Title: Popcorn
Fandom: Iron Man
Rating: G
Character/Pairing: Tony/Pepper
Spoilers: Post IM2, pre-Avengers
Warnings: None really, mentions of sex.
Summary: Tony was bored.
Notes: Um, just 735 words of a glimpse into Tony and Pepper's life.
There was popcorn everywhere.
Pepper hated it when Tony was bored.
As well as being strewn over the workshop floor, there was a pile beneath a small basketball hoop that was usually hanging over a waste paper basket. The waste paper basket had been knocked over, it’s contents on the floor as well. To top it off, Pepper noted, there were bits of popcorn around Dummy too with a couple of pieces on top of him.
He was very bored.
She had been glad that when they had started dating, most things hadn't changed, between them at least. Of course that meant all the bad stuff too, like the mess in the workshop. The cleaners didn't come down into the workshop and Pepper grabbed the broom and started sweeping up the mess. She was a CEO now and Tony had a new assistant but someone still had to tidy up his workshop and she knew Tony wasn't going to do it. He'd probably have Dummy do it eventually, the bot was getting better at it but the popcorn would be hidden under more mess by time he got to it.
“What you doin'?”
Pepper started and turned around, broom in hand, to see Tony hanging his head over the arm of his sofa smiling.
“Cleaning up.”
“Paul can do that.”
“It's not your assistant's job to clean up your workshop Tony.”
“You did it.”
“It wasn't my job either,” she said, starting to add to the pile of popcorn under the basketball hoop. “Still isn't.”
“You don't have to do it.”
“Are you going to?”
He rolled over and off the sofa, but she knew the answer and kept sweeping until he walked up to her and took the broom out of her hands. He dropped it on the floor scattering the carefully piled popcorn all over again and Pepper sighed, moving to pick up the broom once more. Tony grabbed her and whirled her around, kissing her hard.
“I'm glad you're home,” he said. “I was bored.”
“I can tell.”
“I watched a movie.”
“Not a good one,” she muttered.
“Not really, I was just waiting for you to finish at the office.”
“You could've found something to do Tony, I still have a whole R and D department waiting on several proposals and plans from you.”
He wasn't listening, he was undressing her mentally. Nothing new, except now he was obvious about it. She had always considered him obvious - subtly had not been Tony's forte - but since they'd started sleeping together, she had noted that what she had thought was Tony being obvious was Tony being subtle. Very subtle apparently.
Most days she was just glad to come home to find Tony clothed. Apparently his penchant for nudity wasn't just because he wanted sex all the time. He was a colony away from being a full blown nudist.
“Go upstairs and order some dinner,” she told him, before his fingers reached up and started to actually undress her. She really couldn't have sex on an empty stomach. Tony nodded and kissed her again, holding her close for a little while. She let him, just a few months ago they had spent every moment of everyday together but now they were in a relationship they spent much less time together. They were still trying to find a balance. Pepper was at least, Tony was just there whenever she could be.
He pulled away after a few minutes and smiled.
“I won't be long,” she told him, kissing him on the cheek before scooping the broom back up off the floor.
“Chinese okay?” he asked.
“Sure, no dumplings though. It's only Wednesday.”
“Of course not,” he laughed.
He headed out of the workshop stopping at the door for a moment.
“Thanks Pep,” he said.
“What for?”
“Looking after me,” he said. “You don't have to, never had.”
“Always wanted to though.”
He smiled again, and she started cleaning up. Later they would have another talk about him doing actual work when he was bored instead of playing games with popcorn. For now, though she was going to clean up for him once more and contemplate the fact that she wanted to look after him for as long as they lived.