The rich man buy the poor man's life ✸

[billionaires]

He's looking across the balcony at Pepper and it's like he's seeing her for the first time. Tony thought he had come here to this party to show the world he isn't an invalid like Obadiah has been spinning to the press. But when they dance he realizes why he really came here - or at least why he wants to believe he did. She's leaning closer and his heart is pounding, that weird tinny reverberation of the arc reactor ringing in his ears as he leans towards her too. They're so close, somehow closer than they've ever been despite all of the flirting and what he might characterize as close calls over the years looking back.

Before they can get any closer though, she's flicking hair out of her eye and asking him for a drink. He thinks it's the first time she's ever actively demanded something from him and it strokes a nerve inside his body he thought was long dead as he licks across his lips distractedly and stiltedly nods. Tony turns on his heel to head to the bar, realizing at the same time she calls after him that he has absolutely no idea what she drinks. He's happy for the excuse to turn back around, eyes glistening warmly as they catch and hold to hers, grinning by the time she gets her ridiculous drink order out.

Of course, when he gets to the bar everything about the night turns a full 180 degrees. This woman - this reporter - she has no sympathy for what he's been through and why should she? Tony doesn't look for comfort in the arms of strangers like her as he once did. He still swallows when she gets closer, remembering telling Pepper to show this woman out, as he'd done a thousand times before with all manner and variety of different women who crossed his path. He takes the disturbing photographs from her hands and there's no hiding the horror writ across his face as he flips through them, his stomach sinking lower with each image.

"When were these taken?" he remembers asking her, but then he's outside questioning Obadaiah before he fully processes what's happening. The flash of camera lights blind him momentarily as the other man's deep voice echoes after he's left, the heat of his big oven mitt of a hand burning a hole in his suit. He was the one who turned the board of his own company against him. The man he'd thought of as a second father, maybe even a kinder one than Howard had been. Feeling bile claw up the back of his throat, he darts back inside the same distracted way, forgetting about Christine or the drinks he'd left behind as he all but sprints for the roof access.

"Potts?" he calls, folding over his knees to clutch at his chest before he can even see if she's still up here. Why would she be? He must have abandoned her ages ago. If he could just catch his breath then he could go back to the party and track her down.

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[efficacy]

Pepper waits. For the first ten minutes, with something akin to a mix of nerves and anticipation, cautiously excited even though she knows she shouldn't feel this way. It's a risk, giving in to her growing affections for her boss, but at the same time... she can't seem to help it. For three months she'd feared for the worst, but against all odds Tony had returned a changed man. If this wasn't a second chance, then what was it?

Another ten minutes, and her anticipation slowly turns into disappointment. It doesn't take this long to fetch a few drinks. He isn't coming back. Something far more bitter gnaws at her as she wonders which woman present at the gala he decided to leave with instead, kicking herself for being such an idiot to think that this was anything more than another flirtation, another bout in their tug of war. Stifling a frustrated scoff, she grasps the cool railing and stares out into the glittering cityscape, blinking away the sudden sting of tears. She'd be damned if she cried in public over Tony god damn Stark. She doesn't know how long she stands there, probably no more than a couple of minutes. Just as the night chill starts to get to her and she's about to leave, Tony bursts back onto the balcony area and startles the hell out of her.

"Tony?" Everything else forgotten for now but her sudden concern, Pepper pushes off the railing and hurries over, her heart in her throat over the way he's clutching at his chest. "What's wrong? Are you in pain?"

[billionaires]

"You're still here," he realizes aloud, tone bright as he slowly straightens back up again. It's impossible to keep the goofy smile off his face as his gaze steadily evens out and Pepper comes into focus. "Nothing. Nothing's wrong. I'm great, I'm just not great... at running."

He shakes his head to try and clear the cloud of brainfog that seems to be closing in on him, but Pepper isn't helping in that dress. She's so distracting.

"I- uh. Sorry, I was supposed to get you a drink," he starts explaining, way too fast as usual. "That reporter was there. Everheart, right? What a name. Anyway, she showed me something... Something disturbing, here."

Recovering as quickly as can be expected, he pulls the pictures out of his jacket to show Pepper finally, still breathing hard as she comes closer.

[efficacy]

You're still here. Funny, that's the same thing that goes through Pepper's head, too, just as soon as the cold panic subsides in the wake of Tony's smile-- it's impossible to keep from smiling back, even if her expression still holds a hint of baffled surprise.

It doesn't last long, Tony's explanation initially drawing a tiny grimace from Pepper, a purely visceral reaction of annoyance at that name she simply can't squash. She remembers Ms. Everheart quite well, though she'd rather not-- her first and last meeting with the woman disagreeable for several reasons. But then the glossy photos are in her hands in all their horror, though she's still having trouble connecting the dots as of yet. "What... what is this? Why would she give you these?"

[billionaires]

He leans over her shoulder naturally to look them over again even though he can't stop seeing them in his mind anyway. Tony points to the case of Stark weaponry as the foot soldiers of those sick freaks who held him wheel them inside their lair.

"These weren't ill-gotten gains, Pepper. Someone sold these guys my weapons. The weapons I only made because I thought they would keep our boys and girls in uniform safe." He's almost whispering his voice has dropped so low in her ear, like he's afraid of who might overhear them even when it's very obviously just the two of them up here. "Carrie- Christine, whatever. She thinks I'm behind it. She thought she caught me out."

Instead, she gave him the intel he needs to upturn this entire operation - if he acts fast. His mind is already elsewhere, down in the workshop where he'll run a quick diagnostic before heading to Gulmira. "Have you ever heard of it?" That woman's annoying voice echoes in his ears.

"I have to do something. Now."

[efficacy]

Pepper can't even focus on the warmth of him by her shoulder, staring down at the pictures that are starting to make horrible sense now, her heart pounding in her chest. She tears her eyes away sharply to meet Tony's gaze over the revelation, visibly aghast.

"Someone? This..." She swallows dryly, shaking her head and glancing back at the incriminating photos. "This isn't just a few crates, Tony. How did they even get all--"

Her whirling thoughts about military depots and their own storage facilities stall abruptly when Tony goes on, snapping her head up and staring at him with something akin to trepidation now. "Something like what?"

[billionaires]

"Alright, not someone. Obie. He sold me out to the board, too." His eyes flash when they meet hers, she'll recognize his expression as one that's galvanized with no chance of recanting. He's made his mind up what happens next. "I have to go back."

Back to the house... but then back to Afghanistan. His eyes implore her to understand even as he gently wrests the photos out of her hands. Maybe he should have just left without putting this worry in her mind. If he doesn't make it back to her... he can't think about it, the mission is all that matters now. From now until it's over, whether Pepper can understand that or not.

[efficacy]

"What? Mr. Stane?" she bursts in a heated whisper, shock and kindling outrage intertwining in her voice even as she for some reason still tries to keep it quiet, as if attempting to preserve their secrets. "What are you talking about, go back? Back there?" she points at the pictures Tony's tucking away. Her own eyes are wide and worried, shaking her head as the mounting dread within her grows. "Are you crazy? You've only been back for-- no. No, Tony. Don't do this."

[billionaires]

"I shouldn't even be alive, Pepper. If I'm already living on borrowed time I have to make it count."

His hand comes up to firmly grip her forearm after the pictures are back in his pocket, shaking his head. The last thing he wants to do is leave her again, but this is what he came back for. He knows exactly why he survived even if everyone else thinks he's insane.

"I should already be gone, I just..." Maybe a part of him wanted her to talk him out of it, but that's not possible. He pats her arm before letting go in finality. "Enjoy the rest of the party. I'll be back before you know it." And hopefully before anyone else does.

[efficacy]

"Don't say that." Her brow furrows and suddenly she looks incensed, upset that he'd even think of saying such a thing after everything. The near detached way he's talking about this, like it's already a done deal, is driving her up the wall. He's one man -- one business man with a recent injury -- and he's about to... what? Take on a bunch of terrorists that almost got him killed in the first place?

"Oh, forget the party!" Scared and frustrated, she throws her hands up, copper curls writhing at the movement. "This is insane! You're talking about going back to a war zone, Tony. What are you even supposed to do when you get there? Leave it to the military."

[billionaires]

His gaze burns up even as she gets heated herself. This isn't a fight he can have here, and he backs up a few steps to tell her coldly, "Leaving it to the military is how we got into this mess."

He can't even trust Rhodey, or more accurately: Rhodey doesn't trust him anymore. Tony grits his teeth and shakes his head.

"This is my fault. My negligence and their greed made for a nice pairing in the past, but I'll not stand idly by while my property is sold to the highest bidder. I thought you of all people could understand that."

Tony turns on his heel to go, careful not to spare her another look or he really might be persuaded to stay. It's not an option. All those people... Yinsen's neighbors and friends. It isn't fair that Pepper will have to pick up his pieces when he gets back, but he doesn't have a choice.

[efficacy]

"I can, but-- Tony!" Pepper's voice hitches when the sudden spike of panic mingling with every other emotion going through her when Tony turns to leave. Pepper can't help her dread, this horrible squeezing fist around her heart. She already lost him once, now he's going to walk into danger all over again, voluntarily? She knows he feels responsible, but this couldn't be the way to solve anything. "You'll get yourself killed!"

Deflating, she watches his retreating back with an awful sinking feeling in her gut, her voice cracking as she chokes out her plead through a throat tightening with emotion, barely audible. "Don't go."

[billionaires]

He fully intends on just walking away without looking back. It breaks his heart with every step when he can hear the desperation in her voice. She really did miss him, but could it be anywhere close to the way he thought of her when he was trapped in that cave? His breath hitches as he realizes he's stopped dead before the doorway, sighing out his frustration at himself a moment later.

"Walk me out?" Tony asks of her softly, impossibly soft as he slowly throws his gaze backward over his shoulder, casting until his eyes settle onto hers like coming home. "Unless you're worried about who might see us." She had seemed worried about that before he'd left to get their drinks, but it's more of a callback than a genuine question as he nods to the space next to him - the place he always wishes she were when she's not and delights in when she is.

[efficacy]

Pepper feels like she could almost cry out of sheer relief when he stops, thankful beyond belief that he did, every bit of that emotion reflected in her eyes when they meet his. She had been concerned about who might see them, yes, worried about them drawing the wrong conclusions, worried about feeding the rumor mill and water cooler talks. It feels ridiculous and irrelevant now, less than an hour later.

Her feet are moving before he completely finishes the sentence, her heels clicking quietly as she hurries to his side, their arms brushing as she sticks close and lowers her voice to speak, glancing about furtively while they go as if worried Stane is going to suddenly show up.

"Think this through, Tony. I understand, I do, but how exactly are you going to do this? What's your plan, precisely?"

[billionaires]

He finds himself breathing out a silent sigh in relief himself when her arm brushes his suit jacket, reaching over to touch at the small of her back as he turns back around and readies himself to cut through the crowd and find that valet. It means the world to him too to hear she understands, his frame relaxing even as he feels the urgency of the moment closing in on him.

"I'm going to precisely destroy every weapon in that country with my name on it," he returns in an equally hushed tone, eyes closing briefly as leaning close to her earns him an intoxicating dose of her perfume. "I know you think of me as an impulsive man-child, and... no argument, alright? Most of the time. But this is all I've thought through for the last three months." Well, that and how he feels about her.

[efficacy]

The touch of his warm hand to her dangerously bare lower back (she really regrets this dress) is like an electrical conduit, making her skin tremor beneath his fingers and warm tingles to spark along her spine, but she pushes through the moment that threatens to daze her. The more pressing issue thankfully works like a bucket of cold water poured over her, hard and sobering.

"How?" she presses again, hushed but intense. "How do you plan on doing that? Tony, you're one man going up against a terrorist cell. Afghanistan already nearly killed you once. Am I really going to have to wait for another three months or longer for news on if you've even survived?"

Something cracks in her voice just a little at that, just enough to betray her distress underneath the slightly heated urgency. It's a low blow, maybe, but in her defense she couldn't possibly ever imagine in her wildest dreams that he would have a literal suit of armor stashed away in his basement.

[billionaires]

"Key word: nearly." He raises up the finger on his other hand like he's making a point she can't dispute. Then he gets a crazy idea as they carve a discreet path along the periphery of the party towards the exit. He almost asks his question aloud, but he knows he can trust her. She's the only person he does at this point and so he takes a deep breath and resettles his hand at her hip. The only way to distract these vultures is to give them something to talk about, after all. "Come back with me, to the house."

His eyes pulse as they meet hers, wishing he was asking her in a different context. She could stop him, or try. Tony swallows down his nerves where that and everything else Pepper Potts is concerned.

"A quick tour... but then I have to go."

[efficacy]

She's acutely aware of the curious glances thrown their way even as they keep to the fringes of the crowd, navigating ever on for the exit, knowing how this must look to them. His hand is like a brand against her hip, through the thin satin of the dress, and her heart skipping a beat and the galloping at the question.

Would he be asking her this same question if he'd come back with the drinks like planned, if none of these terrible events had taken place... and would she have agreed? Be that as it may, Pepper doesn't stop to think, she just nods. They had more important issues to hash out than the uncertain state of their personal relationship, right now, and Pepper pushes thoughts of the gossiping onlookers and everything else as well aside.

"What do you mean, a tour?" she asks quietly as they forge on, approaching the coat check. "I need my coat."

[billionaires]

Tony can't answer that, especially here. It was meant to sound ambiguous and his hand reluctantly slips away at her proclamation. He should just leave without her, he has very little time. But if this does kill him, and he knows that's a very real possibility, she deserves to know how he died.

"I'll pull the car around," he says close to her ear, doing his best not to look around at all the thirsty gossips. He wonders if Everheart will see them; if she'll figure it out before everyone else. She is incredibly annoying that way. With one last eye-lock, Tony turns to go and hunts down the valet he gave the car keys to. Apparently, his paranoia extends to even who handles his car though it's the last thing that matters now. He just needs to get back to the mansion as soon as physically possible. "Make it snappy," he tells the kid as he drops a 100 into his front pocket and nods to let him go do his job.

By the time Pepper comes out with her jacket, he's roaring up in his Audi, leaning over to distractedly open the door for her from the inside. He's already talking to JARVIS over the car speakers to set things before they even get to the workshop.

"Tell me you've run diagnostics," he orders even as he spares Pepper a longing glance.

[efficacy]

Bundled up in a long, black wool coat and her arms wrapped around herself, Pepper focuses on taking the stairs of the building quickly but carefully even as the roar of Tony's (because of course it's him) car overtakes the quiet murmurs of the other people milling about and the miscellanious noises of the city. She doesn't spare even a glance to anyone else as she reaches for the Audi's door Tony's already popping open, slipping into the front seat as much to hurry up as well as to get away from the chilly night air. Truthfully, she'd been a bit worried Tony may have left without her while she was getting her coat, so she'd definitely hustled.

She throws a quick glance at Tony before buckling up, just about getting the seatbelt on before Tony's peeling off the curb, still talking to JARVIS here and there. The glittering cityscape passes them by, life going on around them like it's another unremarkable night in LA. Pepper has a strange feeling it's going to be anything but.

"Tony?" she begins at length, but hesitates almost immediately. Biting her lip, she shakes her head a little and looks out the window instead. Maybe questions can wait until they're back to the mansion. "Never mind."

[billionaires]

He's actually relieved when she just gets in the car and lets him talk shop with J. There will be plenty of opportunities for her to rage out when they get to the house and he's built like, three meltdowns into his plan at this point mentally. That said when she does call on him, he immediately turns his head, his expression somehow conveying that anything she asked for in this moment he would give - so long as it doesn't compromise the mission. He knows it's a big 'if' even being who he is.

"No, what is it?" He mutes JARVIS and gives her his full attention as they disembark from the freeway and start onto the windy roads up the mountain to his mansion on a veritable cliff. All of it just makes him think about how much of a dumbass he's been, but he keeps that to himself (for now.)

[efficacy]

Three meltdowns is pretty conservative, the total tally tbd. She isn't expecting him to suddenly give her his complete attention like that, honestly, and it throws her off balance for a moment.

"It's just that... Are you-- I'm." Frustrated with her own inability to grasp at a proper sentence from all the different emotions and thoughts crashing into each other inside her head, Pepper swallows thickly and draws in a deep breath. Unable to look at him just then, she turns back to stare out of the window without really seeing anything; not that there's much to see. Finally, she simply comes out with it, quietly and baldly, "I'm really frightened. For you."

[billionaires]

He's never seen Pepper at a loss for words this way and it worries him for her, ironically enough. Tony reaches out to touch at her hand without fully thinking it through, but then he immediately chickens out and puts it back on the wheel. Turning his eyes back to the road, he hopes he isn't as red as he feels he is right now.

"I know, Pepper, but if you'd seen the things I've seen..." The pictures are only a tiny snapshot and he certainly doesn't have the time nor the will to relay everything that happened to him in that cave. It also wouldn't help him to calm her down about him going back at all. "I'll be okay. Even you can't deny I've done way riskier things before."

It's actually incredible he never crashed his car or got HIV or killed himself a myriad of different ways to date. The difference is, back then, he would risk everything for a thrill. Now he has an extremely narrow focus.

[efficacy]

She breathes a faint laugh at that, but it's not a sound of amusement. It's true, Tony's daredevil, thrill-seeking ways of old habitually gave her grey hairs. But this is something very different. It's not a drunken or coked up whim, some insane flight of fancy dreamed up by a rich playboy bored out of his mind. He's sober and frighteningly determined, which is more worrying to her than anything else that came before.

"I don't immediately recall you doing something riskier than insisting to return to a warzone to challenge terrorists all by yourself, I gotta say."

[billionaires]

"No? Not even that time in Monaco...?" he has to tease her or he'll get caught up in her distress. Still, he sobers up quickly as the house comes into view, swallowing thickly past the lump that just appeared in his throat. "I'm trusting you with this, so I need you to not freak out."

He goes quiet as he takes his moment to park, smiling to himself at the memory of crash-landing about a million times before he got the hang of the flight mode.

"Or, keep it to like... 12% of a freak-out." Tony turns so his eyes catch on hers just as the car turns off. He needs so badly for this to not be a mistake.

[efficacy]

"No," she returns promptly, distracted but always ready with her favorite word as Tony parks. Pepper slides a long glance over at him. He really isn't helping the matter with these remarks.

"I'm so glad I'm allowed a percentage to which to freak out," she returns sarcastically, but she can't quite hit that sweet spot with it that she usually would; it's just a shaky cover for the fact that she is absolutely on the verge of a freak-out, her eyes reflecting her unease all too clearly.