AN: In Tony's love letter, he uses the less-than-three symbol for HEART, but the site won't let that happen for some reason. Just imagine that it's there.
-O-O-O-
Oklahoma Sky – Miranda Lambert
-O-O-O-
Slowly, her world was becoming normal again. There was still a lot of rebuilding to do, but things were getting better. And weirder. Very weird.
She slipped into her BMW that morning, and found a yellow sticky note taped above the air vent. No doubt he had stolen it from her desk. "Wild Thing, you make my HEART sing, you make everything groovy," he'd written The Troggs' lyrics in his horrible handwriting. To anyone else it would've been incomprehensible, but she was an expert at deciphering Tony-scratch.
She pulled her cell phone from her purse and sent him a quick text. "Did you really just use a 'less-than-three' symbol? Are you five?"
In no time, he texted back: "Actually, I'm 31 and ¾. And I'm not talking about my age."
"Charming," she answered, and turned over the engine. Her phone binged softly as she drove, but didn't check the message until she pulled into the lot.
"That's my middle name," he had typed.
She just rolled her eyes and headed for her office. When she arrived, there was a huge bouquet practically occupying a quarter of the desk, pink lilies and roses, filling up the office with their fresh scent. She smiled and stepped forward, plucking the note from the little plastic rod at the center of the bouquet.
"Move in?" it read.
She didn't even try to hide her smile. She went on with her usual duties, answering emails and phone calls. She was caught in the middle of a very important conference call when her computer indicated she had a new email. Suddenly, she lost all interest in the call when she read his name in the source line. She held the phone against her shoulder and opened the notification.
"Lunch?"
"One question at a time, Mr. Stark," she replied.
"So does that mean yes to both?" he answered within five minutes, with an animated emoticon. An emoticon? He never used those.
She knew this new sappy-lovestruck Stark would eventually crack. She concluded he'd finally gone off the deep end.
"Burger King?"
"Why yes, I am," he answered and she laughed into the phone, making the associates of Hewitt-Packard pause for a moment in their current debrief.
Eventually, she ended the call, agreeing to a meeting next week and gathered her purse to meet him.
As she stepped around her desk, her hip bumped the edge and sent a folder of paperwork fluttering to the floor, a mess of carbon paper and business cards.
She sighed and cursed under her breath. She bent to clean up the mess, and her office door sprang open at the same moment, making her jump.
"Do you understand me? It can't be that hard for a team of idiots like you to miniaturize. He did it alone, in three months. I'm coming down there later, and I expect you to have something for me," Obadiah was muttering into his cell phone.
He snapped the thing shut, and turned to smile down at her. "Good morning," he said, grinning ear to ear.
"Hi," she answered with the same polite smile before turning back to gather up the papers. She stuffed the stack back inside with no real order; she'd just have to sort through it later. One particular little square of cardstock caught her eye. Agent Coulson's card he'd given her the day of the press conference. At first, she had no intention of calling him back. She had so many other things to attend to, and hadn't gotten the time between phone calls from the DOD and CIA. But she found herself tucking the card in the front of the folder, in front of some very important paperwork and standing, clutching the folder as a barrier between her and Obie.
"Can I help you with something?" she asked sweetly.
"I came to ask a question."
He rounded the desk and she fought the urge to step back. She just didn't trust that smile.
Her phone chirped from her purse, a message from Tony. She ignored it.
"I was wondering if you could give Tony a little nudge. I need something to show the board…to get the ball rolling, and he's been so secretive lately. The last thing we need is more secrets, right?"
Pepper just nodded. "Of course, sir."
"And we all know the only one he listens to is you."
She smiled. "I'll see what I can do."
He nodded. "I knew I could rely on you, Miss Potts." He turned for the door, but Pepper stood frozen in her spot.
"Oh, and Pepper." He turned to face her. "I'm very sorry…about the baby."
She tried hide the fault in her smile, but wasn't sure if it worked. "Thank you."
Her phone chirped again as Obie exited the room. She retrieved it to read the two messages he'd sent.
"Are we going or what?"
"Where are you?"
She answered quickly. "Something came up. I'll see you tonight."
Without another beat, before she could convince herself otherwise, she plopped her purse back onto the floor and flipped open the folder, withdrawing the bit of cardstock from its pocket.
Coulson answered on the second ring.
"Agent Coulson? This is Pepper Potts with Stark Industries. I was hoping we could meet late next week? What day are you free?"
-O-O-O-
That night, the lights were dim in the mansion, the floor littered with a trail of red rose petals. She chuckled, but thanked Dummy when he wheeled his way over to pass her a glass of champagne. Yes, she thought, he most certainly had gone off the deep end.
She followed the path of petals to the glass door leading out to the pool. A bikini was looped around the door handle, so tiny that Pepper could practically feel the color creep over her cheeks at the sight of it.
A new air of confidence swelled inside of her and she stepped forward, hooking the bikini on one finger as she opened the door.
He was swimming the length of the pool, on his chest, lazily doing the breaststroke. She didn't bother to wait for him to face her.
"Well, if I didn't know any better, Mr. Stark, I would say you're trying to woo me."
He went rigid with surprise and turned in the water to face her. "Hi there," he smirked. "Wasn't expecting you to be home yet."
Home. She smiled at the word.
She slipped from her shoes and perched on the pool's edge, slipping her pink polished toes under water. "Oh, you were expecting someone else?" She quirked an eyebrow at him in jest.
"No, just you. You, you. Always you." His pressed a kiss to one of her knees and rested his elbows on them, water soaking into the hem of her skirt. She didn't mind. Instead she took a sip of her champagne.
"This is quite a nice welcome home party," she smiled, hooking her ankles around his sides. "I'm beginning to think you did something bad."
"I can, if that's what you want." He grinned devilishly and she laughed.
His wet hand came to her neck to pull her down for a kiss. She reciprocated, but when he tugged her further towards the water, she pressed her palms against his shoulders, stopping him.
"This suit is dry clean only, Stark. Pull me in and die," she threatened.
He just chuckled wickedly against her lips.
"I'm going to change," she said, pulling her legs from the water. He whined comically in response and flicked a few drops of water at her legs.
She slipped into the mansion to change into the bathing suit he'd left on the door. When she returned, he was floating on his back, the reactor like a blue flame floating on the water.
She executed a flawless swam dive, resurfacing next to him. "This bikini would be better suited in Brazil, not your backyard," she said, hooking her arms around his neck.
He just sniffed in response. "Our backyard," he amended. "You can take it off if you want." His fingers worked at the pins in her bun that she'd forgotten to remove.
"Patience is virtue," she said sweetly, and leaned in to kiss him. "I called Agent Coulson today," she told him when they broke apart.
"That's nice," he hummed, obviously not the least bit interested, and silenced her with another kiss.
-O-O-O-
After sharing a pizza, he showed her down to the workshop, leading her by the hand down the stairs.
"Really, Tony. What's all this about?"
"I just have something to show you, that's all."
He punched in the code, and pulled open the door. He had changed the layout, she noticed, but she assumed that wasn't what he was so excited about.
"OK," he prompted her, "Sit over there." He gestured to one of the tables and she obeyed. He stepped over to the center of the garage, where the area had been cleared. He lifted his arms and threw her smirk.
"What are you…" she began, but stopped short when the floor opened up and robotic arms dropped from the ceiling and began encasing his arms in intricate armor, each layer specifically designed and purposed.
The entire process took only a minute, but Pepper stared wide-mouthed for what felt like hours as each bit and screw was set into place. The armor tapered to his body perfectly, making him appear taller, larger, and ominous. The chrome exterior glinted in the fluorescent lighting, and Pepper could almost detect her reflection in the torso. The machines stopped just short of clicking the face plate into place and retracted back up into the ceiling.
Tony stood, all smiles, full of pride with his work. His armored hands met his hips and one heavy foot clanked against the concrete flooring.
"Oh my God," Pepper breathed.
"Cool huh?" Tony smirked.
"Cool? Cool? Oh my God, Tony." She panicked. "I think you've really done it. You've really gone crazy. I'm calling a therapist…"
"I thought you'd be excited."
"Excited? About a giant suit of armor? What are you doing with it anyways?"
Tony inspected one armored hand, casually clinking his fingers against his metal-encased palm. "You know, go catch some bad guys. The usual."
"Oh, no. No you aren't actually going to…"
"Yes, I am, Pepper." His smile dropped and he looked back up at her.
"No," she answered sternly, not taking this as a joke anymore. "You're going to kill yourself, Tony." She stood. "And I'm not going to be a part of it."
She turned for the door.
"The world needs someone willing to die for them, Pepper. If I don't do this, who else will?"
She sighed and stopped, her hand on the door handle. She faced him again and sucked in a breath. He was absolutely right, and she couldn't deny it. Something had changed in him for the better, and she wouldn't stop him from doing the one worthy thing he'd ever done.
"You're insane, y'know?"
He grinned and shrugged. The armor whirred at his movement. "Aren't we all?"
-O-O-O-
The next evening, she arrived home with a splitting headache and sore feet. As soon as she entered the mansion, she toed out of her heels and ventured to one of the guest bedrooms where her closet was. His own closet had been much too full already to accommodate her clothing; she'd never seen a man with so many outfits. The arrangement was a little annoying, since she had to keep her clothes in a completely separate area from the place where she slept, but there was no whittling down his own collection, and she'd been hard pressed to part with a single shoe from her own.
She downed three ibeprophen for her headache and descended the stairs, just wanting to collapse on the couch in peace.
"Hey, Potts!" his voice echoed from the living area, loud and making her cringe.
"Tony, I'm really not in the…"
She was cut short by a ball of pure white fluff bounding towards her bare feet.
"Oh," she said in surprise. "Hello there. Hi," she cooed at the puppy, lifting it from the floor and letting its little pink tongue lap at her chin.
She laughed, and turned to Tony. "What is this? Or should I say, who is this?" She held the puppy out at arms length. It yipped happily and wiggled its front paws at her, wanting to be held close again.
"Well, the pound named her Daisy, but we could change that," he said from the couch.
"Oh, Tony," she laughed and released the puff ball onto the floor again. Daisy scampered away, little toenails skittering along the marble, back to Tony's feet.
He scooped her up and held her under his chin. "I thought you might need a friend while I'm gone."
"Gone?" she asked, but then remembered. That giant, hulking suit of armor he had downstairs. "Oh," she said quietly, and crossed the room to sit next to him.
Daisy jumped from lap to lap, energy never waning down until she finally settled between the two of them, curled up like a plush powdered donut.
Pepper reached out to stroke her fur. "I like Daisy. The name, I mean. You can't go changing a dog's name halfway through their lives. That's just mean."
Daisy let out a content sigh and snuggled closer to Pepper's thigh.
"I thought you'd want to name her Dolce. Or Gabbana?" he teased.
"Those are the Kardashian's dogs," she said with an eye roll and a smile.
"Well, you would know. You watch that show religiously. I only watch it with you because they're all hot. Even the mom. I wonder if she's a coug…"
She gave his arm a smack, successfully silencing him.
"Thank you." She leaned into his side.
"No prob, Potts. Gimme a smooch," he asked, and she did.
-O-O-O-
AN: Beginning to get a little action-y with her phone call to Coulson, don't you think? Hmm...we'll see. That pesky Obadiah. Tisk tisk. And Tony showed her the suit, oh dear!
And finished off with a scene of pure fluff, literally :)
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