Tony lay on top of his bed and stared up at the ceiling. His hands were entwined with each other on top of his chest. It was around seven o'clock and Pepper hadn't come home yet. His impatient mind told him to call her but his bored self told him to watch T.V. He actually called the office a while ago and one of the assistants picked up. Kelly, from employee services, had told him that Pepper was in an unexpected extended meeting with R&D. So, he figured that she would be home by seven o'clock, but it just turned 7:02 PM, and he was already getting bored.
After he left his workshop, he changed into a plain white t-shirt and a pair of dark grey sweats. He had lay on top of his bed sheets and decided to wait for her.
His mind strolled through the various thoughts he had about Project Kin, Leon's disappearance, his duplicated weaponry, Fury, Natalie, and Hardman… God damn that Hardman. I swear, if he lays a hand on Pepper, I'll so fu—
The front door slammed shut, thus alerting Tony. His eyes flew to the bedroom door and saw Pepper slowly stroll in. She was in the middle of a big yawn.
Tony widened his smile and carefully watched her movements with his eyes. "Big day at the office?"
Pepper stifled a yawn again. "Yeah…" She kicked off her high heels and threw her purse on a nearby chair. She climbed on top of the bed with her business outfit still on and gently laid her head on top of his chest. Tony gently wrapped his arm around her shoulder so she could use his arm as a pillow. She snuggled up to his side and nudged his ribs with her cheek. She wrapped her arm around his waist and tucked the other arm in between their bodies.
"Kelly told me you called." Pepper mumbled with her eyes closed.
"You said you would by home by five o'clock." He looked down at her sleepy form and couldn't help but endearingly smile.
"Sorry…" She mumbled again. "…meeting… R&D…"
"I know. Kelly told me." He pressed a small kiss to the top of her head.
"Mm…" She fluttered her eyes open and looked up at him. "…What'd you do while I was gone?"
"Nothing much." He planted a small kiss on her lips. "I worked on the suit and upgraded JARVIS. Then Dummy wanted to be upgraded to…"
Pepper chuckled at his last comment. "What kind of upgrade did you give Dummy?"
"Nothing special; just a faster processing mechanism. Hopefully he won't short circuit." He widened his smile.
Pepper felt her eyelids get heavier. She rubbed her cheek into his side again and hummed, telling him that she was listening. "Sounds fun…"
"Did you do anything 'fun' today?" He mildly asked her. He knew she was slowly falling asleep. He just didn't want to stop talking to her. He hadn't seen her for more than half of the day. In short, he just really missed her.
"Sign papers… read… stuff… walked…" After a few seconds, Pepper had fallen asleep. Her rhythmic breathing gave it away. Tony glanced down at her and saw how much she was clinging on to him. It made him want to grin like a love sick puppy. He pressed a small kiss to the side of her head.
"I know you're going to yell at me later if I don't tell you." He mumbled.
"Wha—?" Pepper began to mutter sleepily.
"I doubt you want to sleep in your dress shirt and skirt." He responded, carefully watching her movements.
She groaned sleepily and rubbed her face against his side again. "Okay… five more minutes…"
Tony laughed lightly and began to move away. Once she felt him stir under her body, she groaned again. "C'mon, the faster you can get into your pajamas, the faster you can go back to sleep."
"Mm… I still… make-up… off…" She rolled over to her side of the bed, her back facing him. Tony sat up on the bed and glanced over at the sleeping beauty.
He nudged her side with his arm. "Wakey wakey!"
Pepper stirred a bit and began to growl. "Mm…" She obviously did not want to be woken up.
"If you don't get up to put on your pajamas, I'm going to undress you myself." He warned her. He actually thought it would work since he and Pepper weren't at the phase yet. He stared at her back and waited for her to say something but not a peep came out of her. Tony heavily sighed and swung his legs off the bed. He walked over to her sleeping body and kneeled.
Her eyelids were closed shut and her make-up was still on. Her light pink shaded lipstick was dry on her lips. Her mouth was slightly open and her breathing stared to even out. Tony widened his smile as he witnessed his P.A, girlfriend, and best friend sleep soundly. He slowly reached for the top button on her dress shirt. He wondered what kind of reaction she would have to his abrupt movements. He touched the button with his rough hands and glanced over at her beautiful face. When he saw that her eyes were slightly opened, he felt his heart beat twice as fast.
She saw how frightened he looked; he looked like he had just gotten caught with his hand in the cookie jar. She chuckled at his expression and quietly sat up.
"Okay, I'm up. I'm up." She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and felt him plop down on the bed, beside her. "You could've just pushed me off the bed to get me to wake up, Tony. You didn't have to awkwardly start undressing me."
"I wouldn't push you off the bed—"
"Even if I was snoring?" She raised her eyebrow at him.
"You snore?" He asked, glancing back at her.
"No one hasn't told I do, so…" Pepper grinned to herself and reached behind her head to untie her ponytail. Her hair gracefully fell down her neck and balanced itself on her shoulders. He saw how shiny and soft her hair looked; his mouth practically opened on its own. She stifled a big yawn and turned her head to look at him. When she saw his mouth open, she gasped a cute chuckle.
Pepper widened her smile and pushed his lower jaw back up with her hand. "You're not even asleep and yet you're already drooling."
"Can you blame me?" He grinned at her. "You should wear your hair down more often."
"So I can get ogled at twenty-four seven?" She stood up from the bed and walked over to the closet.
"I ogle you either way." He smirked.
Pepper disappeared into the closet with her hand scratching the back of her head. "Tony?" She called out.
"Yes?" He responded.
She walked out from the closet with her eyebrows furrowed. "Have you seen my pajamas?"
"They should be on your side of the closet." He lay back down on the bed with his hand behind his head.
"They aren't there." She pressed her lips together.
"Are you talking about your purple tank top and white sweats you left on top of the bed this morning?" He winced a little.
"Yes…" Her voice grew deeper, almost in a threatening tone. "…Tony, what did you do to them?"
"I threw them in the hamper." He innocently responded and watched as she walked to the bathroom.
"The hamper is empty." She called from the bathroom.
"I… kind of… tried to do my own dry cleaning…" He furrowed his eyebrows and prepared himself for whatever she was going to throw at him.
"Why… why would you…" She angrily growled before pausing. "Why did you try to do your own dry cleaning?"
"Rhodey told me I should try and do my own laundry. So I did." He simply answered, shrugging slightly.
"Okay…" Pepper rested her hands on her hip and raised an eyebrow at him. "… well for starters, you don't need to send everything to the dry cleaners. You do know you actually have a washer and dryer downstairs, right?"
"Must've slipped my mind." Tony grinned at her.
"Do you even know how to use the washer and dryer?"
"Like I said, must've slipped my mind."
"You're impossible." Pepper smirked, strolling back to the closet. "Do you have a shirt and a pair of sweats I can borrow?"
"They should be in the closet towards the back." He answered her, looking up at the ceiling. He gathered his thoughts for a second and remembered how much trouble he had getting his laundry to the dry cleaners. While she was at Stark Industries, he was carrying the laundry downstairs to the front door. He placed the bag there and waited for someone to pick it up, but no one came by. So he had called Rhodey but all he did was laugh at him. He eventually asked JARVIS what Pepper usually did and called the dry cleaners. They picked up the bag and told him they would drop it off in a few days. He heard a click coming from the closet door and turned his attention to it.
His eyes widened in sheer astonishment at the figure in front of the door. Pepper stood there wearing one of his plain blue t-shirts and ash grey sweats. She widened her smile at him when she saw how he observed her. His eyes were completely fixated on her body.
"What?" She smirked, walking towards the bed.
"You should wear my clothes more often." He grinned at her, welcoming her presence on top of the bed. He scooted over, taking the right side of the bed. Pepper climbed up on the bed and sat beside his relaxed form. He wrapped his arm around her hip and tugged on the farthest side of her shirt. She smiled and proceeded to lie down beside him. She assumed her original position and pressed her cheek to his side.
"Good night, Pepper." He whispered.
"Good night, Tony." She responded, closing her eyes.
After a few seconds, he realized that the lights were still on. He looked down at her comfortable position that molded nicely with his side. He was about to ruin the silence until—Oh right, I knew I programmed JARVIS for a reason.
"Lights off, JARVIS."
"Good night, Sir." The AI responded and turned off the lights at the same time.
A/N: Again, short chapter. Internet went out in my dorm hall last night, so I took the opportunity to work on fanfiction. Have a splendid week!