The Devil With The Face of an Angel | Irondad, pepperony

Chapter 63

Pepper sat down at the table and took a few seconds to catch her breath while the blonde across from her was watching her in amusement. "I'm so sorry I'm late," she said, reaching for the glass of red wine that Natasha had ordered her in advance.

"No problem, I know how much work you have," she assured her, and Pepper breathed a sigh of relief.

She drank her favorite Cabernet Sauvignon with gusto. But as soon as the strongly spicy taste with tones of black currant touched her taste buds, she realized what she had done. It was a small sip, but she still refused to swallow the red liquid. All she had to do was spit the wine back into a glass in a completely Buranian style.

"Oh, that's- that's actually how the French drink it," she said with a nervous smile the first thing that occurred to her when Natasha looked at her with a question in her eyes. It was clear that she didn't believe her, but after a moment of re-examining her, she probably decided to let it be because she didn't say anything about it. And Pepper breathed a sigh of relief.

"So how was dinner on Saturday? I had to avoid Tony on Sunday, because the way he shone with happiness was blinding," Nat asked with a smile. She, too, has probably been eliminating signs of happiness in recent days. She had Bruce, and her favorite couple would probably be back together soon. Now it would only be better if Mary disappeared and their team got back together.

"Oh, Nat. It was magical! It reminded me of our beginnings and I just confirmed even more that I don't want to live my life without him," she said dreamily and a glowing smile appeared on her face.

"You two belong together, Pepper, I knew that when I first showed up at your place. And you haven't even dated that yet! I just hope that when the wedding comes, you will appoint me as your maid of honor."

"You know, everyone keeps talking about it, but maybe there will never be a wedding. Tony and I never talked about it. Maybe he doesn't want to get married," she told her the facts. If she never gets married, she will be a little sad, but she would never insist on it. The main thing was that they would be together. That was the only thing that always mattered.

"I'll pretend I didn't hear that. But I wanted to ask, did Tony mention the family lunch we could have on Sunday?" she asked, though she knew what the answer would be. But she couldn't be angry with him for forgetting to ask her. Not when they enjoyed a beautiful evening and finally stopped doing the nonsense, which in the final hurt only them. And Peter.

"He didn't talk about anything," Pepper said confusedly, ordering a glass of water from the waiter because she was really thirsty. She had to drink something quickly before she automatically reached for a glass of red wine again.

"I thought we'd have a family lunch."

"The four of us?"

"Actually, five of us. You forgot Bruce," she said, trying not to shine like the sun, but she knew she had lost the fight. She just couldn't help but smile at thought of Bruce, who was back. And he was just hers. She still didn't believe she was so lucky!

"Wait, what? Bruce is back?! Since when?" she asked one question after another.

"Since Thursday. I thought at least Tony told you about that, but I'm not surprised that he didn't. He was thinking only about you," she teased, but Pepper didn't even notice. She kept trying to absorb that Bruce's back.

"Wow, Bruce's back. So we definitely have to organize that lunch. I can't wait to see him. Tony must be so happy about it. And if I'm not mistaken, so are you," she muttered, smiling all-knowingly at the last words.

Natasha was silent for a moment, surprised by her talkative. For a moment, she felt like she was speaking with Peter, not Pepper. It wasn't until a moment later that the meaning of her words came to her. "Was that so obvious back then?"

"Not for everyone, but for me, yes. And I know how you were after his disappearance. I'm sorry you had to go through this," she said regretfully and encouragingly grabbed her hand she had placed on the table.

"It bothered me, but you know me. Anyway, I'm glad he's back. In the sequence of everything we went through, we both decided that we didn't want to waste even a second of the time we had, and now we're kind of together."

"Kinda?"

"We did not talk about it. We're just together," she muttered, shrugging. She didn't want to put a label on what they had between them. It was enough for her to be with him.

"Nat, tell me, and honestly, please. Did Peter agree to that lunch? How is he? Tony didn't want to tell me anything, and Peter doesn't write to me as he used to," she said carefully.

Natasha was surprised at how quickly Pepper's happiness faded. It was gone to the last drop, and Pepper immediately looked sad and torn. Exactly as she had seen her most of the time at work. "We haven't talked about it yet. I don't think I'm the one who should talk to you about this, Pepper. And I don't want to put on you pink glasses because it's bad. It breaks our hearts and we all don't know what's going on in his head. He's still just a kid," she replied softly. She knew it would hurt her, but she couldn't lie to her.

"He doesn't want to do anything with me anymore, does he?" she asked a rhetorical question in a shaky voice. Today she knew why she hadn't been able to control her emotions very well for the last month, but that didn't mean she wouldn't at least try. "God, how long do you think it will take Tony to realize that I am the one to blame that Peter is meeting Mary? That it was me who threw him into her arms," she said, her voice breaking. There was a rush of tears in her eyes, and she knew she wouldn't suppress it anymore.

"Are you all right? It wasn't your fault-"

"I'm not okay, Nat. My first child chose a woman, who never loved him instead of me, and my second child will grow up without a father because he won't want anything to do with me when he realizes it's my fault," she cried, placing her head in her hands. Several people began to turn to them with curious glances, but she didn't care. Her whole world began to crumble again, and this time she wasn't sure if she could save it.

"Your second what?" Nat blurted out in surprise, and Pepper had only now realized what she had said.