A/N: I think I'll do each chapter from a new perspective and or a new day. What do you think of this one? I almost forgot about dialog entirely, can you tell? I tried not to make the ending too abrupt, how did I do? What do you think of the T-shirts? of course, any ideas for what the participants should wear are welcome.
A large slice of the pie that was the first day's betting pool found they were more incredulous than anything else when they lost on what was supposed to be a sure thing. Much to everyone's surprise when they found out afterward, not only did Tony Stark not bet on himself but he bet on Pepper instead. He spent the day in a very unique T-shirt, and a quality dye job (though obviously not professional) that left him with hair the same soft orange as his women's. The measure made sense when you read the T-shirt because it displayed multiple avengers. It featured Steve and Thor on either side of himself, (all in uniform) showing how much shorter he was than the two warriors, with the caption, "Pepper, get me a footstool!" On the back, it sported a detailed depiction of a woman that could only be Pepper with her smirk that could rival Tony's and a caption of her own, "I'll bring you 12% of a footstool".
Tony could read business situations and the same went for betting pools, consequently, he was not surprised when the two people he bet on split the highest turnout on the first day. Accompanying Pepper was Natasha, so for every "Pepper for President" that walked by, there was an accompanying red hourglass. Few others realized that the very thing that made females overlooked in this place, their small numbers, also made them the most solid comrades. This meant that the few men who remembered the event on Monday split between five other avengers, director Fury, agent Coulson and even various members of the justice league had no chance. This was the easiest outcome to predict for the Genius-Billionaire-Playboy-Philanthropist because if there was one thing he knew besides mechanics and money it was women.
All the observations that lead to his successful bet did not otherwise go wasted, not only did the unexpectedly unselfish behavior gain him brownie points from his favorite woman, but the general attention of other people which he always craved. He had a feeling the gesture of putting Pepper first instead of maximizing on the chance to gain more popularity gave an impression of sincere feminism which the other women saw as a character trait good enough to balance out his sometimes annoying ego. Other men respected his near clairvoyance as well as his even better standing with women in general. However, though accordingly inflated, his ego was not debilitating. He was able to deduce that this coordination, along with women being the main inhabitants of office L made it very likely that the instigator of this event was a woman.
"It wasn't you was it?" he asked Pepper, he was almost sure of her answer.
"No, I'm far too busy taking care of you" she sighed wondering how she was going to explain his new hair color to his press agent.
He'd been right. "Any ideas?" he queried, smiling at her shirt. It was hand stamped and read, My heart belongs to Tony Stark, but instead of a heart there was an arch reactor symbol in glow in the dark paint.
Her brows drew together in serious thought which he loved because, when her hands were free, the gesture was always followed by her putting her right hand to her temple and taking that elbow with her left hand. More specifically he loved what that did to her chest. His attention was drawn back up to her mouth when she spoke.
"I'd say Phil was trying for team bonding but he told me last week he only let it go because Fury hadn't specifically said not to. He doesn't like being the bad guy; it was nice for him not to have to rain on a parade for once."
"His name is agent," Tony said absently as his gaze reverted to her chest, "but that's good to know." Having given her idea, she paid the rest of her attention to her man and subsequently dropped her arms. Seeing the movement, he grind as his eyes bobbed back to her face to see her look of chagrin that he read accurately was directed inward at not expecting his ogling. It was a familiar look.
