A/N: Yay, finally gotten this Pepperony flash back finished. :D I'm not overly thrilled with this chapter though unforutnately. These were scenes I've had in my head for a long time but I don't think they've played out as funny or romantic as I hoped. Oh well, sometimes that is the way the cookie muse crumbles.
One of my reviewers was worried about Tony eating strawberries and this chapter addresses that, which was my plan all along... it just took me so dang long to get through the chapters. Never mind, done now. The next chapter has us back into some action (hopefully) and more Avenger stuff, so fingers crossed that will come together nicely as we pick up all the threads of this story and dive into finding out what exactly is JH's magnificent octopus. ;)
Hope to see you soon...
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Tony was leaning in towards Pepper as they both sat on Happy's sofa and he was desperate for her not to end something between them that hadn't even started yet. "You can't just throw away what we have between us just because I accidentally let one guy eat out of the trash and kiss a man. You've got to let me have a run up to these things because-" Tony didn't get to finish pleading his rushed case as Pepper suddenly moved forward on the sofa and pressed her lips against his. Tony was surprised into silence as her soft lips touched his and he was immediately lost in the kiss.
He had no idea what it meant but this first kiss was more amazing then the many times he'd fantasised about it. Pepper's hands were in his hair now, dragging him deeper into the kiss and Tony went willingly. Her lips parted and he had the first proper taste of her and found himself instantly addicted. There was no way he could do without more of these kisses now. It was so tempting to just lose himself in Pepper's kisses, but his brain wouldn't turn off, screaming at Tony to find out what this meant. He reluctantly ended the passionate kiss, looking at Pepper with eyes wide with confusion. "Not that I didn't love every millisecond of that," he said unevenly, "but is that a hello or a goodbye kiss?"
Pepper's lips curved up in a little smile. "What did it feel like?"
"Like my new drug of choice," Tony rasped honestly. His eyes dropped to her lips while he unconsciously licked his own lips. "And I've got this sudden desperate need to self-medicate but-"
"But?" she pushed him softly.
Tony dragged his eyes back to meet Pepper's serene gaze. "But I need to know what this means," he said hoarsely. "Pepper, I'm not playing a game here. I know you probably don't believe that and I haven't given you much reason to trust anything I say when it comes to women, but I want a chance to prove that I am serious about you." He grimaced as he glanced over her shoulder at the door to Happy's bedroom. "I mean, another chance." Tony frowned, brain starting to fill up with even more questions. "How long have you been here waiting for us? How did you get in? What happened to Steven?" His face lit up with a hopeful expression. "He wasn't tragically killed in some kind of opera-related mishap, was he?"
"It's Kevin and what on earth is an opera-related mishap?" asked Pepper in amusement.
Tony gave a little shrug. "I don't know, he could have been gored by the fat lady wearing the hat with the horns."
"You're banned from the opera," Pepper informed him.
"So, Kevin's not dead then?" he asked unhappily. Tony's face brightened. "But the date sucked, right?"
Pepper gave a little shake of her head. "No, the date was perfect."
The feeling of a knife being twisted in Tony's chest made him grimace. "I see," he said dully.
Pepper cupped his face and stroked his cheek with her thumb. "But you know what I realised tonight, Tony? I realised I don't want perfect, I want you."
Tony blinked a couple of times, taking a moment to take in what Pepper had just said. "Was that the best insult I've ever gotten in my life?" he asked uncertainly.
"I don't know," said Pepper, scrutinising him closely. "It depends on how serious you are about wanting to make a go of us."
"I'm serious," said Tony hastily. "I'm all the way serious, Pepper."
"Why?" she asked quietly. "Why me, Tony?"
"Because you know me inside and out and you're still here," said Tony honestly. "Because my day doesn't start until I see you or hear your voice and you're the only person who I really care what they think of me. The only other person was my dad and I just ended up disappointing him and I don't want to disappoint you, Pepper."
"Your dad loved you, Tony," she corrected him quietly, "and you didn't disappoint him."
Tony leaned in and pressed his forehead against hers. "I'm a mess, you know that, right?"
Pepper gave a little laugh. "I know." She wrapped her arms around his neck. "You're a beautiful, crazy mess, Tony Stark, I've always known that."
Tony's brow furrowed slightly. "Then why would you want to take a chance on me?" he rasped. "I can't even look after Happy for a couple of hours. I'm going to be so much hard work."
Pepper just smiled. "You're already hard work, Mr. Stark and I've never been afraid of that. And you showed me something tonight, when I saw you chasing Happy down that street on TV. You showed me you could put yourself over someone who is important to you. I always knew you had the capacity to do that, but you'd never really had the opportunity. You could have given up on Happy when the going got tough but you didn't and you showed me you're willing to put in the work, even if things aren't always smooth sailing."
"I'd chase your naked butt down any street in the world," declared Tony, realising that this was really going to happen and feeling a nervous excitement well up inside of him.
Pepper pulled a face. "Let's hope it never comes to that."
Tony gave her an adoring look. "You know I'm crazy about you, right?"
"I know you're crazy," she returned cheekily. Pepper moved in closer. "How about you convince me of the other?"
"Gladly," said Tony throatily as he drew her into a passionate kiss. He pulled Pepper onto his lap without breaking the kiss, unable to believe that this night of horror was actually going to end on a high note, the best of all notes really. Tony was just so in awe of the woman in his arms that he never wanted to let her leave them again.
oooOOOOooo
"Tell me you two didn't have sex on my sofa," Happy demanded.
"Of course not," said Tony indignantly. "Pepper is a lady and besides someone-" he gave Happy a pointed look, "ruined the mood."
"Oh, so sorry my emotional distress ruined your mood," said Happy dourly.
"You were home in bed finally, Happy," pointed out Clint. "What could have happened to you now that was worse than the rest of the night?"
Happy grimaced. "I woke up."
oooOOOOooo
"AAARRRRGGGGHHHH!"
Tony jerked back from their kiss at the first sound of the loud scream. He looked at Pepper. "Was that you?"
Pepper's face was creased in concern. "Something is wrong with Happy." She scrambled off his lap and started towards the bedroom.
"There better be," Tony scowled, annoyed at being interrupted in this newfound delight of kissing Pepper Potts, "otherwise he's a dead man."
Happy staggered out of the bedroom, face pale and distressed.
"Happy," said Pepper quickly, going to take his arm, "what's wrong? Why did you scream?"
"I've got a tattoo," he said shakily but sounding more with it then he had all night, "on my ass."
Tony had hoped he'd have a bit more time on this one but he tried to bluff his way out of it anyway. "That's always been there," said Tony dismissively.
"I think I know my own ass better than you, Tony," bit out Happy.
Tony made a forlorn face. "Sadly, after tonight, I don't think that is true any longer."
Pepper was treating him to one of her famous disapproving looks. "Tony, how on earth did Happy end up with a tattoo tonight?" She gave Happy a curious look. "What kind of a tattoo is it?"
"Does that matter?" asked Happy in distress. "I've been violated!"
"Oh please," snorted Tony. "So, you got a little ink work done, no big deal, it makes you look tough."
Happy glared at Tony. "I think we both know that isn't true, boss," he ground out.
Tony actually had the grace to look a little sheepish. "Alright, this one might be a bit of a tough sell," he admitted.
"What is the tattoo of?" asked Pepper again, clearly intrigued now.
Happy jabbed a finger at Tony. "If you say one word, I'm going to kill you right here and now, Tony Stark! We take this to the grave!"
oooOOOOooo
All eyes at the table were on Happy.
"So," said Bruce with interest, "what was the tattoo, Happy?"
Happy stared straight ahead. "I don't remember."
"I'm still waiting to hear how you even got the tattoo in the first place," interjected Steve.
"It's simple," said Tony, "while I was trying to find Happy that night, apparently he got sleepy at some point and wandered into a tattoo parlour and lay down. The tattooist came in and thought he was his next client and Happy was lying face down with his ass bare and figured that was where he wanted it. When the guy asked Happy what he wanted for the tattoo-"
"Oh my God," laughed Bruce, "he said bacon. Happy has bacon tattooed on his ass!"
Clint was watching Happy's expression carefully. He leaned back in the booth, a knowing look on his face. "Oh, it's better than that," said Clint, sounding very sure of himself as he remembered what Tony had been prompting Happy to answer every question with that night, "he's got Tony's name tattooed on his ass, haven't you, big guy?"
"Not anymore," snapped Happy as the table erupted into raucous laughter. "I've had it removed."
Thor slapped Happy on the back as he addressed the other man around his laughter. "Tis an ignominious fate indeed, Happy Hogan, but one which makes for a story full of mirth."
"Yeah, well, I'm not laughing," said Happy in annoyance. "Getting that thing removed was agonising and explaining the whole thing was embarrassing."
"It could have been worse," interjected Tony.
"How?" snapped Happy.
"I don't know, isn't that what people are meant to say with these kinds of things?"
"I'd prefer you say sorry," stated a miffed looking Happy.
"It wasn't my fault," Tony protested.
"You were meant to be looking after me," Happy accused him.
"I got you home, didn't I?"
Happy shook his head. "I can't believe Pepper saw what you did and still decided to take a chance on you, boss."
A new round of Stark Raving Mad drinks were being delivered at the table as they were talking and Bruce picked up his glass and held it up in a toast. "To Tony, the luckiest SOB on the face of the earth to find a woman like Pepper who will put up with all of his crazy."
The others, except for Happy who wasn't drinking, picked up their glasses and joined in on the toast. Tony smiled and picked up his glass, looking down at the strawberry-less cocktail he'd been drinking all night and suddenly missing Pepper a lot. "I can't argue with that," he agreed readily and held up his glass. "To Pepper."
They all held clinked their glasses together. "To Pepper."
oooOOOOooo
Pepper put down the book she'd been reading in bed and pulled up the covers, ready to go to sleep now. It was after midnight now and Natasha had left a little while ago after she'd finished sharing the story of how she and Tony had ended up taking the next step in their relationship. Pepper couldn't help but smile at the memory of their non-traditional start, but it seemed normal for them. She reached out and turned off the bedside lamp just as her cell phone rang. Pepper picked it up and her smile widened as she saw who the caller was. "I was just thinking of you," she said huskily as she answered the call.
"I hope they were sexy, naked thoughts," said Tony impishly.
Pepper couldn't help but laugh. "Maybe," she teased him. Pepper rolled onto her back and looked up at the ceiling. "How's your boy's night out going?"
"Not bad. Thor has just mastered 'Knock Knock' jokes and in a minute we're going to attempt to pull that stick out of the Capsicle's ass."
"Tony," Pepper laughed around her censure, "you promised you'd play nicely with the others."
"It's fine," he said blithely, "the guy is heavily medicated by now, he won't feel a thing. What are you wearing?"
Pepper's lips twitched as she looked down at the old t-shirt she was wearing. "A sexy black teddy," she said saucily.
"Funny, it looks like one of my old 'Violet Femmes' t-shirts to me."
Pepper sat up in bed and looked around just as Tony stepped through their bedroom door, still on the phone to her. Her face lit up at seeing him. "Tony, I've got to go. It seems like I've got an unexpected visitor all of a sudden."
"Okay, just don't do anything I wouldn't do," said Tony, eyes not leaving hers.
"That kind of leaves things wide open, Tony."
"Do what you think is best," Tony advised her as he hung up the call.
Pepper hung up as well and crooked her finger at him, beckoning him towards the bed. "Come here, Mr. Stark."
"I think I'm going to like your idea of what is best," said Tony happily as he immediately walked over to the bed and sat down. He gave her an adoring look. "Do you want to know what the best part of tonight was?"
Pepper gave a laughing grimace. "I don't think I want to know as I'm pretty sure I'll see it on the news tomorrow anyway."
Tony shook his head, eyes on her face. "You won't see this," he promised her and leaned in for a kiss.
Pepper melted into the kiss, wrapping her arms around Tony's neck and breathing in the scent of him as they sunk back into the bed. Tony's lips moved over hers and his kisses made Pepper's toes curl under the sheets. She couldn't imagine a time when Tony's kisses wouldn't make her lose her mind.
Tony finally broke the kiss and looked down at her with unfocused eyes. "Definitely the best part of the night," he said roughly.
"You've been drinking those crazy drinks of yours," said Pepper indulgently, still able to taste the faint flavour of the alcohol in his kisses.
"I have them without the strawberries," Tony confirmed, smiling down at her. "My girl has this strawberry allergy and I never know when I'm going to have this driving need to kiss her, so I don't like to take any chances."
Pepper smiled, loving to hear Tony was thinking of her, even when they weren't together. "Your night finished early," she noted.
Tony shook his head. "No, the night is still going. I just snuck out and had Happy drive me back here so I could tuck you into bed and give you a goodnight kiss."
"Tony," she tutted, "you can't abandon them. They're like babes in the woods, babes with very specific and potentially dangerous skill sets." Pepper stroked his face and bit her bottom lip. "Although I'm very glad you're here."
"I'm going back," Tony promised her. "I just wanted to make sure my girl has sweet dreams tonight."
Pepper's smile widened as Tony leaned in to claim more kisses. "Oh well, I guess that would be alright," she conceded happily.
Tony stopped just before kissing her, their noses touching. "I adore you, Pepper Potts," he announced throatily. "I can't imagine my life without you."
"I love you too," she whispered back just before she lost herself in his kisses, "and you're never going to be without me, Tony. I promise."