he hears footsteps at the door and when he realizes he recognizes the tap-tap of stiletto heels, he elects not to take the ordinary, wire-rimmed glasses he’s wearing off their perch on his nose for once. his eyes are a little itchy, so contacts aren’t in, and he just doesn’t feel the need to wear the prescription sunglasses. he wouldn’t even be wearing the regular prescription glasses if he weren’t working on something that required better depth perception.
she’s finally managed to drag him upstairs and he’s giving in to the idea of rest, tucking himself into her side. he should’ve taken a break hours ago. “thanks, pep.” she’s looking out for him.
Say Something (I'm Giving Up On You)│Pepperony Drabble
Say something
I'm giving up on you.
How had they come to this? What had they done wrong? It was all that ran through Pepper's head as she stood there, devoid of emotion; he'd left their home two hours ago and had finally come back home with news of his own.
Six months ago he'd gone into a coma and she still blamed herself every day; just as she blamed herself for losing the twins. Everything seemed to be the strawberry blondes fault these days. And this was no different. Of course it hadn't been recent, but it had still happened nonetheless.
But having to tell Tony was harder than she'd imagined and the look on his face scared her; had she made the right decision in telling him?
It had been one kiss, that was all. And yet, it was so much more than that. She'd been scared. Desperate, even. She'd lost two babies and was on the brink of losing her husband; the doctor told her it was time to pull the plug, that Tony wouldn't get better. She hadn't seen any other way, though looking back she certainly did.
She hadn't seen Adam in God knew how many years, the sight of him and just hearing his voice bringing back floods of memories from before her time of being Tony's assistant; Adam been her first serious relationship. And he'd come to her again at the most convenient time, willing to comfort her and make her feel better; who was she to tell him no? She was scared and had no one else to turn to; she wasn't thinking straight.
But as soon as their lips had met, Pepper had known it was a mistake, the strawberry blonde pulling back right away and telling him how this was wrong, how she couldn't do it; and he'd understood. He'd said his goodbyes and left her alone, knowing he wasn't welcome anymore. And she'd sat in her office for hours upon hours, crying because she didn't want Ben to see; the only thing she had left of Tony. She had to stay strong for him, right?
With Tony back and after having told him the news, his own hitting her hard, Pepper didn't know what to do anymore. Did she deserve it? And who was to say if she did or not?
Staring at her husband with wide blue hues, she couldn't speak anymore, the pain inside unbearable but only if she spoke; if she kept everything inside, she'd be okay. And it seemed her silence was finally starting to worry the engineer, the look on her face definitely cluing him in to what was going through her mind; nothing. Her face was blank and devoid of emotion, the tears in her eyes appearing to be frozen.
Pepper could hear him talking to her now, asking and prompting her to say something; and yet, she couldn't. What she'd done was wrong, of course it was, but so was what he'd done. But his actions were so much worse; in her eyes, at least.
"Come on, Pepper. Talk to me." She could still hear him talking but that was all, her eyes looking but unseeing. "Dammit, Pepper." He was getting angry now; still, nothing came from the strawberry blonde. "Say something!" Tony had practically yelled at her and she finally moved, flinching at his words and how vicious they'd been; and yet, she said nothing.
"I can't do this, Pepper. I can't... Not if you're giving up on me. On us." He sounded broken now. At his words, though, she finally made a move, her head tilting to the side as if she were confused; lost. "It didn't mean anything, okay? Please say something. Believe me. Trust me..." So broken. Even the look in his chocolate brown hues was broken.
"I don't know if I can." Were the first words out of her mouth, her lower lip finally quivering as if it hurt her to say that; and it did. But the look on his face was shattered; if he hadn't known that what he'd done was wrong before, he definitely did now.
"That's all I needed to know." He turned around, his back to Pepper as he walked to the front door; he was leaving. Pepper had seen this coming, sooner or later; something was going to tear them apart, she just hadn't thought it would be the two of them. Maybe an outside force, but not something brought about by their own childish and silly ways.
Pepper said nothing more now, though, knowing her words would only make things worse. However, her legs finally decided to work with her instead of against the strawberry blonde as they carried her forward and to his side before he reached the door. "Don't leave." She sounded pathetic, and the look on her face was just the same; she felt so small. Scared. She knew her words from before had ruined so many things, if not all of them. "I'm sorry..." She swallowed her pride nonetheless, but she wouldn't let it end now. She wouldn't say goodbye and she wasn't going to let him do it, either.
Pepper would follow him anywhere if he left their home, and she knew that he knew that. Maybe that was his reasoning behind ceasing his steps and looking at her, tears in his eyes and one even escaping down his cheek; but she caught it before it could make it passed his lips.
The moments of silence that fell between them once her hand had dropped back to her side left the air thick, breathing becoming hard for Pepper. "What do we do?" It was the first sentenec spoken, and by Tony, more tears readily falling down his face now as he searched her face. "Say something... Please..."
But what could she say? What did they do now? "I don't know." She spoke lowly, the engineer having to look away to keep from making a fool of himself. "Dammit, stop saying that." He growled out, though his tone was far from intimidating; his voice shook unceasingly, his vulnerability shining through.
It seemed like hours had passed when she finally spoke. "I'm not giving up. Not on you. Or us." A tear finally escaped down her own cheek now. But his hand lifted to catch it before it even made it halfway down her face, that same hand cupping her cheek before his other one slid cautiously around her waist before he kissed her, slowly and carefully; he never quite felt whole or right if he couldn't hold or touch her in this way. She was his and he was hers, after all. Forever and always, right?
Pulling back a few seconds later, Pepper was shaking and the tears came easier now. "I love you." It didn't matter what he did; she couldn't leave and she couldn't let him leave. Not when they'd come this far. And together. "I love you, too." His voice was still just as shaky, his forehead pressing against hers as they stood there. Still together.
Anywhere I
Would have followed you.
You're the one that I love...
The Wedding of Virginia "Pepper" Potts and Tonia "Toni" Elizabeth Stark
The wedding day. Their wedding day. It was actually here, a day the strawberry blonde had never seen in her future, let alone in her future with Toni. But all of that had changed a few years previous, and God, was she glad it had.
They'd both agreed to not seeing the other before they walked down the aisle, the classic bad luck of seeing the bride before the right time putting both of them on edge; they'd laughed with each other the night before about it but had agreed nonetheless.
But now... Now Pepper was standing in her own changing room, looking her pearl white wedding dress over in the long mirror, looking her loosely held up strawberry blonde hair--a flower in it even--over in the mirror; she was shocked that she was finally getting married.
"You look beautiful, darling." She heard her father comment behind her, walking to stand beside her in the mirror, his tux fitting him perfectly; Pepper couldn't recall ever seeing her father looking so classy and professional. It was nice. "How are you feeling?" He then asked.
Taking a deep breath and finally smiling, her heart racing in her chest at a hundred beats per minute, Pepper spoke. "I'm nervous. But I want this. I've wanted it for so long." She chuckled softly, looking down as she did so and opting to look her dress over again, smoothing out the skirt of it and then flattening out the short, thin lace sleeves; they barely covered her shoulder.
"I'm so proud of you, Virginia." He looked over at her now, the strawberry blonde now turning to face him as well.
"For what?" Her voice was small and shaky, tears threatening to spill over.
"No, there won't be any crying, my dear. I'm proud of you because you've done so well with everything. Your life. All of it. You and Tonia were meant to be together." He had grabbed both of her hands in his, rubbing the backs of them with his thumbs as he'd spoken, wanting to calm her and knowing it would; that's all he'd had to do when she was little. Rub the backs of her hands with his thumbs and speak soothing words to her.
"I love you, dad." Pepper chuckled softly through the tears that were now coming more readily, moving to embrace the man before her, squeezing her eyes shut in hopes that she'd cut off the tears; it helped a little.
But moments later, one of the wedding guests--a close family friend of her mothers--came scurrying in to the changing room Pepper was in, alerting them that the wedding was to be starting soon, that they needed to get ready to walk down the aisle; Toni was being told the same thing as they spoke.
Nodding her thanks to the woman, Pepper looked up at her father one last time, the older man giving her a reassuring and comforting smile before he held his arm out for her to hook hers through; she did and let him lead her to the spot they needed to be at, her legs feeling rubbery all of a sudden; she felt as if she couldn't breathe, her heart hammering in her chest. But feeling her fathers presence next to her, feeling her arm in his, she was able to reel back some of the nerves and calm down; I can do this.
The music started now, Pepper's head lifting up and her blue eyes going wide as she felt her father begin to walk next to her; this was really it.
The way Toni and Pepper had planned this was that both would walk to the alter on separate sides of the wedding setup and arrive in the same spot at about the same time; that way, they'd see one another at the same time as well.
Keeping her head straight ahead, Pepper focused on forcing her breathing to slow down, having to hold her breath once she approached the alter; she could feel Toni close by now, simply turning around to hug her father before he sat down and seeing the engineer; she was breathtaking.
Her eyes first went to her fiancee's stomach, smiling softly at the noticeable baby bump there before looking up into the other woman's eyes; she knew them so well. Pulling away from her father now and taking her place at the alter, Pepper waited for Toni to say her goodbyes to her own father, unable to keep herself from smiling at the sight. Just seeing Toni in a wedding dress was amazing, the long, off white, flowy and strapless dress breath fitting her perfectly, even showing off the baby bump; this was the first time Pepper had seen the dress, let alone seen Toni in it.
But as soon as Toni had reached the alter with her, their hands moving together so that their fingers entwined, the pastor was already beginning to talk. It was making Pepper panic a bit, though she kept a smile on her lips for Toni to see; they'd both be doing their vows soon, the strawberry blonde suddenly worrying about either forgetting or messing her own up.
The time to say their vows, though, came all too quickly, the engineer going first; Pepper could already feel the tears welling up in her eyes.
"Okay, so," Toni grinned up at Pepper with eyes already beginning to water. "I'm not good at this." Toni let out a small laugh, nervous as it may be. "There are so many things I wanna say to you but we'd be here all day. You're everything. You're my world. I can't imagine my life without you. You've made me a better person and you continue to do so every day. You make me want to continue to better myself. You opened me up to a life I never knew I could have. I never dreamed of being married and having a family but you made me want those things. And I can only ever see myself having them with you. I want you for the rest of my life, and I want to be yours. I want this to be you and me forever. Because if it's us, there's nothing we can't get through. And I promise to love you for the rest of my life. And even if I lose sight of what's important I will always find my way back. Because you are like my lighthouse and your heart is my home. So if you'll still have me then nothing would make me happier than you being my wife."
Feeling the corners of her mouth lift up as the other woman finished, Pepper had to pull a hand way from Toni to wipe away one of the tears that had escaped down her cheek before bringing her hand back to its place, taking a deep and shaky breath.
"Tonia... I--God, I really don't know how to start this." Pepper began, looking down at their joined hands then up at her soon to be wife; it helped her focus on what she'd planned to say. "I've known you for almost fifteen years and never was there a day that I wished I wasn't with you; even at your worst, I still wanted to be there with and for you." The tears were already threatening to fall over onto he cheeks. "I've never imagined my life without you, Tonia. Ever since the day we met, when you made me your personal assistant, never did a day go by that I thought I'd leave, or that I'd want to leave. I was meant to be here with you, and you were meant to be here with me." She had to stop to catch and hold her breath, her voice shaking and cracking from the tears being held back. "I want you to be happy but I want to be the one to make you happy. I want to have a family with you and a life with you where all that matters is us and our children." Pepper was crying by now, the engineers hand moving to wipe a tear away from the strawberry blondes cheeks; Pepper could see Toni's eyes watering, too. It made things a little better. "All I want is you."
Finishing her vows, the pastor went on, finally coming to the part where the rings were to be given. Seeing Rhodey walk up to them with both of the rings in hand, he hugged them both before going to sit back down. Repeating the pastors words, Toni slid her ring onto Pepper's finger, first, tears finally starting to fall down her face. Then it was Pepper's turn to do the same, shakily sliding the ring on the the engineers finger as she repeated the pastor, even letting out a soft chuckle once she was done; this was it.
Now it was the end. Where what they said mattered even more. Hearing Toni repeat the man's words, the last ones she said being "I do," Pepper couldn't help but let out a soft sob; now it was her turn. Saying just as he said, she finally ended with those fateful words: "I do."
"I know pronounce you partners for life." Given their cue, Pepper leaned in to Toni just as the other woman did the same, their lips meeting for the first time as a married couple, arms wrapping delicately and loosely around one another; it was amazing. Was this really what it felt like to be married? Pepper had always imagined it in her head, had always dreamed about it, and now it was finally happening.
She couldn't have ever wanted it to turn out any different.
