Tim had gone to work like any other day. He didn’t check the internet first, he rarely did. He was usually able to check when he got into work at the Avenger compound, so it didn’t bother him that he didn’t check in the morning. If someone really needed him, he had a phone. He could be reached there,. So, he went about his normal routine. Put backpack away, turn on computers, and finally coffee.
There were two made, he always did. One for him, one for Tony. He didn’t mind the task, it was a way he got to see the man a bit more, and he liked spending time with him. Tim had gotten comfortable there. He didn’t see any of this as a chore, there was no place he’d rather be than at the labs or mainframe depending what was happening. He felt useful, and his suit experiment had worked. He was pleased with himself as he sat at his desk and browsed through a materials list for PONG that he’d been working on the night before.
Pepper’s greatest fear had been losing Tony; it was why they broke up multiple times, after all. However, she eventually accepted his superhero life and the risks that came with it because she loved him. However, Tony wasn’t dead. Bruce said he was trapped in a portal. Well, others had disappeared into portals before and returned so why not Tony? She clung to that thought as she rushed to Tim’s office, the sound of her heels clicking on the hard floor. She knew Bruce would handle May and May would handle Peter. She assumed Steve would handle James so she was focused on Tim and Morgan. She would not let “her” children hear the news over the blasted network.
She knocked loudly and called, “Tim, honey? It is Pepper. We need to talk.”
Tim looked up from his computer with a raised eyebrow. Pepper wasn't usually the one to come knocking. He was expecting Tony who would either check on him if he'd forgotten to bring the coffee, or was making his rounds and found a way to do so without making it obvious that he was doing it.
"It's open." he didn't realize something serious was happening or he'd have gone to her. He glanced at Tony's coffee and frowned when he realized it'd gotten a bit cold to the touch. "I forgot Tony's coffee, I'll make another. One sec." He assumed she'd come to remind him. He rarely forgot the coffee.
Pepper opened the door. She was still dressed in her work attire, but her eye make-up was smudged. She looked serious, but sad too. “Tim...no...the coffee…” She sighed. “Tony won’t be joining you today, sweetheart.” She moved closer to the young man. "“Please, listen.” She didn’t want to deliver the news, but she had to get it out there. She’d make sure Babs joined Tim later when she sought out Morgan.
Tim had the coffee he'd intended to remake in hand when she approached him. He wasn't great at emotion, but he was obnoxiously observant and noticed her smudged makeup. "Why not?" he wasn't able to beat around the bush with her expression like that. He set down the coffee, and was then quiet. He often was, though. He didn't ask pointless questions, he just waited to see what she had to say.
Pepper took a deep breath and reached out to place a hand on Tim’s shoulder. “Tony was working on the portals and he went through and now…” Her voice shook so she paused to gather herself. “He’s trapped. We don’t know where he is and it seems he can’t communicate with us.” She refused to believe in anything worse. Darcy and James got trapped in a portal for weeks before they made contact with them, after all. “But, don’t you worry, alright, honey? Bruce is going to lead the science team and they’re going to figure this out and get Tony back home.” Her eyes glistened, but she blinked quickly. She could cry later when the work was done.
Tim watched her carefully, that touch concerned him. His brain was connecting all the dots but it wasn’t making any real sense. He could only stare. Trapped? That shouldn’t have happened. That suit should have prevented that from occurring. Something was wrong. Everything was wrong. He tried to say words, but words weren’t connecting, he could only stare as he tried to process the information at hand. It had to be wrong. It was like the emotion had drained from his face as ten million thoughts collided in his head.
She took his silence for shock and squeezed his shoulder before leaning in to kiss his forehead. “He loves you,” she assured him. “We both do. It will be fine. Everything will be just fine.”
Tim didn’t know how to react, shock was accurate. He wasn’t sure how to process this. “I should get back to work.” That wasn’t really what he wanted to do or say, there were so many things he wanted to do-but none of them were properly functioning in his mind in that moment. Tim wasn’t trying to blow her off, or what she’d said but it was like his brain was just stuck. There was this sort of hollow look he wasn’t sure how to hide, but he was trying to just continue functioning. Just keep swimming, as they said.
Pepper knew he wasn’t blowing her off, but she was concerned all the same. He reminded her of Tony and Tony buried in his work didn’t always end up well. Still, she needed to get to Morgan. “I’ll text Babs,” she promised. “You shouldn’t be alone.”