Just like usual, Tony had his music blaring loud enough that he wouldn't have to hear the clink of ice in his glass.
He didn't know why he cared, honestly. It wasn't as if he didn't see the golden liquid slowly rising in the transparent crystal or feel that familiar burn as it slid down his throat, and after a while he was too far gone to even notice which bottle he'd grabbed or what song was filtering out of the speakers. Maybe he cared because he always thought it was ridiculous when people slapped the raging alcoholic label on him (because really, raging was definitely the wrong adjective), or because it reminded him too much of the echoes of that same clink of ice in a glass he used to hear from the kitchen when he was just a boy. Or maybe it was Pepper. And Bruce. God, it was definitely Pepper and Bruce.
That wasn't something Tony would ever admit, though.
He wouldn't even admit it when he was so far from sober that he could barely see straight, when drunk wasn't even a strong enough word to describe it. He wouldn't ever dare say that to either of them even when he was completely, utterly, disgustingly wasted, just like he was right now.
Maybe that was stupid of him.
But, well… Tony did a lot of stupid things when he wasn't himself.
Like right now.
"Oh, shit, god – what the, how the fuck, Pep… dammit, Pepper."
The floor was black and scattered with metal and glass from whatever the hell had just blown up in his garage, and god, there was so much red. Red. Everywhere. Not just that soft, vibrant strawberry blonde hair that he would have given anything to see fanned out across the floor right then, but a deep, vivid crimsonthat was slowly seeping from he didn't know where on Pepper's body because he was just too damn drunk to figure it out. He didn't even know if she was still conscious or not, mostly because he was just barely clinging to the last strings of consciousness himself, and he could feel himself slipping as he stumbled towards her on the floor, the cool tile meeting his hands just seconds later.
"J – Jarvis, get… call that place, whatever the hell it is, you need to…" Thank the god Tony didn't believe in that Jarvis was smart enough to understand his drunken slurs. "Bruce. Bruce. Get Bruce, he… fuck, fuck, blood's all over, this is gross… Bruce."
That blood was the last thing Tony saw before he blacked out completely.