"Good morning sir. It is seven o'clock." JARVIS continued as Tony moaned in his bed. He had stayed up all night just staring at his ceiling, thinking. Today is not going to be fun he thought. He knew Pepper probably had a dozen meetings lined up for him, but all he wanted was sleep.
Why is sleep so hard to get lately?, Tony thought. His insomnia had gradually grown worse since the battle with Obadiah. He couldn't figure out what was wrong—maybe it had something to do with killing his last connection to his parents. Tony didn't feel the least bit guilty. Obadiah had tried to kill him three times! However, the lack of someone to tell him how he was just like his dad made him uneasy yet enlightened. Howard Stark had envisioned a world of peace, but never made peace with his own son. Tony never wanted to end up like that, like someone who never gave a damn about the people he "cared" about.
Yet, here he was. A womanizer who brought home a new babe almost every night, and left them before they even woke up, leaving Pepper to clean up after him. A jackass who felt his money and his status made him entitled to everything. An idiot, despite his IQ and his knack for being able to build anything and everything. Was it so easy to fall into that trap?
He groaned and finally sat up, bleary-eyed. Morning had taken forever to come, yet once it had arrived, he wanted it to go away. Tony swung his feet out of bed and padded slowly and heavily to the shower, which he had hoped would wake him up. The cool water washing over him made him more awake than he wanted to be. He rubbed the sudsy shampoo through is hair and shook it out, spraying water drops on every wall in the shower. Once he stepped out of the shower, the wide-awake feeling left him, and it was replaced by a never-ending tiredness.
"JARVIS, send a message to Pepper." He called out to the AI.
"What shall this message say, sir?" JARVIS replied politely.
"When will my first meeting start?"
"I sent the message, sir."
Tony grunted almost-thanks and stumbled back into his room. He pulled a pair of dark jeans and a navy blue pinstripe button-up shirt out of a dresser drawer and took his time putting them on. He was buttoning up his shirt when JARVIS announced that he had received an instant message from Pepper.
"Pepper says your first meeting starts in about fifteen minutes at the office. Your meeting will be with Mr. Ramsey of Ramsey Software."
"Tell her I'll be there, and that I'm leaving now."
"Yes sir."
Tony quickly tied the laces on a pair of Vans and waltzed into the kitchen. He could tell that Jarvis had one of the bots make him a spinach smoothie, because green goo was all over the counter. He sighed and proceeded to pour what was left in the blender into a travel cup.
"JARVIS, have one of the bots clean this up. Preferably not the one who made this mess, because it'll probably make more of a mess."
"Okay sir. I'm on it."
Tony hopped into the Audi and sped off on the highway towards the Stark Industries tower.
"So what does this Mr. Ramsey want with Stark Industries?" Tony asked Pepper as the elevator doors closed.
Pepper pressed the button for floor twenty-one. "He wants to sell you his business communications software."
"Why would I buy that if I can just make something better myself?
"You don't have time to make something better."
"I could make time if you'd stop dragging me to these pointless meetings."
"These meetings are very important, Mr. Stark. As CEO of this company you should attend them."
"How many times have I told you to call me Tony?"
"Fine, Tony, but that's not important right now. What is important is that you get to this meeting ASAP. You're late enough as it is. Right this way." Pepper opened up a set of frosted glass doors which led to a small conference room. The room had a large plasma TV on the back wall, which was currently displaying the beginning of Mr. Ramsey's presentation. In the center of the room was a large wooden conference table with the Stark Industries logo in the center. A few people were seated around the table, all with a pad of paper and a pen out.
"Mr. Stark! I'm glad you could make it. Are you ready for this presentation?" Mr. Ramsey exclaimed as Tony walked through the door.
"I sure hope so. Let's just get this started." Tony replied. He began to make himself comfortable in his designated seat at the head of the table and Mr. Ramsey began the slideshow.
Tony felt himself nodding off, and he nearly would have fallen asleep had it not been for Pepper constantly kicking him under the table. Finally, the will to please Pepper overcame his need to sleep. He pulled out his phone and sent an instant message to her.
TStark: Boring.
PPotts: Pay. Attention.
TStark: But that's no fun… :(
PPotts: You have to. You're the one who signed off saying you wanted to go to this. And what's with the smiley?
TStark: I don't remember signing off on this… was it one of those papers you force me to sign that I don't even read? And I feel like smileys today. :P
PPotts: It probably was. You're supposed to read them.
TStark: But those are boring. Most of it is all the same stuff anyways.
PPotts: Pay attention. You asked to go to this meeting.
TStark: Fine. :/
"Mr. Stark, what would you think of having Ramsey Software a part of your company?" Mr. Ramsey asked.
"I'm not so sure. Pepper, would adopting his company bring up our stock points?" Tony responded.
"Yes it would, Mr. Stark." Pepper said after glancing at her tablet.
"Then why not? Email my assistant the details, and I'll see what we can do."
"Thank you very much, Mr. Stark. I look forward to working with you." Mr. Ramsey held out his hand for Tony to shake, but Tony simply stood up and walked out without shaking his hand. Pepper hurried after him, her heels making it difficult to catch up, as Tony was walking quickly.
"Do you realize how rude that was?"
"Yes, I probably do. But that guy was an idiot! There are much better companies out there. Besides, I could hire someone here to make it themselves. Wouldn't it be cheaper?"
"It might be, but it won't bring up this company's stock points, and you know as well as I do that we need that!"
"Hey, they've been doing better ever since I announced that I'm Iron Man."
"They aren't where they used to be."
"Pepper, he will email you all of the details tomorrow. I just want you to say that I changed my mind or something. I don't want to have anything to do with his company."
"Why didn't you say so in the meeting then?"
Tony stopped, turned around, and looked Pepper square in the eye. "I knew you would throw a fit in there, and I prefer that you do it out here rather than in there."
"Fine. Mr. – erm , Tony, your next meeting is at two o'clock with the board of directors. You should have some time to get a lunch beforehand."
"Would you like to get some lunch with me?" Tony asked, and immediately felt stupid for asking. Pepper probably had her own lunch. Even if she didn't, she would decline, saying it wasn't appropriate. God dammit, she probably thinks I'm an idiot now, he thought. He felt like a shy teenage boy again, asking out the girl of his dreams.
Pepper was stunned. This gesture was the last thing she expected from Tony. Despite her growing affection for her boss, she couldn't go out to lunch with him. It simply wasn't appropriate. However, against her better judgment, she actually considered it. What would one lunch date hurt? She asked herself.
The silence between them stretched out into an eternity, each of them becoming more uncomfortable than the other. Finally, Pepper replied, "Sure, I'd love to."
Tony exhaled a sigh of… relief? He wasn't quite sure what he felt. He was overjoyed that Pepper had accepted his date offer, but wasn't quite sure it was genuine, especially since they had just had an argument over Mr. Ramsey's presentation. "Great! Come with me, we'll leave now." Tony held out his arm for Pepper to grab, but she just stared at him, confused. "Right this way. I parked outside."
Pepper walked ahead of Tony and out to the front of the lofty Stark Industries tower, where the Audi was waiting for them. He opened the door for Pepper and she climbed in, holding onto her pad of paper and her pen. Tony quickly closed the door and jogged around to the other side and got behind the wheel.
"Where to?" he asked.
"I thought you had a place in mind." Pepper said, confused.
"I didn't. I was ready to go wherever you wanted."
"Oh. Umm… how about we stop by Chipotle?" Pepper suggested.
"Sounds great." Tony grinned. He stepped on the gas and he and Pepper raced out to the highway.