Yes, Virginia, There Really Is An Iron Man: Chapter Forty
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 Language
PAIRING: Tony/Pepper
DISCLAIMER: Iron Man etc. belong to Marvel Comics et. al.
AN: I suck. To make up for the supreme lateness of this, I give you 3600 some odd words. Hardly enough, I know, but it's leading up to something. And I'm going out of town for the week...
Chapter Forty
Pepper thought she’d feel overwhelmed. Or that she would, at least, find someone sneering at her in the copy room when she walked in to duplicate the patent office forms that needed signatures (she was so used to doing this that she hadn’t even thought of asking her new PA, Matt, to do it for her). No sneers. No whispers. She didn’t even feel like much had changed at all other than her office.
She even managed to spare time to go downstairs and remind Janine that Tony was expected for the budget meeting at 2PM and to “hustle him upstairs if he’s late.”
On her way back to her office, her Louboutin heels adding that purposeful strut to her gait that tended to follow Tony around, Pepper realized why things felt so “off.”
She forgot to mention the budget meeting to him.
Not thinking it would look good on the first day to start swearing out loud in the middle of the hallway, Pepper sped up and rushed into the washroom attached to her office.
Then she started swearing.
“Shit! Shit, shit shitting shitty shit!”
She plonked down onto the closed toilet lid and buried her face in her hands.
There was a knock on the door.
“Ocupado,” Pepper grumbled. “Who is it?” she called out a bit louder.
“It’s Matt, ma’am... Um, I have coffee.”
Pepper took a moment to compose herself and calmly exited the washroom as though nothing happened. “Thank you, Matt,” she took the proffered ceramic cup from him and smiled. “So, what else is on the agenda for today besides the budget meeting at two?”
Matt eagerly checked his new Blackberry. “Um, just a check in with R&D and that’s it for today. Tomorrow you have a conference call with the overseas branch of SI at three and the paperwork for the patents needs to be ready for the mail. Friday is actually clear, ma’am.”
Pepper sipped her coffee and let out a gust of air. He’d actually gotten it right the first try. “Good,” she commented. “I’ve got the paperwork all ready for notes and signatures, so I can knock that out this afternoon.”
“Excellent,” Matt brightened even more and added this note into scheduling.
He was fresh out of college-one of the lucky few who landed a Stark Industries internship upon graduation. The job was basically an “in” for any other career within the company and Pepper had helped Tony pick Matt out several weeks ago when he’d found time to come out of the workshop and actually eat some real food upstairs with her.
Back when the room she stood in was still heavy with fresh cigar smoke and Obadiah Stane’s oppressive self.
Pepper excused Matt with her thanks and returned to the silent refuge of the washroom-this time with coffee.
*
Tony was on the highway riding, of all things in his garage, his chopper when Jarvis announced a call coming in through his helmet.
“Sir, Miss Potts is calling.”
“Answer.”
“Tony?”
“Hey, Pep. What’s-”
“Where are you?”
Tony wove in-between slower traffic. “Right now? Zooming through a row of deadlocked sedans on the parking lot they call the Pacific Coast Highway. Are you okay? You sound... Off.”
“I’m...” she didn’t say anything for two exits and now Tony was really worried.
“Exit’s comin’ up, Pepper, I’ll be there in five, okay?”
“Okay.”
“Okay,” Tony repeated and rumbled off the main highway. The audio in his helmet continued to run until Pepper finally hung up. He was halfway to the main gate when Jarvis confirmed the call termination.
He was more than worried. Something churned in the pit of his stomach that may have been panic, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to address it. Instead, he tossed his helmet at Janine when he entered the main office and spared her a sarcastic smile as she squeaked in indignation. Matt caught him in the hallway just as he started up the stairs.
“Miss Potts is in her office, Mr. Stark,” he hesitated a moment and addressed what was on his mind. “She was quite upset when I left half an hour ago”
“‘Kay, thanks Matt,” Tony gently clapped the young man on his back and took the rest of the stairs two at a time.
The office door was shut, but when Tony knocked on it the hinges yielded to his knuckles.
“Pepper?”
The washroom door was closed too. With a deeper frown, Tony closed the office door behind him and thumbed the lock. “Pepper, are you okay?”
The door opened a fraction to let him know she wasn’t coming out of the secondary room. He shed his bike jacket and tossed it in on the sofa against the wall perpendicular to the desk and moved to sit against the doorjamb. The carpet he sat on was still thick with the odor of the Macanudo cigars Stane preferred to smoke.
“Pepper, what’s wrong?” he asked.
He heard her mumbled something about the budget meeting and sighed. This “talk through the door” thing just wasn’t him. Shifting to his knees, Tony turned the knob and raised an expectant eyebrow at his girlfriend. She was crouched in the corner with her skirt rumpled along her thighs and her chin on her knees.
“I had a bit of a panic attack.”
“About what?”
“I forgot I wasn’t your PA anymore,” she shifted a little on her numb rear end and forced herself to meet his eyes. “Tony, I don’t know if I can do this.”
For a terrible moment, Tony thought she meant them. Pepper saw the fear slide through his eyes and shook her head hard enough to dislodge her hair clip.
“No. I mean... I don’t know if I can do this CEO stuff. I still think like a PA and I’ve been reading news feeds on my Blackberry about me-”
“Pepper,” he shuffled into the washroom on his knees and cupped her face in his hands, “I trust you. I have confidence in you. We’re partners, remember? You’ve got Matt to remind you of things that need getting done and I’ve got Natasha making sure I get to all of my meetings. Instead of driving home with me and spending all night filing stuff and answering emails you have someone else to do it for you. Because you’re in charge. You’ll be driving home with me to do girlfriend stuff and I’ll be driving home with you to do boyfriend stuff.”
Pepper let out a breath she felt like she’d been holding all afternoon and leaned her forehead against Tony’s. Their noses bumped and Tony smiled before he gently angled his chin to kiss her. He felt her lips curve upward and leaned in closer to bite her lower lip. She did that cute gasping thing and Tony deepened his hold on her.
She tasted like coffee and Splenda. Her hair, loose from its clip, smelled like the new mango shampoo she’d started using. It felt like satin flowing over his fingers.
The moment broke when Pepper shifted to get more comfortable and banged the wall with one of her 4½ inch heels. She cringed and cleared her throat. “We’ve got that budget meeting. Then I was going to ask you if you wanted to come with me to check in with R&D.”
Tony’s mouth twitched into a smile-dimples standing out. “You were gonna ask, huh?”
Pepper didn’t bother hiding her own grin and swatted his shoulder.
He laughed and helped her off the floor. He took his time straightening her skirt and even rapped his fingertips across her rump in a fast jazz piano bit he’d been working on in some far part of his brain that wasn’t occupied by tinkering in the workshop. Pepper swatted at his hand again.
“Right. Budget, R&D, then fun stuff,” he leered comically at her and led her toward her desk. “Ooo, you wanna ride home on my chopper, sweetheart? It’ll make you purr,” he whispered lustily in her ear.
She laughed and gathered the paperwork she needed. “Grab an extra helmet from the garages here and you’ve got a deal, stud.”
He watched her fix her hair and stalk beautifully out of the office with no small amount of longing on his face. “And you expect me to pay attention during this budget meeting?” he asked the back of her head.
*
He didn’t pay attention during the budget meeting.
There were vague impressions of reports and signing endless forms, but Tony’s brain was replaying the last images he had of Pepper’s bare legs lit by his arc as he ran his hands across her skin to memorize the feel of her. His eyes kept drifting to her calves without his permission. Normally he would joke around with the accounting guys and talk their ears off because he genuinely liked talking to the math experts.
This time, all Tony could think of were Pepper’s legs.
She crossed them and tucked her ankles together-sitting like a princess and flicking her pen against the folder of documents her former coworkers (ages ago she recalled working with the four men and two women at the table for about two days before Tony hired her on as his PA) had prepared. They were still talking...
Tony watched her re-cross her legs and actually tipped his head at the action.
Edith, who had been working in accounting at Stark Industries since Tony was nine, smiled at his oblivious face. Pepper saw this and tracked Edith’s expression.
“Tony!” she threw her pen at his face.
“Gah!”
Edith smothered a laugh with her PDA and cleared her throat. “Mr. Stark, Miss Potts... If you’ve approved of all our assessments and projections, I’ll let you go,” she said once she calmed herself.
Tony stood, pulled Pepper’s chair out like a gentleman and smiled guiltily at Edith and her coworkers. “Sorry, Mrs. Ferguson,” he held out his hand and gave the back of her hand a kiss like he usually did.
“Nonsense, Mr. Stark. It’s good to see you in person again.”
He flushed with embarrassment and Edith shared a look with Pepper over his shoulder.
“I’m trying to make a habit of it,” Tony admitted.
“See you next quarter, then,” said Edith. She waved at Pepper and winked once Tony turned his back completely.
Down the hallway Tony thumbed the elevator button and rubbed his palm against Pepper’s lower back. “Well, that was embarrassing.”
“You were staring at my legs.”
“I still am,” he grinned and leered at her calves.
Pepper did that swatting thing again-this time her knuckles rapped against his arc reactor. Immediately, she swung around and pressed her palm over the metal and looked him in the eye. Her mouth popped open to apologize just as the elevator doors opened and Tony took advantage of momentum and the empty space to swoop one hand around the back of Pepper’s neck, drag her against his body and kiss her like he’d wanted to do all morning and afternoon.
Pepper matched his fervor and gave a tiny squeak when Tony hooked one of his arms under her bottom and hoisted her up against the handrail at the back of the elevator. For one strange moment she found herself precariously balanced when Tony reached back and hit the button for the basement level then slammed his thumb on the “stop” button. She was almost falling forward when he moved back between her thighs with his mouth on her neck.
Pepper cupped the back of his head and opened her mouth to say something-but what came out of her wasn’t anything coherent. Just a garbled string of nonsensical syllables as Tony shifted her blouse off one shoulder and sucked hard on the pale skin revealed.
She threaded her fingers through his hair and kissed his sideburn. In a bit of a haze she managed to realize the time, where they were, and that they should probably stop before she lost higher brain function and suggested he rip her panties off.
Tony pouted when she tugged his head back far enough to catch his eyes. “Meeting. Right?”
Pepper smoothed his hair and straightened the buttons on his navy blue oxford. “Mm-hmm. And considering this is my first day as your business partner...”
Tony grumbled to himself but was courteous enough to help her straighten her appearance before he pressed the “stop” button again. “Later, though...”
“After dinner. I’m making lasagna.”
The doors slid open and Tony Stark’s smile was blinding. “Can we eat on your porch?”
The request threw her a bit and Tony knew her well enough to interpret her expression. “I like your house. That porch makes me want to eat all kinds of homey food and drink iced tea. It’s like Better Homes and Gardens voodoo or something.”
“I did brew some iced tea the other day...” Pepper admitted.
“We should contact them and do a spread on your house.”
The walk through the hallway to the Research and Development main garage was interrupted by her punctuated laugh. She thought he was kidding. Tony quickly dipped his arm around her waist and pulled her to his side-throwing her walk into all kinds of disarray but letting him physically connect with her so she could feel his sincerity.
“I mean it. It’s good publicity, too. Letting the rest of the world know that the newest CEO of Stark Industries is just like the rest of the world and likes a covered porch, lilac bushes and that great eucalyptus tree in your backyard.”
Pepper relented. “I’ll have Matt set it up,” she said.
Tony smiled and as they reached the garage he used his keycard and code before Pepper could and held the door open for her.
“Miss Potts,” Stephen Crane announced for the rest of the engineers and physicists in the garage. “Mr. Stark-glad you could make it together,” he nodded and Pepper, having known Stephen longer than Tony, caught the hidden meaning in his words. She shook his hand and tipped her head at him in the way sister-in-laws are wont to do in the non-verbal form of “you’re treating my sister right, but I have no qualms against beating you up if you keep going in that direction you are right now.”
“Stephen,” Tony intercepted and actually pulled the younger man into a one armed hug. “We’re still on for lunch this weekend, right?”
“Absolutely. Now are you ready to see the prototype?”
Pepper was feeling giddy. Not just from the kiss earlier, but from the prospect of signing off on this incredible invention Tony was actually willing to share (for once).
Before them stood ten technicians and Stephen Crane ready to pull a white sheet off the automobile-shaped object at the center of the garage. On the count of three they tugged the sheet back to reveal a silver Audi A3.
“Audi sent us one of their A3’s to work with. The vehicle is one of the most family-friendly and fuel efficient of the line. My wife and I have one, actually,” Stephen admitted. Pepper remembered seeing it in her sister’s garage once. Next to the new Dodge Challenger Caroline owned.
Tony was grinning and running his fingers along the line of the hood. Someone popped the hood and he expertly unlatched it and traced his hand across the covered engine block. Pepper pulled out her “Stark Tech” hand computer and called up the visual specifications of the actual engine. There was no battery, so toxic waste was reduced automatically and the modified miniature arc reactor was connected to a rotary engine and magnetic flywheel that operated the drive train to send power to the rear wheels.
Between Pepper’s silent analysis of the overall design and Tony’s tactile obsession, someone turned the key and set the reactor into work.
It was silent.
Normally this would send her into a fit of pouting-as Pepper was a big fan of the rumble a V12 made when you revved the engine. But the lack of exhaust, the knowledge that the arc was self-sufficient and gave off enough energy to power the human heart for over fifty lifetimes (Tony shared that with her during one night of making shadow puppet on the ceiling with his bare chest and her thin fingers) thrilled her to her bones.
Tony was smiling so hard his cheeks hurt. “Have you driven it yet? Please tell me you have...”
Stephen smiled right along with him and dragged him over to see the new gauge console. “Twice around the test track for all of the development team. It runs like... Nothing else. Power distribution is so smooth that you can stop on a dime from ninety to zero. We’ve had no problems with overheating or mechanical malfunctions because, frankly Tony, your design was flawless.”
“This is incredible,” Pepper finally said. She felt like she was looking at one of those flying cars the science fiction movies had promised.
“How much did construction cost? More or less than the regular fossil-fuel engine?” Tony asked. Pepper could see how anxious he was to test it himself. She couldn’t blame him.
Arthur, one of Tony’s hand-picked automotive guru’s, finally spoke up. “Long term value really cinches it. Despite the cost of palladium, the owner of an arc vehicle would never need to buy gas or charge up the electronics. It’s all done through the miniature reactor.”
“So, more,” Tony assumed.
Stephen tipped his head and made a face that Pepper had seen Tony make every so often. It was that smile that wasn’t really a smile so much as a covered grimace. “It’s not exactly cheap.”
Tony blinked. “That was... Terrible. Want to try that again?”
“Okay, so it’s expensive. But we’re working on cost-effectiveness.”
“Meaning?” Pepper asked.
“Meaning it’s expensive to produce but we’re developing ways that are more fiscally sound,” said one of the other engineers.
“You mentioned you were ‘working’ on this,” Pepper pointed out. Tony dropped the hood and hopped into the driver’s seat as she conversed with Arthur.
He eased the A3 into “reverse” and slammed his foot on the accelerator. The car shot back halfway across the empty garage and he recklessly shifted into “drive” without hitting the brakes. It made no noise other than the harsh squeal of tire on sealed concrete, but the movement felt very familiar... He whooped with laughter and did a quick circuit around the room until he could feel it again.
Flying.
Tony drifted across the back corner of the garage and pulled the handbrake to stop parallel to Pepper and Arthur’s feet. He eased out of the vehicle and grabbed Pepper by the elbow. “You gotta try this-where are the patent papers?”
“On my desk. I’ll need-”
Tony waited just long enough for her to scoot her left leg into the cab before he shut the door and made pantomime driving motions with his hands. “I’ll get Matt to bring ‘em down,” he assured her.
She argued wordlessly with him for a moment and relented when he bit his lower lip and started pressing his right foot on an invisible gas pedal. Pepper rolled her eyes and shifted her toes against the accelerator. She wasn’t expecting the power behind it.
A shouted laugh escaped her before she could smother it and she pulled the vehicle into a tight figure eight. Tony watched her drive circuits around the garage-her hair escaped the loose ponytail it was in for her earlier meetings and the bright copper of it was luminous and bold against her freckled cheek. Strands of it stuck to her lipgloss, but she just laughed harder and twisted the steering wheel.
Tony finished his absent-minded text to Matt for the paperwork and licked his lower lip. Vanilla lipgloss...
Ten minutes later the papers were all signed and Pepper was getting Tony to show off some stunt driving to the R&D guys. Her rough morning had turned into this carefree afternoon. Still smiling, Pepper grabbed one of the motorcycle helmets they had lying around and tucked it under her arm. She was hungry, still slightly turned on, and looking forward to eating a home-cooked dinner in her own home.
Walking back through the main hallway, Pepper caught sight of Tony speaking with Natasha, Matt and Happy. Confident and still feeling a little giddy from her test drive, Pepper slid up beside him and hooked an arm around his waist.
The way he leaned into her felt so automatic that she looked slightly down to find his face.
“So after the conference call at O’Dark Thirty with SI International you two need to make a trip up north to visit Hank and Janet Pym,” said Natasha. “I would tag along but I’ve been ordered to debrief Lieutenant Colonel Rhodes on out current mission.”
“Okay,” said Tony. His hand tightened on Pepper’s waist slightly. “I need to have a word with Colonel Eyepatch on Sunday-is this doable, or is he too busy for little old me?”
Happy snorted and Natasha wasn’t above smiling ever-so-slightly at the nickname. “In regards to what, exactly?” she asked.
“I’ll know better by Sunday.”
With that cryptic answer, Tony grabbed his helmet from Janine and pointed at Matt. “Better Homes and Gardens needs to do a spread on Miss Potts’ house. Make it happen.”
Matt immediately noted this in his phone and offered a thumbs-up as he typed in information with one hand. “The patent papers are in legal getting notarized, so that has been taken care of a day early, sir.”
“Awesome. Ready to go, Pep?”
She held up her helmet and bit her lower lip to temper the smile that warmed her cheeks. “Ready.”
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 Language
PAIRING: Tony/Pepper
DISCLAIMER: Iron Man etc. belong to Marvel Comics et. al.
AN: I suck. To make up for the supreme lateness of this, I give you 3600 some odd words. Hardly enough, I know, but it's leading up to something. And I'm going out of town for the week...
Chapter Forty
Pepper thought she’d feel overwhelmed. Or that she would, at least, find someone sneering at her in the copy room when she walked in to duplicate the patent office forms that needed signatures (she was so used to doing this that she hadn’t even thought of asking her new PA, Matt, to do it for her). No sneers. No whispers. She didn’t even feel like much had changed at all other than her office.
She even managed to spare time to go downstairs and remind Janine that Tony was expected for the budget meeting at 2PM and to “hustle him upstairs if he’s late.”
On her way back to her office, her Louboutin heels adding that purposeful strut to her gait that tended to follow Tony around, Pepper realized why things felt so “off.”
She forgot to mention the budget meeting to him.
Not thinking it would look good on the first day to start swearing out loud in the middle of the hallway, Pepper sped up and rushed into the washroom attached to her office.
Then she started swearing.
“Shit! Shit, shit shitting shitty shit!”
She plonked down onto the closed toilet lid and buried her face in her hands.
There was a knock on the door.
“Ocupado,” Pepper grumbled. “Who is it?” she called out a bit louder.
“It’s Matt, ma’am... Um, I have coffee.”
Pepper took a moment to compose herself and calmly exited the washroom as though nothing happened. “Thank you, Matt,” she took the proffered ceramic cup from him and smiled. “So, what else is on the agenda for today besides the budget meeting at two?”
Matt eagerly checked his new Blackberry. “Um, just a check in with R&D and that’s it for today. Tomorrow you have a conference call with the overseas branch of SI at three and the paperwork for the patents needs to be ready for the mail. Friday is actually clear, ma’am.”
Pepper sipped her coffee and let out a gust of air. He’d actually gotten it right the first try. “Good,” she commented. “I’ve got the paperwork all ready for notes and signatures, so I can knock that out this afternoon.”
“Excellent,” Matt brightened even more and added this note into scheduling.
He was fresh out of college-one of the lucky few who landed a Stark Industries internship upon graduation. The job was basically an “in” for any other career within the company and Pepper had helped Tony pick Matt out several weeks ago when he’d found time to come out of the workshop and actually eat some real food upstairs with her.
Back when the room she stood in was still heavy with fresh cigar smoke and Obadiah Stane’s oppressive self.
Pepper excused Matt with her thanks and returned to the silent refuge of the washroom-this time with coffee.
*
Tony was on the highway riding, of all things in his garage, his chopper when Jarvis announced a call coming in through his helmet.
“Sir, Miss Potts is calling.”
“Answer.”
“Tony?”
“Hey, Pep. What’s-”
“Where are you?”
Tony wove in-between slower traffic. “Right now? Zooming through a row of deadlocked sedans on the parking lot they call the Pacific Coast Highway. Are you okay? You sound... Off.”
“I’m...” she didn’t say anything for two exits and now Tony was really worried.
“Exit’s comin’ up, Pepper, I’ll be there in five, okay?”
“Okay.”
“Okay,” Tony repeated and rumbled off the main highway. The audio in his helmet continued to run until Pepper finally hung up. He was halfway to the main gate when Jarvis confirmed the call termination.
He was more than worried. Something churned in the pit of his stomach that may have been panic, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to address it. Instead, he tossed his helmet at Janine when he entered the main office and spared her a sarcastic smile as she squeaked in indignation. Matt caught him in the hallway just as he started up the stairs.
“Miss Potts is in her office, Mr. Stark,” he hesitated a moment and addressed what was on his mind. “She was quite upset when I left half an hour ago”
“‘Kay, thanks Matt,” Tony gently clapped the young man on his back and took the rest of the stairs two at a time.
The office door was shut, but when Tony knocked on it the hinges yielded to his knuckles.
“Pepper?”
The washroom door was closed too. With a deeper frown, Tony closed the office door behind him and thumbed the lock. “Pepper, are you okay?”
The door opened a fraction to let him know she wasn’t coming out of the secondary room. He shed his bike jacket and tossed it in on the sofa against the wall perpendicular to the desk and moved to sit against the doorjamb. The carpet he sat on was still thick with the odor of the Macanudo cigars Stane preferred to smoke.
“Pepper, what’s wrong?” he asked.
He heard her mumbled something about the budget meeting and sighed. This “talk through the door” thing just wasn’t him. Shifting to his knees, Tony turned the knob and raised an expectant eyebrow at his girlfriend. She was crouched in the corner with her skirt rumpled along her thighs and her chin on her knees.
“I had a bit of a panic attack.”
“About what?”
“I forgot I wasn’t your PA anymore,” she shifted a little on her numb rear end and forced herself to meet his eyes. “Tony, I don’t know if I can do this.”
For a terrible moment, Tony thought she meant them. Pepper saw the fear slide through his eyes and shook her head hard enough to dislodge her hair clip.
“No. I mean... I don’t know if I can do this CEO stuff. I still think like a PA and I’ve been reading news feeds on my Blackberry about me-”
“Pepper,” he shuffled into the washroom on his knees and cupped her face in his hands, “I trust you. I have confidence in you. We’re partners, remember? You’ve got Matt to remind you of things that need getting done and I’ve got Natasha making sure I get to all of my meetings. Instead of driving home with me and spending all night filing stuff and answering emails you have someone else to do it for you. Because you’re in charge. You’ll be driving home with me to do girlfriend stuff and I’ll be driving home with you to do boyfriend stuff.”
Pepper let out a breath she felt like she’d been holding all afternoon and leaned her forehead against Tony’s. Their noses bumped and Tony smiled before he gently angled his chin to kiss her. He felt her lips curve upward and leaned in closer to bite her lower lip. She did that cute gasping thing and Tony deepened his hold on her.
She tasted like coffee and Splenda. Her hair, loose from its clip, smelled like the new mango shampoo she’d started using. It felt like satin flowing over his fingers.
The moment broke when Pepper shifted to get more comfortable and banged the wall with one of her 4½ inch heels. She cringed and cleared her throat. “We’ve got that budget meeting. Then I was going to ask you if you wanted to come with me to check in with R&D.”
Tony’s mouth twitched into a smile-dimples standing out. “You were gonna ask, huh?”
Pepper didn’t bother hiding her own grin and swatted his shoulder.
He laughed and helped her off the floor. He took his time straightening her skirt and even rapped his fingertips across her rump in a fast jazz piano bit he’d been working on in some far part of his brain that wasn’t occupied by tinkering in the workshop. Pepper swatted at his hand again.
“Right. Budget, R&D, then fun stuff,” he leered comically at her and led her toward her desk. “Ooo, you wanna ride home on my chopper, sweetheart? It’ll make you purr,” he whispered lustily in her ear.
She laughed and gathered the paperwork she needed. “Grab an extra helmet from the garages here and you’ve got a deal, stud.”
He watched her fix her hair and stalk beautifully out of the office with no small amount of longing on his face. “And you expect me to pay attention during this budget meeting?” he asked the back of her head.
*
He didn’t pay attention during the budget meeting.
There were vague impressions of reports and signing endless forms, but Tony’s brain was replaying the last images he had of Pepper’s bare legs lit by his arc as he ran his hands across her skin to memorize the feel of her. His eyes kept drifting to her calves without his permission. Normally he would joke around with the accounting guys and talk their ears off because he genuinely liked talking to the math experts.
This time, all Tony could think of were Pepper’s legs.
She crossed them and tucked her ankles together-sitting like a princess and flicking her pen against the folder of documents her former coworkers (ages ago she recalled working with the four men and two women at the table for about two days before Tony hired her on as his PA) had prepared. They were still talking...
Tony watched her re-cross her legs and actually tipped his head at the action.
Edith, who had been working in accounting at Stark Industries since Tony was nine, smiled at his oblivious face. Pepper saw this and tracked Edith’s expression.
“Tony!” she threw her pen at his face.
“Gah!”
Edith smothered a laugh with her PDA and cleared her throat. “Mr. Stark, Miss Potts... If you’ve approved of all our assessments and projections, I’ll let you go,” she said once she calmed herself.
Tony stood, pulled Pepper’s chair out like a gentleman and smiled guiltily at Edith and her coworkers. “Sorry, Mrs. Ferguson,” he held out his hand and gave the back of her hand a kiss like he usually did.
“Nonsense, Mr. Stark. It’s good to see you in person again.”
He flushed with embarrassment and Edith shared a look with Pepper over his shoulder.
“I’m trying to make a habit of it,” Tony admitted.
“See you next quarter, then,” said Edith. She waved at Pepper and winked once Tony turned his back completely.
Down the hallway Tony thumbed the elevator button and rubbed his palm against Pepper’s lower back. “Well, that was embarrassing.”
“You were staring at my legs.”
“I still am,” he grinned and leered at her calves.
Pepper did that swatting thing again-this time her knuckles rapped against his arc reactor. Immediately, she swung around and pressed her palm over the metal and looked him in the eye. Her mouth popped open to apologize just as the elevator doors opened and Tony took advantage of momentum and the empty space to swoop one hand around the back of Pepper’s neck, drag her against his body and kiss her like he’d wanted to do all morning and afternoon.
Pepper matched his fervor and gave a tiny squeak when Tony hooked one of his arms under her bottom and hoisted her up against the handrail at the back of the elevator. For one strange moment she found herself precariously balanced when Tony reached back and hit the button for the basement level then slammed his thumb on the “stop” button. She was almost falling forward when he moved back between her thighs with his mouth on her neck.
Pepper cupped the back of his head and opened her mouth to say something-but what came out of her wasn’t anything coherent. Just a garbled string of nonsensical syllables as Tony shifted her blouse off one shoulder and sucked hard on the pale skin revealed.
She threaded her fingers through his hair and kissed his sideburn. In a bit of a haze she managed to realize the time, where they were, and that they should probably stop before she lost higher brain function and suggested he rip her panties off.
Tony pouted when she tugged his head back far enough to catch his eyes. “Meeting. Right?”
Pepper smoothed his hair and straightened the buttons on his navy blue oxford. “Mm-hmm. And considering this is my first day as your business partner...”
Tony grumbled to himself but was courteous enough to help her straighten her appearance before he pressed the “stop” button again. “Later, though...”
“After dinner. I’m making lasagna.”
The doors slid open and Tony Stark’s smile was blinding. “Can we eat on your porch?”
The request threw her a bit and Tony knew her well enough to interpret her expression. “I like your house. That porch makes me want to eat all kinds of homey food and drink iced tea. It’s like Better Homes and Gardens voodoo or something.”
“I did brew some iced tea the other day...” Pepper admitted.
“We should contact them and do a spread on your house.”
The walk through the hallway to the Research and Development main garage was interrupted by her punctuated laugh. She thought he was kidding. Tony quickly dipped his arm around her waist and pulled her to his side-throwing her walk into all kinds of disarray but letting him physically connect with her so she could feel his sincerity.
“I mean it. It’s good publicity, too. Letting the rest of the world know that the newest CEO of Stark Industries is just like the rest of the world and likes a covered porch, lilac bushes and that great eucalyptus tree in your backyard.”
Pepper relented. “I’ll have Matt set it up,” she said.
Tony smiled and as they reached the garage he used his keycard and code before Pepper could and held the door open for her.
“Miss Potts,” Stephen Crane announced for the rest of the engineers and physicists in the garage. “Mr. Stark-glad you could make it together,” he nodded and Pepper, having known Stephen longer than Tony, caught the hidden meaning in his words. She shook his hand and tipped her head at him in the way sister-in-laws are wont to do in the non-verbal form of “you’re treating my sister right, but I have no qualms against beating you up if you keep going in that direction you are right now.”
“Stephen,” Tony intercepted and actually pulled the younger man into a one armed hug. “We’re still on for lunch this weekend, right?”
“Absolutely. Now are you ready to see the prototype?”
Pepper was feeling giddy. Not just from the kiss earlier, but from the prospect of signing off on this incredible invention Tony was actually willing to share (for once).
Before them stood ten technicians and Stephen Crane ready to pull a white sheet off the automobile-shaped object at the center of the garage. On the count of three they tugged the sheet back to reveal a silver Audi A3.
“Audi sent us one of their A3’s to work with. The vehicle is one of the most family-friendly and fuel efficient of the line. My wife and I have one, actually,” Stephen admitted. Pepper remembered seeing it in her sister’s garage once. Next to the new Dodge Challenger Caroline owned.
Tony was grinning and running his fingers along the line of the hood. Someone popped the hood and he expertly unlatched it and traced his hand across the covered engine block. Pepper pulled out her “Stark Tech” hand computer and called up the visual specifications of the actual engine. There was no battery, so toxic waste was reduced automatically and the modified miniature arc reactor was connected to a rotary engine and magnetic flywheel that operated the drive train to send power to the rear wheels.
Between Pepper’s silent analysis of the overall design and Tony’s tactile obsession, someone turned the key and set the reactor into work.
It was silent.
Normally this would send her into a fit of pouting-as Pepper was a big fan of the rumble a V12 made when you revved the engine. But the lack of exhaust, the knowledge that the arc was self-sufficient and gave off enough energy to power the human heart for over fifty lifetimes (Tony shared that with her during one night of making shadow puppet on the ceiling with his bare chest and her thin fingers) thrilled her to her bones.
Tony was smiling so hard his cheeks hurt. “Have you driven it yet? Please tell me you have...”
Stephen smiled right along with him and dragged him over to see the new gauge console. “Twice around the test track for all of the development team. It runs like... Nothing else. Power distribution is so smooth that you can stop on a dime from ninety to zero. We’ve had no problems with overheating or mechanical malfunctions because, frankly Tony, your design was flawless.”
“This is incredible,” Pepper finally said. She felt like she was looking at one of those flying cars the science fiction movies had promised.
“How much did construction cost? More or less than the regular fossil-fuel engine?” Tony asked. Pepper could see how anxious he was to test it himself. She couldn’t blame him.
Arthur, one of Tony’s hand-picked automotive guru’s, finally spoke up. “Long term value really cinches it. Despite the cost of palladium, the owner of an arc vehicle would never need to buy gas or charge up the electronics. It’s all done through the miniature reactor.”
“So, more,” Tony assumed.
Stephen tipped his head and made a face that Pepper had seen Tony make every so often. It was that smile that wasn’t really a smile so much as a covered grimace. “It’s not exactly cheap.”
Tony blinked. “That was... Terrible. Want to try that again?”
“Okay, so it’s expensive. But we’re working on cost-effectiveness.”
“Meaning?” Pepper asked.
“Meaning it’s expensive to produce but we’re developing ways that are more fiscally sound,” said one of the other engineers.
“You mentioned you were ‘working’ on this,” Pepper pointed out. Tony dropped the hood and hopped into the driver’s seat as she conversed with Arthur.
He eased the A3 into “reverse” and slammed his foot on the accelerator. The car shot back halfway across the empty garage and he recklessly shifted into “drive” without hitting the brakes. It made no noise other than the harsh squeal of tire on sealed concrete, but the movement felt very familiar... He whooped with laughter and did a quick circuit around the room until he could feel it again.
Flying.
Tony drifted across the back corner of the garage and pulled the handbrake to stop parallel to Pepper and Arthur’s feet. He eased out of the vehicle and grabbed Pepper by the elbow. “You gotta try this-where are the patent papers?”
“On my desk. I’ll need-”
Tony waited just long enough for her to scoot her left leg into the cab before he shut the door and made pantomime driving motions with his hands. “I’ll get Matt to bring ‘em down,” he assured her.
She argued wordlessly with him for a moment and relented when he bit his lower lip and started pressing his right foot on an invisible gas pedal. Pepper rolled her eyes and shifted her toes against the accelerator. She wasn’t expecting the power behind it.
A shouted laugh escaped her before she could smother it and she pulled the vehicle into a tight figure eight. Tony watched her drive circuits around the garage-her hair escaped the loose ponytail it was in for her earlier meetings and the bright copper of it was luminous and bold against her freckled cheek. Strands of it stuck to her lipgloss, but she just laughed harder and twisted the steering wheel.
Tony finished his absent-minded text to Matt for the paperwork and licked his lower lip. Vanilla lipgloss...
Ten minutes later the papers were all signed and Pepper was getting Tony to show off some stunt driving to the R&D guys. Her rough morning had turned into this carefree afternoon. Still smiling, Pepper grabbed one of the motorcycle helmets they had lying around and tucked it under her arm. She was hungry, still slightly turned on, and looking forward to eating a home-cooked dinner in her own home.
Walking back through the main hallway, Pepper caught sight of Tony speaking with Natasha, Matt and Happy. Confident and still feeling a little giddy from her test drive, Pepper slid up beside him and hooked an arm around his waist.
The way he leaned into her felt so automatic that she looked slightly down to find his face.
“So after the conference call at O’Dark Thirty with SI International you two need to make a trip up north to visit Hank and Janet Pym,” said Natasha. “I would tag along but I’ve been ordered to debrief Lieutenant Colonel Rhodes on out current mission.”
“Okay,” said Tony. His hand tightened on Pepper’s waist slightly. “I need to have a word with Colonel Eyepatch on Sunday-is this doable, or is he too busy for little old me?”
Happy snorted and Natasha wasn’t above smiling ever-so-slightly at the nickname. “In regards to what, exactly?” she asked.
“I’ll know better by Sunday.”
With that cryptic answer, Tony grabbed his helmet from Janine and pointed at Matt. “Better Homes and Gardens needs to do a spread on Miss Potts’ house. Make it happen.”
Matt immediately noted this in his phone and offered a thumbs-up as he typed in information with one hand. “The patent papers are in legal getting notarized, so that has been taken care of a day early, sir.”
“Awesome. Ready to go, Pep?”
She held up her helmet and bit her lower lip to temper the smile that warmed her cheeks. “Ready.”
TBC
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