Spiderman Homecoming Fanfic (RE-UPLOAD)

Wine or Sex

Pepper stares at the clock hanging on the wall in the spacious stark tower "It's already half-past six..." She sighs 'He sure is late...as usual' Pursing her lip, she hummed "Well...guess I'll go grab some dinner again tonight" She takes her purse and peeks inside, making sure there are car key and mone- pfft, who am I kidding.

She makes her way toward the door and surprised by the figure in front of her "Jesus!" She put her hand on her chest "Honey, how long have you been standing there?" The man stood still, eyes glued to the floor.

Pepper frowns in concern as she stares at the man "Let's get you inside" she pulls him by the hand and realize how cold it is. Closing the door behind her, she caresses his cold cheek while observing him. Eyes of a man that has been crying, unfamiliar clothes, two times smaller than his size, hair's a mess 'Something's off...'

"Honey..." She whispers gently as she notices the man avoiding her eyes. Pepper leans in, she gave him a kiss on his cheek. It took her by surprise when the man pulls her in and brushes his lip against her. He then grabs her hair firmly and she put her hands on his shoulders "Wait..." she gasped "You're acting strange-" The man cut her words by slipping his tongue into her mouth. He leads the way, not breaking the kisses.

Surprisingly, they made it to the bedroom without tumbling over one another. The man pushed her on the bed and straddled her. Their heavy breathing fills the silent air as the man paused.

He then plants a kiss on her neck and nibbles it softly "Wait..." She gasps as she caught a whiff of a particular stench coming from him "Are you drunk...?" She can't help but question him because of his odd behaviour. The man stays quiet as he slides his fingers under her shirt. Pepper let out a moan and lay her head into the pillow, closing her eyes.

Suddenly, the touch of the hand that she has been craving for a long time stopped 'He's...trembling...?' She felt a drop of warm liquid on her stomach and she looks up to her partner. Her vision is unclear because of the dark room so she reaches out to the night lamp beside her and switches it on.

Although it doesn't do much, the whole room is flooded by the dim light. Pepper squints her eyes, adjusting to the brightness. The man then lifts up his head heavily and meets Pepper's eyes. Her heart clenched to the sight of tears bursting out of him.

"...what's wrong?" She leans up and reaches for his cheek "I..." Pepper furrow her eyebrows "Why are you crying?" The man looks just as confused as her "I'm sorry..." He says in a brittle voice "Oh honey..." She hugs him gently "Shh...it's okay. Everything's gonna be okay" the man hugs her back tightly and buried his face in her neck 'It's been ages since he cried this hard. Something's definitely up here'

"What's...this...?" She mumbles to herself as she grabs the label on the nape of his neck. On it is a double letter p written in marker. She gasps 'It can't be...' The man is too wretched to notice. He keeps repeating the word sorry while sobbing silently. Pepper holds his shoulders and pulls back "Honey, what's the matter?... I won't know unless you-" she paralysed as she spots a hickey or more like a bruise on his neck.

"I'm sorry" The man says through his tears when he saw her reaction. Pepper felt her heart sink, she grips his shoulders firmly "Look at me..." The man avoided her eyes "Honey..." She shakes him but the man still refuses to look at her "Anthony..." How many years has it been since she last calls him that? The man can't help but respond by meeting her eyes "Do you love me?" Pepper asks slowly and clearly.

Tony furrows his eyebrows "Of course I do! I love you..." he replies "I do" he repeated but it doesn't seems like the words came from his heart, instead it sounds like he was convincing himself "No...no, you don't" Pepper whispered to herself "You loved me..." She clenched her teeth and keeps denying it inside her head. Too scared to ask, too scared to know the truth, too scared to believe her own intuition. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Anthony..." She stares right into his eyes "Was it Peter?" She asks carefully. The man opens his mouth to deny it but soon nodded his head slightly. For a second there, Pepper forgot how to breathe properly and her face turned pale as a sheet.

'Oh...
now I get it...
it's not the smell of wine...
It's the smell of...
Sex...'