Title: Pepper
Summary: Pre-Iron Man. Tony Stark can't figure out what to call his Assistant... until he learns her nickname.
Characters: Pepper Potts, Tony Stark
Timeline: Pre-Iron Man
Disclaimer: Not mine, never were, never will be – sadly. All characters belong to their original creators
Author's Note: I was watching 'Iron Man' the other day - AGAIN! - and this scene just popped in my mind. Yes, I'm a sucker for backstory and missing scenes and all that :)
It happened two weeks after Pepper made the most insane decision of her life and ditched the stable and, undoubtedly, boring life that consisted mostly of figures, numbers, and miles and miles of spreadsheets in order to join what she considered the honest to God madhouse, namely the Executive team of Stark Industries. Honestly, she'd never regretted anything more in her life.
Tony Stark, who she'd only seen before in passing, like at the company events she was sort of obliged to attend for the sake of maintaining the corporate spirit or whatever, was nothing she imagined him to be. For one thing, he seemed to have endless energy and a million ideas, most of which made little to no sense to her. Secondly, he didn't like schedules, he hated being on time, and he never thought twice about waking her up at 2 in the morning to ask which tie he should wear to this benefit or that.
She kind of hated him, in a way. Admittedly, she admired him more, but it didn't quite stop her from wanting to quit about 50 times a day. God knows it was her pride, and the fact that she'd never quit anything before in her life, that stopped her from doing it, but she was THIS close. And she bet he knew it. If he did, however, he never said a word, for which she was grateful.
Her transfer was rather sporadic, and in the light of the events that led to it, it never occurred to Pepper to ask what kind of duties as Tony's Assistant she'd have, exactly. It turned out that 'anything and everything' was pretty much it – from attending the meetings on his behalf when Tony didn't feel like it, to drafting business letters and contracts, to picking up his dry cleaning, to answering his drunk 3 AM phone calls because she couldn't quite hang up on the man who was signing her paychecks.
And all this time he was pointedly calling her Miss Potts, whether out of respect (which she doubted), because it was his idea of mocking her (which she thought was the most logical explanation), or because he didn't like the name 'Virginia' (also possible, although she didn't see why). Not that it mattered – with the raise that came with her promotion from Junior Assistant Accountant to Tony Stark's PA, she'd allow him to call her whatever the hell he wanted.
Until it all changed.
Sprawled lazily in the super-expensive leather chair in his office, Tony was shooting orders at her, which Pepper desperately tried to write down, wondering how much trouble she'd be in if she decided to throw a stapler at his head or something.
He was hopelessly late for the meeting she spent almost a week setting up, and she knew she'd be the one to take a hit for it. That was just wonderful!
She was about to remind him about the repercussions of his irresponsible behavior, but this was when Happy rapped his knuckles on the door, cutting Tony off in midsentence, and stuck his head in. "Ready to go, boss?" And then, when he spotted her, "Hey, Pepper!"
"Happy," Pepper nodded her greeting, offering him a small smile.
"I'll be out in five minutes," Tony responded. He fixed his gaze on Pepper as soon as Happy's head disappeared, eyebrows arched. "'Pepper'?"
She felt her cheeks heat up at the sound of her name coming out of his mouth, and had to look down at her pad for a moment before meeting his eyes with what she hoped was a level and steady gaze. God, he could probably hear her frantic heartbeat all the way across the room. She resisted the urge to tuck unruly strands of hair that escaped her bun behind her ears because she knew it was what she normally did when she was nervous, and there was no way he'd miss it.
"It's just a nickname," Pepper shook her head at last, hoping she sounded as nonchalant as she meant to. If she could downplay it—
"A nickname?" Tony nodded thoughtfully. "And… who is calling you that?"
Oh, boy…
"Well, pretty much everyone, I guess…"
"You never mentioned it." He sounded almost accusatory. As if it was a crime that would go on her personal record or something. Could it?
She hesitated, at a loss of words for a moment. "I just—I didn't think it was—"
"Important?" Tony offered helpfully, his eyebrows pretty much disappearing into his hairline.
"Professional," she said at last. "I didn't think it was professional."
"Pepper," he repeated, looking at her like he never saw her before, with a mixture of amusement and some sort of wonder she couldn't quite put her finger on. It made her shift restlessly in her seat, and holding his gaze became an almost physical effort. "I like it."
He dropped 'Miss Potts' for quite a while afterwards.
Thanks for reading :D Comments are always appreciated :)