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His first night back in the States was… different. There was no fear that he might be woken up with a machine gun muzzle in his face. Instead of a rickety, rough, blood-stained cot, he had a large, soft bed with extra pillows and a down comforter. True lighting kept him company while he tried to convince his mind that it was okay to shut down for a while. Carrying on a short conversation with the sarcastic British AI as he tried to sleep, JARVIS replaced Yinsen as the last 'person' he talked to before drifting off. Finally, he had JARVIS kill the lights and play some music for him; a welcome change, he thought.
The instant the first note reached his ears, Tony flipped over and pulled a pillow over his head. "Turn it off!"
AC/DC's 'Back in Black' stopped immediately.
"Is there a problem, sir?" JARVIS asked. Tony wasn't normally one to complain about AC/DC, and the AI was as concerned as AI can be.
"I don't want to hear that song again, JARVIS," he said, barely lifting the pillow so he could be heard. "Not until I tell you it's okay, at least."
"Sorry, sir. Would you like a different song?"
"No." He pulled the pillow tight around his head, almost wishing to suffocate himself.
He hadn't realized he'd have this issue. Everyone thought he had PTSD, of course, because of the press conference. But he'd been thinking clearly, and he was serious about Stark Industries' new direction. He had insisted to everyone that he was fine, and he was – or so he thought. But if AC/DC was going to start giving him flashbacks, there was a problem. Well, it's only the one song, he consoled himself. He figured it would go away eventually.
In the cave, he'd very much gotten used to the cold, especially at night. "JARVIS, turn the AC up." The AI responded affirmatively and Tony heard the system kick in. It would take a little while to notice the difference, though, so he threw back the blanket he had been huddling under. Not satisfied, he sat up, grabbed the hem of his shirt, and yanked it off over his head.
There was another change, one he'd forgotten about, and not just the weight and muscle tone he'd lost while in captivity. In the otherwise dark room, a small circle of soft blue light emanated from his chest.
Tony took it philosophically. "If I ever develop a fear of the dark, this will be very convenient." He paused, then added, "Or if I'm ever with someone who is afraid of the dark, I have an excuse to take my shirt off."
Satisfied, he lay down again and slowly, slowly drifted off to sleep in the dim glow of the arc reactor.
"This is different," she commented, tracing designs across his stomach with her index finger. The room was mostly dark.
"I know." He was Tony Stark; it would always be different with him than with anyone else at all. He was a genius, billionaire, playboy, and until recently he was a Merchant of Death. Now he wasn't quite sure what to classify himself as. But different was certainly a fitting, albeit trite, description.
She laughed. "I'm not used to sleeping with a nightlight," she teased.
JARVIS had dimmed the lights. What was she…? Oh, that. "Yeah, try not to smack your head on it please. It's kind of keeping me alive right now."
That brought about the inevitable questions – did it hurt? How long would it work for? Did he ever have to replace it? What the heck was it? He brushed her off with only half-answers and employed a classic distraction technique, a hand running up the inside of her leg. Soon, she'd almost forgotten the arc reactor completely.
"JARVIS, lights," Tony threw out, sliding into bed. It had been a really long day. He knew that as soon as his head hit the pillow, he would be asleep. So he didn't let himself to lie down quite yet.
Still, leaning on the headboard, he almost fell asleep before Pepper entered the room. She frequently visited him before bed, to make sure he was all set for the night before she left. But tonight, he knew without having to ask that she would stay. Head back, eyes closed, he opened his arms as he heard her footsteps.
Wordlessly, she sat next to him, laying her head on his shoulder. "I hadn't thought of that," she said after a few moments' pleasant silence.
"Hm?" Tony didn't have energy for actual words.
"That." She poked him in the chest. Not feeling anything, his eyebrows drew together in confusion.
"What are you talking about?" he mumbled, rolling his head to the side to face her. His eyes stayed shut.
Pepper smiled and forced one of his eyes open with her fingers. "Tony, stay with me for a minute," she teased. "I hadn't thought about this." She poked him again. This time, he looked down to see her finger on his tee shirt, over the arc reactor.
"Shit," he muttered, looking at the blue glow through the fabric. He had gotten so used to the light, he hadn't even thought that it might be a problem for someone else. Blearily, he slipped off the edge of the bed and stumbled across the room.
Pepper watched curiously as he started to pull on another shirt. "Hang on, Tony. What are you doing?"
"Covering it," he replied, sounding only slightly more awake.
"Why?"
"Because…." His tired mind couldn't quite formulate a proper response to that.
"Come back to bed, Tony." He started back across the room. "Without the extra shirt."
He lay down on his side, facing her, propping his head on his hand. "Do I have to keep this one on too?" he joked, blinking sleepily.
"Oh, you can take it off if you want," she responded.
That just prompted more blinking. "The arc reactor would be even brighter," he pointed out, not catching on.
"So?" Pepper smiled; he didn't seem to understand a word she was saying. "Tony, I like it."
"Like what?" His expression was reminiscent of a child trying to understand his parent's grown-up conversation. Pepper almost laughed. She often compared him to a child, although she tried to avoid admitting it to him.
"The reactor. It's… calming. And it's very… you."
"Oh." He seemed shocked by that. "Then I guess I don't need another shirt?"
Her response was to tug at the hem of the black tee shirt he wore. When he fell asleep minutes later, he wore only boxers. The next morning, he told JARVIS to return 'Back in Black' to his playlist.
Tony had always loved thunderstorms, at least once he'd gotten past his childhood fear. Being able to hear the waves crashing against the cliff face far below the house calmed him. The periodic flashes of light and claps of thunder were soothing; when he was in the lab, he even turned off his music to listen to the storm as he worked. Some of his best work was done during thunderstorms. And not just in the lab.
"Daddy?"
He looked up from the tablet in his hand. "What's up, kiddo?" Pepper stirred next to him, looking sleepily at the young boy framed in the doorway.
"I'm scared." His trembling bottom lip and the shaking hand holding his stuffed Hulk backed up his words. Lightning flashed and thunder cracked across the sky. The young boy was across the room faster than Tony would've thought possible, burying his head in the pillows and curling up between his parents. Chuckling, Tony tucked him under the blankets, tossed the tablet on the bedside table, and asked JARVIS to shut the house down for the night. Then he headed to the bathroom.
When he came back in a wifebeater, his son gasped. "Daddy, why are you glowing?"
Behind him, Pepper's eyes snapped open and locked onto Tony's. He gave an almost imperceptible nod.
"Well, Junior, your mommy doesn't like thunderstorms much either." Pepper gave him an odd look, and he smirked. She'd never had a problem with storms, even at Junior's age. "So I went down to the lab a few years ago and put together a gadget that helps her sleep. When there's a thunderstorm, I wear it under my shirt, and it helps her calm down so she can sleep better."
The boy's eyes widened as his dad lay down next to him. Junior sat up and reached out his stubby fingers, laying them on the blue circle in his dad's shirt. Something about the reactor made him giggle, and when the next fork of lightning lit the sky, and thunder rolled through the clouds, Junior didn't notice, tucked into the crook of his dad's arm, eyes fixed on the arc reactor.
If I owned Iron Man, I would own a house like Tony Stark's (actually I'd have four of them - Malibu, Alaska, Australia, and some other location I haven't picked yet). And I'd have like twelve towers in various cities, and I'd probably never even go to them but they'd have bowling and hockey rinks and all sorts of kickass stuff because somehow I'd make it efficient, affordable, and all that jazz. And I can't even drive but I would learn simply for the sake of being able to drive cars like Stark has. Also, I'd be such an awesome person that RDJ would live in my basement because he'd think it was so cool, and then he'd never be sure if he's Tony Stark/Iron Man or if he's RDJ. It would be great. So yeah basically none of this is mine. Aren't disclaimers AMAZING? -_-