Authors Note: Second(maybe third) attempt at Pepperony. Y'all asked for a Tony version to my last fanfiction piece, so here you go. :) R&R!
He always says that he'll fire her tomorrow.
Not that he wanted to or that he felt like she wasn't good enough for the job. The exact opposite was true - she was too good. Too good for Stark Industries, too good for her job as a PA, even too good to just be the CEO. She deserved to be able to climb up the ladder as high as she wanted, he knew she could go farther. Heck, she could even own her own business one day and be wildly successful. He believed in her, and that's why he wanted to fire her.
He knew that he was falling deeper and deeper in love with her. Every time he saw her, his heart seemed to swell larger and the butterflies (butterflies...that's a wimpy word. More like a hammer, pounding in his chest.) in his stomach seemed to flutter even harder. No matter if she was dressed to the nines at a gala, in a nice pair of Louboutin heels and a pencil skirt at the office, or even in an old pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt sitting in his living room eating take-out while finishing up paperwork...she was perfect. Good. Too good for him. And he knew that, despite her constant nagging and reminding, she would never quit. She couldn't quit on him, no matter how hard she would try. So it was up to him to end things and give her a better life. Lord knows, it'll kill him when he finally gets the guts to tell her to move on. But it would just make her better. He imagined that she'd miss him for awhile, just long enough until she realized how much easier life was without him. How many extra hours of interrupted sleep she could get without him calling her at odd hours of the night. How life would be so much calmer without her having to worry about him flying around in a metal suit. As much as he wanted to believe that she would refuse to leave him because...because maybe, just maybe, she returned his feelings...
No.
She's too good. Too good for him. She probably can't wait to escape every evening and get away from him. He'd be doing her a favor by ending things and giving this whole thing a nice clean break. Maybe she'd even thank him.
Maybe he'll find out tomorrow.
(But of course, he didn't find out. Nor did he the next day, or the next.)