Who: Pepper and Tony NPCs: n/a When: 4/19/12 (backdated) Where: Stark Tower, New York What: Pepper has a date. Now she has to explain this to her boss, and try to control the fallout. Rating: PG-13 for swearing?
Pepper took the night off to decide how how best to present this to Tony. Truthfully, she was a little surprised he didn't immediately demand to know what she was hiding from him when she took her leave that night, or all during the next day at work. Pepper had the unfortunate reputation of being an ice queen among some of her co-workers and other business persons she'd encountered, but Tony was often able to read her like a book. It was the reason she kept some of her most personal thoughts either unacknowledged or deeply buried.
But she was grateful for the time, because she knew absolutely that this news was going to infuriate him, and after that, things could go very, very badly.
As the close of day approached, Pepper descended the stairs to Tony's lab before the usual hour she checked to see what he wanted for dinner and to review the final reports for the day and the schedule for the next, her tablet tucked against her chest behind crossed arms like a shield. Letting herself in, she didn't turn down the music for once, watching him quietly as she approached, wondering how long it would take for him to notice she was there. A voice in the back of her mind called her a chicken, and she didn't bother to deny it."