****WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!**** This is something I just needed to get out there ASAP. I've seen this movie three times. My heart still hurts. So...here's a guess for some Pepperony scenes in A4. The first chapter will be a recap and one ending, and then I will post another as an alternative ending at some point, as well...none of which will actually say HOW they beat Thanos, they will just focus on Tony getting that family with Pep. I'll post them separately, so you can choose. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own any characters or plot lines from Marvel. This is only for fun.
"Slow down, slow down!"
"You're totally rambling..."
"No, I'm not."
I'm really not. She thinks I am. Maybe I am. I have an agenda, I just...haven't quite gotten there yet. I glance at the grass and scratch my neck as I catch my breath. Who's idea was it to go running again? Not mine.
She keeps walking anyway. "You lost me."
"Look, you know how you have a dream...and in the dream you have to pee?" I ask, grabbing at the jacket around my shoulders.
"Yeah."
"Okay. And then you're like, oh my God, there's no bathroom! What am I gonna do? Oh, someone's watching-"
"Right, and then you wake up and realize you actually have to pee," she confirms.
Okay, so I'm not crazy.
"Yes."
"Yeah, everybody has that," she agreed, now stopping to look at me...probably trying to figure out
"Right!" Okay, maybe she's getting it. "That's the point I'm trying to make. Last night, I dreamt...we had a kid," I manage out. "It was so real. We named him after your eccentric uncle. Uh...what was his name?"
"Right..." is all she says, but I can already see the exhaustion forming on her face.
We've talked about this before. Briefly. Not much. More like my fear of it. But I swear that dream was real...and I wasn't scared. Weird, right? Yeah.
"Morgan?" I ask, continuing, despite her frown. "Morgan."
"So you woke up...and thought...that we were..." she finally speaks, sighing.
"Expecting," I finish.
"Yeah..."
Wait, did she just... "Yes?!"
"No."
Oh. "I had a dream about it, it was so real!"
She shakes her head and unties my jacket from my shoulders to reveal the shining piece of tech on my chest. An implant? Not really. The arc has been gone for ages. This...is just a little something I stuck on there. It's not permanent...but it's necessary.
"If you wanted to have a kid, you wouldn't have done that..." she tells me, tapping on the reactor.
I blink, swallowing uncomfortably as I stammer for redemption.
"I'm glad you brought this up, cause it's just a housing unit for nanoparts," I try to ensure.
"It's not helping your case."
"No, no, it's just an attachment, it's not an-"
"Okay, you don't need that!" she groans.
And...now Pep's mad at me again. Yup, makes sense. This is how things usually go anymore.
"I know I had the surgery, I'm just trying to protect us. And...the future us's. And that's it. Just in case there's a monster in the closet, instead of, you know-"
"Shirts?" she asks innocently, her blue eyes burning into mine.
"You know me so well..."
"God..." she mutters, looking away for some sort of salvation, I guess.
"You finish all my sentences!" I add.
I'm not good with this relationship stuff, still. But I'm trying here. Come on, Pep.
She lets her shoulders drop. "You should have shirts in your closet..."
"Yeah..." I mumble, but that's when it hits me...she's right; no more games with the super friends, no more putting her in danger... "You know what there should be? No more surprises. We'll have a nice dinner, show off this ring's stone... We should have no more surprises, all right? I should promise you-"
"Yes!" she agrees, her teeth showing in a wide grin when I mention the engagement ring.
And that's when I bring her in for a kiss. I can't resist her. I couldn't stand being without her, and now she's here...and that ring's been on her finger for months, now, I think, but I don't think I'll ever get sick of reading the tabloids or the headlines or just trying to make it obvious in public. Let them stare.
And that's when he had come. Strange. Well, and Banner. But Banner's cool, we're cool, so... Anyway, there they were...to summon me to this battle of death. This unfair, heartbreaking shit that I just had to witness. And I haven't spoken since. This blue robot chick got her ship back up and running. The suit's gone. I don't even feel the need to fix it, honestly. I just need to get back to Earth...back to...who the fuck knows anymore.
They're gone. They're all gone. Quill, the...weird gray dude and his insect girl. Strange. ...Peter.
Peter.
The kid.
He's just...gone.
He knew and he begged me and there was nothing I could do. Nothing to save him. Nothing to offer him peace or turn back time or fucking keep him on that damn planet. Not that it would have mattered. And it's all my fault, somehow, right? Even if it's not...I deserve it. Karma, I guess.
I sink my head into my hands as I sit on the floor of this dirty, beat up ship. He was right there. Right where I could touch him. In my arms, whole and alive and... The kid was fucking right there! And now...he's just...dust.
"Your friends will know how to help?" I hear suddenly, but don't look up; it's only me and her, anyway.
"If they're even alive," I manage, deciding not to even comment on the backstory between Cap and I...fuck, I'd hug the hell out of Steve Rogers right now if he was still alive.
Dried tears still stain my dirty face. I'm Tony Stark. Iron Man. I don't cry. But...oh, God. Parker didn't deserve this. None of them did. He was just a boy. Just a kid, who needed to do kid things, who needed to...have a life. And I should have protected him, but I didn't. I couldn't.
I slam my fist against the ground as I think about it.
"I don't want to go," he begged, slamming into me as I held him up with my battered body. "Please, Mr Stark, I don't want to go, I don't want to go..."
"You're okay," I promised.
But he wasn't. He cried. Sobbed, really. And his eyes were...so lost. So clouded as he apologized. For what? For doing his best? For being braver than any other high school boy his age? Damnit, kid, you deserved so much better.
None of that mattered. The sides were chosen. And then he was gone, and I fell into that awful planet, and there was just...nothing.
"Approaching the atmosphere in eleven minutes," I heard her inform me, but I still don't lift my head...I can't.
What are we even going back to? A broken planet. Reminders of what was...of who was. What do I tell his aunt? Is his aunt even alive? Rhodey? Happy? Pepper?
God, Pepper.
I feel my eyes water again, as there are still somehow tears to cry. It's just all empty. All nothingness, no hope. No redemption from this. He did it...Thanos ended half of it, for good, and now that half is just going to be some damned memory or name written down or...just forgotten.
I forget to breathe but stay conscious as the ship finally enters Earth's atmosphere. Time stood still but flew by at the same time, and I lost all sense of it. We'd be down there soon, landing at the Avengers base...where I had Happy escort Pepper back to. Down on that solid ground that just lost half its hearts...half its souls...and they don't even know. All of those people...just...gone. And no one would ever understand what happened to them.
"Boss, incoming call from miss Potts," Friday's voice sounds, alerting me of her request as the doors lock me onto this flying donut.
"Tony?" I hear Pepper breathe in relief. "Oh my God, are you all right? What's going on?!"
"Yeah, I'm fine," I tell her, trying to sound convincing. "I just, um...we might have to push our 8:30 res..."
"Why?"
"...cause...I'll probably...not make it back for a while," I tell her as the helmet retracts back into the nano tech and I glance around the ship.
And then it hurts. Her voice is heavy with sadness and worry and fear and...
"Tell me you're not on that ship," she begs, and I can hear her tears forming.
"Yep."
"God, no, please Tony..."
"Honey," I try to comfort, but it doesn't work.
"...tell me you're not on that ship."
She's crying now.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I don't know what to say. It's just-"
"Come back here, Tony. I swear to God, come back now-"
She's no hearing me. "Pep?"
"Boss, we're losing her!" Friday alerts me, but even her robotic entity is dissipating...
I'm alone.
"We're here," the cool robotic voice alerts me, and it snaps me out of my memories.
This time I look up. I'm not sure what I'll find in her face. Care? Compassion? No, it's empty. This isn't her home. Quill and that Gamora chick I think she was called was her home. And now...we're both alone.
"Stick close..." I mumble as I push myself up and move swiftly by her to exit the ship.
My stomach is doing turns as we wander out onto the launch pad. The air is silent. No birds...no wind...just...stillness. No voices from the staff and no reporters. No hum of cars from the freeway nearby. It's like that show with the zombies and the death and the...
I push through the glass doors, which still open to my presence, so we still have the arc in tact. I haven't tried Friday yet; I just need to find Pepper. I limp toward the lab as I hold the frozen over wound in my abs, knowing Pep would've gone there in case of emergency, this Nebula thing not far behind. She's quiet...a little too quiet for comfort, but with such little noise being made since our arrival, I can pick out her metal footsteps.
"Pep?" I call out, my voice tired and my throat sore. "Happy?"
No answer.
We approach the entrance to the lab after navigating down the empty halls and that's when I see it; Happy's phone, buzzing across the floor as it rings with no answer.
"No," I feel myself whisper, picking up the pace to reach it. "No, no... Hap?!" I yell, looking at the screen...a missed call from a blocked number. "Happy, come on, buddy!"
My company makes a mechanical noise as she replaces a joint and it almost startles me, but I'm too frantic.
"He's gone," she says simply, looking around. "They all are."
I start to panic again. The familiar feeling of everything closing pushes out the sadness in me and I remember Peter fading away and Pepper begging me and...I can't breathe. I brace myself against the wall and panic, leaning my forehead against it for a moment. He can't be gone. He can't... It was suppose to be half! Not everyone I know!
"Pepper, honey?" I say, weary, and lift my head from the wall. "Pep, please, come on. Please, baby, answer me!"
Before I can stop myself I'm inside the lab, and it's...empty. No movement, but there is damage. Someone had called up a suit, and it's in pieces. A limb here or there, and some nuts and bolt scattered. The torso is destroyed in the corner near the vault. And next to it...her heel. Just one of them, but it's hers. The black stilettos "I" bought her for her birthday back before we were dating...she was wearing them for date night.
"Son of a bitch..." I let out, but it's not more than a whisper.
I'm not angry. I'm not afraid. It's just...sadness. I can't find it in me to yell. I've lost everything, and it's just so far beyond being sad that I'm numb. Just a few days ago...she was here. I was here. We were going out for a walk. A typical morning.
Somehow I stumble over to the heel and collapse to my knees, clutching it in my hands. My eyes are watery again. I don't even feel them come, but the tears wet my cheeks as I stroke the black leather.
"Not you, Pep. Not you..."
I can't even recognize my own voice.
"We're supposed to have a family, Potts. A wedding. A kid..."
The robot tells me she's going to check the rest of the house, and I don't even care if she's out alone. She got me back here, she's trustworthy enough. But I know Pepper, and I know she wouldn't be dumb enough to stay out there once she figured out what was going on. No, she'd be right here, tracking my suit as soon as that call disconnected.
"I know you didn't believe me, but... God, Pepper, I'm so sorry. Fuck. I'm so sorry, honey. I should've come back. I should've...I should've listened, and..."
I lift my head and fight back the tears, looking at everything and anything that I can focus on. She's gone. He took her. He ruined everything.
A clank against metal snaps me back to reality and I whip my head around to the source of the sound. My breathing catches, and I shove myself back up onto my feet in pain. Then, the door to the filing cabinet opens, and my heart nearly hops out of my chest.
"Pepper," I exhale, and I've never been more relieved.
She's in defensive mode; the missing gauntlet from the suit is on her arm and it reminds me of the easy days...back when our biggest enemy was an ex boyfriend of hers. God, who would have known that would be the easy period?! She has the repulsor up and loaded, just in case.
"Tony?" she whispers, her eyes wildly scanning me.
And then she powers down once she notices my gaping mouth and as soon as she does, I'm taking wide strides before pulling her roughly into my grasp, my arms encircling her body. My lips touch her neck and then my chin lands on her shoulder, my eyes shut tight. Fuck, I'm crying again. Shaking. Desperately clinging onto her...
"I love you so much," I manage, not caring how uncharacteristic it is of me. "Oh God, Pep, I thought you were gone. I thought..."
"Happy...he was there, and then he just wasn't, and..."
"I know," I try to console her, but it's not affecting my fear at all. "I know, babe, I know. I can explain but...I just...I just needed you, and... Fuck, Pepper, you scared the shit out of me."
"Me?!" she gasps, trying to pull back, but I don't let her. "Tony, you just took a ride on a space ship and left me here!"
"I know. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Pepper."
I'm planting more kisses on her as my lips make their way up her neck and to her own, and then I'm kissing her desperately, only pulling back to speak.
"Where's Bruce?" she asks once I replace my head into the crook of her neck.
"They're gone, Pep..." I whisper, remembering the kid once again. "Peter's..."
"What do you mean gone?" she asks, and I can feel her heart stop, too. "Tony? Tony, what happened?!"
I realize I'm shaking and just bury my head deeper against her, breathing in her scent. Her familiar scent, the one that soothes me and makes everything okay. The one that stops the panicking...but not today.
She notices, and doesn't press on the matter. She's only seen me cry once; after the fight with Cap and Bucky. But this...I'm borderline inconsolable at the mention of his name as I let the water leak out, and soon I'm hiccuping and digging my nails into her soft skin.
"Okay," she breathes, her voice unsteady. "You're okay. We're okay."
