Ironic-Discordia

There had been a time once when James Rhodes knew better than to show up unannounced at Tony Stark's home, especially before lunch on a weekend. Just about anyone who had ever worked with or known Tony was aware of the inherent risk of arriving too early, none more than Pepper Potts who had the unenviable position of not being able to show up any later. During any given week, it fell to Pepper to chase any remaining 'guests' from the premises before the workday started. On the weekends, however, she had a habit of arriving later, a fact that Rhodes confirmed by the absence of her car. Admittedly, Tony had always been in the habit of heading d

Tony Stark still didn't care for these things; charity benefits were generally full of people with no real vision, no real substance, and nosy reporters. Having managed to keep the relationship with his personal assitant out of the public eye- he cringed inwardly at how that would look in the headlines- Tony was beginning to grow concerned about how the inevitable revelation would be made. He smoothed his tie and sidled up to the bar. Scotch in hand, he was ready to pretend to be interested in the other party goers. It was always the same: group of people interested in the Iron Man suit, handful of potential clients generally interested in w

Tony watched intently as Pepper moved about his kitchen, pulling vegetables out of the refrigerator and setting them aside. She was decidedly not panicking, though her movements and glances betrayed a certain nervousness. Tony couldn't blame her; he himself felt more than a little nervous. This was new territory for both of them. Not the cooking, obviously. That was something of a recent tradition between them but still familiar enough to be comfortable. It gave them something to do with their hands, a chance to talk seriously without outside interruptions. It was just what Tony needed, because otherwise he wouldn't be able to think of anythi

Months. Tony Stark couldn't even begin to remember the last time he'd been interested in a woman for that long, let alone the last time he'd had to make an effort to gain one's attentions. It was not the natural order of things. He had grown accustomed to getting what he wanted with good looks, charm, and power; sincerity and subtlety were practically foreign concepts. Tony had wracked his considerable intellect for solutions to his problem but kept falling short. Everything had a solution, he told himself; the problem was figuring out this one before it drove him crazy. And the past few months had been doing just that. The ill-defined bound

Time passed with maddening slowness. Never before had Pepper felt so anxious for the day to end. She didn't even know why today was so interminable; truth be told, nothing had changed for weeks. Well, nothing and everything, she amended with a glance at her employer. Unsurprisingly, Tony hadn't even opened the file in his lap. Rather, he was staring contemplatively out the windows, oblivious to everything except the burning colors of the sunset. He might even be oblivious to that. Not that Pepper was faring much better. In the past hour, she had reread the same page more times than she could count, seemingly incapable of retaining a word of

Had Pepper been ensconced in her usual position on the living room sofa, she might have remarked on her employer's resemblance to a bear emerging at long last from its hibernation. Hair dishevelled, clothes smeared with grease, and sporting several days of stubble, Tony Stark paused and looked around his living room. His fit of inspired genius had passed, leaving him unkempt, vaguely hungry, and in need of human interaction. So where, he wondered, was Pepper? For that matter, just when had it gotten to be dusk, and what day was it? Tony frowned at the briefcase perched on his coffee table, as if willing it to tell him where its owner was. Whe

Pepper frowned at her watch and the soft patter of rain against the bay windows. Tony had gone jogging some twenty minutes ago. The rain had started almost fifteen minutes ago, which begged the question of where he was. Leave it to Tony Stark to decide that jogging in the rain was a bright idea. She sighed; she'd give it another ten minutes before she asked Happy to take the car and make sure Tony was ok. The sound of the front door several minutes later barely distracted her from her work, although the squeak of wet sneakers on the tile was enough to make her look up. Tony sauntered into the room as if he weren't completely drenched, stroll

"Oh, honestly!" With an exasperated sigh, Pepper tossed her paperwork onto the coffee table. "Is all that noise really necessary?" Tony smiled in amusement, glass halfway to his lips as he stood staring out the window. "It's a holiday, Potts. People tend to celebrate these sorts of thing. Most people even took the day off." Pepper scowled at the papers he'd abandoned some time before. "You still need to look over that invoice the Air Force sent," she intoned seriously. "They're not happy about the collateral damage from your last mission." She came around the sofa to stare him down, levelling a finger at his chest. "And superheroes don't ge

Tony landed with a weary sigh; while the armor he wore protected him from the worst of what most armies could throw at him, his body still ached. As the armor was stripped away and he slipped out of the body suit, he couldn't help but flinch at the livid purple bruises blossoming along his ribs. Tentative probing seemed to indicate that he'd merely bruised the skin; nothing felt broken or punctured. Tony frowned at the shop, wondering when Pepper had finally given up and left. It wasn't like her to leave before she knew he was safe, but he generally managed to schedule his missions so he wasn't arriving home at three in the morning. He couldn