Fandom:
Iron Man (movieverse)
Rating: M
Pairing: Tony/Pepper
Summary: What Pepper does when Tony's on a mission.
Disclaimer: The characters and situations in this story belong
to Marvel Comics, Fairview Entertainment, Dark Blades Films, and other
entities, and I do not have permission to borrow them. No infringement
is intended in any way, and this story is not for profit.
Any errors are mine, all mine, no you can't have any.
This is probably more of an R, but I rate conservatively. And
if not for Cincoflex,
believe me, this would never have seen the light of day.
Thank you for being patient with my insecurities, my dear!
Oh, and she also made the marvelous banner. *grin*
*********
In the end, he got tired of arguing with Jarvis about privacy, and just
set up a subroutine. Now, with one command, he could
circumvent the AI’s conscious protocols and call up any
camera in or outside the house, and see what Pepper was
doing.
He’d made her move in after a sniper--inefficient, thank God,
and he meant that most sincerely--had taken out three of her windows in
a failed attempt to send Iron Man a message. It had been that
or fire her, and when presented with the choice she’d given
in--grudgingly, but Tony took it gratefully and didn’t
quibble.
It really made more sense, anyway--Pepper no longer had to commute, and
Tony set her up a wing of the house and made himself stay out of
it. And he had to admit, in the privacy of his own head, that
he liked knowing
she was there.
But they’d never discussed the cameras, so technically he
wasn’t breaking any promises.
And it became a part of his day, a half-guilty treat, watching her from
time to time. Never for long, and never in the bathroom,
because that was a little too far even for him and it wasn’t
one of his kinks anyway. But he would lean back in his chair
and observe her talking on the phone for a few minutes, or brushing her
hair and twisting it back up, or sipping coffee, or any one of a
hundred other things.
Even, when it was so late as to be early and he felt like burnt-out
rubble, watching her sleep. Not that there was ever much
showing besides a heap of blankets and a swirl of hair, and little to
hear besides the occasional soft snore.
It was just one more bit of programming to add the subroutine to the
suit protocols.
Tony never watched her on the way out. He needed that time
for planning, for absorbing whatever data Jarvis had for him, for
settling into the cold implacable anger required to carry out his
missions. But on the way back, bruised and exhausted and
sometimes heart-sick, he would let the AI handle the navigation and
bring up Pepper on the HUD, a ghostly comfort. Usually she
was asleep on the couch, waiting for him to return, and the fact that
every second of flight brought him closer just made him
hungrier.
Because after years of sampling whatever took his fleeting fancy, Tony
Stark finally knew what he wanted. Who he
wanted.
The only trouble was, he didn’t know if she wanted him. At
least, not the only way that would satisfy him.
Jarvis alerted him early one evening. There was evidence of
Stark Industries weapons being used in Pakistan, and Tony finished his
protein shake with one gulp and went to change into his coverall,
leaving his clothes where they fell. Yanking up the neoprene,
he raised his chin. “Jarvis, where’s
Pepper? Get her on the line.”
“She is returning from Headquarters,” Jarvis
replied, and a moment later the click told Tony that the connection had
been made.
“Yes, Mr. Stark?” Pepper said, and he could hear
the rush of wind that told him she had the top down. It made
him grin, briefly.
“New mission, Pakistan this time. I’ll be
back when I can.”
“All right. Be careful.”
It was a practiced exchange by now, but as Jarvis cut the connection
Tony wondered if the hint of worry in her tone was anything more than
professional.
He was twenty minutes out, with nothing but clouds below, when Jarvis
spoke up again. “Sir, the British Army reports
having captured the weapons cache.”
That made Tony’s brows go up. “Can you
confirm that?”
Jarvis replied within a minute. “I have
confirmation, sir. Radio chatter among the unit lists the
entire inventory of Invoice 46-28832-A, minus three submachine
guns. All serial numbers match.”
“Huh. Well, they saved me a trip
today.” Tony recognized the invoice number as one
of Obadiah’s under-the-table deals, and he wasn’t
inclined to worry about the missing small-caliber stuff when it was
only a few pieces. Things broke, or got lost or traded, and
as much as he would prefer to have every
gun and missile hunted down, some quests were just beyond his
scope.
It had been a hard lesson to learn, but he was trying to live with
it.
“Remind me to send the Parlimentary boys a case of
beer.” He turned around in a wide arc to head back
home, feeling a little cheated at the loss of a fight but also
relieved.
“Sir, if I may, that would not only be highly irregular,
but--”
“Yeah, yeah. Run subroutine 6.”
The AI fell silent. All his monitoring capabilities would
continue, but until Tony deactivated the command, Jarvis would say and
do nothing unless it were an emergency. And he would record
no memory of what Tony was doing.
This time the view was through one of the workshop cameras.
Tony saw Pepper walking through the door, and the clunk of its closing
sounded soft in his ears despite the improvements he’d made
to block out the sound of the wind from his helmet. She
crossed the garage floor and bent to retrieve his fallen clothing,
folding the slacks neatly across a chair and setting the socks on top,
pushing the shoes under the chair. Tony admired her ass as
she bent, and kept watching, hungry and wistful.
As she shook out the shirt, Pepper hesitated, and then slowly lifted it
to her face, her eyes thoughtful above the garment. Tony
squinted. Is
she smelling
my shirt?
Then she lowered it, turning decisively for the door. The
camera followed her back across to the stairs, and then his view
shifted to the sight of her emerging from the stairwell.
Tony watched in fascinated curiosity as Pepper made her way to the
bedroom in “her” wing. Over time,
she’d made it her own, bringing in books and pictures and her
own linens, and Tony was familiar with its layout even though he
hadn’t entered it since she had moved in. She
closed the door behind her and laid his shirt on her bed, sitting down
on the edge of the mattress.
She bent and undid her shoes, setting them aside, and then stood once
more, and Tony felt his mouth go dry as she unbuttoned her blouse,
revealing creamy pale skin and a bra that was nearly the same
shade.
He was riveted. Pepper removed blouse, skirt, and pantyhose
with unselfconscious ease, and Tony was glad he’d built in
extra room in the lower half of the suit, because his body was
definitely paying attention. Though the sight of her
shrugging out of her bra and stepping out of her panties made the
question immaterial anyway, and he shifted uncomfortably.
Then Tony’s jaw dropped as Pepper picked up his shirt and
slipped it on, buttoning it up and rolling up the loose
cuffs. She was almost as delectable as she was nude, and Tony
instantly approved of the sight, even as he wondered what the hell his most
proper PA was doing scavenging his clothes.
She bent and pulled back the covers on her bed, and lay down, and Tony
blinked, because while the sun was setting it was hardly late enough to
go to bed. Unless she had decided to grab a nap while he was
gone--
Her sigh was barely audible, and she stared at the ceiling for a long
moment before closing her eyes. But instead of pulling up the
covers, Pepper’s hands rose, sliding under his
shirt.
And he whimpered at the sight of her veiled hands caressing her own
breasts beneath the fabric. Conscious thought seemed to shut
down entirely, and all his attention was taken up with watching Pepper
touch herself--stroking her breasts, her belly, tilting her head back
and exposing that long exquisite throat--
He’d often wondered what it would be like to make love to
Pepper, imagined it lustfully or wistfully, tried to guess what she was
like in bed, but somehow he’d never pictured this.
Tony heard his own breath panting in his ears as one hand wandered down
between her legs, and he echoed her soft moan.
The next several minutes were some of the most delicious torment
he’d ever known. Tony had watched a fair bit of
porn in his life--not as much as some, maybe, given that he seldom had
trouble obtaining the real thing--but this was on a different level
entirely, because it was not only real, not only live, but it was Pepper.
Pepper, about whose predilections he would pay a very large amount to
know, just in case he ever got to use the information, and here she was
showing him
how she liked to be touched. Lightly, apparently, the
analytical part of his mind was filing away, lightly and with just that kind of
motion, and oh fuck
he wanted to try that with his tongue too, and--
It was in no way a conscious decision. It was a need, formed
as he watched Pepper’s back arch, her legs drop open, her
breasts rise and fall with her panting. It grew a hundred
times stronger when he heard his own name on her lips, a quiet pleading
sound that drove him almost insane
because he wasn’t there yet. And it carried him
along as he saw home come into view, as he instructed Jarvis to put
himself into recall-only mode, as he landed and forced himself to shut
off the feed. He used the emergency release on the armor
rather than waiting for the ‘bots, and left the pieces
behind, half-running up the stairs in just his coverall. His
erection was close to pain despite the loss of constriction and all he
could think of through the haze of desperate lust was getting to
Pepper.
Consciousness and conscience returned as he put his hand on the knob of
her door, battling with his need. What the hell do you think
you’re doing--
But then he heard her voice, begging on the other side of the door,
“Tony, Tony--”
And he opened it.
She was close, and she was beautiful. Her musk hit his nose
as he drew in a breath in stunned appreciation at the gorgeous sight of
Pepper on the edge of orgasm, from her long muscled legs to her hand
where he wanted to be, to his shirt half-drawn-up, to her parted lips
and the closed eyes...
...Leaking tears.
For an instant the world spun so fast he almost lost his footing, and
his hand clenched on the knob. Bewilderment, fear, anger,
excitement whipcracked through him, and then he knew.
With the same instant clarity that marked his best creative times, he
understood.
It was all within his reach, if only...
Tony took three steps forward. As he came closer,
Pepper’s eyes opened and she turned her head, freezing at the
sight of him. Tony caught her gaze and held it, throwing all
his will into capturing her attention. Don’t, he
pleaded silently, don’t
turn away--
He dropped to his knees beside the bed and reached out a hand, cupping
her flushed cheek. “Don’t
stop,” he whispered, letting his thumb caress her
lips. “Please, Pepper, don’t
stop.”
For what seemed like forever she was still, not even breathing, her
eyes locked to his, and he hoped and prayed that he was
right. And then she sucked in a short gasp, almost a sob, and
her hand began to move once more.
Within seconds she was shaking, her eyes squeezing shut, and Tony
leaned forward and took her mouth with frantic need just as she
stiffened. Her moan, her kiss, her shudders of ecstasy were
all too much, and he ground himself against the mattress, coming in
long bursts of helpless pleasure at the sight of Pepper coming for him.
They were quiet for a long time afterwards, Tony wrapped around her in
the bed. Pepper knew he had to be uncomfortable in the thick
neoprene, but he didn’t move. She let him hold her,
knowing she should be mortified or furious or both, getting caught by
her privacy-invading boss while fantasizing
about him. But neither emotion quite forced itself to the
surface.
And anyway she was still a little dazed from one of the strongest
orgasms of her life...
But she wasn’t going to speak first. That was up to
Tony. He
started this, she thought stubbornly, even though she was
aware it wasn’t exactly true.
Eventually, he did, his voice low and without the edge of sardony she
expected. “I can’t go back. We can’t
go back.”
Pepper let out a long breath. “I know,”
she whispered after a moment, speaking to his collarbone, where
he’d pulled down the zipper a ways.
Tony shifted until he could see her face. “I want
you. In every way I can think of and probably a few that
haven’t occurred to me yet.”
She almost smiled, because on some level it gave her a deep thrill of
pleasure to hear despite all the attendant difficulties.
“I know,” she repeated.
“What do I need to do to get you to
stay?” His eyes were dark and
serious.
Pepper sighed, and lifted one hand, laying it gently over the glow of
his arc implant. “I don’t want anything
you don’t want to give, Tony. I just need to
know--”
She bit the words off, unable to make herself that vulnerable, to ask.
Because the same old problem was still there, the fact that she could
not take any relationship with him lightly.
His brows drew together, and then he kissed her again. Pepper
didn’t want to respond, but his mouth was soft and coaxing,
rather than demanding, and she couldn’t resist him.
In her fantasies, Tony’s kisses had always been erotic,
enthusiastic; she had never permitted herself to imagine gentle.
“What do you need?” he asked, when they had to stop
for air, still sounding...vulnerable. “Tell me,
Pepper, please.”
She could feel his body stirring against hers, but he made no move to
do anything about it. Pepper shook her head
slightly. “What happens when you get bored with
me?”
It was a harsh question, but it was at the core of her dilemma, and it
gave him a perfect way to withdraw.
Except he didn’t. “You bury
me.”
Pepper blinked, taken aback at the plain sincerity in his voice, and
Tony touched her temple, then her cheek. “No one
else ever mattered. You do.” He stroked
the tender spot beneath her ear and sent shivers down her
spine “There’s only you,
Pepper. Why do you think I’ve been alone since I
got back?”
She raised her brows, and tightened her fingers on his
implant. “This.”
Tony covered her hand with his. The blue glow still found its
way between their fingers, outlining them against its cool
fire. “Yeah, well, maybe a little, but seriously--I
could find a way around it if I had to.”
Pepper almost laughed. “I was surprised when you
didn’t, actually.”
“That’s because the woman I want already knows
about it.” He pressed her hand gently against the
casing and the neoprene surrounding it. “Come on,
don’t tell me you didn’t
notice.”
She had to smile at that. “I could hardly miss it,
Tony, I just didn’t think...” Her smile
faded. I
don’t know--words are just
words--
His mouth tightened, and Tony shifted his grip, pushing a little harder
and twisting. From under her palm came three sharp clicks,
and Pepper’s eyes flew wide. “What are you doing?”
He pulled in a breath, and curled her fingers around the loosened
edge. “Go ahead,” he told her.
“Take it out.”
What?!
She tried to pull away, but his grip held. “Tony,
no!”
“It won’t kill me.” He held her
gaze again, a clear dare. “I trust you,
Pepper.”
Of all the arguments she might have thought he’d muster, this
was not one of them. Pepper stared back, appalled at the mere
idea of removing his reactor, even though she knew nothing would happen
to him immediately. But...he...
...Trusts me...
...Oh.
The knowledge hurt, but in a good way, the ache of something long held
closed unfolding. Pepper looked back to the reactor, and Tony
dropped his hand, waiting.
Leaving it all up to her.
Under her palm was proof that he had
changed, in more ways than she could count. And his waiting
silence--and the heartbeat racing behind the reactor--were a clearer
declaration of intent than any words.
She decided.
Twisting her hand the other way, she listened for the clicks to tell
her the reactor was once more locked in place. Tony inhaled,
no doubt to protest, and Pepper lifted her head to meet his
eyes.
“No,” she told him firmly, and kissed
him.
There
was the enthusiasm. Tony moaned and wrapped his arms around
her, pulling Pepper down against him as he lay back. She went
willingly, her blood fizzing with renewed excitement; even sweaty and
sticky and smelling vaguely of neoprene, he was more than enough to set
off all her hormones. And while reason told her to be
cautious, Pepper decided that for once she wasn’t going to do
the sensible thing.
His tongue was still playing chase with hers when Pepper found the tab
to his zipper and started drawing it down, but it got his attention,
and she felt all of him stiffen, not just the part she hadn’t
uncovered yet. He laughed, which didn’t work well
in the middle of a kiss, and it made her grin as her fingers slipped
inside the heavy fabric and started exploring.
Tony drew back a fraction, his eyes bright, and reached for the buttons
on her--his--shirt.
“Just how often do you steal my clothes, Ms.
Potts?” he asked, as he slipped the first two free.
Pepper forbade herself to blush, and smiled at him.
“More often than you might think.” She
wasn’t ready to tell him that she did it almost every time he
left on a mission, though whether for solace or more intimate
activities was a toss-up. His abdomen was hot and firm under
her questing touch, and she took indecent pleasure in the way he sucked
in a breath.
“Naughty,” Tony told her appreciatively, flicking
open the plackets. “I like
naughty.” And then his hands were on her, and
Pepper lost her concentration. Because she still
wasn’t expecting gentle, but he seemed to know exactly how to
touch her, and she wondered dizzily whether it was natural skill
or--
“How long were you watching me?” she managed,
feeling her toes curl as Tony brushed kisses down the slope of her
breast.
“Start to--mmmm--finish,”
he answered, and she would have been annoyed at his smug tone if she
had had the attention to spare. “Bar running up the
stairs, that is.”
“We’re going to have to talk about that
later...” She gasped as his tongue did something
very wicked.
“Later,” Tony agreed. Pepper decided that
turnabout was fair play, and reached again for the long zipper of his
suit. As she finished pulling it down, he smirked at
her. “I want to know what you were imagining, you
know.”
He tasted of salt and sweat and musk, and she rubbed her cheek against
his skin in sheer sensory delight. “Maybe someday
I’ll tell you.”
His hands were not idle, sliding over whatever part of her they could
reach, and Pepper heard him grunt in approval as his fingers reached
the birth control patch below her shoulder. Then Tony was
kicking free of the coverall entirely and tugging her up to him, skin
to skin.
His eyes met hers, soft and dark, with a hint of vulnerability she
wasn’t expecting. “Do you trust me,
Pepper?”
There was only one answer. She cupped his face in her
hands--soft against her palms--and gave it.
“Yes.”
His mouth was hot and sweet, and Pepper shivered, feeling something
more than passion passing between them. Then Tony was rolling
them both over and smiling against her skin. “Time
to prove my rep, Potts.”
She wasn’t at all surprised when he did.
End.
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