Seven Times Over: Moderation (6/7), Tony/Pepper, PG-13
Author's notes in Part 1.
6. Moderation
Dating doesn’t work out the way either of them expected. Depending on whose point of view you choose to believe, either he’s too much fun, or she’s not fun enough. Iron Man probably doesn’t help the situation. In any event, they break it off, but it’s mutual, which means there’s no reason why they can’t continue to run the company together: Pepper as CEO, Tony as CTO. They make a good team: she handles the boring details and keeps the stakeholders happy, and he wages a full-on charm offensive and keeps the company name in the papers. There’s still an indefinable energy between them, a certain spark that makes their joint public appearances the stuff of legend.
Privately, he still flirts with her outrageously, and she still brushes him off; beneath it all, there’s a deep, abiding affection on both sides that helps to preserve the status quo. They both date other people from time to time-although they do have a standing drinks appointment on Friday afternoons, which they call the Executive Retreat. In short: they’re just friends.
One night, they’re at the office late working on projections. Pepper is perched on the corner of Tony’s desk; she actually only came across the hall to ask him a quick question, but somehow they’ve ended up chatting about her recent trip to the London office.
“I was so jet-lagged when I got home that I actually got into the car on the right-hand side, and sat there for almost five minutes wondering where the steering wheel had gone.”
He laughs obligingly-the story is entertaining, but he’s more interested in her legs, which are right at his eye level.
When she crosses them, slowly, he catches the whisper of lace and a flash of creamy-white thigh-she’s wearing a pair of silk stockings he bought her, ages ago, in Paris (he prefers stockings over pantyhose for the obvious convenience factor).
The stockings have lasted this long in part because they were so extravagantly expensive-but also because, as she told him at the time, Pepper doesn’t wear stockings. Or didn’t, until now.
He smirks up at her, a predatory gleam in his eye.
“What are you smiling about?” she asks, ostensibly annoyed-but she isn’t, really, and she knew the answer long before ever posing the question.
His reply takes the form of a single raised eyebrow.
“Focus, Tony.” She leans towards him, and the top button of her blouse seems to have mysteriously undone itself-just enough to reveal a tantalizing glimpse of black lace molded to pale curves. “You don’t want me to keep you here all night, do you?”
Pepper wasn’t always this skilled in the art of seduction, but she had a good teacher, and she’s been practicing in the interim. She’s elected to take a page from Tony’s book in regards to personal relationships-she’ll probably never be as prolific, but she’s definitely more discreet.
Case in point: she locked the door when she came in.
He gently caresses the sloping swell of her calf; experimentally at first, then with more deliberation when she doesn’t slap his fingers away. The silk catches against the roughness of his hands.
She remembers those hands; the memories are fond. And vivid.
Hence the stockings.
When he stands up, she smiles, abandoning pretense entirely. She reaches out and grasps his tie, using it to reel him in. Their lips meet in a long, leisurely kiss, and when she opens her mouth to him, he’s surprised to note that she’s been drinking. She’s shocked to note that he hasn’t.
He presses his lips to the pulse point fluttering at her throat, and is rewarded with a sharp intake of breath-it’s been a while since he’s been down this particular road, but he can still recall most of the major landmarks.
She tangles her fingers in his hair; it’s still one of her favourite things about him, even more so with the recent appearance of a few silver threads. He leans into her, and she reclines gracefully onto his desk.
Everything after that unfolds in an orderly sequence, like tumblers clicking into place in a combination lock. There’s nothing awkward or rushed about the encounter; this is the one part of their failed relationship that always worked.
Afterwards, there’s no awkwardness, and no regret. They’re still just friends-friends who have really spectacular sex once in a while. In his dad’s day, they would have called it an affair.
================================================================
Honesty | Patience | Loyalty | Humility | Benevolence | Moderation | Persistence
6. Moderation
Dating doesn’t work out the way either of them expected. Depending on whose point of view you choose to believe, either he’s too much fun, or she’s not fun enough. Iron Man probably doesn’t help the situation. In any event, they break it off, but it’s mutual, which means there’s no reason why they can’t continue to run the company together: Pepper as CEO, Tony as CTO. They make a good team: she handles the boring details and keeps the stakeholders happy, and he wages a full-on charm offensive and keeps the company name in the papers. There’s still an indefinable energy between them, a certain spark that makes their joint public appearances the stuff of legend.
Privately, he still flirts with her outrageously, and she still brushes him off; beneath it all, there’s a deep, abiding affection on both sides that helps to preserve the status quo. They both date other people from time to time-although they do have a standing drinks appointment on Friday afternoons, which they call the Executive Retreat. In short: they’re just friends.
One night, they’re at the office late working on projections. Pepper is perched on the corner of Tony’s desk; she actually only came across the hall to ask him a quick question, but somehow they’ve ended up chatting about her recent trip to the London office.
“I was so jet-lagged when I got home that I actually got into the car on the right-hand side, and sat there for almost five minutes wondering where the steering wheel had gone.”
He laughs obligingly-the story is entertaining, but he’s more interested in her legs, which are right at his eye level.
When she crosses them, slowly, he catches the whisper of lace and a flash of creamy-white thigh-she’s wearing a pair of silk stockings he bought her, ages ago, in Paris (he prefers stockings over pantyhose for the obvious convenience factor).
The stockings have lasted this long in part because they were so extravagantly expensive-but also because, as she told him at the time, Pepper doesn’t wear stockings. Or didn’t, until now.
He smirks up at her, a predatory gleam in his eye.
“What are you smiling about?” she asks, ostensibly annoyed-but she isn’t, really, and she knew the answer long before ever posing the question.
His reply takes the form of a single raised eyebrow.
“Focus, Tony.” She leans towards him, and the top button of her blouse seems to have mysteriously undone itself-just enough to reveal a tantalizing glimpse of black lace molded to pale curves. “You don’t want me to keep you here all night, do you?”
Pepper wasn’t always this skilled in the art of seduction, but she had a good teacher, and she’s been practicing in the interim. She’s elected to take a page from Tony’s book in regards to personal relationships-she’ll probably never be as prolific, but she’s definitely more discreet.
Case in point: she locked the door when she came in.
He gently caresses the sloping swell of her calf; experimentally at first, then with more deliberation when she doesn’t slap his fingers away. The silk catches against the roughness of his hands.
She remembers those hands; the memories are fond. And vivid.
Hence the stockings.
When he stands up, she smiles, abandoning pretense entirely. She reaches out and grasps his tie, using it to reel him in. Their lips meet in a long, leisurely kiss, and when she opens her mouth to him, he’s surprised to note that she’s been drinking. She’s shocked to note that he hasn’t.
He presses his lips to the pulse point fluttering at her throat, and is rewarded with a sharp intake of breath-it’s been a while since he’s been down this particular road, but he can still recall most of the major landmarks.
She tangles her fingers in his hair; it’s still one of her favourite things about him, even more so with the recent appearance of a few silver threads. He leans into her, and she reclines gracefully onto his desk.
Everything after that unfolds in an orderly sequence, like tumblers clicking into place in a combination lock. There’s nothing awkward or rushed about the encounter; this is the one part of their failed relationship that always worked.
Afterwards, there’s no awkwardness, and no regret. They’re still just friends-friends who have really spectacular sex once in a while. In his dad’s day, they would have called it an affair.
================================================================
Honesty | Patience | Loyalty | Humility | Benevolence | Moderation | Persistence