Hello all! Sorry that it took so long to update this, you know, exam season and everything. But I finished my exams yesterday and I am super pumped cause I found out that I received an A on my maths exam :D
Sooooo, new update! Kind of a filler, but we need those sometimes :)
OH! And thank you all so so SO much for your reviews on Churches in Warzones, really, thank you :) I consider it to be one of my best pieces of work.
Warning: contains swearing (okay let's be frank all the chapters contain swearing)
Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers.
"What are you going to do now?"
Tony shrugged, eyes trained on the road ahead. "I don't know, I mean, it's hard to decide where to progress from here."
She sighed and slumped back into her seat, "Maybe you should just take the night off, I think there's been quite a bit of drama today. Far too much for twenty four hours."
"You're probably right, I'll just take you home, where do you live?"
"Rosemary Park," she said, "are you sure you can be alone tonight?"
Tony grunted in response, he bit his lower lip in thought. "I'm not as fragile as you think Pep, I can handle myself."
"Oh really?" she asked, eyebrows suddenly raised, "May I remind you of your mental state right now? Your breakdowns? I honestly don't think you can be alone tonight."
He honked at a driver who cut him off abruptly, and then sighed. "In case you've forgotten, things are tight, I live with my adoptive parents so I can provide for them and because they're too old to do so themselves. I'm not going to be alone."
"Fine, fine," Pepper defensively puts her hands up, palms facing him, "I'm just saying that you're not stable and I don't think they can handle your mental state right now. Need I also remind you of this morning's debacle in your garage?"
"No wonder you're a personal assistant," he muttered to himself.
"What's that?"
"Oh, nothing."
He swerves into Rosemary Park and stops in front of the apartment building, the headlights of his car illuminating the barren road lying ahead.
"Are you sure you don't want to come in?" Pepper asks as she unfastens her seatbelt.
Tony shakes his head, "It's fine, I really should be going home now anyway."
Pepper felt her stomach drop, "Oh, okay, well if you need anything."
Tony nodded, "I'll call you."
"Yeah," she whispered, "well…bye."
"Bye," he whispered softly, watching her retreating back as she walked to the entrance of the building.
"Wait!" he called out suddenly.
Pepper turned around, butterflies fluttering in the pit of her stomach. "Yeah?"
Tony got out of the car, and jogged swiftly up the path, catching up with her. "Are you," he scratched the back of his neck. Pepper's heart pumped faster. "Are you…when are you free tomorrow? 'Cause I was wondering if you wanted to, uh, wanted to go to the Stark mansion with me?"
Her heart sunk, and the butterflies ceased.
"Anytime, I doubt I'm working at Stark Industries anymore anyway," she replied, eyes casted down.
"Oh, great!" Tony chirped. "See you tomorrow then, I'll pick you up at eight-ish?"
She nodded curtly.
He nodded, and then turned to walk away, but at the last moment, he turned around swiftly and planted a light kiss on her cheek.
He doesn't know what brought it up or what possessed him, he just knows that there's something bubbling inside him. Something foreign, something new, something wonderful.
If he'd look back, he'd see her staring at him with wide eyes.
If he could read minds, then he would know that she was thinking exactly the same thing.
He drove past the ocean, by the coastline, a feeling of emptiness and loneliness creeping in through the cracks again. His parents, no, they weren't his parents, would be home now. After this morning, Tony doesn't know how to face them, but he has nowhere else to go.
He doesn't know what he brought himself into, he just knows that he wants what he deserves.
And he will get it, no matter what the cost.
The house was quiet, albeit the faint chatter coming from the television in the living room.
Tony sighed and faltered at the door, debating on how to announce to them that he was back. Does he say 'hello?' Does he simply walk into his room and stay there, keeping them oblivious of his presence? No, that wouldn't work, Melinda knows everything.
They probably already know he's here, given the unmistakable loud engine of his car.
Tony passes by the living room, deciding to check on the state of the garage first.
It was slightly cleaned up, but most of the place was still mostly upturned and disorganized. He felt a slight twisting sensation pulling on his stomach when he drank in the scene. Melinda would have cleaned that up. Poor, old, Melinda.
He gave them more trouble than they already needed. They harbored the Stark's secret for nearly 25 years when they simply could have given him to an orphanage, or outed him to the public. But they didn't, and Tony now feels eternally grateful.
If their paths hadn't crossed, he might not have been able to find out at all.
He could hear heavy footsteps behind him, and he knows that it's Greg.
"Hi," Tony murmurs quietly. He can't look at him in the eye.
"Didn't think you'd come back."
Tony turns around slowly, eyes downcast and head bowed in submission. "I'll always come back."
Then as soon as he comprehends what's happening, he's being crushed by one of Greg's bear hugs and he's sobbing into his shoulder.
"I'm sorry," he chokes out between sobs, "I'm sorry."
"Shhh," Greg whispers, rubbing Tony's back in comfort, "it's okay."
Tony feels another pressure pressing on his back, and he knows that Melinda's there too, running her hands through his hair and murmuring that it's okay, that they don't blame him for a second and that they'll always be there, no matter who he is and what he does.
And Tony knows that he doesn't have to go through this alone.
He finds himself in a peaceful slumber later than night, not plagued with the nightmares of the blood on his hands. Until he finds himself waking up and not able to breathe.
He can't breathe. Why can't he breathe?
He feels like his lungs are being torn apart and ripped to shreds. The air is thick and when Tony opens his eyes he can see nothing but pure darkness.
It's smoky, and his eyes tear up when he keeps them open for too long but his mind is blurry and foggy and he can't seem to process what exactly is happening.
He stumbles around his room, tripping over pieces of paper and clothes, and he thanks god that he fell asleep in his street clothes when he finally realizes what the fuck is going on.
The house is on fire. The house is on fucking fire.
He races out the door, pocketing his cell phone, wallet, keys and grabbing his jacket before he leaves his room behind. He blindly stumbles around the house, feeling the walls and hearing his heart thump wildly against his chest.
He's got to get to them. He's got to get them out.
When his hand feels the door, he pushes it open with such force that it rebounds off the wall and the hinges break.
He sees his adoptive parents sleeping soundly in bed, hoping to god that they haven't succumbed to suffocation yet.
Tony runs closer, shaking them awake, aware that his tears are rolling down his cheek. It hurts, oh it hurts so much to keep them open. His lungs are burning, he can't breathe, but he's got to get them out.
Greg rouses, and his eyes snap open when they see Tony in a panic. His mind registers what's happening faster than Tony's did and he wakes up his wife beside him.
"Please," Tony coughs, "get out now."
He turns around once he sees Melinda wake up from her slumber, the weight on his heart rising slightly. He runs through the house, and sees that the garage was the one that was set on fire.
And Tony knows. He just knows.
The garage was targeted because that's where he found the basket. It's where he found the letter that told him of his heritage. Everything that told him about who he was, was burning, burning, burning.
But Obadiah didn't account for everything.
The letter was still in his jacket pocket, the same one that he was now wearing.
He heard a gasp behind him, and saw Melinda in a state of terror. He glanced back at the garage door, and the fire spreading quickly through the living room.
Everything was burning.
His heart is hurting.
He ushers them out, screaming at parents to just get the hell out and leave everything.
Tony darts inside the burning house and into the living room when he's sure that his parents have safely exited the building, and he can hear his mother screaming at him to come back outside. He can see his father holding his mother back from running back inside to retrieve him.
It's hot, and Tony can feel the heat burning his skin.
The curtains are burning, and he snatches up a picture frame just before fire gets to him and a ceiling pillar falls.
He stumbles out of the house, heaving and breathing deeply for air. He drops to his knees, and he hears the sirens of the fire trucks that one of the neighbors must have called in the far distance.
He's coughing, and his hands are shaking and he can still feel the heat of the fire on his back. He's encompassed in a hug and the feeling of love and safety spreads through him.
"Oh god," he hears his mother whisper.
And he knows their wondering what happened. But he doesn't know if he should tell them that it's Obadiah Stane's doing, because that would mean admitting that he's the one who inflicted this loss on them.
Everything they've ever worked for, all the memories and the hard earned life, was gone, burned to a crisp and burning right before their very eyes.
He takes out the picture frame that he went back in for, a small, silver picture frame with a family photo taken at Tony's college graduation.
Melinda and Greg hug him tighter, and Tony wonders what they're going to do when the morning comes.
Obadiah's not going to give up easily, and certainly not for the company that has earned him a well-respected name in the business society. He is certainly not going to let go of his riches and respect that easily.
But Tony's not going to give up easily either. Obadiah may have taken away his house and his job, but he still had the diamonds that held the key to everything. He still had the key and the letter.
For now, there's nothing but smoke and ashes lying in the place of his childhood home, but that's not important because there is nothing more precious that the diamonds that he holds in his possession.
Obadiah doesn't know that he has the key, and he certainly doesn't know that the letter didn't burn. Tony will always be one step ahead.
He sees something fluttering taped onto the mailbox, and he shakily stands up to see what it is.
He realizes that it's a piece of paper, and what he reads just confirms his suspicions of who caused this mess.
Run little boy, run and hide.
Think you're strong? Think you're made of iron? Think again.
I will burn the heart out of you.
I said that I would post a long chapter, but since I realized that this would be a filler I am so sorry ): I know it's short but bear with me!
Anyway, hopefully I'll be able to update by Saturday :)
I predict that this story will only have 10 chapters, 11 at most, so just 3 or 4 more until this wraps up! I know that it's moving fast, but since Tony has the letter, things are bound to move fast, and one shots are my specialty, I don't really do multi-chapter fics.
Don't hesitate to drop a review!
