A few comments before we begin this very overdue chapter. I personally think (as far as my movieverse knowledge goes, at least) that Pepper's had her nickname for longer, and that Tony did not give it to her. Also, I played with structure in this chapter, but I based it off a great Harry Potter story called Up All Night by Gilpin and Mrs. Tater.
Thanks to newworldwriter1 for the idea for this first: accusations of being in love. Sort of. I apologize for it being so dialogue-heavy. Huge thanks to Captain-Emily for catching my typos.
No infringement intended. I own nothing.
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"You're being ridiculous. Why are we talking about this?"
Pepper swirled a spoon in her coffee absently, one hand propping up her chin, her phone tucked between shoulder and ear. Her best friend's voice traveled through the phone wire, sounding older than the last time Pepper saw her.
Annie dropped something and swore softly over the line. "Because it's undeniable."
"There's nothing to it. He's my boss, and that's it."
"So that's why he took you on a date?"
"It wasn't-"
"And gives you smoldering looks?"
"What?"
"Definitely. I can tell."
Pepper rolled her eyes and set the spoon down. "Tony Stark is not in love with me."
-
It had been the first time anyone had every mentioned the word 'love' and 'Tony Stark' in the same sentence to her. Or rather, the first time it didn't involve machines or fast cars. More to the point, Pepper thought, the accusation was that Tony Stark loved her, Pepper Potts.
Ridiculous.
Pepper repeated the idiocy of the idea to herself as she walked into the mansion, running a little later than normal (and not because she had taken an extra five minutes to figure out which color shirt Tony would like best, and she definitely had not settled on a deep red).
She tried to kick the front door closed with her heel, but leaned a little too far and sent her stack of papers cascading to the ground. Pepper swore, shut the door, and bent over to pick everything back up and resume some semblance of order.
When she turned, she found Tony staring at her. And not with just any stare, Pepper thought with a slight twinge of horror. His stare was smoldering. Dark, eyes black, and smoldering.
She nearly dropped the entire stack of papers again.
"Morning," she said, her voice wavering. Pepper looked away from Tony and stalked past him into the living room, setting her stack of papers down and making herself comfortable on the couch.
"Potts, you need a life. Workaholic."
Pepper gave Tony a glare over her shoulder. "I have a domineering boss who can't even hold a pen most days."
"Hey, hey – not fair," Tony said, plopping on the couch opposite her. Pepper gritted her teeth; her work would progress much faster if he wasn't hovering. It's not that Tony was generally distracting. Instead, Pepper realized she was examining everything he did for some outward signs of – what, exactly? she wondered. Undying love? Pepper suppressed an eye roll.
"It's very fair, Mr. Stark. I left these papers on your desk yesterday morning. And yesterday, I take it, was not a pen-holding day."
"I might have held a pen yesterday. Once."
"Mmhmm," Pepper replied, pulling papers toward her to begin sifting through what needed Tony's attention. She found the group and handed them to him.
"Rhodey's here."
"Where?" Pepper asked, surprised, but not looking up from the front page of the morning newspaper she was unfurling.
"Kitchen. Phone call. Apologizing to some woman."
"Apologizing?" Pepper asked, raising her eyebrows and turning a page. "Girlfriend?"
"Doubtful."
"I heard that!" came the call from the kitchen, and then Rhodey's voice returned to a softer phone volume.
"He won't take my advice," Tony said, crossing his arms over his chest. Pepper glanced at him, pushing him to continue. "He should just skip the wooing step, in my opinion."
"And go straight to the bed, Mr. Stark?"
A pause. "Again. Not fair."
Pepper looked at him again and gave a lopsided smile, agreeing that her remark was late; Tony hadn't been with a woman since his return from Afghanistan. Not that Pepper was watching.
"No, see, Rhodes needs to skip wooing. No wooing. Be woo-less. It's my new motto."
"How's that working out for you?"
Tony stared hard at Pepper, and she, for whatever possessed reason, returned his gaze levelly.
"Shitty," he muttered, looking away. "Every superhero needs a girlfriend."
"Girlfriends don't fall out of the sky, Mr. Stark." Pepper had returned to her paper, flipping to the business section. Tony was blissfully quiet for a minute, and then Pepper felt the couch shift abruptly only for Tony to settle directly next to her.
"Pepper do you have a boyfriend?"
Pepper blinked but did not miss a beat. "No." Her face flamed and she brushed her bangs to her side.
Tony grinned. "Ex-boyfriends?"
"Three."
"Exactly?"
"Yes."
Pepper scanned the stock figures, looking for both SI and for their suppliers' stock values. Her eyes immediately stopped scanning when she felt Tony tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear, his fingers lingering. Tony Stark is in love with you, Annie's voice said. Pepper glared at the print in front of her.
"And?" he pressed.
Pepper folded the newspaper calmly, then used it to whack Tony's arm away from her ear, where his fingers were still touching her hair.
"Number one," Pepper said with a warning glance, glad she had learned long ago how to feign irritation when Tony made her nervous. She took a shallow breath and tried to calm her erratically beating heart. "Number one was my high school boyfriend. He ended it after six months."
"Were you heartbroken?"
"Mortally," Pepper said dryly. "Second was a college friend-turned-boyfriend. I broke up with him – turns out he was really into my roommate."
"Loser."
Pepper raised an eyebrow at him but didn't comment. She went on: "The third and final ex-boyfriend had a tattoo and rode a motorcycle."
"I don't believe you."
"Believe me."
"You dated a bad boy?"
"He was a jerk who thought he was very, very cool."
"Not all people who are cool are assholes, you know," Tony said.
"He liked his motorcycle more than me, really."
"Maybe he was just nervous around you."
"And," Pepper went on, barely processing Tony's voice, "he was a womanizer."
"Guys can change."
Pepper looked at him hard and replayed the past few seconds of conversation in her head. "Who are we talking about?"
Tony reached out and picked the necklace from her neck, holding it up and examining it closely. Pepper's breath hitched. She stared at Tony's furrowed eyebrows and his lips.
"Tony," Pepper said, her voice being treacherously breathless. "What are you doing?"
-
Tony wondered if thinking about his assistant having sex with her ex-boyfriends was inappropriate.
"He was a jerk who thought he was very, very cool."
Tony licked his lips and shook the images out of his head. They were purportedly having a serious conversation, after all.
"Not all people who are cool are assholes, you know," Tony finally said and waited for her reaction.
"He liked his motorcycle more than me, really."
"Maybe he was just nervous around you." With all that hair and all those legs, who the hell wouldn't be nervous, Tony thought darkly.
"And he was a womanizer."
"Guys can change." All Tony could think about was what it would be like to kiss her.
Pepper looked up at him sharply. "Who are we talking about?"
Tony sincerely hoped than Rhodey wasn't planning on coming out of the kitchen any time soon. He had screwed up hugely at the charity event; tricking Pepper Potts was not, in hindsight, a clever idea. But there had been a moment, Tony thought. And he wanted it back.
He reached out and picked up the necklace that lay on her collarbone, examining the silver circle with a turtle cut out in the middle. Tony felt Pepper's breath catch and he let his hand rest against her collar.
"Tony, what are you doing?"
He looked up at her seriously, watching her eyes flicker nervously, a faint pink glazing the highest part of her cheeks. Tony smiled softly. He smiled because her freckles were so soft he could only see them from up close. He smiled because her eyes were wide and slightly terrified. And Tony grinned because he was determined.
"Wooing you."
Tony leant in, saw Pepper's eyes flutter softly closed-
"Stark you're a – oh."
Tony's gut wrenched as Pepper jumped away, like she'd been electrocuted, and brushed her bangs from her face. She fidgeted with the newspaper before reading it. Upside down. Tony swung his head to glare at Rhodey, who stood awkwardly in the kitchen doorway, holding his cell phone.
"Can we help you and your impeccable timing?" Tony asked, smiling falsely.
"I need some coffee," Pepper said, and disappeared into the kitchen.
When Pepper was gone, Rhodey took three giant steps forward and whispered, "Dude!"
"Okay. First of all, this isn't high school. Don't 'dude' me. Uncool. Second, I'm about to kill you. Or have Dummy disembowel you."
"What – what was that? When did all this happen?"
"I'm going to the shop," Tony said, standing up, and, on second thought, grabbing the stack of papers he was supposed to sign. "Don't follow me."
-
"Pepper Potts is not in love with me," Tony said dismissively, spinning a hologram of his suit around on the console. It was some hours later, long after Pepper had squeaked out of the mansion. Rhodey sat on a chair on the opposite side of the bench.
"I can tell, man. Definitely."
"Like hell."
"Why does she say your name like that?"
"She doesn't-"
"And why'd she go with you on a date?"
"She's my assistant, and that's it. There's nothing to it."
"It's undeniable, Stark."
"Platypus you're being a prick." Tony turned off the hologram, stared at the ceiling, and sighed. "Why the hell are we talking about this?"
-
Ack. Dialogue. Sorry. Reviews make this over-worked college student happy.