Hey everyone! It's 2017 now! I'd say my New Years resolution would be to write more, but haha, I hardly have time to sleep these days. :P But I did get this out for you! You guys seemed to enjoy the first chapter, so here you are! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: IMAA does not belong to me.

While nursing the newfound bump near the back of his head, which he surprisingly hadn't noticed until now, he found himself uncomfortably pulling at his tie. Figures the one time he actually puts an effort into a date–despite Pepper only being his second girlfriend–he'd completely miss it. He looked up at the clock, half wondering what time it was and half wondering if someone would at least show up to explain why he's been kidnapped in the first place. Of course, he doubted anybody else would be up at such a ridiculous hour, after all, it was already past three in the morning. Yet, he still couldn't find himself to believe that someone would kidnap a person only to go take a cozy nap before properly introducing themselves. Just his luck, he supposed.

He sighed. "Man, it's hot in here."

Despite the heat, he didn't want to make himself too comfortable in this place. He certainly didn't plan on sticking around much longer–in fact, if it hadn't been for the head-splitting pain from the injury he could only guess landed him here in the first place, he would have been home free for sure. Speaking of escaping, he's tried just about all he could in his current state of mind to at least alert someone of his kidnapping, be it by Extremis–which strangely didn't work aside from weak flashes in the single lightbulb hanging from the ceiling–to his fancy watch they carelessly left on his wrist that he realized wasn't even reading him the time correctly. In the end, all his efforts were fruitless and only resulted in either utter failure or sharp pains in his head.

Yeah, he surrendered silently, this stupid injury isn't helping.

Pausing his in meaningful, yet hopeless attempts at escaping, he sat back on the one piece of usable furniture in the room not counting the single ticking clock on the wall that was starting to drive him mad–it certainly wasn't alleviating any pain to his head. Though he supposed he probably shouldn't complain too much about the lack of furniture, that probably could have aided in a future vanishing act he plans to perform for this place and it's "people", as they had been so kind as to provide a place for him to relieve himself were he to have an emergency. One the other hand, his grumbling stomach had much to say to cancel out the one kind deed his kidnappers had done for him.

He almost laughed. To think that not only an hour before this all happened, his only concern was whether he should wear a tie or not.

Earlier That Day

Staring down at the row of ties he dug up from the back of his closet, he almost felt like the girls from Tomorrow Academy as they debated about what dress they would wear to the next dance. Should he wear the red tie? The blue one? Black? No, they were all wrong; too fancy for the movies. But he wanted this night to be special, and he wanted his date to know that he cared more about this date than just getting the girl. Overdressed or not, he was going to look nice on their first date. Seemed simple enough when he dragged the darned ties out in the first place, but rapidly became more and more complicated as he realized that he had more ties than he originally thought.

Maybe I ought to donate some, he off-handedly commented to himself.

Scratching thoughtfully at his head, he looked at the mirror to see if maybe the visual would help him decide what tie looked best with his current outfit. Looking only made it worse as he realized just how overdressed he was. He scoffed, he was likely dressed far too fancy for even the fanciest dinner parties in the city. But what else could he wear that showed that he both cared for her and their date, but also displays that he's not trying too hard?

"What's the occasion?"

Choking on his gasp, he clasped the front of his neat, white button down shirt. "Dad!" He swallowed and moved away from the mirror, trying–and failing–to act normal. "Uh...I'm just...Uhm...I have to…"

The eldest Stark just rose an eyebrow in amusement. "Are you going to a party?"

Tony couldn't see it himself, but he could just tell that his face matched that of his armor–maybe even rivaled it. He'd forgotten that he hadn't quite shared the news of his date with Pepper to anyone, let alone his dad. He didn't particularly know why he hasn't shouted out to the world that she had said yes, multiple times in fact, or at least rubbed it in Rhodey's face that he's got a girlfriend before him. Again. He honestly didn't, because he felt no shame in the fact that he was dating Pepper Potts.

Yet, here his dad stood, giving him the perfect time to break the news to him that he was going on a date with Pepper and he still couldn't say anything to him.

"Uh...something like that," he chuckled, rubbing at his neck nervously.

A knowing smile stretched across Howard's lips, one Tony knew very well. "It's a girl, isn't it? You're going on a date with Pepper!"

Before Tony could respond, his dad had approached him and quickly eyed him over before brushing off the younger man's shoulders and correctly creasing the collar of his shirt. "You might want to fix up a bit before leaving."

"What?" Tony glanced down, electric eyes scanning for even the tiniest wrinkles in his shirt. Maybe he shouldn't have pulled out the old iron earlier.

"You missed a few buttons," his dad informed him, creases forming around his mouth in his amused smile.

Tony groaned and began unbuttoning his shirt entirely and glanced back at the clock. He nodded to himself, assuring that he still had plenty of time to figure out the mess that he was quickly becoming.

"Actually," Howard stopped him. "I'd forget about that shirt and maybe go with the red button down instead and lose the coat." At Tony's confused look, his dad gave him a pointed look. "Her favorite color is red."

"Oh," Tony slowly nodded. "Right."

How his dad knew what Pepper's favorite color was was beyond him, but he instantly saw the value in his dad's words. "Black tie, right?" he wondered as he slipped into the mentioned red button down.

At his father's approval and help, Tony found himself more than prepared for their date and a whole hour earlier than planned. Of all the things, he hadn't expected the clothing to hold him up so long in the first place. He figured the hardest part was going to be getting over the nerves of leaving to pick her up, but in the end, it was the darned ties that held him back.

"Son," Howard called as Tony went to make sure everything else was in order–for once in his life. The father approached the boy and placed a warm hand on his son's shoulder. "Make her happy."

Tony averted his eyes in embarrassment. "Uhm...Yeah. See you tonight, dad."

Little did he know that he wouldn't be making back home tonight, let alone Pepper's house.

Present Time (Next Morning)

Rhodey was almost afraid to ask Pepper how her morning was when he met her at school that morning. One moment, she looked ready to bite any and all heads off of anyone who dared to bother her, then the next she looked unusually on the verge of tears. He half wanted to assume it was only because it was that time of the month for her, and that it was just safe to stand back and observe. Yet, something told him that there was more to this story than that.

"So, where's Tony at?" Rhodey innocently wondered, figuring of all things, Tony should at least be safe to talk about.

He could almost feel the daggers Pepper threw at him with her glare. "Probably hiding his head in the sand like the freaking chicken he is!"

"Isn't that the ostrich that does that?" Rhodey wondered, only half-joking, wincing at the annoyed punch Pepper tossed at his shoulder.

"Shut up," Pepper snapped as she crossed her arms. "I don't care what bird it is, he still ran chicken from our date last night."

Though Rhodey knew he shouldn't have been surprised by the news, he still found his eyes going wide. "Date? You were going out on a date with Tony? When did that happen?"

Pepper grumbled and groaned loudly. "It was supposed to be last night, but I never even got so little as a phone call from him! I mean, we've been planning this date for at least a week now! The least he could do is just tell me that he didn't want to date me. You know what I mean?"

"Hey," Rhodey held his hands up in mock surrender. "I'm neutral here. I'm sure Tony has his reasons for not showing up. Maybe Iron Man was needed and he forgot. He does that, you know. Have you tried calling him?"

"Only like a million times!" Pepper said throwing her arms in the air.

Rhodey found himself frowning at the information, deciding it a tad bit odd that Tony hasn't responded at all to Pepper. If there was anything Rhodey knew about Tony at all, was that Pepper was his weakness. Even when he was mad at her, he always responded eventually to her calls after at least 50 messages. "I don't know, Pepper. Maybe he just got nervous about seeing you and didn't want to admit it."

Pepper only sighed and angrily stomped through the entryway of Tomorrow Academy, probably not in the mood for Tony's excuses–especially coming from Rhodey.

This is going to be a long day, Rhodey internally sighed. Tony better get his stuff together.

Waking up, Tony was momentarily confused as to why he was sleeping, curled up on the concrete floor against the wall in some strange place. Even more confused about why his head hurt so much. Grazing his fingers through his hair, he quickly came to the same realization he had reached before as a jolting pain resulted when his fingers touched the bump on his head that also seemed to be ever-so-slightly moist with whatever blood hasn't dried off yet. He wanted to groan–meant to actually–but found himself laughing instead. Laughing to the point he heard his own voice echo off the walls around him, causing his head to ache even more. For a moment, he couldn't even tell if the rolling of his stomach was from his laughter, hunger, or nausea. He didn't even know if he cared.

He found himself partially disappointed when he woke up because he was hoping that maybe his head wouldn't hurt quite so much and his mind would clear enough for him to produce a coherent thought that would lead to his eventual freedom. Yet life was one disappointment after another, and it seemed not even sleep was looking out for him–what little sleep he did get.

Looking at the time, which read around noon, he sighed.

In only a few hours, if he remembered correctly, the clock would mark 24 hours since he was kidnapped, and yet he was still left without any sign of who it was that kidnapped him and for what. What kind of person kidnaps a person, just to keep them in a room? Of all the times Tony's been kidnapped–as Iron Man or otherwise–Tony has never experienced one where the captors didn't seem to care about the captive. Unless they were working some sort of deal with his dad for ransom.

But wouldn't that require proof of life? Tony wondered, rubbing his aching muscles.

He supposed they could have done it while he was sleeping. He wouldn't be surprised if there was a hidden camera somewhere. No, that wouldn't seem right. If he was sleeping and they took the "proof of life" picture, it'd just look like he's dead. Moot point, right there.

Suddenly bored of the thoughts that got him nowhere and the stupid ticking clock on the wall, Tony stood up and eyed the singular door that laid smack center on the wall adjacent to where he slept and to the small window across from it that wasn't even worth attempting to squeeze through. He almost forgot about that window.

Ignoring the window, he approached the door. Stupidly, he reached for the door curious for just a moment if he would have some sort of break in his luck and find it unlocked. He didn't know what surprised him the most.

The fact that it was unlocked and opened with ease…

Or the fact that there was nobody guarding the door.

So, what'd you think? I accidentally strayed pretty far from the original piece I wrote, but DEFINITELY for the better. But that also means it'll take a tad longer for chapters. Not too much, because I still have material to work with. I'm having fun with this story and hope to continue it again soon! As well as other stories too.

Fun Fact: I love helping others, but with group projects, I prefer to work alone.

Well, I hope everyone's New Year was fantastic! (More so than mine, because I worked)

Hugs and Love, SilverPedals! :)