where one wishes to be in control (and usually is) and the other's pretty much uncontrollable

My goodness. I do believe that's Obadiah/Tony in a nutshell. The description of Tony as uncontrollable (wait, that is Tony, isn't it XD) is spot-on, I think. Tony, especially as played by RDJ, has this wonderful sense of being a wild card and reveling in being a wildcard. Like, with the cackling laughter when he falls off the bed with Christine? And the whole cheeseburger shtick?

(Though I wonder how Obadiah clashes or cooperates with Pepper...)

dafnap up above is working on this amaaaaazing fic talking about the consequences that would come if a) Pepper sleeps with Obadiah during the time that Tony is gone and b) Tony finds out. But yeah, you're right. There's stunningly little Obadiah-Pepper interaction fic in fandom despite the fact that throughout the whole movie, Pepper calls Obadiah by his first name.

All of which is to say, I poked over at your LJ just now, and OMG. Augustus in heels! Iron Man/Gargoyles! I am in crazy, crazy love. Would you mind if I friended you? There's no obligation to friend back at all, but I don't think I can live without having somebody who can casually reference Suetonius on my f-list. XD