It had been three weeks. A very long three weeks, full of meetings and press conferences and summits and every other thing Pepper Potts could think of. She had a full list of things she needed to do, and not even half of it was checked off. It came with being CEO and taking over completely for Tony, she knew that, but she thought it would be just a little bit easier now that they were a couple.
She thought.
Yes, he had blown up the remaining suits. Yes, he had promised to focus more on her, more on things that helped the community and not the tech he was thinking up for the Avengers. He had promised to spend more time with her, to be more committed to her. Yet here he was, in New York, throwing a holiday party with his 'super friends', as Happy referred to them, while she was in Los Angeles, working on strengthening the Stark Industries name.
And that is exactly why she decided to make a visit to New York. Not that she knew he was even having a party, but just that she wanted to see him. Despite his stand offish attitude recently, she was still hoping he was keeping those promises he made to her when he cured her of the Extremis virus. So, she decided it was time for a visit...and hopefully a talk.
Not like, a bad talk, but just a reminder that hey, she missed him, and...
And as she entered the building and called for Jarvis to summon the elevator, she noted the lack of response and opted to use the stairs, instead. Thank God she brought her badge in - she usually had it, but wasn't expecting she'd need it tonight.
It honestly scared her a little bit that Jarvis wasn't responding, but she figured Tony was rebooting him or upgrading his database, so she pushed it to the back of her mind as she climbed the few stories of stairs in the stairwell that lead to the floor with the shared living space.
Immediately, she was hit with dim lighting, music, and chatter, and she knew she was in the right place. Though, that didn't stop her from feeling confused..and a little bothered. She thought Tony was done with this, but apparently not. But it explained why he didn't want to answer his phone all evening, that was for sure. So much for the relaxing, intimate night she wanted to spend catching up.
Avoiding a drunken couple in nice attire, she side stepped out of the stairwell and adjusted her dress, then began her search. It had been years since she felt like his PA, but this definitely brought back memories. Memories of her searching him out until she found him puking in the bathroom, she noted as she passed the bar with a fake smile at Natasha, who looked like a deer caught in headlights, obviously not expecting her either. Memories of finding him butt ass naked, trying to slyly evacuate from where he woke up next to a girl in skimpy underwear on the couch the morning after one of his massive extravaganzas as she passed the group surrounding the coffee table in the center of the room, laughing at one of Barton's bad jokes.
Blinking, she diverted her gaze to the hallway at the other end of the room, focused on hopefully heading to one of the spare rooms to freshen up before trying to call Tony again. But it was then that the other memories came back; the ones of him leading the girls back to his room, the way they hung off of his shoulders and arms and waist as if he were property of theirs.
Why?
Because as she turned a corner, out came Tony Stark himself, arms around two obviously plastered females, leading them straight out of the guest bedroom. Their dresses were ruffled and untamed, his sleeves rolled up. And worse? Behind him, wrinkled sheets, an unmade bed.
"Take the stairs," she heard him tell him, letting his arms drop once they were on their own two feet. "Elevator's down."
When they stumbled off, Tony heaved out a sigh and looked as though he was focused on something else on his mind, but that soon changed when he noticed Pepper standing with her jaw slack, looking like someone had just ripped her heart out of her chest and squeezed it until it popped. Honestly? She would've felt better if someone had.
"Honey, hey!" he celebrated, a hand outstretched to motion to her with his eyebrows raised in surprise. "I wasn't expecting to see you tonight. Did you just get in?"
His hand twisted to a point, as thought crossed his face instead, and it sickened Pepper how nonchalant he was being about the situation at hand. She made a mistake coming here, that was for sure. But at least now she knew.
She stared at the ground with her mouth open stupidly, searching for words as she shook head in disbelief. "I...honestly don't know what to say to you, Stark."
"Uh," he thought for a moment, blinking. "How about hi, I love you...or why you made a surprise visit. Hey, why are you here, anyway?"
"What?" she whispered, barely audible above the music as she forgot the rest of the party was even in their presence, though behind the wall.
"Not that I don't want you here, I want you here," he quickly followed up with, stepping toward his girlfriend. "Are you staying?"
He attempted to reach out and lay his hands on her shoulders, but she stepped back, avoiding his touch. And that only made him crack his jaw, standing straight with his shoulders back as he folded his arms over his chest. His eyes observed, waiting as his mind processed.
"I'm actually on my way out," she managed, starting to turn, but he called after her to make her stop in her tracks.
"Was it something I said, I-"
She whirled around at that, letting her anger out, though she did make a mental note to keep her voice down. "Something you said?!"
"Yeah, seeing as you came all way here from LA and want to leave as soon as I said hi."
"You're unbelievable," she spat.
He watched as her eyes narrowed, his own mimicking while the gears worked in his head. "Thank you."
"And disgusting."
"That, I'm not." Then he let his arms drop, nodding toward the party. "Can we uh, can you walk and yell at me, cause I have to get downstairs to-"
"To what?" Pepper snapped as Tony stepped past her, so he stopped again and groaned, turning on his heel to face her. "To the other...half naked, slutty women you have waiting for you in one of these other rooms?!"
He didn't respond right away, only pressed his brow together and licked his lips. Then, "I'm probably not following here, but...'other'?"
"As in more than one, yes."
"Oh, did you think-" he tried, motioning between him and the bedroom.
"What else is there to think?!"
"-that I - really? Come on, Pep!"
Looking wildly around at anything besides him, she let her arms straighten, using them as half of her voice, as she often did. "You just brought two drunken women out of on of our rooms, Tony!"
"Okay, Pepper-" he began, but she wasn't having it.
"Are you seriously going to pretend you didn't-"
"-Jarvis's files are corrupt and I was trying to get downstairs to fix it before something happens to systems, but my backups are in the safe up here, and-"
"- just escort them out..."
"They were actually here together," he added, somewhat surprised by that fact. "I had no part in whatever was happening in there, I just wanted them out, because I know you said no guests in the rooms unless they're friends, and-"
"Don't try to talk your way out of this one!"
"Out of...honey, I'm-" Tony answered, apparently unsure of what else to say other than the blatant facts.
But Pepper was too blinded by jealousy and hurt to process.
"Are you cheating on me?" she whispered, dreading actually saying it, but she had to. "Tony, tell me you didn't sleep with those girls, tell me-"
"Are you serious?" he asked with a huff, appalled at the suggestion. "Are you honestly asking me if I-"
"What else am I supposed to think?!" she interrupted, exasperated and torn. "You don't answer your phone, you're...touching those girls like that, you're-"
"I was busy!" he defended, raising his voice and gesturing outward toward the party. "I have a security risk at hand, Pepper!"
"Don't you dare get angry at me!" she growled back, fueling the fire.
Great. So now they were going to have one of those stupid arguments where he countered every single thing she said, waving his arms around like a lunatic. She'd one up him, prove him wrong, and he'd move on to something else. All of this, just because she wanted to come see him, surprise him, and revive their relationship a little bit.
"I 'm in a relationship with you, Pepper!" Tony stated next, pointing out what the public saw. "Okay, I love you."
"You love your suits," she countered instead. "You promised-"
"I promised that we'd make it work," he answered, voice softening a little bit. "You asked me if everything was going to be okay, I told you no, because it's me. But that didn't mean I'd cheat on you, or-"
"You promised to get rid of the distractions!" she spoke over him, letting her emotions show. "You said no more distractions, yet here you are, at a party. That's a distraction!"
"It wasn't my idea!"
"You've been here for three weeks working on these new bots of yours, that's a distraction, too! Just another form of the suits, Tony!"
"Pep, I gotta have a hobby. I'll go crazy, you know how I work!"
"I do know how you work!" she agreed, defeated. "And that's how I know that this...whatever this was, this wasn't a mistake to you, it-"
"No, it wasn't, because nothing happened!" he reiterated, which finally pushed her to her breaking point.
Pepper closed her eyes, exhaling and then let her heart speak instead of her mind. "You don't care that it's been three weeks since you last saw me. You don't care that you always miss my calls, or that you're always with these...these superheros. Tony, you're not a superhero, you're not indestructible!"
"The suits are."
"The suits...are the problem!"
"If there's a problem, why aren't we talking about it? Why aren't we-"
"This is a problem," she corrected quietly. "I...I can't do this anymore."
That silenced him.
Tony didn't speak, didn't push. He shuffled his feet, taking a breath in, and the time it took to do so seemed like forever. There was no party, not to them anymore. Just faded background noise, just their conversation.
"Honey, let's just...let's talk about this, okay, we can-" he finally tried approaching her again, but she tensed up so he didn't push.
"I need some time apart," Pepper whispered. "I need you to figure out what you want, and right now that isn't me."
"Pep-"
"I know, Tony," she sighed softly, exhausted. "I know you care, but sometimes that isn't enough."
When she moved for the door, wanting nothing than to go back to the jet and head back to Malibu, he ran his hands frantically through his hair, panicked.
"Pepper-" he tried again, but it didn't matter.
"I'll go back to California, you stay here," she offered. "We'll...I'll send Happy for anything urgent."
There was a shared quietness, probably because Tony realized he couldn't change her mind right now. Nothing mattered except for this, not even the issue with Jarvis anymore. But it broke him to watch her leave. Just like everyone else, and he had done nothing but remain appropriate the whole night.
This wasn't the talk Pepper wanted to have...but maybe it was the one she needed to have.
"I'll call you," she added, hoping that made up for any of it...even though she knew it wouldn't.
That was the last thing Tony heard her say in person for the next year and a half.