Chapter Text
Working with Darcy had its perks, Tony came to realize. The two had a lot of fun at work and rarely got too stressed.The duo spent their time gossiping about events of earlier days and they, sometimes quite literally, spilled tea. Nearing closing time, they always packed leftovers of Darcy's pastries in small containers which Darcy would leave at the local homeless shelter on her way home. Occasionally, if he had time to spare, Tony made kettles and kettles of tea and let Darcy donate that as well.
They always closed on a happy note and said their goodnights with smiles on their faces. But, there was one problem: Bruce.
Before Tony and Darcy decided to work together, Tony had talked to Bruce in the morning before opening, during his breaks when he could afford to sneak upstairs and have a brief conversation with him and after closing. It was his favorite time of day. He always felt as if a reward for such a productive day was a good long conversation with Bruce. He was, as everyone else, very fond of rewards so it was only natural that he held midnight talks with Bruce so close to his heart.
After closing, Tony always made sure he thoroughly cleaned the shop. Indubitably, Bruce was with him through the entire process. That being Tony's dearest time, he dragged the cleaning as long as possible, even with Bruce's inconspicuous help. He was aware Bruce had caught onto his scheme a long time ago, but Bruce still played along until hours had passed since closing and Tony was in need of sleep.
All of that, their little schedules, were interrupted by Darcy's arrival and while Tony was eternally grateful that she had agreed to work with him, he still missed those snippets of his private life he could sneak into his professional one. Darcy was a joy to work with, she always let him eat cookie dough; whenever she messed up a batch, Tony was there to clean the plate and if there was a time when Darcy was unsure whether she did the recipe correctly, Tiny volunteered to play lab rat and tasted it.
In return, Tony would make her a fresh cup of coffee in the morning before she came, despite having a strict no-caffeine rule in the shop.
He loved his job even more because of her, but his private life, the one he lived the least and yet it mattered to him the most, was suffering because of that.
Tony and Bruce's morning meetings were cut short by Darcy who would drag herself into the shop with what little strength she had and reach out for a hot cup of coffee waiting for her on the counter. She'd always comment how Tony ought to warm the place up before opening. Tony never let her know that prior to her entrance, the place had been warm. Bruce always either left when Darcy arrived or his mood simply dropped. Tony didn't know which one he wanted to be true.
He could barely sneak up to his room because the number of customers rose immensely since they merged their businesses and his presence was very much-needed. The doorbell above the entrance rang so many times in an hour that Tony at some point thought it was somehow broken.
After closing, Darcy insisted on staying to clean the shop and it took a big amount of begging from Tony to get her to leave so she wasn't too tired to drive home. Only then could Tony exhale loudly, releasing some of the exhaustion caused by a productive day. As if the exhale was an invitation for conversation, pressure could be felt on Tony's wrist.
Lately, their conversations had been dry and forced. Too many how-are-yous and how-was-your-day questions that brought nothing new to the table. Being in each other's presence was comfortable, but Tony craved more. He longed for days when a simple talk with Bruce was the highlight of his day merely because it was Bruce he was talking to.
It made him even more exhausted. The shop was at its peak, his hands were dry from all the dishes he had to wash in one day and because of his lack of free time, he never had time to take a visit down the street to the cosmetics store for hand cream. Despite his fatigue, he had trouble falling asleep. His eyelids drooped from late afternoon until late at night, but closing them never solved the problem. He would turn left and right throughout the night as his mind was busy with trying to figure out his situation with Bruce.
He knew every friendship went through a so-called dry spell and that it was a natural way to either strengthen the relationship or let it fade away. The possibility of letting whatever he and Bruce had dwindle to a trickle created a lump in his throat. He wished he could scream to let out his frustrations, but he was constantly confined to the small space that was his shop. It felt like a prison. He hated his guts for letting this happen, letting himself grow resentful of the place which introduced him to Bruce who seemed to be his only silver lining at this point.
It made him wonder if he would have become this tired of his job sooner had it not been for Bruce.
Even though Bruce was mostly mute at times Tony needed him the most, he still let his presence be known in situations when he noticed Tony was close to losing it.
Sometimes, new customers who had just discovered the place annoyed him with their overly complicated orders and just as he was about to let sarcasm take the conversation over, Bruce flickered the fairy lights, diverting Tony's attention. It worked for the time being, but Tony frequently wondered why Bruce was using inanimate objects to communicate after months and months of talking with the help of temperature and pressure. Those small moments of Bruce somewhat reaching out made Tony yearn for Bruce's presence even more. He wanted to be satisfied with Bruce flickering the lights every now and then, but he simply couldn't.
It was like having a favorite season. Your favorite was autumn and even though you had to go through 9 months of different seasons to finally experience autumn again, you never chose a different season as your favorite just because autumn wasn't going on at the time. You patiently waited for autumn to come around.
Therefore, Tony wasn't going to be content with current circumstances. However, unlike with seasons, Tony didn't have the comfort of knowing whether the past state of their relationship was ever coming back. It was taking a toll on his work performance and his overall state, but he was determined to wait for things to smooth themselves out. They had to.
"Tony, stop hiding beneath the counter," Tony hears Rhodey sigh above him.
Tony is underneath the bar, glaring daggers at the sink pipes, trying to calm himself down. "Actually," he hears Rhodey drop from the bar stool and go behind the bar. "Stop hiding in this shop," Rhodey tells him and crouches down next to Tony who's too stubborn to get his head out and face him. "When's the last time you went out?"
Tony decides to keep his cool as he finally faces Rhodey, but the moment Rhodey places a hand on his shoulder and says:"Are you okay?", Tony loses it. He flinches at the touch and his face twists into a grimace, resulting in Rhodey's expression going from concerned to slightly frightened.
"I'm calling Pepper," Rhodey says, leaving no place for arguments. He stands up, pulls Tony up as well and fishes his phone out of his jeans pocket. He spares a look at Tony who looks too tired to even fight him. He has no explanation for his earlier reaction nor does he plan on thinking of one so he just turns his back on Rhodey and starts making tea. No one ordered any, but it doesn't even matter to him anymore.
When he puts a kettle full of water to boil on the stove, he puts his hands above it so he can feel the heat waving off it. It reminds him of Bruce all too well. He keeps doing it as a reminder that he'll feel Bruce's warmth on him again, soon, someday.
"Hey, Pep, you're needed," Rhodey says to the phone. "It's Tony, he, uh, he needs you."
A snort escapes from Tony's mouth. If only Rhodey knew what he really needed.
"Come as soon as you can," Rhodey proceeds. "Okay, see you then, bye." Rhodey slides his phone into his pocket and turns to Tony. "Make Pepper tea, she'll be here soon."
Tony merely nods, grabs a green tea teabag and waits for the water to boil enough. It dawns on him that all that he's been doing lately is waiting. Wait for Darcy to come in the morning, wait for the water to boil, wait for customers to finish so he can clean their table, wait for Bruce to embellish his days again.
When Pepper arrives not long after, she first grabs her cup of tea, takes a sip and then looks straight at Tony and goes:"Talk."
Tony, who's sat behind the bar and looks utterly bored just does a half-hearted wave at her and says:"Hi."
Pepper puts down her teacup with force and leans on the bar with her elbows. "I'll need more than just a one-word sentence, Tony."
"Hi there," Tony says and yawns.
"Tony," Pepper says and stares at Tony even harder.
Next to them, Rhodey drops his head into his hands. "Can you not bicker? I don't think you have the strength for it, Tony."
Tony glances at Rhodey to reply with a biting comment, but Pepper catches his attention before that with:"We've noticed you’ve been looking exhausted for weeks now. Care to explain why?"
"Work," Tony responds and although not even an ounce of him believes that Rhodey and Pepper will let him off the hook with that, he still lets himself hope. It's the nicest feeling he's had in a while.
"Why don't you hire another waiter?" Rhodey asks and looks around the loud shop. "God knows you've needed help ever since you started working with Darcy."
"Don't have the money," Tony answers.
"Bullshit," Rhodey says so fast that both Tony and Pepper are slightly startled. "You don't spend money on anything besides your shop. Both you and Darcy have excellent sponsors and your business has been nothing but blooming. I know you have money."
"He has a point, Tony," Pepper butts in. "Hire a waiter and rest a little."
"I'm fine, thanks," Tony says and in that moment a customer walks through the door. "Now excuse me, I have orders to take."
Pepper and Rhodey share an annoyed look and sigh. "This conversation isn't over, Tony," Pepper tells him, but Tony pretends he doesn't hear her as he takes the new customer's order.
Just as he was about to lock the door after Darcy and endure the lack of Bruce in the shop, someone knocks. For a brief moment, he considers not opening and pretending he's gone to bed, but the lights are still on in the shop.
"Who is it?" he asks, keeping his hand curled around the handle.
"It's us," Rhodey says from the outside. "Let us in, it's freezing out here."
Tony opens the door for the two to hurriedly come in. "What do you want?"
They put away their heavy coats and jump on the sofa in the middle of the shop. "Come sit down," Pepper tells him and pats the seat next to her.
Tony begrudgingly listens to her and does as he's told. He half expects to be hugged or something, but none of them have ever been big on hugs, so he dismisses that thought. Instead, he asks again:"What do you want?"
Pepper smiles. "East or West?"
"What?"
"Choose one," Rhodey elaborates.
Tony furrows his eyebrows. He tries to think of a way this is relevant to their conversation earlier, but his mind doesn't work well after closing. It's used to relaxing with Bruce, not brainstorming.
"Come on!" Pepper ushers him and pokes his shoulder lightly. "Neither of us have the entire night to wait."
He has an entire lifetime to wait, he thinks.
"West," Tony blurts out.
"Excellent choice," Pepper exclaims and pulls out a bunch of leaflets from her purse. "We're taking a road trip to California!"
"Have fun," Tony tells them and forces a small smile. "When are you leaving?"
Pepper's face falls. Rhodey takes the leaflets from Pepper's hands and flicks the back of Tony's head with it. "Don't be dumb, you're going with us as well."
"Guys, I have a job," Tony chuckles.
"So do we, but for the sake of your mental state we've decided to take a week off and take you road tripping," Pepper explains and takes back the leaflets from Rhodey. She opens one, scoots closer to Tony and starts showing him photos of California which are featured on the leaflet. He puts his hand over it to stop her.
"I'm serious," Tony says. "I can't just leave work, who's going to replace me?"
"We've arranged everything, don't worry about it," Rhodey tells him. "The twins and Bucky will take shifts."
"The twins? They've been here once, maybe twice, they don't know the dynamic of the shop," Tony argues. "I mean, maybe Bucky could pull it off, but I doubt the twins are suited for this."
"Don't be like that," Pepper says. "Darcy is close with them, she'll be more than happy to help them if help will be needed."
"No, I don't care, I'm not leaving," Tony sits back and crosses his arms.
"Tony," Rhodey starts. "You need fresh air, you need to see the sun, you need to see something besides the interior of this shop."
Tony stares at the bookshelf across him, stares at Bruce's favorite book at the top shelf, stares at the dust that has been collected on it. He needs to dust that off. He needs to make it like it was before so he when this scarcity of Bruce in his life ends, everything can go to being just like it was. With nothing changed, nothing out-of-place. That's what he needs to do.
"Tony," Pepper puts a hand on his shoulder and squeezes it. "Please listen to us."
He looks at her, really looks at her, looks at her without worrying there's a customer waiting or if there's a table needing to be cleaned. He notices a new line on her forehead, one that wasn't there weeks ago when he still thought his life was getting better. He ought to make fun of that line and then when Pepper purses her lips in annoyance, he can recommend her a face cream or simply offer tea to cheer her up.
"Where did you get that line from?" he asks, staring straight at it.
"From your stubborn ass," she answers and frowns to further enunciate the line. "Now do as we say and everything will be alright."
"Come on, Tony, when's the last time we hung out?" Rhodey asks. "Properly hung out, that is."
It's been months, Tony is well aware of that. And maybe, he realizes, maybe that's what he's been missing all this time. Actual social interaction with actual people who were flesh and blood. It will make the wait less boring, he tells himself as he turns to Rhodey and says:"It's been too long. Let's go to California."
Pepper and Rhodey squeal and high-five each other. "I can't wait!" Pepper beams and opens one of the leaflets again. "We can go see so many things!"
"We're leaving in 2 days, better start packing," Rhodey says as he puts one arm around Tony's shoulders. "And please pack deodorant this time."
A chuckle unexpectedly comes from Tony. "It's been like ten years since that happened, let it go, Rhodes," Tony says and smiles at the memory of him forgetting to bring a deodorant to camp back in high school.
"I can still remember the smell," Rhodey scowls. "I'm pretty sure the whole camp still can."
"Stop exaggerating, it lasted like 2 hours," Tony rolls his eyes. "Pep ended up borrowing me her deodorant."
"And this time Pep will not do that so please pack a deodorant," Pepper interjects while still going through the leaflets.
"Whatever," Tony says and plucks one leaflet out of her hands. "Maybe we can visit a lake so I won't need a deodorant."
"Do you want to pollute waters with your stench?" Rhodey exclaims. "I think not even our miss Pepper I-never-lost-a-case-in-my-career Potts could save your ass from a prison sentence."
"I wouldn't even take his case," Pepper adds and flips a page.