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THE WORLD AS A WHOLE DIDN'T APPRECIATE COUCHES ENOUGH.
To me, it was the best thing ever invented (sorry Dad, the Iron Man suit is cool and all but have you ever napped on a good couch?) because it was enough like a bed that I could comfortably stay in it all day but not enough like a bed that I would feel bad about staying in it all day.
It was a Saturday morning and I had fully intended to fuse my skin to the fancy Italian velvet and not get up till the sun came up the next day but Dad and Pepper, for some reason, didn't seem to be in the mood to let me.
"Are you not even going to join us for breakfast, Dom?" Pepper said, taking a sip of her sugarless black coffee like it wasn't the most disgusting this to ever exist.
I blinked, shaking my head petulantly. "No," I said as if it was obvious. Dad smiled and winked in my direction, his head and hands engaged with a hologram screen displaying yet another version of the Iron Man suit.
Pepper's eyes fell on Dad's, who, to his credit, looked appropriately afraid of the strawberry blonde tower of horror. He blinked and then cleared his throat. "Listen to your mother," he murmured distractedly, not tearing his eyes away from the screen.
Pepper slammed her coffee cup onto the marble counter with so much force that the cup cracked open and the contents of the cup spilled all over the shiny surface.
I craned my neck to look at her where she sat, her eyes wide and her feet firmly planted onto the floor as if she meant to get up but decided against it midway and now she was just stuck in that position.
She met my gaze and held it for an uncomfortably long amount of time until I finally realized what she was expecting from me. She was expecting a reaction and while I was a pretty big asshole as a kid, I wasn't cruel.
I blinked trying to make some sort of statement that would get the message across but also won't be awkward and warrant a much longer conversation I definitely didn't want to get in to.
Pepper must've read my expression wrong because she shot up to her feet and speed-walked across the room for a rag to clean up her spilled coffee, probably telling herself to just ignore what had happened. Dad's eyes bounced from the screen to Pepper, and then to me.
"But Mom," I said in the whiny tone than I should probably have trademarked by now. Pepper spun around, the rag dropping from her hand as she looked wide-eyed at me. I shot her a casual smile. "It's Saturday!"
She smiled, wiping a couple of tears from her eyes that she hadn't noticed were there and striding forward to pull me into a hug. "Just for today," she whispered in my ear and pulled away, pressing a kiss to my cheek as she did so. I smiled widely and hugged her again before sinking farther into the couch. The smile didn't leave my face for hours afterward.
