Work Text:
“Pepper Potts is the Jacqueline Kennedy of our time. Well dressed, poised for success, and gracious in the face of grief.”
Happy glanced at the rest of the article and winced. It really didn’t improve from there. Another article to block from Pepper’s access. Happy understood he really did on the importance of staying current on events especially for Miss Potts. However, he still wished they’d leave the gossip column off the front. He heard the tk tk of her shoes and quickly blacked the Stark tablet.
“And how are you this morning Miss Potts?”
“Happy, you know very well I haven’t been Miss Potts to you or well anyone really for a long time. Did you see the newest article?”
Happy sighed, “You saw it?”
Pepper snorted, “I could override almost every command in this house if I wanted to. Tony made sure of that.”
Happy nodded, “Of course you and Morgan were his treasures.”
Pepper smiled, “I know, sometimes I just wish he was here to enjoy us. After all what’s the point in collecting all this treasure, if you aren’t going to stick around long enough to enjoy it.”
“Was that aimed at Tony or Mr. Stars and Stripes?”
“I don’t know both I guess. If the Avengers thought this was worth fighting for, I just wonder that none of them are here to enjoy it. Tony had to do it, I know that. He was the smartest choice and goodness knows they didn’t treat him well while he was alive. It’s dangerous to be called a hero isn’t it? When you get called a hero you get handed the card that you are to be forgotten to be human. A lot of people seem to forget that some superhero’s are just humans. Smart, brilliant, change the world people but human all the same.”
“And Cap?”
Pepper snorted, “He got his happily ever after like a plot from a fairy tale. Sometimes I just have to wonder. Where’s mine? Where’s Morgan’s?”
Happy opened his mouth and then closed it, “I shouldn’t say that.”
Pepper actually laughed, “Can’t be worse than what the press said, now or when he was still alive.”
“One, isn’t parents being gone the foundation of fairy tales?” He noted her head nod and moved on, “Two, Morgan’s fairy tales right now are more focused on getting herself a cheeseburger.”
Pepper sighed, “If the looks and the brain weren’t enough to prove it, that sentence alone would prove she’s Tony Stark’s child.”
“Since when has that been in question?”
Pepper snorted, “Even I know you’re lying right now. You’ve seen all the articles.”
Happy shrugged, “I’m also the guy who carried the engagement ring for years. I know how much you loved him. You had to…”
“Otherwise you’d want to kill him. What I wouldn’t give for that to be the case though.”
Happy sighed, “Why did he agree to do it though?”
“Do what?”
“Trying to figure out how to travel through time.”
Pepper nodded, “Natasha came and asked… At first Tony just wanted to see if it was possible, then when he realized it was, he wanted to put it aside. But when I asked if he’d be able to rest without finishing it…he got back to work. There was this… this picture he kept looking at. It must have been someone snapped away… Who could it have been? Happy, who it could have been?”
“Do you not remember who it was?”
Pepper frantically shook her head, “It’s completely blank.”
Happy pulled up copies of the photos that were in their cabin and helped Pepper scan through them.
“That’s it!”
“Pepper that’s just a picture of Tony.”
“But why would a picture of him encourage him to discover time travel?”
“I don’t know, but I’ll find out for you.”
In a tiny apartment in Queens, a small shiver of something called hope slides over a sleeping Spider Man. After all, being the reason someone invents time travels leaves a mark on a universe, and there are some things even magic can’t erase.