Words On My Skin

Chapter 27

Turns out, when Tony meant cancel his meetings for December 16th, he meant that he didn't want to meet with anybody.

Including you and Pepper.

You'd seen him once, in the morning. He'd clearly been drinking since the night before and holed himself up in the lab with nothing other than his toys and his booze. Bringing him coffee, breakfast, and the 'word of the day' was routine, so you'd assumed that you were to be keeping up with your regular schedule as his assistant – even if he wasn't taking any meetings.

Holy shit you were wrong.

When you'd arrived, you bumped into Pepper, who was storming down the hall with a red face and tears in her eyes.

"Ms. Potts?" You steadied your grip on Tony's coffee and breakfast container, watching as one of the tears she'd been fighting slid down her face – though she quickly swiped it away with a perfectly manicured hand. "Are you alright? What's going on?"

"Just because he's grieving doesn't mean he gets to be a fucking prick." She ranted, though her voice didn't raise in volume and she pulled herself straighter – maintaining the illusion of everything being under control. "You deal with him, today. I'm not going to be treated this way. Even if it's... today."

"He's that bad?" Your stomach did a little flip-flop, nerves pulling like a rubber band in your chest. "Like, on a scale of one to ten... how unprepared am I?"

"I would just throw his things at him and leave, to be honest." She sighed, gulping down the last of her negative emotions. "So, a ten. Maybe an eleven."

"Shi- shoot." You sighed, nearly catching yourself swearing in front of Pepper on the job. "I'll just be quick."

"Good luck." She gave you a sad smile as she left you, standing taller than usual – a tell that you knew meant she was still internally upset, but trying not to show it.

"Fuck..." You whispered to yourself, glancing at your watch and wishing that FRIDAY could deliver coffee. "Handshake your fear.He's not that scary. He's just... grieving."

You could do this.

Taking a large inhale, you plastered a fake smile onto your face and threw open the door to the lab, "Good morning, Tony!" You could smell him before you saw him. The entire lab stunk of booze, motor oil, and sweat – and that was being nice. The offensive smell nearly brought tears to your eyes as you cleared off a small section of his cluttered desk to place his coffee and breakfast neatly on the end, where it wouldn't fall off. "You said you wanted to try those rainbow bagels, so I went out-"

"Fuck off!" You heard him slur from behind one of his machines, cutting you off as he continued to focus on his work. "I thought I fucking said no meetings, today!"

"I cancelled all your meetings, Tony." You informed him in a fake-professional voice, the one you reserved for awful customers and the people you used to meet at your parents' work galas or parties. You took a look around, grabbing a few empty bottles and tossing them in the recycling. "If I don't bring you breakfast, you won't eat."

"I'm a fffucking adult." He glared at you, moving away from his machine in an alcohol-induced fury. "I know how to eat breakfast. You're just- just fucking checking up on me for Pepper!" He pointed an accusing finger at you, "Well you can tell her to fuck off, too! Everyone can fuck off!"

You barely held back the urge to snap at him or roll your eyes, knowing it would do nothing but piss him off further. Instead, you opted to continue to pretend you didn't realize he was hammered off his ass and acting like a total fuck-wit. "Anyways, the coffee is fresh and I'm going to go finish the paperwork for Wanda and Vision's mission. Don't forget to eat that. It's got an array of cream cheese spreads in the bag. There's six bagels in there. The owner is a fan."