I don't own the characters you reconize, etc.
4- Birthday
"If this was your last birthday, what would you do?"
"I'd do whatever I want, with whoever I want".
Natalie's words rung in Tony's ear. What he wanted to do was be in Venice with the only person who ever mattered. What he was going to do was get drunk, act like an idiot and push her as far away as he could. She didn't deserve this, to be with him. She was so much better then he was. Pepper Potts was his personal assistant, his successor, his best friend, and the woman he was madly in love with. She deserved a long happy life free of complications. Not a short, sad one watching him waste away.
On Tony's perfect birthday, Pepper and he would be walking the streets of Venice, watching the gondolas go by, which were far too tacky and touristy for them to enjoy. They'd grab ice cream from a local merchant and just walk and talk for hours. When the sun went down and the moon made it's appearance, they'd be on a balcony somewhere. And he'd tell her everything. How she was not only all he had, but all he wanted. That he loved her since the day he ran into her on those stairs but just didn't know it until Afghanistan. That she was the reason he came home from each mission, because he wanted to see her smile, hear her laugh. And then he would tell her the truth. That he was dying, and that this would be his last birthday and she was the only one he wanted to share it with. They would cry, they would kiss, they would make love. And whether he found a cure or not didn't seem to matter, because his life was complete. He had told Pepper Potts that he was in love with her and that was all that mattered.
But Pepper didn't deserve that type of cruelty. She had been too good to him, taken such good care of him at all times. He just couldn't do that to her. So instead, he suited up, got trashed, blew up some fruit, pissed in his suit, insulted Pepper, fought with his best friend, and destroyed his mansion.
Worst birthday every.