The anticipation is eating Tony alive.
He's seen pictures and posters and look-a-likes of Loki Lauff nearly smother L.A. in a cloud of androgyny and strange colors and partial nudity. It's like the bastard is everywhere.
He doesn't know it he wants the concert to start or he wants it to be over with but he does know that if he has to stand in line for one more fucking minute he's going to literally explode.
"Tony." A far away voice says. It's more like a buzzing fly than anything and he hardly hears it.
"Tony." This time it comes with a gentle poke in the ribs. He looks to see Pepper standing next to him, looking worried.
She's dressed in something white that's kind of like a dress only it glows ungodly bright and half of her body is covered in glitter. She's got on one of the slightly bee-hivey Loki hairdos he remembers from the preacher's article in San Ardo.
The worried look denting the purple swirls on her painted face is borderline surreal.
"I'm just mellowed from that J. Relax, Dollface." He says, even though if they don't open the doors soon he's going to have to do something drastic.
"I told you, you should have put something on."
Tony looks around him. It turns out being the only guy in denim in a crowd of people who think they are human disco balls is not the most comfortable feeling. He's like a sore thumb wearing a neon sign. He looks like a narc.
"Am I embarrassing you, babe?"
Pepper shakes her head. "Well, you could unbutton your shirt a bit more or some-"
"You could definitely do that."
Tony looks behind him, and if he wasn't so bad with names and faces he'd swear it was that dude who tried to steal handfuls of his ass last time. He looks back at Pepper and she's glaring daggers at the guy.
Tony smirks. "You heard the man." He looks at Pepper. "Unbutton me!" She rolls her eyes and undoes a single button.
"Happy boss?" She grits out and he undoes the rest of the shirt and throws it up in the air. It doesn't come down.
Tony looks up and sees what could be a guy or a chick sitting on the roof with his shirt draped over his head.
"Hey!" But before he can finish the figure is gone in a flash of pale skin.
"Shit! That's my only shirt!" He cries and the next thing he knows there's silvery white glitter falling from the sky. For a single hysterical second he wonders if its snowing in LA. Snowing glitter?
Then he realizes its largely focused on him and whoever happens to be around him, and it's petering out. The dickweed that stole his shirt thew it off the roof on him.
Tony's got pearlescent glitter in his hair. It clings where sweat from being trapped in the crowd has clumped his eyelashes. His chest and shoulders are glistening with glitter and sweat and suddenly he feels much more at home. He looks up at the roof to at least flip the guy the bird or something, but he's already gone.
"That was nice of him." Says Pepper. "Getting you in the spirit."
"For what, a white christmas?"
"Sit on it Ton-OH MY GOD THE DOORS JUST OPENED!"
Tony grips Pepper so tightly that he's digging in his nails as they're buffeted toward the doors.
If it didn't hurt so badly she would smile.