Tony jumped out of his car and almost ran up the steps to his house, his meeting with Nick Fury had been interesting to say the least. A consultant, really? Not that he even wanted to be on the Avengers initiative, but it was a bit of a slap in the face to be denied.
However other things had occurred in that meeting that had got him thinking, mentioning Pepper and his stable-ish relationship had brought a thought crashing down on him. He hadn't actually asked her on a date yet. They had kissed and basically expressed their "like" for one another, but no other plans had been made. That thought had made Tony rush home and to Pepper as soon as he had left the warehouse.
"Pepper!" Tony shouted as soon as he had entered the building. Hearing no response he decided to waste less time.
"Jarvis, where is Miss Potts?" Tony asked the AI.
"Miss Potts is currently in the guest room in bed." The AI replied.
Tony rushed in that direction wondering what she was doing in bed at this late hour on a Saturday. He quietly pushed open the door to find her sitting up in bed watching TV, cartoons playing across the screen. She turned to look at him and smiled.
"Hey, how did it go with Fury?"
Tony couldn't answer, the way Pepper looked right then he couldn't even think straight. She sat with the duvet at her waist, the light shining into the room hitting her perfectly making her look as if she was glowing and Tony could see some of the bare skin of her shoulder as it peeked out from the collared shirt, that looked suspiciously like one of his, she wore.
"Tony?" Pepper asked again when after a few minutes she never got a reply.
"Irrelevant" Tony replied snapping out of his trance.
Pepper frowned, "Excuse me?"
"Irrelevant to our conversation," Tony replied as he walked in the room and sat at the end of the bed.
"I wasn't aware we were having a conversation."
"We are. Why are you watching cartoons on a Saturday morning?" Tony fired quickly.
"Tradition sort of, from when I was a kid, I used to get up early and lie in bed watching cartoons every Saturday morning."
"You see, I never knew that Pepper, nine years of working together and I never knew you liked to watch cartoons."
"Well it's not something that falls into the boss employee list of appropriate conversation topics," Pepper said with a smile.
"No, but it should have fallen under the best friends appropriate topic list. Because that's what you are Pep, you're my best friend."
Pepper looked at him before responding, "But what about..."
"Pepper listen to me, for the last nine years you have been there for me in more ways than I can count and not just as an assistant but as a friend. And I took you for granted, I did, I just took it that you would always be there. But this thing with Iron man and the palladium and you, it's shown me that you are someone I want around in my life for a very long time. Pepper I love you and I would like to ask you on a date."
Pepper looked at Tony her face devoid of any emotion, Tony could feel his heart pounding in his eyes. Did she not feel the same way? Maybe he had scared her off with the mention of love.
Tony didn't have to wait too much longer as Pepper climbed out from under the covers and Tony was delighted to see that she was only wearing the shirt. Pepper crawled over to the end of the bed and sat next to Tony. Tony looked down at her legs and realised he had never seen so much of her skin when she placed her hand under his chin and brought his face up to hers.
"I would love to go on a date with you Mr Stark," Pepper said before slowly bringing her lips to his and kissing them gently.
It took Tony a minute to fully understand what Pepper had said, but soon he had he started to kiss Pepper back. They kissed for a while before Pepper tore herself away.
"So just so we are clear, you love me and want me to go on a date with me?" Pepper asked with a smile.
"No, Pepper," Pepper frowned.
"But you just said..." Tony put his finger to her lips to stop her from talking.
"No Pepper I love you and want to date you. I want you to continue to work for me and I want you be my girlfriend."
"You can't always have everything you want Tony," Pepper says looking him in the eye.
"No I can't, but the great thing about me is that I normally do." Tony said smiling.
"I'm resigning as CEO Tony. I am willing to come back as your assistant but not as the CEO, that's your job and I think that's it's finally time that you stepped up."
"Whatever will get you back to working with me every day I am totally open to." Tony said with a smile.
Pepper frowned, "But what about Natalie? She was good at her job I guess, I don't want you to get rid of her just because I want to come back."
"Pep, Natalie can work as your assistant, or Happy's assistant. I don't care as long as you are with me. Plus now that she has completed her assessment of me she might not stay."
"What are you talking about?"
"Natalie is actually Natasha Romanov, she's like a super spy and works for Fury. She's been assessing me for the Avengers in..."
"I knew there was something weird about her, like when she took Happy down in that boxing ring."
"Yeah she full of moves like that," Tony said.
"So when are we going for this date?" Pepper said with a giggle. The word date and Tony Stark seemed extremely funny together in a sentence.
"Ah, tonight?"
"I have plans tonight Tony, what about tomorrow night?"
"What plans?" Tony asked puzzled.
"Plans Tony, I still have a social life even though we have begun dating." Pepper said with a smile.
"It's not your birthday again is it?"
"No Tony it isn't, but I am a little shocked that firstly you only think I only go out on my birthday and secondly that you don't know when my birthday is."
"Of course I know when your birthday is. Jarvis, Miss Pott's birthday please." Tony called.
"May 22nd, sir" Jarvis replied.
"See May 22nd, I know it." Tony replied smirking.
"You're just lucky I love you otherwise I might be pissed off by that fact," Pepper said with a smile as she kissed him gently.
"No, I'm the lucky one." Tony replied seriously.
Pepper looked Tony in the eye and realised that all she could see was love. It made her happy to know that Tony wasn't in this for a cheap thrill, he honestly loved her.
"Ok, Tony out. I need to shower and change." Pepper said, finally deciding to get up.
"I think as your boyfriend, I have the right to see you change," Tony said smirking.
"I think as my boss that this is sexual harassment and you need to go," Pepper said smiling back.
"Tell me where you are going tonight and I will go," Tony said.
"Tony!" Pepper warned raising her voice.
"Going. But this conversation is not over Potts." Tony replied with a smirk as he got up and walked to the door. "Just be clear, we are exclusive right? I mean you aren't going on date tonight are you?"
Pepper walked over to him and firmly kissed him, Tony was shocked but recovered quickly and started to respond when Pepper pulled away.
"Tony I am not going on a date tonight, I promise. And we are exclusive so if I see you with any girls beside me, I will kill you. Literally kill you Tony Stark. I will honestly take out your reactor in the middle of the night." Pepper said with a smile on her face.
"Ok... you are scaring me Potts." Tony said looking worried.
"No need to be scared if you don't do anything wrong," Pepper said laughing a little. "Love you," winking at him as she closed the door.
"JARVIS, take note." Tony said walking downstairs toward his workshop.
"Yes sir," the AI replied.
"Never piss Pepper off, or cheat on her, or get her upset in general." Tony said.
"Noted," JARVIS replied.