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[daretodo]

By now I know the drill. I'm on a strict order of bed rest for the ten days proceeding my surgery, which seems about as long as an overnight trip compared to my last stay in the clinic, a fact I try to focus on as I shift once again on the cramped, uncomfortable mattress. It's not like the bed back in mine and Mary Jane's hut is all that much better, really, but its location is infinitely preferable, surrounded by warm, wooden walls, all of my personal belongings, and most importantly, natural daylight. That it easily accommodates two is another point in its favor, but that particular train of thought just threatens to depress me more -- I'm a newlywed and I can't even sleep in the same bed as my wife. While I undoubtedly have bigger concerns, that's the one I keep circling back around to in my few moments alone.

I nearly lost my life to a man who probably could care less about me, and I did it at the expense of Mary Jane's happiness -- and for what? Some sense of duty, of responsibility? We've only just started our lives together, and I swanned off to play the hero for someone who didn't even want saving, leaving my wife with the all too real possibility of becoming a widow at age twenty-two. God, I've been so selfish lately, caught up in my own personal drama with Johnny's and Sarah's disappearances and Council business and the O.R. that I haven't really been there for the one person who means everything to me. That'll have to change once I'm out of here.

For now, though, I'm left to my own devices, MJ off making lunch for us both. With nothing else to do, I've turned to a battered copy of The Time Machine for entertainment, but I pay attention only to every other sentence, my mind elsewhere entirely even as I turn another page.

Comments

[daretodo]

"It's an actual thing," I confirm with a slow nod. I have no misgivings about the fact that I'm essentially strong arming Stark into this arrangement in a one-man intervention. He's agreed not to die, sure, but that's about it -- this situation is a whole lot more complicated than either of us are stating out loud. "I've never gone myself. I'm not big on sharing -- it's a character flaw -- but technically speaking, I would've been eligible to attend before any of this ever happened. Not because of myself, but... Well, let's just say you're hardly the first addict I've met."

Eyes narrowing in thought, debating with myself whether or not I should even steer us in this direction, I eventually decide to add, "My best friend back home's a recovering alcoholic. He's currently comatose because Norman Osborn force fed him whiskey and put him behind the wheel of a truck. He crashed into the school I worked at. That's... just one example. I'm telling you this to impress upon you the idea that you will not walk over me."

[notawastedlife]

"Thought never crossed my mind," Tony said, with a completely straight face. "...we really have to go with addict? We don't have a better term?"

Better term meaning, really, a different one. If meetings were what it took, he'd attend meetings. He could attend meetings. He attended meetings all the time. Gave speeches. Often he was drunk when he gave the speech, and maybe that wouldn't go down so well in this... particular instance, but he'd do it.

He wasn't big on owing people things, but he owed the guy. He couldn't get around that. He'd do the motions. "No, you're- you get to pick the term."

[daretodo]

"My wife's fond of drunken bastard -- we could go with that instead, if you'd like?" I say frankly, eyebrows lifting.

[notawastedlife]

"Actually not bad," Tony said. Unsurprising, really, and again, not much he could do about that. A lost cause. Either MJ or himself. Probably the latter. "Benefit of familiarity."

[daretodo]

"Unfortunately, cursing's not my style. I like to keep my material family friendly. I have trouble enough with the press as it is," I say, but my mention of Mary Jane brings to mind another dimension to this problem -- namely that I'm pretty sure she wants this man dead, or, at the very least, locked behind bars until that day comes. Were our positions reversed, and she was the one in the clinic bed right now, I have no doubt that that day would've have long since passed. As it stands, I'm a bit more forgiving in terms of bodily harm inflicted on myself. What that says about me, I don't even want to know.

"You're an addict. I'm calling you an addict. The sooner you acknowledge you're an addict, the sooner you -- wow, that doesn't even seem like a real word anymore, does it?" A beat passes, and I roll my eyes, annoyed by my own interjection. "Anyway. I'm doing this -- helping you, that is -- against her wishes. My wife, whom I love more than anything, wants you locked up. If you so much as think about breaking the terms of this agreement, if you relapse, that's the end of the road -- you're in tiki jail, no second chances. I'll wipe my hands clean of any responsibility Pepper saddled me with when she begged me to help save your life, the man she loved more than anything."

[notawastedlife]

"Third chances," Tony corrected, folding his hands in his lap and tilting his head down, eyes angled up on Peter. "I'd say- let's face it, we're probably well past second at this point. Number might be higher. Let's say... further chances. No further chances."

[daretodo]

"Yeah, you've ticked off a lot of people," I say with a mirthless laugh, biting back a wince when I lift my hand to push it back through my hair. Fortunately, there's still enough adrenaline running through my veins from our opening statements that I don't feel the pain as much as I should otherwise.

"Unfortunately for you, I happen to be one of them. I'm not much, here. I get that. Well... some part of me gets that, the part that actually acknowledges I've spent most of the past year unable to walk. But I was angry, so angry, about all the garbage a sentient land mass had put me through the past couple of months for no apparent reason, that when I saw the opportunity for a fight, to do something active against a problem?" I look away, shaking my head a little as I let out a short burst of air. "It's as much my fault I'm in this bed as it is yours. I was stupid. Arrogant. Maybe my heart was in the right place, but my head checked out as soon as you fired that first repulsor -- they're web-shooters, by the way, not... whatever you called them."

[notawastedlife]

Probably not the best time to jokingly shuck some responsibility with that claim of Peter's, even he could recognize that.

"Wrist-ejac- web-shooters, got it. Noted," Tony said. "Those're pretty good, you know, you could've made a killing."

He winced. "Poor choice of- never mind. You weren't that arrogant, that wasn't a bad show. Could've... gone better."

[daretodo]

The compliment comes as a surprise, one I don't bother hiding from my face -- the look I give him easily qualifies as mild shock, my eyes rounding almost comically. I'm tempted to tell him flattery won't get him anywhere, but ultimately choose not to say anything about it. Prompted by his last comment, I lift a hand to gesture towards my chest, as if conceding to his point.

"Wasn't the first time I've gotten in over my head," I say, returning my attention to the opposite wall. "With or without my... Point is, it probably won't be my last, though I'm sure my body would appreciate not having to go up against that suit of yours again anytime soon -- Mark Negative Three or not, that thing still hurts, jeez."

[notawastedlife]

"You know, I started from better tech than your guy, what was he, in the sixties? My Mark Three is probably, like, his Mark 10. Mark 30. Big number-" Tony said, before, as usual, the realization this was not the point to be dealing with occurred to him. "Anyway, I've worked something out. You won't have to. Pepper's in charge of that little countermeasure, though. No offence."

[daretodo]

Again, I fix him with the same flat stare as before, his little outburst not all that surprising. I mean, a remark like that was designed to get a rise. I get on people's nerves -- it's a bad habit of mine, sure, but I can't say it hasn't served me well over the years.

"Water off a duck's back," I say, considering the information he's just given me. My eyes narrow. "But if you wanna start comparing yourself to my guy, saying you started off better and all... Well, my guy would have an override for that little countermeasure of yours. So Pepper can be in charge all she wants, but don't try kidding me. It's a symbolic gesture, nothing more."

[notawastedlife]

"Are we writing off symbolic gestures? I kind of thought- I mean, they're a thing, aren't they? Cornerstone of society," Tony said. "Has to count for something, right? Even if there are... limits. It's not like I'm going to build an EMP into Brodie's hand or something."

[daretodo]

The anger that's been bubbling under the surface all this time threatens to boil over in this moment, but I keep it under control, the pain in my chest enough of a factor to prevent me from doing something incredibly stupid a second time.

"At least you're not denying it," I mutter, though it's not much of a consolation. If he gets it into his mind to pull another stunt like the yacht again, he'll be just as unstoppable as ever. The idea doesn't sit particularly well with me, for obvious reasons. "I'm not writing off anything. Maybe she'll appreciate it, I don't know, but I'm the one who has to deal with you if you go off the deep end again, so I have every right to call you out. You have power, Stark, and a lot of it. But so far you've shown zero responsibility for it. Coming in here, apologizing... It's a start, but that's all it is. A start. Hopefully you'll be around long enough to see it through, but don't think I'm without my doubts you'll even stay out of jail. So prove me wrong. Guy like you, you'll like a challenge."

[notawastedlife]

Yeah, people telling him who he was sure never got old. Peter got more of a pass on it than he usually gave, though, on account of... well, everything, at that particular moment.

He gave Peter a tight smile. "Will do, sponsor. So, I can leave now, right? No tiki jail, conditional on... the conditions?"

[daretodo]

"One more condition: stay the hell away from wife," I say, even as I give a quick nod. "Go. Scram. Get outta here. But next time I see you, you better be working on that replacement element. Don't think I won't be checking up on you."

[notawastedlife]

"Waaay ahead of you," Tony said, standing up, "on the... wife front. All right, I'm out. Don't pick any fights."

Right, then. Next up, Pepper. Which was its own minefield.