Here's a short one for you guys. Sorry I haven't posted in a while, I've got a ton of stuff to do and I'm in the middle of a ton of different fics. But my Muse is fully cooperating, so I should have some more up soon.
And sorry this one is a little short.
I want that Iron Man Operation board game! thatperson knows what I'm talking about. So cool...
Chapter 4
Pepper can tell that Tony's mind is always wandering. He tries to hide it, but she can see right through his pretenses. She worries about him, worries because it's out of her control, and she can't stand that. Maybe that's why Tony aggravates her so much sometimes: because she can't control him.
Some nights, while Tony sleeps beside her, Pepper lies awake. The glow of the arc reactor casts a blue light across the entire room. The brightness used to bother her, but it's so much a part of him that now she can't sleep without the illumination. The arc reactor fascinates her. She likes to run her fingers across it, feeling the cold metal, listening to the faint hum that reassures her that Tony is alive. It's much more than a power source; the arc reactor symbolizes Tony's life. Without it, the shrapnel would be able to reach his heart and he would die in a matter of minutes.
This bothers her too. It seems like it would be all too easy for an enemy to destroy it or take it out, leaving him vulnerable, just as Obadiah did. Pepper hates to think of Tony as being vulnerable. And she is sure he hates it, too.