[ now, this! this is the sort of sympathy she can get behind. treats, and tony giving her a tough time. it helps (too) that her mind has been made up and her affairs straightened. doesn't mean that she's necessarily...happy about it.
but she's poised and put together and uninjured when she answers her door and invites tony inside. ]
What is there to be unsettled about? Good God, man, it's only a door.
It's just not the nature of this relationship. Besides, it brings back memories. You don't know how many times they dumped me at your office door when I did something wrong. You take apart some electrical wires at day care and all of the sudden, you're a troublemaker.
[ a lot of words, there. The truth is that while he'd like to think that he's treating Steve's arrival with careful professionalism, it reads more like panic. ]
Yes. Well. This isn't my office, is it? [ not wholly, not completely, good lord she's never had a proper office her whole life. just desks pushed up against other desks. makeshift work spaces made out of tidy beds.
she shuts the door behind her. ]
Besides, it would do us all a favour if you made a point to knock more often than you bust in through windows.
[ she, too, is gently skirting the subject of steve rogers. ]
[ another predictable pattern - he flops down on her bed. he's tired, exhausted, really and this here is the first time he's giving himself a chance to relax from it all, new memories, new information, steve rogers.
she's being nice, he's trying his damn hardest not to be difficult and so: ]
[ so! she puts the kettle on. perhaps tea and ice cream aren't the best match but -- she takes the pint and shoves it into the skinny freezer section in the mini-fridge (at just a glimpse, it's altogether too easy to tell it's stocked with pudding cups and juice boxes.)
peggy watches him -- wrinkles her nose at how he takes over her bed -- and leans her shoulder against the shelf that divides the 'bedroom' space from the rest of the studio apartment. ]
I've got Assam and I've got Earl Grey. Pick your poison.
[ implying, perhaps, that if she's raising a five year old then he is indeed that child. childish enough, that is, to be folded into the implication. although in reality it's just that the snacks are quick and convenient and she doesn't need to put much thought into their preparation.
she saves her decent meals for when she's in shared company. alone, she eats garbage. ]
[ it might be scolding but tony, like a true stark, takes it as a compliment of a sort. ]
So you're telling people about us, is that what you're saying? I can see it now, you sitting there having the whole - my nephew is a genius, prodigy, let me tell you about this time he saved the world.
[ tony stop. ]
I can give you a picture for next time, you know, so they'll able to know that I'm handsome, too.
Well. Yes. I had to tell Steve something -- he walks in and sees your bloody helmet plastered all over my quarters.
[ she goes in for the kill -- waiting for the kettle to boil. it was all coming to this, wasn't it? she shifts awkwardly where she stands and wonders whether she can make this all about them and not at all about her. ]
I'm pleased with the lack of bruising 'round your eye, by the way.
Aren't you pleased that you can say the same about his eye?
[ and yes, he huffs, he puffs, he puts up his best defenses. he hates this. it's a good thing that rogers is here. professionally speaking, tony knows it's a benefit. but on a personal level, it brings out his worst.
he hates that. hates how easily rogers can make it happen. ]
steve is it? and he was here.
[ g r e a t. ]
yeah, he was very nice not to punch me. upstanding fella.
[ of course steve was here. she wasn't going to meet him out in public -- not with all the weighty history, hanging there, making the pair of them vulnerable. but she watches as tony gets hot under his collar.
good lord. ]
He is, actually. [ upstanding. ] And I think you know it or else you wouldn't be half so hopping mad.
[ there's a point there, of course there is and on a good day, tony could maybe see it. it was easier to be okay with the idea of rogers when he wasn't here. he hates that she compliments the man, he hates it even if it is done to make a point. ]
I guess not.
[ it's childish, it's quiet and it's sour. he looks at the ceiling. ]
I'm not. I'm not saying - I haven't ignored him. he was in my lab when he showed up. that's where Wonderland spit him out.
[ it's a kinder way of putting it -- rather than describe how she'd gone on the defensive, how she'd behaved a bit abominably right up until steve's overbearing decency broke through and made her want to cry.
she didn't, though. not while he was still in her room. she waited until later. ]
He tried to tell me a person gets used to you, how you act, and I sorted him out well quick: I'm more than acclimatized to Tony Stark, I said, thank you.
He and I talked about a lot of things. You were one of them.
[ cagey. there is something about it, really, that gives of a vibe of exclusivity -- that whatever the two of them discussed, it was secret and private and personal. it wasn't just work, it wasn't just tony, it was them.
and it had hurt like hell. ]
He took one look at the poster and deduced that you'd left your mark. So to speak.
[ oh hell, he wants a drink. he could do a bottle of vodka just about now and the damn closet can keep the glass, too. He rubs a hand over his face. ]
Well, I'm glad for him. He lives across the hall from me so I guess I could make a lemonade out of lemons and steal all the 'welcome back' pies he'll be getting.
[ she reads between his lines. since when does tony care about what anyone else things? who anyone else might welcome? no -- this is about her. she settles her hands on her hips. the kettle's close to boiling.
of course, peggy's words come out too harsh. too cold. she reins it in just a little. ]
All of us would be better off shot of this place. [ a huff. it's a clumsy save. ] I wouldn't wish Wonderland on my worst enemy, let alone him.
I won't lie about it. This place is hell and it's evolving and in a week, it could be worse than hell and we need help. I can invent and create but we both know I can't inspire these people. That's his job, he's here now, I can stop trying.
[ and at the same time -- ]
I do want him here. But there's me wanting help and there's actually dealing with him being here. He's going to do his job and be good at it and I want him to and I'll hate him for it anyway.
[ he shrugs ]
It's just how things go. It's all I can give, it's literally my best offer.
[ at least when the kettle kicks into high gear, it provides peggy with an excuse to turn away and fuss over the mugs, the tea, the ceremony of it all. there's a tautness in her shoulders that she wishes she could school away.
because she can empathize with tony's neediness. that desire to see steve swoop in and fix things, to play his part, to rise to the occasion and the symbol of it all. how many times (silently and shamefully and in her darkest moments) during the last few years, back home, did she wish she had him at her side?
without turning back: ]
I wish the world would just be done with him. [ her sadness comes through like aggression. ] Let the bastard rest. He deserves it.
And I wish I could marry Pepper on some faraway beach, have a baby boy and name him Morgan and have a girl and maybe name her after you.
[ he gets up, he places a hand on her shoulder. ]
I know. It sucks. I wish I could say this place didn't need him, I wish I could say the world doesn't need Iron Man, that I can retire and build Pepper the house in Vermont she always wanted.
[ she resists, at first, but ultimately turns to face tony. and the tea steps where she leaves it. one mug for him; one mug for her. whenever he visits she always drinks out of the mug shaped like iron man's helmet. it's become a kind of endearing indulgence between the pair of them. ]
I'd only just grown accustomed to the idea of not seeing him again. [ a touch too honest. more honest than she can be with the others -- especially rip, who was normally a vessel for her all her most truthful statements. but she can't unpack this particular handbag with him; it wouldn't be fair. ]
[ Tony may not know much about the history between these two, only that there is history. There are layers of it, all that came before Wonderland and all that came before Steve's departure. He wasn't there for either of them and he doesn't ask, either. He has grown to understand, however, that one doesn't necessarily need to know in order to help. She had helped him when he reached Wonderland, injured and hurting and had done so again and again afterwards.
Whatever happened, Rogers' arrival pains her in a whole other way than it does him. ]
And that's when Wonderland brought him back.
[ It sucks. He sighs, rolls his eyes, pulls her into a determined sort of embrace. ]
I would kick it in the balls if I could find out where they were.
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He has ice cream and pop tarts and two spoons. ]
This is the last time I'm using your door. I am deeply unsettled right now.
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but she's poised and put together and uninjured when she answers her door and invites tony inside. ]
What is there to be unsettled about? Good God, man, it's only a door.
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[ a lot of words, there. The truth is that while he'd like to think that he's treating Steve's arrival with careful professionalism, it reads more like panic. ]
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she shuts the door behind her. ]
Besides, it would do us all a favour if you made a point to knock more often than you bust in through windows.
[ she, too, is gently skirting the subject of steve rogers. ]
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[ he smiles, arches both eyebrows. ]
You can't go and ruin that lesson, it was a prominent moment of my childhood.
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[ but it's good to see him smile. and to see him without any bruises, too, thank bloody god. ]
Can I get you anything, Tony? Tea perhaps?
[ almost a twinge too accommodating. too nice. ]
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[ another predictable pattern - he flops down on her bed. he's tired, exhausted, really and this here is the first time he's giving himself a chance to relax from it all, new memories, new information, steve rogers.
she's being nice, he's trying his damn hardest not to be difficult and so: ]
I could do tea.
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peggy watches him -- wrinkles her nose at how he takes over her bed -- and leans her shoulder against the shelf that divides the 'bedroom' space from the rest of the studio apartment. ]
I've got Assam and I've got Earl Grey. Pick your poison.
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[ his head is tilt, he sees the content of the mini-freezer, thank you very much. ]
Seriously, are you secretly raising a five-year old somewhere around here? is there anything I need to know?
[ and as for her question, he makes a face. ]
I'll take the Earl Grey. no cream.
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I wouldn't say it's a secret.
[ implying, perhaps, that if she's raising a five year old then he is indeed that child. childish enough, that is, to be folded into the implication. although in reality it's just that the snacks are quick and convenient and she doesn't need to put much thought into their preparation.
she saves her decent meals for when she's in shared company. alone, she eats garbage. ]
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So you're telling people about us, is that what you're saying? I can see it now, you sitting there having the whole - my nephew is a genius, prodigy, let me tell you about this time he saved the world.
[ tony stop. ]
I can give you a picture for next time, you know, so they'll able to know that I'm handsome, too.
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[ she goes in for the kill -- waiting for the kettle to boil. it was all coming to this, wasn't it? she shifts awkwardly where she stands and wonders whether she can make this all about them and not at all about her. ]
I'm pleased with the lack of bruising 'round your eye, by the way.
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[ and yes, he huffs, he puffs, he puts up his best defenses. he hates this. it's a good thing that rogers is here. professionally speaking, tony knows it's a benefit. but on a personal level, it brings out his worst.
he hates that. hates how easily rogers can make it happen. ]
steve is it? and he was here.
[ g r e a t. ]
yeah, he was very nice not to punch me. upstanding fella.
[ he hates everything. ]
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good lord. ]
He is, actually. [ upstanding. ] And I think you know it or else you wouldn't be half so hopping mad.
[ half so disappointed. ]
It's not as though I could just ignore him, Tony.
[ much as part of her had wanted to. ]
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I guess not.
[ it's childish, it's quiet and it's sour. he looks at the ceiling. ]
I'm not. I'm not saying - I haven't ignored him. he was in my lab when he showed up. that's where Wonderland spit him out.
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[ it's a kinder way of putting it -- rather than describe how she'd gone on the defensive, how she'd behaved a bit abominably right up until steve's overbearing decency broke through and made her want to cry.
she didn't, though. not while he was still in her room. she waited until later. ]
He tried to tell me a person gets used to you, how you act, and I sorted him out well quick: I'm more than acclimatized to Tony Stark, I said, thank you.
[ okay so it didn't quite go like that. ]
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[ it's a bit funny, it's also a bit sweet but he also grumbles, stays in his childish state for a moment longer. if only because -- ]
he talked to you about me?
[ god damn it, rogers. ]
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[ cagey. there is something about it, really, that gives of a vibe of exclusivity -- that whatever the two of them discussed, it was secret and private and personal. it wasn't just work, it wasn't just tony, it was them.
and it had hurt like hell. ]
He took one look at the poster and deduced that you'd left your mark. So to speak.
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Well, I'm glad for him. He lives across the hall from me so I guess I could make a lemonade out of lemons and steal all the 'welcome back' pies he'll be getting.
[ sarcastic. sour, still. ]
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[ she reads between his lines. since when does tony care about what anyone else things? who anyone else might welcome? no -- this is about her. she settles her hands on her hips. the kettle's close to boiling.
of course, peggy's words come out too harsh. too cold. she reins it in just a little. ]
All of us would be better off shot of this place. [ a huff. it's a clumsy save. ] I wouldn't wish Wonderland on my worst enemy, let alone him.
[ let alone you. ]
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[ he says, he admits, he argues. ]
I won't lie about it. This place is hell and it's evolving and in a week, it could be worse than hell and we need help. I can invent and create but we both know I can't inspire these people. That's his job, he's here now, I can stop trying.
[ and at the same time -- ]
I do want him here. But there's me wanting help and there's actually dealing with him being here. He's going to do his job and be good at it and I want him to and I'll hate him for it anyway.
[ he shrugs ]
It's just how things go. It's all I can give, it's literally my best offer.
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because she can empathize with tony's neediness. that desire to see steve swoop in and fix things, to play his part, to rise to the occasion and the symbol of it all. how many times (silently and shamefully and in her darkest moments) during the last few years, back home, did she wish she had him at her side?
without turning back: ]
I wish the world would just be done with him. [ her sadness comes through like aggression. ] Let the bastard rest. He deserves it.
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[ he gets up, he places a hand on her shoulder. ]
I know. It sucks. I wish I could say this place didn't need him, I wish I could say the world doesn't need Iron Man, that I can retire and build Pepper the house in Vermont she always wanted.
[ he tugs on her elbow. ]
Maybe one day we'll get there.
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I'd only just grown accustomed to the idea of not seeing him again. [ a touch too honest. more honest than she can be with the others -- especially rip, who was normally a vessel for her all her most truthful statements. but she can't unpack this particular handbag with him; it wouldn't be fair. ]
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Whatever happened, Rogers' arrival pains her in a whole other way than it does him. ]
And that's when Wonderland brought him back.
[ It sucks. He sighs, rolls his eyes, pulls her into a determined sort of embrace. ]
I would kick it in the balls if I could find out where they were.
[ Wonderland's, that is. ]
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