Being the inventor of all of the Avenger's tech, Tony was never truly 'off duty'. If he wasn't out fighting crime, he was typically in his lab working on yet another weapon or armor design. He bet Clint wondered if he even slept.
Of course, that was just his excuse.
The truth of the matter was that he couldn't face them. It had been 2 months, and surprisingly, they hadn't noticed. Pepper had stopped coming around, making sure he got out of his lab to eat and sleep, which was probably why he hadn't left his lab in almost a week. Eventually his box of twinkies would run out eventually, the need for survival would kick in, and he'd venture upstairs to get some food when they were all asleep.
Tony put the hologram, on the other side of him. He would have to deal with that one later. Probably after he got himself a sandwich or something. Before he managed to close the window out completely, he caught a glimpse of it. It was buried underneath another folder Coulson had given him about a week ago. Pulling it out, his heart dropped into his stomach, suffocating that desire to eat.
The photo had been taken last summer. The two of them had gone to Italy for the week. She had mentioned something about visiting Rome and naturally, Tony took her there. Why? Because he could.
…She'd been so happy.
Or at least he thought that. When he looked at the photo now, he could see the stress-lines in her forehead, the tired look in her eyes. Even back then, she was exhausting herself simply being with him. Being Iron Man had turned out to be too much baggage for her to carry. He'd been so deluded, thinking that things were perfect. She'd tried. They both had tried to make it work. It wasn't because they didn't love each other.
It was because he was Iron Man, and she refused to ask him to stop being who he was.
Song: A Little Bit Stronger by Sara Evans
A/N: This one is more of a Tony/Pepper deal, but in my canon, Pepper dumps Tony. And then comes in a Steve to comfort him. But I didn't have enough inspiration to get to said comforting.