Re: Pepper's apartment: Pepper P/Steve R
Steve saw the trees better than most people assumed. He saw most things better than most people assumed. That's what artists did, after all. He understood trunks, branches, and slender pines in frame of reference to the forest, but he knew each tree had its own ecosystem in miniature, an entire world revolving around it and its continued existence, and he never forgot it. Not once. And because of that he made allowances almost constantly. There'd be no way for him to live in the world as it was, otherwise. But if his stoicism and attempt at respectful distance, as she had asked for space, was misinterpreted, he couldn't control that. He took no offense at her admittance. In fact, he didn't even blink.
The isolation was of her own make and he couldn't talk her out of that. Nor would he try. He had a deep well of sympathy for Pepper, but she was an adult, and if she wished to wall off each and every person in her life save for one, the one she couldn't be physically near, there was nothing he could do about it. If she wanted to be a victim, he couldn't save her from that choice—and it was a choice, as most everything was. Responsible adults tended to recognize that—they understood the universe was unfair, cruel sometimes (though cruelty did not exist without intent, in Steve's mind—so perhaps more appropriately, painful)—and though they were dealt a hand they could not choose, their actions—what they did with those cards, was entirely up to them. They owned up to those actions, as Steve opened his mouth to open up about his own mistakes, to give her an apology, as he felt she was due.
But she didn't want to hear from him anymore.
Maybe if she were Bucky, someone who understood overreaching came with friendship by nature, he would have tried anyway. He might have offered her another hug, as it was so obvious she was in need of someone to lean on, but he knew how angry it would make her, so he didn't. He didn't do any of it. Though he figured he owed her an apology, he understood if she didn't want it or if she thought it would be said only as self-service.
Steve continued to stand there, until Pepper looked up at him and apologized for his birthday. He nodded at her, and the door shut. He went back to the hospital.