Chapter 6: Not Long Enough
"So, are we gonna kiss again or not?" Tony asked, already beginning to lean into her.
Pepper rolled her eyes but found herself being drawn towards his lips once he showed the interest.
Even though their first kiss was very short, Tony was already growing excited for what this had to offer. This new… side of Pepper, the one that showed interest in him for more than a friend. It was exciting and scary and it made his heart race in ways he hadn't felt in a while.
It didn't take very long for their lips to find each others again. This time with a bit more precision and lack of hesitation on both parts. Everything was always easier the second time, anyways.
They had only been kissing for about a moment and a half before Pepper pulled back again, leaving Tony dumbfounded and wanting more. He stared at her, feeling like that was much too premature, and raised his brows to her, wondering if something was wrong.
"So, do you know if you want to really kiss me yet?" Pepper asked, her hands falling to her lap as she watched him.
Tony knew the answer to her question, but that didn't mean he couldn't play around with her a bit. He knew the right thing would be to tell her, but he couldn't pass up a chance like this. It's not every day someone gets thrown into a situations such as this with their best friend and it was his duty to abuse it as much as possible.
"Uhm, no actually… I don't." he began, lying easily as he hid his interest toward her and even adding a careless little shrug of his shoulders for emphasis. "But I think it's because you keep pulling away so quickly."
"Pulling away too quickly?" Pepper questioned, "I thought this was only supposed to be a test, to see if we actually wanted to kiss each other. …Which still makes zero sense."
Tony gave another shrug. "The test needs to be more thorough then."
Pepper raised a brow."…Thorough?" she asked carefully, clearly not liking the sounds of that word. "How do you make a kiss more thorough? Surely you don't expect me to-"
"Stop." Tony said, holding his hand up and not letting her finish that sentence. "It's not like I'm asking you to french me or anything. I just mean-"
"Okay, just the way you used the term french is making me not want to do this."
Tony rolled his eyes at her. "Would you let me finish? I was going to say, just… count to ten or something before you pull away." he said, his voice considerably softer. "Is that alright?"
Pepper paused and just stared at him for a while longer. Their gazes met and she noticed that for once there didn't seem to be any hint of devious intention hidden behind his eyes. A rare notion, one that made her feel slightly more at ease. Maybe he truly did just need more time before he came to a conclusion about her. Hell, maybe she needed that too. So, with a defeated sigh she gave him a nod. "…Ten?"
"Yeah ten." he repeated, "Just ten seconds, it's not gonna kill you." he said, giving her a quick little grin before he began leaning toward her for the third time today.
Pepper managed to give him a little smile in return, and meet him once again at the middle.
Their lips had just barely brushed past each others when Tony quickly pulled back.
"What the heck?" Pepper frowned, hoping he wasn't playing games with her. "You just said-"
"I know." he dismissed, shaking his head. "This is just… it's an awkward position, don't you think?"
They were both perched on the edge of the couch, turned towards each other and their knees almost touching.
Pepper honestly didn't find it that bad. "Well what would you suggest be better?"
Tony hadn't planned that far ahead, though quickly a wicked idea entered his mind making him grin. "Well, my bed is just over there…"
Pepper blew out a puff of air. "Second kiss and he's already trying to get me into bed." she sighed, "What did I expect."
Tony smirked, "Third, actually." he corrected. "And I'm just saying it would be more comfortable."
Pepper shook her head. "We're staying here."
Tony sighed and let his shoulders droop. "Fine. But, can I at least… put my arm around you or something?"
Pepper chewed on her bottom lip, debating over it. "...I think that would just make things more awkward." she decided.
Tony stayed silent and tried not to look too dejected. "Fine then." he blurted out. "Just like this then."
"Yes…" she began, and a little hesitantly reached her hand out and let it land on his shoulder. "Just ten seconds."
He could feel the heat coming off of her hand through his t-shirt, and he glanced to it momentarily before he felt himself being pulled towards her.
This he could get used to.
As she pulled him closer he let his one hand fall to her knee and the other go to her waist, their lips connecting softly.
Two whole seconds had passed and Pepper hadn't pulled away, breaking their record already.
He imagined her concentrating, counting the numbers in her head, making sure not to go over or under ten. That would be a very Pepper thing to do.
He tried counting alongside her, but by the time he'd gotten to six he lost count, suddenly overwhelmed by the fact of truly kissing Pepper Potts.
They both weren't new to the whole kissing scene since they'd both had their share of relationships throughout their high school career, but the fact that it was them and they were kissing after all these years both made them a little stiff.
Even so, Pepper must have grown a little more comfortable as the seconds ticked on because she scooted a little closer to Tony and the hand on his shoulder began sliding over to his neck.
Things were coming together now, this was good.
Tony's hand on her waist flattened out a bit and he moved closer too, having to adjust his lips on hers in doing so.
Her top lip was currently between his two, and as he leaned a little more into her he tilted his head to the side, their lips making a soft smacking sound as they came apart and met again.
It was really such an innocent kiss, but it had Tony's stomach flipping more during this than any heated make out session had in the past.
Suddenly the thought of making out with Pepper was thrust into his mind, and he wondered if maybe, just maybe, she wouldn't mind if he parted his lips slightly… just like...
Click.
The unmistakable sound of Tony's door being unlatched was heard.
In an instant they had pulled away, both recognizing the sound as fast as one another.
Pepper's cheeks had lit up brighter than Tony thought was possible, and he felt his stomach drop deeper than the time he was caught in his dad's alcohol cabinet; by his dad.
It dawned on him then that what they were doing was even more forbidden than stealing your father's alcohol.
And perhaps that's why it felt so good.
It wasn't that kissing Pepper was forbidden… it was more or less that kissing your best friend that took nearly twelve years of convincing people that you were not a couple, was forbidden.
Or at least it felt like it.
Tony's new thoughts of forbiddance were cut short though as his door opened all the way and revealed none other than his mother.
Maria glanced between the two frozen teenagers, the controllers on the ground, and the discarded juice boxes on the table.
She totally knew.
"Oh look who's here!" His mother cheered happily, giving the both of them a generous smile before she walked more into the room, acting as if nothing was out of the ordinary. "Virginia, how've you been?"
Pepper let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding and returned the smile. "I've been great, and yourself?" she chimed back politely.
"Good, good." his mother replied, walking over to the edge of the couch where Tony was seated. "What have you two been up to?" she asked, looking over to Tony with a kind smile and bringing her hands to his hair, playing with a few unruly soft spikes at the top of his head.
"We're just playing Halo." Tony said, turning a bit to look up at her, allowing her to touch his hair.
His mother glanced to the controllers on the ground and to the unpaused neutral TV screen before meeting Tony's gaze again. "I can see that." she smiled sweetly.
Tony was sure there was a hint of sarcasm in there.
Pepper fiddled with her hands in her lap and stared between the mother and her son before she hesitantly leaned down to pick up her controller from the ground, finding that would some how help their case.
Maria was just staring at Tony before she leaned away from the couch and moved over to the coffee table. "Well, I thoughtI I'd just come upstairs to say hello." she said, picking up the empty juice boxes and the straw wrappers. "And I'll let you two get back to your game." she said, placing the garbage in the bin next to Tony's door.
"Thanks." Tony said, watching her a little awkwardly as she turned back to the door.
"Always nice seeing you Virginia." she said kindly.
"You too Mrs. Stark." Pepper said, and watched as Maria placed her hand on Tony's door handle and left the room, keeping the door open.
Tony could hear his mothers heels click clacking down the hall, and when he finally decided she was a safe distance away he turned to Pepper, his bottom lip between his teeth.
"She so knows."
Pepper blushed again. "You think?"
"She left the door open." Tony sighed, and and shook his head.
Pepper joined him with a sigh of her own. "I noticed."
Tony glanced down to his controller on the floor, and then back up to her, words of "Can I trust Virginia Potts behind a closed door with my son?" echoing through his mind. It actually made him smile a bit. Because now, they really did have something worth keeping a door closed over.
Pepper must of seen him smiling, because soon enough the corners of her lips began to turn up, only making Tony grin wider.
He got up then, and walked over to his door, glancing down the hallway before he closed it again, turning the knob so his mother wouldn't hear it click.
If things weren't suspicious before, they certainly were now. But frankly, he didn't care. On the other hand he did care about the redhead currently sat in his room smiling at him, that he'd just locked lips with a few minutes ago and brought his attention right back to her.
"Soooo…" he began, sauntering back to the couch and plopping down next to her, quite the grin on his face.
"So?" Pepper said, raising a brow to him.
"That was totally only nine seconds."
I'm hoping you guys are enjoying these two as much as I am. Please review and let me know what you think! :)