Disclaimer: I own no rights to Iron Man or any of the characters therein. I make no profit from this work of fiction. I own no rights to Fiona Apple's lyrics.
"I could swallow the seas
To wash down all this pride"
Sleep to Dream – Fiona Apple
Warnings: Um…the most mild of naughty allusions
Chapter 2
Tony sat in the middle of a sea of car parts. At the moment, he was deconstructing the engine of his latest acquisition, a 1966 Chevy Chevelle SS in candy-apple red. It had caught his eye one day on the way in to Stark Industries. As they had passed the car in a lot, he had watched Pepper. She had stopped typing madly away on her BlackBerry, stared at the car longingly for just a moment, and returned to her previous task with a wistful face.
Tony, as a rule, generally found a longing look on Pepper's face, over anything, hot as hell. As soon as they had arrived at the office, he had immediately ordered Pepper to contact the car salesman and buy it, no haggling, money didn't matter, and to pick it up as soon as possible. The paper work had been faxed within an hour, and within two, an ecstatic Pepper had been rolling into the SI parking lot in the happily purring muscle car, hair shining in the mid-morning sunlight, sunglasses perched on her nose, and a very satisfied smile on her face as the engine snarled in response to her foot on the gas pedal.
Which was also hot as hell. Pepper and cars were two of his favorite things, and combining the two was a formula for an instant hard on.
Speaking of…
"JARVIS where is Pepper?" He called to his ever-present AI.
"She is in her office, sir. Shall I call her down?"
"Nah, I'll go find her."
Tony bound up the stairs in search of his assistant, pausing at her door when he heard an uncharacteristically girlish giggle.
"Steve! Stop...Oh, you're terrible…Hah! Someone needs their mouth washed out with soap…Of course. Yup. See you tonight. Love you, sweetie."
Tony heard the sound of her BlackBerry hitting the desk, and another muffled laugh, but he disregarded them. His mind was playing and replaying the snippet of conversation that he heard, and he found himself far less than pleased. He hadn't known she was seeing anybody, and found himself both annoyed and mildly hurt that she had never mentioned anything to him. Not that it mattered. Since he was only her boss. Obviously.
Still, he couldn't let this go without saying something.
He opened her door without knocking, sauntering in with his usual cocky air, and fixed her with a stern look.
"Miss Potts, taking personal calls on company time. Tsk, tsk. I expected better of you," he informed her as he wagged an oil-stained finger in her direction.
"Mr. Stark, listening at doorways, and lurking in shadows. I expected better of you," she responded easily, saucy tone belied by the blush of red across her cheeks.
"Plans tonight?" he asked, trying to sound cool.
"I'm allowed to have plans on a Friday night."
"I thought we'd been over this," he replied as he crossed the room and propped himself on her desk. He effectively invaded her space and blocked her escape route, something that pleased him immensely. Pepper simply fixed him with a teasing glare, and quirked one fire-hued eyebrow at him.
Pepper saw the challenge in his body language and raised him, one elegant knee rising to cross over the other. His lip quirked up at the side.
"So, Potts, who's the lucky guy?"
Tony watched the slight flush that crept up her neck before blossoming across the fair skin of her face. He liked that he'd caused it, but didn't like the subject he'd done it with.
"Not that it's your business, but his name is Steve. I met him at my gym. And you're sitting on the documents I need you to sign."
"That's a shame. Ya know, Potts, I've been on my feet so long that I may be stuck here. Unless, of course, you'd like to help me get up?" Tony's grin was wicked, and he topped it with a salacious wink, just in case Pepper missed the innuendo.
Pepper pursed her lips, her nostrils flared the slightest bit, and her blush deepened. Tony allowed himself a mental victory dance. He'd managed to fluster her two times in as many minutes. It wasn't a record, not for him, but it still felt good. He didn't expect her to actually take him up on it, though.
Pepper stood to her full, heel-assisted height and leaned in to his space. Tony felt his mouth dry out, and his breathing increased the slightest bit at her proximity. She fixed him with a playful glare, and he watched her hand lift from where it sat on the desk to his shoulder. She sighed, softly, as she leaned her face closer to his. His lips parted…
Her fingers jabbing into a recent bruise shocked a yelp out of him, and he flew off the desk. Pepper brandished the documents at him with a triumphant flourish and her own wicked smile.
Tony narrowed his eyes at her. "Dirty play, Potts. Dirty play."
Her smile widened, felt more genuine. "I learned from the best, Mr. Stark."
He muttered something about job security as he laid his signature down on her oh-so-important documents and Pepper snickered softly. As he finished, he watched her pack away her laptop and BlackBerry, getting ready to leave for the night.
"Will that be all, Mr. Stark?" she asked, her professional tone giving no indication that she had just pinched the man in question.
"That'll be all Miss Potts." Tony's gave no hint that he had just hit on his assistant. Again.
Pepper brushed past him with a small smile and he watched her walk out, pencil skirt hugging her curves alluringly. There was a small frown on his lips, and he tapped his arc reactor idly with his fingers.
The untouchable Pepper Potts was leaving him, right on time for the fifth time that week, in order to go out on a date.
With someone not him.
This called for scotch.
"You know, if you find bag-work that boring, I could always set you on weighted laps."
The quiet voice shocked Pepper out of her daze as her eyes snapped to Steve. She had been working on her high kick, albeit a bit sloppily, but her mind had been rather firmly driven away from the gym. It galled her that, despite her best efforts, Tony Stark could break her concentration so much, even when he wasn't present.
Ass.
"Sorry, Steve. I just…wasn't here for a bit," Pepper offered with a sheepish smile.
Steven Mason was a knock-out: intense cerulean eyes that danced with a joie-de-vivre that Pepper rarely saw outside of children, a perfectly boned face that housed smooth, supple lips, and a figure that would make the gods weep. He was kind, intelligent, loving, and endlessly patient both in and out of the gym.
In essence, Steven Mason was perfect, the man of every woman's dreams. So, of course, like everything else that the universe seemed to throw in Pepper's way, there was an insurmountable problem where their relationship was concerned.
Steven was gay; gay and involved with an equally perfect man.
Pepper cursed her rotten luck with the opposite sex for about the hundredth time that day. She gave in and admitted defeat, bowing to the bag in a mocking way, acknowledging the inanimate object as the victor. She plopped gracelessly down where she had been standing and took a long drink from her water bottle. Steven joined her, and they sat in the relative silence of the training room.
After a few minutes, he nudged her shoulder gently with his own.
"Pepp, what's wrong? I've seen you distracted before, but I've not seen such sloppy legwork from you since your first month here."
Pepper just looked at him, and she could feel the small, sad smile playing on her lips. Steven nodded, a world of understanding in his eyes.
"It's him, isn't it? What's happened?"
Pepper shrugged, and huffed out an annoyed breath.
"Nothing that I shouldn't have expected. I should've known better than to…And especially after the conference…And it's not like I haven't done it before it's just…God, Steven, how do I end up doing this to myself over and over? I close off, acknowledge that nothing will ever happen, as it should be, and then he just does something sweet, or silly, or…And I just step right back into it. And then he's…himself again, and I feel like I got hit by a proverbial Mack truck."
Steven just watched her face, giving her the quiet support that he knew she needed. He knew from experience that if he did what most friends did and simply started tearing into Tony's (questionable at best) character that Pepper would just jump to defend him. If he encouraged her to make her feelings known (as he had over the phone earlier) she would just get flustered. So, he remained silent until she indicated that she needed otherwise.
Their relationship was a strange one. She had started out as a student in one of his beginner adult classes some 6 years ago. When he had noticed her effortless grace and her skill, he'd advanced her. Then he had begun working with her one on one, allowing her to develop in such a way that played to her strengths and moved away from her weaknesses. Somewhere during that period, they had become tentative friends. One night, two years ago, they had both been heart-torn over bad break-ups. She started crying, he almost did, and they ended up at her house with a bottle of wine and a bad horror. From then on, they had practically become family to each other. Now that he had finally found someone, he wanted the same for her.
Unfortunately, her desired someone happened to be a thick-headed, tempestuous, spoiled playboy who thought nothing of his cavalier ways with women.
Steven sighed and reached over, grasping Pepper's knee in a friendly way.
"Ya know what, darlin'? Don't think about it. Tonight, just go home, have a nice bath, read…relax. Do something for you. Hell, get drunk and call random strangers if it'll make you happy." He paused, smirked at Pepper's appreciative laugh. "But…seriously, Pepp…You can't keep letting this guy break your heart. I know him, I used to be him…and he's going to keep on doing it until you either fight back or walk away."
Pepper drew a long breath in through her nostrils and let it out the same way. She nodded, gave him a sad smile, and grabbed her bag before heading out of the training room. Steven watched her go, a thoughtful frown forming on his face.
He figured it was just about time to have a talk with the infamous Tony Stark.
The club was dark, hot, bodies packed in close. The music pounding in his ears let him relax, just for a little while, and his hips ground against the woman in his arms.
Blonde hair, brown eyes, diminutive stature, and huge tits.
Everything he wanted.
Nothing that he needed.
He shot down the image in his head, laughing blue eyes, a dusting of freckles, soft red hair that was always so shiny…
Fuck it. She was out, he could be too.
He leaned in and captured the girls mouth, drowning in the sensation that was so old, so well-known.
When, later, he took her by the hand and led her to the waiting limo, he spared only a single thought for the red-haired woman: She's gonna be pissed.
Tony's lips curled into a vicious smirk as he leaned down to capture a nipple with his teeth, made the blonde girl gasp.
A/N: Well, this only took me half-way to forever to finish. I had planned on writing more, but the chapter has informed me that it's done. So…Here we are. I hope you enjoy it, and I greatly appreciate all the lovely comments and encouragement that I've received so far from this fandom.
~~Nifty~~
Acknowledgements
tonyedwstark – Thank you so much, oh darling first reviewer! This is a bit more…angst-laden than my usual style (I'm normally more a death and violence writer, sick, yes…) and I am very happy that you enjoyed. Hopefully you enjoy the new chapter! (and hopefully 3 is done faster than this one was…)
AnnaTW – Thank you! So glad you enjoyed! Rather a huge fan of your writing, lady ^.^
JamesRamsey – Oh, yay! Heart you, so much (but you knew this already!) Glad you enjoyed, and hope you continue to do so (on both fronts…Legacy update forthcoming, hopefully soon…)
TwistedCinderella – Thank you, thank you. I'm having fun with my Pepper. I always feel like she's either too perfect…or too messed up. I'm trying to keep her real. As far as the evolution of their relationship…It should be fun ^.~
EMH – Thank ye kindly!
Elorapid –Thank you! I'm trying to stay as close to character as possible, and Tony's is particularly hard to write. I loved the comics growing up, but this is movie-verse (which is essentially a whole different animal from what I've seen so far). Hope you enjoy the update.
Lady . In . Gold – Merci! My biggest worry when I start a new fic is characterization, so I appreciate the kind words. Pepper seems like she would be an extremely loyal person (even if she's pissed), so I'm trying to maintain that.
