AN This takes place 3 to 4 years after Islands in the Stream.
"Mrs. Stark, Mr. Mizushima is here to see you."
"Repeat that, Gina."
"I said Mr. Mizushima is here to see you."
As her assistant spoke, Pepper called up her calendar for the week, "Can he hear what you're saying, Gina?"
"No, ma'am. He's sitting in the next room."
"Okay then he's not supposed to be here until tomorrow."
"I know but I am sitting here looking at him through the window. He's definitely here… a day early!" She heard her boss sigh, "Should I ask him to come back tomorrow when he's scheduled to?"
"No, don't!" Pepper exclaimed before she could stop herself, "I'll meet with him. Just tell him I need a few minutes, okay?"
"Okay, will do."
When they started up their new company, Pepper wanted to do something that her husband, not in a thousand years, ever would have been able to predict or guess she would ever want to do. At his surprised expression, she had told Tony that she had been professionally serious all of the years she'd been working and now she wanted to have a little fun with the office rules. In the end, Tony had agreed to her idea because like her he decided he wanted to have a little fun with the rules too. Now as she sat in her office thinking about the very solemn businessman sitting outside her secretary's office Pepper could only shake her head, wondering if their fun with the rules was going to cost them a new partnership with Mizushima Enterprises.
After sitting there for a few minutes thinking, she finally pulled herself out of her thoughts, and reached over to a nearby chair to pick up the garment she put there earlier. She stood up, shrugged into it, and put a smile on her face that she hoped would at least come across as halfway being somewhat sincere, and opened her office door.
"Konnichiwa, welcome to Stark Resilient, Mr. Mizushima," Pepper said as pleasantly as she could, as he offered her hand to him and then held her breath to see what his response would be.
The man didn't miss a beat and shook her hand, "Thank you, Mrs. Stark. I know that I am a day early but there are a few points about our potential partnership that I feel cannot wait to be discussed tomorrow when we…"
"And then he went on to talk about what we had previously discussed during my visits to Japan… Mmm, that feels so good."
Tony smiled as he continued massaging his wife's shoulders, "That's it? He didn't say one word about the fact you were wearing what you were wearing?" Tony asked, his voice full of bewilderment .
Pepper shook her head, "No, not one word. He just carried on like I was dressed as professionally as a CEO of a Fortune 500 company should be."
When he heard what sounded suspiciously like self-recrimination in her voice, his hands paused their motion, and then stopped altogether. When Pepper looked at him due to the sudden lack of soothing pressure on her shoulders he said, "Honey, you're being a little too hard on yourself, don't you think?" He shrugged, and resumed massaging her shoulders, "If Mizushima didn't like what he saw then he's more than welcome to head back to Japan right now."
"Tony!"
"Well, there are plenty of fish in the sea. While having him on board would be great, we don't need him if he doesn't have a sense of humor or fun."
Pepper turned her head to look at him, "Well, I don't think trying to maintain some professional standards when potential partners come visiting is too much to do."
Tony was silent for a minute, continuing to work out the still present knots in her shoulders, and finally when he spoke he was to ask, "Honey, why did we start up a new company?" His eyes met her eyes in the mirror.
"What?"
"Why did we start up a new company? Why did we decide to do this?" he asked, and without waiting for her answer he continued, "We didn't do this because we had to, but just because we wanted to. We did it because we wanted to challenge ourselves by seeing if we could build up a company to beat out the one my Dad built. But we also decided to do this because we thought it'd be fun to build a world class company from the ground up so that we could put our own spin on it. We said we wanted a company that's made in our own image and one we could be proud to leave behind to our kids. Remember?"
"Of course I do. It's just..."
"It's just what, Pep?"
"It's just since I started working... really working I mean, I've just always tried to keep things on the professional side."
"And that's exactly what you have done, honey. Mizushima's the one who decided to show up a day early without any warning so if anyone's not being entirely professional, then I'd say it was him."
Pepper sighed, closing her eyes, "Maybe you're right about this, Tony."
"I know I am."
"I hope so."
"Of course I am, Pep. You'll see."