Who: Pepperony What: Surpriiiiise. When: after Pep's texts Rating/Warning: Green
Tony landed outside the glass doors of their penthouse apartment, the Iron Man armor retracting like molten metal into the RT housing in his chest. Whatever was going on, he wanted to get to the bottom of. If it concerned him and Pepper, both of them, that was enough to set his nerves on edge. And Tony Stark could be a total edgelord when agitated, so he wasn't exactly quiet when he rushed into the penthouse, proper.
"Pepper!" he shouted, his speed and mouth running at the speed of a runaway freight train about to barrel through a small town full of drunk pedestrians. "Where are you? Are we in crisis mode? Is it financial crisis mode? Was there a stock market crash, or an angry accountant trying to get bank revenge on us or is it ninjas....financial ninjas...?"
Considering their last vacation was a bonfire of fail due to terrorists showing up and him having to kick ass, much to Pepper's disgust? Anything and everything was on the table, as far as possibilities went.
There had been no way to handle that any better than she did, but Pepper knew Tony was freaking out. That meant she had less than a minute to get to the sliding glass doors before he showed up. He beat her, of course so she just jogged right up to him.
She caught his face in both hands to pull him into a kiss in order to shut him up, and hopefully calm him down. When that happened she pulled back to smile at him. “No ninjas.”
"Yay, no ninjas," he said with a sigh of relief. The kiss helped too. In fact, the kiss helped a lot and he put his hands on her hips so he could sneak another one and blink at her with owlish eyes. "What gives on the text, then? Finding a way to get me all to yourself, out of the lab? Sneaky sneaky, future Mrs. Stark. I like it."
That was better. Calmer Tony was easier to talk to. Not that she thought for even a moment he’d be upset, but he might need a paper bag to breathe into.
“I kind of thought this moment should just be us.” Pepper leads him to the breakfast bar where what looks like two mimosas are waiting. The reality is that his was a mimosa. Pepper’s was just orange juice.
“Sit,” she directed then picked up the mimosa and put it in Tony’s hand. Then she picked up her orange juice before continuing. “You’ve been sleeping at the lab so you haven’t noticed, but I haven’t been feeling well. In the mornings. That went on too long and then I missed something and decided I needed to go to the doctor and...well..basically…” she hunched her shoulders as she smiled in a way he had never seen before. “I’m pregnant.”
Tony's eyebrows were raised as he was waving one hand around like she should keep talking, all while sipping his mimosa. Up until that last bit, when his entire body twitched and the mimosa was spat back into the glass. A little bit was dribbling over his goatee as he stared at her in shocked silence.
The silence was deafening. Tony swore he could hear the ringing in his own ears, from flying through canon fodder and too many nightclubs or rock concerts.
".........huminwha?" he asked, intelligently. A few shakes of his head and a droplet of mimosa went flying off the hairs of his goatee. "You mean...you....me....we...?"
He pointed down at her stomach.
Pepper bit her lips together to keep from giggling as she nodded. “Made a baby. Yes.”
She had a stack of paper bags in a drawer nearby just in case. Meanwhile, she held her breath, waiting for Tony’s reaction.
"We...made a....oh, sonuvabitch." He sat the glass aside and put his hands on her stomach, like he was carefully holding a Faberge egg. "I didn't mean that. An exclamation of realization. We made a baby! You know what this means? I am dream prophet. How badass is that? We made a baby! Can we name it after your eccentric uncle?"
“....oh god,” Pepper facepalmed as she chuckled. There was going to be no end of dream prophecy now. “No, we aren’t naming it after my uncle, and since you asked I’m about six weeks.” She sticks her tongue out at him before taking a drink of her orange juice.
"Nope, can't do that. I'm a dream prophet. Morgan's the name. Like Morgan Stanley. Or Morgan Chase. Your weird uncle, who wasn't rich but hey, we can pretend. Rich names for a rich baby, popping right out of your CEO self."
Tony let go of her stomach and plucked the glass out of her hands, so he could plant a long loving kiss on the lips of the woman he loved more than anything.
"I'm gonna move a lab here. Be a stay-at-home super-dad. Make him or her their own tiny Iron Baby suit. Be a whole...I don't know...Iron Family. Market this. We'll make billions. Roll around all happy, the three of us, in a big pile of money."
Ok, he was reacting a lot better than she thought he would. The paper bags could stay in their drawer. As for the name Morgan, she wasn’t nearly as against the idea as she was playing off. It could be used for a boy or a girl.
She melted into the kiss, her arms sliding around Tony’s waist so she could lean in against him. Ironically, this was kind of how they got to where they were. He really did know how to kiss!
Pepper chuckled at his rambling about the future. “Why don’t you start by just being a dad then move on to an Iron Baby suit?” She knew his history with his own dad, and expected him to go a bit overboard to prove he wasn’t Howard Stark.
Tony spent a lot of time smooching ladies, but his favorite person to kiss on, by far, was Pepper. And if he was going to overdo the whole dad thing, he was going to overdo it in style. That includes proving that he was nothing like Howard Stark. Howard Stark didn't suck down green algae smoothies half as much as Tony did. He wasn't even hitting the alcohol as often as he had, six months ago.
"You're right. I don't want to get ahead of ourselves. I need to make some schematics while Morgan's percolating in there. Right? This is great. I'm....great....you're great. Everything's great."
And that's when he looked like the breath was gone.
"Ok, we made a baby. I need...paper bag. Breathing. I need...breathing. Is this...no, not a heart attack. Asthma? Maybe. I'm dying. Tell....little Morgan about....how cool dad was."
And there it was, finally sinking in.
Whoops! There it is.
“Tony?” Pepper blinked then realized what was going on. “Ook.” She smiled as she caught him by the shoulders to direct him a chair. “Just...sit here, and I’ll get the paper bags.” She guided him to bend over his knees. “Take a breath in...and out. In...and out.” She had done this for him so many times it was old hat.
Once she got him secure on the chair and breathing she scurried to the drawer with the bags and pulled out two...then pulled out a third. Yeah, this might be a three bag moment. “Here,” she said as she opened on and put it in his hand. “Breathe into this. Slowly.”
Tony stared at her while breathing into the bag, so it made a pleasing crinkling noise as it expanded and contracted. His eyes were wide and glassy, very blinky indeed as the knowledge that he was going to be officially responsible for another living being that is 50% him was settling in for an extended stay.
At least they wouldn't have to worry about college tuition.
Once that bag finally had a hole blown into the corner of it, Tony flopped a hand around for another and flapped it around until it came open, followed by holding it over his face. More breathing happened until it finally slowed and he could wad it up and toss it aside. One hand reached out to rest on Pepper's shoulder.
"That happened. Phew. I got a grip now. We're good. I love you. So much. I can't believe we did a thing! How epic is that? We made a kid. I am prophetic. This is....everything I ever wanted, with you."
He grinned at her, even as he was reaching for that third paper bag.