Smack!
When the crisp sound of the slap rang out, both Stark and Thor were stunned.
Stark knew he could not escape this disaster, while Thor had just finished fighting Stark and had only just thought that Stark was actually a decent opponent—when he got slapped by a frail human woman.
After slapping him, Pepper turned and left. Stark hurried after her, grabbing her arm. "Wait, Pepper, it's not what you think. Loki and I really have nothing going on, and that child isn't ours..."
Pepper shook off his hand, turned around, crossed her arms, and looked up at Stark. She took a deep breath, tossed her hair, and said, "How could I have believed your nonsense?! How could I have expected a notorious playboy to turn over a new leaf??"
With that, she turned to leave again. Stark held on to her desperately, but somehow, all the smooth explanations he had rehearsed in his mind refused to come out. Hearing Pepper say that felt like his heart was being twisted.
Stark forced himself to calm down, quickly stepped in front of Pepper, and pressed both hands onto her shoulders. "Listen to me. I never betrayed you..."
Pepper held up One Hand in front of Stark. "You don't need to use the word 'betrayal.' You never made me any promises, so there can be no betrayal."
Pepper took a deep breath. She knew how sensitive Stark was about relationships, but when couples fought, they often liked stabbing the other person and themselves at the same time.
"Why don't you tell those fashion models that sleeping with me was a betrayal of them? They might have the patience to listen to you."
With that, Pepper pushed Stark's arms aside and walked out of the room, pausing heavily with every step.
Stark