Super Bowl XLIV: Part 3


He tapped lightly on the glass before opening the sliding door and poking his head out. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

Pepper nodded without looking at him and Tony slipped out, closing the door behind him. He stood next to her for a few awkward moments before finally speaking. "Saints won."

"I figured," was her immediate reply. "What was the score?"

"Too much to not enough," he immediately replied. Tony pursed his lips together. He hadn't bothered to look at the score on his way out. In all honesty, he wasn't even sure if the game was over yet. He highly doubted that either team had scored again, but he wasn't going to lie to her.

She turned around and leaned against the railing, raising an eyebrow at him. "You didn't watch the end." A statement, not a question.

"I was preoccupied."

She nodded, looking away from him. "Look, I'm – "

"Sorry?" he challenged. "Did you like it?"

She scowled. "What kind of question is that?"

"You have nothing to apologize for, Pepper. You were excited, I was within reach…"

"It was unprofessional," she said flatly.

"We're at a Super Bowl party! Nothing about this day has been even remotely professional, and I liked it that way!"

"Our professional relationship doesn't stop just because we go out as friends."

"Friends – true friends – don't have just a professional relationship. If that were the case then you and I wouldn't be here."

"Okay. I'll give you that. But friends don't kiss like we just did."

"Why not?"

Pepper blinked. Hard. "Are you kidding?" she asked in a deadpan voice.

"Absolutely not. You were excited. I was excited. Everyone was excited. We kissed, we broke apart, end of story. And don't give me that look, because I know what you're thinking."

She crossed her arms, narrowing her eyes at him. "You think so," she challenged.

"You're thinking that I see no problem with it because I've been so promiscuous in the past that I couldn't possibly see something like a kiss as even remotely intimate."

She didn't respond, and Tony felt a sharp stab in his heart at the silent affirmation. But, he'd been the one to voice the accusation. She'd only confirmed it with her silence, and Tony couldn't deny that his words had a ring of truth to them. At least, from her point of view.

There would be a time to prove to her that that kiss they'd just shared had been more than just a kiss, but that time wasn't now. Rhodey was right; that would only scare her off. For right now, she needed to know that it hadn't meant everything.

But that didn't necessarily mean that she had to think that it had meant nothing to him either. That was a downright mistake. The trouble would be trying to find the middle ground. Perhaps the way to do that would be to get her to say it herself.

"Did that kiss mean everything to you?" he asked softly.

"Of course not," she replied, a bit too quickly.

Tony pretended not to notice. "Well, it didn't mean nothing either, did it? Otherwise you wouldn't've kissed me. Nor would I have kissed you back." Reluctantly, she nodded. "It wasn't life altering. It was just a kiss. It didn't change the way we felt about each other." Technically true, at least from his point of view.

She pursed her lips together as she studied him closely. "So, what? Tomorrow we just pretend like nothing of interest happened today?"

"Plenty of things happened today. We don't need to pretend that nothing happened, but we don't have to let it hang uncomfortably in the air between us either. You and I are good friends, and I really think that you'd be surprised by how easily you and I can return to normal." Whatever 'normal' was for them.

Pepper seemed to see the humor in that too, and it brought forth a smile. It was only halfhearted, but it was still a victory. "You're really willing to do that?"

"I am," he said sincerely. "And you should be too. A kiss shouldn't break us apart."

She chewed on her bottom lip for a long while before she finally nodded. "Alright."

Tony smiled hopefully. "Just like that?"

"Apparently."

"We're okay?"

She smiled back. "Yeah, we're okay."

He nodded. "Good. I'm glad."

"I think I am too." With a nod of finality, she slid past him and back into Rhodey's house. She held the door open for him, but he shook his head, taking up her space against the railing and enjoying a quick moment alone to think about what had just happened.

He was silent for a long time, looking out into the city lights and listening to the sounds of the night life. Enthusiastic laughter erupted from inside and Tony turned around, leaning against the railing. Pepper was talking with a group of three other guys and a woman, animatedly gesturing and talking. If Tony had to guess, he'd say that she was giving them a recap of something that had to do with the game. He smiled at that.

"You know something, Potts?" She nodded adamantly to something that someone said and Tony smiled softly, despite her inability to see it. "I think we're more than okay."


Inspiration for this and the other 'Super Bowl XLIV' chapters came from – you guessed it – Super Bowl XLIV (Forty-four). And a situation between a friend and his muse. But the situation with Tony and Pepper ended better…