Disclaimer: Iron Man is owned by Marvel and Disney.
"You wearing perfume?" Tony asks, his head clouded with an invigorating sent.
"No," Pepper responds, sounding genuinely confused. They're alone in one of the labs in the tower, as he runs another test on her, there's no need for perfume.
"New soap?" he questions around a heavy tongue, unconsciously leaning closer.
"No," Pepper states, looking up at him from the reclined chair she sits in.
Feeling slightly drugged he can't describe what's happening, all he knows is he has an overwhelming desire to kiss her; to take her, right here in the lab. Really his only thought should be fixing her, making her better, but this close to her, it's the furthest thought from his mind.
His lips find hers in a heated kiss failing to notice Pepper does not share his enthusiasm for long.
"Tony stop!" Pepper shouts and in an instant her skin goes from mildly warm to blisteringly hot.
Tony curses as he stumbles off of her, crashing unceremoniously to floor. Sitting for a few seconds he feels as if he's just come out of dream, with reality slamming back into him; Pepper fills his thoughts, but for a whole other reason.
"Pepper," he calls worriedly, jumping off the floor and left standing helplessly next to the chair. Pepper sits with her head in her hands, taking deep breaths as the orange begins to fade from her skin.
"What the hell Tony?" Pepper gasps, shaking slightly. Lifting her head he can tell she's trying not to cry as she looks at him "I could seriously hurt you."
"I-" he flounders for a moment reaching out to take her hand as he tries to organize his thoughts. She's insisted they keep a relative distance until she's better, refusing to let him sleep in the same bed with her or even a lingering kiss. He knows he can be hormonal, but he's never lost control like that. "I'm sorry, I don't know what happened, it's just, you smelled so good."
"I smelled good?" Pepper repeats looking at him like he genuinely crazy.
Tony stands, his mouth opening and closing, he wants to explain himself better, but really that's all he has.
"If I may sir?" Jarvis interrupts pulling up a new chart. "It appears that Ms. Potts's pheromone levels spiked."
"Pheromones?" Tony questions turning to the screen.
"Chemicals that influence behavior-," Jarvis begins to rattle off.
"Mute," Tony interrupts, clicking at the screen several times before turning back around, his next words dieing on his lips.
"So it's my fault," Pepper says as her jaw locks, trying to keep her anger in check, her eyes on the screen behind him.
"No," Tony states taking her by the shoulders, locking eyes with her. "This is Extremis. Pheromone levels don't spike like that in humans, it's the virus." He tries to reassure her, but it doesn't seem to help.
"I'm going to really end up hurting you Tony," Pepper swallows thickly, fighting back tears.
Tony cups her face, wiping at a tear with his thumb, "You're not going to hurt me."
"Tony," Pepper sighs as her eyes fall shut.
"I'm going to fix this Pepper," Tony promises, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "I just need a little more time."
A/N: So this was based off of something I read about Iron Man 3 saying that the Extremis virus was going to have an effect of pheromones, so that's where this came from. Hope you all enjoyed! Reviews make me really happy and motivated me to write more :)