Tony:
Tony sat in the car thinking about what had happened in just the hours before. They had just picked up Nat and he was going to have to tell her what had happened this morning.
"Ok well, obviously I woke up first," Tony started out. He took a couple of deep breathes as he was driving. "So I didn't really know what to do. I got some breakfast and I even made her some. You know pancakes, eggs although they were pretty shitty. When she woke up she came running out looking frantic. I offered her some breakfast but she just ran up and smacked me in the face." He saw Nat in the back trying to hide a smile; yeah I'll admit it was kinda funny when he looked back at it.
"She started yelling made me how I made her drink and how she shouldn't be here, and how it was all my fault. Well you all know me so I started explaining to her what happened last night. Obviously she didn't believe me and yelled again. I asked her what she remembered and she said that the last thing she remembered was making out with me on the coach. I explained what happened and how we were both smashed and how I didn't know where she lived and that I just took the best option and just put her in my bed. And when I told her that she asked me to lay with her she started hitting me and yelling at me. I told her that I had a witness- Jarvis who she didn't even know existed.
"I told him to confirm it and he did. Plus he's a computer and therefore he can't lie. After that Pepper calmed a bit and just kinda stood there for a minute not doing anything. She took the breakfast and sat down on the couch and started eating. I thought I let her cool off and didn't go over there,"
"A first for you Stark- not going after a girl." Nat laughed.
"Ah, shut up Natasha. Anyway we sat there for about 20 minutes before I saw her crying. I walked over and tried to help her but she just yelled at me to get away. I didn't want to be rude, well at least to her so I just sat on the other coach and let her cry herself out. Then she gave me this whole rant about she promised to herself that she would never let this happen to her. Spending the night at a guy's house and getting completely drunk, being my curious self I asked why. This is where it got kinda personal and the guy already promised no to tell so you can't either." He said to Nat and she nodded in agreement.
"Well she said that her mom was a crazy teenager back in the day and when she was drunk a guy knocked her up and that was Pepper's dad. They tried to file him for rape but things were different from the way they are now and it fell through. When Pep found out the truth she promised herself that she would never let that happen to her. Even though we didn't do anything we just laid in the same bed together it really freaked her out and I couldn't help but feeling totally responsible for her freaking out. And like an idiot I just sat there. We sat there for a good 10 minutes before I went over and gave her a hug. Then after that I gave her a ride home and apologized for everything that happened, she got out of the car and all she said was that she thinks we shouldn't talk for a while…" he said with a heavy breath. The car was filled with silence yet again. "Nat, you know I meant Pep no harm right?"
"Yeah I know…" She said and then slumped back with Clint's arm around her.
Tony took a deep breath and tried to get the tightness in his chest to go away. He rarely ever got like this- emotional, raw, regretting something. He usually was a fun, peppy, sarcastic senior that everyone knew. But not a lot people knew that he would give his life for his friends. He sometimes thought he was the king of the world; he could have any girl and get anything. But other times he felt like shit. Like he doesn't deserves the awesome friends he had. He'd had been like that since the explosion in Afghanistan. He remembered the even like it was yesterday even though it was during the summer going into sophomore year.
He'd been going with his dad to an expo for the soldiers in a war zone, he had been so excited.
"What will you be showing off?" Tony asked his dad. He was eager to see what his dad mind had cooked up.
"A new weapon that will scare the shit out everyone," he said with a light tone.
"Are we going now?" Tony asked with excitement.
"I'm going to right now to get everything set up, you'll come in about 20 minutes." At that time his dad got up and walked out the door with 3 US army troops. "See you in a bit Tony." He said plainly.
"Ok sir," Tony sighed and sat on the couch. He'd knew better than to disagree or talk back to his father. His dad walked out and Tony was there alone. His mother was at home keeping everything in check. He waited there for 20 minutes reading a boring magazine when 4 troops came in to escort him to the area where his dad was.
They drove for about a mile before they abruptly stopped and the troops got out, Tony just thought it was a station check, until he heard the gunshots and the screaming. Bullets started hitting the fiberglass windows, he saw blood spot on them and the deep voices of the 3 men and the woman who escorted him. He got out of the car and scrambled to the nearest ditch where he hid praying they wouldn't find him. He was getting out his phone to call his dad, or the army or anyone when something landed a few feet from him- a grenade. Tony heard a 'ping' and then a huge blast of heat, shrapnel and a huge pain running across his chest. Next thing he remembered was when he was in a helicopter with the desert underneath him. He looked up and saw one of his friends- Cornel Rhodes, above him yelling his name. Rhodes was only about 3 years older than Tony and that's why they got along so well, Tony's dad and Rhodes worked close together so that's how they became such good friends.
"Tony! Tony! Common buddy don't you dare die on me now you bastard." He screamed in Tony's face. Tony suddenly felt his body and he screamed. It felt like there was something in his chest ripping everything inside of him. He could smell the blood and taste the residue of the explosion. His whole body felt like it was on fire but mostly his chest god it would have been less painful to just rip out his lungs. He just kept screaming until they put him under.
He woke up in the hospital the next day, or it could have been 2 days later-Tony couldn't tell. He saw his mother talking to a doctor at the end of his bed and crying with her hands over her mouth. He found out later that day that he had shrapnel in his heart and that if they did an operation then he would die. However if they left the shrapnel untouched it would also kill him but more slowly, and he would have to stay in the hospital. Either way he was screwed.
His mother took him home that day to let Tony pack so he could stay in the hospital, but Tony was too stubborn for that- he devised the arch reactor with an electromagnetic pulse that would keep the shrapnel away from his heart. He looked down at his chest and saw that it was covered with stiches and staples. But there was a good sized hole in the middle that was a perfect place for the arch. He took off the bandages and placed the arch in himself and when it was done he was proud and showed his mom.
He hit him and yelled saying that it was nearly impossible and that doing it himself could have killed him but after 5 minutes of that he kissed and hugged him non-stop. When his dad got home along with him bad news. All the 4 soldiers that took Tony were dead- three had families here in the US.
Tony felt like he had been punched in the gut- his dad was happy he was alive but not as nearly excited as his mother. But Tony thought he blamed him for the 4 deaths that the roadside terrorist killed. Howard Stark told Tony that it was one in a million chance that Rhodes' helicopter was flying over and saw the explosion and they saved Tony.
Ever since then Tony had a problem with feeling like shit sometimes and wondering why 4 good souls had to die just so a bratty rich punk kid could live.
Natasha:
Nat was surprised to hear Tony's story. She did it discreetly but she pulled out her phone and texted Pepper, one of her only best girlfriends. Clint looked over and saw what she was doing but she flashed him a look of if-you-tell-Tony-I'll-smack-you-in-the-face. He got the message and let her do her thing.
Nat: I heard about you and Tony last night.
Pep: Where'd you hear it?!
Nat: Tony…
Pep: Dammit, Nat don't tell anyone!
Nat: Pepper, it's me. I'm the queen of secrets.
Pep: Yeah, ok. That was a stupid request.
Nat: Was the making out on the couch the last thing you remember? (Nat a suspicion she wasn't let on as much as she knew).
Pep: No…
Nat: What else? Promise I won't tell Tony
Pep: I remember him putting me in the bed. I remember asking him to lay down with me. I remember him telling me that he loved me.
Nat: But he just said that you told him that you didn't remember… What the hell Pep?!
Pep: I know I know. It's horrible that I made him believe that, (Nat did know the story about Peps mom) I'm a horrible person
Nat: But why Pep? Tony really does love you!
Pep: Because I love him back ok?! Nat, I hate loving him. He's the person that I don't go after, the asshole that gets all the whore but Nat I literally can't help it. Nat looked at the text. She felt bad for Pepper. Nat had never told anyone but Pepper like Tony since last year and hated herself for it.
Nat: Pep, I'm sorry. Hopefully this will work out.
Pep: I don't Nat, even though it did freak me out that I did get drunk, just laying with him was the best thing ever. I'm so annoyed with him around but at the same time I can't stand not being around him.
Nat: Ok, well we're driving up to Harlem today and want me to say anything or do anything?
Pep: Just see if he really meant what he said, because if he did… everything is going to change.
Nat: Will do, text you back later And then Nat put up her phone. She leaned against Clint and sighed. High school was hard in itself, but when you're friends with the people Nat was with, everything was a million times harder.
