Drabble before lunch. Please review!
Disclaimer- I take them apart and mess around with their insides, but that doesn't mean I own them. Although if I did…
Tony Stark knows more then he lets on, about Pepper or anything else. He's already figured out that she's a workaholic, but that's mainly because she works for one. He knows that she likes cooking, he figured that out when he discovered a plate of chocolate chip cookies on the unit in his kitchen once that were so perfectly soggy in the middle they had to be homemade, and there was no doubt that Pepper had made them because, well… there was no way it was going to be JARVIS.
And he knows that he works her too hard. He figured that out when she came into his office at Stark Industries, her neatly applied concealer not quite hiding the black smudges under her eyes. Although the big giveaway is when she falls asleep on his sofa. In these kinds of situations, Tony isn't sure what to do, so he tends to leave her there. If it's still relatively early in the evening, say… 10pm, he'll wake her up, but if it's 3 in the morning, he doesn't like to wake her up and send her home in case she falls asleep at the wheel, so he'll either cover her with a blanket or very gently carry her up to one of the guest rooms. And when she brings him his coffee or forms the next morning, she doesn't say anything, and neither does he.
He also knows that she really really hates it when he comes back from a mission in a tattered condition, especially when he's promised her that he'll be careful. Sometimes, he doesn't even see her when he gets back, once the armour has been removed he collapses on the floor of the workshop and when he wakes up in the morning he's lying on the couch covered in bandages and a blanket, and when Pepper comes downstairs and asks if he's okay and if he needs anything he simply says yes and no thank you.
His nightmares are a recurring problem as well. The worst nightmare he ever had resulted in him sleepwalking into his swimming pool and nearly drowning, he dreaded to think what would have happened if JARVIS hadn't called Pepper when the ever observant AI noticed that something was up. JARVIS was invaluable in these situations, although, of course, Tony would never tell him that. Whenever JARVIS sensed that Tony was having a nightmare he would wake him up using a variety of methods that proved effective, including blasting AC/DC out so loudly Tony would blast out of bed, flashing the lights on and off, calling wake up Mr Stark or opening the window so the cool air gushed in, carried up from the ocean below. Or if none of these worked, which was usual when he was having a really bad nightmare, JARVIS would call Pepper from either her apartment or the living room where she would usually be completing her work. If Pepper was in her apartment when JARVIS phoned, she would phone Tony and have a brief conversation with him in which she told him to go to a shrink and he told her no. Or if she was in the living room she would make him a cup of very strong black coffee and take it up to him, shaking him until he woke up and then rubbing his back gently if he was shaking.
Tony knows that what really annoys her is when he falls asleep in very important meetings. He comes in and sits down, laptop open in front of him, portraying every inch the effective and professional CEO, and then the next thing that happens is he's half on his chair and half on the floor, his head aching from where he hit in when he fell off. Any Stark Industries employers who were in the room at that time would simply roll their eyes at him and one of them would usually get him a coffee. Pepper would glare at him and he'd turn his puppy eyes on her which made her blush and look away. But it's hardly his fault, being a workaholic as well as Iron Man really does take its toll.
Tony also knows that he should really stop falling asleep at his desk as well, because he really does have the mother of all cramp when he wakes up, however he can also use this as an excuse to get Pepper to give him a back massage.
But, unbeknownst to Tony, Pepper knows most of these things too. She's always known that he works her too hard, after all- there is only so much concealer one can apply without looking orange. And as for falling asleep on the sofa- well… they are very large and comfortable. Sometimes she wakes up when she feels Tony carrying her up the stairs, but she stays still and doesn't move, not only because she knows she'll probably be embarrassed if Tony notices that she's only feigning sleep, but also because she really loves the smell of his cologne. And when she feels him lay her down on a soft, warm mattress and take her shoes off her feet, ease her hair out of its uncomfortable ponytail and pull the comforter up over her, she feels contended and happy, especially when she feels him drop a feather light kiss on her forehead.
The cookies are more a reward than anything else, well… a reward and a distraction; Tony Stark isn't the only one who gets nightmares. She woke up at 2 in the morning shaking and covered in a cold sweat, the barrel of Obadiah's Iron Monger armor still pointed in her face. She sprang out of bed and turned on all the lights in her apartment to try and wake herself up. She took a cool shower and pulled on sweats and a t-shirt, ironically enough- an Iron Maiden t-shirt.
She turned the TV on but the overwhelming urge to see if Tony was okay filled her, and she sped off to his Malibu mansion in her Audi, singing along to Michael Bublé on her car stereo to block out the haunting images in her head. When she reached the mansion, it was dark, and JARVIS informed her that Mr Stark has gone to bed, Miss Potts. Well, it was half past 2 in the morning. So she went upstairs, padding along the carpet to his room. He was tangled up in his sheets, breathing softly and out like a light. She turned to walk out of the room, when she heard him mutter something. Full of apprehension, thinking he was awake, she turned back to defend herself, only to see him roll onto his side (still asleep) and kick his duvet off, the Arc Reactor in his chest creating a blue circle on the wall opposite. Knowing that he'd get cold, she went over and pulled the duvet back over him, brushing his hair out of his eyes and stepping out of the room into the kitchen below where she made enough chocolate chip cookies to floor a concrete Elephant- a reward for Tony for caring enough and being motivated enough to keep himself alive during those frightening 3 months, and a distraction from her nightmares.
She always makes sure that JARVIS tells her when Tony has returned from a mission, and whether or not – regardless of what Tony himself thinks – he needs any help. It was 4 in the morning when JARVIS phoned her, telling her that Mr Stark has collapsed on the floor of his workshop, Miss Potts, I believe it is from exhaustion. Sometimes, Pepper thinks that JARVIS can sound concerned, but it isn't very often. So she drives over there and runs over to where he's lying prone and unmoving on the hard concrete floor. She rolls him over so his head lolls in her lap and calls his name again and again. When he doesn't answer, doesn't wake up, stretch, and say something inappropriate, she gets Dummy to help her balance him and gets him laid down on the sofa, where she strips off his black undersuit and cleans up his wounds with peroxide, warm water and bandages, running a cool flannel over his forehead if he feels a little feverish. When his breathing evens out and its clear that he's only asleep she covers him with a blanket and returns his forehead kiss before stepping upstairs to make sure they have enough painkillers to keep him quiet for the remainder of the day.
Nightmares are trickier, Pepper has never wanted to know what Tony Stark dreams about, especially considering the traumatic childhood he's had, but now his nightmares have grown, he's no longer the frightened 18 year old boy waking up every night to the sounds of his parents screams, now he's waking up to the sounds of her screams, his own screams echoing in his head. JARVIS always tells her, for the first time she's authorized her protocol that Tony can't override. She needs to know when Tony has woken up frightened and shaking. When she calls him, usually in the dead of night, his voice is shaky, without its defiance that he has worked for so long to put up. But getting him to go and see a specialist is a lost cause. When JARVIS phoned her telling her that Mr Stark is sleepwalking and he couldn't get him to wake up, Pepper was in that Audi and over to the house faster then you can say 'bolt'. She stepped into the foyer of the house and listened, calling his name. The she heard the splash. It was without a doubt the most terrifying noise she has ever heard in her life, and JARVIS didn't help. 'Mr Stark is in the swimming pool, he is still asleep, Miss Potts. How she'd got him out of it she had no idea, it was like sheer will to save him had given her the extra strength needed to drag her boss out from his (potential) watery grave. And while she was pushing at his chest and blowing in his mouth to get the water out of his lungs the only thing she was thinking about was what he'd said to her: 'I'd have this girlfriend who knew my true identity. She'd be a wreck. She'd always be worrying I was going to die, yet so proud of the man I've become. She'd be wildly conflicted, which would only make her more crazy about me.' And when he'd coughed up the contents of his swimming pool, blinked a few times and looked up at Pepper with confusion written all over his face she wished that she was his girlfriend, maybe then it would be easier to keep him safe. And when he's got dry and into clean warm clothes and is lying on the sofa asleep wrapped in a blanket and Pepper's arms, Pepper prays to anyone who's listening and tells them 'thank you.'
When he falls asleep in meetings hardly anyone notices until he slides off the table and onto the floor with an almighty thump, then everyone notices as he picks himself up off the floor, grins apologetically at everyone and sits back down, accepting the cup of coffee from an employee gratefully. Pepper finds it hard to chide him for this, especially when he's looking at her with his brown puppy eyes turned up full blast. But she's done it before too, many times. Luckily, since she's sat in the corner and no-one's paying her any attention, it only takes either a nudge from someone sat next to her or a quick BUZZ on her BlackBerry from Tony Stark to wake her up. Trust Tony to be watching her.
As for the back massages… Pepper doesn't give it away that she enjoys giving them as much as Tony enjoys receiving them. After all, he really does have great muscles…