Whisper Something Fragile

PART 1 – THE BENEFIT

Leaning against the wall, Tony Stark took in the view in front of him. He was at another one of these boring benefits, he couldn't even remember what it was for this time, and he'd already given his speech but he still 'wasn't allowed to go home to his man-cave' according to Pepper. 'It's not a man-cave…' he thought to himself for the hundredth time as their earlier conversation replayed in his head and he couldn't stop himself from smiling slightly.

"Tony hurry up, Happy will be here any minute!" Pepper's voice came from the other side of the bathroom door as Tony stood looking in the mirror trying to get his hair 'perfectly messed up'.

With a sigh and a final glance at his reflection, he unlocked the bathroom door and came face to face with a slightly annoyed, but still beautiful, Pepper Potts, "Have I ever told you how cute you look when you're pissed at me?" He asked with that egotistical grin she both hated and loved and she rolled her eyes at him, holding up his tie.

"Come here, you're not even properly dressed yet," she sighed and stepped back a little so he could walk out of the bathroom and into the bedroom. As he did he buttoned up the last few buttons on his shirt and Pepper looped his tie around his neck, concentrating on doing it up instead of the way he was looking at her.

Staring down at her as she knotted his tie, Tony still couldn't quite believe that they had been an official couple for just short of 12 months. They really had come a long, long way since the first couple of weeks of awkward silences and unresolved sexual tension. That particular line of thought made him smile to himself as he thought about that morning when they'd woken up, he'd kinda promised that he'd let her get up so she could do a final check of her e-mails before she had to get stuff sorted for the benefit, but that might have gone out the window when he got distracted by the smooth expanse of her back as she had sat up… It was safe to say they hadn't made it out of bed for a few hours.

He was brought back to the present as she poked his chest to get his attention, "I don't know what you're thinking about, but can you stop so we can actually leave on time for once?" Pepper asked, turning around to pick up his blazer, passing it to him before sitting down on the edge of the bed as she slipped on her shoes.

"I was thinking about this morning actually," he smirked and pulled on his blazer, watching as her cheeks turned a delightful shade of pink, "It might have beaten that time in the shower actually," he couldn't stop his smirk from growing into a wider grin as her face turned a shade darker at the memory.

She cleared her throat as she stood up and smoothed down the front of her dress, "Yes well, as… amazing, as it was, nothing of that sort will be happening again if we're late for this benefit," she said seriously and picked up her phone, passing it to him so he could slip it into the inside pocket of his jacket.

"But Peeeeeppp…" he whined which only earned him a glare from the red head and he pouted at her, "Why do I even have to go, you're the CEO now…"

Pepper rolled her eyes at him and stood with her arms folded, "You have to go because I say you do, if you think I'm going to stand there on my own you're very wrong. And anyway I need a plus-one, unless you'd prefer to stay at home in your man-cave and I'll just meet up with someone else once I get there," she shrugged casually.

Tony visibly stiffened at that and looked at her with wide eyes, then tried to play it cool by just smiling, "Oh yeah? Who did you have in mind?"

"Matt. The one who sent me those flowers on my birthday; he's a really nice guy," she lied, there wasn't really any 'Matt' who'd given her flowers, but she wanted to see his reaction.

His expression went from nonchalant to pissed in a matter of seconds, "Matt? I don't know who he is which department does he work for how long have you known him, wait a sec what flowers?!" He rushed and stared at her in shock, then his brain caught up with his mouth and he noticed the slight raise of her left eyebrow and the teasing smirk. Taking a step closer he let his hands come to rest on her hips and held her still, watching her carefully formed expression waver slightly, "Ooh you're gonna pay for that one Potts," he grinned mischievously.

She let out a short, nervous laugh and tried to step away from him but he just moved with her, "R-really, how so?" She asked, trying to maintain her casual air, her still folded arms acting like a barrier between them as he inched ever closer.

"Well I haven't got it all planned out yet but I'm thinking you might wanna tell Happy not to bother picking us up, we're gonna be late…" he murmured and lowered his head down to lightly kiss her neck, feeling her tense stance slipping a little.

"Tony…" she warned half-heartedly, but it was a battle she was losing and she knew she wouldn't be able to stop herself from giving in.

Smirking at her rubbish excuse of a warning, he gently bit her neck, not wanting to leave a mark because then she really would be annoyed and he didn't want that, he dipped his tongue into the hollow between her collarbone and neck, feeling her shudder slightly and slid his hands up to her waist, holding her closer to him as he gently nudged her backwards until her legs came into contact with the side of their bed.

The feeling of the wooden bedframe hitting the backs of her calves made Pepper's eyes pop open and she pushed him away slightly, "Tony we can't…" She started but then noticed the clock on the bedside table, it showed that they were officially 15 minutes late for Happy, and they'd recently gotten into a routine of 'if we aren't out within ten minutes of when we said we'd be out just don't bother', so she knew he wouldn't be waiting for them still.

"Okay whatever, but we can't be long," she murmured and brought her hands up to wrap her arms around his neck.

He grinned triumphantly when she gave in and leaned closer to kiss her slowly, revelling in the familiar feeling of her lips moving against his, moving one hand up her back to pull down the zip of her dress, letting the fabric pool around her feet before he picked her up, her legs wrapping around his waist as he laid her down on the bed and held himself above her, "I'm definitely going to make it worth your while Miss Potts, I can promise you that…"

And now here he was, bored beyond belief and wanting nothing more than to go home. He had lost track of Pepper at some point during the night, she had insisted on 'mingling' with the other people in attendance and he had only caught glimpses of the deep purple floor-length dress she was wearing since then. So when he felt a hand on his arm, he really wasn't expecting it.

"Jesus! Shit Pepper, don't do that," he hissed, his hand against his chest as he waited for his heart to slow down a little.

She just smiled and passed him a glass, "Thought you could do with a drink," she said as she passed him the scotch and leaned in to kiss his cheek, "We can go soon don't worry, once the host is too drunk to stand we can sneak away, and I don't think he's far off," she pointed to a pretty inebriated man on the other side of the room.

He nodded and knocked back his drink in one go, setting the glass down on a nearby table littered with other empty glasses, "In that case, care to dance to pass a little time?" He asked, biting at a piece of ice from his drink. Before she could give her consent or protest, he had her hand in his and was leading her onto the dance-floor.

Pepper sighed as he pulled her to dance, she wasn't really one for doing this at these kinds of events, she preferred to just stand and watch everyone else. But as he turned her to face him, resting his free hand on her waist, she found herself ignoring everyone else in the room, her hand that wasn't clasped in his on his shoulder.

"So, were you enjoying 'mingling'?" Tony asked casually, as they slowly moved in time with the music, he pulled her slightly closer, his hand slipping around to rest at the small of her back and he couldn't help but smirk a little as she almost unnoticeably shivered, but of course, he noticed, just like he noticed her hand tightening on his shoulder minutely and the slight dilation of her pupils as she looked at him.

"Well what do you think? I'm the CEO and it's not hard to tell that everyone here doesn't think I'll can do the job, even though I've been doing it for you for years," she sighed and glanced away from him, 'Way to go ruining the mood Pepper,' she thought to herself, 'Of course he wanted to hear about how oh-so-insecure you feel about this…"

He frowned a little and gently squeezed her hand, "Hey, look at me," When she didn't he just persisted, "Pep, please look at me," Eventually she did and he made sure she didn't look away from him as he spoke, "You are perfectly capable, in fact more than capable of running this company, more so than I ever was or could be," he leaned forward and pressed his lips to her forehead then pulled back with a grin on his face, "And anyway, if they look at you the wrong way you can just fire them."

She laughed at that and rested her forehead against his, "I don't think that'll be happening, we're still trying to recover from when you tried to fire every male who works for the company because you thought they were eyeing me up," she smirked then kissed him softly, ignoring the few murmurs she heard that were directed at them.

"That's because they were eyeing you up, I know when a guy is mentally undressing my girlfriend," he reasoned, his fingers gently brushing back and forth against her back.

Rolling her eyes at him she smiled and tucked her head under his, closing her eyes as he kissed her hair and they swayed to the music, content with being this close to each other in public; Pepper could still remember the first few months of their relationship when they'd been trying to keep it a secret from the press and how hard it had been to not be affectionate when they were out.

After dancing for a while, they went over to the bar to get another drink with Tony purposefully keeping his arm wrapped around Pepper's waist, but he was eventually forced to let go of her when she had to go deliver her own speech, heading to the back of the room so he could see her without being crowded by other people.

"…And finally thank you for all of the donations that have been put forward this year, we set a target to pass last year's total funds and I think we can safely say we've set a new record and a new standard to beat next year, enjoy the rest of the night," Pepper smiled and stepped down from the small stage where she'd given her speech, she was starting to get tired and wanted to head home, but she was stopped by people who wanted to talk to her and congratulate her for one thing or another. 'Smile, nod and say thanks,' she told herself, 'Just smile, nod and say thanks…'

Eventually managing to push through the crowds of people to get to the back of the room, she walked over to Tony who smiled softly and held his hand out to her as she came closer.

"Great speech honey, almost as good as mine," he smirked, pressing a gentle kiss to her forehead as he lightly squeezed her hand.

Pepper gently punched him in the ribs, "I wrote your speech for you dumbass," she grinned and tilted her head slightly so their lips met, then smiled sleepily, resting her head against his shoulder.

"You're a cruel woman Potts," Tony chuckled quietly and ran his free hand up and down her arm, "Want to head home?" He asked and was answered with a slight nod from the redhead leaning against him; waiting for her to straighten up he kept hold of her hand as they headed for the doors, saying the occasional goodbye to people they passed on their way.

As they waited outside for the valet to bring the car around, Tony shrugged off his suit jacket and draped it over Pepper's shoulders, not wanting her to be too cold as they waited now that the temperature outside had dropped a fair bit. After waiting for what seemed like forever, a young man pulled up with Tony's car.

"S-sorry it took so long Sir, lots of people are asking for their cars," the man said, clearly a little nervous, and passed Tony the keys, "You and your wife could have waited inside, it's quite cold out now…"

"We aren't ma-" Tony started to say but he was cut off by Pepper.

"It's fine, thank you," she smiled at the man and made her way down the steps to the car, getting in and closing the door when she had made sure she wouldn't catch her dress in it.

Trying not to stare too intently at his girlfriend's ass as she got into the car, he turned to the valet with a questioning look on his face, "You thought she was my wife?" He asked, not noticing the young man's utterly confused expression as he grinned widely and went to the driver's side of the car.

'Pepper Stark… has a nice ring to it…' Tony thought to himself, the smile still plastered on his face as he started up the car to head home.