he just stares at the world.

[notawastedlife]

They didn't exactly allow alcohol for clinic in-patients, and Tony hadn't been able to get out to sneak any in. He was sober. He had clairty of thought. He was undampened.

He wasn't fond of the state. Especially when all his remarkable mind was doing, right then, was running things over and over in his head.

I saw young Americans killed by the

Comments

[wildlyconflictd]

There was a distinct and presently very vocal part of Pepper that felt responsible for Tony being in that bed. Oh, logically she knew he probably would have reacted the same exact way regardless, but that guilty part of her kept echoing all of the things she'd told him on New Year's Eve, like a constant mantra pushing up against her better sense

[notawastedlife]

Squeeze, and on the sound of her voice, release. He flattened his hand on the bed and used it to try to push himself to a less reclined position, wincing as he did so.

"You look horrible," he greeted, trying to muster up some of his usual glibness. It came out a little flat.

[wildlyconflictd]

"I haven't been sleeping. This guy I'm inexplicably fond of nearly got himself killed doing something stupidly heroic," she answered, unmoving from her place by the door, both her tone and expression solemn.

"You want a cup of coffee?"

[notawastedlife]

"Relax, Petey'll be fine," Tony said, glancing over at the comatose figure in the next bed. He knew what she meant, he just couldn't resist.

He paused, reconsidered. "Physically. I didn't think you were doing coffee?"

[callofkaren]

Karen didn't know what kind of girly flowers Brodie had picked out for Tony, and didn't ask when he handed them over. She just picked out a glass of water to put them in and went along with him to visit Tony.

"We couldn't really get some strippers over here," she said, announcing their presence, "so flowers will have to do."

[segaboybrodie]

"Her idea," Brodie said, though he'd been the one to stress the fact that it was fucked up to show up to visit Tony Stark in the hospital empty handed. Brodie'd never been the 'gift basket' type, especially since that one time his cousin Walter had been in the hospital because of an unfortunate incident with a cat and his ass.

Long story short, buying a guy with a gerbil stuck up his hot box a gift basket full of cheese hadn't been the best idea in the world. Last Brodie had heard, that room was STILL off-limits.

"You know, chicks and flowers." He shrugged.

[notawastedlife]

"...thanks, these are very... floral," said Tony, sitting up -- wincing as he did so -- and examining the flowers, which he would give to the next attractive woman to walk past.

Not after Karen and Brodie had left, just the next one to walk past.

He looked slightly plaintively at Karen. "None?" he asked. "Did you even try?" He tried Brodie. "Did she try?"

[callofkaren]

Karen felt like some sort of weird bromance surrogate for Brodie, but as long as didn't ask her to do anything too strange, she'd let it go.

"I didn't try," she answered, reaching out to pat Tony's arm, then pulling her hand back at the last moment. "How're you doing?"

[stayastranger]

It was, in a way, familiar territory for Sarah, coming to see someone she cared about in the hospital after they'd been injured by some lunatic bent on destruction. That part was awful, but it made sense in the way that she knew these things just didn't make sense, so you fought them however you could. Tony being the one in the bed, though, the injured party, was nearly as foreign as the notion of Peter going up against this Alton Hartford and possibly even more unsettling.

"Tony?" It was familiar, maybe, but it wasn't easy. Less so here. She'd just been talking to Chuck about how quiet it was not that long ago. How peaceful and boring. "Hi."

[notawastedlife]

"Sarah," Tony greeted, having graduated to sitting up by now, as staring at the ceiling was getting to him.

He was sketching, but he dropped the pad to the side to, after a moment's thought, pull the flowers Karen and Brodie had brought out of their container and thrust them at her.

"I got you some flowers."

The ends dripped water on the bed.

[stayastranger]

Sarah smiled, gaze dropping briefly to the bed. As quickly as they had come upon her, the thoughts were pushed aside. He was alive and he would get better. That was what mattered.

"You're getting water everywhere," she teased, walking around to take the flowers and sit in the chair near him. "Which of your admirers brought these?"

[notawastedlife]

"Brodie," Tony said. "He said it was Karen. It was Brodie. How are you?"

He was aware it was traditional to ask this of the person in hospital rather than be asked it. That was, in fact, why he had cut in with it first.

[getemtiger]

In the day or two it had been since Peter finally woke up, Mary Jane had slept a few hours, showered once, and had what probably amounted to at least one full meal. This was progress. She didn't look much better for it, though, and she still had no intention of spending her time anywhere else. Even with Peter asleep for a while, she stayed close, walking over to take a seat beside Tony's bed, instead.

It seemed like a lifetime ago, now, that they'd been flirting with each other on New Year's Eve.

"Hey," she greeted quietly, attempting a small smile that didn't wind up as convincing as she'd hoped. "How're you doing? Can I get you anything?" The doctors were supposed to be the ones asking questions like that, she was pretty sure, but with the amount of time she'd spent in the clinic lately, she might as well have gone to med school herself.

[notawastedlife]

"A set of ribs that don't- actually, those should probably go to your boyfriend, first," Tony said. "If you have any left over, pass 'em on."

[getemtiger]

"I'd get enough for both of you, if I could," Mary Jane promised, keeping her tone light. She spent too much time wishing that were actually possible to get all serious about it now. "Don't think new ribs are too easy to come by here, but I'll keep an eye out. How about until then?"

[notawastedlife]

Tony squinted slightly, eyes directed upwards. "You could wheel the projector in here so I can look at something that isn't the doc- actually, most of them are pretty good looking professionals. Shouldn't complain."

[un_gloved]

Rogue looked as worn as anybody who had been involved in the absolute fiasco that had been the Green or Hob or Patriot Goblin's return. In all honesty, the events had made her feel useless and small, but that wasn't the first time something had happened that had done so. The mess left behind, however, was of the kind that seemed insurmountable, unfixable.

It was kind of nice to see Tony conscious and on the mend, because it proved the last bit at least a little wrong.

"Lordy, ain't you a sight," she sighed, venturing into the room from the threshold to sit on the corner of his bed.

[notawastedlife]

"What, you don't like the wounded look?" Tony said, although he didn't try sitting up. "I heard it drives women crazy."

[un_gloved]

"I'm used to it," she said wryly, "don't mean I prefer it." She shook her head a little, expression slipping into a frown as she watched him.

"How did this happen?"

[notawastedlife]

"Well, first all there was a big explosion- no, that doesn't even work for this place," Tony said, which just made him more aggravated with the whole situation. "I got sucker-punched and carjacked by a lunatic."