Proofs

Pepper Potts didn't believe in love ever since she had been 20, and she continued this practice for some years. She had her reasons. What seemed more grotesque to her was saying 'I love you' and promising to do so until death in front of two hundred and fifty people. Especially if that was just a big, fat lie.

If it came to her, she wouldn't say she was in love just to prove anything to anyone or for money.

Which the current marriage to be seemed like based on of.

She looked closely at the couple standing at the altar, and Pepper mused on how could she be so dependent in the past to the man there. How wrong it was for her to feel that he belonged to her and she to him. He was the one to break her already damaged notion of love.

It started when Virginia was a teen, just turned 13, to be exact. On the that same day of her birthday Mr. and Mrs. Potts made her the best present a teenage girl could dream of. They took their sweet, intelligent daughter to the cinema, they funded a big dinner at her favorite restaurant with her 'bestest' friends – Kelly and Tina, they went with her to the music shop and let her choose a cassette she wanted for a present. Mr. and Mrs. Potts did so because their only child, Ginny, deserved it like no one else - and not just because of perfect grades at school. She was just the sweetest, most obedient child they could ever raise.

Little did they know that even thousands of visits at the cinema, dinners at a fav restaurant or cassettes wouldn't fix what they were to break that same day. Neither of these would matter to her if they weren't to do that anymore together.

Pepper still couldn't understand why they spent all the effort on that red-letter day, just to ruin it for her forever with the news that her parents were getting a divorce. Her beautiful, always happy, always sweet-talking-to-father Mom, and her teddy bear, delightful Dad were getting a divorce. No separation, no time for explanations, and no attempts to repair the relationship. Just like that, never to be together again—but act normally. All because Daddy unfortunately met some other woman, which Virginia couldn't understand. That other woman was a grumpy, living skeleton—nothing like Mom. The 'why' question never seemed to be answered, and this kind of frustration is something to never be grown out of, even with her 35th year of life around the corner and, what it seemed like, a piece of own judgment developed.

So her parents splitting up, a marriage that seemed to her to be so idyllic, so perfect until then, damaged her approach to men and love, but it didn't destroy her hopes and dreams for something better happening to her yet.

The future groom she was just looking at, did. At the time Pepper thought everything was lost for her, she wasn't a chançard, born under lucky star. You wouldn't call yourself lucky after finding your fiancé in bed with your friend, in your own dorm room you two shared, just the moment you flunked Logistics exam because you wanted to help a friend but the professor caught you.

Pepper still had all her life ahead, but she lost the hope the moment Greg Jones deprived her of, apparently fake, plans for a house, babies, dogs, cats and whatever else, for them. For things that would fix her evanescent romantic side. But she kept her dignity, she finished uni with high marks, and the day she did so she left the state.

She moved from job to job, finishing at Stark Industries. She wasn't woeful, she wasn't bitter. Virginia Potts just threw herself at work. It made her happy... or at least she was telling herself she was happy.

Then, in one day, she got promoted from the small position at the office to the personal assistant of Tony Stark himself. The only and the genius son of Howard Stark.

Anthony Stark brutally showed her men's true attitude towards women and what they wanted from them. For a time it was okay with her, those various nameless faces scrolling through his life; after all, it wasn't her business. She was contented with being busy with work; that was her love back then. But later on she troubled herself with how much, year after year, she was becoming dependent on him, how she was being attracted to his charms, how she was admiring his handsome face. Even if she didn't believe in any kind of romantic stuff anymore. And then she was in deep despair when he was kidnapped in the middle of the raw country that Afghanistan was.

Fortunately, he came back, somehow changed, thinking he could save the world himself. She didn't know when it had happened, but Tony Stark was trying to, in his own, clumsy and not really subtle way, make her to give this love thing one more chance. To him – the playboy. Some kind of irony, him chasing after her.

A loud echo of a cough trundled through the church, causing Pepper to sober up a bit from her thoughts. She whisked away a thread off her blue bubble dress and stood up from the bench. Obviously she missed the moment 'You may kiss the bride', as everybody was heading for the church doors already. The moment she walked outside her phone begun buzzing inside her purse.

"Hey Colorado! How's the hitch?" a cheerful voice welcomed her, when she answered it.

"Well, my nausea is almost over. I just might be sensitive to pastel pink for the next 10 years," she chuckled into the phone and put it to the other ear, holding it with her left shoulder, while rummaging though her bag.

"Phew, glad I missed that."

"Yeah, thank you for that, by the way. I'll just give into the crazy number of crappy band versions of Madonna, alternated by Duran Duran at best, and try to keep happy at the wedding party of my ex, without a date."

"Well, I'd have U2 at least. And live, too," he replied, ignoring the hint on her frustration.

Pepper smiled. He mentioned her favorite band (one of few she knew, really, with her tin ear) not without a reason.

"Well," Pepper said in mocking voice, "not everybody is a millionaire to have U2 live."

"Okaay... I feel challenged. I'm open to suggestions."

"Maybe later, when I'm done with this parade," Pepper answered in muffled voice, still searching for her present for the newlyweds in her bag.

"Remind me again, what are you doing at wedding of this butthead?"

"Tony," Pepper scolded. "I'm here because, apparently, the guy that cheated on me about fifteen years ago needs to make some kind of reconciliation with me, in the middle of him marrying a rich daughter of a local businessman. He always knew how to set up himself comfortably."

"M'kay...When's the after party?"

"Evening, thank God. I gotta run to the hotel and refresh myself. I'm roasting alive already," Pepper breathed and looked up into the sky, where sun was shining without mercy. The chilly atmosphere inside the church seemed now much more attractive. Hell must look like this—crazy temperatures and ex-boyfriends marrying pretty faces at every corner.

"I'll be there in about an hour and half. Should I catch a ring with a big diamond on my way to make the stupid bastard jealous with green?"

"You're coming to Denver?"

"Already hopping into the suit and calling for the plane and pilots to warm up, I just finished repairing Dummy."

"You know you're blowing your cover up right now? You said you couldn't come here because you were overloaded and this would take at least a week," Pepper growled into the phone, but she was smiling. She turned away from the already-flooding pavement in front of the church that was filled with wedding guests.

"What should matter to you at the moment is that I'm on my way to please you and ease your discomfort. So how about that ring?"

"Just come here if you want, for now. You're perfidious enough to crash someone's wedding with your personality. I didn't warn him."

"I'm your avenger, baby, he should get punishment for what he did to you—not a wedding present."

"Tony, that was over a decade ago."

"Doesn't matter," he answered and hesitated for a moment. "Tell you what, I have a better idea. How about I'll join you at the hotel and we'll refresh together?"

Pepper couldn't suppress a laugh this time. "Only if you come down."

"See you in a five then, gingers," Tony cheered, and disconnected. He and his head rush for any sexual activities – it send him flying, something Pepper had to put up with, thinking it would keep him with her. Not that she was complaining.

Pepper caught the phone from her shoulder with right hand and threw it into the bag she was holding in the left one. She turned back in the direction of church, where the couple, Greg the sucker and naïve Donna (that was what Pepper liked to call them; she couldn't get rid of the nasty, mean habit), was receiving greetings from family and friends.

The queue to the newlyweds was quite long, considering it was over two hundred guests and that Pepper missed the moment when it begun forming, talking over phone to Tony. While she waggled in place, standing in the line, she looked closely at Greg. He didn't look as delighted as you might think a husband that just married 'the love of his life' would look (his exact words, quoted from the telephone conversation he and Pepper shared two months ago when he was inviting her).

Who would think that if she didn't get to know about him cheating on her, she would be the naïve and miserable Virginia herself today? Instead of that, she was an independent woman, who has butterflies in her stomach at the simple thought of meeting her awesome boyfriend in two hours. The last time Pepper saw him was just yesterday, but it seemed like forever ago. It was strange how a couple of years ago, she would do anything to be free of him and his annoying habits. However, all that she was especially looking forward now was the moment he'd bring some funny chaos to the party (she was sure that, simple people that Greg and Donna were, they wouldn't mind at all; they'd even be happy even to have Tony there) and the moment the band would play the worn out 'Take My Breath Away' hit, during which Tony would swing with her funnily and whisper in her ear the mawkish lyrics.

It was nice to belong to someone after all.

#

Tony chuckled, seeing Pepper running neurotically around the hotel room like a headless chicken, in underwear only.

"C'mon, get up, we're late already! I promised him I'd be there at time!" Pepper squealed and approached him. "Buttocks up, please. I think you're sitting on my already crumpled jacket."

"It was a wasted cause anyway," Tony laughed and shifted a bit to pull the poor clothing from underneath himself just to throw it to the ground. "As for me, you can wear just that."

She snorted. "Somehow I knew you would say that. And I suppose you want us to copulate in front of him just to make sure he regrets something he had done to me in the past?"

"Seems fine, let's practice now," he answered and pulled Pepper onto him, tugging her by her arm.

"Tony," Pepper grumbled, but she was answering to his every kiss anyway. Finally she pulled away, after almost giving in. "You wanna stay? Fine. But I have to go."

"Have to or want to?" Tony asked and buried his face in her neck, as he was getting no cooperation from her lips.

"Both. It looks like sort of karma to me that he just married someone who he doesn't love. I want to see the beginning of this unhappy disaster."

"You revenging girl. I thought you reconciled with him," he muttered into her skin.

"I did forgive him. But somewhere deep there's a little bitch inside every one of us," Pepper replied, holding the moan coming due to Tony's activity.

Tony stopped and put his head back on the bed. "Then let's go. I'll help this little bitch to last a bit longer. It's exciting. But I don't want to think what you'd do to me if I did something like what he did."

Pepper rose to her feet and headed for the bathroom. "I wouldn't do anything bitchy; that's the point. You would boil inside, with the feeling of guilt killing you. You better watch yourself," she threatened with higher voice.

"I guess I better should," Tony muttered and shook his head. Then he reached for his boxers, lying on the floor next to the bed, with his right hand and pulled them on reluctantly. Pepper was right, he couldn't just specially fly over here for the wedding party just to miss it. As much as he would love to.

"Hey, Peps, I was thinking..." Tony trailed off for a second and stood in the bathroom doors. "I know you don't like unexpected things so I'm asking in advance. Your birthday is coming..." he started but stopped due to Pepper's shocked expression he could see in the mirror, while she was putting on some earrings. "JARVIS reminded me, I told him to," he explained and shrugged. "I was thinking I wanted to give you a special something this year."

Pepper froze in actions. Normally she didn't like her birthday and was compromising with her friends on a dinner only. Now she knew she would hate the date. It would be one year exactly since Tony was kidnapped and imprisoned for 3 months. "You don't have to; I don't want any celebration, " She answered, and stopped to think she might have a second allergy (after strawberries) coming – an allergy to that exact date.

Tony smiled widely. "I know. But how about we get through it together on some vacations? No CEO stuff, no Ironman, no Dummy breaking my favorite tablet," he ended bitterly.

"There's never no Ironman for you..." Pepper replied back in the same bitter voice, "and never no company for me."

"Okay, true. But I would ask Fury to call me in only mega, master emergency. I think I can persuade him."

"As if," Pepper puffed and walked past Tony to the bedroom.

"C'mon... Wouldn't it be great to have sex without any interruptions in figure of some irrelevant weddings?" Tony asked, following her and sat on the bed.

"I'll think about it, OK?" Pepper said in resignation. "Now, pants on, mister. We're going out."

#

Tony wished for many things. For some peace in the world so no one would get hurt anymore. Or that he could take his girl somewhere without bringing the suit with himself. Or he wished that he had a little piece of his armor with himself at the moment even. A repulsor to be exact. Rolling his eyes for the seventh time in a row for past 10 minutes, Tony decided that a repulsor really would do nicely with Greg Jones and his garrulous rattletrap.

"...if I could place the turbine like this. You get it, right?" Greg asked, his eyes forming into the puppy-dog-type ones. Tony looked at him indulgently, hoping the man hadn't peed his pants yet from excitement. It wouldn't be impossible, knowing how much alcohol the groom had. However, he believed it might had happened already the moment Pepper and him entered the family home of the bride, where the party was talking place.

"Yes, I happen to know a thing or two about electrical engineering," Tony answered sarcastically, pretty sure that Greg wouldn't catch it.

And where the hell had Pepper disappeared to?

Tony pulled on his collar and then gulped some more of his scotch. He was already feeling funny, but he couldn't imagine how his pathetic pal was holding on. For the first time since a long time, someone had beat Tony in drinking, having at least twice as much as he did. He really must had felt 'joyful', that groom.

Well, Greg wasn't the only one that would feel better with fleeing from there. Tony was pretty sure he would sell his soul just to be back at home.

He tried to act cool, as Pepper was delighted with wedding stuff, and was relaxed with meeting Greg after all those years. But the moment he entered the party and saw the bride, Tony knew she strangely reminded him of someone. Maybe he didn't have head for remembering names, but he sure could recognize some of the pretty faces of his past. When Pepper dragged him to the couple to greet them, Tony was sure the bride was one of them. The daughter of some rich local businessman appeared to be the ex-miss Colorado. Who, in turn, Tony happened to get to know.

Thank God, thank God, that she acted like she didn't know him. It was her big, happy wedding after all; the past should be irrelevant. But Tony couldn't imagine a worse scenario than going voluntarily to the wedding of his one-night stand and Pepper's ex. He tried to forget it, and entertained Pepper with dancing and fooling around, seeing as how he couldn't make her leave yet (although he would feel much safer anywhere but there). He couldn't turn back time, couldn't change the lifestyle he used to lead that Pepper was okay with it for many years. It wasn't like she hadn't seen the girls. Tony simply didn't want her to know, fearing it could bring her back to those awful moments. He had worked with such a commitment to bring him away from that dark place.

Tony sighed with relief at the view of Pepper coming down to them, because Greg jumped from the neutral topic that engineering was, and started babbling about getting a tattoo of Donna's face all across left side of his chest. Fascinating.

"Finally, did an UFO kidnap you or what?" Tony asked reproachfully, making sure she understood it wasn't okay to leave him for half an hour with Greg Jones.

"Sorry, I was removing strawberries from my piece of the wedding cake. I think I'll be punished later on with some sugar rush, but it was worth it," Pepper said smiling, blushing like a child caught red handed.

Greg laughed a little too loudly, making a strange grimace. "Oh, Ginny, you and strawberries, I remember that. I remember you also hated being a head of any scientific group at uni and making public speeches. And look at you now, a CEO," Greg mused. "Who woulda thought?"

Tony looked oddly at Pepper.

"Wanna dance?" Pepper shot quickly, pulling Tony onto the dance floor already.

"What was that about?" Tony asked and put his hands on her hips.

"Nothing."

"Nothing? An embarrassing comment of an ex maybe?"

"People change, Tony," Pepper mumbled and sighed, hanging her gaze nowhere in particular. "I'm not that Ginny anymore."

"Pepper, you've been kicking asses in my own company for years now. Who's there to know your real you, if not me?"

"Well, I wasn't the fighting type when I was with Greg, that's all. I hate to be reminded of the past."

"Good then, that I'm into this fearless Pepper Potts. I find your ass kicking sexy," Tony laughed. "Wanna do some ass kicking tonight?" And just like that the uncomfortable topic was magically long gone.

Pepper smiled back at him, feeling thankful. They danced for a minute to some slow song, but the next one was a crazy, aggressive pop style. Tony started rotating Pepper ridiculously in the dance.

"Bali?" he asked, trying to outshout the music.

"What?" Pepper replied in confusion.

"The vacations, you and me. Bali?" He came again.

Pepper laughed and shook her head, but played along. "France?"

"Japan?"

"Brazil?"

"Fiji?"

"Perfect," she agreed.

"Perfect for getting married?" Tony asked. The moment he did he regretted doing so, as Pepper's smile faded away in a fraction of a second.

"Why would you say that?" she questioned in disappointment.

"I just think we could get married in this somewhere. On our own. You don't like Fiji anymore?" Tony tried to sound casually.

"I don't like the idea of getting married."

"Why?"

She remained silent for a while, her mood not matching the happy dance they were just sharing. "It's not us, Tony. Marriage is for people who want to have babies and little houses with red tiles on the roof. And for people who want to have dogs, and plan their retirement in Florida," she half-yelled. "Can we talk about this when we're not surrounded by crowds and thousands of decibels?"

"Then we're going outside," Tony decided, and in moment, lead her out of the large building into the garden, where the deep night had settled in already.

"And what do you wanna marry me for, anyway? We know it wouldn't last long, you'd find someone else soon," Pepper growled bitterly and folded her arms.

"You really believe that?" Tony asked sadly.

"I..." she started but trailed off, deeply in thought. "I think I don't wanna end up like my mom. Bitter and alone until the last days, in love with one person that left you. For me, marriage isn't just a sign on a paper you can easily erase anytime you feel bored."

"Jesus, Pepper, we'll have a prenup, I'll give you anything I have, just to prove you that I really love you and won't have a change of heart."

"I don't want your money," Pepper barked at him.

"Then what? What is that you want?" Tony sighed, feeling frustration coming over him.

"You," she answered simply. "I may be a kicking ass CEO nowadays, Tony, but I feel as romantic as I used to be as a teenager. I want you forever mine, not walking away for some Giselle in two years...or two months. I think that, you and me, we don't need titles."

"Giselle?" Tony questioned in confusion. "Who's Giselle?"

"Giselle is my stepmother, but that was just a stupid example," Pepper muttered and shook her head.

Then Tony put together all the pieces of the story that she had told him in the past. She was this person who was broken because of parents divorce. Tony never knew a lot about situations like these. Of course he was broken in quite different way himself, from his parents dying in that accident. It would be weird for this not to leave a mark in him.

But until very end of their lives, Mr. and Mrs. Stark loved each other as much as in the beginning. There were no mistakes, no fault thrown at each other. No unhappy Tony.

He hadn't said a word to her in answer in over a minute. "I want babies. Okay, maybe plural for me is too much, but a baby would be fine. Anything in the world would be a little finer, if I'd get to do that with you, Peps. I see you're damaged by this Giselle someone. I'm still in once piece because of Maria Stark. Father rose me in his special way; I told you many times about him. But family was something holy to both of them, and for my whole life I've believed this. If I had family, now or in the past, I could never hurt it. So give me the damn chance, Pepper, to fix us both." He finished his monologue and stood in front of her.

"Fiji?" Pepper asked, carefully looking up at him.

"Fiji," Tony replied in relief, and smiled, holding out a hand for her.

#

Tony knew that Pepper knew. He could tell by the grimace in her wrinkled face. Any explanations from his side only plunged him deeper and deeper in his guilt. Maybe because he had a knot in his mouth.

"Aw, babes, c'mooon... don't be like this," Tony slurred slightly. It wasn't that bad, he had been worse. Standing straight on his own and his vision wobbling just a little was a success really. Shame Pepper didn't understand that.

"Don't 'babes' me, you pathetic ass," Pepper growled, catching his hand in hers and heading for the exit. "We're going out."

"But it's only 11 P.M.!" Tony whined.

"Exactly. And you're drunk already."

"I'm not drunk, I'm tipsy. Everyone has his right to get tipsy from time to time."

"Then be tipsy when I'm not around you and your fight with the groom."

"It wasn't a fight! He was showing me some moves. I might get interested in this Aikido."

Pepper turned her head to him. "You bumped his eye."

Tony threw his free hand in the air. "Accidentally! I said I was sorry and he accepted it. It's not like he didn't deserve it or something."

"Brat," Pepper murmured under her nose, as they approached Donna, who was currently saying goodbyes to her grandparents. The same moment Tony sobered up a bit and his face hardened. "Thank you, Donna, for the invitation and great party," Pepper said to her, in Tony's opinion, in a suspiciously overexcited voice.

"You're welcome," Donna stumbled, avoiding eye contact with Tony. "I hope you and Greg are okay."

Pepper smiled in reply.

"All the best, Miss Colorado," Tony blurted out, and followed Pepper, who was tugging on his sleeve desperately.

They reached the pavement in front of the Peterson's mansion. Neither of them spoke a word while waiting for their cab to come. Pepper was waggling in place, playing with her clutch bag. Tony was watching her with blunt eyes, admiring her and how lucky he was to have her. Then he noticed she froze in movements and looked at him oddly.

"What?" Tony asked and looked away.

"How do you know that Donna was a Miss?" Pepper questioned, studying him.

"Um, I know? She- she told me," he replied quickly.

Pepper narrowed her eyes. "You haven't exchanged a word with her apart from greetings."

"Well, maybe then you told me? I don't know, I don't remember." Tony ruffled his hair. "My head hurts."

"It's just the beginning," she sighed, but Tony hadn't managed to lull her vigilance. "I never told you about Donna. I told you a little about Greg, but regarding her I told you only that she owns a chain of shops with health foods."

"Could you stop interviewing me like a crime suspect?" Tony got nervous and hoped the cab that just arrived would save him from the inescapable. "Then maybe Greg told me or someone else. Stop being paranoid, Pepper!" he snapped.

"You might as well admit it already," Pepper snickered and got into the cab. She told the driver their destination and continued, "It's who you were, in the past, am I right?" she asked and sat at the other side of the cab, looking though the window.

"Yes," Tony muttered and got into the cab himself. The moment he sat he rubbed his eyes tiredly. "You don't have to be jealous, 'k?"

"It's not about jealousy," Pepper puffed. "It's about everywhere I go there's a Donna like this one. I can't bear this, and still believe I am and will be special to you. Maybe you just got so used to me that you mistook this for love..." she trailed off.

"I have no more ideas how to prove you this. I could do anything and you still wouldn't have a little bit of trust in me. I saved your life, for Christ's sake, because in moment of danger there was nothing else I would do. Maybe you're right, with this attitude we're wasting time and going nowhere," he said and leaned his jaw against his hand, looking through window on his side.

He expected her to deny his words, apologize or forgive him, but nothing happened. They reached the hotel in complete silence, both of them not looking at each other once even. When they entered its main hall, Pepper stopped there.

"Goodnight, Tony," she muttered, not looking him in the eye, which obviously meant 'get lost and get your own room'. But was it a goodbye? He wasn't sure.

Tony stayed in place, watching her go away, with no idea how to fix this. If he even could.

He went outside to the driveway to awaken his process of thinking, not feeling like going sleep yet. His head was buzzing with the latest events, the words he and Pepper exchanged, the countless ideas of every way for him to apologize to her. He knew she was doubting his every step, and he didn't blame her – she was responsible for him for so long. But he realized loved her too dearly to let her go just like that.

Breathing into the fresh air of the night, Tony got a crazy idea, inspired by Greg's earlier mush talk. For the first time he might have been useful for something.

#

Pepper stood up hunching from the bed at the sound of knocking at the doors. She felt like trash, for the whole night migrating around the bed that amazingly smelled of Tony; she didn't get a moment of sleep. She knew she had dealt with him awfully, but maybe it was for the best. Everything confirmed to her that they weren't made for each other. Maybe she had only made herself believe that, but she wouldn't be mistaken in the end; of that, Pepper was sure.

She looked at the clock, which was saying it was 6 AM in the morning only, so it couldn't be Tony. By any chance he was back in California already, or at least in some hotel room, deeply asleep to deal with the hangover that was to come soon.

"Who's there?" she asked irritated and yawned.

"Pepper, Pepper it's me," the voice at the other side of the doors answered. What the hell, she thought.

"Tony, what on earth are you doing?" she said, leaning against the doors.

"Can we talk, please?"

"I think we've said to each other enough already."

"Let me in then before I bleed out," he mumbled.

"What?" Pepper squeaked and opened the door in the same moment. She found there Tony, standing in the same clothing as last night (no wonder, the rest of his luggage was in her room) apart from no jacket, with incurved sleeve up to his left shoulder, holding something that looked like gauze against his arm.

"Thank you," he grumbled and walked past her in direction for bathroom.

"What's wrong?" she asked, following him there.

"I have to change the bandage, the old one is full of blood. I was sure it would stop bleeding before breakfast, the guy told me it would," Tony mumbled into his arm, looking at it in the mirror and reaching for some toilet paper to wipe a little tickle of blood that got from underneath the big plaster. "But maybe it's my fault, I rubbed it too much."

"What? What happened?" Pepper stood behind him, looking suspiciously at his arm. "You were in a figh-"

"No," Tony interrupted her, and delicately touched the bandage, which led to a loud hiss.

"Let me look at that," Pepper sighed and pushed his hand away. She started to unroll softly the gauze, Tony's eyes following her every move. The moment she got the whole plaster off the arm, a big purple spot appeared in front of her eyes. She blinked a couple of times to recognize a familiar shape emerging through the swollen skin. There was a fancy 'Pepper' littering across Tony's arm. Only one question was on her mind at the moment. "Are you out of your freaking mind?"

"Not at all," Tony replied and smiled at her widely. "Now could you put another gauze to it?"

"How did you get that in the middle of the night?" she squealed, unbelieving.

"Well, you know... you go into a nearest bar and ask anyone. It's simple. There was a guy there that has a tattoo shop at the back of music store. Pretty cool guy," Tony mused but jumped in pain quickly afterward, as Pepper wasn't that delicate with his wound anymore.

"You're an idiot, you know it? You never liked tattoos! And to think, you could get some disease from the needles! Hepatitis or something worse!"

"Relax, I paid him extra twice just to be careful and sure it was safe. He knew what he was doing. I'm bleeding because I jumped a bit the moment I really shouldn't to..."

"Why?" Pepper asked, many more questions swarming inside her skull.

Tony sighed like he was accumulating his powers and replied, "I'm making sure that in case of divorce, at anyone's fault, it would be painful as hell for me. For me to erase this here." He pointed at the tattoo.

Pepper remained silent for a while, staring blankly at him. "That might have been the most stupid theory ever. But also the most romantic thing you said to me, ever."

"Isn't 'I love you' romantic enough?" he asked, confused.

Pepper shook her head and looked closely at the arm. "I like the font," she said and gave him a little smile.

Tony exhaled deeply. "So... we're fine?"

She nodded in response.

"Good," he nodded also, as Pepper sprinkled some of her perfume on the tattoo to make sure it was sterilized. "It's great how quickly we make up."

"Just don't get a new tattoo next time," she begged.

"As long as you promise to the make up sex," Tony chuckled.

Pepper rolled her eyes and finalized her nursing by plastering new gauze on the skin. "I don't know if you're in condition to, just look at your arm," she teased.

"Condition? Always," Tony assured and stole a kiss from her the moment she finished. "Also, you might wanna make some calls about that Fiji case, don't you think?"

"Always," Pepper repeated after him and saluted. She left him alone to refresh himself with some cosmetics, and walked into the bedroom, looking for her cellphone.

The moment Pepper was dialing her secretary to inform her about taking another couple of days of leave, she thought how much Tony was absolutely unbelievable and unpredictable. And suddenly Pepper felt this great relief that she let go of all bad memories of her parents, of Giselle, of silly relationship she had with Greg and the pain she felt back then, when she found out he was cheating on her.

Tony Stark was in love with her for real, and he was proving it to her in the silliest ways. And she was beginning to believe him with her whole heart.

Fin

Thank you for reading. Or anything else that you're doing now. :D