(no subject)
Title: Practice Makes
Author: aflaminghalo
Length: 250
Rating: PG. Not even a swear.
Notes: Random angsty thing. I am working on smut and noir angst, but this happened instead. Unbeta-ed.
If she looks past the bruises blooming up into his skin and the black flakes of dry blood, Pepper fancies that she can see the little boy that Tony was once, maybe.
Bruised and bloodied and he can sleep like an innocent.
She wishes he could stay this way forever. It’s easier. For her.
Pepper knows it’s a selfish wish but she’s too tired and confused and angry to care.
Her adrenaline ran out too long ago. She's crashing and knows it, but the nights event; it's all still happening now. Every moment hangs suspended, strobe lit and sick in her head.
When he wakes up everything will start to fall again. That's Tony's effect; pushing things over like the last secure inch of a rollercoaster incline.
"I stopped him," he'll say, urgent and low.
And Pepper will say “Yes,” just like she’s been practising.
She has a list of things she's been practising not saying; a new list; everything that has been playing on a loop in her head since she saw that light in the sky. “I stopped him Tony. I killed him. I killed you both because you asked me to. I saw the bigger picture and it dwarfed us and I hate you for that, for doing that to me.”
When he opens his eyes, when he sees her, he'll say "Good work Potts," reach out and awkwardly stroke the back of her hand.
And she'll smile, like she's been practising; but she won't say anything
Author: aflaminghalo
Length: 250
Rating: PG. Not even a swear.
Notes: Random angsty thing. I am working on smut and noir angst, but this happened instead. Unbeta-ed.
If she looks past the bruises blooming up into his skin and the black flakes of dry blood, Pepper fancies that she can see the little boy that Tony was once, maybe.
Bruised and bloodied and he can sleep like an innocent.
She wishes he could stay this way forever. It’s easier. For her.
Pepper knows it’s a selfish wish but she’s too tired and confused and angry to care.
Her adrenaline ran out too long ago. She's crashing and knows it, but the nights event; it's all still happening now. Every moment hangs suspended, strobe lit and sick in her head.
When he wakes up everything will start to fall again. That's Tony's effect; pushing things over like the last secure inch of a rollercoaster incline.
"I stopped him," he'll say, urgent and low.
And Pepper will say “Yes,” just like she’s been practising.
She has a list of things she's been practising not saying; a new list; everything that has been playing on a loop in her head since she saw that light in the sky. “I stopped him Tony. I killed him. I killed you both because you asked me to. I saw the bigger picture and it dwarfed us and I hate you for that, for doing that to me.”
When he opens his eyes, when he sees her, he'll say "Good work Potts," reach out and awkwardly stroke the back of her hand.
And she'll smile, like she's been practising; but she won't say anything