17.
New York City, 2016
"Hey forehead of security."
"Tony - someone's broken into the Tower!"
"What? What have you been doing, Mr. Head of Security?"
"Uh, moving all of your Avengers crap from there to the facility. Luckily most of it was already moved, so it was mostly vacant."
"Yeah, good thing."
"By the looks of things, someone's been staying there."
Tony sighed. "I think I know who."
"I heard you broke into my tower."
Kass wasn't even startled when she heard the low hum of the suit of armour - she'd grown to feel at ease when hearing that sound. Now, she didn't know what to make of it.
She stood on the Brooklyn Bridge, overlooking the water, he hovering before her. "Oh that big ugly building? I didn't think it was yours anymore. Thought you sold it."
"I did, but technically it's still mine until we move everything out of it."
"I don't see you helping with that."
"I've been busy."
"Always busy."
"Yeah, cause I'm Iron Man, if you hadn't noticed."
"Can you not let go of your goddamn ego for a goddamn second? And you're always busy, this time ignoring Peter."
"You've seen the kid?"
"Sure have. He's a good kid. I see why you recruited him, but not why you abandoned him."
"Oh, you're really one to talk about abandonment. That's real rich coming from you."
"I didn't abandon-"
"You broke my heart! You always run, always. As soon as things get tough. And that hurts."
"Well if you cared, really cared, you'd come and face me! Not send one of your Iron Legion-"
The front part of his mask lifted, revealing an empty shell of a suit, being controlled from elsewhere.
She scoffed. "See."
"Just giving you a taste of your own medicine."
"Screw you, Stark."
"Good work, Pete," Tony said, patting the super-teen on the shoulder. "Keep it up." They'd just had a very long-overdue meeting at the Avengers Facility. The long-overdue part was Tony's fault.
"Thanks, Mr. Stark."
"Hey Kid, what did you need so urgently?" Kass entered the room, stopping dead-still and staring. Tony stared back.
Peter grinned guiltily. "Hey Ms. Konstantin..."
Kass scoffed. "I don't believe it - Peter, I thought we were friends."
"Well I-"
"I've been sabotaged!" Tony was clearly just as upset. "By my own intern!"
"Please don't hate me!" cried Peter, stepping between the two who were actively trying to avoid eye-contact. "And I know it's not my place, and I'm certainly no expert in the field of relationships, but I've been talking to both of you and I think you really should talk it out. And I'm not the only one-"
Happy entered the room.
"You too, huh?" scoffed Tony. "My very own forehead of security."
"Me too, Boss."
"And my A.I. I feel so betrayed."
"And Karen too," added Peter.
"Who's Karen?"
"My suit's A.I."
"Yeah, and Rhodey too," added Happy. "And Pepper, pretty much everyone. Peter's right, Tony. You and Kass are a lot happier together. And you're good together."
"Even you agree?" cried Kass. "I thought you hated me."
"I disliked you, in the beginning. Now I think you're not so bad. Plus I see that you make Tony really happy."
"Okay, thanks..."
"And you're pretty cool."
"Thanks."
"He's right," Tony agreed, finally looking at her. "You do make me very happy - except when you run off whenever things get hard. You take the easy way out, Kass. You always do." She still wouldn't look at him. He stepped forward. "I love you-"
"Shut up!"
"No, I do. I have to protect the one thing I can't live without - and that's you."
"Stop it, just stop!"
"It's always you."
"Ugh, see, and that scares me!" She was speaking so loud her voice echoed through the halls back to them. "You deserve better than a thief who's never held a real job in her life, who's always on the run, and who can't even deal with connection-"
"And you deserve better than an arrogant playboy who messes everything up and can't even keep his family together."
"That's not true."
"Well I don't think what you said is true either."
"You could have any girl you wanted-"
"I don't want any other girl."
"You could have anyone-"
"I want you."
They kept taking small steps towards each other. They were standing close together now.
"You could do a lot better than me." Finally, she looked at him.
"I could do a lot worse."
Now they were staring at each other, refusing to break the eye-contact that just minutes ago they sought to avoid at all costs.
"I'm a criminal."
"No, you're not. Maybe you were but not anymore. Cap and the others are, though."
"I have no idea where they are. I've been keeping to myself, like I'm good at."
"How do I know you won't run off again?"
"I don't know. I don't even know if I will. I don't know how to be there, for you." She was in tears now and buried her face in her hands. "God, I know it sounds pathetic, but I don't know how to be. I haven't had a close relationship with anyone since I was twelve, let alone a romantic one. I don't know what to do, I don't know how to be there for you when you need me to be, especially when times get tough. That's why I run, cause I feel helpless and I get scared."
He reached out to her. "Be there. Just be there."
She nodded. "I think I can do that. If you still want me to be."
"I do."
"Good, cause so do I."
"You are still a thief though. Cause you stole my heart."
She chuckled. "Well, you stole mine, so I think you've got a bit of thief in you too."
They kissed, a kiss that quickly became a smooch.
"Oh, wow! Hey, it worked! All right!" Peter was pulling his mask over his face. "Glad it worked out - see ya later!" And he swung out the window and was gone. Happy gave them a thumbs up and headed down the hall, leaving them there together.
Tony turned to her, his girlfriend, once again. And boy did he feel a lot better because of it. Just having her there made him feel a whole lot better. Happy was right, they were a lot happier when they were together, and they were good together.
"So," he said. "Now what?"
"I'm going to go take a shower." She pulled away from their embrace and began heading down the hall.
"Oh, okay..."
She called back to him. "And you're going to join me."
"Yes Ma'am."
"Ms. Potts, I really wouldn't disturb him right now-"
"Let me through, F.R.I.D.A.Y.," an equally frustrated and determined Pepper said. "What the hell is he doing now?" the red-head muttered angrily as she stormed through the Avengers Facility to the living quarters. "He can't just disappear for days on end." Upon reaching Tony's suite, she banged on the door with her fist. "Tony! I'm coming in!"
"Ms. Potts-"
"Oh come on, F.R.I.D.A.Y., what could he possibly be doing this time - oh my God!" Pepper immediately held up her tablet in front of her face.
Tony yelped and pulled the quilt over his full body, head and all.
"Why are you in bed in the middle of the day?!" the red head cried from behind the tablet.
"Uhh..."
"I thought you were meeting with the kid."
"I was, I did. And-"
"And then decided to take a nap?"
"Well, no..." Tony said, still from underneath the quilt.
There was the sound of a door opening somewhere deeper within the suite and a voice called out, "Okay, I hope you're ready for round - oh, hi Pepper." Kass appeared wearing one of Tony's T-Shirts.
Pepper stared between the two. "I thought these days were over for you!" she cried to Tony.
"What do you mean?" Now only Tony's eyes peeked out from under the blankets.
"Your hookup days!"
"This isn't what it looks like-"
"Oh really, another one of your hookups?"
"No, actually not. We just spent the past few hours making sweet, passionate love."
Kass face-palmed.
Pepper blinked back at him before turning to Kass. "That true?"
"Yup."
"Oh. Oh, well, I've gotta admit, I'm happy for you," Pepper said from behind her tablet, still blocking her from view of the two. "I'll leave you to it - but seriously, Tony, I need you to read and sign some online files."
"Will do, thanks for everything, Pep."
Pepper exited the room. She sighed. "Next time, I'm listening to you F.R.I.D.A.Y., no matter how frustrated I am. But now I've got to call Rhodey and tell him they worked it out."
Back inside the suite, Kass climbed back into bed. "Oops, poor Pepper."
"She's caught me doing a lot of wild stuff, but this might just top the list..." Tony turned to Kass, pressing a kiss to her head then whispering huskily in her ear, "What was that you were saying about another round?"
She laughed and pulled him down onto the bed with her.
Haha, awkward! ;) And wow, that chapter turned out to be longer than I thought!
The shower part was borrowed from 'Iron Man 3'!
Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :)
