Pepper awoke with a soft yawn and a light hum. When she sat up, the windows automatically tinted to satisfy her eyesight. The sun was shining outside, and just by looks alone, she could tell that it was going to be a great day. She looked over to her left and instantly smiled when she saw a familiar half-naked body laid out on its back. Tony laid beside her with his arms spread outwards, and he was shirtless; he looked incredibly cozy. Pepper sighed to herself as she did her best to climb out of bed, only to find an arm wrap around her and pull her back in.
"Tony…" She smiled, complying with his wishes and laying back onto his bare chest.
"Mm…" He mumbled sleepily.
"I have to go to work." She successfully, but reluctantly, pried herself out of his grasp. She pressed a soft kiss to his lips, feeling his hand dance across her waist, and let herself drown in his scent for a few seconds. "I'll be back later."
"Mm." He hummed again, enjoying the warmth from her lips.
Pepper hopped out of bed, sauntered over to the bathroom, and opened the door. A long and loud shriek suddenly echoed throughout their room, and Tony nearly burst out laughing.
"Tony!" Pepper shouted, stepping outside of the bathroom.
Tony opened his eyes and turned his head to look at his girlfriend. She looked angry and flustered, which only made the laughter intensify.
"This isn't funny!" She opened the door, revealing a cardboard cutout of a clown.
He laughed again. "Sorry, Honey. You know how much I love October. Tis' the season, right?" Pepper rolled her eyes and threw the cardboard cutout at him. Tony laughed again and moved the cutout away, only to see his girlfriend angrily slam the bathroom door on him.
Pepper emerged from the elevator doors and stepped into the penthouse. She tilted her head to the side, wishing the kinks in her neck would rub themselves out, and walked over to the kitchen counter top. She dropped a few files onto the counter and began to flip through them. As she surveyed the pieces of paper, she slipped her feet out of her heels and sighed in relief. The day had been too long for her, and all she wanted to do was relax in a hot bath, maybe with Tony. The thought of taking a hot bath with him made her bite her lip and grin wildly.
Pepper stopped flipping through the papers when she sensed something behind her. She couldn't describe it, but her senses told her some unknown figure was creeping closer and closer to her. The uneasiness in the pit of her stomach made her go on high alert, and at that moment, her body's only reaction was to turn around.
In front of her was an ugly zombie-like creature. The thing had red eyes, light green skin, and tattered clothes. It looked absolutely revolting. The creature's hands reached out and grabbed her arms, and she screamed and screamed.
She shut her eyes on contact and tried to push herself away from it; she tried her best to fight back, but her body only crumpled against the thing. As her throat could no longer produce any more screams and shrieks of terror, she heard the familiar sound of laughter, but her body didn't stop shaking.
The laughter got louder. "Pepper," She heard the thing say. "Pepper, it's me." It laughed again.
As Pepper's body slowly stopped thrashing, her eyes fluttered open and saw the thing pull off its mask, only to reveal Tony's charming and shit-eating grin.
He laughed again when he saw a flash of anger cross her eyes. "You like it?" He asked, glancing down at his costume.
"What the fuck, Tony!" Pepper shouted at him, hitting him in the chest.
"It's not mine, but it's pretty detailed, huh?" Tony grinned cutely, juggling the mask in his hands.
"Were you trying to kill me!?"
"I would never do that. You know I can't live without you, right?" He joked, flashing an adorable smile. He knew scaring Pepper had consequences, but he couldn't help himself.
Pepper rolled her eyes and swore under her breath. She gathered her heels and angrily pushed past him. The thought of taking a bath with him instantly left her mind, and the idea to make him sleep on the couch replaced it.
"Baby?" Tony asked, following her. "You know I was only having fun, right?"
"Have fun sleeping on the couch." Pepper slammed their bedroom door in his face.
Tony frowned and waited for a few seconds. "Honey?" He waited a couple more seconds. "Baby, c'mon. It was Rhodey's idea. He's the one who let me borrow this thing." That didn't help his cause. "Pep?"
"No, no, no!" Pepper screamed and buried her face into Tony's shoulder. "Oh god, why is she going into the basement—Why do they always go into the basement?" A big soft and red blanket was draped across their laps and pooled beneath their feet, warming up their lower half.
Tony laughed and wrapped his arm around her, squeezing her and holding her. "It's the number one rule of scary movies. That and creepy little children."
Pepper wrapped her arms around him and let her hand rest on his stomach. While she played with the zipper on his hoodie, he massaged her shoulder in efforts to comfort her. She peaked a few times to see if the scary parts passed, but at the last peak, the sounds from the movie boomed and a creature rushed towards them in a quite obvious jump scare.
Pepper shrieked and buried her face into Tony's neck. He laughed and held onto her; it was always cute to see her instantly lean towards him for comfort when she got scared. All he wanted to do was cuddle with her and watch scary movies, so he could soothe her and calm her down, and hold her.
Pepper peaked with one eye, and again witnessed another jump scare. She gasped, covered her eyes, and pushed against him. He laughed and wrapped both of his arms around her.
"It's okay, Pep. I'm right here." He tried to reassure her.
"Mm…" She hummed, trying to wipe the scare from her mind, and leaned into his arms.
"At least this isn't a clown movie, right?" He pressed a kiss to the top of her head and affectionately rubbed her arm. Pepper didn't even want to think of clowns at the moment, because the thought of them made her shudder. The last thing she wanted were nightmares about clowns, and their powdered faces and red inked noses—Pepper muffled a shriek.
Later that night, Pepper was the last to climb into bed, only because she took a few minutes to check the bathroom, the closet, and underneath the bed. Tony smiled as he watched her check the darkest corners of their room.
"Honey, you're sleeping with Iron Man. You have nothing to worry about." He wrapped his arm around her as she lay down beside him. She cautiously looked around their room as she leaned into his hold and began wiggled herself into a comfortable position. When he felt her body relax against him, he pressed a small kiss to the top of her head and tangled their legs underneath the sheets.
"No more scary movies." She muttered into his shirt, watching their once lit room slowly turn dark.
Tony chuckled and hugged her to his body. "Don't worry, I'll protect you."