Ok, so I boobed up again. For the sake of my sanity, let's pretend I put the date at the end of the last chapter as well as the beginning of this one. I was going to attempt smut with this chapter, but I had to cut it out for two reasons, 1). The fic took a different direction as I was writing it and me writing it the way I had planned would have meant a big long tedious bit of nonsense in the middle (not that I've managed to cut that out entirely). 2). My internet provider decided to implode or something during the weekend and the only way I could finish and upload this was when I was with my Nan at her computer course, and there's no way in hell I'm writing smut in a room of thirty people and my Grandmother. Sorry, that's just the way I roll.
Oh, and I suggest if you don't already know the song, YouTube it! It's a beyond awesome tune. Cannot wait for the new album! And you know what new album means? TOUR! COME TO THE UK!!!
Song of the Day: Goo Goo Dolls - Become
December 22nd
"Oh my God, how have I never tasted this before?" Tony said around a mouthful of Pepper's nuked curry. He was shovelling it down as fast as he could. "S'mafing."
"I'll take that as a compliment." She smirked at him as he threw her a 'no shit' look. "I figured since I've been commissioned to living here, I may as well make sure there's real food in the house, and no, PopTarts don't count as real food." She cut him off before he could interject.
"Oh they so do!" he protested. "Chocolate is a vegetable, and there's pastry in them. That's like a three course meal in one go. And it probably tastes better. Although now I've tasted your cooking, Potts, you no longer do anything but this."
"Oh wow, from PA to cook, every girl's dream. Jarvis, pull up a random episode of Friends would ya?" the AI obliged, opening the wall opposite the couch to reveal the beyond-larger-than-necessary flat screen.
"Hey, you'd be the Head Chef." He said normally, having snarfed down the entire contents of the plastic tray and was now digging his finger into the corners to grab the last morsels. "And I'd be your Su Chef. That means I'd be under you." She rolled her eyes at his innuendo.
"As much as the idea does appeal to me, I think I'm gonna stick with being your assistant, however much the thought of you actually eating real food makes my life easier." She stood up and held her hand out for his tray. "I'm gonna go and get comfortable, you want me to put you another in the microwave?"
"You're a saint Miss Potts." He handed her his now squeaky clean tray and beamed at her.
"Tell me about it, Mr. Stark." She winked at him and sauntered out of the lounge.
Three hours, six episodes of Friends and four different curries' later, Tony was feeling extremely full and, for the first time in a long time, genuinely relaxed. He was vaguely aware of something hilarious happening on the TV, only because he was staring at the person that it was affecting. Pepper was pretty much creasing up with laughter, which in turn was making him chuckle.
"This can't be the first time you've seen these?" Tony asked eventually. Pepper regained enough composure to shake her head, coughing slightly.
"No, of course not. I have them all on DVD, but they're still funny after the fiftieth time." And as if to prove her point, she set off giggling again as Monica danced around with a Turkey on her head, complete with party hat and sunglasses. The credits began to roll and she raised her arms above her head and stretched, giving Tony a generous flash of skin, thanks to the tank top she had donned. "Well, I think I'm going to turn in for the night, thanks for keeping me company." She smiled warmly at him and then got up off the couch, heading for her room.
'Right,' Tony thought to himself, 'now or never Stark.'
"Pepper?" he called to her before she disappeared down the hall and she turned back to him.
"Yeah?" she leant against the wall and folded her arms across her stomach, waiting for him to continue. He stood up and walked over to her.
"Uh, well, I was just wondering, what you were doing for Christmas exactly?" the question threw her slightly.
"Oh, er...well, apart from trying to deal with the aftermath of your little confession, not a lot. Were there some functions you wanted to attend? Let me get my BlackBerry." She started back to where she had hung her suit jacket earlier but he stopped her.
"No, no, nothing like that."
"Then what?" she looked at him expectantly and he began fidgeting with his hands. She grabbed hold of them to stop him. "Tony, what's wrong?"
"Nothing...I was just wondering...do you wanna spend Christmas and New Years here?" he sent her a nervous smirk.
"Well, I do kinda live here for the time being." She reminded him. He winced slightly.
"I meant primarily here...with me. Just us two. Together."
Insert awkward silence here.
"Oh." She said, letting go of his hands.
"I mean, unless you have other plans. Do you?"
"Do I?"
"Have other plans?"
"Oh." she said again. "No, no plans."
"Great." He smiled at her.
"Tony, I don't think it's a good idea."
"Why not?" his face fell slightly. He knew she might say that but he'd hoped she wouldn't.
"Tony-"
"Wait. Look, you said it yourself; I've shoved a lot of crap on you this Christmas and what have you done in return? Gotten me a vacation from the madness while you sit there and deal. Well, I won't have it." He folded his arms and smiled smugly at her.
"You won't have it?"
"No." He said. She still looked uncomfortable. "Pepper, it's nothing major. Just two friends spending the holidays together. It's completely innocent. I promise I'll be on my best behaviour. Plus," he winked at her. "you get to try my cooking."
She was chewing on her bottom lip, considering what he was saying, and then sighed when he pulled a puppy-dog face. "Ugh, fine, but only because you cooking is like the seventh sign of the apocalypse." She smiled as he beamed back at her. "Will that be all Mr. Stark?"
"That will be all Miss. Potts."
December 23rd
Pepper awoke to the smell of stuffing. She found this odd for two reasons, one being that it was two days before those smells usually had any business being near her nostrils, and the fact that it was 7:30am. Confused and now slightly hungry, she got out of bed and made her way down the halls to the source of the smell.
Tony was stood in the larger of the two kitchens in his home which was connected to an even larger dining room, barefooted in boxers and a grey t-shirt and, by what little Pepper could see, has his hand up a turkey's bottom. Now, this was a funny sight to begin with, but what caused Pepper to have to grab the nearest chair to support herself was the sheer quantity of violent profanities streaming from Tony's mouth.
"Son of a- why won't you go in you mother- arg!" he retracted his hand from the turkey's bottom and all the stuffing he'd just tried to ram up it fell out. "Fuck." He shook his hand and stuffing flew everywhere.
"Could you make much more mess? You are such a guy." Tony span round as Pepper spoke and ended up flinging stuffing at her. "Gee, thanks."
"Aww shit, sorry." He grabbed a dish towel and handed it to her and then ran his own stuffing-covered hand under the tap. She dabbed the specks off her tank top and arm.
"What are you even doing?" she asked him. He looked at her in an 'isn't it obvious?' way. "I mean, I can see what you're doing but why at this hour of the morning? Two days before needed as well."
"I'm trying my mother's recipe." He said, taking the dish towel from her and drying his own arm. "Well, her method at least, I don't have the exact recipe for the stuffing but it tastes pretty much the same." He nodded to the bowl sitting next the manhandled turkey.
"Wow, you mean you made that yourself?" she seemed genuinely shocked. He smiled at her.
"I told you I could cook. How do you think I survived before you came along?" he winked at her. "My mom used to prepare the make the stuffing from scratch from her own recipe two days before Christmas so the flavour was released enough. I don't have the recipe but I remember how it used to taste. It was the best thing I ever ate all year..." he dropped his head and smiled to himself. Pepper reached out and placed her hand on top of his.
"I'm sure it'll taste fantastic...assuming you get it in the turkey." This made him laugh and he gave her hand a quick squeeze before releasing it.
"Thanks." he turned back to the turkey and cracked his knuckles. "Well, here goes round two." He lifted the turkey and began shoving stuffing up its rear end again. Pepper walked around the counter she had been leaning on and watched him, yet again, fail.
"You know, it helps when you don't fight gravity." She smirked at him. "Would have thought a billionaire genius like you would have figured that one out by himself."
He plopped the turkey down on the countertop and mumbled something that sounded like 'I was just testing you' and, after a few minutes, managed to fill it with stuffing.
"A-ha! Victory!" he raised a fist and, once again, flicked stuffing all over Pepper. "And that's what happens to people who doubt my methods."
Pepper reached for the dish towel again and hit him with it. "Oh yeah, all fear the great and powerful Iron Man with his Stuffing Gun 'o' Death."
"Catchy title. That's not a bad idea though." He took the other end of the dish towel and wiped of the last of the stuffing from his arm before balling it up and throwing it onto the counter. "Not to blow my own trumpet-"
"Like that's ever stopped you before."
"-but you will probably die and go to heaven when you eat it, I'm just that naturally talented."
"Yeah, that wasn't blowing your own trumpet at all."
"Well you could always blow it for me?"
Pepper laughed and touched his arm lightly, making it twitch. "I'm not sure you could handle my rhythm."
Tony leaned forward slightly. "Well, maybe we should test that theory." Pepper placed her hand on his chest, holding him back.
"Maybe when you don't smell so much like stuffing and turkey ass."
Tony sighed but remained where he was. "You are such a tease Miss. Potts."
"Pardon me for not getting a kick out of the smell of stuffing and turkey ass."
"You mean my stank isn't doing anything for you?" he pretended to look shocked, making Pepper giggle.
"Sorry Mr. Stark, it's just one of those things."
He leaned in further. "So if I showered we'd be fine?"
Pepper smiled and moved her mouth nearer his ear. "I still know where you've had your hand." She stepped around him, but he grabbed her arm and pulled her back, trapping her between his body and the counter, his hands either side of her on the tile surface. "Tony?"
"I just wanna try something." He said, not a hint of amusement in his face.
"Remember what happened the last time you said that?" she said. She could feel his breath on her lips.
"Well then," he lifted a corner of his mouth. "let's just call this scientific research." And he closed the distance between their lips. Immediately his Reactor hummed, not as violently as the first time they had kissed and for a shorter amount of time, but it still made him smile. Pepper's eyes shot open and she ended the kiss. "I'm fine." He said straight away. "Don't worry, just a hiccup." He raised his hand and pushed a lock of Pepper's hair behind her ear.
"It's still weird." She said, staring at the faint blue glow in his chest.
"But not as bad as last time. I think I'm getting used to it." She looked up at him then, and she knew he wasn't talking about the buzzing. She touched his Arc softly and then slowly moved her hands up his chest and around his neck, bringing him in for another kiss, but stopped short of his lips.
"Maybe we should run a few more tests, just to be sure?"
It took a lot to scare Tony Stark. He could probably count on one hand the amount of times this particular emotion had befallen him.
When his parents had died and he'd realised he was alone, that had scared him.
When the bag had been pulled off his head in the cave and he'd been presented with several heavily armed thugs, that had scared him. A lot.
But now, as he lay in his bed next to a sleeping Pepper, his arm wrapped around her middle and his nose buried in her hair, he waited for the little voice in his head to kick in and tell him to get up and run like it had with so many women.
But it didn't.
And that truly petrified him.
TBC.
Oh my Jesus, this was SUCH a pain in the arse. Yet another chapter I re-wrote a million and a half times. I hope you all enjoyed it though. Drama drama drama!