Work Text:
You didn’t consider yourself an altogether unreasonable person.
But sometimes it was just all too much.
“Enough!” you finally shouted. “Just shut up, Tony. I don’t want to hear it anymore!”
The stunned silence that greeted your exclamation wasn’t exactly a surprise; usually if there were any outbursts in one of these meetings, they came from Tony himself. You’d always sat primly by his side, taking notes in abject silence. But today, it had finally become too much.
Nothing was ever good enough for your boss, Tony Stark. You had been working as his personal assistant for going on two years, and he still found ways and reasons to pick at your every action.
Today, the coffee was too hot. Yesterday, it hadn’t been hot enough. He didn’t like the bond of the paper you had printed his handouts on, and when the pen you had set out for Captain Rogers, brand new out of the box, hadn’t worked? Well, that was your fault too.
You could have handled it easy enough -- working in a support position at a multinational, multibillion dollar company would always bring some nitpicking from the boss, nothing you hadn’t dealt with before. You could have just flipping things and changing them to suit his every mood, without question or even aggravation. Par for the course, after all.
You could have handled it just fine, if not for the constant comparisons.
Pepper this. Pepper that. Pepper always had enough materials on hand for extra bodies sitting in on the meeting without notice. Pepper could sweet talk the IRS into accepting a delayed filing without fee or penalty. Pepper could keep the peace among the team if ever it erupted into something dangerous.
Pepper, Pepper, Pepper Potts. She was all you ever heard about anymore.
She was probably better in bed too, though he had yet to make THAT comparison. You didn’t think that Tony slept with literally every attractive female he employed, but you’d been working for him for two years and sharing his bed for eight months, and you had finally had enough.
Tony gave a low chuckle. “Sorry guys,” he said, nodding at the team members gathered around the table: Captain Rogers, Agent Hill, Agent Barton. “Good help isn’t all that hard to find but they can’t all be Pep--”
“Oh my god, again?” you snapped, standing up and throwing your legal pad onto the glass tabletop. “Can you go even five minutes without invoking the name of the almighty Pepper Potts?”
That had been the impetus of your outburst, a sly offhand comment about the coffee, him saying that it had never been gotten right since Pepper left. You just couldn’t stand it anymore.
Tony said your name sharply and frowned. “This is very unprofessional,” he warned you.
Across the table, Steve and Clint -- because you were on a first name basis with them outside of these meetings, you saw them enough as it was -- averted their gaze, while Maria let out a low breath and shook her head.
“You know what, Tony?” you told him, reaching to where your ID badge sat clipped to to the pocket of the smart grey business suit you wore, ripping it off hard enough fray the edging of the fabric. You hated it anyway; you were always more of a cute blouse and a skirt kind of dresser, but holier-than-thou Pepper wore smart little suits and Tony never failed to remind you of that when you were out shopping.
You threw the badge onto your legal pad on the table. “Screw Pepper Potts, Tony. And screw you. I’m done.”
You stalked out, your black heels clacking on the floor as you went, Tony staring after you in wide-eyed surprise.
Maria huffed a low laugh at his startled expression. “For a genius, Tony, you can really be an idiot sometimes.”
You didn’t live in the Tower full time, not officially, so it made it a little easier as you stalked around Tony’s bedroom, gathering what little things you had left there. The businesswear could stay -- you were just fine going back to your off-the-rack Sears specials; they had gotten you this job, they would get you another soon enough. He wouldn’t dare give you a bad reference; everyone knew that half the people who quit Stark Industries did so because of his eccentricities.
There as a piece of luggage in his closet, some designer monstrosity that probably cost more than than your last vacation, but it would have to do. You could send it back to him afterwards, if you felt like it -- maybe even in pieces.
You had some clothing in the closet, a few knickknacks here and there. Brushes and hair clips in the bathroom, a swimsuit in a dresser drawer, a book on the nightstand. Truth was, you spent more time in Tony’s bed than in your own these days.
You had just fished one of your shoes out from beneath his bed, still crouched there on the floor, when you heard him heave a sigh from somewhere behind you. Straightening, you saw him standing in the doorway, hands shoved deep in his pockets as he leaned on the frame, an unreadable expression on his face.
“You running out on me?” he finally asked, watching as you threw your shoes into the open suitcase on the bed.
You snorted. “Yeah. Well. I guess I do have something in common with Pepper after all, huh?” you said bitterly.
Tony sighed again and when he said your name it was quiet. Pained. Expecting something placating to follow, you turned around, ready to put up a fight. You couldn’t be swayed this time, not again, not after all this time.
“She ran out on you, Tony,” you told him, shaking your head. “She ran out and left you when you needed her the most. I was the on there when the panic attacks came back. I was the one there when you had no one else, when you couldn’t breathe… I was the one there, Tony, not her. Never her.”
He took a few steps towards you. “I know that,” he told you. “Believe me, I know that.”
Not many people got to see him like this. To the world he was Iron Man, something strong and indestructible. They forgot there was a man inside the armor, made of flesh and bone. He could feel. He could hurt. He could be vulnerable.
His eyes, velvet brown and so damn gorgeous it seemed half a sin not to admit it, were wide and staring at you, dark brows furrowed as he waited and watched.
You sighed, dropping the rest of what you had been gathering on the bed and going to him, closing your eyes to bury your face against his chest while his arms encircled your waist. Tony pressed his nose into your hair and you felt him take a long, deep breath.
“I’m a stupid old man,” he told you, pressing his lips to the crown of your head. “I get set in my ways and forget that different isn’t a bad thing.”
“You’re getting about as crotchety as Cap sometimes, Stark,” you warned, tipping your head up to smile at him, letting him know that things were okay.
“You wound me,” he deadpanned, brushing his lips across yours. “I’m not that much of an old man. Cap and his frosty buddy being around make me more like, middle-aged.”
You snorted, feeling his hands drift down from your waist to palm at your ass, and gave him a shove in the chest, pulling out of his embrace.
“More like a dirty old man,” you replied, and sat down on the edge of the bed, kicking off your heels. Designer or not, they hurt like a bitch. “I’m still quitting, though,” you warned him. “I am officially off the clock, for good. You can revoke my parking privileges and everything.”
Tony sat down next to you, and nudged you with his elbow. “As long as you’re not quitting me,” he replied in a rare unguarded moment. “You’re gonna stick around, aren’t you kiddo? Always wanted to be some pretty young thing’s sugar daddy.”
You snorted; you two rarely discussed your age difference. The press handled that enough for the both of you.
“I will find a new job,” you replied. “Since you’re going to give me such a glowing recommendation and all. Might take a couple weeks, though. Spend some time lounging around this place. Get the feel of what it’s like to be a civilian around here.”
“Might as well just move in, then,” Tony posited mildly.
“Yeah?” you asked, mimicking his movements from only moments before and nudging him in the side with your elbow.
“Yeah,” he said with a nod. “Probably for the better anyway, you quitting. They always say you shouldn’t work with the ones you love. Never goes well.”
You froze for just a second, a newborn crop of butterflies dancing circles in your stomach. That was a word you hadn’t used before -- either of you.
“Yeah?” you repeated, face growing hot, a little dumbfounded.
“Yeah,” he replied, and reached to thread his fingers through yours against your thigh.
You leaned onto his shoulder. “I’ll help you find another assistant,” you offered. “Maybe a guy this time.” You paused, glanced at Tony’s raised eyebrows, and added, “A really efficient, completely unattractive, and wholly straight guy.”
Tony snorted and smiled. “I don’t know if I should be flattered or offended by that,” he told you.
“You could just nod and kiss me,” you offered, and his grin spread.
“Now that is the best suggestion I heard all day.”
You thought maybe it wouldn’t be so bad, living in Pepper’s shadow, if it could always be like this. After all, you did one thing a lot better than she ever could -- you stayed.