Chapter Text
The incident with Tony was definitely not cheating. It wasn't even an incident. Because nothing really happened. He just gave her a friendly, quite short, foot massage. Nothing nobody would need to mention to their spouses.
Pepper was married to Phil Coulson and Tony was married to Darcy Lewis and everybody lived their lives happily ever after. At least Tony did.
She was happy for him. Really. For real. She knew when he was happy and he was happy with her. He had become a better person with Darcy. He was on time for meetings. He was less intolerable, probably just for short times, but for her. Something he had never done when they had been together. Or he hadn't done enough.
She had never married him. He had asked several times. She had always known if he had her he would stop pursuing her and become even more intolerable.
The whole relationship had been a years-long toxic shitstorm. It had taken a lot of therapy to get out of it. Creating boundaries with Tony had been her greatest accomplishment, bigger than becoming the most affluent person in the world.
She had married Phil Coulson to show herself she was over Tony. Phil was her dear friend. A responsible adult. A person who listened and who was always there for her. A man who knew her secrets (not so many of them as Tony). Phil was her dream of a balanced, harmonious life, and her treat to herself.
When she had promised to marry him, she had promised to be monogamous. No sex with others. No threesomes with Bruce Banner. No parties like those with her playboy boyfriend, when he watched her fucking with other men and then carried her home and took good care of her. When she had been with Tony she had done Thor (the God of Fertility!), Bucky, Steve...
She had gladly given up it all for an adult, balanced, intellectually, and emotionally stimulating monogamous marriage.
She had never stopped loving Tony, though. But loving didn't mean fucking him, wishing for the love he could never give, and breaking yourself. When she had permitted herself to love him as much as she did while prioritizing her wants and needs, she had set herself free from him.
She knew he loved her, too. In his way. But he couldn't be the man she needed.
They had had their moments too, of course. Especially when they had the triad with Bruce Banner. She missed him. But he couldn't be the man she needed either.
But could Phil?
She had made up her mind. She decided to have him. To love him for the rest of her life. She had committed.
He gave her so much. But he couldn't give her all she needed. He tried, though. He tried so much in bed that it was almost annoying. So she tried to want less. To be satisfied with less. To do with less.
Unfortunately, Tony, who was on time at meetings nowadays, looking handsome and put together and smelling another woman, knew when she was satisfied and when she wasn't. At this level, he had always cared for her satisfaction. Like he could disappoint her and break his promises he had never had the intention to keep and then make everything right by fucking her. He had been able to fool her with that for a too long time.
Yes, she was angry at him for being so good at using the trick. She was angry at herself for being such a fool. And she was the most irritating because she knew he read his mind at the moment when they should be focusing on the board meeting.
Oh, she would love to do the whole board of hers! She would love to lie down on the table and be fucked by all of them. In turns. And at the same time.
She smiled at the thought. She would get through this meeting.
And she did. She was sharp, polite, and on point like she always was.
After the meeting, Tony followed her to her office. They talked about work, but he was watching her. He was seeing her. He saw through her clothes, into her soul. Into her unsatisfied needs.
She sat on her chair. He sat on the edge of her desk.
She let her shoe drop and lifted her foot into his lap. He started massaging her foot.
They had sat like this so many times before. Those times had ended him on his knees his face between her legs.
This time he just sat on the corner of her desk. His hands didn't travel even on her ankles. He kept pushing the bottoms of her feet. He knew exactly where to touch and how hard to press.
She felt his touch on her feet and the pressure echoing inside her body. In her thighs, in her belly (especially in her lower belly!), on her chest...
She laid back and closed her eyes. They had stopped talking. She let her breathing come in and out. First more relaxed, then faster. Harder.
She didn't touch herself, but she used her muscles inside of her to finish the pleasure.
Of course, he knew she had come. He didn't say anything about it. Later they talked about work like nothing had happened.
She didn't know if he told his wife about this. Had he done something wrong? It wasn't her fault if he had. She couldn't believe he and Darcy would be monogamous.
But she was. A foot massage was not a non-monogamous thing to do. That absolutely hadn't been sex with Tony, just an innocent and friendly non-erotic massage. She didn't need to mention her husband anything about that.