Morning and Night

As the first rays of sunlight streamed through the gaps in the curtains in New York at dawn, Stark shifted his arm and covered his eyes with his hand, seemingly resisting the light. Pepper groggily opened her eyes, glanced at the clock on the wall in a daze, and then suddenly woke up with a start.

"It's 9 o'clock, damn it! I still have a meeting to attend!"

Pepper sat up in bed, clutching her hair. Stark was startled awake by her movement, but still looked confused as he turned over and put his arm around her waist, saying, "Don't rush... baby, we can, um... we can sleep a little longer."

Pepper grabbed his arm and threw him aside, then sat on the edge of the bed, gathered her hair with her hand, and turned to Stark, saying, "You good-for-nothing! I'm not one of those models who were fooling around with you on the yacht. We still have a lot of orders from the expo that haven't been finalized..."

Pepper sat on the edge of the bed, rubbing her forehead. Stark then became a little more awake. He lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling, opened his eyes a few times, and then mumbled, "... What meeting... what order?"

Pepper glanced back at him, looking as if she were questioning the meaning of life, and said, "How could I have believed your nonsense last night? God..."

"Don't do this..." Stark mumbled sleepily as he turned over and put his arm around Pepper's waist.

"I remember you were very touched last night. It was the first time we had a conversation like that, it was really nice..."

Seeing Stark's trembling eyelashes, Pepper sighed, turned back, and glanced at the sunlight streaming in through the window. The drowsiness from being awakened hadn't completely dissipated, and her vision was blurry, making it difficult to distinguish between the morning light and the sunset. Last night's conversation echoed in her mind again.

After the negotiations ended, Stark had mixed feelings. The military had bowed down to him, Hammer Industries had paid a price, and Ivan's revenge operation had failed completely. Logically, he should have been happy, but he wasn't.

He always felt a void in his chest, an indescribable sense of loss surrounding him, until he saw Pepper and understood where this feeling came from.

Stark wasn't one to openly express his longing, but he had to admit that after the sense of loss vanished upon seeing Pepper, he realized he was indeed missing her.

Pepper entered the room and saw Stark standing by the floor-to-ceiling window. It was already late at night, and the New York sky was not as bright as she had imagined. After sunset, the fog obscured the moonlight and starlight, making the entire night sky look like a hanging black curtain.

There was some dim light in the room, but not enough to illuminate everything clearly. Stark stood in front of the glass, which shimmered with a faint, cold light, and turned to look at Pepper.

Pepper found it amazing because Stark's eyes were always slightly moist, as if they held a faint light. Even without a light source, he could clearly see Stark's emotions in his eyes.

It's unclear whether it was this feeling of longing that lit up his eyes, or if the sun in his eyes itself was shining, but whenever Pepper was being gazed at by him, she always found it difficult to say no.

Pepper walked over to him and looked into his eyes. In the past, whenever this happened, Stark felt like a toddler learning to speak, with a bellyful of words on the tip of his tongue, but unable to say anything.

But today, his language system seemed to have just come online. He said to Pepper, "Do you know when I was happiest today?"

Pepper had dealt with far too many of Stark's wildly imaginative questions. She knew that often, Stark didn't need an answer, he just needed a listener. So she thought for a moment and replied, "I think it was when you saw Justin Hammer's surprised expression after you activated the defenses, right?"

"When you decided to modify the building, I wasn't very supportive because it was somewhat risky, but now it seems that the choice was correct. If it can't demonstrate sufficient power, then the trouble will be endless."

"That's not what I wanted to discuss."

Pepper looked up at Stark and noticed that he seemed very focused. Stark said, "My happiest moments are when I see Peter and his girlfriend browsing an exhibition."

"They carried their backpacks, walked up to each product, showed surprised expressions, listened attentively to the guide's explanation, discussed in hushed tones, avoided the crowds, and whispered among themselves..."

"I saw them too. It's so nice to be young, isn't it?" Pepper said with a smile.

"I was happy because..." Stark looked at Pepper and said, "I was thinking, I wish we could do that too."

"I'll meet you at a pre-arranged place, and then we'll follow the crowd into the exhibition hall, feeling surprised and happy about every new and interesting thing we see..."

Pepper shook her head, sighed, and said, "Then you'll probably be disappointed. That girl named Gwen is very interested in those machines. When it comes to these things, she knows even more about them than Peter."

"But I know nothing about these things and I'm not really interested in them. If you're looking for someone who can spend a whole day with you at an industrial exhibition and keep you amazed from beginning to end, then it's definitely not me."

"You know what?" Stark suddenly changed the subject, "I had a dream a few days ago, a very vivid dream. You can listen to it as if it were a true story..."

Pepper looked at him and heard his slightly hoarse voice echoing in the room:

"One day in the future, after experiencing many disasters, Stark Industries went bankrupt."

"I woke up from a chaotic dream and found that I had nothing left."

"I was homeless, starving and freezing, and could only barely survive on food from the relief station."

"I felt exhausted and humiliated. I had to move slowly through the streets like a beggar, trying to find a whole cardboard box or an oil drum that hadn't yet gone out to keep warm..."

Pepper looked at Stark and saw a hint of fear in his eyes. Pepper gently stroked Stark's face and said, "I can't imagine what it would be like if something like that really happened..."

Then, she suddenly realized and said, "... But that can't be happening. You have so many friends. How could they let you end up in this situation?"

"What if they all die?"

Pepper shook her head and said, "Whatever the reason, if they all died, you couldn't possibly be alive. You would always want to protect them."

"No matter how terrible the disaster, you will always be the one rushing to the front."

Pepper stroked Stark's face, looking intently into his eyes, and said, "Sometimes I don't want you to do this, but if you're just trying to survive, then you're not Stark."

Stark turned his head away, smiled helplessly, and said, "You're making it impossible for me to continue this story."

"Then let's not talk about it. It's just a dream. There's no need to worry about it."

"A dream?" Stark murmured to himself, "Perhaps..."

"But this story has a very important ending, and you really don't want to hear it?" Pepper, under Stark's expectant gaze, couldn't bring herself to refuse. She asked, "What ending?"

Stark opened his mouth, seemingly returning to his speechless state. After a long pause, he finally said, "To put it simply... when I thought I was going to die, the first person I thought of was you."

Perhaps feeling that his words were too abrupt, Stark explained, "I dreamt that I was about to die, and before I died, I was thinking, 'Where did you go?' Then I woke up and realized it was just a dream."

Do you know why I realized this was a dream?

Stark reached out One Hand, paused in mid-air, and then covered Pepper's hand that was stroking his cheek, saying, "Because you won't leave me, right?"

Pepper stared straight at him, then suddenly laughed and said, "You went through all that trouble just to say this?"

"I know I'm being a bit shameless, asking for this kind of answer without giving you any guarantees, but you've known me for a while now..." Stark laughed too, "I'm just that shameless."

"Then you deserve to go bankrupt. If you can't continue to pay me such a high salary, I will definitely turn around and leave."

Stark grabbed Pepper's arm and stood closer, saying, "Once, someone who claimed to be a mind reader suggested to me that he could tell me an answer at the right time."

What answer?

"... Do you really love me?"

Pepper was about to say that there was no such thing as mind reading when she suddenly realized something and looked at Stark in shock.

Those brown eyes were like rich honey, Pepper felt like a bewitched bee, somewhat dizzy and disoriented.

Outside the glass curtain wall of Stark Tower, a cloud of gray mist floated at the corner of the building. Spider-Man, hanging upside down from the eaves with a single Silk, peered into the building. Spider-Man turned to the gray mist and said, "I don't know what you are, but peeking is wrong..."

The gray mist suddenly transformed into an arrow, pointing in the direction of Stark and Pepper. Spider-Man turned back and saw the two embracing and kissing behind the shimmering glass curtain wall.

After ending the kiss, Stark released Pepper. Before he could say anything more, out of the corner of his eye, a wisp of gray mist slowly transformed into a symbol—a checkmark.

Recalling the scene from last night, Stark, lying in bed, covered his eyes and couldn't help but laugh out loud.

As Pepper changed her clothes, she turned around angrily and said, "Are you happy to see me late? What are you laughing at?"

"I didn't." Stark struggled to sit up in bed, scratching his messy hair. "I'm your boss. I can give you a day off, we..."

"Don't talk nonsense. What will happen to all those orders after I go on vacation? What about the meetings? What about the company?"

"It's okay, I can take your place for a day, I'll handle these things."

"Yes, then I can indeed take a day off," Pepper said coldly. "And then spend twice as much time over the next three months dealing with the damage you caused on this one day."

Stark changed his clothes in a flash. Pepper had never seen him move so nimbly since she met him. Stark put on his coat and sunglasses and dashed out the door. Before leaving, he said, "Then I have to prove to you that there is nothing in this world that Stark can't handle."

An hour later, the Sanctum Sanctorum received an unexpected call. Strange took the phone from the salesperson with One Hand, put the One Hand on his hip, and said helplessly, "This is a cosmic hotline. Can you call my private number if you need anything?"

"Get some help, man. Damn it, I think I made a mistake. This contract seems to be from last year, but I've already signed it..."

Strange heard Stark's slightly panicked voice. "Since you guys can provide services to so many shady characters, dealing with this shouldn't be too difficult. Hurry up and get over here, or Pepper will kill me!"

"This is the Sanctum Sanctorum, our main mission is related to Cosmic Demons..."

"I am also Cosmic Demons!!! Come here quickly!!"

"You should consult a professional staff for Stark Industries's problems. We're a bunch of fraudsters... I mean, financial staff."

"I'm looking for a finance professional!"

"Then why don't you go to Wall Street?"

"Aren't you guys on Wall Street?!?" Stark roared.

Half an hour later, Strange and a dejected Stark appeared outside Arkham Asylum. Schiller blocked the entrance and said, "To be admitted, you have to pay first."

"Also, pay for the answer from yesterday."

"But you told me that yourself," Stark said, glaring at Schiller.

Schiller smiled and said, "What gave you the illusion that I wouldn't force you to buy or sell?"

"Unscrupulous quack!"

"I'll say it again..."

I don't know what to say, but let me just remind you about the double monthly pass bonus at the end of the month!

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