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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

[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.