Tony is up to something. But he also manages to pull up a new Starkphone prototype the next time Pepper stops by, so Pepper can't be too mad at him and his shady ways. The new generation phone has a microprocessor design that Tony promises will triple the device's processing speed.
"Nothing the regular joe on the street will notice, but - "
"Industry and military applications," Pepper finishes for him. She gives him one more suspicious squint, but is distracted from trying to edge towards the forbidden end of the workshop by a familiar emoji name popping up on her phone. "One sec."
She taps on the message, and her lips twitch into a smile to see Loki's message.
"Who are you texting?" Tony hooks his chin over her shoulder. He smells like cologne and grease and unabashed curiosity. "And why are they telling you their thoughts about different types of management styles?"
"Because it's from my favorite book," Pepper says and bumps his chin with her shoulder. "Stop snooping."
Tony snoops harder. "Who is green apple, green book, Christmas tree emoji and why do they care about management science? Are you texting with Bruce?"
"Bruce does not have a monopoly on the color green."
"Sure he does." Tony shrugs. "I trademarked it."
"You can't just trademark an entire color."
"My lawyers say I can."
"They're lying."
"It's probably still tied up in the courts," Tony decides. "We'll win eventually."
For their third date, Loki makes plans to take Pepper to the opera, followed by dinner at an upscale French restaurant located at the top of a building that Pepper is pretty sure is owned by one of Tony's real estate subsidiaries.
This time, Loki meets her (at the promised time and in the promised place) in the lobby of her building, wearing a sleek fancy suit and just enough illusion to keep the security guard from calling the cops. They take one of the company cars and have sparkling water out of fancy glasses during their ride over to the Metropolitan Opera.
Pepper swans through the crowd of opera-goers on the arm of a Loki who looks just enough like his true self to be dashing and elegant, but enough like yet another one of Pepper's rotating cast of dark-haired models to raise no eyebrows. Loki wears the suit and altered features well, but Pepper misses his complicated, sweeping Asgardian leather and sharp, almost foxlike angles of his features.
Unlike the models and actors that Pepper's PR team carefully curates and schedules for Pepper's outings, though, Pepper is already on date number three. She is hoping to get date number four and five on the calendar soon too.
But first, she needs to come clean about her powers - or, if Loki already knows about those, to make sure the "Frost" in "Frost Giant" isn't literal (or meltable). The first half of the show passes in a blur. Pepper is sure she's seen and liked this opera before. From Loki's frequent, quick glances over at her, she's also pretty sure Loki picked it for a reason. But if Loki is being clever, she's too distracted by the impending Talk to appreciate it.
During intermission, Pepper is recognized by an older couple, a woman in a lovely dress and gorgeous shawl and a sharp-looking older gentleman man who warmly shakes her hand. Loki is, of course, recognized by no-one.
When they're stopped again, it's by another couple Pepper only remembers after they introduce themselves: Jenny and Holt from the Ollitech conglomerate. They make fertilizer and pesticide-resistant crops, and move with the sleek prowl of predators on the hunt. They're charming and, when the theater warning bell chimes, hint they'd like to talk about partnership opportunities.
Loki looks pleased when Pepper declines their invitation to join them in their private box.
"You did not need to sacrifice business on my account," Loki says as they drift leisurely back to their own seats. "I well understand the pressures of ruling."
"This is much nicer," Pepper tells Loki, slipping her arm through his.
When the curtains rise again, Loki conjures up a pair of bejeweled opera binoculars out of nowhere. Pepper accepts with a smile. And when Loki shifts closer to point something out in the scenery, Pepper leans right back into him. Loki doesn't retreat, a warm presence along her side.
Sometime between the last two acts, his arm comes up around her shoulders, and Pepper smiles at the opera below.
For a little while, she pretends to forget the impending Talk and just enjoys the moment.
When they exit the Met, it's night, but the hot and muggy air hits them like a wall.
"I'm not sure I'm hungry enough for a full dinner," Pepper says. Any appetite she might have had has been chased away by nerves.
She knows based on their outfits just how fancy the rest of their evening plans will be. But Loki doesn't seem upset.
"Change of plans, then," he says, catching her hand in his. "We can skip straight to dessert."
Pepper opens her mouth to protest the implication in that gem of a sentence when the silver and gold fountain of the Metropolitan Opera disappears in front of her, to be replaced with the bright and cheerful window-front of an ice cream cafe.
The place is still open, though deserted. Loki brushes a light kiss over the knuckles of Pepper's gloved hand.
"Shall we?"
The young man behind the counter doesn't blink twice when Pepper and Loki sweep in their opera finery. Pepper's long white gloves and shimmery dress is matched only by Loki's three piece suit and the illusion of a perfectly straight nose stuck to the middle of his face. (Pepper wants to poke it. She knows she shouldn't poke it.)
"We're closing in ten minutes," the man warns as they browse the selection.
In the end, Pepper piles on the flavors and Loki follows suit. By the time they walk outside, Pepper's towers of scoops are tottering in her plastic cup and she ignores the tiny spoon in favor of licking the sides to keep her ice cream from falling over. Loki's ice cream, however, is a perfectly chilled tower of lime, lemon, mango, and mint scoops, steaming in the hot air and not even melting a little.
"You're cheating," Pepper tells him as he pulls out a seat for her at one of the plastic chairs outside the ice cream place.
"Always," Loki agrees with a grin.
It's now, or never, Pepper realizes. She needs to talk to Loki about Extremis before this goes any further. She needs to know if they are possible before she lets her heart have any feelings about this date or the charming sparkle in his eyes. Her eyes drop to the ice-cream cup in her hand as she carefully tugs off her gloves.
Cold and hot, it's as good a conversation segue as Pepper's ever going to find. She's practiced this. She's got this.
"Do you like ice cream?" Pepper asks.
"It reminds me of home."
"Because you're a frost giant?" The words just tumble out. Only years of media training keep her from throwing her hands up in front of her mouth. Or melting her plastic seat in abject horror.
Something tightens in Loki's expression. "Because we eat ice cream on Asgard during the hottest of the summer days."
"That's not - I didn't mean- I just, I heard you- that you were an ice giant."
"Is that what you heard?" And now there is an edge in Loki's voice too
"Yes, Thor mentioned it when - " Pepper breaks off, her eyes wide. Crap. She isn't supposed to mention Thor either, and now Loki is just straight up glaring at her.
"I was not aware that Thor was a part of this - " Loki begins and Pepper panics. She needs a distraction.
She holds her hand out and makes a small fireball the size of a very angry pebble flare to life in the middle of her palm. The air around her fingers shimmers from the heat. Her fingertips white as her hand glows with Extremis. The tight expression slips off Loki's face as he stares at the small, glowing sun of heat that is Pepper's hand.
Slowly, she pulls the energy back, like clenching an invisible fist. The light goes out. The air around her hand wavers for a little bit longer, then that too is gone as her body temperature stabilizes again.
"It took me a while to stop setting things on fire," Pepper says, focusing on her ice cream because the Extremis heat hadn't helped the melting. It doesn't hurt that the ice cream gives her an excuse to avoid looking at Loki's reaction.
"Oh," Loki says, and Pepper can't help it. She looks up.
Anything else he might have said is interrupted by the jangle of the bell over the door to the ice cream shop. The young man has traded in his uniform for a heavy hoodie and jeans, and is pulling a bicycle over the threshold and onto the street. He locks up and, ignoring Pepper and Loki completely, mounts the bike and pedals away.
The lights from the store window front stay on, their colorful lights throw a rainbow pattern to the street and the table where Pepper and Loki sit.
"Remember how I told you I don't date much?" Pepper says. She turns her hand over, palm up, with a frown. "I don't want to worry about hurting someone if I'm not paying attention. Sort of ruins the moment, you know."
"I imagine so…" Loki says. He has shaken off his earlier displeasure and is looking at Pepper and her hand with a speculative sort of interest. The tilt of his head is different, and the way his eyes narrow just oh-so-slightly is pure Loki, but the gleam in his eyes makes her think of Tony about to do something risky and scientific. "Would you show me again?"
Pepper does, her hand beginning to glow, her nails turning into bright crescents of white on each finger.
Loki's own hand sparkles with green as he reaches out. Pepper braces herself -
And then Loki's fingertips touch her palm, and nothing happens.
"I have magic," Loki says, looking smug as Pepper lets out her breath in a sharp huff of relief. "Fire is no match for sorcery."
Pepper smiles at him, a new light in her eyes. "Good."
They hold hands as they talk. The street is quiet, in the way of New York City - plenty of moving cabs, lots of traffic and pedestrians, and no one paying one bit of attention to the couple whiling the night away in front of an ice cream store. Pepper suspects Loki's magic might have something to do with it, because her hand still glows faintly with red-gold and the occasional sparkle rises like a green ember from where their fingers are linked. She doesn't rule out that it's just New York, though.
Eventually, the conversation meanders back to fire again.
Loki seems to be turning something over in his mind. "With this power at your beck and call and your company at your back, surely you are the more rightful leader of the Avengers."
"I'm no superhero," Pepper says with a rueful shake of her head. "I am much better at cutting budgets than cutting down villains."
"I did not give credence to the rumors at the time," Loki says, his voice cautious, but his eyes bright and sharp on Pepper's face. "But I have heard that you struck the mortal blow to more than one of Iron Man's foes."
Pepper frowns. "Financially, maybe."
"The conniving uncle," Loki explains. "The one who sought to steal from your company and sell weapons for his own profit. He is said to have met an untimely end at your hand."
Pepper knows exactly who Loki's talking about. "I'm not sure I'd call Stane's death - "
"What of the man who sought to raise an army of burning soldiers?" Loki continues. "I heard he came close to taking down the Man of Iron, only to perish in…fire."
Pepper can feel her cheeks warming.
"Extenuating circumstances," Pepper said, trying to keep her voice lofty. "They shouldn't have tried to go after my friend."
"Indeed. And my apologies, Lady Virginia." Loki gives her hand a gentle squeeze. "I do not mean to pry into your secrets. I merely meant to share my admiration."
"Right."
Pepper isn't sure how it happened, but in Loki's eyes, she's somehow taken on the aspect of the master puppeteer of the Avengers, the shadowy power behind the throne who steps out only when pressed to crush her enemies. And judging by Loki's pleased expression and admiring looks, he likes it. A lot.
"I do not like it when people touch my stuff," Pepper tells Loki in a cool voice, trying to channel her best Tony. And it works. Loki practically sparkles with interest, body language screaming 'tell me more."
It is heady to be the focus of such undivided attention. Yes, reporters and lawyers and consultants always give her their hungry focus. But never because they want to watch her rule with an iron fist and tear her opposition to shreds. Loki thinks she is someone powerful. Someone dangerous.
Pepper grins, a sharp expression. And Loki smiles back.
Unfortunately, Pepper does not actually have a cache of ready-to-go stories about how she single-handedly takes down villains, leaps over buildings, or pulls the puppet strings on international governing bodies. She can make something up, but supervillain or not, it doesn't feel right to start her relationship with Loki on a lie. So, instead, she tells Loki about the disaster that was the one (and only) time Hammer Industries tried to do a hostile corporate takeover of one of Stark's independent subsidiaries.
And somehow, Loki seems just as interested. And not just in the parts where Pepper crushes her enemies with legal loopholes, either.
"- so then there's Tony, trying to impress the prime minister with his rendition of a Japanese tea ceremony," Pepper is saying, flying high on Loki's attention. "Meanwhile I'm in the hall, trying to find somewhere to stash the goat before anyone realizes what's going on. I just manage to get the animal into a - "
Her eyes drop to their clasped hands on the table, and she breaks off mid-word. Her hand is still glowing faintly in Loki's. But the green sparkles are gone. Instead, Loki's hand is a frosted sky-blue to the cuff of his suit, some sort of tattoo linework traced along the backs of his knuckles. Next to their clasped hands, the ice cream has re-frozen mid-melt, the scoops lopsided and lightly frosted. The plastic tabletop, warped earlier by the heat, is frosted too.
Loki realizes what happened half a second after Pepper, and twitches his hand back and to his chest. He looks more startled, than hurt.
Frost giant. Right.
"It didn't feel cold," Pepper says with a frown, staring down at her palm as she settles Extremis and the glow fades from her skin. "Did it feel like anything to you?"
"What?" Loki doesn't seem to be on the same page as her.
"Did my hand feel hot to you, or…?" Pepper asks, because this is a very important question if they're ever going to kiss. She holds out her hand, part in explanation, part in invitation.
Loki doesn't take it. He still looks upset.
"Maybe we should go back," Loki says instead.
"Okay." Pepper picks up the ice cream. "But you know I don't care what color you are, right?"
The frozen plastic cup crackles slightly in her hand. The ice cream is well below zero when Pepper puts a spoon-full in her mouth, but the sparkle of Extremis in her mouth adds an extra something to the taste, almost like another flavor.
They walk almost five blocks without talking when Loki breaks the silence. "You really do not mind?"
Pepper gives him a sidelong look and a small shrug. "It's not green and gold, but blue is a lovely color too."
