Always Been You | Tony Stark

Captiolo (5) Cinque ~ Not Harmless

Pepper's POV ~

It had been a little more than a week since Tony seemed to come out from his workshop downstairs. I've been trying my best to get him to eat and sleep, but I'll be lucky if I get him to even take a bite of whatever I got him. Morgan is the only reason he'll do anything other than work nowadays, but she's gone a good portion of the day for preschool. She's been going to a private one that's more of an early kindergarten.

Avery had stopped by a moment ago, saying she had something for Tony. When I asked what it was, she just said that "it was something she hoped he could be sentimental about". I don't know what that meant, but I took the package anyway before she rushed off to work.

I had helped her get a high-positioned marketing job not long ago, where she goes around big medical companies and sells new products for an exceeding amount of money. She's really good at it, too. Always seems to know just what to say to get the customer to buy.

I walked down the stairs to get to Tony's workshop, Avery's package, a mug of coffee, and some paperwork balanced in one hand as I entered my code for the door to open.

"Up two. All right, set that." He told one of his robots, barely sparing me a glance.

"I've been buzzing you. Did you hear the intercom?"

"Yeah, everythings... What?"

"Obadiah's upstairs," I told him as I set the stack in my hands down on one of the counters.

"Great, great! I'll be right up."

"What do you want me to tell him?"

Tony groaned and lifted his arm, which had some machine thing wrapped around it.

"I thought you said you were done making weapons."

"I am. This is a flight stabilizer. It's completely harmless." He hit a button on the table beside him, and a giant blast came out of the thing on the palm of his hand, sending him flying backward. I flinched to the side, covering my ears from the loud noise it made, before looking to see if Tony was okay.

"I didn't expect that." He said from his place on the floor.

"Upstairs, please." I sighed.

"Yeah, sure I'll be up in a sec. Hold up," He stopped me as I started walking away. "What's this?"

"I don't know." I shrugged. "Avery asked me to give it to you before she left for work. Said it was "something sentimental". I don't know what she meant by that, but I'll assume you do."

I heard a quiet 'yeah' as I walked back towards the door, heading up the stairs.

~~

Avery's POV ~

I was invited to the Firefighter's Family Fund at the Disney Concert Hall because of my company. They're making me go so I could make and solidify some deals while making new relationships with other companies since I'm the new girl.

Even though it was a Stark Industrie party, I was still shocked to see Tony Stark himself walk up to me when I got done talking to some investors.

"You look fantastic! I almost didn't even recognize you." He said as he came up to me.

"What are you doing here?"

"Just avoiding government agents."

"Did you come with Pepper?" I asked, looking around for the redhead. I thought I saw here around hear earlier.

"No. I came alone, actually, where did you get that dress?" Tony looked down at what I was wearing. It was a dark green velvet long-sleeved dress with a low front and back cut, with a slit in the side that went up to my upper thigh showing off my bionic leg. (A/n ~ It's the dress at the top of the chapter!)

"Oh, it was a birthday present."

"That's great."

"Supposed to be from you, actually," I smirked, having known it was Pepper who picked it out.

"Well, I've got great taste."

"Yes."

"You want to dance?"

"Oh, no, thank you."

"All right, come on." Tony gently grabbed my arm and led me to the dancefloor.

Tony and I danced for a second, swaying along to the music, and while I couldn't help but feel butterflies, I kept thinking about how the man I am dancing with is married to my best friend and also has a kid with her.

"Am I making you uncomfortable?"

"No. No. I always dance with the husbands of my best friends in front of dozens of people I know from work in a dress with a low front and even lower back." I joked.

"You look great. No one's even looking at us, not even Pepper."

"Oh, god."

"I could tell you that Pepper is actually chatting it up with another man right now if it'll take the edge off."

"What?"

Tony started to spin me slowly, whispering "Six o'clock." in my ear, making my breath hitch. But there she was. Pepper was happily chatting to someone near the side of the room, looking a little more than friendly with the man.

"Tony..." I didn't really know what to say.

"Don't worry about it." He shrugged off, turning me back around. "It was a long time coming for both of us."

"I'm really sorry, Tony."

"Yeah, I'm not really."

I stared into his eyes for a moment, just being totally captivated by them, before realizing he was staring back at me. I quickly cleared my throat, looking down at our feet.

"How about a little air?" Tony asked, probably seeing my unease.

"Yes, I need some air."

"That was totally weird," I said as we stood on the balcony.

"Totally harmless." He shrugged off.

"It was totally not harmless, by the way." I softly glared at him.

"We were dancing, no one's even watching."

"People who I work with... No, you know why?"

"I think you lost objectivity." Tony cut me off. "I think they just... People... We just danced."

"No, it was not just a dance. You don't understand because you're you. And, people know exactly how you tend to be with women, which is... completely fine or whatever but, then you know me, your my best friend's husband. And-and you have a kid with her. And I'm dancing with you."

"I don't think it was taken that way."

"No! Because it makes me look like I'm the one who's trying to..."

"I just think you're overstating it." He shrugged.

"You know, and we're here. And then I'm wearing this ridiculous dress that I actually kinda love, and then we were dancing like that and..." I trailed off, staring into his eyes again. The two of us stared for a moment before we slowly started to lean in.

That's when I realized what was happening, and I quickly pulled away, clearing my throat.

"I would like a drink, please." I closed my eyes, my head tilting down.

"Got it, okay." He started walking away.

"I would like an old-fashioned, with bourbon, please," I said before he left.

"Okay."