'How is he?'
Tony stirred; he couldn't bring himself to open his eyes just yet, the pounding his head returned in a wave of fury. He listened.
'He's ok,' another voice, 'he took a good hit to the head, but he'll be ok.'
The sound of these people, his friends fretting over him made him smirk. His thoughts were interrupted by the familiar click of heels, hurried clicks. Pepper.
'How could you let him go in there without the suit? What's the hell were you thinking?' The anger in Peppers voice chilled him to the core, the smirk disappeared immediately. 'He could have been killed.' She continued, the anger resonated around the small room, no one spoke. Even without looking at anyone he could imagine they had all bowed their head agreeing with Peppers words. 'You're supposed to look out for each other.' She yelled. The shakiness in her voice became evident. She was crying.
He opened his eyes, and tried to sit up; he looked around and saw that they had taken him to the infirmary. The quiet beeping of the heart rate monitors sped up as he unhooked himself. Pepper immediately turned towards him, relief washed over her face replacing the momentary panic.
She rushed over to him and buried her face in the nape of his neck. 'Tony.' She breathed.
'Hey, it's ok, I'm ok.' He whispered in her ear. He looked over her shoulder at Bruce and Natasha. She smiled weakly at him.
'It's not their fault, Pep, I chose to go in without the suit.' he kept his voice low.
Pepper pulled out of the embrace and looked into his eyes, 'why?'
'Because it was meant to be a surveillance only operation, there was no need for Iron Man.' He answered.
'Do you call that surveillance only?' She pointed to the large bruises which covered his wrists from where he was bound.
'Things got out of hand,' he began, not wanting to implicate Natasha or anyone else, 'I had to help.' He finished.
'Help who?' The fury in Peppers eyes became apparent as she looked over to the pair standing by the door.
'The team.' He lied. He knew that lying to her was a mistake, but laying blame on another person, for this situation was worse.
He pulled her into an embrace, he held her close, he could feel her tears wet his neck. He closed his eyes and sighed.
'They're not your responsibility.' Pepper snapped after a few moments of thought.
He pulled back and looked into her eyes. He had never seen this side of her, for as long as he's known her she's been pushing him to be more responsible, to be more of a team player. He shook his head, despite the discomfort this caused. He got up and stood with his back to her. He looked over at Bruce and Natasha and noticed they were busy tinkering with something under a microscope. The infirmary was big enough to give privacy in instances like this, yet at the same time, small enough to feel uncomfortable with the presence of these two women in the same room.
'They are my responsibility, and I am theirs.' He shot back turning to face her.
'No, Tony, it's not your responsibility to chase after some adrenaline junkie spy and risk your life.' She said, much louder this time. Natasha and Bruce turned to face them; the look on Natasha's face was unreadable.
Tony stepped back, he was shocked, what was this? Jealousy? rage? He shook his head in disbelief. 'I'm not doing this Pepper.' he turned away from her and left her standing alone.
'Don't walk away from me, Tony!' She shouted this time.
He stopped at the door. Natasha and Bruce were inches away from him. Natasha looked at him with a look of questioning in her eyes. Bruce shook his head, 'don't.' he said barely audible.
Tony ignored his friend's advice. He stepped toward Pepper, 'I don't know what you want from me.' He spat. Despite the rage that pumped through his veins he remained composed.
In a different situation this would have been humorous, roles completely reversed. Pepper yelling at Tony who was usually the one being immature and unreasonable. But this situation was anything but humorous. His anger was more than just her unnecessary fighting with him, but it was her lack of understanding what he was doing. He had a purpose which served more than designing weapons and building 'hippie' approved energy saving devices and she didn't understand or believe that it was important enough.
She looked at him, tears streaming down her eyes. This private argument took its toll on her, she wiped the tears with the back of her hand. 'I want you to stop being so selfish.' She spat back.
Tony laughed, he looked at Bruce and Natasha who had clearly been as shocked as he was at this request. 'Selfish?' he yelled, he couldn't contain his anger anymore. 'You think I'm being selfish?' he yelled back.
'Yes, you're a selfish bastard.' She screamed, she now let the tears flow freely.
Tony laughed again, he shook his head. 'I see.' He said simply. He turned on his heel and left her alone once again, he stopped inches away from Bruce and Natasha. He looked at them for a few moments, he smiled weakly and gave Bruce a small pat on his shoulder and left the infirmary.
Bruce, Natasha and Pepper stood in silence. The thickness in the air was electric, the three stood awkwardly looking around at the aftermath. The hurt in Tony's eyes gutted Bruce. He and Tony had become really close after everything that happened in New York with Loki and his army, he knew better than anyone how much of everything Tony did, he did for Pepper. He closed his eyes and sighed. Pepper didn't know the half of it. He took a hold of Natasha's arm and led her out of the infirmary, leaving Pepper alone with her thoughts and tears.