Title: You're the color and you're the movement.
Fandom: Iron Man / The Avengers
Pair: Tony and Pepper aka PEPPERONY
Word Count: 2818
A/N: A Prompt on Tumblr was given to me: Pepper gets seriously hurt and Tony's a mess.
"Ouch! Shoot!"
"What is it?" Tony looked up from his digital work to see Pepper on the other side of the room with her papers, cradling her hand awkwardly.
"I just cut my finger." She frowned and stuck her left finger in her mouth, sucking on it. Now this may be considered a sexual gesture but for Tony it was an adorable sight to see the composed woman and girlfriend with her finger in her mouth, sucking on it like an injured lioness. He strode over and removed the hefty stack of papers from her tired arms and set them on the counter beside her. "It's nothing really." She muttered, the sting was almost all gone as the man removed the finger and gently looked at the nick on her finger tip. "Tony." She flushed slightly. She wouldn't exactly call it a fetish or a kink but she loved his hands, she loved watching him work on something intricate, mesmerized by his concentration and skill. Heaving a sigh, she watched as Tony pulled out the first aid kit from the cupboard above them, one that had been taken out for his own sake many times. But this time, it was Pepper's turn to have someone tend to her wounds, no matter how minor, Tony seemed insistent on fixing her up. "I'm not a machine you know."
"I know." He said as he pulled out some rubbing alcohol and dabbed it on her wound. Pepper winced and Tony looked up to her. "You're much more important." He told her as he then wrapped a band-aid around her injury and brought her hand to her lips, kissing it softly. "There, all better." Tony said, feeling quite proud of himself. The woman smiled and leaned in and kissed his lips.
"Thank you, Mr. Stark."
"You're welcome, Ms. Potts." He hummed. "Will that be all?" He asked, the phrase they shared had now been flipped around, so it seemed.
"Not quite." Pepper moved her arms around him and pulled him close. "I think someone deserves a break from work."
"You or me?"
"You and me." Pepper smirked and kissed him again, her fingers tickling the back of Tony's dark hair. The genius moved and pushed her back against the counter, deepening the kiss. His hand moved to her hips and sat her up on the counter in front of him while their work lay happily forgotten. His lips traveled from her sweet pink lips down to the side of her neck. She breathed in sharply as his lips began sucking at her flesh, marking her the way he always did. And she had no problems with being his. She was always had been and always will be. "Mmm Tony." She closed her eyes as they soon got more comfortable. Minutes passed by slowly as hands roamed and lips connected and disconnect, while the pair passionately stayed where they were, having no intent on stopping. And yet they had to when there was an alert from JARVIS.
"Sir, Director Fury has requested your assistance immediately. There's an attack in which he would like Iron Man to handle."
"What about Legolas or Ms Black Widow huh?"
"They're already on the scene but need your help I believe, sir."
"Alright. I'll be back tonight, Pep." He sighed and stepped back and set his girl back on firm ground but not without one last kiss. Pepper just smiled as Tony headed off to suit up. Pepper turned back to her papers and decided the intermission of sorts was enough to get her through the rest of the work she had to get through. She watched Tony fly off as she just went up to the main pair of their coastal mansion. Once in the living room overlooking the view, she sat down and got comfortable. It wasn't long before she heard a whizzing sound. Looking up, she saw half a dozen small missiles plummeting toward her and then everything went black. The event happened in slow motion, on mute for Pepper. But suddenly it felt like someone had blasted the stereo as she found her ears ringing. She couldn't move. Why wouldn't she move? Pepper struggled but found herself pinned by something heavy.
Wincing, she tried to move her arms, her legs, anything! But she couldn't. Pepper had been caught in a head on blast which resembled the power and ferocity of the Jericho Missile Tony had developed awhile back. The living room collapsed in on her, walls and other debris having pinned her down. The call from Nick Fury had been false, an enemy of Stark's had managed to hack JARVIS remotely and send him off to the other side of the world, leaving his possessions and girl unattended. The idea was to hit Stark where he would hurt the most. And Tony had only gotten word of the attack minutes before it would hit. JARVIS had put up defenses but they were brought down as the missiles neared their desired target.
Tony couldn't make it back in time. God knows he tried, he flew as fast as he could be when he returned, his home was in near ruin and Pepper had been trapped for about an hour. Tony quickly found her and rushed her off to the hospital, having no time or concern to worry about anything else. When he arrived at the hospital, Pepper was still unconscious and badly hurt. Her legs were broken, as was her left arm. She had four cracked ribs, a fractured collar bone and a serious head injury. Doctors didn't give her a positive prognosis. And currently she was in a comatose state which only added to the long laundry list of injuries and concerns. While staff worked on her, Tony stood where he was, still in his iron suit, refusing to move or do anything until he heard more about her.
If it weren't for his arc reactor in his chest, he surely would have died due to his heart having stopped. His Pepper was hurt, badly hurt. His Pepper was hurt and he couldn't do anything about it. he should be able to do something about it, he was a genius, a billionaire, surely he could help. But no, Iron Man wasn't needed and nor was Tony Stark and he felt utterly helpless as nurses and doctors ran around him, calling for various tools and drugs. Why was this happening? She had been put up in her own private room, at Tony's expense of course. If he could do anything for her, he would. And for now his money could only do so much for her. People finally managed to convince Tony to get out of his suit and change. Rhodey came soon and had to push the stiff Tony into her room where she was laying down, still dead to the world it seemed. Her body was bandaged and wrapped up, not much flesh was left to taste the sterile open air. Tony was pushed down in the seat by her bed.
"I'll go get us some dinner Tony." Rhodey said. It was already nine at night, and Pepper had been released for now, she would go back into surgery in the morning and likely for the next few days. As the door shut, Tony slowly looked at Pepper. She looked horrible, so broken. His stomach was unwilling to rest, his mind was moving at a much slower pace. It felt like he had just been kissing her and now she was barely with him. He was so afraid to touch her, so afraid to even be near her and yet he was more afraid to leave her side. Never again. His stomach churned as he felt a shiver.
"Hey Pep." He knew studied showed that some people in comas could hear the world around them, and he could really use her right now, so why not try? "You're lucky you're not eating with me tonight." He said, trying to come off as his usual cocky trickster self but his voice was timid and shaky, far too unusual for him. "Hospital food is the worst." Tony laughed slightly and bit his lip. What was he doing? Shouldn't someone be working on her? How could he just be sitting by her side as if she was fine, as if she wasn't unlikely to die from all the trauma? Tony felt as if his heart had been ripped out. "You must have bee scared. I'm sorry I wasn't-" His voice choked as he felt himself getting light headed. He wasn't good with this stuff but he needed to try for her sake. He could tell her how he tried, how he had fucked up and tried to make it back to her. He could tell her how guilty he felt, how lost he felt but that would be selfish and much too like himself. So instead, he reached for her hand, the band-aid where he had put it hours before and kissed her hand. "I'm here, I always will be here."
And with that vow spoken, he took out a small diamond ring, a modest size as he knew Pepper wasn't one to enjoy large stones on her working hands, and placed it on her left ring finger, the same finger which had been injured. "I love you Pepper Potts." Tony whispered and leaned down and kissed her forehead. Suddenly a machine started beeping and a nurse hurried in and Tony stayed where he was, rather caught off guard. The nurse started to work on Pepper who's body was suddenly shutting down but the cause was very unclear. For the next week everyone did what they could for her but she didn't come out of her coma and her body was growing weaker and weaker, it seemed a lot of internal damage had been done and her body was barely healing. Tony had suggested he use some of his own technology to repair her but doctors said it wouldn't work the way his would. It wouldn't save her.
And for another moment in time, he was useless, unneeded and it hurt.
It was another few weeks before anything changed and it was once again for the worse. Pepper was dying, no one was denying that. Doctors had given her only about a twenty to thirty chance of survival but now it was in the single digits. Tony refused to give up though, he was pouring as much funding as he could into saving her, into doing something good, something right. Every night he stayed by her side, holding her hand and begging her to wake up, open those pretty blue eyes for him. Just once. He needed her. "Please Pepper." He whispered and stroked her hand. "Please."
She didn't get better, despite all the attention given to her, it was like she had just given up. Tony had been with her as the doctors tried to resuscitate her. They tried and tried and yet nothing happened. Pepper had let go and Tony did too, finally letting out the wave of tears he had held back for so long. He was left alone for three hours, left to cry and to mourn. No one dared enter the room, even when the sobs ceased. Tony held onto her limp body tightly, stroking her hair and smelling her skin. Even after being hospitalized, she still smelled of lilac, oh how he could drunk on her scent alone. His body seemed unable to stop shaking as he held her, too afraid to let go. He had done that once and look where she ended up. It took Rhodey and Fury both to pry Tony away from Pepper's body. Rogers, Romanoff and Clint joined Tony at the hospital. Tony didn't look at anyone or speak to anyone as he headed home.
By that time, everything had been renovated and it looked just as it did before the surprise attack and yet it felt so hollow, so empty and cold. Tony couldn't walk around without memories of him and Pepper flooding his senses. He hated his home, he hated his work. He found himself hating everything. He ended up drinking most of the time, knowing full well if Pepper was watching him now, she wouldn't be very pleased. Days later, Rhodey picked him up for her funeral. Her parents had flown in from the other side of the country and some of her college friends had gathered as well and yet Tony didn't care. His heart had been jerked from his body the moment those damned missiles hit the house, taking away his own life source, her.
Tony was given a few minutes alone with Pepper before the formal ceremony began. He bent down and took her hand, the band-aid was gone but the engagement ring remained. Part of him blamed himself for not being smart enough, for not being strong or fast enough. But another darker part blamed himself for putting the ring on her finger because after that, it was all downhill from there. It was like she had gotten what she wanted and she could rest in peace. Was he that much of a monster? Had he just been killing her slowly all those years and this was it? He kissed her lips once last time, trying to be strong and smile. And yet his world was muted, it lacked color and light and he was ready to retreat into the shadows. Without her, he was dead and he knew it. The ceremony went on and he stood there, listening to people cry and give speeches. And yet when it was his turn, he found himself immobile, unable to speak unable to move and unable to even breathe.
Finally he gathered himself and moved over to podium. "Pepper Potts was the love of my life. I know it's cliche to say but it's true. Some people may say money was or drinking or my machines...no, she was and she always will be. I will never love like that again. She was a wonderful woman, amazing, stunning, reliable, honest, clever, fun, compassionate, smart, so many things..." He sighed deeply, trying to remember to breathe and not cry. Breathe and not cry. "She offered so much to the world and I took it for granted. I wish I could say I knew her better than I know myself but sadly that isn't the case." Once again he was becoming selfish, turning the day into an event about himself. Was Pepper's absence really unraveling him? "I'm..." Breathe and not cry. "She didn't deserve this. She didn't." Tony said. "And I didn't deserve her, I deserved much worse and I'm left with it now. I know what I'm missing and that's the hell I probably deserve." He muttered and looked down, his hands appeared to be clenching the sides of the podium very tightly.
"I'm sure if she were here right now, she would tell me that everything would be alright, that she would make things better. And she would, that's what she did. She was a problem solver much like me." Tony said. "She was brilliant but no one noticed it because of me." Breathe and not cry. Breathe and not cry. Just wait. "She put up with so much and I wanted to give her the best life possible, wanted to marry her and make her the happiest woman in the world-" Don't cry. He paused, his voice fading out as he felt tears threatening to fall. Don't cry. Breathe. "She made me the happiest man in the world and it's only fair I..." He tightened his grip, trying to steady himself. "I...I can't do this. I'm sorry." Tony excused himself and just stalked off, hating himself with every step he took away from her and the black group of mourners. The next thing Tony knew, he was by the side of a road by the cemetery.
Cars were rushing by on a busy Saturday afternoon in LA. His eyes lazily watched them whiz by and he inched closer. She died in a painful way and he found no reason for living. There was nothing else left, Iron Man was useless, Tony Stark was useless, his life was darkness and he missed Pepper so much that he felt it was time to join her. "I know I'm always late, Pep, but I'm coming soon. Just wait for me." He smiled, it had been so long since he had done so that it actually pained him. Leaping into the busy street, his movement seemed to slow down as he was hit head on by a car and run over by another. Doctors said the death was instant and that he didn't feel a thing.
And maybe they were together now, moving around and coloring the world in their own way.