Marvel Preferences and Imagines (Taking Requests)

Georgie

In memory of the garden snakes that lived in my mother's garden. Long story short...My sister didn't know if the snakes that lived there were a family or just the same snake over and over again. She just resolved to call them names that were similar to George. There was George, George Jr., George Sr., Georgina, and Georgette. 

This was a request for iamKhrfan123. This is just a Tony X Pepper short. Sorry, it took so long. Thanks for sticking with me.

Tony was up in the lab again. Pepper could tell simply by feeling around in the dark with her hand. She knew that he was still going through the after effects of New York, but she thought -more like hoping- that it would have disappeared by now. Evidently, it hadn't. She also knew that to a certain extent FRIDAY would take care of him. 

That didn't matter much to her though. She hoisted herself out of bed and marched down to Tony's lab to drag him back to sleep. What she found when she finally made it down into the lab was her soon to be husband curled up into a tangled mess of limbs, whimpering softly. 

"Oh Tony," She sighed, kneel next to him. Tony didn't seem to even acknowledge that she was there. Pepper placed a hand around his waist and dragged him onto her. Sure she felt a bit squished against the floor, but he was worth it.

 He was worth the world and apparently the world didn't think that Tony even cared about regular day people. What they didn't know was that sometimes Pepper wished they were regular people. Regular people with simple jobs. Jobs that didn't require giving up your life. They would never understand how much of a psychological toll it was on the Avengers in general.

Most of them had PTSD. Steve and Bucky slept together in the same room because they were the only ones strong enough to hold each other down if they were having a nightmare. Clint and Natasha had weapons under their pillow, worried that one day the enemies they've made will come back to haunt them. Thor and Loki slept on the same floor because they were the only ones that could calm each other down with magic or brute force if one of them dreamed about their mother's death. 

Bruce was different though. Bruce almost never slept. He drank mouthfuls of coffee each day trying not to let sleep catch up to him. When it inevitably did, he would lock himself away into a cage that resembled Loki's old containment back in the battle in New York. The Hulk would make constant appearances at this time. Sometimes, his nightmares were so bad that the tower would shake and no one could get any sleep.

"Tony, focus on me," Pepper whispered in his ear. Tony nodded slightly, as if he could hear her but not fully process what she said. 

It took him about a half hour to fully calm himself, and even when he did, he seemed far away. Pepper kissed his forehead before leading him up the stairs and back to sleep where she could scare off any nightmare until the next night.

***

She glanced down at her phone. She could call the number, but what is she had already been adopted. What is she wasn't even here anymore? Pepper discarded all those thoughts from her mind. She wanted Tony to get better. She wanted the team to get better. Maybe this would be the answer.

"Hi, This is Pepper Potts," She said. The woman on the other side asked her if she had a specific type in mind. 

Pepper responded saying she needed her to be able to deal with PTSD.

The woman told her that she would need to come it, but she was probably going to love who the woman had picked out.

***

Tony loved surprises. Unless they included driving a long distance. Or they were set together by Pepper. 

It wasn't like he didn't trust his soon-to-be-wife, but she tended to, well, she was insanely good at knowing exactly what he needed. It was on the verge of creepy how well that woman could read his mind. He really didn't trust himself not to freak out on her. The last surprise that Tony set together made him smile so much that he probably gained more wrinkles than he did when he was watching over his not-really-adopted-but-still-son Peter. That boy always seemed to get in trouble.

"Would you stop freaking out?" Pepper chided, sipping her bubbly water. Tony rolled his eyes under his sunglasses.

"Mind-reader," He muttered. Pepper hit his shoulder jokingly. He turned on his trademark Tony Stark smirk and flashed it her way. She blushed slightly before glancing out the window. 

When Happy finally announced that they were here, Pepper bounded out of the car, not waiting for Happy to open the door. Tony thanked the man quietly and watched Pepper greet the woman who was holding a leash. The woman motioned for Tony to approach. As he did, he could hear pieces of the words that the two women were saying. 

Dog. PTSD. Depression. Get Better. Help.

It certainly didn't take a genius to figure out where they were. 

"This is Georgie," The woman said, motioning to a black lab who's tail was tucked in between its tails. Pepper turned towards the dog and frowned. This dog certainly didn't look like it could help. She needed something more energetic. A dog that could keep up with Tony.

She didn't notice that her soon-to-be-husband had slowly started to pet the dog. He brushed her soft short hair with a reassuring hand, trying to let her know that she wasn't in any danger. Slowly Georgie warmed up to the billionaire, licking his palm softly. 

Tony glanced back at Pepper with a brilliant smile, not holding back any of his happiness. Pepper met his eyes, realizing that she had never truly seen Tony this way. He was at peace. He was happy. She tried to look away as mist clouded over her eyes. 

She was not going to cry. 

The woman handed her some documents. As Pepper looked them over, she could understand why the two had connected so well. The dog had been abused by its former owners. Whenever new owners tried to pet her she would try to run away or slink into a corner. 

She was not going to cry.

Pepper pushed the papers back into the woman's open arms, who gave her the leash.  Tony slowly brought the dog to the car, where Happy stood, smiling slightly. It seemed as though the dog brought happiness in everyone she met if given the chance. 

***

The next day -after all the team met Georgie- Pepper had posted a picture of Tony, Georgie, Bucky, and Loki all snuggled together watching a Disney.

The caption she had written under it definitely seemed to knock some sense into the general public:

All you haters say that they are heartless. Might want to fact check that.