aggravating | 8th Command; Voice

There's this old adage, Bargians. Secrets, secrets are no fun. Unless you are a part of one. I'd kind of like to add onto that for a minute. So, uh, bear with me.

There are a few things that yeah, they're supposed to be kept secret. No one and their aunt Martha care about your latest bowel movement or who you had a crush on in the third grade. Seriously, they don't. Unless you're loud, obnoxious, spray tan like hell every chance you have, and get into cat fights over who gets the last can of soda. Those are fine. As are the family secrets, things like divorces, fights. I'm not saying "Spill your guts, Bargites, 'cause it's just not faaaaaaair~!" Those aren't the types of secrets I'm talking about.

I'm talking about the secrets that have to do with someone else. If someone knows something about your future that, you know, might be good to know for your own peace of mind, your own well-being, then hey. What the hell are you keeping it from them for? Because I pretty much guarantee that when they find out - and they will - things will be even worse than you imagined.

And yeah, for the record? Lies of omission totally count.

[Private to Natasha]
Coulson's dead, huh? Or did Rogers leave that out of his debrief?

[Private to Arkady]
Gorgeous, I needed to be drunk yesterday.

[Private to Charles]
Give me a reason to actually keep giving a shit, Prof. Because apparently even if I work to come back to life now, I just die again later.

[Private to Steve]
So. Rogers.

Coulson's dead.

I flew a nuke into space.

Loki's a fucking supervillain.

Game over.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Natasha was her name, then? Pepper files it away for future (possible) use, and she might have continued filing things away, if it weren't for the semi gruesome telling of Phil's death by Loki's hand. Stabbed and bled out... By the look on the woman's face, she obviously hadn't known the details of his death. Just that it had happened.

But things were starting to make sense. It wasn't just because of a broken trust; which really, Tony took enormously in most cases, regardless of however it came off as. Broken trust was practically his murder one. And he'd given Steve a spare arc reactor. Figures that he'd gone and made more. Reasons didn't matter right now though. He'd entrusted a spare to Steve- something he didn't even let Stane touch... And Steve had, intentionally or not, broken that trust. With or without Natasha's help, or blame.]

For starters, you can't get too mad at someone for not wanting to tell you someone you cared about dies in your future. Everyone dies down the line. You'll have a bit of time with him. [But her tone isn't offering the words as a consolation prize, as condolence. Just ... stating a fact.]

Steve would still save your life. I know what he did was wrong, and don't tell me I'm taking his side, because I'm not. Leaving you out of the loop was wrong- on so many levels. But. [She hesitates, searching for the words.] 'Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer'. Maybe that's what they were after with you? Not that I'm any sort of okay with you associating with a lunatic like Loki- but you have to look at both sides of the coin.

[He's still jittery, still just kind of twitching in his chair, fingers drumming against the table, the other hand shifting on his face as he listens, switching positions every few seconds. Unable to stay completely still.]

Besides you, Loki's the only person from back home that's bothered to tell me the truth, Pepper.

Apparently the only people who have an ounce of respect for me are murderers and ... you.

[You know better than to take that as an insult, right? God Pepper if he's ever needed you to understand Stark-ese...]

Loki was the cause of all the problems back home.

[It's spit out- if only slightly. She understands his need for friends, but. She sits herself down on her own end, unable to keep pacing while she talks. And no, she doesn't take it as an insult. She speaks Stark-ese better than anyone on this ship. Even Charles. And he has a major handicap in that area.]

People do respect you. They might have gone about it in a .. really bad way, but they were looking out for you. Maybe not Natasha, but I'm sure she had her reasons. She's a spy, isn't she?

[She rolls out a sigh. What else could she say? There wasn't anything, not really. Not beyond letting him cool down, first.]

[And he has never been more thankful for that skill of hers than he is at this very moment]

Yeah, I get that.

[And he does. That's the problem. He'd legitimately started liking and trusting someone who was a murdering bastard.]

Natasha I get. It's Rogers that- [He's gritting his teeth, grinding them, really] Should have known he'd figure I wasn't worth anything more than bait.

[There's a whole fishing metaphor here, Pepper. But even he's not that bad.]

[To be fair, Loki was... the God of Trickery. It wasn't really all Tony's fault. And by the look on Pepper's face, this is a point she's going to bring up sooner or later.]

He does not think you're bait.

[And this is where Miss Potts actually sounds more than a little stern. The kind of tone you'd never use on your boss without massive cojones. Because for her, it's true. She knows Steve, even just briefly- but she knows enough that that isn't what he'd think. Ever. At all. This was Tony's bitterness and trust issues coming through like a fucking volcano.]

[Most of the time the sternness works. Pepper knows it works. But every now and then Tony gets blinded by his own issues, by the situation. But what he thinks is happening more than what is happening.

And this is just one of those times]

They knew he was a murderous psychopath from the start. They wanted information out of him. I was the one he latched onto. They decided the best way to get information on Loki was to keep me in the dark and see what came of it.

How is that not being bait, Pepper?

8th Command; Voice

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