Avengers Stories //Oneshots//

Just Rest

This is a Pepperony fanfiction. :) I hope you all enjoy.

The week before Christmas was always the most hectic time for Stark Industries. Before the employees were off work until January third, they had to get everything ready. Contracts had to be checked, meetings had to be done, paperwork had to be filled out, negotiations had to be settled - it was heck for everyone. Especially Pepper Potts. She loved her job, she really did, but there were times where it all seemed too much. Times where the paperwork mound was too high and her pens kept running out of ink.

It was that time of the year again. The week had been one of the worst they had in a while due to some people's stubbornness and other hiccups that she didn't even want to think about right then. It was now Friday and everyone was busy in their offices, trying to get everything done so they might could find a little enjoyment in tomorrow instead of dread and the feeling of wanting to throw your head against the wall a couple of times as you filled out paperwork on a Saturday. It was eight o' clock - everyone worked late the week before the break - and Pepper had been in the office since four that morning.

She took a moment to stop in her reading to run a hand down her face, pushing away some locks of strawberry blonde hair while she was at it. Her hair had long since broken out of its immaculate bun, falling around her shoulders in a disorderly fashion, and her blue blouse was now wrinkled from the amount of time she had wrung her hands in it. She had traded in her buisness skirt for leggings yesterday after the clothing got too constricting. Her black, designer heels were discarded under her desk, her ankles hurting whenever she happened to glance at them.

Rubbing at her temples once more, Pepper fought the urge to chuck her pen across the room and sleep for a week. This had to have been the worse week of her life - maybe that was an exaggeration, but still - and she was ready to throw in the towel. But she couldn't. She had people depending on her and she would not be Virginia Potts if she let them down.

Just as she went to try and read the document in front of her for the fifth time (the words kept blurring together), there was a knock on her door. She barely kept herself from throwing her head back and groaning. "Come in," she called with forced pleasantry.

Her heart lifted a bit when a familiar person stepped through the door. His goatee was slightly overgrown, his hair not jelled and sticking up in an unruly manner, and his black suit was wrinkled. The work load had been on them all, including Tony Stark. He had never been exempt from the horridness of this week - CEO or not. Despite what people said, he actually did do his job when he was CEO. He needed a bit of haggling, but he did it. He was just better suited to be R&D director while Pepper took care of the paperwork.

"Hey, Pep. Are you busy?" He asked as he walked over, a tired smile on his face. She knew his schedule, meaning she knew of the meeting he just had to attend with the Board of Directors. They were a stubborn bunch of old men and meetings with them near always ran over. The only time Tony had ever gotten out early was when he was called for a mission, and even then it resumed afterward.

"No, I'm not. I have all the free time in the world," she said sarcastically, then winced, realizing how rude that must have sounded. The woman sighed. "Sorry, Tony... it's just.... ugh."

"It's okay. I know what you mean," he said, grabbing the chair on the other side of her desk and dragging it over toward her. Tony sat down beside her, brown eyes looking over the documents. "This is a nightmare," he sighed as he tugged off his suit jacket, laying it down across the chair, and kicked off his shoes, leaving him in his slacks, white t-shirt, and tie. He tugged off the already loose tie and tossed it across the office. Pepper found that she did not care as much as she usually would about where it landed.