Tony sighed in delight as he rested his arms behind his head. Ever since his 'date' with Pepper last night, it was quite evident to Rhodey and Howard that he was floating on cloud nine.

"You seem quite happy lately, son," Howard commented as his son drifted into his office.

"Yeah, well Rhodey introduced me to someone wonderful last night…" Tony explained happily. Howard smiled.

"Oh he did? Tell me more about this wonderful little lady you met last night." Howard said as he looked around at some digitized documents.

"Well, she's got these big, beautiful brown eyes, and beautiful red hair, and a smile that just makes me crazy…" Tony explained, his tone of voice still in a dreamy state.

"Sounds like you really like her, son," Howard said with his smile still in tact. He was glad his son was stepping back from the technology and following the path of a semi-normal teenage boy. He just hoped it wouldn't turn out badly.

"Ah, well, I'm starting to…" Tony said as he sat at Howard's desk, feet resting on the top of it. He put his head back for a moment, thinking about her, then remembered that he had something to show his father.

"Oh, hey, I invented something awesome that I wanted to show you."

"Oh yeah? Then let me wrap things up here, and we'll go check it out." Howard said, wondering what his son had hiding up his sleeve.

~…~

Pepper woke up the morning following her outing with Tony with a smile on her face. As Virgil was reading the newspaper, he caught sight of his happy teenage daughter.

"Ah, there's my angel. And where were you last night?" He asked.

"Oh my gosh, yesterday was the most wonderful, most amazing night of my life! On my very first day of school, can you believe it; someone comes up to me and introduces me to none other than Tony Stark! And oh my gosh, he is soo wonderful. He's sweet and funny, and he's got these piercing blue eyes, and ebony hair, and a smile that melts me! Oh dad, it was just amazing!"

"Sounds like someone had fun…" Virgil commented. "But I just want you to be careful with that boy. Rich boys tend to be very…arrogant. Even if they seem nice, Pepper, eventually, they find a way to care more about their money. I know he's good friends with Obadiah Stane's daughter, Whitney."

"Aw, don't worry dad, I know he's not as arrogant as most of them are. Something about him is just…different." Pepper said with a smile as she took out a few eggs and started cooking them. Virgil shrugged and trusted his daughter's intuitions.

~…~

"So, what is this you have to show me?" Howard asked as the two entered Tony's lab.

"It's so awesome, dad. Just describing it doesn't do it justice." Tony said as he led his father over to the back portion of his lab.

He led Howard to the lab, and showed him to the back. Tony hesitated before opening the case in the wall that held the armor, and laid it out on the examining table.

"T-Tony, this is a-amazing!" Howard said. He was shocked and surprised to see that his son could invent such creative and high-tech stuff.

"I know, right? It has repulsors on it that can enable the wearer to fly. It's totally awesome." Tony explained.

"Tony, I-I can't believe this, this is just astounding! This is going to revolutionize the world!"

"I know, right? I'm so psyched. Just wait till you see it in action. Alongside the Earth Movers, there's nothing we can't do to help people." Tony said happily.

"I must admit, you're doing some world-changing work lately, son." Howard said proudly, patting his son's back.

"Yeah, life's pretty good right now." Tony said, putting his hands on his head in a relaxed way. Things looked good right about now.

~…~

After Howard had to go back to his office to do some paperwork and business stuff, Pepper waltzed into the lab. Excitedly, Tony guided her to the back of the lab excitedly.

"What, what is it?" Pepper asked with a giggle.

"I need to show you my latest invention," Tony explained. He led her to where the armor was laid out. When Pepper saw it, she had a similar reaction to Howard's.

"Tony, this is amazing! What does it do?" She asked.

"It's a defense-abled suit of armor! It's strong enough to break through steel. It can save millions of lives." Tony explained.

"Tony, this…this will revolutionize the whole world!" Pepper said.

"Yeah, I know," Tony said, wrapping his hand in hers. "And I'm really glad to be able to share it with you."

Pepper smiled. "Thank you, Tony, that means so much to me!" She said happily.

"What can I say, I know my priorities." Tony began. "Look, I know we kinda just met yesterday, but i-if it's not too much for you I wouldn't mind too terribly if we became-"

Just then, before Tony had the chance to say 'more than friends', Rhodey barged in like he usually did on Saturday afternoons.

"Oh, hey Pepper." He said casually. "What'cha guys up to?" He asked. Tony shot him an angry look that said 'telling her something important, get lost!'

Rhodey, though at first didn't understand his friend's anger, got the message and ventured off to another part of Tony's lab to start his homework, leaving the two out of earshot.

Tony cleared his throat before continuing. "I-if you want, maybe we could be more than friends…" Tony suggested nervously.

"Do you mean…you mean, you want me to…you-you really like me?" She asked. Tony nodded, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

"Yeah…I-I just, well, I've never felt this way before…I hope that's not weird," Tony explained. Pepper thrust her arms around Tony's neck excitedly.

"Oh Tony there's nothing in the world I want more!" She exclaimed. Tony smiled, concealing his excitement better than Pepper was. But don't get him wrong, he was very elated that he had her.

"Awesome, 'cause I would've really hated to hear a 'no'."

Pepper giggled and pecked Tony's cheek, sending electric sparks through his body. He smiled and took her hand in his, glad he had someone he really cared about to call his girlfriend.

"So, what do you want to do with this?" She asked, pointing to the armor.

"I don't know, I'm not sure I want to mass-produce it. If it gets into the wrong hands someone could really get hurt, and I want to prevent that. I may just allow certain people to operate it at construction sites or demolition sites, or cave-ins." Tony explained.

"Are you kidding? It's a weapons-capable suit of armor! You can totally kick some baddies butts with this!" She said excitedly.

"Like who? I haven't seen any major crimes in the city."

"You never know, something could always happen."

Tony chuckled at her open-mindedness.

"Aw, now that's why I like you so much." Tony said, wrapping his arm around her shoulder and hugging her close to him. Pepper giggled in satisfaction.

Yes, things seemed to be looking up right now. But with Tony's ego and money and fame, Pepper couldn't help but wonder, will it last?

Let's call that good enough for now…I hope no one thinks I'm taking things between these two too quickly. Oh, and ik I forgot to explain this part of the story, but by claiming it 'AU', I meant there was no plane crash and no 'dead' Howard and no injured Tony, and all that. Should probably add that to the summary…will do. Review?

Full Summary: AU. Tony Stark has lived his whole life with his father, his inventions, and his only friend Rhodey. Basically, his life revolves around technology. So, when Rhodey brings the new girl from school around to meet him, Tony takes an instant liking to her. But will she fall for him as hard as he's fallen for her, or will his arrogant ways deter her for good?