Aldrich Killian purposely walked past Pepper Potts' office every day. Sometimes he would say hello; on days that he was confident, he'd try to ask her out to lunch or out for coffee after work. She was always polite, but never said yes to his offers. Still, every day he tried, and today was no different.
"Hey Pepper." Aldrich said, giving the open door a little knock. Pepper had her head in her hands and didn't turn around to say hi to Aldrich as she usually did.
"Is something wrong?" Aldrich asked, stepping into the office a little. Pepper wiped her eyes quickly, looking directly at her desk and not at Aldrich.
"I'm fine." She said in a voice that sounded rough, like she'd been crying for a while. Aldrich approached her desk, standing next to where she was seated.
"Are you sure? Y-you can talk to me, you know. I'll h-help." Aldrich said, his usual stutter making him sound just as nervous as he felt. He tried to keep a confident stance, but that was difficult with his cane.
Pepper considered his proposal longer than she usually did and finally decided to accept.
"Sure. Meet me at the coffee shop around the corner after work?" Pepper asked. Aldrich tried his best to hide his excitement and agreed to the meeting. He smiled all the way back to his desk and hoped the day would go by fast.
The day dragged on even more than normal, but when it was time to leave the office, excitement flooded through Aldrich. He made his way as quickly as he could to the coffee shop and saw Pepper sitting alone at a table, coffee already in hand. Aldrich bought a cup and went to join Pepper.
"Hi." He said nervously, sitting down. Pepper still looked sad.
"Hey, Killian." She said, calling him by his last name as usual. It bothered him a little, but he wouldn't say anything. He considered himself incredibly lucky to be out with Pepper Potts and wouldn't jeopardize it by correcting her.
"S-so," Aldrich began, "w-what's going on?" He hoped this was a good conversation starter. He didn't have many conversations. In all honesty, he was quite the loner, and not by choice. Having a physical handicap, a stutter, horrible eyesight, and crooked teeth didn't exactly appeal to most people.
"It's a long story." Pepper said, taking a deep breath. Aldrich nodded, hoping she would continue. "The guy I've been seeing for a year has been cheating on me for six months." She was looking at her coffee cup, holding it with both hands. She almost looked like she was about to cry. When she took a shuddery breath, Aldrich made the bold decision to reach out and hold her hand. To his surprise, Pepper didn't reject the gesture.
"I'm s-sorry he did that. Y-you deserve so m-much better." Aldrich said, meaning himself. He hoped she would get the hint, and gave her hand a little squeeze. She looked back up at him, a small smile on her face and tears brimming at her eyes.
"Thank you, Killian." she said quietly, squeezing his hand back. His heart was racing at this point. Here he was, in a coffee shop holding hands with the girl of his dreams, and she was now single. This must have been his lucky day.
"Y-you're welcome, P-pepper." He said, smiling a wide toothy grin at her. She smiled wider in return, but her smile soon fell and she looked at her watch.
"I'm so sorry, I have to be somewhere right now." She said quickly, getting up from the table.
"Okay." Aldrich said, disappointed that their time together was so short. "Y-you can call me later. We c-could go out for drinks or s-something."
"Okay, I'll call you." She said, rushing out the door of the coffee shop. Aldrich stayed seated, not sure even his cane could support him the way his heart was pounding. He was still smiling, sure that Pepper would call and they would go out on a real date. After nearly a year of pining after her, Aldrich was finally going to get his girl.