This fic was inspired by Pukajen's fic, Friday Night. I recommend you read it. That is if you are over eighteen and have a mature brain. Also, this is inspired by the its_always_been challenge 07. Many thanks to Arcane Legacy for the beta.

All characters belong to Marvel Comics. I am not making any money off of this.

Waiting

By Marie Nomad

It was seven o'clock and Tony was right on time. He had a hard time getting ready with all the crazy stuff that had been going on. First, He had to resubmit his changes to the designs for the new emergency power generators because there had been an error at the computer at the other end. Then, there was that supervillian that wrecked the new Avenger Jets and he had to help Hank with that. Finally, he got into a nasty accident involving Dummy and a tub of oil. But, he had made it on time and all he had to do was wait for Pepper to see him and smile at him for being on time. He was excited.

Then, fifteen minutes passed. Tony nibbled on a roll to fight off the hunger. Slowly, he started to get worried. Pepper should have been here by now. He checked his phone and confirmed that he was at the right restaurant and at the right time. She hadn't called yet. Where was she? Worry started to set in. What if she had been kidnapped? What if she got into an accident? He didn't know what to do. Pepper valued her privacy. The last time he had barged in worried about her safety, it turned out to be a prank. His heart pounded as he called Pepper. "Pepper, this is Tony. Please answer now. Are you okay?"

A couple more minutes passed and Tony decided that an angry Pepper was better than a dead Pepper. He hacked into his security cameras and looked at her office. Pepper was sitting there with piles of paper around her. She was working. He checked the clocks in the office and it was the same as right now. He relaxed knowing that Pepper was safe. Then, it hit him. Pepper had stood him up. He had never been stood up before. At that moment, he felt that everyone was looking at him and laughing at him; the playboy being stood up by his secretary.

"Are you all right, Mr. Stark?" a waitress asked. "Is your date coming?"

"I doubt it. I want to get this and that," Tony said as he pointed to the menu. He had put in the effort to make the reservation, he should at least get something to eat.

"I'm so sorry." The waitress picked up the menu and then left a folded piece on the table. Tony picked it up and read it. It was her phone number. Tony ignored it and played some games on his StarkPhone to pass the time. He had finished his latest level of Extreme Solitaire when he looked up to see a small pile of papers. He looked through them and was surprised that he had gotten ten numbers from the waitresses and about three from the waiters. These servers are going to hit on him and then some lonely woman would come to him and started talking to him. This was one of those times when he could make a really stupid mistake if he was not careful. He needed a friend, someone to talk to; someone to keep him from making a mistake. He was about to call Rhodey but then he remembered that he was on a training mission overseas. So, he called someone else.

"Hey, Boss." Happy walked over and sat down in front of him. "You okay?"

"Pepper stood me up."

"Oh, man. I'm sorry." Happy said as he patted him on the shoulder.

"Yeah, look, I called you here so that I don't do anything stupid like getting drunk or bringing home a waitress. That's your job." Tony could feel the urge to do something wrong. He wanted to take one of those waitresses and have fun in the back seat of his car. He wanted to swish his brain in scotch. He wanted to forget everything that happened with Pepper. But, a part of him remembered promising Pepper and himself that he'd do good by her. So, that was what he will do even if Pepper ripped out his heart and danced around it.

"Got it. If there's any waitresses, I will take the burden of taking them to my house or a hotel." Happy vowed.

"Thanks." A part of Tony regretted needed to have Happy here. Tony Stark was so stupid that he decided that he needed a babysitter. Still, Tony knew that Happy would do his job because he cared for Tony.

A few minutes passed between them as Happy got some expensive lobster and Tony just stared off into the distance. His mind worked a hundred miles per minute. He tried to think of a reason why Pepper had decided to stand him up. Was it revenge? Was it spite? Did he do something wrong and didn't know about it? He tried to think up a logical reason for all of this. "What did I do wrong?" Tony wailed dramatically. The other patrons paused as they stared at him.

Happy sighed. Normally, Tony would have done something to make Pepper mad at him but this was not the case. He felt sorry for his boss for a change. "You did nothing wrong, boss. It's Pepper not you."

"Eh?" Tony raised an eyebrow at him.

"I like Pepper. She's smart, hot, and tough. But... she's not perfect. She has flaws." Happy told him and then fidgeted slightly. "One of them is that... she's horrible with dating. She can't keep a social date in her head."

Tony stared at him. He knew that Pepper was not perfect but she was as punctual as one of his Swiss watches. "Whoa. Pepper bad at dating? She shows up at our dates on time."

"That's because she usually works at your house or you pick her up."

Tony pondered as he thought about the past few dates. Pepper always did seem startled but she went along with the date. Still, this knowledge didn't ease the pains in his heart. He hadn't felt like this since Stane took out his arc reactor and held it out in front of him. "I don't get it."

"She can't date. She's great at schedules but only when its related to work. She stood me up a few times too."

"I be-" Tony's eyes bulged and Happy promptly slapped himself on the forehead. Did Happy just admit to dating Pepper? Happy had dated Pepper? Pepper had dated Happy? Why didn't he know about that? What kind of dates did they have? Were they serious? Did they have sex? Alarms went off in his head. "Pepper? You dated Pepper? As in Pepper Potts? My Pepper?"

"Not really. Just a couple of lunch dates and even then she was late to every one of them." Happy held up his hands.

"Oh, so you didn't have sex." Tony sighed in relief. The mental alarms in his head shut down.

"Of course not." Happy tried to remember why he actually brought that up. "Look, when Pepper gets busy, she can't focus on anything else besides work. She had this problem since college."

Tony pondered this revelation. He knew that Pepper had a hard time taking personal time to herself but he often thought that was because of him. He had thought that his workload and his reputation as a ladies man would have scared off any potential date with Pepper. Now that he thought about it, it was kinda like him and his projects. He could go for days subsisting on energy drinks if he wanted to finish a project on time. A smile grew on his face. "Wow, that's... adorable."

Happy stared at him. He had always been annoyed by Pepper's absent minded ways but Tony was different. "Huh?"

"I'm serious. I was worried that I had done something wrong to make Pepper not want to go out with me but she just forgets? I had forgotten very important stuff too. So, I can't be mad at her. I may be a narcissistic jerk but I'm not a hypocrite. Besides, there's one good thing that will come out of this."

Happy pondered what kind of good things will come out of this and then he realized it. He didn't want to know but he had to confirm it. "What?"

Tony grinned wickedly.

Tony walked up to his door. "Honey, I'm home." He called out.

"How was your evening, sir?" Jarvis asked almost sounding nervous.

"Oh, me and Happy had fun. Ate dinner at a five star restaurant and we went bowling..." Tony trailed off and then he saw Pepper sitting there. Her mascara was runny and she was clearly guilt ridden. "Pepper."

"I... I... I'm such an idiot." Pepper whispered as she looked down. "I'm so sorry."

Tony walked up and hugged her. He stroked her hair as he whispered in her ear, "Hey, it's okay. Really. I had missed my fair share of meetings and awards and stuff like that. I had to skip out on a couple of dates too."

"Saving the world! I... I" She sobbed again. "I'm sorry."

"Hey... it's okay. We could try to avoid this again. Besides, this means that you owe me for a change."

Pepper smiled slightly. When she screws up, she wanted to make things right. It was only fair that she would try to get better for Tony's sake. "All right, what are the terms of the reinstatement, Mr. Stark?"

"I was thinking you, me, in the hot tub surrounded by candles."

"I will get the candles."

"Just don't be late." Pepper bopped him on the head for that one.

The End