Rhodey, having watched Tony sulking in his bed when he came back the next day, sighed as he stood in Tony's doorway.
"You're still trying to figure out what you did wrong?" Rhodey asked.
"No, I figured that out after a few hours. Its making it up to her is what I'm trying to figure out." Tony explained.
"Well obviously sorry's not going to cut it here, so maybe you should go to her apartment, oh I don't know, in public?" Rhodey said. "You know, a large part of the reason she's mad at you?"
"I guess you're right." Tony said with a sigh. He got off his bed, got his shirt back on and walked out the front door.
Once he got to Pepper's apartment building, he stood outside of it for a moment before going inside. Unlike his initial thought, no one was really even in the hallways. And if they were, they didn't seem very surprised to see him. Sure, a turn of the head occurred, but no other signs of surprise were expressed. Tony was thankful for the lack of attention, due to the fact that for most of his life, anywhere he went at least one camera followed.
He found her apartment and knocked on the door. When her father answered a moment later, Tony swallowed nervously before speaking.
"Is, uh, Pepper home?" Tony asked. Virgil gave him a look that said 'you better watch what you say around me, son,', but then stepped aside and called up the stairs for Pepper.
A minute or two later, Pepper came down the stairs, forming a surprised look once she saw Tony at the door.
"Tony! What are you doing here?" She asked.
"I came to say sorry for blowing you off earlier and making you mad." Tony explained. Pepper studied his expression for a moment, seeing a combination of interesting feelings: nervousness, to which she figured was caused by her father answering the door and intimidating him, sincere sorrow and hope that she would forgive him. A half-smile formed on her face.
"Alright, I forgive you, but you have two strikes left." Pepper said. Tony sighed in relief.
"Whew, that's good…I don't think I could've taken a no." Tony said. Pepper giggled.
"Well, you did come to my front door this time...I think it's a step in the right direction." Pepper explained. She wasn't just forgiving him because she loved him that much. She forgave him because she remembered what his life had been like and how he had been raised. She realized he probably didn't have the civil graces of a common person, as he had been raised in the ways of the wealthy. She knew that there were just some things that Tony may not understand, and she had to let him learn these things slowly, one step at a time.
"I guess I'm learning then, eh?"
Pepper chuckled at him and led him to sit next to the couch, where she could introduce him to her father.
"Hey dad," Pepper said sweetly to her father as he sat in his chair and read the newspaper. Once he heard his daughter's voice, he set down the newspaper.
"Yes Pepper?" He responded.
"This is Tony…he's my new boyfriend," Pepper explained shyly. Virgil was silent a moment, which made Tony extremely nervous.
"Well, nice to meet you Tony," Virgil finally said, sticking out his hand for Tony to shake. Tony swallowed nervously and shook Virgil's hand.
Pepper smiled at the friendly encounter, glad the two were getting along.
Tony settled into the couch, wrapping his arm around Pepper's shoulders as they sat in the living room and started a long conversation between the three of them.
~…~
Later that day, Tony walked casually into Howard's office with a relaxed smile on his face.
"Well, I see you've been with Pepper." Howard said with a smile.
"Yeah, I've been at her apartment for a few hours. Gosh, she's really something, dad. Not like any other girl I've met before." Tony said happily.
"Well, son, I'm glad you've found someone special." Howard said happily. He had honestly never seen his son so relaxed or so happy before. He'd always been happy, but this was…different.
Before Tony could respond, Pepper poked her head into Howard's office shyly to ask Tony a question.
"Tony, I couldn't find the bathroom…" She said quietly.
"Around the corner to your left. Trish should be able to show you," Tony explained. Pepper nodded, and before shutting the door behind her, waved shyly at Howard.
"Oh, dad, this is Pepper." Tony said, assuring Pepper that she could come in. Pepper stepped fully into the room, waving shyly at Howard. Howard smiled sincerely and waved back.
"Well hello, miss Pepper, Tony has told me a lot about you." Howard said. Pepper smiled, said hello back, then rushed out of his office nervously, finding her way to the bathroom.
"She seems very nice," Howard said. He was pretty busy, so he didn't exactly have time for a very good conversation, but if he had he would've told Tony that he was very happy for him and explained that he is very glad that he could find someone who makes him happy. But he was in the middle of a business call, (he had been on hold when Tony walked in, but the man on the other end came back) so he had to get back to work.
Once Tony noticed his father was busy on a business call, he walked out of the office and saw Trish at her desk, so decided to talk to her while waiting for Pepper.
"So I see you have a girlfriend now," Trish said. "She seems so nice."
"Oh, she's great. She's not like anyone I've ever met before, really something special…Rhodey introduced us." Tony explained.
"Well, I'm very happy for you." Trish said with a smile, getting back to her own paperwork. As Pepper came out, Tony decided to go somewhere else to hang out, since everyone he tried to talk to had some sort of work to do and seemed not to have much time for him.
"Your dad seems so nice," Pepper said as they walked out into the street.
"He is, when he's not working. If he's not working, we would've been in there a lot longer talking. But he was on a business call, probably discussing the earth mover testing." Tony explained. "I guess I never realized how much work and no play it was until I got to take a step back." Tony explained.
"Oh, nothing's changed about it, Tony, I'm sure you'll still have fun inventing stuff like…earth movers for your dad's company." Pepper assured him.
"I know, but I just hadn't realized how anti-teenager I can be. I spend a lot of time around adults." Tony said.
"In case you were wondering, we call that having no life in teenager terms." Pepper said with a smile.
"What, I have no life? Bummer. I have a girlfriend but no life." Tony teased.
"Oh, me? No, you just got lucky."
Tony chuckled. "I consider myself the luckiest guy in the world to have someone like you in my life," He said as he kissed her forehead gently. Pepper smiled.
"Hey, don't think this revokes one of your strikes." She warned with a friendly smile.
"Darn." Pepper giggled at his response.
That's enough of that fluff for now…no, I don't really know where I'm going with this story yet, so excuse the lack of progress. I don't want too much Iron Man action, really, I just want to touch on what would happen between Tony and Pepper if Howard had never been kidnapped and everything was normal—for the Starks, that is. I'm still thinking through what I want to happen with the armor and all that stuff. So hang tight, k? Cool! Review!