A/N: Oh, look at me, already posting the Avengers story. I just can't help myself, Jessi is so fun to write about. <3
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A Year and Eight months since the Ivan vs Iron Man battle.
Stark Tower, New York City
"Jes, come look at this skirt for a sec, I think it would look good on you. Perfect for your AB honor roll award ceremony at school" Pepper pulled a black skirt out from the rack of identical skirts. It must have been the seventh black skirt that she has shown me in the span of five minutes. She held it up in front of me under the store lights, allowing for me to examine the sleek material. Her bright eyes seemed to be mentally picturing the skirt on my slim body.
I gave her a small shrug and leaned my back against the wall right beside the dressing room entrance, while my best to stifle a yawn "Pepper, we've been shopping all morning.. can we go back to the Tower?"
Pepper gave me a hopeless expression, tossing the skirt into the cart at her hip "Today is Wednesday, we always shop together. Someone has to keep you fashionable" She pushed the cart over to the next section of the store, the blouses. I dragged behind her, my sneakers squeaking against the floor. Shirts galore. All the different outfits that you could think of lined the racks: pink, turquoise, lavender, white, maroon, teal. I did gravitate to the sweaters and pullovers however, my eyes fixating on a national park hoodie.
"Oh! This red blouse is cute! What do you think?" She pulled it out, showing me the shirt with a hopeful smile plastered on her face. It was cute, buttons with a frilly neckline. Cute for her.
I broke away from the hoodie rubbed my chin with my thumb and pointer finger, pretending to care "Fabulous, love it, can we go now?"
Pepper sighed, placing the dress back on the rack "I suppose. We have about six hundred dollars worth of clothes anyway. Do you like that?" she motioned to the hoodie on the hanger. I nodded "go ahead and toss it in then"
"Okay!" I smiled and clapped my hands together, then grabbed the article of clothing.
She pushed the cart towards the check out line "let's head on, honey, your dads waiting for us. Any ideas for dinner?"
***
We waited in that line for what seemed like ever, but we finally made it out alive from the clothing store "Look both ways before you cross the street Jes!" Pepper warned, walking behind me with several bags in her arms. I carried a couple in my hands, and had already slipped on the green hoodie over my t-shirt. It possessed that new shirt smell.
I waited for her at the edge of the sidewalk, tapping my foot was excitement. From here, Stark Tower could be seen piercing the sky with its tall stature. A few pedestrians moving about the city around us had perched themselves in the shadow tower in hopes of catching a glimpse of the famous Iron Man himself.
Some recognized me from a distance and called out my name. I waved shyly, giving my best smile "Quite the celebrity" Pepper said to me as we waited for the cross walk sign to turn green.
"Should I shave my head like that one actress did?" I quipped, adjusting my grip on the shopping bags.
Pepper gave a soft chuckle "haha, no". I shrugged, folding my arms across my chest. The bag with the shoe knocked me in the torso "here, let me get that" Pepper offered, already taking the bag from my hands. I returned my attention back to the hundreds upon hundreds of strangers that occupied the streets that day. There is no shortage of diversity in this city. I scanned my eyes across the variety of faces. Across the street from me, directly in my view, a small little coffee shop was lazily brewing along. A couple of people sat outside, sipping hot drinks and chatting quietly as they enjoyed their slow-paced day. I've been there before myself, Dad and I like to get pastries from there whenever we can.
My eyes floated from customer to customer. I wondered what they were talking about. All I could see were their lips moving at this distance. At the center of the seating area, I could pick put a broad-shouldered man sitting alone, he was visible though the blur of cars that drove along the street. He dawned a brown leather jacket overtop a brown plaid shirt. There was a somewhat vintage aesthetic radiating from his person. His hair was blonde and combed over to the side. Not the most common hairstyle. I narrowed my eyes, my head tilting slightly to the side. He seemed to be sketching something on a notepad, his eyes were focused down at the table with his pencil gently scribbling against paper. Something seemed oddly familiar about him for some reason. Like I've seen him before or met him once.
"Jes!" Pepper called, shaking me from my concentration "Come on! Let's go" I looked over to see that the cross walk had turned green. I began to cross the street, trying one last time to see the man, but he was already standing up and leaving a tip. His face was turned away from me.
Weird.
Ten minutes later, we were back inside of the tower. I bounced eagerly on my feet beside her as we elevated the floors to the penthouse. It was nearing the time where Dad would lay the groundwork for his clean energy project "Tony!" Pepper called as the elevator doors slid open to reveal the open, polished living room "we're back, got you some loafers!"
The Stark Tower was significantly more high-tech than our house back in Malibu. The whole north side of the penthouse was made entirely out of windows. Holograms floated around in the air and tools were scattered around on the table by the small staircase that descended into the living room. The intent with the mess was to get the tower to run on clean energy from the ARC Reactor that's built into the basement level of the tower below us.
"Pep" Dad broke away from the table where he had been working all morning and moved towards Pepper, planting a swift kiss on her cheek. She smiled, setting the bags down on the table "Look, I think I have the right calibrations set for the cities wiring under the harbor, that means, we can go ahead with disconnecting the tower from the cities main frame without risk of triggering surrounding power grids" he went on. I waited patiently beside him with my dimple extended out "What.. are you doing?" Dad asked with a raised eyebrow, finally noticing me standing at his side.
"Waiting for my kiss!" I pointed to my cheek, closing my eyes.
"Ew no, gross, Jes-Germs" he joked, pinching my cheek.
"Your face is gross" I fired back, rubbing my face
"You should brush your hair, it's tangled"
"You should brush your life! It's tangled!"
"Ok children, settle down" Pepper plopped down on the couch and started digging through the bags of clothes.
I narrowed my eyes "We'll continue this later"
He scoffed, flashing a smile "sure"
A that moment Peppers phone began to ring, she groaned out loud "These reporters from Spain keep calling but I don't have a clue of what they're saying" she dropped the phone on the table "they want to know about Stark Industries clean energy prototype, and I can ever seem to get ahold of a translator-"
"I got it, 7th grade Spanish coming at you!" I jumped, grabbing the phone from her hand and holding it to my ear. She began to protest, but I had already accepted the call. Dad crossed his arms, eager to hear my language ability "Hola! ¿Quien es?" The man on the line babbled to me in a thick Spain accent, luckily, I have practiced the Spanish language over the past year, and also French and German on the side"A Sí Señor! Mi padre no está libre en este momento, Lo siento, adios! Me encantan hamburguesas!"
I hung up the phone, tossing it back to Pepper "How was that?" I asked with a smile.
Pepper smiled, giving me a round of applause "That was impressive, Jes. What did you tell them?"
"Oh" I smiled sweetly, sitting down on the stool at the edge of the kitchen table "I gave him all of Dads personal information" Dad paused at that, his drink halfway up to his mouth, Pepper grew wide eyed, her head moving back "I'm kidding!" I handed her the phone "I thought we all told jokes in here"
Dad came over and ruffled my brunette hair "This is why I can't stand eleven year olds"
"I am twelve" I corrected with a raised finger.
"Whatever" he poured himself another glass. I followed after him "Anyway, I'm about to head out and disconnect the Tower from the cities power grid under the harbor. From there, we will officially run on clean energy. Then, we'll give the press something to report on" he shot a humorous glance to me "and next time, don't tell them you like hamburgers"
"Can I fly out and do it?" I asked, raising my hand up as if I was in a classroom.
"How bout, no?" he put a glass in front of me on the table and began pouring me water.
"Ugh" I groaned, placing my forehead on the table and shutting my eyes "Well, when can I fly around in the Ironman suit?"
I felt his hand rest on my head, and I heard the smile on his lips "one day"