Title: Property

Author: ZionAngel

Rating: PG-13

Length: 1,414 words

Summary: Pepper makes it perfectly clear who can and cannot lay a hand on Tony Stark's ass.

AN: Credit where credit is due: the inspiration for this came from dearest 4persephone, in a comment she made whilst discussing issue #23 of Invincible Iron Man. This, however, is a movieverse fic. She has my many thanks!

AN 2: OMG YAY I FINALLY WROTE SOMETHING!!! :-D

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After the third time he returns from a mission, bruised and too tired to even make it upstairs to his bedroom, she has a twin bed brought down to the shop, and tucks it in the little space between his desk and the wall. He never says anything, but she knows him well enough to know that sleeping on the workshop couch after a mission must be nothing short of torture for his already beaten body. She figures it's the least she can do to comfort him.

When their relationship changes, into something even more intimate, more inexplicable and impossible to define than before, she takes to following him into that tiny bed, once she's tended to his injuries and convinced him to eat something before he sleeps. He says nothing about it, but she knows her warmth and presence are comforting to him. Again, she figures it's the least she can do.

She follows the same routine when he returns late this Saturday evening, after three days away. He's more exhausted than anything else – once the suit is off and she helps him out of the neoprene undersuit, she barely finds a single bruise on him. He doesn't seem to hear her quiet sigh of relief.

She ushers him into the shop bathroom, has him stand under the running shower for thirty seconds and helps him into a clean pair of boxers. She kisses his cheek tenderly as he struggles through a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, already half asleep. He passes out just seconds after his head hits the pillow. Pepper sighs, grateful to have him home and safe and in one piece. And with this, with the ability to finally relax and let her guard down, to stop running through contingency plans and worst-case scenarios in her mind, her own lack of sleep catches up to her. So she tugs off her sweater and jeans, until she's down to her t-shirt and panties, and crawls into the narrow space left for her in the bed. She curls up close to Tony and tucks the blankets in around them as Jarvis shuts off the shop lights. She closes her eyes, and focuses on the gentle whisper of his breathing in the dark until she joins him in sleep.

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Pepper wakes very slowly, drifting to and from sleep, unsure whether the feather-light kisses across her neck and jaw are real or a dream. The warm, gentle hand that soon drifts beneath her shirt to caress her back is a stronger touch, and she follows it until her eyes open to that familiar, soft blue glow. She grins sleepily, breathing him in, and letting him touch and kiss a bit more as she becomes more awake.

But when she tries to stretch just a little, her shoulder protests with a sharp, if mild, pain, and she groans and tries to ease the aching limb out from under herself.

"Ow… Stark, so help me, if you keep rolling over and crushing me in this tiny bed, you're gonna be sleeping in it alone."

"Mmmm…" he hums, low in his chest. The sound stirs something deep within her, despite the circumstances. "But I like having you here after a long mission."

"Tell that to my dislocated shoulder."

"Oh, you big baby. I got my ass kicked the last three days straight and you don't hear me complaining." His lips trail up her neck, and focus on that little sweet spot just behind her ear. He knows that spot makes her weak in the knees, but she's hardly about to let this go until she's had her say.

"You," she murmurs, lying on her back and rubbing her shoulder, "had a human pillow. I mean it, either you get a bed big enough for two or your ass is sleeping on your own, no matter how beat up you are."

He grins, cocky and undeterred, and simply continues his kisses beneath her other ear, slipping his big hand beneath her shirt and slowly trailing it up her belly. "Oh, well, that's fine. I'm sure I can find another lovely lady to take care of me when I get home, patch me up and keep me warm. Maybe I could even find one willing to wear that naughty nurse uniform you won't go near."

"No one lays a hand on your ass but me, Stark."

He pulls up until he can see her face, and grins dangerously. He's tickling her sensitive ribs before she has time to stop him. Despite her soreness, she can't help but giggle and fight back.

"And who exactly made you owner of my ass all of a sudden after insisting for a year you would never go anywhere near it, huh?"

She manages to wrestle his hands away and pin him on his back. She spies a Sharpie marker sitting on the nearby desk, and pins him down long enough to reach across and grab it. He tries to regain control while her attention is elsewhere, but after a brief struggle she just pins him on his stomach instead. "Oh, I'll show you who owns that ass –"

She pulls down his boxers, spanks him not so gently when he tries to sit up, and uncaps the marker with her teeth. She hastily scrawls "Property of V. Potts" across his right cheek in big letters, and tosses the marker down with a self-satisfied "hmph" as Tony bends around to see what she did. "There, now you and every other bimbo who tries to get at your ass knows who it belongs to –"

She giggles helplessly as he tackles her, struggling until he yanks her shirt off over her head. "Oh yeah, that's how you wanna play it?"

She's laughing too hard, too elated and lighthearted to put up any real fight. She sees him grab the Sharpie, feels him pin her down and write something across her left breast, but all the while she's giggling so hard she can't catch her breath. Then he kisses her, hard, and keeps his lips sealed across hers until she calms down. And then he kisses her like he does after sex, when they're spent and exhausted and enamored with each other, a slow, deep, tender kiss, that ends with a slow sweep of his tongue across her lower lip.

His eyes are dilated when he pulls back, and serious. She searches his face for a moment, and sees worry – insecurity written all over it. She frowns and cups his face, caressing his cheek with her thumb. He swallows and casts a fleeting glance down to her chest. So, she looks down and sees "Property of Tony Stark" printed just above her breast. She looks back at him, confused – why does he seem so worried? What's so strange or unexpected about his claiming property of her chest? She stares into his eyes, still caressing his face, waiting for him to say something.

More seconds pass, and his expression shifts to one of genuine fear, a look that makes her heart ache. He looks down to the writing again, and her own eyes follow. And then she realizes – it's not written over her breast.

It's written over her heart.

Her heart is his property.

She gasps softly, and looks back to his eyes. She understands immediately what it all means, that this is his way – the only way he has the courage for – of saying what he hasn't said with words. Understands that all along he's harbored the same fear and insecurity about their relationship that she has. Understands that he's afraid she doesn't feel the same way – and above all, she understands that neither of them has to worry about that ever again.

She brings her other hand to his face, holding him tenderly and staring into his eyes, and just takes a moment to enjoy the feeling as her heart flutters and soars. Then she pulls him down, and pours every last bit of care and adoration and happiness into a long, sweet kiss.

When they find a natural pause, she speaks softly. "I love you, too."

His smile sends her heart soaring all over again. He nips a little kiss to her top lip. "I guess we could get a bigger bed down here." Another kiss, and he pulls in a breath, shaky with happiness. "Anything for you, My Love."

She pulls him back down, happy to simply lose herself in his kiss.