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Natasha carefully closes the door of Stark’s expansive exercise room behind her, making sure the heavy panel makes no sound as it hits the frame. Habit. Silly, really, since the next thing she does is call out - “Pepper? You here?”
For someone who spends eighty percent of his waking life down in his workshop, this gym is, quite frankly, absurd. Natasha eyes up row upon row of equipment: weights and treadmills, ellipticals and bikes. But that’s Stark, she supposes.
“Nat, hey,” Pepper says, trotting out from behind a row of machines. Her hair’s tied up in a neat ponytail, swinging from side to side as she walks. “The mats are back this way.” She turns around and is already marching off before Natasha can blink, but she catches up quickly.
“Remind me what you wanted me to show you?” Natasha asks. Pepper hadn’t said, which means Natasha wants to know even more. Especially after Pepper answers only with a quick glance to the side and a slight uptick in her pace.
They reach the mats Pepper had mentioned, settling cross-legged across from one another. Natasha raises an eyebrow and waits.
Pepper gusts out a breath, reaching up as if to run a hand through her hair before realizing it’s pulled back much too tight for that. She tugs at the end of her ponytail instead. Her hand drops back to her lap, and finally she meets Natasha’s eyes. “You know about Extremis,” Pepper says. Not a question, but Natasha nods anyway.
“Stark stabilized it,” Natasha says slowly, because that’s what the files say, but now she’s not so sure - not with Pepper’s shiftiness, and her sudden acceptance of Natasha’s offer to be workout buddies. That offer had been made almost two years ago - how time flew - in Natasha’s most carefully deliberate variety of casualness. If Pepper was going to be in the thick of the action, she needed - she deserved - to have more than the basics of self-defense down.
“Yes, he did,” Pepper says quickly. “No exploding, no immolation, we’re all good on that front. And I’m glad. I am really really glad that I won’t be a human pyrotechnic display in the near future, but -” There’s a strange expression on Pepper’s face now; apprehension and longing and an urging for Natasha to understand.
She thinks she might. Working with a team that has super-soldiers and armored suits and gods, Natasha with only her training and wits and gun, she’s done the math and wondered.
“You miss feeling indestructible.”
Pepper’s mouth twists, and she lets out a short laugh. “It sounds so - I don’t know. Petty. I’m alive, aren’t I?”
“It’s not petty,” Natasha says, grabbing Pepper’s hand before she can tug at her ponytail again. “There’s nothing petty about feeling safe.” She pulls Pepper to her feet, squeezing her warm hand - is it Natasha’s imagination, or she warmer than normal? - before releasing her.
“I can’t get you to indestructible, but I can sure as hell teach you some good moves,” Natasha says with a quick grin, and they quickly settle into some warm-ups.
Natasha’s surprised that she’s surprised at how effortlessly they fall into a rhythm, Pepper watching sharp-eyed as she demonstrates before going through the motions herself. It certainly helps that she’s clearly had some basic self-defense training, but she’s obviously a quick study in more than just the corporate arena. It’s not long before the both of them have worked up a sweat, and Pepper’s had to make a run for water bottles stashed somewhere in the cavernous room.
“Okay, I think it’s about time you tried some of this out on a person,” Natasha says, brushing a loose chunk of hair off of her face.
“On who, you?” Pepper snorts. Natasha looks at her expectantly. “Oh god, you’re actually serious.”
“You see anyone else?” Natasha gestures to the room, empty but for the rows of machines.
“Yeah, okay, Nat, but see, the last time I hit something my hand went all the way through,” Pepper says, eyes wide.
Natasha sets her hands on Pepper’s shoulders, slipping a little on her sweaty skin. She succeeds in getting Pepper’s attention. “Hey, it’s okay,” she says with a small smile. “Stark fixed it, remember? It’s what he does when he’s not breaking things. And if you’re not ready, you’re not ready, but I think you are. Can you try?”
Pepper meets her eyes for a long moment before she nods. “All right. What do you want me to do?” Natasha’s proud of her, how quickly she settles into businesslike efficiency. That takes strength, and not the kind any chemical compound can give.
“I’m going to grab you. You’re going to break free.” Pepper’s barely nodded before Natasha springs into action - what can she say, she’s always thought experience is the best teacher. No attacker is going to give Pepper a nice breather to prepare herself. Twisting behind Pepper, she pins her arms and tries to force her to the floor.
Natasha has to hand it to Pepper - she recovers quickly. She stomps at Natasha’s instep - which she dodges - before managing to slam her elbow backwards into Natasha’s stomach, which - sends her skidding ten feet down the mat. There’s that first awful moment where it feels like she can’t get any air, and then it just aches. “Ow.”
“Oh my god, Nat, are you okay?” Pepper’s over in a flash, hands fluttering indecisively an inch from Natasha’s skin. “I am so sorry, holy shit.”
“Guess that Extremis stuff’s more persistent than Stark thought,” Natasha says, wincing as she prods at her stomach. “He’s gonna hate that.” She starts pushing herself to her feet; Pepper’s right there to help her up. Now that she’s starting touching it’s like she can’t stop, hands smoothing up and down Natasha’s arms like she’s a skittish colt. She’s not, but she has to admit it feels nice. “I’m fine,” Natasha adds belatedly.
“Hmph,” says Pepper, skeptical. “We’re done for the day, I think.” She slings an arm around Natasha’s waist, careful of her bruised stomach, and leads her toward the door.
Except they’re not heading for the door. Pepper veers toward a different one, CHANGING ROOM stamped on it in bold block letters.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Natasha says, once they’ve gone inside. The ‘changing room’ looks more like a master ensuite, if master ensuites had small swimming pools for bathtubs.
Pepper shrugs. “I thought a warm bath might be a nice way to end. And that was before I threw you across the room.” She colors a little. “Not that you have to, of course. Or that you have to share. I can leave.”
“That’s way too much tub for one person, and I’m not shy,” Natasha says breezily. “So how do you turn this monster on?”
It ends up taking both of them to get the water running, but before too long the tub’s filling faster than seems possible. Natasha starts tugging off her shirt, ignoring her protesting stomach muscles. She hears Pepper let out a sympathetic hiss as her belly’s revealed. Tossing her shirt onto a nearby ledge, Natasha glances down. There’s a deep red mark blossoming on her abdomen; angry-looking, but she’s had worse.
Pepper ghosts her fingertips over it and Natasha jumps. “Sorry,” Pepper says quietly.
“It’s fine, really,” Natasha says, and gently presses Pepper’s hand back to the mark to prove it. Her guilty expression doesn’t shift, however. Taking a gamble, Natasha leans forward - and up on tiptoes - to press a gentle kiss to Pepper’s lips. For a moment she doesn’t respond, but then she’s kissing back, soft and salty-sweet with sweat. Natasha drops back down to her heels after a few moments, or possibly a few minutes. She honestly couldn't say.
“We’re good?” she asks.
“We’re good,” Pepper echoes, smiling. “Now, how about that bath?”
Together, they stay in the water long after it’s gone cool, Pepper’s skin holding warmth enough for the both of them.