penistower | I'm prepared for this ✫ I never shoot to miss

She nods off nearly as soon as Tony. It's entirely predictable, the way they're tangled up in each other as close as can be when she next comes around sometime later, just like they have been doing every morning they've woken up together since this charade started. She's not sure what time it is, some daylight still seeping through the thick curtains drawn across the windows of the room as she peers up under heavy lids to take stock of the situation. To be honest, she's not particularly interested about that now, as always slow to wake up and still completely groggy; and way too comfortable pressed up against Tony's warm, naked body under the covers, happily closing her eyes again on a sigh and dozing some more.

Tony is stuck between waking and sleep, his brow creased and twitching in distress. As with most of his nightmare episodes, he is aware on some level that it isn't real, but it's never enough to break through to reality without outside help. It makes it that much more frustrating, like being caught in a giant web and aware of each agonizing moment. He turns away from her suddenly and makes a soft whimpering sound, aware too on some level that he probably just woke her up and feeling terrible about it.

She grunts a little when he rolls over, shoving her a little in the process. Blinking groggily, Pepper tries to shake off the haziness of lingering sleep enough to function properly. The tiny noise of distress Tony makes helps with that, and she reaches for his shoulder while rubbing sleep from her eyes with her free hand.

"Tony?" she calls drowsily at first, shaking his shoulder gently as she sits up with effort, brow knitting with concern now. "Tony? Tony, wake up. You're having a bad dream."

He starts when she reaches out for him, but thankfully no boogeyman is there to greet him when he finally opens his eyes. Turning towards her suddenly, he buries his face in her chest and immediately begins to weep. As much as he hates being vulnerable, he can't deny how comforting it is to have her there. "Sorry," he chokes out eventually, trying to get a handle on himself.

"Tony..." she whispers, empathy and sorrow mingling in her quiet voice as she embraces him without hesitation, wrapping slim arms around him and holding onto him tightly, one hand stroking his hair in hopes of comforting him. She remains silent as he weeps against her skin, her heart breaking for him. "Shh. Don't be," she dismisses just as softly when he apologizes, fingers still combing gently through his hair.

He curls around her again comfortably, once again intertwining their limbs and securing an arm around her waist as his breathing finally comes back under his control. He tries not to think about what might have happened if she hadn't been here to snap him out of it. "Sometimes... it's just like I'm back there. In the desert. I know it's over but I can't get myself out. I get... stuck." Tony pushes out a breath and leans back a bit to catch her eyes, his still glassy from crying.

Pepper relaxes back into the bedding, sighing a little at the sweet feeling of being wrapped and tangled up with him. She listens to his explanation with a light frown, though her slim fingers never cease to run gently through his thick hair. She had thought his nightmares were about more recent events, but that it's Afghanistan... yet, who could blame him? Her heart goes out for him. "The mind is a complicated thing," she sighs, her brows knitting lightly again. "Does it happen often?"

Her cliched words hit home and he has to take a second to regroup all over again. One might think he'd be 'over' Afghanistan by now. He certainly wanted people to think that. This isn't exactly how he'd pictured their first time together, but he knows on some level it's good to get everything out in the open. Maybe she'll wise up and move on, but maybe... maybe they have a shot too.

"Yes," he admits after a long pause, voice filled to the brim with shame and guilt. "When I'm not being swallowed by the blackness of space, over and over." He regrets tacking it on, but he can't take the words back. Not when they're true. He has heinous nightmares every night, because he's lived them. But for every horror he's lived his subconscious makes him suffer a hundred fold.

"There's no shame or weakness in that," she utters quietly after a moment of silence, fingers sliding slowly through his hair and stroking along his scalp. "You've been through so much. Things that would have completely incapacitated most people."

She bites her lip to stifle another sigh. She doesn't think people give him enough credit, but that's partly due to the mask Tony dons in public. He doesn't want people to see how badly his experiences have affected him and continue to haunt him. A soft, small smile made of sympathy and sadness both touches her lips, her hand sliding down from his hair to cradle his cheek. "You're so much stronger than you think."

This woman saved his life multiple times in the past twenty-four hours, woke him up from terrible nightmares and let him cry on her shoulder, and now she's telling him how strong he is. It isn't that he doesn't believe she thinks that, it just blows past all Tony's logic receptors and full boar into the intricacies of humans he just doesn't comprehend. There's actual admiration in her voice, he knows he hears it, but that doesn't mean he gets it.

"If you say so," he manages softly, serving her up a wan smile before closing his eyes and leaning into her hand. He wants to say if she keeps petting his hair she can say whatever she wants to and he'll agree, but sometimes he does actually have the capability to read the mood of a room. "Is it time for more room service yet?" His stomach growls audibly as if driving the point home. He also totally wouldn't mind polishing off their bottle of wine from last night.

"I do say so," she returns just as softly, but firmly -- with a hint of that playfulness that makes an appearance habitually. That doesn't mean she's joking in the least, of course, but she can tell Tony is having trouble processing her words and she doesn't want to get all actually insistent right now. Her lips curve into a somewhat sly smile when he poses his question, running her fingers once more through his ruffled hair. "I guess we did work up an appetite earlier. I could eat, too."

A shiver traces down his spine at the reminder, finding himself nodding to cement the decision. "What do you feel like?" he asks, blinking open his eyes and suddenly realizing how close they are. Before giving her a chance to respond, his lips cover hers, kissing sweetly as though he just couldn't help himself.

She's still smiling against his lips, humming a little into the kiss and letting her fingernails scrape lightly against his scalp as she slides her hand to the back of his neck. She drops another quick, soft peck to his mouth when the first kiss winds down, her lips quirking a bit as she thinks about it.

"I think I feel like... meat," she finally decides on a tiny grin. "A nice, juicy steak." Oh yeah, it's been that kind of day, she'll allow it to herself. Is it even dinner time? She doesn't really care.

"Meat," he repeats, both eyebrows going up. That is not what he expected her to say, but he's learning that's Pepper's MO by now. He finds the shock of it ridiculously exciting, even when it is over something like a steak. Not that that isn't exciting on its own. "That sounds... descriptive. Medium rare?" Hunger flashes in his eyes of a whole different caliber, holding his breath as he waits for her response one way or the other.

She hums an agreement to his evident surprise, lips pulling into a small smirk of amusement. It's warranted, she doesn't really eat red meat as often, especially steak. But it feels appropriate now, for whatever reason. "Medium," she retorts, still smirking slightly, trailing her fingernails lightly up his side.

He draws in a shallow breath at her trailing fingers, locking eyes with her suddenly. "Perfect." He's forgetting what they're talking about more and more by the second, his throat going dry as his thoughts race on. Every few minutes, he has to reassure himself that this is real; and really happening. There are so many questions once they leave this room, which is why he's stalling for doing just that for as long as he can. "Do you want to order, or should I?" It's tellingly seconds late.

She hums in agreeing fashion and smiles widely, rubbing her nose against his fondly. She's aware of the same thing he is, that they have to face the facts like actual adults once they leave this room. She's good with stalling for a while longer.

"Could you?" she asks sweetly, dropping a quick, light kiss on his lips. "I'm just gonna go freshen up a little bit," she goes on, nodding slightly toward the general direction of the bathroom. She pecks him again before slipping out of bed without really waiting for an answer, padding naked to said room and throwing a flirty look over her shoulder at Tony before disappearing inside. She doesn't bother closing the door.

He leans into her kiss instead of trying to answer the question, sure she knows he'd do just about anything for her when prefaced that way. An involuntary sigh leaves his lips when the second kiss breaks, watching her go and smiling a little goofily when she looks at him. Once she's in the bathroom, he gets up to slip his robe back on and retrieve their bottle of wine, pouring some into a glass left nearby and meandering back to the phone with his drink in-hand. His conversation with reception goes smoothly, ordering two identical steak dinners and just barely remembering to thank the person on the other side before hanging up. He can hear Pepper's bare feet on tile as she moves about in the room adjacent, wishing silently that she doesn't take too long. He's become almost codependent in the way he watches her leave a room, even knowing she has to return eventually. How can he miss someone less than ten feet away? He takes a long drink as he contemplates that.

Pepper doesn't rush, but certainly takes less time washing up than she usually would, removing the last traces of their coupling with a tiny sting of regret. She consoles herself with the thought their tumble was unlikely to be the last time, though. She distantly hears Tony's voice as he orders their meals, bringing a smile to her lips as she runs her fingers through her hair to tame it a little. Her cheeks have a bit of color to them and her eyes almost sparkle; she suddenly realizes she's deeply happy, more so than she's been in ages. Splashing some water on her face, she pats her skin dry and pads out of the bathroom and back into the room proper.

Still naked as the day she was born, she smiles sweetly as she lays eyes on Tony. "Save any for me?" she asks playfully, arching a brow at the glass in his hand.

He's perched on one arm of the sofa when she walks out, unable to keep his eyes from sliding downwards over her lithe body. It simply isn't fair how gorgeous she is, that's the conclusion he's come to. In a dumbstruck moment, he hands her his still half-full glass, though there's still enough for another in the bottle.

"Thank you," she almost purrs in return, accepting the glass with a smile and taking a sip, secretly relishing his intent attention. She's barely swallowed the small mouthful when there's a knock on the door -- their food, most likely. Glancing toward the door and back at Tony, she questions sweetly, "Should I get that?"

His eyes widen and he swallows, pushing himself up off the couch in reaction to her question. "N-no," he insists nervously, gesturing for her to take his place on the couch instead. She likes torturing him far too much, but still he shakes his head just in case she really was serious. "I've got it."

Tony opens the door a crack and has a hushed conversation with the bellboy while trying not to look back at her or call attention to the fact that Pepper Potts is naked in the room behind him. These kind of things were once commonplace in his life and yet now they could bring forth a stammering, flushed face version of himself. Thanking the man profusely, perhaps more than what's warranted for a couple steaks, he manages to get the tray into the room and closes the door without having a heart attack, which he's calling a win honestly.

Edited 2016-11-18 20:24 (UTC)

Pepper drops her head to hide a grin behind her loosely hanging hair as Tony passes her on his way to the door, setting the glass of wine to the coffee table and picking up her own robe that she'd discarded earlier. The stammering way Tony fumbles through the conversation is all too funny to Pepper, through she knows she's being a little mean to him. Inside her own head, she promises to make it up to him later.

She's sitting with her legs crossed at the knees on the couch when he turns back, all lady-like except for how the front of her loosely tied robe gapes, exposing a large amount of freckled cleavage. "You're cute when you blush," she notes with a grin.

He drags the food over to her and sits down beside her, trying to ignore how she's somehow sexier with the robe on. Or at least, with it gaping that way. And predictably, her compliment only brings more redness out in his cheeks. "Hey thanks," he manages before ducking his head and trying to will his face to clear.

Pepper chuckles at his embarrassment, leaning over and kissing his warm cheek fondly. "You're so very welcome," she quips back, still grinning as she pulls back. "Now, let's eat. I'm starving." She pauses only to lean the other way and pick up the wine glass off to the side, bringing it over to share.

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