I did the challenge of writing ten song drabbles within the time that those ten songs played, and this is (part of) what happened. There are more one-shots like this that I'm going to be posting later... Enjoy!:)
1. Sinners Like Me – Eric Church – Tony - 142
Tony was a lot like his father. It was a well-known, but not oft acknowledged fact that the billionaire was not proud of. Howard had been a jerk and an alcoholic. Tony was a jerk and he too struggled with alcoholism. He wasn't proud of it, but it was an undeniable fact in his life.
But it was time that it stopped, Tony realized as he sat alone in his lab at too-late-at-night-o'clock and stared down into his glass of scotch. It was way past time that it stopped.
It wasn't like he had to live his life this way; he just did it. He didn't have to drink, he didn't have to be a playboy, and if he tried really hard, he didn't even have to be a jerk.
And from here on out, he promised himself that he wouldn't be.
2. Treacherous – Taylor Swift – Pepper/Tony - 168
This was a bad idea, and Pepper knew it. She'd always known it. It had always been a bad idea, and she'd always been smart enough to see that, but now he was here, right here, getting ready to kiss her for the thousandth time before he left to go back to his tower. But this time there was whiskey on his breath and an unsteadiness in his gait that reminded her of everything that Tony Stark was.
But she didn't mind.
She found herself asking him to stay, drawing him back into her apartment. He shook his head though, for some reason determined to go home.
"Tony, you're drunk."
But he wouldn't listen, so she did something even dumber than making him stay with her. She climbed into his car and went with him. His driving was reckless and it was a miracle that they were both alive when they got back to the tower, but – just like with everything dangerous about Tony Stark – she didn't mind.
3. Letter to Me – Brad Paisley – Tony - 154
It was one of those stupid things that girls thought about every once in awhile, Tony decided, and he must've been spending too much time around Pepper recently, because now he was thinking about it too. What would he tell his younger self if given the chance?
He'd tell teenage Tony that there was a girl waiting for him in the future who was a lot better than Whitney had ever been. He'd remind him to do his homework – paying special attention when the teacher started talking about clean energy projects, because man would that come in handy for him a few years in the future.
Yeah, seventeen had been pretty awesome – despite it's flaws – but he'd remind himself that there was a lot going in teenage Tony's favor. Yet, even with that in mind, Tony couldn't help but think that right now – not way back when – were the best years of his life.
4. If Something Should Happen – Darryl Worley – Tony and Bruce - 172
"I'm probably being paranoid, Bruce, but I had to call you," Tony said over the phone. "I've decided to have that surgery to remove the shrapnel from my chest. I need you to promise me something."
"Okay…" Bruce said warily.
"If something goes wrong, check in on Pepper for me every once in awhile, okay? And if I can't be there, promise me you'll finish the projects I have started for the medical research people. And, gosh, Bruce, take care of Peter, would you? He knows we're best friends and since I've practically adopted the little spider, I know it'd be important to him since he already lost his dad and uncle.
"I don't think anything is going to go wrong, but if it does… Bruce, I just need to know that someone will be there"
"I promise, Tony," Bruce swore solemnly. "But, hey, just know that when you wake up from surgery – and you will wake up – I'm going to be there until we're both eighty either way."
5. Teardrops On My Guitar – Taylor Swift – Natasha/Tony - 151
How the heck did he not see it? Natasha wondered that sometimes, watching the two of them together, or sometimes when he was joking around or working with her on one thing or another.
Pepper was good for Tony, Natasha could admit that. But that didn't mean that she didn't still feel that way about him.
He was her last love. Seeing him with Pepper was what had convinced Natasha once and for all that love was for children. After all, who was more childish than Tony Stark?
The only problem was that – at least in her mind – he loved the wrong woman. Couldn't he see that despite what she said, she loved him? Had loved him ever since they'd locked eyes in his boxing ring?
No, he couldn't see that she loved him, so she made sure that he couldn't see the tears that she still occasionally shed over him.
6. Whiskey Lullaby – Alison Krauss – Natasha/Tony - 174
She'd hurt Tony. Natasha could acknowledge that. When she'd worker as Pepper's PA, Natalie Rushman, they'd had a no-strings attached sort of thing going, and that had ended when her position in Stark Industries had.
Apparently his feelings for her had been more real than that, though, and those feelings had never gone away either, so that she knew. And she couldn't help but wonder if maybe she'd had a part in it – in the fact that Tony Stark had committed suicide last week. Was she even partially to blame?
It was this nagging thought that had been her constant companion since she'd heard the news, Clint breaking it to her carefully. It was this nagging thought that had her reaching for his picture – the one she kept hidden in the very bottom of the bottom drawer of her dresser. It was this nagging thought that had her reaching for the gun that she kept much closer at hand – laying down on her bed, pressing the gun to her temple and pulling the trigger.
7. XXX's and OOO's – Trisha Yearwood – Pepper - 159
"Oh, my gosh, Tony, why do I put up with all of this crap in your company?!"
"I don't know, Pep, why do you?" Tony asked, not looking up from his project when she stalked into his lab.
"Stark International is going to kill me!"
"Then just quit; I could find a new CEO," he said, and Pepper knew the words hadn't really registered with his brain before they came out of his mouth.
"But that's what everyone expects! I can make it, Tony, I know I can. I just need… I need wine. And assistants. And a live-in maid. But I come from a family of businessmen, and if my dad could run a company then so can I. I'm a good, independent American woman, and I can do this."
Pepper nodded sharply, her self-given pep talk complete, and strode off to do more paperwork. This might've been her daddy's world, but she could fit in here too.
8. Remind Me – Brad Paisley – Pepper/Tony – 179
Where had they gone so wrong? Pepper couldn't help but wonder as she stared across the room at Tony, feeling like she didn't even know who he was.
"You told me there weren't going to be any more women, Tony," she reminded him, hating the weakness in her voice.
"And I meant it, Pep, I swear I did; I just got drunk and then things happened that shouldn't have."
He took a step towards her, but she jerked away, saying, "You promised me you'd stop drinking yourself into oblivion too!"
"And I will," he brushed his hand along her shoulder. "I will this time. I promise."
She just glared at him.
"Pepper, I love you, and I don't want to hurt you."
"And remind me why exactly it is that I love you, Tony Stark?" she snapped.
"I will, if you'll let me," he said, a carefully suggestive smile coming onto his lips.
And when that look came into his eye, she couldn't help but let her anger slip away. After all, she was pretty good at handling reminders.
9. You're Not Sorry – Taylor Swift – Pepper/Tony - 144
Pepper had always known that Tony was like this. She'd told him as much the first time he'd tried to kiss her and she'd referenced "the way he was with girls." But somewhere along the way, her defiant heart had decided to forget that fact.
However, her forgetting it didn't mean he'd changed. She should've known better. She did know better, actually, but she'd decided not to see it.
Until now. Now she was standing there in their bedroom doorway, staring at their bed where Tony lay, caught red-handed with another woman. There was no denying it now. He was and always would be a self-professed playboy, and considering everything else that he had put her through, there was just nothing left in their relationship for her to fight for.
Especially when she realized that he wasn't even sorry for what he had done.
10. Gone – Montgomery Gentry – Tony/Pepper - 150
Tony swore as he looked out a window of Stark Tower for the hundredth time that day. Sure, he and Pepper had argued before, but this fight was different, and something had been different when she'd stormed out this time. Something was wrong.
Maybe when she'd said that she was "out of here," she'd actually meant it this time – really meant it. What if she was gone for good? She wouldn't do that to him, would she? They both knew that she'd put up with plenty of his crap in the past years; why should this push her away? It wouldn't, right? Or had it maybe been a combination of everything that she'd been through because of him hitting her at once? Because if she'd gotten really truly fed up with him – if that's what had actually happened – then Tony got the sickening feeling that she was gone for good.