A/N: I'm participating in this year's "9 Days Christmas Writing Challenge", a multifandom writing challenge. It's from 12-24-2016 to 01-01-2017. I have never written Pepperony before, so please let me know what you think of this fic! Happy holidays!
THE CHRISTMAS TREE AT STARK TOWER
"Honey, I'm home," Pepper Potts walked out of the elevator, heels clicking and dragging a suitcase behind her.
Tony stood in the middle of the room, next to a massive undecorated Christmas tree. Pepper had never seen him looking this festive before, he was wearing an ugly Christmas sweater, complete with Rudolph the Red-nosed reindeer, with the arc reactor functioning as a light source for the nose.
"Welcome home," He said. Pepper walked over to him to hug him. "I missed you," he told her.
She smiled, hugging. "I'm glad to be home."
She saw now that he had decorated the entire tower. Christmas lights and ornaments were hanging everywhere.
"How was LA?"
"Informative," Pepper informed him, "They all send their regards."
"Wait, you do like Christmas right?" Tony asked hesitantly when he saw Pepper looking at all the Christmas stuff.
Pepper smiled, "Yeah, I just forgot how much you love it."
"Would you like some hot chocolate, miss Potts?" Jarvis asked.
"Yes, I'd like some," she replied. One of Tony's robots brought a tray with two mugs of hot chocolate. They both sat down in silence. Tony kept looking nervous at the tree and the box with ornaments.
"Everything okay?" Pepper asked.
"Would you like to decorate the Christmas tree?" Tony asked impatiently.
"Babe, I just got off a six-hour flight. I'm gonna shower and change, I'll be back in a minute," She kissed his cheek and left.
Tony nodded, putting the mug in front of him, sighing. Never before had he felt this nervous, not even when he'd build his first suit and tried to break out. He stared at the Christmas tree again. Everything had to go right, it had to be. Pepper returned fifteen minutes later, wearing comfy jeans and a red Christmas sweater matching Tony's.
"How do I look?" She asked jokingly.
"Gorgeous," He answered, handing her a bauble. Pepper smiled and took it, knowing how much this meant to Tony. This simple activity, the decoration of the Christmas tree, represented family to him. It was something he never got to do with his family when he was growing up.
Pepper would get angry at Howard Stark sometimes when Tony was away. She couldn't understand why such a brilliant man raised his son the way he had raised Tony. Tony appreciated every gesture of kindness and he had never experienced the typical "family" activities. His childhood had made him a vulnerable man, suffering from anxiety. He wore a mask of countless layers in order to protect himself. Pepper was very happy if she got to see the man under the mask. Tony slowly learned to trust people, that letting people in not automatically meant getting hurt.
What also helped was getting a dog. Pepper and he got a dog three months before she went to LA, and Lady had improved their lives significantly. Since they had her, Tony seemed more relaxed. Natasha, who lived also in Stark Tower, took care of Lady when they weren't around. She was walking Lady at the moment because Lady loved nothing more than Christmas ornaments and Christmas trees.
Pepper put the first bauble in the tree.
"Right place?" She asked.
"Yeah."
Tony handed her a new bauble. It had written "Will you marry me?" on it. Right, at that exact moment, Natasha and Lady walked out of the elevator. Lady was hyper, completely overwhelmed by the sight of Pepper being back home. She jumped at Pepper, who caused the bauble to drop. It broke in five big pieces. "Jeez, Lady," Pepper said laughing, "Down."
Tony looked very disappointed. His masterplan had just been ruined by his Golden Retriever.
"Hello Lady, Natasha," He said. Lady seemed even more excited to see Tony. She licked his hands.
Natasha looked from Tony to Pepper, to Lady. With one single look, she understood what was going on.
"Bad time, eh?" Nat said.
Tony nodded, while Pepper shook her head. "No, no. I'm happy to see you!"
Natasha stayed for ten minutes and then returned back to her own floor in the tower.
"I'm gonna clean up the mess," Tony said, damning herself for not making another bauble. That creative idea went out of the window. Tony put the small black box back in his pocket. Apparently, today wasn't his lucky day.
Pepper woke up to an empty bedroom on Christmas morning. She yawned, and reached out for Tony. He wasn't there, she assumed he was already downstairs, working on robots. She put on her bathrobe and went downstairs. The Avengers were already sitting around the Christmas tree, all wearing pj's matched with ugly Christmas sweaters. Peppers smiled. "Hey guys, merry Christmas," She greeted them.
"Pepper!" Tony said happily, "We were waiting for you. Let's unpack presents."
Pepper sat down next to Tony, grabbing his hand. He kissed her cheek. "Hey babe, did you sleep well?"
"Actually, yes," She answered.
Nat took the first present and read the nametag. "This one's for Bruce," she said smiling, "Merry Christmas."
Bruce smiled back. "Thanks, my love."
An hour later, they were almost done with unwrapping presents. "The last present is for Pepper," Tony said, handing her a flat package, "I meant to give you this a couple of days ago, but Lady interrupted us."
"I have no idea what you mean," she said and opened it up. It was a picture frame, with five broken pieces of a bauble.
"Read it," Tony encouraged her.
"Will… you… marry…me?" She said hesitantly, looking at Tony. He smiled and kneeled, presenting her a black box.
"Will you, Virginia Potts, marry me?"
Pepper looked overwhelmed and surprised. "Are you serious?"
"Of course I am, Pep."
"Yes!" She exclaimed, hugging him, "Yes!"
The other Avengers clapped excitedly while Pepper kissed Tony. He slipped the ring on her finger.
"I love you, future Mrs. Stark,"
"Stark-Potts," she corrected him, "And I love you too, Mr. Stark."
Clint looked at Natasha and Bruce. "Don't tell me you have plans too?"
Bruce laughed. "Not at the minute. Every other wedding will look lame in comparison to theirs."
"That's gonna get the biggest and most exuberant wedding I've ever been to," Clint said to Natasha.
"It better will be," Tony said.