A/N: Sorry I haven't updated in a week! I was having too much fun with my friends, and video games, but I assure you, this is a long chapter (to me it is, lol). I hope you enjoy it! Also, I have nothing against cats. I think they're super cute, but the way I found out how allergic I was to them was horrible (but they're so fluffy!). I'm more of a dog lover. I love my dog. He gets angry if he can't kiss you, lol.
Tony Stark rarely left his house to do anything, except to escort his girlfriend to a fancy, and secluded, restaurant, go to Stark Industries for a horrendous meeting, or jump in his Iron Man suit and save the world. It wasn't normal for him to leave his workshop when he had mechanics, schematics, and repulsion rays running through his brain. He was never once the man to see a woman a second time, after sleeping with them that is, and neither was he the type of person to go their house. That changed when he changed.
So, there he stood, at the threshold of Pepper's condo slash apartment. Well, she always went back and forth between the two words—what's important is, is that she lived there.
The woman of his dreams, the woman that almost (could have) gotten away. The woman that helped him become a better man. The woman that has the deadliest stare, the most beautiful eyes, and the most light and shining smile. His partner in crime. Pepper Potts.
She stood there, about two feet past the threshold of the front door. When she noticed he wasn't following her, she turned around, her curiosity peaking.
Pepper saw him standing there, his mouth gapped, and his feet planted on the ground with equal force. She couldn't help but chuckle at this sight.
"I'm pretty sure you're not a vampire." She grinned at him. "But, just in case – Mr. Stark, you are welcome to come in."
Tony still stood there, but with a slight grin on his face. "Ha ha," he sarcastically said.
She looked behind her and noticed her normal, yet crowded house. There were shelves and shelves of books. Not all of them were romance novels, or business binders. Some of them were actually about pets and oceanic life. Her condo was normal. It had two bedrooms, one bathroom, a small kitchen, and a very small living room. Sure, being Tony Stark's personal assistant brings home the bacon, but she was highly attached to her condo. It was her first place after moving out of her parents' house.
"I swear my house doesn't have cooties." She laughed at him, and walked further into her place. As always, she placed her purse on the counter of the kitchen. She strolled back to the front door to see if he was still there, and he was.
He looked almost like a frozen homosapien you'd see at a museum behind a red velvet rope, and Windex clean glass.
"Okay, seriously, do I need to drag you in here?" She raised her eyebrow at him.
"I've… um…" he tried to start out. "It's been a while since I stepped foot inside another woman's place."
"It's an apartment, Tony. Not a board meeting." She joked. After seeing him waddle back and forth behind the threshold, she abruptly launched her hand out, grabbed him by the hem of his black jacket and tugged him inside.
He stumbled forward and latched onto her body. Tony worriedly looked around. He began to mindlessly wrap his arms around her waist. Pepper endearingly grinned and stretched her arms out to wrap them around his neck.
"Why are you so fidgety?" She smirked at him, trying to hold him still.
"Okay, Rhodey doesn't know this, and neither does Happy. Actually, nobody knows about this other than my parents and Stane." He spoke fast.
"Did you burn down a woman's house or something?" She joked, trying not to laugh. It only made Tony give her a sour expression.
"I was really young, and I wanted to take this girl to prom…" He sighed, hoping he could finally rid himself of the horrible memory. "…Long story short, her father chased me out of the house, and I lived to tell about it."
Pepper stared at him for a few seconds before bursting out in laughter. "Haha, what in the world did you do to that poor girl?"
"Her father was my father's business rival. Basically, once he found out I was Tony Stark, he ordered me out of his house and proceeded to chase after me. It was only sheer luck that her mother was more understanding. She reprimanded him while I booked it out of there." He explained to her. He felt a little embarrassed to tell her that story. Of all of the stories he had with Rhodey, plus various drinking situations, he had never once thought of reciting, or reminiscing, of that particular horrifying night.
"Wow." She raised an eyebrow at him, trying not to burst out laughing.
"Don't judge me." He grumbled, trying to look away.
"I think that request was tossed out the window a decade ago." She grinned at him. She never judged him since the tabloids and news anchors did it for her. Waking up to a pot of coffee and various adjectives that described her boss was a normal morning for her.
"So, what are the sleeping arrangements?" He curiously grinned at her, trying to shove those horrendous memories out of his mind. "I certainly think it should involve some fruit, tangled sheets, and moa—"
"If you think you're getting that lucky, you're highly mistaken—" She teased him, but was abruptly cut off by someone else.
"Virginia?" A man behind them said with a questioning tone.
Pepper swiftly turned around just as Tony looked up to see who it was. He immediately retracted his hands away from her waist and kept them at his side. His heart beat fast knowing one of Pepper's neighbors had seen them together. Pepper told him that she wasn't ready to be public with their relationship. Maybe that was included in her 'in time' speech, he thought to himself. He could feel his adrenaline rise. He could already see the headlines of tomorrow morning's newspaper. Tony Stark and Pepper Potts, Caught!
"Mr. Kelser." Pepper breathed in relief.
The man had dark sunglasses on and a white thin stick that was attached to his wrist. He had grey head of hair, but looked no older than sixty. He looked up curiously as if he were trying to find her. He smile endearingly and casually tapped the sides of her threshold.
"I was going on a walk and heard you talking. It's nice to see you home. How is work treating you?" He looked in front of him, still unable to find Pepper's form.
"Still occupying all of my attention." She smiled. "I'm so sorry you had to feed Jasper for a whole week. Please, let me know how much I owe you."
He laughed humbly. "You work for that sly womanizing man, Tony Stark. I feel like I owe your cat some attention. When are you going to try and get a real job?"
Tony furrowed his eyebrows at him. Did he not know I was right here? Wait a second… womanizing! "Now—"
"Working for Tony Stark is a real job, I assure you." She managed to nudge Tony in the ribs.
"Remember, a job should consist of something you're passionate about. Anything else is an endless nightmare of misery." The man tapped the sides of her threshold again. Pepper glanced up at Tony and flashed him an endearing smile before returning her attention back to her blind neighbor. "Anyways, Jasper is around here somewhere. I already fed him."
"Thank you, Mr. Kesler. I promise, I'll repay you for all your trouble." She walked up to the man and gently wrapped her arms around his shoulders. He patted her forearm thoughtfully and smiled.
"Please, your cat is very good company. Good night, Virgina." He nodded thoughtfully and proceeded to walk down the hall, tapping all corners with his stick. Pepper poked her head out to watch him leave before slowly closing the door. She turned around and laid her eyes on a very confused Tony Stark.
"What—"
"He's blind." She reassured him. "Did he scare you?"
"Well, yeah." He watched her walk past him and towards the kitchen. "I mean, I thought we got caught…" Pepper opened the fridge to get some water. He walked towards her direction and leaned against the counter in thought. "…it's what you want, right?"
"Hm?" She hummed, turning around to face him.
"You don't want our relationship to go public." His elbows were on top of the counter while his hands found an interesting salt shaker at the corner of the counter. He fondled it in his hands thoughtfully. "That is what you said to me."
"I know what I said to you." She practically snapped at him, feeling a little frustrated. He crooked the side of his mouth in curiosity. She put the bottle of water on top of the counter and leaned over the counter to look up at him.
"Rethinking your decision?" He poked her hand with the salt shaker, making her breath a laugh.
"At first, I didn't want to deal with the publicity our relationship would cause… and what people would think…" She pressed her lips together, trying to find the words. Of course, Pepper Potts would be afraid of the events that supervened from the news of their relationship. She didn't want to think about all of the paperwork she had to do, or the tabloids she had to shoo away. The more she thought about it, the more heavier her head felt.
"…But?" He caught on to her words, looking down at her curiously.
"But, it seems simpler, now." She finally said.
"Simpler, how?" He furrowed his eyebrows.
"I don't know." She shrugged, feeling a bit lost. "It just seems like it would be easier to deal with."
Tony watched her play with the water bottle that was next to her. Her thoughts were streaming through her head. She was unable to tell him anything else, but she really didn't know what to say to him. She was still scared about the events that would follow up their confession – shit, she was scared to death. While Iron Man could potentially have more enemies, Pepper Potts would potentially have more paper work, speculation, rumors, and stress. Could I seriously have more stress than I already do?, she thought to herself. She slid the water bottle between her two hands in thought, but a hand abruptly planted itself on its cap. Her hands stopped, unable to make of his actions. He tore the bottle from her grasp and replaced it with his hands. He squeezed her small hands lightly.
"It's your problem now." He sweetly smiled at her. "I know you wreck your brain over this… and me… so I'll let you decide."
"Let me decide?" She curiously looked up at him, squeezing his hands back.
"If you feel like you're ready to 'out' our relationship, then by all means, do it."
"So, the decision rides on me?"
"Yup." He grinned, letting go of her hands. "So, you yanked me out of my workshop for some 'fresh air'. Where's the air?"
Feeling the pressure of the subject change, she grinned back at him. "Are you hungry?"
"Starving." He rubbed his stomach lightly.
"Chinese take-out sound good?" She reached for the phone that was standing on the counter.
"Ooh, don't forget to order some fortune cookies." He grinned lightly.
While Pepper made the orders over the phone, Tony thought it was a good time to wander around her condo. He walked into the bathroom, and noticed how tidy and neat it was. So, she's a neat freak? He asked himself. He wandered further into the deepest part of her place: the master bedroom. He poked his head past the threshold of the door and saw a simple queen sized bed and two night stands.
"Tony, did you want rice?" She shouted from the kitchen.
At that same time, something on top of her nightstand caught his eye almost instantly: a small frame that encased a picture. He furrowed his eyebrows slightly, almost forgetting to answer her.
"Uh, yeah. Two orders of rice for me." He shouted back while slipping into her bedroom. He walked towards the nightstand, his curiosity peaking. The frame surrounded a picture of Pepper and him. The same picture he showed her a couple weeks ago. He picked it up and lightly brushed his hand over the plastic shield.
"Tony?" She shouted from the hall, wondering where he went. She saw his figure inside her bedroom and instantly walked towards him. "Please tell me you're not raiding my panty drawer." She joked with a lopsided smile.
"I didn't know you actually got this framed." He pointed to the object in his hand.
Pepper looked over his shoulder in curiosity and instantly grinned. "You said we should frame it."
"I was making small talk to divert you away from that miserable event I was escaping from." He breathed a laugh, feeling happiness overwhelm him. Of course she would take every word that came out of my mouth into account.
"They're delivering the food. It should take no more than ten minutes." She rubbed his back smoothly and filed out of her room.
Tony put the picture down and reluctantly followed behind her, wondering what other wonders were in her apartment.
"Did you want to do anything to pass the time?" Pepper walked into the kitchen to fish her Blackberry out of her purse.
"Why Miss Potts," He seductively breathed, making Pepper instantly grin in annoyance. "I believe the springs of your mattress—"
"I let you take off your sling, so you shouldn't do any strenuous activity until we see SHEILD's physical therapist." She curiously raised an eyebrow at him, making him back off.
He pouted. "You always ruin my fun." Even if he told her that his arm was fine, she would've denied any sexual requests he had. It had always been like that. Tony would tell her something, but just to make sure, she would consult a third party. Pepper certainly trusted Tony, but there was no hurt in validating his say.
Tony looked up at the ceiling and noticed the bland lights that reflected a glare against her hard wood floor. He looked around him and noticed the flaws of her apartment. He was merely comparing his house to her apartment.
"You know, I should install JARVIS in here."
She immediately whipped her head around to face him. She instantly pointed at him. "No, no, no! You are not tampering with my apartment."
"What?" He began to sulk. "Why not?"
"Because this is my place of peace and serenity. I don't need JARVIS spying on me for your personal gain." She purposefully glanced down at his crotch.
"Are you serious?" He huffed. "You think I would actually do that to you?"
"Yes." She argued back. "Even if you said you wouldn't, you'd still get the urge to do so. It's also a tiny bit weird having your AI watch me twenty-four-seven."
"After ten years of working for me, one would think you'd get used to him." Tony crooked the side of his mouth in annoyance.
"I'm used to him at your house." She spat back. "I don't need JARVIS to turn off my lights or tell me the weather."
"Fine. Fine." Tony looked away; almost ashamed she rejected his greatest creation. "I see how it is. I'll just have to take my business elsewhere."
"I'm pretty sure Rhodey would push you out the front door." She rolled her eyes at him.
"I think he would consider it, and then push me out the door." He grinned at her, still thinking about JARVIS'ing her house. He looked around and noticed the lack of fish. "What do you say to fish and cat suits?"
Pepper furrowed her eyebrows. "What?" She practically shouted. "How in the world would you be able to put a suit on fish, let alone a cat?"
"Through procedures and careful hands." He wiggled his fingers, slightly. "Does that mean yes, you approve?"
"No." She immediately snapped back. "It means no, I will never approve of that idea."
"Aw, c'mon, Pepper…" He pouted at her, trying to pull off his Tony Stark charm.
"I just want one night." She started, giving him a glare. "One night where we don't talk about technology, business, or-or-or, suits..." She trailed on, trying to think of other conversations that ruined their evening.
"Pep, I'm Tony Stark. You'd have to muzzle me to get me to stop talking about technology." His ego probably went up a notch at this point.
Pepper rested her hands on her hip. "Well, that could be arranged."
"Fine." He put his hands up in defense, seeing how dark her blue eyes got. "I won't talk about it and you can't talk about anything business related."
"Surely what you're proposing isn't much of a challenge." She slyly grinned at him, making sure it hit his weak spots.
"Yeah, well—" he was about to make his comeback but something fuzzy and furious jumped up onto the counter in front of him. The grey and white cat looked back at him with wide eyes, almost as if the cat was watching his every movement.
"Oh, hi, Jasper." Pepper massaged the cat's head, and scratched him behind his left ear. The cat closed it eyes in relaxation and began to purr under her hand.
Tony thought it was an opportune time to pet the cat as well, so he reached for the upper part of his leg and began to scratch it gently. The cat still purred under Pepper's messaging. After she lifted her hand off of Jasper, Tony was mildly still petting him.
The cat angrily looked at him and began to growl. Thinking that it was just his way of saying hello, he continued to scratch the cat's side, but the cat retaliated by hissing at him.
Tony jumped back and away from the counter. "I think your cat hates me."
Pepper furrowed her eyebrows slightly and scratched the cat's head again. "Aw, Jasper, don't be like that."
"I've seen these kinds of things, Pepper." He huffed, looking down at the 'evil' cat. "That cat will tear us apart!"
"Oh, stop exaggerating." She tried not to laugh. "Jasper usually gets along with everybody." She looked down at her purring cat. "It's weird he doesn't like you."
"Maybe your blind neighbor trained him to eat me alive." Tony furrowed his eyebrows. "I mean, the man clearly did not admire me."
"Mr. Kesler would never do that, Tony." She rolled his eyes at him. It was upsetting to see her cat respond differently to Tony, especially since they're in a relationship. But it certainly wasn't the end of the world. "Or maybe…" She stopped scratching the cat in thought. Jasper immediately turned its head to follow Tony's movements.
"Huh?" He responded, cautiously looking down at the feline.
"I did tell him… stuff… about you." She winced a little, fearful of what Tony might say, or do.
"Stuff?" He dryly looked over at her. "What kind of stuff?"
"Tony, I've had Jasper for almost six years. You can't blame me to take out all of my stress and frustration out when my cat is around." She tried to shrug the blame off.
He almost immediately pointed his index finger at her. "So, you trained your cat to hate me!"
"Oh hush. It was four years of bottled up stress. And I doubt the rants to my cat have anything to do with him not liking you." She pressed her lips together in thought.
"I'm pretty sure I'm a dog lover anyways." He wanted to stick his tongue out to the cat but deemed it as inappropriate, especially in front of Pepper.
"Maybe he just needs to get used to your presence." She shrugged, looking down at the adorable cat that began to rub itself against Pepper's stomach, consistently purring. "How about we watch some television while we wait for the food?"
"Okay…" He grumbled under his breath. "But there is no way I'm sitting next to that cat."
Pepper rolled her eyes and began to dig through her fridge in search of drinks for the both of them. She skimmed the layers of the interior of her fridge and only saw bottles of water. She took a step back from the fridge and furrowed her eyebrows. She couldn't even remember the last time she enjoyed some wine.
"Did you want anything specific to drink? All I have is water." She waved one of the bottles in the air.
"Water is fine." He responded, still staring down at Jasper.
Pepper closed the fridge door close using her heel and gingerly walked out of the kitchen. She rounded the corner and walked towards the living room with both of her bottles in her hand. When she placed them on the coffee table, she noticed that Tony was slowly, and distantly, trailing behind her.
"Is everything okay?" She raised an eyebrow at him. She noticed his gaze was lowered. She lowered her gaze and found the cat sitting in front of her.
"That… thing…" he glared at him, unable to process what the cat was trying to do.
"C'mon, Jasper." She picked up the cat with both of her hands and walked towards a nearby scratching post. Pepper placed the cat on top of the post, assuming it would calm down. The cat turned in circles before it laid itself down.
"See?" She smiled down at her cat and proceeded to scratch its head. "He's friendly."
"Yeah, before you trained him to assassinate me." Tony grumbled under his breath. He took his seat in front of the coffee table, keeping his gaze centered at the feline. "Rhodey's dog would eat you alive."
The cat hissed at him. A split second later, the doorbell rang, giving Pepper a chance to escape from their standoff. She opened the door and gladly took the bags from the man. She dug out a twenty dollar bill from her pants pocket and handed it to him. The man nodded at her in appreciation and hastily walked away. She closed the door with her elbow and walked towards the living room with the bags of food that radiated with deliciousness. She dropped the bags onto the counter and untied them.
"I think the rice is in that bag." She pointed to the bag in front of Tony. He untied the bag and unboxed the contents.
"Yeah, there are three cartons of them." He handed one to her, while she handed him a carton of chicken chow mein. He handed her a pair of chop sticks and a napkin and eventually forgot about the cat that was still watching him.
"I wonder what's on T.V." She hummed, reaching for the remote.
"I think the Dodgers baseball game is on." He dumped some of the chow mein into his carton of rice.
"Something that won't end up in you spilling food everywhere." She raised an eyebrow at him.
"That was one time, Pep. One Time." He cracked his chop sticks and dug them into the carton that rested on the table. "It's not my fault Rhodey likes to trash talk."
When she flipped through the channels, she caught sight of more than twenty news channels. Each of them were talking about, if not in the middle, of Stark Industries. Tony glanced over at her, whilst shoving noodles and rice into his mouth, and noticed how stiff she got.
"If you really want to watch the news—" He proposed, trying to calm her down.
"—No, no. It's fine." She quickly replied, remembering their agreement (what started out as an argument she started). She flipped to a cartoon channel where Buggs Bunny was showing Daffy Duck how to hunt for rabbits. Pepper thought it was a nice change of pace.
"You know, I remember when my father caught me watching cartoons." He chewed his food, leaning against the couch.
"Caught you?"
"Yeah." Tony nodded. "He turned it off and insisted that I work instead of watching crap that would rot my brain. I was ten years old."
She leaned back as well, giving her self minor room between her and Tony. She wondered what it would've been like to see Tony grow up without a normal childhood. The easy Saturday mornings, watching cartoons and playing outside with the neighbors are all she can remember of hers. For Tony, it was probably spending some quality time with his father, rebuilding or observing a piece of equipment. She didn't know what to ask him. Sure, it sounded easy to ask Tony Stark a question, but she hated poking him with personal questions. She didn't want to lead him down the wrong memory lane.
"My father used to say something about cartoons." Tony said, breaking her out of her thoughts.
"Hm?" She hummed, shoveling some rice into her mouth.
He started to recite his father's words. "Cartoons were created on a blank canvas with immortality and endless possibilities, yet humanity's wish in creating the perfect world is so vague and doomed. And like animation, even the slightest error would cause set backs."
"Do you think he's right?" It was first question that came to her head.
"He's certainly not wrong." Tony chewed, unable to grasp the idea of a perfect world. "Why do you think we work so hard to achieve a balanced world?"
She looked down at her carton before gazing up at the television screen. She saw Elmer Fudd chasing after Buggs Bunny with a shot gun whilst passing by signs that all said 'Rabbit Season'.
"It's a goal." She simply responded. "We strive to achieve our goals. It's something that keeps us occupied… makes us human."
"You know, you never really talk about your parents." He popped the question. He always mentioned his parents, but he had rarely heard her talk about her own. He thought it was her way of saying that she didn't think about them the same way he thought about his parents; admiration, and motivation. A few seconds had passed and he noticed how quiet she was. "Touchy subject?" He gently asked her in a voice that sent butterflies through her stomach.
"It's not that I don't want to talk about them…" She pressed her lips together, unsure of what to say.
"If you don't want to talk about it, we don't have to." He wasn't sure if he was setting foot into dangerous territory, but she wasn't exactly rushing to change the subject, either.
"Let's just say that they're in a better place now." She vaguely informed him.
"I'm…" He wanted to apologize, but seeing her directed glazed gaze at the television told him to otherwise. "JARVIS discovered something today." He acted like their conversation didn't happen.
"Oh?" She unfortunately did the same.
"Yup. He says that your cat likes to sleep outside—"
She whacked him the ribs. "My god, Tony, is he really that intimidating to you?" She couldn't help but smile at him.
"He'll probably let his cat friends in after we fall asleep. They'll have little ninja cat nunchucks and little ninja cat stars…" Tony went on and on about the cat.
Pepper almost thought he was jealous of the feline, but that's impossible. Tony Stark can be a narcissist, a genius, and maybe a little crazy, but he is far from a man jealous of a pet.
A half hour and a few cartons of Chinese food later, Tony and Pepper found themselves relaxing on the couch, in front of the television, with two fortune cookies. Pepper was leaning against his side while his hand was draped over her waist. She reached into the bag that was on the coffee table and tossed him a fortune cookie.
As they both munched on their dessert, they peaked at their fortune, wondering what they had to say about their life.
"Wealth will be least important in your future." Tony read. He lowered the piece of paper and blinked. "Well, it's not wrong."
Pepper smirked at him as she skimmed her own fortune. She read it twice in her head and flashed a surprised grin.
"What does it say?" He squeezed her waist.
"It says I need to make my boss go to his meetings, and actually get him pay attention." She said, glaring up at him.
"Funny." He said flatly. "I get it. You don't want to tell me."
"They say you have to eat the entire cookie in order for your fortune to come true."
"Well, I think my fortune already came true."
Pepper slid the fortune into her pants pocket and proceeded to give Tony the slip. She stifled a yawn and narrowed her eyes at the television. Her actions were meant to tease him, but when he didn't follow through, she proceeded to forget about it. The fortune told her that her luck was just beginning. It wasn't the most coincidental, or vague, fortune she got, but it was somewhat pleasing to get it while she was with Tony.
"Want to turn in for the night?" She questionably looked up at him.
"Uh, yeah." He nodded. His gaze shifted slightly when he looked down at her and noticed the cat that was licking its paws. "He isn't joining us, is he?"
"Jasper usually sleeps in my room." She responded, motioning to get up.
"Can tonight be the night he doesn't sleep in your room?" He suggested. He tossed the cartons into the plastic bags while glaring down at the cat. Pepper walked around the table and stifled another yawn.
"You act as if you're threatened by him." She grinned, playfully.
Tony ignored her and proceeded to stare at Jasper. He knotted the plastic bags and pressed his lips together. "Rhodey always said I'd find enemies in weird places." He mumbled towards the cat.
The cat jumped off its scratching post and trailed behind Pepper, treating Tony's words as nothing but a silent threat and otherwise unimportant. After Tony disposed of their dinner, he joined Pepper in her bedroom and found her already in her pajamas. While he was occupied in the kitchen, she had managed to quickly slip on a blue t-shirt and black shorts. Her hair was down, resting comfortably on her shoulders. She scratched the back of her head, unaware of how beautiful she looked in Tony's eyes.
He noticed the lack of clothes he brought to change in. "Do you have a pair of sweats I can borrow?"
"Yeah." She sweetly grinned at him and strolled over to her dresser. She opened one of the drawers and tossed him a pair of grey sweats. "They're yours, actually."
It sounded somewhat romantic to hear Pepper say that she kept one of his clothes. A warm feeling spread through him when he unraveled the pants. He looked over it once and nodded to himself. Yup, those were definitely his. "How come you have one of my sweats?"
"I accidentally packed them when I left your house to come here." She simply said, walking past him.
"Just thinking about your body in my clothes is a turn on, Potts." He slyly grinned, laying the sweats on top of the bed. He proceeded to unbuckle his belt and slide his pants down. Pepper, on the other hand, was in the bathroom, removing her make-up.
"Tony, can you do me a favor and feed my fish really quick?" She shouted from the bathroom.
He looked up from his bent over position and furrowed his eyebrows. He stood near her bed, in his plaid boxers, unable to recall any sighting of fish. "Fish?" He pondered for a second. He quickly slipped on the pair of sweats and discarded his jacket, pants, belt, and socks on the nightstand.
"They're on the bookshelf." She shouted again.
Tony turned his head and saw the bookshelf she was talking about. He took a closer look and saw the small tank. It held two guppies and one ghost shrimp. One of the guppies was coincidentally a light red color, and the other one a sort of yellow-orange color. He saw a small envelope of food sitting next to the tank. He opened the envelope and dug two fingers inside. He pinched a small portion of food and scattered it above the fish. He closed the envelope and saw the two guppies swirl around each other, fighting for the food. The ghost shrimp, on the other hand, took what he got and nibbled on it with his miniscule claws.
Pepper walked into the room with her hair tied up. Tony saw her form in the corner of his eye and began to turn his head. He was sad to see that her hair was up again. He abandoned the tank and casually pursued her. Pepper was putting away her discarded clothes. Her back was turned to Tony, allowing him to endearingly wrap his arms around her waist and pull her against his body.
"You know I don't like it when your hair is tied up." He grinned, pressing a kiss to her cheek.
Pepper smiled to herself and slid the hair tie off, revealing her luscious light orange hair. "Happy?" She felt his hold on her tighten.
"Yup." He endearingly grinned. "You know I don't like it when you have clothes on." It never hurt to try – or so he thought.
"Nice try." She smirked, feeling his hold on her waist loosen. He walked around the bed and lay down on the right side, hoping she would join him soon.
When Pepper finally joined him on top of the bed, she had her Blackberry in her hand, pressing keys left and right. He heavily sighed and thought about tossing her phone across the room – of course, that wouldn't set well with her.
"I thought I said no business related stuff." He raised his eyebrow at her.
She laid her head against the headboard and dryly grinned at him. "You said I couldn't talk about anything business related. And I'm not."
"Pepper…" He whined, hoping it would pull her away from her phone. After a few more seconds of waiting, he decided to move towards more drastic measures. He began to scoot closer to her. His arm draped across her waist and pulled her closer to him.
She still didn't let go of her Blackberry.
Tony began to squeeze her waist affectionately. "Can't you do that in the morning?" He pouted, looking up at her.
"I do, do this in the morning, Tony." Pepper glanced at him, giving him a deep glare. "One more, okay?"
"Fine." He mumbled, retracting his arm from her waist. It was only a moment later when he felt her arm rest itself on his chest, and her face nuzzled against his side. He smiled to himself and closed his eyes. He occasionally savored the moments he had with her, mostly because they rarely got the chance to spend some time together, peacefully.
"Mm, this is nice." She hummed against his chest.
"Yeah." He grinned, and wrapped his arm around her shoulder, squeezing it lightly. "You know, If JARVIS were here, we could easily turn off the lights. We wouldn't have to move an inch."
"Once again, you are not allowed to install JARVIS into my apartment." She growled.
"He can protect you—" he tried to protest.
"I'm sure he can." She waved his reason off.
"Jasper, on the other hand—"
"Tony…" She grumbled, nudging his side.
"Fine, fine." He pressed his lips together. Tony turned his head to press a feather kiss on the top of her head. When she squeezed him back, they both heard a low meow. Tony whispered to himself, Please... I swear to god, if that cat—
Jasper leaped onto they bed and began to walk in between them, making Pepper pull herself away from Tony's side. He cursed under his breath as her warmth left his grasp.
"Hi, Jasper." Pepper greeted the cat with a smile. The cat planted itself right in between the couple, and meowed a second time, this time towards Pepper.
Tony narrowed his eyes at the cat as Pepper scratched its head lightly.
"Is he seriously doing this?" He angrily grumbled.
"He's just a cat, Tony." She lightly scolded him.
"A cat that clearly doesn't want me near you."
Pepper glances over at Tony and notices his increase in irritation with the cat. Tony sighed, loud enough for Pepper to hear, and began to roll over on his back. Pepper looked down at the cat and realized the commonalities between them: they both cared deeply for her. It's only one night, she told herself.
She patted the cat's back and got up. "C'mon, Jasper."
Tony glanced over at the pair and observed Pepper's efforts in leading the cat out of her bedroom. Once the cat was past the threshold, she closed the door ever so lightly and jumped back into bed.
"Satisfied?" She asked him, cuddling up to his side.
He grinned slightly and draped his arm around her shoulder so that it rested under her head. He turned to rest his check on top of her head, and closed his eyes. They laid there for a minute, basking in each other's presence.
"Finally," He grinned at her, and pressed another kiss to the side of her head. "I get you all to myself."
Tony Stark had thus forgotten about his mishap with his father's rival and his daughter. From that day on, it was easy to forget about his past embarrassments, mostly because he had someone to talk to about them. Pepper was his rock; his sole purpose for existing. He couldn't think of a better way to pass the time than spend it with Pepper. He loved her presence, mostly because it calmed him down, one way or another.
If anything, he knew that night was a special leap forward in their relationship, and he was thankful it happened. He also learned four things: Pepper loves water, she has Iron Man colored fish, she has a blind neighbor that hates him, and she has a cat named Jasper that also hates him.