From The Dark | Peter Parker x OC ✔️

Chapter One Hundred Forty-Seven

A/N: you are now speaking to someone who finally owns a laptop again and just spent half her day happily writing 6,000 words of the book (very, very happy chapters, might i add)

anyway, so i watched the first episode of the Loki show and WHEN I TELL I CRIED— i won't spoil anything but if anyone wants to talk about it in the comments, i'm down

alright so this one of the last four chapters of the book and let me just warn y'all, it ain't too happy towards the end

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"Adelaide...she's been shot."

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MALIBU, CALIFORNIA

Tony had been nervous before, but this was different.

Sure, he thought, it's just Pepper. He could ask her over the phone if he wanted to. She would probably say no then, but it'd save him from a few angry glares. No, no this was good. This was, in fact, great. It was romantic, it was thoughtful, it was everything he had been lacking for the past decade or two all wrapped up into one giant bam with a bow on top.

In other words, it could not have possibly been more like Tony Stark.

Pepper thought they were coming to Malibu for a conference. When they arrived, he forcibly took her to the beach for a nice walk— her words not his. He personally thought it was an awkward walk. Considering the fat diamond in his pocket, he had a hard time discussing cheeses with her.

When evening fell, he took her to a ridiculously expensive and over the top restaurant with a beautiful view of the ocean from their outside table.

"Have I mentioned you look beautiful tonight?" Tony said as he pulled out her chair for her. She laughed a little.

"Only like a million times," she said, tilting her head up to look at him. He paused for a moment, smiling at her. He looked at her— like really looked at her. And he wondered if she was worth letting his heart malfunction a bit each time he saw her. He decided of course she was. She was worth that and so much more.

"And it's still not enough," he mumbled. He held her gaze for another beat before taking his own seat across from her. Almost immediately, a waiter approached them.

"Good evening," he greeted politely, "My name is Jared and I will be your waiter for this evening."

"Hello, Jared," Tony said, "What's that short for, by the way? Jaredala? Jaredonimo?"

"Er, no, sir. Just...Jared," he said awkwardly. Tony just looked at his glass and shrugged as if he had been let down.

"Well I'm Tony. Short for Anthony," he said, "And this is Pepper. Short for Virginia."

The waiter looked between them, slightly caught off guard. When his manager had told him that Tony Stark had booked a table, Jared had pitied the waiter who would have to serve the billionaire all night. To his fear, he was the one assigned to Tony Stark's table. He could only hope for a tip that would cover the teasing and confusing humor that came with the whole billionaire package.