Chapter Text
Pepper didn’t know who’d started it, but she would put good money down that it wasn’t her. Did that mean she was totally innocent? Absolutely not, she shouldn’t have gotten drunk with Tony. But now, waking up in his bed with a massive headache and no clothes on, she couldn’t help but curse herself. The man himself was asleep next to her, snoring softly, and also if his top half gave any indication, had no clothes on. She swore softly and eased out of his almost crushing embrace, moving the arm that he had around her back to his side. He stank of the sweet smell of champagne and she couldn’t imagine she smelled much better. She slipped out of the bed and winced as her head pounded. Her underwear was at the foot of the bed, along with his, but the rest of her clothes were a mystery. Eventually she found them, trailing their path back through the hallway and down to the couch where she found her blouse, his polo shirt and her hairband. She dressed quickly, fingers fumbling over the buttons, not bothering to tie her hair back up.
“Gotta say, I’m not used to doing it this way around.” Tony’s voice made her jump as she was pulling her shoes on. She turned from where she sat on the couch, finding Tony standing in the archway of the stairs behind her, leaning against it.
Pepper stood, blushing at the sight of him in just his boxers. It wasn’t like she hadn’t seen him in barely anything before, but this time it was different. “I thought I’d better go...gotta get home.”
He smiled sadly and nodded. “Are you alright to drive? We had a fair amount to drink."
Nodding, Pepper grabbed her phone and stuffed it hastily in her purse, slinging it over her shoulder. "I'll manage, I just might be a little late tomorrow." She cleared her throat and looked at him. "So…I'll see you in the morning?"
"Yeah." He agreed, running a hand through his hair. "Night, Potts."
Pepper nodded and turned on her heel, her heels clicking across the polished floor as she retreated from the house to the safety of her car. She sat back in the driver's seat and closed the door behind her, sighing with relief and closing her eyes for a moment. She had hoped to escape without waking him, but he had at least taken it well. It was better that they both just moved on and forgot about what had happened, not that she could really remember how it had even started. Shaking her head, she grabbed her keys from her purse and started the car, turning the car around and heading off with a little more speed than necessary.
Neither of them had said anything about That Night for several weeks. They'd effectively gone back to normal, but there was always a little tension between them, like they each wanted to bring it up but neither wanted to be the first.
Tony hated it.
He was used to their banter, how she would roll her eyes almost out of her head when he flirted with her, but now it felt forced and careful. He was clumsy and fell over his words, and half the time she never responded anyway which left them with an awkward silence. It was awful.
So when Pepper took off half a day early one afternoon a few weeks after That Night, he was mildly greatful - he'd been hiding in the basement for the majority of the time when she was in the house and it was getting embarrassing. He could only replace the same components on the suit for so long. He trudged up the stairs and made himself something to eat, settling on the couch and turning on the TV. He didn't get very far in flicking through the channels, however, as his phone began to ring, Pepper's name flashing on the screen.
"Potts?" He answered. "Aren't you supposed to be relaxing or something?"
"You home?" She asked, ignoring his question.
Frowning, Tony shut off the TV. "Yeah, you okay?"
Pepper sighed down the line. "I'm fine, I just…I need to talk to you. I'll be there in twenty."
Worry spiked through Tony. This didn't sound like an 'I've just won the lottery' conversation. He waited where he was until Jarvis alerted him that Pepper was pulling up the driveway. Standing up, he shoved his hands in his pockets and watched as she walked through the door.
"Hey." She said quietly, walking up to him. "Can we sit?"
Tony sat, running on autopilot. "What's going on?"
Pepper took a deep breath and stared at her hands which were clasped together on her lap. "I had a doctor's appointment today, and -"
"Oh God." Tony blurted out. "Are you dying?!"
"No, Tony." She took a deep breath and reached over to grab his hand gently. "I'm…I'm pregnant."
Silence.
"Tony?"
"Yeah?"
"Did you hear what I said?"
"Yeah."
Pepper waited a few more moments, watching as he tried to process what she was saying. His pupils had blown and he was swallowing a lot.
"You're pregnant?" He asked finally. Pepper nodded. "And…well I'm assuming you're telling me because…" he wafted his free hand between them and she nodded again. "Okay…okay…holy shit."
"I don't expect anything from you, Tony." Pepper tried to reassure him. "You can be as involved as you want to be, but I am keeping it."
Tony nodded, running a hand over his chin and plucking at his beard. "Right, okay…well…are you okay?" He finally managed to make eye contact with her and she smiled.
"I'm fine. Everything is progressing normally apparently." She bit her lip and then opened her purse to pull out a small photograph. "Do you wanna see?"
Taking it from her with shaking fingers, Tony looked at the small black and white image. He couldn't really see anything amongst the wavy lines, but he thought he could pinpoint what he was supposed to be looking at.
"Just here." Pepper pointed over his shoulder at the photo to help him. "There it is."
"Huh." Tony nodded and took a deep breath. "I've never seen one of these in real life before. You know I'm not gonna be any good at this, right?" He turned his head. "Very shitty, in fact."
Pepper shrugged. "I disagree, I think you'd be great. But like I said, you can be as involved as you want to be. You can stay as just Tony or…"
"Daddy." He snorted and let out a laugh. "Well that word is now ruined." Pepper slapped his arm playfully and took back the photo. "Hey! I'm keeping that." He grabbed it back from her.
"You wanna keep it?" She asked, feeling a wave of relief. "Okay…so you're okay with this?"
"Well, I mean we're here now." He chuckled. "Horse has kind of already bolted, but I'm not gonna just leave you to raise it alone." He gave the photo one last look and then pulled out his wallet to shove it carefully inside. "What do you wanna do about us?"
"Ah." Pepper sighed. "Well, I think for now I just want to concentrate on…on the baby." She smiled at the word. "I don't think trying us out at the same time would go too well."
Tony nodded, seeing the sense in what she was saying. "Fair enough." He smiled at her. "So…"
She held his gaze for a moment before shaking herself out of it and standing up. Tony stood with her. "I should probably head home, today has been a lot." She laughed nervously. "Um…thank you, Tony, for not freaking out."
"Oh, I'm definitely freaking out." He confesses with a laugh. "But I'll get over it. It's us, right?" He lifted one shoulder in a shrug. "We always figure it out."
"That we do." Pepper agreed, picking up her purse. "Okay, well I'll see you tomorrow, don't forget you've got a 9am meeting so straight to the office in the morning."
"You know I won't." He said with a cheeky smile. "Have fun at the meeting."
Pepper shook her head and turned towards the door, waving over her shoulder and feeling a lot better about everything than she had that morning.
"Jarvis?" Tony called out after she'd left. "Find me the nearest store that sells baby stuff."