Hi everyone! Today's chapter is a short but sweet look at Tony and Pepper dancing. I love this moment in "Iron Man," because it's really fun to consider what's going through their minds during this scene—Tony especially is seeing someone he's known for a long time in a new light, and when they almost kiss but then don't, that gets me every time; seeing Tony out of his element is always interesting. :) Thanks for your reviews, and I'll see you again in two weeks!

Calculations

Tony Stark knew that he was good at math. Okay, that was an understatement, but a little false modesty never hurt. He'd learned from experience that it could help to approach issues that weren't of a mathematical nature as though they were equations that could be solved just as long as he considered every variable. Math was easy. People could be hard. Dancing with Pepper Potts would involve a lot of calculations.

At first, he didn't even know it was her. He'd turned away from the bar—he could care less what this Coulson guy wanted to talk about—and he'd seen the back of a beautiful woman in a blue dress. He'd immediately thought, I should dance with her, and not just because it would be a fun way to escape the agent of the Strategic Homeland Whatever. Then he took a closer look at the familiar shade of red hair, and his eyes narrowed. She usually wears her hair up, so I can't really tell—is her hair that long? Is that really—

And then she turned her head slightly, and it really was Pepper Potts, and for a second or two, all Tony could do was stare. He wondered fleetingly if this was what falling in love felt like. Tony didn't think he'd ever actually been in love before; lust was something that he was certainly well-acquainted with, and sometimes he slept with women just because he liked the abstract idea of doing so, because he liked the idea of spending a few hours with someone beautiful whose desires he could satisfy while she satisfied his. But this feeling was different.

Whatever this was, it was different than the urge to possess her temporarily, just because he could; that was how it was with other women, but with Pepper, something else had entered the equation. He realized uneasily that he wasn't thinking about seducing her, wasn't calculating (as he usually did with beautiful women) what he'd need to say to talk her into bed. Usually it didn't take much, but it occurred to him that with Pepper, it might actually be impossible. Which was fine, because oddly enough, he just wanted to talk to her. And that was what he told Coulson, that he needed to talk to his assistant, because suddenly, he really needed to establish why he felt drawn to her like this, why it was like he'd never really seen her until now...

Wow. Okay, so I really need to dance with her. And I don't even need an excuse to talk to her.

As Tony approached her, the potential consequences of what he might do next flashed through his head. We're just gonna dance, we won't do anything else. This is Pepper, this is too important to screw up, so I'll just have to be perfect—I am not hiring a new P.A., I could never find anyone as good as she is...

Then he opened his mouth, and once they were talking, it was a simple matter of finding her hand and pulling her onto the dance floor. Then they were dancing, and though Pepper didn't say much at first, while they talked, Tony had ample time to consider the data at hand:

Pepper looks amazing tonight. She had plans on her birthday...were those plans with friends, or was that a date? And if it was, is she single now? I'm not seeing anyone. Actually, this is the first time since I came back that I'm actually, really noticing any woman, which sort of supports the board's idea that I have PTSD...I really like her dress...

Tony was so busy staring at the lines of her face (seriously, how had he never noticed her profile, or the way her hair caught the light and shone like gold—yikes, he could never say any of that to her out loud), it took him a few seconds to realize that she seemed nervous, or embarrassed, or both.

She is actually right, it's weird for us to be dancing at one of these things, because we've never danced together before, and people will notice...and I don't care. But she cares, so we should go outside, and I should probably try and kiss her. She's right, I'd be lost without her. I still can't believe she helped me change the arc reactor...I have, what, four people in my life who I can trust implicitly, and she's one of them...and that's a scary thought. Deal with it later, or...not. Maybe just have another martini.

They went outside. And even as they were talking (flirting, he noted, though I always flirt with Pepper, this feels...different than usual) Tony continued to consider the variables.

She's really close—why didn't I ever really notice her eyes before? I keep staring at them lately—yeah, I should quit doing that, though she'd be the first to tell me I'm already the world's most unprofessional boss...

She's closer—okay, so at least she wants to kiss me too—I mean, it seems safe to assume, but this is Pepper, she excels at doing things I don't expect—like that thing she gave me, with the old arc reactor...unless that's the kind of thing every PA does after their boss survives a kidnapping...

Okay, so if we kiss, what happens next?

Maybe that was the question that made both of them pause. Then they stopped altogether, and she asked him to go get her a martini. So, he went back inside.

When I get back, we'll have a drink, then we'll kiss, he told himself. But because Tony was so skilled at math of all kinds, he could usually tell when he'd miscalculated. Should have kissed her when I had the chance, he thought with a frown, suddenly feeling like he might not get the opportunity again for a while.