Yes, Virginia, There Really Is An Iron Man: Chapter Nine
TITLE: Yes, Virginia, There Really Is An Iron Man
AUTHOR: Quicksilvermad
SUMMARY: (Movie-verse) Pepper deals with Tony’s newfound lease on life and ends up making a mountain out of her molehill of emotion where her boss is concerned.
GENRE: Humor/Romance
RATING: PG13
PAIRING: Tony/Pepper
DISCLAIMER: Iron Man etc. belong to Marvel Comics et. al.
AN: Sorry for the delay.
Chapter Nine:
Pepper chewed at her lower lip as she stared at the racks of dresses before her. It was the same boutique she’d bought her last dress at, but she wasn’t entirely sure what would be appropriate. It didn’t quite help that Happy was lounging in the doorway waiting for her to finish up.
Her eyes kept falling back on a mid-thigh length green number.
Semi-formal-no jeans. Black tie welcome. Show off to your peers! The memo had read.
Was it too dressy?
What would people think-seeing her arrive with Tony dressed like that?
Would Tony think she was trying for something?
Was she trying for something?
“Miss Potts?”
Pepper was jolted out of her ruminations as a sales associate appeared at her elbow.
“Oh my God,” she propped a hand against her racing heart. “You scared me!”
“Sorry,” the young girl said. Pepper quickly placed her as the girl who rang up the blue dress last time. Thankfully, she wore a name tag.
“No, it’s fine, Teresa. I’ve just been spacing out lately.”
“Kind of like your boss?” Teresa jibed in what she thought was good humor.
Pepper’s initial response, however, was to feel insulted on Tony Stark’s behalf. “Excuse me?!”
Teresa backed away.
Without breaking her searing eye contact, Pepper jabbed a finger at the tantalizing green dress. “I need that in a size two, thank you.”
She stalked toward the register and waited impatiently-tapping the edge of Tony’s credit card against the lacquered pine. Happy got up from his propped position and stood beside her-watching the sales girl fish a size two off the rack with one of the wall hooks used for the unfortunately vertically challenged.
“You’re gonna need shoes,” Happy remarked.
Pepper mentally cursed herself and sighed. “Would you wait here, Happy?”
“No problem.”
She practically ran to the shoe section and scanned the rows for anything green. There were two pair left-some glittery roach killers and a pair peep-toes with ankle ribbons. Thank God they came in her size.
Pepper grabbed the second pair and wrinkled her nose at the other, ultra-pointed, shoes.
At the register, Teresa the sales girl was refusing to look up from the computer readout.
“These too,” Pepper dropped the shoes on the counter.
“That’ll be $6,789.56…”
Pepper handed over the gold card and paid. She left the boutique with less than charitable thoughts toward ignorant shop girls. Once outside, Happy took her bags and carefully placed them in the trunk of the Mercedes before opening the back door for her.
“You wanna head home, Miss Potts?”
“I suppose…”
Happy rounded the car and got in the driver’s seat. Before starting the engine, he turned in the chair to catch Pepper’s eye. “Don’t let it get to you,” he advised.
He turned around and started driving to her house.
Pepper went back to chewing her lower lip. She couldn’t help feeling incensed by the thought that the public saw Tony as a bit of a mental case since his kidnapping. Even after his confession last night she was still mostly in the dark about what happened to him.
She did know that they had tortured him.
Not because he told her, but by the marks she had seen on him on the early days of his return. She had even been the second person to see the magnet that was keeping him alive…
While waiting in the drive through for his Burger King order, Tony had rolled up the privacy window for a moment and showed her. It was still inflamed and slightly infected in some spots and Pepper remembered clamping a hand over her mouth to stifle the cry of shock that wanted to escape.
“Hey-it’s okay,” he’d said-buttoning his shirt again and straightening his tie. He’d touched her elbow then-even though every bone in Pepper’s body wished he would pull her across the seat and hug the breath out of her. The look in his eyes, however warbled it was by her gathering tears, was so reassuring that she nodded weakly and wiped at her eyes before anything incriminating could run down her face.
It’s okay.
No, Tony, it was not “okay.”
Pepper dropped her face into her hands and breathed deeply to stem back a surge of tears.
“Hey,” Happy interjected.
Pepper looked up and met his eyes in the rear-view mirror. He smiled at her.
“No crying, Miss Potts. I don’t allow any crying in my car.”
She laughed feebly and leaned back against the seat. “It’s not your car, Happy.”
“It is when I drive it. So no crying.”
Pepper smiled. “If you say so.”
TBC
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AUTHOR: Quicksilvermad
SUMMARY: (Movie-verse) Pepper deals with Tony’s newfound lease on life and ends up making a mountain out of her molehill of emotion where her boss is concerned.
GENRE: Humor/Romance
RATING: PG13
PAIRING: Tony/Pepper
DISCLAIMER: Iron Man etc. belong to Marvel Comics et. al.
AN: Sorry for the delay.
Chapter Nine:
Pepper chewed at her lower lip as she stared at the racks of dresses before her. It was the same boutique she’d bought her last dress at, but she wasn’t entirely sure what would be appropriate. It didn’t quite help that Happy was lounging in the doorway waiting for her to finish up.
Her eyes kept falling back on a mid-thigh length green number.
Semi-formal-no jeans. Black tie welcome. Show off to your peers! The memo had read.
Was it too dressy?
What would people think-seeing her arrive with Tony dressed like that?
Would Tony think she was trying for something?
Was she trying for something?
“Miss Potts?”
Pepper was jolted out of her ruminations as a sales associate appeared at her elbow.
“Oh my God,” she propped a hand against her racing heart. “You scared me!”
“Sorry,” the young girl said. Pepper quickly placed her as the girl who rang up the blue dress last time. Thankfully, she wore a name tag.
“No, it’s fine, Teresa. I’ve just been spacing out lately.”
“Kind of like your boss?” Teresa jibed in what she thought was good humor.
Pepper’s initial response, however, was to feel insulted on Tony Stark’s behalf. “Excuse me?!”
Teresa backed away.
Without breaking her searing eye contact, Pepper jabbed a finger at the tantalizing green dress. “I need that in a size two, thank you.”
She stalked toward the register and waited impatiently-tapping the edge of Tony’s credit card against the lacquered pine. Happy got up from his propped position and stood beside her-watching the sales girl fish a size two off the rack with one of the wall hooks used for the unfortunately vertically challenged.
“You’re gonna need shoes,” Happy remarked.
Pepper mentally cursed herself and sighed. “Would you wait here, Happy?”
“No problem.”
She practically ran to the shoe section and scanned the rows for anything green. There were two pair left-some glittery roach killers and a pair peep-toes with ankle ribbons. Thank God they came in her size.
Pepper grabbed the second pair and wrinkled her nose at the other, ultra-pointed, shoes.
At the register, Teresa the sales girl was refusing to look up from the computer readout.
“These too,” Pepper dropped the shoes on the counter.
“That’ll be $6,789.56…”
Pepper handed over the gold card and paid. She left the boutique with less than charitable thoughts toward ignorant shop girls. Once outside, Happy took her bags and carefully placed them in the trunk of the Mercedes before opening the back door for her.
“You wanna head home, Miss Potts?”
“I suppose…”
Happy rounded the car and got in the driver’s seat. Before starting the engine, he turned in the chair to catch Pepper’s eye. “Don’t let it get to you,” he advised.
He turned around and started driving to her house.
Pepper went back to chewing her lower lip. She couldn’t help feeling incensed by the thought that the public saw Tony as a bit of a mental case since his kidnapping. Even after his confession last night she was still mostly in the dark about what happened to him.
She did know that they had tortured him.
Not because he told her, but by the marks she had seen on him on the early days of his return. She had even been the second person to see the magnet that was keeping him alive…
While waiting in the drive through for his Burger King order, Tony had rolled up the privacy window for a moment and showed her. It was still inflamed and slightly infected in some spots and Pepper remembered clamping a hand over her mouth to stifle the cry of shock that wanted to escape.
“Hey-it’s okay,” he’d said-buttoning his shirt again and straightening his tie. He’d touched her elbow then-even though every bone in Pepper’s body wished he would pull her across the seat and hug the breath out of her. The look in his eyes, however warbled it was by her gathering tears, was so reassuring that she nodded weakly and wiped at her eyes before anything incriminating could run down her face.
It’s okay.
No, Tony, it was not “okay.”
Pepper dropped her face into her hands and breathed deeply to stem back a surge of tears.
“Hey,” Happy interjected.
Pepper looked up and met his eyes in the rear-view mirror. He smiled at her.
“No crying, Miss Potts. I don’t allow any crying in my car.”
She laughed feebly and leaned back against the seat. “It’s not your car, Happy.”
“It is when I drive it. So no crying.”
Pepper smiled. “If you say so.”
TBC
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