[AO3 Crosspost] Enjoy the moment

[terresdebrume]

✗ TECHNICAL DETAILS

FANDOM: Marvel’s MCU
SERIES: -
RATING: Mature
WORDCOUNT: 1 448
PAIRING(S): Pepper Potts/Natasha Romanova
CHARACTER(S): Pepper Potts, Natasha Romanova
GENRE: Teasing
TRIGGER WARNING(S): -
SUMMARY: Pepper is pretty sure anyone in her position would think of that, too.

___________

So honestly, if anyone had told Pepper she’d start the day lounging on a beach in Malibu and end it here, she would have called the nearest mental ward -or taken the bottle out of Tony’s hands, whichever was called for.

Like, seriously, look at her. Does Pepper look like the trekking type to you? Does she? No. you know why? She isn’t! Don’t make any mistake, Pepper is more than capable of handling herself. She survived the world of high-finance business for over a decade, survived working for Tony Stark for over a decade. She’s had to put countless perverts in their place and she’s survived the great Stane Debacle, and did she mention that she survived working for Tony fucking Stark for over a decade, and all that without having a heart attack or going grey? Pepper Potts deserves a medal, and she’ll accept nothing less than one more zero on her paycheck as a compensation for the fact that taking care of Tony isn’t officially considered public service.

(Officiously, it is. can you imagine Tony without someone to do damage control? Not a good idea.)

All that to say that Pepper isn’t really suited or prepared to face the desert of Siberia. Her natural habitat is the Savannah, the kind where there’s a lot of glass and the predators wear pinstripes suits and clammy hands. But obviously, it’s not like supervillains care about what her preferred environment is, and so Siberia it became when Doctor Octopus decided to change his MO and go for her instead of trying to gut Spiderman.

Sometimes she wishes supervillains could stay the clichéd things they’re presented as in storybooks and just not disturb her unless they want to get to Tony -but then she doesn’t like that option at all either so it doesn’t really help.

“Does it have to be so cold,” she grumbles, because she needs to.

She and Natasha have been walking in the snow for the four hours that passed since Pepper got rescued -well, ‘extracted’ is a more technical term, she supposes- and she’s cold to the bones, tired and in great need of a bath with essential oils and soft music so she can just cry her exhaustion away.

(Pepper has the ritual for this down to a T. There are things you pick up quickly while working for Tony Stark, especially after he became Iron Man.)

“Here,” Natasha says, pointing to a hole in a rocky formation, “We’ll go there and make a fire. S.H.I.E.L.D. has our location so it shouldn’t take more than an hour or two for them to find us.”

“Great,” Pepper sighs, resisting the urge to cross her arms on her chest, “and if anybody else finds us?”

“Can you handle a gun?”

“I’ve been to the firing range twice,” Pepper says firmly, “Pepper spray is the only weapon I feel comfortable using.”

Natasha nods, and Pepper isn’t sure what the gesture means. It’s not like it changes anything, sure, but if she’s going to be alone with Natasha for two hours without any business to speak of, she’d rather not give the spy any reason to disdain her -that could make things awkward, and the next two hours difficult.

The fire doesn’t take, because the wood is too wet, and the wind is rising outside, sending icy tendrils up Pepper’s clothes -which are made to fight the cold, but she didn’t have anything but running shoes to put on her feet when they fled, and she can barely feel them now. She can feel herself shivering, but she still helps Natasha packing snow at the entrance of their cache to make for some form of shelter against the wind -Pepper also assume that it’ll be easier to warm up the air if it’s standing still.

“Aren’t we supposed to keep moving?” She asks through chattering teeth.

“Only if we want you to lose your feet,” Natasha says as she takes Pepper’s shoes off. “Put your coat on backward.”

Pepper is so startled by the order that she doesn’t think to protest before she undoes the zipper of her jacket. In front of her, Natasha is doing the same, then taking off her shirt as well.

Honestly, Pepper doesn’t think she can be blamed for noticing how perfect Natasha looks in just her bra -anyone else would have done the same anyway. Still, seeing her move is kind of mesmerizing -all that exposed skin, the shadow of perky nipples under the silk, the curve of her neck… Pepper would even forget to readjust her coat if it wasn’t so damn cold around.

Natasha wraps Pepper’s feet -now out of her socks- in her shirt, and then she goes to sit behind her. Pepper feels the fabric of her coat rustle, then hears a zipper closing on her right, then her left. It takes her a second or two before she realizes Natasha has just zipped their two coats together, and that her breasts are brushing against Pepper’s back.

“Oh,” she says, and Natasha’s breath tickles her neck when she chuckles.

“We’ll share heat more easily this way. Keep your feet close to your body, it’ll warm them up.”

Pepper nods, and they shift around until they find a semi-comfortable position, where there is as little contact with the floor as possible, and as much contact between them as Pepper can find without making it obvious that the cold isn’t her only motivation.

(That, however, flies out the metaphorical window when Natasha sneaks an arm around her waist and her fingers sneak up under Pepper’s shirt. With the way they’re both dressed, there is no way this is accidental.)

Pepper allows herself three seconds of freakout before she takes a deep breath and says:

“I can think of a couple other ways to keep heat.”

“So can I,” Natasha says, and the breath that hits Pepper right behind her ear feels burning indeed, but it still sends a shiver through her spine.

Natasha’s hands reach under Pepper’s shirt, and she sucks a breath in at how cold they are, but it’s actually not a bad sensation in this case -it makes the caress of her fingertips feels sharper, and Pepper can’t really say she wants to complain about that. She pulls her arms back into the combined coats, and it occurs to her that this is about to become her weirdest sexual experience ever -but since it’s also the hottest, she’s kind of alright with that.

Natasha’s hands have reached her breast now, and she can feel her through the fabric of her bra, while her own hands are trying to find something to touch that isn’t fabric or the smallest patch of belly skin. Pepper tries to turn around, but Natasha has the advantage there, and she keeps Pepper in place, warm lips meeting cold neck in a searing kiss, and Pepper may or may not let out one of her deepest sigh ever.

And to think she’s never even kissed a woman before.

Natasha, if she’s in the same situation, doesn’t let it stop her from reaching for Pepper’s bra straps and tug them out of the way. Her hand is slowly descending on Pepper’s right breast, skin finally meeting skin, when Natasha’s tracking system beeps, and Pepper makes out a voice shouting for them.

“Fuck,” she swears, and Natasha smirks:

“Apparently, not tonight.”

Pepper can feel the tip of her ears burning, but she’s been working for Tony for over a decade: she knows how to deal with that. She lets Natasha puts her bra back in place, and she’s presentable again just in time for Barton’s hand to pierce their wall of snow.

Pepper is taken to a van where they give him warm clothes, coffee, food, and a bunch of medical exams she neither needs nor wants -she’s way too frustrated that the momentum between her and Natasha was broken… she wonders if she’d still be tempted by that kind of activity now that the moment has passed.

It’s several minutes until Natasha manages to walk past the S.H.I.E.L.D’s doctors and ask Pepper:

“Are you going to be okay?” Pepper nods, even though she’s kind of bummed at the missing opportunity -this is probably a sign that she’s getting too used to being kidnapped, by the way, but whatever. “Good,” Natasha says. “Let me know if your heating breaks down.”

She winks, smiles, and then goes to join Clint where he’s looking at a map, and seemingly directing important operation.

Oh yes, Pepper thinks, her interest in Natasha definitely stretches beyond the proverbial moment.