Ch4. Going home

The next time Tony woke up, his mind was no longer so muddled. Nevertheless, he didn't give any sign of him being awake to the people around him. He just silently stared at the ceiling, his thoughts in disarray.

'The year 2010. I am back.' He repeated in his mind, not knowing if he wanted more for this to be just his imagination or reality.

There was so much he could do right this time. So much...

But there was also so much that could end up worse than before. So much he could do worse.

One thing was for certain though. Tony did not feel like parading himself in front of masses as the Iron Man. He had more pressing priorities than feeding his own ego and satisfying his boyish dreams of adventure.

It took him a long time to understand this fact but he was no shonen protagonist.

After half an hour of getting nowhere, Tony decided he had enough of mopping around and suddenly sat up... judging by the surprised exclaims around he jump-scared a few people... and ignored the pain that jolted through his body.

'Damn the sunburn.' He inwardly groaned and outwardly winced. It didn't stop him from cautiously looking around though.

His eyes stopped on the amused face of his long-time friend and Tony felt his mouth slightly open in yet unformed retort on reflex while he desperately tried to hold his nostalgic tears in.

Fortunately for him, he was most likely severely dehydrated so while he felt like crying, no water was in the tank.

"Better?" Rhodey asked with a small smile and a smirk formed on Tony's lips, again, more on reflex than him doing it consciously. By now, it was a knee-jerk reaction.

"I think I found out how turkey feels like on Thanksgiving Day but I am sure Pepper will have some kind of cream for that." Tony quipped and secretly enjoyed how Rhodey's lips twitched upward as he tried to not laugh since he was on duty.

The prude...

"That's good because we are almost there." Rhodey replied.

Tony slightly tilted his head in confusion. "Where?"

Before Rhodey could answer, however, Tony's eyes widened in realization. He... remembered. More because of the stimuli of pain all over his skin rather than reliving the events. Last time, he didn't fall back to sleep so what happened was already different but Tony was now sure he was already on the plane back to America.

'Great... Now what?'

...

Just because he found himself in the past, didn't mean that Tony knew what to do. Yeah, making his future better was a general idea but the question of 'how' still remained to be answered.

As he descended the platform leading outside the plane where Pepper was waiting for him, Tony was quite distracted, thinking what to change and what to leave be in order to get the best results in the immediate future.

He had time but not enough he could afford to act like a moron and squander it.

When he finally came closer to Pepper, Tony stopped his thoughts about the future and smiled, "Hi, Pep. I missed you." He sincerely said. If his 'past' life taught him something, it was that there was no need to be an asshole every second of the day.

Hearing him, Pepper became completely dumbfounded and speechless. She had a hard time believing this was Tony Stark. 'If I knew three months in Afghanistan would cause such a profound change in him I would arrange him a trip there myself.' She jokingly mused in her head.

"Er, hello Tony?" Pepper confusedly greeted and threw him a deeply questioning look, "Are you okay?"

"You might not believe it but I feel better than ever." Tony smirked and nonchalantly walked around her towards the car waiting for him.

Pepper blinked, too shocked to react. Realizing her boss was already on his way towards the car, she shook her head with an aggravated sigh and turned around to follow him.

'There goes my hope he has changed.' Pepper mentally lamented. Honestly, she was finding the situation more funny than annoying. This was Tony and she got used to his behavior a long time ago.

Both entered the car and Happy immediately asked where they wanted to go.

"To the hospital, Ha-" Pepper started but Tony instantly interrupted her.

"Nope. I pay you and I say go home." Tony remarked. "I have some projects that need to be finished." Unlike the last time, he kinda wasn't in the mood for a cheeseburger. He wondered why...

Both Pepper and Happy looked at each other but in the end, Happy just sighed and obeyed his employer.

"Are you really okay, Tony?" Pepper worriedly asked. "You are acting a bit weird."

"Mhm. I will explain later." Tony shrugged and promptly hissed as a surge of pain made him aware of why that was a bad idea. That did not help alleviate Pepper's worries one bit... "I already invited Rhodey for dinner. You two are also invited. If you want to know what is going on, then come. Oh... and don't tell anyone else. If someone I did not invite shows up, I will just go back to my workshop." He carelessly said, causing Pepper to sigh again.

Yeah, this was exactly what she did not miss on Tony. He had no regard for being polite to people so she could definitely picture him looking at a table with prepared dinner only to turn around and leave because he did not like some small thing.

"Hmm, what will be served, Sir?" Happy asked and Pepper's frown instantly changed into a small amused smile.

Even Tony hid a smile at that. Happy was a wonderful guy like that. He was in no way stupid. No matter the outward appearances, Tony Stark's bodyguard couldn't be just anyone. Happy simply decided to enjoy the simpler things in life and had no care for the complicated stuff.

"Eh, didn't think about it yet. What about pizza?" Tony said the first thing that came to his mind and got a hum in response from Happy while Pepper silently looked at them, contently enjoying the momentary peace and quiet.

"Hmm, free pizza sounds good. Sure, I will be there, boss." Happy joked, knowing well he would be there no matter what because it was his job.

The rest of the ride was spent in silence. Happy focused on the road and Tony seemed to be lost in his thoughts while Pepper didn't want to disturb him since pondering silence from the overgrown kid usually meant he would come up with something outrageous that will earn the company big bucks.

If only she knew the horrors Tony was about to unleash on her during the pre-arranged dinner...