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Title: #58 Present and #77 Found for![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
pepperony100
Rating: PG
Fandom: Iron Man movie-verse
Pairing: Tony/Pepper-ish
Summary: Tony has an idea. Then he rediscovers the pantry.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of this. Nothing!
Chapter One: #58 - Present
“I’ve had an epiphany,” Tony said as he thundered into his living room. Pepper was looking over the latest stock figures and was trying to make sense of the budget the Finance department had sent over. Not really in her current job contract, but she just couldn’t help herself. Once an accountant, always an accountant. Or something.
“An epiphany?” she said. “And how many is that this week?”
“Why do I get the feeling you’re not taking me seriously?” Tony asked. “I don’t just wander around announcing that I’ve had an epiphany. This is serious.”
“Right. Jarvis?” Pepper said.
“Yes Miss Potts?” the AI responded.
“How many epiphanies has Mr Stark had in the last seven days?”
“At my last counting, I believe twelve, Miss Potts,” he replied. “Although he labelled the pouring of orange juice into cereal as an epiphany regarding saving time and still ingesting nutrients without the, and I quote, ‘foul aftertaste of cow liquid’.”
The AI paused. “I am reluctant to classify this statement as an epiphany in the traditional sense. Therefore, I still place the tally at twelve.”
Pepper looked up from her spreadsheet to smirk at Tony. He scowled back.
“I hate you both,” he said. “Really, the amount of abuse I put up with from the pair of you.”
He slumped against the wall and began to tap his fingers against the glow coming from underneath his shirt.
Pepper sighed and decided that it would be better to just end the sulkfest before it really got going. She put down her spreadsheets and braced herself.
“What is your epiphany Tony?” she asked.
Stark visibly perked up.
“It has come to my attention that Stark Industries has been having some problems pulling out of its slump and I have come up with the answer,” he said. “I’m going to market the arc reactor.”
He rocked on his heels a little. “I’m not altogether sure why we didn’t do this before.”
“Well, because you previously made weapons,” Pepper said. “And I was under the impression the arc reactor technology was not ready for public consumption.”
Tony waved his hand. “Of course it was ready for public consumption. We didn’t bother because, as you rightly pointed out, we made weapons. I don’t make weapons anymore. Therefore...”
Pepper furrowed her brow. “Have you talked to anyone else about the feasibility of this?”
“Yep,” he said grinning and rocking.
“Oh no,” she said. “You’ve got that look on your face. What have you done?”
“Such pessimism Miss Potts,” Tony reprimanded her. “Where is that wide-eyed optimism you used to have?”
“I think it got misplaced along with my belief in the Tooth Fairy and Santa Claus,” she replied. “I repeat, what have you done?”
“I called a board meeting,” he said. “Impressed?”
“Frightened, actually,” she told him. “What—“
“Have you ever heard of a town called Pasa Linda?” he asked walking over to the window and without waiting for an answer went on, “No, of course you haven’t. It’s a tiny little ‘burb near Bakersfield. A bit too close to the desert for my personal tastes, but there you go. In the past five years they have built up their previously rather defunct community college and have begun to establish themselves as quite the technical school.”
Tony turned and smirked at the bewildered look on Pepper’s face. He really loved that look.
“I have decided to help them out,” he said.
“By doing what exactly?” Pepper asked slowly. “Are you giving them a grant?”
“Oh, Pepper,” Tony said. “Bigger. Better.”
He grinned and rocked even more on his feet.
“Oh for God’s sake, what is it?” she asked.
“Such impatience Miss Potts,” he admonished. “The ultimate problem with the previous model of the arc reactor is that it was rather large and unwieldy.”
“Tell me about it,” Pepper muttered. She still woke up to the vision of blue light shooting into the sky.
“This new design is much more scaled down and can power a small campus, say a campus the size of Pasa Linda Technical College,” Tony said standing perfectly still. “It is simple, it is reliable, it is clean energy and it will get the board off my back about those stock points.”
Pepper looked at him and stifling a smile simply said, “You’ve already got the Energy Department working on this don’t you?”
“Of course I do, what kind of forward thinker would I be if I didn’t get cracking on this?” Tony answered.
He walked over and stood in front of her.
“This will work Miss Potts,” Tony said to her. “I’m not making weapons anymore. And I’m not going to hide away in my little gilded cage and wait for Stark Industries to miraculously recover without doing something.”
He smiled at her and headed back towards his workshop.
“It’s still my company,” he called over his shoulder. “The meeting’s at 9 am sharp. I expect you to be there on time! None of that dilly-dallying you always do.”
Chapter Two: #77 - Found
“I am Iron Man. I am freaking Iron Man!” he thought. “I have the ability to shoot missiles off my shoulders and I can fly so fast I make the Air Force want to cry, so why am I hiding?”
Tony Stark was currently inside his pantry. A pantry he didn’t actually know existed until about an hour ago. He had ducked in there after he realized that the news was replaying one particular scene of the robbery that he’d disrupted and that Pepper had probably seen it and in a moment of self-preservation he decided to make himself scarce. Actually, he was more concerned about the fact he’d missed his own board meeting that he’d called...
Hence the pantry.
All in all it was a very nice pantry. Well-stocked. And because he was Tony Stark it was rather large. However like most pantries, after the eating cereal out of the box and pondering the existence of three cans of tomato soup (seriously, the stuff only tastes good when you’ve got a head cold), the thrill was gone and Tony was trying to talk himself into leaving the pantry and facing the music.
It wasn’t really working. He decided to try humming.
When Pepper arrived at the Stark mansion she was immediately drawn to the pantry where a fairly respectable rendition of ‘Eye of the Tiger’ was being performed. She stood in front of the closed doors and waited until the end.
When it was finished she said, “The pantry Tony? Really? You have a flying suit at your disposal and the best you can come up with is the pantry?”
She tried the door and was actually surprised that it was locked.
“Well, I thought about flying to Majorca, but Jarvis insisted on returning the suit,” he replied from behind the closed door. “It was apparently leaking some hydraulic fluid and that needed to be fixed. So anything outside of a 50 mile radius was out.”
“I see,” she said. Pepper wondered if Steve Jobs’ assistant had conversations with him through closed pantry doors.
“And I knew that you were going to get all screechy and concerned about what they keep playing on the news and I would like to take this opportunity to say that I wasn’t in any real danger, so just keep that in mind,” Tony continued. “I actually had no idea I even had a pantry so I figured if I didn’t know it was here, what were the odds that you did?”
He heard a very deep breath being taken and released.
“There are so many things wrong with what you’ve just said, I truly don’t know where to begin,” Pepper said.
“Oh, I’m fairly sure you’ll find a good place,” Tony said reassuringly. “I have every faith in you. It’s one of the things that I admire most. Your ability to prioritize.”
“Tony,” she said quietly.
“Yes, Miss Potts?” he said.
“Open the door,” she said.
A click and the door to the pantry opened. A box of Frosted Flakes was thrust into her face. She looked over the box into the face of her boss.
“I hear they’re great,” he offered. “And who am I to argue with a tiger? Animated or not, I’m pretty sure he could kick my ass. Well, maybe not if I’m wearing the suit, but—“
“A bullet ricocheted off your helmet,” she told him.
Tony stopped talking. He sighed heavily.
“The key word there being ricocheted,” he told her. “You know how tough the suit is. Bullets don’t make much of an impact on it. Well, they did once, but I fixed that.”
“You don’t get it,” Pepper said loudly. “It hit your head! I was pulled out of a meeting, that you should have been attending, to watch you be shot in the head on national television by some idiot trying to hijack a car! It hit. Your. Head.”
“I know! I was there!” Tony said. “I heard the ping pretty loudly actually.”
Pepper closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
“Are you counting to ten? Does that actually work? I hear it’s what you’re supposed to do when faced with a frustrating situation.”
She opened her eyes and looked at him.
“It hit your head,” Pepper said softly. “The meeting got rescheduled to tomorrow. If you really want to win the board over with your new generators, you better show up.”
She made a movement to walk away but turned back and grabbed the box of cereal from his hands.
“I have always known where the pantry is,” she told him witheringly. “Who do you think did your shopping for you?”
Pepper headed towards the kitchen. Tony slumped against the pantry doorway and closed his eyes.
“And I’m not screechy!” she called out.
Title: #58 Present and #77 Found for
pepperony100Rating: PG
Fandom: Iron Man movie-verse
Pairing: Tony/Pepper-ish
Summary: Tony has an idea. Then he rediscovers the pantry.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of this. Nothing!
Chapter One: #58 - Present
“I’ve had an epiphany,” Tony said as he thundered into his living room. Pepper was looking over the latest stock figures and was trying to make sense of the budget the Finance department had sent over. Not really in her current job contract, but she just couldn’t help herself. Once an accountant, always an accountant. Or something.
“An epiphany?” she said. “And how many is that this week?”
“Why do I get the feeling you’re not taking me seriously?” Tony asked. “I don’t just wander around announcing that I’ve had an epiphany. This is serious.”
“Right. Jarvis?” Pepper said.
“Yes Miss Potts?” the AI responded.
“How many epiphanies has Mr Stark had in the last seven days?”
“At my last counting, I believe twelve, Miss Potts,” he replied. “Although he labelled the pouring of orange juice into cereal as an epiphany regarding saving time and still ingesting nutrients without the, and I quote, ‘foul aftertaste of cow liquid’.”
The AI paused. “I am reluctant to classify this statement as an epiphany in the traditional sense. Therefore, I still place the tally at twelve.”
Pepper looked up from her spreadsheet to smirk at Tony. He scowled back.
“I hate you both,” he said. “Really, the amount of abuse I put up with from the pair of you.”
He slumped against the wall and began to tap his fingers against the glow coming from underneath his shirt.
Pepper sighed and decided that it would be better to just end the sulkfest before it really got going. She put down her spreadsheets and braced herself.
“What is your epiphany Tony?” she asked.
Stark visibly perked up.
“It has come to my attention that Stark Industries has been having some problems pulling out of its slump and I have come up with the answer,” he said. “I’m going to market the arc reactor.”
He rocked on his heels a little. “I’m not altogether sure why we didn’t do this before.”
“Well, because you previously made weapons,” Pepper said. “And I was under the impression the arc reactor technology was not ready for public consumption.”
Tony waved his hand. “Of course it was ready for public consumption. We didn’t bother because, as you rightly pointed out, we made weapons. I don’t make weapons anymore. Therefore...”
Pepper furrowed her brow. “Have you talked to anyone else about the feasibility of this?”
“Yep,” he said grinning and rocking.
“Oh no,” she said. “You’ve got that look on your face. What have you done?”
“Such pessimism Miss Potts,” Tony reprimanded her. “Where is that wide-eyed optimism you used to have?”
“I think it got misplaced along with my belief in the Tooth Fairy and Santa Claus,” she replied. “I repeat, what have you done?”
“I called a board meeting,” he said. “Impressed?”
“Frightened, actually,” she told him. “What—“
“Have you ever heard of a town called Pasa Linda?” he asked walking over to the window and without waiting for an answer went on, “No, of course you haven’t. It’s a tiny little ‘burb near Bakersfield. A bit too close to the desert for my personal tastes, but there you go. In the past five years they have built up their previously rather defunct community college and have begun to establish themselves as quite the technical school.”
Tony turned and smirked at the bewildered look on Pepper’s face. He really loved that look.
“I have decided to help them out,” he said.
“By doing what exactly?” Pepper asked slowly. “Are you giving them a grant?”
“Oh, Pepper,” Tony said. “Bigger. Better.”
He grinned and rocked even more on his feet.
“Oh for God’s sake, what is it?” she asked.
“Such impatience Miss Potts,” he admonished. “The ultimate problem with the previous model of the arc reactor is that it was rather large and unwieldy.”
“Tell me about it,” Pepper muttered. She still woke up to the vision of blue light shooting into the sky.
“This new design is much more scaled down and can power a small campus, say a campus the size of Pasa Linda Technical College,” Tony said standing perfectly still. “It is simple, it is reliable, it is clean energy and it will get the board off my back about those stock points.”
Pepper looked at him and stifling a smile simply said, “You’ve already got the Energy Department working on this don’t you?”
“Of course I do, what kind of forward thinker would I be if I didn’t get cracking on this?” Tony answered.
He walked over and stood in front of her.
“This will work Miss Potts,” Tony said to her. “I’m not making weapons anymore. And I’m not going to hide away in my little gilded cage and wait for Stark Industries to miraculously recover without doing something.”
He smiled at her and headed back towards his workshop.
“It’s still my company,” he called over his shoulder. “The meeting’s at 9 am sharp. I expect you to be there on time! None of that dilly-dallying you always do.”
Chapter Two: #77 - Found
“I am Iron Man. I am freaking Iron Man!” he thought. “I have the ability to shoot missiles off my shoulders and I can fly so fast I make the Air Force want to cry, so why am I hiding?”
Tony Stark was currently inside his pantry. A pantry he didn’t actually know existed until about an hour ago. He had ducked in there after he realized that the news was replaying one particular scene of the robbery that he’d disrupted and that Pepper had probably seen it and in a moment of self-preservation he decided to make himself scarce. Actually, he was more concerned about the fact he’d missed his own board meeting that he’d called...
Hence the pantry.
All in all it was a very nice pantry. Well-stocked. And because he was Tony Stark it was rather large. However like most pantries, after the eating cereal out of the box and pondering the existence of three cans of tomato soup (seriously, the stuff only tastes good when you’ve got a head cold), the thrill was gone and Tony was trying to talk himself into leaving the pantry and facing the music.
It wasn’t really working. He decided to try humming.
When Pepper arrived at the Stark mansion she was immediately drawn to the pantry where a fairly respectable rendition of ‘Eye of the Tiger’ was being performed. She stood in front of the closed doors and waited until the end.
When it was finished she said, “The pantry Tony? Really? You have a flying suit at your disposal and the best you can come up with is the pantry?”
She tried the door and was actually surprised that it was locked.
“Well, I thought about flying to Majorca, but Jarvis insisted on returning the suit,” he replied from behind the closed door. “It was apparently leaking some hydraulic fluid and that needed to be fixed. So anything outside of a 50 mile radius was out.”
“I see,” she said. Pepper wondered if Steve Jobs’ assistant had conversations with him through closed pantry doors.
“And I knew that you were going to get all screechy and concerned about what they keep playing on the news and I would like to take this opportunity to say that I wasn’t in any real danger, so just keep that in mind,” Tony continued. “I actually had no idea I even had a pantry so I figured if I didn’t know it was here, what were the odds that you did?”
He heard a very deep breath being taken and released.
“There are so many things wrong with what you’ve just said, I truly don’t know where to begin,” Pepper said.
“Oh, I’m fairly sure you’ll find a good place,” Tony said reassuringly. “I have every faith in you. It’s one of the things that I admire most. Your ability to prioritize.”
“Tony,” she said quietly.
“Yes, Miss Potts?” he said.
“Open the door,” she said.
A click and the door to the pantry opened. A box of Frosted Flakes was thrust into her face. She looked over the box into the face of her boss.
“I hear they’re great,” he offered. “And who am I to argue with a tiger? Animated or not, I’m pretty sure he could kick my ass. Well, maybe not if I’m wearing the suit, but—“
“A bullet ricocheted off your helmet,” she told him.
Tony stopped talking. He sighed heavily.
“The key word there being ricocheted,” he told her. “You know how tough the suit is. Bullets don’t make much of an impact on it. Well, they did once, but I fixed that.”
“You don’t get it,” Pepper said loudly. “It hit your head! I was pulled out of a meeting, that you should have been attending, to watch you be shot in the head on national television by some idiot trying to hijack a car! It hit. Your. Head.”
“I know! I was there!” Tony said. “I heard the ping pretty loudly actually.”
Pepper closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
“Are you counting to ten? Does that actually work? I hear it’s what you’re supposed to do when faced with a frustrating situation.”
She opened her eyes and looked at him.
“It hit your head,” Pepper said softly. “The meeting got rescheduled to tomorrow. If you really want to win the board over with your new generators, you better show up.”
She made a movement to walk away but turned back and grabbed the box of cereal from his hands.
“I have always known where the pantry is,” she told him witheringly. “Who do you think did your shopping for you?”
Pepper headed towards the kitchen. Tony slumped against the pantry doorway and closed his eyes.
“And I’m not screechy!” she called out.
