A/N: Okay so I have literally no idea where this came from... I have writers block for Some Nightmares' yet I spewed this out in about a day :/ I promise to try and update my other fic, I have written about a third/a half but now I'm just stumped. Anyway enough of me, enjoy this one-shot
Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel nor any characters/actors affiliated with them, although I am soon to be an owner of an RDJ body pillow
It was another typical Friday night at Tony Stark's mansion in Malibu, he was working on the suit in his workshop, whilst Pepper was somewhere else in mansion doing most of what was considered his job. Glancing up at the clock on his computer monitor, he noticed it was already five to six in the evening, sitting up he wiped his hands on an old dirty rag in an effort to clean the grease off of them, "3…2…1…" He murmured to himself, and sure enough just as he finished saying 'one' the all too familiar clicking of his stunning PA came into his hearing range, he turned his head towards her, "Good evening Miss Potts," He smiled, but quickly frowned when he was noticed the pile of papers clutched to her chest.
"Good evening Mr Stark," Pepper smiled, when she saw him eyeing the papers, she usually didn't bring anything down with her when she came to say good-bye, but tonight was an exception, "Now could you please sign these before I leave, they need doing urgently and I have plans for tonight,"
"Plans?" He asked, feeling his chest tighten, as he reluctantly accepted the papers she had passed him and started scribbling his name where needed, not bothering to read what any of this actually was, he trusted Pepper enough to know that he wasn't signing something that would put him or the company in jeopardy, "You know I don't like it when you have plans," Tony murmured, handing the, now signed, papers back to her.
"Well contrary to belief Tony, I do have a life outside of you and SI," She retorted, a little snappier than she intended, but god did it annoy when she couldn't have a 'healthy' social life around him, especially when he went off playing superhero in that blasted suit. The red-head took the papers from him and held them to her chest, "Now if you don't mind, I need to be going, bye Tony, I'll be in some time tomorrow to go over the notes you need for the board meeting that you are going to on Monday,"
As Pepper turned on her heels, how she did that in four-inch heels would remain a mystery to Tony, he clicked on why she wanted to get out of his home so quickly, and it made him sick to his stomach, "You… you have a date don't you," He stated more than asked, instantly noticing the slight falter in her step just before she got to the glass door of the workshop.
"That's not any of your business Mr Stark," She muttered, and looked over her shoulder at him, supposing it would be rude to not tell him why she was leaving in such a hurry compared to other days, "But if you must know, yes, I do have a date tonight, see you tomorrow," Pepper mumbled, then hastily left the workshop, not looking back once.
Once he was sure she was no longer in the mansion, he ran his hands through his hair in frustration, 'no, she can't be going on a date' he thought as he stood up and began pacing around the workshop, 'she's supposed to always be here… with me, not some other bastard'
"Sir, your heart rate is accelerating, is everything okay?" The British accented voice of Jarvis filled the room, causing Tony to cease his pacing as he looked up at the ceiling.
"Yeah, why wouldn't I be," He lied, he was as far away from 'okay' as possible, he could feel a fire burning within him, he didn't even know why he was acting this way, so what if Pepper had a date tonight? Good for her, she was doing better than he was, he was still comprehending how he's stayed celibate for just over a year, well that was obvious really, he just wasn't interested in whoring himself out anymore, and he knew having a genuine relationship was out of the question, he didn't trust anyone enough to be able to.
"I believe sir, your accelerated heart rate, pacing of your workshop, both show signs that you in fact not okay," The AI spoke again, resulting in Tony curse under his breath for making his computerised butler so damn smart, "And might I suggest that you listen to the conclusion I have come to after monitoring you actions and performing my own research during the past several months,"
Rolling his eyes he sat down on the battered sofa and waved his hand dismissively, "Yeah, whatever go ahead J'" He murmured, trying to think what his AI had been 'researching'.
"Ever since your return from Afghanistan, you have failed to bring home any… company," Jarvis started, his voice filling the silence in the room, "And whenever Miss Potts is in the same room as you sir, your heart rate quickens and you appear to have trouble forming coherent sentences at times,"
"Your point Jarvis?" Tony asked, raising an eyebrow at the voice, where on earth was he going with his thoughts, of course he had programmed Jarvis to think for himself.
"Well I compared your 'symptoms' to the external research I performed, looking at psychology reports and even a few movies," This made Tony shake his head in amusement, "I have come to the conclusion that you are in love with Miss Potts sir,"
And that's when it hit him, the reason he absolutely hated when Pepper had plans that didn't involve him, or that fact that he lost interest in fucking bimbos whose names he couldn't remember, or how every time she smiled at him he felt like the wind had been knocked out of him. He, Anthony Edward Stark, notorious playboy, was completely and irrevocably in love with Virginia 'Pepper' Potts, and his own creation had figured it out before him.
"Oh shit," He murmured, running a hand through his hair, 'great, now I have a nervous habit' Tony thought and removed his hand from his dark hair, it wasn't a bad thing that he loved her, well not if he didn't tell her, it was obvious that she wouldn't reciprocate his feelings, she was going on a date with another guy for crying out loud! But he couldn't help but feel selfish, he had always thought of Pepper as his, not in an aggressive, dominating way, more like a caring, protective way, she was all he had after all, and he couldn't just sit back while some bastard might go and break her heart. Glancing at the clock he saw that it was already half past six, he ran up the stairs, changed into some non-grease covered clothes then ran back down, picked up his keys and called to the ceiling, "Jarvis, track Pepper's cell phone and upload it to the R8's sat-nav,"
"Sir, I advise against this, the last time you tracked Miss Potts's cell she threatened to resign," The AI reasoned, but went ahead with the tracking all the same, knowing his creator's stubbornness all too well.
Jumping into his Audi R8 Spyder, not bothering with the door, I mean who uses the doors on a convertible? Tony started the engine and looked down at the sat-nav screen, thankful that Jarvis went through with his request; he knew he was being incredibly childish, he was going to crash her date, just watch her and her date from afar, check the guy out, make sure he wasn't trying anything on with his Pepper, "I know Jarv' but I just gotta do this, you wouldn't understand, it's people stuff," He said before speeding out of the garage and towards where the blinking dot on the screen showed where Pepper was.
~oOoOo~
After essentially spying on Pepper's date, he followed the two back to her apartment block, staying far enough behind that she wouldn't realise it was him, he had to admit that the bastard who had taken her out had seemed quite the gentleman, everything Tony wasn't, he knew Pepper deserved better than him, he was a mess and this guy here could probably give her everything he couldn't. Rubbing his across his eyes, he pulled into the side of the road, close so that he could see the two but still a good distance away that he wouldn't get caught, that's when he saw it.
Pepper was kissing her date, quite passionately from where Tony sat, he could feel the flame in his gut ignite as he noted how that bastard had his hands all over her, his Pepper, he couldn't stand it, then it just got worse, they both went into the apartment block together, holding hands, he felt the tears starting to sting his eyes, there was the proof, the one person in his life that meant something to him, didn't feel anything for him, she was serious about this guy, he knew that she wasn't the type of woman to invite men back to her home, so she must have genuine feelings for the bastard. Wiping away the tears with his hand, he spun the car around and drove back to the mansion, where he was going to have a damn good drink, that was the only way to kill his emotions, even if it was just for a little while, oh well if he had a terrible hang-over in the morning, judging from what he had just seen, Pepper wouldn't be coming in, in the morning.
Once back at the mansion he threw his keys off somewhere in the workshop as he made his way over to the cabinet where he kept all his alcohol, surprisingly it was quite dusty, apparently it had been a while since he'd had a drink, he wiped away a few more tears and pulled out a large bottle of whiskey, not picking up a glass, just unscrewing the lid and throwing that somewhere too, as he sat down on the sofa Jarvis spoke up, "Sir, judging from your behaviour since your return, I take it things did not go as well as you were hoping?"
"No they fucking didn't, just that I've confirmed that Pepper holds no feelings of love or that sort towards me," Tony snapped, taking a long swig from the bottle, not wincing as the amber liquid burned his throat, "Now shut up, I don't want to hear from you for the rest of the night, next time I want to hear you is when you inform that Pepper has entered the mansion tomorrow, and don't expect that until the afternoon,"
Satisfied that the artificial intelligence had understood his orders when silence followed, he set about draining the bottles contents, hopefully he would get drunk enough for the pain in his chest the fade away, at least a little bit.
~oOoOo~
Waking up the next day was a bad idea, that was Tony's first thought, he felt like crap and he was still hurting from the previous evenings events, not to mention he was pissed because he could hear Jarvis' voice resounding through the workshop, "What the hell do you want Jarvis?" He asked irritably, wincing as his head pounded, "I thought I told you to zip it,"
"Indeed you did sir," He could literally hear the smirk in the AI's voice, "But you also requested that I inform you when Miss Potts arrived, which she has,"
"Pepper's here?" He asked, sitting up and stared at the empty scotch bottle in his hand, seemed like he fell asleep after the first bottle, as well as crying some, who've known, Tony Stark a cry baby, "What time is it?"
"The time is 10:37 am, sir, and I suggest that you make yourself presentable, Miss Potts is heading towards the workshop," Jarvis responded, causing .the billionaire to panic, he wasn't expecting her until the afternoon, he stood up quickly –bad idea- and quickly fell back down onto the sofa with a soft 'thud' realising it would be a good idea to get rid of the bottle, he slid it under the sofa, hoping she would see it, but like that was going to work, he knew he looked a mess, his eyes were probably blood-shot from the crying he'd been doing, he wasn't even sure if he wanted to see her, especially after seeing her with him last night, he was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard the door to his workshop open, thankful that his back was to her.
"Tony? Are you alright…" Pepper asked hesitantly, slowly walking over to where he sat on the sofa, she was worried, when she arrived Jarvis had told her that Tony had been in the workshop all night, drinking, she couldn't remember him drinking anything other than coffee or health shakes since his disastrous birthday party, she sat down beside him and put her hand on his shoulder and frowned when he flinched away from her, "Jarvis… he said that you'd been drinking… all night,"
"No. I'm not okay. Do I fucking look okay?" He snapped, turning his tear stained face to her, the look of shock on her face wasn't something he expected, but he didn't care, all he could think about was that another man had their hands all over his Pepper last night, and it made him feel sick, "Where's your precious little fuck buddy?"
"What?" She stared at him wide-eyed, she couldn't believe he'd said that, nor had she ever seen him so angry or upset, "What on earth are you on about?"
"I saw you and him getting all familiar with each other," He started, moving closer to her, he was so angry and upset that he didn't care that he was scaring Pepper, "Yes, I followed you on your date last night, I had to, no, needed to make sure you were safe, you're all I've got,"
She just sat there staring at him in pure shock and fear, he's never acted like this towards her, and she can't even think why he would act like this either, he seemed like he was getting closer, but she made no action to move, Pepper realised that was a mistake because the next thing she knew, she was on her back being straddled by Tony and he was pinning her wrists next to her head, "Wh-what're you doing To-"
"Shut up! You're gonna listen to me," He snapped, glaring down at her, he knew what he was doing was wrong, but he needed to tell her what he thought, "You. Are mine. I can't stand the thought of you with another man, and then last night I saw go into your apartment with… with that bastard it made me sick, you are mine Pepper, mine and no-one else's, can't you see what you do to me? I've not so much as looked at another woman since I got back from that fucking desert, and you know why?" Tony felt his starting to flow down his face as he kept Pepper pinned beneath him, "Because I, Tony Stark, am in love with you, I just realised last night when my own AI figured it out before me. Have you any idea how I felt, when I saw you take him into your home, my heart broke, it hurt so much, more than the fucking shrapnel in my chest, it gave me the proof that you will never feel the same way,"
Tears were now streaming down his face, he had nothing left to say, and out or pure desperation his crashed his lips against hers, he needed to know what it felt like to kiss the one thing he'd couldn't live without, even if she had someone else, his lips moved against hers, in a plea that she might kiss him back, but she remained frozen beneath him, so he pulled away, releasing the vice-like grip he had on her wrists, he had gone too far, and he knew it, keeping his eyes closed Tony braced himself for the inevitable slap that he would be getting in a couple of seconds, however, what he didn't expect was for a pair of hands to cup his face and pull him down for a breath taking kiss, he responded whole-heartedly, pushing his tongue past her lips, cupping her cheek with his right hand as the other trailed along her side, he felt her arch her back into him and he pulled back with a gasp when he suddenly felt a hand groping his ass, he stared down at her, confusion written all over his face, "Wha-"
"I love you too Tony," Pepper spoke after a couple of minutes, stroking his hair off his forehead and wiping away his tears, "I just needed to know where you stood with your feelings,"
"Wait… you mean?" He looked down at her, his lust clouded mind slowly piecing together what had happened.
"Yes, I went on a fake date with a close friend, I knew you would follow me, and really, you couldn't think of a less inconspicuous car than the Audi?" She raised her eyebrow at him, to say he was a genius he was dense at times, "Of course my friend was in on this too, I'm not that heartless,"
"So you didn't… you know," He made a hand gesture as he spoke, to which the red-head beneath him shook her head, making him feel relieved, but he couldn't believe that she had done this to him, she was smarter than he gave her credit for, "Hold on, then how did you know I had feelings of some sort,"
"The fact that you seemed to forget how to speak nearly every time I spoke to you," Pepper smirked, she knew that she had probably hurt his feelings but she felt it was the only way to be sure, "And Jarvis told me that your heart rate rocketed whenever I was in the same room as you,"
"So… you really do love me back then?" He asked, still scared that this was just some horrible dream, he even looked down to check the arc reactor was still in fact working, then he felt his head being lifted back up, his blood-shot eyes met her deep blue and serious ones,
"Yes, I love you Tony, I have done ever since you came home from Afghanistan," Pepper spoke softly, but sternly enough to show him that she was telling the truth and pulled him down for another kiss, but unlike the previous two, this time their lips met slowly and there was no hint of desperation there, only love, and for the first time the two of them felt well and truly complete.
"I love you too Pepper, so much," He murmured against her lips, now that he had confessed his love for her, he wasn't sure what to do, he'd never done anything more than sleep with a woman then leave before she woke, but this was Pepper, his Pepper, not some busty bimbo, he had to do something different, however all his intelligent thoughts went out of the window when he felt her hand cup him through his jeans, "Hnnng Pepper…" He moaned, burying his head into the crook of her neck.
"Time to show me what you're made of Iron Man," Pepper whispered into his ear, normally she preferred to wait before having sex, but in reality she had been waiting a year for Tony to come to his senses, so now was the exception, "Make love to me,"
"Oh god yes," He hissed in pleasure as her hand did unimaginable things to him, to hell with taking this slow, he wanted, needed, to have this with Pepper right now, and with that he stood up, bringing her up with him, wrapping her legs around his waist and proceeded to carry her upstairs to his bedroom, ready to show her exactly what he was made of.
A/N: Le fin, hope you guys liked it and that I didn't make you have too many feels, and i seriously will attempt to post chap 5 of my other fan-fic, but it's exam season so let the revision begin *sighs* kill me now...
And I saw IM3 last weekend... OH MY FUCKING ODIN IT WAS GOOD! The end made me a little teary but it was a good sort of teary. I recommend all of you to see it!