A/N This story started with the idea of Pepper waking up with the impression of Tony's arc reactor on her cheek, but it morphed into something else. I hope it is ok regardless. It has not been edited, so excuse mistakes. First Avengers fic.
I own nothing.
Pepper knew two things. One, she was not in her own bed and two, whoever's bed she was in, she was not in it alone. She realized she was intimately intertwined with whoever she was sharing a bed with. One of her partner's arms was wrapped around her back, holding her close to his side, while his opposite hand was tangled with hers against his stomach. Her face was on his chest, but now that she thought about it, she didn't feel skin against her cheek. She felt something more like…metal. That could mean only one thing. Pepper was in bed with Tony.
Her first instinct was to panic; and a close second was to scold herself for going against her one rule: don't sleep with Tony. She knew how that ended. Usually with her throwing some poor girl into a car with freshly laundered clothes. But, no. This was…different. She forced herself fully awake and her brain clicked into gear. The memories of the night before became clear in her mind. The Expo, the Hammer Drones, Ivan, the news of Tony's poising, the kiss on the rooftop and the long conversation she finally got to have with Tony. Shortly afterward he admitted to exhaustion and requested she stay the night. She could hardly refuse him, between her own exhaustion, her guilt over not noticing he was sick and her need to know he was actually ok.
Pepper lifted her head to look at his new arc reactor. It had the same blue glow, but a completely different faceplate. It was all triangles, instead of circles. She pressed a kiss to the skin just to the right of the reactor. The fact that she could now kiss him at will made her smile. She eased her hand out of his and untangled their legs. She ducked under his arm and awkwardly slid off the bed, trying not to disturb him.
"Good morning, Ms. Potts," JARVIS announced, starting to brighten the widows.
"Shh, no. Let Tony sleep," Pepper whispered, holding a finger up to her lips. She let out a sigh of relief when the windows returned to their darkened state. She glanced back at Tony. He mumbled something incoherent and scratched his stomach, but quickly settled again. She tip toed the rest of the way out of the room in search of coffee.
Tony pulled into a deep stretch. He scrubbed one hand over his face and opened his eyes.
"JARVIS?" he croaked.
"Good morning, sir," the AI responded, turning off the window tint and flooding the room with sunlight. "Ms. Potts is already awake. She insisted I let you sleep," JARVIS added.
"Pepper," he breathed, remembering the night before. By the time they got back to the house, Pepper's adrenaline had worn off and the events of the day sunk it. She was literally shaking when they landed in his decimated living room. He poured both to them a stiff drink, sat down next to her on the couch, took her hand, and finally gave her the explanation she deserved. He asked her to spend the night, wanting to keep her close and protected. There was part of him that would have loved to do more than sleep. However, he didn't want to rush things with Pepper. That and he recently learned that nearly being poisoned to death and fighting off a Russian with a grudge and his merry band of slave drones sucked the energy right out of him. He could still feel the fatigue in his bones, but he promised Pepper he would help with the clean up. He stretched again and climbed out of bed.
Pepper looked up as Tony padded into the kitchen. Her soft smile quickly gave way to confusion as she took in the amused smirk on his face.
Tony's composure dissolved into a chuckle as he took in the sight of Pepper. It wasn't the fact that she was standing in his kitchen in an oversized Stark Industries t-shirt, without a hint of the normally buttoned up and tidy Pepper anywhere to be found that got him. What got him was her face. There on her cheek was a red impression of his arc reactor pressed into skin.
"What?" Pepper whined, not appreciating his laughter.
"It's probably a good thing no one else can see you right now," Tony gestured towards her cheek.
"Is there something…" she started, her fingers searching her face, landing on the impression. She scowled as she traced the familiar pattern. Triangles incased in a circle.
"Unless you want them to know you slept with Iron Man," he finished, crossing his arms and smiling smugly. Her eyes narrowed. "Hey, it's not my fault," he threw his hands up defensively.
"How is it not your fault? The thing is embedded in your chest," Pepper argued. He made a face that said she might have a point but he really didn't care. She rolled her eyes. Tony came around the counter and turned Pepper to face him. He brought his hand to her cheek and let his thumb ghost over the impression.
"It'll fade in an hour or so," he decided, pressing a kiss to the center triangle. Pepper fought the urge to blush at his tender gesture. "But it does put a whole new spin on 'marking your territory,'" he laughed, amused with himself. With that, any warm fuzzy feeling Pepper had fizzled out and she glared at him again. "I don't like people taking my stuff, you knew that going into this," he shrugged. Pepper let it slide, knowing they could go on like this for hours. Instead she looked down at his chest, further investigating his new chest piece in better lighting. She frowned as she noticed the blue-grey fissures marring his skin. "Those will disappear once the palladium works its way out of my system," he assured her, sounding somewhat self conscious, if that was even possible for Tony Stark.
"You were dying," Pepper stated flatly as if realizing that horrible truth all over again.
"But I'm fine now, totally not dying. In fact, doing better than ever," he insisted. She still wouldn't pull her eyes away from his chest. "Hey," he called for her attention, placing his fingers under her chin and lifting her face.
Pepper finally met his eyes. His expression was so gentle and open. His eyes were weary and pleading. Tony's walls were down. He was allowing Pepper to see the raw and vulnerable side of him. She had only seen that look three times before; when he stepped off the plane from Afghanistan, when he said he didn't want to go home on the flight back from Monaco, and last night on the roof top. He smiled softly, watching some of the anxiety seep out of Pepper's expression.
"Thank you, for everything. I know I don't say it enough. Like I said, you deserve better," he spoke honestly.
"Then be better," she smirked, trying to lighten the mood while at the same time telling him he wasn't going to get rid of her anytime soon. Tony chuckled and leaned into capture her lips. In that moment he knew they were going to be ok and this was the first morning of the rest of his (hopefully very long) life.