Tony sighed deeply and sank in his chair.
"Something wrong?" Rhodey asked, glancing up at Tony from the corner of his eye as he answered a text.
"This is gonna sound weird, but I kinda miss Pepper. Without her here it's just quiet and boring. I don't know what to do with myself. Oh, but don't tell her that, she'd think it's weird and it'd scare her off…"
Rhodey chuckled.
"Scare her off? Dude, you so like her."
"I do not! I-it's just a little embarrassing to have her know I miss her..." Tony defended.
"Tony, she's only been on vacation for two days. And you're whining about it."
"So? You gotta admit without Pepper it's quiet and boring."
"Maybe not so much for me because I don't try to spend every waking minute with her because of a ginormous crush I have." Rhodey commented.
"I don't like her..." Tony muttered, questioning the statement's truth value. As far as he'd realized, he hadn't developed any crushes, but he did find it a bit odd to miss a friend after she's been in Cali for little more than two days while she visited her old friends.
To make it even worse, crime had been slow lately, leaving him more time to sit around and do exactly what he was doing right now: pondering his relationship status with his best friend.
Then, Tony's phone rang, and when he answered it he was happy to hear Pepper on the other end.
"Hey Tony! What's up? How are you guys?"
"Oh, hey Pep! Not too much going on here, Iron Man business is slow. How's Cali?" Tony asked, glancing at Rhodey when he tried to conceal his laughter over his best friend's humungous denial.
"Soo fun! I got to see most of my old friends again and I have so much planned for the rest of the week."
"That's great, I'm glad you're having fun."
"Oh, well I'd love to chat more but my girlfriends and I are hitting the beach today! I'll call you later! Miss you guys, bye!" Pepper said happily, hanging up before Tony could say goodbye.
Tony sunk in his chair once more and let out a deep sigh out of depression.
"Okay, maybe I like her a little..."
Rhodey chuckled very lightly.
"I knew it...does this mean you can't wait for her to get back so you can tell her?"
"What? No way! That'd really scare her off!" Tony exclaimed.
"Oh, Tony, there's so much you don't know about girls…" Rhodey chuckled at his naïve friend.
"What? What don't I know?" Tony asked nervously.
"Oh, dude, so many things. To the point I could arrange a class to teach it all to you. Girls 101." Rhodey teased.
"Oh, it's not that bad, is it?"
"Yes, Tony, it's that bad. You have no idea how little you know. And dude, if you want to impress Pepper, then you have a lot to learn first." Rhodey said, getting up to get back home.
"What? Like what? Teach me!" Tony said, chasing after a smiling Rhodey.
"Come with me, Tony, and you'll find out." Rhodey said. Tony followed his friend eagerly.
~…~
A week passed, and before they knew it Pepper was back in the city and Tony was on his way to welcome her back.
Rhodey had sent him off in confidence that he wouldn't mess it up for himself, and in hopes that Tony would take his advice and just tell Pepper how he felt, without making it entirely random.
When Tony knocked on her door, she opened it and smiled when she saw Tony standing there.
"Hey Tony! I'm soo glad to see you!" Pepper greeted, giving him a quick hug.
"Glad to see you home too. How was California?" He responded.
"I had so much fun seeing all my old friends again. But I'm glad to be home, too. After all, what would Iron Man do without me?" Pepper joked.
"Oh, Iron Man managed for the week. Business has been slow anyways."
Pepper let Tony into the apartment and they went up to her room after Tony offered to help her unpack the rest of her things. (She had unpacked any of the things she may not have wanted him to see before he had gotten the chance to come over) Tony, of course, offered to assist her in hopes of impressing her.
Once she let him into her room, however, she caught sight of her journal sitting beside her suitcase, open to her last entry, with doodles on the following page of Tony's name with hearts surrounding it, and a large photo of him sitting beside it.
She quickly rushed over and closed it, then stuffed it in her desk drawer before he had a chance to see it. Tony just shrugged off the unusual behavior and helped her unpack.
A little while later, Tony and Pepper were done unpacking and decided to head back to the armory.
Before exiting the apartment, Tony swung the door open and moved aside, allowing her to exit first.
"Ladies first," He said. Pepper smiled.
"Why, thank you Tony, that's very gentlemanly of you." She said as they walked out to the street. When they got the cab, Tony opened the car door, letting Pepper in first.
"Well, Tony, I'm impressed. You're quite the gentleman today. What do you have planned?" Pepper asked, knowing it wasn't like Tony to do these things.
"Planned? Why, I'm insulted that you think I can't be a gentleman every once and a while. I'm not out to impress anyone," Tony said, his voice in the air of an offended tone.
"Uh huh…" Pepper said, keeping the idea in mind.
~…~
Though Pepper believed him, she couldn't help but wonder what was with him lately. Ever since she'd gotten back from California, he'd been nothing but nice to her. Opening doors for her, giving her his jacket if she got cold, offering to help her unpack even though he could have just waited to come over when she was done, then shrugging it off with an 'I'm not out to impress anyone' attitude? What was he up to?
"Okay, I have to ask. Seriously, what are you up to?" Pepper asked.
"Come on, Pep, I swear I'm not up to anything. I'm just being a good person. Is that too much to ask of a superhero?" Tony explained innocently.
Pepper realized that that might be a plausible excuse, but she was only going to buy it temporarily.
I thought up like, the first section of this and added to it…eh, it's not too bad. Review?