Five Things About Tony Stark (that Pepper...) - I. Sight
Title: Five Things About Tony Stark (that Pepper…) - I. Sight (2/6)
Author: patriot_jackie
Rating & Genre: PG Fluff
Pairing: Tony/Pepper - Spoilers for Iron Man 1&2
Summary: The human mind reaches out to experience life through five separate senses. It’s little wonder then that Pepper Potts is so attuned to the many stimuli of her tantalizing employer.
Word Count: 1,560/2721 Current Words
AN: So you know that place between consciousness and sleep? That’s where Present-Time Pepper will be for the next 5 chapters…
Prologue
I. Sight
It was difficult, of course, to have an attractive boss. Especially one who relentlessly flirted and tossed about lewd invitations with the reliability of excessive government spending: prompt, fleeting, expected, and increasingly obscene. - It was Tony’s description, not her own, but she had thought it surprisingly astute. That he was ignorant of his debauched standards of behavior certainly could not be argued.
Pepper’s abhorrence for his lacking moral values were at strange odds with her attraction to him. She had to admit he was easy on the eyes, and that probably really was the explanation for it all. She couldn’t help it, and he being quite the charmer he was certainly didn’t help matters. People thought his public persona was irresistible, but few of them actually knew him as she did. So it was that the quiet thread of possessive pride she felt when she would pointedly recall the very short time the women would occupy Mr. Stark’s attentions was never, ever acknowledged for what it might mean.
There were coping mechanisms, of course, to deal with her striking employer: avoidance, denial, mental prep-talks and scolding, the goal posts of an action plan, and finally, secret indulgence. It was, she would commonly reason to herself, only fair considering the frequency of Stark’s not-at-all secret indulgence of her own figure. There was nothing wrong with two adults platonically admiring each other.
Not that he was remotely concerned with maintaining platonic boundaries. Compared to Tony, she was completely innocent in the entire arrangement.
She would give in to herself sparingly and only when she was certain he wouldn’t notice. There were cardinal rules established, so as to ensure that she would never make this allowance into more than it ever should be. All in all, it worked well for her, and while some things would strike her at the most inopportune moments, others became practically habitual.
For instance, Pepper never tired of the novelty that was seeing him sprawled underneath the hot rod. Or any car, for that matter, but it was usually the hot rod.
Bent over the hood with his arms deep inside the engine had its own appeal, as did his silent concentration as he considered complex blueprints and detailed illustrations, but she much preferred it when he was reclined on his creeper. He somehow managed to be taut and relaxed, focused and lazy. Half of him was usually missing, but something about Tony Stark being left to the imagination really did it for Pepper - especially when he was right in front of her.
He was always distracted by the hot rod. It absorbed his every thought, so it gave Pepper the rare opportunity to simply look at him. -Or rather to take prolonged peeks from behind her clipboard-later-PDA, as she always tried to maintain a level of inconspicuous discretion in case he happened to suddenly pop out and catch her in the act.
She preferred him in jeans at these times, which was usually the case. His legs spread slightly, one knee bent and booted foot finding purchase on the ground as he angled himself to reach a distant component while the other leg remained mostly straight and dangled casually off the creeper. Occasionally she was treated by his capricious fitted t-shirts to a sliver of flat stomach or turned, toned back.
“Like what you see, Potts?” he asked her in a strained voice on one such occasional afternoon.
While curious as to how he’d known she’d been looking or if he was just guessing, she answered without missing a beat, “I’ve always liked the car, Mr. Stark. Could you come out of there? I need you to sign a few things.” Alas, all good things must come to an end.
A moment later, a resounding mechanical snap echoed through the garage. He lied still, examining his find and remaining underneath the car, giving Pepper one last opportunity for a lingering glance. Then he rolled himself to peer at her around the tire with a crooked, smug smile. Black smudges and grease smears covered his face, and his hair was a little more wild than usual.
“There are only three,” she promised him.
“Jarvis,” he said while standing, car part in hand, and reaching for a dirty rag.
“Yes sir?” the computerized voice of the AI answered.
He wiped his hands and face with the rag. Then he looked to his ever patient assistant. “Was Pepper ogling me again just now?”
She reeled. “Again? What do you mean- When did I- Wait. Jarvis, don’t-”
Too late. “Judging by the frequent prolonged glances, slight dilation in her pupils, minimal increase in heart rate, subtle change in breathing pattern, and tilt of her head to maximize the optimal angle by which to watch you, in my estimation, Miss Potts was indeed ogling you, sir.”
Tony’s eyebrows hopped. “All that for only half of me?”
She sputtered, feeling her face warm. “You had Jarvis monitoring my vitals?!” Strategy called for: deflection.
“I don’t mind, of course,” he continued undeterred while at the same time, Jarvis intoned a polite apology. “How often do you enjoy these peep shows? That’s what I want to know.”
“You don’t mind? I mind!”
“What? Being caught?” Tony waved a dismissive hand. “Don’t change the subject, Potts.”
“I will change the subject!” she blustered. “How dare- That is- I cannot believe-”
“Pepper!” he said over her. “Just admit it: you think I’m hot.”
Her nostrils flared. “I will not admit anything of the sort.”
He grinned. “But you won’t deny it.”
“I--!” She blinked. - Stupidly, if a blink could be characterized as such.
His quiet chuckles quickly became wholehearted laughs when she continued to stutter. When he recovered himself, he invited her to take advantage of him whenever she pleased, and if she would, please, inform him of the all vivid details after she had her mental wicked way with him.
It was one of the few times that Pepper left without obtaining the signatures she needed. The glass door had swung behind her, the Motley Crue blaring right over whatever other tasteless suggestions he had intended to tell her.
And so, at three years of employment, Tony Stark knew that Pepper Potts was physically attracted to him. Ignoring that he would from then on attempt to use that knowledge to his advantage, it was completely harmless. After all, every woman on the face of the planet was physically attracted to Tony Stark: it didn’t mean anything. Or so she had thought.
Most of the time, Tony handled this reticent revelation of his PA’s opinion surprisingly well. While it may have been his familiarity with women fawning over him in comparison to Pepper’s reserved appreciation, Pepper had preferred to believe, for undeclared reasons, that he respected her enough to care. She put stock in this explanation for more than tacit optimism, however: for once in his life, he began to exercise self control.
As contrary as it seemed to Pepper, the fallout was far more positive for their relationship than negative. She had expected him to become even more forward around her, and though she hadn’t been wrong in that expectation, she had misjudged his character. Tony, being Tony, always pushed the boundaries, but after the initial relentless, obligatory teasing, he began to take cues from her reactions. Not nearly as often as she would have liked, to be sure, but enough to be noticed. Sometimes, he would even stop himself, and if ever he took things too far or made her too uncomfortable, she would simply catch his eyes.
Hindsight being 20/20, she should have considered his possible reasons for these changes more deeply. But then at the time, she really wasn’t considering anything.
She became increasingly adept at nonverbal communication with her employer as the years went by. It was far from one-sided, oblivious as he sometimes liked to pretend he was: he became just as fluent as she. When Rhodey casually remarked one day that Pepper knew and read Tony better than anyone, she may have gone home and panicked over all the potential implications. Of course the next day, she convinced herself that it was merely the predictable result of spending so many hours around each other; she should have anticipated it, really.
It wasn’t until some years into her position that she noticed her affinity for his eyes. But even that she explained away through the then-acceptable “unique communicative understanding” she had with her boss: she was only ensuring she understood exactly what he meant. Pepper would never be so stereotypical as to fall into their mahogany depths, and get lost in his soul, or some equally garish explanation. How cliché and girlish!
Always, she ignored the little thrill in her chest when he made a point to find her in a crowd - for a quickly motioned reminder, to see her reaction, to share a private joke, or even for her reassurance - telling herself it was nothing more than the same passing lust other women experienced in his presence. Never mind that it was consistent rather than fleeting or that lust actually had very little to do with it. In this single avenue, she intentionally did not allow herself to rationally consider the facts.
Truthfully, it was as though for seven years, Pepper Potts indulged her eyes and very little else.
TBC…
AN: The roller things that go under cars are seriously called creepers. When I found this out, I had but one question: Really, guys? That’s what you manly men came up with???
Also, regarding the opening of this chappie being political, I took my cues from both movies in which Tony does espouse some conservative viewpoints. Just staying with the character, not bashing y’all over the head with political overtones. … But do GO VOTE! ;)
Chapter 2 Teaser: Of all the places in his house, the only room in which she felt uncomfortable was his bedroom. Even so, she was no stranger to it, and despite being a perfect stranger to the room’s centerpiece, she was also no stranger her boss’s scantily clad body, wrapped in a towel or less. - In fact, in a towel was how she had run into him upon arrival on her third day…
Author: patriot_jackie
Rating & Genre: PG Fluff
Pairing: Tony/Pepper - Spoilers for Iron Man 1&2
Summary: The human mind reaches out to experience life through five separate senses. It’s little wonder then that Pepper Potts is so attuned to the many stimuli of her tantalizing employer.
Word Count: 1,560/2721 Current Words
AN: So you know that place between consciousness and sleep? That’s where Present-Time Pepper will be for the next 5 chapters…
Prologue
I. Sight
It was difficult, of course, to have an attractive boss. Especially one who relentlessly flirted and tossed about lewd invitations with the reliability of excessive government spending: prompt, fleeting, expected, and increasingly obscene. - It was Tony’s description, not her own, but she had thought it surprisingly astute. That he was ignorant of his debauched standards of behavior certainly could not be argued.
Pepper’s abhorrence for his lacking moral values were at strange odds with her attraction to him. She had to admit he was easy on the eyes, and that probably really was the explanation for it all. She couldn’t help it, and he being quite the charmer he was certainly didn’t help matters. People thought his public persona was irresistible, but few of them actually knew him as she did. So it was that the quiet thread of possessive pride she felt when she would pointedly recall the very short time the women would occupy Mr. Stark’s attentions was never, ever acknowledged for what it might mean.
There were coping mechanisms, of course, to deal with her striking employer: avoidance, denial, mental prep-talks and scolding, the goal posts of an action plan, and finally, secret indulgence. It was, she would commonly reason to herself, only fair considering the frequency of Stark’s not-at-all secret indulgence of her own figure. There was nothing wrong with two adults platonically admiring each other.
Not that he was remotely concerned with maintaining platonic boundaries. Compared to Tony, she was completely innocent in the entire arrangement.
She would give in to herself sparingly and only when she was certain he wouldn’t notice. There were cardinal rules established, so as to ensure that she would never make this allowance into more than it ever should be. All in all, it worked well for her, and while some things would strike her at the most inopportune moments, others became practically habitual.
For instance, Pepper never tired of the novelty that was seeing him sprawled underneath the hot rod. Or any car, for that matter, but it was usually the hot rod.
Bent over the hood with his arms deep inside the engine had its own appeal, as did his silent concentration as he considered complex blueprints and detailed illustrations, but she much preferred it when he was reclined on his creeper. He somehow managed to be taut and relaxed, focused and lazy. Half of him was usually missing, but something about Tony Stark being left to the imagination really did it for Pepper - especially when he was right in front of her.
He was always distracted by the hot rod. It absorbed his every thought, so it gave Pepper the rare opportunity to simply look at him. -Or rather to take prolonged peeks from behind her clipboard-later-PDA, as she always tried to maintain a level of inconspicuous discretion in case he happened to suddenly pop out and catch her in the act.
She preferred him in jeans at these times, which was usually the case. His legs spread slightly, one knee bent and booted foot finding purchase on the ground as he angled himself to reach a distant component while the other leg remained mostly straight and dangled casually off the creeper. Occasionally she was treated by his capricious fitted t-shirts to a sliver of flat stomach or turned, toned back.
“Like what you see, Potts?” he asked her in a strained voice on one such occasional afternoon.
While curious as to how he’d known she’d been looking or if he was just guessing, she answered without missing a beat, “I’ve always liked the car, Mr. Stark. Could you come out of there? I need you to sign a few things.” Alas, all good things must come to an end.
A moment later, a resounding mechanical snap echoed through the garage. He lied still, examining his find and remaining underneath the car, giving Pepper one last opportunity for a lingering glance. Then he rolled himself to peer at her around the tire with a crooked, smug smile. Black smudges and grease smears covered his face, and his hair was a little more wild than usual.
“There are only three,” she promised him.
“Jarvis,” he said while standing, car part in hand, and reaching for a dirty rag.
“Yes sir?” the computerized voice of the AI answered.
He wiped his hands and face with the rag. Then he looked to his ever patient assistant. “Was Pepper ogling me again just now?”
She reeled. “Again? What do you mean- When did I- Wait. Jarvis, don’t-”
Too late. “Judging by the frequent prolonged glances, slight dilation in her pupils, minimal increase in heart rate, subtle change in breathing pattern, and tilt of her head to maximize the optimal angle by which to watch you, in my estimation, Miss Potts was indeed ogling you, sir.”
Tony’s eyebrows hopped. “All that for only half of me?”
She sputtered, feeling her face warm. “You had Jarvis monitoring my vitals?!” Strategy called for: deflection.
“I don’t mind, of course,” he continued undeterred while at the same time, Jarvis intoned a polite apology. “How often do you enjoy these peep shows? That’s what I want to know.”
“You don’t mind? I mind!”
“What? Being caught?” Tony waved a dismissive hand. “Don’t change the subject, Potts.”
“I will change the subject!” she blustered. “How dare- That is- I cannot believe-”
“Pepper!” he said over her. “Just admit it: you think I’m hot.”
Her nostrils flared. “I will not admit anything of the sort.”
He grinned. “But you won’t deny it.”
“I--!” She blinked. - Stupidly, if a blink could be characterized as such.
His quiet chuckles quickly became wholehearted laughs when she continued to stutter. When he recovered himself, he invited her to take advantage of him whenever she pleased, and if she would, please, inform him of the all vivid details after she had her mental wicked way with him.
It was one of the few times that Pepper left without obtaining the signatures she needed. The glass door had swung behind her, the Motley Crue blaring right over whatever other tasteless suggestions he had intended to tell her.
And so, at three years of employment, Tony Stark knew that Pepper Potts was physically attracted to him. Ignoring that he would from then on attempt to use that knowledge to his advantage, it was completely harmless. After all, every woman on the face of the planet was physically attracted to Tony Stark: it didn’t mean anything. Or so she had thought.
Most of the time, Tony handled this reticent revelation of his PA’s opinion surprisingly well. While it may have been his familiarity with women fawning over him in comparison to Pepper’s reserved appreciation, Pepper had preferred to believe, for undeclared reasons, that he respected her enough to care. She put stock in this explanation for more than tacit optimism, however: for once in his life, he began to exercise self control.
As contrary as it seemed to Pepper, the fallout was far more positive for their relationship than negative. She had expected him to become even more forward around her, and though she hadn’t been wrong in that expectation, she had misjudged his character. Tony, being Tony, always pushed the boundaries, but after the initial relentless, obligatory teasing, he began to take cues from her reactions. Not nearly as often as she would have liked, to be sure, but enough to be noticed. Sometimes, he would even stop himself, and if ever he took things too far or made her too uncomfortable, she would simply catch his eyes.
Hindsight being 20/20, she should have considered his possible reasons for these changes more deeply. But then at the time, she really wasn’t considering anything.
She became increasingly adept at nonverbal communication with her employer as the years went by. It was far from one-sided, oblivious as he sometimes liked to pretend he was: he became just as fluent as she. When Rhodey casually remarked one day that Pepper knew and read Tony better than anyone, she may have gone home and panicked over all the potential implications. Of course the next day, she convinced herself that it was merely the predictable result of spending so many hours around each other; she should have anticipated it, really.
It wasn’t until some years into her position that she noticed her affinity for his eyes. But even that she explained away through the then-acceptable “unique communicative understanding” she had with her boss: she was only ensuring she understood exactly what he meant. Pepper would never be so stereotypical as to fall into their mahogany depths, and get lost in his soul, or some equally garish explanation. How cliché and girlish!
Always, she ignored the little thrill in her chest when he made a point to find her in a crowd - for a quickly motioned reminder, to see her reaction, to share a private joke, or even for her reassurance - telling herself it was nothing more than the same passing lust other women experienced in his presence. Never mind that it was consistent rather than fleeting or that lust actually had very little to do with it. In this single avenue, she intentionally did not allow herself to rationally consider the facts.
Truthfully, it was as though for seven years, Pepper Potts indulged her eyes and very little else.
TBC…
AN: The roller things that go under cars are seriously called creepers. When I found this out, I had but one question: Really, guys? That’s what you manly men came up with???
Also, regarding the opening of this chappie being political, I took my cues from both movies in which Tony does espouse some conservative viewpoints. Just staying with the character, not bashing y’all over the head with political overtones. … But do GO VOTE! ;)
Chapter 2 Teaser: Of all the places in his house, the only room in which she felt uncomfortable was his bedroom. Even so, she was no stranger to it, and despite being a perfect stranger to the room’s centerpiece, she was also no stranger her boss’s scantily clad body, wrapped in a towel or less. - In fact, in a towel was how she had run into him upon arrival on her third day…