Party's Over
"Give me a phat beat to beat my buddy's ass to." And that was how on the night of his birthday, the destruction of Tony's Malibu mansion began. Pepper had seen Tony do a lot of stupid things in the many years as his PA but fighting his best friend in his Iron Man suit may have been the stupidest thing so far. God, maybe she should have said yes to Venice back when he had asked her on the plane. Then he wouldn't be here right now to ruin his house and possibly his image.
All of the party-goers were now outside and had their phones out, snapping pictures and taking video of the scene unfolding before them. Not that she blamed them. A person didn't see something like this everyday. A silent snarl formed on her lips. She was not looking forward to the damage control she would be forced to do tomorrow. She could see it now. "Iron Man on a Drunken Rampage." She only barely resisted stomping her foot in anger. Damn you, Tony Stark.
That was when her eyes landed on the beautiful woman who was the focus of some of her anger scurrying over in her direction. The snarl came back. "Natalie!"
The woman hurried over to her. Pepper couldn't help but roll her eyes at the dress she was wearing. Was it leopard print? Cheetah print? Screw it. It didn't matter. Whatever kind of print it was, it was tacky. She didn't even know why she was so mad at Natalie. She wasn't the one currently destroying Tony's house. Okay, that was a lie. She knew exactly why she was upset with her but she just didn't want to admit it to herself just yet. "Miss Potts..."
The completely innocent way she said her name unleashed the frustration she was currently feeling. "Oh, don't you, 'Miss Potts,' me! I'm on to you. You know what? Ever since you you came here.." A shriek of panic escaped her lips when ceiling above her crumbled, spilling Tony Stark and Colonel James Rhodes both in suits onto the floor not far from where she was standing. In a beat, they were both back on their feet, throwing punches at each other.
"Pepper..." Before she knew what was happening, Happy had her by the arm and was practically yanking her off her feet, dragging her away from the fight. "We gotta get you outta here."
But instead of going with her first instinct to flee the scene, Pepper Potts yanked her arm away from his desperate grasp. The fear she had been feeling when the ceiling fell in was turning into something else. Rage. She had no idea what had gotten into Tony lately but with the crazy stunt he pulled in Monaco and now this...suit or not, she was going to kick his reckless ass.
"Anthony Edward Stark!" Pepper snarled, shoving Rhodey aside as she strode toward her former boss, not at all intimidated by the two armored men engaged in battle in front of her. She was sure her face was as red as her hair. Natalie had disappeared. It was probably for the best. At the moment with her anger flaring, she was sure she probably would have told her where to go and how to get there.
Rhodey grabbed her arm, trying to hold her back. "Pepper, I wouldn't..."
Pepper glared at Tony's best friend. Her eyes dropped to where he had a grip on her arm and then back up into his face, hidden behind a mask. "Don't, Colonel Rhodes. Just don't."
The way she said his name made him drop her arm. She must have came off as intimidating because Rhodes put his armored hands up in surrender, stepping away from Tony as the drunk man stumbled to find his feet once again. Maybe under different circumstances she would have giggled at the sight of the"War Machine" retreating at the sight of a pissed off Pepper Potts but not today.
Tony put up his face mask to meet her eyes, and to her surprise he was giving her one of his signature one-hundred watt classic Stark smiles as if nothing was out of the ordinary. As if he hadn't just been fucking destroying his house in front of hundreds of guests. "Hey Pep, you might wanna move to the side a bit. I'm not done beating Rhodey's ass. The song's not over. And I did pay the DJ for another hour. Gotta get my money's worth." And then he winked at her. Or tried to. He was very drunk. It was more of a blink than a wink.
Pepper frowned and narrowed her eyes further. He was trying to be cute. "Oh, you are done. You are so far done it's not even funny." She may not be his PA anymore but she knew how to handle him. "Happy, go clear the property. Why don't you help him, Rhodes, and then get out of here. Party's over." After barking orders over her shoulder and not waiting for a reply, she linked her arm with Tony's and forced him to move.
That's when he tried his other classic Stark move on her. His puppy dog eyes. Normally, they would have caused her insides to turn to jelly, and she would be forced to down push down all of the inappropriate feelings that surfaced because of them. He had the most beautiful brown eyes. And his lashes? God. They did crazy things to her self control. But not tonight. She was beyond done with him. He could have been standing in front of her naked, asking her to go to town on him and it wouldn't have phased her at this point.
"Party's not over," Tony insisted as Pepper dragged him toward his workshop. "Hey. Hey. Hey. Slow down there, Potts." Even as he said the words, he must not have been resisting too much because Pepper didn't have a hard time pulling him along. Being a man, he was normally stronger than her. But with the suit, he could have easily gotten away from her if he chose but he allowed her to lead him down the stairs. "I know you are desperate to get me alone but relax, we've got time." And then when she looked over at him he wagged his eyebrows at her. "Is this the part when you give me my birthday present?"
Oh God. He actually had the gall to flirt with her after the stunt he just pulled. He may be a cocky son-of-a-bitch but this was pushing it. Even for him. Birthday boy or not, she wanted to smack the ever-living shit out of him. "Mr. Stark, it would be in your best interest to shut your mouth and keep it shut until further notice."
"Yes, dear," Tony chuckled.
Pepper barely resisted smacking him. She was not in the mood for his banter. Once inside the workshop she finally released him. Tony removed his helmet, chucking it across the room as if it wasn't a sensitive piece of equipment and merely a piece of trash. He must have been aiming for the couch but missed. It bounced and rolled across the floor, coming to rest under one of his many cars. Dum-E went to retrieve it. Pepper stopped in front of Tony, trying to figure out what the hell angle he was playing as she tried her hardest to remember to stay calm. She was so mad at him. She couldn't remember a time she was more angry. Part of her wanted to tell Jarvis to open the door so she could leave. A normal person would have left, would have just walked away and left him to handle this shitshow he called a life by himself but she just couldn't do it. If she was being honest with herself, she didn't want to do it. A lump formed in her throat, making it difficult for her to swallow. Tony was a huge part of her life. Who was she kidding? He was her life. She couldn't remember a time when her entire world didn't revolve around him. She didn't stay with him because she loved her job. Not saying she didn't love her job. She really did. But she stayed all of this time through all of the insanity that would have made a normally sane person crazy because she loved Tony. The sudden realization was like a slap to her face. She had finally admitted it to herself. She was in love with Tony Stark.
Tony had been watching her closely from his place perched on the edge of his desk. He ran a hand through his now matted down hair, ruffling it until it was partially standing up. He cocked his head to one side, studying her expression with a playful curiosity. "You know, the freckles on your face really stand out when you are mad." When he reached out to playfully touch her nose, she swatted his gloved hand away. His grin only widened at her rejection. "I wonder if they are like this on the rest of your body. Care to find out?"
Maddening. This man was completely and utterly maddening. Damn him for making her want him. Damn him for easily flirting with anything with a pulse and not seeing that he was messing with her feelings by his careless actions. He was so clueless. Why had she let herself fall for him in the first place? It was so stupid of her. The tightness in her throat forced her to turn from him and stalk away. She would not let him see her cry, not over him.
"Pep, don't walk away. Come on, Pepper."
Pepper ignored Tony's pleas even as he followed closely at her heels like a little lost puppy. Not acknowledging him was the only way to pull herself back together and become the Pepper Potts she needed to be in order to get things done. No more falling to pieces around Tony Stark. At least not for the rest of the night. She could at least make that promise to herself. "Jarvis?"
"Yes, Miss Potts?" Tony's AI replied.
"Get him out of the suit."
"But I don't want out of the suit," Tony whined. Pepper was almost positive he was sticking out his bottom lip in a pout . "I'm not done having fun. I didn't even get to eat my cake. I'm Iron Man, and it's my birthday. Maybe I'll go out for a flight. It would be a nice way to end the night." Oh, hell no. He wasn't going to kill himself by trying to fly drunk in that thing. Not on her watch. That was it. Pepper spun on her heels and grabbed him by an ear, dragging him toward the dismantling station. "Ow. Ow. Ow. Potts, what's gotten into you? Ow."
Pepper released his ear and shoved him forward onto it. "Jarvis, Mr. Stark is drunk and he needs to get out of the suit before he kills himself or someone else. He is not leaving this room until he is out of his armor. Is that understood?
"Yes, Miss Potts. I agree with your assessment."
"Hey, whose side are you on anyway, Jarv?" Tony rubbed absentmindedly at his ear as his suit was removed. "Pep. Pep. Pepper." Tony called after her as she made her way over to the couch to sit down, heels clicking across the floor as she retreated. Her feet were killing her. These were definitely not her most comfortable shoes. In her current mood, she was tempted to just toss them in the trash but settled for removing them. "Hey, are you not talking to me? Hey, Jarvis, she isn't talking to me. Why aren't you talking to me? Are you mad?"
Pepper set her heels next to her and put her head in her hands. He was infuriating. She wanted to stab him with her stilettos and give him a hug at the same time. Why did she love him again? There wasn't time for her to ponder it for long before exhaustion overcame her and she fell asleep. She must have only dozed off for a moment or two because she woke to a shout of pain from Tony. Her eyes snapped open, and she found him sprawled out on the floor. Pepper was on her feet in a beat, rushing over to his side. At least he was out of the suit.
"Are you okay?" She asked as she helped his drunk ass off the floor.
"Just tripped. I'm fine. It's fine." But from the way he leaned into her to try and steady himself, he wasn't so fine.
Pepper sighed, allowing him to wrap his arm tightly around her as she led him back upstairs."You know for a genius, you sure are stupid sometimes."
"Only sometimes? Is that a compliment, Miss Potts?"
His question brought the tiniest of smiles to her lips. She would be lying if she said she didn't enjoy their exchanges. Most of the time. "Time for a shower, Mr. Stark. That is, if your bathroom is still intact. Or did you and Rhodes destroy that too?"
"I'm not sure, but there may be a hole in my bedroom floor."
When they made it to the top step and Pepper once again saw the mess on the main floor, she threw a hand up to her face and groaned loudly. She did not want to see what it would look like in the morning. The mere thought of it made her anxiety shoot through the roof, kinda like Tony and Rhodey did not thirty minutes earlier. "Oh, good Lord."
Tony snorted a laugh. "Don't worry. I'm sure it's not as bad as it looks."
Pepper rolled her eyes, keeping her snarky comments to herself as she guided him through the wreckage. Only a multibillionare wouldn't think that this was a big deal. There were tens of thousands worth of damage done and that was undershooting it, but she wasn't his PA anymore. Worrying about the clean up of his house wouldn't be her responsibility. No, as CEO of Stark Industries she only had to worry about cleaning up the PR mess that Tony had made when he decided to fight his friend in his Iron Man suit in the middle of his freakin' birthday party. That's when she reached his bedroom and saw the giant hole in the floor next to the bed. "Oh, sweet mother of God."
"You sure are religious tonight, Pep." Tony let out a laugh before examining the damage. Being his normal self, he was taking things in stride. "Hey, maybe this is a good thing. Now I can just shove the girls out of my bed. Nobody even has to escort them out in the morning. Easier on everybody."
His off the cuff comment was like a punch to her gut. Yes, in the past Tony had slept with women. Lots of women. She knew it for a fact since she had been the one personally escorting them out in the morning but ever since he got back from Afghanistan, he had ditched his playboy image. He was a different man now. At least she thought so but what if he hadn't changed? What if he was just being discreet now and it was all just an act for the public? For her?
"Pep?" The gentle way Tony said her name forced her to blink back the tears stinging her eyes. Tony was staring intently into her face, trying to figure out where he slipped up. For being drunk, he was extremely perspective. She had to get him to bed before he figured out too much.
"In good conscience, I can't leave you in here. I'll find you downstairs in the morning with a broken back. Come on." Pepper pulled him out of the master bedroom and down the hallway, leading him to a room that escaped his careless behavior. She didn't think about the implications of where she was bringing him until it was too late to go back, and they were both standing inside. It was her room. Well, the room she called her own when she was too tired to make the drive back her her own place after dealing with Tony's antics all day. She had brought a drunken Tony Stark into her personal bedroom. Shit.
To her surprise, he didn't say a word but his eyebrows did climb skyward in a silent question. His mouth quirked up on one side, and she could feel her heart speed up.
Tony Stark was a beautiful man. He didn't even have to try. The minute he rolled out of bed in the morning, he was drop-dead gorgeous. Even standing there with his hair sticking up all crazy and eyes glazed over from too much booze, she could think of nothing more than wanting to kiss that damn smirk right off his handsome face. Get yourself under control, Potts. Pepper did not want to deal with what she was feeling. Not right now. "Not a word, Stark. Bed. Now."
Now he openly grinned at her, giving her a playful bow before lowering himself onto the mattress. "As you wish."
Pepper sighed again, rolling her eyes as she moved past him and into bathroom. "Do you need anything before I go home? Did you want me to grab you some clothes so you can change or get your toothbrush from the other room?" She had to get out of there and soon or getting up to go to work in the morning would prove to be impossible. Once inside, she flipped on the light and removed her ponytail, shaking out her long red hair to fall across her shoulders. What a night. It was one she would not want to relive anytime soon. She was sure glad Tony Stark only had one birthday a year. She didn't think she could survive anymore of them. "Tony?" When there was no reply, she made her way back into the room to find Tony stretched out on the mattress, mouth open and snoring away like a chainsaw. He hadn't even pulled back the covers before passing out.
Pepper shook her head as she sat down on the edge of the mattress next to him, reaching out a hand to smooth his wild hair back. It felt like the most natural thing in the world to do. Touching him just felt right. "What am I going to do with you, Tony Stark?" Her words were a whisper on her lips. Letting out a shuddering breath, she rose to her feet. "And what am I going to do with myself?"