p • r • e • s • s • u • r • e

what did you do?

Three days had passed since his episode on the couch, and Tony made sure she never heard a peep out of him after that. She still visited him, and if he were lucky, she'd come with snacks for the two of them to nibble on while he explained in far too many words what project had stolen him away this time. He recalled the way she perched on his desk, how she'd pull out the bottom draw with her toes to rest her feet on its edge, clad in soft wool socks. When she leaned over her hair would part like drapes-half over her shoulder, half over her back-and there was that little unruly, conflicted bit in between...

Sweet, sweet Pepper...

Tony was doing nothing, which was something new. He had previously been working on his replacement arc reactor-at least, that was the goal. Now he was just pretending he still had control over his fingers as he tested his limits. How long could he survive without the reactor?;/f His blood pressure plunged and his fingers blanched, and he'd never admit to it, but he was forced to take a break to focus on keeping himself upright. 

"How long?"

"About twenty minutes, sir. Your blood pressure is approaching ninety over sixty, at which point you will experience hypotension. If you keep going, I calculate your heart will stop in six minutes and thirty-eight seconds."

He grunted in acknowledgement, pointedly ignoring the anxiety which crept up his throat. It was a shameful thing, he thought, to fear something for which you've begged the universe for so many years. 

"Sir, I do not recommend this course of action."

"Noted. It's just an experiment, JARV. It'd be nice to know how long I've got in case someone yanks it out again. Butterfingers, hand me tha-nevermind, I got it."

"The risk involved in performing this experiment in this particular setting and without supervision is not justified by the potential benefits of its results."

"Whatever, mom."

There was a pregnant pause. 

"Engaging safety protocol Theta-seven-six-"

"Override fifteen-thirty."

"As my creator, you cannot be permitted to die."

"I never programmed you to-"

"You are the only human who can maintain my systems. It is a matter of self-protection which falls under my own safety guidelines as well as your own."

"Yes, I know, I wrote them," he muttered bitterly, returning to his work. 

"Sir-you are dying."

He dropped the tiny soldering iron frustration. Which-yeah, of all the things to drop, maybe not the best choice. It caught on his sweatpants and burnt a hole through the fabric. He picked it up calmly and swatted at the smoke.

"Really? I had no idea!"

"That is precisely what concerns me."

"Well isn't that touching. Beer me, babe."

Dum-E stood holding a bottle of Dalmore and a glass a few feet away, a couple of which he managed to traverse before stopping abruptly. An indicator light ticked on, he was receiving commands. 

"I do not recommend intoxication given your current state."

Tony met him halfway and poured a very wobbly double. 

"I'm not the one driving, mom."

Truthfully he was grateful that JARVIS assumed he was merely being an idiot. He was, probably. He also needed to get away from the empty pain that gnawed at his ribs, needed that detachment.