petitehands | ( ic ) inbox for ataraxion

Where are you?

[ Pepper, help me I think I died and went to some weird alternate universe where my father is jealous of me and I take five days to even tell you this and process it, help. IDK MAYBE I HAD A MINI HEART ATTACK AT THE TIME I DON'T KNOW HELP ME PEPPER ]

Kitchen, discovering that coffee in space hasn't undergone any extraordinary changes besides becoming frustratingly dull tasting.

[ Someone is just a little oblivious to the fact that something is going on and that there is significance behind this message. ]

Remind me to, I don't even know, do something really nice for Ianto so he makes you better coffee constantly. I'm actually in your room right now and may need to talk to you a bit. And by a bit I mean, pathetically, I'm imitating a puppy waiting for you.

[ It occurs to Tony right after he sends that message that it probably makes very little sense if she has no idea what he did so he sends this about a minute after. ]

I ran into my dad in the lab.

Two minutes.

[ It actually ends up before more like thirty seconds, actually, because Pepper abandons the unfortunate coffee with a smart and collected turn on her heel before proceeding to return to her room at a fairly urgent pace. She knows it matters whenever Tony utters the word "dad". Upon entering her room, though, she can't help thinking that he really does, in this moment, remind her of a puppy. ]

What happened?

[ It's rather a direct response, but there's no beating about the bush with these things. ]

He was trying to build the— [ Normally Tony would just tap at the reactor but he can't even be bothered to do it now, and instead just motions to it in a vague flailing motion before he barrels on in his explanation. ]

Technically it was his and Vanko's thing, and whatever, so he should have been able to build it, no big deal, but it wasn't working like all of mine have yet and I poked fun at it because here was the guy who told me that he didn't put much stock in degrees and just— exists to me make me feel like a dumb kid having problems with something I built in a cave.

And I may have poked fun at him a bit. And you can guess how he felt about that. [ Tony looks down at the reactor for a moment and looks like he's going to touch it again before he stops himself and just looks at Pepper. ] I finally built something he couldn't, Pepper.

[ I showed him up. ]

[ Well, it's not exactly the conversation Pepper was expecting. She blinks, reacting a little slowly to the absence of frustration, or of Tony's own brand of sadness, the kind that was all at once dismissive and resigned to dealing with something that upset him as just an unfortunate matter of fact rather than something that actually hurt him. ]

Of course you did. [ As she closes the distance between them, her eyes stare directly at his chest, brow knit with a mild, unreadable frown. ] You took something amazing and made it into something else - something that saved your life a few times, if I remember correctly, and I do - and the possibilities are still endless. I may not understand anything of the mechanics behind this, but I know you. I know how utterly capable you are.

[ With a small movement, she raises her hand, her index finger tracing the glowing outline of his reactor, softly, finally lifting her eyes to meet his, and repeats, ]

Of course you did.

Edited (whoops i can html) 2012-10-25 00:23 (UTC)

[ There's a part of him that's just so astonished by what happened that he can't even help how he reacts with the absence of anything close to what he normally does in relation to his father. ]

I did. And I mean you haven't even seen what I do to it in New York, Pepper. There's Stark Tower and it's half your baby. Your brain child with me and it's powered by an arc reactor just like mine. [ He pauses. ] You've known what this was for me since I made it. And yeah, I'm not sentimental, but this is the heart of things and it's the beginning of everything else. And you get it even if the mechanics of it our sometimes lost even for you and that arguably still fantastic brain of yours.

[ Tony stares at Pepper's hand for a good minute before he tries to just make her press the entire palm of her hand against the reactor with his hand on top of hers. He lets out a shaky exhale before he speaks again. ]

He said he was jealous of me. My dad was jealous of me. I— it's not an 'I'm proud of you' but it's confirmation that I'm his son. I'm so good at what I do that I make him jealous just by having this reactor and being able to do everything I do with it.

[ Somewhere in the midst of what Tony's saying, Pepper's frown smooths into a smile that is halfway between proud and a little emotional, and she purses her lips, trying to rein it in, even though she's failing. Her mind is a little scattered, trying to take in and react to everything that Tony's saying accordingly. ]

We have a tower? A tower, powered by an arc reactor. [ Completely awed, that's how she sounds. She allows Tony's hand to press against hers, spreading her palm over the reactor, not sure if the tingle under her skin she feels is the buzz of her own emotions or an electromagnet. ] See, I don't even need to be from the near future to know how much you, and I mean you specifically, not "you" in general, can do with this.

[ A helpless little laugh escapes her, and she gives a little shake of her head, touching his shoulder with her other hand. ]

I can't even pretend to be surprised! There's no way I could ever say that I understood the way you felt about your dad, only where it came from. I'm only going on what I know about you, and from that it seems so obvious that he'd be jealous, but- [ another shake of her head, and her tone softens ] -that's nothing compared to hearing it from him.

Edited 2012-10-25 02:38 (UTC)

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