pepper spent years preparing to be a widow. she knew who she was marrying. she knew who she was dating. She saw his nightmares, his burn scars, the manic glint in his eye as he tried to talk through how to protect the world. Somehow, the half baked plans always stopped right before heβd prophesied his own death. Heβd cut himself off and mumble some solution that could never work, and heβd change the subject. He was always a very thorough man, despite his reputation. The only things he left half-baked were the things he physically couldnβt see through or the things he didnβt think mattered.
The world mattered. People mattered. Tony always saw himself more machine than person, and machines didnβt matter.
A tool, always a tool. Machines are his great love because they remind him of himself. A means to an end. Made up of smaller parts and programmed to do what needs doing regardless of how it affects their functioning.
Tony was always a functional man, and a thorough one. He couldnβt leave an important problem unsolved, only pretended to when he didnβt want people worrying on his behalf. They were people. People deserved happiness He was machine. Machine deserved the satisfaction of a job complete.
Pepper spent years preparing to be a widow, because the Machine wasnβt as good at keeping People out of the loop as he wanted. He couldnβt help but die in public. Couldnβt help the way his battery drained in his face as he realized the Solution was impending. He didnβt want Pepper to have to worry about it, and for that reason he tried to will it untrue.
But it was true. Tony was always going to die and Pepper was always going to be a widow. The thing about Pepper, though, is sheβs always been a good mechanic. She knows when itβs time to let a machine rust. Sheβll shed a few tears, but she wonβt keep trying to replace stripped screws. Thereβs a hollowness in the workshop once the Machine stops ticking, but the mechanic knows itβs for the best.
Pepper was a good mechanic, and she knew that the machine would come to its end eventually. She always prepared to be a widow. And no matter how thorough the machine is, the mechanic is even more so.
Pepper had been grieving Tony for fifteen years, and the funeral felt a bit like clearing off her desk of the tear-stained blueprints that she had poured her heart into and had done their job well.
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