DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN/HAVE CREATED TONY, PEPPER, JARVIS, AND STUFF. (C) MARVEL. I made up Pepper's sister though. :)
There was minimal contact between the two. For the next few days, the relationship was completely work-oriented. It killed Pepper to see Tony almost totally emotionless. She had been planning something in secret during those days, but the rift between them made it hard to make any progress in anything. Tony was having a tough time keeping away from Pepper, as well. He had already told himself to give up being a love-sick puppy around his PA. Clearly, she wasn't interested in him, right? No matter how hard he tried to look at his situation from a different light, he came to the same conclusion. She had definitely made it clear that other day.
How could he have been so blind to it?
He spent his days and nights cooped up in his workshop, leaving the door locked. Pepper was really surprised when she found out that he had changed the passcode to the door. She tapped in the previous number over and over again, but it didn't work.
"Ms. Potts. I am sorry to inform you that Mr. Stark has changed the passcode." Jarvis told her.
"Well…then how am I supposed to give him these?" She waved the papers at Tony, trying to catch his attention through the glass door, but he pretended not to notice her. She huffed, upset and discouraged.
"He's acting like a massive, angst teenager." The fiery PA stiffly informed Jarvis.
"I am sorry, Ms. Potts. I agree with you wholly."
She cracked a smile at Jarvis, but she knew that she was at fault. Her eyes drifted back to her crouched over boss, and she noticed something wrapped around his head.
"J-Jarvis, what's that around his head?" She pressed her slender hands to the window and tried to squint harder.
"A bandage, Ms. Potts."
"A what?" She demanded immediately afterwards, snapping her head in Jarvis' direction.
"He has been injured on a previous mission in Yemen."
"Wh-what? But I was here the whole time! I-I never heard him leave the residence!" She impatiently began pounding on the glass; her fists made marks on the impeccable surface. All previous emotions of regret and guilt fleeted away, as she grew more and more concerned.
"Mr. Stark took great precautions to make sure you would be unaware of this fact. He even disabled my presence in the house for a short period of time, so I would not record his absence."
Pepper's jaw dropped, and she felt her temperature rising.
"I can't believe he would do something like that… He could've gotten killed! That looks like a serious wound! He's not even going to the hospital! You know how unsanitary he is about cleaning up! Ugh, he could get a serious virus or something! Let me in!" She jiggled the doorknob again, ranting off loudly.
Jarvis thought it best to keep quiet during this moment.
"Anthony Stark! Let me in here right now!" The hot-headed woman stomped her foot down on the floor, irritated. He couldn't hear her at all. All he, and Pepper for that matter, could hear was his incredibly obnoxious music blaring throughout the house. She screamed as loud as she could, but her voice still couldn't reach his dense skull. Pepper silently fumed, thinking about what to do.
"You're…not going to let me in, are you?" She asked Jarvis hopelessly.
"I'm afraid that Mr. Stark has directly ordered me not to do so."
Her eyes lit up in a sudden realization, "What if I'm just going in to talk about work?" She slyly prodded.
"Mr. Stark requests that all business-related topics be texted or emailed to him directly."
She pouted, "What about if I want to go in and give him something to eat?"
"Mr. Stark requests that any bodily needs or concerns be dismissed for he can 'take care of his grown-ass self'."
Pepper rolled her eyes; last attempt, "What if I want to go in and talk about something on an intrapersonal level?"
Jarvis was silent.
"Mr. Stark has not put in any response to that question. I am obliged to let you inside, so that you may ask him yourself what the answer to that should be."
"Thank you." Pepper replied, relieved that something finally worked. There was always a loophole to Tony's infamous plans. She was always the one who found them. The door clicked, and she quietly stepped into the workshop. He was hunched over and seemed unaware of her presence. Silently, the small woman closed the door behind her and snuck over behind her boss. Tony was so intent on whatever it was that he was working on…
"Holy mother-!" He toppled sideways. Tony had merely glanced over his shoulder to see if Pepper had finally left and was more than a little surprised to see her cute, curious face right over him.
"H-how'd you get in here?" He sputtered. She triumphantly smiled.
"You can't get away from your own PA, Tony. It's my job to keep tabs on you."
He didn't return the smile.
"Ms. Potts, I find it extremely intrusive of you to enter my workspace when uninvited. Really, I thought better of you." Tony seemed deathly serious, and Pepper felt her smile disappear as well.
"I…needed to talk to you." She partially confessed, dropping the suddenly not-so-important papers on his desk. Tony didn't seem convinced.
"Mm, about what?" He turned back to his work, not even giving a second glance. Pepper became hesitant. Should I? Shouldn't I? Should I? Shouldn't I? …
"Do you have time to…um…" Oh, this was going to end so badly. It sounded so much more convincing and simple in her mind. Her large, misty blue eyes dropped their gaze to the cluttered floor, and Tony's ears heard her pause. He shifted his eyes over to her, and she was quiet.
"What happened to your head?" She blurted, changing the subject completely. Her small hands flew to his head, and she began to take apart the crudely done bandage. Tony jumped back, half in pain, half in surprise.
"P-pepper, stop! I put disinfectant and everything on there!" He winced, trying to wave her hands away.
"No, just let me check!" She insisted.
They struggled for a bit, Pepper at first gaining, and then Tony pushing her back a few times.
"Can you just trust me for five seconds?" He yelped, although thoroughly annoyed…he kind of liked the course banter again.
"Hold still!" She demanded, trying to hold Tony's arms away from himself. Which wasn't going so splendidly.
"But why? There's no reason for you to check a perfectly fine bandage!"
"It's not fine if blood's seeping though!" Pepper's eyes darted back and forth, avoiding his looks. He finally gave up, dropping his hands to his sides, sighing.
"I never seem to win with you."
"Well, you're not a medical doctor…"
"Neither are you!"
Pepper's eyebrows scrunched downwards in a bit of a glare. She silently removed the bandage with little noises from Tony every once in a while. She made herself busy with pointless things, avoiding a direct conversation with him.
He managed to pin her though, "So, what were you beginning to say about me having time to…?"
"It wasn't really that impor…"
"Please, enlighten me." He smugly smirked. She blinked, unsure as to what to do all of a sudden.
"Do you…have time for a small outing?" She was definitely turning red. The unconfident woman tried to hide her embarrassment by looking at her phone, but Tony could all too easily tell.
"What do you mean by an 'outing', Ms. Potts?" He raised a dark eyebrow, putting his head in his hand.
"Well, my older sister is getting married this weekend, and I wanted to know if you'd be interested in…coming along. She…really wanted to meet you." Another exhale. She couldn't even breathe while she was speaking to him… How ridiculous.
"Congratulations to her. It sounds nice. It must be hard to find someone just perfect."
Ouch.
Pepper visibly twitched, and Tony gave her a shadow of a smile.
"I'm just kidding." He reassured her although he really wasn't, "I'd be honored to come to your older sister's wedding."
The corners of her lips turned up, unconsciously. He was being so uncharacteristically formal. It was nice, but it made Pepper's worry creases pop back. Tony spotted them and tried to calm Pepper down.
"So, when is it?" He inquired nonchalantly.
"Erm…this Sunday."
"Okay, well I don't think I have anything planned that day." He rubbed his forehead in thought.
"No, you don't. I checked." Pepper shook her phone a little to prove her point. He nodded, letting her sigh with relief. Things so far were going along according to plan. It was her sister, Victoria, who came up with the idea. She had telephoned her late at night a few days ago. Although she had a good idea of what to say, she had no idea how to tell him.
"Seen him on the news. Nice man."
"You should see him in real life." Pepper groaned from the other end.
"Mm, so he's annoying you…?"
"Well…no…" She sighed, cutting her sister off, "It's kind of the complete opposite. He's ignoring me."
"A boss ignoring his own personal assistant?"
Pepper could see her sister's perfect, thin eyebrows arched over her eyes, puzzled.
"Yes, that's the situation I'm in. You know how I already feel about him in…erm, certain ways…"
"You like him. Simple as that. He likes you. Even simpler! How does all this confusion get wound up in this, chica?"
Her sister always liked to use foreign words in sentences. She thought it gave it more spice.
"I just get super shy and nervous around him… I-I dunno…" Her long fingers brushed through her messy red hair, as she spoke.
"Oh…" Her voice trailed out the "oh", "Je says."
"It's 'je sais'."
"Never mind. You've always been shy, Virginia."
She was the only one who used her true name as well. Tony hadn't even given her name a second glance the first day she came to work for him. He said it reminded him too much of a "Hannah Montana" name. Offensive, but understandable.
"I know. But it's even worse when I'm around him," she bit her lip, "and now look where it's gotten me!"
"It's tough finding the perfect time to confess su amor to someone. It's alright! Your situation's no different. Hell, it took Sam three whole years!"
The sisters shared a good laugh.
"At least you two are finally getting married," Pepper smiled as she spoke, still giggling a bit, "I'm so happy for the both of you!"
"Mhm, so am I." She cracked a smile on the other side of the line as well.
"I'm so sorry I can't be there right now to support you and everything!" Pepper apologized, "I've been so caught up with everything over here. I should really come over and help you, mom, Aunt Clara…"
"No! Zip it! You don't need to worry about us. I'll be happy if you're able to make the reception!"
"Oh, don't worry! I'll definitely make it to that!"
"With Ihr Chef? …perhaps?" Victoria slyly suggested. Pepper was silent at this. She swallowed hard and sort of fidgeted with a stray piece of hair.
"Wow…you're more in love than I thought you were…" Her sister replied in awe.
"Stop! That's not making me feel any better!" The younger woman responded, half-teasing, half-serious.
"Just go up to him and be like, 'Hey, sexy…'"
"Victoria!" Pepper gasped.
Her sister hooted with laughter, "I'm just kidding! Calm down!"
"You better be…" She grumbled.
"In all seriousness though, it should be really easy. You basically just say that I'm getting married, it's a special occasion, and I invited him." Victoria absent-mindedly picked at a hangnail, as she balanced the phone on her shoulder.
"Right…easy…"
"Easy-peesy lemon squeezy. That's what mom used to say!" She optimistically tried to ease her worrisome sister. Ever since she could remember, Pepper had always been uptight about everything. School work, sports, art, handwriting, clothes…literally anything. Love wasn't something she could map out or predict, and she thought that was the problem with her sister.
Too much thinking.
"If you have too much to do, that's fine. It was just a suggestion…" Pepper added quickly, trying to play it off.
"No, it sounds nice… What's your sister's name again?"
"Victoria."
"Oh yeah… Am I supposed to get her a present or something?" Tony tinkered with a little rocket on his desk.
"Well, I've already bought something. It should be good enough." Pepper nodded.
"So…we're technically going there together."
Silence.
"Um…I guess so." The unconfident woman agreed half-heartedly.
"Hm…that sounded a little hesitant, Ms. Potts."
"I didn't mean to make it sound like that!" She quickly defended herself.
"Yup, sure."
"Are you being sarcastic?"
"A little."
"…Thanks."
"No problem."
AN: Hey, guys. :) Sorry for a short update after a month-ish. I'm trying so hard to update! D: But I'm failing so badly, lol. Hope this lightens the mood a bit. Tony and Pepper are goin' through some rough times, but we always know that them + partying = a good time. Right? :) Let's cross our fingers! Thanks so much for reading! I LOVE ALL OF YOU SO MUCH 3 You all mean SO much to me; you have no idea. :)
Don't forget to comment/review! IT'S MY FOOD. AND IT MAKES MY TUMMY HAPPY! :D (Doesn't that sound like it's from a kid's show or something? Anybody seen Yo Gabba Gabba? Yeah, it reminds me of that. :D) ESPECIALLY IF YOU'VE FAVORITED/ARE WATCHING ME! Yes, that means you, too!
Signin' out to go finish my AP homework and try to write a case for debate. ;) Bye!