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Pepper Potts in Rescue 2020

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“Party tricks are not lame, Pepper.” Wanda laughed, watching as the flame danced around before disappearing and shaping her own magic into a butterfly that fluttered about her head before also fading out. “Honestly, I have more fun with things like that than with the earth shaking, probability altering spells.” She felt much more relaxed and connected to her gifts in small forms like that. More like she was in control and not just a vessel for something that acted on its own. She had to stop herself from thinking ‘that’s easy for you to say’. Pepper didn’t mean any harm and clearly she had more to grapple with than most people really knew, but she still had one advantage that Wanda did not: powers or no powers, she was still human. That didn’t change much, no matter what else people held against her. Wanda, however, was a mutant. There was a little further to go when a lot of people didn’t even really see you as being a human to begin with. “Too bad we don’t get paid for any form of publicity. We’d all be rich then.” Not that Wanda was even sure that was something she would want. Money was never really something that was high on her list of desires, outside of just having enough of it to not be on the streets again. “You seem good at not letting it get to you too much though.”

 “Maybe mine is,” It was discounting the other parts of extremis that she had to consciously try to not use. Namely the strength.  It made sense though. Little things like the convince it brought was a novelty and harmless fun. Genuinely she was always curious about the young woman. “I imagine there is a lot more use with yours than mine and the gift of eternal hot water.”  Pepper was well aware of the changing ways of society. It was a bumpy road ahead of society. Mutants at their core were and are still humans with their DNA altered and a genuine sign that humans were evolving. Even biologically, she wasn’t 100% human these days. At least Bruce and Tony attempted to feebly explain. 

Politically, she knew it was a slippery battle. People were always vying to push and shove for the reigns of power. There were always battles for those seats and tragically, she was a little at fault for funding some things simply to push through her own corporate agenda. It would be a delicate balance to make sure that some pushy mutant didn’t try to enslave the human race simply because they are a bloated ass who believed they, in the selfish name of all mutants, deserved to rule over all of humanity. Then on the converse side some idiot blowhard in congress who felt threatened by exactly one mutant and then wants to suppress everyone. 

“Oh I mean that can be easily sorted out,” She shrugged. Maybe it was the business woman in her that quickly sorted out the licenses and trademarks over Iron-Man when Tony first came out of the woodwork and quietly ensured that the money was being put towards charitable things on products that licensed out.  Children felt warmly to those of a positive role model. “You don’t wanna know how many accidental fires I’ve started. Or the one afternoon I locked myself in my office on accident because I pulled the handle off and had to have maintenance come up to install a new door. Tony’s been helpful, I don’t think he ever assumed he’d have to be the calm one to talk me off my hysterical screaming.  But I suppose after twenty years, he owes me a few.” 

@notwhateveryonesees It was one of those evenings that she couldn’t exactly sleep. The 30 cups of various teas around her was very much evidence of her restlessness. Tony was in a binging experiment that needed the round a clock attention at the moment and well she couldn't ask him to wear her out. Thus the tea situation had built up. 

Focusing on the palms of her hand glowing a spectacular fiery red as the liquid in the cup started to boil. The sweet scents started wafting through the air, but all that was for naught when Pepper heard foot steps walking into the kitchen causing her to lose focus and toss the cup into air in a panic.

“Wanda? What are you doing up?” Pepper remarks feeling internally panicked that maybe she had gotten too comfortable with there abilities. 

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4 July 1804

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Wanda thought about that a moment. The distinction between Wanda Maximoff and the Scarlet Witch was not something that she had thought about in a long time. It was not something most people seemed to think about, from her perspective. Was there even a difference? The two had been so intertwined for so long. Her powers were a part of her, baked into her DNA since before she had even realized that they were there. “I appreciate that you think so, Pepper.” It wasn’t quite an agreement. That distinction may take a little bit more thought to fully accept.  

“I don’t know how in a way that people aren’t afraid of, I guess.” Though maybe that was Pepper’s point. She needed to find a way that people saw beyond her abilities. Both the public and her friends. “I am not nearly so masterful at working the press as you and Tony are.”

Differentiating between Iron-man and Tony Stark felt like a constant battle with Tony for Pepper. Because most of the heroes were much more than their heroic  persona in Pepper’s eyes at least. “I know it’s not as cut and dry as my beloved Tin-can man, but your magic? It’s what’s up there that counts, that’s what drives you not the arm flailing or the red stuff,” She shrugs as the wisp of a flame danced around the flickers of red magic stuff before simply just giving out. Pepper gave a tired sigh,”It makes for a very lame party trick right now or a very convenient lighter.”  “They usually tend to be afraid because they haven’t humanized you, or connected the idea that you’re just a person too with fears and dreams and family and a life. It’s a hard question, but who do you want to be” It was a hard question that she wrestled with herself. So long she had been the no-nonsense assistant that seemingly had the abilities of precognition to know when Tony was going to fuck up and close a deal regardless if her boss was there. Somehow that evolved into the esteemed CEO of tech company that was genuinely trying to make good in the world while still remaining with more money than many socialists wanted them to have. Few government agencies and select questionable people in the less favorable circles also knew that she wasn’t a woman to be fucked with, but that was between herself and her board members.  “To be fair, no one is Tony Stark who knows how to work the press since birth. That was part of the endless Howard Stark’s terrible parenting package. Which isn’t at all the plans for well,” Pepper awkwardly gestured toward her stomach,”It can be learned to a degree. God knows, I did. But I’m not nearly as cruel as Tony and the PR department who made it trial by fire. If I had a dollar for every page 6 tabloid from the past twenty years that said I was only here because I slept with him? I’d probably have billion myself from that. ”

@notwhateveryonesees It was one of those evenings that she couldn’t exactly sleep. The 30 cups of various teas around her was very much evidence of her restlessness. Tony was in a binging experiment that needed the round a clock attention at the moment and well she couldn't ask him to wear her out. Thus the tea situation had built up. 

Focusing on the palms of her hand glowing a spectacular fiery red as the liquid in the cup started to boil. The sweet scents started wafting through the air, but all that was for naught when Pepper heard foot steps walking into the kitchen causing her to lose focus and toss the cup into air in a panic.

“Wanda? What are you doing up?” Pepper remarks feeling internally panicked that maybe she had gotten too comfortable with there abilities. 

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“Yes.” Wanda’s expression lit up, the word coming out of her mouth quickly when Pepper mentioned rebuilding. All people seemed to see of her was how she was able to destroy things and while she knew her friends meant well, shutting her away in the tower seemed to do very little to change that. She wanted to be able to help people more. She wanted to be able to improve things more than she managed to ruin them. “I mean – Yes, I would like to help with that.”

Seeing the flame between Pepper’s hands, Wanda smiled again. The other woman’s words sounded so familiar to her. They echoed her own thoughts in so many ways, words she had said to herself time and time again when people’s fear of her seemed to be all that she was able to see. “That’s a good way to look at it.” She said, mirroring Pepper’s movement to bring a flicker of scarlet energy to her palm. “You can’t control their fear, right?”

There was never genuinely bad egg in the Avengers. Their intentions were genuinely good and pure, but the actions taken to get from point A to D were... needing better execution. “You don’t have to even use your powers,” She twirled the fire with her finger,”Something small and grounded would be good for you. I know, Steve’s wander off and done some habitat for humanity projects. Tony slips out on me every Christmas morning, he has his routine dropping by children’s hospitals. Not everything haas to be about the Scarlet Witch, because Wanda Maximoff seem pretty lovely herself.” Everyone saw the writing on the walls of the pending nuptials long before Tony and Pepper started dating when Tony had give Pepper the chairwoman’s position for the Maria Stark foundation and Pepper’s utmost devotion to the various causes they helped with it. She felt like Tony needed her every once in a while to pull him off his high horse and remind him that he’s Tony Stark first. Tony Stark is the man who got himself out of a cave. Tony Stark was the idiot at night that had to work up the courage to make them work. “Well one certainly influence those fears, but I advise you to always have a plan of attack,” What people forgot about Pepper was that she learned the tools of the trade from Tony. The perception of them was everything and it was calculated, but Pepper knew how to get what she wanted from the media, other companies and the public with a few graceful steps. “There was one point in my youth that disturbed me about the news. Rupert Murdock as terrible as man as he was, had a point. The news is what the talking heads say the news is.  You have a say in what goes out into the world by your actions, Wanda. How other people see it? That just depends how your  friends see you.Personally, I see a young woman who wants to do good and you just don’t know how to do it.” 

@notwhateveryonesees It was one of those evenings that she couldn’t exactly sleep. The 30 cups of various teas around her was very much evidence of her restlessness. Tony was in a binging experiment that needed the round a clock attention at the moment and well she couldn't ask him to wear her out. Thus the tea situation had built up. 

Focusing on the palms of her hand glowing a spectacular fiery red as the liquid in the cup started to boil. The sweet scents started wafting through the air, but all that was for naught when Pepper heard foot steps walking into the kitchen causing her to lose focus and toss the cup into air in a panic.

“Wanda? What are you doing up?” Pepper remarks feeling internally panicked that maybe she had gotten too comfortable with there abilities. 

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pepperonyweek » day 1: battle couple

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pepperony + in blackwater woods from new & selected poems: volume one by mary oliver

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Wanda nodded, not sure what else to say to that. Though it might not always be easy to show, she did appreciate how much different Tony was from who she had expected. For that matter, she appreciate how much about everyone here was different from what she expected. Though nothing and no one here was perfect and the country had many of its own flaws, it was still many steps above where she had come from.

“Vast might be an understatement.” Wanda smiled, almost laughing a little. There were times when the two places seemed like they may as well be two different worlds, and times when Wanda felt almost guilty for how much better off she was now while her country remained in turmoil. She was grateful, of course, but a part of her heart would always remain in Sokovia, no matter how much better her life here was. “I am too, believe me. I am very grateful to all of you for getting me here.”

No one was perfect. God knows Pepper was a favorite target to be roasted for never being feminist enough. Never being enough was the sum total of her life. People loved to spin anything into a negative light.

“Well it’s always better to under sell and over deliver,” She likes hearing people laugh. Even if it was just a little. Wanda had an underrated smile. It was nice. “If you ever want to be more involved in some of the more peaceful initiate on rebuilding places. Giving back your own time tends to help weigh the guilt.” Pepper didn’t need to be a mind reader to see the flush of feelings on the woman. Guilt used to weigh her soul down a lot too as she got older and the reality of her job set into her conscious. The luxuries and cushy lifestyle was afford on the backs of the dead. It wasn’t just an apathy towards violence, but literally telling people which gun to use. Pepper participated and like it or not she was effective.  

Clutching her hand and then opening to reveal the small flame once more,”I don’t want to let these things like powers control me or be the single thing people see me for. People  should just be people.” 

@notwhateveryonesees It was one of those evenings that she couldn’t exactly sleep. The 30 cups of various teas around her was very much evidence of her restlessness. Tony was in a binging experiment that needed the round a clock attention at the moment and well she couldn't ask him to wear her out. Thus the tea situation had built up. 

Focusing on the palms of her hand glowing a spectacular fiery red as the liquid in the cup started to boil. The sweet scents started wafting through the air, but all that was for naught when Pepper heard foot steps walking into the kitchen causing her to lose focus and toss the cup into air in a panic.

“Wanda? What are you doing up?” Pepper remarks feeling internally panicked that maybe she had gotten too comfortable with there abilities. 

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“Well, I suppose you aren’t wrong. The Tony I know now is certainly…different than the man that I expected.” Not that that really would have been hard. For all their differences, Tony Stark was still far from the monster Wanda had pictured in her head as a child. He was no longer the name on the weapons being dropped on her hometown and apparently hadn’t been since even before they had ever encountered each other in person. She found it hard to believe anyone had ever been as critical of him on this side of the world as they were of her, but it wasn’t impossible. If they could change things for him like that, couldn’t anything be possible? “Why wouldn’t I be ready?” She asked, a slight if somewhat timid smile on her face.

“That’s very kind of you, Pepper.” Wanda nodded, almost laughing as she thought about the possibility of having a peaceful life. It seemed so outside of the realms of reality for her. “But would you believe me if I said that right now my life might be the most peaceful it has ever been?” Perhaps that was a bit unfortunate, but it was true. Compared to the years she had spent living as an orphan in a war zone with only her brother at her side, having a roof over her head, food to eat every day, and more people surrounding her than she had had in years was a huge change, even if the life of an Avenger was still more chaotic than most people could probably imagine.

Her Tony was warm and generous to those who he truly loved. There wasn’t a single thing she ever doubted that he wouldn’t try to do for her if he knew it would remotely help make her happier. That was the Tony that she felt the fierce protectiveness over. Even the team of heroes seemed to suffer the preconceived notions attached to the Stark name. It was a hard shadow to escape. “Not everyone wants to put in the work,” She shrugs. Reframing the subject of someone’s own reputation took time and work. “Not everything can be handed on a platter.” 

Peace was the fairytale ending they all were sold as children right? Contentment with world, inner peace? Even she struggled with the idea if that would be enough. “Sokovia is very different from America. I could understand the differences might be vast,” She contemplates aloud. America privilege was still vastly different from many other less developed nations. God knows, Tony and her were the epitome of privilege in the country as ashamed of she was about it. “I’m glad everything is settling in.” 

Midnight Tea and Talks

@notwhateveryonesees It was one of those evenings that she couldn’t exactly sleep. The 30 cups of various teas around her was very much evidence of her restlessness. Tony was in a binging experiment that needed the round a clock attention at the moment and well she couldn't ask him to wear her out. Thus the tea situation had built up. 

Focusing on the palms of her hand glowing a spectacular fiery red as the liquid in the cup started to boil. The sweet scents started wafting through the air, but all that was for naught when Pepper heard foot steps walking into the kitchen causing her to lose focus and toss the cup into air in a panic.

“Wanda? What are you doing up?” Pepper remarks feeling internally panicked that maybe she had gotten too comfortable with there abilities. 

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“I mean, magic is not the most reliable for things like this to begin with.” Wanda smiled slightly behind her cup. While she probably could use it to help with that if she really wanted to, there were consequences for using magic in such a way that would extend far beyond her own guilty conscience. “Do you really think they could do something for me?” Handling Tony and Pepper and the rest of the Avengers was one thing in her eyes, but Wanda’s own struggles always seemed to be a little separate. Not that the rest of the Avengers didn’t have their problems, but for her - mutant, witch, foreigner, more powerful than even she sometimes realized - there always seemed to be so much more to worry about.

Wanda nodded. “I think that would be a wise decision. I can’t necessarily say I would recommend this job.” And yet, she couldn’t see herself doing anything else. For all the trouble it sometimes brought and for all the moments she might have wished that she could have a much more quiet and peaceful life, there wasn’t really any walking away that she could see. She had people to protect and something to prove, and perhaps a responsibility in her own eyes. “It’s still good to have help with something like this though.”

“Neither are the press,” She chuckled as she took a sip of the boiling tea. Volatile was Tony’s middle name. Mercurial moods and how to work with that was the name of her game.  “I genuinely do. Who do you think was the architect behind making one  the swiftest pivots in business history. He went from the merchant of death to beloved super hero and  leading champion of peace and green energy in under a decade. But it’s just the matter if you’re ready for that change..”  It wasn’t that she was smug about that fact, but remarkably proud  of everything they had accomplished in the last decade.  “Truth be told I didn’t even want the CEO job in the first place,” It was one the few things she genuinely had never pushed for or even aspired to doing. That wasn’t to say she didn’t do it with the same amount of focus or care, but that now extended to the whole of the company on a daily basis. “But it’s good for me. You do help people and you’ve been getting the support you need here. But it’s not a forever gig, we’re all still mortal. Except maybe for Steve or Thor. You think I don’t spend every moment fretting over  Tony? Or the idea that I might end up a single parent. He’s getting there and there seems to be younger heroes every day that maybe. Just maybe, we’ll have that quiet life. Or as quiet as our life can be. But what I’m saying is. I want that for all of you. The world can’t force you guys to be the mightiest heroes until you’re dead. You’re  more than that.” 

Midnight Tea and Talks

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“You do?” It shouldn’t really be a question. Of course Tony and Pepper had a team for that. She knew this. They had to be called in for Avenger’s business on occasion. She had just never really thought about getting any sort of PR help for herself, partially because it seemed weird and almost phony to have someone else dictate that information for her and partially because she wasn’t sure anyone would really want to help. But if Pepper was offering… “Those tabloids can be pretty cruel.”

Wanda couldn’t help but be a little envious hearing Pepper talk about Tony. Her own love life had remained non-existent even well into her adult life. Her relationships in general had remained limited to Pietro until she had joined the Avenger’s. Not that she was actively looking for anything, but she could dream a little. “I take it that mean he at least knows now.” She sad. “Does everyone else know?”

They had small army of well paid people who were from all accounts amongst the best and brightest in their field. Everyone knew that no two days at Stark Industries were alike with the owner being Tony Stark and his beloved promoted PA to CEO. No one was ever bored. “It sounds incredibly shallow, I know. Trust me, I know. But it can curtail a good deal of the optics of how you’re viewed and bring you into a positive light. It’s not magic, but you know it’s a good starting point,” She takes another sip. “Tabloids are just idiots who’ll do things to make a living, I can’t fault them for that. Everyone deserves a roof over their head. But like it or not, you’re in the public eye. Not even public adjacent. Give them a little, and let the lawyers carefully threaten them. And they’ll be happy for even a second of time. Trust me, I would prefer nothing more than to be a happy homebody and never attend any galas or even go out. But I knew taking my job wouldn’t allow me that and even less so being engaged to him. But sometimes you can use that light to bounce onto things that you believe in that as dumb as it is could use the attention.”  Setting the cup down on the counter. Tony knowing now was good. Healthy even. Anything that wasn’t full transparency hurt them in the end, they both knew that worst of all theses days. “But it wasn’t right to hide something that probably could of thrown a bigger wrench into our relationship. Everything that was going on before. I felt like I was in the way,” She shrugged,”Carol know. She might have helped me not have an incident at Thor’s Halloween thing. Bruce. That’s about it. Despite Nat’s gossiping that Tony built me a suit, I have no intention of doing everything and avenging.” 

Midnight Tea and Talks

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“People see what they want to see sometimes.” Wanda gave a small shrug. She tried to act like it doesn’t bother her much, but it is rarely far from her mind. “All I can do is what I think is right  and hope it makes an impression.”

It’s certainly true that not everyone is Steve, though she could maybe argue that, in some ways, there are a few similarities throughout them as far as she is concerned. Despite her age, her friends seemed to take very parental roles with her at times. It was appreciated, most of the time at least.

“They do.” She agrees, nodding slightly. “You’re lucky to have  Tony, you know.”

A tired smile crosses her face. She knew that story all too well. It was practically an art form that she had to constantly be in discussion with the company PR team that had carefully sculpted her image. Shuttering at the very early days and the horror show of tabloids that hounded them for months. “You know, I have people. They can help you retake that narrative,” Pepper brings the cup up to her lips to inhale the scent. “I nearly quit being Tony’s assistant when some tabloid called me a long end prostitute after still working for him for six months. He slapped back with a defamation lawsuit and was much more caring then he ever gave onto back then.”

Tony refused to let Pepper’s name be sullied even when in conjunction with his. It was so strange, but that was also when she started seeing the deeper layers of Tony Stark.  

She didn’t admit to knowing Wanda well enough to investigate into her love life, but she knew the girl deserved some happily ever after.  Sipping the scorching hot tea before placing it down once more. “I know I am. He really loves me and some days I feel like I don’t deserve such an intensity from him. But he gets me and I regret not telling him sooner about.”  She gestures vaguely as the flame erupts.”Whatever this is.”’ 

Midnight Tea and Talks

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Rescue2020

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“Pregnancy makes you forgetful?” he chuckled and zipped up her dress. Tilting his back, he jutted out his stomach. “Maybe I am?”

“Uh huh, you’re making such a strong case for sympathy pregnancy,” She happily rolled her eyes as she turned around and placed her hands out on his mostly imaginary stomach,”I love you, you know that?”

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#what a fam

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dynamics of the MCU → Pepper Potts & Tony Stark