[updated corrected spelling and grammar errors now flows like a charm in english, re- read encouraged keep enjoying]
Chapter 2: The pianist
That night he couldn't sleep. With his mind full of stuff and no other human being around to talk to he got more depressed. Tony went downstairs for a bottle of whisky and took it with him to the living room to his big, black piano. The night sky was full of clouds, with lightning flashing here and there. Soon water started to pour on the window. He took another sip of his bottle, watching the rain fall, and sighed.
"Well, it still is beautiful night out there, isn't it?" he asked himself. There were almost no lights in the mansion but the arc reactor in his chest. He played his piano for the rest of the night.
The next morning, when Pepper went to the mansion to make sure Tony would be ready for his schedule, she could hear the piano music as soon as she stepped out of her car in the garage/workshop. For a few moments, the strange selection of music puzzled her.
"OK, that's really weird," she thought. She runs upstairs to find Tony playing the piano, totally lost in the music.
"Tony?"
He didn't answer her, and that was starting to get in her nerves. Last night, no answer. The day before, the same. And today, no answer? Come on! It seemed that Tony was torturing her since the beginning of the week and she just wanted an answer. "Tony! Tony! Don't ignore me Tony." She approached him, but he didn't seem to be paying attention to her or anything else around him.
Pepper just sat beside him. Tony gave her a quick glance and smiled and switched over to John Lennon's song Love. Tears formed in her eyes as her mind puzzled over the information she was receiving. "Tony, I … I didn't know you ... you play very well."
He stopped playing and made eye contact with her. After a long and uncomfortable silence, he finally spoke. "Now that I finally have your attention, will you listen to what I need to tell you?"
His thoughts slowed down, but at the same time they started to crash and become very confusing. "Pepper I... I... You... I... I...," but he couldn't finish the phrase. He was interrupted by Peppers black berry. She took out her phone and answered it. It was a member of the board asking where Tony was because the meeting had just started. She tried to give an explanation, but he took the phone from her hand and hung up. "It can wait..."
But her phone started to ring again and again. "No, Tony, it can't wait. Get ready. You should have been at Stark Industries by now," she said.
"Ok, you're right." He ran upstairs to change clothes. Oh god it's so fucking hard, why? As he changed his palladium battery and threw it away, he saw himself reflected on the window. Look at you Tony! You have all and nothing! Nothing has changed since Afghanistan. You're the same drunk shit and she knows that! Besides, how in the world do I tell her that I love her when I'm dying? Hey! Pepper … I love you, but guess what? I'll only be here for 3 months or so and then I'll be 6 feet under because the palladium is killing me!
Well, at least by her side, those 3 months would be worth something. Anything else won't matter. He sighed deeply...
"Tony, are you ready?" she called.
He came out of his room and gave Pepper his tie. She fixed it, then they both went to the car to drive them to Stark Industries.