dark. But Jarvis kept quiet, and Kendis did her best to push her uncomfortable emotions aside. And in the silent darkness, it took forever for sleep to finally wash over her.

Kendis hurried up the stairs to the flat with a smile stretched on her lips. They had gotten off work early, and she knew exactly how they were going to spend her free time.

Kendis stopped in front of the flat door, and her smile faded away, only to be replaced with a concerned frown. The door was open and barely hanging from the frame. She walked into the living room and spotted the prone form lying on the ground in the pool of their own blood.

Chester Coil was crouched over Josefa, his wand right on the gash on her brown skin. Blood was pouring out, adding to the pool already around her.

“You never learn.” Chester said with a tisk.

And then suddenly the body changed and instead of Josefa, it was Tony laying there. His face was pale and empty of his usual cheeky expression; his dark brown eyes staring lifelessly back at Kendis.

Kendis felt her knees buckle underneath her. “No…Tony.”

“It’s your fault,” Chester said as he stood up, shaking his head. “They both would still be alive if it wasn’t for you. If you only obeyed me, they would still be here.”

Kendis tried to get up, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t move. Chester walked over to her and jerked her chin up to meet his blue eyes that were wild with madness.

“Harry, when are you going to accept that you are mine?”

Kendis woke to the sound of glass breaking and screams coming from her lips while she held the wand in her hand. The lights were flickering in her room, and it took her a moment for the walls of Josefa’s flat to fade away into Tony’s guestroom.

Kendis closed her eyes as she tried to get her panic under control. ‘Breathe, just Breathe’, Kendis thought to herself as she took a deep breath and then let it out.

“Jarvis?” Kendis called out.

“Mx. Bl-” Jarvis’s voice glitched and then fade out. Kendis looked at the mess around her and rubbed her forehead. “Bollocks!”

This is exactly why she had been hesitant to stay here. Kendis’ legs wobbled as she got out of bed, then jumped when Tony suddenly appeared in the doorway. His eyes went wide as he saw her standing there naked.

His eyes swept across her naked body, following the trail of the colorful ink of her tattoos that marked her skin. Kendis shivered under his blatant appreciation of her. Then she shook her head at her sudden switch of emotions, but arousal was better than pure panic.

“You alright?” Tony asked as he finally pried his eyes away from her.

“Uh—” Kendis said, her voice hoarse. “Nightmare. Sorry?”

Tony nodded. “Okay, I’ll…Um…” he stuttered and then stopped. “I’ll wait outside.”

Kendis rubbed her forehead, wondering for the umpteenth time if she’d done the right thing by agreeing to stay at Tony’s place.