Sassafras

Third Times a Charm

You decided to find a nice quiet place and just drink and relax by the pool to get out of the metal man funk you were currently in.  However, to your dismay, Tony decided to come over after about an hour and sit next to you in your little fortress of solitude. So your metal funk continued and you sighed at the turn of events. 

"Please don't---not right now Stark. Unless you want a fun-filled afternoon of a testicle retrieval. If that be the case then I'm happy to oblige." He put up his hands in surrender and just shook his head and slid his sunglasses up, pushing his hair back. "No, it just looked peaceful over here so I thought I could hide out. Is that ok?" You thought it over for a second but couldn't say no to a friend, especially when said friend wasn't being a douche.

"Sure." You two sat in comfortable silence for some time before you spoke up.

"Pray tell, Tony. What's going on in the Salt n' Pepper head of yours?" He let out a deep laugh and it made you smirk. You missed this camaraderie with Tony that you once had. It had disappeared after he had gone into self-destruct mode. He and Pepper were on again and off again and you hated watching him struggle but it had gotten to the point that you also couldn't be around him. Almost as if reading your mind he spoke aloud then. "Have I fucked it all up Y/L/N?"

You took a swig of your drink and looked at him finding that he was already looking at you, desperation almost spilling out of his eyes. "It's never too late to make amends. Besides you've only annoyed the hell out of me. That's easily forgiven. Just grovel a bit and get me a few beers." You shrugged and the tension melted away from his shoulders 

You laughed at the thought of Tony groveling for anyone. Other than Steve that is. He even smirked. "Alright noted Y/N. Now how do I fix this Pepper debacle." You knew the answer and weren't going to sugar coat it, least of all him. He deserved to be manhandled. 

"Easy. Stop fucking around. The woman loves your shit for brains self for whatever reason, unconditionally. I know you think you are not worthy of her but you are. I'm so sick of all of you men thinking you are never worthy of the women who love you. Also, Keep it in your pants and stop looking at everything in a skirt. It's insulting. Pepper is hot as hell, not sure why you would even feel the need to look elsewhere." You paused before you continued on. " Look, I know the job that we have leaves us in a fucked up place but when you find someone that is willing to share that darkness with you, don't take it for granted and sabotage it, man. "

He stopped staring at Pepper and just looked at you for a moment. "You think I could really fix it?" You nodded in Peppers direction. "She's here, isn't she?" He smiled and you could've sworn the only way to describe the look on Tony's face was bashful. Had you not seen it you would've called the person a bold face fucking liar.

"So, Barnes. Huh?" You snapped your head in his direction and a shift in wind actually blew his glasses off of his head and his eyes widened. "Hey. Just because we had a little girl talk doesn't mean I'm talking about Barnes, iron head." He laughed and took a drink. You looked out at Bucky and he was staring a hole into Tony which made you blush at the possible meaning behind it.

"How'd you get Manchurian to come out without a shirt on?" Your smile was from ear to ear. "Easy. We had a come to Jesus meeting. " You paused a moment and thought what the hell. "Say I did want to dazzle the man. What would I do? I mean with the blonde titty monster ready to attack him, how do I compete?"