Chapter 2: His Room

"I need something to drink," Tony said once he paused the video game he was playing with his best friend. "Want something, Rhodey?"

"A Coke?" Rhodey replied, set down his gaming remote on the coffee table between the couch and the television, and then sprawled his arms on the back of the sectional. "And some chips, too, if you have'em."

"Spicy or mild dip?"

"Whatever you can handle, wuss."

Tony shook his head, chuckled, and then exited the room.

Even though Tony had returned to live at Stark International as soon as Howard had recovered his company, it was still odd for Rhodey to once more having to travel across town to visit his childhood friend. Tony had lived with the Rhodes for two years while he had been considered an orphan, but in that time, Rhodey had become accustomed to having Tony around all the time – day in and day out. However, he now had to become accustomed to something entirely different: hanging out with his friend in his bedroom, which could easily double as somebody's private penthouse in a luxurious high-rise.

Growing up, Tony had made use of different rooms around Stark International based on what he felt like doing at a specific point in time in his life. In fact, he had not ever truly chosen one specific room in the entire building to call his. The young billionaire had spent most of his time with his father in their lab, inventing amazing things left and right, day and night, until resorting to passing out in exhaustion on a worktable or a nearby couch.

If he thought about it further, Tony's room at the Rhodes' home was perhaps the first the genius actually ever had. Possibly, Rhodey mused from time to time, it had been this experience – this feeling, of having a small place in the entire world to call your own that had led Tony Stark to finally claim a room in Stark International upon his return to the building.

And he had claimed one of the biggest bedrooms, at that.

And Rhodey could see, right about now, yet another reason why Tony had decided to finally getting a room after spending a lifetime as a nomad.

On the coffee table, inside a small crystal vase placed in the middle of it, lay a mountain of candy and gum. And not just any type of sweet treats either – they happened to be Pepper's favorite kind.

Rhodey could not help but smirk.

With his curiosity piqued now, his eyes began roaming around the premises. Sooner rather than later, his increasing interest made his legs move. Before he knew it or could stop himself, he had found multiple traces of the redhead's presence in Tony's life.

Underneath the coffee table, he found a tiny, partly used scented eraser he had seen Pepper use when doing homework, along with a couple of pencils that showed teeth marks all over them. It was not unknown that Pepper took school rather seriously, homework included, and it was obvious to him that the ginger had perhaps spent some time in this very room, completing school assignments with the help of her super smart boyfriend, while nervously or anxiously chewing on the writing utensil.

Atop one of Tony's bedside tables, Rhodey found a framed picture of Pepper and Tony at the arcade, sitting at a table-for-two, both proudly showing off a boatload of small and useless knickknacks and other junk they had undoubtedly received in exchange for tickets earned while playing games. Next to said picture frame, was a multiple-photo strip of the couple; the kind that he knew could be bought after using the silly photo booth kiosk at the mall. The strip had five individual images, all vertically printed on the same photo sheet, and each one displayed the duo posing in a manner that was even more ridiculous than the previous one. From sticking out their tongues at the camera, to poking the other's face, all five images were proof that the redhead and the genius had had a blast acting like fools that particular day.

Rhodey's search then took him to a cork board on the wall, and on it he found a few more items of interest: the ticket stub for the Reed Richard's conference Pepper had given Tony, a long time ago; a handwritten note from the redhead that read "Go to bed already;" used ticket stubs for movies that Rhodey knew Tony would have never watched by choice; a newspaper clipping of Rescue in action; and, the most surprising of all for Rhodey, a receipt for the purchase of a baby rabbit, to be delivered to Pepper's home, on the morning of her upcoming birthday.

Rhodey chuckled and shook his head in disbelief. Last year, Tony had arranged a private training session with S.H.I.E.L.D. for Pepper's birthday. This year, he had gotten her a bunny.

I'll be! The dude's in love!

That much was clearly obvious to him.

To what extent, Rhodey was yet to find out.


A/N: SUPER MANY THANK YOU'S FOR Elinorwrites, SilverPedals1402 and kickinfan321 for reviewing! Thank you to ALL my Faithful Readers, of course, but the ones who reviewed get virtual non-fat cookies! Liked this chappie too? Review! There's more virtual cookies for you!