Tony Stark and Pepper Potts had always had a strictly platonic relationship. She'd made it very clear when she started working for him that, if he tried anything that surpassed her standards of "just flirting", she'd mace him.
Of course, that didn't mean they weren't friends. It was merely a few weeks into their professional relationship that Tony realized just how much he liked being around this girl. She wasn't like the other young women Obadiah had tried to hire to be his assistant; all of them were boring and tried to get him to attend meetings on time, but they promptly gave up and gave into his wishes when he refused often enough. But Pepper… Pepper was feisty. Maybe it was the red hair.
If there was one moment he remembered deciding he wanted to be Virginia Potts' friend, it was the first time he refused to attend one of his meetings while she was working for him.
"Mr. Stark?" she'd called out as she walked through the cavernous Malibu mansion and JARVIS quickly alerted Tony of her presence down in the workshop.
"Sir, there's a young woman up stairs calling you."
Tony had furrowed his brow as he slid out from beneath his Audi down in the workshop at hearing the AI's voice.
"Who?" He'd asked as he sat up and wiped the grease from his hands.
"She's unidentifiable, sir. She's never been here before."
That was odd. What kind of woman just broke into his house and started calling for him? Okay, that was easy; any woman would. But what woman could? He had a top-notch security system that he'd designed himself. It should have alerted him before now that she'd gotten inside.
"Get her picture. Do a background check and tell me who she is."
"Of course, sir."
Upstairs, Pepper was getting irritated. "Mr. Stark!" she'd shouted for what felt like the tenth time, her heels clicking on the polished hardwood flooring. "You're going to be late for your meeting at two!"
"Sir, the results have concluded. Her name is Virginia Patricia Potts, recently appointed as your personal assistant at Stark Industries. She's twenty-six years old, possesses strawberry blonde hair, and-"
"I got it, JARVIS. Send her down."
"Right away, sir."
"Mute," Tony announced, the AC/DC song playing in the background going silent. He couldn't help the slight smirk that pulled at his lips when he heard Pepper shriek with surprise upstairs at the sound of JARVIS. Moments later, her heels noisily clacked down the staircase, and she paused outside the glass door, spotting him lounging on the floor, smirking over at her. Her hair was hanging loose and curly around her shoulders, like it always had when she started working for him, and her lips were pursed tightly with clear irritation. Rapping on the glass, she shook her head.
"Mr. Stark, open this door. We need to discuss today's meeting."
"JARVIS, open it."
The door unlocked, and Pepper strolled in, trying to hide her clear awe at how advanced everything was.
"Sir, we have to talk about what you're going to say to the board-"
"Nothing to talk about," he stated with a shrug, picking up a wrench and sliding back underneath the car, talking as he tinkered. "Not going."
Her blue eyes widened, and she gave a short laugh at the pure absurdity of his statement. "Pardon me? Of course you're going. Now, I suggest you get upstairs and change. You can't go dressed in a greasy t-shirt and ripped jeans, and they're expecting you in an hour."
"I could go in a greasy t-shirt and jeans if I wanted to, Ms. Potts, but it doesn't matter because I'm not going."
Pursing her lips even tighter than before, she rigidly walked over to where he was hidden beneath the car, clutching her clipboard tightly as she crouched down to peer under at him. If he shifted just the right way, he could see under her skirt…
"Get out from under there. Now. You're going and that's final."
What? Who the hell did this girl think she was? Sliding out from under the car again, Tony sat up so he was level with her, hiking a dark eyebrow in response to her words as he twirled the wrench in his hand.
"I'm not sure if anyone told you this yet, Pepper, but I'm not fond of meetings. They bore me."
"My name is Virginia," she quipped in response, her lips, if possible, growing even more pursed, "and I don't care if they bore you. You're CEO, and you're expected to supervise and approve or disapprove of new weapons designs and suggestions. If you don't go, who will?"
Contemplating for a moment, he shrugged and lay back down, sliding under the car again. "You go. Take notes or something. Isn't that what a PA is for? To do the stuff I don't want to?"
Scowling, she shook her head and gave a tug at his legs, yanking him from under the car. His brown eyes widened up at her, and she frowned angrily down at him.
"No, Mr. Stark, it isn't. If it was, I'd evidently be doing your entire job for you. Now get up, go upstairs, and…" Wrinkling her nose, she added, "shower. You smell like motor oil."
Rising to her full height again; which he realized was, to his disapproval, a solid four inches taller than him; she scribbled something down on her clipboard. "You have fifteen minutes before I drag you upstairs myself," she stated, starting toward the door again, and he frowned angrily. This girl was really pushing her luck.
"How the hell did you even get into my house?" he asked, dropping the wrench and standing to follow her, and she gave a small shrug of her shoulders beneath her fitted black blazer, opening the door and starting up the staircase again.
"Your door was unlocked."
Blinking, he quickly followed her up the stairs, watching as she dropped herself down on his couch and continued to scribble away. Tilting his head, he raised an eyebrow.
"Please, make yourself at home."
"Oh, I intend to. Somehow I get the feeling I'll be hanging around here quite often if you make this attempting to skip meetings a regular occurrence."
There she went again with that confident little thought that she was actually going to get him out the door. Like that was going to happen.
"Attempting? I already told you I wasn't going."
Raising an eyebrow at him, she looked him over before turning back to her work. "I got you up the stairs, didn't I?"
Tony paused suddenly. She was right. He'd followed her like a loyal puppy. What the hell…?
"I… like your skirt," he responded quickly, crossing his arms over his chest and smirking. "I didn't mind chasing it."
Scowling, she reached for her purse. "Remember what I promised your body guards I'd do if they didn't let me into your office?"
Furrowing his brow, he watched as she pulled a canister of pepper spray out of the black handbag, and his eyes widened as he backed toward the bathroom. "Fine, Pepper. I'll take a shower."
Grinning victoriously, she placed the mace back in the bag and turned to the papers before her again. "Thank you. Make it quick, too; we're on a schedule."
"Oh?" he asked from the bathroom down the hall as he stripped his shirt off, dropping it carelessly to the floor.
"Yes. You have your 2:00 o'clock meeting with the board, a 4:00 o'clock discussion with Obadiah Stane regarding weapons capable of paralysis, and then a dinner at 6:00 o'clock with the head of Hammer Tech."
Groaning obnoxiously, Tony shook his head. He hated meetings with Stane about weapons. They were always something way too over the top, and half the time he got the feeling that the rather creepy man planned to use most of them on him. Pausing, he suddenly registered what else Pepper had said. "Justin Hammer? I'll go to the stupid meeting, but I am not having dinner with him. I'd sooner crash the Audi."
"You're going to the meeting, and you're meeting with Stane, and you're having dinner with Hammer. No ifs, ands, or buts."
Grumbling angrily, Tony stalked from the bathroom in merely the ripped jeans he'd been wearing, clenching his fists. No damn PA was going to tell him what he was going to do, and when he was going to do it. No one ever had, and no one ever would.
"Listen here, Potts," he snapped, and her eyes widened at the sight of him when she looked up. "I don't know who you think you are, but I am not having dinner with the most obnoxious, self-centered, moronic, irritating man to ever set foot on this Earth."
She gaped at him for a few more seconds before her eyes narrowed with irritation, snapping back up to his face. "I'm sorry, Mr. Stark. When exactly did I tell you that you were having dinner alone?"
Fumbling in his rant, Tony furrowed his brow with confusion. "What?"
Shrugging, she rose to her feet and looked him dead in the eyes, her lips pulling down into a frown that nearly made him squirm. It reminded him of the one his mother used to aim at him when he'd done something naughty.
"You told me that you refused to have dinner with the most obnoxious, self-centered, moronic, irritating man to ever set foot on this Earth. From what you've shown me today Mr. Stark that happens to be you. Not Justin Hammer. Hence, I didn't tell you that you were eating with yourself. Now go get in the shower, get dressed, and for God's sake, learn some manners!"
Tony gaped at her. He couldn't even think straight. This girl, this pretty little twenty-six year old girl who had just waltzed into his home uninvited, had just insulted him to the highest degree. She'd talked down to him like she was his babysitter, not his assistant, and she'd had the nerve to claim he didn't have any manners!
Where the hell had she been all his life? Smirking, he crossed his arms over his chest, staring down at her with curiosity in his eyes. Finally, someone who could match his wit and actually challenge him.
"You know what, Pepper?" he asked, and her frown deepened at the nickname he'd given her yet again. "I'll go. Today. Just today."
Blinking with surprise, she watched as he turned and started toward the bathroom again. "Wait, what? You're serious?"
"Oh, I'm dead serious," he stated, tossing a grin back at her. "I like my girls sassy. You might just be the sassiest of them all. You've earned yourself a prize."
"I… I… I am not your girl," she finally managed to say, and he chuckled from the hall, hearing her heels following after him. "And another thing," she snapped, "My name, for the hundredth time, is Virginia. Is that so hard for you to grasp?"
"Nope," he said with a shrug as he reached the bathroom, obnoxiously popping the "p". "I just like Pepper better. It's kinkier, don't you think?"
Making an irritated noise of frustration as he shut the door in her face, she stalked back down the hall, walking so furiously that her heel chipped the floor.
Tony never bothered to get it fixed. It was a memento of the day Pepper Potts became his best friend. It was also the day that the members of the board at SI praised the lord for bringing Virginia Potts into Anthony's life. Ever since she started, he actually came to meetings almost every day.
Typically forty minutes late, with Starbucks.
Oh well. Some things never change. At least Pepper likes lattes.