A/N: Hey readers, sorry for not updating sooner, tonnes of mock exams, I had writers block. Then I was ill and felt like I had been possessed by satan... but anyways, here's the second chapter... FINALLY! So hope you guys enjoy ;)

Disclaimer: I still don't own Marvel or Robert Downey Jr... yet *evil grin*

The sound of Jarvis, announcing the time and weather, was what roused Pepper from her peaceful slumber, opening her eyes before yawning, momentarily confused by the bright glow in front her, then all the memories of the previous night came back to her. She grinned, pulling herself closer to him, she looked up at Tony's face, 'He looks so adorable when he's asleep' she mused, kissing his neck before sitting up and stretching, letting out another long yawn.

"Where you goin'?" A voice sounded, muffled by the pillow, Tony opened his eyes and let his gaze wander across her back, 'Bloody hell, how can she look so gorgeous wearing my baggy clothes?' He thought sitting up and wrapping his arms around her from behind her, nuzzling his head into the crook of her neck, "Think I was still asleep?"

Pepper smiled to herself, surprised at how affectionate Tony was being, "Might've done," She replied, lowering her arms and resting them on top of hers, enjoying the warmth his body brought, "I was going to go downstairs and make us some breakfast, but seeing as you're up now; it can wait," Reluctantly, she unwrapped his arms from around her and turned to face him, almost laughing at the adorable pout on his face, 'since when could he pout like that?!' Pepper thought staring at his face, "What's with the pout?"

"I was comfortable…" He mumbled, still pouting, not happy that she had moved from him, but at the same time glad, because he wanted to talk to her about what was going to happen. They had after all just admitted how they felt about the other. However Tony Stark may have been a genius but he had never been good with relationships; ever, which is a major reason as to why he used to sleep around so often. Sighing, Tony opened his mouth to start speaking, not knowing exactly what to say and just ended up looking like a fish out of water, which earned a badly supressed laugh from Pepper. He looked at her, hurt showing in his eyes.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't laugh," Pepper giggled –which despite feeling hurt Tony found rather cute– and took hold of his hands, "You just looked so lost," She explained, rubbing the backs of his knuckles with her thumbs, knowing that he wanted to talk, "Look… I know you find talking about your feelings difficult, you're a guy after all," She smiled softly, glad to see him smile back.

Tony smiled weakly, "Thanks… for understanding," He looked down at their hands, amazed at how understanding Pepper was being, he felt his chest tighten and knew it had nothing to do with the arc reactor. He sat, thinking of what to say, squeezing her hands gently, "Right… well um, I know we've already said 'I love you' and even I know that's something you say after months of dating and uh… well we haven't been dating, and I want to try this whole dating thing and-"

"Quit rambling Tony," Pepper smirked, leaning forward and placing a light kiss on his forehead, she knew what he was getting at and hoped he would understand her request, "I know what you're trying to say and yes I'd like to date you but…" She hesitated, and looked down at their hands, 'Will he understand how I feel about this' She thought, 'Will he not want to?'

"But…?" He dragged out encouragingly, confused at her seemingly sudden hesitancy, 'Was it something I said? Is she regretting last night?' Tony mentally slapped himself, 'She just said she wanted to date you duh!'

"I wan-" Pepper swallowed the lump in her throat and look up at him again, ocean blue met with chocolate brown, "I want to take things slow…" She immediately looked down, feeling the blush creep onto her face. 'That's it?' Tony thought, unsure as to why she would feel embarrassed about wanting to take it slow, he did too, for once he was going to make sure he wasn't going to mess things up.

"Me too," He said softly, tilting her head up by the chin with his finger, and meeting her obviously shocked expression, "I was just about to say that. Pepper I can honestly say that I have only ever had one girlfriend, when I was 12, and it didn't even last summer vacation," He hoped his little confession made her see just how hopeless he was.

Pepper couldn't help but chuckle slightly at Tony, but she didn't laugh as much as she wanted to. Since working for Tony she'd only ever had two long-ish-term relationships, and the most recent had ended nearly four years ago, "Don't worry about it, I'm not too good with this kind of stuff either. But I want to make this work, so you willing to give it a try?" She asked, smiling reassuringly at him.

Tony nodded, not able to trust his voice, that smile she gave him was one of the most beautiful things he'd ever seen, and in that moment he was determined to always make her smile like that, "I can try, I want to," He murmured, a little nervously but smiled all the same, "You have no idea how much I want this to work,"

She couldn't help but smile at his sincerity, the fact that he wanted to make this, whatever this was, "I'm glad," Pepper smiled again and leant forward to give him a chaste kiss, "Don't look at me like that, some of us actually have to work," She stated upon seeing him pouting, knowing he thought he would be getting more than just a peck on the lips, "Now have a shower and get dressed and I'll make you some breakfast,"

"…Fine," Tony rolled his eyes teasing earning a playful slap on the arm from Pepper, 'maybe this wouldn't be so hard after all' he thought as he stood up and walked over to his ensuite bathroom, and grinned at her, his head peeking out from around the door, "Wanna join me?" He asked, smirking suggestively and only just managed to dodge the incoming shoe, shutting the door behind him and chuckling to himself.

"Ugh! You are such a pervert Tony!" Pepper muttered, glad that there was a door between them otherwise he would've been making fun of how red her cheeks were. Sighing, she smiled to herself and left his room, heading to the guest room she sometimes used when working late at Tony's, to get changed into her work clothes that she left there too. After getting changed she headed into the kitchen to cook Tony something for breakfast, pulling out a frying pan and the instant pancake mix from the cupboards and set to work, knowing he would fly down the stairs as soon as he smelt the cooking.

For someone who wasn't a morning person, Tony managed to shower fairly quickly and was out of the shower in less than 10 minutes. Soon as he entered his room again he could already smell the faint scent of pancakes drifting up from the kitchen. He dressed at lightning fast speed, putting on a pair of tattered jeans and a black wife beater with a hole cut out for the reactor, and ran down the stairs, still drying his hair with the towel when he'd made it to the kitchen. "Are you making pancakes?" He asked the obvious question, putting the towel down on the table, his hair sticking out in all directions.

"No I'm making cheesecake," Pepper said sarcastically, turning her head to grin at him, "You know to say you're a genius, you are pretty dumb sometimes," She giggled as the last pancake was finished, and put it onto a plate with the others and turned around to hand Tony a plate, "What the hell have you done to your hair?" She asked suppressing a laugh.

"Dried it duh," He explained, sitting down at the table, eyeing the plate, didn't Pepper know his pet peeve? "I don't like being handed stuff." He muttered, annoyed with himself, thinking that she would be the exception to his weird habits.

"Yes you have dried it but it looks like you've plugged yourself into the electrics," Pepper smiled, taking a seat next to him and nearly fainted at the smell coming off him, 'why does he always smell so good?' She couldn't help but think as she put the plates down on the table and slid one over to Tony, and flattened down his hair, "I know you don't,"

"Thanks," Tony mumbled, smiling over to her and started to eat his pancakes. There was one thing that was stuck in the back of his head, how the hell did he ask her out on a date? He knew the basics and that taking it slow meant no sleeping together. But other than that he was stumped, 'Ask her out to the movies maybe?' He thought, taking a bite of pancake.

"Tony I can practically hear the gears turning in your head," Pepper smirked, finishing off her breakfast and pushed her plate away, "You're over thinking something. What is it?" She asked and turned in her seat, resting her hand on his forearm, silently encouraging him to talk, knowing how hard he found to talk about this kind of thing.

Blushing, Tony put his fork down and swallowed the lump in his throat as he tried to figure out what to say, "Um, well, I wanted to uh, ask you out… on a date," He rubbed the back of his head, mildly embarrassed at how nervous he was being, fair enough he'd never really asked anyone out on a date before, so being nervous was to be expected but he was Tony effing Stark he wasn't supposed to get nervous ever.

Pepper could help but smile at his attempt at asking her out, "I'd like that," She smiled softly, squeezing his arm, 'oh god he looks cute when he's all nervous' She thought, leaning forward to kiss his cheek, "Where was you thinking?"

"Um, the movies?" He suggested, blushing even more, refusing to look at her, "I dunno, what do you do on a first date?" He groaned in frustration, putting his face in his hands, 'Why is this so hard?' He thought, waiting to hear Pepper laugh at what he thought was a childish suggestion.

Smiling, Pepper shook her head, confused as to why he was embarrassed about asking her out, "I'd like that. And going out to the movies is fine for a first date," She assured him, trying to pull his hands away from his face, "But there is one thing… I'm not sure I want people to know about us yet,"

Tony finally looked up at Pepper, he'd never thought about other people knowing about them until now, the press would be on them like vultures, but then the bad guys who wanted to hurt him, if they found out about him and Pepper then they could use her against him. It'd be like his nightmare all over again. "I-I don't want anyone to k-know either," He agreed, covering one of her hands with both of his, "Don't worry I'll figure out a way of hiding so no-one knows it's us," He smiled, already thinking of how he could disguise the arc reactor, maybe shaving off his goatee might help too.

Pepper smiled, proud at how hard he was trying to make this, them, work, "I'm sure you'll figure something out," She leant forward and kissed him softly, pulling away before things got too far, "Like I said earlier, some of us have work to do," She stood up, reluctantly pulling her hand from his grip and turned to leave when she felt him grab her wrist.

"Wait, um would you um, like to go to the um, movies with me tonight?" Tony asked nervously, rubbing the back of his head with the hand that wasn't holding onto Pepper's wrist. Brilliant. He'd developed a nervous habit; he'd never had a nervous habit before, ever. Trust Pepper to prove him wrong though.

Smiling, Pepper cupped his cheek and stroked it with her thumb, "I'd really like that," She replied, still processing the fact that Tony Stark had just asked her out on a date, "I've got to work at the office 'til five so pick me up from my place at seven?" She suggested, placing a light kiss on his forehead.

Tony nodded and leaned into her touch, "Sounds good," He smiled, and finally let go of her wrist, mentally sighing to himself 'now that wasn't too hard, was it?' He was brought out of his day dream when he felt Pepper's lips on his and heard her say something about seeing him later, but he wasn't really paying attention as he was ogling her butt as she walked away, "Um, yeah…" He gulped, feeling his jeans become a little uncomfortable, "See you later…"

Waiting until he was sure Pepper had left the mansion, Tony went back upstairs to have a very cold shower and set about figuring out how to hide himself for his first proper date in over 20 years.

A/N: TA-DAAA! Hope you guys liked it, if you did then review/fav it and I'll try and get the next chapter up a bit quicker than this one.