12 % of a Moment

Virginia Pepper Potts.CEO of Stark Industries.New York, New York.I was looking for a breath of life A little touch of heavenly light But all the choirs in my head sang no To get a dream of life again A little of vision of the start and the end

[twelvepercentpepperpotts]

the-m3chanic:

“Sounds fake. I have never been attracted to you in the slightest until this exact moment. You really should’ve talked about giving Ty blue balls before now, Pep, then this whole thing would’ve gone a lot faster.” There was a smirk on Tony’s face, of course, because the both of them knew what Pepper had been to him, what she had always been. Twenty years had passed where he had thought about it and then drank to forget it, where he had looked at her over the breakfast counter, seen the way she looked at him, and immediately set about to fuck up enough that it would push her away, that it would remind her what he was.

A big part of being a hero was hope, and that was what futurism embodied, what Pepper embodied. She had hope in him long before there was anything left to hope for. She had found peace in the quiet moments, the same as he had. There had been no better days than the ones where he woke up at the break of dawn and ran down into the workshop, hammering away at machines until Pepper walked in, crisp white shirt and coffee in her hands. There had been more than a few occasions when Tony had let out a groan of gratitude, Pepper had gone that beautiful shade of red and he had wanted to kiss her, had wanted to do anything with his hands, and had settled on shoving them in his overall pockets instead.

They had always been to each other what they were now. Tony supposed it just took time, a whole bucketload of patience, and more than a few challenging circumstances to get them to a point where they were ready to admit it, ready to do something with it besides dancing around each other, pretending that it was entirely professional, entirely passable.

“Of course you get it. You know my type. You are my type.” See? He was getting back into the swing of things already! “I want to get the foyer tiled with that article. It needs to be the first thing people see when they walk in.” Right now the tiles were a complicated pattern that was able to be comprehended only by Tony’s mind, but that was a danger in and of itself. The last thing Tony needed was a literal advertisement for people to try and work out the blueprints to the arc reactor. Once everything calmed down, he’d be calling for a grand remodel.

Maybe Pepper was in denial. Most people would say that was the case - hell, even Tony’s shrink, who was literally paid to be on his side though she rarely was, would say that she had her head firmly buried in the ‘blinded by love’ variety of sand. Still, she said it with such genuine emotion, such honesty in her words, that Tony had to believe her. He had to believe he would be different than his dad. He had to believe he would be different than her dad, and her sister, and the people who had hurt her in the years when he was nothing other than her insanely irritating boss who had never respected boundaries in the slightest. “I only slept because I called you the night before,” Tony said, unsure whether she had forgot or whether once again she was diminishing her importance. She did it less these days, but there was still a humility there. “They were really good mornings, by the way. Amazing waffles. Way better than the others.” The ‘other mornings,’ of course, referring to the times when Pepper had to turf someone out of his bed, or call a cleaning service to handle the night before, or sit in the mess with him while Tony wondered whether his head was going to explode or not.

Tony smiled gently against her kiss, touching his hand to the back of her neck, running his thumb along the spot where her ear met her face. “Understood,” Tony said, hearing her unspoken words. “I get why the interns shake in their shoes when they see you coming, by the way. Always have.” He smiled, pressing a kiss to the edge of her mouth. “I also get why they never leave, now. They’re working for you. You’ve got an insane knack for speeches, Pep. You wanna rally the Avengers sometime?” The team had been part of their problem before, but now, it was something that they both accepted, something they both embraced. It wasn’t being an Avenger that had caused the split, after all - it was Tony’s utter inability to be anything but an Avenger that had been the problem.

Things were different now. He knew what he wanted to be, what he needed to be, and what he was meant to be. She was at the centre of almost everything. “Mama Rhodes lives on in spirit. I can still feel her whacking me around the back of the ears every time I swear, honestly.” Tony nodded, leaning his forehead against hers until she pulled away, immediately feeling the absence. He reached to rest his hand on her hip instead, fingers curling in the fabric of her shirt hanging down. “I’m going to be the best husband in the world, you know,” he said, a grin coming over his face. “All those other guys? Amateurs. I’ve got this covered. Every single anniversary you’ll be weeping over how amazing I am, swear. I’ll never forget another birthday again.” He paused for a moment. “At least not yours. I can’t guarantee remembering anyone else’s.” Even his own, most years.

Pepper gave him a long look over the rim of her mug, eyebrow arched and everything. “I’m going to give you a smack if you keep talking like that,” she said. “You’re not actually fourteen, you know.” But she laughed almost immediately. It should’ve been impossible to laugh. Demons on their doorstep, the city literally plunged into hell, psychotic exes planning their next attack -- but he made it happen. Of course, Tony had always been able to take the impossible and turn it into possible. It was one of the things she loved most about him. 

There was a reason she had spent so much time by his side. Why she kept her phone on call even when she was home, why she ‘forgot’ it was her day off and just decided to work anyway. Part of her always wanted to be around in case he made a breakthrough in some project -- and part of her was terrified what would happen if she stayed away too long. She had found him covered in motor oil and grease, eyes shining as he calculated numbers in his head, and she had found him with women hanging off his arms, half-naked in his bed. She had found him slumped over the toilet, sweaty and pale and stomach empty -- those were the worst days. 

But that was the past. They were burying the past from this moment forward, she had already decided it the moment she woke up this morning. Tony could handle what they’d seen in DreamVision however he needed, but Pepper’s plan was to move forward, focus on the future. The future was more important than any dream. What they had been to each other, that had once just been a dream, but now it was real, now it had a future and potential -- and she wasn’t going to let the past drag them backwards.

She shook her head. “I’m scared to ask exactly what that means,” she teased, smirking wryly at him. “The foyer?” she repeated, furrowing her brow. She knew exactly what that particular design meant to him, how significant it was. “I thought you were... attached to that pattern,” she said, lowering her mug and turning to face him more. 

Believing in the future took a lot of faith. It could be so frustrating sometimes, when the present day seemed so far behind. Tony felt that, too, and hadn’t always handled it well. But the future was all that mattered, their future, together. And he was so different now, now that future finally seemed to be within their grasp. Because he had changed, because he hadn’t let history define him, personal or familial. He wasn’t his father. He wasn’t Obidiah’s prodigal son. He was Tony Stark, and all that entailed. “It wasn’t just that,” she said, shaking her head. But a smile crept onto her face. It was nice to know that she mattered just as much to him, even then. He wasn’t shy about it now, but before -- they’d both been pulling back so much. “Waffles are my specialty. Speaking of which, we should have something solid to eat,” she said, but she didn’t get up just yet. She wanted to enjoy this moment, because it wasn’t like those ‘other mornings.’ It wasn’t painful, it didn’t make her heart race out of panic -- though her heart had definitely kicked up a beat with the kiss.

He knew her so well he could answer her thoughts. Pepper laughed lightly, breathlessly, leaned into his touch and let herself enjoy the sensation. This was so much better than any dream she’d ever had. “They do not,” she insisted, one hand slapping his chest lightly. Her fingers found the arc reactor by accident, but she didn’t pull away from the cool metal. It was just another part of him. “They never leave because we pay them so well,” she said, smiling into his kiss. “I think I’ll leave the Avengers to you. You know what you’re doing there,” she said, eyes flicking up to meet his. She was the one who wanted him to retire, who wanted him to walk away from that life. He was the one who stayed, stubborn or self-destructive -- or maybe he just saw this future and knew she would realize how important heroes were. 

But he was so much more than Iron Man now. He was so much more than just Tony Stark. He was a hero in a thousand different ways, ways she would never be able to fully articulate. Most importantly, he was her hero. Always had been. “Doesn’t stop you though,” she said, shaking her head slowly. Few things in this world could stop him, and even when the worry was deep-seated in the pit of her stomach, she remembered that. His hand on her hip felt like an anchor, a comfortable weight and warmth. She had lived without it for so long, could do it again, but she never wanted to. She never wanted to miss the feeling of his hands against her skin. “Let’s not get too crazy,” she said, her hand still on his chest. “You don’t need to do all that, you know,” she said softly, eyes meeting his. “You’re already everything I ever hoped you would be.” She said the words firmly, even as a whisper. The reality of it hit her, and she blinked, then broke into a smile. Husband. One day he would be her husband. One day he could be the father of her children. The future, even for futurists, was vast and variable. Anything could happen. “You remember mine, and I’ll remember everyone else’s,” she agreed. “We’ll be a perfect team.” 

[twelvepercentpepperpotts]

stcrm-breaker:

Pepper was one of the Midgardians that Thor always felt comfortable going to with any queries. There was something of his mother within her, a kind and compassionate soul that was more likely to assist someone with their issues than make fun of them because of it. Stark seemed monumentally happier when she was around as well, in the same way as Thor felt the weight remove itself from his shoulders when he was surrounded by family or Jane in particular, and that meant that Thor was always pleased to see her walk into the Avengers meetings, or join them on games night.

As she moved over to stand beside him, Thor noted from her face that she was sharing some of his hesitation regarding the party as well - or perhaps she simply disliked the champagne. “Only a thousand?” Thor repeated, raising an eyebrow. “What would that be comparable to in gold? Or pelts?” Money had never really been something he had worried about during his time on Midgard. All he knew was that Stark had more than enough of it, and he could live on his dime. People gave him free things all the time, as well. “I was not sure whether I underdressed or not. I am glad that I listened to Clint.” For once. Thor loved Hawkeye, but the man was just as likely as him to get into one caper or another. “Tame is one word for it,” Thor admitted. “It seems quite … muted, does it not? People are trying to have a good time, but I suppose it is hard when we have no victory yet to celebrate.”

Things weren’t looking good, even with this newfound supply. Pepper hadn’t had a chance to look over any figures, but even if there was enough food to sustain their city for a hundred years -- they were still trapped. In a dimension populated by demons, their real world almost utterly unprotected from superhuman threats. The dangers had never been higher, but Thor had an aura about him that made it easy to take a breath, to relax, even just for a moment. He seemed so imposing at first glance, but once he grinned, you knew. He was more like a teddy bear than a grizzly. (Though certainly, he could hit as hard as one.)

She laughed, bright and merry. “I don’t know. I haven’t checked on the value of gold recently -- and I’m not so sure it applies here anymore,” she added, knowing the economy could be a step away from utter collapse. They were desperately trying to stuff their fingers in the cracks, but eventually the dam would blow unless they fixed this. “Clint has good ideas -- from time to time,” she said, the teasing note in her voice belaying the joke. “It’s more a palliative than a cure for our problems, but it is something,” Pepper said, trying to stay positive. “Hopefully, that’s enough until we really are victorious. Tell you what,” she said, turning to him. “When we get home, we’ll have a real victory feast. Asgardian style, and we’ll host it at the Tower. Just for us,” she said, smiling gently at him. 

[twelvepercentpepperpotts]

osborngcblin:

“I don’t know, I hear they are notoriously difficult to work with–really insistent on getting their way. And their ability to take direction leaves something to be desired, if the ones that hang out outside of my apartment are any indication.” He smiles and shrugs his shoulders, laughs but not too loudly. His father would have been proud of him in this moment, and it feels like it could have been just another one of his parties–the intention to flaunt wealth in the face of those who don’t have it remains the same–but he’s beginning to wonder just how much that might mean to him now. He fought his whole life for his father’s approval, and now that he probably has it–from hell, or wherever the soul of Norman Osborn currently is–he’s not sure it’s what he built it up to be in his mind. 

Her handshake is strong, confident, the kind of confidence and strength that one could only develop from having to chase after and clean up Tony Stark’s messes. “Thank you, and I assure you that the pleasure is all mine. My father used to say that Pepper Potts was the real reason that Stark Industries ran at all.” She says that she’s read about him, and he resists the urge to roll his eyes–of course the breakdown of yet another Osborn had made plenty of headlines, and there’s been plenty of speculation about the ability of a twenty three year old CEO to save such a massive company. “Only good things, I hope. That will mean all the time I’ve spent eating take out in my office will have been for something.” 

Pepper laughed, though their situation wasn’t really all that funny. “There’s one that flies by Avengers Tower every day. It never comes closer than ten feet -- but I think that’s FRIDAY’s security systems keeping them at bay. Wish I could say the same for the one outside my apartment,” she said, shaking her head. There was a reason she spent most of her time in the Tower these days. Plus, it was easier to get her work done.

He seemed so young, it was difficult to resist the urge to straighten his tie, to smooth down his hair. But she managed. After all, he had proven himself very capable, despite the setbacks. Oscorp was still a major player, one she kept her eye on. “Some good things,” she said, smiling almost apologetically at him. “But the press isn’t always kind to any of us, no matter how much take out we eat while working ourselves silly.” She paused a moment, fingers tapping along her glass. “Peter’s spoken pretty highly of you in the past,” she said softly. “He interns with us, Tony’s very fond of him.” Of course, these days, Peter rarely mentioned his old friend -- and for a very good reason. 

[twelvepercentpepperpotts]

panthergcd:

T’Challa’s brows shot up at the curtsy, a smile playing at his lips. “There’s no need for such formality,” he told her, shaking his head. Past Wakandan kings would have insisted upon it, he knew, would have been outraged had she called him anything else, but T’Challa was far more relaxed than his predecessors. It showed in the way Shuri and the Dora Milaje interacted with him, was made apparent in the softness of his stepmother’s smile or the playfulness in his sister’s laugh.

“It’s always a pleasure to see you as well, Ms. Potts. I think this event was something of a necessity. With so much tension brewing under the surface, it seemed something was bound to break eventually. A short remission from the drama is a welcome change.” He chuckled as she spoke again, shrugging a shoulder. “A few less armed guards would lighten things up a little,” he agreed. Something shifted in the crowd, and T’Challa tensed instinctively. Something was happening, it seemed. Their remission from the drama had always been destined to be a short one.

She smiled back at him. “Then the same goes for you,” she said. “Please, call me Pepper. Everyone does.” Some days it felt like ‘Virginia’ was a ghost-name, a skin she had shed and left behind a long time ago. If only the past were so easy to leave behind -- Ty and his DreamVision flashed through her mind, as it so often did these days. But she managed to keep a bright, charming smile on her face. (She had a lot of practice at maintaining a poker face.) 

“I couldn’t have put it better myself,” she said, nodding as she gazed out among the crowd. T’Challa was different from the other Avengers. A leader, not just in battle, but in life as well. He knew what it meant to read a room and feel responsible for every person you saw. To want to ease the worries in their mind. The other Avengers wanted that too, but their solutions often involved fighting, more fighting, and even more fighting. “They are definitely very...” She trailed off as he tensed, then she noticed the shift in the crowd herself. The lights on the stage had changed, centering on a lone figure in the middle -- Doom himself. “Distracting,” Pepper finished, turning to face the president with pursed lips. 

His speech was quick, but powerful. Like a spark that lit a fuse. Pepper’s heart hammered in her chest -- there was Tony’s name shining on the screen -- and she immediately set down her glass of champagne. “This doesn’t feel like much of a celebration anymore,” she murmured, taking a step back as most of the crowd surged forward. The tension that had been momentarily staved off was back in full force, and had just hit a boiling point. She turned to T’Challa. “Your majesty, I think we should make a rather hasty exit. People will notice,” she whispered quietly, not wanting to draw attention to them. 

[twelvepercentpepperpotts]

kryptonianstars:

he accepts her hand graciously, shaking it carefully with a slight bow, the nervous quirk on his lips settling into something easier, something silkier, something brighter, his reverence for the woman before him just as genuine as the awkwardness most of his superhero friends think is a facade; he really has read about her and the great tony stark, and everything that stark industries has done for and against the world in years past. pepper pots has seemed to embody half of a partnership clark has always admired in the business world– the better half, most would say– even when he couldn’t bring himself to admire the business itself, a well-oiled machine at the very least, something every source would say is heavily due to her influence.

at her question though, he hesitates a moment, balks a bit while his shoulders rise in a shrug and his eyes shift away for a second, the answer less clear cut than he’d like it to be. “i’m technically a reporter for the daily planet, back in metropolis, but what with our current circumstances, i’ve been writing articles for the bugle lately, as well as starting up my own information network online. clark kent, at your service.” nodding his head in respect once again, he’s unsure if she’d know anything about him, given that despite his hometown fame and articles written from all over the world, he still considers himself obscure ( or at least as obscure as he can force himself to be ) but that’s less important to him than simply meeting her and possibly opening the door for a future interview on down the line.

speaking of. “it is a nice change of pace, yes,” he agrees, his tone leveling out distinctly as he reminds himself to breathe, keeping his voice relaxed and even, conversational. “good to be here without all the demons and things running around, the strange curfew and everything, although i do wonder about that. it’s interesting that the president’s guard is able to suddenly hold the horde back, don’t you think, miss pots? sure is nice of him.”

He was very gracious, managed to pull off the gentlemanly acts that always seemed like a joke to Tony. Pepper couldn’t help but be charmed by the genuine nature to it. She was used to the awe by now, after running Stark Industries for so long, but it had taken her a long time to be taken this seriously. She wasn’t going to squander it now with false modesty, but it was still shocking sometimes. 

It was surprising to hear he wrote for the Bugle, of all things. “I can’t say I’m fond of your editor,” she said, smirking lightly. “But I do miss the Daily Planet reports. They were always very well-informed,” she noted. It was her job to keep up on a lot of different papers and news stations, she always had the news on and constantly picked up various copies of every editorial paper out there. ‘Fake News’ was a fake phenomenon, it was important to stay informed of every angle, not just the ones that she agreed with. “Clark Kent,” she repeated, cementing his name and face together. “I can’t say I’ve read any of your reports off-hand, but I’ll be sure to look you up,” she assured him, smiling gently. 

He was definitely a good reporter, asking questions that hadn’t even occurred to her yet -- and the ones she felt too afraid to voice aloud. “You’re very good at your job, Mr. Kent,” she said, smiling still. She glanced out the window, where she could vaguely see the President’s men and women standing guard. “Perhaps our president is overly optimistic,” she mused, turning back to him. “Or perhaps he knows something we don’t about these demons and their attack patterns. What do you think, in your professional opinion?” 

[twelvepercentpepperpotts]

rainbcwbright:

It was an uphill battle trying to convince her friends to come to, what they perceived to be, essentially a celebration of Doom. At one point, they had all been naive, some more than others. (Aside from Molly, Karolina could admit she was the least likely to believe their parents were evil, at the beginning.) But now they had something of a sixth sense for suspicious behavior, and none of her team trusted Doom. Karolina was no different, but she was wiling to at least pretend. There was no point acting out and putting a target on their backs. Nevertheless, none of them had listed their powers, and Karolina found herself repeatedly glancing down at her bracelet to make sure it wasn’t going anywhere.

Karolina was preoccupied with squinting at various foods, trying to assess whether anything aside from a vegetable platter could be accurately described as vegan, when someone starting speaking behind her. She turned, thinking she knew the voice but couldn’t quite place it. The second she saw Pepper, she thought about how Tony had commented that she would like Karolina, and how she’d been too nervous to put that theory to the test. Somehow, being assured that you would get along with someone else just put more pressure on the relationship. “I’m guessing he had a small army put this together,” she commented with a friendly smile. “For a party the whole city was invited to, it’s a lot more organized than I expected. Still, something feels…kind of off? But maybe I’m just paranoid.” Actually, she definitely was, but usually for good reason.

This party, unlike many of the other events across the city that Pepper felt obligated to attend, had a healthy, eclectic mix of people. Rich and poor, young and old, civilian and hero, all in one place. It was a little nervewracking, and all she could hope was the worry in the back of her mind was baseless. That the evening would go off without a hitch. 

Karolina walked up beside her, and Pepper smiled. She made it a point to be familiar with all the interns. “All armed with clipboards and the numbers for back-up caterers,” she quipped, laughing lightly. “It’s a difficult feat to pull off, but I suppose being president does come with certain resources,” she said, taking a sip of her drink. Her eyes slid over to Karolina and she paused for a moment. “I’ve felt it too,” she admitted quietly. “But maybe that’s just everything else that’s happened. The Skrulls and the demons -- it’s got us all on edge. But tonight, there’s no fight. No war. Just a party. Even this city deserves one night without trouble.” She took a breath, and forced her smile to return. 

[twelvepercentpepperpotts]

panthergcd:

The job of king was one that came with no small amount of politics. Even so, events such as this had been rare for T’Challa (or any Wakandan king) for some time. When the world had believed his country to be nothing more than an impoverished third world nation, no one had seen fit to invite T’Challa to things such as this, and after the nation’s boarders were open, he’d often declined any invitations he received.  Most of them only cared for Wakanda as an opprotunity, sought to get on T’Challa’s good side in the interest of gaining access to vibranium or Wakandan tech. 

Skipping the party tonight seemed pointless, however. No one could ask him for access to vibranium when he could not access the mines himself, and he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t looking for a chance to meet President Doom face-to-face. So far, the party had been rather uneventful. He and Ororo had spent some time together, which was always rewarding, but other than that, it almost seemed a waste. He had yet to see Doom make an appearance, and though the party had only been going on a short while, T’Challa was not a patient man.

Observing the room, he heard someone approaching him and glanced over out of the corner of his eye, vaguely recognizing the flash of red hair. He turned to face her with a smile, nodding as she spoke. “He’s put together a far more impressive event than I was expecting,” he admitted. “I think I prefer the parties you’ve had a hand in, though.” Parties were always better when you fully trusted the person in charge of them, and Pepper’s relationship to Tony made her worthy of T’Challa’s trust.

The deep, familiar voice behind her made her smile grow even wider. “Your majesty,” she said, with a polite curtsy. She hoped that was the proper title, she was still growing used to Wakandan customs -- it was hard to get much information about a country that only just opened itself to the outside world. She wondered if they regretted it now, when the world was falling into one chaotic mess after another. And now their King was trapped in another dimension. 

“I’m glad to see you here,” she said softly. “Glad to see everyone, really. They all look much more relaxed than usual.” But there was still tension in the air -- no amount of food could change the reality of their situation. They were a long, long way from home, with no clear path back. It was a frightening concept, and felt isolating even as it affected the entire city. “I’m flattered. But really, there’s not much I would’ve done differently. Maybe a few less armed guards,” she joked.

[twelvepercentpepperpotts]

kryptonianstars:

clark arrives at the party much like he’s expected to, camera in one hand, recorder in the other, thick glasses perched on his nose, and a slight slouch masking how tall he really is, his gait slow and vaguely disorganized, the air of someone completely out of their depth ringing around him like a fog. he’s dressed nice enough but nothing too flashy or fancy, something dull enough to help him blend in with the wallpaper, as it were ( or would be, if this place had wallpaper ), his official reasoning for being here to cover the event and write an article on it later, figuring this would be a good beginning starter for the news blog he’s been thinking of publishing, the absence of a steady solidified job weighing on his finances as of late. times are changing and he ought to change with them, news and media heading virtual instead of organic, and with his reach unable to connect to the daily planet all the way across dimensions, he figures this is the best way to go about the immediate problem.

stepping inside the empire state building, he realizes he’s going to have his night full, half with these frivolities and half with sitting down to write it all out coherently, not to mention whatever else might occur, his gut gnawing against his ribs, something in the pit of his heart writhing with each step, warning bells chiming in his ears like screaming ghosts. he doesn’t know what’s wrong but it’s got to be something, some reason why this party is being held, some ulterior motive behind closed doors and lucky him, he gets to be right in the center of it, as always– not that he’d rather be anywhere else right now.

he meanders about the room with the camera up to his eye, snapping photographs of anything he possibly can, anything he might need to remember later, people enjoying themselves or otherwise, conversations lilting and softening, rising and falling, burning and fading, scorching the images into his mind and his lens, hopeful yet wary. when a voice chimes right beside him, he turns quickly, sharpening his focus to the here and now, eyes and ears honing in on the vision before him, the great and legendary pepper potts, and he doesn’t think she actually meant to speak to him at first, probably hardly realizing he’d been standing there, but to ignore her words would be rude, so he pauses a beat, lets the silence confirm she hadn’t been addressing anyone else, before nodding and stumbling all over himself verbally. “miss potts, i’m– it’s an honor to meet you, i’ve read articles about you, it’s really amazing to, uh, to see you here.” can you believe he’s actually a writer– fluent with english and all that? “it is a really nice party, yeah, very…. glitzy.” he smiles, thinking the word is probably not the right one; a closer adjective would be distracting. “if i didn’t know better, i’d have assumed you helped with this, from your reputation i understand you organize quite a lot. it’s good to know people like you enjoy yourself sometimes too.”

She had been to so many events like this that they all blurred together in her mind. Only the truly extraordinary stood out (read, the ones where Tony made a real mess of things, or supervillains attacked). But she never forgot what it was like to attend something like this for the first time. She still got butterflies in her stomach before she remembered she was good at this.

Naturally, the party had drawn the attention of the media. So she wasn’t surprised to see several reporters making their way through the crowd, cameras and notepads at the ready, doing impromptu interviews. She recognized some of them (including that dark haired woman Tony knew, who definitely wasn’t a reporter but had a camera regardless), but others were completely new faces. 

The man who approached her, stammering his way through a sentence while trying to juggle his camera nervously, was definitely someone who didn’t normally cover events like this. “I’m flattered,” she said sincerely, holding out her hand for him to shake. “Which paper do you write for? Maybe I’ve read some of your articles, too,” she said with a warm smile. “Glitzy is the word for it,” she agreed. “But no, this is definitely one event I can’t take credit for. Not even a little bit. It’s a nice change of pace if I’m being honest.”

[twelvepercentpepperpotts]

stcrm-breaker:

Since arriving on Midgard for the second time and joining the Avengers (rather unwittingly, but given the fact that it had been his own brother that had been vexing them, Thor had felt rather obligated to provide his assistance and hadn’t regretted it thus far since) Thor had been at a variety of parties. Birthday parties, wedding parties after the fact, Christmas, Hanukkah, victory parties, movie nights. Pepper Potts had been at the grand majority of them, often because they were held in the Tower that she had a heavy hand in building, but tonight they were not in Avengers Tower. They were in the Empire State instead, and Thor had to admit there was a different feeling to it entirely. Call it instinct honed over years of battle, but he could tell there was something on the horizon, and he wasn’t entirely comfortable.

That didn’t mean that he was showing any of that discomfort on the surface. Thor was well adept at hiding it underneath, biding his time until it became the moment to bring out Stormbreaker. “Midgardians dress very casually for these sorts of things, don’t they?” Thor asked, looking down at his own suit. No capes, no ceremonial helmets, no fur around their shoulders, just semi-expensive fabric and uncomfortable shoes. When he moved to lean against the bar, the seams of his jacket pulled, and so he remained very still. “You look very nice today, Lady Pepper,” he informed her with a smile. “Are you enjoying the festivities? I imagine you are a very busy woman. This must be a nice change of pace.”

There were few people in the world who could make her smile as broadly and genuinely as Thor. He was the exact opposite of his brother, a shining sun dazzling in every room. There had been some -- misunderstandings seemed the polite way to say it -- but even those came from such a good heart that they came off as more comical than anything else. 

She was glad to have him here tonight. As much as she was enjoying herself, there was still tension in the air, and standing next to an actual god made her feel a hell of a lot safer. “That depends on your definition of casual,” she said, smiling at him. She nodded towards one woman. “That dress cost nearly a thousand dollars, believe it or not. And the shoes...” Pepper let out a low breath and laughed lightly. She could hear the stress on his seams, but she very politely didn’t mention it. “Thank you. You’re looking very dapper yourself, especially in Midgardian clothes,” she said, beaming at him. “It’s nice to see everyone enjoying themselves, and knowing I have absolutely no responsibility to make sure they continue enjoying themselves,” she agreed with another laugh. “What do you think of it? Must be pretty tame compared to what you’re used to.” 

[twelvepercentpepperpotts]

the-m3chanic:

Pepper had always felt like something solid to lean against. Tony had sat down with her on the floor of his workshop a hundred and one times, stoned out of his head, drunk out of his mind, hyped up on a mix of things he barely knew the names of but could probably piece together from chemistry class. He had sat down there beside her, had felt the rise and fall of her chest as they were pressed shoulder to shoulder. For years, that had been all the touch he had got from her, all the comfort besides her words, but it had been enough. Having her in the room had been enough. With everyone else, Tony needed tangible evidence that they loved him, needed them to be near him at all times. Touch didn’t need to hurt, he had trained himself into believing that years ago, and then he became reliant on reminding himself of that fact again and again.

She had never been something that he needed to doubt. She had never been a hypothesis that he wanted to test out, an experiment that might or might not come back to bite him in the ass. She had always been firm, reliable, something that he could lean on regardless of what else was happening. That was why kissing her, telling her that he loved her, whispering it in as many ways as he could without actually saying the words, was something more dangerous than battling aliens and demons and robots. It would have been catastrophic if it had changed the way she looked at him, the way she spoke, how her words were slightly softer around him, how her teasing was always punctuated with a smirk that seemed reserved solely for him.

The past few years, that view had been challenged. Their break had put everything into perspective, but more than that, it had put things into doubt. Howard had been a fucker, everything inside and out of him had been pure and utter shit, but Maria had always stayed. She had always stuck around. If Pepper left him, what did that mean Tony was? Was he worse than his father? Of course, he knew that the true answer was that Pepper was stronger than his mother, that she knew her own worth, and he realised that now. When he was in the depths of alcoholism, though, that had been pretty hard to remind himself of.

He deserved her now. He reiterated that to himself over and over again. She had never stopped loving him, either. He had been a part of her dream, same as she had been a part of his. “You’re gorgeous when you’re talking business takeover, you know that?” Tony asked, one hand squeezing hers, the other on her hip, the same action repeated. “I swear, you make talking tactics sexy. You make my enemies sexy. Wait.” That had definitely come out wrong, but Pepper, as always, would know entirely what he meant. She had been translating for him long before they had lived together, long before eight years of certainty.

“I was a black hole once,” Tony said. He knew that she would argue it before the words had even left his lips - or maybe she wouldn’t. Pepper had never been the shy and retiring type. She couldn’t be, to work with someone like him, to hold her own amongst board members when she was filling in for the CEO, her qualifications on paper being a P.A. As far as Tony was concerned, she had exuded the same authority as an assistant as she did being the top dog, but that was beside the point. “No, no, I was. I took everything people had going, and I couldn’t give anything back. I know I was a black hole, but I’m the opposite of that now. I think. I hope I am.” It was a way of saying that he understood. Understood why she had left, why she had to leave, before he took her down with him. It would’ve been so easy, he knew, for her to just go along with it, or turn a blind eye. She hadn’t done that, hadn’t been able to, because she knew he was worth more than he even knew himself.

Saying thank you was something that Tony was going to do every single day for the rest of his life. Whether it was out loud to the people around him, or a silent prayer to a God that he didn’t believe existed, it hardly mattered. Being grateful was the least he could do, all things considered. “I meant what I said, before,” Tony said lowly, knowing they were so close together that she could pick up on every word. “You’re the one thing I can’t live without. Everything else, it matters, but you’re it. You’re it.”

Giving up on being Iron Man was something that Tony had assumed she had wanted, but that hadn’t been the case at all. In fact, after Killian, it almost seemed as if she understood more and more why he put on that suit and went to war every single day. What she wanted was accountability, same as what Tony had been fighting for years for before that. She wanted him to come home, to not take unnecessary risks, and to preserve what they had for as long as the world deemed it fate for them to have it.

He never would have been able to give it up before, but now, he thought he could. If she asked, he would set down the gauntlets, he would put down the mask, he would do anything and everything to get the future that they were planning together. The guilt, though, would be something that would live with them forever. They shared everything, fifty-fifty in all regards, and that meant that they would have to shoulder than burden together as well.

“I did no sneaking,” Tony argued, though her finger was still against his lips, and he was smiling at the touch. “I walked very confidently into that jewellery shop. I just spoke insanely quietly when I got there.” The last thing he would’ve needed was the press catching wind of it. Before they were even dating, it would’ve been hard to explain. Tony smiled against the kiss, moving his hand up to her face as he did so, thumb brushing against her jaw. “If we put it off until all my crazy exes are gone, we’ll be married at ninety,” Tony joked, but he knew what she was saying was right. “Putting the past to bed sounds good,” he said. “I can be patient. You’re worth waiting for.”

“I am always gorgeous, actually,” she said with a soft smirk at him over the rim of her mug. Pepper squeezed his hand back and laughed. “Sexier,” she corrected. She shrugged. “Objectively speaking, of course. It’s not hard to understand why he’s... what he is to you.” An ex, even if Tony rarely admitted it aloud, at least to her. She leaned towards him, eyes on his face. “It’ll be even hotter when Viastone is a sad memory and Forbes has to cover their downfall. We’re going to frame that article, blow it up, make it  huge,” she decided instantly.

The problem with putting a wall between yourself and the past was a single crack in the dam brought the flood. Splintering outwards, until the torrent came through. Now she was remembering picking her father up from the bar in town, long before she had a legal license, her knuckles white on the steering wheel as she tried to figure out how to coax him into the house again. She remembered the frantic 3AM calls from her sister, where her words were slurred and strung out. Pepper would throw on her coat and walk to the house party to drag her home, sometimes literally if she was that far gone. But most of all, she remembered doing eerily similar tasks for him, for Tony. Hiding the bottles of alcohol halfway through the parties. Making sure he slept on his side, and feeling almost relieved to hear him hunched over the toilet the next morning, because at least it meant he made it through another night. The only real difference was she could call a car service to take them home.

When she was his P.A., Pepper didn’t so much as have a roommate, for fear that spending any kind of energy taking care of or cleaning up after someone else would mean she wouldn’t be able to help him. She remembered driving to the hospital with tears in her eyes, righteous fury in her voice as she snapped at him to stay awake, and sitting in the waiting room wondering why she was doing this.

But the answer, even then, was obvious. She just hadn’t wanted to admit, for so long she had tried to swallow her feelings, to keep her relationship purely professional. But as was often the case with Tony, professional didn’t go far enough. She had loved her mother, her father, her sister -- but not enough to stay. With Tony... things were different.

And this was why. She opened her mouth to protest, but she couldn’t find the words before he stopped her. She didn’t know what she would’ve said, because she remembered looking at him and seeing her sister. Her father. His father. Still, she shook her head. “No,” she said simply, decisively. “No, you were never like them. You were your own brand of screwed up, don’t get me wrong, but you weren’t...” She trailed off, biting her lip. “There were good moments, too. Mornings I’d come over and you would’ve slept the night before, and you’d be working on some project other than weapons development, just a random thought that came to you in a dream. Self-warming towels. A new A.I. An affordable alternative to smart phones,” she said, laughing lightly. The sound caught in her throat, choked up in all the emotion rising from her chest. “You were like the tide. Huge waves when the tide was up, but then it’d recede and there would be all these seashells laying across the beach. I wouldn’t have stayed if there wasn’t hope,” she said softly. 

But there was one part he wasn’t wrong about. Pepper squeezed his hand, and leaned forward to kiss him, because she wasn’t afraid to kiss him anymore. She wasn’t trying to swallow down all these feelings, no matter how much they made her heart swell. “You are different though,” she whispered, her lips pressed against his. She pulled back so she could see him, looking into those eyes that weren’t a raging sea anymore, but a calm, clear ocean with no sign of the horizon in sight. Limitless, that’s what he was now. Like he’d thrown off some of the weight keeping him from spreading his wings all the way. “I know you did,” she said, overwhelmed that she was it for someone. But it wasn’t hard to believe, because he was it for her. Everything she’d ever hoped he could be. She squeezed his hand tightly. “We’re in this together. From now on. No more secrets, no more leaving, no more breaks. This is it, we’re it. You and me, that’s how it’s going to be.” The understood? was implied heavily, in her shy sort of smile as she glanced up at him. 

This was her life now. Had been for years. Him, this company, this strange foray into saving the world over and over again. It scared the hell out of her, she couldn’t deny that. She was terrified of having another ‘wormhole’ moment, of watching helplessly from the sidelines as he threw himself into the unthinkable. But he wouldn’t do that to her, not now. Not when the pieces were finally coming together. They’d always fit together, but now, she was finally confident that he wouldn’t scatter the pieces across the floor after a bad night. 

“You told me you were buying a present for Rhodey’s mother. When she died three years earlier,” she said, arching a brow. But the smirk on her face was playful, and she traced his lips with her finger, making up for every moment she’d wanted to touch him and had held back. “Maybe just the ones actively trying to kill us,” she replied, shaking her head as she pulled back from the kiss. “You have been too, Tony,” she whispered. “But I don’t want to wait too much longer.” 

[twelvepercentpepperpotts]

osborngcblin:

He wishes that he could say that he’s running Oscorp with minimal resistance from his board–but he’s the second member of the Osborn family to have an incredibly public mental breakdown, and he’s only twenty three years old, which isn’t ideal for the CEO of a company–practically unprecedented, as one particular member has been saying for the past couple of meetings. Little do they know that Harry has been trained for this exact eventuality since he was old enough to comprehend spoken language, there is no one more qualified for the position that he currently holds. He’s not fighting to be put on the same level as Tony Stark or Bruce Wayne, he can practically hear his father’s voice in his head telling him to never let them see you sweat, Harry, if it looks easy it’s more intimidating–he just has to put in more of an effort than they do, and he’s confident that his mask is held in place far better than theirs, without the cracks. 

He’s drawn out of this thoughts by a voice singing the praises of the party, identifies the owner immediately as Pepper Potts, once accurately identified by Norman Osborn as the real reason that Stark Industries runs at all. “I don’t know,” He chuckles gamely, shrugs his shoulders. “It might very well be a demon with a bluetooth, but then again that might not be out of the ordinary for most of the event planners I’ve met.” He smiles warmly and offers a hand, a practiced gesture after hundreds of parties just like this one. “You look radiant this evening, Miss Potts.” 

People often quipped that she seemed ‘born’ to do this -- this being coordinating and attending events precisely like this one. But it was a skill she had to learn in college, during her internships. Just like she had to learn how to walk in heels and tailor her secondhand pantsuits herself before she could afford to buy her own. She had come from humble beginnings, but it gave her a unique perspective on gatherings like this. It reminded her to stay grateful, too.

She recognizes the young man, Norman Osborn. One of the youngest CEOs in the world, due to some unfortunate circumstances, and once upon a time -- Peter’s friend. She had never asked him about it, because it seemed a painful subject, and she had plenty of those herself. But Norman seemed pleasant, a gentleman’s smile and a warm chuckle easy on his lips -- he was born to do this, and it showed. “A demon with a bluetooth, that’d be quite the trick. I might have to try and steal that particular employee for myself, they’ve definitely shown gumption,” she joked, extending her hand as well. Not to be kissed, like so many women were expected to do, but for a firm handshake. “Thank you. You’re looking particularly handsome yourself. It’s a pleasure to finally meet, I’ve read a lot about you.” 

[twelvepercentpepperpotts]

the-fire-that-burns:

There was much which President Doom had done that Loki was impressed with. This party was somewhat impressive. All the pageantry and preparations certainly were impressive, on par with something Loki himself would have organized. Not anywhere close to a celebration on Asgard, of course, but more than passable for Midgard. However, he did not condone the man’s decision to allow any and all riff raff to attend. It should have only been the highest of the city’s society. But, as with everything when it came to the Midgardians, one simply had to deal with it. 

So Loki passed smoothly through the throng, clad in a fine suit and scarf. He had not bothered to hide his face, being as he assumed no one would pay him much mind, and that the mortals had much more to worry about than him these days. That thought did rankle him, but Loki was simply biding his time. There would be a moment for him to make a move eventually. 

When he heard a woman nearby remark on how well-organized the party was, Loki glanced in her direction. “Quite right, my dear. Though I would also tell that person that they should narrow their guest list a bit. Such a soiree should be rather more…exclusive.” Seeing that she had a drink, he magicked a glass of champagne into his hand. “I must confess it does surprise me that all these people can engage in such frivolity when you are all in such a dire situation. I would have thought by now you would all be sinking into deep despair.” He shook his head slightly and murmured, “Midgardians unpleasantly surprise me yet again.”

It was easy to get lost in the spectacle of it all -- Pepper knew that better than most. She had planned a lot of elaborate parties with the sole intent of distracting media attention from Tony’s latest scandal. So as much as she was truly, truly enjoying herself, she knew she had to keep her guard up.

No sooner had the thought crossed her mind than she heard him. When she turned to face the familiar voice, he looked different. Not dressed in the Asgardian garb she’d seen in the news footage and Thor’s occasional portrait. She might not have been on the ground for the Battle of New York, but she would be a shitty Avenger-support staff if she didn’t recognize him.

Her eyes narrowed, but only minutely. “I’m shocked to say this, but I agree,” she said, smiling what seemed to be a pleasant smile at him. Anyone who knew her would see the sharp edge to her lips, the daggers in her eyes. “I’d start with making sure known threats couldn’t get past security,” she quipped, taking a sip of her drink. “We seem to have a habit of that. I guess we’re stronger than we look.”  

[van-dyne]

Pepper Potts - More Than A Love Interest Statistics shows Pepper Potts is remarkable and has killed 11% of main villains in MCU x  but she’s constantly discredited because she’s a civilian, got brushed off as ‘just a love interest’ because she’s also romantically involved with the hero. A female character in action movies can be a non combatant, she can be in love, she can be feminine, and still be remarkable and should be acknowledged as such because there’s nothing wrong with being feminine and in love in the first place.

[twelvepercentpepperpotts]

If there was one thing being Tony Stark’s personal assistant had prepared her for, it was parties like this. An ‘event,’ more than a party, really. That’s how she would’ve marketed it, but Doom had his own way of doing things. Not that she could fault him for that -- after all, his plans were keeping them fed, his militia was keeping the demons at bay, and his support was keeping the Rebuilding Project alive. 

Pepper planned on meeting Tony there, his date for real this time around. But there was always so much work to be done, and she steadfastly refused to leave it until Monday. Instead, she filled out paperwork in her evening gown until her inbox was completely cleared, and then she made her way to the Empire State Building. 

Stepping inside took her breath away. It was beautiful, and lively, and the people already there seemed incredibly happy. Most of them anyway -- there were always a few who seemed unsure of what to do with themselves. Pepper thanked a server who handed her a champagne glass, and then she made her way further into the room. “This is very well done,” she declared, to no one in particular. “I really should get the name of the President’s event planner, they do magnificent work. It’s not easy pulling something like this off,” she mused with a smile. She would know, after all. 

[samcarpnter]

marvel character posters  → pepper potts / rescue - requested by anon “You warned me. Tony always said his biggest fear wasn’t the wrong people getting their hands on his technology, his weapons, his friends or even his lovers. When he told me what it was, I thought it was ego. But I understand now. Because the nightmare scenario has happened. His mind has been taken. We need to activate the contingency.”

[twelvepercentpepperpotts]

the-m3chanic:

Tony had been kidding himself if he ever believed that the Tower felt the same without Pepper living in it, or at the very least spending a substantial amount of time there. She had been part of its creation - a large part, despite his quip regarding the twelve percent. The first skyscraper in New York that relied entirely on clean energy, and it had Pepper’s name on the bottom of each page, her signature ensuring that everything went smoothly in the creation. It had been their baby, still was in many ways, and when she had left, there had been a part of the magic of a new invention that left with her. Now that Pepper was back, sleeping in the same bed as him, waking up to see the skyline from their room, even FRIDAY seemed to be relaxing back into things. She was being less snippy to the guests, at least, including Jones, which Tony was appreciating.

That being said, they didn’t exactly have much time to savour getting back to the way things used to be. The world continued to change dramatically, terrible things happened on a daily basis and they were in danger the grand majority of the time just because they lived within this city. They were both fixers, and they worked the most efficiently when they were together. The moments of silence that they did manage to grasp, therefore, were precious, and yet Ty had been able to intrude on those as well. He was targeting every aspect of Tony’s life, and that was something that he wasn’t intending on standing for.

“It’s a good job having friends in high places,” Tony said, with something of a smirk. Years ago, he would have tried to fight this thing alone, would have almost got himself and everyone else killed because of it. He had changed since then, and he found that even though it was one of the most personal fights of his life, he felt more supported than he ever had. “How many of his own board members will he get to before we do, though?” Tony asked, ignoring the spike of fear that he felt in his chest at Pepper going on the offensive, as well as the other part of him that found it seriously hot. They were trying to talk tactics! “He was always one hell of a businessman. Better than me. Nowhere near your league, though. If you’re willing, it would be worth a shot.”

Pepper’s ideas had always been worth more than gold to him, since the first day she walked into his office and told him his math was wrong. No one else had bothered to stand up to him, no one else had the balls to attempt it, but she had done it without reservation. “Always honest,” he whispered, a trace of a smile on his face. “From now on. Definitely not in the past. Pretty sure I made it to two hundred lies in a day at one stage. But from now on – different.” It was a big promise, one that he knew he would struggle to keep if for nothing else but to protect her, but it was something that was necessary.

Going back was a dangerous thing, something that Tony desperately tried to avoid at the best of times. He was a futurist, he looked towards days that were yet to come instead of those that were passed, and that was how he survived. His own childhood was easy to forget - or at least, easy to want to forget - and now, the future seemed so bright with the new generations. Others didn’t have the same easy path as that. Pepper seemed to, but there was a longing in her too. “My first response was to say we could give them anything,” Tony admitted, with a breathless, humourless laugh, “but I know that’s not the point. Families – they shouldn’t ask for anything, yeah?” It was as much a statement as it was a question. Tony wasn’t entirely sure what way it worked, at least until he formed his own family that wasn’t tied by blood. Pepper had a family, but from what she was saying, what he had seen over the years, there was a reason she hadn’t asked for holiday leave over Thanksgiving.

“You’ll never be a husk,” Tony said, voice low, eyes on hers. “You’ve got so much inside you you’re bursting with it, you know? Everyone called Ru ‘Personality,’ and the second you walked into the room, you had me hanging up on her. You – you’re so much more already. Always have been.” If there was one thing that he could say about his father, it was that he never left. Sometimes Tony had wished that he would. He rarely considered it to be a good thing. “Always,” Tony said, a genuine smile pulling at one side of his lips. “I’d give myself twelve percent of the kid. You could have the other eighty-eight. Makes up for this place,” he said, gesturing around lightly.

Half of the time, Tony acted without really thinking about what he was doing. This time, he had thought about it for ten years, give or take, and yet only decided at that moment to do something about it. “I bought this in 2008,” Tony said, rooting around in the various pockets of his suit jacket. “I kept carrying it around, waiting for the perfect moment, you know? Like, the second I landed in front of you and you were so taken aback by my amazing, masculine beauty that you almost burst into tears for it, and then I’d have a big speech and you would, I don’t know, cry even more but love me for it.” He was rambling. Tony Stark was holding a ring in his hand, and he was rambling. “And I am not proposing to you in the kitchen over coffee half an hour after we woke up, I’m not that cruel, but I just – I wanted to tell you that it’s been with me for a long time, and always for you.” Clint always said Tony was as romantic as a rock. Maybe that much was true. “Don’t tell Clint I just said any of that, by the way,” Tony tacked on, as an afterthought.

The very walls surrounding them were tangible proof of what they could accomplish together. The things they could build, the future they might be able to cultivate with just a little bit of luck and a lot of hope. He was the sort of person who inspired hope, despite the pragmatist in her. He had a way of making her see past the probable, into the potential. Turning impossible to possible in the blink of an eye, the flutter of a heartbeat. 

Tony believed in the future enough to make it reality, but Ty was determined to drag the past back into their lives. And Pepper was done letting the past control her or Tony. They were more than their memories, they were more than what their previous experiences. With him she felt -- infinite. It was the only word that came close to describing the feeling. And like hell would Tiberius Stone make her feel finite or fragile. 

“No higher authority. Not in the business world,” she shot back, with a smirk of her own. Her fingers brushed against his, her focus entirely on her plan to take down Ty, but she still found a way to enjoy the sensation. This little tickle of a touch that made her feel so centered. So connected she could feel the jump in his pulse even before he spoke and let that panic creep into his voice. “Doesn’t matter,” she said slowly, voice low and dangerous. “If any of them try to protect him, or cover this up, I’ll make sure they go down with him. I’ll see every single board member in an orange jump suit if I have to, and I’ll take their fortunes while I’m at it. That’s where it’ll really hurt. And we both know I can make it happen,” she said fiercely. Her heart was pounding too, but with a righteous, indignant fury. “Oh, Tony,” she said, a smile breaking out on her face despite it all. “No one’s in my league.” 

It was a bold statement, but women didn’t get far in this world without daring to be bold. And feeling infinite made her feel a little bit invincible too. She had something worth fighting for, and his hand was entwined with hers right now. She wasn’t going to let go so easily, not this time. “I could always tell you know,” she said softly, her expression softening. “You’re not as good at it as you think you are. I know your tell.” She heard the promise in his voice, and he had promised her so much before and he hadn’t always been able to keep those promises -- but she believed him anyway. Maybe that’s what love was. Believing in the impossible, until it became true. 

There was nothing for her in the past. She had nothing to go back to anymore, nothing but him, but this life, the one they built together. Ty couldn’t take it away, she wouldn’t let him. They still had so far to go on this journey, so many futures to explore, a galaxy of possibilities in front of them. They couldn’t go backwards, even if they wanted to, not if meant missing out on everything else. “We could,” she said. “But it would never, ever be enough. You can’t pour yourself into a black hole, it’ll just suck you in.” She would always love her family, they would always have a piece of her heart. But the rest of it, she was placing squarely in Tony’s hands. He may not have always caught her, but he had proven he would always try. That was more than enough for her. “It’s not the asking,” she corrected gently. “It’s.... it’s knowing they’ll never stop asking. It’s the taking and never giving in return, not even a thank you.” 

When he said it, she believed it. She let out a breath, almost a gasp, and it felt like a weight was lifted from her shoulders. Like he had shaken away the worry, the fear, the guilt that had been clinging to her ever since she left. Maybe it would settle back on her shoulders, but for now, she felt as weightless as a feather floating in the wind. Like she was flying, not falling. “I wouldn’t be like this without you,” she said softly, leaning forward and letting her forehead rest against his. “You taught me how to be this way. Because that’s how you are. There’s just --” Her eyes flicked up to his. To peer into the endless constellations in his gaze. Dazzling and breathtaking and a little bit terrifying, but in a good way. “Well, you can try telling that to the fetus,” she laughed breathlessly. “We both know, everything we do is a lot more evenly split than that.”

Everything she was, everything she had achieved -- it was thanks to him. And in return, she had kept him breathing on those nights when his heart stopped. Kept the wheels of his company turning so he could keep creating those wonderful things. They saved and shaped each other, or maybe the right word was supported. She had always felt alone, even as a little girl, like the only person she could count on, the only person she should count on was herself. But he made her believe life didn’t have to be so lonely. That she didn’t have to hold up the sky alone. 

They had never needed to make it official, to put terms or labels or say, a ring, on it to make it real. But now her heart was in her throat, and she couldn’t feel her hands. She sat up, so she could see him more clearly, her eyes snapping to the box in his hand. His words stole her breath away, and for a second, she felt the urge to look for glitches, to check to see if this was just a dream. He rambled on, but every word was accidental poetry, a piece of starlight that glinted off the ring in the box. Finally, Pepper reached up, one hand tracing along his jawline, a finger pressing against his lips to quiet him for a moment.

She held the silence for a moment. A symphony of stillness. And then she moved her hand, and slowly... closed the box. “I should’ve known,” she said, biting her lip though there was no hiding her smile. “You and Happy snuck off after that press conference. You were conspiring, and I never found out why.” She took a breath, and leaned forward to press a kiss to his lips. Gentle, soft, but more than fleeting, lingering a long moment in the taste of it. “You’ve held onto it this long,” she whispered, lips still against his. She moved to his ear, voice barely above a whisper. “Ask me again when we’ve finished this. When we’ve put Ty and the past behind us, when we’ve got nothing but the future ahead of us. Ask me then... and I’ll say yes.” 

[twelvepercentpepperpotts]

the-m3chanic:

They had called him a lot of things over the years in the papers. Newsagents had made insane profits off pictures of Tony Stark ducking out of galas with woman after woman on his arm, bloodshot eyes and a half empty bottle of champagne hanging from between his fingers. The things that those women - and the men, though they were far from front page news - had called him, though, those had been the things that had stuck with him. Cold. Calculating. Heartless. Selfish. It sounded like someone that he never wanted to become, sounded like the man that had raised him (or pretended to, at the very least), and for a long time, Tony had thought that was an inevitability. There was nothing he could do to stop the tide, to prevent himself from becoming the same kind of person as Howard Stark was, and he just had to accept that, or prolong it for as long as possible.

For a long time, Tony had been convinced that the only thing holding him back, or at least the biggest thing, was Pepper’s presence in his life. Now, he gave himself a little more credit, was able to appreciate the fact that everything he had been in the past was a lie, that he had been determined to hide behind a mask long before he had a metal one to fight crime with, but it had been true nonetheless. Pepper had been the one standing there, giving him a hard time. She had pulled him from holes more times than he could count, but the second his feet were on solid ground again, she whacked him around the head with the fact that he’d been an idiot, and it was what kept him sane.

He hadn’t realised, then, what that meant. How much it mattered to have someone that he relied on so completely, so utterly, and knew that she would never, ever let him down. The fact that he had allowed her to fall, then, only cut into him more deeply, the fact that she had been hurt because of him, but she had come back stronger, as only Pepper Potts could. She was home, plain and simple yet so endlessly complicated. Those two years that he had known that, he had looked her in the face on a daily basis and known that she was the one he adored yet remained quiet, had been the hardest ones he had ever lived, but in many ways, he had appreciated the suffering. How could he not, when one smile made his day, or one brush of her hand made his own tingle for hours afterwards?

Now - now Tony didn’t need to rely on those brief moments, or seeing her across a boardroom, or knowing that she would be waiting for him in the limo before an engagement that he knew neither of them would have a good time at until they were clinking glasses together on an isolated balcony somewhere, making fun of what everyone was wearing. He had her all the time, sitting across from him in the morning, curling beside him in bed, pressing kisses to the back of his neck while he was working. Tony didn’t think he’d ever get tired of it, honestly. If he did, he’d consider himself Skrulled and be done with it.

“Well, we all knew that,” Tony said, but the cockiness didn’t quite land. It was clear to hear what he was actually saying, that he had wanted her to say just that but couldn’t quite believe it even now. She said it so genuinely, though, was so painfully honest at the best of times, utterly unable to lie, and that meant he had to, didn’t it? “And now you get to undress me for the next, I don’t know, I’ll give us forty years. You’re the luckiest girl in Manhattan once you get passed the whole ‘engine in the chest’ thing.”

She had always been an anchor for him, something steady, something unmoving, pulling him back. That wasn’t to say that there weren’t times when she let go, or when he pulled away despite her best intentions. Twenty years was a long time to know someone, a longer time still to love them, and every single day there was a new challenge. Dreamvision was just the latest in a long, long line. “Don’t think I’ve ever actually been to an American church,” Tony admitted. “I’m a heathen, Pep. Mom used to bring me when we were in Venice, you know?” Howard had always found it ridiculous, to believe in something that science could not prove. Tony wasn’t entirely sure where he stood on that point.

Little facts, little breaches in the code, and then they were back where they had begun. Finding that they were alone was something Tony had expected to feel like a disappointment, considering how much he currently wanted to punch Tiberius Stone in his infuriating face, but instead it was the only thing keeping him sane. “I know,” Tony mumbled, allowing himself to be pulled towards her easily, pressing his face into her shoulder, wrapping his arms around her so tightly that his hands touched each other. “I’ll fix it, Pep. We’ll find a way to fix it.”

A strangled laugh escaped her lips, and she slapped his chest halfheartedly. Her hand landed there and stayed, fingers dangerously close to the ‘engine’ in his chest. She could feel it, the thrumming of the metal, but she couldn’t see it. Not in this dream apparently, but she couldn’t understand why. That wasn’t part of her design, was it? In her mind, the arc was a part of him, and a good part. It was ‘Proof Tony Stark Has A Heart,’ and proof that things could change in an instant. That some of those changes were good, needed to happen, even if they were painful.

His sobriety was another, but there was no physical reminder of that, beyond the clarity in his gaze, the nights he slept more soundly than ever, though those were still few and far between. He was complicated, but she wouldn’t have traded any of those complications for anything. She really wouldn’t. She stared at where the reactor should’ve been, willing it into existence, willing it to reality. She saw a flicker, a glint in the Midwestern sun, but nothing else. 

“We aren’t putting a clock on it,” she whispered, eyes flicking up to his. “I won’t.” She refused to, and she had earned that right. She planned on staying by his side for the rest of her life, what was the point in trying to put a limit on that? She couldn’t even imagine a life without him, and apparently neither could he -- their dreams were proof of their own. “I’m pretty goddamn lucky,” she admitted, taking a deep shaky breath, and wrapping him in her arms. Burying her face in his chest, as the world flickered and faded around them, the lights growing brighter until she had to close her eyes. 

Back in reality -- she could see the arc reactor glowing beneath his shirt, could feel the cold sweat on her skin, the ache in neck from falling to the floor -- she just held him. Held him so tightly she was afraid her arms would break, but the pain would be worth it. “Shh,” she whispered, starting to rock slowly. “Shh, Tony,” she cooed to him softly. Nothing centered her faster than caring for someone else, him in particular, and each time her hand stroked through his hair, she felt more and more like herself. She didn’t want him thinking about fixing anything right this second, she didn’t want to think about their next move -- though certainly they’d have to rush back to the city now, they couldn’t stay here. Right now, she just wanted to hold him, to breathe in the real air, to feel the true sun on her skin, and the reality of an actual life with Tony Stark. The good, the bad, and the bitter ex-boyfriends. It was all a part of the picture, and she’d signed up for good a long, long time ago. That hadn’t changed. 

Ty would pay for this, she’d make sure of it. After she held Tony for a moment longer.