Hello, all! Happy Friday! It's not lengthy, but I couldn't let the day pass without at least posting ONE update to SOMETHING! LOL! :D So happy reading!

Oh! And dun-dun-DUN! ;)

"Oh! Yes! Oh! Tony! Oh God!" Pepper cries out, her voice high and raspy, as it bounces off the shower walls in an echo.

"Ohhhhhhhh, Pepper, fuuuuuck! Ohhhhhyeeeeeaaaaaahhhhhh!" I grunt in reply, my teeth gritted.

I thrust hard from behind a couple more times, making her squeal, and then we slump together against the shower wall, our chests heaving and panting after we finish. Pepper's turned away from me, and she rests her forehead against the wall as she tries to catch her breath. I briefly rest my cheek against the back of her head, and close my eyes for just a moment to steady myself, before I move to plant soft kisses on her neck and the top of her shoulder.

"God damn, you're sexy when you come," I purr in her ear.

She turns around to face me, her cheeks still flushed. She smiles coyly, and wraps her arms around my neck. I run my hands down her sides, and cup her ass. "Well, it's only because you're so good at getting me there," she purrs.

I shrug nonchalantly, and give her a cocky smirk. "I do what I can, Ms. Potts," I say, in a low, matter of fact, rumble.

She giggles, and I duck my head to softly kiss her lips. I moan in delight as the kiss breaks, and I grin. She grins back.

I cock an eyebrow and glance up at the shower head, and then back to her. "And, is it me? Or is this shower suddenly not so hot and steamy?" I ask.

"Yeah, you know, that tends to happen if you linger in it too long," she explains, giving me a wry smirk. "Not everybody has an endless supply of hot water, Tony."

I feign recollection. "Ahh, yeah. That's right. My mistake," I joke. "Just think, though! You won't have to worry about this once you move in! That's a good enough reason for you to do it, like, tomorrow, in my book."

She laughs. "I suppose it would be, yes," she agrees, humoring me.

"So that might be what does it for you, huh? Not the promise of having amazing sex any day of the week, not the idea of us building a life together, but more the promise of a lingering hot shower?" I tease.

She chuckles. "A lingering, hot shower with you," she corrects. "Let's not forget that you're in this equation, too."

"Oh, okay, then," I say, nodding in understanding, with a smirk. "Better."

She smiles, and pulls me in for a kiss. When it breaks, we smile at each other, and she moves to shut the water off. I open the door, and chivalrously offer my hand. She graciously accepts it, and steps out on to the bathroom rug ahead of me. I follow. We quietly dry off, grinning at each other with satiated smiles. Then I follow her into the bedroom. She steps into the closet and begins filing through her clothes to find something to wear to dinner. But suddenly, there's a knock at the door. We look at each other in surprise, and she quickly grabs her blue satin robe, slinging it over her shoulders and cinching it at the waist as she bustles out of the room.

I quickly throw on one of the t-shirts and a pair of sweats I've kept there for months and walk out to the living room, just before Pepper opens the door. "Well, Mrs. Severson! What a surprise!" she says warmly, giving the old woman a polite smile. She looks at Pepper with concern, and then glances around the living room cautiously. Her eyes come to rest on me, and I smile and wave awkwardly, giving her a sheepish grin.

She gives me a slight nod of acknowledgment, and then flicks her eyes back to Pepper. "Are you alright in here, dear?" she asks in a hushed tone.

Pepper glances back at me, the color in her cheeks reddening. I just shrug my shoulders and smirk. Pepper works her jaw and tries to keep from looking embarrassed as she slowly turns her gaze back to Mrs. Severson. "Um, never better," she replies simply. "Why do you ask?"

"There was an awful lot of noise coming from your apartment, honey," the woman informs us.

I have to turn around to keep from bursting out in laughter, though my shoulders are shaking in my attempt to stifle it.

"Noise?" I hear Pepper ask, faking innocence.

"Yes, dear. A lot of moaning."

"Moaning?"

"And wailing."

"Wailing," Pepper repeats. She turns around to look at me. "Tony?" she calls.

"Yes, dear?" I say, spinning back around, trying to wipe the grin off my face. I join her at the door, and look at Mrs. Severson with the same look of confusion Pepper does.

"Did you hear any moaning?" she asks. I see her fighting to keep the corners of her mouth from turning upwards.

"Or wailing," Mrs. Severson adds.

"Yes. Or wailing?" Pepper repeats, looking at me questioningly.

"Moaning? Wailing?" I ask, shrugging my shoulders and playing dumb. "No, no. Not that I recall."

Mrs. Severson lets out a slightly exasperated harumph, and squares her shoulders. "Well, then," she says. "No matter. I was just concerned for you, honey."

Pepper smiles. "Of course," she agrees. "And thank you."

The woman nods and smiles, waving a good bye as she turns to leave, but not before she shoots me a dirty look. I just grin.

Pepper closes the door, and her cheeks go to a full crimson. I start laughing and she smacks my shoulder, playfully. I flinch, but fail to stop.

"Stop laughing!" she orders, though she's giggling now, too. "Thanks a lot! You've now got the nosiest resident in the building knocking on my door!"

I smooth my hands down her upper arms, and gently squeeze them. "All the more reason for you to move in asap," I state plainly. "We can make all of the amorous whale sounds we want, without the neighbors pestering us."

Pepper just looks at me wryly.

I shrug. "Tell me I'm wrong, Pep."

She sighs. "You're...not wrong. It's just..."

I frown. "Just what?" I say. Uh-oh, I think to myself. My mind instantly starts to whirl with all of the reasons I can imagine as to why she might be second-guessing her decision.

She steps closer to me, and starts to lazily run her pointer finger around the perimeter of the arc. I look down and watch her for a moment, and then flick my eyes back up to hers questioningly. She smiles. "For the time that I'm still here, we might have to behave ourselves a little more," she says softly.

I smile in relief that she's not actually doubting anything after all, but quickly frown again. "Behave ourselves?" I ask, concerned. "Like...abstain from..."

She quickly backtracks. "Oh! No. No,no,no. Not...not abstain, just...be aware of our..."

"Boisterous exclamations of our collective unbridled ecstasy?" I offer simply.

Pepper splutters, and starts laughing. "Well, that's one way to put it," she replies.

I chuckle, and nod in agreement. "Got it," I say with a smirk. "Now, about dinner..."

XxXxXxXxXx

I'm awakened the next day by the early Sunday morning sunlight filtering in through Pepper's sheer window coverings. I pop open one eye, and then the other, squinting from the assault on my pupils in the changing light. I quickly ascertain that I'm completely nude, and that Pepper's completely nude, and still dozing softly with her head on my chest, her hand resting limply over the arc. She's in my arms, and I honestly don't think either of us moved a muscle all night. Well, all night isn't the right turn of phrase. It's only been a few short hours since we fell asleep. And I'm sure you can guess why (so much for behaving ourselves). But let me back up.

We went to dinner at a pizza joint we both like. Did I mention it's also a bar? And, with the kind of week it had been for the both of us, we each felt the need to tie one on. And then another. And...then another. And the last thing I remember, we were stumbling through Pepper's door at the end of the night, drunk, randy, and fighting to get the other one naked as quickly as possible. We managed somehow to make it to the bedroom, the bed even, where we devoured each other. I remember at one point, when we were collectively nearing orgasm, Pepper slammed a hand over my mouth, and sloppily shushed me. "Sheeeeel hear you! Shhhhhhh!" she slurred.

"What? Who?" I asked, my words muffled by her hand. I had had trouble remembering even how we'd got home, though, now I know I'd drunkenly called Happy. And I also now remember he was thrilled to have to pile the both of us in the back of the town car, for which Pepper kept apologizing. ("I'm not like this, Happy! You know this! I don't get drunk! I...I...I'm not like this! I'm sorry! It'll never happen again!" she kept repeating. Pretty soon, he just rolled up the privacy window to cut off the endless blabber. I noticed, and chuckled. She didn't. She just. Kept. Talking.)

"Miss...Missus...Whasername," Pepper mumbled.

"Yeah. Her," I replied, and we went back to drunkenly fucking, forgetting all about Mrs...What's-er-name, anyway.

So flash forward to now. I feel a tad hungover, though not bad, considering how hard we hit it. I slowly comb my fingers through Pepper's hair, and she moans softly in her sleep, snuggling further into my embrace. I smile, and raise my head to kiss the top of hers. Then, she grumbles and moans.

"Okay. Not the reaction I was going for. But whatever," I mutter jokingly.

Then she moans louder, and begins to shift. "No," she groans. "It's not that. I..." Suddenly she sits up, and claps a hand over her mouth. "Oh God!" she exclaims, scrambling to get out of bed. I watch as she bolts for the bathroom, and subsequently upchucks.

I grimace. "Yikes," I mutter under my breath. "Been there."

As soon as she's done, I hear a loud moan come from the bathroom. "I...am never drinking...again," she resolves breathlessly.

"Famous last words," I call out, jokingly.

She flushes, and appears in the doorway, her arms braced on either side. "I'm serious. What was I thinking? I don't drink! I haven't been drunk since...since." But her words stop. Her eyes go wide in a panic, and she swivels around on her heels.

"Pepper?" I say, thinking she's going for round two. "Baby? You gonna be okay?"

"Oh God!" I hear from the bathroom, but it's not what I think. She marches out of the door, holding a little square foil packet out in front of her. It looks pharmaceutical in nature.

I look at her with trepidation. "What's wrong?" I ask again.

"It's Sunday!" she exclaims.

I frown in confusion. "And that's bad because?"

"Because of this!" she says exasperatedly, simultaneously jabbing the blister pack marked Sat on the foil packet. Said blister pack clearly still contains one white pill. My eyes suddenly go wide, too.

"Oh shit," I say, shifting my gaze from the pills to her and back again. My heart begins to pound, and my mouth goes dry. "Oh shit!" I say again.