14264/Sunday, Sunday...

Sunday, Sunday...
Date of Scene:	04 April 2022
Location:	Penthouse - Stark Tower
Synopsis:	Pepper and Tony share a lazy, sleeping in Sunday mornining.
Cast of Characters:	Pepper Potts, Iron Man

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Pepper Potts has posed:
Weekdays were not times to spend in bed. Pepper was usually up and out before him, handling the morning opening even across the ocean sometimes, and with how late he often works, they just don't have time to be tender during the week. Then Saturday there was a big charity run Pepper was helping with, funding, and (of course) running. That means this is the first night they've both spent in a bed together that they don't need to rush out in the morning.

Pepper's still likely up first. Somewhere around 8 am, which is the latest her body ever sleeps, she begins to stir within his arms. Just wearing a little satin nightie, her leg stretching over to lace between his, she rolls over to face him and just gently smiles. She likes watching him at peace. It's such a rarity.

Iron Man has posed:
There are few moments when Tony actually //relaxes//. Sleeping comes hard for him now, and in those hours of restlessness before exhaustion finally overtakes him, he's tossing and turning. Now, in these early morning hours, he's asleep. His face is devoid of those lines, and there is peace. He sleeps on his side, partially, enwrapped in Pepper's warmth and softness. The movement has him stirring, but it's not a wakeful one; he's still out, though there's the danger of him rising out.

A quiet noise escapes the man at the end of a deep breath taken in, and a light shift of position and he's back down. Just for the moment..

After all, it has always been him out of bed first when shared with a woman. Now?

Pepper Potts has posed:
As he stirs, Pepper goes incredibly still. Just for a few heartbeats. She wants him to rest -- he needs it. She knows how long it took him to get there. It's not until she feels him fully settled into bed again and she hears the deep evening out of his breath that she relaxes once more. She leans over, pressing the softest of kisses against his temple at the edge of his hair. She debates breakfast. But, just listening to him breathe is far more pleasant.

The near impossible happens -- without even checking her own, Pepper lets her eyes drift shut again. She'll not entirely fall asleep, but she will lay there half in, half out, for as long as he remains asleep. The smile on her lips is one of pure happiness.

She'll lay there until she feels the softests of stirrings from him again. Then her eyes reopens. She's watching him, content to watch him wake up, looking so sleep tossled and drowsy herself but not moving to fix it or put herself together. He'll see her in all her early morning, freckled and mussed glory.

Iron Man has posed:
It's only a few moments more that sleep envelopes him, keeps him as its own before the push towards wakefulness begins anew. While Tony doesn't wake with a 'fight or flight' mode engaged, when a million different thoughts find that opening, that chink in the armor of sleep, he's done. No amount of lying, eyes closed, can stem that tide.

Doesn't mean he's not still sleepy, however, and as he begins to consciously feel that warmth beside him, he shifts again, his free arm moving to scoop her into it, asleep or not. It's a warmth, and a tenderness that none of Tony's conquests have ever experienced; there are none, now save one, that knows this side of him.

"Hey," is murmured, "I know you're not asleep." His tones are soft in the room, set to a gentle tease. After a moment of lying there under what could be more than relaxed, he continues, "I like this. We're making a habit of this, right? The.." she's absolutely adorable. How lucky is he? And, does he really deserve her? He knows exactly //how// lucky he is, and no. The answer is 'no, he doesn't deserve her'.

He, too, looks messy. Unkempt from the night's embrace. Hair is messy, he needs a shower and a shave before he even begins to look like himself. But her?

He can't stop looking at her. She's.. his. For as long as he doesn't screw up.

"..whole, you waking up in my bed, and I'm here.. and.."

Pepper Potts has posed:
That smile on her lips only grows, even if her eyes are still shut, as she feels him slightly stirring. It means she's opening her gaze to look at him at almost the same time he is doing such, but she doesn't get up to run away or pull back at all. She just happily lays there, content in their laziness, every inch of her warm and relaxed. Unlike crawling into the bed, where she's normally ice cold feet and hands. She's had the whole night to warm against him. And when he pulls her closer? She just makes a small sound of contentment in her chest, tucking in near to his throat.

Her fingertips slowly trail up. Across his chest, against that quiet glow between them. She touches every inch of him just as affectionately, arc reactor included. "At least once a week. I think we can manage Sundays, if you can... I never schedule anything but cooking at the mansion, and that's not until late morning. We... we could make this a habit. It's just want that requires you to come to sleep, hmm?" She teases him very lightly, her voice husky and thick still with contented sleep lingering at its edges.

Iron Man has posed:
"Mmmhmm," the sound comes deep from his chest. "You know I won't say no, when you tell me to come to bed." As opposed to 'go to bed'. The fingers leave a warm trail behind on his chest; and he holds her a little closer. "You're spoiling them, you know." Tony sounds a teasing tone again, "Cap is going to wonder where you are when you invariably show up late."

He presses a kiss at the side of her head, against her hair, his head staying there for a few lingering moments to drink her in. "Can't keep feeding strays or they'll stay."

There's a moment again where he's quiet; he's thinking, considering, and after a few heartbeats, "How 'bout you and I play hookey? We'll fly out to Paris, have a day of it, and come back tonight. Turn off the phones, and pretend we're two really horrible, plain tourists." That travel in their own Lear, have their own limo.. "I know this place.."

Pepper Potts has posed:
"Oh hush. You like it. You like THEM... like *all* of them. They're practically family, and they like YOU for you... And you have all these inside jokes. You want me to keep them around. You like it that I enjoy taking care of them, or you'd have told me to stop months ago. You like it and you like them, Anthony Stark, and I can see right through you so there's no reason to hide from me. It's alright to like people, you know..." Pepper teases him with a quiet smile. "I promise not to tell anyone." She leans up and over, pressing a quite soft kiss to the edge of his lips as her hand remains splayed protectively across that glowing of the energy embedded against his heart.

"Hookey, eh? And who'll feed the team? Sure... easy day for YOU to play hookey. It's a Sunday. No one is expecting you. Really playing hookey would be a Monday morning." She then pauses, actually thinking of that. She goes a little pale, "No, wait. I'd die. The company would crash. I couldn't. I don't think I can play hookey until Saturday...."

Iron Man has posed:
"My definition of 'family' is apparently a whole lot different than yours," Tony returns softly, and he kisses her hair again. When she gives him her particular insight, he smiles as she presses a kiss against the lines of his lips. "You'd better not tell or I'm going to make you sign an NDA and then fire you," is murmured, and he brings his hand up to run along her back, tracing the lines of her spine.

"Yes, hookey. The company will survive one day. You won't die, I promise. The company won't crash." Tony's tones sound a gentle tone, soothing. "If we schedule a hookey, it isn't really the same. I mean, c'mon. Paris?" How many women would say 'no' to a day in Paris with him?

Apparently one.

"Madrid, then?"

Pepper Potts has posed:
The feeling of his hand across her back, strong and calloused from years of work in its own way, is enough to tempt her eyes shut again. She turns her head up, nose brushing against the scruff of his cheek as they press a bit closer together. "Why do you want to go somewhere? Paris or Madrid it... all is the same to me. I want to spend a day. With you. Being at your side. And then some people we are mutually fond of. Just being... together. No work. No showing off. I don't need a fancy flight to Paris to be happy with you Tony, you know that?"

Pepper then reopens her green eyes, pulling back just enough that she can properly look up to him as she realizes why he might be asking this. He might not actually know that, "Tony. You don't have to show off for me. I don't need Paris. I don't want it. I... want you."

Iron Man has posed:
Idle hand doesn't stop it's delicate touch, and Tony takes a deep breath, exhaling it soon after. "I just want to go somewhere. With you. Spend a little time away from New York, a little time away from everyone before.." his next secret mission. ".. I just want this to start right. I want to see the sights, go somewhere before I'm neck deep in work again."

Work can either be SI, or more realistically, the re-design of the Quin and whatever other projects he's working on.

Tony shifts slightly so he can see her face, nose to nose, and he ducks his head so he's got contact. "I don't want this to become something.. usual. I don't want to take you for granted, so a little something every once in a while isn't bad. The company is fine. It's strong, it can deal. Besides, Happy's here. He'll take care of whatever it is that might crop up."

Pepper Potts has posed:
There is somethng more behind this. Something about doing things 'before' something. Pepper doesn't miss it. She stares quietly, levelling her gaze a bit more serious even as they remain curled lazily in bed together. "Everyone before what? This is more than just work... but yes. We can go. If you really want, we can go wherever you like. I'm looking at you, not the place."

Pepper turns her head, pressing a few gentle, long kisses down the side of his throat against his pulse point, "Buuuut, only if you telling me what clock we're beating? What's the next before that is coming which I need to start preparing for?" She whispers huskily against his throat. Almost seductively, even though she's certain being a horrid tease about it all.

Iron Man has posed:
"Great. Paris today. I'll tell the others to order out."

Tony's arm hugs Pepper a little tighter, and brings his other hand around as he rolls onto his back, pulling her up and against him, even closer. "We'll be back tonight, so you can get your beauty sleep for work tomorrow," he teases. A hand that holds her lets go, and he can reach to pull a wisp of hair away from green eyes, even as she drops her face and kisses him. "You know I've got training in resi-- oh.."

Not fair.

"What do you want to know," he murmurs as he moves his hands down to her hips, "I'll tell you anything. Whatever you do.. don't stop."