Hello all, and sorry this took so long to get out to you. That pesky little thing called 'life' again. Anyway, the next chapter shouldn't take as long, seeing as I already have it partly written. Again, I would like to thank everyone that has reviewed, favorited and alerted the story. I love seeing each notification.
Right, remember when I said this chapter wouldn't be so depressing? Completely disregard that for the last part of the chapter. Sorry.
And also, there will be some more action coming up next chapter.
Please enjoy this chapter.
As always, I own nothing.
The next morning when Pepper woke, she stretched slightly and frowned when she didn't feel Tony's warmth behind her. It wasn't that unusual for Tony to simply not come to bed on any given night, often staying up and working in the lab, sometimes with Bruce, though lately the doctor had been trying to get the billionaire back to a somewhat normal sleeping pattern, which she was grateful for.
"JARVIS, did Tony come to bed last night?" she asked sleepily, rolling over and watching as the windows lightened, giving her an admittedly beautiful view of the cliffs and ocean beyond the mansion.
'He did indeed, Ms. Potts.' the AI informed her pleasantly. 'And good morning. Are you interested in the day's weather report?'
"Not right now." she said as she sat up, expression now slightly bemused. So not only had Tony come to bed last night, but he had gotten up before her. She was almost worried, but she knew JARVIS would have told her if the team had been called out.
She was just starting to get out of bed when the door to the room opened, revealing a smiling Tony who was carrying a delicious smelling tray.
"No, stay." he told her firmly, his grin widening when her expression changed to one of shock. "Breakfast, Ms. Potts?"
"You made me breakfast?" she asked, torn between being happily surprised and slightly wary of whatever Tony had cooked. Even so, she moved to sit back against her pillows, taking the tray he offered her before he plopped down in front of her. The tray held a mug of coffee, toast and omelet, and she was very impressed.
"I manned the toast." Tony said modestly, his eyes brightening with amusement. "Then I talked Clint into the omelet, because we both remember how well it turned out the last time I tried to cook. But hey, I am the one that asked him to, so…"
She laughed quietly, picking up her mug and taking a sip of the coffee.
"Thank you, Tony." she said with a warm smile.
"So what do you want to do today?" Tony asked after a few moments, moving to sit beside her instead and nearly spilling the coffee in the process. "Whatever you want, me and you."
"Tony, what did you do?" Pepper asked shrewdly, looking to him with narrowed, questioning eyes. He just gave a mock gasp and feigned a hurt expression.
"Just because I do something nice, you automatically assume I did something?" he asked, though he was grinning unashamedly. She just gave him a level look, which had him backtracking. "Alright, so you may have legitimate experience to come to that conclusion. But I didn't do anything, I swear. It's just been forever since we've just done something me and you. You finally took some time off, and we can ditch the merry band of misfits for a few hours with only a slight possibility of something blowing up."
"Only a slight possibility?" she asked, though her expression softened and she smiled, admitting that she did like the idea of just spending a simple day with Tony.
"Well, it is less of a possibility considering I won't be directly involved." he pointed out with a smirk, which just made her chuckle in agreement. "Hey, just because I say it, doesn't mean you have to agree with me."
"Tony, I only ever agree with you when you're right." she said sweetly, grabbing her fork to start in on the omelet. He gave a huff of aggravation at that.
"Whatever, I see how it is." he sniffed before laying back with a contented sigh as she finished her breakfast.
When she was done, they both got dressed before Tony ushered her into the Audi and they left, heading for the city.
The entire day, Tony dutifully stayed by Pepper's side while she did some shopping. He even kept his sarcastic complaints and remarks to a minimum, though the ones he did voice were paired with a teasing, equally sarcastic smirk, which just caused Pepper to roll her eyes and smack him a majority of the time.
He was, in all actuality, joking with her. No, his idea of a good time did not involve shopping in any sense of the word, but he was beginning to seriously doubt his ability to tell Pepper Potts no. It helped that he had a lot to make up to her for from over the last few months, what with almost dying a time or two and adding astronomically to her stress level with the team of super heroes they now lived with.
Once that, by Tony's description, hellish experience was over they walked aimlessly around the streets of L.A, for the most part following Pepper's direction. When they ended up at an art exhibit, however, Tony couldn't help giving a groan and looking to Pepper with a pleading expression as she raised an eyebrow.
"Pep, really?" he said, stopping stubbornly outside the building's doors.
"What's the matter, Tony?" she asked, eyes glittering with amusement as he continued to refuse to move forward.
"It's so boring." he complained, before brightening slightly. "Tell you what, wait on this now, and come back another day. With Steve. He'd love to go with you and could probably provide much, much better company than me. I don't know anything about these things, I won't… appreciate it. Yeah, appreciate, that's the word. Why don't we, ah, go to that really nice French restaurant you like down the block? Grab some lunch." after his quick rambling, he offered a hopeful smile that just made Pepper laugh, taking his hand and leading him away.
"I thought you hated that restaurant." she reminded, but he just gave a shudder.
"It's better than that." he said smugly, which made Pepper roll her eyes.
"You really need to start paying attention to things besides your science, Tony. There's a whole world of culture out there that you're just completely oblivious to." she reprimanded lightly, but he just gave an unashamed smirk.
"Funnily enough, I am perfectly alright with that." he said, his tone unconcerned.
They managed to get through a light, enjoyable lunch, before the inevitable press decided that they couldn't pass up seeing Tony Stark in L.A. for the first time in months. And having lunch with Pepper Potts no less.
The quick, nonstop questions had Pepper looking a tad uncomfortable, which in turn made Tony a tad angry. Within moments, he'd subtly insulted all of them and their intelligence in a way that had all of them wary and wondering how they should take the billionaire's words. Tony had just given a vicious smirk and continued back to the car, protectively keeping Pepper a half step in front of him.
"Sorry about that, Pep." he apologized shortly as they got back into the car and started for the mansion. It just figured that the press had to show up the one day he had wanted to spend with Pepper. If they stayed in the city, they would be followed mercilessly, he knew, and typically he was fine with that. Just not when he wanted to be with Pepper.
"I'm surprised it lasted as long as it did, Tony, it's not your fault." she said lightly, smiling at him as she took his free hand that wasn't on the steering wheel in hers and leaned against his arm as she watched the scenery outside the car flash by. "Thank you for such a wonderful day."
"Well, I do have to make up for the not-so-wonderful days somehow." Tony said cheekily which earned him an exasperated sigh and an eye roll.
When they arrived back at the mansion, they were both quick to notice how unsettlingly quiet it was. And when dealing with the Avengers, that was typically a cause for concern.
"JARVIS, please tell me they didn't blow anything up." Tony said lightly, though there was an edge to exasperation to his voice.
'No, sir. The rest of the Avengers are currently in the pool. Nothing has been damaged in your absence.' the AI responded easily, and Tony just snorted, leading the way back to the balcony that contained the huge infinity pool.
"Well that's a miracle." he muttered under his breath, though his eyes were bright with amusement.
As they stepped out onto the pool deck, Tony choked on a laugh he tried to suppress, which in all actuality just made it funnier. Natasha was laying out on a float, completely indifferent, but never oblivious to her surroundings. Clint and Bruce were resting on the stairs in the shallow end of the pool, watching with amusement and interest as Steve and Thor carried on an apparent heated water noodle battle in the middle of the pool.
They all looked up at the sound of Tony's choking, Natasha lifting her sunglasses slightly to meet his and Pepper's gazes as she offered an explanation.
"Thor wanted to go swimming." she said, thought here was an edge of amusement to her own voice as well.
At that point, Steve straightened and started to comment, but before he could get the words out, Thor gave a triumphant yell and smacked the super soldier over the head with his noodle. Steve then abandoned his own noddle with a slight scowl and leapt at the demi-god instead.
"Well are you just going to stand there, or are you going to come in?" Clint asked matter of factly, raising an eyebrow to the couple standing on the pool deck.
"I'll go get my suit." Pepper said, still covering her mouth to stifle her giggles.
"I don't swim." Tony said easily, tearing his eyes away from the clear water to meet Clint's gaze instead as he moved around to a reclined deck chair. Of course, that hadn't always been true, but they didn't need to know that.
Ever since Afghanistan, he hadn't stepped foot in a pool. Quick showers he could handle, but anything more than that was liable to send him into a flashback. Pools, oceans, tubs, puddles, hell even heavy rain set him off sometimes. He'd never talked to anyone about it, not even Pepper. She had never asked, respecting the cold, distant look in his eyes whenever Afghanistan was mentioned.
"So why do you even have a pool?" breaking away from Thor, who's eyes were bright with excitement.
"Uh, cause it looks awesome?" Tony lied easily, in a tone that suggested it was obvious. "Besides. What better way to get women in bikinis?"
At that Clint and Thor laughed, though Tony doubted the demi-god knew what a bikini was. Steve and Bruce shared an exasperated glance, while the billionaire could feel the heat of Natasha's glare through her sunglasses.
He tried not to act too concerned by that fact.
Pepper returned a few moments later, slipping into the pool as well and casting a sympathetic look to Tony as she did. He, on the other hand, pretended to ignore it while sitting cross-legged on a deck chair and talking amicably to Clint, who had raised himself up and turned around with one elbow supported on the deck.
They ended up staying in, or in Tony's case around, the pool until long after the sun had set. What had to be the highlight of the afternoon was Clint flipping over Natasha's raft and unceremoniously dumping her into the water. The archer's laughter had quickly died when the female assassin had resurfaced with an icy glare that was directed solely at him.
"Hell." he muttered, though his obvious amusement was still glinting in his eyes.
Not one of the other Avengers intervened when she launched herself at him, which in all of their minds was a very wise decision. They were slightly surprised when both came up from their underwater wrestling match laughing. Or more, Clint was laughing, and Natasha was giving a quiet chuckle and her customary small smile.
"That didn't end as I expected." Tony said, sounding vaguely disappointed which just made Clint roll his eyes and splash a bit of water at him.
Later, however, once the archer had gotten out and spent a few minutes at everyone's insistence making a pile of grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner, Natasha got out and calmly walked past him before spinning sharply and planting her foot between his shoulder blades which sent him falling back into the water.
There was silence for a few moments as Clint's spluttering form made its way back to the surface before they all started laughing.
"Hilarious." Clint spat as he vaulted out of the pool, before giving a decidedly mischievous smirk and continuing to walk back over to the group and shake his dripping form off like a dog, showering them all with pool water.
"Barton, towels exist for a reason." Tony complained, snatching up a sandwich before retreating away again as if wary of a repeat performance.
"Where's the fun in that?" the archer asked sarcastically, grabbing a sandwich from the plate he'd brought out, after everyone else had grabbed one.
It wasn't long after that, that everyone went their separate ways, most going to take showers. Tony, on the other hand, went down to his lab and had JARVIS crank up his favorite Black Sabbath album before he brought out his old arc reactor; the one that he'd had in Nevada. Over the past couple months he'd been trying to figure out how he could fix the design so it didn't react like it had to electricity in the future. Not that he planned on being electrocuted again; four days was long enough for his lifetime, thank you very much. But one thing he really didn't like being was unprepared. So he'd fix the problem anyway. He hadn't gotten far at all, probably because he hadn't been working on it as diligently as he should have been.
It wasn't long before he was immersed in the project, running through the calculations and models in his head and occasionally speaking to JARVIS as well. He barely even noticed when his music paused, and certainly didn't look up, even as the smell of coffee met his nose. A minute later, the music started back up without anyone saying a word so he quickly forgot about it, asking JARVIS to instead bring up a listing of all the arc reactor's components that had been rendered useless by the electricity.
An undetermined amount of time later, he gave a frustrated sigh and sat back, rubbing a hand down his face and glaring at the offensive piece of technology that had at one point been keeping him alive. Unthinkingly, he reached for the still somewhat warm cup of coffee that had been sat on his desk, frowning slightly when he took a sip and realized that he hadn't actually brought it down with him.
Looking up and around, he relaxed slightly with a small smirk when he saw Bruce sitting at another workbench a few feet away, bent over a notebook where he was busy writing down a list of complex calculations. He shook his head slightly, still not understanding why the doctor even bothered with working his ideas out on paper anymore. It wasn't at all necessary, and yet, he still did it with all of his personal projects.
As if he could feel the gaze on him, Bruce looked up, smirking when he saw Tony had turned away from his arc reactor.
"Any luck?" the doctor asked, not needing to ask what it was he was working on as he sat his notebook aside and turned to fully face him instead.
"Not really. I know I need to change the metal casing around the element, but I can't seem to find a replacement that will work." Tony said, sounding aggravated, and Bruce just gave a dry chuckle.
"Well, seeing as you created the element, I'm not sure how much help I or anyone else will be to you." he pointed out dryly, and Tony gave a snort and rolled his eyes.
"I'll figure it out. Thanks by the way." he said assuredly, giving the coffee cup a slight wave before his eyes narrowed when he noticed that Bruce had adopted a more concerned expression. "What's wrong?"
"Tony," Bruce started slowly, carefully meeting the billionaire's gaze. "Have you ever… talked to anyone about it?"
Almost instantly Tony froze, lowering his eyes to the floor instead of looking at the man across from him. Leave it to Bruce to have picked up on his distance earlier, and now felt the need to bring it up.
"About what?" he asked, his tone one of forced calm, that just made Bruce give him a level, piercing look.
"Afghanistan." he said matter of factly, and Tony shuddered and froze again, this time his coffee cup halfway to his desk.
It was another few moments before he composed himself enough to set down the mug, still pointedly not glancing up to Bruce.
"Of course." Tony forced out, his forced attempt at a light tone obvious. "Phil was pretty insistent about his whole 'debriefing' thing. Then there was the FBI, CIA, DOD, any other three letter acronyms you can think of that would want terrorist information…" he trailed off, knowing that what he said in no way answered Bruce's question in the way it way it was intended.
"Tony, that's not what I meant." the doctor confirmed gently, though he didn't back down, rolling his chair closer. "I mean, how long has it been since what happened in Nevada, and still you haven't talked to any of us about it, not even Pepper. I can almost guarantee that you would have done the same thing after Afghanistan."
The billionaire didn't respond or even acknowledge the other man's words, desperately trying to think of a way to avoid this conversation. For years he'd managed to do so, and he wasn't keen to change that now.
"Not even you would have a pool based solely on the fact that it 'looked awesome'." Bruce continued without response from him. "And there isn't one at all in the Tower, despite the fact that there's definitely room. Now that I actively think about it, I could keep going. Something obviously happened to you, Tony. It can't be good for you to keep all that bottled up to yourself. You can tell me."
"You read my file; you know what happened." Tony muttered tonelessly, unconsciously bracing his arms on the side of his chair.
"Actually, I don't." Bruce corrected lightly, eyes still locked onto Tony's form and watching him carefully. "Fury never gave me files on the rest of you when I was brought in. Probably because all he originally wanted me for was to find his gamma-emitting cube. I have absolutely no idea, Tony, the only reason I even know it happened was because I've heard people talking about it in passing. And besides, you expect me to believe you gave Fury the whole story?"
Tony snorted at that, more reflex than anything, closing his eyes tightly and warring with himself. Could he tell Bruce the truth? Hell, didn't Bruce deserve to know the truth? After trusting him with so much, couldn't he manage to do the same? He couldn't ever bring himself to tell Pepper, knowing how much she would worry about him. It was bad enough when she had to wake him up from his nightmares. And Rhodey… Rhodey was just Rhodey. His best friend, yes, but not the best person to go to with sensitive conversation.
"I… I woke up in a cave with a car battery hooked up to my chest." he admitted nearly inaudibly, keeping his eyes closed, but able to feel that Bruce leaned slightly closer. "I had been in the country doing a weapons' demonstration. Our Humvee was attacked afterwards, I was too close to a missile – one of my missiles- that detonated. That's how I got the shrapnel in my chest. I was captured by a terrorist cell known as the Ten Rings, and their base was in one of the country's cave systems. They had another captive too; he was the one that did the surgery to get out what shrapnel he could, and put an electromagnet in for what he couldn't, hence the car battery." Tony paused then, swallowing thickly. He had never told anyone about Yinsen, and actually bringing it up hurt a lot more than he had expected. After a few moments, he managed to compose himself to continue, however, and did so. "The Ten Rings, they wanted me to build them a missile. More specifically, a Jericho missile. They already had crates and crates of my weapons… And I refused."
At that, he finally managed to open his eyes and looked up slightly just in time to see Bruce give a knowing, sympathetic wince. That just made him sigh and wring his hands before finally forcing himself to continue again.
"They, ah… they had their fun shoving my head into a tub of water for what felt like forever. I guess they used that so I would still be in a condition to build their shit when I agreed." Tony stopped again, tremors running through his body now as the memories threatened to overwhelm him. The drowning feeling, the burning in his throat, nose and lungs as water invaded them when he tried to breathe. The sparks from the wires leading to his chest when they got wet, and the deep, wet coughs that lasted for hours after as he tried to get the water out of his lungs.
"Tony! Tony, it's alright, you're safe. You're not there anymore, they can't hurt you." Bruce leaned forward and spoke quietly and calmly when he saw the haunted distance in his friend's eyes, as well as the shakes that went across his body. At the moment, he hated himself for even bringing the subject up, if this was all that was going to come of it. No wonder the billionaire didn't swim.
When Tony showed no outward reaction to his words, Bruce bit his lip and lightly gripped both of his shoulders, not knowing if the touch would help, or just worsen the situation.
"Tony, it's me. It's Bruce. You're alright, you're safe." he said, keeping his grip when the man violently tried to jerk away, wildly moving to meet his gaze.
Thankfully, the recognition didn't take long to spark, and when it did, Tony moved to grip Bruce's arm that led to his right shoulder like a lifeline, taking a few shuddering breaths. Bruce used his other hand to carefully reach over and grab Tony's coffee that had been set aside, silently offering it to the billionaire's free hand. He didn't at all comment on or try to remove Tony's hold on his arm, not when the contact seemed to be slowly calming him at least somewhat.
"I'm sorry, I never should have brought it up." Bruce said quietly a handful of long minutes later, his eyes concerned and fighting down the Big Guy, who wanted at these 'Ten Rings' people. Tony should not be acting like this. It was wrong on so many levels, and he wondered just how much of his true feelings the billionaire was constantly keeping under wraps from them.
"I've just… never talked about it. To anyone, ever." Tony admitted with another shudder, slowly releasing Bruce's arm with a hint of embarrassment.
"That's a long time to keep something like that bottled up." Bruce pointed out, letting his hand slip off of Tony's shoulder, knowing human contact wasn't a favorite of his.
"I just never wanted anyone to know, mainly because…" Tony paused, casting an ashamed look up to Bruce before he continued. "Mainly because I gave in. I told them I'd do it. I didn't, of course, but there's the same principle."
"Tony…" Bruce trailed off gently, but the billionaire just ignored him and spoke again.
"I built the arc reactor first, just so I could get that damn car battery off of me. Then I started working on the first Iron Man suit." there Tony gave an actual smirk, though it was far darker than normal. "The idiots were hopeless, they didn't know missile from suit. The other man, his name was Yinsen. He helped me with everything. And when it came time to actually escape… We wired the door before I started putting the suit on and booting it up. The technology we were using was stone-age, it was taking forever. Then a few of the guards had to go and blow the charges too early, which obviously didn't bode to well with trying to keep a low profile. Yinsen grabbed one of their guns and went to distract them while the suit finished. I told him not to, I told him to follow the plan. The suit finally finished and I fought my way to the mouth of the cave. Yinsen… he was bleeding out by the time I got there. I couldn't save him, even though he'd saved me a few times by then. Last thing he told me was not to waste my life, which I have managed to do so well." the bitter sarcasm was easily apparent in his voice and Bruce straightened with a frown, features hardening.
"How can you say that, Tony, look what you've created. How many lives you've already saved with it." the doctor protested, but Tony just stared at him, looking unconvinced. "I'm serious, Tony. You haven't wasted anything; what you've accomplished is amazing, even for you."
Bruce wasn't sure how the billionaire could always act so confident and cocky all the time, and yet still look past his every accomplishment so easily. It was almost depressing, really.
"I've never told anyone about Yinsen either." Tony admitted, shaking Bruce from his thoughts. "I watched him die for me, Bruce."
"I would say I'm sorry, but we both know it wouldn't help anything." the doctor said, though his voice was still apologetic, and Tony bowed his head slightly. "Is there anything else I should know about? That you're not comfortable with?" he asked next, not willing to press the issue and ask about Nevada in the same night. Talking about Afghanistan alone seemed to have exhausted him both physically and mentally.
"Certain shades of brown, bare light bulbs and car batteries." Tony said, his tone seeming to return closer to its normal confident air, though it was obvious that he still wasn't comfortable with the conversation.
Bruce nodded slowly, waiting to see if the man would say anything else. Tony didn't disappoint, finally looking up again and meeting the doctor's gaze with a small smirk, his expression having been schooled into one that was more typical.
"Well wasn't that just a beautiful conversation?" he asked sarcastically, and Bruce gave a small grin of his own, shaking his head.
Tony moved back to his desk then, giving his head its own shake before Bruce followed, now looking interested in helping him with the arc reactor designs.
The two continued to work with one another late into the night, not once mentioning the conversation they had had.
Well, I hope you enjoyed it. The new chapter shouldn't take nearly as long to get up, and I do apologize for the wait for this one.
~Dogstar