Strength (A Steve Rogers Tony Stark Love Story)

Chapter 2: The Letter

Tony stumbled home shouting obscenities as he rode the elevator up to his top suit. He all but fell out as the doors opened to said floor. Using one hand to support his drunk, dirty body leaning on the frame and the other being occupied by a bottle of half-drunk whiskey. He pushed forward, bounding in not entirely graceful. He stumbled down the short two steps of the top floor in the avengers tower taking another quick swig. He swayed as he drained the contents.

He over-dramatically looked around the spinning room. It was almost pitch black except for the soft glow of lights from the thriving city bursting through the windows around him and the lightly lit bar catching his eye. He unsteadily made his way to the minibar, attention fixed on the full bottle of scotch. But as his feet stumbling once again meeting the stairs his intoxicated balance couldn't handle it. Tripping and falling flat on his face, hands to delirious to come focus on the pavement coming rapidly into view.

"DON'T FUCKING TRIP ME AGAIN YOU LITTLE SHIT!" Tony yelled at the stairs, and as the whiskey he threw at his "opponent" smashed into little pieces his rage grew more and more.

"Sir, might I suggest you go to bed and stop yelling at the floor?"

"Don't you fucking tell me what to do JARVIS. You unreal piece of- of..." Tony screeched at JARVIS as he swiped his arm across a nearby table. The same one that he kept all the blueprints on when he worked with Pepper to rebuild Avengers Tower. Tony was swaying back and forth, stepping over papers and folders along the way while he tried to complete his sentence. But something caught his eye. Something he had never seen before. An envelope, just a plain, white envelope with Tony written on the front. "Pepper?" Tony whispered in a weak and saddened voice as he recognized the precious writing on the front.

Tony dropped to his knees, the friction of the scattered papers sliding him slightly forward. He picked up the envelope, slowly raising it to eye level with his shaking drunk hands.

Tony was torn. He didn't want to open it, even the slightest memory of Pepper would send him into spiraling torment and depression, but he wanted to know what it said. What she wanted the last thing she tells him to be. He tore open the thin paper, not bothering to open it the way he should.

"Would you like me to read it sir?" JARVIS asked, noticing Tony's hesitation to unfold the paper.

"No JARVIS, I can do it." Tony said, claming his voice. He knew that Pepper would want him to calm down. So he did. For her.

He felt his thumb glide over the paper, undoing the first fold then going to the second. He held his breath as he smoothed out the folds. Which in retrospect wasn't the best idea given the amount of alcohol he had in him made him lightheaded from the lack of oxygen. Tony squinted at the paper, trying to get the moving doubles to come together. When he finally managed to hold himself together just enough to be able to make out the words on the page, he took a deep breath and started to read.

Dear Tony,

I figured this whole thing was a trap, with Maya. She wouldn't show up now of all time to tell us she

might know the Mandarin and to ask you for help. So when she was in the shower I wrote this and

sent it to AT. If you got it, I wasn't there to take it. And if I wasn't there with you after all of this, well

you know. I just want to tell you that I love you so much. And I could've gotten used to that bunny.

Anyways, if I am in fact gone, I want you to know I want you to be happy. You can be happy. Don't