Theme 7 - Grey
Title: Puzzle
Author: ZionAngel
Theme: 7 - Grey
Rating: PG-13
Length: 617 words
Summary: On a grey morning, he gets to know her a little better.
Recap: Thanks to a terrible storm, Pepper spends the night at Tony’s house, and when the lights go out, she and Tony discuss his feelings about the arc reactor. Tony is grateful to learn that Pepper accepts him as he is, reactor and all.
He groggily wanders downstairs once after brushing his teeth, not enjoying the empty feel of the mansion. He’s come to miss Pepper’s presence, feel her absence more and more as time has gone on, and it’s been a bit of a challenge to adjust. But it’s only morning, he knows - she’ll be in, pestering him about meetings and documents and how it’s really not a good idea for him to avoid what’s-his-face-on-the-Board’s calls for so long, and blah blah blah, but it’ll be Pepper doing the pestering, so it won’t be so difficult. She’d actually gone home early in the afternoon yesterday, when the rain let up enough. And even though he practically ripped the laptop from her grasp promptly at 1:00 p.m. yesterday, refusing to let her continue working whether she stuck around or not, even though she worked herself to death anyway and he told her that she really didn’t need to be in particularly early this morning, he knows her. Knows she’ll still feel guilty or unprofessional or whatever the hell it is about going home early, and she’ll probably be in on time today, if not early.
So when he rounds the corner and sees her sitting on the balcony, he could almost laugh at how easily he can predict her.
He leisurely heads towards her, notes that she’s bundled in her coat, hair tied back in a ponytail, mug of coffee in hand, staring out at the ocean horizon. Which, he also notes, is still covered by a thick layer of dark grey clouds.
It does make him pause for a brief moment, because although it had stopped raining sometime during the night, it’s still hardly a morning to be having coffee on the balcony. Eyeing the sky warily, he grabs the throw blanket from the couch and wraps it around his shoulders before he steps outside to join her.
“What in God’s name are you doing out here, Potts?”
She looks up at him with her customary “good morning” smile, added mirth at his tone. “Drinking my coffee, Mr. Stark.” She takes another sip as if to demonstrate. “I’m going to need plenty of energy to handle all those meetings and deadlines you have today. And don’t think for a second that you’re going to get away with avoiding Douglas Carmichael’s calls for one more day, because it’s not going to happen.”
Seriously, he might as well have a crystal ball zeroed-in on her.
“You’re drinking coffee out here?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I like it like this.” She takes another sip, but it doesn’t hide her smile.
“Freezing with dark clouds and skies that could open up and start pouring any second?”
Now, her smile is patient, serene. “Not everyone hates the rain, Tony.”
And that seems to be the end of her participation in the conversation, as she turns back towards the ocean, settling deeper into her chair and taking another long drink of her coffee. He watches her watch the scene, looking beautiful with bits of hair blowing around her face in the breeze. He can’t help but grin a little - as well as he knows her, as much as he enjoys the security of her predictability, he also loves that every once in a while, he still uncovers another little thing about her, one more piece of the Pepper puzzle. Always something to keep him guessing, something new to love.
The fact that he enjoys this new tidbit, however, has absolutely no bearing on his decision to promptly retreat back inside, because as much as he loves the woman, he’s fucking freezing and she’s crazy to be having coffee on the balcony on a morning like this.