A/N: A little Tony/Pepper fluff 'n stuff. Apparently instead of writing my other promised fic, or even grading midterms I needed to write an unplanned one-shot. Set after the Avengers. Corny and inappropriate.
The penthouse is cold and dark when Pepper finally shuffles inside. A quick greeting to JARVIS fixes that, and she finishes her tidying for the evening before retiring to the master bedroom. Stretching her neck, she toes off her heels with a grateful sigh and slips out of her skirt suit. Her fleecy sweats and a soft camisole await her, two items of clothing Pepper's been longing for for the entire day of meetings and conference calls. Completely relaxed and comfortable, she finishes up in the bathroom, combing out her hair to the relief of her aching scalp, cleansing off her makeup and brushing her teeth. Her normal routine for winding down after a stressful workday, except Tony's not there.
She's all alone in this enormous place, but Pepper's made arrangements for her fourth night on her own. While Tony's been 'on call,' as he refers to it, after the Avenger's incident, she's been by herself for long enough to construct a plan to cope. Tonight, she's scheduled a snuggly, pajama night in the king-plus bed to soothe away her stress. Sure, she originally had planned to make it a cozy night with different pajamas and bottle of champagne, but that bottle of bubbly had been kept waiting for enough days that she hardly looks forward to it anymore and she doesn't even really like those pajamas. She does, however, like Tony. But that's their life, both busy, both can make due. They'll make up for it eventually, plus it's been ages since she's seen Moulin Rouge!. She rented it for the night explicitly because Tony wouldn't be in, he always insists upon singing along and while he has a nice voice in general, his Satine is an atrocity.
She puts in the disc to run through the previews and title sequences while she readies the bed. With the comforter pulled down and pillows all arranged she slides into the luxuriant sheets just as the opening notes sound. Pepper grins at the campy goodness and settles back into the virtual mountain of pillows, hardly noticing the noises in the dressing room. Tony and she have a super secret private elevator back there but it requires a code so she never really worries about that entrance. So Tony is able stride into the bedroom as a complete and utter surprise during the 'Sound of Music' adaptation.
"I can't believe you started without me." He saunters out from behind the room divider in his sweats and black tank with two flutes of champagne as if this was their plan for the evening. "Here, take yours so I can gesture wildly with at least one hand."
Pepper, still quietly in awe of Tony's nonchalant arrival, accepts her flute as Tony slides into bed beside her.
"Oh, he's already met the midget. Which songs did I miss?" Tony exchanges his glass from his right to his left hand to put his arm around her shoulders.
"Tony, what—what are you doing here? I mean, it's great, yeah hi." She returns his kiss on her cheek and melts on the inside, only a little.
"What do you mean? It's Moulin Rouge! night." He sips from the champagne and leans against the top of her head, even sneaking a little breath of her hair. She always acts like she doesn't notice, but Pepper feels her chest tighten every time he does it.
"Thanks for the glass." She too sips from her flute and then snuggles back against him, also enjoying his smell—high end cologne is nothing compared to Tony himself, all malty and spicy like the spirits he likes and just strong enough—and the added warmth of his body heat.
"Welcome, Pepper—oh, hold on, I forgot." He pecks the top of her head and clambers out of the bed. "I've gotta make a call."
"Oh…" She watches him leave, feeling his heat ebb as well, and downs the rest of her champagne. There's little chance that he'll return, he was heading for the workshop. It takes acts of God or world crises to lure him out of there.
At first, she's disappointed. After consoling herself about his absence and then being surprised by his arrival, Pepper's taking his unexpected flight rather hard. Then, once the elephant medley begins and Tony's screeching rendition of Cher is significantly lacking, Pepper is mostly over it, and partially tipsy from the downed bubbly. Feeling contentedly warm again, she sinks under the covers and hums along with her favorite parts.
"If I missed the love in the elephant mash up, we have to rewind it!" Pepper sits up, startled from her happy doze, and fumbles with her empty glass. Tony takes it from her and refills the champagne with the bottle he brought back with him, setting the glass on the bedside table. "Did you not think I was coming back?" He grins that charming smile as he pushes the hair from her eyes and joins her again under the covers.
"No, not really. You missed about a quarter of the movie." Pepper turns down the volume a bit and reassumes their cozy position. "I actually thought you'd left again."
"No, Pepper, silly. You think I'd miss this night with you." He reaches beside him and brings over a blue paper box Pepper hadn't noticed before marked with Laduree.
"What night?" Pepper eyes the box, it's from her favorite bakery in Paris.
Tony pulls it open and reveals a dozen or so macaroons. "The night when we first kissed. Here, they're your favorite, and no inorganic colored ones, except…" He offers her a cookie with a quick kiss. " Pink ones, of course."
Pepper accepts both happily, surprised again not by his pricy gifts or his reappearance but the fact that he remembered the anniversary of their first kiss, especially when she hadn't.
"You see," Tony continues, "I want to celebrate it right—our, you know, that first night—like a yearly reenactment, except only the best parts like this…" He hands her the refilled glass from the table. "… and this…" he cups her face with his free hand and leans in for a kiss, a real kiss, long and sweet, reminiscent of the champagne and its heady rush.
Pepper's a little breathless, appropriately like that first night, by the time they part and can feel a flush blooming across her face, neck and chest.
"… and not the leaving you on the roof to protect innocents by blowing up terrorists." Tony sits back looking pleased with himself and grabs a macaroon. "No, I'm going to fall asleep and leave you to clean up our mess before the movies over."
Pepper rolls her eyes but bites into the perfect pillow of heaven before responding. Her retort mellowed by the excellent anniversary food, she lays her head on his chest and takes a different approach. "That's nice, although there were some things that didn't happen that night that could happen tonight."
She feels Tony's chest rumble with an appreciative hum. "Oh, yeah? Like what?"
"I could slap you." She stops reaching for the waistband of his pants and selects another cookie instead.
Tony sighs, "I guess I'd deserve it."
She nods and changes course yet again. He seems so, so sweet right now. "Or I could be wearing a dress that is more than just backless." She shrugs off the straps of her camisole, "and you could actually finish what you started."
She sets down her flute and slides back to Tony, pulling him into another kiss, this one more heated, a bit friskier. She's glad her hands are free, she can mirror his caresses with some slightly sloppy groping. One benefit of him being away frequently is that near rediscovering of his feel, muscles, tendons, the texture of his lips and hair.
Pepper's completely warm when she pulls away, a little light-headed and her chest fluttering. She sits up to face him, hand still underneath his tank, and licks the rest of their kiss from her lips, washing it down with a gulp from his glass that's still hovering by his chest.
"Wow, I'm liking where that's going. " Tony sweeps the hair from her shoulder and lingers on the exposed skin. "Hey, how about you wear what I bought you last year?" He seems to ask without thinking, because Tony winces immediately afterwards, waiting for the slap.
But Pepper just slides from the bed and tiptoes to the closet. "Okay, but only because you've been so attentive and thoughtful tonight." She swivels to look back at him. "Don't think this is an every year thing."
Tony just smiles, putting his hands behind his head and watching Pepper retrieve the lingerie and retreat to change. "You know that if I'm wearing this, you have to wear yours as well!" Pepper shouts from inside the closet and receives her response from the vicinity of the workshop.
"Yeah, I'm already on it."
When Pepper steps back out, blue lace negligee not helping with the cold, Tony's back in bed wearing the armor glove, all wired up to his chest piece. Pepper likes the armor and the gauntlet in particular; it does more than stabilize flight. He's wiping down the metal with a screwdriver in his mouth, must have been tightening the joints in preparation.
"Do you want some music? I'll even turn on that tinkling hipster stuff you like." Tony spits out the screwdriver as he flexes the glove, testing its tuning.
"Nah, I don't think "tinkling" suits the mood." She sighs lightly and pads back over to the bed, longing for the warmth of the blankets almost as much as for Tony. Then, the testing and the tuning, the muscle flexing and straining weighed the scales more securely in Tony's favor.
"Okay, if you say so. There, cleaned and ready. Which setting you want to start with tonight?" He had specially altered the programming of this particular glove to their mutual advantage. Pepper bites her lip and slides towards him as she considers.
"You know what? Why don't you surprise me?" She runs her hands over the biceps in question.
"Mmm, I can do that." Tony's voice is soft and low while he leans forward to kiss her neck. "Just lean back and I'll take care of it all."
Pepper sighs again, this time contentedly as she sinks into the pillows, closing her eyes and stretching out beneath Tony's touch. The attentions start with those kisses on her neck, close-trimmed goatee half tickling her bare skin, then descend to focus on her breasts.
"Uhh, do you mind if I rip this a little." Tony's voice is muffled as he tugs on the negligee, with his teeth.
"Not at all," she moans, focusing not so much on his words as on his fingers, armored and otherwise, inching towards the skirt of her nightie and its matching panties. A hearty rip follows, freeing her right breast and exposing her nipple to Tony's gentle teasing. She arches her back as his nips become more insistent and his bare hand begins massaging her other breast. A tingling spreads from her center and suddenly her chest isn't the focus of Pepper's attention. The armor, while quiet, is absolutely invigorating in its intensity and precision. Without even making it beneath her lacy thong, that gauntlet is making her shudder.
"Too high a setting?" Tony has moved back to her neck, is now kissing the back of her ear.
"Oh god no." Pepper rolls her head to the side as he kisses her and spreads wider her legs. The change of angle pushes the throbbing pulses closer to her heat and Tony follows the lead, easily sliding the nimble metal inside of her.
"You make the most enticing noises," Tony murmurs into her shoulder and then sinks in his teeth, meanwhile pumping slowly into her with each word.
"I'll make more if you just—" she reaches to adjust his hand but Tony swipes her aside.
"Eh, eh, eh. I told you I'd take care of it. No moving, just tell me," he growls.
"Oh—uh, more—higher." She loses her words as Tony follows her instructions.
"There, see?" Tony moves his gloved hand in a tight circle, licking a trail down to her naval.
"Yes, oh god, yes. Just there."
Tony hums his appreciation onto her hip bone and then, just as Pepper feels her body tightening, poised for release, it all stops.
"What? What're—what're you—why'd you stop?" Pepper pants, slowly hoisting herself upright. Tony is kneeling between her legs, roguish grin in place. "Is something wrong?" She smoothes the hem of her negligee down on her thigh, wondering in the process how Tony removed her underwear without her noticing.
"I just thought we'd move on. You game?"
Pepper pushes the hair out of her face to give herself time to catch her breath and rediscover her faculty for complete sentences. "If you leave the glove on."
"Like I'd take it off," he chuckles, crawling forward. "You just don't get the same results without it."
Pepper shakes her head, pausing in the middle of pulling Tony's tank off, then yanks a little harder than necessary.
"Hey, hey. Watch the tank."
"What? You can rip but I can't?" Pepper tosses aside the shirt and bats her eyes back at Tony. He quirks his brows in response and then shifts his weight so she can push off his pants.
"Pepper, there's actually one more surprise I had planned for this night." Tony sits back on his heels and Pepper suddenly becomes very aware of her heart. He hasn't looked this serious in quite a while, maybe not even since he tried to give the company to her. "Initially, I wanted to do this a month or so ago for our actual anniversary thing." He leans across the bed to his nightstand and pulls open the drawer. "But then I had to go and then some other things came up, anyway…" He sits back down in front of her with a black jewelry box in hand. "I've decided that I hate being away from you for so long and so often." Pepper can hardly breath—there's no way Tony is proposing, he couldn't cope with her name on a lease without joking defensively about it—and his giddy smile has her stomach in knots. "Virginia Potts," he looks up at her with those big soulful eyes and opens the box, "will you be my sidekick?"
Pepper is mildly speechless as she looks down at the delicate bracelet offered, both relieved that it isn't a diamond ring and still slightly disappointed. "Sidekick?" Her voice is squeakier than expected but at least even.
"Yeah, this is your very own Iron… woman suit." Pepper looks at the tennis bracelet in disbelief; Tony is a genius but an entire suit in this. "Well, it's a biometric marker than will initiate the activation of your suit."
Pepper smiles and holds out her wrist for Tony to clasp it on. "That's amazing, Tony—and I don't mean to sound ungrateful here—but, why?"
"Like I said before, I'm sick of leaving you all the time. This way, just on the low key runs, you can come with me. I'll teach you how to fly it this weekend and we can leave together on Tuesday." He's beaming again and Pepper's finding it hard not to join him. It could be exciting accompanying him and he was right about all the time spent apart.
"Thank you, Tony. This is an excellent alternative to you leaving me alone on a roof." She pulls him back towards her and into a fervent kiss. "So, what are we going to call my suit?" She traces the edge of his chest piece as they negotiate the contraceptives.
"I was thinking Iron Maiden, but it's not really an appropriate moniker." He kisses her wrist under the bracelet and then settles between her legs, reengaging the gauntlet.
"Oh, oh, oh, okay. We don't need a name now, oh god. Tony, Tony, oh—" she weaves her fingers into his hair, enjoying the dual sensation of glove and tongue.
"That's right, say my name." She doesn't even try to slap him for that, his face still between her thighs would have been difficult to reach anyways. "Mmmm, maybe Iron Lady…" his suggestion rumbles up through her.
"Fuck it, Tony, focus."
"With language like that, I don't think this name's appropriate either." He nips his way up to her stomach. "Does this mean that we can try a less lady-like position tonight?"
"Whatever, Tony, but I don't want to wait any longer. I will do it myself."
He pulls her hips toward him and the edge of the bed. "Not patient tonight, are we?"
"This is patient, you've been away for weeks." She slips her feet to the floor at his insistence and leans forward against the mattress.
"I know," he growls and sucks on the back of her neck, pressing his own proof against her in the process. "I can't guarantee this will last very long. I was hoping the gift would make up for it."
"For the love of god, Tony, if you can't outlast me I'll eat the gift." She pulls his armored hand from her hip towards her almost aching arousal, moaning finally with the stimulation.
Tony's entering thrusts blend seamlessly with the gloves' vibrations, both gratifying her need attentively and completely. Soon the jolts of pleasure fade the rest of reality into a blur of white and Pepper loses track of everything. As predicted, it's mere seconds before she can't breathe or hear or think.
As Pepper lies gasping for air and waiting for her senses to untwist from the knot of ecstasy that held her bound up, Tony promptly resumes his bantering.
"Maybe we should try the delayed gratification approach more often, I have never heard you scream like that."
"Was I screaming?" She rolls over onto her back, climbing back onto the bed and under the covers.
"Either that or my ears were ringing. That could be the case, I lost track of the ground for a second there." He also collapses onto the bed, his arm draped over her stomach but face in the pillow. "I think Iron Lady's back on the table, because it kind of sounds like a dominatrix name and you could totally rock that. I really enjoyed you telling me what to do."
"I was not giving orders," Pepper yawns.
"You threatened eating the bracelet if I didn't hurry up."
"That was not what I meant."
Tony giggles and pulls her against his chest. "I couldn't tell, I don't think I could properly listen at that point. I'm going to keep the mental image of dominatrix, though."
"You know, it doesn't have to match your title. I could go by Virgo, as a pun off my own name, or something that describes what I do for you, like Rescue." She sleepily runs her fingers through his hair.
"Hey, I like that." He leans away to smile down at her. "You sure have saved me enough to earn the name." With a soft peck on the cheek he lies back against the pillows and collects her to him again. "Just don't out-hero me, I have to maintain a reputation."
"Sure, I'll do my best. By the way does my suit have the same functions as this one?" She taps the discarded glove beside them. "Just in case you don't get over these macho inclinations and I decide to be my own hero."
Tony scoffs, "you're good but there's no way you could do what we just did."
"Want to watch me?"
"YES—" Tony bites his lip at Pepper's glare. "You're going to make me fly solo for a while, aren't you?"
"Just figuratively."