Week 9
"The hardest things to take care of are those that come most easily," Something her mother tells her jokingly while she peels off some more of the pie crust while she (thinks) her mum isn't watching. The words don't make any sense to her until years later, and she's surprised really that they've remained in her memory for as long as they have.
It was a nasty habit she had as a little girl, constantly touching and nibbling at food when the adults had their back turned and somehow enjoying the thrill of it as if she was doing something bad. Silly but true. Tony had a similar habit, fidgeting, always needing to do things with a tactile approach. She'd chastise him for it and boy, did it annoy her as much as it must've annoyed her mum.
Habits form out of repetition and the amount of times she'd allowed herself the pleasure of stay overs at Tony's has far since exceeded mere repetition. Her fingers lightly play with frames of pictures from his childhood, stashed into a box that she knows he thinks no one will find - or at least no one will bother to find. That's what he'd say at least if asked.
It's clear that this box, this worn out kicked around cardboard box with old pictures of his parents - yes his parents no matter how many times he dances around the topic - and himself is only kicked into a pathetic storage closet because he can't let go of it. He could've disposed of it. Easily. But death haunts people and Tony's not exception.
Pepper's not really either. The prospect of death haunts her.
The only person who'd actually be able to find this would be Pepper anyway, and Rhodey if he tried. The pictures are yellowing, they're grainy, the color in all of them are faded and the Tony in them is distinctly much younger than the one she's worked for. It's not that she'd describe him as old, nor did his appearance give off the impression that he was an aged man. But it was evident that in contrast to the bright eyed boy in the pictures with the crooked grin and toy parts in his hand that the years hadn't only faded the pictures but his hope too.
They fade Pepper's hope while she smiles dully down at them.
She found the box roughly two weeks back. It was a chance thing, and she pushed it back into the closet it was mercilessly shoved into within a minute after glazing over the contents briefly. Days passed and she continued to gravitate towards that particular door and not by chance but more rather by longing. A connect to a realer Tony instead of clinging to pictures found in tabloid's, the arrogant persona being the one really in the limelight.
The time he's been held in captivity is much longer in her head and the thought is excruciatingly numbing. Eventually she pulls herself off the floor and dries the salty watery stains that found their way to the thin layer of glass between her and the only bits of Tony she has left and finds herself in his bed again.
His smell's long gone but pretending it's still there is her new form of comfort.
Week 10
He's got half his design complete when he wonders what Pepper bought for herself for her birthday - if she bought anything at all or if she only said she did to not make him feel bad (as if she'd actually believe that he was capable of feeling bad over anything that didn't involve destruction and expensive cars)
He wonders if she's been to his house. If she's looked through his drawers (if she misses him essentially, it's selfish but he sort of hopes that she does) and if she's found that little box with that necklace he'd been planning to give her for her birthday. Take that Pepper, I didn't forget or at least I stocked up in case I did.
It doesn't matter much though, if this plan - shaky as it is - doesn't fall through he might even get the chance to give it to her himself. He hates that he thinks more of her than he does of finishing the plan to actually bring him to her. He hates that he's gotten so attached to someone even though it's all he'd avoided through the years of alcohol and sex and reckless partying and total irresponsibility.
Briefly he looks over at Yinsen and something akin to jealously pools within him. Not a lot but some. He'd be lying to himself if he said he didn't imagine what it'd be like to actually have a family with Pepper. To come home to her and not dance awkwardly around the matter of their feelings, or the fact that their feelings are very much in the way of their professional lives.
To know what it'd be like to have a normal life with her, yeah, he's sort of jealous of Yinsen for having someone who will without a doubt welcome him home.
He's not sure if Pepper's even waiting anymore - or if she waited in the first place.
The door of the room clangs open and habitually he hides the prints and puts the decoys over them, grateful almost that they ruined his train of thought and didn't keep him on the desperate track that he was going down.
He waits out their little power party let's them kick him in the knees and shins and refrains from smart comments or rude gestures and watches them leave before turning back to finishing his work.
"You seem distracted Stark," A real voice grounds him to reality and he looks up, almost startled.
"I don't know if you noticed but a bunch of armed men speaking a different language literally just busted in here, hard not to be,"
The other engineer doesn't say anything. Instead he offers a knowing look and goes back to welding pieces of armor together.
Author's Note: Wow sorry for taking so long to update school's a wreck and it's wrecking me, apparently no one understands the concept of reasonable work distribution in the teaching department at school. Aaanyway we're one chapter away guys! Woo-hoo (p.s. I will be doing that sequel due to popular demand xoxo)