The Safeword is Sarsaparilla

The Safeword is Sarsaparilla

​Word count: 13,036

​Summary: After the events of The Avengers movie, Bruce Banner moves into the new Stark-Potts tower in downtown Manhattan. Then things take a turn for the sexy/awesome/kinky.

Undying gratitude to my betas, PB, ZF, and MB! Seriously, you guys made this possible.  Thank you. 

Check out the fanmix for this story here: http://plumbat.tumblr.com/post/25079331775/with-pleasure-i-present-to-you-sexy-ecstatic

​I love concrit!!  If you have a reaction to this, positive or negative, please feel free to let me know!

​There may be more to this at some point.

*

Bruce drifts up out of a heavy nothingness, aware only that his face aches. Why does his face ache? He doesn't remember being in a fight... shit, there's no way he...?! No, he can feel that he's wearing a shirt, so it can't be that. He cracks open an eye to see the smooth plastic of one of Tony's computers. His face is lying on the keyboard. Ah. How the hell did he wind up using one of the few computers in this place that still actually uses a keyboard?



He gathers his will and lifts his head. His neck aches worse than his face. Across from him he sees Tony asleep at another console. Face resting on the smooth surface of the desk, the lucky bastard.



With one leaden hand, he reaches up and taps at the screen. It turns on and his eyes focus on the bottom righthand corner. 3:39pm. He's not sure what to make of that, since he's not sure what day it is. "Jarvis," he croaks.



"Yes, Dr. Banner?"



"Two coffees, one for me and one for Tony."



"One coffee black with light sugar and cardamom, one coffee with a shot of whiskey, two creams, and a tablespoon and a half of sugar. Coming up, sir."



Bruce hears the whir of the modified espresso maker starting up behind him. After a couple of minutes thinking nothing at all, rubbing at his sore cheek, he hoists himself up, makes his way to the machine, and fetches the two hot mugs. He leaves Tony's strong-smelling concoction on the desk by his face and walks into the hallway, taking a small sip from his own mug.



Pepper is walking down the hall with a collection of folders in hand. She stops and smiles at him. "Good afternoon, sunshine."



"Hi."



"Tony still conked out?"



"Mmhm."



"You two..." She shakes her head. "Tell you what, get dressed, wash yourself up, and meet me in my office. I know a place that serves breakfast all day. Tony can come if he wakes up."



Bruce is suddenly aware of the dull ache in his stomach. "Yeah, sounds good. I won't be long."



Tony is in the exact same position when they go to check on him, mouth slightly open, snoring faintly. They leave him and walk together to the diner Pepper had in mind. Over breakfast/dinner they chat about his and Tony's latest breakthroughs, her latest stock acquisitions, Tony's various personal foibles.



After a break in the conversation, Bruce sighs and says, "Well. You'll be happy to know I finally emailed her, like you kept telling me to."



"Ohmygosh, you got in touch with Betty!?" His expression gives her pause. "...how'd it go?"



"She's estranged from her father now. So, that's good. I know that sounds funny to say, but he was *not* a good person."



"...and?"



"And." Bruce smiles thinly. "I asked if there was a way we could meet. Told her I had things under better control now. Turns out she's fixed things up with her boyfriend, and she. Is pregnant."



Pepper's mouth opens, and her face scrunches sadly.



"She said she'll always care for me but it would be better if we kept," he makes air quotes "'some distance for a while.' I can't blame her. I wouldn't want me around my kids. And hey, we each have the closure of knowing the other is okay, and that's more than we had for a long time."



"Oh Bruce." She reaches across the table and lays her hand over one of his. "I'm so sorry."



He shakes his head. "Is this how I want it to be? Of course not. But this way she gets a normal life. She's safe, she gets to have a family. I don't think anyone on the planet could predict what would happen if I had a child. It's..." he says the last word in a tight voice, "better."



Pepper never mentions telling Tony, but over the next few days Bruce finds himself given a new sports car, invited out for a flight in one of the older suits, and brought along for one of the usually-sacrosanct Tony-and-Rhodey-only video-games-and-rifftraxing-bad-porn nights. He is told that the sports car is a bonus for his work in the lab, that there are important things to be learned from testing the way the suits react to different users, and that Rhodey doesn't mind.



The lavish gifts stop there, as do the thrilling but uncomfortably terrifying trips in complicated pieces of machinery that he barely knows how to operate, but he keeps joining Tony and Rhodes for guy nights.



*



Tony types away at his slim phone, absently chewing on a sandwich. Pepper finishes a bite of salad and says, "Oh, hey."



A pause while Tony finishes typing. "Hm?"



"Your boyfriend said to tell you that his phone is dead and he needed to go out, so if you're messaging him he's not getting it right now."



"Why wouldn't he just wait for it to finish charging before going somewhere?" Tony says, swallowing a mouthful of sandwich. "Why would he just let himself be disconnected? And, waaait wait wait, when did you start calling Bruce my boyfriend?"



"You're just noticing that now?"



"Don't be ridiculous, I noticed before. I'm just saying something now."



"But you don't know when I started."



"That would be implied by my question, yes."



"That is..." Pepper smiles and at the last minute says, "adorable." 'Hilarious' had been her first thought, but she likes the way this sounds better. "Anyway, I'm not sure either."



*



"God, that was good," Tony says, sprawled across the bed, hand laced through Pepper's. "Jarvis, fan, medium." The air feels delicious against his bare, sweat-sheened skin.



Pepper curls up against him. "Would you fuck Bruce?"



Tony blinks, turns to look at her, and narrows his eyes as if trying to understand what just happened. "I'm sorry, I am absolutely certain I didn't hear you right."



"I'm just curious." Pepper nuzzles his shoulder. "I've never seen you so interested in anyone, except *maybe* me."



"Wow, what? Definitely you! Anyway, it's a *completely* different thing. You can stop worrying or whatever. I am in no way looking to replace you with my lab partner, babe."



"You don't need to reassure me, I'm not threatened. Bruce is a lovely man."



"Would *you* fuck him?"



Pepper props herself up on one elbow and looks down at Tony, eyebrows raised.



He frowns. "Okay, in an imaginary world where he was into it and you were ok with it. I mean. Fine, yes, I probably totally would. He's like a big scruffy teddy bear. In, y'know, a hot way."



Pepper smiles and settles back down, snuggling closer, lazily kissing his exposed skin. "Good."



"Good?"



"He really, really needs someone to touch him. Poor thing."



"So you're setting him up with *me*?"



"Oh, I'd fuck him too. In a heartbeat."



"I. See."



"Mm, you threatened?" Pepper pecks a tiny kiss at the corner of his mouth.



"...hm. No, actually, no I am not. Huh. Interesting. But. Huh." He pokes her. "Let me get this straight. You're saying you want to, what, have a threesome with me and Bruce?"



"I'm saying I'm game if you are."



"That's... wow." Tony lays looking up at the ceiling for a minute. "I will admit, I am surprised. However," he glances down at himself, "I am also apparently no longer bound by the rules of the refractory period."



"Ooh, let me see."



*



Pepper looks out over the glittering star-scape of Manhattan spread below them, one hand on the glass. After a minute, she returns to the sofa beside Tony and pours herself some more wine. "There is absolutely nothing I don't love about this place... well, when I'm not dealing with bills or staff reports or logistics meetings."



Tony may or may not have actually heard her. He shifts, makes the smallest, thoughtful sound, shifts again. She waits.



"What if he only likes one of us?"



Pepper grins into her glass. "So you've been thinking about it?" It had been several nights since their conversation on the subject, and she had begun to assume that Tony wanted to leave the idea in the realm of fantasy.



Tony rolls his eyes. "Serious question."



"That would be fine."



He stares at her. "Would it?"



"Do I usually lie to you?"



"What if it's not just sex?"



"Tony, he's already become, like, your hetero life-mate... using a loose definition of hetero... in a couple of months. You love him -- ah, stop, do NOT deny it, you do! And it's okay! Whatever this becomes, it's okay! I never thought I could keep you monogamous anyway, so --"



"WOAH, fuck that, no, you think I couldn't be monogamous for you??"



"I think it's not your natural state."



Tony sets down his tumbler, places his hand on Pepper's knee, and looks her in the eyes. "Don't. Okay? Please don't assume you know what I can and can't give you. I know it's the rational thing to draw conclusions from past behavior, but that is not fair to me, it's not fair to us. I thought you knew how serious I am about this."



"Oh honey, I do." Pepper kisses him on the mouth, tasting warmth and heavy scotch. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean that the way it sounded. I trust you." She leans back and considers. "And honestly, yeah, if you told me you'd fucked some bimbo you met earlier today in an elevator, we'd have a major problem. But if it's someone you care about, if it's something real, I don't *want* to deny you that. I'm more worried about whether or not I should be inserting myself into this situation." Tony furrows his brow and cocks his head slightly to one side. She sighs. "Okay, what if we angle for a threesome and he ends up into me and *not* you? Could you handle it if, say, he and I ended up dating and you weren't involved? I'm in no way anticipating that, but we haven't even approached him yet, so who knows how he feels, or... heck, if he's even actually into guys."



Tony scoffs. "Have you met him? I mean, he's not gay, he's had girlfriends, but the man sure as fuck is not straight."



Pepper gives a shrug of agreement. "All I'm saying is, you have a point. This could be unpredictable, and I don't want to somehow steal your boyfriend away from you. Because I'll admit, he's incredibly sweet. If we started something, I might not want to stop. But I don't want to hurt you."



Tony looks down into his glass as if it will tell him something useful. “Obviously, if he was interested in both of us, that would be ideal... that would be *absurdly* hot. I am in actual fact getting a little hard right now." She cocks an eyebrow. "True story," he says. He stands up and begins to pace. "So, assuming you're as into this as I am," he points at her without looking or stopping, "which seems like a fair bet, we *should* see if maybe he would be too. Because, wow. We agree we can’t predict exactly what’ll happen, but that’s alright. If he's only into one of us, we can... do a two-on-one thing, that could work. And down the road, if you guys had a thing, I wouldn’t tell either of you that you had to stop, even if I wasn’t involved." He stops. "I think." Sighing, he sits back down. "Shit, what kind of asshole would that make me? But I... I mean, you're not entirely wrong about me having feelings for the guy." He looks away at nothing in particular, snatches up his glass, and drains it. Then he takes a deep breath. "I'm not sure what they are at this point, but yeah, there are, definitely, feelings. So it *would* be hard for me, if I were on the outside. But I trust you both, and, I don't know, maybe I could at least watch?"



A small, fond smile breaks onto Pepper's face. She slips off the couch and sits at Tony's feet, wrapping her arms around his knees. "We don't have to do this."



"But fucking hell, I *want* to now," he murmurs.



"It'll change things."



"Yeah, maybe." He strokes her cheek with his fingers. "But, fuck it, we’re solid, we can handle this.  And taking risks is kind of my thing. In fact, this might be the longest I've ever deliberated on something I wanted without acting on it. You're a bad influence, woman."



"Ha."



Tony kisses her hair. "Let's you and me make our best effort to rock his world. And, whatever comes next, IF anything, we'll figure it out between the three of us. We're incredibly smart people, we'll make it work."



*