[for Pepper] carry that weight

[daretodo]

"Forty-eight... Forty-nine... Fifty... Fifty-one," I count steadily under my breath, a push-up accompanying each number. This isn't something I'd have to do at home, my patrols of the city enough to keep me in shape without even trying, but I can't say the same for here. My sessions with Cap are ramping up -- not to mention a heckuva lot more

Comments

[wildlyconflictd]

Living with someone is not a guarantee that you'll spend much time speaking to them. This Pepper had already been familiar with by way of giving Tony the cold shoulder in the past, and she'd known to expect it with Peter. Never had she deluded herself into thinking that he'd move into the house and everything would be okay, but it surprised her how much the emotional distance bothered her, having not anticipated the effect of having it made so obvious on a daily basis.

The part of her that wanted to leave well enough alone was constantly warring with the part of her that cared too much to do so, creating a sort of tentative conscientiousness with which she approached her new house guest. She took care to afford Peter opportunities to reach out, but didn't count on their earning anything for her trouble.

"I've just made coffee, if you want some," she said from the terrace doorway, manicured fingers poised on the knob.

[daretodo]

I look up without stopping, my hair falling across my forehead and into my eyes. Blinking, I exhale upwards to blow it out of the way, keeping count in my head instead of aloud. Pepper's presence alone is another distraction, splintering my attention away from the one thing it seems to gravitate towards no matter what, and I find myself, in the moment, grateful.

"In a bit?" I reply, managing an increasingly rare apologetic expression. "I'm a little..." Changing my mind halfway through sixty-five, I let my knees drop to the ground, and push myself up to kneeling. I'm flushed, but not breathless. "You know what? Sure."

[wildlyconflictd]

After a moment's pause, Pepper nodded and then stepped back inside the house, heels clicking sharply on tile as she crossed to the kitchen. She assumed Peter would follow, if only because of how warm it was outside.

The coffee maker was one of Tony's inventions, thrown together like an afterthought, and while it might have lacked the aesthetic appeal of the one they'd left in Malibu, it did the job just as well. With Tony down at the scrapyard, it was just Peter and herself, and Pepper set about pouring them each a measure of freshly-brewed coffee into a couple of the mugs she'd long ago pilfered from the Compound.

[daretodo]

Not having the forethought to bring a towel with me, I tug off my shirt to press my face into the mostly-dry white cotton instead, following Pepper by the click-click-click of her heels rather than by sight alone. With the amount of time I've been spending outside, lately, I'm starting to wonder if it wouldn't just be worth my while to start shaving again. It's hot in this weather, like wearing a scarf in the middle of July, but it's become something of a security blanket; that I don't have cause to be looking in the mirror every day is just an added bonus