Happy Valentine's Day! :D I almost made it on the day of, but an hour or two isn't that bad. I had some free time, and thought, hey perfect time to write a cute one-shot, which turns out will be made into a two shot, because I felt like it. :)

Disclaimer: IMAA doesn't belong to me. Marvel and Nicktoons or whatnot own IMAA.

"How do you even manage to screw up that badly?" Rhodey asked, trying and failing to contain his laughter.

The two sat in Rhodey's house in the room that used to be Tony's room, but had been turned into a guest bedroom since his dad had returned. Tony sat on the bed, a fluffy pillow in his lap. Rhodey stood in front of the bed, holding his stomach as he laughed.

Tony, still red in embarrassment from the fiasco from earlier, groaned in his misery. "Will you stop bringing it up?"

Rhodey had been laughing at Tony's mistake ever since he first heard of it, which was hours ago. Tony was quick to regret telling his closest friend, who seemed to get quite the kick out of what most likely just became one of Tony's most embarrassing moments. What sucked the worst, was that it was all because he thought he was being sweet and kind, but turns out, he failed to even do that.

It all started during his free period, the one he gladly shared with his favorite redheaded girl. The one girl who somehow managed to steal his heart in the most agonizing way possible. At first it was gradual and pleasant, but then something changed. He didn't know what, but what ever it was, it hit him hard. He was suddenly seeing his friend in a whole new light, a light he had never imagined he'd be seeing her in. In the beginning, he was confused and unsure, but he still enjoyed the feeling. But after so much, he suddenly found himself falling for her and he was sure falling hard, like a dropping a cinderblock off of a ten story building.

And he'd only had this feeling now for a few weeks, but it was enough to drive him mad. So when a special date came, he felt that it was the perfect time to give into his feelings and give it a shot. He'd man up and tell her. He planned on telling her everything. Even if it was so cheesy it was hard to listen to. He'd tell her how hard he had fallen for her and how beautiful he thought she was. He'd tell her that he'd want her by his side for as long as humanly possible and as long as she could bear having him at her side. He'd tell her that her smile was best when she showed her teeth and that her smile blinded him every time she smiled. He'd even tell her that he could never stop thinking about her. It was going to be epically romantic. The best day of his life thus far.

But, when the moment came, he choked up. It went something like this:

"Pepper, there's something I've been wanting to tell you," he had begun nervously as he played with the fabric of his shirt.

He hadn't realized that she had been chewing something, so her reply was delayed. "Hmm?"

Apparently, she had a lot to chew on, so her cheeks were puffed out from whatever she had shoved in her mouth. He hadn't noticed that she had even brought any food up to the roof with them. The sunlight made her face seem like it glowed as her brown eyes watched him patiently and expectantly. She looked almost excited.

It was then that he realized the severity of what his words meant. What he had to say could either make it or break it for him and he wasn't sure if he wanted to find out which one. If he made his feelings known, it could change everything. Even as much as ruining their friendship if she didn't feel the same. It was the point of no return if he spoke the words he wanted to say.

But it's Valentine's Day, he had told himself in encouragement. That has to mean something, right?

He took a deep breath. "Pepper, I don't know how, but I have fallen for you. And I've fallen hard. Your beautiful smile and your brilliant wits are something I just can't resist. Every time we're together, my heart does flips and my face gets warm. We've known each other for a while now and I don't know how I hadn't realized this sooner, but I think I might be in love with you."

At least, that was what he wanted to say...But instead this came out:

"You have something right here," he chickened out while pointing to her cheek.

Her hand shot to her cheek in embarrassment, all curiosity and excitement gone from her eyes. She swallowed the food that was in her mouth. "What?"

Tony had mentally slapped himself over and over again, before excusing himself to use the bathroom. But that wasn't exactly the embarrassing moment Rhodey was laughing at. No, it was Tony's backup plan that had gone so fatally wrong. Okay, maybe not fatally, but it was sill embarrassing enough.

His backup plan was very much so last minute and thought up on the fly. Because even his first plan was really just made up that morning. So during his time "in the bathroom", he took his time to create a quick letter. He thought maybe a letter would be romantic enough to make up for his failed verbal attempt. Then all he'd have to do was wait until she read the letter and then if she accepted, she'd come straight to him, hopefully excited and happy. Or wait until she came and slapped him for throwing a wall in their friendship.

His first mistake was forgetting to put Pepper's name in the letter. Which, wasn't so bad, because it was obviously for her. His next mistake was his lousy attempt at writing a romantic, non-clichéd letter. It was probably filled with too much cheesy quotes and a little overbearing on how he felt for her. His third mistake was forgetting to write his own name. Instead he accidentally left the end of the note as: Love. And that was it. But his last mistake took the cake.

It was the end of the hour, and Tony had walked Pepper to her locker, like the gentleman he was, or at least the gentleman he was trying to be. He walked off and decided that he wanted to see first hand what Pepper's reaction was. His stomach as tumbling and rolling and twisting, his heart was beating quicker the wings of hummingbird, and he found himself nervously shifting his weight on his feet.

He saw her open her locker and a slip of paper had fallen out on the ground. Tony watched anxiously as she bent over to pick it up. Then he waited and waited as she looked at it. But suddenly, all his anxiety and excitement was replaced by confusion, when Pepper just tossed he paper back insider her locker with no interest. She then shut her locker and headed to her next class.

For a moment, it felt like his heart was just crushed under a sledgehammer and dropped off a cliff. Did that mean she didn't like him back? Did she hate the letter? He couldn't understand where he went wrong. He tried to make himself clear on what his feelings were and he even tried to compliment her best features, because even he knew that girls liked to hear that about themselves. But did he go too far? Did she not like what he had to say about her?

"YES!" A sudden shout brought him from his troubled thoughts. His attention was brought to the girl who had a locker just next to Pepper's. She had red hair, which wasn't nearly as gorgeous as Pepper's in Tony's opinion, that bounced in her joy as she jumped in her happiness.

Her friend rushed over to her side with equal excitement. "You got a love letter? Who's it from?"

"I don't know, it doesn't have a name," the girl said, reading through the letter.

"Oh, a secret admirer!" the friend cheered. "And he likes your red hair!"

That was when Tony noticed it. The letter in the girl's hand, wasn't just any love letter. It was his love letter. His love letter that he had personally wrote specifically for Pepper. For her eyes only.

It took all his will not to let out a scream out of pure frustration. It was hard enough trying not to pass out from his embarrassment and failure. His letter to Pepper was now out for all to see, or at least all that this girl let see. All his personal thoughts and feelings were left open like a book to read. He felt so exposed, so vulnerable. No one else but Pepper was supposed to read that. It was meant for her and her only. But he had made the mistake of putting it in the wrong locker.

It wasn't until several minutes, after the late bell had rang, that he realized something. His name wasn't on the paper. Pepper's name wasn't even on the letter. Nothing pointed to any of them in the end. That he knew, because he memorized every word, every letter that he had wrote down in that letter. Nothing signified that it was him who wrote the letter and nothing pointed that it was intended for Pepper. It was a relieving thought if nothing else, that the letter at least couldn't be traced back to him. At least now, the girl can believe that she really did have a secret admirer and he wouldn't be hurting any feelings if he had to explain that it wasn't meant for her.

But the fact that he still forgot what locker was Pepper's, even when he stopped by it all the time, made the whole event all that more embarrassing. If anyone found out, he knew he'd never live it down. Now the whole school finding out, that would be nothing short of a nightmare.

But somehow, he had brought it up to Rhodey. At first, he thought maybe his friend could help him in his dilemma and help him figure out a new way to express his feelings to Pepper. but now, he couldn't figure out why he thought it was a good idea.

"How did you get her locker wrong, though?" Rhodey asked, stifling his laughter as much as he could. "Her locker is the only one with a red lock!"

Tony ran both of his hands through his hair in his frustration. "I don't know! I was nervous!"

Rhodey sighed, feeling bad for his friend. "Why don't you try telling her how you feel. Just keep it simple."

"I already tried," Tony omitted the part where he didn't exactly try doing it simply, "but I choked up."

"What did you do?" Rhodey wondered, curious on what else his friend could've messed up.

Tony went red for the millionth time in the passed five minutes. "Nothing."

"Your face doesn't say nothing," Rhodey stated.

"What should I do? I can't tell her how I feel and I certainly can't write how I feel!" Tony's shoulder slumped in defeat, ready to accept the fact that his idea of a perfect Valentine's Day wouldn't happen. At least not this year.

"Buy her chocolates," a high-pitched voice spoke. Tony just about fell off the bed, she had startled him so much. "Then make an indoor picnic while watching a romantic movie."

"Pepper, what are you doing here?" Tony asked, hoping that Pepper didn't know that they were talking about her.

"Roberta let me in," Pepper answered with a shrug, taking a seat beside Tony on the bed.

"Hey, Pepper," Rhodey greeted. "Anything exciting happen yet for your Valentine's Day?"

"Actually, this one guy in History class..." Pepper began cheerfully.

Tony interrupted her. "I don't want to hear it!"

He stood up and started walking out the door, deciding to give up on his plan entirely. He'd have to wait another time to let his feelings be known. Maybe now wasn't the right time.

Pepper crossed her arms in a pout and turned back to Rhodey. "What his problem?"

"He's having girl problems," Rhodey explained.

"I am NOT having girl problems!" Tony snapped before stomping out of the room.

I don't know where I got the idea, but I'm liking it so far. How about you guys? Like I said above, this will be a two shot, so the next chapter will be the last.

Fun Fact: For some reason, I work better in a cluttered area. Whenever my room is clean, I can never find anything and it throws me off, but when my room is a complete mess, I find basically everything I need right away...

Hugs and Love, SilverPedals! *Imaginary chocolates from me to you!*