One shot of Pepperony but genderbent. Fem!Tony (Natasha Stark which is her name so dubbed in the AU that Reed Richards finds) and Virgil "Piper" Potts. I felt inspired to write fluff that's inspired by the Extra Gum commercial with the gum wrapper swans.
"You have a meeting in about one hour; don't you think you should be getting ready?" Virgil "Piper" Potts stood with his perfect posture as he waiting for his boss, Natasha Stark, to turn in her chair and respond. He had been working for the genius, billionaire, playgirl philanthropist for about 6 months and all he knew was that she liked to fool around and toggle with anything she could get her hands on.
"I should," she spun around. Her long curly brown hair bounced when she came to a stop. She didn't look up but instead chose to continue playing with a piece of paper in her hand. Piper frowned. "But doing this seems a lot more fun." She grinned up at him. She looked down once more and seemed to finish folding whatever it was she doing. She opened up her hand to reveal a swan no bigger than the size of her index finger.
She stood up and handed him the small bird. She looked up at him with that same smile. "But for you I'll make an exception." She walked past him and she took her phone out and began toggling with it as she walked away, leaving Piper Potts alone in the room.
He looked down in his hand and stared at the little bird with curiosity. He folded it neatly and flat as he slid it into his pocket. He left the room thinking to himself perhaps Natasha Stark woke up one day and said to herself she felt like running a company.
Piper Potts didn't know back then that wasn't how it happened.
Piper Potts stood outside on a landing pad. His hair was frazzled not only from the rushing air around him, but also from his lack motivation to fix it up. The moment he had gotten word of Natasha Stark's survival, he had rushed into a car with Happy and driven out as quickly as humanly possible to see her. He had shown up 1 hour early and had been running on about 2 hours sleep.
In the 3 months she had been gone, he really hadn't gotten much sleep at all.
So when Natasha Stark stepped off the ramp and stood in front of him, it almost seemed impossible to him. Tears streamed down his face as he looked at her. He had been working for her for a year and a half and he couldn't bring himself to hate his boss even a little. Piper Potts had a special place in his heart for Natasha Stark.
"Your eyes are red. A few tears for your long lost boss?" She smirked in his direction.
Oh lord how he had missed the way her lips curved in that way to give him that face. He missed her voice and the way she looked at him with a challenge. His life felt empty working alongside Obadiah. He felt a warmth in his heart at the mere thought of working with her once more.
"Tears of joy. I hate job hunting." He replied with a smirk of his own. Piper stopped himself from going to hug her despite the fact he really wanted to. He wanted to hold her and tell himself that it was infact real. She had returned. She said something and walked passed him. Rhodey approached him with a bemused look.
"She got bored easily on the ride home." He held a plastic bag up to Piper as he took it from the Natasha's long time friend. "I'd watch over her. She may have been gone for 3 months but she's like Icarus of the fearless flight." Rhodey gave a tired laugh.
Piper frowned at both the bag and Rhodey reference to the Oscar Wild poem as Rhodey walked away to speak with a few other people. Out of curiosity, Piper looked into the bag and found himself with a light smile. He found around 10 or so paper swans of different sizes in the bag. Piper turned and continued to stare at the fleeting figure of his boss.
"She gets kidnapped for 3 months and spends her time folding paper…" He muttered to himself before running quickly to be by her side.
Piper Potts, at that point, hadn't known what Natasha Stark had actually done in her 3 months of captivity. She had been anything but bored.
"Iron Man. That's kind of catchy. It's got a nice ring to it. I mean it's not technically accurate. The suit's a gold titanium alloy, but it's kind of provocative, the imagery anyway." She grinned as Piper continued to cover up the last cut on her face. He was mad at her for risking her life the way she did. And yet she sat there fiddling with her papers again.
"You have no sense of self preservation, do you…" He muttered, causing Natasha to be taken back.
Phil Coulson stood by the door waiting patiently. "I have your flashcards right here, Miss Stark. They give you an appropriate alibi for all the events that have occurred thus far." Natasha rolled her eyes as Phil left to stand in his appropriate spot, leaving Natasha and Piper to themselves for a final few minutes.
"But wouldn't it be cool to let everyone know that I was in the suit? I mean, we could keep the name, like I said it sounds catchy and all but-" Natasha stopped herself as she saw the look Piper had been giving her. It screamed of worry and anger. "You don't want me to tell the world, do you…?" She mumbled low enough that it was heard only between them.
Piper took a deep breath as he stood up straight with a tired look in his eye. "Will that be all, Miss Stark?"
She looked up at him with a distant look in her eye. She stood up and fixed her jacket. "That will be all, Mr. Potts." She said before walking out. Piper stared at her fleeting figure before sitting in the chair she once occupied. She glanced over and saw one of those stupid paper birds she was always making when she was bored. Piper frowned at it as he looked towards the TV that was airing the news conference. He picked up the paper bird and began fiddling with it himself in a nervous manner as he saw Natasha take the stage.
And much to his surprise, Natasha paused before continuing to read from her cards as planned. Piper had stopped fiddling with the paper bird all together as he stared in awe at the fact that Natasha had followed through and hadn't revealed her identity recklessly to the world.
The conference ended and Natasha made her way off the stage and began to walk outside to what Piper expected to Happy waiting for her. He felt a slight vibration from his phone in his pocket. Pulling it out, he felt his heart stumble just a bit at the text Natasha had just sent him.
"I'm sorry for worrying you."
The suit began to malfunction as Natasha landed both her and Piper on the top of a random building. In the distance Piper could see the various explosions of the Hammer bots. His heart was nearly beating out of his chest.
Natasha Stark threw off the helmet, giving herself the air she needed. Her long hair had long fallen out of its messy ponytail as she felt the breeze blow it away from the edges of her suit.
"Oh my God I can't. I can't take this anymore!" Piper said with an anxious tone as he ran his hands through his ruffled ginger hair Natasha had grown accustomed to it looking so nice. Seeing him in such a state was shocking to her.
"You can't?" She mused. She didn't think Piper could hear her as he continued to speak.
"I can't! I literally cannot handle the stress." Piper could still feel his heart beating 3x faster than it normally should. He was out of breath and he couldn't wrap his mind around his current situation. "I never know if you're going to kill yourself or… or wreck the whole county or-"
"I think I did okay!" Natasha argued as she referenced down to the city below them, despite knowing very well that explosions didn't really count as 'okay'.
"I quit! I'm resigning." Piper resolved. On one hand he couldn't tell if he was saying it to her or if more to himself. Because he was freaked out. He was freaked out by the explosions and his life being in danger half the time and the idea that Natasha was dying and not telling him about it.
He didn't forget that little tid bit.
Because he'd be damned if all of it just didn't unnerve him to no end. And the only person on the known planet who was able to send him out of his normally calm state was Natasha Stark. She was his exception.
"What did you just say? You're done?" She asked him more calmly as she approached him. "That's surprising. Well actually that's not all that surprising I get it. You don't have to make any excuses." She stared off into the cityscape.
"I'm not making excuses." Piper affirmed with a bit more composure.
"Well actually you were just making excuses-"
Piper was about to speak up and argue but Natasha continued on. "You deserve better." She looked him in the eye. The suit caused both him and her to both be at eye level.
"You've taken such good care of me…. Let's talk clean up." She said, switching the topic on Piper. She didn't like the idea of Piper leaving but Piper Potts deserved better than her. Even she knew that.
"I can handle the transition." He said confidently. She looked him in the eye and Piper Potts found his heart racing all over again for entirely different reason all together.
"What about press, what are we going to do about-"Natasha didn't finish as she felt his lips rush against hers. His hands held her head in proper position as she kissed him back. They stood there in their little world for what seemed longer than 5 seconds until they broke apart. Her eyes were wide as she was the first one to speak.
"That wasn't weird, right? That was okay, right?" Piper smiled widely; the first time he had smiled genuinely that night.
"Definitely okay." He said before leaning back into the kiss.
Later that evening, the two shared the same bed. Natasha Stark slept soundly next to him as she was nestled under her arm and into his chest. Her long hair draped itself against the white sheets as Piper felt her steady breathing. He hadn't seen her sleep with such ease in a long time.
Piper Potts with his long arms reached out slowly for his jacket pocket to get his phone. His hand slid into the pocket and froze as his eyes widened. He pulled out a familiar swan. He looked down at her sleeping figure just as she nuzzled herself even more into him. A gentle smile curved on his lips as he placed the swan on the night stand and held Natasha closer to him.
He closed his eyes and had the best sleep he had had in a long time.
"You nearly killed yourself!"
"I said I was sorry! It was the only way!" Natasha argued as Piper walked away from her. It had been a few days after the Chitauri invasion. Natasha still had the battle scars to prove it and the nightmares that came with it.
"I almost watched you die. Do you realize that?" Piper turned on his feet to look her in the eye.
Natasha opened her mouth to say something but paused when she saw Happy standing at the door. He felt awkward watching and hearing the two fighting and wanted to leave as soon as he could. Both she and Piper waited for him to speak.
"I'm sending the car to get fixed and they found this box in the back seat." He handed the box out to Natasha who held a perplexed look.
"That's not my box." She frowned as she stared at the plain red box about the size of a college textbook. Piper recognized the box immediately . "What's in here…" She muttered as she began to open the box.
"Actually that's my box…" Piper attempted to say before Natasha could finish opening the box. Upon seeing its contents, she dropped the lid accidently as her gaze switched from the box to Piper. She gave him one of her rarely surprised look that only he'd be able to elicit from her.
"…You kept them all?"
Piper had a slight blush as Natasha held up one of her infamous little paper birds. The box was full of them as she stared at the lot. She returned her gaze back to Piper. "Yeah, I mean… it just kind of started. I don't know why I did it." He explained as he tried to think of an answer himself.
Natasha put the box on the ground and approached Piper without warning. She placed both her hands on his face and gave him a soft kiss on the lips before reaching over to hug him tightly. Piper could smell the apple scent of her hair as his arms instinctively wrapped around her.
"I'm sorry for worrying you."
His grip tightened on her as he leaned his chin on the top of her head. One hand on her back, the other petting her softly.
He peered to the box of birds on the ground as a soft smile appeared on his lips.
Despite all the danger and the worry Natasha Stark had put him through, for some reason she had always managed to bring him back. She was the only one to make his heart stutter. The only one he'd worry insanely over. The only one he'd ever hold as tightly as he was then.
She was his only one.
"Never regret thy fall,
O Icarus of the fearless flight
For the greatest tragedy of them all
Is never to feel the burning light." -Oscar Wilde
AN: Like I said, just a little fluff based off a cute commercial. I'm still working on the other stories. I hope you all have a nice day. -H