Okay, this is a bit weird. This used to be a Tony/Pepper fic with the same title, however because it was based on an RP between me and my now ex-girlfriend, I deleted it, and I've converted it into a Pepperony story. If you were following when it featured Pepper, I'm very sorry to whip the rug out, but it was too difficult to continue, and at the same time I didn't want to give it up.
Anyways, here we go!
It was half past ten and Tony was already bored. He'd been thrown out of one lesson and told to report to the principal's office, which he hadn't done, because let's face it, unless he was dragged there by a teacher, he wasn't going to step foot in that office. Instead, he'd found a nice quiet spot under a tree in the courtyard, rolled himself a joint, and closed his eyes as the sun washed over him. Flashbacks of the previous night flitted behind his eyelids every now and then, but a few drags on his joint quickly cleared away any notion of his father's angry fists. Even the bruises on his ribs didn't seem to hurt that much anymore. He must have sat out there for a good hour before he heard the bell ring to signal that it was lunch time. Flicking away the ash and stubbing out the joint, he stretched, wincing only slightly as the pain throbbed back to life, and stood up slowly, thinking about who he could sponge a few bucks off for lunch, when someone walked into the courtyard. It was a girl, he thought he recognised her from his Math class, but he didn't acknowledge her as she walked past him. He thought he could see a faint blush in her pale cheeks as she went to sit underneath one of the trees dotted around the otherwise deserted courtyard. He watched her, knowing it was making her feel uncomfortable to have his eyes boring into the back of her head as she unpacked the dorkiest lunchbox he'd ever seen, and he smiled at the thought. She was pretty attractive, he mused as he slowly sauntered over to the same tree she sat under, long dark brown hair, gorgeous green eyes, shame she was such a nerd or he could have taken a liking to her.
"Hey." He said when he got to her, sitting down next to her, just this side of her personal space. "So, you gonna give me half of that sandwich or what?" he asked, looming over her shoulder to see what was inside the lunchbox.
"Uh, no." she snorted derisively, the blush on her cheeks deepening further, and Tony grinned. The girl had attitude, and he liked that about her.
"What's on it?" he asked, grinning annoyingly at her. "Ham? Cheese? I'm hungry enough to eat anything really, so-"
Pepper sighed, as if it was taking major effort just to listen to him. "If I give you half my sandwich, will you leave me alone?"
Tony grinned and nodded, saluting her. "Scout's honour." He said, eagerly taking the sandwich from her and cramming it into his mouth. He hadn't eaten in nearly a day, and the peanut butter stuck deliciously to the roof of his mouth. He groaned softly, finishing the sandwich in seconds and licking his fingers. "So, what's your story?"
Pepper rolled her eyes and sighed again. "I thought you were going to leave me alone?"
"Well, ya see, I'm not really a Boy Scout." He shrugged. "So technically, I lied." He pulled out some tobacco and a small, see through, plastic bag, sprinkling some of the contents into the cigarette he was rolling and lighting it up, inhaling deeply. "Wanna puff in return?" he asked, holding the join out to her and grinning again. She scowled at him and tried to ignore him, taking an angry bite of her sandwich, to which he laughed. "Damn, babe, you got a stick up your ass? Want me to pull it out for you?"
"I just don't smoke." She growled, wafting her hand as the smoke drifted into her face. "And you shouldn't either, especially not that stuff."
Tony snorted and took an extra-long drag. "Cry me a river." He huffed, looking away for a moment, up at the sun. "So, your name's Pepper, right? What's your story, sweet cheeks? How did you end up with such a weird name?"
She narrowed her eyes at him, finishing off her chips and draining the small carton of milk she had left. "Yeah, my name's Pepper, and you're Tony Stark, and I don't have a story, so why don't you just leave me alone?"
Tony sighed and threw his head back obnoxiously before standing up. "Fine, 'scuse me for trying to make conversation." He muttered before waving to one of his friends coming around the corner. "Hey! Asshole! We going out tonight or what?"
Pepper watched him leave, feeling slightly guilty. She wasn't exactly the most popular of girls at the school, which is why she tended to eat alone in the courtyard, and she'd been rude to the only person to speak to her in days properly. Granted, he wasn't exactly Mr Personality himself, but he'd tried, if only to get some food. She promised herself that next time she'd be nicer to him, if there was a next time.
Tony managed to make it through the entire day and most of the next morning without getting thrown out of class again, but when he was thrown out, he still didn't make it to the Principal's office, instead finding a group of his friends who were trying to pick the lock on the front gate out of the school, with little success. They were never going to get the thing open, more likely they'd get caught in the act, but the rush from knowing he was going to end up annoying someone was too good to resist. And he got a few deals in along the way, earning his pocket money for the week and hopefully enough to get his dealer off his back. He'd just turned around to make sure no one was watching them, when he caught sight of Pepper rounding the corner to head towards the gym. Given that the last time they'd spoken, she'd been a bit of a bitch to him, he smirked and nudged his friend.
"Hey, watch this." He whispered before hollering to Pepper. "Hey! Pepper!" he waited until he had her attention before grabbing his crotch and his friends fell about laughing. "Want some of this?"
At first, she'd actually been quite happy to see him, and then he made fun of her and she'd never wanted to kick someone more in her life. She blushed furiously and scowled at him, turning away and heading to her usual lunch spot under the tree as quick as she could. If asked, Tony wouldn't have been able to say why he'd done it, just that he thought it would have been funny, and he needed to keep his friends entertained. As it was, they never did make it out of the school gates. The janitor caught them in the act and they all made a break for it, Tony running right into the path of Pepper's lunch spot, panting heavily as he stopped running.
"Hey, there you are." He panted, as though he'd meant to run into her. "What culinary delights have we got today?"
Pepper didn't answer him, merely turning away slightly and silently chewing on her sandwich. She was annoyed at him, not for the fact that he'd made fun of her – enough people already did that – but for some reason it was more that it was him that had made fun of her that hurt more. He could tell she was annoyed, and he sighed as he sat down next to her. "Come on, don't be sore about the whole crotch grabbing thing." He said. "It was just a joke, don't be such a…girl."
Her eyebrows were still furrowed, but she laughed and relaxed a bit at his joke. "Last time I looked I didn't have a choice." She replied, raising a hand before he could speak. "And no, you can't check!"
Tony bit his lip after trying to speak and laughed again, leaning against the tree and pulling a questionable cigarette out of his jacket pocket. "See, you lost the stick after all." He chuckled, lighting the cigarette and taking a puff. "Seriously though, you got any grub? Or money? I haven't eaten since yesterday."
Her features softened a little at his latter statement and she lowered her sandwich. "What?" she asked, her face full of confusion. "You seriously haven't eaten since yesterday? Why not?"
He realised he'd let a little too much of his personal and home life slip through with this conversation a little too late and quickly tried to back pedal, swallowing nervously.
"Uh…there…just wasn't a lot of food where I was." He said, which wasn't exactly a lie. He'd been turfed out of the house and spent the night in the coal shed. He blushed and tried to hide the soot stains on the hem of his shirt, the same shirt he'd been wearing for the last two days. Pepper's frown only deepened at this, and he desperately prayed that she wouldn't ask where he'd been, which of course, she did, and he blushed again while trying to think of a story to tell her. "No big, I just had an argument with my Dad and had to stay someplace else." He shrugged.
"Where?" she asked, handing over an apple and a bottle of mineral water – the only things she had left, which he gratefully accepted.
"My pal's house." He said, and then to throw her off the trail. "Thanks. For this I mean." He gestured to the apple as he took a massive bite out of it. "And sorry for earlier. I have a slight control problem, in that I don't have any." He smirked at her.
She blushed at the look he gave her and shook her head. "It's okay, and I understand. At least you talk to me. I mean, I'm not exactly trying to be a social butterfly or anything, I just mean…you're not the worst." She blushed again and caught his eyes for a moment before looking away, kicking some gravel with her shoe. Tony grinned wider at this, crunching down on his apple.
"I get it, you dig me. Nothing to be ashamed of." He winked at her, causing her to turn even redder. He handed her the bottle of water for them to share and sighed. "So, what's your story?"
She laughed, taking a sip of the water, hyper-aware that his lips had just touched the same plastic. "Um…I'm sixteen, I live with my aunt, my parents died when I was eight, I like ballet….that's about it." She said, handing him back the water bottle, their fingers brushing against one another's. "What's yours?"
He winced a little at the mention of her parents, knowing that for most kids it was a bad thing to see them die. "I'm sorry." He mumbled as he took the bottle back, but she waved his apology away, urging him to continue as he took the bottle back and chugged the rest of the water. "Sixteen as well." he said once finished. "Supposed to be graduating this year but I doubt my grades will pick up. Besides, you don't need a diploma to get girls and blow." he grinned, purposefully leaving out any mention of his family. He was about to continue when the principal appeared and headed straight for him. "Oh crap, the warden." he cursed, standing up. "See ya tomorrow babe." he said before darting away, the principal hot on his heels.
Pepper was left holding the empty water bottle, wondering if that had really just happened. He seemed a much nicer guy than she'd initially thought, and if she was honest with herself, she liked him. Maybe a little too much. She waited for him the next day, under 'their' tree, but he never showed. She wondered briefly if he'd not been serious when he said he'd see her tomorrow, perhaps he was only using her to get fed, but when he still hadn't turned up on the third day, she went looking for his friends, asking if they knew where he was. She didn't get an answer, they merely laughed at her and asked if she was his flavour of the week, to which she didn't know the answer, but even so, she couldn't shake the feeling of worry that gripped at her. But with no way of contacting him, all she could do was sit by the tree and wait, praying he'd show up.