Fic: Black Shirt (Tony/Pepper)
Title: Black Shirt
Fandom: Iron Man
Characters: Tony/Pepper
Word Count: 375
Rating: G
Summary: There's a black shirt lying on the floor.
Notes: Written on 14/5/10.
There's a black shirt lying on the floor.
She stops when she sees it, hands stilling on her clipboard and her eyes widening slightly. It shouldn't surprise her. Many times before, she has seen Tony's clothing discarded on the ground, on furniture, even over his car parked outside. There are few places he's not willing to lose his clothing at. Even so, it stuns her for some reason to see the black shirt there, in her path. It seems out of place and it's a minute before she realises that she's staring at it.
Shaking her head, she takes a few steps forwards and kneels down. The pencil skirt she chose in the morning pulls tight against her thighs. Her fingers graze the shirt; she immediately jerks away. Just as quickly she feels a sense of embarrassment overcoming her. Why is she so afraid to pick up his shirt? She's been picking up after Tony for years now. This shouldn't be any different. But it feels different.
He's been missing for a week now and everything feels different. The mansion feels empty without his presence in it, filling it. The usual noise he makes - clattering metal objects or heavy music - is absent. His character has always been eccentric and vibrant and without him around, the general energy, the atmosphere of the place, is gone.
His black shirt is still lying on the floor.
She swallows and retreats, not daring to touch the soft fabric again. Somehow it feels like the wrong thing to do. The shirt, one she must have missed when she last cleaned up, is the only sign that Tony was ever there. Of course all of his belongings are still about, but the shirt is used and on the floor, untidy. It's how he would have left it, not how things would be after she made her way through and cleaned up. It's more real than everything else.
That's why instead of collecting it from the floor and tossing it into the laundry with the rest of the clothing needing to be washed, she slowly climbs to her feet again and leaves it. She'll pick it up when he returns.
For now, the black shirt can stay where it is.
Fandom: Iron Man
Characters: Tony/Pepper
Word Count: 375
Rating: G
Summary: There's a black shirt lying on the floor.
Notes: Written on 14/5/10.
There's a black shirt lying on the floor.
She stops when she sees it, hands stilling on her clipboard and her eyes widening slightly. It shouldn't surprise her. Many times before, she has seen Tony's clothing discarded on the ground, on furniture, even over his car parked outside. There are few places he's not willing to lose his clothing at. Even so, it stuns her for some reason to see the black shirt there, in her path. It seems out of place and it's a minute before she realises that she's staring at it.
Shaking her head, she takes a few steps forwards and kneels down. The pencil skirt she chose in the morning pulls tight against her thighs. Her fingers graze the shirt; she immediately jerks away. Just as quickly she feels a sense of embarrassment overcoming her. Why is she so afraid to pick up his shirt? She's been picking up after Tony for years now. This shouldn't be any different. But it feels different.
He's been missing for a week now and everything feels different. The mansion feels empty without his presence in it, filling it. The usual noise he makes - clattering metal objects or heavy music - is absent. His character has always been eccentric and vibrant and without him around, the general energy, the atmosphere of the place, is gone.
His black shirt is still lying on the floor.
She swallows and retreats, not daring to touch the soft fabric again. Somehow it feels like the wrong thing to do. The shirt, one she must have missed when she last cleaned up, is the only sign that Tony was ever there. Of course all of his belongings are still about, but the shirt is used and on the floor, untidy. It's how he would have left it, not how things would be after she made her way through and cleaned up. It's more real than everything else.
That's why instead of collecting it from the floor and tossing it into the laundry with the rest of the clothing needing to be washed, she slowly climbs to her feet again and leaves it. She'll pick it up when he returns.
For now, the black shirt can stay where it is.