"Hey, Rhodey, you ready to go? Pepper's here already and we're waiting." Tony said as he knocked on Rhodey's bedroom door.
Inside the room, Rhodey had worked up a devilish plan. He knew that Tony and Pepper had been spending some time together lately, as friends of course, but every time he walked in on them hanging out together they were flirting unconsciously, and he was sick of it. He wanted something to be done. And he knew that if they went to lunch together, alone, something had to happen.
"S-sorry, guys, my mom piled on some chores, it was kinda last minute. I have to stick around the house and get them done before she gets home. Sorry," Rhodey chuckled silently. Tony shrugged and he and Pepper left.
Tony and Pepper were sitting in a deli downtown, enjoying their lunch on a Saturday afternoon.
As the two of them sat, ate and chatted, a girl from their school, also enjoying a sub with her friends, by the name of Cassidy, approached the two excitedly on the way back to her seat.
"Oh my gosh, are you two on a date? Is that your girlfriend? I have to tell everyone! I knew you two would get together someday. You're soo cute together." Cassidy babbled. It wasn't hard to figure out why Pepper sometimes chatted during their shared study hall.
"NO!" The two blurted in unison.
"Were just friends, having lunch, not a date, just us friends, nothing special about that, friends have lunch all the time…" Tony blabbed nervously.
"Oh. Okay. It looked like you were on a date, but I guess not...well bye! See ya in study hall Pepper."
As she walked back to her own friends, the two sat in an immensely awkward silence. Pepper was thinking about how she wished it was a date and Tony was thinking that maybe it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world if it were a date.
Nothing would come out of his mouth that was anything close to a confession, though, of course.
"Soo…" Tony said, to break the ice.
"I gotta go, lots of homework to do, so little time, dad's gonna want me home for dinner…" Pepper said, at the same time as Tony said,
"I should go, I have lots of stuff to do with the armor, tons of repairs…I'll call you later…"
"Tony, that's what a boyfriend says after a date."
"Right, so not calling later…" Pepper nodded. They stood in silence for a moment, then Pepper waved a goodbye and left for home.
~…~
Tony returned to the armory to work on the armor when Rhodey walked in.
"How was your lunch date?" Rhodey chuckled. Tony blushed profusely.
"It wasn't a date! But I guess everyone thinks so…"
"Why, what happened?" Rhodey asked with a sneaky smile.
"Cassidy thought it was a date, too." Tony finished.
"So? You've gotten the comment before. Hasn't bothered you till now."
"Yeah, this is the weird part. I felt like I wanted it to be one." Rhodey couldn't help but feel like his plan had succeeded.
"Maybe it should be, dude." Tony was silent for a moment.
"What do you mean?" He asked, deciding that he was confused now.
"I mean maybe you like her. You know, like her?" Rhodey clarified.
"I-I don't even know if I do or not, I've never really liked a girl before. I don't know what it's like."
"Well, my friend, if you start thinking about her, do your palms ever get sweaty?" Rhodey asked, arm around Tony's shoulder in a brotherly fashion.
"On occasion…why?" Rhodey removed his arm and circled his friend.
"She ever make you nervous? Ever stutter around 'er?" He asked.
"Sometimes." Tony responded in a trivial tone.
"Do you ever feel that you can't mess anything up because she'll think you're weird?" He asked.
"Once or twice, yeah," Rhodey patted his friend's back.
"One last question…this one requires you to think a little bit." Rhodey began. "If the possibility of her not being in your life ever popped into your mind, somehow, for some reason, under some circumstances, was the result you thinking of the inability to go on without her? Like, if you ever thought that she somehow was ever in an accident of some sort, would you think that you're better off dead because you can't bear the thought of life without her?" Rhodey asked. Tony was silent. He thought for a moment. He imagined that Pepper got into a car accident and was minutes away from slipping under. He imagined being by her bedside, holding her hand and squeezing it tight, indicating that he didn't want to let her go.
He imagined himself thinking that he didn't want to live without her by his side to brighten his day during his worst moments. He imagined himself watching her slip away and he pictured himself letting go of reality and himself just to be with her forever. He imagined everything about the situation, and he knew his answer.
"Definitely."
"Then that, my friend, is a little something I like to call love. It happens when you know all the things I've just told you are true. It means you need her in your life and you need her smile every day. So. What do we do when we like a girl?" Rhodey explained, ending with a little lesson for Tony.
"Uhh…I…ask her out?" Tony asked.
"Good, Tony! That's right! So what are you going to do next?"
"Uh…ask her out?"
"Good! Wow, you do learn fast! So go to her apartment and tell her everything we just learned here."
"What, are you crazy? I can't do that! I don't know how she feels! I could make a huge mistake and ruin our friendship." Rhodey sighed.
"I thought I taught you that you have to take that risk."
"Yeah, well, that risk is gonna have to wait till I'm ready."
Rhodey sighed. "I suppose that's along the lines of what I taught you…"
Eh the ending is poopie :P but I got nothing else. It started with the deli scene and the rest I kinda just thought of on the spot. I thought it'd be funny if Rhodey had to teach Tony about love cuz Tony's just, you know, clueless. Lol, I'll stop talking now…review?