Pepper's Forceful Advice (Avengers Fanfiction)

25

Tony had called for a 'family dinner', everyone was sitting around the table with plates full of food. Tony looked exhausted, he hadn't slept much since the mission in Montana.

He'd come back bloody and his suit had been completely destroyed. Which didn't help his anxiety, he'd been constantly waken up by nightmares since. More so than usual.

I sat at Tony's feet, so he passed me a piece of whatever every once in a while.

"So why are we having a family dinner?" Clint asked bluntly as he took a bite of his food.

"What? We can't just all hang out and eat?" Tony tried to joke. His tone fell a few hairs short of normal.

I rested my jaw on his thigh and let out a small whine, which caused Tony to move one hand to rub my ear. I wagged my tail softly.

Tony gave a sigh, "I decided that I'm taking a break."

The only sound in the room was the light thump of my tail against the floor.

"I think you should've taken one after the Mandarin a few weeks back," Bruce commented.

"I agree with Bruce, you look exhausted," Steve admitted.

There were hums of agreement around the table. "I'm not completely stopping, I'm still going to build you guys stuff," Tony added, "I just... I need to take a break from the field for a while,".

Natasha spoke up this time, "We understand Stark, you don't need to justify yourself," another round of agreement.

"Take as long as you need Tony," Steve told him with a fond glance before going back to his food.

Tony took his hand away from my ear and fed himself another forkful of grilled chicken. The following days were the most relaxed I'd seen Tony in a while.

It was nice, and the others couldn't agree more.