Tony lowered his head in defeat. "I can't fix myself, Pepper." He admitted sadly. "You can leave. I won't stop you." He half expected to feels arms circling round his waist, and for her to say that she'd never leave him, because she loved him.

The workshop door clicked shut as Pepper left.

JARVIS informed him two hours later that she'd left the house with her things. She was flying back to New York.

"She's not coming back, is she?" He asked, his voice cracking slightly.

"No sir." JARVIS said, not-really-possible sadness creeping into his voice. "Not in the way you would like her to."

*A*

When Natasha recieved the message from Pepper saying that she had broken up with Tony, she expected media scandal from various drunken antics that Stark would get up to to drown his sorrow.

Instead, Tony turned up to the team meeting three days later on time. And with a new suit.

"You're up to model twenty now, Tony, right?" Clint asked.

Tony rolled his eyes. He looked tired. "Give or take thirty. Two in the last three days."

Everyone stared blatantly. It had only been a year since the New York Incident, and Tony had made, what, forty-two suits since? "And I jammed the signal for Rhodes' so the military doesn't mess with it. It's a useless hunk of metal now, I set off the missiles inside it so all the parts have melded together."

"In seventy-two hours? Have you slept, Tony?" Bruce asked softly, a hint of disbelief in his tone.

Tony winced. "I slept for twenty minutes when JARVIS flew me over. And that was kinda for two minutes at a time ten times."

"And when did you last eat?" Bruce chided.

"Solid food? Let me check with JARVIS..." Tony said, and tapped on his phone for a few seconds. "Seventy-seven hours. I had a couple pieces of toast and lost them six hours later when I puked. Don't worry, it happens to me sometimes." He shrugged. "Now, if we're done dissecting my life choices, could we move on?"

"Tony, this is serious." Steve said sternly. "If grief for losing your girl is affecting you this much we need to put you on the bench."

Tony glared at him. "I doubt you can stop me from helping you save the world. And anyway, I'm not bad off. I made two new Iron Man suits in three days and the first is combat ready. I then hacked another one. I'm better off. Isn't that what you want me doing? Building things?" Even as he spoke them, Tony realized that they were in a jumbled order and didn't reflect what he was trying to convey.

"You're snappy. You've only had a handful of minutes of good sleep in three days. You haven't had any food in your system for about as long. I think you're strained enough, Tony. We're taking you off the field based on vote. So, votes for Tony on the field?"

Tony was the only person to stick his hand up. He could feel a sharp pricking in his eyes He was being over-emotional, too. Oh well. He was tired, after all.

"Outvoted." Steve said smugly.

Tony punched him and stormed out, his suit assembling around him ar his call. He shot off into the sky, letting the tears out the moment he felt he was far enough away.

He may as well make a list of the things that mattered to him and cross them off if they didn't care about him. Then he'd be able to see what he should be making an effort for.