A/N: Next up in my series of summer one shots based on fests that I have signed up for, Hermione's Haven: #OfftheBeatenPath19. This fest consisted of only crossovers. My prompt gave me the choice between Supernatural, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Marvel. I decided to go with the Marvel pairing since it's where I felt most comfortable.
Thank Frumpologist for taking time out of your busy schedule to skim this tale over for me! I greatly appreciate it. This piece was beta read by Grammarly so I apologize for any glaring errors. It is rated M for Theo's language throughout the piece. I hope you enjoy!
JenniseiBlack, I hope that I was able to do your prompt justice and that you enjoy this piece! Once I figured out where I was going, I had a lot of fun writing it!
Now that this story is live, I'm going to enjoy my time with my toes in the water and ass in the sand! I'll see you with another crossover soon! ;)
Love always,
~starr
"I am going to be out of reach for the next seven days, and yes that's on purpose," Hermione announced as she made her way down the main corridor of the office. As she continued in her stride, she would drop files off on the desks of her coworkers, and with each one she set down, another would take its place in her arms.
"Does that include your mobile?" a soft voice called from the back corner.
"Yes Penelope, that includes my mobile. I'm shutting it off right now," Hermione replied, smiling at Penelope over her shoulder.
"But what if something goes wrong? Who am I supposed to call to fix it?" The concern in Penelope's voice made Hermione laugh, and she shook her head. Just as she was about to answer Penelope, another voice chose to add their opinion into the mix.
"You are always welcome to call me," Tony chimed in as leaned up against the door frame of his office, a smug smirk plastered across his face.
"And with that comment, I'm headed home to get ready for my trip," Hermione replied, chuckling as she made her way to her office.
As she walked past Tony, she glanced at him out of the corner of her eye and stuck her tongue out at him, knowing full well that he was the only one aware of what had just happened. She noticed him push himself off the door frame and follow behind her quickly.
"Why would you want to get away from such a wonderful place?" he called after her as he followed her down the hall to her office.
She rolled her eyes as she opened her office door. "Getting away from you will be a nice start." Taking a step inside her door, she turned her attention to her desk and began gathering some of her things.
"Oh now Granger, that hurts." Tony pouted his lower lip and hung his head, hoping to garnish some kind of reaction from her. However, his hopes of a kindhearted reaction were quickly squashed.
"You'll get over it." She glanced up at him with a smirk on her face.
When he noticed the smirk, a smile graced his lips as he took a few more steps into her office without trailing too far away from the door. "Who's going to be in charge of the research department while you're gone?"
"Penelope can handle it. Now if I don't get out of here, my portkey won't work, and I'll be stuck going yet another summer without a vacation."
Hermione zipped up her messenger bag and gathered the last of her necessary items off her desk and made her way towards the door. As she approached the door, Tony stepped between her and it, blocking her way as he crossed his arms over his chest.
"Can I help you with something?" she asked, taking a deep breath and carding a hand through her hair. As her arm lowered, she glanced at the watch on her wrist. She needed to get going. Portkeys only had a limited life on them.
"I just like watching you work and I'll miss seeing you walk around the office while you're gone," he replied, batting his lashes in her general direction as he leaned up against the doorframe, continuing to block her way out of the room.
"Oh you and your sweet talk, Stark. Now really, what do you want? You're blocking the only way out of my office, and I really need to get going," she sighed, placing her bag down in the empty chair to her left momentarily as she waited for him to tell her why he was insisting on ruining her plans.
"I want to see how the portkey works."
As soon as the words left his mouth, she reached down and picked up her bag. Hermione rolled her eyes as she pushed past him, attempting to ignore the fact that he was following closely behind her down the hall. "I've explained it to you a thousand times before. In fact, I explained it to you during my initial interview for my job."
"But I want to see it in action."
"Why? You've never been interested in my magic before…"
"But this isn't just magic...this involves transportation."
"Yes, and?" Hermione stopped her journey toward the elevator. While she hated where she thought this conversation was going, she was interested to see what he might offer her for the chance.
"Transportation could be the next field of study for Stark Industries."
"Can't this wait until after I get back from my vacation?"
Tony smiled and shook his head, furiously. "Absolutely not. This is of the utmost importance."
Taking a moment to think of an excuse to get out of this situation, Hermione sighed and hung her head when she realized that there was no getting out of it. She brought her fingertips to her temples and rubbed small circles before lifting her head to meet his eyes. "This is going to cost you big time, Stark."
"Just name the price, Granger. I'll be more than happy to pay up," he replied, a smile beaming proudly from his face.
Sighing once more, Hermione painted a smile on her face and nodded her head. "I'll let you know the cost when I get back. For now, meet me at Cedar Grove Beach tonight at ten pm. It should be relatively quiet that late and we won't be interrupted."
That last word in her comment caught Tony's attention causing him to raise his brow. Hermione took notice and shook her head furiously. "Not like that, Stark."
"Why I have no idea what you are referring to, Ms. Granger," he replied with a smirk. "I'll see you at ten this evening."
. . . . . . . . . .
Hermione glanced down at the clock on her wrist and sighed. It was almost ten fifteen, and if she didn't leave in the next fifteen minutes, then her portkey would end up taking her Merlin only knows where which was not exactly what she needed to start her vacation.
"If she's not here in the next two minutes, I'm just going to leave," she mumbled to herself, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear as she looked around the empty beach. It was really peaceful out here at this time of night, but no matter how peaceful her surroundings were, her nerves were still standing on edge because of Tony.
Slipping her mobile out of her pocket, she started to dial Tony's number when she heard a voice calling out to her in the distance.
"I'm here. I'm here, sorry I'm late," Tony yelled, running up to meet her. Coming to a stop in front of her, he inhaled sharply and leaned forward, placing his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath. Once his breathing had steadied, Tony straightened up and brushed a hand over the hem of his shirt. "I got hung up with something at the lab and couldn't get away."
"Just admit," Hermione said with a laugh, tucking her mobile back into her pocket. "You lost track of time, and you're just trying to come up with an excuse that will keep you out of trouble."
"You know me far too well," Tony replied, a broad smile beaming proudly from his face. "So how's this thing work?"
Hermione reached into her purse and pulled out a seashell. She extended it to Tony, allowing him to look it over. She watched as he slowly lifted it out of her hand and inspected it quickly before placing it back in her hand.
"That's it?" he asked.
She laughed at the surprise in his voice and nodded her head. "Yup. Honestly, anything can be made into a portkey with a simple spell. The more commonplace the object, the better the portkey it makes. That way muggles won't be suspicious of the object."
Tony nodded his head slowly as he continued to stare at the shell in her hand. He was mesmerized by the object like it was pulling him closer and closer to it.
"Basically to activate it, the witch or wizard using it arrives at a prearranged location at a set time, and the key will transport them to the set location. So, in all reality, it's a pretty simple way to travel even if it's not the most comfortable," Hermione replied with a shrug, her eyes flitting between the shell in her hand and Tony's face.
"That's incredible." Tony shook his head and scrubbed his hand over his mouth, cupping his chin.
Hermione tossed her head back with a laugh. "Well, I'll be damned. I never thought I'd see the day."
"What are you talking about?" Tony replied, furrowing his brow.
"I never thought I'd see you speechless," she said, donning a smirk upon her face. "Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a vacation to leave for."
Hermione took a few steps away from Tony toward the water. She wrapped her right hand tightly around the seashell and waved to him as she closed her eyes and waited for the portkey to take her to Thailand. She was ready to sink her toes into the sand or layout in a hammock by the clear blue water. Most of all, she was ready for a break away from work.
She braced herself for impact and closed her eyes as she felt herself falling towards the ground. When she felt the sand beneath her feet, she let out a sigh and opened her eyes.
"You've got to be kidding me," she mumbled under her breath, noticing an unexpected travel companion lying on the ground a few feet away from her.
"Granger," he groaned, pushing himself up off the ground momentarily before collapsing back onto the ground. "I think we have a problem."
"No shit Sherlock," she sighed, reaching down into her bag and searching for the small bottle she had tucked away in case she felt any of the common side effects of traveling by portkey. When she was finally able to wrap her hand around it, she pulled it out and made her way to Tony's side. "Here."
He looked up at her with a puzzled look on his face as he reached out for the bottle. While he was wary of whatever it was, she had just handed him; he hoped that it would make the stomach pains stop. He popped the lid off the bottle and lifted it to his lips, pausing momentarily.
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Just drink the damn thing. It will help to ease the travel sickness you're experiencing."
Tipping his head back, Tony downed the entire bottle. Hopefully whatever this was would start to ease nausea quickly. "Thanks," he muttered, handing her the empty bottle.
"That's okay," Hermione replied, taking a seat on the ground beside him. "How the hell did you get here? You weren't touching the shell so it shouldn't have transported you too."
"Your guess is as good as mine, but don't worry. I'll book a flight back to New York as soon as I can get up off the ground," he insisted, pushing himself up into a seated position. "I don't want to ruin your vacation. I know you've been looking forward to it for a while now."
Hermione shook her head. "The side effects are going to take a least forty-eight hours to wear off, and even then, I don't recommend flying."
"So what do you recommend?" he asked.
"I guess you could stay here with me so that I can monitor your symptoms and then we can travel back the way we got here," she said, shrugging her shoulders.
"Are you sure about this, Granger? I don't want to ruin your vacation," Tony insisted.
"No, I'm not sure, but I don't have any other choice."
. . . . . . . . .
Hermione looked around at her surroundings and sighed happily. She had never seen a place as gorgeous as the beach she was currently overlooking. This hammock had become her place of comfort once she was confident that Tony was doing better.
As she reflected on her trip, she couldn't help but smile. If she was honest with herself, when she saw Tony lying on the ground after using the portkey, she was convinced that her vacation was going to be ruined. Much to her pleasant surprise, it had been one of the best ones she had ever taken.
Tony had been the perfect travel companion. While she was relaxing in her hammock, he was out fishing in Koh Panyee each day. The first few days of his trips were less than successful, but as the week progressed, he had shown a lot of progress in his fishing abilities.
Taking a deep breath, Hermione closed her eyes and snuggled down into her hammock. There was a part of her that had no interest in going home because that meant coming to terms with the reality that she and Tony were coworkers and all of the memories the two had made during this trip would become just that.
"Don't expect me to have any sympathy for you if you fall asleep and get sunburnt." Tony's voice drew her out of her trance, and she pushed up on her elbow, looking over the edge of the hammock and sticking her tongue out at him.
"I was not falling asleep," she insisted. "I was just thinking about how amazing this trip has been."
"It has been quite remarkable, hasn't it?" Tony replied, smiling broadly as he sat down in the beach chair next to her hammock.
Hermione nodded her head and pushed herself up, draping her feet over the side of the hammock. "I don't want to go back to reality."
"Does anyone ever want to go back after an amazing vacation?"
Hermione laughed and shook her head. "I guess you're right, Stark."
He glanced up at her and pouted his lip slightly, hurt by her continuous use of his last name. "Don't you think after this whole trip you could call me by my first name, Granger?"
"The same goes to you, Tony," she replied, smiling as her cheeks flushed with color. She reached up and tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. She watched as Tony pushed himself up out of the chair and walked over to join her in the hammock. As he sat down, she laughed as it moved backward slightly, causing him to stumble and bump his head into her shoulder.
Laughter erupted from both of them before Hermione reached over and gently brushed her thumb along the side of his head. Tony's eyes met hers, and for a moment, it felt as though time stood still.
Slowly she watched as Tony's eyes fluttered closed and he moved his face closer to hers. She refused to think about the consequences that could come from this moment as she leaned into him and pressed her lips to his.
His lips felt rough at first, but after a split second, they both relaxed into the kiss, and Tony's hand came up to cup the back of her head, pulling her close to him. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and the pair slowly fell back into the hammock, wrapped in one another's embrace.
After a few moments, the pair pulled apart, but Hermione kept her eyes closed. She was afraid if she opened her eyes, this would all fade away.
"Hermione," his voice was soft, pulling her out of her thoughts as she slowly opened her eyes. She was met with his smiling face, which brought a smile to her own.
"Thank you for taking care of me on this trip, and I'm sorry that I ruined your vacation," he said, cupping her cheek and gently stroking her chin with the pad of his thumb.
"You didn't ruin my vacation," she said, shaking her head. "You made it the best one that I've ever taken."
She leaned forward and pressed her lips to Tony's once more, allowing herself to get lost in his kiss.