If I Got Everything That I Wanted (Book 2 of Love, Monsters and Magic)

Chapter 15

Karma. The one word that was ringing through Tony Starks head as he curled around the cold white ceramic of the toilet bowl. Fucking Karma. After Morgan had left Tony the previous night before, he had ploughed his way through 2 bottles of scotch and he was well into his third bottle when Steve stepped in to stop him. Tony swung out a fist towards him and it had resulted in Tony getting a purpling bruise around his own eye. Karma, he thought. By his fourth bottle, Steve had had enough of drunken Tony and called for reinforcements. The traitor called Pepper. He'd get Steve back, he decided as he retched again. Surely he must have thrown up more than the contents of his entire stomach; he hadn't eaten much previous to the excessive amounts of scotch so there shouldn't even be so much food been choked back up. Karma. It was the reason Pepper was now sitting on the edge of the bath beside him, her appearance completely immaculate as always and staring at Tony with that less than amused expression while Tony groaned into the toilet bowl. Karma, yes the very same.

"Don't look at me like that," I groaned, wiping my mouth for the fifth time. Everything tasted like undiluted acid and coconuts. Acidic coconuts. Not a nice taste. Pepper tapped her six inch stiletto heels impatiently and the noise was making my ears feel like they were bleeding. "Look I'm sorry Pepper, okay? I shouldn't have drunk so much, I know. But please, if you have any sense of human decency please stop the tapping!" Her foot stopped. She stood and made her way to the bathroom door.

"Sometimes, Tony, you are the worst excuse for a human I've ever know." There was no anger in her voice but there was that sickingly calm before the storm that made my blood run cold. I just couldn't help myself.

"You know something? I've tried my damn hardest. I know I'm not here a lot because I'm out busy playing heroes with the team and I know I'm narcissistic and self-centred, self-obsessed and volatile and a lot of the time I can be a real jack ass. But I have no idea what I have done this time. I walk in on a row between Banner, you and the good Captain and the next thing I know is I'm being tag teamed by you and Bruce and Steve looks like he's going to cry every time he sees me. So tell me what the hell I've done, because you're killing me here Pepper."

Her face softened just a little bit but it faded into her own pained expression, mirroring my own. She drew in a sharp breath and spoke, "I'm sorry, Tony I- Oh Tony, I'm so sorry." There was a pause. "I'm calling off the engagement," was all she said and I'm sorry what? 

"You're joking me, Pepper. Please tell me-"

She held up one perfectly manicured finger. "I love you and don't ever doubt it. I chose this life and I knew what I was getting into when I signed up to become your full time babysitter. I can deal with your drinking and gambling and your continuous need to be the fucking martyr all the time." She squeezed her eyes shut briefly. "This isn't about you, though. It's about-"

"Banner."

"It's about- wait what? How did-"

"It just makes sense," I said as collectively as I could manage.

"You don't sound angry or-"

"What would be the point? You're leaving for another man and I'm glad that you at least chose a decent guy. Banner is a good guy, one of the best. This explains a lot. So what did you do, screw him or something? I never really took you for the cheating type but then again, here we are. "

"I didn't have sex with him. Don't be like this, Tony." She actually sounded hurt and here I thought I was supposed to be the one falling to pieces.

"Be like what? I'm not being like anything. I am quite contently coughing up my liver and all of my other very important organs while by fiancé leaves me for my lab partner. I guess this means Banner is going to stop spending time in the workshop with me. And this is what has had Rogers in a mess? I'm sure there is some very meaningful sentiment buried somewhere in that." I rambled, my eyebrows furring together. My head hurt, my chest ached and I'm 100% I'm about to throw up.

Pepper placed something on the cabinet besides her and there was a small clink as the object hit the surface. Her ring. "At least keep that. I don't want it. I don't want to get married so just, I don't know, sell it or something." A choked gasp escaped Pepper and there was the tell-tale stinging in my eyes that my lid on my emotions was about to pop. I wasn't about to lose my nerve. No, instead my head dipped back over the toilet for another round of wrenching and coughing and passed out on the floor.

When I woke on the cold bathroom floor, my body ached in places that it shouldn't. I was alone and the ring sat in on the cabinet on the opposite side of the room.

"J, send a message to Doctor Reid. Just say that I fixed it. That should be it."

"Very good, sir. Do you require me to send for some assistance?" The disembodied voice asked.

"No, no. I'm just going to find some more scotch anyway."