I'd like to say sorry, but school with finals and stuff was more important to me. I haven't forgotten about you guys, I just set my priorities straight. And to welcome the summer break, I thought why not write something both light and humorous? This was actually an idea of mine that I had last year that was written down, but it needed some serious editing. :) Hope you guys enjoy!
Disclaimer: As always, IMAA belongs to its rightful owners...AKA not me.
The tiled floor was cold against her bare feet as they padded across the kitchen floor. She slowly slipped down into a chair as she pushed her glass of water away from the ledge of the table. The clock had just turned seven and she was already feeling exhausted from another day down. Funny thing was, it was because a long day of school, and it had nothing to do with her superhero, best friend this time around. Which made her wonder how she got into such a hectic life in the first place. She could hardly remember a time when she had normal friends with normal problems, instead of superhero best friends who had mountain-sized problems.
As crazy and stressful as it was being their friend, she'd wish for no other life. Sure there was times when she questioned what her life would be like without the two of them and how she might have a different life, but she certainly never wished to change her life. How could she when she was best friends with Tony Stark, also known as Iron Man?
It felt nice being able to sit back for one moment and realize that she was allowed these moments. That she was perfectly capable of having at least a few moments of silence to herself. Now, if only she was able to get these moments more often. She'd be a very happy girl if she was spared just that much.
Her dad was working late and she hadn't heard anything from Tony or Rhodey, which was exceptionally rare these days. It seemed almost every moment she had free was spent helping Tony take down the bad guys or helping the boy stay together when it seemed as if his whole world was falling apart.
Speaking of them, she's been trying to contact them all day. Really, it was Tony who she wanted to talk to because she was struggling on the most recent physics assignment, and she needed help almost desperately. But it seemed that he, along with Rhodey, were ignoring her! She knew that she might have sent a bit too many texts and phone calls, but at that rate, one of them should have at least picked up the phone once.
Just a simple, "I'm busy" or "no", would have sufficed. They didn't have to ignore her. They both were at school and she would have heard from them if there was any Iron Man business that needed to be tended to. Unless something detrimental had happened—which hopefully wasn't the case—she felt that she deserved at least some form of response as to why they couldn't talk.
She eyed her phone, thinking that maybe one more call would be enough before calling it good. Taking a quick sip from her ice water, she picked up her phone and dialed up Rhodey's number, knowing that she had a better chance with him than she ever did with Tony.
Surprisingly enough, after four rings, Rhodey had actually picked up.
"Hey, Pepper…" his voice came through clearly sounding nervous.
"Don't you 'hey, Pepper' me!" Pepper snapped exasperatedly. "I've been trying to contact you and Tony all day! I need help with something, is Tony available?"
"Um…something came up, sorry," Rhodey said apologetically.
"Like what?" Pepper wondered. "New York isn't being attacked right now is it? I could be helping you guys! Why didn't you tell me?"
"No, it's not that," Rhodey replied softly, sounding distracted. "It's just…"
"You weren't just ignoring me were you? Because that's just rude. If I'm that annoying, why don't you just tell me?" Pepper said. "Or was it a family emergency, because than I'll leave you alone."
By the tone Rhodey was speaking in, something had to have happened. Now that Pepper thought about it, a family emergency could take up both of the boy's day and would be more important than Pepper's need for help on her physics homework.
"Something like that," came Rhodey's timid response.
"Oh," Pepper responded before going into silence. She wasn't sure how to respond to that.
"Actually, I've been meaning to call you," Rhodey finally admitted. "It's about Tony."
"He's not dead is he? He's in the hospital isn't he? That's why you guys haven't called!" Pepper was suddenly alert and attentive, no longer exhausted from her stressful day. "What hospital? I'm coming over."
Rhodey gave out a long sigh. "He's fine, he's not dying or anything, but it's not pretty. He just woke up from surgery and he's feeling fine I think."
"What happened?" Pepper demanded, already shoving her arms through a light sweater and her feet into her shoes.
"Car accident," Rhodey put simply, before going into more detail. "The driver got the brunt of the hit, but Tony caught a rather large chunk of the crash. I'll explain when you get here. We're at the local hospital down the street from my house."
"Is he alright?" Pepper had to ask as she stepped out of the house after leaving a note for her dad in case she was still gone when he got back.
Rhodey actually gave a light laugh. "Alright enough to think he's in the hospital for wetting his pants, but otherwise, yeah he's alright."
"Wait, what?"
"Surgery," Rhodey reminded her. "Here, talk to him."
Pepper's been there all the other times Tony had undergone surgery, and she never heard of him having any weird effects that Rhodey mentioned. She had to wonder what the full extent of Tony's injuries were. She rushed to hailed a taxi as she listened to a strange conversation unfold between Rhodey and Tony, and due to the positioning of Rhodey's phone, she could hear both of them crystal clear.
The conversation when a little like this:
"Pepper's on the phone," Rhodey had told Tony. "She wants to talk to you."
"I don't like pepper, I mean a little bit of pepper is okay, but not a lot. Pepper makes you sneeze," was Tony's genius response. "Unless it's the kind of pepper you put on pizza, or even pepperoni, that's good too. And some pepper is spicy, like burn your face off spicy. That's not good pepper. To me, some spice is good, but not a lot."
Pepper chocked on a laugh as she tried to tell the cab driver her destination, she could hear Rhodey holding back his own laugh as he went to correct Tony. "No, it's Pepper Potts, you best friend."
"I'm best friends with a peppered pot?" Tony had sounded disbelieving, yet Pepper could a hint of awe in his voice.
"No!" Rhodey sounded a tad bit annoyed by this point. Pepper had to wonder how much of this he had to deal with before he had decided to answer her call. "She's a person! That's her name!"
"The pot is female?"
By this point, Pepper might as well be declared dead. Cause of death: laughter.
"Just answer the phone," Rhodey had obviously given up.
After a few moments in time, Tony had finally grabbed the phone. "Is this Pepper Potts?"
Pepper nodded, despite being out of view of her blue-eyed friend. "This is her."
Tony went silent for longer than just a few moments, prompting Pepper to ask him if he was still there. His response: "You actually speak?"
"Yes, Tony, I'm a human being," Pepper replied with soft chuckle under her breath.
Tony gave an excited gasp. "What a coincidence! So am I!"
Now, Pepper didn't know how it was that she was supposed to respond to that. She probably would have laughed at how crazy he sounded at that moment, but she didn't. Instead it got her wondering what on Earth the boy was on and what had happened to him to cause such an effect on him. He definitely wasn't like himself and that had her worried.
"Aren't you tired?" Tony interrupted the silence, giving out a yawn after his words. Then, without waiting for her response, he let out a long whine, "Why do I hurt so much?"
Pepper could only shrugged and give out a measly, "I don't know, you were in a car accident, so there's that." Saying out loud sounded so simple and common as if he had just scraped his knee on the pavement. "Which reminds me, how are you feeling?"
"Did they infect you too? Why do they keep asking me that?" Tony suddenly demanded.
Pepper decided not to answer his question, figuring that he wouldn't understand her answer right now. Instead she replied with, "Did you break anything?"
Judging by the traffic that she was stuck in, she wasn't going to be at the hospital any time soon. Actually, she might make it there faster by foot rather than by taxi, but her mind was elsewhere, and she only wanted to focus on one thing. Tony's heath. She liked being prepared for when she walked into that hospital room. To be prepared to see bandages and IV's that were hooked up to him.
"No," came Tony's delayed response. "I can't even sit up, and I don't' think there's anything breakable next to me…"
"No," Pepper fully understood Rhodey's annoyance. Although it was quite amusing to listen to, it was like talking to a toddler who never understood what was being said to them. "I mean, did you break any bones?"
"I don't even know where my feet are—wait, Rhodey! Where are my feet?"
Pepper could almost see Rhodey's eye roll as he told Tony, "They're right here! See? Nothing to worry about."
Tony gave a horrified gasp. "Why is one of them HUGE?"
Through Tony's panic of having an enlarged foot, Pepper couldn't hear Rhodey's response, but she got the picture. He must have broken one of them and it's in a cast. Casts were not meant to be pretty.
Tony's next words confirmed her conclusion. "Um…Pepper, I've got to go. I have to fix my leg."
"Tony, wait—!" And with that, their long and confusing conversation ended. Tony had hung up.
As worried as Rhodey had her, Pepper felt a little bit relieved that he was well enough to be up and speaking, even if it wasn't in a very understandable way. She looked outside and wished that traffic wasn't such a pain in New York. She could have been there by now!
But of course, it was New York and around rush hour, so she'd be lucky if she got there within the hour. She sighed, looking at her faded reflection in the window.
Might as well just sit here and wait, she thought.
xXx
*Previous to phone call, with Rhodey and Tony*
Rhodey had actually been surprised to find out that Tony was in the hospital for something other than being beat up by his villainous enemies. He could honestly say that it felt good being able to tell his mom the truth on why Tony was injured and hospitalized, even though he was sure that the woman knew they were lying every time it happened. This time around though he could happily—er—truthfully tell his mom that Tony was in a car accident and have it not be a lie that everyone could see through.
He loved Tony as a brother, but he wasn't fond of lying to his mom, who just so happened to be a lawyer, and she had a killer gaze that dug deep into his mind every time she knew he was lying. Tony was lucky that he feared his mom's wrath enough to not tell his mom about Tony's second identity. He'd be grounded for life if she found out.
Back to why Tony was in the hospital, it had been a normal day. Tony had been given a free day from fighting his enemies—which had been a rare luxury that Tony had. He was finally able to stay a whole day at school learning like every other normal teen in school, instead of fulfilling his duty as Iron Man. Although, he still didn't particularly like going to school. Tony had taken the taxi home from school instead of using the armor as he usually would, while Rhodey stayed behind to make up a missed test. The next thing Rhodey knew, he was getting a phone call from his mom to meet her at the hospital.
Luckily, Tony did catch the brunt of the crash—unfortunately, it was the driver who caught the brunt and had died almost instantly. Though Tony wasn't free from injury by the time the taxi had stopped moving. After what seemed like hours of surgery to correct broken bones and internal bleeding, Tony was finally in his own room, resting. It wasn't until around seven that Tony finally opened his eyes.
Roberta, who was worriedly pacing at the foot of Tony's bed, stopped immediately and rushed to the confused boy's side. The doctor had said that he might be a bit confused when he woke up, even a bit disoriented and forgetful. Which, the doctors had been informed of Tony's condition with Extremis, and were aware that the teen genius would need a bit more anesthetics than the normal person. So, there was no telling how it affected the boy in the end.
"Tony, how are you feeling?" Roberta asked when Tony's gaze finally fell on her.
Tony gave a tired groan, possibly not understanding her question or groaning had been his response. It was hard to tell if that mean he was okay or he wasn't. Roberta decided to pass it off as him just being tired and let it be. "Would you like some water?"
Rhodey could see what the doctor meant by disoriented. Tony looked like he didn't even know where he was. Most visits to the hospitals, Tony was able to at least recognize that it was hospital he was sitting in.
Tony gave a soft nod to Roberta's offer and grasped the cup of water in both of his hands. Lifting the foam cup to his chapped lips he tried fulfilling his thirst, but instead ended up soaking the whole front of his shirt. He had already spilt more than half of the contents before Roberta had snatched the cup out of Tony's hands.
"Maybe a straw would be better," Roberta gave Tony a small smile as she refilled the cup at the sink.
He tried several times to get the straw in his mouth, which the straw wanted to be anywhere but Tony's mouth. It poked his cheeks many times, spun around as if doing a show, and even went up his nose before Rhodey finally helped him. Only for Tony to get a few sips in before dropping the cup and soaking his blankets and lap.
"Oops," was his first word since he had woken up.
It took them longer than it should have to clean up all the water. To start, Tony had issues getting his shirt off. He kept trying to get it off by pulling down instead of up and demanded to know why it wasn't cooperating with him. Then when he finally realized that he needed to pull up instead of down, he got tangled in the hospital issued shirt and had get assistance from Rhodey who could barely control his laughter.
Then Roberta and Tony argued about why Tony couldn't sit up, while Rhodey worked on replacing Tony's blanket unbeknownst to Tony.
"Why can't I sit up?" Tony wondered. "I just want to sit up."
"I know, and I can call the nurse and have her help you," Roberta said for what must have been the fifth time. "You just got out of surgery, Tony."
"Isn't there a button thingy I could press to get it to fold or something," he tried showing her what he meant with his hands, but Rhodey was pretty sure that not even Tony knew what he was doing.
Roberta gave a sigh. "Tony, I am not having this argument with you."
Even now, in his state of mind, Roberta's strong sense of authority affected Tony. He stopped his arguing and resorted to pouting, much to Rhodey's amusement.
"I'll call the nurse," Roberta simply stated to solve the problem at hand.
While they waited, Roberta explained what happened to Tony, who didn't seemed at all concerned about any pain, so the medicine he was one was working effectively. Rhodey had to wonder several times if Tony even remembered that he was in a hospital. Extremis and whatever anesthetics that the doctors gave Tony, weren't exactly the best mix.
"So, how are you feeling?" Roberta questioned when she finished.
"I'm on a lot of drugs aren't I?" Tony wondered finally noticing the IV's leading into his veins.
"Yes," Roberta confirmed with a nod.
Tony's eyes widened. "That's bad!"
"No, it's to help with the pain," Roberta assured the panicked boy.
"I don't feel any pain," Tony told her.
"That's because of the medicine the doctors gave you."
"You mean drugs," Tony corrected.
"Tony, they're the same thing," Rhodey informed him.
Tony rolled his eyes and scoffed. "That's what they want you to think!"
The nurse finally came, having taken awhile due to the busy hospital, her uniform wrinkled her hair all in disarray, but she still had a welcoming smile on her face. She walked straight to Tony, situating herself at his bedside.
"Hello Mr. Stark, nice to see that you're awake," she began, looking over the clipboard with his stats on it.
Rhodey was having trouble discerning what the look on Tony's face was before Tony blurted out, "Am I married or something!?" He started staring at his left hand with panic in his eyes. "Oh no! Rhodey I lost my ring! My wife is going to be so angry at me!"
While Rhodey was in the corner dying, the nurse shook her head. "No, you're not married. At least, not that I know of. But how are you doing?"
"Why does everyone keep asking that?" Tony demanded. "Who are you anyway?"
"I'm your nurse Holly," she replied, a smile still plastered on her face.
"Is your name Holly because you holler a lot?" Tony innocently wondered.
"Tony!" Roberta snapped, sending Tony a scolding glare.
"No, its fine," Holly assured the upset lawyer, "he's just on a lot of drugs."
"HA!" Tony exclaimed in a shout. "I KNEW IT! So you guys are drugging me!"
Roberta placed a calming, yet authorities hand on Tony's shoulder as he tried to sit up and jab an accusing finger at the nurse. "I'm sorry," she apologized once she got Tony calmed down, "we were just wondering if you could raise is bed up a bit."
"Oh of course," Holly smiled.
Tony seemed satisfied with her answer as she did as she was requested of. He was very pleased when she had offered him a clean, dry shirt having noticed that he was lacking one. She had even gotten Tony a cup of water with both a lid and a straw. Then just as quickly as she had arrived, she had left promising to return later to readjust his medicine—or drugs as Tony so adamantly put it.
"Can I go home?" Tony innocently wondered after the nurse left, handing his half empty cup to Rhodey.
"Nope, you're going to have to stay here for a while," Roberta informed him as she looked at her watch. "It's getting late, why don't you go to sleep?"
It was a simple question, but Tony seemed almost insulted by the offer. "Ugh! I'm not even tired!" Yet, he yawned as he spoke. He suddenly looked around, a confused and befuddled look entering his face. "Hey, where'd Rhodey go? Wasn't he just here?"
Rhodey waved from where he sat. "I'm right here."
He'd been silent for a while since he mind had started drifting elsewhere. Mainly to their redheaded friend, Pepper Potts who had been trying to contact them ever since school got out. Aside from Tony's health, telling Pepper about what had happened had been the heaviest on his mind. He could just be telling her that they had took Tony to the doctor for a cold and she would have freaked out for not knowing. So, he wasn't looking forward to what she was going to say to finding out that he was in a car crash.
His silence must have made Tony think that he had left.
Tony yawned once more, stretching enough to cause him to wince. "Why do I hurt so much?"
"You were in an accident," Rhodey reminded him.
Tony looked absolutely horrified as he patted the blankets around him. "I didn't wet the bed did I?"
Unable to contain his laughter anymore, Rhodey burst out laughing uncontrollably to the point where he was choking on air. All while Tony watched on with a confused look on his face. Rhodey held his stomach to try to quell his laughter, but one look at Tony caused the laughter to bubbled back up his throat and into the air.
"No," he said between laughs, "not that kind of accident."
"A car accident," Roberta corrected while her son tried to quiet himself a second time.
"Again?" Tony whined. "I was already in one today!"
"Um, no," Rhodey replied, taking deep breaths. "Just one."
Then the dreaded phone call happened. When he picked up the phone he was ready to have to tell Pepper what had happened, and he was prepared for the yelling his poor ear was going to have to suffer. But, surprisingly, she took the news quite well all things considered. Even though she might have just dropped whatever it was she was doing to come to the hospital, only to find out that visiting hours were closing within the next hour and a half.
She talked to Tony to, which had been nothing short of a trip to the moon and back after several misunderstandings on Tony's behalf. The call was abruptly cut off when Tony declared that he needed to fix his leg, which had been broken, before hanging up. Rhodey could just imagine Pepper's face on the other side of the line.
Then just as abruptly as he had hung up, he had passed out after failing to "fix" his leg. Good, he needed his rest. And maybe when he woke up, he'd be in a more stable condition to where he didn't need so much anesthetics.
Rhodey gave a long, much needed sigh as he sat back in his chair. His mom, who had looked anything but awake, was rubbing her temples as she glanced at the time. "I have to get back to the office soon before they lock up. I still have to file some paperwork for that case."
She had left work in a rush to see how Tony was and to fill out even more paperwork regarding Tony's insurance and medical records. She had stuck around until he was out of surgery and then until the inventor woke up, which brought them to now.
Rhodey nodded. "Yeah, I should get working on my homework. Maybe now I'll be able to focus."
Roberta grabbed her bag and gave one last look at her adoptive son and then to Rhodey. "Tell Pepper I said hi." With that being said, Roberta left.
Right, Rhodey thought, Pepper's on her way.
Technically, this is done. I feel that it can stand on its own like this. (Correct me if I'm wrong...) But if inspiration hits me, I'm definitely willing to add on to this. :) But, for now I'm keeping it marked as complete. Oh, and sorry if the order of events or whatever was confusing. I wrote Pepper's POV first and then realized that I had originally had Rhodey's first and my brain is too fried to fix it. My apologies if it was confusing.
And just so it is stated, this was more of my hypothetical thinking of what would happen if Extremis affected the way Tony's body reacted to medications like anesthetics or pain killers. Anesthetics can make you loopy later on can't they? I'm pretty sure that's what they gave my brother when he broke his forearm. And he was weird afterwords. Oh well, It's my story. What I say goes. :P
Fun Fact: I like sending letters in the mail more than I like sending e-mails.
I'm hoping that I'll be writing more since it's summer break, but remembering last summer, I barely posted anything...But hopefully, that'll be different this year!
Hugs and Love, SilverPedals! :D