fic: Mine (1/1)
Title: Mine
Canon: Iron Man (post-Avengers)
Warnings: none
Rating: K
Wordcount: ~800
Characters/Pairings: Pepper/Tony, Loki
Notes: Written for its_always_been challenge 13.
Prompt: Enemy
Summary: It's Tony and Pepper's anniversary. Of course a supervillain would show up.
Collectively, in the past twenty-seven days, Tony and I have traveled enough miles to circle the world at least half a dozen times. We've left eighty-four messages with each other and spoken exactly 20.5 words directly to one another. (I was in the middle of "viscosity" when the suit's communication system took a hit and cut us off.) The only time I've actually seen him in all that time was on a news report about his rescue of a sinking ocean liner.
All of this is probably why, when I walked into the Malibu house's living room on the night of our two year anniversary, my first thought was not "There's a genocidal demigod sitting on the sofa, maybe I should run" or "If he got past JARVIS is anywhere actually safe?" Instead I thought, "Tonight Tony Stark is mine."
"No," I said before I had any actual time to realize how incredibly stupid this entire line of reasoning was. (I'm blaming Tony. Years of exposure to his insanity have finally taken their toll.)
From Loki's reaction I figure he knew I was there long before I realized he was. He neatly shut the magazine he'd been perusing and smiled up at me.
"Ms. Potts, I presume?" He placed an arm on the back of the couch. "Join me, won't you? There's still plenty of time before Stark arrives and I have so many questions."
"No," I repeated, not because I was still living in the delusion that I had a choice but because there really wasn't anything else to say.
It almost looked like Loki was going to laugh at that. "Ms. Potts, I don't mean to be rude, but what do you imagine your options are? You could not possibly run away and a call for help would be pointless. We both know there are no other living beings on the grounds and it goes without saying that I have blinded Stark's precious computer to our goings-on here."
I shook my head. "No, I mean-" I sighed. I really wished I'd had time to think up a proper plan. Tony's the one who comes up with the last-minute, fly-by-the-seat-of-his-armor plans. I like order and maps and color-coded schedules of events. "What I mean is, 'no, you can't kill Tony tonight.'" That may have come off sounding like I was his mother or his kindergarten teacher. What can I say? I'm used to Tony.
"I … cannot," Loki echoed. He still looked like he might laugh at me but now he seemed torn between that and crushing me like a bug.
Before he could decide I went on. "I haven't seen Tony in a month, which I'm sure doesn't seem like much when you're a demigod but to us mortals it's a lot. He keeps hopping from place to place, he won't answer my calls, and the one time I did manage to catch him, he hung up on me. And worst of all," I added, hoping I wasn't pushing this too far, "he missed our anniversary! Also very important when you're a mortal. So tonight, if anyone is going to be making Tony Stark's life a living hell, it's going to be me."
The time Loki spent just staring at me was one of the longest minutes of my life (if it was even that long). I hoped he would see my tells - the way my eyes slid from his, my erratic breathing, my raised voice - as a mixture of the natural reaction to being in his glorious presence and aggravation with Tony. I don't know what Loki was thinking during that time, all I know is that his eyes had widened slightly as my voice rose and the corners of his mouth turned up as he considered my words. Finally he rose from his seat and approached me. There was really no point in trying to run, so I didn't bother and hoped Tony would show up (in the armor, please in the armor) very soon.
"Well, Ms. Potts," Loki said, "as much as I was looking forward to tormenting Stark tonight, I imagine you'll do far better. I look forward to seeing the results of your master touch."
Before I knew what was happening he took my hand in his and lifted it to his lips, brushing a kiss over my knuckles. He had to have planned it because at just that moment-
"Pepper, you didn't do anything, did you? JARVIS stopped responding once I left the work-"
"Mr. Stark," Loki said, smiling over my shoulder. His eyes flicked back to me. "Ms. Potts, it has certainly been a pleasure."
Loki disappeared and JARVIS, sounding slightly flustered, spoke. "Mr. Stark. Ms. Potts. It seems something has gone wrong with my systems."
"You want to explain that, Potts?" Tony asked.
"No," I said and grabbed his hand to pull him towards the stairs. "You can play with supervillains tomorrow. Tonight, you're mine."
Canon: Iron Man (post-Avengers)
Warnings: none
Rating: K
Wordcount: ~800
Characters/Pairings: Pepper/Tony, Loki
Notes: Written for its_always_been challenge 13.
Prompt: Enemy
Summary: It's Tony and Pepper's anniversary. Of course a supervillain would show up.
Collectively, in the past twenty-seven days, Tony and I have traveled enough miles to circle the world at least half a dozen times. We've left eighty-four messages with each other and spoken exactly 20.5 words directly to one another. (I was in the middle of "viscosity" when the suit's communication system took a hit and cut us off.) The only time I've actually seen him in all that time was on a news report about his rescue of a sinking ocean liner.
All of this is probably why, when I walked into the Malibu house's living room on the night of our two year anniversary, my first thought was not "There's a genocidal demigod sitting on the sofa, maybe I should run" or "If he got past JARVIS is anywhere actually safe?" Instead I thought, "Tonight Tony Stark is mine."
"No," I said before I had any actual time to realize how incredibly stupid this entire line of reasoning was. (I'm blaming Tony. Years of exposure to his insanity have finally taken their toll.)
From Loki's reaction I figure he knew I was there long before I realized he was. He neatly shut the magazine he'd been perusing and smiled up at me.
"Ms. Potts, I presume?" He placed an arm on the back of the couch. "Join me, won't you? There's still plenty of time before Stark arrives and I have so many questions."
"No," I repeated, not because I was still living in the delusion that I had a choice but because there really wasn't anything else to say.
It almost looked like Loki was going to laugh at that. "Ms. Potts, I don't mean to be rude, but what do you imagine your options are? You could not possibly run away and a call for help would be pointless. We both know there are no other living beings on the grounds and it goes without saying that I have blinded Stark's precious computer to our goings-on here."
I shook my head. "No, I mean-" I sighed. I really wished I'd had time to think up a proper plan. Tony's the one who comes up with the last-minute, fly-by-the-seat-of-his-armor plans. I like order and maps and color-coded schedules of events. "What I mean is, 'no, you can't kill Tony tonight.'" That may have come off sounding like I was his mother or his kindergarten teacher. What can I say? I'm used to Tony.
"I … cannot," Loki echoed. He still looked like he might laugh at me but now he seemed torn between that and crushing me like a bug.
Before he could decide I went on. "I haven't seen Tony in a month, which I'm sure doesn't seem like much when you're a demigod but to us mortals it's a lot. He keeps hopping from place to place, he won't answer my calls, and the one time I did manage to catch him, he hung up on me. And worst of all," I added, hoping I wasn't pushing this too far, "he missed our anniversary! Also very important when you're a mortal. So tonight, if anyone is going to be making Tony Stark's life a living hell, it's going to be me."
The time Loki spent just staring at me was one of the longest minutes of my life (if it was even that long). I hoped he would see my tells - the way my eyes slid from his, my erratic breathing, my raised voice - as a mixture of the natural reaction to being in his glorious presence and aggravation with Tony. I don't know what Loki was thinking during that time, all I know is that his eyes had widened slightly as my voice rose and the corners of his mouth turned up as he considered my words. Finally he rose from his seat and approached me. There was really no point in trying to run, so I didn't bother and hoped Tony would show up (in the armor, please in the armor) very soon.
"Well, Ms. Potts," Loki said, "as much as I was looking forward to tormenting Stark tonight, I imagine you'll do far better. I look forward to seeing the results of your master touch."
Before I knew what was happening he took my hand in his and lifted it to his lips, brushing a kiss over my knuckles. He had to have planned it because at just that moment-
"Pepper, you didn't do anything, did you? JARVIS stopped responding once I left the work-"
"Mr. Stark," Loki said, smiling over my shoulder. His eyes flicked back to me. "Ms. Potts, it has certainly been a pleasure."
Loki disappeared and JARVIS, sounding slightly flustered, spoke. "Mr. Stark. Ms. Potts. It seems something has gone wrong with my systems."
"You want to explain that, Potts?" Tony asked.
"No," I said and grabbed his hand to pull him towards the stairs. "You can play with supervillains tomorrow. Tonight, you're mine."