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"Okay, calm down," (Y/N) breathed through the phone, peaking around the corner of the room she was hiding in to answer her phone call from a very frustrated Nick Fury. If it wasn't a much serious situation, she might've poked fun at him for it.

Since (Y/N) was sent here on an undercover mission to take a closer look on Tony Stark, and she's not been doing a great job since then  — Fury dialed her up to tell her to take it seriously.

"I know I've messed up, but I'll try better," she had to keep her tone low because Pepper could be right around the corner, and the woman already suspected her a little.

(Y/N) wasn't a huge fan of undercover work, she was used in being a team or squad member where she could rely on others to help her out, but she had to do it since it was part of the deal.

"If a situation like this happens again, you have to call me immediately," Fury's voice said through the phone.

(Y/N) uttered a 'yes' in response and quickly flipped her phone off when she heard the sound of Pepper's heels clicking on the floor over to her.

"You were talking to somebody, (Y/N)?" Pepper questioned, suspicion laced in her voice.

"A mindless call, that's all," (Y/N) shrugged it off with a smile plastered on her face to avoid problems.

Pepper didn't seem to completely buy it, but she didn't push the subject. Instead, (Y/N) cleared her throat and stepped closer to her with the innocent look she had to display in her features.

"Need any help, Miss Potts?"

A few minutes after that, (Y/N) and Pepper were sat in the living room of the Stark mansion, answering different phone calls to diffuse the situation that had just happened back in Monaco.

"Yes, but the fundamentals of the company are still very, very strong despite the events in Monaco," Pepper spoke on the phone while she sat on the couch and the TV's were on.

Meanwhile, (Y/N) was on another phone call, nodding and answering every now and then with a laptop in her legs. "Yes, yes, of course."

(Y/N) removed the phone from her ear and leaned over to Pepper to inform her of the call, and the blonde woman removed her attention from her own call to answer her.

"Oh, oh, fax them," she said.

A man in a navy suit and tie walked into the living room, a man who (Y/N) recalled to be James Rhodes, a close friend of Tony and part of the Air Force too. He seemed angry and frustrated from his posture, and it was proved right when he spoke out.

"Where is he?" he questioned angrily.

(Y/N) looked back to him and answered. "He doesn't wanna be disturbed."

"He's downstairs," Pepper replied at the same time without hesitation.

If (Y/N) hadn't hesitated in paying back attention to the phone call and laptop in her lap, she would've missed the way Rhodey stopped in his tracks for a few seconds to analyze her up and down, like he somehow recognized her. His eyebrows furrowed before he continued his way down to the garage where Tony was.

"His continuing erratic behavior may lead many people to ask themselves can this man still protect us?" a female anchor in the TV spoke up.

"Iron Man never stopped protecting us," Pepper said. "The events in Monaco can prove that."

───✱*.｡:｡✱*.:｡✧*.｡✰ ───

A day later, in the evening of Tony Stark's birthday, (Y/N) still continued to play her act smoothly and made her way towards Tony's luxurious bedroom, where he required her presence.

(Y/N) had to hide the impression the enormous bedroom had on her, but she couldn't help but notice how spacious it looked, the bed on one side, a small seat placed in the middle of it and a full-size window on the side of the room where the infamous birthday man stood, buttoning his dress shirt.

"Do you know which watch you'd like to wear tonight, Mr. Stark?" (Y/N) made her presence known as she placed the box by a table.

"I'll give them a look," he replied shortly Meanwhile, (Y/N) fixed a drink and placed it on a martini glass.

Tony stopped buttoning the shirt and dropped his hands. "I should cancel the party now?"

(Y/N) turned to face him and walked over with the glass in her hand. "Probably, why do you ask?"

"Cause it's, um. . ."

"Badly timed?"

"Right, sends the wrong message."

"Inappropriate."

(Y/N) handed him the glass and Tony took it, drinking the cocktail while he was trying to read the expression behind her eyes.

"Is that enough for you?" she asked.

Tony didn't answer for a second and removed the glass from his lips, trying to change the subject. "Gold faced with the brown band. . .the Jaeger. I'll give that a look. Bring them over here."

(Y/N) grabbed the box while he leaned back on his armchair. She silently made her way over to where he sat and he took the box from her.

"I'll take that," Tony placed the box on the small table. "Why don't you — "

(Y/N) was mindlessly standing over the armchair with her hands placed in front of her, waiting for him to say something else but Tony completely froze in his spot. Now that he was seeing her up close, he could tell he'd seen her face before. He found it truly familiar, but it was a memory buried so well underneath his other memories.

Tony realized he had stopped speaking when (Y/N) gave him a raised eyebrow look, and he cleared his throat to start from the beginning.

"I gotta say it's hard to get a read on you," he confessed, wanting to know more in case he did recognize her. "Where are you from?"

He could see how her shoulders tensed, but she still answered. "A boring place, you don't want to get into that."

"If you want to keep working here, I need to know more about you," Tony excused himself.

(Y/N) didn't seem to believe him. "Oh, really?"

Tony only hummed in response. He knew that topic wouldn't go anywhere now.

"Can I ask you a question hypothetically? It's a bit odd," he told her, and she stayed quiet in order for him to continue. "If this was your last birthday party you'd ever gonna have how would you celebrate it?"

(Y/N) took a few seconds to think of her reply. "I'd have fun, no matter what I'd do. With whoever I wanted to have fun with."

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So, Tony Stark took her advice and decided to have fun in the only way he knew how to; enjoying the party in his mansion surrounded by hundreds of guests — the majority of them being women in tight dresses, while he wore his Iron Man suit and stood by the DJ.

Pepper watched from the back as this unraveled, walking through the guests when Rhodey entered the house and made his way to her.

"Hey, Pepper," he greeted.

"I'm gonna go get some air," she said shakily.

"What's wrong?"

Pepper guided him over to where Tony was barely standing, falling to the side because of his tipsiness before he stood back up giggling. Everyone else around him laughed along since they were in almost the same state as him.

"I don't know what to do," she said worriedly.

"You gotta be kidding me," Rhodey couldn't believe his eyes, his anger already rising. "That's it. I'm gonna make a — "

Pepper grabbed him before he could leave. "No, no, don't call anyone."

"This is ridiculous," Rhodey almost yelled, pointing a finger at Tony, who was partying without a worry. "I just stuck my neck up for this guy."

"I know. I get it," Pepper called him down. "I'm gonna handle it, okay? Just let me handle it."

"Handle it, or I'm gonna have to."

Meanwhile, Tony stood in the center of the stage with a microphone in hand, his eyes nearly drooping from all he's been drinking and his helmet lifted from his head as he faced the crowd.

"You know the question I get asked most often is Tony how do you go to the bathroom with the suit?" he slurred out. He stayed quiet for a few seconds and closed his eyes in concentration before lifting the mic again. "Just like that."

People cheered and laughed while he too giggled in his spot, all while Pepper made her way over to him with a smile plastered on her face and grabbing the microphone from him as he doubled over laughing.

"Does this guy know how to throw a party or what?" Pepper asked to the crowd with a smile.

Tony leaned to the mic. "I love you."

Pepper kept her smile on. "Unbelievable. Thank you so much Tony, we all thank you so much for such a wonderful night. We're gonna say Good night now and thank you all for coming."

Everyone in the crowd groaned in disappointment while Rhodey watched from behind with his arms crossed.

"No, no, wait, we can't, we didn't bring out the cake, we didn't blow out the candle," Tony pleaded while he slurred out his words.

"You're out of control, okay?" Pepper got close to him in order to whisper to him only.

"I'm out of control?"

"Trust me on this one, okay?"

"You're out of control, gorgeous," Tony raised a suggestive eyebrow.

Pepper rolled her eyes. "It's time for you to go to bed," she backed up when Tony got close to her face. "You just peed the suit."

"I know, it had a filtration system."

"That's not sexy."

"You can drink that water."

"Just send everybody home, okay?" Pepper nearly begged him. "It's time to — "

Tony seemed to consider it. "If you say so."

"I'll take this," Pepper grabbed the bottle and handed him the microphone. "You take that."

Tony raised the mic to his lips. "Pepper Potts," he gestured towards her before drunkenly walking to the middle of the large room to speak up.

"She's right. The party is over. Then again, the party was over for me like an hour and a half ago. The after party starts in 15 minutes!"

Pepper snapped her head in his direction and could totally sense Rhodey's final nerve had snapped in that exact moment.

"And if anybody, Pepper, doesn't like it, there's the door," Tony extended his hand towards the side and accidentally fired the blast from his palm, causing the glass wall to explode into tiny pieces while the people shrieked.

Those shrieks turned into cheers and applause, causing Tony to yell out too in victory and order the girls in the crowd to continue throwing stuff in the air for him to explode. Firstly, a blonde threw a champagne bottle that was easily bursted into bits by his hand blaster, and it continued on while Pepper ducked from the glass.

Two other bottles were thrown in the air, one where Tony was backwards and used a reflection to guide himself before the same blonde woman grabbed a watermelon in her hands and gestured for him to blast it next.

"I think she wants the Gallanger!" Tony yelled before using the light from his arc reactor to explode the watermelon in the air.

The crowd went crazy after that stunt as the pieces of the exploded watermelon fell everywhere, but the celebration was cut short when Rhodey's voice echoed through the room, and all attention fell on him.

"I'm only gonna say this once," he began, and he was wearing the silver Iron Man suit over his clothes. "Get out!"

People instantly followed his order and bolted out the door, leaving the entire room empty until it was only Rhodey and Tony, who was holding a bottle of alcohol and wasn't sure what was happening.

"You don't deserve to wear one of these," Rhodey told him. "Shut it down!"

"Goldstein," Tony called with the mic.

"Yes, Mr. Stark?" the cowering DJ called.

"Give me a fat beat to beat my buddy's ass to."

───✱*.｡:｡✱*.:｡✧*.｡✰ ───

Meanwhile, while the rest of the party ran outside to protect themselves from whatever had interrupted the party, Pepper was almost near the door when she saw someone else walking close.

"(Y/N)!" Pepper called out.

(Y/N) instantly made her to her. "Ms. Potts — "

"Don't you Ms. Potts me," Pepper cut her off. "I'm on to you. You know what, ever since you came here — "

Her words were cut short when Rhodey and Tony broke through the roof and fell onto one of the tables, causing it to break while debris fell on them. Pepper let out a terrifying scream because of this, backing away while (Y/N) almost immediately prepared her hands but then remembered that she couldn't do that now.

Happy stayed out of the fight's way and called out Pepper's name, grabbing her to drag her away from the chaos. "Let's get out of here!"

(Y/N) knew the heaviness of the situation and knew this was exactly what Fury went by 'a similar situation'. So she ran towards the door where the rest of the party was crowded at, holding their phones and recording the fight, to call Fury since this was getting out of hand.

i'm sorry for the late updates ! school ended last week and i'm trying to fit into a new schedule ;)
anyways, why do you think rhodey finds (y/n) familiar?

-see you soon, bex