Who: Pepper Potts and Tony Stark. What: Work and Dreams talk. Where: Stark Industries. When: Early August. Rating/Warnings: Low/None. Status: Complete.
The dreams had always been a bit awkward for Pepper. It was a strange thing to dream anything like she did, stranger to dream having such a deep relationship with someone, strangest to dream knowing that the other person had far more knowledge of the dream future. She’d told someone she felt behind, out of the loop, and … Well. Pepper was starting to wish that was still the case.
Because you shouldn’t dream about kissing your real world boss and friend. Should you?
In any case, Pepper had yet to face it head on. It wasn’t that she was actively avoiding Tony. But good graces, they were both busy with different projects so she hadn’t really had time to put herself in that awkward situation until now. Armed with some papers that Tony had asked her to put together regarding his latest act of generosity, Pepper steeled herself out in the hall before knocking on the door and entering. “Good afternoon, Mr. Stark.”
Tony was sitting behind his desk, staring at his computer screen. It wasn’t unlike him. Sometimes he would sit for practically days on end, working on thousands of lines of code, putting together the world’s most [insert adjective here] [insert new invention here]. Today he was skimming through some emails, trying to figure something out. But when Pepper Potts came through the doorway, his eyes instantly came to her. She looked lovely. He couldn’t help but notice. His hands stilled on the keyboard and mouse as he stared at her. Then he seemed to realize what he was doing, and stood abruptly.
“Miss Potts. Come in.” He said, and motioned to a chair.
Pepper was starting to wonder if all the prolonged looks were not just Tony being Tony, but actually because of … All that other stuff. It made her feel like a blush was coming to her cheeks, so she tried to push that thought away and smiled, walking across to his desk.
“I finished looking over the grant proposals and sorted them for you. All you have to do is read and sign, and then I’ll take them over to financing to get them sent out.”
“Thank you,” Tony said, accepting the paperwork. He set it down on the desk, making a mental note to read it all, sign it, and then get it back to her as soon as possible. His eyes came back up to her, and he noticed that she had a pink tint to her cheeks. Somehow it made her even more beautiful.
“Drink?” He said, abruptly, then cleared his throat, turning toward his dry bar. “You want a drink?”
“Oh.” In a way, Pepper had been hoping that would be it. Drop off the papers, say goodbye, leave. But she wasn’t all that upset to be staying. “Yes, that would be nice, thank you.” They probably should talk about it. That would certainly be easier (or more dangerous) with a drink in hand. She leaned against the desk and folded her arms, trying to choose her words carefully.
“I had more dreams. About the Expo and the Expo being destroyed, costing us … So much money.” Her lips quirked up. If she could joke around about the finances, it would maybe ease them into the conversation a bit better.
Tony was happy to have a drink in hand. It gave him something to focus on, something to do. Of course, his brain was running a million different directions all at once. He poured them each a finger of his finest, then turned to pass her a glass.
“Ah, right. I remember. The one with the explosions.” He sipped.
“Lots and lots of explosions.” Pepper took the glass with a slight toast and took a long sip. Where would she start? So much had happened, hadn’t it? She wasn’t sure how Tony managed it all. “I’m still mad you didn’t tell me you were dying. I’m mad I didn’t figure it out myself.”
Oh, right. The dying bit. Tony didn’t want to tell her that it’d bled over to this world, didn’t want to tell her that he’d suffered it here, too. But that things all worked out. It felt like things always worked out, though, in the long run. Even though they often left traces of badness behind. “I’m sorry.” He frowned a little, not wanting to apologize for something he didn’t really do--he didn’t have a choice in the matter, really. But he felt responsible. “I should have told you everything.”
“You know you can.” Pepper’s tone suggested that she meant in the waking world, too, not just in their dream world. They couldn’t help what they dreamed. But they could fix it here. As a silence fell over them, Pepper finished her drink and cleared her throat. “And … if it comes up, I’m allergic to strawberries in real life.” No, that wasn’t what she was supposed to say. “The kiss was -”
Tony finished his own drink, watching Pepper as she spoke. His eyes never left her. He thought she was the most exquisite creature he’d ever seen. And for a moment he was a little distracted by the way her lips shaped the words. “I’ll keep that in mind.” Then he paused. “The kiss was… what?”
“It … Wasn’t terrible,” Pepper said after a moment. She couldn’t help but laugh, because it was funny. Wasn’t it? And it wasn’t terrible, it really wasn’t. Pepper shrugged a shoulder. “I hope it doesn’t make things strange between us.”
"Why would it make things strange between us?" Tony asked, raising an eyebrow. He almost, almost, asked if they could recreate that roof scene right here and right now... just to see. A science experiment. You know, to see if they got the same result here than they got in the Dreams. But he gave up on that idea.
“I … Don’t know.” She laughed. “I really have no idea. Now that I’m saying it, it seems pretty absurd, doesn’t it? They’re just dreams.” Pepper looked off to the side, as if that would hide her amused smile and blush from Tony. “Well, Mr Stark, if that will be everything, I’ll let you get back to work.”
They were incredibly realistic dreams that confused him and made him feel things he never would have felt in real life. They were dreams that gave amazing gifts into the real world. But “just dreams”? Tony wasn’t sure.
“That’s everything,” Tony said, somewhat reluctantly. He didn’t want her to go, but knew she probably should. “I’m sure I’ll see you later.”