Author's Note: Thanks loves for all the reviews, they were much appreciated! Sorry this one took so long, last week I had exams in all of my classes. I failed a couple of them which is very discouraging, but everyone fails the first few in college, right?
This one's a bit longer than the last one and we get to see Pepper's POV which is a first I believe for this collection.
Please Note! The second half of this references one of the previous installments titled: Birthday Revenge. So if you remember what happened in that one great you'll pick it up rather quickly, if not you might wanna go and glance over it again. It will make what happens seem a lot less like I'm throwing it at you out of left field.
The Helicarrier is docked a few miles off of Gotham's harbor and Tony finds himself sitting on a railing looking over the planes and jets that are not currently in use, already dreading this mission. One of his main and more selfish reasons is because he's never been a fan of Gotham and its upper class; something about them has always rubbed even him the wrong way. Then there is his worry about the Batman situation, though his feelings about that are jumbled. He's not sure whether or not he should be afraid for Bruce or for his fellow Avengers.
Wayne seems oddly calm about the whole thing, but he's never been one to wear his emotions on his sleeve and there is his constant confidence concerning his nightly hobby. Tony knows Bruce doesn't take them as seriously as he should, but if he was Batman would he be too concerned about the Avengers?
Probably not.
"So why do you think SHIELD wants to find The Batman?" Bruce asks from behind scaring Tony out of his thoughts.
He turns to face Bruce, who has a smirk on his face as though he knows some deep secret.
"Recruiting probably or they want to arrest him."
"Do you think he would join the team?"
"How am I supposed to know?"
Bruce smiles, "I don't know, but I have known you long enough to know when you are getting nervous about something and all through the meeting you were just itching to get outta there." Bruce leans against the arm rail Tony has perched himself on.
"I'm always itching to get out of the team powwows. They are boring and usually lead to me getting blamed for something which—"
"—Which is usually your fault—"
"—Why are we friends again?" Tony jabs as he leans back on the rail stretching and cracking his fingers. His watch tells him he's been there for a long time, which is funny because he doesn't remember the last time he was able to just sit and think for such a long time.
"Because we speak the same language?" Bruce says fiddling with something in his hands.
"Something like that," Tony rolls his eyes before hopping off the railing the echo of his feet hitting the metal below sounds through the once silent hangar. "What were we talking about again? Oh right, you were fishing for information on the 'Big Bad Bat' that I don't actually have."
"Yeah okay, there was something bothering you in that head of yours, but I'm not sure what. If you don't want to share that's fine, but if you find yourself needing talk about it—"
"I know who to call!" Tony interjects as he heads toward the inner passageways of the maze that is the Hellicarrier. "Hey do you wanna grab some Joe?"
Pepper Potts has never been one to snoop through her boyfriend's things—okay she can't say never—but she's not usually one to snoop through her boyfriend's things, but when she's bored and has the entirety of the Stark Malibu mansion at her disposal what else is there for her to do?
It's not like she doesn't already know the house inside and out anyway, but there are a few things even she isn't privy to. Like the library for an instance, a place she rarely sees Tony in seeing as reading a book required the man to sit still for more than five seconds at time. Though Pepper used to think of herself as an avid reader, ever since she and began to work for Tony Stark she has rarely had a moment to read a book. The main time she gets to herself is when she is sleeping and nowadays that tends to be in the presence of her aforementioned boyfriend.
So when Tony has to go on a sudden mission to Gotham, Pepper decides to venture into the ill-used library to pick out a few books to read in his absence.
She lets her fingers slide across the book as she skims through the titles looking for something to catch her eye when something unexpected does catch her eye.
An encyclopedia.
Which wouldn't have surprised her if it were an average, run of the mill encyclopedia. This one though, was oddly specific because it was an encyclopedia of bats. Pepper's head tilts to the side automatically and one of sculpted eyebrows arches in confusion. Tony, though a genius, has never really been interested in Biological sciences and that definitely included zoology, so why would the man have an entire encyclopedia of bats? She pulls the book down off the shelf and misjudges it's weight and it falls to the floor with a dull thud, sending dust rising lightly into the air. The book opens to a specific page due to an oddly shaped thin piece of metal.
She kneels down to pick it up and she realizes it's in the shape of a bat. She goes to pick the book back up when notices a little folded note tucked in the page. Pepper bites her lips and goes to grab it a couple of times trying to decide if this is a complete invasion of privacy when it hits her.
How many times in the past years has Tony completely and totally crossed the line of privacy?
She plucks the folded up sticky note out of the book, carefully unfolds it and reads:
Happy Birthday Stark!
Remember, payback is a bitch.
-Bruce
Bruce? Judging by the light layer of dust on the book and aging of the paper she can definitely tell that it's not Bruce Banner and the only other Bruce in Tony's life is Wayne.
Why would Bruce Wayne send Tony an encyclopedia of—mid thought it hits her like a freight train.
"Holy shit," Pepper whispers to herself as she carefully but quickly slips everything back in the book before sliding it back into place and quickly moving out of the library as though she'd just opened Pandora's Box.
Let me know what you think!
Like it/Hate it/Ideas? Leave a review and I will try my best to respond in a timely manner!
