Affairs of the Heart

Tony & Pepper, Ironman

July 2nd 2018

Tony and Pepper have finally admitted to and acted on their feelings for one another. Their ensuing pursuit of happiness is filled with the twists and turns one would expect for a couple as prolific as they are. The in-between story we missed as they built their relationship together from IM2 to The Avengers.

Disclaimer: I own nothing to do with Ironman and/or Marvel. I just enjoy playing with them.

Chapter Four

When she woke it was the middle of the night, judging by the darkness of the windows. She fumbled for her phone to check the time. "Two AM?" She whispered sadly to herself, deciding it was probably her impromtu sleepover throwing her off balance. "Jarvis?"

"Yes, Miss Potts?" The AI returned, the volume of his voice substantially lower than normal.

"Where's Tony?"

"He is in the workshop."

She sighed and rolled her eyes. Of course he was in the workshop. For a grown man who considered himself a genius, he certainly had never learned much about the art of sleeping and the toll it could take on one's body to miss out on so much of it. She hesitated for a fraction of a second before she threw the covers off and slowly stood, stretching before making her way towards the door. She wondered briefly why she was even bothering; she had tried countless times over the years to get him onto a normal schedule to no avail and she highly doubted that it was going to change anytime soon.

It's probably my fault, she thought. Their little argument was, she decided, most of the reason she was going to check on him. She was surprised that she had passed out at all with the way her stomach had been churning with regret at how badly she had treated him earlier. She wasn't going to discredit him and pretend that he wouldn't have feelings about it as well.

She made it downstairs without needing Jarvis to lift the lights in record time. The glass door of his hideout slid open with the press of her palm on the scanner and she ventured in. "Tony?" She called out softly, seeing him slumped over on top of his desk. She moved closer and put her hand on his shoulder, shaking him slightly. "Tony?"

He jerked away at the movement, turning to face her with unfocused eyes. "What time is it?" He asked, rubbing his face with both hands.

"Two in the morning... Why didn't you go up to bed?"

He shrugged, turning away to reorganize his space. "I was busy."

"Listen..." She started, leaning her hip against the edge of his workstation, trying to catch his eye. "I'm sorry about earlier. I shouldn't have reacted the way I did."

He shrugged again, but said nothing. Stubbornly.

"I just don't like how people are talking about us like... Like it means less than it does," she finished lamely, feeling her cheeks flame with the acknowledgment that it hurt her. "I'm sorry. It's harder than I thought to let it roll off my shoulders."

He turned to her and studied her face for a moment before he moved quicker than she was expecting, crushing her lips to his with his hand at the back of her head, fisting in her hair. It was needy and painful and exactly what she needed. "I thought... Maybe you were going to change your mind," he said when he pulled away, voice low and vulnerable.

She felt another stab of guilt at the thought of him down here, wondering if that was it between them because of one stupid little fight. It was going to be a struggle to keep in mind that he didn't know how a serious relationship really worked. "Tony, couples have fights. Things aren't just going to be over because of one. Besides, it's us. I don't think we're going to just magically stop bickering." She wrapped her arms around his neck, leaning back to look into his eyes and smiling softly.

"How would I know?" He grinned and she felt his body relax. His hand dropped from her hair to her hip and he pulled her a little closer.

"Come to bed."

"Like, together?" He asked hopefully.

She bit her lip and looked down at his chest, the tips of her fingers playing with his hair. "Just..."

"I am the last person you need to worry about," he cut in teasingly, tipping her chin up with his fingers. "Though that special is only on for tonight. Or I guess this morning because I don't want it to continue through the day."

She pulled away from him, laughing softly. "Let's go."

Neither of them said anything as they left the workshop and headed upstairs. Tension hung in the air between them suddenly; this was uncharted territory. Her body seemed to hum with energy and she tried to distract herself, but her heart was beating too fast and her stomach was somersaulting. She'd never felt so nervous in her life.

She'd never felt so eager.

"Mine or yours?" He asked simply, stopping behind her at the top of the stairs.

"I'll just get my phone and I'll come back to yours."

He nodded and made a beeline for his room, disappearing quickly. She swallowed, wondering if he felt the same way she did right now or if this was just another day, another girl.

Stop it.

She retrieved her phone slowly. Was this the right move? She couldn't undo this once it happened. It's just sleeping, you idiot. But it felt a lot bigger than that at this moment and she felt her throat tightening with emotion and she took a deep breath as she tried to get it under control. She was scared, deeply scared about throwing herself into this and getting her heart broken. That might mean losing her job, losing the life she had come to love... Losing Tony.

She walked back to his room and crawled into his bed before she lost her nerve, bundling herself up in his blankets. He hadn't made it out of the bathroom yet and she waited, barely breathing. When he did come out, he was wearing only boxers and his shirt. She watched as he went to lift the shirt over his head before he stopped and shrugged it back down into place.

"The reactor is bright." He answered the question in her eyes, tapping where it laid under the shirt with a lazy finger. "I guess I'll have to think of something."

"I'm sure I would get used to it."

He slipped in beside her and, of course, got right up into her personal space, wrapping a warm arm around her and pulling her flush against him. They were nose to nose and he kissed her softly, slowly deepening it as she relaxed. She ran her hand along the muscles of his arm and his chest and felt a thrill in her abdomen as she whimpered under his onslaught. His hand was roaming across her back, down across the swell of her hip and back up to rest on her lower back underneath her tank top, drawing little searing circles into her skin. Abruptly, he pulled away from her and rolled her to face away from him before pulling her right back against him, spooning her with his arm tight around her middle.

"Goodnight." He murmured in her ear, nuzzling his nose into the crook of her neck.

She fought to calm her breathing before replying her own goodnight and settling against him, feeling warm and... Right. She was pleasantly surprised that he had stopped himself before they got too out of control. She just wasn't ready for that yet, even if she secretly wished she was.

With the thought in her mind that maybe this was going to work after all, she slowly drifted to sleep.

…

"You know, today is the last of my days off. We need to talk about what's going to happen tomorrow." She had followed Tony downstairs into his workshop after he'd brought her a half-burnt omelette in bed with a sheepish grin. Sitting on the couch in what he deemed to be the house's second living room, she watched him puzzle over whatever he was working on. When she wasn't trying to harangue him into doing the things he was supposed to be doing for his company, she realized it was easy to appreciate the passion and enjoyment he felt when he was getting his hands dirty and inventing, building.

He didn't look up at her, but nodded. "You're going to go back to being CEO."

"Tony! I can't do that and you know it." She exclaimed, jumping up. "I can't be your boss and you can't be mine if we're going to be in a relationship."

"Why not?" He asked, infuriatingly nonchalant. "Seriously, why not? Pepper, we can reassure the board and get legal involved, but at the end of the day it is my company. I can do what I want. Besides, not one person is going to want me back in charge after seeing what it's like when someone actually capable is running the place. Oh, that's you, if you didn't know." He added cheekily.

She felt like her jaw was somewhere on the floor and she struggled to regain her composure. She was touched – though it probably didn't seem like it in the moment – that he really did want her to run his company. "I don't know, Tony."

"We'll figure it out tomorrow. Days off aren't for business talk." He swept the papers he'd been studying off his desk without preamble. "I'm bored."

She rolled her eyes. "How surprising is that? I'm going to get ready."

"Can I help you?" He called after her, his voice lecherous.

"See you in a bit, Tony." She half laughed, bounding up the stairs. "Jarvis? Make sure you lock him out of the guestroom."

"Most assuredly, Miss Potts."

AN: That was way too long a wait. I wasn't even finished with this chapter, but wanted to get something up 'cause the wait between chapters was just getting ridiculous. Life really got in the way! I will make sure the next chapter comes quicker.