One line pops into my head and before I know it i'm spending two hours writing a story?
Tony work with a start. His eyes popped open and he took a few short breaths. He was in an unusual place, but he felt comfortable. Lifting his head a little off of the pillow he noticed he was lying in a comfy bed and the room was pretty dark. He didn't recognise where he was. The time would help. Leaning one arm over the edge he searched for his jeans and took his Blackberry from his pocket. 3:45 a.m. flashed brightly at his sleepy eyes.
As did the twelve calls and seven texts. Someone's popular. He didn't have time to react and start investigating who wanted him so bad as the phone started vibrating.
Incoming call.
"Tony where are you?" She sounded frustrated.
Tony started to speak, but his voice didn't come. His throat was dry, he must have been sleeping with his mouth open again. "What?" He managed to croak out before finding a glass of water on the night stand. He leant over cautiously and gulped it down.
"Where are you Tony? At first I thought you were on a mission, but your suits here? And Jarvis is being his usual secretive self. Are you okay?" She was worried as well. He was in trouble.
He turned his head to search the room again, still darkness. "I'm fine." He heard the frantic rambles in his ear whilst straining his eyes for any indication of where he was. He saw a light seeping through the crack of a door. He stood and padded his way over and walked in.
A bathroom.
"Stop talking. Jeez when did you become my mum?" Tony walked towards the sink counter and studied his dishevelled look. Bed head. He then started to search through the products aligned in the bathroom. Hairspray, body lotion, Feminax. Feminax? Tony shrugged and put it back down.
"I just thought you'd done something stupid. Especially after our argument."
"What argument?" Tony asked, uninterested as he ran his eyes down the frame of his body. His Arc Reactor shone. The fresh cuts from Iron Man healing well. The one on his left forearm looking like something a teenage boy would brag about to his mates. The stitches looked clean at least.
"The one at the party." She tried to jog his memory. "You were so drunk."
Tony shrugged, "I don't remember." He needed to go and calm her down. But not before he discovered where he actually was. "I'll be home soon. Just get some sleep yeah?"
"Okay. Love you." The call ended.
So him and Sophie had an argument? She didn't seem too pissed just a bit worried about where he was. Sounded like he needed to get dressed at back to his lovely house. Jarvis was probably missing him. Tony sighed before turning and going to walk back out of the door. He squeezed his eyes and tried to see the bed, but his body was in the way of the bathroom light. He edged to the side and could make out his crumpled jeans on the floor.
And the other person.
The other person on the other side of the bed. Oh crap. What had happened?
Looking down Tony realised he was indeed naked. His boxers seemed to be long gone. He needed to get out and fast. Creeping forward Tony made his way for his jeans. His foot got caught on something, looking down he saw his boxers wrapped around his toes. Tony quickly threw them on before then slowly and quietly picking up, and sliding on his jeans. His belt buckle clinked. But the other occupant didn't seem to move.
"Shirt, shirt, shirt," Tony mumbled to himself. Using the light of his Blackberry Tony saw his shirt on the floor of the other side of the room. He quickly grabbed it and put it on over his shoulders, not bothering to button it up. That could wait till he was back in his car.
The woman in the bed started to twist, turn and mumble.
Quick Tony! Jacket, shoes, GO!
"Tony?"
Shit. Wait, was that Pepper? Double shit.
"Pepper?" Tony sounded genuinely confused.
Pepper sat up in bed and studied the room in the same hazed way Tony had done less than five minutes before. The sheet that was wrapped round her fell down as she sat more upright. Her bra wasn't there. Tony should have pulled his eyes away, but didn't seem to have the willpower to. "What time is it?"
"Nearly four in the morning." There, all conversation that was needed was done right? Tony needed to go, but his feet didn't move. Maybe if he spoke a bit more it would help. "Sophie called. She wondered where I was."
He let the moment hang and faintly saw Pepper nod. "I better be off."
Without another word Tony went to leave the room. He was stopped when he heard sniggering. Although it didn't sound like Pepper actually found anything funny. Turning he give her a questioning look.
"I just knew the first time I'd be with Tony Stark he'd bolt like lightening when he woke up the next morning." The sarcasm of her cut through him. "Even funnier thing is that I thought you'd last at least until eight, optimistically nine."
"That's hardly fair," Tony said in a hushed voice.
"Isn't it?" Pepper quipped back. She gave him a stern look.
Tony felt on the edge then. Was he not being fair? Realistically he had just cheated on his first long-term girlfriend, who lived with him, with Pepper Potts. But it was Pepper Potts. Woman of his dreams. The one he thought had got away. Was he being unfair to Pepper? Or to himself?
He did a double-take. "I'm really confused right now Pepper and i'm still feeling a bit buzzed from the party I was at. Which I don't even bloody remember, but Sophie-"
"So you don't remember how this-"she gestured at the distance between them which she wouldn't like to be there at that moment in time. "-happened? You have no idea why you came to me?"
Tony shook his head, "Why should I?"
Pepper scoffed. She leant over and switched on the lamp which rested on the table next to the bed. Tony thought she looked gorgeous normally, but after sex. She looked absolutely stunning. She swung her legs over the side of the bed and rushed to wrap herself up in her more than revealing, silk bathrobe. She made her way over to him and stood in front of him. He was unsure of what she was doing.
"Go home Tony." With that, Pepper brushed past him and walked out of the bedroom.
It took Tony less than ten seconds to be hot on her heels. He grabbed her forearm and whipped her round causing her to bump into his chest. They were standing in the dimly let hallway of Pepper's large apartment. Tony's Arc Reactor gave extra light as his shirt was still unbuttoned.
"Why am I supposed to remember how I ended up here?" Tony breathed out.
Pepper took a step back so she wasn't pressed up against him anymore, but she was still in his personal space. Her barefoot just skimmed standing on his barefoot. "You're not supposed to remember, forget that I said anything."
"No because you wouldn't have mentioned it if hadn't been important?" Tony cut her off and then silenced enfolded them. Their heavy breaths the only sound, it reverberated through the empty hallway. "What happened at the party?"
"I wasn't even there-"
"But you know. I must have told you."
Pepper narrowed her eyes. Then she realised his hand still gripped her arm. It wasn't even holding her anymore, she wasn't going anywhere, it was her place after all. It was just there to feel her. And the heat radiating from him sent shivers down her spine.
She took a deep breath. "Apparently, according to your drunken self, you got wasted. Things had been on the rocks lately and you didn't even want to go tonight which made you angry because Sophie forced you to go. In your drunken state you started flirting with all the girls and Sophie blew up in front of everyone. She embarrassed you. You got really pissed off at her, more so than you ever had before and she wasn't having any of it. You said that you hadn't been doing anything wrong and well you-"
Pepper mumbled the last part and Tony couldn't make it out. "I what?"
Pepper stared at him through heavy lidded eyes. This is going to be awkward. "You broke up with her."
Tony blinked. "I broke up with her?"
She nodded in response. Tony was trying to process things. Things had been on the rocks lately. Sophie was really busy with auditions and various things. She was trying to crack Hollywood. And Tony had a load of missions and the company. Pepper was still his PA, but he had more responsibility now. It was hectic and his relationship had taken the fall for it.
Tony would have ignored it, but Sophie had done the wrong thing. She had started blaming Pepper. Saying she was a catalyst for their break-up and that she was trying to weasel her way back into his heart. Back into his heart – what a laugh. She never left. But it just pissed Tony off even more because he was with Sophie. Why did she even care about what he felt for Pepper? She lived with him for god's sake. Defending her didn't help the situation between him and Sophie, but Tony was trying to overcome the obstacles.
"Yeah. You said that she had laughed nervously and brushed it off to the people that were watching. She tried to pull you out of the club and take you home, but you said you were serious and stormed out. Then next thing I know you knock on my door and jump me." Pepper let a faint smile slip at the memory of kissing Tony. It fell as fast as it came, Tony was with somebody. She shouldn't be getting excited about this. Whatever this was.
Tony nodded then. He swallowed. "And what time was this?"
Pepper arched her eyebrows. "I guess, around, half ten? After we- well you know, you crashed out and slept off the alcohol. I was expecting this sort of reaction, but you were so drunk I didn't think you'd even be able to remember your name let alone the party. I wasn't going to tell you about the party. And by the sounds of it, neither was Sophie."
A little flame of anger lit in Tony at the thought of that. Tony had dumped her. Sure he was drunk, but what if he had meant it? And she was not going to even try to talk about it. Being dumped is a bit of a big deal, she must have really pissed him off. She probably brought up Pepper again. Tony tutted and sighed at the thought of his girlfriend. Or should he say ex.
"And that's all I know." Pepper concluded. Tony didn't say anything. His eyes fixed on Pepper's right shoulder, trying to process everything probably. Pepper's own eyes tracing every crease and curve of his face. He really was amazing looking. She snapped herself from her daydream. Time to talk again. "So, what do you think you're going to do?"
Tony's own eyes snapped back to hers. He seemed to be thinking about something. "Go home and talk it out I guess. That's the right thing to do right?"
Pepper seemed defeated by the idea of Tony leaving her. She nodded despite her feelings. "If that's what you want."
"I just need to see whether me and Sophie are even worth the trouble of trying to save. I'm not hopeful, but for some reason I feel like I owe her a sober explanation of why i'm ending the relationship. I have been going out with her for nearly two years after all."
"Tony Stark a responsible boyfriend? Never thought I'd live to see the day."
They both laughed lightly in the darkness. Still so close.
"And us?" Pepper asked out of the blue.
Tony didn't know. He honestly didn't know how he felt. He felt the sense of dread of going to have to face Sophie. And the guilt of hurting her. But he never knew with Pepper. He did know that he felt a warmth in the pit of his stomach. That he loved the way she looked right now. And that he didn't want to move from being so close to Pepper in a dark hallway, her near enough naked and him barley dressed.
He let out a sigh and shook his head. "I don't know about us. I just know that Sophie is a lost cause." Pepper seemed unsatisfied with his answer. "She obviously still feels something for me if she was going to ignore it."
"Clearly." Pepper had heard enough about Sophie for one night.
Tony bit the inside of his mouth, and had a look in his eye like he was debating something. "But something in me is saying that I came to you for a reason. I know I was blind drunk, but-"he hesitated, "-I can't shake the feeling that ignoring what happened tonight would be a catastrophic mistake."
"What happened between us?" She sounded hopeful.
"And everything else." Before she could say anything, Tony asked something. "Do you regret it?"
Pepper's eyes snapped up to his. She looked genuinely puzzled by the question. "Do I regret it?" She repeated his question, making sure he had actually asked it. "No. No, I-"
She was unsure of what to say, "I don't regret tonight Tony. Despite the fact i've always hated men that cheat and feel awful that I let myself do it to Sophie. With you-"she looked into his eyes, "-with you all logic goes out the window. And when it comes back, I feel a spark. Like it's the right kind of wrong."
He didn't know what came over him then, but he knew he wanted to kiss her. A desperate need to press against her and relive the night's activities. He hesitantly leant forward. Pepper didn't move and let him take the moment. His stubbled cheek brushed her soft one as he leant in. But clearly all good things come to end, millimetres from her lips, his phone rings again.
Neither one of them moved, "It's probably Sophie." Pepper whispered.
"Probably," Tony said in an equally hushed voice before leaning forward. His lips met hers. Tony made the kiss last as the night before was a blur. He couldn't be more annoyed at himself for being so drunk that he couldn't remember what he had dreamt about for years. The kiss was better than he'd ever thought. She tasted good, and smelt of sex. Tony wanted more.
They pulled apart. Tony licked his lips. "I better be off. I'll call."
"Am I the first one night stand to hear those words?" Pepper joked.
Tony turned half serious, "You'll always be more than a one night stand Pepper."
She tried to calm the butterflies in her stomach and hide her lovesick smile. Tony leant in and pressed a tender kiss to her cheek. He lingered and enjoyed the way she tried to get closer to him. Tony pulled away and picked up the remainder of his clothes and headed into the darkness of her hallway. When Pepper heard the front door click shut she turned to go back to the bedroom, that was too much drama for four in the morning.
Cheap use of Leann Rimes song, but do I care? No. (:
And the verdict is? Love, love, love. AnnaTW