Chapter 51! I hope you like it, please let me know what you think! And thank you so much for the reviews!
I don't own the characters or places!
Tony thought that he must have been sitting there for about three hours, when he heard footsteps. He didn't turn around, though. He didn't want to face whoever wanted to talk to him.
The past hour or so, he'd been thinking of Pepper and their time together. All the good times and also the bad ones. Their many arguments, but also the time in between. They had many ups and downs in their time together when he thought of it more closely. Nevertheless, there were more happy memories than anything else.
After a few moments of hesitation, the footsteps came closer. Apparently, JARVIS had ignored his request and told someone where he was. Most probably Steve. He would be the first to notice that Tony didn't return with Pepper and that something was wrong.
"When you're here to talk, bad luck. I want to be alone." He said loudly, still without turning around. "So you can just go away."
"Tony…" When he recognized the voice, he froze. His heart was beating wildly in his chest and Tony was glad that it was dark. If she would see his face now, Pepper would know immediately how he felt. But why was she here? Where was Gerald? And how on earth did she find him?
"I said I want to be alone." He muttered and looked over his shoulder. She was standing close to him now, probably too close, and there was a sad expression on her face. Next to something else he couldn't quite place.
"Please, can we talk?" She took another step towards him, which made him able to move again. Before he knew it, he was on his feet and walked away from her.
"No. Absolutely not." He replied immediately and sighed when she followed him quickly. "Just leave it, Pepper."
"But Tony, we really need to talk." She sounded desperate now and it nearly broke his heart, but he shook his head.
"From what I saw, there's nothing we have to talk about."
"It's not what you think!" She was standing between him and his suit now, blocking his escape route. Of course he could just call the suit and leave either way, but the small voice inside his head told him to listen to her first.
"And what do I think?" He crossed his arms and the anger he felt when he saw her with Gerald returned, replacing the desperation. "I saw you together. Kissing him, in our favourite restaurant. In front of everyone. And you didn't push him away!"
"Just because he took me by surprise!" Pepper shouted and ran her hands through her hair. Just now Tony saw that her hairstyle was already ruined.
"He took you by surprise." Tony repeated her words and noticed how scornful he sounded. "How on earth can he surprise you like that? And even if he did that, you kissed him back." He spat the last words and tried to walk past her once more. She grabbed his wrist to make him stay, which made Tony freeze again. When Pepper noticed that, she let go of him immediately. For just a second, he could see sadness on her face, but it vanished very fast.
"I didn't kiss him back! I was too surprised to do anything! Or do you think that I expected him to do something like this, right in front of all those people? And when we were waiting for you!"
"I don't know, maybe you wanted me to see you together?" He knew that Pepper would never do something like this, but he couldn't hold back the words.
"What did you just say?" This time he didn't imagine that Pepper looked hurt. And offended. "I would never do something like that to you! Even if I would want to end this." She made a gesture that included them both. "Which I don't." She added the last words hastily and Tony knew that she'd seen the pain in his eyes.
He breathed in deeply. "Alright." He buried his hands in his pockets. "So you didn't want to kiss him." The scepticism in his voice was obvious.
"No, of course I didn't." Pepper replied immediately, sounding agitated. "It was an accident."
In short words, she told him about the dog and everything that happened after she stumbled. And how she left the restaurant and drove away with Happy.
"I told him that I never want to see him again." Pepper finished her story.
For some time, Tony just looked at her silently, taking in the sad expression on her face. She was still wearing that dress without a jacket and she was shivering. Even if he was still angry, he couldn't see her like this. Without saying anything, he took off his jacket and handed it to her. Which left him only in his thin shirt, but he didn't care. When she took the jacket, Pepper smiled at him gratefully.
"Thank you." She whispered. However, he didn't smile back at her. He turned away again, looking at the city.
"How did you find me?" He asked, not wanting to talk about Gerald.
"It took me some time to figure out where I can find you." She admitted. "When we bought this building, you said it is the perfect place to be alone and think of everything."
He raised his eyebrows. "You remembered that? You hated that I needed this building."
"Now, I understand what you meant back then." She was also looking at the city. "It's a beautiful sight, especially at night."
"It is." He agreed slowly.
They stood there in silence for some time, both lost in their own thoughts. Tony knew that they should keep talking about what happened, but he wanted to let her speak first. Most probably, he would just snap at her again. Because he was still hurt, even if Pepper insisted that it had been an accident. Somehow, he had the feeling that he should have prevented this. But the kid had been hurt and Tony hadn't been able to leave Peter alone. He didn't regret helping him anyhow.
"Where have you been?" Pepper asked finally, still not looking at him.
Tony sighed. "I needed to help someone." He said simply, waiting for her reaction. When he looked at her from the corner of his eyes, he saw that she raised her eyebrows at him.
"And whom, if I might ask?"
"You can always ask." Tony said before he could stop himself. Pepper's lips twitched. "I've told you about Peter Parker."
Pepper nodded. "The boy who plays superhero."
He smiled slightly when he remembered his conversation with Peter earlier. "He's calling himself Spiderman."
Now she looked sceptical. "Spiderman? Reminds me of something." Did he just imagine it, or did she grin for half a second?
"With a little help, he could be very good." He defended Peter immediately.
"And you want to be the one who helps him." It wasn't a question.
"Yes." He told her about the bank robbery and Peters injury. "I just had to help him. I couldn't let him sit there."
"The Stark internship." Pepper muttered more to herself. "You can be very creative. And you're setting up the papers for this."
"A good reason to be at the tower. And to escape his aunt May for some time." When he remembered Peters aunt, he smiled slightly. She had nearly broken down when Peter had entered their apartment with Tony Stark.
"You like him." Pepper stated and now she was really smiling.
Not knowing what to say, he just nodded silently.
"I'm glad that you helped him." said Pepper. Suddenly, she seemed to remember what happened because of this and her smile vanished.
"Do you believe me?" She asked suddenly.
First, he didn't know what she meant. He raised his eyebrows at her. "Do I believe what?"
"That I didn't want to kiss Gerald." And here they were again.
He sighed and turned away, not wanting her to see the dark look on his face. "I don't like this guy. The first time I saw him, I knew immediately that he would cause trouble."
"If I would have known what would happen, I would have never invited him." Pepper said quietly. "I'm sorry. I knew you didn't like the idea of him visiting right away."
"You could have told me that you were together once." Tony muttered. "Not just that he's a friend from school."
"Does it really matter? What happened between us years ago?" She sounded tired now.
"Apparently, it mattered to him."
She sighed. "I didn't think of it in that moment. We've been so close years ago, even before we got together. And I just thought that it would be nice to talk to him again."
"Why did you break up, if you were that close?" Tony could hear the anger in his own voice. "Wouldn't it have been easier to stay together then?"
He looked over his shoulder to see her expression. However, he couldn't interpret the look on her face. Which rarely happened. "We had our differences." She said finally.
"For example?"
"He wanted to leave for Europe because of his job. When he asked me to come with him, I said no. I didn't want to leave everything behind. I asked him if there was another solution, but he didn't even seem to listen. He wanted to have his career, no matter what it costs. Right before he left, he asked me again. My answer was the same. And he couldn't forgive me that." To Tony's surprise, Pepper didn't sound sad. It was rather thoughtful.
"So he chose his work over you." Tony concluded.
She nodded. "He called a few times after he left, but that was all. He even invited me to visit him a few years later, but I declined."
"Why?" He looked at her questioningly.
"I met someone else." Pepper said simply. "Furthermore, I had to work. And with my new boss, it wasn't easy to get free time spontaneously."
"Who was he?" Tony asked slowly. "The one you met."
She grinned. "My boss."
"Huh?" Tony felt his lips twitch. "You never told me that you liked me back then." When he thought of it, he noticed that Pepper must have gotten the invitation from Gerald only a few months after she'd started to work for him. She already liked him back then?
"I always liked you. Even if it wasn't easy at the beginning."
He ran a hand through his hair. "Let's not talk about that." The thought of his behaviour so many years ago made him feel uneasy. Suddenly, another thought began to bother him. "He chose his work over you." He repeated.
Pepper raised her eyebrows but nodded. "Not a good basis for a relationship."
But didn't he do the same? She asked him to stop being Iron Man. And he couldn't. He even lied to her first. He took a step back unconsciously, trying to order his thoughts.
Pepper seemed to notice that something was wrong since a concerned look appeared on her face. "Tony? Are you alright?"
He shook his head. It wouldn't work to lie to her right now. "I did the same." He said simply and waited for her reaction.
When she realized the meaning of his words, here eyes widened. "That was different."
"In what way?" He crossed his arms. Somehow, he had to know. If he dropped the subject now, the question would always haunt him.
"I love you, Tony. Even if you can be so stupid sometimes."
"And you didn't love Gerald?" She flinched at the sharpness in his voice.
"I did. But not like I love you. I only realized that later." She smiled slightly, even if there was sadness in her eyes. "With him, it was never as easy as with you."
"Nothing's easy with me." He replied immediately, but without humour in his voice.
"Maybe you're right. But it's worth it. You can always make me forget everything around me. Gerald was never able to do so."
"Nevertheless, you were happy when he came over for a visit." Tony argued.
"I already told you that I just wanted to talk to him. About the good old times." Did he imagine it, or was she starting to sound desperate?
"The good old times." He muttered. "Like your nice evening on the beach?"
She inhaled sharply. "I would have liked to slap him for mentioning that."
"Yet you didn't say anything." Tony said simply. "The whole time when he was throwing looks and comments at me. You were too caught up in his stories."
"I was just happy to have him there."
"Your ex." Tony growled. When she wanted to say something else, he held up his hand. "I don't want to talk about him anymore." He turned around and began to walk towards the other end of the roof, with the look at the Avengers tower.
He breathed in deeply, trying to calm down again. Somehow, this whole conversation didn't make anything better. Yes, Pepper told him that she didn't want to kiss Gerald several times, but why couldn't he just believe her? Most probably because he hated that guy more than anything right now.
Or did he just transfer his anger at Gerald to Pepper? Could it be possible that he wasn't angry at her, but at everything right now? He wanted to believe her that it was all Gerald's fault, there was nothing he wanted more. But why was it this difficult?
He closed his eyes for a few moments and to his surprise, he was able to calm down a little bit. Which made him realize how cold it was. He started to shiver and crossed his arms. However, it didn't help against the cold.
The footsteps behind him told Tony that Pepper was following him hesitantly. "You're freezing." She said quietly. "Do you need your jacket back?"
"You can keep it, I'm fine." He replied. When he looked over his shoulder, he saw that she didn't believe him.
"You don't believe me." Pepper stated and sat down in the ground. "I ruined everything in just two days." Before Tony really knew what was happening, she buried her face in her hands. It took him a moment to realize that she was crying. And the sight broke his heart.
"Hey, Pepper." He knelt down next to her. "I do believe you." He assured her and just now he realized that he really did. He placed an arm around her shoulders carefully. "It's not your fault, Pep. I'm not angry at you."
When he sat there next to her and she was crying, he couldn't hold back the tears any longer. He wiped them away with his sleeve, but more followed. "Don't cry. You're always so strong, please don't."
When she finally looked up at him, she tried to smile. Until she saw the tears on his cheeks. "Tony…" She reached out to touch his cheek carefully. When her expression had been sad before, it was completely miserable now.
"It's nothing." He muttered huskily.
"I didn't want to hurt you." She whispered. "But that's all I did ever since Gerald came here. I've been so stupid."
Tony shook his head. "I shouldn't let him get to me like this. After all, you agreed to marry me." He hated that his voice shook at the end, showing his insecurity.
"And I feel like the luckiest woman in the world ever since you asked me." She assured him. This time, her smile was real. "I love you, Tony Stark."
"I love you too, Pep." He whispered and pulled her closer. When he hid his face in her hair, he couldn't hold back his sob anymore. He was still angry at Gerald and would pay him back somehow, but right now, the sadness took over.
He didn't cry for a long time. When he finally pulled back, there was a soft smile on Peppers lips. "I'm glad that you believe me now."
"I've been an ass for not believing you right away." He whispered hoarsely.
She shook her head. "No, I get it. I would have acted the same way, I think."
"Let's not do this again." He muttered.
"Definitely." She agreed immediately and suddenly, they were kissing.
When they let go of each other again, the sun was already rising above the city. They've been on that rooftop the entire night.
"Maybe we should go home." Pepper said. "You must feel terribly cold. And Happy's still waiting for us in the car."
"He's probably still asleep." Tony muttered and stood up. He felt stiff but held out his hand to Pepper either way. "And good idea, let's go home." He smiled at her when they made their way towards the stairs.
Before they could reach them, Tony's suit took a step towards them. "Sir, there has been an explosion in Brooklyn. A part of a building crashed down and there are still people up there. The firefighters are not able to help the people on the top floors. They require your assistance."
Tony groaned. "Can't the others deal with that?"
"Unfortunately, they cannot fly. Unlike you, Sir." JARVIS informed him. "I can inform Captain Rogers either way, if you insist."
"No, let him sleep, I'll deal with that." Tony muttered, even if he felt like he could sleep any moment.
"Is this a good idea?" Pepper asked. "You've been up all night, sitting on this rooftop."
"Seems like I don't have a choice." Tony muttered. He wrapped his arms around Peppers waist and pulled her close. "I'll see you in bed in two hours max, Mrs. Soon-to-be-Stark." He whispered into her ear. Then he kissed her quickly and stepped into the suit.
On his way to the building, he was thinking of ways to deal with Gerald Fink.
Any ideas what Tony might plan because of Gerald? I'd love to hear your thoughts to that!