3 Slaps
By: InitialA
Disclaimer: I own nothing in the Marvel universe.
The second time Pepper slapped him, Tony did her one better.
He could only be glad it hadn't happened the first time they'd had sex. That night, while not as perfect as he would have preferred, shone in his memory as a real turning point in his life.
It had taken a few months to get to that stage in their relationship. A pace he, a womanizer with a trail of broken hearts haunting him, should have resented, but didn't. Taking it slow with Pepper seemed right. It was actually fun. He enjoyed teasing her. The way she squirmed when she was fighting to keep her resolve to not bed him too quickly, the high-pitched squeak her voice became when he snuck up behind her in the middle of a sentence. It was intoxicating. He'd have given up drinking years ago if all it took to satiate him was the sight of a very flustered Pepper trying to work while he ran his hand up her thigh.
And that first night wasn't even his idea. He had been down in his workshop, tinkering with the engine of the hotrod, minding his own business for once. She was the one who had pulled him out from under the car, wearing nothing but a sheer kimono and a smile that promised him all the wonderful things under the stars and more.
There was the snafu of all the grease, but Pepper's original idea was in no way harmed by the suggestion of a shower first—preferably together.
Better still, the water made their bodies slick, and made the bedroom more fun. It hadn't made the bed less uncomfortable to sleep in after that fun, but they made up for that the next time. And the time after that.
But the time after the time after that… Well.
In his own defense—which he, by now, knew better than to voice aloud—he had been smashed on the head during one of his S.H.I.E.L.D. consultations not twelve hours before The Incident. It was likely a mild concussion, something he could brush off without any serious concern, completely harmless.
Or so he thought.
Apparently, mixing a concussion with your girlfriend straddling you into a hazy, pleasurable oblivion can cause a brief hallucination of that redheaded girl from that one time a few years ago at that one thing in Nice.
Said hallucination can sometimes be so strong that you say her name instead of your girlfriend's name.
Victoria.
Virginia "Pepper" Potts is no Victoria.
Virginia "Pepper" Potts has a really mean backhand when she's got you handcuffed to your headboard and is pinning you down at the waist.
As she stormed out, Tony tried calling after her, apologizing, but she wouldn't have any of it. If he was right, and he usually was, she was probably listing off all the previous affairs he'd had with women and trying to tally a ballpark number to see what number she was. She was probably running through his usual list of charming tricks to see what signs she had missed. And he was helpless to stop her.
She hadn't uncuffed him from the headboard.
Rhody found him the next day, at the behest of Jarvis. After laughing for a good ten minutes, he was able to find the key and free his friend. Rhody assured him that while he wouldn't tell a soul, it was useful to have an enormous bit of blackmail, just in case. Tony fired him. Rhody reminded him that he didn't work for Tony. Tony cussed him out, and finally found his pants.
Pepper wasn't at her apartment. She wasn't at the office, and she wasn't answering any of her phones. He didn't dare call her family's home, or drive out there. She'd told him a little about her father, and he had no doubts at all that he would be the perfect father figure in this situation: threatening the man who'd broken his little girl's heart, shotgun in hand, and Tony wouldn't blame him at all. He might even let him take a few shots.
The sun was going down by the time he arrived back at his mansion. He buried himself in his workshop. He muted Jarvis after the second day. The continuing reminders that he needed to eat or sleep were distracting and unwanted.
Burning. Tony snapped himself out of a stupor as the soldering iron burned his finger again. Or another finger. He'd lost track at this point. Days. Injuries. Lost meals. All of it.
Because none of it mattered. Not when he'd screwed up this badly.
It sounded like the workshop door was opening, but that was probably a hallucination. All the others were. This Pepper, talking to him in a worried voice, she wasn't real either. None of it was real. She was gone, left him, all because…
Tony woke with a start. He was in his bed. How had he gotten here? The last thing he remembered was… He looked at his hands. All of his fingers were bandaged, smelling strongly of burn ointment and aloe. That was strange. When had that happened?
The door opened. Later, he would swear up and down that even the arc reactor glowed brighter and hummed louder when she walked into the room. She had a bowl of some kind of broth. She said Jarvis had told her everything. He asked her if she was going to throw the broth in his face. She said she hadn't ruled that out, yet, but was willing to listen first.
He talked for a very long time. He watched her face, but she had apparently been taking lessons from Agent Romanoff because he couldn't get a read off of her. In the back of his mind, he realized that she wouldn't have dragged him out of the workroom, bandaged him, and made him soup if she hadn't forgiven him just a little. Or even just felt sorry for him. Maybe he would upgrade Jarvis' servers and output chips, like it had been requesting. If she actually forgave him, that is.
At some point during his monologue, she handed him the bowl. He paused to take a drink, and he noted that he'd cleared another hurdle: consuming the broth and not wearing it.
After he'd finally, finally finished talking, she was quite for a bit. Then, she laid out two rules:
No sex after fights, no matter how much adrenaline was rushing through his system.
No sex at all until she felt better about him.
He was slightly daunted, especially after experiencing how incredible she was in bed, but agreed immediately.
Then, he suggested his own addendum: whatever she wanted Stark Industries to focus on next, they would go in on it 100%. No questions asked, the board would be overruled on all counts, no hurdles at all. Everything the Pepper Potts way.
It was her turn to look daunted, but she recovered quickly. She didn't even hesitate.
Green energy, via arc reactor, readily available for everyone.
Tony thought about it. They were going to need a really impressive prototype if this was going to sell. He grinned.
((Wow, be glad I deleted an entire section devoted to Pepper ruining sexy times by having a brief panic over whether or not the arc reactor could get wet for an extended period of time… and all the internet research in the world can't answer that question for me. XD Comic book characters don't need to bathe? I liked the idea of this being completely dialogue-less; I love writing their banter, and Tony's a real pisser when it comes to rattling off the first thing that comes to mind without thinking about it, but sometimes it's nice to have him shut up for a while, no? And a fun idea of how Stark Tower came about in The Avengers. X3 One slap left!))