Chapter 1: Hands
I'm planning for this to be a series of unrelated oneshots. I have a couple ready, including this one, so I'll post those and then see where it'll go from there. Anyway, I hope you enjoy!
I feel like I have repeated this a million times before, but it has to be said: I don't own anything. But that doesn't stop me from checking out the toy aisle for any Iron Man merchandise that might be cool.
Hands
She can't stop staring at his hands.
It is mesmerizing, the way they fly across the frets of his old acoustic guitar. Tony says that it had been a gift from his mother, given to him for his 5th birthday. He had practiced for hours on end, until his fingers were raw, learning the chords and notes until he had perfected the art. Knowing Tony, it probably hadn't taken him longer than a week to become skilled at it.
He doesn't even seem to be paying attention to what he's doing, but the music continues to flow from the guitar, the beautiful product of his agile fingers. It's probably so second-nature to him that he doesn't even have to think about it. His hands, always restless and wandering, welcome the opportunity to be moving, accomplishing. Pepper sometimes thinks that they have a mind of their own.
Those are fingers trained to be precise, yet they are rough and calloused from his craft. Working with metal has weathered those hands, but Pepper is aware of just how gentle they can be. Pepper knows the distinctive feel of them on her skin, gentle and talented and everything she needs them to be.
As Tony's deep voice begins to sound over the chords, goosebumps raise across Pepper's arms. Tony, always so observant, notices them and smiles. His eyes are bright, tender, exposed. It's a side of himself that he rarely shows anybody.
Anybody except Pepper.
Here with her, he is unguarded. This is her Tony, the man that makes pancakes for her on Saturday mornings, the man who walked her to her car in the rain after their first date, the man who returns to her after a mission and cries over those he couldn't save.
This is the man she fell in love with.
Sooo… read and review, please! I am proud of this one, but I want to know what you think. .