From The Dark | Peter Parker x OC ✔️

Chapter Sixty-Eight

A/N: Writing this chapter made me nearly cry. I think it's the first chapter without Adelaide, but honestly it's not even the part about Adie that made me cry :(

Also, thank you for all the birthday wishes!!! It still hasn't hit me that I'm an adult yet. Any day now...

For now, be prepared to cry again :)

————————————————————
"I'm not a bad person.

I just had bad luck."
————————————————————

This was the second time Pepper was here within the past week.

The first time, she was here because she was worried. And now she was here to make it go back to the way it was. Well, almost.

For three months, things had been a wretched mess. Everything that had made sense before didn't anymore. Pepper had thought that nothing could have torn Tony and Adelaide apart, but she had been wrong. It only took one mistake for everything to crumble.

Even the strongest of relationships could be delicate.

For three months, everyone had quietly suffered. Pepper had busied herself with the company, hoping that things would go back to the way they were on their own.

Adelaide had spent the first month like a zombie. Alive, but not really alive. After the first month, she gave up all hope of Tony ever coming back for her. And then the anger seeped in. Little by little, she noticed her patience waning and her frustration growing. Even small things like stubbing her toe made her want to hit or break something. Subconsciously, she had decided that if she couldn't have Tony, she couldn't be happy.

And Tony was a mess. He made jokes to mask his depression. Tinkered to keep himself busy. Avoided everything and anything about Adelaide like the plague. He hadn't been in her room for three months. Sleep was unknown to him at this point and the nights where he missed her too much, he went to the lab and didn't go back to sleep. Each day, he remembered what he had seen her do to his parents. And each day he convinced himself that he had done the right thing.

Pepper found the billionaire in the kitchen with his head in the fridge, waiting for another beer to magically appear.

Pepper cleared her throat.

"Ah, Miss Potts," he said, standing up straight. He glanced inside the fridge. "I'd offer you a beer, but..."

"I'm fine without one," she said, leaning against the countertop. She put her purse and phone down on the island.

"What can I do for you today?" he said, rummaging the cabinets. There was nothing but expired soup cans and box of sun-dried California raisins. Tony grabbed the box, opening it up and popping one into his mouth. They were a bit stale but tasted better than the beer and pizza he had had for dinner for the last five nights in a row.

"I need to talk to you," she said, watching him as he turned around and walked out of the kitchen. She grabbed her purse and followed after him.

"Then talk to me," he said, walking downstairs to his lab. She followed him into the lab which, if she hadn't known better, would have guessed was a beer factory from the smell alone.