Pepper entered Tony's mansion with a warm smile. She threw her black clutch purse on the couch and heavily sighed. It was a long evening and she felt really tired. She was too tired to even tell Tony about the various businessmen that wanted to part take in his next project. Actually, she was too tired to remember about that stuff. She turned around and saw Tony slowly pass through the threshold with a yawn. His tie was unknotted and draped across his neck. He widened his smile and immediately walked over to her. Pepper backed up against the arm of the couch and looked up at him with a relaxed smile. He placed his hands on her hips and deeply sighed.
"So, about that movie…" He looked down at her playful orange hair and started fluttering his eyes closed.
"The movie can wait—"
"No." He forced his eyes open and slightly shook his head.
"Tony, you look really tired." She pointed out.
"I'm just resting my eyes." He smirked. "C'mon, pick out a movie and we'll have that date."
Pepper chuckled when she saw that he was slowly leaning forward. "Why are you in such a hurry? We can have the date tomorrow night."
Tony buried his face in the crook of her neck and mumbled something incoherently. She widened her smile and asked what he said.
"Date twenty." He blankly told her.
"Trying to get to date twenty as fast as possible?"
"Iron Man lingerie." He mumbled, sleepily.
"It really sounds that appealing?" She wrapped her hands around his neck and felt his goatee tickle the side of her neck.
He lifted his face from the crook of her neck and nodded. His soft, warm and sleepy smile made him that more appealing. Pepper began to chuckle. "Your hot body in Iron Man lingerie sounds really sexy." His grip on her hips started to loosen, meaning that he was about to fall asleep.
"C'mon, I think it's time for bed—"
"No-no-no, we should watch a movie first." He protested, motioning towards the couch.
She looked up at him and saw how eager he wanted to have that second date with her. He even moved towards the couch, tugging on her arm, telling her to join him. She walked behind him with his hand loosely wrapped around her wrist. He and Pepper both sat down on the couch. He reached behind the couch and pulled out a long navy blue blanket.
"Where did that come from?" Pepper furrowed her eyebrows at it.
"Behind the couch." He shrugged.
"Was it there the whole time?" She got up and looked behind the couch.
"You're acting as if I reached my hand into a black hole and pulled it out." He widened his smile. Pepper looked back at him with a puzzled look, "Relax, there's a compartment in the back of the couch."
Pepper saw a little tab sticking out at the top of the back of the couch. She pulled it forward and the compartment slowly slipped out, revealing blankets, a few pillows and pillow cases. She pushed it back in and shrugged.
"That's actually pretty convenient."
"So, what movie did you want to—oh, did you want some popcorn?" He unraveled the blanket.
"Popcorn doesn't sound appealing right now." She responded with a small sigh.
"Okay, what movie?" He asked, draping the blanket over their laps.
"Um, how about Meet the Robinsons?"
"Isn't that a little kid's movie?" Tony furrowed his eyebrows.
"I think you'll like it. It's about the future, and technology." She added in, leaning towards his arm.
Tony shrugged and wrapped his arm around her, making her head rest against his chest. "Okay, JARVIS, project Meet the Robinsons in the living room, please."
"Acquiring the film. Processing data. Projecting film A5G2HB in section 2." JARVIS responded. Within seconds, the movie had started in the living room. It was being shown through Tony's big sixty inch television.
The couch gladly took Tony and Pepper's body in. It molded their form perfectly. Pepper bunched up some of the blanket and raised it higher over their bodies. With a contented sigh, they began to watch the movie.
Five minutes in, Tony began to think about what Greg and Natalie said. He looked down at the form that comfortably rested against his body. Her eyes were definitely fixated on the movie.
"Pepper." He began.
"Hm?" She hummed back and looked up at him.
"Do you think about the past?" He asked her, letting his mind wonder.
"What do you mean by that?" Pepper began to furrow her eyebrows.
"I mean, do you think about the 'what if's?"
"Like…?"
"Like, what if I hadn't taken over my father's legacy and just ended up as a bus boy in some fast food place? Burger king, for example." He gave her an example, making her wonder what his motives were.
"I still don't know what you're getting at, Tony." She turned her head to pay attention to the movie.
"What if I hadn't built all of those powerful and destructive weapons? What if I hadn't been captured and built the suits? Do you think the world would be in a better place? Do you think Stane would've still been a father figure to me? Do you think he would have never ended up betraying me? Would Hammer and Vanko ended up in a better place rather than jail… and well… you know." He looked down at her strawberry hair and lowered his hand to grip her hip. "If all of those things never happened, would you still have fallen in love with me?"
Pepper almost immediately tilted her head to look up at him. She stared into his eyes and saw all the hurt, the pain, and the curiosity. He had tried putting everything into what-if's. He had tried to silently ask her through a series of questions, but the last question was like a bomb to her. Pepper already knew what he was trying to ask.
"You're having second thoughts?" She worriedly asked.
On our relationship, again? "On our—"
"Not on our relationship, Tony. I meant about your life." Bingo. Pepper won the first round.
"All of this destruction, and the power that every nation wants – I'm just wondering if things would be different if I hadn't built the weapons in the first place." He crooked the side of his mouth and slightly shrugged. "It was just a thought."
"No." She shook her head. "No, no. This isn't just a thought, Tony." Pepper studied his face longer. "You're not telling me something. Who did you talk to?"
"No one, Pepper. I was just wondering—"
"Tony." She breathed, and glanced back at the television. "Pause." The movie paused and so did Tony. She sat up, moved out of Tony's grasp and turned to face him. "Do you really want to talk about this?"
"Pepper, I told you once before, I'm not good at talking about my feelings and-and what goes on in my head. It's just not me." He heavily sighed.
"You brought it up, and we're not leaving this couch until you start finishing what you started."
"I'll just go to bed then—"
"If you go to bed, then this night doesn't count as a date, and I'm sleeping in the spare room." She looked up at him with a small serious frown.
Tony ran his hand through his hair and looked down at the navy blue blanket that was still draped over their laps. He saw her black frizzled dress cover her chest. They were so comfortable, he had actually forgotten that neither one of them changed into something less formal. His eyes trailed up from her chest to her face. His gaze locked with hers; those curious, gentle, and beautiful eyes stared at him, almost entering his brain, and gaining access to his thoughts, and his soul.
"Natalie said that you were in danger. Greg Leon got into my head. He said that if I had never built the weapons, the suits, and the advanced technology in general – you wouldn't be in constant danger; not you, not Rhodey, not Happy, not… not the whole world—I'm just… I'm…"
"Scared?" She asked softly. Tony eyes suddenly widened before relaxing; they wondered off.
"I'm… I'm just scared to lose you." He admitted; his eyes wondered back to hers.
She covered his hand with her own and squeezed gently.
"If I can't protect you—then I can't protect the world. And… And it scares me." He suddenly smiled. "It's pathetic to think that Iron Man is scared."
"You're not pathetic, Tony." She widened her smile and scooted closer to him. "You're just human."
Pepper leaned forward and brushed his lips with hers. Tony inched forward, making their lips crash against each other. He kissed her softly and let his hands wonder to her hips. Pepper moved forward and placed her hands around his neck, increasing the passionate kiss, but she leaned in a bit too much, making Tony fall backwards.
"AHH!" He hissed in pain. Pepper had already forgotten about his injuries.
"Are you okay?" She gasped, immediately getting off of him to rush to his aid.
"EVERY TIME!" He cursed, looking up at the ceiling. From then on, he referred to his back as the 'mood killer'.