Should I tell him? Or not? I don't find it very nice to eavesdrop on a conversation between my best friend and his girlfriend and not even own up to it and apologize, especially when Tony was in such a hurt mindset. His pain combined with his love for Pepper is going to make it awful hard for him to leave this meddled timeline, and he's gonna need a gentle nudge when he finally gets that time machine fixed. But how in the world will I do that without letting Tony know I know about the time machine and his whole ordeal?
Rhodey thought more as he sat in class. He saw Pepper sitting near him, gazing somewhere off in the distance, most likely thinking about Tony. She's gotten a bit of a popularity boost since she made it public that she's dating the one and only Tony Stark, rich teenage billionaire inventor. Then again, dating a good-looking (and this is a public opinion,) rich genius will do that to you, Rhodey thought. She's making a few girls pretty jealous, and not only girls from this school. It's been newsworthy, seeing Tony Stark walking through town with some girl. Everything he does is newsworthy, so it was bound to happen sometime.
"Mr. Rhodes!" The teacher called. Rhodey snapped out of his thoughts to see an agitated teacher awaiting an answer.
"Sorry Mrs. Daniels," He said, "what was the question?"
~…~
"Finally, I'm almost done fixing this thing!" Tony exclaimed with excitement.
"Just have to put the outer casing back together and I'll be done!" Tony looked at the time showing on his phone and realized that it was getting late and he had to go meet Pepper after school soon. He finished fixing the wire he had been working on, set down his stuff, making sure to turn off his welding torch completely, and left his lab.
He usually met Pepper outside her school downtown when she got out and they drove back to either Tony's lab or his house together. Sometimes they even went to her apartment, but not often because it made it difficult for Tony to walk through her apartment building, what with all his fame and publicity.
Tony—who had simply walked this time because he and his father were yet to work on the engine of the car they shared (Tony had gotten his license a month or two back)—stood outside the school, trying not to stand too close so he could mask himself as not to be seen and waited for Pepper. Soon enough she walked out with Rhodey and Tony smiled and waved.
"Where's your car, mister big shot?" Pepper asked with a smile.
"The engine's being weird and my dad and I have to look at it. For now I'm car-less." Tony explained as they began their walk home.
"Aww, poor baby!" She teased. Tony chuckled and wrapped his arm around her. Tony almost started to talk about his progress with the time machine, but he remembered Rhodey was here too and he couldn't have him finding out. He wanted to tell Rhodey, because he was so used to telling Rhodey everything, but something inside him told him not to. Something told him that if he let Rhodey know, he wouldn't take it too well. He wasn't too entirely sure what to do.
They reached Pepper's apartment and Tony stopped outside the complex to say goodbye, because Pepper was instructed to come home immediately after school because her father needed her for something that Tony, for the life of him, could not remember. Tony knew he had work to do anyways, and besides that, Pepper had wicked homework stacked up anyways.
The only thing that was holding him back from his work on the time machine was the fact that Rhodey did not know about it; which brought attention to the fact that Tony was still debating about telling him or not. It was hard to keep a secret like that from his best friend, whom he has known since early childhood, and it wasn't something he wanted to do, but what choice did he have? If Rhodey knew, he could freak out on me, Tony thought. He would probably be mad and would make me tell dad, or maybe even make me endlessly work on the time machine until it's finished; which it almost is, so it's not like that'd be too bad, but still. How would he react?
Then another thought struck him. What about Rhodey seeing the armor? What would he think of that? The first time he saw it he thought dad would just make something better. But that was a different time…maybe at least I can show him that.
"Where exactly are we going?" Rhodey asked.
"To the lab. There's something interesting I have to show you." Tony explained. Rhodey was a bit more curious now. Were they going to see the time machine?
Once they got to the lab, Tony showed Rhodey to the very back where, displayed on the wall for all to see, was a red and gold suit of armor; the same suit of armor he had seen when he had been spying on Tony.
"What is that?" Rhodey asked, faking his surprise.
"It's a weapons-capable suit of armor. Although I don't like using the term 'weapons' as a description of it," Tony explained.
"It's awesome! I haven't seen anything like it before! Do you have any idea how this could revolutionize the world?" Rhodey said.
"Yeah, but I'm not getting the Iron Man armor into any Stark International business. This is going to sound weird, but its strictly for superhero purposes." Tony explained. This was new to Rhodey.
"Superhero?" He asked. Tony nodded.
"That's my main intention for this armor. It was built to protect people, and that's what I'm going to do with it." Tony said.
"…as soon as some crime arises…" Tony finished.
"Well this is a new turn for you, Tony. I didn't think you had such brave intents." Rhodey said, surprised.
"At first I didn't either. But then things happened, and it just ended up that way. It's not really a process I can explain." Tony said, knowing that explaining meant revealing his time machine's existence. Which for now, was a no-no. Rhodey shrugged.
"Well hey, if that's what you want to do man, then I'll be by your side." Rhodey said. Tony smiled.
"Thanks dude."
~…~
"So who's this new fellow of yours?" Virgil asked as he watched his daughter doing her homework at the kitchen table. He caught her smile.
"Oh, you would never believe it!" Pepper said excitedly as she set down her pen and looked up to her father, who raised his eyebrows as a sign of interest.
"Here I was, walking down the street, when none other than Tony Stark comes up to me. Before I know it, we're dating." Pepper explained, leaving out as many hints to a time machine as she could find.
"So what you're saying is it's completely random?"
"Yeah. That's right." There was a moment of silence as Virgil sipped his coffee.
"Well. I'll have to meet the fellow."
Pepper smiled and nodded.
"I'll make sure to arrange that, dad."
Agh, another chapter turned out short -.- I hope it was good. I'm trying not to rush into the ending so quickly, am I doing a good job so far? I hope so…review!
