From Ashes: It's Just Temporary

A/N: 2019

Okay, so I'll write it here, these stories are incomplete and (at the moment) don't see myself ever completing them. I figured it'd be best to at least let them see the light of the day, even if they have no ending. This one is the first chapter out of six (last is a partial). I'll do my best to clearly label them for which stories are connected to other chapters. I've also kept the original authors notes written so I'll label current ones with the year.

P.S: Please note that these were originally written in 2015 and aren't current with the MCU timeline...

. . . . .

I've never really made a fanfiction with romance in it so I intend to try it out so bare with me here, and BTW Tony and Pepper don't like/end up with each other so this story is a Tony/oc because I had to try it out. Oh and Raven Heartz ( ) original idea for this sort of story inspired me, so go check her out and all her amazing stories!

Stepping out of a cab in New York City I am suddenly, horrifically aware of the loud grumbling of traffic, clicking of heels and thundering footsteps, and don't even get me started on all the loud, annoying voices that rattle into my eardrum and irritate my brain. There's only one reason I'm here in one of the busiest cities in the United States.

Pepper Potts, CEO of Stark Industries asked me to fill in as... ugh! Tony Stark, the genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist PA temporarily while she searches for a permanent replacement. Last time she and I spoke on the phone she told me the most difficult part of picking a replacement is all reliant on the womanizer himself.

Apparently Stark's picky because he refuses to have a male PA so that cuts out at least half of the possible candidates but then she has to find a professional who won't be swept away but him charm, charisma, and continual flirtatious nature because as soon as he beds them, they're out the front door.

Women love to say they've had a chance to be in the bed of Tony Stark when they're actually the idiots as they don't realize that there is nothing they actual gain from bragging. After, they're degraded and bashed all over the web by the tabloids and other gossiping news sites like TMZ or in magazines.

Sighing at the large, expensive tower looming over me, I know it's now or later so I step forward, pushing through the doors and am greeting by a Happy Hogan, a larger man in a black suit with a red tie. While I've never met him in personally, Pepper must have informed him of my arrival today as he already had a badge ready for me.

Said something about everyone in the building having to wear one for security reasons. Rather than argue about having to pin a badge to my black and purple floral top, I just pin it like I'm told to and head up in the elevator. My foot taps against the floor of the small rectangular room as it slowly ascends upwards.

As soon as the elevator pings, I step out into a living area and instantly regret agreeing to temporarily manage Tony Stark's life . A woman with unnatural, cherry colored hair stands stark naked, thankfully she has a light blue bed sheet wrapped around her naked body. Her hair's disheveled, most likely due to being pounded into his mattress.

Suddenly, her azure colored eyes land on me. Her arms tighten around the sheet up by her chest and she suddenly looks sickly, pale white like a ghost. "O-oh my God, I'm so, so sorry. I-I had no idea that h-he had a girlfriend, he-he never said any—"

"I am not his girlfriend, nor would I ever be," I quip, straightening a bit when the loud clicking of high heels near. Pepper rounds the corner with clothes in a dry-cleaner bag. Her strawberry blonde hair falls to her shoulders, straight and completely neat. Black heels stopping an inch from Cherry.

Pepper flashes a nice but professional smile, one she's perfected over the years. "I have your clothes here; they've been dry cleaned and pressed. And there's a there's a car outside waiting to take you wherever you'd like to go."

Cherry reaches out, takes her clothes and scurries away to a bathroom nearby, probably to change into normal attire. Not even a minute later she hurries out and mumbles a low, embarrassed goodbye and proceeds to exits the premises. As soon as she's gone I give a groan of disgust and Pepper gives a slight chuckle.

"Once you've worked for Tony Stark as long as I have, you learn how to get rid of his late night escapades, in fact that was the easiest it's ever been to dismissed them," Pepper comments. "Follow me and I can discuss what exactly you'll be doing and a few tricks of the trade that I've learned over the years."

She walks into the living area where the naked woman once was and takes a seat at a kitchen table in a connected kitchen section. I sit down carefully in the seat across from Pepper. She and I have been friends for a long time now but I still have the urge to make a good impression even though I really don't want to do this.

"Pep, are you sure this is a good idea? I mean, unlike you, I'm quick-tempered and I don't even like to babysit my sisters kids so how am I supposed to babysit a fully grown adult man?" I whine, letting my shoulders sag.

She gives me a pointed look. "I know but it's only temporary and I don't have to worry about finding a replace for my temporary replacement because you utterly loathe him and would never sleep with him."

"Yeah, I hate him so why do I have to spend all this time with him when you know we're not going to get along. I could be home right now finishing my latest book."

"Alex, you could have brought your laptop here," Pepper says, light-heartily rolling her eyes.

Running my hands through my hair I finally cave in. "Fine, but this is temporary Pepper, I won't get roped into spending my life kicking out the girls he beds."

"Never, besides, I don't want you here any longer than I have to anyways because Tony Stark always has a way of ruining any of my friendships with other women by sleeping with them and never calling them again or just by making them hate him and thus they end up hating me."

"He'd have to do hell of a lot worse than that to get me to stop talking to you, besides, I'll never be another girl in his bed," I say, shuttering at the thought. I'd have to be drugged or something to ever sleep with Tony Stark besides the obvious of my hatred of him, I don't plan on risking the chance of catching any STD's.

And then there's that one thing from before, Pepper knows all about it. It was something, multiple somethings, that happened in my past that make me so defensive. I'm always on guard to keep myself from getting hurt and that's what kept me alive all these years and with that defense mechanism, I'll survive this hell.

"Now I'll do a brief rundown of all the things you'll need to do and send a daily schedule of stuff you'll have to get Tony to do," Pepper starts talking about important people to know, a carefully printed out schedule of times of when to leave in the morning, where he needs to be and what time he'll have to leave to get there.

Thinking about it now, this is more difficult than babysitting a child, at least they don't have anything important to do...