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Challenges listed at the bottom.
Word Count: 704
Evolution
Tony paid for his coffee with a hundred and told the girl behind the counter to keep the change. She looked at him oddly and muttered, "rich people are weird," under her breath, but he smiled and accepted the coffee when she gave it to him.
Walking the streets of New York was both familiar and not. He'd never really been one for 'wandering'. He always had too many things to do, too many people to see and too much work to be getting on with.
Tony was too busy to 'wander'.
He was playing hooky today. From work, from the Avengers, from Pepper… he was just taking a day.
He deserved that, he thought, when his heart was so sad. It wasn't broken, no, but it was sad, and he was allowed to grieve for a relationship that had died just as he would a person he cared about.
It wasn't that he didn't love Pepper—he did love Pepper, he'd always love Pepper—but he wasn't in love with her anymore. Nor her him. They were too different to the people they'd meant to be together.
They'd missed their time perhaps, ten years ago, when Tony was still an idiot and Pepper only had to worry about getting him to a meeting on time. There had been no Iron Man then. Pepper hadn't been the CEO.
There had been no Avengers, and no missions, and no near-death-experiences every other week.
Coffee in hand, letting the summer sun burn down on his head, Tony let himself get lost in the crowd of busy New-Yorkers. Just for a day, he wanted to be one of them, alone with his thoughts, a moment to just live in the sadness that the end of a relationship brought.
…
When Tony saw Pepper a few days after their break up, they shared a sad smile and then got straight down to business, because before anything, they were friends.
Tony felt like he didn't need closure on their relationship because it wasn't over. It had just evolved, the way relationships did everyday.
Theirs had just evolved into a… perhaps more loving friendship than they'd had before. He'd still do anything for her; he knew she'd do the same for him.
She'd allowed him his day without complaint, he was sure she'd taken her own time, but they were still them.
Just a little different.
…
Clint ran a hand through Tony's dark hair as he passed the back of the sofa Tony was sitting on.
"You good?"
Tony nodded, and smiled a small smile when Clint sat down beside him. Most of the team had been tiptoeing around him for a few days, since they learnt that TonyandPepper were just Tony and Pepper again.
Clint not so much.
"New Yorkers are weird," Tony said, grinning when Clint snorted.
"You are not wrong my friend. What made you think that in particular?"
"So, I'm not very superstitious, you know? But this woman, Clint, she walked under a set of ladders like… three times. Who does that? It takes three extra steps to walk around the things."
Laughing, Clint shook his head. "What were you even doing that you saw a woman pass under the ladders three times?"
"Oh. I was in Central Park. My feet led me there, and they were painting a sign close by where I sat down. Also, the benches are gross."
"Benches are gross."
"And uncomfortable."
"Yes. That too."
Tony rolled his eyes. "You can totally tell that I don't go out much, can't you?"
"Little bit," Clint agreed, a shit eating grin on his face. "You should take time out a bit more often though. It suits you. I haven't seen you smile so easily for ages."
"I smile when I beat you at Mario Kart."
"I did say ages, didn't I?"
"Oh it's on. Let's go, Legolas."
And this was good. The rest of the team would realise Tony was fine—better than, even, some days—and things would settle again.
It had taken him a long time to learn that change wasn't always bad, and he hadn't lost anything; not really.
Relationships changed, that much he knew. It didn't always have to be a bad thing.
Written For:
Record Collection: 25, 8: Love In The Dark: Write about falling out of love with someone.
Time Machine: 5. Plot point: Getting lost in the crowd
Angel's Archive: 15. Couch Potato: (scenario/plot point) Playing Hooky (from school, work, an event, etc.)
Film Festival: 20. (dialogue) "Rich people are weird."
Lyric Alley: 1. Very superstitious
Forecast: 20. Grief
Horror Hunt: 20. Summer
Trick Or Treating: House 5: The Blacks: 4. Lollipop: (word) closure
Apple Bobbing: Apple 7: Coffee
Pop Figures: 96. Astrid: Feature: Dark Hair
