Chapter 2 - Febuary 25th
Tony had abandoned the lab. If he was going to get a talking-to from Pepper today, he definitely needed some nourishment. The common room kitchen would do, there should be some Chinese food in the fridge that he had left there last night - or sometime in the morning. When he walked in the TV was blaring. Maybe he'd just be in luck and it would drown out any clattering from his kitchen stopover. Clint had been bombarding him with emails about adjustments to his bow all week. Chances were - if spotted - Tony might not get out of there without a detailed presentation on precisely which bow feature from which umpteenth bow version Hawkeye wanted to add to the newest model that he really needed ASAP as if he'd be likely to just get killed while on mission without it. Like he wasn't retired or something.
Where the hell did all the food go?
"Urgh!" he muttered under his breath. His Chinese from last night was gone and everything left that didn't require at least 40 minutes of food preparation, cleaning, slicing and actually cooking things was some super healthy looking vegetable(?) fry thingy. Probably another one of Visions food projects, that Tony was not touching with a 10-foot pole. He was ordered to get rid of the fridge in his lab after Rogers decided that meals were to be eaten together as it was part of the team building experience. Maybe he could just have FRIDAY disguise a small fridge as some kind of computer-like looking thingy with lots of cables coming out of it, that Steve was never going to want to touch anyway. Really the only sensible choice left at this point, if he didn't want to be stuck having to order new take out every night. Especially at this time of the day. He was starving and urgh, people. Just no.
Worst case scenario was Rogers bashing the shit out of his fridge decoy because he'd suspect Tony was working on another Super Bot. He probably should just have FRIDAY order something every night. He'd have food and the gang would be less of a pain in the ass about him "actively" avoiding team-building-hour by installing his own fridge, just cause he wanted to have something around, he'd actually want to eat.
"FRI, chicken fried rice. Add some egg rolls. Whoever can be here fast. And make that a daily task," he muttered.
"Boss, a standing daily takeout order is incompatible with the health program implemented by Miss Potts in October 20-." FRIDAY's voice was echoing through the common area.
"Override." Tony interrupted her "And for fuck's sake SHUUUSH!"
Too late though, Barton was already whooping at the sight of him, crawling over the back of the couch like a long-lost friend had just shown up out of the blue.
Well, that's just great.
"Boss, by your instructions from April 2013 given to JARVIS and re-implemented in my coding on May 2nd, 2015 overriding Miss Potts' health program will result in a shut down of the lab and your offices at the Compound and the Tower for 10 days. The override attempt will also be cataloged and forwarded to Miss Potts."
"Oh, you gotta be kidding me. Just order it for right now then!" He'd have to check for a backdoor in the coding that he was pretty sure he'd left open.
"Food is on the way, Boss."
Tony turned back around to the fridge and grabbed himself a beer. A lager might make what he assumed the next hour would look like a bit more bearable.
"You know, we already ate." Clint chuckled when he approached the kitchen counter "Pepper is running quite a tight ship around here, huh?"
"Clint." Tony gave a curt nod. "Isn't your wife missing you by any chance?"
"Hey, don't be so testy." He clapped Tony on the shoulder. "I really just dropped by to say hi to everyone and see how the team was getting on without me. Received the email I send you?"
"Which one...?" Tony muttered.
Clint didn't even seem to register that Tony had said anything and just kept blabbering on about the seams on his bow's hand grip and how the different angles they had experimented with attaching it in the past had affected his perfect hitting accuracy.
"Listen, Clint, why don't you drop by some time next week and we can look at ... all this in the lab. Today is really not a great time." Tony interrupted.
"Oh come on. I'm here, you're here. Let's just sort it out now and I can take a new baby home tomorrow and everyone can happily cross off something from their to-do list."
Tony swallowed his annoyance. He shot a short glance over to the sofa. Rogers was watching their exchange. Duh. He really, really could do without the Captain's latest team unity speech. And Pepper was on the way. Urgh, what was it with these people and their lectures? Speaking of the devil. The familiar click-clack of her heels coming down the hallway was echoing in the kitchen.
"Boss, Miss Potts is here to see you."
"Peppeeer..." Clint greeted her then turned back to Tony and shrugged. "Fine, I'll drop by the lab in the morning."
"Clint. Aren't you supposed to be at some undisclosed location having dinner with your family?"
"Oh, I think I'm getting on their nerves alread," he laughed.
Pepper raised her eyebrows at that and turned to Tony. "Daily Chinese orders? I have FRIDAY stack this fridge with Prime Rib Eye and every organically farmed kind of vegetable you eat basically daily and you want to get a recurring order of chicken fried rice and egg rolls EVERY night?" She frowned at him. "Are you trying to deflect from stalking me earlier today?"
Tony gave her a look. "Please, if I'd be stalking you, you'd never even know."
"Great. So, you recruited someone? You need someone better."
"I'm not having you followed. This is really insulting, Potts. I'd have thought you have a higher opinion of my stealth mode."
"What's going on? Are you guys fighting?" Rogers chimed in from the couch. Tony rolled his eyes. He really didn't need Cap to bud in on this.
"We're fine, get back to you cream cake. You don't want to mess up that pastry or the whole thing will just collapse. You know structural integrity and stuff." he hollered across the room. In a lower voice, he added. "Potts, let's take this to the lab, yes?"
Clint kept looking back and forth between Pepper and Tony, smirking: "You are fighting. What's going on? Did he miss the dinner res again?"
Pepper studied Tony for a moment. His hands were starting to sweat and he didn't really know what he usually did with his hands anymore, so he used both of them to hold on to his beer. She pursed her lips and turned to Barton: "So, you just happen to be in town today, huh? Did you add any web-slinging projectiles to your quiver lately? Picked up some freelancing work?"
Clint flinched back from the counter. That's what you get from budding in where nobody invited you! Falling on Pepper's bad side was a bad bad idea. "What? No! I don't do webs!" He pushed himself off the counter and strolled over to the other Avengers. "I like my explosions. Sticky stuff just clogs up my quiver." He turned back around towards her. "I assume it does. I wouldn't know of course, since I don't do sticky stuff!" He spun back towards his mates his eyes wide, mouthing a silent scream that had Wanda snickering in the back. Suddenly though he came to a halt and turned around to face Pepper again.
"Hold on, sticky web stuff?" he said all of a sudden getting back into this discussion again. "Did this by any chance include a dude swinging on said webs? Where were you when you saw the sticky stuff?"
Tony cut in, "Barton, you know what this is?"
Pepper had her arms crossed, high-heel tapping on the tiled floor.
"It's probably the Spider-dude!" Clint turned to Tony, eyes wide. Was this supposed to mean something to him? "People have been posting videos on youtube of this dude swinging around on these liana-like looking white strings and roping up pickpockets and car thieves. Cooper actually asked me if he was one of us, but it looks more like a neighborhood watch situation. Quite entertaining. It's like someone set Tarzan loose in Queens."
"Oh, I've seen those!" Sam called out from the other end of the room. He pulled out his phone and walked up to Tony and Pepper. "Hold on, I'll just google "spider dude" and here..." he handed the phone over to Pepper.
Tony had his eyes on her but kept his distance until she handed him the phone. The video quality was abysmal but Tony could make out a little red dude swinging down from the top of a building after a hooded figure. It looked like he fired an actual gigantic spider web towards the guy running down the street, that made him stick to the building.
"Huh."
"And you're telling me this is the first time you've seen this?" Pepper asked, eyebrows raised.
"Potts, I'm telling you, I have nothing to do with this!"
It was starting to get insulting. They might not be on the best terms right now, but he wasn't in the habit of lying to her. Occasionally stretching the truth by keeping a couple of details from her, yeah. No outright lies though.
"FRIDAY does Mr. Stark keep any files on a web-slinging crime-fighting Spider person?"
"Are you for real?"
"I have no record of a web-slinging, crime-fighting Spider person, Ma'am."
Tony just gave her a look, tossed the phone on the counter and made his way down to the lab.
Her heels echoing down the corridor were close behind him. At least she was reasonable enough not to speak right now. Not until it was just them. He'd have a hard time keeping his frustration bottled up until they reached the lab if she tried to justify her distrust right here.
The door closed behind them. His beer still in hand he considered just flinging himself down on the couch to watch her try to justify what she had just accused him of. He could just stare her down from down there until she did apologize. It was a rather unusual occurrence that Pepper would be the one making excuses to him. He had a much more impressive track record of pissing her off by not making date night or blowing something up that she had wanted to remain intact. But they were not in that place right now, where some softly whispered promises of betterment and light intimate touches would charm forgiveness out of the other one. Fighting with Pepper now was not going to end in hugs and kisses. So he put down his beer, turned towards her and held himself tall and straight, arms crossed, to weather what was about to go down between them.
"You didn't even tell them that we have broken up?"
"Really Potts, that's the part you want to focus on right now?"
"Yeah, it is! What are you trying to do here? I said I'd give you space to tell them on your own terms after you hadn't even told Rhodey!"
"I was going to tell him! This is just not the kind of news I wanted to discuss on the phone!"
"So I'm just supposed to not talk to him until your schedules line up again?"
"He's my friend, Potts. You have no right to take him!"
"Oh... my god, I'm not taking him. I've known Rhodey for... you know what. No. I'm not doing this!" She stared at him.
"Fine by me. How about we get straight to the part where you apologize to me for accusing me of STALKING you!" he spat back at her.
She narrowed her eyes and he could feel his pulse quickening.
Oh, she just hated being wrong. But that victorious grin that was trying to work its way onto his lips might get him in trouble.
"You really want to stick to this story?"
"I will absolutely be sticking to the truth if that's what you mean by 'story'", he glared.
"So there just happened to by a crime-fighting Spider loose in Queens at the same time a couple of dudes came around the corner to steal my purse or something? You really want me to believe that?"
"For fuck's sake, Potts! I didn't even know you were on the East Coast, let alone in Queens! Of all the places Queens is really one of the last ones I'd go looking for you. If I had orchestrated anything, it would have been in LA!"
She looked him up and down, frowning. Her expression softening. She turned her back, arms slack on her sides. For a moment he thought she might just leave until he heard her voice soft and warm again.
"You really thought I wouldn't check up on you today, Tony?"
"I… no." He cleared his throat, shaking his head. What… were this still talking about the same thing? "No, I didn't…I didn't expect you to be here at all." He let out a sigh. "Honestly, Potts, I didn't know you're even in town. I …" he closed his eyes for a second. He needed to not say too much here. But… but it was still Pepper. "If I'd known… maybe… maybe I'd have been tempted to check up on you." He rolled his eyes when she turned back to him, her eyebrows raised. "Fine. Yeah, I probably would have checked up on you. Not by proxy though. I'd never send a web-shooting weirdo after you…"
She gave a small chuckle before getting awfully quiet. "I'm sorry." She said it. There it was, his victory over Pepper Potts. A bitter-sweet win. A few months ago this would have felt great. He'd relished in this moment. But now. Well.
He looked right at her, took in the dark circles under her eyes, her hunched shoulders. A cross-country flight and a long day exuding CEO charisma to who knows how many random people would do that to anyone, even Pepper Potts. Not the only long day this month surely.
"You shouldn't have come all this way. I'm fine."
"No, you're not." Her response came quick and soft.
"Even if I wasn't. You said it yourself. We're broken up, Potts. You're not my… my girlfriend. And you haven't been my PA in years. This is not your mess to deal with anymore."
She let that sink in for a moment. "Fine. You don't need me" she air-quoted, wariness swinging in her voice.
He clenched his jaw when her eyes bore into his. She stepped towards him, her hands first hovering over him now slowly tracing down his arms. Her right finding its way to lie flat against his chest, her left softly caressing his fingers edging him on, coaxing his fingers to curl around hers
"Don't!" he whispered.
But she leaned in closer. He felt her breath on his neck, her eyes on his face and his mind and body wanted nothing more than to lean into her, hold her against him and forget that whole messy shit show that was his life right now. His life without Pepper.
"What if I needed to see you today, just to-"
"No." his voice came out low and a lot sharper than he had thought his throat capable of standing so close to her. "No, Pepper. You don't get to do this." He was still frozen, his eyes trying to find hers. What was she doing? Why would she...
She was looking right at him, raising her hands to cup his face. No. Too much. He took several steps back, glaring at her.
"What the fuck, Pepper?!"
For a moment her legs almost looked like they were moving, but she stayed frozen in place, her hands still raised, her face expressionless, unmoving.
"Are you seriously saying 'no' to sex right now? Have I lost my edge?" Her voice took on a very un-Pepper-like nonchalance and Tony just stared at her, stunned.
He arms dropped down to her side. Oh… Oh… my god.
"It's a little insulting that you think sleeping with me is going to make me forget about Aiden."
"I wasn't going for making you forget..." she responded dryly.
"Ok, scratch that. Very, very insulting!" his pulse was back up, his temper rising.
She took his beer off the table, drank a couple of sips and turned back to him, eyes staring right at him.
"I've only known two faces of Tony Stark on February 25th since 2005. Black out drunk Tony, who will have to be tracked down and then carried home from some VIP party extravaganza, or sexed out Tony, who will be falling asleep in bed next to me after a different kind of night-long overexertion. I'm not going back to searching the clubs for you."
He stared at her open-mouthed. "So what, your master plan is having sex with me once a year to get me over my son's disappearance?"
She shrugged. "It's illegal to hire someone to do it."
"Wow. Very edgy, Potts." She was baiting him. Holy shit, she was trying to get a rise out of him - emotionally as well as physically it seemed.
"Nope. Not doing this. You will leave." He pointed towards the door.
She just stood there, looking at him. He wasn't going to cave. He wasn't. He couldn't. It was wrong. It was wrong, right? Urgh.
"Now, Potts! Get the fuck out!"
Pepper kept looking at him for another moment before she let her head fall onto her chest and closed her eyes. Oh… no.
"Maybe... maybe you really don't need the company tonight. Maybe I don't know you as well as I thought I did after all..." she whispered. She took a little step towards him, just a small one. "But I need you, Tony. Tonight. Please."
Her tears fell down her lashes onto her blouse. This… this was serious. She… she meant this. There was truth in this. She wouldn't lie. Not when it came to Aiden. Seeing her like that, his pulse picked up, painfully and fast. She just stood there, waiting. But he couldn't open this door again. He wouldn't.
"I can't," he said firmly and took another couple of steps backing away from her. "I won't."
Distance. Physical distance was the key. It's what they said, right? Seeing things from a different vantage point made you realize a different truth. Whatever genuine heartache Pepper still carried about the disappearance of his son on his second birthday, this stunt was supposed to be for his benefit much more than it was for hers.
"I know you're lying, Potts. I'm sure you think of him and you..." he cleared his throat " I'd never...never accuse you of not missing him...I know you're trying to do something fucking noble here, but I'm not your charity case. You don't get to pick me up and cuddle me once a year like a lost toy you remember you once owned."
The emotions seeping out of her now left him cold. "Go back to LA, Potts."
A quick tap on his watch and his suit was assembling around him.