Pepper Has a Dragon

Summary: Christmas: a time for giving presents, such as horrible sweaters and candy canes. Pepper... well, Pepper gets a dragon.

Characters: Virginia "Pepper" Potts, Toothless, Tony Stark, Jarvis

Pairing: Tony/Pepper

A/N: What have I done? I don't even know, this time. I was watching How to Train your Dragon last night, and these days I keep imagining the Avengers in all these different scenarios. For some reason, this one appealed more. Set post-IM2, pre-Avengers. I don't own Iron Man or the rest of the Avengers, nor do I own How to Train your Dragon. Merry Christmas, everyone!

Pepper loves Tony. Really, she does. But sometimes, his antics get to be a little more than just antics; they have the potential to turn into full-blown disaster, as they have on this night. Currently, he's singing karaoke for the other house guests (drunk, of course). Pepper, who has had more than a few drinks herself, decides that some fresh air is in order.

The grounds around Tony's mansion are nothing less than lovely. There is the constant view of the Pacific, coupled with the gentle breeze and the grasses, not to mention the many types of wildflowers that grow alongside the paths. Pepper has jogged through them many a morning and knows all of the routes by heart. She admits that, when she first began working as Tony's PA, she was like a child reveling in all of the new places to explore.

On this night, the wind is cool but not freezing. She feels her feet sinking into the sand and takes off her heels, padding barefoot through the palms. The night is peaceful, with no sound but the waves crashing against the shoreline. It's a nice change from the hustle and bustle of the offices at Stark Industries or the insanity that is currently Tony Stark's Christmas party. She closes her eyes, smiling and thinking about the gift she got for her boyfriend.

She doesn't expect the loud rumble that pierces her eardrums.

Startled, Pepper stumbles in her next step and tumbles to the sand. She scowls and grumbles about getting sand up her skirt (and in other unmentionable areas), before pushing herself up and brushing herself down as best as she can. She freezes when she hears it again: that same deep noise, like a lion growling. A bit nervous now, she looks behind her; Tony's mansion is no longer in sight. She must have walked farther than she thought.

Pepper knows that she should turn back and leave it alone. It's the smart thing to do. However, she decides that it won't hurt to just check really quick to see if there's something wrong. As she walks slowly to where she knows there's a bit of a dip in the land, she berates herself constantly.

This is what always happens in the movies, Pepper! The side character goes to check something and it turns out to be some kind of monster that eats them and oh crap what the hell am I doing...

But as she rounds a large boulder, she surveys the dip and sees... nothing. She tightens her grip on her heels and take another few steps forward, tiptoeing for no reason. Still nothing.

Sighing in relief (she was tipsy; she could have easily imagined it), she turns around and bumps into something large, warm, and black. Pepper freezes, tilting her head upwards in what seems to be slow motion to meet the largest pair of green eyes that she's ever seen.

There's that rumbling again. Now she takes in the massive, bat-like wings and the rest of the scaly body.

Dragon. Dragon. There is a dragon in front of me. Has Tony been trying to build more refined robots again? He ought to know better, especially with what happened to that monkey...

Oddly, she hasn't gone into panic mode. The large, imposing dragon and the skinny, frightened human regard each other for a few moments. Pepper's pretty sure that her mind has shut down. She can't seem to think- or move, for that matter. She notes dimly that the eyes remind her of a cat's. She figures that maybe it's one of those things where if she stays still, it won't be able to see her, like in Jurassic Park.

There is a pause where it seems as if absolutely nothing happens. Neither of them breath.

Then the dragon roars in her face.

That breaks her paralysis somewhat, but she still doesn't scream. She does, however, stumble backwards as quickly as she can and once again gets sand everywhere. The dragon doesn't move from where it's crouched, growling at her again and looking ready to pounce. Pepper tries to find an alternate way to get past it back to the house so that she can tell Tony that he has a dragon living in his backyard, but she can't see one. Now the despair is beginning to set in, but before she can cry like a little girl, the dragon surprises her by moving out of the way with a snort.

Pepper stares. It stares back, green eyes still narrowed threateningly, but at least it isn't blocking her way back to the house anymore. Moving as slowly as possible, she heads for the edge of the little dip. The dragon keeps its unnerving gaze fixed on her all the way, but it doesn't attack her. Pepper's too focused on trying to get away to wonder about why that is at the moment.

Then she gets back past the boulder and she turns and runs. The growling recedes into the distance as the mansion comes into view. Pepper takes a moment to smooth herself down before entering, only to find Tony already passed out and the rest of the guests gone. Rhodey's still there as well, but he's crashing on the couch.

Pepper sighs and begins cleaning up. She'll tell him tomorrow, once he's recovered from his hangover.

Tomorrow comes, and Pepper hasn't gotten a wink of sleep. On the upside, she's in better shape than Tony or Rhodey will be when they wake up, so she takes what she can get. As she downs her cup of coffee, she recalls the problem that's currently hiding on the grounds. Briefly she considers waking Tony up to let him know, but ultimately decides to go check first. Maybe it will have left and it will no longer be her problem. She can call S.H.I.E.L.D. and have them take care of it.

After a moment, she decides to take some of the tilapia they have in the fridge with her. She reasons that maybe the dragon will leave her alone if she feeds it.

She has some difficulty remembering the exact path she took, but she knows how to get to the dip. As she approaches, it's like a replay of the previous night: she lets out a long breath when there appears to be nothing there, then feels her muscles contract when she spots the black creature curled on one of the rocks, watching her with one suspicious eye.

Now Pepper feels like screaming, but the wiser part of her knows that that will only startle it. Instead, she places one foot in front of the other, unwrapping the packaged fish with disgust on her face. This time, the dragon's head perks up more in interest than in defense. It bounds down from its perch a bit too quickly for her liking, sniffing at the food she's brought.

What is she supposed to say? "Nice dragon..." she mutters, feeling utterly foolish.

She thinks that if she hadn't been working for Tony Stark for ten years, she would think she was insane.

Unsure of what to do next, she places the fish almost reverently on the ground and scoots backward. The dragon gives it one more sniff and then snaps it up like it was nothing. It then regards her curiously, tilting its head to the side in the same way her cat used to do.

"You're welcome...?" Pepper says.

It then moves forward a couple of paces and proceeds to barf up one of the fish- now half-digested- in front of her. Pepper almost throws up alongside it, but manages to keep her small breakfast in her stomach. It then does the head-tilting thing again and Pepper is struck by just how adorable it looks when it does that.

It doesn't take her long to figure out what it wants.

Pepper Potts is the CEO of Stark Industries. She hasn't gotten there by being a ditzy girl who only just managed to pass through high school. She knows how to take care of herself, which includes eating properly and avoiding germs. So when she realizes that the dragon wants her to eat the raw, half-digested fish, she draws herself up to full height, crosses her arms and gives the full-on Potts glare (the one that she normally reserves for Tony) and says, "You have got to be kidding me."

Unfortunately, it has no effect on the dragon whatsoever. It keeps giving her that look. She immediately knows that that look is going to be the death of her.

"Oh, all right," she mutters, trying desperately to ignore her shudder of disgust as she lifts the sticky mass from the ground. She glances from the fish to the dragon and back to the fish again, feeling her stomach churn just thinking about it. Before she can lose her nerve, she takes a small bite. As expected it's slippery and slimy and now covered in sand, but miraculously she manages to get it down.

"Yeah," she chokes out, grimacing. "Delicious."

The dragon looks satisfied, though, so she takes it as a victory.

Over the next few days, Pepper keeps herself busy with work, making sure Tony eats, and checking up on the newest tenant at the mansion. She tells herself that she'll inform Tony about the dragon eventually, but keeps putting it off. He's busy, or he has a meeting, or he's upgrading the suit and she doesn't want to bother him. Plus, she seems to have it under control.

It settles into a routine, much like everything else. Pepper simply adds in making the trip to the pit during mealtimes to give the dragon food. She takes to ordering surpluses of fish as well, but Tony never checks to see what groceries she's ordered. After day four, however, she begins to wonder why the dragon doesn't just move on somewhere.

That question is quickly answered when she brings it breakfast.

He's more lively today (she wonders when he became a he, then decides that it's because she feels like comparing him to Tony sometimes), bouncing up and down and playing around with his fish a bit before he actually eats it. Pepper can't help it; she laughs a little at his playfulness. He straightens up onto his hind legs at the sound at moves over to investigate, sniffing at her as though he thinks she's sick.

She swats at him. "Stop that," she says, giggling like a little girl.

It isn't until after her hand makes contact that she realizes what she's done. The dragon recoils from her, but peeks out from behind his wing when she makes no further moves. Pepper cringes a bit and sends him an apologetic look before she heads back to the mansion. Just before she moves around the boulder and out of sight, however, she catches sight of his tail.

Half of it is missing.

Pepper pauses mid-step, almost falling over yet again. The dragon cocks its head at her, wondering why she's sticking around while an idea begins to take root in her mind. It's risky, but she feels pity for the poor thing; he can't fly, even though he probably wants to.

Listen to me, she thinks, shaking her head. I'm feeling sorry for a dragon. What has the world come to?

"Jarvis, I'm in a bit of a pickle," she says. She's made sure that Tony's embedded in his work so that he won't find out about this. "But Tony can't find out about it."

"Unless Mr. Stark asks specifically, I don't have to inform him of anything."

She smiles. "Thanks. Listen, I need you to help me build a tail."

On day ten, it's a little harder than she anticipated to slip away to visit Toothless.

The name comes from when she finally noticed that he can retract his teeth. Once again she is reminded of her cat. He seems to like it; at any rate, he shows signs that he knows when she is calling for him.

On this day, Tony's been following her around the house like a lost puppy. She glares at him in frustration when he suggests that she take the day off; sometimes she wonders if he even remembers that she's running his company. Pepper finally puts her foot down when she notices that she's running about an hour late, sending him off to a board meeting where he'll hopefully be occupied for the next three hours.

She hurries to her office, pulling out the contraption that she's been hiding there. With Jarvis' help, she was able to put the final tweaks on it the previous day. Straightening, she makes sure to grab fresh fish before heading out the door.

As he always does, Toothless perks up when she enters the dip. While he's gnawing on his fish, she somehow manages to sneak over to his tail. Attaching the device is more difficult than she expects, but Pepper perseveres and soon the... prosthetic tail?... is secure. Toothless stares at it and gives an experimental jerk, before he unexpectedly spreads his wings and flaps once around the dip.

Pepper can't help but be delighted. It's a perfect fit.

"I guess you can fly free again, huh?" she asks. Toothless lands next to her and surprises her by nuzzling her head with his. She smiles, rubbing his snout.

Is he purring? He's totally purring. The urge to giggle is there again, because who knew that a dragon could be so damn cute?

Not even Tony is able to explain why she's acting so happy that day.

The first time she rides Toothless, they crash into Tony's mansion. Which is how Tony Stark finds his girlfriend and a large, black dragon covered in glass in the living room. They both blink at him before Pepper looks at Toothless and states, "That was your fault."

Tony says that he must be drunk, since he swears that he saw a dragon roll its eyes. Then he faints.

When he wakes up, Pepper is laughing at him almost hysterically and Toothless is about five inches away, sniffing him curiously. Tony gives an unmanly yelp that has the black dragon growling at him, narrowing his eyes. Pepper calmly inserts herself between the two, saying something in a low voice to the dragon before turning back to Tony.

"Tony," she begins, "this is Toothless. Toothless, this is my boyfriend, Tony. You need to be nice to him. Most of the time. You can hit him with your tail if he's being stupid."

Tony wants to know what drugs he's taking and wants more of it. "Uh, Pep? I don't think he can tell the difference."

He receives a whack for that comment.

It takes a little over an hour for Pepper to explain the situation to Tony: how she found Toothless during his Christmas party, how she's been feeding him for a few weeks now and how she, with help from Jarvis, built a prosthetic tail for the dragon. During this time, Toothless decides that his piano makes good kindling and curls up on it. Tony, now more intrigued, curiously inspects the prosthesis, noting that Pepper hasn't done a bad job.

"I could probably upgrade it though," he says. "Make it flashier. Hell, I can give Toothless a jet propulsion system."

"No," Pepper says flatly. She is then assaulted by the wounded puppy looks of both Tony Stark and Toothless. This time, however, she holds her ground.

"I thought you didn't like flying, anyway," Tony says, confused.

"I don't. Toothless kidnapped me." Toothless rolls his eyes again, prompting Pepper to elbow him gently. "You did."

Neither of them talk for a moment. Tony finds himself wondering how in seven hells he's going to explain this if the public finds out. It's tempting to order the dragon off of his property, but now it's looking at him sideways and oh god that look is going to kill him.

"Pepper," he stage whispers. "He's cute. Why is he cute? I'm pretty sure that dragons are not supposed to be cute. How are we gonna say no to that face?"

"It's impossible. Believe me, I've tried."

"Guess that means we're keeping him." At Pepper's look, which is both hopeful and disbelieving, he shrugs. "Come on, I can tell that you guys are, like, BFFs. Plus, he'll scare away anyone who tries to make a move on you. Wow, this is like having a Pokemon or something. Hey, Toothless, can you use Thunderbolt?"

Toothless chooses that exact moment to blast a hole in his wall. He gives Tony a disgustingly smug look.

Tony grins. "This is awesome." Pause. "Hey, can I-"

"No, you may not build a suit of armor for him."

"...damn it."