Silk (Avenger Drabble #35) - For Brigid

[Naraya]

As per my conversation with the lovely Brigid - who kindly allowed me to pilfer her drabble and use it for my own entertainment.

This was scrabbled together in a break from my Uni paper. I have every intention of continuing as my imagination knows no bounds (just please keep in mind it was written in the very early hours)

Do enjoy and please let me know what you think xxx

Ps apologies if this needs to be moved to more adult shores - not allowed on there yet unfortunately, which is driving me insane as I have to be mindful of censorship

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Silk

Pepper finished folding the handkerchief and placed it in Tony’s suit jacket pocket. “All ready for the press conference?” She asked, ignoring the way he rolled his eyes.

“Of course I am ready.” They both ignored the undertones of congestion in his voice. “The press loves me.”

He headed out to face the media. The instant flash of cameras triggered an itch in his sinuses, and he had to bite the inside of his lip to keep from sneezing. He made it through the press conference without more than a few mild coughs, and turned to leave the stage, again amid the glare of flashbulbs.

He was just offstage when he could hold back the sneezes no longer. “HehChushh.” He managed to whip the handkerchief out just in time and snap it open with a flick of his wrist. He pressed the cool silk cloth to his chapped nostrils and doubled over. “Hihtchehh, ehchehh, ehhchoo.” Burying his nose in the confines of the cloth, he gave a loud blow and looked up to see Pepper standing there, biting back a giggle.

“Bless you”

“Thaks.” He headed back towards the limo with her. Whoever had given him this cold was so getting fired.

“Do you think it went okay? ”Pepper asked, concern showing. He nodded, ducking into the darkened car.

“Hadled like a boss. Stop worryid” As he squeezed her hand reassuringly, Pepper could feel the heat radiating from his skin. Strangely, he hadn’t spoken a word to her about how he was feeling. Tony had been very vocal about being sick so that alone spoke volumes about his sincerity. Give the press a week and they’ll have moved on to the next big story. With a bit of luck Tony would refrain from any lunatic stunts and let the smoke surrounding Stark Industries clear a little…

48 Hours Earlier

Pepper frowned as Tony stumbled into the kitchen, he looked washed out with dark circles under his eyes and his hair stuck out at wild angles, certainly not his usual flawless self. “I wasn’t aware you were going out last night.” Pepper sighed. Tony fiddled impatiently with the Gaggia coffee machine as it slowly produced a triple shot of espresso. “Sorry mum. Guess I disturbed you?”

“Not at all. It’s 10:39am, you have only just emerged and you look like hell. Who is she and does she need Happy to run her home?” This time Tony did turn to look at her, a smirk on his face. “You are obviously dying to know the sordid details but can’t bring yourself to ask. Was I with anybody? The answer is no. But I am touched at your jealousy. Since that thing with the Harley…”

“… Tony. We’ve talked about this!”

“Yeah well, I was bored and needed a buzz. I took the Hot Rod out for a drift.”

“You needed a buzz? At what time? Midnight? Tony, you are in possession of a multimillion dollar flying suit of armour? How can you possibly need a bigger adrenaline rush than that?”

“It wasn’t midnight, it was around 11, you go to bed way too early, it’s not natural… Multimillion…? Is that how much you value me? The suit and I are one, priceless surely?” He downed his coffee with an uncomfortable grimace. “And as for the ‘looking like hell thing’, Pep, c’mon, seriously? I’m wounded that you’d think that.” He thrust his empty coffee cup at her, and with a wink, strolled from

the room.

He jogged down the stairs to his workshop, clicking his fingers to activate a playlist at earsplitting volume. “Wakey wakey, rise and shine, you’ve had your sleep, I’ve had mine” He practically sang to his AI as various screens and monitors booted up before him. Throwing himself down into his chair, he ran his hand down his face and throat, feeling for his glands. He felt as though he had swallowed a cheese grater, and his nose felt decidedly stuffy.

“Houston, we have a problem.” He muttered as the implications registered, not relishing the inevitable onslaught. “Early diagnostics have not located any significant error codes.” Misunderstanding, JARVIS responded. “JARVIS! Quit bitchin semantics. Locate me the ghost file on my personal server; I feel a rebuild coming on.” Keeping busy would keep his mind off it, besides like he told Pep, he was bored and needed a new buzz.

An hour and a half later and a steady sniffle had well and truly set in. Tony was feeling increasingly miserable, and seriously considering going back to bed when Pepper appeared in the workshop, complete with a Starbucks and a cheeseburger. “You are by dew best fred.” He joked stuffily, wiping his hands on his jeans. “Care package.” She jibed, raising one finely sculpted eyebrow at his congested voice. He ignored her, ripping into the cheeseburger as though he was on the verge of starvation. “So…?” She asked as she perched herself on the edge of his work bench, smooth, silky legs crossed at the ankle, skirt hitched just a little.

“So…” Picking up on the signals he put down his coffee and made his way over to her. He was so close she could feel his breath on her cheek, his hands massaging small circles on the tops of her arms. “Thaks for ludch.” He said huskily, as his breath caught, he briefly felt the tingle in his nose, giving him just enough notice to turn sharply over his left shoulder.

“HuhhISSchhoo” The painful sounding sneeze ripped at his throat, but for agonising seconds a second was stuck. Gasping with irritation, he ground his nose into his shoulder, in an attempt to relieve it but to no avail. He could feel Pepper had tensed at the side of him but he was temporarily unable to physically speak to her.

“Tony?” She asked, concern obvious in her voice “Are you okay?”

“Huhiscch… Hehh… Hehh.. Huhhisschhoo! Urgh! Yeah. Sorry, really dot awesobe!”

He held his wrist to his nose as it began to stream steadily. Struggling to locate tissue, Pepper handed him a rag from the workbench. “Tony, are you coming down with something? I hope you’re not starting with a cold.” He turned his back to her to blow his nose, “It’s dothing. I’m fide.” He could tell as he spoke he sounded anything but. He heard her sigh, unconvinced. Nothing got past her, damn her female intuition. He turned back to face her, flashing his most winning smile. “Dow. Bs Potts. What cad I do for you?”

“Oh no, don’t you Miss Potts me. How long have you felt like this?” He shrugged, feigning nonchalance; all the while his mutinous sinus was burning with the desire to sneeze further.

“Pep, I’b… I’b…” he held up his hand in a gesture that told her to bear with him as a further powerful sneeze literally ripped through him. “HuhhiSSCHH!.. Arghh.” He gasped at the pain in his throat, which instantly made him cough from deep inside his chest. He sounded terrible, even to himself. Where the hell had this come from, he’d been fine earlier… He felt Pepper’s cold, soft hand clamp his forehead, soothing against his burning skin. “You, Mister, are hot.”

“You kdow it.” He managed to joke, stroking the back of his hand down her face. He noticed her tense as he touch her. For a moment she seemed to struggle to speak, fumbling with her hands as though nervous of him. “Pep? What’s wrodg? Are you okay?” Then she snapped back into her normal self, cool, collected and in control of the situation. “Tony, you need to come upstairs now. It isn’t very warm down here and you need to rest.” Puzzled by her behaviour, he allowed himself to be led up the stairs to the relatively warmer living area.

Bruce and Clint were in the kitchen unwrapping Subways as Tony walked in. “Hey it’s the creature from the black lagoon, where’s Ironman when you need him?” Clint joked, taking one look at Tony’s pale face and pink rimmed eyes. Bruce, peering over the top of his glasses, quietly took in Tony’s condition, not reacting to Clint’s remark. “Tony’s feeling a bit poorly, aren’t you Tony?” Pepper spoke as though to a child, walking him to the leather couch at the back of the room. “I’m fide. I’m fide…. Er.. not fide.” He pitched forward as the room began to spin.

“Oh-kay… Let’s just sit you down.” Bruce quickly made his way over to Tony lowering him on to the couch. “Let’s take a little look at you shall we?” He started to roll up his sleeves. Tony leaned away from him. “Yeah, let’s dot. Have you all gode bad? It’s just a bit of a cold, it’s dothing to worry abou… HuhhiSSCCHHOO! God Dab! It’s fide, I’b good.”

Still at the table, not the slightest bit concerned, Clint snorted in amusement as he continued to devour his lunch. “Yeah I can see that.” He deadpanned, gulping down a large diet coke. “Hey if you are too sick to do the film premier thing tomorrow, me and Tash will stand in for you. It wouldn’t be ideal but we’d manage, you know to help you out.” Pepper threw him a filthy look “We’ll bare that in mind, thank you.”

“Er Hello? Still alive, codscious ad able to speak for byself here! Do Legolas, bad call. It’s dever godda happed Those tickets? Rockidg horse shit, ad they’ve ebbossed by dabe id tacky gold lettering right across the biddle.”

“One thing I’ve noticed where there’s shit there’s Tony Stark, Guaranteed.” Clint threw his balled up napkin, bouncing it off Tony’s forehead. Tony was enraged “Yeah? Eved od ad off day, Legolas! You ad be outside, how about it?” Bruce, holding Tony down, turned to glare at Clint. “Haven’t you some business to take care of Clint, business on say, Staten Island or somewhere?” Clint scraped the chair back aggressively and stalked out of the room, muttering for Tony to lighten the hell up.

Satisfied, Bruce turned back to Tony, all bravado had left him as he slouched back, looking pitiful. “I think we need to get you into bed.” Turning to Pepper, “Can you help me get him back to his room?”

“Ahh Brucey, I did’t kdow you cared.” Tony joked weakly. Now it was common knowledge, he may as well reap the rewards, a little bit of pampering and TLC never did anyone any harm. He allowed Pepper and Bruce to take him to his room, feeling slightly awkward for a moment as they’d passed Captain, but he’d just made concerned noises and told him to feel better soon.

In no time at all he was sat on his bed pulling off his converse, “Bruce thinks you may have the flu, as it came on so quickly.” Pepper fussed, producing Nyquil and Kleenex. The cool crisp sensation of the satin of his bed sheets immediately made him shiver and sneeze simultaneously. “My poor, poor, baby.” Pepper purred, lying on the other side of the bed. This shift in attitudes threw Tony for a moment. “Pep? Are you okay?” He asked, cupping a nest of tissues in his hands in anticipation of yet another brewing sneeze.

“Huhh… Huhh…ISSCCH! God dab! Are you kiddig be with this?” He sneezed wetly into the tissues.

He felt Pepper go very still, turning to look at her, he was unable to read the signals she was giving off. She was staring intently at him, with what could only be described as hunger in her eyes. As he frowned, confused, yet more desperate sneezes were triggered, every nerve in his face screaming with oversensitivity. “HuhhISSCCH…ISSCHH!...Huhh… Huhh.. IssCCHHOOOO! HuhhISSCHHOOO! Urgh” He groaned. Pepper swung her leg over his, running a long silver nail over the impression of the arkreactor through his shirt. “Ssssshh” she soothed as he squirmed beneath her hip. “Just relax”

“Er… Pep? Is everythidg…” She leaned over and kissed him hard on the lips to silence him, pushing him deep into the pillows, after a long passionate, impulsive moment, she allowed him to surface for air. He was looking into her eyes intently. “Wow! Where did that cobe frob?” He asked swallowing hard. “What? This?” She kissed him harder still, this time he kissed her back, tongues reaching, probing, frantically. Reaching over, he slid her on top him, hips raised off the bed to grate against hers. After a time he broke away for breath. “You wadt to do this?” He gasped, breathless both due to his congestion and desire. She pulled her top over her head, throwing it cross the room, in answer. Tony, arched his eyebrows in amusement, then, in one fluid movement, flipped them over so he was on top of her…

……..

Pepper woke with at start, disorientated. She was naked in Tony’s bed. The room was dark apart from the light from the en suite spilling across the bottom of the bed. The sound that had disturbed her echoed from the tiled room as Tony, blowing his nose, tried desperately to alleviate some of the congestion. He turned to see Pepper propped up on an elbow, watching him. “Hey. Did I disturb you? Sorry.” She blinked at the silhouette emerging from the bright yellow light. “What time is it?”

“Six. I thidk. You’ve beed here all day ad all dight. Hey.. hey dodt go, what are you doid?” Alarmed Pepper had scrambled from the bed. “Tony. I.. I.. I have about a million and one thing’s to do, I had no I idea, I don’t know what happened.”

“Oh I do… We happed.”

[aggedy_ann]

I...I. Dies. I love it. The interactions are just so perfect. The whole thing is wonderful. Thank you do much.

[Naraya]

The pleasure was all mine. You are a hard act to follow - so coming from you, that is praise indeed. Thank you.

[Always-a-Ginger]

wow. Very well done.

looking forward to more.