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The sun spans all over her body. The ends of her toes are hotter at the tips and the smooth fabric of the beach chair underneath her cover-up skirt. It's at least 110°F but surprisingly not stifling. It's like a warm hug despite all the shade of the umbrella looking over her outstretched figure.Bora Bora is exactly what Pepper feels the three of them needed.A pair of sunglasses are perched on her nose with just enough of an angle for her to peer with her brilliant blue eyes at her boys.Tony has his feet dipped in their pool that lies at the very corner of their overwater bungalow.
It's a deep blue abyss of rippling water surrounded by light brown wooden planks and the railings. The very edge that faces away from Pepper leads into the ocean with a falling waterfall with enough leeway that Tony could dive into the real water of the French Polynesia if he wanted to. Peter is swimming deep into said bright azure expanse of water, cascading towards their hut with ripples of white.The Main Botu Reef is unlike anything she's ever seen. The water is a bright aquamarine that transitions into a royal blue and leads further into the far horizon of the ocean’s arches bliss. The ombre between the light beige of the sand into the light and dark of the sea seems soothing in way, with the tide springing forward onto the sand of island and then disappearing, no ounce of a shadow left from the heat and absorption of the tan colored sand grains.She told Tony years ago that she had only seen the clear waters of the Bucco Reef in Tobago in college for a brief half an hour before heading back to her hotel with friends to spend Spring Break drunk. She remembers him vowing to take her somewhere similar and forgetting about it all together.When they land in Bora Bora, she knows this is why she loves Tony so much; for the strange details he chooses to indulge in and the efforts he goes to, just to see her smile.Their private over-water bungalow is the only one in sight for miles. Their two-house site is reclusive and only the housekeepers are allowed in. The actual island is a fifteen minute boat ride from their dock.The houses themselves are topped with a taupe straw-like roof and a warm beams of wood that clash beautifully against the the cool colors of South Pacific.Every morning, she can see the water from their windows and giant glass wall frame. When Pepper exits from the door of their hut, she’s greeted by the sight of ocean for acres and acres and her back to the mainland of Bora Bora. The cool breeze of 5 A.M. is refreshing and it almost distracts her from the fact that she can never sleep in, courtesy of her hectic life at S.I. She can stare towards the morning light that becomes more and more defined from behind her with each moment it rises, squint and see just out of the corner of her eye the island to the south. She chooses not to stare at it too often, for it makes her worried about work and the company and how easy it would be to just get back onto the mainland and send an email to check. The beach is full of white sand and the saltwater foam floats and disintegrates into bubbles as the tide crashes. She can see the outlines of other beach houses in the bend around of the coast. Their off the coast of Motu Ahuna, an island far from the mainland, where she can see the resorts situated on Tevairoa. She can see a giant boardwalk that connects twenty structures and small ant-sized figures in the afternoon, plunging into the cool, shallow current. The bright red she can make out is debated fiercely between Tony, who insists he knows best about luxury vacations, and Peter, who exasperatedly implies his enhanced hearing is better, as either a life preserver or a child's inflatable toy within first hour they make it to their bungalow.Miraculously, overnight without either Peter or Pepper's knowledge, a large inflatable Iron Man raft and a giant floating spider pool chair outside of the kid's door appear, just out of sight of the glass plane windows that face the the ocean.She witnesses bomboras crash against the lone rocks that decorate the horizon and driftwood float further away on a journey across the Pacific Ocean. She feels that the wave that crashes and is reeled back in front of her is an analogy; it's the epiphany that she could be a thousand miles from Peter and Tony, be pissed at blowing up their lab again or full of rage at the danger they actively put themselves in, but she could never feel truly happy without them.The sun stretches in the skyline being the sea. It shines a blend of orange, pink and yellow in the morning and purplish-navy with speckles of red at sunset. The brilliant night sky is her favorite, no pollution or plumes of industrial smoke like Manhattan, and not single perfectly white cloud out of place among the clearest, twinkling stars in the world.The trio of staff come to visit on a fisherman's boat from the neighboring island for less than two hours. They tour Tony, Pepper and Peter around on their arrival day and then visit every two days after that. Oliana, the only woman, gray hairs crowning her hair with fading caramel strands blowing in the sandy air comes with fresh groceries and clean sheets. Her wrinkled under-eye bags are a stark contrast to her dark smooth amber skin.Her body is frail as she looks to be somewhat older but certainly not weak.Pepper's Samoan isn't her strongest suit, but if Oliana asks her about the million CFA Francs someone leaves as a tip and the CEO relays that she has no idea how it happened, then she thinks her butchered accent will suffice.One of the men, John she remembers, is an electrician and plumber. He is a French man with skin whiter than Peter, hair a blondish-gray and sunspots dancing in between his freckles. He makes sure the electricity is still running smoothly and repairs the breaker boxes across the island when it busts unexpectedly, despite Tony ranting with Peter that two geniuses can fix a simple fuse malfunction and end up shocking themselves.They have a private chef and emergency services on call if they really need its but when Pepper can't get Peter and Tony of their phones the first day the land on the white beaches, she doesn't think any emergency will be the reason she murders someone. She ends up confiscating them and putting them away under a Lysol bottle in her bedroom’s bathroom sink.The island is still and silent, the exact opposite of Pepper Potts’ life. The waves that reach the bottom of her vision, near her husband, through her tinted shades are calm and alluring with white and beige seashells dazzling along the coastline that curves near the right of her peripheral vision. and the bright jade swaying palm trees dancing to the rhythm of the slight breeze.She's glad that, for once, her mind isn't a frenzy of acute frustration and tight deadlines. She can just sit and breathe.The towel resting beneath and on top of her legs is silky and thin enough that she can feel the rush of air that blows through as the tide comes in.She's not usually one for Tony's lavish vacations with the Vegas strip shopping sprees and Monte Carlo's obsessive luxury casinos, but she'll admit, the view is astounding. Not that she'd ever say it out loud to his face, Tony's ego barely fits into the overpriced, tiny real estate of Manhattan.Their connected dock is made of a light colored palm wooden board and trails off into the distance, a boardwalk of adventure.To her left is a glass of vibrant cyan blue-lemonade with fancy Russian vodka resting on a side table covered in white hand woven fiber and small silver jewels. To her right lies a simple novel that May Parker recommended her about cleansing the mind.She had agreed that Peter's spring break should be spent with friends and family but Peter admitted to her that he always yearned for a getaway. Pepper knows that the Parker household was always pressed for money and the last thing Peter could be considered was ungrateful, but it still surprised her. The boy didn’t ask for much outside of a family unit who genuinely cares for him and flails turning beet red when offered Tony’s credit card. He wears the shoes with holes in the soles and always make sure everyone has eaten before taking seconds for his metabolism.The kid deserves the world and after Tony's ramblings of Decathlon competitions and their newest invention or addition to their suits, Pepper couldn't say no to either of their big, brown eyes.He has the world on his shoulders and it’s rewarding to see him unwind and truly relax.As Pepper takes in the view behind her dark sunglasses, she can see Tony slip out of the pool and into the beach waves. In the seconds she reaches for her drink, Tony is holding Peter up and throwing him under the waves, laughing musically and darting past his teenager form as the boy splashes his mentor and shakes water out from the mess of his hair like a puppy from a bath.They go for a few laps deeper into the shining abyss of blue with reflections of the sky’s yellow and orange with the inflatable toys. The smile on Peter’s face crinkles around the edges and his eyes have a light that is almost childlike and refreshing. His cheeks flush with pink heat and his freckles dance around his body. His laugh is bubbly when he back flips off a nearby rock as a pair of grey, whistling dolphins jump up into the air a few yards away. Her husband has never looked so proudly paternal and so easy, grinning from ear to ear and chasing the sun with his favorite two people.She's seen his frantic scrambles to protect the world and his late-night binges locked in his workshop. The bed is empty and her heart aches for the hole in his chest where the evil in the world ripped it out.Peter and Tony are so similar. They carry too much on their shoulders and try to protect what can't be prevented. To Pepper, that makes them hero enough and the most the world can ask for.She takes advantage of these rare domestic moments and exists in pure bliss in the ‘peace’ she can call life with a Stark; the world could be ending tomorrow but she knows one thing in the back of her mind as she leans back into her chair and smiles.Her two boys could be at rock bottom or the top of the world but it doesn’t matter; the love they’d have for each other would never waver for a second.For Pepper, that's more than enough.