#tony-pepper

A week in the life...

Tony, naturally, just went full tilt straight into his mode of self-destruct, because he really was a bastard, sometimes. “I make bad choices,” he said. “I want—well, everyone, basically, and I’ll sleep with most of them. I want people I shouldn’t and I want them in ways I shouldn’t, and if they ask—I won’t say no. I’ll just . . .” He made a frittering gesture with his hand. “So, see. Just this once, I’m saying no, because I—you’re the best thing that ever happened to me, Pepper, and even if you’re just my friend, I can’t—I can’t stand—” He stopped, baring his teeth. “The thought of losing you feels like someone took this,” he went on, tapping his arc reactor, “and just . . . crushed it. Just crushed it under a—a tank, or steam engine, or whatever it would take, but it would be gone and I wouldn’t have—I can’t do it. I can’t do it, Pepper, and I won’t.”

She knows his moods, and she knows his secrets, and she knows his smiles, and above all, she knows his faults. She, more than anyone else, has a pretty good idea of what she’d be getting into. She has enough information to make the best decision for herself, or for him, or for both of them.