Fighting a cold, and therefore, a lack of inspiration to do much writing for my other ongoing fics at the moment, I dug this one out of my vault to squelch the guilt of not uploading anything else today. Hope you enjoy it! It's an oldie, but hopefully it'll bring a smile to your face. Happy Reading! :)

Pepper blew her bangs out of her eyes in a huff as she made her way down the stairs to Tony's workshop, a stack of file folders in hand, their contents demanding his signature. As she juggled the files from one hand to the other, trying to enter her access code, her eyes moved to where Tony was standing. He had his back to her, standing completely still with his arms crossed. The access panel beeped, and she glanced back to what she was doing. As the access panel beeped again, giving her approval to enter, she made her way over to Tony. "I hope you're not too intensely involved in anything at the moment," she said, quickly setting the files down on his workbench and opening one up for his perusal. She continued talking as she searched for a pen to hand him. "I've got to get these signed and sent by 3:00 today, and then we've got to make sure that…" Pepper stopped mid-sentence, noticing Tony's eyes totally transfixed on what was sitting in front of him, completely unaware of her presence. She walked to his side silently, and observed what it was he was looking at.

"Oh," she murmured in understanding. "Are those the new…"

"Yep," he said, cutting her off. She looked sidelong at his face. It displayed complete wonderment and awe.

She glanced back to the workbench in front of them, trying to hide a smirk. "They really moved fast on those, didn't they?"

"Uh…huh…," Tony murmured, this time nodding slowly in agreement. Then, as if awakened from his reverie, he glanced at Pepper. "Well?" he asked. "What do you think of 'em?" he asked hopefully.

Pepper looked at him for a moment before answering. "Oh well, they're…um," she stammered. She turned her eyes back to the workbench, trying to think of an accurate description. "They're….cute," she said finally, cocking her head to one side and smirking again. She picked one of them up and pushed the button on its back with her pointer finger. It automatically raised its little red and gold arms and yelled in a scratchy electronic voice, "I am Iron Man!" Pepper giggled as Tony hastily grabbed it from her, a look of total disgust on his face.

"They're not cute!" he exclaimed.

"Sure they are!" Pepper argued, smiling at his apparent offense.

"No, they're not! They're not cute! They're…" he halted, his expression softening as he raised an eyebrow in reconsideration and cocking his head to the side in thought as he looked at it, arms still raised. "They're…well, I guess they are kind of…cute." He smirked at the toy in his hand and then smirked at Pepper. With great care, he returned the toy to its place next to the other seven variations of toy iron men.

"There now," Pepper said, trying to hide a triumphant smile.

"Well, what can I say? They were, after all, made in the image of their creator," Tony said, flashing Pepper a sly flirty smile. Pepper rolled her eyes, fighting to keep the corners of her mouth from turning up. Then, suddenly, she remembered what it was she was supposed to be attending to. She re-opened the file she had been holding. "As I was saying, these need to be delivered to the office by 3:00, and then we've got to get you prepped for the interview with the Los Angeles times on Monday, and…Tony?" She had looked up from the file to once more find Tony enamored with the mini versions of himself staring back at him- and totally not paying attention to her. "Tony? Have you heard anything I've said?"

Slowly, he turned around with another one of the figures in his hand, this time a bobble head. He shook it gently so the head wobbled from side to side, and then, absent-mindedly, he shook his own head back and forth in synchronization, completely mesmerized. Pepper fought the urge to laugh at the sight. Tony turned his eyes toward her and continued to shake his head back and forth, smiling innocently.

"I'll take that as a no," Pepper said, smirking.

"Ah, come on, Pep," Tony persuaded. "It's Friday! Can't we just postpone or something?"

"You know that's not an option," Pepper said, trying to sound assertive. He wasn't exactly making it easy for her to stand her ground.

"I think we should put it to a vote!" Tony said resolutely. He quickly turned back to the workbench and raised all of the arms of the toys in the air. "All those in favor of blowing this pop stand and spending the weekend on the yacht with Pepper, raise their hand." He turned back around and raised his own hand in the air. Pepper looked at all of the toys and then at him in mild annoyance and amusement. "Sorry, Pep. Looks like you're in the minority on this one."

"Sorry, Tony, but I don't take orders from dolls," she said, smiling politely.

"They're not dolls!" he said with a look of mock offense. "They're action figures!"

"Right," Pepper said.

As she turned away from him and walked back to her files, he frowned at the toy in his hands. "Sometimes girls just don't get it, do they, Pal?" He shook the bobble-head doll once more and watched its head jiggle back and forth, side-to-side. "No. They don't."