Whoo-hoo!! Anyway, this will be a series of oneshots, that, like spare parts, are all semi-related and can be constructed into something bigger. Depending upon the part, it can be useful, useless, confusing, or just plain fun. Take your pick.
Disclaimer: Not mine. Nor are certain businesses/brand names mentioned in the story mine. I'm not making any money off of this. Blah, blah, blah. You people know the drill.
Anyway, first story:
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When the Heel Breaks...
The secretary will fall,
And down will come Pepper,
Stilettos and all!
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Pepper's feet hurt. Bad. Despite having utterly mastered the art of walking, dancing, even running in four and a half inch heels she had yet to master the art of remembering to not break them in on a long work day. She mentally cursed herself for wearing her brand-new, right out of the box teal T-strap stilettos with the adorable bow on the front. She strode across the room to her desk and placing her laptop bag neatly on the surface, she pulled out the file full of things that needed to be done that day. The stack was a good three-quarters of an inch thick. Sighing softly, she picked up the sheets and left for Happy's car.
As if walking in Mr. Stark's house wasn't painful enough, the rougher terrain of the sidewalk and asphalt outside paired with the heat and humidity of the summer day made the accursed heels rub even worse. Quickening her pace to reach the comfort of the black car sooner, she wondered exactly how long these tasks would take.
She ticked off the various chores on her mental checklist: Work out the schedule for the interviews with Ellen and Oprah; hammer out the details of various press interviews that have been requested since the whole Ironman press conference fiasco; assorted other oddball jobs that only she could attend to, and go get a cheeseburger for her boss.
Well, I suppose I'll just have to endure. She thought to herself. With that, she slid into the back seat, stifling a wince at the wonderful yet terrible shoes on her feet. This is going to be a long day.
A good eleven and a half hours later, her feet weren't feeling any better. The areas beneath the straps that went across her toes were stinging beyond all possible reason, and the ankle straps had worn blisters on her delicate skin. Pain enveloped her feet and began reaching up, searing through her ankles and working up her legs. That was all she could think about all day. She knew she couldn't take them off; if she did, then they would only sting worse when she put them back on, and there was no time to go back home and put on a different pair. There was simply too much to be done. No, I can do this. I am Pepper Potts, Secretary Extraordinaire; I will not succumb to sore feet. She set her jaw firmly, lifting her chin just a little bit higher, and stepped out of Happy's car for at least the fiftieth time that day. As soon as her foot made contact with the ground, the familiar yet incredibly unwelcome sensation of fire shot through her leg. She bent her knee just a bit more than traditionally required for walking to help absorb some of the impact, but it didn't do much good. She blinked hard and clenched her teeth a bit, trying in vain to shove the feeling away. Standing there a minute, leaning forward ever so slightly to lessen the pain, she regained her poise. Straightening up, she clicked her way into her boss's mansion, feet aching with every step.
No sooner had she stepped in the door than did she call out. "Jarvis?"
"Yes, miss Potts?" thin air replied.
"How much longer am I required to be working?" she stood stiffly, waiting for the answer.
"Seventeen minutes, Miss Potts, is all that is left of your required shift." The voice responded calmly.
She literally sagged with relief. A wan smile played briefly across her lips as she picked her way carefully to her desk. Plopping herself down in a somewhat ungraceful manner, she released the breath she hadn't even realized she had been holding. Her eyelids fluttered wearily. Very soon she would be able to take off those ridiculous shoes and soak her throbbing feet in a nice, long, luxurious bubble bath. She placed the bag from Burger King on her desk, hoping dearly that Tony, er—Mr. Stark was out of his shop now and would need only to take it off of her desk. No such luck.
"Pepper? You back?" his insistent voice called from the box on her desk.
She sighed and hit the button to respond. "Yes, sir, I am back."
"Where's my cheeseburger?" his voice wasn't angry or impatient, merely curious.
"Up here." She said simply, tucking a piece of red-gold silk behind a freckled ear and hoping desperately that her voice didn't betray the torture she'd been through all day.
"Would you mind bringing it down?"
Yes, I would mind, She rubbed her forehead, wanting only to lean back in her chair and unburden her feet of her small-but-just-enough-to-hurt amount of weight. "No trouble at all, Mr. Stark. I'll be down right away."
She used her desk as her sole support to get out of her chair, leaning entirely on it until her feet were completely under her. Rising to her full height, plus the four and a half inches the stilettos added, she carefully inched away from the haven the desk and chair provided. Swaying uncertainly despite her best efforts to remain still, she snatched the brown fast-food bag off of her desk and clicked her way toward the workshop.
She was about to complete the short but agonizing journey when she stopped dead in her size 8 tracks. The staircase down to the garage suddenly seemed much taller and very much steeper than she remembered. Her eyes momentarily grew wide, and her breath caught in her throat.
I can do this. She said to herself. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath to steady herself. I have done it thousands of times before. It's only stairs. She placed a hand very lightly against the wall, tightly clutched the bag in the other, and slowly took a step downwards. Gravity working against her in league with her strappy heels, the pain was double what it had been all day. She inhaled sharply, caught completely unaware by the unexpected amount of pain. She stopped to think about how to do this. She would have to make her way down smoothly, or risk being questioned by her boss. He would recognize a break in her walking rhythm instantaneously, and that was the last thing she wanted right now. She nodded her head a couple of times, deciding on a slow but steady beat in which to decent down the stairs. One..Two..One..Two.. She started down.
Her slow but steady and distinct rhythm echoed through the stairwell down to the workshop. Downstairs, Tony smiled unconsciously at the thought of his personal assistant paying him a visit and deactivated his flight boots. His hands free to adjust parts, he picked up a screwdriver and bent down to the mechanisms attached to his feet and legs. One..Two..One..Two..One...Two...One...Two... It slowed slightly. One...Two.....Then it faltered altogether.
Pepper shrieked in pain as the torment became too much and overwhelmed her. Her foot buckled underneath her, unable to endure any more and the impossibly thin heel snapped under the pressure. Her other foot slammed into the next step attempting to bear what the other foot failed to, throwing her completely off balance. She pitched forward, unable to stop her fall. She pinched her eyes shut, not wanting to watch as the cement stairs came in contact with her vulnerable flesh. She waited for what seemed like an eternity to slam into something, the stairs, the wall, anything, but nothing like that seemed to come. She opened her eyes, still mid-air, and saw her boss, Tony Stark, flying toward her. Horror was plainly plastered on his face as he rocketed up. Within a split second she was in his arms, never having touched a single step past the last one she was standing on. This victory was short-lived, however, as the flight stabilizers were hazardously absent from Tony's hands.
Having separated her from the stairs, he far from stopped her rapid decent. The two continued to fall, the original movement of Pepper's tumble propelling them further toward the actual workshop. Surprisingly, the two's landing completely overshot the remaining stairs, and they landed in an undignified heap on the floor at the base of the stairwell.
Eyes wide in fright and her breathing shallow and shaky, Pepper had seized Tony's shirt and was not letting go. Mouth hanging agape, she let loose a small, involuntary, indistinct whimper. Tony sat holding her close, one arm around the middle of her back and the other over he legs, tucking her neatly against him. The danger having passed, he sighed roughly and closed his chocolate brown eyes, leaning his cheek against the top of her head, mussing her copper colored hair. Thankful that she did not have to endure the terrible and painful fate she had been destined to, Pepper buried her head in his shirt and her arms unconsciously found their way around him in a soft and grateful embrace. They sat like that for a short while, simply letting the feeling of complete relief wash over them.
"Why is there mustard on my burger? You know I don't like mustard on my burgers."
Pepper looked up, startled by the unannounced break in the silence. She looked back toward the staircase where the Burger King bag had spilled open and the foil-wrapped burger appeared to have exploded against the wall. Yellow mustard was clearly visible among the condiments dripping toward the floor.
"I have no idea." She breathed, still staring at the splattered foodstuffs. "They never seem to get the order right." The corners of her mouth quirked up into a brief smile, and she glanced up at Tony. Only then did she realize where exactly she was. She was in his lap. Then she also realized what else she was doing.
She had her arms wrapped around him. Nevermind the fact that he had his arms draped all over her, that was expected of him. She was clinging to him like life itself. She froze. He turned his head to her and she found herself lost.
His face mere inches from hers, she was entirely and wholly lost in those dark, intense, and hypnotizing eyes. She wanted hopelessly to tear her gaze from his. He just looked at her, watched her as if the world would cease to exist if he turned away. His eyes were fixed solidly on her; every ounce of attention in his body was focused entirely on her. Pepper just stared back, a fairly doe-eyed look on her face. In that instant, the air around the two of them seemed electric. She became hyper-aware of everything, the distinctly greasy, sweaty, yet oddly pleasant smell of his clothes, his hair, his skin, and the feel of his arms around her, holding her, comforting her, yet somehow completely burning her, the sound of his slightly elevated breathing, even the feel of his heart beating, protected and aided by the ark reactor in his chest. She couldn't take it anymore. If this moment didn't end she could very well die in his arms, but then again, she felt as if she might die if the moment did end. His gaze flicked about her face, studying every feature as a scientist would study an intricate experiment, carefully, intently, closely. Pepper was frozen in his lap, unable to move even if she wanted to. She thought she may have screamed had Tony not broken yet another awkward silence.
"You have beautiful eyes. I never realized how blue they are." The corners of his lips twitched up into a small grin before dropping again into a more neutral, but still slightly smiling position. Pepper blinked. It took her mind a full two seconds to register that anything had even been said. "If you wanted to throw yourself into my arms you could've just done so, you didn't have to go through that whole mess." Only after this comment did she snap back to reality.
She promptly sprang to her feet, gracefully managed to keep from falling yet again when she realized that one leg suddenly seemed much shorter with the absence of its four and a half inch heel, and brushed herself off in as professional a manner as possible.
"Mr. Stark, I--" she started.
"It's Tony, Pepper. Call me Tony." He cut her off, picking himself up off of the ground. She gave him a somewhat quizzical look and he continued. "Your shift ended five minutes ago. As you are here now, not working, feel free to call me Tony. After all, I have been calling you 'Pepper' for--well, it's not even your first name, is it? Pepper…" he rolled the name over in his head, pondering it. "How did you get the name 'Pepper' from 'Virginia'?" He asked, genuinely curious.
Having regained her composure, she rolled her eyes. "Tony," she said, emphasizing the name, "I really should be going." She smiled slightly when he seemed to almost pout at her statement. "Sorry about your burger." She grimace a bit, glancing thoughtfully at the colorful mess inside the stairwell.
He shrugged his shoulders and made his way over to sit on the steps to slide his feet out of his boots. After plunking himself on one of the stairs, he bent down to release the grip the fight boots had on his feet and legs. Noticing something off to one side, he leaned over and picked up the thin twig of the stiletto part of Pepper's shoe. Furrowing his brow, he looked up at Pepper. "Seriously, how do you walk in these things?"
Pepper smirked, and started up the stairs, deftly snatching the heel from his hand as she passed him. She briefly clucked her tongue at the loss of a perfectly good pair of shoes, then turned back once she reached the upper floor. "Will that be all Mr. Stark?"
"Yeah, that's all. Don't hurt yourself." He called over his shoulder from below.
Pepper bid her boss goodbye and gracefully limped out to Happy's waiting car. Her still sore feet momentarily forgotten, she heaved a sigh, glad that the awkward incident was finally through.
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The next day Pepper clicked into the house in yet another pair of inhumanly high stilettos. This time however, they were not brand new, and thus much more comfortable and significantly safer to walk in. Depositing her things on her desk, Pepper nearly overlooked the shoebox on her desk tied neatly with a pale blue ribbon and marked with the brand name 'Delicious.'
Tony wandered past, appearing to be looking for something but obviously not.
"Mr. Stark, what's this?" She asked him, picking up the box.
He stopped 'searching' and stepped over to her, covering the distance between them in three strides. He stopped and considered the box in her hands. "Apparently a pair of delicious shoes." He replied simply.
She glances suspiciously at him, not entirely able to ignore the smile he was trying to hide. Opening the box, she pulled out a pair of black and white patent leather stilettos done in the style of the old-fashioned wingtip spectator shoes. Her eyes went wide and she beamed at the new shoes.
Tony absently rubbed the back of his neck. "I felt bad about you breaking the other ones. Figured I should do something nice since it was kind-of my fault. It was my cheeseburger you were bringing down." When she didn't say anything, but remained silently happy as she reviewed every detail of the new shoes, he cleared his throat softly and kept going. "I only ask that you don't break them in anywhere but here, just so I can catch you if you fall again. That was actually kind of fun."
"Thank you Tony!" She threw her arms around him in an uncharacteristic gesture of gratitude, and lightly kissed him on the cheek.
Surprised by her reaction, Tony hugged back somewhat, after a slight delay to take in what was happening. "I don't get it, I blatantly flirt with you and don't even get a second glance but I buy you shoes and it earns me a kiss." He said, voice muffled slightly by her soft red curls.
She pulled back, still grinning, a mischievous twinkle in her eye. She sat down in her chair and pulled off the shoes she had been wearing, exchanging them for the new ones. Receiving a curious glance from Tony, she said by way of explanation, "I think that it will safe to break these in today."
FIN
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A/N: Thank you all for reading, I hope you enjoyed it!! By the way, this is my first Ironman fic, but hopefully it will be followed by more if this one does well. Please, read and review!!
Oh, and in case any of you are wondering, I DO know the pain of breaking in new heels on a day where I will be doing a lot of walking as I practically live in 4 1/2 inch stilettos. I adore them and have many pairs of them. Including both pairs described in the story. Amazingly, I have never broken any of them, nor fallen in any of them. Well, I have tripped because the heel got stuck and the shoe came off, but that is completely irrelevant and unrelated, so I won't go into it further.
Anyway, thanks again for reading!!
A7