Title: The Quiet Ones

Author: Proton Star

Fandom: Iron Man

Characters: Pepper Potts/Phil Coulson, Tony Stark

Ratings/Warnings/Etc: PG het fic, originally begun when Iron Man 1 came out, so it's been thoroughly jossed. One tiny spoiler for Iron Man 2, which I guessed from the first film and having watched the cartoon as a kid.

Summary: She knows she shouldn't compare them, but sometimes it's difficult not to.

One of the things Pepper liked about Phil was that he was normal, and was still part of the ordinary and everyday despite everything that he was involved with. She was used to Tony, and the separate category he lived in, with people watching everything he did, so it was nice to have a break from that, as well as there being someone there for her where their every conversation didn't turn into a sparring match.

He was sensible too; something that Tony decided was actually a strike against Phil when he first found out about them, which was the longest two weeks of Pepper's life that didn't involve kidnapping or explosions. It felt good to be in a relationship with someone she didn't have to baby, someone who could organise his own life, and who would be prompt and on time.

This week, for instance, Tony had been late to every meeting he'd had her set up for him, and he only had being Iron Man as an excuse on one of those days. Phil meanwhile had finished tidying up after a meteor strike in time for dinner tonight.

That was another thing, it wasn't that Phil didn't try to impress her, it was a seriously nice restaurant that they'd eaten in, but he accepted that Pepper was financially independent so she didn't need expensive gifts, and understood that lavish presents weren't a replacement for acting like a decent human being.

Phil had taken her to the US Forces boxing championships, she'd been surprised that he had an interest in either of those things. He explained that one of the finalists in the light heavyweight category served in the same unit that he'd been in. It was the first time that Phil had ever mentioned that he'd been in the army. There's so much Phil didn't say, not like he was trying to convey an air of mystery or any bullshit like that, but just because he was a private person.

Which, again, she liked. She liked that it took time to get to know Phil and that she didn't have to share him with everyone else on the planet.

She knew Tony thought that she was only dating Phil in some strange reaction to their disastrous attempt at a relationship, but she wasn't. Tony was important to her: her life would forever be defined by her work for Stark Industries and she cared about Tony, always would, but she loved Phil too. She loved the way that he didn't feel threatened by her history with Tony or her present and future with Tony. She'd expected a few rows about it, it had happened often enough with pre-even-dating-Tony boyfriends, but it had never happened, nor had Phil tried to out-anything Tony, he'd just been himself and that was refreshing.

She knows Tony tries to tempt Phil into indiscretions, macho bullshit that several of her exes have fallen for, but she also knows that Phil doesn't fall for it. Not because Phil tells her, but because Tony does, annoyed but happy that Phil doesn't rise to the bait. The nearest Phil gets to engaging in Tony's stupidity is that he sometimes gets too involved with the SHIELD's missions on the ground, and comes home battered and bruised. She gives Phil hell for it, every time. Which he deserves, most of the time. As she pointed out on the worst occasion, when a banged-up Iron Man and War Machine carried a severely tattered and dusty Phil home with them, while the morons were all whooping and high-fiving each other, the other two idiots have metal armour, you re only wearing a suit. Phil at least had the decency to look abashed at that point. Pepper would also like it known that she wouldn't have shouted quite so much, or so publicly, if there hadn't been a bomb on the SHIELD jet Phil had been on and there hadn't been absolute radio silence for six hours after the explosion. The volume was mostly due to relief.

Because at some point, going home to Phil, Phil and his quiet, Phil who doesn't mind when she doesn't want to talk about it, and listens when she does, Phil who will talk about what s bothering him even if there s nothing either of them can do to fix it, has become important to her.