"Hey, Pepper."
"Tony, it's two am. Are the stocks crashing?"
"Well, no, but I have a question."
"Is it important?"
"Yes."
"Okay, what is it?"
"So this guy asked me for your number. He goes by Deadpool but he's actually - "
"No."
"Right, okay. Just wondered."
"Good night, Tony."
"Night, Pep."
"Hello, looks like you reached me. Leave a message, or, you know, send coffee."
"Hey Tony, here's a funny story. You know how I had a meeting with Charles this week? So we're all sitting down for lunch, and Colossus has apparently decided that I love strawberries. And when I tell him I'm allergic, he doesn't believe me. Because someone told him it was my favorite food. Where do you imagine he could have gotten that idea? Now he thinks it's because of the metal thing. I do not have a problem with metal. I dated you during your wear-metal-to-bed phase, for heaven's sake! Tony, you need to stop, or I swear to god I am going to - "
It's a beautiful, sunny Wednesday afternoon, and Pepper is spending it in one of the large, climate controlled conference halls at the Avengers Compound in upstate New York. The conference runs long. The Avengers are announcing an expansion of their West Coast presence. There are at least six potential new Avenger members from the other side of the country sitting at the main table, and the press has questions.
So many questions.
And Pepper has to be there. As much work as she puts in to keep a clear separation between just how much of SI's (and Tony's own) money is financing the Avengers, and the Avengers' independent, non-partisan superhero-ing, the press still loses its collective mind if Pepper misses even one of these big talking events. Spending three hours with a pleasant expression on her face at a long table for VIPs is still preferable to having to repeat in every interview for the next two months that no, she is not defunding the world's protectors, and no, there is no deep and traumatic rift between SI and Avengers, and no, she is not feuding with Tony because he's discovered her insidious plot to take over the Avengers.
That last headline is still Tony's favorite. He even sent her a framed copy of the magazine cover: an illustration of Pepper standing over a fallen Iron Man, one high heeled stiletto pinning him to the ground. Tony autographed it with a big, black sharpie, "All you had to do was ask! Love, Tony."
Pepper refuses to accept it on principle, so now the framed cover just hangs in his office at the Avengers compound.
So, even through the press event has nothing to do with her, Pepper has to be there. She pretends to pay attention. At the end of the table, Tony doesn't even bother to pretend. He's slumped in his seat, sunglasses on, texting on his phone. Pepper's phone occasionally buzzes against her thigh and Pepper indulges in daydreams of throwing something at him.
By the time the press event (and the press event post-event debrief) is over, the media and VIP guests are long gone. There are just a few staffers left clearing the tables and chairs. A tall, lanky man balances on a ladder by the far wall, working on the last knot from a hanging banner as she walks past and out the doors to the parking lot. Before she got Extremis, her feet would have been killing her, but she's still more than ready to take off her shoes and catch up on some emails as her driver takes her back to the city.
Outside, the evening air is still holding on to the summer heat. Further down the parking lot, she catches sight of Tony making his trademark wide and expansive gestures as he speaks to a small group of people. She recognizes them as the prospective Avengers for the West Coast division. As Pepper walks over, she scans the driveway and then the parking lot for her driver.
Nothing.
"Pepper!" Tony calls, waving her over. When she doesn't speed up her steps, he bounces over and slips his arm through hers. His suit is rumpled from slouching, but his eyes are bright and sparkling. "Come on, I want you to meet someone!"
Pepper doesn't trust it. "Tony, do you know what happened to my car?"
"Nope, no idea. But hey- I have the best idea - " Tony tugs her over to the group. Pepper nods at the three women and two men as she tries to extract her arm from Tony so she can text her assistant.
"Robbie here can give you a ride, he's got this really neat sixty-nine charger," Tony pronounces, gesturing at the man in a leather jacket standing next to a large black muscle car as if presenting a prize at a game show. This man named Robbie has a shock of a white streak in his dark brown hair and looks just as startled by the offer as Pepper. The other people milling around watch the scene with interest.
Pepper is pretty sure she knows where this is going. "I appreciate that, but I don't - "
"Robbie's here from California and has a fire thing too," Tony plows on. "Did you know Pepper has a house in California? You two have so much in common. So much. Okay, awesome, I have to go. Actually we all have to go now, we're all going back inside, but you guys take care, bye, have a good date- I mean, drive - "
Robbie stares at Tony's retreating back as Tony herds the rest of the onlookers towards the compound, then he looks back at Pepper. He clears his throat. "I feel like I should be apologizing, but I'm not sure for what."
"Tony has that effect on people," Pepper tells him, her voice dry, and taps her phone. "Friday?"
"Yes, Ms. Potts?"
"How soon can the car be here?"
"Forty minutes."
When Tony goes out of his way to sabotage, he really goes all in.
"Would you like to take me to requisition the quinjet?" Friday asks. "Or boss's suit?"
"Tempting," Pepper mutters. "But it's not that kind of emergency."
"I honestly don't mind dropping you off," Robbie offers. "I'm heading down south anyway."
He sounds sincere and Pepper really looks at him for the first time that evening. Like most of the people Tony's tried to set her up with so far, Robbie is younger than her, maybe in his late twenties, and only slightly taller, with a startling set of eyes - one brown and one green - set on a sharp and expressive face. A streak of white makes its way through his thick, dark brown hair like a fashion statement. Pepper wonders if maybe he turns into a fire skunk. Superhero power markings tend to be pretty literal.
"Robbie Reyes," he introduces himself after a beat.
Pepper reaches out and takes his hand in a firm shake. "Virginia Potts. Everyone calls me Pepper."
Pepper knows she can settle down in one of the couches by the entrance of the Compound and spend the next half hour catching up on work until her driver arrives from whatever wild goose chase Tony sent him on. But Pepper had a long day, she's ready to get off her feet, and if Robbie really does become a West Coast Avenger in her corner of California, she doesn't exactly hate the idea of getting to know him.
"Thank you," Pepper says, with a more genuine smile this time. "I'd really appreciate a lift."
During the fifty-minute ride, Robbie tells Pepper it's his first time in New York City. He's planning to swing by and stay for the weekend before taking a road trip back to California. They talk about Robbie's touristing plans, and Pepper's favorite places back in Los Angeles, and the best places for dumplings. Their conversation even wanders over into the world of classic cars - a topic that Pepper's surprised to realize she knows enough about to hold up her end of a conversation. Who knew the more-than-a-decade of working around Tony's pet car-restoration projects would come in handy.
Even more surprisingly, time flies. Pepper can't remember the last time she just chatted with someone about nothing of consequence. It's not business and it's not politics. It feels…nice.
"Hey, if you want to see a little bit of New York, why don't you come up with me?" Pepper says on impulse, the next time they stop at a red light. "The view from the roof on Avenger Tower is great this time of night, and I can order us some food. It's the least I can do to thank you for taking me all the way to Manhattan."
"You sure?" Robbie asks, looking over as if to check if she is serious.
Pepper smiles and takes out her phone. "I'll double my usual order."
The rest of the drive passes in companionable quiet, broken only by Pepper's quiet directions. The quiet buzz of Pepper's phone lets her know when the food is ready, stored for her in the rooftop warmer. Robbie pulls up to the sidewalk by the tower just a few minutes later.
Pepper spends the ride up in the elevator staring at Robbie, watching him look with curious fascination out the glass at the city as they rise ever higher. She can't shake the memory of Tony telling her to give his list of boyfriend prospects a chance.
Robbie is nice.
Sure, there's the age difference (fifteen years isn't terrible at their age, right?) and the fact that this man is at least vigilante-adjacent. But he's thinking of joining as an official Avenger and he has a nice smile. And he fills out his leather jacket and tight denim jeans like a dream. Maybe they can look at the New York Skyline and then have a nice short fling and -
"Tony said your powers are fire-related?" Pepper asks. Because she can't not ask.
"Something like that," Robbie said with a shrug, glancing away from the skyline.
Pepper holds out her hand and relaxes the control over Extremis just enough to make her fingers glow, the air around them wavering from the heat. "Something like that for me too."
Robbie reaches for her, and Pepper snatches her fingers away and back, heart pounding.
They stare at each other for a long moment, and then Robbie turns his hand over, palm up. His voice is gentle when he says, "You won't burn me."
The elevator doors open to the rooftop, letting in the cool night breeze. Neither of them make a move to get off the elevator. Pepper's eyes flicker between Robbie's hand hovering between them and the soft expression on his face. He looks like he's ready to wait however long she wants, his hand held out between them as if inviting her to step out with him onto a dance floor.
It's a nice hand, a wide palm with callouses, wrist relaxed and fingers long and slender. Pepper knows what her power can do to this young man's hand. The Avengers already have a one-armed member. Pepper dating seems like an awful reason to double that number and permanently maim a young hero.
Pepper is good at reading people, she has to be, and for all that the leather jacket and slicked back hair makes Robbie look like a young man out to prove himself, she sees no false bravado in his face. There is a relaxed certainty in Robbie's mismatched eyes.
And for all of Tony's wild enthusiasm for his plan to set Pepper up on a date, Pepper trusts Friday to have done her research.
The wind is whistling quietly past the open elevator doors as Pepper lifts her hand and lets her control over Extremis slip. The space around her shivers from the heat as her temperature climbs and settles. Robbie's hand doesn't waver as the heated air inside the elevator shivers around them.
The list of things that Pepper controls (directly and indirectly) is long. She controls SI, oversees Tony's vast financial holdings, a great chunk of the Avengers' financial backing, several Boards on which she is a member, a huge swathe of the media, and half the time, SHIELD and a number of other government agencies thanks to all the other aforementioned controlling interests she has. Her calendar is broken out into 15 minute intervals overseen by a small team of eagle-eyed staffers who keep all the moving pieces on track and run her life. Three more assistants triage her inbox. There is also a nutritionist, and a sleep schedule frequently interrupted by crises that sometimes involve SI's international holdings, but usually are all about Tony forgetting what time it is before calling.
Letting go of the control is like coming up from the bottom of a pool and finally taking a deep breath. It feels like taking off her shoes after a long day.
Pepper isn't brave enough to take his hand, but she does lift hers. And in a quiet moment between heartbeats, Robbie smiles and slips his hand into hers.
His skin is just slightly cooler than Pepper's and it stays that way as he gives her hand a reassuring squeeze. Pepper stares, breathless. Across from her, Robbie has no trouble with the heated air, his chest moving slightly as he breathes. He's completely fine.
Pepper laughs, making her giddy with relief and the heat around her flares, the mirror walls of the elevator wavering and warping. Robbie's jacket takes exception to this, the threading on the edges beginning to smoke.
"Oh, I'm so sorry," Pepper chokes off her laugh and her powers, but she can't stop smiling. "I'll get you a new jacket."
"It's all right. You'd be surprised at how many of these I end up going through," Robbie says, tugging Pepper out of the elevator, their hands still clasped.
"Our R&D team is getting close to putting fireproof leather on the market," Pepper says, give or take a very loose definition of 'close.' "I can get you one of the samples. Maybe you can help us test it out?"
On the roof, Pepper leads Robbie to the gazebo and the futuristic looking appliance that is keeping their dumplings warm. The low, angled floodlights are on, illuminating the space, and the space is hung with lamps and smaller lights that twinkle like large fireflies.
Pepper and Robbie pick a spot right next to the edge of the roof, and pull a table and chairs over to enjoy the view. Pepper hasn't felt real cold ever since the transformation, and Robbie looks just as happy to be closer to the view.
Pepper is giddy as they eat and talk. She knows this isn't a love story: he's so young and they have nothing in common. Their only point of connection is their ability to shrug off one thousand degree heat. But for the first time since she realized she'd have to adjust her expectations about what the love life would look like for the rest of her life, Pepper feels a bright spark of excitement and interest. Maybe she can have it all.
Robbie is hot and sweet and leaving New York in just a couple days. They can have a no-strings attached fling. She can finally just relax and go with the flow.
Pepper is already making a mental list of the meetings she can cancel for tomorrow when Robbie turns away from the shimmering New York skyline, that same soft smile playing on his lips. Their eyes catch.
Maybe Tony is right. It's time to live a little.
Pepper leans in for a kiss.
"And you know what happened next? His entire head bursts into flame and I am suddenly kissing a skeleton. A skeleton that is on fire , and also, apparently, Ghost Rider is a completely different personality from regular old Robbie Reyes. Did you know that? Did we know that? And then he jumps off the roof. The roof, Tony. Of Stark Tower. Stop laughing, this isn't funny."
"It's- it's- It's a little funny. So…he j- just jumps?"
"Off the roof . And you just know the city is going to make us pay for the crater in the sidewalk. Insurance won't cover it either, because it's not like I can call it superhero business. What am I supposed to put on the claims form? Date gone wrong? Yes, yes, sure, laugh it up. You sound like a dying hyena."
"I- I- I don't. Do not. N-no I don't - "
"Yes, you do. Tony, listen to me, no more dates. I'm serious. I get that you're trying to help, but you have to let me figure this out myself."
"Okay, okay - Just- okay- gimme a second here."
"A dying hyena with its head stuck in a pickle jar."
"Oh god - okay, I'm okay."
"Do you need another moment?"
"No- y- yes, yeah, probably. But okay, okay Pep, I got it, what if we talk to Doctor Strange? He might have some ideas for a - "
"Absolutely not. If I wanted to talk to Stephen, I'd call him myself."
"What? How do you have his number? Why don't I have his number? He told me to do this ritual thing where I have to spin in place three times and pour water over - "
"Good night, Tony. And no more dates. You hear me?"
"Okay, okay, no more dates."
"Promise me."
"But what about - "
"Promise."
"Okay, Pep, no more dates. I promise."
"Hi, ah, hi, Pep- Miss Potts. I'm so sorry I'm calling again, I'm not sure if you got my other message. Messages. I just wanted to say again how sorry I am about what happened, and I didn't mean to make it sound in my last message that I thought you wanted a serious relationship or anything, just that I don't think I'm ready and you're in New York a lot of the time and you're a really big deal, but I'm so sorry about how I overreacted. Sometimes the devil just takes over- I mean, not like that - just… shit. Crap, how do I delete this?"
For the next three weeks, everything is quiet on the dating front. Pepper, who is not , in fact, looking for a relationship, finally calls back a painfully earnest not-ready-for-a-relationship Robbie to let him off the hook. And then, that seems to be it.
There are no more voicemails about fire-inclined hotties from Tony, and there are no new people at the Avenger's facility when Pepper swings by for a meeting. When Tony and Pepper end up at another gala in Boston, they have a lovely chat with the new ambassador from France and the visiting Prime Minister from Singapore, both of whom are married, and the only numbers that are exchanged are for strictly business.
Pepper finally begins to relax.
Thing is, she should know better.
She is in her office in New York when it happens.
The air in front of Pepper shimmers with green and gold. The dancing sparks swirl to reveal a figure in green and black leather. The gold helmet on his head is adorned with two giant curling horns.
"Lady Virginia Potts," Loki drawls with a wide sweep of his hands and a move that could have been an elaborate bow–or a stage magician's flourish. "I am here to kidnap you."
Oh, Tony, no.