A Family of Flaws

Chapter Fifteen; Walking But Not Talking

If this had happened before (because everything changed when he had his anxiety attack), the walk from his bedroom to the living room would be short, less than a minute. Sure it was a bit of a walk but it was hardly excessive for such a high tech building, especially a high tech building that Tony Stark owned. But after struggling through each day, training himself to act normal again, this was relieving and amazing. He was walking and he didn't feel like curling up and dying.

The water in his head leaked away, sweeping the anxious thoughts along with it. Finally at the corner before the living room, Tony felt his motivation giving out. The final stretch seemed like he was pushing his body to the limits, like he was exhausted from walking down the hallway.

Shaking his head, Tony collapsed onto the couch and savored in the feeling. Something other than his bed or the bathroom floor. Curling up on the couch, having Friday turn on some mindless show for background noise, Tony closed his eyes and let himself drift off. He might not be physically tired but he was mentally exhausted, sleep called to him like a song, and he wanted to listen to it so badly.

All the anxiety of having to talk to the team trickled away, leaving him content on the couch with the television running in the background of his mind. Sleep tugged at his eyes one last time and he finally accepted, letting them slip closed tiredly.

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*Pepper's POV*

  "He was offering a collaboration between Stark Industries and his own company."

  "He looked like he was going to attack you."

  "He's going to sue us because you tackled him in the middle of a conference meeting."

  Happy rolled his eyes from the front seat and came to a halt in front of Avengers Tower, turning around to face Pepper. "Maybe you shouldn't stand around suspicious people." He sassed, turning back around and rolling up the black divider.

  Pepper rolled her eyes as well and climbed out the back seat, grabbing her purse and the many papers that needed to be done by tonight.

  The meeting had been hectic to say the least. It was supposed to be a group of eight people, including Pepper, but it turned out to be a very public matter. Someone had tipped off the media, which meant there was news reporters and plenty of people crowding the outside of the building before Pepper even arrived.

  Then on the inside, the security had allowed multiple other company's inside, their representative's ready to strike up a deal with Pepper the moment she stepped into their line of vision. She had hardly made it to the actual meeting room, where the original people sat, looking just as uncomfortable as Pepper was. And the meeting had started.

  Happy was standing behind Pepper and had escorted her out of the room once the meeting was over, only to lose her in a crowd of companies and sneaky reporters that slipped past security. Though, she singled out one man who she recognized, another large company owner who had wanted to collaborate with Stark Industries, and decided to speak with him.

  Only for him to be tackled by Happy, who was very concerned about her safety apparently.

  So the whole day had been one giant mess after another. Pepper was more than ready to collapse into bed and order takeout with Tony like they had been doing just about everyday the past week. It wasn't healthy, but damn, it had been an exhausting couple of days.

  Going up the elevator, Pepper slipped her heels off and held them in her open hand as she pushed all the papers into her already crowded purse. With aching feet, she wandered out of the elevator without really looking around. Tony hadn't been out and about in over a week by now so when she heard a soft snore echoing from the living room, she nearly ran into the kitchen counter as she laid her purse and papers on it.

  A small seed of anxiety planted itself in the pit of her stomach, pushing her to slowly creep down the hallway and peek around the corner while holding her breathe. And Tony was in the living room. He hadn't even left the bedroom and suddenly he was sleeping in the living room.

  Dropping all thoughts of sleep and paperwork, Pepper skipped into the living room as quietly as possible and poked her head over the couch to really take a look at her fiancé. He was out cold, head to the side, and his limbs all tangled together at random angles that would no doubt make him ache when he awoke. There was a pillow between his arms and a pillow under his one leg and another under his head, though his head was only half on the pillow, which almost slipping off the couch.

  Pepper reached out a hand and brushed Tony's hair out of his face gently, smiling softly as he snuggled deeper into the couch and pillow. She snatched a blanket sitting on the plush chair in the corner and draped it over him before sneaking back into the kitchen and grabbing her purse and paperwork.

  Sitting back in the living room, Pepper began quietly finishing the large stack of paperwork beside the sleeping form of Tony. He didn't stir as the hours dragged on, catching up on the sleep he had been depriving himself of.

  It wasn't until seven p.m. rolled around that Pepper decided to wake her fiancé up. There was no chance of a normal sleep schedule for the night (they never really had one to be honest) but she wanted to make sure he actually ate and drank something before she drifted off to sleep herself.

  Blinking open his eyes with sleepy confusion, Tony sat up looking like a bit of a wreck. His hair stuck out in every other direction and his clothes were wrinkled and crumpled after the long nap.

  Pepper left him to wake up a little more and quickly ordered some pizza, which neither was a big fan of after eating it so often, but it was better than having to wait ages to get anything else. And then she re-entered the living room to make sure the genius didn't fall back to sleep.

  Thankfully, he was sitting up and staring at a television show that she hadn't even realized was playing. "Morning, Tony." Pepper mumbled, hugging him around the shoulders from behind the couch. She buried her face into his hair and breathed in his scent while he chuckled tiredly. "Glad to see you outside the lair." She added sarcastically, relishing in the smirk and chuckle that left the man's mouth.

  "I ordered some dinner." She told him as she let go of the half-hug and walked around the couch to sit beside him. "We can eat and then hopefully we can go to bed."

  Tony sighed and sat back. "If I messed my damn sleep schedule up more than it already was..." He started with a groan, pulling his fingers through his hair. "But it did feel good to finally sleep uninterrupted." Tony admitted, glancing over with another smirk.

  Wrapping an arm around her, Tony pulled her into him. A small blush rose across Pepper's cheeks as she laid against his chest. It was much nicer than she wanted to admit, but the feeling made up for all the shit she had to deal with during the day.

  Looking up, Pepper pressed a kiss to Tony's cheek and then laid her head back against her fiancé's chest with a comfortable sigh, agreeing to watch the nameless television show so long as she could lay like that for a few more moments.