He made some bad investments.

[letmetakeaselfie]

After working with her at the Battle of New York, Tony had come to respect Rescue -- and the woman behind the suit, of course. But to say they were friends was a gross overshot. Pepper and he could get along. They both had tough shells and were ready equipped with all sorts of sarcasm and wit to deflect any unwanted attention. Because they were essentially Iron Man and Iron Woman, however, the press had their own ideas about the relationship between the pair.

Nick had phoned earlier to tell them about a recent threat, and words came out of his mouth that Tony was pretty sure he misheard. So he made the other man repeat them like, three times. But they didn't change. SHIELD wanted Rescue and Iron Man to shack up, publically. "Officially" so that when the bad guys came they'd have two heroes to contend with, but also so they'd think they were each other's weakness. Since they were only teammates, what could be the harm?

Before he knew it, a press release was set for the morning and Pepper Potts was on her way over to the Tower to move in. He had about a thousand rooms in the place, but if Dr. Doom did find his way inside they should be together just in case. It's all very -- sudden for a man who's never even had a girlfriend. And he still doesn't, but he has to convince the world he does. #Awkward.

"Welcome to Stark Tower, Ms. Potts. And please..."

"Wipe your feet," Tony interrupts JARVIS and his big, sweeping introduction, lifting his eyebrows as he watches her arrival. Should he help her with her stuff...? Probably. After a beat's hesitation, he moves to grab the larger of her two bags.

"Enjoy your stay," JARVIS corrects steadfastly, much to Tony's chagrin. But he offers up a meek little smile for her all the same.

Comments

[efficacy]

"Why not? Everyone knows the Nazis are Indy's old nemeses." Maybe aliens were more pc than Nazis in the year two thousand and something. Whatever. She smirks a little. "So bad it made it good?"

[letmetakeaselfie]

"What, you've never heard of that?" That's kind of like, his thing if you haven't noticed. Ideas so terrible they work.

[efficacy]

"How could I have not, working with you?" she deadpans with a lopsided smile.

[letmetakeaselfie]

He bites his lip, but a laugh bursts forth anyway, having to watch his cup to make sure he doesn't splatter coffee all over the floor. Tony can't remember the last time he laughed so much in succession, his belly is starting to hurt. "How about Tomb Raider?"

[efficacy]

The same sense of satisfaction as before at making him laugh makes itself known once more, settling warmly in her belly like a glass of fine wine. She makes a little sound of agreement at the suggestion, shrugging a little. "Sure. I haven't seen that one."

[letmetakeaselfie]

"You've. You've never seen Tomb Raider?" Oh no. Nope, this will not stand. He's clearly horrified. "Alright, there's no way you're getting out of this now. I'll set us up in the living room." Which is where he's heading now, shooting her one last look of incredulousness.


Tony's glad to have a few seconds to breathe, sitting in the middle of the couch while he queues up the movie and finishes the last bit of coffee. He thought it would be harder to spend time with Pepper, quite frankly, but he's finding himself looking forward to when she walks into the room even after his brief reprieve.

[efficacy]

Pepper arches a brow, not having expected him to feel so strongly about Tomb Raider of all things. Shrugging again, Pepper glances up to ask JARVIS something. She joins Tony in the living room a while later with a bowl of freshly popped popcorn and a bottle of water for them both, taking a seat next to him.

"Isn't this based on that video game made by lonely coder nerds who've apparently never seen a real woman up close?" she asks dryly as she hands him his bottle, settling the bowl within easy reach of them both. It's clear she has some preconceived notions about this movie possibly being colored a certain way. A sexist way.

[letmetakeaselfie]

He scoots over a little automatically to make more room, though he can't reconcile the pang of regret the action brings. Tony takes the water bottle without looking away from her, strangely touched by her consideration of such a simple thing.

"Yep. That's the one." It's not like it's worth taking the bait before she's seen this masterpiece okay. He's actually pretty excited to get her take on it. "Ready to have your mind blown by lonely coder nerds?" If not he's starting anyway before taking a handful of popcorn and crossing one leg over the other.

[efficacy]

"Like, totes ready," she deadpans with a smirk curving at her lips, popping a kernel in her mouth and leaning back as she lifts her feet on the couch, sitting cross-legged. Fine, she'll try to have an open mind about this!!

[letmetakeaselfie]

Tony leans back against the sofa with a tiny sigh, reluctantly shifting his gaze from her to the screen as the opening scene of Angelina (you guessed it) raiding a tomb plays out. He noisily eats popcorn the whole way, but otherwise seems engrossed enough to stay quiet. Which is a rare feat for him as she knows.

[efficacy]

Well that's certainly on the nose as per the title, Pepper thinks wryly as she watches. Still, she keeps her commentary to herself, eating some popcorn one at a time here and there much more sedately than Tony. This movie is obviously a favorite so she doesn't want to be too pert. Truthfully, she's more interested in Tony's silent entrancement rather than Angelina Jolie's feats on screen, sneaking a sly, sideways glance at him.

[letmetakeaselfie]

He feels eyes on him, but doesn't look over for fear of getting trapped there. Instead he just becomes extremely self-consciously aware of how much popcorn is missing his mouth. What is wrong with him?? It's seriously distressing :(

Though he knew it was coming, he still jumps at the monster, popcorn rattling off his chest comically. Almost like he'd planned it that way. (He didn't.)

[efficacy]

None the wiser, Pepper startles when he does, though it's mostly due to Tony's reaction than anything happening on screen; she lets out a high squeak of fright and on instinct, tosses the handful of popcorn in her fist. At Tony. The few fluffy kernels that make it that far bounce harmlessly off his forehead, one getting stuck in his hair. Pepper blinks, wide-eyed, before bursting into helpless peals of laughter, falling back against the couch. She can't decide which one of their reactions was funnier.

[letmetakeaselfie]

He blinks, completely shocked at first. But then he's laughing too, so hard he's afraid he might pee. Just bury him in this popcorn grave, he's fine. "Did you just... throw popcorn at me?" Because you know what that means, okay. Popcorn fight! Tony gathers up a small handful and flings it at Pepper's head.

[efficacy]

"You startled me!" she defends herself instantly, laughing all the way, but the popcorn is already flying at her and she has to turn her head away to avoid the tiny missiles. The hand not deflecting the popcorn reaches out to grab a handful of her own to toss back at Tony, rampant giggles spilling from her lips.

[letmetakeaselfie]

"I startled you? That mummy thing scared the shit out of me." Despite having seen this like fifty times, whatever. He eats a few kernels after they land on him this time.

[efficacy]

"Yeah, and then you in turn startled me," she insists with a grin, unrepentantly flicking one more kernel at his forehead.

[letmetakeaselfie]

He actually pouts, going briefly cross-eyed as the popcorn kernel rolls off his face and into his lap. "There's officially more popcorn on me than in the bowl." It's not really a complaint in the end.

[efficacy]

"Which is a statement, not a complaint," she calls him out on that very thing with a playful little smirk, picking a kernel from the bowl and popping it into her mouth.

[letmetakeaselfie]

"I know, I was just... saying." He sighs and turns back to Lara Croft. What has she gotten herself into now??? The reason he loves this movie so much is really because no matter how many times he sees it it can still surprise him like that.

[efficacy]

"Uh-huh," Pepper hums in agreeing manner, lips curving as she pops another kernel into her mouth and finally turns back to the screen with a sudden frown. "Wait, what's happening again?"

She's totally missed a good chunk of the movie goofing around and no longer knows what's going on. Oops.

[letmetakeaselfie]

He points at the screen, speaking up animatedly. Tony clearly isn't annoyed by questions during movies. "That was a practice run. The robot was made by her buddy. Today is the first day in like, five thousand years that the planets allign blah blah blah but it's also the anniversary of the day dear Dad went missing. And bam, she found his secret batcave thingy." After Lara's butler tries to bully her into being a person and she goes to sleep to have raucous nightmares instead. Are you getting why Tony relates to this chick yet?

[efficacy]

It doesn't exactly demand a degree in any sort of science to see the parallels, no. Pepper purses her lips and makes a pensive hum of acknowledgement. "Okay. I can see why you like this movie," she adds after a beat, with a tiny smile.

[letmetakeaselfie]

"...What, already? It gets way better, I swear." And he was so prepared to defend it to the death!!! Come on. He reaches for the bowl, knocking her wrist on the way inadvertently. That same charge runs through his middle, and he swallows, glancing over at her as if to gauge if it affected her the same way.

[efficacy]

Pepper shrugs, munching on some popcorn. "There's a robot," she says in her defense with a tiny smile, as if that's the reason. And sure, it's one of them, but it's not all there is to it. Their hands knock over the bowl and Pepper twitches slightly; like touching a livewire, the spot of skin that kissed his tingling hotly. Rolling her lips into her mouth, she forces her shaky hand to pick up some more kernels like had been the plan all along, hoping her cheeks aren't as pink as they feel as she keeps watching the movie without really registering anything that happens.