My MCU/BruceNat insanity continues. This is your brain on shipping, kids.

In a more serious vein, this first oneshot in what will hopefully be a short series of oneshots centers around my thoughts on what the first meeting between Pepper and Bruce might have been like. The significant other and the bestie have to meet at some point, right? It occurred to me that Pepper and Bruce would probably get along pretty well. So, anyway, here we are. Let me know if you like the oneshot, if you like the premise, etc...I'm planning on taking this into BruceNat territory eventually. Wouldn't it be fun to see Pepper picking up on the BruceNat vibes when almost everyone else is blissfully ignorant? Ehehehe...

Many thanks to blueincandescence for her suggestions both practical and grammatical (the latter of which which was sorely needed for those of us who took English roughly a million years ago).


Super elastic collision: the collision between particles in which the total kinetic energy of the system is greater after the collision than before.


1. Meet and Greet

Pepper Potts is recuperating from the Extremis fiasco when she unexpectedly encounters the guy that Tony won't shut up about: Bruce Banner. She knew it from those first few moments—she was going to like this guy. Science Bros. with a side of Pepperony.


Tony's music invaded her dreams before finally shaking her out of sleep altogether, and Pepper Potts woke with the uneasy mixture of confusion and irritation buzzing in her head. The sun had was just starting to cut a line of fire where the curtains didn't quite meet, and she watched the thin ribbon of light grow brighter as she blinked and reached for her phone.

Her agenda was already sending her alerts, an alarming number of urgent emails had appeared as she slept, and she had an entire queue of missed texts.

It was only 7:30 in the morning. On New Year's Day, no less.

She groaned and surrendered her half-formed hope that the holiday might deter Stark Industries business from finding its way into her inbox. She had also been hoping that she might be granted a few disaster-free days to recuperate properly after the Extremis debacle and the surgeries she'd gone through only days before.

But this was the world of big business, so, naturally, no such luck.

Tony's side of the bed was cold beside her, and further inspection of her texts revealed that they were all from him.

In the lab

It's one floor down

Breakfast?

Text me when you're up

I have a friend over, so don't accidentally burn your clothes off again

You need to meet him later, actually

If your clothes DO burn off, send pics xoxo

Tony's spastic texts always made her forget her worries just long enough to smile; the moment passed and Pepper sighed and sat up. She hadn't quite adjusted to the layout of the newly minted Avengers Tower yet, but she could have identified the fact that Tony's lab was one floor beneath her own without his help. The way Shoot to Thrill was aggressively vibrating its way through the floor kind of gave it away. She shuddered to think of what the volume must be like in the lab itself.

She tuned the distant music out and glanced again at the ribbon of sunlight cracking through the curtains to spill across the bed. A smile crept across her face. Even rudely awakened and faced with a pile of work, Pepper felt the deep stillness of relief settle like an unshakable foundation behind her breastbone. The Extremis mess was over, Tony's nightmares were waning, and in these last few days his concentration hadn't always been on a distant point over the horizon. Between being forcibly infected with the Extremis virus and Tony blowing up most of his Iron Man suits, it had been one hell of a Christmas. But it was January 1st, and there were new beginnings all around.

She stretched, ignoring the way her nerves still tingled and burned with each movement. The Extremis effect was a little slow to fade. Tony had described the removal process as soaking spilled water from a carpet; it was slow and tedious, and required sustained effort. She reached for the pills she had been taking every morning as part of her treatment and tossed back the prescribed pair. Another day closer to being back to one hundred percent not a genetically altered weapon. At least she wasn't accidentally burning her clothes off anymore, no matter what Tony liked to insinuate.

And that had only happened once in the first place, not that he was ever going to let her forget it. (In return, she was never going to let him forget that his exact words to her at the time were "That's hot," as she stood blazing in front of him.)

She slid out of the bed and pulled on a soft robe and slippers. It was a holiday and she was a recovering invalid, and she deserved a little relaxation. She decided that her clamoring inbox would keep for a few minutes, and went in search of Tony.


The music had served as a breadcrumb trail long enough to lead Pepper to the correct subsection of the lab suite on the floor below, but it fell suspiciously silent before she finally approached the door. Jarvis opened the security door before she asked, and she stepped into Tony's latest lab. It was almost as big as his lab space had been at the house in Malibu. Glass walls overlooked a multi-leveled living area on one side, and glass also made up a good portion of the floor, showcasing what she thought might be a darkened storage area below. She recognized all the trappings of Tony's workspaces; there were too many surfaces, and they still managed to be thoroughly covered and crammed with mechanical detritus. A few holographic images hovered above the shiny steel desk off to one side, displaying what looked like a three-dimensional blueprint. Pepper drifted closer.

"Tony?" a voice Pepper didn't recognize called from behind the desk. She belatedly remembered the text that mentioned "a friend" and glanced down at her robe and slippers with a grimace. Well, at least she had the invalid excuse if necessary…She set her face and put on an air of professional courtesy. Tony had very egalitarian taste in associates, so she could be facing anyone from a local mechanic to the next big investor for Stark Industries. The voice continued before she could introduce herself. "Can you hand me the, uh…" The man stood and stared at something beyond the desk in abstraction for a long moment before finally turning. He spotted her at last and blinked. "Oh," he said. "You must be Ms. Potts."

She didn't recognize him for several seconds; he'd had longer, curly hair in the pictures and videos Phil had brought from S.H.I.E.L.D. so long ago. His hair was cropped close to the scalp now and graying at the temples, barely long enough to stick out in a few directions, but it just managed to look slightly wild. There was a liberal amount of stubble along his jaw, but she wasn't sure if he was working on a beard or if she'd just caught him before his morning shave. The beard looked more likely, given the fact that he was dressed in jeans and a blue plaid button-down shirt with glasses dangling from the pocket. Despite the beard and the hair, she finally matched the face to the memory.

"And you must be Dr. Banner," she replied.

"Guilty," he admitted with a shrug that looked stiff enough to be painful. His smile was kind, however, and he came around the desk and reached out to shake her hand.

The hand he extended was covered in black engine grease up to the forearm. Bruce realized the problem at the same moment she did and retracted his hand with something that might have been intended as a smile but was more of a grimace.

"Right," he muttered, and she wasn't sure if he was addressing her or himself. "No handshake...but accept my greeting from afar," he added, with a nod in her direction. His smile was too embarrassed to belong on the face of a man over forty. If he was over forty. He looked younger than the hint of gray around his temples suggested. His eyes, too, carried the weight of more years than his face displayed. It was a strange contrast, the stiff kindness and the aged youth…

Pepper recognized distantly that if she let the silence go on any longer, it would become awkward.

"So," she started, "Are you-"

"The Incredible Hulk?" Bruce interjected. His expression had gone distant and blank, and his smile had frosted over. A touchy subject, then. After the news reports she'd seen, that wasn't surprising…but he certainly was quick enough to bring it up.

"Are you working on something with Tony," she corrected gently. "That's what I was going to ask." She smiled wanly and hoped it would be enough to communicate that she wasn't here to poke at things that weren't her business. (Even if she was privately hoping that Dr. Banner was no longer on the FBI's Most Wanted list…Tony didn't stop to think about those sorts of details, but she would have hell to pay if the board of Stark Industries found out that they had harbored a fugitive.)

Dr. Banner's shoulders were stiff again, but he managed to wrench his hand up to rub distractedly at his neck. "Oh," he commented quietly. "We're just tinkering, really. Working on his Iron Legion idea." He slid his hand away from his neck, leaving a liberal streak of grease on both neck and collar and they both winced. "Second shirt I've ruined this week," he muttered. "Another one bites the dust." She was prepared to be sympathetic, but he flashed a rueful smile and she laughed instead. His shoulders loosened at last.

"When did you get here?" Pepper asked. "I hope Tony didn't put off introducing me because he was distracted…"

"Oh no," Bruce answered immediately. "He just didn't want to bother you until you were up and around. He called me in about a week ago to consult on the Extremis situation, actually. I specialize in biochemistry, among other things…but you probably know that."

She did vaguely remember seeing a list of Dr. Banner's accomplishments in one of Tony's files, but her distant memories were overridden by her surprise that he had been around for a week without her knowledge. He had to be the least intrusive tower guest on record. She was also taken aback that Tony had asked someone for help of his own free will. She glanced at him with new respect. "Well thank you for your help, Dr. Banner. I'm glad to not be setting things on fire anymore."

"Tony did most of the heavy lifting with the treatment," Bruce downplayed immediately. "He called in a whole team of experts. I was just backup."

He seemed determined not to be thanked. While humility was always a refreshing change of pace in her world, Pepper simply couldn't allow that. "Either way," she insisted, "thank you."

"So how are you feeling?" he continued after a moment, and she recognized the curiosity of a scientist and the easy bedside manner of a physician in his voice and expression. Another contrast—talking to Dr. Banner was a jarring study in opposites. She thought of the blurry videos of a raging green Hulk and thought that perhaps she shouldn't be surprised by that.

"I feel almost normal," she replied thoughtfully. "My body temperature is still a little high, and my nerves are a little haywire, but I'm improving every day."

"Well, your body scans looked great, last I saw…" He trailed off and turned a rather becoming shade of pink. "On the, uh, cellular level, I mean. The scan didn't show anything, uh…anything else." He sighed heavily and gave a frustrated smile. "Sorry. I don't have much of a way with words. Making a fool of myself is also one of my specialties, unfortunately."

Pepper waved off his words with a smile. "Please, Dr. Banner. I've spent years of my life with Tony Stark. If you think that you've said anything embarrassing, I'm here to tell you that you can think again." Dr. Banner grinned.

"Yeah, he's a…" His eyes unfocused and he gestured vaguely as he grappled for the right word. "…colorful conversationalist."

"A kinder assessment than I usually hear. I think the most common term is 'son of a bitch.'"

Bruce was grinning again as he turned to pluck a cloth from the nearest countertop to scrub fruitlessly at the grease coating his hands like a second skin. The cloth went from white to black almost instantly, but Bruce's hands barely changed shade. He scrubbed anyway.

"Tony talks about you all the time," he commented absently.

Pepper wasn't sure whether to feel flattered or horrified. She settled on feeling both equally.

"I can only imagine what he must say," she said with a sigh.

"Oh no," Bruce corrected, a hint of distress showing in the lines around his eyes. "He talks about you like...like you're the sun and he's the moon. If we're being poetic." He tossed the ruined rag back onto the counter, and Pepper wondered if he was more at ease when he was distracted.

"I thought you said you didn't have a way with words," she commented after a moment. "And by all means, be poetic."

Bruce smiled and glanced over the desk at whatever-it-was that he had been so hard at work on.

"Am I keeping you from your work?" Pepper asked immediately.

"No, it's nothing that can't wait. That's the great thing about robots—they'll wait forever. Would you like to see?" He waved her over and she glanced over the desk at what looked like a twisted pile of scrap metal. The arrangement of the pieces suggested a head, torso, and limbs, so she supposed it was a good start. Bruce knelt beside the pile and adjusted one of the pieces absently.

"This is for his civilian protection force?" Pepper asked. Bruce nodded. "And you're helping…I thought you were a biochemist."

He shrugged. "Among other things. I always like to tinker."

It was no wonder he and Tony got along so well. Speaking of which…

"Where is Tony?" she asked, glancing around the empty lab.

"He's bringing a few parts we need," Bruce answered, rising to his feet again.

"So you're the one who killed the music, then?"

"The second he walked out," Bruce answered evenly. "I like to be able to hear myself think, but Tony…" he trailed off and shrugged.

"AC/DC," she sighed.

"All day, every day," he agreed in a pained voice.

Pepper heard the lab door slide open behind her and Tony's voice arrived just ahead of him. "Worlds collide," he called across the lab as he deposited a bin bristling with metallic scraps on one of the counters. "Good morning, honey. How are you feeling?"

"I'm great, thanks for asking," Bruce answered with a smirk.

"Making things weird is my thing, Bruce," Tony retorted. He kissed Pepper's cheek. "You didn't answer my texts," he said, and she heard the question within the statement.

"I was sleeping," she replied. "And then I came to look for you."

"Should've texted me. I would have gotten you breakfast," he complained, reaching for one of her hands with both of his.

She shrugged. "There's still time, if you're determined to be thoughtful."

"Square deal," he agreed, and smiled. "But first things first. Pepper, this is Dr. Bruce Banner, mild-mannered scientist by day and green rage monster by night. Bruce, this is the CEO of Stark Industries, and my much better half, Virginia Potts."

"It's nice to meet you, Ms. Potts," Bruce replied with a nod and a smile. The smile faded a little when he looked at Tony. "Do you have to make me sound like a werewolf?" he reproached with a sigh.

"I thought I made you sound like a superhero," Tony countered.

"A little bit of both," Pepper corrected, smiling at Bruce. "But that's not necessarily a bad thing. And you can call me Pepper."

"Thank you," he replied. His smile was warm, but she noticed that he didn't use her first name. So he was the type that required time to warm up to new people. That was alright—she could work with that.

Tony's hand brushed against her back as he slid past her and joined Bruce beside the half-assembled pile of robotics.

"I'll make good on the breakfast date in just a minute, Pepper," he promised. "Did you place the CPU yet?" he asked Bruce. Pepper could almost see the wheels in his head starting to spin.

"Yes, but I thought we should get the coolant system installed before we boot up so we don't run any unnecessary fire risks."

Tony hummed noncommittally. "Grab the box," he instructed Bruce as he knelt beside the metallic mess.

"The box?" Bruce asked dryly. "The one you brought and then left all the way over there?" But Tony wasn't listening. Bruce sighed and crossed the lab to retrieve it. He paused beside her on his return trip. "It was very nice to meet you," he said politely and Pepper was about to respond with the same rote etiquette when he lowered his voice and spoke again. "And thank you for not asking about the Other Guy. I appreciate it." Momentarily taken aback, Pepper blinked at him.

"It's…it's no problem," she replied in a tone subdued to match his. He smiled, and she noticed for the first time that his smile was cracked around the edges—a sad smile, even when it was genuine. She was abruptly glad that he was Tony's friend. Tony had the gift of forcing the people around him to have fun. They might be good for each other, she considered.

A plume of acrid smoke curled upward from behind the desk, and she heard Tony hiss in pain.

"Tell me you didn't try that without the coolant system," Bruce called, shutting his eyes and shaking his head with a look of martyrdom.

"Um…" was Tony's only reply.

"Tony, wait-"

"Tony, no-"

They spoke at the same time. Bruce smiled at her and murmured, "It's okay—I've got him," under his breath before disappearing behind the desk. The smoke cleared, the burning smell faded rather than intensifying, and Pepper decided that Tony and Bruce were definitely going to be good for each other. She also decided that she and Bruce Banner were going to get along just fine.

Satisfied that they weren't going to bring Avengers Tower to a fiery end, Pepper allowed her thoughts to stray back to her overstuffed email inbox. She slipped out of the lab and made it all the way back to their bedroom before she remembered that Tony had promised her breakfast. He might remember, eventually…but it couldn't hurt to have a little fun in the meantime.

Breakfast? she sent first, followed swiftly by Be careful playing with fire down there. If you burn your clothes off, send pics.


You: This oneshot...I like it. *writes review*

Me: ANOTHER!

(Please review!)