All week, all month even. He'd taunted her relentlessly. Without end, without regret. Without mercy. And she had been excited. Somewhat annoyed, but excited nonetheless.

Now, as Pepper held her long-awaited gift in her hand, she couldn't believe what she saw. "Tony, there better be a lot of one hundred dollar bills in this envelope."

Tony and Rhodey exchanged knowing grins.

"Don't you trust me at all? Just open it and you'll be thanking me in a minute." Tony said cockily.

Pepper sighed and tore the envelope open. A slip of purple construction paper was the only contents of the envelope. Scrawled across it in Tony's handwriting in green crayon was, Happy birthday Pepper! This rather pathetically made coupon is valid for one pre-paid SHIELD training session! You may now worship me.

Pepper's mouth dropped open. Her gaze went from the paper to Tony and back to the paper again. She searched for words to say, but none of them seemed adequate. She shook her head, mouth still gaping.

"Oh man." Rhodey muttered.

For a moment, Tony went slack-jawed as well, then a lopsided grin dominated his face. "I made Pepper Potts speechless. Rhodey! Do you hear that? It's the sound of my total win!" Tony fist-pumped victoriously.

"Man, all I hear is you yelling in my ear." Rhodey said good-naturedly.

"I... T-Tony..." Pepper muttered, eyes still widely staring at the slip of construction paper.

Tony raised his eyebrows. "Cover your ears. Pepper's gonna-"

"Oh my God!" Pepper shrieked. "You are the coolest friend in all of history! Tony!" Pepper bounced up and down and screamed. "Tony, you're the best! I like, love you!" She bounced up and gave him a kiss on the cheek before realizing what she'd said, followed by what she had done. Her cheeks flushed a deep shade of pink, becoming so vibrant it was nearly the color of her hair.

Tony blushed a little too, but recovered much quicker than Pepper. "Yeah, well, I already knew that. Happy birthday Pepper."

Then two were silent, exchanging looks. Intense, awkward for other people looks.

Rhodey cleared his throat and put his arms over each of his friends' shoulders, turning them towards the doorway. "And now, we eat cake!"

Tony leaned his head back and groaned. "Rhodey! I'm going to get fat off your mom's cake!"

"Like, seriously Rhodey, your mom must put magic in her cake." Pepper agreed.

"She's just awesome like that."

With arms around each other's shoulders, the threesome exited the armory and headed for the house.

Author's Note: Dude. No. O_O What is this? It's brain vomit. BRAIN VOMIT. I might take this down later, unless you fandom people take a liking to it. I was just trying to branch out TT^TT Well, hope to see this fandom around.