CHAPTER FOUR: Settling In
Pepper and Coulson spent some time relaxing on the couch, enjoying the bowl of popcorn and talking about things that weren't important. After such a hectic day, it was a pleasant change of pace. Within the hour, there was a knock at the door and Coulson got up to answer it.
"Hey there, Mr. Coulson!" the teenaged delivery boy greeted happily when the agent opened the door.
"Hey Andy. How's life?" Coulson replied, pulling out his wallet and finding the appropriate amount of cash.
"Oh you know, school, work, girlfriend. The usual."
"You got a girlfriend?" Coulson arched an eyebrow good naturedly.
"Yeah! I told you that last time, remember? Bridgette," the boy emphasized the name like it was naked and bobbed his eyebrows up and down.
"Oh god," Coulson said, pulling out a wad of cash and handing it to the kid. "Remind me later to mail that girl a taser."
Andy laughed. "A taser. That's really funny," he said ironically. "For the record, I'm a great boyfriend."
"For the record, bullshit," Coulson quipped, taking the bag of food from the kid and peering inside. "You got my breadsticks in here?"
"Of course. Both of them. You must be pretty hungry tonight, Mr. Coulson. Not like you to order two meals."
From her place on the couch, Pepper had been eavesdropping on the conversation with a good deal of amusement. She took that comment as her cue and leaned to the side to peer through the doorway at the boy. When he noticed her come into view, she smiled and gave a little wave.
Andy's jaw dropped slightly and Coulson turned to see what had caught his eye (though he already had a guess).
Pepper shared her smile with Coulson and gave him a subtle wink.
He breathed out a small laugh and shook his head at her. She was enjoying this too much. Coulson turned back to Andy and closed the door a little more, cutting off the kid's over-eager view of the lovely redhead behind him.
"She. Is. Hot!" the teenager mouthed, waving his hand like he just burned his fingers.
Coulson gave a cheeky smirk. "Keep the change, kid," he said with a small wink before closing the door fully.
"Right, goodnight sir!" Andy called in an overly jovial voice from behind the door.
Coulson just snorted at the boy's adolescent imagination as he carried the food towards the table. He wagged a finger at Pepper as he passed. "You are very bad," he chastised, and she stood to follow him.
"Oh please," she replied, "that was the highlight of his night, you know it."
He laughed again quietly. As she watched him pull the containers from the bag and set them on the table, she realized that was the first time she had heard him give a real chuckle. She had known the man now for several months, and that was the most sincere laugh she had ever heard from him. It warmed her heart for some reason, and she felt strangely proud for having caused it.
Coulson set out some plates and silverware and discarded the plasticware and styrofoam containers. Sitting at the table, sharing a quiet meal with a guest, Coulson felt nice. This kind of thing didn't happen for him very often, but there was something beautifully domestic about it. It was a feeling he had never realized he missed, but it felt good.
Pepper hummed her approval when she took her first bite. "This is really good," she said after swallowing.
Coulson nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I order from here a lot. And their breadsticks are the best."
Pepper unwrapped her breadstick from the tin foil in response. "Have you ever been to Italy?" she asked, tearing off a piece of the bread and plopping it in her mouth.
"Once. A long time ago," he answered mildly.
"I was there just last month. Isn't it gorgeous?"
Coulson smiled. "It was beautiful," he answered. He wasn't exactly sure if that was an accurate description of his time in Italy, but he knew it was the answer she expected. Truth be told, he didn't remember much of it. Most of his visit to that country was spent protecting a parrot that had been injected with a very important computer chip, and trying to find the antidote to a serum that was slowly shutting down the faculties of Coulson's brain. But that was another story, and Coulson didn't feel like bringing it up.
"So," Pepper said, after a lull in the conversation. "What are the odds that I'll get to go back into work tomorrow?"
Coulson leaned back in his seat and dabbed the sauce off the corners of his mouth. "I would advise against it," he finally said. "It would be good if you could try to do as much work as possible from here. Keeping you away from places you'd usually frequent is my preference right now."
"But why? I'm still not totally certain why I'm in protective custody if these people were after Tony."
"At this point, we haven't been able to confirm what the actual target of the attacks was. Clearly, it was meant to affect Mr. Stark, but the objective might have been to wound him in ways apart from the physical."
Pepper narrowed her eyes in consideration. "You mean financially," she said with a nod.
Coulson sighed lightly. He could tell he wasn't making himself clear. The agent shifted in his seat slightly as he tried to find a delicate way of explaining. "The purpose of the attacks might have been to target the people in Mr. Stark's life to whom he was the closest and felt most devoted...There are very few people in this world, Miss Potts, who Stark cares for more than you. If you were harmed, it would likely have a serious impact on him. That might have been the purpose of today."
His words were soft and tender and they took Pepper by surprise. Since Tony was kidnapped in Afghanistan several months ago, Pepper had begun to realize that perhaps her disposition towards her boss wasn't strictly platonic. Since he returned, she had been seeing herself become more and more attached to him, and wasn't totally oblivious to his new attitude towards her. Tony was a flirt and always had been, but something was different about the way he looked at her these days. She felt like there was something building privately between them, but she was still surprised to find out that people from the outside world had observed this as well. She hadn't thought they were being that transparent, but apparently Agent Coulson had picked up on it, even with his limited exposure to the two of them.
Pepper felt suddenly embarrassed and dabbed her mouth with her napkin, hoping her cheeks weren't as red as they felt. She looked up at Coulson, but the gentleman had lowered his gaze to his plate out of respect for her blushes. She narrowed her eyes slightly at him when she observed a quiet pulse in his temple. The conversation seemed to have some sort of effect on him as well, but she couldn't read his response well enough to know what he was thinking.
The meal was notably quiet after that. The dinner-mates barely spoke and made eye contact even less frequently.
When they were finished eating, Pepper had to fight Coulson for the right to clean the dishes, but she eventually won. While she did that, Coulson went to the entryway and recovered her boxes, carrying them into his bedroom and leaving them there. He got some of his clothes out from his dresser and then grabbed his toiletries from the bathroom. He put them in a small pile next to the couch. He looked up to see Pepper reemerging from the kitchen with the bottle of champagne and two glasses.
"Night cap?" she asked.
Coulson's smile was half grimace as he looked at her. "It's probably not very good," he warned.
She shrugged and sat down on the couch. "We can try it."
Coulson joined her on the couch, and they both laughed when she poured the first glass and it was completely flat, no bubbles whatsoever.
"Well, this will be interesting," Pepper joked as she poured herself a drink.
The two raised their glasses and clinked them together, slowly bringing them to their mouths with hesitant smiles. The liquid was actually not as bad as they expected, though it was odd without the usual fizz. They each licked around in their mouths, trying to appraise the taste and then nodded at one another.
"My thoughts exactly," Pepper said with a little laugh.
Coulson smirked and pinched one eye shut. "It's sweet," he offered.
"Yes, yes it is." Pepper sighed contentedly and leaned back against the couch. Coulson caused himself to do the same. A comfortable silence fell over the pair as they quietly sipped their drinks and looked at nothing in particular.
"You know," she began after a time, "I never thanked you for what you did today."
He looked over at her but didn't respond.
"It was a madhouse in there after the first explosion went off. I don't think I would have known what to do if you hadn't been there."
"You're a resourceful woman," he said, trying to take off the compliment. "I'm sure you would have been fine."
"I'm not so sure," she insisted. "And then, to open up your home like this..."
"It's really not much of a home," he tried again.
"Coulson," she said firmly, dropping the customary 'Agent' from in front of his name. It had the desired effect and he looked up, locking gazes with her. "Just say, 'You're welcome, Pepper.'"
He breathed out a small laugh and looked down at his glass. He knew she had caught him. He couldn't avoid her kind gratitude forever. After a moment, he looked up at her with a small smile. "You are very welcome, Miss Potts," he spoke tenderly. "Everything has been my distinct pleasure."
His words were slow and annunciated, and the deep look in his eyes added something unspoken to what he said. It made something shiver inside Pepper and she found that she couldn't look away. It was the first time she really noticed, but...Agent Coulson really had a very handsome face. The five o'clock shadow on his strong jaw was heading quickly for six o'clock, the lines of his mouth were suddenly very fascinating, and the man's eyes...his eyes...
Pepper cleared her throat and looked away. His eyes were very nice.
"Well," she said, louder than she expected. She hoped he had not noticed her ogling just a second ago, but knowing him, he probably had (though, he would be too much of a gentleman to mention it). "I guess I should get ready for bed," she said, finishing the last sip of her champagne and putting the glass on the table.
Coulson nodded and did the same. "I just need to grab something from the bedroom closet and then it's all yours." He stood from the couch and started walking over to the bedroom door.
"Oh no," Pepper said, standing behind him. "I don't want to kick you out of your bedroom. I'll take the couch."
Coulson turned at the comment. "Don't be ridiculous. I will be perfectly comfortable out here. I'd like you to have the bedroom."
"No, please, you've given up so much already."
Coulson sighed and dropped his head. There was no way on earth he was going to let a woman sleep on his couch while he was in a comfortable bed. If only he could convince her of that. He crossed the room again and put one hand on each of her arms, careful not to touch the bruise on her shoulder. "Miss Potts," he said softly. "You really must let me insist on this."
She looked at him firmly and he silently shook his head, as if to say, 'No, I'm not budging.' She sighed after several long moments. "Your impeccable manners are really annoying sometimes," she said, only half joking, as she pushed past him towards the bedroom.
He smiled at the jab and turned to follow her.
She watched, hands on her hips, as he grabbed an extra set of blankets and sheets from the closet and then took one pillow from the bed.
He looked at her displeased expression and snorted a quick laugh, "Thank you for your sacrifice," he said, backing out of the room.
"Oh, shut up," she responded, closing the door in his face.
He caught the small grin on her lips before the door closed, and he smiled softly to himself as he turned to prepare his bed.
Several minutes later, Pepper had changed into her pajamas, grateful to finally get out of her dirty clothes from that hectic day, and prepared for bed. She walked over to the nightstand and flipped on the lamp, and then turned off the main light. Before climbing into bed, she went to the bedroom door and pulled it opened. And her breath caught in her throat.
On the other side of the door, Coulson was in the process of pulling a t-shirt down over his head, and for a brief second, his broad, muscular back was exposed to her eyes. The skin was spotted with several scars of varying shapes and sizes, but every muscle was well defined and they flexed lightly with his movements. He must have heard her gasp because he spun around, quickly pulling the shirt to cover his chest. "Oh, I'm sorry," he said.
Pepper closed her eyes and shook her head, "No, no, no. I'm sorry. I should have warned you." There was a firm shade of pink in her cheeks.
"It's fine," he responded, trying to hide his amusement. "Did you need something?"
"No. I just...I always sleep with the door open."
He arched his eyebrows and nodded.
"I saw a movie when I was a little girl that had a ghost in it," she explained. "At one point, the ghost walked into someone's bedroom with the door still closed. I guess the image of him walking through a door like that always freaked me out, and I've slept with it open ever since... Unless it will bother you, that is."
Coulson quickly shook his head, "Oh no, that's fine."
"Okay," she said, feeling sheepish now as she turned back into her room. "Goodnight, Agent Coulson," she said a few moments later, climbing into bed and looking back towards the door.
He had turned out the lights in the apartment and was settling into the couch. He looked over at her. "Goodnight, Miss Potts," he replied with a smile.
She turned off the lamp and the entire apartment went black. The world was quiet as the two tried to fall asleep. Eventually, Coulson's eyes adjusted to the lack of light, and he could just make out her silhouette from his place on the couch. The image of Pepper in his bed was intoxicating to him, and he suddenly felt incredibly isolated on that couch.
Coulson tightly shut his eyes. Get it together, agent, he inwardly rebuked. She's someone else's girlfriend. He hoped this issue with Stark was resolved soon, because having her in his apartment was going to be very difficult, especially if those kinds of thoughts kept occurring.
Coulson opened his eyes and they landed on Pepper's still silhouette again. He sighed to himself. Why did she have to be so beautiful?
The night deepened and all became quiet. In the darkness of that apartment, two pairs of eyes were unknowingly locked on one another. And like that, they both drifted off to sleep.
I am anxious to know what you guys think of this chapter. Let me know in the reviews! :)