IronMan. "These Toys"
Title: Toys-in the end.
Fandom: Iron Man, Movie verse
Characters/Pairings: Pepper/Tony, Pepper Potts, Tony Stark, Happy Hogan.
Rating: PG for a bit of language.
Genre: Introspection.
Summary: Pepper Potts hates military functions. She feels like an accomplice to a crime half of the time. The other half of the time she feels like a babysitter to a man who doesn’t realize that in the end they’re all just toys.
Notes: …half Babysitter and half accomplice. That’s pretty much where girls come into the equation with most of the world. Am I right?
Half the time at these conferences she feels like an accomplice.
They are men who are by default the masters of the universe. They wear bright shiny buttons proclaiming this fact to all who stand around them. They mean something (Tony explained it once) but she’d let it in one ear and out the other. They are boys given powerful toys, and they serve only as trophies for one boy to point out to another. There is little difference, she thinks, watching a soldier try unsuccessfully to charm one of the few other females at this gathering (a senator, she thinks) by picking out a flag.
Flag pin or firing arm recognition, there is little difference between a bit of gold and something like a snake skull or a pigeon shot with a bb gun. By default masters of the Universe. She felt like screaming.
There was Thunderbolt Ross regaling a group of old pelicans with a war story, a cigar in his mouth spewing ash into the sky like mount Vesuvius. Even the ones who looked harmless-like that Doctor Bruce Banner-were ensconced with other males probably trying to pick out other symbols to set themselves apart.
All this talk, all this pomp and circumstance for the biggest game of all. Pepper Potts closes her eyes and fights off an incoming headache. The biggest player is coming over, the double roller-the one holding park place and Broadway himself. Mr. Parker Brothers-Tony Stark.
He pats another cronies on the back and sends him off, “…you look glum.”
“Too much wine.”
“There is a lie if I’ve ever heard one.” The momentary concern doesn’t fool her. He stares at her, intense, “…Pepper?”
She shakes her head. This is a dinner to honor a man for designing a weapon that would make them the biggest king on the hill. It felt as though the world were standing atop a massive mountain with all the countries and all the people struggling to make it to the top.
She shook her head, “…I’m tired.”
“…It’s almost over. I’ve got some kind of award-ridiculous really then we ah-adjourn for drinks. Or they adjourn. I’m getting sick of it.”
Hope kindles like a brief flame. A single ember ignites ash. It flickers in Pepper Potts’s heart. As the big player he could stop the game any time he chose, he could take away all the pieces. They would bluster and they would scream but in the end what could they say? He was Anthony Stark.
His was the final word, the polished bit of gold born in his highbred mouth, the biggest dead bird, and the biggest skull trophy. By virtue of birth and blessings from unforeseen and probably smiling god he was king of the steppe they’d reached in their quest for the top of the mountain.
And the thing was, he’d sounded so serious. She studied him, tilting her head to the side as she found herself looking down the end of her well manicured nails, “. Sick?”
“Yeah, of the whole process you know? Sometimes I wish it’d just stop-“
The ember turned into a glow.
“Stop completely. The whole machine. It’s been going for so long now what’s the whole goddamn point? Are people that needy that they need to acknowledge every little goddamn thing? Do they need to pick it apart with their teeth? I mean c’mon, we’re not monkeys grooming each other-looking for grubs. Am I right?”
It generated heat.
She could raise her head in public. She could speak to her mother again. People wouldn’t look at her weirdly when they saw the Stark industry sticker on her car. By god it would be hard but she could make it work and Tony-Tony-
He did not look a player anymore. He looked more of a man then the rest of then, false bravado and swagger. No, here was a figure that could be different-make real strides! That was what a woman wanted!
His conviction tore at her, “…you look like you agree.”
She nodded mutely, “The whole thing is ridiculous.”
“…Glad we’re in agreement. So if General Ross wants to throw another party like this you can tell him we disincline to come okay?” He patted her on the shoulder, “Excuse me, I think that’s my cue.”
The music was picking up as the flame in her heart sputtered out. The man degenerated into a little boy again with the biggest pile of toys standing at the podium. She cursed herself for believing him. That was Tony Stark, highbred genius born without any idea of the world he lived in.
She shook her head. One of the Senators leaned across the table to stare at her, “Are you all right?”
“It’s the wine.”
A sympathetic, if somewhat shrewd nod as she put a hand to her head. Tony, thankfully, was not one for big speeches.
----------
“Give him some time to grow up Miss Potts.”
He’s in the house and she’s staring at Happy like he has corn growing out of his cauliflower ears, “…What?”
“…Just give him some time to grow up.”
Tony did march to the beat of a different drummer and he had shown compassion before. The potential to make real strides was there it would just take…something.
Something might not come, but Pepper Potts had been a personal assistant for a very long time, she could afford to wait for something. Something was a click of the mouse a change in the wind or another man taking fortune into his own hands and setting aside his toys to accomplish something real.
Why do you want it to be him?
Tony insisted that they stop at a video game store to purchase something. He didn’t want to play with this “Wii”; he wanted to take it apart to see how it worked. She finds him spread out on a worktable bench completely oblivious to them all.
He really was just a child.
She could only hope that he would stand up, be the man she suspected he could be if pushed before he did something stupid with the toys he held.
Fandom: Iron Man, Movie verse
Characters/Pairings: Pepper/Tony, Pepper Potts, Tony Stark, Happy Hogan.
Rating: PG for a bit of language.
Genre: Introspection.
Summary: Pepper Potts hates military functions. She feels like an accomplice to a crime half of the time. The other half of the time she feels like a babysitter to a man who doesn’t realize that in the end they’re all just toys.
Notes: …half Babysitter and half accomplice. That’s pretty much where girls come into the equation with most of the world. Am I right?
Half the time at these conferences she feels like an accomplice.
They are men who are by default the masters of the universe. They wear bright shiny buttons proclaiming this fact to all who stand around them. They mean something (Tony explained it once) but she’d let it in one ear and out the other. They are boys given powerful toys, and they serve only as trophies for one boy to point out to another. There is little difference, she thinks, watching a soldier try unsuccessfully to charm one of the few other females at this gathering (a senator, she thinks) by picking out a flag.
Flag pin or firing arm recognition, there is little difference between a bit of gold and something like a snake skull or a pigeon shot with a bb gun. By default masters of the Universe. She felt like screaming.
There was Thunderbolt Ross regaling a group of old pelicans with a war story, a cigar in his mouth spewing ash into the sky like mount Vesuvius. Even the ones who looked harmless-like that Doctor Bruce Banner-were ensconced with other males probably trying to pick out other symbols to set themselves apart.
All this talk, all this pomp and circumstance for the biggest game of all. Pepper Potts closes her eyes and fights off an incoming headache. The biggest player is coming over, the double roller-the one holding park place and Broadway himself. Mr. Parker Brothers-Tony Stark.
He pats another cronies on the back and sends him off, “…you look glum.”
“Too much wine.”
“There is a lie if I’ve ever heard one.” The momentary concern doesn’t fool her. He stares at her, intense, “…Pepper?”
She shakes her head. This is a dinner to honor a man for designing a weapon that would make them the biggest king on the hill. It felt as though the world were standing atop a massive mountain with all the countries and all the people struggling to make it to the top.
She shook her head, “…I’m tired.”
“…It’s almost over. I’ve got some kind of award-ridiculous really then we ah-adjourn for drinks. Or they adjourn. I’m getting sick of it.”
Hope kindles like a brief flame. A single ember ignites ash. It flickers in Pepper Potts’s heart. As the big player he could stop the game any time he chose, he could take away all the pieces. They would bluster and they would scream but in the end what could they say? He was Anthony Stark.
His was the final word, the polished bit of gold born in his highbred mouth, the biggest dead bird, and the biggest skull trophy. By virtue of birth and blessings from unforeseen and probably smiling god he was king of the steppe they’d reached in their quest for the top of the mountain.
And the thing was, he’d sounded so serious. She studied him, tilting her head to the side as she found herself looking down the end of her well manicured nails, “. Sick?”
“Yeah, of the whole process you know? Sometimes I wish it’d just stop-“
The ember turned into a glow.
“Stop completely. The whole machine. It’s been going for so long now what’s the whole goddamn point? Are people that needy that they need to acknowledge every little goddamn thing? Do they need to pick it apart with their teeth? I mean c’mon, we’re not monkeys grooming each other-looking for grubs. Am I right?”
It generated heat.
She could raise her head in public. She could speak to her mother again. People wouldn’t look at her weirdly when they saw the Stark industry sticker on her car. By god it would be hard but she could make it work and Tony-Tony-
He did not look a player anymore. He looked more of a man then the rest of then, false bravado and swagger. No, here was a figure that could be different-make real strides! That was what a woman wanted!
His conviction tore at her, “…you look like you agree.”
She nodded mutely, “The whole thing is ridiculous.”
“…Glad we’re in agreement. So if General Ross wants to throw another party like this you can tell him we disincline to come okay?” He patted her on the shoulder, “Excuse me, I think that’s my cue.”
The music was picking up as the flame in her heart sputtered out. The man degenerated into a little boy again with the biggest pile of toys standing at the podium. She cursed herself for believing him. That was Tony Stark, highbred genius born without any idea of the world he lived in.
She shook her head. One of the Senators leaned across the table to stare at her, “Are you all right?”
“It’s the wine.”
A sympathetic, if somewhat shrewd nod as she put a hand to her head. Tony, thankfully, was not one for big speeches.
----------
“Give him some time to grow up Miss Potts.”
He’s in the house and she’s staring at Happy like he has corn growing out of his cauliflower ears, “…What?”
“…Just give him some time to grow up.”
Tony did march to the beat of a different drummer and he had shown compassion before. The potential to make real strides was there it would just take…something.
Something might not come, but Pepper Potts had been a personal assistant for a very long time, she could afford to wait for something. Something was a click of the mouse a change in the wind or another man taking fortune into his own hands and setting aside his toys to accomplish something real.
Why do you want it to be him?
Tony insisted that they stop at a video game store to purchase something. He didn’t want to play with this “Wii”; he wanted to take it apart to see how it worked. She finds him spread out on a worktable bench completely oblivious to them all.
He really was just a child.
She could only hope that he would stand up, be the man she suspected he could be if pushed before he did something stupid with the toys he held.