Chapter 15 - Tony Stark:

I wake up in a hospital bed. I see that I am hooked up to a machine to help me breath, my injured leg is casted all the way up to my knee, I see stitches on my left arm (I didn't even know I was hurt there), and I don't have my hearing aids in. I can't hear the beating of my heart, the heart machine I am hooked up to, or the breathing machine. The hospital room is just an eerie silence.

I glance around the room, and see that I am not alone. Pepper looks out the window of the room. She wears something that I have never seen her wear in a public place. Pepper wears a pair of sweatpants and my ACDC t-shirt. She wears a pair of sneakers and her hair is still brushed and perfect. I try to reach my hand out to her, but pain goes through my arm. I feel myself cry out, but I don't hear it.

Pepper turns to face me. Her face is paler than usual, her eyes have dark rings under them, and her eyes are slightly red. She walks over to my side and says something that I can't hear. She repeats it, but I am way to lazy to read her lips. I close my eyes and try to whisper her name, however I honestly have no idea how loud I actually said it. Her hand brushes the cheek that wasn't cut open from my fall and I open my eyes to see her face in front of me.

She brushes her lips on mine for a minute before she pulls away and reaches into the pocket of the sweatpants. I look at her lips as she says, "You need these right?" I look at her hand and pale. My hearing aids are in her hand. I close my eyes and nod. When I open them, she looks slightly angry but she mouths, "How do I put them in?"

I explain and she follows my instructions. "Hello Sir." JARVIS says into my ear, and I breath a sigh of relief. I can hear again.

"Tony." Pepper says and I look at her. "Clearly we have some things to talk about." I nod. "Are you going to start? Or do you want me to?"

"Depends. Are you mad at me?" I ask.

Pepper takes a deep breath and says, "A little bit. But I am more disappointed then mad. And a couple other emotions, but we will address them later. The real question is, do you want to explain yourself, or be asked questions first?"

I pause thinking of the best way to respond. "Questions I guess." I mutter and Pepper sits in the seat next to my bed.

"Okay. Question number one, what the fuck is wrong with you?"

I blink, I was not expecting this question. "Well I am deaf." I say, knowing that she wasn't asking that.

"Perhaps I need to rephrase." Pepper says, slowly, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"There are a bunch of reasons for that." I say, stalling a bit.

"Mind offering some of those reasons?" She asks. Yes she is mad.

"Um. I didn't want to worry you. I-"

She cuts me off right there, "Tony Stark. What do you think worries me more, you flat out telling me what is wrong, or having to guess because you never freaking tell me?"

I never thought of it that way. I freeze looking at her face. "I dunno." is my genius response.

"I will ask you one last time. Why didn't you tell me Tony." Pepper asks. I look into her eyes and I know she knows why.

"You know why."

"Yes I do. But I want to hear you say it."

"I was scared." I say quietly.

"And why were you scared?"

"Because I thought it would make people see me as being weak. I thought it would affect-"

"The way I thought of you? Damn it Tony! For a genius you can REALLY be stupid at times. I will always love you Tony Stark no matter what happens."

"I am honestly surprise that you haven't slapped my face yet." I mutter quietly, cutting her off.

She glares at me before saying, "If you weren't so badly hurt already, I could hurt you even more. Trust me, you are in trouble. You are not allowed into the lab for more than three hours for the next six months."

"But Pep-"

"Don't you 'but Pepper' me" She snaps. Her face than softens an she goes back to the point she was making before, "Tony, no one will see you as weak. If you had told me flat out, I would have been able to help you."

"I was fine." I mutter.

"REALLY Tony? Because according to Bruce, Natasha, and Steve, all of the recent times you have gotten hurt is because of your deafness."

"I was managing."

"When were you going to tell me?"

"I tried a couple of times, but then I decided on our vacation."

"Was there something else you were planning on doing on that vacation?"

"Yes..." I say slowly. How did she find out.

"Because when I sent Bruce to get me some clothes from the house, he brought me some of your clothes too, for when you leave this place. He came upon this." Pepper mutters pulling out a black box, big enough to fit a ring.

"He brought it here to you?" I ask, outraged.

"The doctors weren't too sure that you were going to make it at the time. He figured that me knowing about this would help a bit."

I calm down a but, appreciating his reasoning. "Did it help?"

"Honestly, it just made it worse. Because if you did die, you would have never been able to ask me you-" Her voice is starting to crack and tears are forming in her eyes, so I cut her off.

"They say it is the thought that counts."

Pepper throws me a dirty look.

"What would you have said?" I ask.

"Said at what?" She asks, thinking I am talking about my death. "If you died? I would probably-"

"Not if I died Pepper." I say, reaching out through the pain to grab the box, I open it and say, "What would you have said if I asked you to marry me?"

"I would have said yes."

Thanks so much for reading my fan fiction! This was my first Avenger fan fiction and only my second fan fiction. I am thinking of writing more soon. What do you guys think? Please leave a review on this story and let me know if you would like me to write another Avenger fan fiction.

Thanks again for reading,

-Giraffezmd

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