Pepper Potts woke up alone.

Not surprising.

Even so, the large bed she slept in felt lonely. While she'd moved in with her boyfriend a few months prior they'd barely spent a month's worth of nights sharing the same bed before things had changed drastically. Or at least it felt drastic to her. Bitterness. What a way to start the morning. There was no point in lying around so Pepper got up and began her daily routine; showering, primping, going through emails, and preparing her day as far from the Malibu Mansion as she could get.

The mansion was extravagant, a place she'd spent years working. Sleek, modern, open-concept, and filled with the best technology available. Most wouldn't have asked for more. But the home on the cliffside overlooking the ocean had become a place of misery. Pepper avoided it like the plague.

It wasn't the house that was the problem.

No, the house was incredible.

Throughout the short time she'd lived there, the walls became filled with tension. Anger. Instead of trying to sort it out Pepper avoided it. She was tired of trying to fix something that couldn't be fixed. Not by her, at least. When she left the bedroom and walked down the hall, past exquisite artwork she'd procured over the years, the house remained silent. It'd never been warm for her. She walked into the living room and expected to find her boyfriend asleep on the couch, a place where he often wound up instead of in bed next to her.

But he wasn't there today.

Nerves already frayed at their ends, Pepper pulled her reddish-blond hair back into a ponytail, leaving only her bangs to frame her freckled face. She muttered angry words beneath her breath, words she'd never say to his face and probably didn't mean. Her modest heels clicked on the floor as she walked across marble to find the front door wide open. Her heart stopped. Was there an intruder? No, Jarvis would have warned them. The home's smart computer, which she was told was an insult to call it, would have never allowed it.

That and there were bulky wires coming from outside, winding through the home. She followed them to the stairs that led to the basement. To where Tony spent most, if not all, of his time. That was where he was. That was why the door was open.

Tony Stark was beyond extraordinary in many ways but being a boyfriend was not one of them. At least not in Virginia "Pepper" Potts' opinion.

Ignore it, she thought. Just keep walking. Go about your day. Don't let it bother you.

But she couldn't ignore it. It wasn't who she was. Against her better judgment, she walked down the floating steps and at the bottom accessed a security panel near the glass door. Her hand hovered over the keys and she turned to the side aghast as she noted that the wires had been poured through a massive hole in the concrete wall. A massive hole that hadn't been there the last time she'd come into the basement.

Discarded chunks of concrete and dust surrounded the hole. Her blue eyes narrowed and grayed with anger. Pepper finished putting in the code hastily and waited impatiently for the door to open but it didn't.

"Tony!" Pepper hollered but received no response. At the far end of the massive basement hidden beneath the mansion she caught sight of the very man she'd called but his back was turned to her and his focus elsewhere. Blueprints hung in the air, framed in a holographic blue light. The entire house was wired up to the most sophisticated computer system in the world. Jarvis. He was responsible for taking care of most of the house and provided them with nearly everything a person could ask for. He was the ultimate butler. Tony had been building things like Jarvis his whole life.

A genius who put most of the world to shame with an attitude to boot. He'd taken over his father's company, Stark Industries, obtained multiple doctorates, led the way in weapons development and technology and was changing the world with his energy research. But a few years prior something had changed Tony to his very core. Something that made him even more extraordinary than most.

He'd nearly died.

During a weapons demonstration Tony had been kidnapped and held hostage. An explosion had nearly taken his life. The shrapnel would've destroyed his heart but for the man held in captivity alongside him who saved his life. Tony had been held for ransom in Afghanistan alongside another scientist. This man had rigged up a small electromagnet that fit inside Tony's chest and kept the shrapnel from reaching his heart and killing him.

That felt like ages ago.

"Apologies, Miss Potts." Jarvis' polite voice spoke as the door opened. Pepper approached cautiously. She could see the glow of the reactor that now powered the electromagnet through Tony's black muscle shirt. He was in his own world, as he often was, blissfully unaware of her approach. What was he up to? She had no idea. In fact, she didn't care. This was all Tony did these days. He spent so much of his time locked away that he sometimes forgot the rest of the world existed. A man who had been one of the most notorious socialites on the planet had become a complete recluse.

The blue light of the reactor sent a pang of frustration through her. Was she angry at the arc reactor keeping him alive? It wasn't that, she dismissed it. It was that the same arc reactor powered the armored suits that lined the room. There had been only seven but now there were at least thirty. Naturally, Tony was building yet another. The suits were something that made Tony even more extraordinary than he already was.

He was Iron Man.

A so-called super hero.

Pepper never liked that term. In fact, she thought what Tony did was reckless, not super. Yet, there he was, cooped up in his basement, having created a gaping hole in the wall so he could power who knew what to build another super hero suit. The wires were plugged into a machine that was haphazardly thrown together. Some pieces were held in place with belts and duct tape. Armani belts, nonetheless. He was so wasteful sometimes. The machine was creating a levitation force or something.

The extraordinary felt very ordinary that morning, at least to Pepper.

"Tony." He didn't reply so she repeated his name. "Tony!" She grabbed his shoulder and forced his attention to her when he didn't acknowledge her. She was tired of being ignored, tired of finding their home in shambles, and tired of having to combat a temper tantrum from a full grown man every time they spoke.

"Oh, hey." Tony offered a tired smile. There were bags under his eyes. He hadn't slept again. It happened more often than Tony wanted to admit. Pepper was already mad at him too, so he didn't want to add fuel to the flames if he could help it. He tried to appear friendly. Everything he did seemed to piss her off and it wasn't for lack of his trying. They simply couldn't communicate anymore. Then again, they had never been particularly good at communication to begin with, even when she'd been his assistant. He'd never really listened to her. It'd been an adjustment to have to while dating.

It was funny. Sometimes Tony forgot that Pepper was his girlfriend. She'd been his assistant far longer. Romance sparked between them after the incident that made him Iron Man. Part of him knew that the romance blossomed because of his newfound fear of mortality. At the time, he'd thought it more than that. Now he realized that their relationship was born from something unsustainable. "Before you get mad at me…"

"Oh, it is far too late for that."

"How's that possible? You just got here!" He grinned, a charming, boyish smile.

"You spent all night putting holes in our walls. Did you even try to sleep? What about work, Tony? Hmm? What about your, you know, company?" There was a brief time where Pepper had been CEO of Stark Industries but she'd never really been qualified for the position. She'd assisted Tony with the job for years and she was certainly an intelligent and powerful woman, but she simply wasn't Tony Stark. No one could replace him and the job was too much. Thankfully, Tony had been more than willing to take the position back from her once she'd formally resigned.

Except that for the past few months, Pepper was filling the void Tony left in his absence, making her acting CEO once again. She brought work to him since he refused to take the initiative to deal with it on his own. Often he made appointments or meetings and then promptly forgot about them. Time was a construct that he no longer paid attention to.

"But you do see this thing I built, right? I'll have to replace some of the cookware from the kitchen. I may have welded it in here. The copper was just what I needed to boost the voltage." Tony pointed to a pot handle sticking out of the back end of the machine holding up his suit. Pepper didn't have to say anything for Tony to know she didn't think that was funny. "It's an anti-gravity device." Pepper heaved a skeptical sigh despite the evidence in front of her eyes. Things were floating!

And she didn't care.

"Last night I had a revelation. An idea on how to create a pocket in an existing space, similar to a vacuum, where I could manipulate the gravity within that space. You see, I can control it with… you don't care, do you?" Tony's smile faded and the light in his eyes disappeared with it. She never cared. Even when she was his assistant she hadn't cared.

"There's real work to be done and you're down here playing with cookware."

"It's Saturday." Tony whined and pouted but it had no impact on his girlfriend. He considered himself quite good looking and charming. Why didn't she? It never really worked on her, he supposed, even before all this.

"Yes, it's Saturday. We should go out and do something! Get out of the house. Do anything besides this. If you're not going to work on something that needs working on then we should get out. Take me out, Tony. I need to go out for something besides work." Pepper pled with him. Watching Tony's excitement fade briefly made her feel guilty. He never seemed to care when it was her on the other end, so why should she feel bad?

"This needs working on too even if you can't see that." Tony pointed to the machine. With a wave of his hand the schematics hanging in the air disappeared. A dull hum faded into a whine and the machine turned off. The pieces of his suit clattered into a heap noisily. Tony's heart was racing at the idea of going out for the day. It was a bad idea.

He didn't like going out anymore. He couldn't control what happened out there. Every time he considered it, his heart leapt into his throat. He didn't understand why. He was in excellent shape and excellent health. There was no reason for it. No logical reason, at least.

"You can tinker later. Come have lunch with me." Pepper hoped that getting Tony out of the house would break the cycle. They hadn't been on a date since before they'd returned to Malibu from New York. Pepper was tired of waiting for Tony to be the boyfriend she wanted. And Tony was tired of having to cater to her when she didn't extend him the same courtesy. All in all, even if they went out, it wouldn't accomplish what the other wanted. Pepper wanted Tony to be someone he wasn't and Tony didn't know what he wanted anymore. "The press is dying to see you. It'll be fun."

For a few precious moments, Tony considered putting his things away, getting showered, dressed, and going out with Pepper just to humor her. But as he did, his thoughts spiraled. The world outside of his basement wasn't safe. There were things out there beyond his understanding. Things that he had to work on protecting them from. His hands were suddenly cold and clammy. He couldn't leave until it was safe. Until he was sure of it. Pepper didn't understand. Tony had stopped trying to explain months ago because she didn't listen or care. Humanity was far from the most intelligent creatures in the universe, a thing he struggled to understand.

"I have too much to do." Tony nodded to his work. He was only half-lying about that. "This is a huge breakthrough. I'd like to make a clean design if I can. What about tomorrow?"

"I don't care about this, Tony. I don't care about the suits or about the anti-whatever!"

"It's an anti-gravity machine and the implications are staggering. Maybe you need to get your ears checked, Pepper." Tony attempted a joke but it was completely lost on the fiery red-head who was now red from head to toe.

"I don't care." She snapped and pointed a severe finger at him. He leaned away from it comically. "You don't come to bed anymore."

"You kicked me out of bed, actually." Tony's smile faded. For a man notoriously famous for his libido, he certainly hadn't wanted to do that with her for ages. Nagging was not a turn on.

"You don't come to work."

"I can work from wherever I want."

"There's no arguing with you!" Pepper stamped her foot like a petulant child and her anger was warranted. This wasn't the first time they'd had this argument. It was circular and pointless. Tony checked out when it got like this. "I'm going out with or without you. If you'd rather stay down here with your toys than go out with your girlfriend then fine. I don't care. Do whatever you like. That's all you ever do anyway. I'll just hang out with Happy." Pepper stormed off. Maybe she expected him to follow her.

He wouldn't.

Tony watched Pepper storm off. When she was gone, he turned to the machine that he'd been proud of moments ago. Instead of getting back to work, Tony turned away from it. He walked across the massive basement that was his laboratory, office, garage, and workroom. His feet didn't feel like his own. They were heavy and dragged across concrete.

Sitting at the center of his round desk that was both sleek and modern, Tony grabbed the stress ball that rested atop it. It was a gift from his friend, James Rhodes, as a joke. There was a faded print of an emoji on it. Tony squeezed the life out of it and thought it was perhaps the best gag gift he'd ever gotten.

"All I do? That's all you do." Tony muttered. Pepper would be going out with his long time driver, Happy Hogan. An ex-boxer and a good man but Tony hadn't seen him in weeks. Maybe months. He really did lose track of time down here. They'd once spent their time together goofing around and getting into trouble but recently Happy was by Pepper's side and not his. Tony probably should have been jealous that they spent so much time together but he wasn't.

In fact, all Tony wanted was for things to go back to the way they were before he and Pepper were dating. It wasn't that dating was bad or anything or that he didn't like her. It was that they hadn't meshed the way he'd hoped. He missed the Pepper Potts who had been his assistant. Who had been his friend. He missed the driver who sent him stupid memes in his email. Ever since they'd returned from Manhattan, he'd lost both of those people.

They couldn't be like that again. He knew that. If Tony broke up with Pepper then she would become another red ex on a long list of them. He'd have to replace his assistant and his friend and he didn't know how to begin doing that. She'd been his assistant so long that he didn't remember how to be without her. And he didn't want to lose Pepper forever. It was probably the longest relationship he'd ever had with anyone! For years he had a reputation of being kind of a slut. And now? Now that he was Iron Man how could he ever trust anyone new?

That and he didn't think he could go back to being that guy. Tony was definitely still a flirt but his priorities had changed. He'd changed. He knew that suggesting to Pepper that they go backwards in time would be a bad idea. But she didn't seem like she enjoyed being with him either. He didn't know how to fix it. Not being able to fix something drove Tony bonkers.

Damned if he did. Damned if he didn't.

Things weren't always bad. Even after they'd returned to Malibu, things were okay for a time. They'd gone to dinner, slept in the same bed, been close. But it wasn't long after their return that he had the night terrors. He'd wake up thrashing or yelling. Pepper eventually sent him out of the room so she could sleep. Despite what he thought was obvious distress, he was relegated to the couch in the living room or a guest bed. It felt more appropriate to lay on the couch.

At the time it hadn't bothered him. But when it became so frequent that he didn't try to sleep upstairs anymore, it ate away at him. He'd tried to explain that he couldn't control the nightmares and that it wasn't to annoy her. He'd tried to stop having them. The only way he could avoid them was by avoiding what caused them which was sleep. Which meant not sleeping. Even Tony Stark, as brilliant as he was, couldn't devise a way to live without sleep and not for lack of trying. The human body required a daily reset. He didn't like it, but that's how it was.

That and the truth became clear. Pepper didn't care that he was having nightmares. She said everyone had them. It wasn't her fault, and she needed sleep. Tony understood, he guessed, but at the same time he wasn't trying to hurt her with them. He was struggling. Tony only wanted her to understand and try to work with him to find a solution but she hadn't been interested. Instead, she thought he was making excuses. When it was clear she wouldn't talk about it, Tony lost interest in talking entirely.

What was the point? It only ever served to frustrate him and he was already frustrated in about fourteen different ways. Pepper saw that he was struggling. Struggling to sleep. Struggling to leave the house. It was obvious, even to the press, that something was wrong with Tony Stark. So why was it that the woman who was supposed to be sharing her life with him couldn't see it? He'd made a million excuses for her. Maybe she thought he wouldn't want help. Maybe she thought it wasn't her responsibility to point it out.

But wasn't that part of being in a relationship?

Tony was new to committed relationships but he was fairly certain that he was obligated to ask Pepper if something was wrong when she was upset. Even if he was a stubborn asshole at times, it would have been nice to know she cared enough to ask. Tony had never asked for help. And he wasn't the type to. So when he tried to talk and was dismissed, he felt shut down. And the problem internalized. He wanted to be happy again. He wanted Pepper to be happy too. He wanted that more than anything. He'd done all this for her. All the suits and projects, all the things she belittled- they were for her! They were to protect the people he cared about.

That was enough of that.

He had bigger problems at the moment. Tony Stark was the most brilliant mind of his generation. He could handle anything that came at him, even the horrors of his own mind. He'd never failed at anything before so he wouldn't fail at this. Even so, the tips of his fingers tingled. He squeezed the stress ball again. Maybe he hadn't eaten enough.

How could he solve a problem when he wasn't sure what the problem was? Life had changed. The entire world knew that there was more out there beyond their little planet. These past few months had been the first of his life where he doubted himself. Overconfidence was one of his greatest strengths. Pepper would argue it was one of his greatest weaknesses.

New York had shattered that confidence four months ago.

Chills ran through him as he thought about it. A sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach weighed him down like someone was watching him and waiting to strike. Someone unseen. Even his well-guarded home couldn't save him from that feeling. Like something terrible would happen beyond his sight at any moment. His palms were sweating and every squeak of his chair only worsened the paranoia.

Even the mere thought of New York had that effect on him. While helping SHIELD locate the Tesseract, an object from another world stolen by a God, Tony had nearly died. Gods. Other worlds. It was overwhelming. It wasn't the first time where Tony had stared death in the face but he couldn't shake what he'd seen that day. The expansive unknown haunted his every breath. He coughed and tugged on his shirt. It was suddenly too tight and too warm. He'd have to check the thermostat. He lost his grip on the stress ball, fingers numb and trembling.

The God, Loki, was from another world too, hoping to conquer Earth with alien forces. He'd purposely forgotten what they were called. He'd tried to forget as much as he could. It all made him ill when he thought of it. His numb hands grasped the arms of his chair with a white-knuckled grip. It felt like a fist was in the back of his throat, making him nauseous.

When SHIELD, the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division, saw what Loki had done, they'd fired a nuclear weapon at the portal the God created with his Tesseract to try and close it to prevent alien invasion. But using nuclear weapons would have killed millions. Maybe more. Tony couldn't let that happen. So he'd grabbed the weapon and guided it through the portal and held onto it for as long as he could. He couldn't risk it not getting through the portal.

He'd embraced death in those moments, damn the consequences. And in doing so he'd seen behind the proverbial curtain. The strength of other worlds was far superior to Earth. How was he supposed to prevent every possible attack to his home? He tried to dismiss it. But he couldn't. So he focused on doing what he did best. Creating. Building. Inventing. Using technology to protect them. To protect the people he cared about most. The very same people who now couldn't stand to be around him.

"I can't…" Tony had every intention of telling himself to stop dwelling and get up. He couldn't think about New York. He couldn't think about dangers beyond his understanding. He couldn't think about Loki or Gods. And he certainly couldn't think about what his life had become since he'd cheated death a second time after falling out of the portal in his broken suit.

He'd lost control and here he was losing it again.

His hands felt foreign. They curled against his will and spots formed in his vision. The pounding of his heart in his ears drowned out all other sounds. His thoughts raced irrationally. If he took deep breaths, he'd calm down. But what if he couldn't this time?

Standing, he searched for his water bottle and instead his legs wobbled and failed him. He grasped the edge of his desk desperately to stop himself from falling. Hands that earlier felt clammy were now too hot and the shaking was so bad that it wasn't just his hands anymore but his whole body. His breath was too fast. The more he tried to understand what was happening, the worse it got. His chest grew tight and he wheezed. He coughed. Was he having an allergic reaction? A heart attack?

"Water." Tony couldn't remember where he'd left his water bottle. He frantically searched his desk for it, knocking things over blindly in the process. He wasn't sure water would help but his throat was suddenly so dry that he felt like it couldn't hurt. As he used the desk to guide him in his search, his chair swung and knocked over the bottle he'd been searching for. Water poured onto the floor. "God damnit!" Tony cursed, punching his desk and hard.

The pain in his hand stung but it distracted him from the insanity taking over his body. Shocks reverberated from his hand to his elbow. Tony punched his desk again and again. He'd keep hitting until his body cooperated. He threw over his monitor which crashed to the floor and sparked as the screen cracked. Papers flew across the room and he kicked his chair as far from him as he could. Out of things to destroy, he stumbled in place.

Tony came to reality, standing at the center of his circular desk and surrounded by destruction. He could breathe. What was that? What was happening to him? He couldn't make sense of it.

Was he so upset with Pepper that he'd flown off the handle? Tony didn't think so. He wasn't even that angry. Usually, he'd mask this kind of annoyance with humor but instead he'd nearly blacked out. Tony sat on the floor where his chair had once been. Head held in his shaking hands, Tony took deep, greedy breaths and measured his heart rate. Other than being elevated, he couldn't point out what was wrong. A cardiac episode? Maybe the arc reactor was failing.

"Jarvis, what the hell just happened?" Tony muttered. It wasn't his first cardiac scare in the last few months. Or what he described as a cardiac scare. It wasn't like he'd talked to a doctor about it. A doctor would have thought he was crazy. And maybe he was. Behind his eyelids he saw otherworldly monsters twice his size and ten times as smart coming for him. He snapped them open, his pulse racing again. It was like he'd been running for his life.

"Your blood pressure is high, Mr. Stark." The charming computer answered as if to voice his thoughts.

"But why?"

"Your heart seems perfectly fine. Everything other than your heart rate and blood pressure appears normal." Jarvis was quiet for a few seconds, presumably searching for something that would match his symptoms. "May I suggest that you're suffering from an anxiety attack?"

"What?" Tony snarled dismissively. "Me? Come on, Jarvis, be serious." Tony couldn't hear the quip that his computer replied with. Was it possible? Tony Stark being incapacitated by something as stupid as anxiety? Panic? It was absurd. Not possible. Panic attacks were for teenagers or socially anxious people. Tony was neither of those things.

But what if he was wrong to assume? Even when he'd been held captive he hadn't panicked. So why now? How pathetic. He'd look into later. He only knew what he assumed. But the idea of having a panic attack made his heart beat harder. The death grip on his chest returned. "The reactor." Tony asked Jarvis. Maybe it was overheating the electromagnet! Could that mimic the signs of a heart attack? That had to be it. It was the only thing that made sense. Not panic. Couldn't be anxiety. But as sweat trickled down his brow, he knew that's what it was.

He'd felt it before. Waking up from nightmares, near tears, choking on his breath. Though tears hadn't been shed, the shame he felt that they nearly had only made things worse.

Ringing filled the room.

Tony gasped for breath and blinked his eyes open. When had he hugged his knees? Closed his eyes? And where was the ringing coming from? It wasn't like the ringing in his ears. There was a chirping to his left. A long robotic arm extended toward him, holding a water bottle. It was the very first robot Tony had ever built. DUM-E. It very rarely succeeded in doing anything but now it'd done exactly what he needed. Tony took the bottle and drank. Guzzled. The ringing continued so Tony waved his hand to Jarvis to let him know he could let the call come through. It was the phone ringing, not him going slowly insane.

At least not yet.

Thoughts still racing, heart still going a mile a minute, Tony was grateful for the interruption of the phone. It broke the grip of anxiety that he wouldn't admit was overwhelming him. He caught sight of the caller ID on the virtual interface that appeared before him, of one of the very few privileged enough to have his personal contact information.

"Tony?" Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes spoke. Rhodey's voice was a regular comfort in comparison to the shrill screaming of his vociferous thoughts. At first Tony couldn't find his voice. Rhodey's voice repeated. "Tony? Is this a bad connection? Are you capable of having a bad connection?"

"No. I'm here, Rhodes." Tony's voice was scratchy, like he hadn't talked in ages. The mess he was surrounded with was suddenly very real. When had he done something so stupid?

"Jesus, you scared me for a minute." Rhodey exhaled on the other line. Had he? Why?

"Sorry." Tony was usually full of quips but he couldn't muster a single one. Rhodey's worry was palpable. Tony paid it no mind. There was no explaining what he'd been through and he certainly wasn't going to tell Rhodey that he was having a panic attack. Or what he thought was a panic attack. It was embarrassing.

"Sorry? Tony? What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing, Rhodey." Tony's voice was better after a drink of water. "What's up? Is this about the Warmachine again? If you want more upgrades it has to come to me. I am not contracted by the military anymore and have no plans to be." The words spilled out of him so naturally that he was grateful it masked his disorientation.

"Nope, just checking in. Haven't talked in awhile. Most of the time I can't get you to shut up." Rhodey began. It was true. They hadn't seen each other much since he'd started dating Pepper.

Rhodey missed his best friend. He understood there was a grace period for new relationships but he didn't think that was the cause of the distance anymore. Tony was rarely seen with Pepper. And when Rhodes did see Pepper it was with Happy. Something had changed after they'd moved back to Malibu.

Besides that, Tony hadn't attended a single social event since the move. And he'd loved Stark Tower in Manhattan. Why would he leave it behind? The final straw for Rhodey was when Tony's birthday had passed without so much as a whisper. Rumors were spreading. Rhodey didn't like believing the gossip magazines, but he was worried about his friend. The few times they had talked? Conversation was strained. He'd tried to talk to Pepper about his suspicions but Pepper said Tony was fine which was clearly a lie. And Pepper refused to say anything else on the matter. So there he was, calling Tony. Now that he had, his worry was only worsened.

"I lost track of time. That's all. I'm a busy man." Tony dismissed him with a wave of his hand.

"Well, if you aren't too busy, we should meet up for a drink."

"It's noon." Tony checked the time on his phone.

"Are you sure you're okay because you never cared what time it was before." Rhodey laughed.

"I really shouldn't."

"Come on, man. It'll only be a few hours. We can catch up. It's Saturday. Work can wait. And I need a drink."

"Since when can work wait?" Tony couldn't count the times that he'd been scolded for that exact attitude by Rhodey himself.

"Since it's Saturday and I have a rare day off."

Tony gazed around the ruin of his desk. His stomach sank. He told Pepper that he was too busy to leave the house and now he was considering leaving it for Rhodey? She'd likely be angry at him later. Argue that it was her he didn't want to spend time with. Why did Tony care anyway? She was mad at him all the time for one reason or another. At least now she'd have a reason outside of the nothing she was always upset about.

Guilt. Again.

Pepper was a good woman and had been loyal to him when no one else was. They may not have been doing well together romantically but he still cared about her. Surely if he could explain that he was struggling, she'd understand. This place was his safe place.

As he overlooked his basement a chill ran through him.

Or it had been his safe place.

His comfort had become a prison. His desk was a mess. The Iron Man suits stared at him. Judged him. The shattered monitor on the floor reminded him of what was probably an anxiety attack. His lungs tightened again. He refused to give into it. He needed fresh air. The basement was suddenly suffocating.

"Okay. Text me where and I'll meet you in an hour." Tony hung up before Rhodey could respond and before he could back out of it. He couldn't talk here. He drank from the water bottle until there was nothing left. His Malibu home was suffocating him. Just like Stark Tower had before he'd left it behind for a change of scenery.

That was what he needed. And maybe even the scenery of a bar would do him some good. There was no comfort amongst his things, not today. Only the crushing reality that he was a broken man. A shell of his former self. Maybe spending some time with Rhodey was exactly what he needed to get out of his head.