Chapter 4: Not A Thing

Tony had gotten home rather quickly from Peppers house since he chose to ignore most of the roadsigns alerting him of the legal limit to drive. Somehow he had made it home safely and without a ticket from the police though and was now walking into his kitchen for an afternoon snack. He went directly to the fridge and squinted through his options, also looking to see if for some reason they had any juice boxes.

They didn't.

He needed to get on that immediately.

"Mom?!" he called out, face still in the fridge looking for something to eat. "Mom?"

His voice seemed to echo in the relatively empty household. It was a ridiculously sized mansion for a family of three and Tony often wondered what it would be like living in a home without so much empty space.

He kept his musings to himself though as he grabbed the carton of milk and went to the cupboard to grab himself a glass, wondering if his mother was even home.

She usually went out during the day, and Tony wondered if it was because she couldn't stand the emptiness either.

Maybe they should get a dog or something. Dogs made places feel more home-y right? He didn't have any proof of that, seeing as though he was never allowed a pet, but whenever he was at Peppers house and was greeted by her little border collie he felt a bit more at home. Then again, that could of been because of Pepper too. Sometimes Pepper's house felt more like home than his own did.

With a sigh, he grabbed some pizza pops from the freezer and imagined what it would be like to always have someone waiting for you at home, dog or not.

"Tony?" Came the delayed call of Maria Stark, her heels clicking down the hardwood and into the kitchen where Tony stood by the microwave, waiting for his snack to cook.

"Hey mom." he said with a smile, "I didn't know if you were home."

"I was upstairs." she replied distractedly, reaching for her purse on her side and rummaging through it.

"Oh," Tony said, trying not to sound dejected as he didn't seem to be the center of her attention. "Um, looking for something?" he asked, going to the counter and taking a sip of his milk.

"Uhm… Yes... you're father left a list of a few things he wanted picked up at the store. He said he gave it to me, but I can't seem to find it." she said with a frustrated sigh.

"Oh." Tony said again, though this time with much more spite in his tone once hearing word of his father. "Is he sure he gave it to you?"

Tony's mom nodded and ran her hand through her hair in exasperation. "Yes, he was very sure, though I can't remember him even mentioning it."

Tony hummed and rolled his eyes. His father had mistakenly blamed him for losing things he swore he'd never even touched in the past. He wouldn't be surprised if he did it again. "Why can't he just write another list."

"He said I-" Maria was about to reply, when she suddenly frowned, and glanced to her son. Something had clicked."Oh, Tony! I'm sorry, I completely forgot, how was your first day?" she said, looking to him sympathetically, also hoping to change the subject.

Tony smirked, and rolled his shoulders catching the conversation changer. "Smooth." he said, giving his mother an easy going smile. His father gave her a hard enough time, he didn't need to give her a guilt trip of his own for not asking about his day. "And it was good. Really good, actually. I caught up with Pepper finally."

Relief washed over Maria's face, "I'm glad to hear." she said, taking a moment not to worry about the note and to focus on Tony. "How is Pepper?"

"Great." he said, turning behind him as the microwave beeped for his pizza pockets. "I invited her over tomorrow."

Maria went back to searching in her purse, beginning to empty it out on the counter. "Oh really? That's nice." she said, "Just her? Or will I be seeing the other boys too?"

"Just her." Tony said, grabbing the plate in the microwave and taking it out.

"Oh, really?" she asked, looking up from her purse to look at him, paying more attention. "It's been a while since it's been just her over."

"I know." Tony said, him being the distracted one now as he poked his pizza pocket, testing for heat.

Maria nodded, and thought over Tony's friend for a moment. She liked having Pepper over. She was always polite, and offered to help whenever she could. Most importantly though, she seemed to be able to make Tony at his happiest. She often wondered if the two of them were ever more than what they came off as, but never questioned Tony on the matter. At least not too seriously. "Well, I know this rule has never been applied to Pepper, but now that you're older..." she began, "I want you to keep your bedroom door open when you're both up there, alright?"

Tony was just about to take a bite when his mom pulled that one on him. He spluttered and coughed, nearly choking on the cheesy goodness just inches from his mouth. "Mom!" he shouted, looking to her like she was crazy.

Maria laughed, and shook her head. "I'm just kidding around Tony." she said with a little smile. "Though the rule did apply to all girls in your room. Why should she be any different?"

"Do you really not trust me behind a closed door with Virginia Potts?" he said, looking flatly to his mother as he walked to the sink to get some paper towels. Now that he thought about it, he wasn't sure if he could trust himself behind a closed door. Maybe it would be best to keep the door open when she came over. That way he would feel less tempted to... do anything. Or have thoughts about doing something. Not that he was thinking about doing anything to Pepper Potts.

"I don't know, can I trust Virginia Potts behind a closed door with my son?" she countered, only teasingly.

Tony smirked, "Very funny." he said, and got a few pieces of paper. Just before he was going to turn for the counter though, something caught his eye. There crumpled by the sink, was a small piece of paper that looked like it had his fathers scrawl on it. "Hey, I think I found dad's list..." he said, picking up the note and trying his best to uncrumple it.

As he read it over, he found it was in fact a list. A list that seemed to be solely compiled of alcohol with SCOTCH x6 underlined three times at the top. Scotch always was his fathers favourite, and he found himself acquiring a bit of a taste for it too. Six bottles of it did seem excessive though. "I'm assuming he's running out?" he sighed, and handed the crumpled chicken scratch over to his mother. He could of sworn he saw a full bottle on his fathers desk yesterday.

"Oh." she said, surprised and taking the note from Tony. "I... don't remember ever seeing this." she said, reading it over and sighing to herself. "And I'm sorry you had to see this."

Tony frowned and grabbed his plate. "Why? It's not like I didn't know he's an alcoholic."

Maria wanted to chastise Tony for speaking about his father in such a manner, but she knew ultimately that he was right. "Tony." she sighed, not really wanting to fight him over it.

He just raised his brows at her and took a sip of his milk. "Oh, actually that reminds me. While you're out buying all that alcohol, could you pick up some juice boxes as well?"

It was Maria's turn to raise her brows from such an odd response. "...Um, sure? Did you want those in your lunches instead of water?" she tried.

Tony shook his head. "No, no. Well. Actually, now that I think about it yes, that'd be great. But ah, that's not the reason why. It's sort of an inside joke between Pepper and I. She said she would only come over if there were juice boxes, like when we were younger." he explained with a little smile.

Maria was glad to see the grimace slip off her sons face the instant he began talking of Pepper, and gave him a nod. "I'll be sure to pick some up then." she smiled softly.

"Thanks." he said, taking his plate and beginning to walk out of the kitchen.


The next day at school was relatively boring for Tony. He went to Pepper's locker as usual and walked her to class. Nothing too exciting had happened in her life since they last saw each other, and he wasn't about to tell her that his mom thinks they're dating like the rest of the world.

They didn't have much time to talk in biology since it was the first real day of class, and it was mostly all notes. Biology wasn't Tony's favourite subject, since there wasn't much math involved. He found it was mostly memory, compared to his other science classes he was taking. He wasn't about to complain though. An easy class and Pepper were two good things to have together. It mean't more talking for him, and more frustration for her. And everyone loves a redhead with a temper.

They had parted ways once again after biology though, and met up at lunch. Tony showed off his box of grape juice to her with a grin, keeping his promise of earlier and she laughed.

"You know i still would of come over, even without the juice." she said with a little chuckle.

Tony laughed too. "I know, but now you have to since my mother went out of her way to please you."

"I don't have to do anything." Pepper smirked and gently nudged his leg under the table.

Tony raised his brows to her and nudged her back looking at her as if saying, "What?"

She frowned and bumped his leg back again, her clearly saying, "Stop it."

Though he didn't stop, and they ended up playing footsie underneath the lunch table until the rest of their friends came and sat down around them.

When Tony saw Clint of the first time, he immediately drawled, "Cliiiiint." and stood up, holding his hand out to the other boy.

Clint hesitantly outstretched his own arm and took his hand, receiving a firm shake from Tony. "Uh, I missed you too bud?" Clint said, taking his hand back and sitting down beside Steve.

"No." Tony said, also sitting back down. "That's for getting with Natasha."

The corner of Clint's mouth lifted up into half of a grin, "Oh, yeah. You heard?"

"Sure did." he smirked. "Proud of you, didn't think you had it in you."

"….Didn't think I had what in me?" Clint asked carefully, wondering if Tony was being condescending.

"I don't know, the balls to ask her out. I mean, she's a ten. At you're a… you know… " he teased, getting a laugh from the rest of his buds.

Clint let himself laugh at that too, though he wasn't about to just let that one slide. "I think someone sounds a little jealous." he said, raising one brow challengingly to his friend across the table.

Tony scoffed, "Jealous, why would I be jealous?"

Clint shrugged, "I don't know. You said it yourself. She's a ten."

"Sure she's a ten." he said. "But... I've got my own ten right here." Tony said, looking over to Pepper with a wild grin and throwing his arm around her shoulders.

Though their friends could tell Tony was only joking, they couldn't help but wonder. As much as they tried to prove themselves to only be friends, doing things like this really didn't help their case.

While Tony was looking amused, and giving Pepper's shoulder a squeeze, Pepper was blushing furiously, and glaring daggers at him.

She took his hand on her shoulder and unwrapped his arm from her, as much as she would have liked to keep it there, if her face went any more red she felt like she'd pop a blood vessel. "Funny." she replied flatly, hoping that would cover a bit of her flustered appearance. "But I don't belong to anybody but myself." she said with a calm little grin of her own.

The guys all smirked at her witty response, knowing Pepper was the best at deflecting Tony's little flirtatious moves.

Seeing as though Tony didn't have a comeback for that though, they soon lost interest in the couple across from them and found more interest in their cafeteria food.

And just as Pepper thought she could finally turn back to her regular pale face, Tony leaned in close to her, right up to her ear and whispered. "Yet."

Hellooo :) Here's some more of Tony's POV! Please leave a review and let me know what you think!