A/N: My tell is usually my craving for chocolate or my excessive sleeping. Mm, you'll know what I'm talking about when you get into the chapter :) Happy New Year! P.S, NEVER GO TO THE MALL THE DAY AFTER CHRISTMAS. It's worse than Christmas shoppers. Took me two hours to exchange my iPad at Apple (parking is the worst).
Tony raced his smooth and fast Audi to the meeting, which was being held at Stark Industries. He raced down the highway and barely avoided traffic. His loud engine bounced off the walls in the parking garage.
"Um, Mr. Stark?" A young Asian man greeted him. He wore a parking valet outfit; a white button up dress shirt, a hot rod red vest and a gold tie.
I like the choice of colors. Tony smiled up at the boy.
"If you want, I can park your car in your executive spot." He told the billionaire.
"Um, sure, okay." Tony got out of his Audi and tossed the kid the car keys. "Try not to dent it."
"Sure thing, Mr. Stark." The boy's palms were sweaty but a smile still swept across his face.
As Tony walked into the building, the valet parker ran up to the car and started admiring it as if it were the most beautiful woman he's ever laid eyes upon.
Pepper Potts sat there in the meeting; she was taking notes and pay attention, as per usual. She glanced over at her watch and noticed the time. 11:14 AM.
"We want our marketing system to improve miraculously so we're—" Jones Hardman, the spokesman for KTA, stopped dead in his tracks. "—Mr. Stark, so nice of you to join us."
Pepper's head swung towards the doors in shock, nearly cracking her neck in the process. She furrowed her eyebrows but soon, that expression changed into a wide eyed and mouth gesture. Tony stood there with a small smile on his face. He motioned toward the seat next to Pepper and took it with in seconds.
"Hey." He whispered to her.
"What in the hell are you doing here?" She angrily whispered back, faking a smile. Pepper hated attracting attention.
"I came here to attend the meeting." He whispered back. "It's not like I'm not allowed in my own building." Tony started taking out a pad of paper and a pencil that was safely tucked in the inside of his jacket.
"I told you to rest at home—" She looked down at his hands. "—Is that—Is that paper and a pencil?"
"Are you mad that others have the ability to take notes, Miss Potts?" He joked with her, showing off that charm smile of his.
"Oh, can it, Stark." She angrily shot back. What was making him go to the meeting, refuse to rest at home, and take notes? It was uncanny of him. Was that really Tony Stark? Her Tony Stark? She glanced over at him every other minute and saw his hand movements. He was actually taking notes. She leaned towards him to get a better view of what he was writing but his hand abruptly blocked her way.
"Cheating, Pepper? I didn't think I'd live to see this day." He joked with her as a small smile spread across his face. "If you want my notes, all you had to do was ask."
Pepper bit her bottom lip. "Why are you doing this, Tony?"
"I—" Just as he was about to tell her, the meeting was over.
"And that is why we need strength in numbers. Our residual data should be printed in the papers that were previously handed out. If all corporations could look over them, give us some feed back, and hopefully give us some pointers. We'll be glad to make the arrangements and hopefully create a better system, in which all would want to buy. In this case, you guys would get it for free and hopefully spread the word. And I assure you, you will get a small cut of the profits for your time. Thank you." Everyone started clapping as Jones Hardman walked away from the big projector. Tony widened his smile and softly clapped.
As Tony stood up, so did Pepper. She looked pissed and worried at the same time. He could only stand there and admire her. Even when she looked like she was about to bite a lion's head off, she looked amazingly cute.
"You didn't have to go to this meeting, Tony." She whispered in his ear.
"I was feeling a bit better after you left so I said, 'what the heck?'. It's not like this meeting will be detrimental to my health." He muffled a laugh. Both he and Pepper began to move towards the doorway.
"As long as no one pats you on the back or punches your shoulder…" She began.
"Yeah, but what are the chances of that?" Tony was about to move out of the way to let Pepper go first but someone came up behind him, and whipped him around with a squeeze on his shoulder.
Oh god. Tony stifled a hiss. The grip got tighter.
"The big man himself, Tony Stark." Jones greeted him with a wide smile.
Pepper made a distasteful and worried expression right when Jones started treating Tony like a son. He was always that way. Jones Hardman was well-known for his playful interaction with people he knew. He was like a father figure to others. Poor Tony.
"Jones Hardman." Tony breathed, trying to divert his attention from the throbbing pain on his shoulder.
"You began to worry me, Tony." He squeezed his shoulder again, huddling him away from the door.
"Yeah, really?"
"This is the third time you've actually attended to one of my meetings." He pointed his index at him. "I mean – don't get me wrong, Miss Potts is a lovely person, but you're the kind of guy I like to see in the morning." He suddenly made a sour face, realizing what he had just said. "Not in that way, of course. I'm married."
"I—I get your point." Tony nodded, trying to get out of his grasp.
"Hey, what do you say you and I go over some numbers tomorrow? It'll be like old times." His smile was like a thousand bucks. But it was mostly his hair. He had black, thick hair that was always spiked upwards. He was a middle aged Caucasian male that looked quite sharp in a business suit.
"I'm… I'm actually quite busy tomorrow." Tony lied. "My assistant actually wants to go over some numbers with me herself." He tried to laugh.
"Oh well, there's always next time. Look, I'll see you later. Stay frosty." And with that, Jones gave Tony a big pat on the back, making an incredibly audible sound. Pepper winced when he heard that noise.
She watched as Tony turned around with a painful expression on his face. Jones, on the other hand, walked towards the table to gather his things. Pepper walked up to him and placed her gentle hand on his back. God, he must be in pain.
"Are you okay?"
"Home… would be nice." He mumbled, trying to shake it off.
"I'll call Happy to meet us at the front entrance." She reassured him. Pepper had the intense urge to rub his back but with Jones still in the room, she didn't want to take the chance. Yep, their relationship was still a big gigantic secret.
Tony opened the door for her and she quickly slipped out. He trailed behind her and saw the tag sticking out from her jacket. Jones closed the door behind him and rounded the corner. He caught Tony and Pepper walking towards the front entrance.
Tony put his hand on her back and carefully tucked the tag back in. He placed a gentle hand on her waist, making her hum in confusion.
"Your tag was hanging out." He replied with a soft smile.
"Oh, thanks." She grinned back, half fixated on her blackberry that fit snuggly in her palm.
Jones watched their movements and waiting for Pepper to shrug Tony's hand off her waist but nothing happened. After the pair exited the building, he furrowed his eyebrows and questioned his thoughts. He began to suspect something but quickly shrugged it off when he caught his business partner in sight.
Pepper slid into the car with ease. She watched Tony get into the car and heard him sigh in relief once he sat comfortably in his seat. Happy closed the door with a small smile on his face and rounded the car to get to the drivers seat. He looked in the rear view mirror.
"Where to, boss?"
"Home, Happy." Pepper replied. "Thanks."
Happy nodded and started driving away from the Stark Industries building.
Pepper sat next to Tony, making sure he was okay. He didn't look like he was in pain anymore but she still wanted to know why he attended the meeting. It wasn't like him at all.
"You okay?" She practically whispered.
"Yeah." Tony nodded. "Nothing to worry about."
"You know Jones. He likes to treat everyone like a son." She half smiled.
"Which is why I really don't like going to his meetings." He mumbled in response.
"Then why did you?" She asked, turning her body to face him.
"Well…" He paused to think of an excuse. "I—"
"Tony, I'm not stupid." She breathed a laugh. "I know what you men do to get women to like you."
"Um…" He furrowed his eyebrows in complete, and utter, confusion. "What?"
Tony Stark, confused and cute at the same time. Pepper widened her smile. "Men want to make women happy, so they do what ever they can to make women like them. And in your case, you went to the meeting thinking I'd be as happy as a pig in mud."
"Wow." He breathed, smiling. "You read me like a book—wait, is there a book on this kind of stuff?"
"You don't need to try and make me happy, Tony." She placed her hand on top of his, ignoring his half-serious question. "I'm perfectly happy with you." Pepper saw Tony's eyes soften, and then she saw a warm smile spread across his face. "There's nothing wrong with trying to make me happy but just know that… being with you already makes me one hundred and ten percent happy. So, stop worrying."
He stared into her eyes and chuckled. "I know something that could make it two-hundred percent."
She widened her smile and chuckled at his incredibly cheesy line. "Think about that one long, and hard, Mr. Stark?"
"Not as much as I think about you." He replied, looking down at her lips and then back up at her eyes.
"I'm still quite angry at you for disobeying my direct order to stay in bed." She declined his approval for a kiss. He began to pout like a little kid that was declined a lollipop. Just as Pepper sank back in her proper seat, Tony swung his legs towards her, facing her body.
"How—How can I tell what you want?" He asked bluntly, eyeing her delicious cream colored legs.
"What do you mean?" She asked, taking out her blackberry from her purse. Pepper managed to unlock her phone and skim the e-mail subjects before he spoke again.
"I can tell when a woman wants to be ravaged but…" Tony's comment made Pepper wrinkle her nose in distastefulness. "…I don't know when you're sad, angry or just want a book to read."
"Tony," She began, locking onto his curious gaze. "You'll know when I'm sad, angry or if I want to just read a book."
"What about when you're on your period?" He asked bluntly, again. Pepper began to glare at him.
What kind of question is that? Pepper thought. If they weren't in a relationship, she'd be hitting him so hard, not even Jarvis would be able to approximate the time of recovery.
"I mean, all girls have a signal." Tony pressed his lips together. "Like that secretary in Tokyo."
"The one with a boyish haircut?" Pepper asked, furrowing her eyebrows.
"Yeah, that one. When she's on her dot, she likes to paperclip everything in sight."
"And exactly how do you know that?" She glared at him intensely. Tony's eyes went wide and immediately flew to the first thought that came to mind.
She thinks I had— "I swear I didn't, Pepper." He tried reassuring her.
"We only went to Tokyo five times, Tony." She laid her blackberry on her lap and crossed her arms at him.
"Yes, five times in two months. Two of those times, I saw her paper clipping everything in sight – even single paged papers—heck, even papers with nothing on them!" He explained, still trying to reassure her.
"So, what do you want? You want to know how you'll know when I'm on my period?" Pepper changed the subject, hoping he would never explain how he knew about that woman's tell in Tokyo.
"Well…" Tony looked away for a second.
"If you can figure out that secretary's tell after seeing her only five times, then you'll have no problem figuring out mine, right?" She glared at him. Tony's eyes slightly widened in fear.
"Um… yeah." Tony quickly sunk back into his seat. Crap… that didn't go so well.
Pepper untangled her arms and went back to checking her e-mail on her phone. Both were very quiet throughout most of the car ride. She was preoccupied with her work and he just didn't want to anger her even further. Tony was gazing out of his window when Pepper spoke up, thus breaking the awkward silence between them.
"I had one of the valet people drive your car back home." She said without looking up at him.
"Mm." He nodded, glancing over at her.
"So, who told you to go to the meeting?" She finally looked over at him.
"What do you mean?"
"You must've talked to someone after I left. I'm pretty sure someone had to guide you to the idea of going to the meeting."
"No one guided me into trying to make you happy—"
"It was Rhodey, wasn't it?" She cut him off with a slight smile.
Tony began to look at her blankly. "Yeah…"
She began to chuckle at him; a small smile began to spread itself across her face. "What exactly did he tell you?"
"He… didn't exactly tell me anything—Well, he asked me where I'd take someone on a first date."
"Coffee shop." Pepper answered in a split second. She saw Tony frown at her quick answer. "Why, what'd you say?"
"Romantic five star restaurant." He mumbled. "You know I'm not that good at this stuff, Pepper. It's not like I've had dozens of long term relationships before."
"Mm, maybe you do need that book." She joked, smiling up at him.
"How many long term relationships have you had?" He asked dryly.
"Depends on how long we're talking about."
"Five months, at least."
"Three." She replied, looking away. "Surprisingly, they all happened before I started working for you."
"Wait—really? Was it because guys didn't want to date a woman that was working for the most handsome person on the planet?" Tony widened his grin.
"Actually, it was because they thought I was spending too much time with you. They were either jealous or really needy." She pressed her lips together and nodded.
"So, I'm actually the reason for all your break ups?" He put together the pieces.
"In a way, yeah."
"Oh…" Tony flashed an apologetic facial expression. "…but it was all worth it in the end, right?"
Pepper smiled warmly at him before resting her head on his shoulder. "I guess so." She nudged his side, letting him know that she was just kidding. Tony widened his smile before draping an arm over her shoulder. He presses a quick kiss on her head before breathing in her fruity scent.
"We have that Annual Johnson's Charity Ball to go to tomorrow night." Pepper reminded him, still clicking away on her blackberry.
"That's tomorrow?" Tony's mouth went crooked in confusion.
"Yup, and drying cleaning has already dropped off your clothes for tomorrow evening."
"Since you picked out what I'm going to wear, can I pick out what you're going to wear?" He sexily looked down at her.
"What do you have in mind?" She curiously asked him.
"Blush colored lipstick." He replied, rubbing his thumb against her shoulder.
"I assume there's some kind of article of clothing also included."
"Nope." He widened his grin. "Blush colored lipstick and nothing else – of course, this is before we go to the Ball."
Pepper rolled her eyes at his reply. "I should've expected that."
Tony laughed into her hair and pressed another small kiss to the top of her head. "Seriously, Pepper, you could go to the Ball in a clown suit, and still look incredibly sexy and gorgeous."
"Thanks… I think." Half of her lip curled upwards, trying to get the mental picture of a clown out of her head.
"We're here." Happy announced before the car stopped to a slow stop.
Pepper slid out of Tony's hold and got her belongings together before climbing out of the car. He trailed behind her, keeping his eyes on her lovely behind. Happy stood by the door and nodded as they exited the vehicle.
"Movies are usually the second date." Happy whispers as Tony walks by, making him do a quick double take. He takes a quick note of it before dismissing Happy with a nod.