So...this happened...I don't even know where I got the idea from, but wherever I got it from, I'm sure glad I did. It was fun and easy to write! Only took me two days! :) ...though I should probably be focusing on my other stories, but I promise I've already started on the next chapter for Iron Trust!
Disclaimer: IMAA does not belong to me. Please excuse any OoCness in this story...
He sighed and shoved the metal scrap that was before him to the side. He kicked out with his legs sending himself back a few feet. He let his electric blue eyes scan the area before him, and realized that the place was a mess. Which, was to be expected after pulling three all-nighters in a row without leaving the room. Three days and nights, and he was yet to come up with anything conclusive or even remotely useful. Which is definitely saying something, saying that he was a genius.
One again, he sighed and crossed his arms in thought. He tried and tried to think of something useful. It shouldn't be this hard, even though he did have the 'I'm tired' excuse. He's definitely had worse and he's been more successful off of a week of no sleep. So anyone could imagine how frustrated he was.
A hissing sound filled the room, causing him to jump "slightly". Though, he hated to admit it, he actually almost threw himself off of the chair he was that startled. His neck snapped towards the direction of the noise, only to realize that it was just the door to the armory opening. He relaxed a little as soon as he gathered that it was only his favorite redhead.
Wait…favorite?
He was just about to greet her, when he was suddenly interrupted. A sudden, loud sob echoed throughout the armory. Tony tensed, unsure what to do and/or say. Pepper, his favorite (again?) redhead, rushed to his side and was about to throw her arms around his neck. Though, she was sent stumbling when Tony had shot out of his seat as if she was holding a gun.
She sniffled and blinked at him curiously with teary red eyes. "Tony?"
Tony swallowed hard and held his arms towards Pepper, who still seemed confused at why he had rushed away from her. "Pepper! Uh…are you…are you alright?"
Pepper let out another sob as she tried to calm herself down. She walked towards Tony, stuttering out words that Tony couldn't make out for the life of him. He backed away slowly at about the same speed as she was approaching, only to end up tripping over an empty can that laid on the ground. Pepper continued her approach and dropped to her knees next to Tony.
"Pepper," he said tensely, as she reached a hand towards him, "what happened? What's wrong?"
Inevitably, Pepper's hand finally reached him and soon she was gripping his shirt tighter than he imagined possible. Using her newfound grip, she pulled herself closer to him and took advantage of his position to cling on to him. Tony, being the technological genius he was, had no idea what to do. His whole body became stiff and tense.
Pepper was trying to say something, but he couldn't understand a single word that was being said. At best, he was pretty sure she was saying something about her dad, but he couldn't be completely sure. She clung onto him and practically bawled her eyes out. He could literally feel her wet tears on his shirt, and he was almost positive that it wasn't all tears…
"Uh…Pepper, calm down," Tony said, placing his hand awkwardly on her shoulder in attempt to sooth her. That's what people did to calm others, right? "It's okay." Right?
He felt compelled to call Rhodey to handle it, but he had a feeling that wasn't going to help anything.
Taking a deep breath, Tony pried Pepper off of him, helped them both up, and tried to lead her to the couch. Of course, she wasn't going easily. Her whole body shook, and he could almost imagine rivers pouring out from her eyes. Slowly, but surely, he finally got her to the couch. As he walked away, he could feel her teary gaze follow his every movement. He tried to ignore the feeling as he pulled a blanket from inside a nearby closet.
He returned to Pepper, who was still shaking heavily with tears, and tried to put the blanket over her. Though the instant it was completely covering her body from neck and below, she tossed it off with an annoyed whine. Tony sighed and picked the blanket off of the floor and tried once more, thinking that maybe it was an accident. But he was mistaken and ended up with a blanket over his head.
"What's wrong?" He demanded, tossing the blanket to the arm of the couch. "I don't understand a word you are saying! And I can't help you if you won't let me! Why are you crying?"
Pepper once again started to speak gibberish that was mixed in with heavy sobs and choked breathing. Tony cut her off before she could say anything else, "Pep, take a breath. I still can't understand you."
He watched as she took in loud breaths that he assumed was supposed to be her "calming" down. As she did this, he kept wondering what he was going to say when she finally calm down. Was he supposed to do something? Did she expect him to say something? Why was she crying? Was it personal?
He found himself taking deep breaths of his own as he wondered what the answers were to all of his questions. He desperately wanted to figure it out, but for the life of him, he couldn't figure it out. He couldn't figure out why Pepper was crying, and why she had come to him of all people. He could count plenty of other people in Pepper's life who were ten times better at handling something like this. Rhodey for example. He was good with people.
That's right. Rhodey was good with people. Tony was good with machines. He could understand any machine and know exactly what to do in seconds. He could build basically anything he wanted if he so desired. He could tell if a machine wasn't running right, just by the sound of it. He could even tell what it was exactly that was wrong with it by that sound. He was a genius with technology, he knew it from the back of his head. To him, technology was his life. His life revolved around technology and machines.
But this?
This was human emotion. Something that was so purely human and fragile. It wasn't some machine he could adjust a few screws and wires to make it better. This was entirely human. Not something he could improve or throw away when something better came up. It was human.
It was Pepper.
He bit his lip as he noticed that she was failing at calming herself down. Whatever it was that had Pepper worked up, she obviously couldn't stop thinking about it. And It wasn't helping her calm down. So, what does he do if she's not calming down? Is it medical related? Does she need a doctor?
At this thought, Tony glanced to his phone. He wondered if it would be out of line to call the doctor, or even Rhodey for some advice. But what if it was personal? Maybe she had come to him, because she knew she could trust him to keep it a secret. So, it would be out of line if he called in outside help.
With this in mind, her loud sobs that were mixed with terribly loud gasps were the only noises in the room. Helping Tony realize that he was the only other person in the room. He was the only one who could help her. She came to him. She trusted that he would help her. Right? So he decided that he was going to help her feel better.
He looked over at her once more, and frowned when he realized she was looking at him expectantly. She was waiting for his help. But what was he supposed to do? He's already concluded that she was nothing like a machine. So there was no wire in the wrong spot, and there was definitely no missing screw to find. What helped humans when they weren't feeling good? What made them feel better when they were sad?
"Uh….It's okay, Pep," Tony tried, "It's okay."
He quickly—too quickly—grabbed for his phone, but ended up dropping it in the process. He practically scrambled to pick it up again and managed to drop it again, only this time onto Pepper's lap.
"You can play a…uh…game," Tony suggested helplessly, "to…you know…keep your mind off of it…"
Pepper gave Tony a look that he instantly translated to disapproval. Blinking several times, he hastily grabbed for the phone once more and it once again slipped from his grasp and onto the floor. In the whole process he found himself losing his balance and threw an arm out to catch himself, only to realize that he'd used Pepper's leg as support.
"Ah!" he yelped and threw himself backwards, only to end up tripping over a can. He suspected that it was the same can that tripped him earlier…
At this point, Pepper's sobs had gotten worse and with one glance at her face, he could tell she regretted coming to him. At least, he thought so, but he couldn't be sure because he was the worst at reading expressions. Once again, he was stumped by human emotion.
He scrambled to his feet, and tried to figure out how to help her. He couldn't understand anything that she was trying to say. So, even if he was good—or somewhat good—with humans, he wouldn't know what he needed to do to help.
Tony sighed as he took a seat next to Pepper, "What am I supposed to do? What's wrong?"
Pepper didn't even try to take a breath before she burst out into more gibberish. Her hands were fisted at her sides, and her whole body in general seemed tense. Tony tried, he really did, to understand what she was saying, but to no avail.
Then it struck him. It wasn't much, but he remembered what it was like when his mom died and when his dad supposedly "died".
Without a second thought, he threw his arms around the redhead holding her tightly against him.
Instantly, Pepper's voice and sobs came to an abrupt stop. For a few moments, she was still and stiff. He could feel through her back as shaky breaths left her lips. Then like heat to butter, her whole body relaxed and she hugged him back. Tightly. She held onto him as if her life depended on it, and her sobs came back.
Tony tried to remember what they did next. When his mom had passed away, everyone practically lined up behind his father and himself at the funeral to give them hugs of comfort. They apologized for their loss and went on with the funeral. Though he knew now wasn't the time to apologize. He didn't even know what to apologize for.
So instead, he just let her cry. He let her get it out of her system. He adjusted their position so that she was more comfortable. He began to rock in side to side motions while his arm rubbed her back. After about a minute, Pepper's sobs turned into soft and shaky breaths. He took a long, relaxing breath in relief when her breathing turned mostly normal. She sniffled and buried her face in his chest.
"It's okay, alright?" he whispered into her hair. "It's okay."
"Yeah," she said softly.
Thankfully, he could understand her. "Uh…want to explain what happened?"
He felt her take in another deep, shaky breath before she spoke, "I don't know…it's stupid."
"Come on, don't be like that. It can't be stupid if you were that upset about it," Tony reasoned with her.
She pulled away from his hold, just enough to look in his eyes. Quickly, she averted her eyes elsewhere as she twisted her hand in the back of his shirt. "Um…I'm sorry. You know…for bursting in here like that."
"Don't be," Tony said, "you have nothing to be sorry for, Pep."
He didn't really know what he was doing, but it seemed to be working. He didn't even know what he was saying. He just felt that they needed to be said. Was this how he was supposed to handle humans? With hugs and comforting words? With gentle touches and kind gestures?
"It's just," Pepper paused, taking another breath, "my dad…" she bit her lip nervously, "hasn't come home and he promised that he'd be home within three days. He said it wasn't that big of a mission. Tony, it's been six days! I haven't even gotten a call!"
Her voice had risen with each sentence, tears were slipping down her face once more. Tony panicked and pulled her close to him again, earning him another surprised gasp from Pepper. She breathed slowly and heavily against him until she was calm again. Tony sighed in relief, honestly thinking that he wouldn't be able to handle it if she began crying again. He hardly withstood her last episode of tears.
"I'm sure he's fine," Tony assured her, "He's probably trying his best to return to you. Maybe he doesn't have good service where he's at."
Pepper bit her lip again, "I guess you're right. I just…need to be patient. It's just hard…being alone so much without him."
"Pep, if you feel so alone, you're always welcome to come over to my house. Rhodey will be there too, if you'd like," Tony said, placing his hands on Pepper's shoulders so he could look her in the eye. "I mean it, anytime. As long as it's reasonable of course."
Pepper laughed lightly, "So, no visits at midnight?"
Tony gave a light laugh as well, "Well, if you must come over at midnight, be my guest. I'll be up anyways. You'll just have to manage without Rhodey."
Pepper rolled her eyes. "I think I'll manage."
Tony sighed happily. Human emotion, huh? He thought.
It was that moment when he realized that he was capable of being good with people. At least when it came to Pepper.
It was also that moment when they both realized that Pepper was still sitting on Tony's lap…
Heh, did you guys like it? I worked hard at being both funny and serious at the same time. Did it work? Review and share your thoughts! :) And surprisingly, the Pepperony in this story seems awfully dimmed down compared to my other stories, but it's definitely there!
Fun Fact: My two favorite animals are flamingos and tigers. :) I got to see them both today at the zoo!
Hugs and Love, SilverPedals!
P.S. So some/many of you know that I had a contest going on, but due to the lack of participants...I have to cancel it. :(