Theme 85 - Busy
Title: Want
Author: ZionAngel
Theme: 85 - Busy
Rating: R
Length: 1494 words
Summary: Pepper being so busy has some interesting consequences - for both of them.
AN: Editing to commence later. Also, I have a question: does this chapter feel disjointed to anybody but me? I mean, I can’t exactly split it up without just removing the second half, which I don’t really want to do, but I kind of feel like these two halves don’t connect. Thoughts?
Now that he’s back in her good graces, he intends to stay there. His original plan was to wake up before her and make her the nicest breakfast he could without burning anything, but apparently he underestimates both Pepper and how busy she’s been, when he comes into the kitchen at 6:10 in the morning only to find her not only awake and impeccably dressed as always, but nearly finished with a bowl of cereal and halfway through a slice of toast. He mentally kicks himself for not asking Jarvis what time she usually wakes up, before passing behind her and snatching her coffee cup away as she’s reaching for it. She protests briefly as he takes it over to the coffee maker, but he quickly brings it back, full, smiling as he returns it to her. She stares at it for a few seconds too long, and takes it back with a faint blush and grin. Tony gets himself a bowl of cereal and joins her at the table, and even though she only stays a few minutes longer, he’s glad for the company.
To make up for his botched plan, he orders her favorite lunch from her favorite take-out place, and even though he has to literally drag (push, really, but same idea) her away from her office, he gets her to enjoy it. He can’t keep her from talking work, though, but it does give him the opportunity to score a few more points with her. She’s been working on his presentation for the Board of Directors meeting in New York in a couple of days (which he already knows will make the top five list of the worst meeting he’s ever been to) and he convinces her to let him take care of that, on the condition that she look it over when he’s done. It worries him how much more relaxed she seems when they make that arrangement, and she worries him still further by yawning about every minute or two.
“Pepper,” he asks after about the tenth yawn, “how much sleep have you been getting?”
She shakes her head calmly, but he’s known her long enough to know that her calm strength is mostly false. “Enough. Really, Tony, I’m fine.”
“Jarvis, how much sleep has Pepper been getting?”
She glares at him, but she can’t exactly tell Jarvis not to answer without looking guilty. “She has been averaging approximately 5.2 hours per night for the last six nights, sir -”
“God, Potts, take a nap, will you?”
She’s already shaking her head. “Tony, I’m very busy, I -”
“With what? Answering idiotic questions from moronic reporters who are too stupid to figure out that it’s none of their goddamn business or that they can just get the information from statements you’ve already given to other halfwit reporters?” She opens her mouth to speak, but he’s faster, and on a roll. “And I’m taking care of the presentation for the Board, so you have nothing to do that’s remotely as beneficial as a few extra hours of sleep.” She’s glaring at him again, and he does his best to keep her from seeing how amused he is by that. “And besides, knowing you, you’re going to email and call all those reporters back anyway, and I can’t very well have you yelling and cussing them out.”
Pepper very pointedly raises one eyebrow. “I’m going to cuss at them?”
“If you get exhausted enough you will, and you’ve been restraining yourself so long that all that pent-up frustration’s gonna explode, and then you’re gonna make me look bad, and you of all people know I can’t exactly afford that right now, so -”
“Okay, okay!” She lets her breath out in a huff, and she grumbles a little in a way that makes him quite certain she’s started with the swearing already. Perfect timing, then. “I’ll go lie down.”
“There, now. See?” He smiles. “That wasn’t so hard now, was it, Miss Potts?”
“Actually, it was.” She pushes away from the table, and retreats upstairs. He loves all of her, including that work ethic, but damn if it won’t be the end of her.
He stays at the table, slowly finishing off the rest of his food, and a little of hers, before taking the rest to the fridge. “Jarvis, did Pepper tell you to wake her up later?”
“Yes. She asked that I wake her after one hour.”
He nearly growls in frustration - should’ve know. “Uh, yeah, go ahead and ignore that, just let her sleep as long as she can.” Maybe someday he’ll actually get her to start taking care of herself properly, but it seems it’s going to be a hassle getting to that point.
Two hours later, after getting a rather impressive head-start on that presentation, he goes to check on her. Once his eyes adjust to the faint light coming through the tinted windows, he finds her sprawled on top of the blanket, and from the looks of it, she barely managed to shed her heels and jacket before passing out. As he kneels down beside her with a smirk, he briefly debates the merits of saying “I told you so” once she wakes up. Probably not the best idea.
He studies her face, suddenly realizing that for once, he doesn’t have to suppress the urge to stare. The knowledge is oddly freeing and comforting, and he gives in to thoughts of how beautiful she really is. He admires the serene look on her face, the way her hair falls over her neck, her graceful shoulders, the freckles across her arms, the gentle curves of her breasts and waist and hips, and how her legs somehow manage to look just as sexy even without the stilettos. And then before he realizes it, he starts to wonder what her curves might look like without the skirt and blouse, or where precisely her freckles end, or how her hair might look spread across his pillow, with her head tilted back and her eyes tightly shut -
And suddenly he wants her too much, wants to kiss her so softly that she doesn’t wake, and brush her hair back, and touch the smooth skin of her arms and legs and everything else - and when his deepened breathing finally brings him the her scent (shampoo and sunblock), he’s on his feet and out the door before he can do anything he’ll regret.
He collapses onto the couch in his office, trying to quell the sudden surge of lust and desire, but he can’t get the images or imagined sensations out of his head. He really needs to, because he can never produce decent work while trying to ignore an erection, and this presentation is really important. But as much as he tries to with every fiber of his being, he can’t remember ever wanting her so much or so completely as he does now. He wants to slowly strip her clothes away, barely touching her skin and giving her goosebumps. He wants to stare without fear or shame and soak in the sight of every last inch of what can only be an unbelievably beautiful and sexy body. He wants to taste her as he kisses her neck and breasts and stomach and core. He wants to hear every moan and gasp she has to give, to hear the way she breathes his name as he enters her and begins to move. He wants to breathe in her scent until it makes him dizzy, to look into her shining eyes and know that she’s falling right along with him. He wants to feel her fingers digging into the muscles of his shoulders, and her heels pressing hard into his lower back when she comes, crying out as her inner muscles flutter around him. Then when he finally can’t take it anymore, he wants to lose himself completely in the sensations of her body melded with his, and his absolute, all-consuming love for her. When it’s over, he wants to pull her close and wrap the blanket tightly around them both, kiss her softly, and tell her he loves her, even though he won’t need to.
He lies back on the couch, wondering how he’s ever supposed to get through the rest of his life if things like this are going to keep happening, if he keeps loving her and wanting her when he can never have her. Then, after a few more minutes, a new, completely unprecedented thought occurs to him - maybe he really could have a shot at being with Pepper, if he plays his cards right. Of course, the spark of hope doesn’t make things any better, as it sends another wave of desire through him. And God help him, the way she storms into his office and starts fuming when she finally wakes up around 7:00 just makes him want her even more.