so when i wrote Made Your Bed, i didn't have any determinate ending for the question: did they or didn't they. with that, i wasn't intending to do a second piece to follow the one-shot. even while i had reviews asking for a conclusion - i didn't want to. i wanted to leave it as it was.

then somehow, at night, i ended up writing this. it is a Scenario of Sorts that only presents one answer to the question. it is not really MY answer. but it's a VERSION of what could have happened.

that said. it's not the best that it could be, in terms of characterization or even "plot". so i apologize for any cringing that may occur.

Made Your Bed: A Scenario of Sorts
Tony's not really as courageous as people think he is. He just has poor self-preservation skills. A version of a follow-up to Made Your Bed, the fic in which Tony woke up with Pepper in his bed, and the question of what really happened.

By the time Rhodey and Tony return to the Stark estate, Tony has made his semi-peace with what may have happened the Night Before. He hates how it happened, hates that it's a confirmation of things about himself that he's too hungover to really think about right now, but it's happened. And accountability is his lifestyle now.

"Nothing happened."

Pepper's voice is clear, sharp, and cool when the two walk into the living room.

Tony feels like he's that gangly young teenager that would hide behind Rhodey whenever he saw fit - a time when Tony just wanted to hide from everyone looking at him like he was some marvel and while he was a marvel and remains to be a marvel - he wasn't comfortable with all of it quite yet. It was during his early years at MIT. And plus: hormones. He has to actually fight the instinct, to jump back, and push Rhodey in front of him.

"Pepper!" Rhodey says, nervously, "h... Hey! I...just thought I'd drop by."

God, Rhodey sucks at ly-

"Rhodey, you are a terrible liar. He went to you, didn't he? When he woke up?"

Rhodey swallows, "He made me stay on the phone with him as he drove to my place. I was worried as hell, Pepper. But. Uh. Then he...told me-"

"Nothing. Happened."

Tony furrows his brow, wonders if maybe this is the famous Pepper Potts method of deflection at play. That she is just denying what clearly happened because that's how Pepper-

Rhodey's nudging him. And damn Rhodey has a bony elbow. Serious-

"Tony. Do. Not. Space out when I'm talking to you."

"We definitely had sex." Tony blurts out, "...Right? I think we had sex. No. We definitely did."

Pepper narrows her eyes, tightens the line of her lips.

Rhodey has suddenly left his side, opting for a seat far away from him. So much for moral support.

There's a whir behind Tony and suddenly, there's Dummy with a tray - Pepper's favorite mug filled with steaming coffee. She takes it with a warm smile at Dummy, before leaning back against the couch, hands folded around the mug. Tony swallows at the small sliver of leg that reveals itself with her movements, before Pepper covers it up with a shift of her robe.

"Tony Stark. I am telling you - nothing happened."

Tony blinks, "But-"

"As much as Rhodey is a terrible liar, am I any better?"

Tony frowns, noting that - his ability to detect her lying (which really isn't an ability at this point) indicates: no. She hasn't been lying.

"Nothing happened?"

"Nothing happened," Pepper says firmly, though he does note how she's doing that lip thing. And that indicates...something.

Damn - really? No sex? Like. At least some making out? Come on.

"No," she says plainly, "none of that happened either."

Oh. He said that out loud. But wait. There's that lip thing again - Pepper's lying.

"You have such a hangover," Rhodey says with a groan, "and definitely going to die. And then I'll be a witness. Or even an accomplice."

Fuck. He keeps voicing his thoughts.

Pepper only sighs, "Tony. Nothing happened."

Bummer.

She takes another breath, eyes closed, fingers flexing against the porcelain of the mug.

"You have a hangover too? Maybe we did but you don't remember, 'cause I don't remember either. Which is, again, a bummer."

"Even if we did, I would prefer not to discuss this-"

"-nothing, at all?"

"Tony. Shut up. Even if we did, I would prefer not to discuss this with Rhodey in the room."

"I can leave-"

"Nothing happened," Pepper cuts, a sharp look at Rhodey. To which the man actually wilts in his seat. And there's Butterfingers and tray, offering him his own mug of coffee and some french toast.

And damn that bot-girl, she whirs towards Tony with not coffee, but-

Pepper says, "There's a glass of that...green stuff, that you like, for you. No coffee, Tony. Not with your hangover."

"Okay. Fine," he mutters bitterly as he clinks the glass against Butterfingers' arm, "cheers."

Butterfingers just glides back to stand beside her Dummy brother.

Tony moves to sit on the armrest of Rhodey's sofa, (to which Rhodey protests, "Man, don't sit next to me!") "What did happen. 'Cause this is seriously bumming me out."

(He's petulant, he knows. It's just: he was prepared for the worst. And this is not what he was prepared for.)

Pepper glowers at him, "And what would make you feel less 'bummed' out? If something /had/ happ- No. Don't answer that. Look. You got drunk last night."

Rhodey whistles, "Big surprise."

"He wanted to invite you over," Pepper looks to Rhodey again, "but you didn't answer your phone. And lately, Tony's been so popular on the news, that I suggested maybe he shouldn't go out. And just stay home and...tinker. On my part, I had work left over, so I had to stay."

"And," she brings the mug to her lips, but winces and pulls away slightly at the hotness of the drink, "as per usual - you...were you. You had some alcohol. Then you ended up drinking... A lot. JARVIS failed to monitor you appropriately."

"I apologize," JARVIS tunes.

"-and there were no girls around... So. Yes. You made drunken passes at me. And...everything else around you. Poor You might be a little traumatized. And JARVIS may or may not have a...interesting conversation logged, that occurred between the both of you."

Rhodey snickers from his side, "Big surprise."

Tony looks at Rhodey, "Hey. What's that supposed to mea- No. Wait. And then what. Then, you ended up naked in my bed? Potts!"

"I was not naked in your bed. Whatever you saw-"

"You have incredible thighs."

There's a muffled groan from Rhodey's side and Pepper stares at Tony.

"...Just so you know." Tony continues bluntly.

Tony's not really as courageous as people think he is. He just has poor self-preservation skills.

She takes another moment to just breathe and compose herself before proceeding.

"...-whatever you thought you saw, was not me naked. You know if I work too late, I might as well not drive home. And I wore shorts last night-"

"To my bed."

"Tony. It was my bed."

"Oh. So I was naked. In your bed."

"You were in your boxers."

"...That means nothing."

"That means everything. You sleep. In your boxers, Tony."

"Sometimes less," Rhodey supplies in a low mutter.

"Exactly. Rhodey's been with you for decades so he can attest that even if you were naked - that doesn't mean anything."

"So nothing...happened."

"What did happen was this: I was sleeping, you were loudly singing outside my door, and I'm a light sleeper, as you know. I was exhausted, irritated, with you, with work. I dragged you into the guest room, to sleep on the couch because I was too exhausted and irritated to drag you somewhere else. Somehow," she glares at him, "you ended up sleeping in my bed. I don't know how. I don't want to know, frankly. JARVIS informs me you didn't do anything-"

Rhodey snorts, "If he was that drunk, he wouldn't be able to do a thing, Pep."

Pepper smiles - the first - at Rhodey, and Rhodey just beams because that means he will not be killed This Morning. Tony, on his part, is just sulking and in fact, feeling entirely guilty with this reveal of the Night Before. He hadn't really meant to drink away the night, honestly. Habits die hard.

"JARVIS also informed me you had left the premises, shortly after waking up in my bed. And everything was very clear to me. The question is: is everything clear to you?"

Tony drinks down his green gunk and just says, "Yeah."

(Yeah. Everything's clear. Again, he reiterates he hates this. Because he should be better than this. And he isn't.

Pepper's a Sure Thing again. And Rhodey's a Sure Thing.

He's still an Unsure Thing. He's always going to be the Unsure Thing.

Bummer.)

There are sips at coffees, bots whirring, the trickle of water. Rhodey's taken to reading the newspaper and Pepper's at her phone. Tony is tumbling, tossing, his glass cup between his hands back and forth, as he mulls; the remains of the green glob, dripping on the carpet and drying over now sticky palms.

not happy with this one. might revisit some stuff i want better written later.