A/N: 04/26/2015 Finally updating! Yaaaay :D It has recently come to my attention through reviews on various stories of mine that my 'reading times' aren't really that accurate. At all. Like, 8 times out of 10? Anyway, I've chalked it up to this: 1. I am a slow reader (but not that slow) 2. Whenever I take the time to sit down and time myself, I'm always distracted by little kids screaming and running around or the television being left on or my own thoughts, and it therefore takes longer. I'm not going to stop doing the reading times, because I think it's a nice touch to add to a story, but I WILL fight my absolute hardest to make them more accurate. I wasn't distracted when I read this chapter, so hopefully it's pretty spot-on. If it's not, please let me know.
ANYHOW, this chapter will be entirely in Natasha's POV (not Thor's for once!) so please satisfy your curiosity and read on to see what sneaky plan she's got up her sleeve :)
Luxraylover: Aww, it's okay. I totally understand that you have a life outside FF, so it's cool :) Thank you for you PMs, I really appreciated them and loved reading them. Please enjoy this update (though I'm sure you will, you've loved all the others, haha!) and I await your long and love-filled review with much anticipation! :D
aliceindeepdarkwonderland: Yes, FINALLY! :D Glad you liked Natasha in the last chapter, and that angry Pepper wasn't too over-the-top or annoying. Enjoy the update! :)
Guest: Hey there! Thanks for the inquisitive review! I still have to update my Spark to Flame Finniss story, but I hope to get another one out before the year is over, possibly over the course of the summer. So hang tight, I've got a ton of ideas for them! :D
Hyne: Yep, Pepper can indeed become VERY mad. And yes, it's a blessing she didn't have Extremis on hand, thank goodness XD I hate to disappoint you but, we won't get to see the details of Thor and Pepper's 'date' here. That will be explained in the next chapter. Still, enjoy this update and please share your thoughts. I love reading them! :D
sailorraven34: Eeek! Thank you! I love being successfully cute in my writing =^.^= Hope you enjoy this update!
Reading time: 10 mins.
Disclaimer: I do not own The Avengers.
Chapter ten: Mentions~
'Number 9. Mention to his friends that you like him. This is risky, because his friends may distort information or tease him about it, so you have to be careful about who you tell. But sooner or later, his friends will bring it up to him, and the ball will be in his court.'
Natasha idly flipped through the various notes Thor had made as she sat in her room, mentally logging connections between them and Pepper's behavior toward the blond Avenger. She had made copies for herself while Thor was out buying groceries with the red-haired CEO, and it was far easier to find similarities between the notes and their relationship without the interference of a cocky billionaire or oblivious Asgardian.
Really. How could Thor be so ignorant? Everything that Pepper had done pointed to feelings beyond mere friendship. But, then again, she knew that it was almost impossible for a person to accurately determine another's feelings towards them when they were the object of their affections, unless it was really blunt (in which case she was sure Thor would hardly be interested, he didn't seem to be the type to respond to desperation).
Natasha chewed her lower lip in concentration as she flipped through the notes.
She wasn't sure why, but she was particularly focused on the note Thor had made about mentioning one's feelings towards a man to their friends.
Trying to formulate a plan, she skimmed the last half of the note.
'If you really trust them, tell your own friend to "accidentally" spill it to him. Because this is tough to do, have someone who is really casual do this. If they don't do it casually, it can feel like you're demanding him to make a decision about you. You want him to feel flattered, not caught in a corner.'
And it was then that she got an idea.
Pepper.
Thor.
Friends.
Mention.
Hmm...
She smirked.
Grabbing a tape recorder off her bedside table, the red-haired S.H.I.E.L.D agent briefly checked to make sure a spare tape was still inside before swiftly leaving her room.
Turning the corner, she headed purposefully for Tony's workshop.
Tony, Clint, Bruce, Steve.
They were all there.
Tony's workshop (which was really just a fancy name for Stark's basement) had become somewhat of a 'guy hangout' as opposed to other parts of the tower. Maybe it was because she and Pepper tended to stay upstairs and therefore they didn't have to deal with all of their 'woman' problems by escaping to the basement. Either way, she didn't really care. It only served to be of use to her now because she knew where to find them all in one place.
Switching the tape recorder on, Natasha fastened it to her belt and covertly hid it beneath her shirt, taking a brief moment to fix the wrinkles in her jacket and fluff her hair.
"Hey, guys," She began, tone casual as she stepped out from behind the corner. "Whatcha doin'?"
Bruce opened his mouth to reply, but Tony (as usual) beat him to it.
"Oh, nothing much," the billionaire said nonchalantly. "Just debating on the average size of Bruce's boogers when he Hulks out."
Ugh. Men, she thought, mentally rolling her eyes.
Keeping her facade, she stepped closer, crossing her arms and leaning against one of Tony's many workbenches. "Oh. Well, I was just wondering because...well...you know."
"Know what, know?" Tony asked, and she fought to keep from smirking at the group's simultaneously pinched eyebrows.
"Oh...nothing much," She said innocently, echoing Tony's words. "I just wondered if you guys knew when Pepper and Thor would be back. They've been gone a while."
Clint rolled his eyes. "Pfft. Thor. That guy's so clueless, he makes me wanna stab myself with one of my own arrows."
"Oh- really?" Natasha asked, careful to hide the burning curiosity she felt. "What do you mean?"
"You mean you haven't noticed?" Her fellow partner scoffed, disbelief written clear on his face. "Of all people, I would think you would know, Nat. You are a girl, after all." He paused, as if just coming to a realization. "Though, then again, it's not like you've had a lot of experience getting to know other women. Or men. Or anyone, for that matte-"
"Just tell me what it is," she snipped, impatient.
"Well, for starters, miss Romanoff," Tony said, rolling his tongue and snatching a stress ball off his desk and tossing it into the air. "If you'll care to notice, Pepper has been spending an awful lot of time with our little Thor."
Natasha skillfully blanched. "Yeah. So?"
"SO," he continued, getting up from his seat. "Ever since he moved into the tower – my tower, mind you – she's been taking more and more time out of her day – her work day – to spend it with him. Naturally, I couldn't help but notice, being the genius that I am-" Natasha rolled her eyes. "But I kept my mouth shut...mostly."
"Yeah," Steve sarcastically quipped. "'Mostly' meaning that you badgered her about it nonstop every time she walked into the room."
Tony looked at him, momentarily turning his attention away from the red-haired S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. "Excuse me, who asked for your opinion?"
The star-spangled Avenger glared at him, jaw clenching as he resisted opening his mouth to spit back a retort.
He and Tony had never gotten along particularly well, favoring Clint or Bruce or Thor well in favor of each other, but they were always able to tolerate each other's presence, mostly thanks to Steve's clear-mindedness and level head. Natasha wondered if it was just that their personalities clashed or if Tony just got a kick out of being the 'Alpha dog' and Steve was the easiest target to bully. She didn't know. Either way, it didn't really matter much, because, as predicted, the younger (though technically older) man held his tongue and backed off, and the room awkwardly resumed its light atmosphere. Tony turned back to her.
"So anyway, I started to notice some things. Like the way she would act when she was around him, or the way she would look at him; dumb stuff like that. Normally I wouldn't have taken notice, but...well I mean come on, it's Pepper. She's a professional, for Pete's sake! She never loses her cool!"
Natasha eagerly listened on as she absorbed the information, secretly smirking in delight. He was right, after all; Pepper was never one to act unprofessionally in a work environment, and for her to get all weird and googley-eyed when she was supposed to be looking after Tony's house and business affairs was nearly absolute proof that she liked Thor on a more than friendly level. And for Thor to deny it so vehemently...
"Hell, just the other day she came to me asking for advice about the guy!"
She was suddenly jerked from her reverie, gaze snapping to the bearded man in front of her. "What?"
"Yeah, what?" Clint joined in. "She came to me asking for advice, too!"
"Yeah, me too," Bruce admitted, and they looked to Steve.
"...What?" He asked, all too innocently.
"Did she?" Tony asked incredulously.
"Did she what?"
"Ask you for advice!" Clint snapped, insistent.
"I don't know."
"Well either she did or she didn't!"
"I'm not at liberty to say."
"Ack! She swore you to secrecy, didn't she?!" Tony accused.
"I...made a promise that I wouldn't say," Steve admitted.
"So she did!"
"I never said that."
"She did," Natasha said, tone calm.
Steve sent her a panicked look. "I never said that!"
"But she did," she affirmed, as though it were nothing short of a fact. Turning to the others, she said, "Okay, so what did she ask you guys? Steve's obviously not budging."
"Hey!"
"I dunno," Tony said, scratching the back of his neck. "Something about, 'what would I do if'...oh, I dunno. She mostly just talked about how funny Thor was, and how good he looked in Earth clothes. Weird stuff like that."
Natasha suppressed an irritated groan. Of course Tony would be of no help. "Okay. Uh, what about you, Clint?"
"She asked me how I would react if someone I didn't know that well bought me a gift, and if I thought it would be weird. She seemed worried, like she'd done something she maybe shouldn't have or something, but I didn't question it because...well, she's Pepper. She has a reason for everything."
"Bruce?" She asked.
"I...can't really top either of those," he admitted politely, drawing in the corners of his mouth in a sort-of smile and stepping back.
"Try," she insisted.
"Well," he began, trying to recall the memory. "It was a while ago...uh, I think maybe...back when we had that party."
"That was yesterday, genius," Tony supplied, suppressing a groan of annoyance at his utter stupidity.
"Was it?" Bruce asked, knitting his brows in confusion. "...Well anyway, it was after the party. She came by my room and asked me if I was okay, since...well, you know. The other guy doesn't really like a whole lot of noise." The others briefly glared at Tony, but before the billionaire could defend himself Bruce went on. "I said 'no, I was fine,' and then she asked me if I knew how Thor was doing. And...that's pretty much it."
Silence momentarily eveloped the room, until Tony (that smart alleck) broke it with nothing more than a single sound.
"...Huh."
"Well gee, that was anticlimactic," Steve said, lifting his eyebrows in disappointment.
"I'll say," Clint said, agreeing as he discontentedly crossed his arms.
"So, she's been acting very strange around you guys," Natasha said, reiterating all of the main points for Thor's review later on. "In a way that she hasn't acted around anyone else, and she secretly went to each of you to ask for advice regarding Thor?"
"Didn't we just cover that?" Tony sighed, annoyed.
"Well thanks, guys," she smiled, pretending to straighten her shirt as she switched the tape recorder off and turned to walk away. "You've been a great help."
"Any time, babe," Tony replied, not looking at her as he went back to what he was doing and the others did the same.
Nearly an hour later, Natasha sat on the single King-sized bed in Thor's room, impatiently waiting for him to return.
She tapped her feet and twiddled her thumbs; she was practically bursting with energy – why couldn't he just get here so she could show him what she'd discovered, already?! She was about to give up and leave altogether, when the faint sound of footsteps and the clicking of the doorknob caught her attention. The knob twisted, opened, and she immediately went into action.
She leapt off the bed and onto her feet, practically crashing into the blond giant as he entered the room, humorously (though effectively) pinning the Thunder god against the back of the bedroom door.
"Lady Natasha!" He yelped, surprised. "What are you-"
She shoved the tape recorder into his face, smirking. "Just wait until you hear this."
Thor numbly walked over to his bed, sitting down on the soft sheets as Natasha smugly left the room with her tape recorder, mind completely blank with shock.
It was official.
Pepper Potts was in love with him.
There was no other explanation for it.
Now the only question was, how was he going to deal with it?
A/N: Yaay, Thor's finally accepting the facts! :D
I think the next chapter will be the last, I really do. It's sad, I know, but it's about time I get this finished :/ Besides, who knows? I may post more PepperxThor fics here in the near future :)
Can't say when the next update's gonna be exactly, but definitely some time next month. I hope to see you all there :D
'Til next time!