Pepper had a list hidden away in a secret folder on her computer. The title was a series of random letters and numbers achieved by closing her eyes and hitting eleven random keys. Any hacker or burglar would write it off as junk and move on, or so she hoped. Every couple of days she'd go into the folder and open the single file inside.

Reasons Why I Should Permanently Break Up With Tony

1: He's completely unreliable. He can't shake bad habits and he can't keep promises.

2: He's full of himself. Even when he's saving people there's this stink of arrogance like he thinks he's owed something for it.

3: He hogs the bedsheets at night.

4: His idea of date night is making a Pepper sized suit and racing around the world.

5: David, the deputy director of R&D, is clearly interested in me and is a really sweet guy I'd be lucky to have.

6: He's never going to stop being Ironman, which means he's never going to stop risking his life, which means I'll always have to fear for his life when he's on missions.

There was no point in rereading the list, she had it memorized by now. The latest news report of Captain America's prison breakout and subsequent disappearance as he and his accomplices went on the lam played outside Pepper's door. Interns and secretaries argued passionately about the proceedings, and from what little Pepper picked up, it seemed Stark Industries was evenly split between supporting Cap and supporting Tony. She hoped no reporters would be asking for her opinion. At this point, she had no idea what she would say, only that it would be loud and mostly censored.

She hit enter, going down to the next line.

7: He signed government paperwork without consulting SI's legal department even though he knows damn well we have the best lawyers in the country who would have weeded out any vague wording or hidden clauses and maybe prevented this massive shitstorm. Or at least contain it.

She added a few expletives, only to delete them right after. It was more effective and less painful than punching the wall, and better on her voice than calling him and screaming in his ear. She sat slumped over, staring at the modern art piece above her couch. Tony had scoffed the first time he saw it. He thought it looked like a ten-year-old playing with MS paint. Now that she thought about it, this painting was pretty basic. Just a straight line on a white background. She could do that in two seconds

An alert came up on her instant messenger and her heart stopped. She had several hundred contacts, mostly business partners who messaged her daily for status updates. Realistically, she shouldn't assume it was Tony when there was only a one in three hundred chance she was right. Except she was pretty sure most of the other two hundred and ninety-nine people with her info couldn't activate her messenger remotely when she didn't even have the app open.

TStark: Hey Pep!

Two words after a month of no contact with an exclamation point at the end. Yup, that was Tony.

TStark: Sorry if you're busy but I wanted to talk.

TStark: Nothing important, just thinking of you. :)

Smileys were new, though.

TStark: Okay, that's not entirely true, a lot of important stuff is going on. And you probably know most of it.

TStark: You probably want to yell at me.

"Bingo," Pepper muttered.

TStark: That is absolutely fine. You can scream your head off until I go deaf and I will take it. I know I messed up. I know I should've talked to you. Believe me, it's all I've been thinking about for weeks (okay maybe not all I've been thinking about but you know since we're on a break nighttimes have been kind of lonely so…).

Pepper giggled. Damn Tony and his charm even when he was trying to grovel. He could drown a bag of puppies and crack jokes about it, and he'd still get a laugh out of her.

TStark: I mean, if I were you I'd be on the phone laying into me for hours. Of course, I could never do it as well as you. Have I ever thanked you for consistently taking me down a peg every day for the past twenty years?

TStark: If I haven't, let me give you a kiss right now.

There was a kiss emoji at the end of that comment. In fact, there were several. At least fifteen by Pepper's count. It made her think of his real lips, how full and pink they were. The way his facial hair tickled her skin when they kissed. The glorious beard burn she got when she spread her legs and let him-

"Ms. Potts, the deputy director of finances for you on line two."

Pepper coughed, though there was nothing in her throat. "Thanks, Sylvia. Would you take a message? I'm in the middle of an important meeting."

Tony had sent three more messages when she checked again.

TStark: Anyway, I was wondering if maybe you wanted to meet up sometime? Not for a date or anything, just to talk. I miss our talks.

TStark: Also Dum-E misses you. I swear I caught him crying the other day over a picture of you. It was weird, but I'm not one to judge.

TStark: We don't have to go out. We could eat at Chez My Kitchen. I think I've finally perfected my omelet making technique.

'That'll be the day,' she thought. Her hands inched towards the keyboard, fingers burning and mind filling with words and phrases and things that simply had to be said no matter where they went from here.

One more message appeared before she could.

TStark: I just miss you, Pepper. I miss you so much.

Her heart didn't twist because it had been aching since his first 'Hey Pep'. She pictured him at his desk, or in his suit dictating to FRIDAY, eyes bloodshot and body ragged from life and supersoldier fists beating down on him. He looked no better than she felt.

Her list was minimized at the bottom of the screen. Clicking on it, Pepper read it one more time. Seven perfectly understandable reasons why they weren't meant to be. Why if she did meet him, they should part ways as amicable friends, ready to move on to a new chapter in life.

By the time Pepper got to the last line, she was more convinced than ever that breaking up with Tony was the best thing for both of them… and so she scrolled down to the next page.

Reasons Why I Should Stay With Tony

1: Tony has done more to better himself than anyone I've ever met. He'll always have flaws, but who doesn't? And who else would work so hard to overcome their flaws even if they still make mistakes?

2: He cares so much about helping people, even when he pretends it's all for an ego boost. He'll go to Hell and back to protect the world.

3: I drink milk from the carton when I'm too lazy to use a glass so I guess I owe him the sheets.

4: And having my own suit would be kind of cool even though it's also terrifying.

5: David from R&D has awful hair and only ever talks about soccer. I hate soccer. I'd be bored to tears with him.

6: Becoming Ironman was the best thing Tony ever did and it made him the man I fell in love with. The man I'll always love.

Oh yeah, that's right. How could she have forgotten?

Pepper smiled and pulled the chat window up.

PPotts: I miss you, too.