HEY SUP YOU GUYS? GUESS WHO HASN'T UPDATED IN LITERALLY ABOUT A YEAR? :D Read the AN at the bottom for apologies and such. :P
I DO NOT OWN/HAVE CREATED THE CHARACTERS IN THIS STORY. THEY ALL ARE (C) OF MARVEL. STORY IS (C) BY ME THOUGH...YEAH...
The rest of the ride to the café was reserved and quite frankly awkward. From the fireworks conversation, Justin went on to blabbering about the Fourth of July, America, American interests and economy, and so on and so forth, until all Tony could hear was the constant, monotonous tone of Justin's supposed voice. All he could think about was how Pepper was feeling.
He saw the all too familiar worry creases lining her eyes. Part of him felt completely responsible for what had happened. He was fine with being noticed by people…being the center-stage object, however, it was something Pepper was never going to be used to and something she greatly hated.
He was worried at how she was going to take the event. Not talk to him? Work at home? Not come to work at all? She didn't even give a sideways glance at Tony. She was strangely silent, and Tony was all too angry at Justin for completely screwing things around.
He had gotten so close…so close to winning her heart… His clenched fists trembled unnoticeably on his lap.
Although Pepper seemed completely relaxed and merely silent, thousands upon thousands of thoughts racked her system. If Justin knew, the whole of Malibu probably knew as well...not even, perhaps a lot of the world knew! What would people at work say? What would the press say? What was she going to say? What was she supposed to do? Suddenly, she felt an awkward pause. She glanced up at Justin who seemed to be waiting for a response.
"Oh, hm? I'm sorry. Could you repeat that?" Pepper blinked herself out of her thoughts.
"I was just asking if you think that opening up more shares in different departments would be a good idea."
"D-different departments?" Pepper asked him blankly. She hadn't heard a thing…well, not that she particularly cared…
"Were you paying attention, Ms. Potts?" Justin gave her a little pout and a shake of the head. Pepper twitched.
"I wouldn't have guessed that your attention span was that short." He sighed, leaning back in his chair. Pepper caught a glimpse of Tony's right fist trembling slightly.
"Well, I wouldn't have guessed that your manners would be so immature." Tony responded with a level tone.
"Then, were you paying attention, Mr. Stark?"
"No, but I have my own reasons for not paying attention, and we're not really interested in whatever you have to propose, Hammer." He smirked when he saw Justin flinch at this.
"W-well, okay then." He fiddled with his drink and kept his eyes down. Pepper's eyes flashed at Tony, but she had to cover her smile after seeing his silly grin.
"Now that we have that straightened out, do we really need to attend these meetings?" Tony asked Pepper. Justin butted in anyways.
"That was just a preliminary topic, Anthony. We've got much more to talk about. Other companies are joining us."
"And you planned this without any permission from the two of us?" Pepper stiffly pointed out.
"I thought I was doing you both a favor…"
"I suppose you thought wrong." Tony cut him off, fuming slightly after hearing his full name pronounced earlier. Justin gave a little worried look, as they ganged up on him.
"Calm down, calm down!" Justin held his hands up, and Pepper noted his assistant shifting uncomfortably, when she saw Tony's apparent annoyance. Pepper pulled lightly on the sleeve of his suit, and he glanced at her. She shook her head invisibly, wanting to talk more about the situation with him in solitude.
Out loud, she merely told him, "Turn on your phone."
"Hm? Oh…" Tony fished around in his pocket. Pepper must've unknowingly shut it off when she had given it back to him a little earlier. He turned it on and was a little shocked to see exactly 10,000 voicemails and 7,690 text messages. He made a face, and Pepper leaned over only to become just as shocked. Tony quickly deleted them all, for once, not getting a complaint from Pepper.
All of them were probably useless anyways.
The limo stopped slowly, and Justin burst out of the car as flamboyantly as he possibly could. It didn't seem that the other CEOs were very interested in him anyhow. They all peered around him as Tony and Pepper tried to inconspicuously get out of the car. Reporters that lined the streets tried grabbing a word, but Tony pushed past them and quickly jogged into the café with Pepper right beside him.
"Hi there. Yes, of course. No, thank you. Oh, right this way? Got it." He took Pepper's hand in his own and pulled her in different directions. Cameras were flashing everywhere, and Pepper was beginning to feel dizzier and dizzier.
"Hang in there, Pepper. We're almost past these creeps…" Tony muttered under his breath amongst a slew of other curses that she tried to ignore.
"Mr. Stark, one second please!"
"Are the rumors true!"
"Sir, please!"
"Ms. Potts, tell us more about the scandal!"
Scandal…? Pepper bitterly mulled over the word. What an amusing choice of words… At best, she would probably state their situation as a complete train-wreck. She saw Tony's annoyed look as well, knowing better to keep her thoughts to herself.
"You'd think they'd have better news to scope out than this." Tony grumbled, squeezing into a small meeting room in the café reserved for the CEOs. Pepper slipped in quickly, just missing the hand of a reporter. There were more and more flashes, and Pepper ducked behind Tony a bit, as he lifted his hand to keep them from getting good shots. As soon as all of the CEOs rushed in, Tony leapt up and slammed the door shut, locking it quickly. Of all the times to be camera-shy and claustrophobic… All of the eyes in the room were burning into himself and Pepper, and he felt a little antsy once again.
Pepper cleared her throat a little, as she sat down, trying to calm her dry throat. She gave a strained smile and placed her hands in her lap, as she took a seat. Tony took the seat next to her and stretched back a bit, hands behind his head.
Everyone blinked.
"So…shall we start the meeting?" Tony asked the silent room. It seemed more of a statement when nobody responded. He gave a bit of a look to Justin who immediately took off in his obviously very well planned out spiel. Tony flipped out his phone that he had turned on and texted Pepper.
"Are you gonna be alright?"
Pepper saw the words on her phone as it rumbled in her lap, and she gave Tony a little kick in the shin. A little frown from her and a returned pout from him. She rolled her eyes and quietly took out her own phone to make Tony stop making those ridiculous puppy-eyes…
"I'm fine."
Tony gave her a look. She raised an eyebrow.
"Uh, no you're not."
"Yes I am, now pay attention."
"I'm not gonna pay attention until you're fine."
"Oh please. Can this wait until later?"
"No…"
Pepper gave him another hard glare, and there's was a loud clearing of the throat from the other end of the meeting table.
"Mr. Stark?" Someone asked him. Tony glanced up and scratched the back of his neck.
"Hm? Oh…yes, about that technology…" He slid his phone back into his pocket and began focusing on what he had been unconsciously listening to everyone else talk. Pepper gave him an impressed glance. He was pretty good at hiding up his lack of attention. She was beginning to question his attention span for all those times that she had snapped at him for…
"Can you write that down, Pepper?" Tony whispered to her, sliding a pen over. She bit her lower lip and nodded, quickly writing down whatever words she had randomly heard. Tony smiled faintly at her attempts and turned back to the bores that sat all around him. He could still hear the shuffling of feet from the outside trying to get inside.
The meeting wore on, but Pepper felt like nothing was getting done. Everyone kept either staring at them or shooting looks at the door. Despite that, she also felt exhausted; most probably from the stress. She stretched her muscles a little while still trying to look professional. Every once in a while somebody would pull the conversation back to a more work-oriented topic, yet it never did any good. They always ended trailing off again, or just losing focus.
A few people interrupted the meeting for a second to hand out drinks to everyone whilst apologizing for the commotion earlier; assuring them that it had stopped. Tony raised an eyebrow and gave Pepper a quick side-glance. She rolled her eyes in response and mouthed "I'm fine." once again. He shook his head and pointed outside insistently. Pepper glared but followed him outside, feeling everyone's eyes peer over.
"What?" She huffed, crossing her arms.
"You know what." He replied, annoyed.
"Well, it depends. What part of this wonderful day do you want to talk about?" She seethed. Tony's eyes narrowed in offense.
"Whatever part annoys you the most."
"Everything is annoying me the most! People seeing my face in the sky, Justin's little annoying remarks, paparazzi, this stupid meeting, and you!" Pepper fumed. She had never felt so angry, and she was surprised at herself. Just seconds ago she was merely mildly annoyed and self-conscious. It had bubbled into rage all too quickly, and Pepper was immediately regretful as soon as the words had come out of her mouth.
Tony seemed to be staring at the floor, and Pepper reached out to him, but he glanced up quickly and walked towards the exit.
"Wh-where are you going?" She nearly tripped over her own two feet, as she stumbled after her boss.
"I should probably leave. Nothing's getting done by staying here."
Pepper's jaw dropped, "And leave all those people inside wondering what happened?"
Tony turned to face Pepper slightly and gave a bit of a shrug.
"Since when have I ever cared?" He continued to walk, and Pepper pulled her hair back with her right hand, trying to follow him. Her boss turned around sharply and looked at her with his captivating eyes that Pepper avoided.
"Stay there and finish the meeting up. Work seems to de-stress you. I have some things to take care of myself anyways. Today's Saturday, so you know what to do. Don't forget my dry cleaning."
Pepper blinked, not knowing what to say. She opened her mouth to say something, feeling the breaking of his sanity. He flipped open his sunglasses, hiding his expressions, and went out the door too quickly though. He called Happy over, and through the glass, she could see Happy trying to see her. Tony slipped into the car and sat on the further end. She saw Happy jump at Tony's apparent bark to start driving, and they sped off.
Pepper trembled all over with the realization washing over her that she had just cracked Tony's happy demeanor. The deep cut into his feelings burned true, and she dropped everything that she was carrying in her arms, stunned. Normally, she had known her boss to be a pretty hard-headed person, but how affected he was by one comment she made really threw her for a spin.
She never saw him as a thoughtful person. He was careless, quick to answer, and lived in the moment.
But this wasn't a single moment that was going to pass over.
That one look in his dark, mysterious eyes was something she'd never seen before. His tone was sharp, curt, and dry. His movements were rigid and robotic.
Pepper grabbed her Blackberry and sent a quick text to Rhodey, "Major trouble. I really fucked up. Need help. Come to Donny's café. (Yes, I cursed, get over it.)."
"Is it alright that I'm agreeing that you fucked up?" Rhodey tiredly rubbed his eyes.
Pepper's tightened lips trembled, "Yes, but I didn't need confirmation on that fact. I need help."
Rhodey clapped his hands together in satisfaction.
"Finally! The great PA, Pepper falls to her knees in great need of assistance from an all-knowing military colonel!" He boomed in a loud, comical voice. Pepper's hard-stone expressions seemed to tell him that he wasn't being very funny though. He uncomfortably tried to turn the conversation back towards helping the PA out.
"Uh, sorry about that. Any who, I think Tony'll be fine. I've seen him recover pretty quickly from blows like that…"
"No! You don't understand! That look on his face was not normal. I've been around him for a pretty long time, too you know." She reminded Rhodey, impatiently.
"Whoa, whoa. Calm down a little. You're all uptight and everything." The colonel gingerly tried to keep Pepper's temper down. Her breathing slowed, and she slouched back in her seat.
"We don't even know how Tony'll react. Why do you keep expecting the worst?" Rhodey asked her. She glanced over at him, realizing his point.
"I-I don't know…" Her head dropped, and she closed her eyes, trying to rethink everything all over again.
"You might not have realized it, Pepper, but Tony really cares about you."
Her eyes shot up quickly.
"All he does is worry about you, call you, text you, bother you, poke fun at you… That's what all guys do for attention."
Pepper slowly lifted her head in final understanding. Her sparkling blue eyes shifted from side to side, beginning to piece it all together.
"He probably wants to see if you're gonna step up to the plate now. How far are you gonna go for him? I think…"
"I know what I'm going to do!" Pepper exclaimed suddenly. Rhodey jumped a little in his seat.
"Well…uh, that was quick…" He rubbed the back of his neck, as the young woman rose from her seat quickly.
"I have to go right now!" She announced, scooping up her things and rushing to the doorway.
"What? No thanks?" Rhodey yelled from his seat, arms outstretched. Pepper turned around and gave him a confused look.
"Why? Did you say something important?"
AN: Alright, I give you guys the right to yell at me, not follow me, stop reading, and all that crap. =.=" I know; it's literally been a freaking year (plus a few months!) Wahh, but I have reasons for not updating! Studying, SAT prep, research, debate, violin, archery, theatre, etc. :P
It's the curse of being Asian, you guys...
I'm so, so, so, SOOOOO sorry for not updating for such a long time though! I suppose it's pointless to write this since most of you probably stopped reading this story. :P I really wanna try to wrap it up! C'mon Pepper, you gotta really reel Tony back! DON'T BE A WIMP. :D :D
It's not alright for me to abandon you guys like that though, and again, I'm terribly sorry. :C
This might be in vain, but will you guys still comment/leave a review? It could be a total flame about me being super lazy or something else, but I wanna hear from you guys again! It's okay if your interests have shifted, mine have been moving around constantly. :)
OKAY, THIS IS GETTING TOO LONG. BUH BYE, OVER AND OUT, PEACE, I'LL TRY TO UPDATE SOONER THAN A YEAR! 3 LOVE YOU ALL