Authors Note: My first Pepperony story! I love this ship so much but I've never had inspiration to write for them - well, the plot bunnies attacked me today so here we go! Don't forget to R&R. Hope you all enjoy!
She swore she would quit her job and move onto something simpler, every single day.
After so many years of working at Stark Industries, she had moved up in the world. She had become a respected woman, the only woman who had been that close to Tony Stark without begging for his love within a day of meeting him. She had overcome his charm, been a worthy opponent of his wit and sarcasm and flirting, and she had been his equal. That could easily get her a new job, even a better one. At least, that's what people thought. Even Tony believed it, like she was worthy for her job and her incredible pay and her expensive apartment and shoes and everything Tony had given her. She knew that she was smart and a good employee - frankly, she was the best that Tony could ever have. At least as an assistant and CEO of his company. But she was nowhere near his equal. She couldn't compete with his brain, and even though she didn't want to admit it..
She could never compete with his heart. His heart was far larger than her own.
He hid that side of him so well, even she, the person who was around him almost 24/7, only rarely saw it. But it was there, and it was that very thing that kept her stuck with Stark Industries, stuck with him. She couldn't bare to break his heart and she couldn't bare to see him struggle anymore than necessary. She told herself that she pitied the man - after all, he'd lost his parents and was kidnapped and almost killed and he lived the most traumatic life she'd ever heard of. She told herself that, but she never believed it.
She had fallen in love with Tony Stark. Playboy, billionaire, philanthropist, Tony Stark. She'd fallen in love with the very man who broke hundreds of girls hearts, who played with women like they were his disposable toys. After guarding her heart for 25 years, she'd managed to find herself in the worst possible situation and she couldn't even leave it. That's exactly why she never quit. And even when she actually did* quit, Tony would call her or randomly show up at her apartment and use his sad voice or brown eyes and compel her to come back to him. Because he needed her and she always came back, because she knew he did need her.
Worst of all, she knew that she needed him just as much.
Every single night, when she came back home to her dark apartment, completely alone and quiet, she found herself wishing for Tony's sarcastic voice to fill the air and wanted to know what it would be like to come home to him, to feel his arms around her at night and for him to be the first thing she saw when she woke up. She wondered what it would be like to sleep with the Arc reactor lighting up the room, just barely, like a nightlight. A comforter. How nice it would be, to have him there in her arms, so she didn't have to worry if he was getting enough sleep or if he was slaving away in the workshop for too long. To have him safely in bed instead of worrying that that mission would be Iron Man's last. And how nice it would be, to be the only one that go to welcome him home after him flying around saving people, to kiss away his wounds and see it then instead of hearing about it the next morning.
And when she wondered these things, she knew she had to get a grip. To get a clean break, to quit. But she always put it off until the next day. And of course, the next day never came.
After all, winners never quit.