BRUCE POV
The first time Bruce met Pepper was pretty soon after the battle with Loki. He and Tony were working in his lab when JARVIS announced, "Sir, Ms. Potts is on her way down; she looks angry."
Bruce looked up, interested. He had heard of Tony Stark's PA turned CEO, Virginia "Pepper" Potts. She was one of the only people who had stuck with Tony for very long and Bruce admired her for that.
A taller woman with light red hair stormed into the lab. She looked slightly frazzled and her eyes locked on Tony the moment she entered the room.
"Anthony Edward Stark, what were you thinking! You could have died - you almost did. What possesed you to fly into that portal?"
Bruce decided to stay out of the arguement that seemed about to take place. Pepper did not seem like a woman to mess with and it might do Tony some good to get scolded. Although he couldn't fathom why she'd be this upset. He was just her obnoxious sort-of boss, wasn't he?
"Woah Pep, calm down. I'm fine, I'm right here. Maybe I almost died but I didn't. And I had to do something, there was a nuclear missile headed for New York, for goodness sake. I couldn't just let it hit. Even if I could have gotton out of there in time, so many people would have died." Tony was looking at her with such an intense look in his eyes. Bruce was surprised to see their resident jokester looking so serious.
"Why did you call me?" Pepper's voice was much softer now, as if she was afraid of the answer.
Bruce was confused, when had Tony had a chance to call his CEO during the battle?
"JARVIS asked if I'd like to try and I realized that if I was going to die, there was no one else I'd rather hear as I went."
Now Bruce was pretty sure ther was something more going on here than just Company Owner and his CEO. But he was distracted by how open and honest Tony was being. Bruce had spent quite a bit of time with Tony so far and - although he knew there was more to tony than he let on - the genius wasn't very open about his feelings.
Pepper had been making a valient effort not to cry but when Tony said those words, she burst into tears. Tony looked almost scared but he put his arms around her.
"Shhh, Pep. Calm down. I'm fine, I came back to you. I love you."
Both Bruce and Pepper's eyes widened at that. Bruce felt as if he was intruding but couldn't tear his eyes away from the beautiful picture he was looking at.
Pepper pulled her face away from Tony's shoulder. "Did you really mean that?" She asked, her face full of wonder.
"Of course I did." Tony replied, his face deadly serious but his eyes full of love. The tears started in Pepper's eyes again.
"Oh Tony, I love you so much. Please don't almost kill yourself again." She then seemed to remember that someone else was in the room. She wiped her face and turned to Bruce. He stuck out his hand, "Doctor Bruce Banner. And you must be Pepper Potts?"
She smiled at him, "I know who you are. I work for Tony after all. I also know you're the one I have to thank for Tony still being alive. If it wasn't for Hulk's well timed leap and then roar..." She shuddered.
Bruce was surprised. She knew who he was? Tony had said he was a big fan of Bruce's work when they first met but he assumed the billionare had been joking, apparently he hadn't. But she also knew about the other guy. So why hadn't she ordered him out of the house? Hurried away in terror? She didn't even seem to be frightened. In fact, she appeared to be thanking the other guy. Apart from Tony, she was the first person to do anything of the sort.
"Oh, I don't need any thanks. What Tony's done for me is more than enough. And I think the other guy's finally found a person that he likes. Otherwhise, there's no way he would have either caught Iron Man when he was falling or tried to wake him up.:
Tony grinned at hearing this, "So Jolly Green like me. I like him too. People might be less worried about me if they knew I had a green giant looking after me."
He turned back to Pepper who rolled her eyes. He grinned back and turned to Bruce, "I'm going to take Pepper out for dinner. Are you fine here?"
When Bruce nodded, Tony grabbed Pepper's hand and together they walked out of the workshop.
Bruce got back to his work but his mind was still on his friend. Who would have guessed that the infamous Tony Stark would find love?
