The Devil With The Face of an Angel | Irondad, pepperony

Chapter 55

Natasha was returning home in a surprisingly good mood. She hadn't been able to persuade Pepper to return to Tony, but she had spent the whole afternoon with her, helping her with her work. And the change quite benefited her. She was so tired of sitting at Tony's house for days.

"Friday, where are the boys?" she asked, stunned as she entered the quiet, dark house. Tony didn't say anything they shouldn't be here today.

"Mr. Stark is in the workshop and Peter is in his room," she replied, and Natasha walked into the workshop. She knew Peter would not be asleep yet, so she could visit him later. Now she wanted to make sure Tony was okay after Pepper had to cancel their dinner. During the paperwork, she confided to her that she was starting to look forward to dinner with Tony, even though she still didn't know if they would be back together or if he will be with Mary. But then there was a problem in the production division and the chances of her having dinner became slim. In fact, she was still at work when Natasha decided to go home.

"What happened to you?" she blurted out bluntly as she entered the workshop and found Tony in not very good condition. "Did someone die?"

"Yeah, my long-standing relationship with Miss Potts," he muttered under his nose, reaching for a bottle of Scotch so he could refill his glass.

"Tony! Did you really get drunk like that because of canceled dinner?" she sighed and snatched the glass from his hands before he could put it to his mouth.

"But it's not just a canceled dinner, is it? There's a guy in it, too," he snapped, wanting to reach for the bottle as Natasha took his glass, but she was faster and the bottle was out of sight.

"You've had enough if you're talking such nonsense," she said as he gave her a nasty look.

"So nonsense! Just simple truth," he yelled, trying to figure out where his Scotch ended up, but he didn't see it anywhere.

"You two are really incredible. Why are you doing this to each other?"

"Excuse me, but I did nothing! She left us and then goes behind my back with someone else! I'm the victim here," Tony said, half-hurt and half-angry, trying to stand up, but his own legs betrayed him, so he preferred to stay seated.

"Tony, I know it's hard for you, but Pepper loves you and she's definitely not dating anyone else," Natasha tried to convince him. She had last seen him in this state when she had secretly spied on him for Fury, and he was dying back then.

"Sure, and what about the guy from today with whom she was in a very confidential meeting in the cafe. Just at that thought I want to throw up."

"Maybe it's the amount of alcohol you drank. I'm surprised you've kept it all in you for now. Listen to me, Pepper wasn't anywhere today and I know that for sure because I've been working with her all afternoon. She wanted to go to dinner with you, but something went wrong in SI. You know her very well to know that she doesn't leave the job unfinished," she explained, hoping that Tony would stop standing on his ears and stop insist on his crazy version, that Pepper had found someone else. After all, even the blind one had to see how much she loved him!

"Then tell Peter, because he saw something else," he growled.

Natasha paused for a moment. She didn't know what Peter saw, but she was sure it wasn't Pepper. And it also made her wonder what Peter was doing in the coffee shop and whether he was there alone. "I'll definitely talk to him, but trust me. It couldn't have been Pepper."

"You know, when I told Mary to leave, Pepper told me an interesting thing after our breakup. You won't lose what belongs to you. But what doesn't belong to you, you won't hold it. She probably knew what she was saying. She's probably just like Mary. She got what she wanted and she doesn't need me anymore. Just another career bit-"

Splat.

Natasha was as surprised as was Tony, who gave her a shocked look and rubbed the spot on her face where she had hit him. "I know you're hurt, Tony, but never, and I mean it, never, talk about her like that again!" she said in an icy voice. Tony froze and was immediately ashamed. She did not wait for his next words and quickly left the workshop. She understood that he was suffering, but talking about Pepper like that? What if he overdid it with alcohol and called her to tell her all of it? It would be hard to take it back.

On the way to Peter's room, she wondered how to end it all for once. But the only solution she could think of was to lock them in one room and don't let them go until they get back together

"Are you sleeping?" she whispered as she peered into Peter's room. Young Stark lay on the bed in clothes he had apparently been in at school. His eyes were red, which meant he was crying, and Natasha's heart ached at the sight.

"No," he muttered, but he didn't look at her.

"Honey, I think we need to talk about what you saw today," she began cautiously, walking inside.

"But I don't want to talk about it."

"But you have no choice in this because you saw something that didn't happen," she said, and Peter looked at her.

"What do you mean?"

"Tony said something about Pepper and some guy, but that's not possible because she hasn't left the Stark Industries all day."

"But I saw her," he snapped. She was there in all her beauty.

"Peter, she wasn't there," she tried to convince him, but he didn't seem to hear it at all.

"She was there! I wish she wasn't, but she was. I saw her. She was barely a few tables away from me and didn't even notice me," he said, rubbing his eyes to ward off the emerging tears.

"And what were you doing there at all?" she asked when she realized she wouldn't convince him otherwise at the moment.

"I was there to learn. I haven't been able to concentrate lately, so I thought that a change in the environment would help me," he lied, which, of course, Nat knew immediately.

She felt like she was going to look at Mary and find out the truth about their meetings that Pepper was talking about. If this isn't resolved soon between her and Tony, Mary may have an accident in which mysteriously loses her life. She had to admit that Mary was really good, but this game could be played by two.

And she never loses.