Discalmer: I do not own the characters used in this story, but I do own the plot! This is based after the plot of the Avengers, and after the unsurprising breakup of Tony and Pepper.
After leaving Tony to his work, which seemed like the best plan after she'd watched him almost burn his fingers one too many times whilst she did her paperwork sat on the edge of his desk, Pepper found herself headed down towards the gym. It was reasonably late in the evening, the Avengers where... somewhere and this was probably her best best for finding the source of her distraction for all this time. Over the past few years she'd slowly fallen more and more in love with someone else in Stark Industries, someone she'd never expected would even cross her mind as a potential partner. With every step she had to try and work out what to do with her head and her heart, she was running out of time with every passing step.
Much faster than she'd hoped, the CEO was stood in the changing rooms in shorts and a vest-top (obviously at some point she'd left her gym kit down here in a vain thought that she'd actually get some exercise), her hair loose over her shoulders and half her make-up removed, the wipe was still in her hand when she'd paused to look in the mirror, still debating if this was actually a good idea. In her own private opinion she looked a mess, but somehow she already knew the other would appreciate it, and he was more likely to believe her if she'd actually made some sort of an effort. Biting her lip she finally scrubbed away the rest of the cover-up, giving her freckles a degrading look in the glass before turning away and heading over into the gym.
As usual, she'd been completely correct when she'd guessed where he'd be, pausing for a moment to watch him train as she lent on the door, smiling a little as she remembered just why she liked him so much. Even without a suit of armour or an overblown ego, Pepper was reasonably sure he could protect her.
Happy gasped as he finished his workout, stepping away from the bag as he turned from the bag, eyes down as he began taking the gloves off. Her words caught in her throat as she watched him, part of her feeling a bit like a stalker for standing there. Only when it became obvious that he hadn't noticed her did she cross the room to stand in-front of him, her arms over her chest as she gazed at him, looking much more like her normal self than she had five seconds ago.
He paused as he saw her feet appear in front of him, looking up into her eyes from where he had sat "Hey...do you...can I help you, Pepper?"
She felt her cheeks burn under his gaze, someone finding herself more shy than usual when he looked at her: "yes... You can." Pepper sat down next to him without being asked: "promise to be honest with me?"
He frowned, surprised by the direction this conversation was suddenly taking "Of course...what's wrong?"
Everything she'd planned on saying seemed to just walk out of her head at that very moment, making the childish blush burn deeper as she looked away: "do you think i could ever manage to defend myself?" almost as soon as she'd said it she had no idea why.
He paused, looking at her as if thinking it over "You mean, in a fight?"
"What do you think?" she asked sarcastically, her voice lacking its usual viciousness: "I'm pretty sure i couldn't...so...would you protect me?"
"Of course" he replied without hesitation
She smiled and lent a little on his shoulder, enjoying the contact slightly too much. Pepper had desperately been trying to avoid it since.. The last time: "Prove it to me?"
He paused, confused "How?"
Her smile widened and she stood up, offering him her hands: "next time someone tries to kill me, don't let them." pepper somehow managed to get him on his feet, still wearing that same smile: "Can i show you something?"
"Sure" he followed her, not quite sure what was up with her, she was acting differently "Are you allright?"
"I'm fine, why wouldn't I be? Stressed as hell, overworked, still underpaid and fighting with PMS, sounds like me to me." Pepper was still smiling at him, which wasn't normal in the slightest, usually she'd have settled back into a scowl by now. Still leading him backwards she raised her fist to him: "Hit me."
The man infront of her blinked a little at her, before seeming to shake off her comment completely: "You're acting a little..." he paused, looking straight at her "What?"
"Just try it." her expression was turning a little more into a smirk, the expression ghosting her lips was most certainly not one of her own: "You won't hurt me."
He sighed, leaning back and sorting his footing a little, taking up a proper fighting stance that she quickly copied: "You're sure?"
"Try me."
Their encounter was brief and she knew he wasn't actually trying to hurt her. Ducking out of the way again she thought about it for a moment, remembering a few of the tricks that and almost too quickly discovering the black widows training had worked perfectly, and she was straddling his stomach, panting a little and still smiling as she gazed down at Tony Starks bodyguard: "i-i said you wouldn't hurt me." Pepper pointed out, catching her breath.
"Ow." he groaned, looking up at her "That...that was Miss Rushman's move"
Pepper nodded, still gazing down at him: "she taught me a few things... incase nobody wanted to look after me." she brushed her hair behind her ear, pulling at one of the curls almost nervously: "...you did mean it when you said you'd defend me didn't you?"
"Course" he groaned "If you need it...can you get off me now?"
She smiled and scrambled off him, sitting next to him with a smile as she offered him her hand: "You'd always protect me? You're insane." pepper pointed out when they where back at eye level again: "you'll get yourself hurt, Happy"
He sat up "It'd be worth it though. And I'm not useful for much, I don't mind getting hurt for you"
"Don't say that..." Pepper muttered, crawling a little closer and pressing her hand to his cheek: "you're one of the most useful people i know, and one of the nicest."
He looked into her eyes, a soft smile on his face "You're going to make me blush. Where's the real Pepper?"
"Right here." the woman pointed out, leaning in to press her forehead on his: "You're just not Tony Stark, or anyone else i find extremely annoying. So not most other men in the universe or Clint Barton." she ran her fingers down his cheek and didn't break the contact: "...there's something i want to ask you. Something serious."
"I'm honoured" he looked up at her "Go ahead"
Pepper closed her eyes as she spoke, summoning courage she didn't know she actually possessed. Her heart was fluttering and her stomach full of butterfly's as she finally did what she'd spent at least a year debating: "Will you date me?" His silence was all she needed to make her pull away, feeling slightly sick as she stood up, focusing her gaze on the wall instead of him. That was probably one of the stupidest things she'd ever done, turning on her heel she made to march off, keeping the tears in.
"Pepper? Pepper, wait!" Happy pushed himself up as quick as he could, hurrying after her
She'd stopped the moment she'd reached the corridor, hoping her legs didn't collapse from underneath her as she lent on the wall, trying to calm her breathing and willing the tears to stop, taking no notice of the sounds from behind her.
"Pepper!" he approached her, halting as he saw the tears "Shit...Pepper, don't cry! I just...it was unexpected!"
"It was stupid and i shouldn't have said anything!" the woman pointed out, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand as she turned away from him, her emotions had caught up with her in one fell swoop (she'd blame PMS for this later, not just her own brain.): "I'm sorry..."
"It wasn't, I just..." he groaned, gazing at her again to take in her appearance, she was beautiful and standing infront of him half naked almost and blushing bright pink. How long had he liked her? Well, the answer to that was simple, since the moment they'd first laid eyes on each other "Is it too late to say yes?"
Pepper had turned and thrown her arms around his neck almost the instant the words came from his mouth: "no...no!" she seemed to be in some sort of hysteria, caught between a smile and the tears that were still falling: "of course its not too late."
He blinked in surprise before wrapping an arm around her "Is...are you ok? Will you stop crying?"
She laughed and pulled herself closer to him, up on her tiptoes just to make eye contact: "i will! I'm just so glad you said yes... And i cry when I'm happy, don't you?"
"I've never done it before" he smiled, holding her as close as he dared "But it's fine...still yes"
Pepper smiled and leant up just enough to kiss him straight on the lips, closing her eyes for a moment: "you'd better not change your mind or I'll have to bring the /real/ me back to punish you."
He kissed her back, his hand raising to cup her face "You're going to need to knock the sense back into me if I'm ever that stupid"
[She nodded and relaxed back down, standing flat on her feet for once and gazing up at him: "i will. Or i'll get Natalie to help me out." pepper couldn't believe how good she felt right now, despite the butterflys that where still playing in her stomach: "...and i'm suprised you haven't even noticed whats different about me tonight..."
He smiled, cupping her face "I figured if I didn't mention it, you wouldn't panic and put it back on again"
"enjoy it." she muttered, still pink with blush that made the freckles worse: "because i'm putting it all back on the moment we're out of here."
"You couldn't leave it off for tonight?" he asked, still holding her close, fighting the urge to kiss the blush
"Tonight?" she asked with an almost devious smile as she wrapped both arms properly around his neck, latching onto him: "Why? You're not already planning our first date are you?"
He blushed "Well, I'm not doing anything now...it's too soon?"
Pepper smiled and let him go, stepping back from him and wiping her eyes again: "tomorrow night, 7pm outside this tower, and you're organizing it. Impress me." He blinked as he watched her walk away "I...ok! See you then..." he smiled to himself as he watched her walk away, already planning in his head.
Pepper couldn't help the smile on her lips as she walked away, glancing back over her shoulder for a second to watch her new... Boyfriend. That was a word she hadn't used in a very long time.