Hey y'all! No idea where the idea for this came from, but started writing it during my chem final today. I'm not sure where I'm going with this, but you can expect at least 2 or 3 more chapters and a whole lot of Tony/Pepper goodness. Hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own storyline
There are some morning where Pepper Potts just really does not want to get out of bed. Usually it's because she's received some "emergency" call from Tony, or the amount of work she's got lined up for that day seems astronomical at best. Most days she just tries to enjoy her few precious moments of privacy, as those are few and far between when you're Tony Stark's PA.
As the year drew to a close, Pepper found herself having more and more of those days. It might have been the stress of basically running Stark Industries, which was only getting harder. It might've been the increased amount of ironman missions Tony was flying after the whole thing with Hummer at the Expo. Of course, it was perfectly possible the stress was caused from the unresolved and ever-evolving feelings between her and her boss. There was that kiss on the rooftop after Tony rescued her from the exploding drones. And after that... nothing. She still practically lived at Stark mansion, she still had take-out feats in the workshop with him, they still kept their banter as usual, but underneath it all was an undercurrent of tension that made Pepper nauseous.
That nauseous feeling, along with a splitting headache, was what she woke up to the morning of Tuesday, April 17th, at 7:09 am. The sunlight streaming in through the windows did little to help her mood, and for a brief second Pepper considered calling in sick. But then she remembered the board meeting this afternoon, which she would most likely be attending in Tony's place, and the conference call with China later, and all the other hundreds of things she needed to do every day to keep Tony's life moving.
And besides, maybe today we can finally talk about that kiss.
Of course, there were several other things to do before that. At exactly 8:25 that morning (she was late, she knew she wasn't going to be able to make it through the day without at least a double shot of espresso, and had to stop at starbucks) Pepper arrived at Stark mansion and immediately realized her day was about to get a whole lot worse.
"JARVIS, where's Tony?"
Mr. Stark is in his workshop, passed out on the floor. He appears to have slept there.
She strode down the steps to the workshop, wincing at the effect his rock music had on her headache. Without looking, she typed in the code for the door while simultaneously turning the music down.
"How on earth did you fall asleep listening to that?" She asked, picking up trash and empty takeout boxes as she went further into the room.
"It's relaxing" Tony muttered. His hair stuck up everywhere, he rubbed at his eyes trying to get the sleep out of them. Pepper was struck by the absurd and very unprofessional thought that he looked adorable when he was just waking up like this. The next second she was shaking her head and walking around to where she could face him.
"Mr. Stark, you have a board meeting in 2 hours."
"Aw, Pep, can't you go for me? You know how awful those meetings are."
"Yeah, I do know, which is why you're going to go get dressed, eat something, and then get your butt to that meeting."
"Please?" He gave her his best pleading look, the one he only saved for when he really, desperately, did not want to do what she was asking him to do. And, like always, Pepper caved.
"Fine. But you need to be in by one for that conference call."
"You're the best, Pepper."
"Don't you forget it."
As she turned to walk away, she thought about what she had decided that morning, and in a moment of bravery, turned back to face her boss.
"Tony?" She asked.
He looked up quickly, slightly thrown off by the use of his first name.
"What's up, buttercup?"
"Can we have dinner tonight? There's something we need to talk about."
Now he looked almost scared, and for a second she felt bad for worrying him. But they were standing in his workshop while he was still half asleep and she hadn't even finished her first coffee of the day, and it was not the right time.
"Sure. 7 sound good?"
"7 sounds great."
And at 9:02 am, Pepper walked out of Tony's workshop and into the worst day of her life.