Work Text:
Pepper is stressed.
Everyone—from Obadiah to Rhodey to the press to the shareholders to the secretary in Building 2A—wants to know what Tony is thinking. They want to know how S.I. will survive this, what to do with the dozens of government contracts already lined up for the following year, which divisions' staff will relocate and which staff will have to be let go…
As one of the only people Tony’s seen since the press conference, they expect her to have all the answers.
However, Tony is unavailable, or “laying low” as Obadiah puts it. Naturally, that means he's hiding in his workshop, surviving on truly unhealthy levels of caffeine, and leaving the mess to Pepper.
At least that hasn’t changed. Last she saw he was working on some sort of exploding flight stabilizer… though for what product she couldn’t say.
Still, Tony’s change of direction throws everything on its head; she really has no idea where to start. Right now, she’s just trying to take it one step at a time. Obadiah has been managing the business side of things far more than usual, and she’s used to cleaning up Tony’s messes. So really, it’s not so bad; she can handle it, really.
She just… She can’t let Tony down. She’s never seen him openly care so much about anything in his life. When she sees him now, since Afghanistan…
Tony and Afghanistan… that’s really what it comes down to if she’s honest; that’s what’s really been throwing her off her game.
Then again, when has it ever really not been about Tony?
She doesn’t know much of what happened over there, but he’s not the same, that much is obvious. He’s hard and soft at the same time, more serious, and just… different. Maybe Rhodey’s correct and he just needs time to get back to normal, but Pepper…
Pepper can tell he’s never really going to be the same. She’s not even sure that’s going to be a bad thing, for him or for Stark Industries. As for how it affects her personally, well…
Knowing Tony—understanding him, managing him—that’s been her life for the past ten years.
Now… she’s not so sure she knows the man that came back.
Suffice to say: she’s stressed.
But she doesn’t have time to deal, or work through her feelings, or figure out what to think when Tony tells her that he doesn’t have anyone but her. She has work to do.
With sudden conviction, she closes her laptop and rises from the couch, stretching her back out and trying to ease the tension in her neck.
It’s getting late, and she really can’t bear to sit in one spot answering emails (and trying to ignore her thoughts) for one minute longer. She’ll go insane.
So instead she puts on her birthday present and goes to the only work event in the year where she’ll let herself have a drink or two, even if it’s only champagne.
Tony arrives amid flashing cameras and the usual brouhaha that comes from grouping people with far too much money and far too much alcohol in the same building.
Unfortunately, she’s oblivious until he’s already approaching her, loud and brash as always.
He drags her onto the dance floor, and no matter what he says, whoever he dances with at the Maria Stark Foundation’s annual celebration was always going to be in the spotlight.
So, she forces her “press smile” on, sending glances around the room, slipping to look down self-consciously while trying to meet Tony’s gaze head-on. He’s completely unbothered, of course.
He says something, then she says something, and then she’s talking about her deodorant of all things and why, why can’t she just stop all the nervous chattering before it comes out of her mouth like word vomit?
All she can think is that he’s got his hand low on her back, on the uncovered skin just above where the fabric covers her and he’s looking at her like that and he smells wonderful and where did that thought come from?
And all she can process is not-safe-not-safe-not-safe, over and over again in her head. They can’t do this here; it’s a work event! It’s too intimate and all her coworkers are here and the champagne’s probably going to her head and if he keeps it up they’re going to do or say something they’ll regret and it’s not-safe-not-safe... this isn’t safe!”
She definitely needs some air.
Pepper’s smiling, but it doesn’t reach her eyes. Tony’s seen her use that smile while speaking to reporters or in front of a camera. She’s never really used it with him before. He doesn’t like it.
He teases her, and they banter, and just for a moment everything feels natural, and exactly how it should be.
He offers to fire her and she says he couldn’t tie his shoes without her.
Tony ignores the involuntary thought that it wouldn’t matter if he could; he would never want to.
She asks him for his social security number, arching an eyebrow at his lack of response, and finally, finally that smile broadens into a real grin.
It only lasts for a moment, but that moment is everything. Her eyes are sparkling, she’s laughing at him, and he’s never seen anything more perfect.
There’s the Pepper he knows. She’s drop-dead gorgeous in that dress, unrecognizable and upstaging every other woman in the room. But she’s also the person who’s seen all his highs and lows over the past ten years and stuck with him the whole way.
He doesn’t know how to tell her all that’s running through his head, but he wants to say something.
“You’re missing just a couple of digits there,” she says.
“The other eight?” he replies, “I’ve got you for the other eight.”
That wasn’t his best night, for sure.
He really hadn’t meant to just leave her there.
So yeah, maybe not the most perfect memory.
But, just like any of those specific, innocent, almost innocuous moments with Pepper, (even 12% of those moments)
Well, the memory always makes him smile.
Written in response to the Pepperony Week prompt for Day 3: favorite making each other smile scene || Fanfic Prompt: nsfw
So I was gonna write something completely different, but then I read "Not Safe For Work" by Earthsbestdefender (below) and I started thinking about the different meanings you could take from the nsfw prompt. So this came out instead. Hope you enjoyed! Go read Earthsbestdefender's fic, it's awesome!
Not Safe For Work (521 words) by Earthsbestdefender
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Pepper Potts/Tony Stark
Characters: Pepper Potts, Tony Stark, Morgan Stark
Series: Part 3 of Pepperony Week 2019
Summary:
There are rules when it comes to working in the lab and or workshop.