ripped at every edge (but you're a masterpiece) (Hp x Mcu) by Lissy

Chapter 1: met you in a bar

Summary:

Tony meets Hari at a bar.

Chapter title:
So It Goes... - Taylor Swift

Notes:

Timeline:
[x] (2012) The Avengers
[x] (2013) Iron Man 3
[x] (2013) We are here
[ ] (2013) Thor: The Dark World
[ ] (2014) Captain America: The Winter Soldier; Guardians of the Galaxy; Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2
[ ] (2015) Avengers: Age of Ultron; Ant-Man
[ ] (2016) Captain America: Civil War; Spider-Man: Homecoming
[ ] (2017) Doctor Strange; Black Panther; Thor: Ragnarok
[ ] (2018) Avengers: Infinity War

https://66.media.tumblr.com/b666e98be50a588fc507a73de58af45b/tumblr_pl8cgyrwAn1wl5uuxo1_540.png

Nobody's really surprised when Pepper and Tony break up.

It's unspoken, but people have been either expecting Pepper to open her eyes and realize she deserves better than Tony or expecting Tony to crave the freedom of his old lifestyle without any constraints like a relationship to hold him down. Both are rather bullheaded, stubborn to a fault and persistent as hell. In a lot of ways, they're similar.

But in other ways, important ways, they are too different, and this is what eventually tears them apart.

It starts slowly, with Pepper staying at the office later and later to get work done, with Tony not really noticing she's gone. She crawls into a bed that's still cold, that will stay cold when she wakes up because Tony will still be tinkering away down in his workshop, unable to sleep as the nightmares plague him.

There's less intimacy in their interactions, less affection in the way she talks to him.

It takes a while for Tony to realize it. He's so caught up in trying to outwork the anxiety, the paralyzing fear of Earth being overtaken by a force they can't stop, that he neglects her. He doesn't realize how much until she's walking out the door, suitcase in hand, an ultimatum that hits him as sharply as his own fucking missile had back in Afghanistan.

"I don't need Iron Man, I need Tony. Come get me when you find him again."

And it hurts.

Because what she and SHIELD don't seem to understand is that there is no separating the two. Tony Stark wouldn't be alive without Iron Man, and there is no Iron Man without Tony Stark.

SHIELD says, Iron Man: yes, Tony Stark: not recommended.

Pepper says, Tony Stark: yes, Iron Man: fuck no.

They are one in the same, and ultimately, he's not good enough.

He's never good enough.

Tony watches her go, feels such a deep and profound loss as her footsteps get further and further away from him. She's gone, and all he can do for the first few hours is sit on the couch as the sun disappears into the horizon, as the stars come out, and stare blankly at the wall.

JARVIS speaks softly to him, a comforting presence, but he sits there, still, and wonders just what the fuck is wrong with him.

How the fuck did he become his father without him realizing it?

Because this is shit Howard would do. His parents never really fought in front of him, but he's overheard a few conversations between them, and Howard's neglect of his family for work was a primary concern. He doesn't want to be his father, always hated feeling like he would never amount to anything in the eyes of Howard Stark.

And here he is, watching arguably the best thing that ever happened to him walk out of his life. He wants to chase after her, wants to do whatever she wants him to do so long as that means she'll stay by his side.