Uncertain
Pepper Potts had been absolutely certain most of her life. Certain about her career, certain about her choices, certain about Tony Stark. She was a calculator, logical and precise. She trusted her moral instincts when she needed to.
Now, as Tony had swept her up and was flying her home, she was not so sure. Soaring hundreds of feet above the roads and clingy to the cold, scratched metal, she did not know if she could trust herself to fall for him.
He landed her, safely and gently at his home, but that wasn't quite reassuring. In the past, he'd often taken care of her physically, yet played with her feelings.
He seemed attentive, though. "Sorry, haven't had much time to clean up."
The house was still destroyed from his fight with Rhodey, and it looked like he'd built some sort of accelerator, which reminded her, "You almost died?"
He ignored her question at first, and took her hand. "Let's see if we can find a room that I didn't blow up."
The metal of his suit clinked on the floor and she wondered if he was planning on taking it off. He headed down the hallway to the middle of the house. It seemed to be the eye of the storm- nothing was much damaged. "I know my room is shattered," he lead her into a guest room that she used to sleep in if she couldn't leave him during the night, "we can use this."
She was thrown off by how he assumed that she was staying with him. She had intended to, she supposed, but she hadn't put much thought into the next few hours. She was too concerned with how they'd both came so close to death. "Tony..." she sighed.
He let go of her hand and took off the shoulder of his suit.
"Can't you get a machine to do that?" She asked.
"I can get it," he replied and removed the gloves and the forearms. He got stuck with the chest and she helped him, wedging her small fingers in and lifting it off of him. The suit was damaged enough for him to pretty much kick off the bottom half. The boots were in pretty good shape so he had to smash them a bit to get them off.
Seeing the bruises and cuts on him, she told him that she'd be right back. The first-aid kit that she kept handy in the bathroom must have gotten thrown somewhere, so she grabbed a washcloth and wet it and took it back to their room. He was standing and waiting for her.
She grabbed his shirt and pulled it over his head to get a better look at his injuries. Either his misunderstood her or chose to misunderstand her, and he took the opportunity to kiss her again. She let him, letting one hand touch the bare skin on his back, which made it difficult to step back after a few minutes.
"Let me wash some of these cuts," she said.
"Pepperrrrrrr..." he whined, sitting down on the bed.
She smiled. She couldn't stop smiling at the thought that she might have him, that they could be in a relationship. As she dabbed the blood off of his chest and back, she realized how the suit did not make him invincible. The metal still sliced and cut him, as much as it could protect him. With her hands on him, he reciprocated, touching her waist, her hips and as she worked from behind him, her knees and thighs.
"Are you okay?" He asked.
She laughed," YOU are asking ME that?" She hugged him, kneeling on the bed from behind and held tight. She still wasn't completely sure of his feelings, so she didn't mention how scared she was when she heard that he was dying or how she couldn't do anything but pray for his life as he fought Ivan and the drones.
"Ouch, Pep."
She knew she wasn't hurting him too much, but she knew she probably had pushed on a sore spot so she let go. He turned around to face her.
"Never, never, never ever again are you allowed to not tell me if you are dying."
"I'm better now," he gave her a small smile and held her hand.
She like the feeling of his skin on her hand much better than the harsh, fire resistant gloves of the suit. She placed her other hand over the arc reactor in his chest and felt it working hard to keep him alive. In that moment, the realities of what had happened in the past day hit her and she bowed her head to his shoulder, sighing heavily.
"It'll all right." He turned and lifted his legs on to the bed, lying down. He pulled Pepper on top of him. "We're all right, see? I would never let anything happen to you."
She felt tears burning in her eyes and threatening to spill. She didn't want him to see her cry though, so she closed her eyes and kissed him. She put more power into it than they'd experienced before. His hand slid under her shirt and massaged her lower back as she pressed her lips into his hard. She moved for a second to breathe and then approached him with an open mouth, so he could easily slip his tongue it.
It felt so good to finally be kissing him, but she wondered how far they could take it. Kissing was fine. Kissing could be forgotten, but if they had sex, she'd never forget. If they had sex and he left her, chalked it up to an emotional affair after saving her life, she would never be able to get over it.
She was hesitant and uncertain, and for good reasons, according to her logic. Tony wasn't the most reliable.
But she loved him.
It was a difficult decision, as she feared that she wasn't taking advantage of an ultimately good thing. "Tony." She broke the kiss, panting. "I don't know if this is such a good idea tonight. We're emotional right now..."
"Are you sure?" He asked.
"Am I sure?"
"Are you sure you don't want to do this?"
He was impossible to read. She couldn't tell if he was disappointed or not. She kissed him again, just to see if that would give her any clarity.
It didn't. If anything, kissing made her head more fuzzy and she couldn't concentrate and then his hands started to hook into the waistband of her skirt. She felt them inching down and she halted him. "Stop."
"Thank goodness." He seemed so relieved and took his hands away.
She was so confused. He didn't want to have sex with her? That was slightly discouraging, but also relieving because it gave her more time to think about what she really wanted.
"I want you. I'm just fucking exhausted." He rubbed his face and suddenly she realized how tired he was. "I just don't think I'd be up to par tonight. Saving the city takes a lot out of me. Not that I wouldn't be good."
"I'm tired too," she said, feeling slightly bad that she wasn't going to tell him the true reason for her hesitancy.
"Let's just sleep tonight and we'll figure things out in the morning."
That sounded perfect to Pepper. "Sounds good." She sat up and thought about removing her shirt, but he'd never seen her even half-naked, and she was not sure what he would think. She played with the buttons on her shirt for a while, thinking it over before he sat up.
"What are you doing?"
"Deciding whether to sleep in my shirt or not." She really didn't want to. It was tight and uncomfortable, but so was her bra and she didn't want to sleep completely naked. "Is it distracting for you if my shirt is off?" She didn't want to sound too arrogant, because really, she had no idea what he thought of her. He might have complimented her a few times over the years, but mostly, it was when he was drunk.
"Yes, yes. It is absolutely distracting." He laughed and smiled. "Let's see if we can't find you a shirt." He walked down the hallway to his bedroom.
It would take them months to clean up, she decided. He brushed debris off of his dresser and opened up a drawer. "One large t-shirt for you." He handed it to her nicely folded.
She began unbuttoning her shirt. "Is this your dresser of shirts to give away to the girls that you sleep with?" She supposed that it wasn't the kindest remark, but it was likely to be true, and she had to watch him with all those women year after year.
As her bra was revealed, he couldn't say anything, but just dropped his head to her shoulder to kiss it. He inched one of her bra straps down and she stepped away. "Ahh. I knew it would be distracting. You need to get some sleep," she reminded him. She put his shirt on and took off her bra and skirt underneath it.
"Thank you," she said.
He kissed her again, softly, but then she held him to her and it turned deeper.
"Let's just kiss all the time," he suggested. "I'll quit my job, and you already quit yours."
"Okay," she led him back down the hallway with her lips. "You want to sleep in the same bed?" she asked.
"Of course," to him, it wasn't even a question. "You almost got destroyed tonight. I'm never letting you out of my sight. Out of where I can protect you from."
"Thank you," she said again. They both collapsed onto the bed.
She scooted under the covers. "Come on," she told him.
He removed his pants, leaving himself in boxers. She almost groaned, she wanted him so badly.
"We can make it," he encouraged and he laid down and wrapped his legs around hers, entangling her. She listened to the arc reactor and knew she could fall asleep with the constant hum reminding her of Tony's life.
A/N: I don't own the characters. I will probably write a sequel from Tony's POV. In this story, I assume that Tony and Pepper have basically known each other since high school and she has been working for him ever sense.
