for sale (pep) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2012-05-18 01:58:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, pepper potts, tony stark (iron man) |
Who: Pepper Potts and Tony Stark
What: Pepper gets pissed at Tony re: strippers
When: Thursday night
Where: Irvine hospital
Rating: PG 13
Status: Complete
Pepper still had a high heel in one hand and her blackberry in the other when she came back from kicking the strippers out of the room or 'taking the trash out' as she so elegantly called it. "I really can't believe you," Pepper said, reading Tony's last reply on the network.
"And I can't believe you just automatically assume I'm fucking lying, Pepper." Tony was tired, coming off a painkiller high and really, really annoyed. "I didn't ask anyone for fucking strippers to show up. I don't even -like- nurses, for one thing."
"Oh, come on," Pepper threw her hands up in the air like she was about to just give up on all of this. Why was she even trying with him? She didn't owe Tony Stark anything. She had helped save his life. "Is it really that much of a stretch to assume Tony Stark asked for strippers on his death bed? You've done worse. WAY worse."
Tony's glare was level, which felt right now like a fucking feat in itself. "Not to you I haven't."
On most days that would stop Pepper in her tracks, but not today. She was tired and grouchy from sleeping in a hospital chair and eating hospital food for nearly a week. "Does it matter?" she shot back, her voice flat.
"It matters to me. And I was starting to get the impression it mattered to you. I. Didn't. Ask. For. Strippers. I'm bored out of my goddamned mind, but trying to not keep you from work too much, so I was sitting my stupid fucking bed which will be my stupid goddamned home for the next I don't even know how long and texting random people. That's it. I didn't ask anyone for -strippers-." Tony's voice was clipped, but he was making himself tired. Yelling just wasn't an option right now, and being this angry at Pepper actually made him weirdly sick.
Pepper bit down on her lip. Hard. She hated fighting with Tony like this and it felt like she was always nagging him about something and really the only reason she was mad about the strippers was because he was so sick he shouldn't get excited like that. It had nothing to do with her having feelings for him. Nope.
She took in a short breath and let it out quickly, somewhat passified. "Even if you didn't ask for the strippers, they still came. This kind of thing is going to be following you..." she almost said us "...forever. I'm just supposed to put up with that? I'm supposed to.. what? Not care that people randomly send you strippers?"
Oh wow. It was amazing how you could have a gaping chest wound and still get hurt significantly worse by a simple question. Tony shut his eyes for a second, trying to collect his thoughts. "Look. I don't know. I can't make up for it, I can't change it, I can't control other people. I can just control me, which, I thought honestly, I was doing a pretty decent job of. So if you can't then... fuck. I just... Pepper." He opened his eyes back up, looking at her in askence. "I don't know."
Pepper nodded her head like she understood exactly what was going on here. This wasn't going to work, was it? Why was she feeling so heartbroken about that possibility? "I do care, Tony," Pepper said, but it was unclear if she was talking about him or about the fact that people sent him strippers randomly.
Tony was looking at her, pleading with his eyes to say something. Anything. Words usually came so easily to him. Right now he could only think of one thing. "So do I."
Pepper stood there in silence. She was debating on wether or not she should stay or leave. A very large part of her told her to walk out that door and leave all of this behind. Maybe it was her practical side, who knew, but there was also a part of Pepper that didn't want to leave. She found that she would be sad without the chaos in her life that Tony brought.
It took her a long time to decide, but eventually she took a seat back in her usual chair and got back on her phone without a word.
Her seat was just close enough that Tony could reach out and touch her hand, but he wasn't sure he should. After a long moment, he gave in, weakly prodding her hand. "I'm sorry."
Pepper let out a sigh and moved her eyes up from her work so she could look at his hand. Why did he give her so many feelings? Irrational ones? The kind she didn't know what to do with? "Me too," she said quietly.
He managed to grab her pinkie, but even that was in a weak grip. A ghost of his normal grin flitted over his features as his eyes drifted closed. "No more strippers. Promise. No more nurses either. Jury's out on pudding."
"You need the nurses," Pepper replied, a smile flitting across her face.
"Not with moles," he mumbled, still holding her hand as he drifted out for a bit.
Pepper pursed her lips together as she finally looked up from their intertwined fingers to watch Tony drift off. How did they go from screaming at each other to holding hands in under five minutes? Pepper might never know.