I promise that the wait wasn't just me being lazy and having writers block. My computer went out of commission for weeks and then I had to restart it and erase literally everything on it and lost my writing program (Microsoft word), and my computer is still acting up. DX Thankfully I got word back, though. But I don't think I'll be having that problem any more, at least not for a while. :) So I'm back!
Disclaimer: IMAA does not belong to me! It rightfully belongs to it's awesome rightful owners!
Tony insisted that he was fine; that nothing was wrong. He flat-out told her that there was nothing for her to worry about. Pepper, as much as she wanted to, couldn't believe a single world that came spilling out of his mouth. And to be fair, she had every reason not to.
It's been several days since that day, and Pepper was still unable to get the images and memory out of her head, as if it had only happened earlier that morning. Tony's pale, almost paper white skin that was cold and clammy to the touch. The flood of panic that burned through Pepper's veins as she called for help from somebody, anybody. The small moment, when Pepper thought she felt no pulse under her trembling fingers. She thought the worst part had been when they sent her back to class, and she had turned to watch as Tony was carried off around the corner, his arms hanging limp at his sides. But really, the worst part was watching as Rhodey had returned to that same scene of Tony being carried off. He spared only a split moment to lock eyes with Pepper, before rushing off towards his friend, despite the teacher's protests. And in that split moment, Pepper saw nothing but panic and fear.
Tony didn't return back to class that day. Neither did Rhodey.
It wasn't until later that she figured out that he had been admitted to the hospital, and yet Tony still insisted that he was perfectly fine. "I have Roberta as a mom," Tony explained, as if that answered everything, when he returned a few days later. "Of course I went to the hospital. And you want to know what they told me? I fainted. Just like I told you."
He continued to tell his story of how he almost escaped the clutches of the hospital, but was pulled back into the depths of white walls and the sick and the dying by the hands of his nurse. He told his story of how he got to ride in a wheel chair during his stay at the hospital, because Roberta and the nurses were afraid he was going to faint again.
"If was fun until Rhodey started pushing me," Tony shared with a laugh. "He almost crashed me into the vending machine. Twice. And get this, he almost, almost succeeded in pushing me down a set of stairs."
And on and on he went talking about the whole ordeal as if it was a trip to an amusement park. Pepper wondered if this was how Tony dealt with events such as fainting or getting hurt. If he made a grand spectacle of it to make it seem less serious than it really was. She wondered if that was the case now, or if she really was overreacting like Tony said she was.
After a while, Tony got tired of sharing his grand tale of his visit at the hospital and Pepper grew tired of trying to get Tony to understand that she was worried. It wasn't easy to get the uneasy feeling that he was going to pass out every time they walked somewhere. It wasn't easy for her to remember that the doctors had even said that it was nothing and that Tony had just fainted. But after a few days to mull it over, Pepper accepted just that. He fainted.
And things returned to normal.
It was the end of the school day on a Tuesday. The hallways were packed with students of all grades trying to get out the two doors that kept them trapped in the school building all day. Everyone had a things to do and places to go, except for a select few.
"Not in a rush to get anywhere?"
The voice, as much as she often heard it, startled her. For a single instant, Pepper felt her heart leap in her chest in its fright, only for it to settle back down as quickly as it had jumped. She sighed to herself, swinging her backpack over her shoulder as she turned around to face her one and only, blue-eyed friend.
"Not particularly," Pepper began to lead the way off of the school grounds, Tony silently following after her. "It is a Tuesday after all, nothing special."
Tony gave no response other than to hum out a noise, which Pepper assumed was meant to inform her that he was listening. By the time the pair reached the doors that everyone else were exiting through, Rhodey had joined them and walked on the other side of Tony.
As of late, Rhodey seemed more tense and alert. He never let Tony out of his sight, and he basically had to know everywhere that Tony went. Whether it be the bathroom or home or somewhere in China, Rhodey would know. And Pepper thinks she knows why.
When Tony had fainted, Rhodey was nowhere to be found. Later, they found out that Rhodey was, as Pepper has figured, in the office. He had been helping the history teacher make some copies. He had come back in time to witness Tony being carried off and with just enough time to catch up to them and disappear down the hallways with his closest friend. But even so, Rhodey seemed to carry to great amount of guilt on his shoulders and it must be what's weighing him down so often these days.
"How about we go out and eat," Tony suggested, sounding happier than he usual is. Maybe his mood depends on Rhodey's mood. He was always in the opposite mood that Rhodey was in. "A nice burger sounds nice with fries and pickles..."
"No," Rhodey instantly shot down Tony's suggestion before sighing, "I'm sorry, but we can't."
Tony's energy spike plummeted at a downward spiral. "But I just thought..."
"Mom told you that you had to be home after school," Rhodey interrupted. "I really hate being the bad guy here, but mom's words are final. Remember the last time you skipped out?"
Tony grew silent and remained that way for a long part of the walk, before he finally spoke up. "Fine, I'll come home. But I'm walking Pepper home first."
"Tony," Rhodey's tone was weary, but he sighed and finally gave in. "Go ahead, I'll be at home then."
And Rhodey walked off, his own hands shoved into his pockets, as was Tony's at this point. Tony grumbled and sent a pebble skipping down the pavement with his foot.
Pepper never saw the two boys fight. They were as close as can be; nothing got in between them. It was like the whole concept and idea of fighting wasn't in the two's vocabulary, at least not towards each other. But seeing this here in front of her, she was almost sure that even though only a few words had been spoke, she was sure that a whole fight had taken place without a single breath being taken.
"Is something going on?" Pepper curiously wondered.
Tony gave a roll of his eyes and let out an annoyed sigh. "No, Roberta just wants me to help clean up around the house. Believe it or not, it's quite the mess right now. You should see it."
"Your house is messy," Pepper said, more as a statement than a question. "Yours? Are you sure we're talking about the same house?"
And for the first time in a while, a genuine smile stretched across Tony's lips as a laugh escaped out of him. "Unless I've been going home to some stranger's house, yes, I'm talking about the same house."
And that's how it was for the rest of the walk home. They joked around and talked some more; no more of that awkward silence that Pepper hated so much. And that was how it should be and just how Pepper liked it.
A pair of arms locked around her in a rush, nearly toppling her over as she was suddenly being dragged behind someone. She gave an awkward yelp as she struggled to keep her footing as the person, still unknown to her, excitedly pulled her along.
"What are you doing?" she demanded, trying to slow them down. "Let me...!"
"Shh!" A hand was quickly slapped over her mouth.
Pepper instantly knew who it was. Who else would dare pull her around like this and not even apologize? Nobody other than her blue-eyed friend, Tony Stark. It didn't help that Tony wore a very distinctive cologne that was hard to miss when he was in close quarters with someone. After finally knowing who the "stranger" was, Pepper relented and went along with Tony's rush down the hallway.
She pulled Tony's hand off her mouth and pointedly glared at him as he spared her a sheepish smile before worriedly glancing behind their shoulders. By this point, Tony was practically carrying Pepper across the empty hallways of the Tomorrow Academy during lunch period.
"Tony," she hissed, eying over her own shoulder. "What are you doing?"
Tony ignored her and pulled her hastily with him as he ducked into a room. "Shh!"
Pepper couldn't tell if she was just hearing things, but she faintly heard the sound of someone shouting down the hallway behind them. "What on Earth, Tony? What are you...?"
Once again, a hand was slapped over her mouth and Tony pressed a finger to his lips. "Shh!"
Pepper made a point to glare at Tony with all her might as Tony stood there, not minding her personal space, with his sweaty, smelling hand pressed against her mouth. Pepper was just glad that there was nobody here to see this. For a few minutes, they remained like this. Silent.
The only sound that was made was out in the hallway and it was sound clicking heels. They came and passed the room they were hiding in as quickly as they had come. Whoever that was, certainly wasn't in a good mood. After the sound of clicking shoes died down, Tony dropped his hand and let out a loud sigh of relief, before breaking out in a fit of laughter, his hands on his knees.
Pepper stepped out of the corner Tony had them pressed against and relished in the personal space she now had. She crossed her arms, intending to look upset, but she didn't think that she was pulling it off so well. "Mind explaining what just happened?"
Tony looked up to her, his eyes brimming with tears of laughter. He took in a few deep breaths, clearly out of breath from the run, before attempting to speak. "It was an accident, I swear! I was just looking for you and well..."
"Well?" Pepper pressed on, when Tony stopped to bite his lip.
"I thought you were in the lunch room," Tony continued, "so I went in there, not exactly paying attention. And I...I sort of ran into Whitney...who happened to be carrying a full tray of food..."
And that was all he had to say before was staring at him with wide eyes, as she tried not to laugh. "She's going to kill you! Did they get on her shoes?"
Tony scratched his head, signifying to Pepper that he was saying yes. Pepper gave out a long sigh. "And why did you feel the need to drag me with you as you run for your life?"
Tony gave her a smile, one that was equal parts lopsided and heart-stopping. Then in the simplest, bluntest way, he said, "I don't know."
Pepper gave him a look that clearly expressed her confusion and amusement before shaking her head. "Well, I think you're safe now, can I go back to what I was doing?"
Tony gave a lazy shrug and peeked out into the hallway before gesturing that it was safe. "What were you doing anyway?"
Pepper followed him as they walked back the direction from which they came. Pepper kept a close eye on Tony, who was walking a bit slower than usual, but didn't say anything about it. Instead she responded promptly, "I was heading to my locker to get some study materials for the test next period."
Tony gave her a bored look, but otherwise, didn't say anything. Instead he followed her silently to her locker to grab her things.
She didn't have long, no longer than five minutes from what her watch said, but that extra five minutes of studying always seemed to work well for her, so she didn't complain. Tony on the other hand, wasn't so thrilled to spend the last five minutes in silence as she studied. She tried telling him that he could go find Rhodey and mess around with him or whatever they did when they were alone, but Tony just shook his head.
"He's giving me the silent treatment," Tony pouted. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say Rhodey was my mom, you know, with the way he's been acting."
Pepper tapped her eraser against her bottom lip as she gave it some thought. "It makes sense, though," she began with a thoughtful look. "I mean, with the whole...hospital trip and all...I bet he's just worried."
"Seriously?" Tony suddenly demanded, his face twisting in an uncharacteristic scowl, startling Pepper. "It's been over two weeks! He shouldn't still be worked up over that! And you should stop worrying about me. I see that look in your eyes every time we walk together; like I'm fragile and about to break. Well, I'm not, so stop being so...so..."
"So, what?" Pepper asked, her eyes staring straight into his, trying not to show emotion in her eyes. They weren't exactly having a blast as they sat there while she studied, but that didn't mean she hadn't been enjoying his company. So when he decided to get so worked up, she wasn't all that pleased to deal with it.
Tony met her gaze with equal fire in his eyes. Except his eyes weren't alit with anger, instead, they were alit with frustration and pent up confusion. "Nice!" he finally finished with a snap, a slight huff to his breath. He paused for a small moment, looking away from Pepper's eyes, which were now filled with tons of emotion, before taking in a small breath. "Stop being so nice to me. I didn't do anything to deserve it."
Pepper didn't allow to Tony to storm off on her. She fastened her grip onto his wrist tightly, holding him back from walking away. His eyes met with hers before drifting off almost as if he was ashamed and her gaze was boring into his soul. But Pepper kept her stare focused intently on Tony's eyes. "Didn't do anything? Then explain to me this, Tony, how are you not deserving of my kindness, when you've been almost nothing but kind to me? You were one of my first friends here and you've done so many kind things to me. Remember Christmas, not too long ago, when you invited me over to spend the day with your family when I couldn't be with my own? And you made me this incredible watch that must have taken you hours!"
"Days, actually," Tony scratched the back of his neck, giving a sheepish smile. Pepper barely missed the light flush that spotted his cheeks.
"Exactly my point," Pepper stated determinedly. "And we've only known each other for a few months, and you do something like that for me? Tell me, how are you not deserving of the same treatment?"
Tony's mouth opened and closed in his loss for words, almost like a fish out of water gasping for breath. He finally pressed his lips tightly together as he composed himself. She could almost see the wall he was constructing to block out his deep emotions. "I'm sorry," he let out in a small, quiet breath, "I'm just not used to it. That's all."
He placed his free hand over Pepper's, which was still holding onto Tony's wrist, and held it there for a few seconds as he continued to speak. "I know I scared you that day when I fainted, I scared a lot of people, I guess, and you have every right to worry. But I'm fine now, it won't happen again. I promise. You just have to trust that I'm telling the truth."
He slid her hand off of his wrist and gave her a timid smile before walking away, just as the bell rang.
After their little disagreement the other day, Pepper stopped looking at Tony as if he was as fragile as glass and Tony had somehow got Rhodey to let go of the silent treatment. This time for sure, things had gone back to normal. Almost as if nothing had ever happened to Tony in the first place. They continued to have lunch together alternately between Tony and Rhodey and Annie and Happy. Pepper and Tony continued to hang out without any problems or tension during free period.
Things were great.
Well, for a few days they were, that is.
Her backpack felt heavy upon her shoulders, dragging her shoulders down in a slump due to its weight. She was going to feel that later on, that she knew. She had just finished propping it properly on her two slim shoulders as she kicked her locker shut with a light push of her converse. With a content nod, she turned around to make the long journey home in the chilly weather.
Except she found herself nose to nose with none other than Tony Stark, his eyes that held the sky gazing deeply into her earthly brown eyes. At the contact of noses Pepper recoiled back with a sudden jolt and yelp. His cold, rough hands were immediately clamped around her upper arms as she lost her footing. Before she could even speak much more than his name, her backpack was swept from her shoulders and into his arms in one fluent motion.
"I can carry that myself," Pepper assured him, not liking that he was indirectly calling her weak. She didn't bother asking him why he had been so close to her in the first place, because she knew it was pointless to do so.
"I know," Tony teased lightly with a smirk stretch across his lips.
He ignored her attempt to get her bag back and spun around on his heels, probably assuming Pepper was going to automatically follow him. He was right. Pepper followed with a sort of obedience in response to a silent command. She continued to do so as they exited the school building for the last time of the week before the weekend. The cold breeze hit her like a wall of ice, only it was made of soft feathers as it brushed against her cheeks. As much as she loved the winter season, she wasn't too fond on the burning cold sensation these winds brought. Thankfully, it wasn't nearly as bad as the other day.
He silently led her through the streets of New York, despite her protests that she wanted to go home. At some moments, she wondered if he had ear plugs in or something, but every so often he'd glance back and give her a reassuring smile proving her assumption wrong.
Now, Pepper wasn't the greatest fan of surprises. She wasn't patient enough to wait and see what the surprise even was. It didn't really help her case when she didn't even know if this was a surprise or if it was just Tony just pulling another trick on her. Knowing Tony, she wouldn't doubt it.
"Tony," she said, grabbing at his arm, "where are we going?"
As with every other time she asked, she received no form of response, just a reassuring smile. Which, frustrated her to no end. "Tony!" she repeated loudly, but not so loudly to disrupt the people around them.
"Just a little bit longer," he finally spoke, still not answering any of her questions. She wondered what he would do if she just turned and walked away. He never said that she had to follow him. He had just assumed and she just did. She gave an amused smile at that thought.
Lost in her thoughts with her head stuck in the clouds, she bumped straight into Tony's back, having not realized that he had stopped. He held up his hand to keep her silent before she could even think about objecting to his sudden halt. She was just short enough where she couldn't see past Tony's shoulders, which she noticed had tensed within the past 10 seconds, so she had to lean to the side to see what caused Tony to stop.
Right in front of Tony stood an everyday, typical thug—at least that's how Pepper would describe him. He was basically, or literally, the stereotypical version of the thug. He was around twice the size of Tony, not in height, Tony had the guy beat in that, but in muscle mass. His arms were stained with tattoos to the point where no bare skin was visible. He wore exactly what Pepper expected of a thug. Baggy clothes that Pepper feared wouldn't stay on for much longer and chains hung from the belt loops of his pants. If he wasn't so large, and he didn't happen to have a gun blatantly tucked into his pants, Pepper would have found it comical that someone—who seemed to learn his criminal ways from movies—thought he looked cool and intimidating. He obviously thought so with his confident smirk and gleam in his eyes as if he just found a treasure.
"Tony Stark," he sneered, showing his filthy teeth. Pepper wondered if it was like a code for criminals to not brush their teeth.
Tony remained silent and stepped back just enough to ensure that Pepper was still behind him without alerting the thug of his actions.
"I think you and I both know what I want," the thug quipped confidently. "So why not just hand it over?"
"And I think you and I both know that you're not getting it," Tony mimicked as easily as saying good morning to his family. Pepper could hear that tone that she recognized as someone who didn't want to be messed with.
Pepper glanced around wondering if anyone was going to do anything, especially if things turn out to be violent. Surely Tony wouldn't be able to hold his own against this man, no matter how cliché of a criminal he was, would he? But she had forgot that it was New York that she was talking about. Most others just walked by as if this was part of their everyday routine and the others just speculated from the sidelines, their hands at their sides. Didn't anyone have the decency, the time, to take out their cellphone—that Pepper knew they had—and call the police? Pepper would try, but she was easily in the line of sight, things would turn violent real fast if she even reached for hers.
The sneer was still plastered on the thug's face, but his eyes narrowed in obvious irritation. "Don't make this hard on yourself, kid," he warned his hand flicking over to rest on the gun.
Tony stepped back a half a step and just barely to the side so Pepper could no longer see the man before them, despite the thug's size. He was close enough to the point where Pepper's nose touched the middle of his shoulder blades, making her blind to everything but his back. Pepper did not like being blind in such a situation. But then she realized.
He was keeping the attention away from her.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Tony reflected back at him smoothly. "I know people. People who could make your life a living Hell if you even thought about touching me."
His voice was smooth, but Pepper could see his fingers trembling in just the slightest way that it was hard to notice and his shoulders and tensed far more than before. And being the only one close enough to hear, she was the only one who noticed that even his breathing had picked up.
"What about that young lady that you're trying to hide?" the thug questioned teasingly, causing Pepper's own heartrate to speed up to unnatural speeds. "How about I take her instead?
Now Tony's whole body tensed at the very mention of her. "You wouldn't even make it past me," Tony warned, his voice icy and sharp.
"Is that so?" the man challenged as he took a daring step forward, his hand still looming over the gun.
Pepper's hand was in Tony's immediately as her blue-eyed friend shielded her as best he could with his body. But in doing so, he let Pepper realize something that he may not have wanted to her know. She risked a glance over at his face and realized that he was faring no better than he did that one day not so long ago.
His skin was pale, and Pepper knew it wasn't just a side effect of fear. His skin was clammy and his whole body seemed to be shuddering. Had he been feeling like this the entire time? He looked like he was about ready to pass out again! She hoped that the brute of a man didn't take notice of Tony's new development.
"Tony," she whispered softly with concern, but he ignored her.
"Don't come any closer," Tony advised the man with heavy caution. Despite his new ailment, he still stood strong and his voice didn't waver once. He sounded ready to fight, but he certainly didn't look like it to Pepper. "I mean it!"
It was then that the people nearby started to do something, but thankfully the thug took no notice of this. Did it seriously take them that long to realize that the situation before them wasn't an ordinary mugging? Pepper sometimes wondered about the intelligence of some people in New York.
By now, Tony was putting more weight on her than she was on him, and that brought a lot more concern for the situation than before.
The man took one more step forward, this time actually moving to remove the gun from his pants as he did so. "I warned you, kid, not to make it hard on yourself. But look where you've gotten yourself."
He lifted his gun and a click was heard as it was readied to fire.
"No!" Pepper didn't hesitate before she threw herself before Tony with more bravado than she thought she ever had. "Please! Please don't shoot!"
She was being desperate, that she knew, but she wasn't going to sit idly by while her best friend got himself killed protecting her. She was the proud daughter of an FBI agent, she knew perfectly well how to protect herself. If nobody else was going to do, then she might as well do it herself.
She could hear Tony verbalizing his protest, saying that he didn't need her help and that she should run away and save herself. She was having none of that. If anything, it was him that should run, but in his state, she knew he was getting nowhere. That, she'd have to deal with after dealing with this movie-based thug.
"Oh, his little flower came to save him!" the thug boomed, not lowering the gun from her direction.
Pepper remained silent, not trusting her voice not to tremble in her fright. Instead, she remained in front of Tony, still holding his hand to make sure he was still standing behind her, with her brown eyes not wavering as she stared into the pits that was the eyes of the thug before her.
"Well too bad," the thug announced cockily, as he quickly approached in his attack, apparently deciding that he didn't want to shoot to kill, "it's not going to work, sweetheart."
Pepper did the only think she knew to do. She defended herself.
Now, Pepper wasn't athletic in any sense of the word. She couldn't run a mile or even a half a mile. She couldn't play any sport even if she wanted to. But being the daughter of an FBI agent, meant that if nothing else, she was going to know how to defend herself from any type of attacker. A thug/mugger being one of them.
Bearing only a few injuries during her fight, she fought knowing that if she lost, Tony was next on this guy's list. And she wasn't going to allow that. So she showed no mercy. The gun was out of his hand and went skidding to the floor in a matter of seconds, while the man was lying on the floor groaning in pain while some older men finally decided to step in and hold the man down and away from Pepper. Giving Pepper the freedom to go to Tony's aid.
"Tony, are you alright?" she demanded, running her hands over his face and arms as if checking for any signs of injuries.
Although still pale and clammy, Tony seemed to have improved a lot since Pepper last jumped in front of him. He returned the gesture by running his thumb over her lip where it had been split during her fight to protect him. "I'm fine, thanks to you."
Pepper smiled in relief, glad that no harm had befallen the boy she'd proudly call her best friend; her closest friend. "I'm so glad that you're okay!"
Tony gave a laugh, startling Pepper just slightly. She gave him a questioning glance, which he responded to with, "You're strange, motherly ways are showing again!"
He snickered as she embarrassedly punched his arm, almost forgetting that they had just survived an armed mugging. "I was scared, okay? I have the right to be worried."
Tony's face turned from playful to sincere in just a matter of moment. "But in all seriousness," he began, a small smile creeping onto his face, "you're my hero, Pep!"
For the rest of the day, after Tony took her home—which was apparently what he had been trying to do in the first place(hadn't been a surprise after all), before he was rudely interrupted by that movie-based thug—Pepper felt her heart swell in happiness at his words. In happiness and something else; something she couldn't quite place.
So...was it worth the wait at all, or not? I don't know what to feel about this chapter myself, so I'll let you guys tell me how you feel. :) It'd be much appreciated as always. I always love to hear from you guys, it's the best feeling in the world for me! (Well, it's up there at least.)
Fun Fact: I've never had a job that wasn't babysitting my little brother or a family friend. I'm hoping to get a job at a diner soon.
Just as a heads up to you guys, I don't know what the wait will be for the next chapter for this or any of my other stories. If I do get the job, it's self-explanatory why I won't have free time and after the last puppy didn't work out (he turned out to be very aggressive.) we're trying once more, this time with two newborn (8 weeks old) puppies. So they need lots of attention. And this time, I'm very happy to give my attention to them.
Fun Fact #2: (since I left you guys for so long) Our new puppies names are: Jarvis and Cortana. :)
Hugs and Love, SilverPedals~! :D Love you guys so much!
