The characters belong to Marvel/Disney (I wish I owned them) and I don't get any profit from this writing.

BOOK

Tony came into their living room like a hurricane on his way to the kitchen. He had been in his workshop for hours adjusting some details of his new suit with FRIDAY and had just realized that he was terribly hungry. He had spent almost twelve hours without having any food, immersed in the details of the conceptual plan of his new suit of armor based on nanotechnology.

Suddenly, he noticed Pepper's presence, with her hair down, in her summer pajamas, semi-reclining on the comfortable white sofa, calm, relaxed, completely engrossed in reading a medium-sized book. Curiosity kicked in, and he took a quick look. The volume was yellowed by time and worn by the multiple readings to which it seemed to have been subjected. His precious Potts had not even noticed his presence in the room, which in his opinion was totally unfair. So he walked towards her decisively, forgetting the sandwich he wanted to make for himself. In seconds he was at her side, breathing on the back of her delicious neck and looking over Pep's shoulder at the text.

"What are you reading with such interest? You are so absorbed in that book that I almost reached the kitchen without you even noticing that I was here. You're losing your touch, Potts."

"Excuse me, Mr. Stark?" Pepper retorted amused at her fiancé antics. "The one who doesn't remember that I also live in this house, is you Tony. You're the one who dissappears now and then inside your workshop!" She narrowed her eyes, joking. "At least FRIDAY and the bots still take care of you there…"

"Not like you. You were always the best at taking care of me, Honey. No one can dispute you that Crown." He knows she's right. He's been so busy with his engineering work for the past few days. So he lowers his eyes a little, like a kid caught in the middle of mischief. "I'm sorry, Pepper." He tenderly apologizes sitting down next to her on the huge white sofa. "I'm working on something big…" Pepper's eye's widen and her small smile turns hard. "That I'll only use if it's extrictly necessary…" He quickly clarifies. "Like some sort of world ending terrible devastation, alien invasion… The like…" And then her face softens again. She loves him so much it hurts sometimes. "And the time flies when you have purpose..."

"Okay, okay… I understand that you like it in there… It's your jam, trust me I know. But now, come here with me." Pepper makes room at her side for him to cuddle with her and starts reading again, his hot skin feels so nice against hers. Tony stays quiet for awhile, letting her read her book in peace, until he misses her attention and speaks again.

"So… What's the name of the great book, huh?"

Pepper smiles at him and shows him the cover of the volume.

"It's Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. One of my favorite books. When I'm stressed I love to re-read it. The old language helps me forget everything and relax. I love getting lost in its pages."

In a quick move, her fiancé snatches it from her hands and looks at it carefully: cover, back cover, pages... As if it were the intrincated circuitry of some of his creations.

"It's just one of those cheesy love books, isn't it?" He asks finally, once he finished his scrutiny, raising his right eyebrow ostensibly. "Potts I didn't thought you were so corny". And smiles broadley. Tony loves to tease her and punch all her buttons now that he knows her so well. One of the highlights of his life is bantering with his beloved fiancé at every ocassion he has. The spice of life, so to speak. It's only appropiate he nicknamed her Pepper. He was smater than ever that day, he thinks, amused.

"It's much more than that!" Instantly answers the redhead bewildered, almost offended by his affirmation. "It's the story of a family. And of an intelligent, rebellious and pioneering young woman in an era in which women were very limited by society. Elizabeth Bennett is one of the most interesting characters in universal literature."

Tony nods, satisfied with himself, and more for the pleasure of annoying her than for anything else, adds:

"Yeah, all that… But I think… Well there is that man too. The guy the super spirited heroine falls in love with… That Mr. Perfect every woman who reads it dreams to marry…"

Pepper laughs hard at the hint of jealousy she caught in his words. Only Tony would be jealous of a literary character. She looks into his eyes, ready to counterattack.

"Have you even read it?"

"What? No! It's girl stuff."

"Girl stuff? Right…" Pepper arches her eyebrows up. "Wow, never judge a book by his cover, Stark." She smiles at him and takes his big, warm hand in hers. "You have more in common with Mr. Darcy than you would like, Tony. The two of you hide all the good you really have under layers and layers of coldness and arrogance at some moments in your life".

Her boyfriend blinked several times. Stunned.

"Are you comparing me to a stiff English landlord of the nineteenth century? Surely I am much better than him. I mean…"

"Come here, Mister. I've missed you so much this week!" She said, snatching the book from his hands, leaving it carefully on the low glass table, marking with delicacy the page where she had been reading until her boyfriend so rudely interrupted her. It was page number 144 as Tony could see clearly.

Then, Pepper attached him to herself and received him in a sweet and tender kiss that little by little became much more intense. Both their clothes began to fly over their heads and Tony forgot completely why he had left the workshop in the first place, lost in the intoxicating fragrance of his beloved redhead. The love of his life, the woman who soon would be his wife.

The next evening, when Pepper returns tired from a particularly hard day at work at Stark Industries, she realizes that her book was not where she had left it the day before. Instead, a First Edition of the same novel rests on the small table in their living room. She picks it up delicately and looks for her beloved bookmark, pleading Tony didn't lose it. But it's placed on the very exact page where she had been reading the night before, no worries.

A huge smile settles on her face and turns into an inconceivable look of surprise when she turns the first page of the new book and realizes that it appears hand signed by Jane Austen herself. Tony must have been searching through the internet with Friday's help, and got her this First Edition of Pride and Prejudice from a private collector at an absolutely obscene price. Upon turning the next page, a handwritten note slid over her navy blue skirt.

The small note, written in the neat and unmistakable hand of her fiancé, read:

'I'm sorry I forgot (again) to give you a present for your birthday. I know it was last month. And I'm very, very late, but I hope this makes up for it.

Tony.'

Pepper just smiles excitedly and presses the priceless book against her chest, cradling it with care, because for her, it has much more sentimental value than material.

At times, Tony was simply adorably eccentric in his gifts, and on rare occasions like this, he even managed to hit the nail on the head.

First prompt for Pepperony Week 2018 was Domesticity.

Hope you liked it! :)

A VERY SPECIAL THANK YOU to Rebelmeg, my awesome beta. She helped me a lot.

All mistakes in English are mine and only mine. ^^