IM fic: Best Mistake - Prologue
Title: Best Mistake - Prologue
Word Count: 1203
Rating: PG
Pairing: Tony/Pepper
Genre: Fluff/Drama
Disclaimer: Not Mine :/
Summary: A drunken night, a mistake? Pepper comes back to LA two years after leaving her job to reveal to Tony her true reasons for leaving.
Warnings:Kid story.
Present
Sitting in the car Tony had sent to pick her up, she thought about what it would be like seeing him again. She hadn’t seen him now in over a year and a half. She still spoke to him occasionally because she decided to end things well when she quit, but she hadn’t physically seen him in a while. She still wasn’t sure she was ready to see him again, truth-be-told, but she knew that as time passed she couldn’t avoid it any longer. He had to know. It was his right to know, and frankly after thinking it over every minute of her time for over a year, she decided that her reasons for never telling him to begin with weren’t good enough anymore. It wasn’t fair to him. It wasn’t fair to either of them.
Almost two years earlier.
It had been a stupid idea. She’d found him late one evening sitting on the couch in the living room watching television and drinking a scotch. She didn’t see anything wrong at the moment because she knew he liked his occasional drink and though he did it often, she'd only actually seen him drunk twice. She approached him near the couch to let him know she was done with her work and that she was going home when he looked up at her with that charming smile that always seemed to make her heart flare. He offered her a drink, completely ignoring her intentions to leave.
“I’m sorry Mr. Stark, but I don’t think it would be very professional of me to be drinking with my boss.” She tried to hold her ground and not be led to change her mind, something he was unusually good at doing.
“Oh come on Pepper” he emphasized her name as a reminder to her to stop with the formalities and call him by his first name as well, “you just said you were done working, which means you wouldn’t be drinking with your boss, you’d be drinking with a friend. Plus it’s storming outside, do your really want to go out there?” and as if the whole world was against her at that moment, thunder struck outside and justified his statement all the more.
Giving in to his insistence, she took a seat next to him on the couch, taking the cup that he held out for her.
“Fine, but only while I wait for the rain to die down, Tony” he smiled back at her, seemingly pleased with himself and turned back to the show that was playing on the television. They both sat on the couch for a few minutes sipping their drinks while they watched the evening news report. She watched from the corner of her eye as he stared intently at the television.
“I didn’t know you were such fan of the evening news, Mr. Stark.” She commented.
“I’m not, I just watch it for the newscaster, and for the last time stop calling me Mr. Stark” she rolled her eyes at him and looked back at the television to try to find what he meant.
“You mean you find her attractive?” she finally asked after a few minutes of watching the ditzy blonde who seemed like she’d be better suited for a job at the MTV beach house than the evening news.
“Maybe I do. Does that make you jealous?” he turned to look at her and she found herself staring intently at his brown eyes feeling a faint blush coming on.
“No” she muttered, he laughed at that. In retrospect, she thought, maybe she shouldn’t have been so obviously bitter when she said that, and thrown back a witty statement at him.
“Well I don’t worry anyways. Actually I play a little game with myself. Every time she reports a new story, I try to guess if she’s actually going to use all the words correctly, if I get it wrong I take a shot.” He waved his hand at the shot glasses sitting on the table in front of them.
“Oh, come on. She can’t be that bad. I mean she’s reporting a story about a bunch of high school students running a car wash.”
“Well, Pepper, why don’t take me up on the challenge then. If she reports the whole thing correctly, I’ll take a shot, but if she tries to sound witty-and stupid- might I add, you get to take a shot.” She thought it over for a few seconds and figured what the heck the storm doesn’t seem to want to stop; it couldn’t hurt to have a little fun for once.
“Deal.“ Worst thing she could have ever said.
After several hours of sitting in front of the television and drinking, the night found them both very drunk. By this time neither of them were thinking clearly, and any reservation they may have had before about getting together was quickly thrown out the window.
The next morning after the much eventful night, Pepper woke to find herself sleeping in her boss’s bed with her very naked boss lying next to her. Shock hit full fledged for about ten seconds. How the heck did I get here? Oh my God, did we sleep together?! It was still early enough that she knew he would not wake up, so she quickly grabbed her clothes and left for home. She vaguely remembered the night before, and she certainly didn’t remember sleeping with him, but she knew in her gut that they probably did. She thought at that moment that maybe she should not go back to work. Maybe I should just leave the country. But after debating with herself for a few minutes she decided at that moment that the best thing she could do is just act normal, and pretend that the previous had not affected her. Maybe he was also too drunk to remember.
When she finally did make it to work that morning she found her previous night’s partner working in his workshop as she found him most mornings. When she went down finally around noon to give him some papers to sign, everything appeared normal. He spoke to her as he normally did, and didn’t give any hint of wanting to discuss what she would later label as “the night”.
Things were as they normally were for a few weeks after that. She would come in, in the morning, do her paper work, relay messages to him, and go about her job as if nothing ever happened. For his part, she didn’t know if he remembered the events well because she still was unable to get a clear picture, he never mentioned it and for that she was thankful. As much as she admittedly cared for her boss and enjoyed his company, she didn’t think she wanted to be in a romantic relationship with him.
She thought everything was going fine after what happened that night. She was home free. A careless mistake had happened that she promised herself would not again, and everything would be just as it always had been. Or so she thought, but it wasn’t until four weeks later that she realized something very wrong may have happened.
Word Count: 1203
Rating: PG
Pairing: Tony/Pepper
Genre: Fluff/Drama
Disclaimer: Not Mine :/
Summary: A drunken night, a mistake? Pepper comes back to LA two years after leaving her job to reveal to Tony her true reasons for leaving.
Warnings:Kid story.
Present
Sitting in the car Tony had sent to pick her up, she thought about what it would be like seeing him again. She hadn’t seen him now in over a year and a half. She still spoke to him occasionally because she decided to end things well when she quit, but she hadn’t physically seen him in a while. She still wasn’t sure she was ready to see him again, truth-be-told, but she knew that as time passed she couldn’t avoid it any longer. He had to know. It was his right to know, and frankly after thinking it over every minute of her time for over a year, she decided that her reasons for never telling him to begin with weren’t good enough anymore. It wasn’t fair to him. It wasn’t fair to either of them.
Almost two years earlier.
It had been a stupid idea. She’d found him late one evening sitting on the couch in the living room watching television and drinking a scotch. She didn’t see anything wrong at the moment because she knew he liked his occasional drink and though he did it often, she'd only actually seen him drunk twice. She approached him near the couch to let him know she was done with her work and that she was going home when he looked up at her with that charming smile that always seemed to make her heart flare. He offered her a drink, completely ignoring her intentions to leave.
“I’m sorry Mr. Stark, but I don’t think it would be very professional of me to be drinking with my boss.” She tried to hold her ground and not be led to change her mind, something he was unusually good at doing.
“Oh come on Pepper” he emphasized her name as a reminder to her to stop with the formalities and call him by his first name as well, “you just said you were done working, which means you wouldn’t be drinking with your boss, you’d be drinking with a friend. Plus it’s storming outside, do your really want to go out there?” and as if the whole world was against her at that moment, thunder struck outside and justified his statement all the more.
Giving in to his insistence, she took a seat next to him on the couch, taking the cup that he held out for her.
“Fine, but only while I wait for the rain to die down, Tony” he smiled back at her, seemingly pleased with himself and turned back to the show that was playing on the television. They both sat on the couch for a few minutes sipping their drinks while they watched the evening news report. She watched from the corner of her eye as he stared intently at the television.
“I didn’t know you were such fan of the evening news, Mr. Stark.” She commented.
“I’m not, I just watch it for the newscaster, and for the last time stop calling me Mr. Stark” she rolled her eyes at him and looked back at the television to try to find what he meant.
“You mean you find her attractive?” she finally asked after a few minutes of watching the ditzy blonde who seemed like she’d be better suited for a job at the MTV beach house than the evening news.
“Maybe I do. Does that make you jealous?” he turned to look at her and she found herself staring intently at his brown eyes feeling a faint blush coming on.
“No” she muttered, he laughed at that. In retrospect, she thought, maybe she shouldn’t have been so obviously bitter when she said that, and thrown back a witty statement at him.
“Well I don’t worry anyways. Actually I play a little game with myself. Every time she reports a new story, I try to guess if she’s actually going to use all the words correctly, if I get it wrong I take a shot.” He waved his hand at the shot glasses sitting on the table in front of them.
“Oh, come on. She can’t be that bad. I mean she’s reporting a story about a bunch of high school students running a car wash.”
“Well, Pepper, why don’t take me up on the challenge then. If she reports the whole thing correctly, I’ll take a shot, but if she tries to sound witty-and stupid- might I add, you get to take a shot.” She thought it over for a few seconds and figured what the heck the storm doesn’t seem to want to stop; it couldn’t hurt to have a little fun for once.
“Deal.“ Worst thing she could have ever said.
After several hours of sitting in front of the television and drinking, the night found them both very drunk. By this time neither of them were thinking clearly, and any reservation they may have had before about getting together was quickly thrown out the window.
The next morning after the much eventful night, Pepper woke to find herself sleeping in her boss’s bed with her very naked boss lying next to her. Shock hit full fledged for about ten seconds. How the heck did I get here? Oh my God, did we sleep together?! It was still early enough that she knew he would not wake up, so she quickly grabbed her clothes and left for home. She vaguely remembered the night before, and she certainly didn’t remember sleeping with him, but she knew in her gut that they probably did. She thought at that moment that maybe she should not go back to work. Maybe I should just leave the country. But after debating with herself for a few minutes she decided at that moment that the best thing she could do is just act normal, and pretend that the previous had not affected her. Maybe he was also too drunk to remember.
When she finally did make it to work that morning she found her previous night’s partner working in his workshop as she found him most mornings. When she went down finally around noon to give him some papers to sign, everything appeared normal. He spoke to her as he normally did, and didn’t give any hint of wanting to discuss what she would later label as “the night”.
Things were as they normally were for a few weeks after that. She would come in, in the morning, do her paper work, relay messages to him, and go about her job as if nothing ever happened. For his part, she didn’t know if he remembered the events well because she still was unable to get a clear picture, he never mentioned it and for that she was thankful. As much as she admittedly cared for her boss and enjoyed his company, she didn’t think she wanted to be in a romantic relationship with him.
She thought everything was going fine after what happened that night. She was home free. A careless mistake had happened that she promised herself would not again, and everything would be just as it always had been. Or so she thought, but it wasn’t until four weeks later that she realized something very wrong may have happened.