How to keep your girlfriend when you're a world-known superhero
Author's Note: Sequel to How to be a world-known superhero and convince your PA to be your girlfriend at the same time. Takes place around Christmas.
A Holiday by tony_edw_stark
Rating: R (It's not exactly a nc17, but it's close. Read with responsibility.)
Day 1
---
I'm sitting on the bed, trying desperately to suppress a sad smile from breaking out on my face. We've just arrived a few minutes ago and we're both tired. It's been an awful day.
New York it's always awful around Christmas.
It's been almost three weeks since Pepper no longer works for me and if it wasn't for us I wouldn't have done it. I carefully maneuver my arm out of the blue sling and relax slightly. The pain is bearable now. But it was worse a few days ago. I shudder a bit when I remember.
This was supposed to be a holiday, for god's sake. I have to stay chill. Don't want to ruin our good mood.
I take a look around myself. I've been here before; a couple of times but now's different. I'm different. My life is different now because I feel like I'm not wasting it.
Yesterday, back home I told Pepper that I'd like to spend a few weeks in New York. When she asked me why, I didn't give her the truth. Instead she simply nodded and booked a penthouse at the Four Seasons hotel. She insisted to book a not such expensive one, but I told her that I've been there before and the last time I stayed at the Ty Warner penthouse. You could say that I have a strange taste for the expensive things, but this time I wanted something special.
Things between us are a little cold for a while now. Looking back, it all began at the end of November when I returned home from a tough mission with my arm broken and a deep cut on my sole. Walked on something, can't remember. A landmine, I think. I don't even know how I managed to come back at the mansion with only two repulsors working, but I did.
The last thing I remember was her hand holding mine in the hospital room, again. I hate when these things happen to me.
I swallow hard when I hear the lock of the bathroom door. Pepper comes out, fully dressed and she looks like she's getting ready to go somewhere. She stops for a moment and looks at me worriedly.
I hold my breath, begging her to say something. She walks calmly towards me and puts her head on my forehead. Her hand is so cool against my hot skin and it takes me a great deal of willpower not to move. In the last few weeks we barely touched, not to mention kissed. My mouth is filled with a bitter taste when those thoughts pass through my head.
"You're looking pale," She says and moves her hand beneath my shirt.
My gaze follows each movement of her hand until she retracts it. I look at her and fake out a smile.
"Jet lag, I guess. Where are you going?" I add quickly and I sound a bit desperate.
She looks at me and caresses my cheek before getting up quickly and pressing a small kiss on my forehead. The simple gesture surprises me and I don't realize my mouth is open all the time.
"I'm going out to buy us something to eat." She says while she puts on her stilettos. "I saw a small restaurant when we were parking the limousine."
Good. She's not running with a biker, or something. I get up and follow her through the suite till the hall.
"Did you take your pills?" She hesitates in the doorway.
I lean against the wall and smirk. "No. They make me dizzy and besides," I add with another smirk. "-I'm feeling better."
"I can see that." She says and looks at my left arm which is not encased in the sling anymore.
She smiles at me – that smile that makes the corners of her eyes wrinkle, my favorite one. She closes the door silently behind her. My heart skips a beat.
With a bit effort I break away from the wall and walk to the master bedroom. I take out the suitcase and reach in to grab the tiny red velvet box. I look at it for a few minutes and purse my lips thoughtfully. I can't open it, though. It makes me feel guilty about several things, in the first place. I know it's been just five months since we've been dating, but something deep inside me tells me that it might as well be another five months until I would have the courage to propose to her.
That's not entirely true, because I'd propose to her tomorrow, hell even tonight, but as I previously mentioned, I can't. There are a few things that tell me not to rush.
Things like the lack of affection between us for the past weeks. It might be nothing, but you never know. I bought the engagement ring today, from Tiffany's. The woman who helped me find the right ring looked at me like I was some kind of lunatic, buying the ring with an approximate value of 1.83 million dollars. She said that it was the most expensive ring in the whole shop, might be even the most expensive in New York. When I looked at it when I paid for it I realized that I was a selfish man.
My girlfriend…shy, but an ice queen when she's pissed off, doesn't like spotlight and loves simplicity. I take a look at the ring, swallowing a bit when I see it so…big and elegant. Nothing like Pepper is, except maybe elegant. She's always elegant even when she doesn't realize it.
A sudden lump forms in the back of my throat, and I close the box and set it aside, in a secret compartment of the suitcase. What if she's not going to like it? What if she's going to say no, or say it's too early…? I groan and grab my thick hair tightly with the right hand, the good one.
I can't remember the last time we kissed, the day before yesterday, or was it last week? My head starts to spin when I think about it.
I can't remember the last time we made love. Tough, I must admit. It hurts a lot because a stupid Iron Man mission caused all of these, and most importantly, my lack of care when I'm on a mission. Love… We usually made love like ten times a month before. In the first month we kind of really exaggerated with our lovemaking sessions – like five times a day.
I think… I think the last time was last month or something like that. I'm so screwed up, honestly.
Pepper clears her throat behind me, making me jump in surprise.
I look sheepishly down to the suitcase and don't turn my head towards her.
"What's wrong, Tony?" She asks me softly when she sees me so tensed up.
Come on, think about something. You're a genius, remember?
"Uh…" I trail off absently and motion over the opened suitcase. "I was – I was just looking for my – paja-pajamas." I chuckle softly when I realize that I was babbling all the time.
She giggled like a teenager behind me and I turned to her, a little flustered.
"Come on, I'll find your pajamas. I brought dinner. Wash your hands, please."
I smile and let her find my… pajamas while I go to the bathroom to wash my hands and my face. I look in the mirror and pass a hand through my hair, works for the boyish charm, I muse.
Five minutes after I walk into the dining room and sit down beside her with a laugh when I see the whole table filled with the best French food. There are two wine bottles and two sodas in a corner. We don't talk while we eat; a rule that has to be followed. I don't want to die from a chicken bone which stuck in my throat.
After we finished eating I take one of the bottles and pour half a glass for her and just a small sip for me. I don't drink anymore. Instead I grab a coke and take a sip.
And after that I help her wash the dishes. Meanwhile I try to touch her anytime she's near me, like now for example. She squeaks playfully when my goatee grazes her sensitive neck and uses one hand to reach to the back of my neck to pull me even closer.
"Pepper…" I draw out breathlessly when she turns in my arms.
She looks straight into my chocolate eyes and wraps her hands around my neck, pulling me forward until our lips touch. I pull back after a few seconds and look at her astounded.
"I love you." I breathe out, just wanting to say it one more time.
I lean in slowly and kiss her softly, my tongue thrusting into her wet mouth. She moans when my hands grab her ass firmly through her skirt and her hands tug impatiently at my hair, hurrying me.
"God I missed you…" I whisper and pull her after me until we reach the bedroom.
"I missed you, too."
I fall in the center of the king sized bed and Pepper crawls atop of me while we're still kissing, straddling my hips.
"Can you?" She asks between frantic kisses and tugs at my clothing.
My arm hurts a bit, but my desire for her is bigger than any pain in this whole world.
"I don't want to hurt you." She says and stops kissing me.
I nod faintly and let my head fall against the pillows. "That was…that was intense." I say with a chuckle.
Pepper laughs a bit, too and strokes my hair. Her eyes move towards the window and her eyes widen.
"Hey! It's snowing!" She says with enthusiasm as she tugs at my hand. I follow her as she sits up.
We open the balcony doors and go outside. Even though it's the first time I saw snow in a few years still I'm not impressed, but when I see the look on her face I reconsider.
Her eyes are glowing with happiness as she wraps herself around me. I stroke her hair and smile brightly.
New York, New York.
---
Two stories in a day! Whoa! What do you think about the sequel?
