Peter sat across from Pepper at the coffee shop with the weight of his breakfast sitting heavily in his stomach and threatening to come up. He should have known he wouldn't get off scot free when Pepper didn't confront him in Batavia. Though she had stuck by Tony's side through the rest of the trip, seemingly doing nothing more than leveling acid glowers in Peter's direction, in reality she had lain in wait like a spider for Peter to fall into the trap she had set back in New York. His first day back to work, Pepper had been waiting by his desk with a pinched smile.

The only silver lining was that it wasn't Gladys waiting for him with pink slip in hand.

"Meet me for coffee on your lunch break."

It wasn't an invitation; it wasn't a request. Peter nodded, not trusting himself to speak. For a moment, he wondered if he could sneak out early and hide, but he knew that was a lost cause. Things would be worse for him if Pepper had to hunt him down.

Pepper took a dainty sip from her coffee and looked at him over the rim. She seemed to be studying him, to be looking for some hint of something. Peter wasn't sure what she wanted to see, and, if he was being honest with himself, he didn't think he had it anyway.

"Did you enjoy your time in Batavia?"

If that wasn't a loaded question, Peter didn't know what was.

"It's a shame that the experiment didn't work out," Pepper added. "Tony's been locked up in his workshop since we got back poring over the data to see where it went wrong."

At the mention of Tony's name, Peter suddenly became very self-conscious about exactly how he was sitting. He raised his coffee cup tentatively to his lips, his hands shaking imperceptibly, in an attempt to cover whatever his thoughts might betray to Pepper. She seemed to be waiting for some kind of response so he gave a non-committal, "Is that so?"

After nearly a minute of silence, Pepper finally let out a deep sigh. Placing her coffee cup firmly on the table, she spoke pointedly. "Tony didn't tell me exactly what happened at the hotel, but I have a fairly good idea of what the two of you were up to. On the one hand, you're both adults and can do what you want, even if it is sleeping with your boss. On the other hand, Tony is my friend, and I've seen him get hurt too many times to just sit back when someone walks into his life. Tony can be like a stick of dynamite; he burns hot and fast and bright. For most people, it's too much to handle, and they drop him the first chance they get."

Peter didn't know what to say. He had scanned Tony's Wikipedia page and had seen all the scandals, the parties, the women. With a history such as his, he could see where Pepper was coming from, especially since they had met at a club. And they'd—what? Had a few drinks? Danced? Was Peter just another name in Tony's black book? Once more Peter wondered if he was the only one who wanted something more than just casual sex.

Pepper crossed her legs the other way and leaned away from Peter. Once again she waited for Peter to add to the conversation, but when he remained silent, she said, "Let's not waste any more time, either mine or Tony's. What is it that you want? Money? A promotion? Just tell me, and we can get this settled without Tony getting his heart broken."

Peter felt like he had been kicked out of a moving bus. He gripped his coffee tighter than he meant to, the lid popping off and spilling all over the table. He jerked his hand back in pain before shooting out of his seat. "It's not like that!"

Peter didn't realize he had shouted until the manager came over to their table and asked what the problem was. Red in the face, Peter apologized profusely before ducking off to get napkins to clean up the spilled coffee while Pepper assured the manager that everything was fine.

"It's not like that," Peter repeated, though much quieter this time. "I'm not some kind of gold digging whore. That first night I met Tony, I didn't even know who he was." He finished cleaning his mess and gathered his belongings to leave. "Look, this clearly spiraled further out of control than either Tony or I had expected. But I'm going to keep seeing him, and if that means I need to leave SI, then…well, honestly, I probably should have done that to start with. I'm sure Barritech will take me back. But if you knew me at all, you'd never accuse me of purposely breaking Tony's heart."

"Wait."

Part of Peter wanted to walk out the door, and if he never saw Pepper again, he couldn't be happier. But he hesitated a second too long, and when he glanced back, he saw the look of sincerity in her eyes. Cautiously, he sat back in his chair, though he remained perched on the edge, ready to flee at a moment's notice.

"I apologize for making assumptions and accusations, but when it comes to Tony, I'm once bitten twice shy. This isn't the first time I've sat down with someone Tony is interested in, and all but you have taken the money."

Peter relaxed further in his chair. "I really like him, Pepper. He's… We haven't known each other long, but he's…passionate. Thrilling. And he already treats me far better than any of my past boyfriends."

"Well, I have to say, you two went about this in the stupidest way possible."

"Fair."

She drained the last of her coffee before walking with Peter to the door. It had started to rain, and she held up her umbrella for both of them. "I really hope you know what you're doing, Peter…though I highly suspect that you don't."

Gladys removed her glasses and rubbed her temples. "Ms. Potts, I have to say that right now I very much feel like a chaperone at a middle school dance. Though, I really shouldn't be surprised Mr. Stark is the reason I'll be working late tonight."

"Well, don't work yourself too hard, Gladys. You know Tony. The novelty that is Peter Parker may well be worn off by this time next week. I mean, I love Tony, but things that don't stay exciting don't always hold his attention span for long."

"And did you get a good read on Mr. Parker? What do you think he wants out of all this?"

"Honestly? I think that poor boy might actually be in love."

Tony knew he was being childish, and maybe a little petty, having locked himself into his workshop ever since the return from Batavia nearly a week before. He had hidden behind Pepper while they conducted their experiments, each one a more spectacular failure than the previous. The more failures they had, the more downtrodden their group became, and the harder it was for Tony to strike up a conversation with Peter. Maybe, he lied to himself, if one thing had gone right, it would have given him an excuse to approach Peter. Maybe even pull him into a deep kiss, in front of Pepper, in front of everyone.

But it hadn't happened, and Peter hadn't approached him, either.

"What did I do wrong?" Tony asked himself, then quickly plunged himself back into his work when his self-sabotaging brain began compiling a list.

"I thought things were going well, but what did we really have apart from a few grope sessions and a blowjob? Maybe that's all Peter wanted out of this. After all, we never discussed taking things any further than that.

"What went wrong?"

He pretended the question was about the failed experiments at Fermilab and not about his botched attempt at a relationship with Peter.

Peter's finger hovered over the call button. He should call Tony and tell him that he met with Pepper, but did Tony even want to speak to him? They hadn't said two words to each other since their rendezvous in the hotel showers. Was that all that Tony wanted? It's not like either of them had indicated they wanted anything other than sex.

He should call Tony; he really should. He should tell him…

His screen timed out, and he was left staring at his reflection, his thumb still hovering over where Tony's number should be.

"I made it quite clear the last time you were both in here that I never wanted to see either of you again, yet here we are."

They were back in the conference room, lawyers, Pepper, Gladys, and all. Tony sat with a posture of forced relaxation, looking pointedly anywhere except Peter. Though his DITA sunglasses were switched for a pair of Ediths, Peter still couldn't see his expression through the lenses. Peter noted that the gray of his suit and cornflower blue of his shirt matched the colors in Peppers dress and wondered if it was a coincidence or not.

"I also recall telling you that transparency was essential, yet here we are.

"Ms. Potts and I have spoken, and we've determined that if the two of you are not to be trusted—and you've proven that about one hundred times over—then we will force you through the proper channels. Interoffice romance isn't illegal, but there is assuredly a right way and a very, very, very wrong way to go about it. Now if you two insist on seeing one another—and please spare me the sordid details this time around—then you'll need to set up some boundaries as well as be open about your relationship."

"If you can call it a relationship," Pepper amended.

Peter felt Tony's gaze swing in his direction, though hidden behind his sunglasses. He dropped his own gaze to the tabletop, fearful of what Tony might have to say in response to Pepper's comment.

"Regardless," Gladys continued, not giving either of them a chance to speak, "we are all bound by company policy. You of all people, Mr. Stark, should be aware of such, seeing as how it is your company."

Tony's phone rang. After glancing at the caller ID, he stood and said, "You are correct that it is my company, which means I need to take this call. Just let me know where to sign."

"Mr. Stark—"

The door closed behind him. Six pairs of eyes swung to Peter, and he slouched further in his chair, wishing he could disappear like Tony had.

Peter was losing weight. He felt too nauseous for breakfast, still felt queasy around lunch, and only picked at his meal at dinner. It had been three weeks since Batavia, and he had neither seen nor spoken to Tony.

Yet he still wore Tony's shirts to bed.

"Just text him," MJ coaxed as she tried to force feed him a turkey sandwich. "It doesn't even need to be a long text. Just a 'hey' or a 'you up.'"

Peter mulled it over as he thumbed Tony's contact open on his phone. "Wouldn't it be weird if he got a message from me out of nowhere after all this time?"

"The more time you spend not texting him, the weirder it gets." MJ sighed and abandoned the sandwich in order to curl up with Peter on the couch. "Look, you're both adults. If you want something, you're going to have to talk to each other about it. Besides, what's the worst that would happen?"

Peter sniffed and curled further into MJ's side, pulling the blanket off the back of the couch to cover the both of them. "The worst? He could say he never wants to see me again."

"Yeah? And how is that worse than what's going on now? You haven't seen him in weeks anyway. And the best case scenario…he could want to see you right now and hasn't texted you because you haven't texted him."

Peter grumbled and pulled the blanket over his head.

Tony rarely slept well, but this may have been a new record. Rhodey finally managed to coax him out of the workshop and into the living room where he turned on the TV for background noise. He fluffed a pillow and coaxed Tony into laying his head in his lap.

"Tones, if you're this miserable, just call him. Running away is only going to make things worse. Besides, Pepper went through all that trouble to get HR to give their blessing. The least you can do is text him."

"He hasn't texted me," Tony mumbled into Rhodey's lap.

Rhodey smacked him. "What are you, twelve? That's not how this works. You're the one who—God, I can't believe I'm saying this—approached him for sex, then completely ignored him the following day. He probably thinks that once you sucked him off, you were done with him. You never indicated that you wanted anything other than a fuck buddy. You're only hurting your own feelings. Tony, are you even listening?"

Tony's quiet snore let Rhodey know that Tony had drifted off. With a soft smile, he drew a blanket over Tony and adjusted the pillow under his head. Tony shifted and moaned before falling into a deeper sleep.