A/N: This is my first Pepperony fanfic so I am soooo excited! I've become a Pepperony shipper very recently and this is my first story. I've written about seven chapters so far but I'm going to wait to post the rest before you make comments:) So click the magic button, and I'll decide if I'll go on or not:)
Chapter 1
"You know the problem I have with you Tony? You're so frickin' irritating."
"You know the problem I have with you, Pepper? You're always working!"
"Why does it matter?" Pepper shrugged, "I'm your employee. Contrary to your belief, employees work and show up to meetings on time."
"But you're also my fiancé, and fiancé's hang out with their husband-to-be's!"
They were sitting on the couch (Pepper typing and Tony playing with her hair) in the middle of Tony Stark's Malibu mansion; not a place you ever want to find yourself alone with a bored Tony.
"You're angry, Potts," he said with a smirk, circling the couch and staring at her from all angles, " Is it PMS or something more?"
Pepper blushed and shoved him away, "Oh… just go work on your cars."
"I'm gonna find out, Pep," he said with a waggle of his finger, as he walked down the steps to his basement, "And when I do you're going to wish I never got involved."
Pepper already wished he hadn't gotten involved thus far. Once Tony had a suspicion he would follow it all the way to the end, and she did not want him around tomorrow. So, no, maybe it wasn't PMS that was bothering her: it was her impending doom.
It had all started with a phone call. A phone call that she'd ignored and then avoided calling back for the past two weeks. I know, I know, it wasn't like her, but this phone call wasn't about work. It was from her parents, the parents that she hadn't talk to in fifteen years.
It hadn't been a meaningful split. Pepper honestly had just moved on with her adult life and forgotten all about her old one. Between being CEO of Stark Industries and dealing with its namesake there wasn't a lot of time left in the day. Then, suddenly, when she became romantically involved with Tony, everything changed.
Maybe because he wanted to impress her or maybe because of that stint in Afghanistan a while back (that he was intent on bringing up at every faculty meeting to make people feel bad for him), but Tony finally started doing what his old job was supposed to be. He would fill out paperwork and check the bills and make sure everyone was doing their job. It took a lot of stress off Pepper and it made Tony a whole heck of a lot happier. It was only natural, then that once they got engaged, Pepper gave Tony back the position and he made her co-CEO of Stark Industries, much to the uproar of business analysts everywhere: "A Match Made In Hell Will Lead Stark Industries To Much The Same Place." But, back to the point. This adjustment gave Pepper Potts a whole lot more time on her hands to do pretty much anything she wanted.
Pepper was pretty sure (or at least hoped) in the back of her mind that her parents knew about her job (that was one thing she was not eager to explain), but since everything about the engagement was still on the down low, she wasn't sure if they knew anything at all about Tony. This would inevitably suck all their dreams and hopes for her down the drain, if they found out. According to her mother: "Tony Stark is a heartless little bastard and if he ever goes near my darling little girl I'll rip him limb from limb."
According to her father: "He's kind of an idiot, I guess, but he is Iron Man, so that kind of makes up for it."
So, Pepper decided to lie. Tell a big, fat lie, not a measly little white one, and deny all connection to Tony on a personal level. So, when she got on the phone and was expecting a interrogative phone call she was surprised to find that her mother was politely talkative and was asking how things were going with modeling. Yes, modeling. Pepper had quit modeling in her Senior year of high school and hadn't told her mother anything about it, so, apparently, her mother had thought that was still her bread and butter. And yet another lie was added to Pepper's list.
"Oh, yes, modeling. Did a great spread for Vogue the other day. Don't know when it'll be in the mags though… so you probably shouldn't check."
She'd finally gotten through the conversation about her ever-growing modeling career when her mother finally told her what the call was all about. They wanted to come see her. They wanted to fly to California and see their daughter's two-room apartment and live through a day in her modeling job and wanted her to show them all the sights and sounds of Cali in her beat-up used car, because you know, she was 32, and to them, "just starting out."
By the time Pepper's mother got off the phone, Pepper had agreed to several things she couldn't do and lied about around twenty. Her parents were coming in two days. Tony knew nothing (well, besides, his suspicions) about it, Rhodey knew nothing about it, in fact, no one knew anything! Pepper was all by herself in this huge bubble of a lie that she'd created.
She'd moved into Tony's house when they were still dating which had been at least a year ago if not more, so instead of an apartment, her parents were going to find their daughter in a mansion (with the man they hated the most). She'd exchanged the used car for an Audi R8 the moment she began working for Tony Stark. Modeling was absolutely nonexistent.
There was only one possible outcome for this story: her parents would hate her indefinitely, and Tony would be bloodied up by the end of it.
A/N: Short chapter but there's lots more twists and turns to come: click the magic button! Review! Review! Review! Even the shortest review is important3
