It is Valentine's Day! So for me, apparently, that means Tony Stark fics. Well... Sounds good actually. I'm into that.

No copyright infringement is intended.

TapTap

Pepper had, contrary to popular belief maybe, had plenty of other relationships. Back in the day. Before she got all taken up in running Tony Stark's life... followed by his company. And then just too occupied by Tony Stark himself - it had been a process. Nothing like the insane numbers which could be attributed to her boyfriend, but a healthy amount.

Which rather proved that it was nothing like the number you could associate with Tony, provided you called them relationships. Pepper smirked for herself. Only Tony.

So she'd had the experience. She'd had plenty of Valentine's before. Quite a few nice ones, actually, including but not limited to the grand gesture with over a thousand roses type of deal Tony had organised for her the year before. She was a bit curious what he'd think of this year, and so she had willingly agreed to clear her schedule when asked to. When he told her just how long to clear it for, that had only made her more curious.

When the day of February thirteenth came along, she somewhat warily - but mostly teasingly so, she trusted Tony more than anyone else - boarded the lavish Stark private jet and settled into a chair with her phone. Tony was already present and correct, which wasn't anywhere near as unusual anymore as it once had been, but he was in the middle of a somewhat frantic phone call to R&D to sort out what frankly sounded like a small disaster and she didn't hold it against him for a moment.

She did, however, briefly wonder why they had a Research and Development division still. Tony single-handedly got more patents filed in his average work-week than they did in six months. Not to mention those were always the ones they ended up making the most money out of. Perhaps keeping other engineers weren't very cost effective.

The next moment she realised Tony had used his admittedly unique expertise to hire the best engineers and handing them to the competition with a grudge was probably even less cost effective. Not to mention even her brilliant boyfriend needed a sounding board on occasion, and she was useless for that sort of work. Engrossing herself in making sure she had no emails left needing answers, she completely forgot about the whole thought in moment three.

Pepper had just about finished when there were lips meeting her hair. Making a soft sound of approval, she looked up and met Tony's brown eyes. He gave her a smile, settling down beside her, clearly intent on letting her finish what she was doing. He had really changed in that way. Occasionally. She did so, after first convincing him to lay down against her side. He wasn't very hard to persuade.

A couple of minutes later, Pepper put down her phone and took the glass of champagne she was offered by a stewardess who promptly disappeared again. The large flat-screen turned on straight into one of the business channels and started talking about the new trading trends she had been meaning to keep track of, but hadn't had time to check out.

Tony seemed content to nap against her as she marvelled at how thoughtful he could be while watching the program. Not many boyfriends she had even heard of, nevermind had, would have thought of something so simple and so thougthful.

Eventually, as the windows blacked out and the lights dimmed, Pepper's documentary finished and she went to change from casual business wear to pyjamas. When she returned, she settled down with the now reading Tony and gave him a light kiss, making a point not to warn him. Startling and then chuckling, he put his tablet down to kiss her back.

It was a late morning, complete with a lavish breakfast spread, by the time they landed at a private airstrip, at a private island. Pepper recognised the name as one of Tony's private properties, but couldn't recall where in the world it was located. She could only tell it was hot and that the sea was a tantalising turquise all around them.

They walked up to the house - literally up, as it was located on a small hill for the ultimate view of it all - hand in hand, both barefoot in the sand.

As they neared the open doorway, Tony unexpectedly swung her up into his arms, bridal style, and carried her over the threshold.