Oh my gosh I am so happy. I got the last of my finals done, I just got to watch my second to favorite movie and I have been informed that they are making a Last Airbender based upon ATLA which is sort of a shock. My friend is obsessed with it so I'll trade her this information for the Iron Man poster she promised me. Haha.

MethodTOmadnesS

Chapter Ten: Powers

"Well!? Go ahead and explain!" Pepper demanded as she swung her feet over the side of the bed she had been put to rest in. Tony gave a sheepish smile as he nervously scratched the back of his head while searching his mind for the best explanation that wouldn't confuse her. As he stalled for time Rhodey had regained his composer and approached them, keeping his distance from Pepper who had her eyes narrowed as she awaited her explanation.

"Well as I told you, the implant is an electromagnet; a minor defect must have enhanced more than just your normal biological traits." Tony said choosing his words carefully. He avoided looking into her now wide eyes and Rhodey's brow furrowed in confusion.

"What do you mean defect!?" She exclaimed as she jumped to her feet. This only caused her to lose her balance very quickly due to the fact that her feet were not touching the ground, even in an upright position. She fell forward with a yelp and Tony quickly stepped forward with his arms out to catch her. She fell into him and he wrapped his arms around her waist to support her.

"You okay?" He asked looking down at her. Her head was pressed up against his chest and she could feel his own implant through his shirt. She lifted her head to look up at him without pulling back and forced a smile as she tried to remain calm. It became obvious that the implant had no effect on her emotional response because her heart rate shot up as her cheeks flushed scarlet due to the close proximity.

"Yea I'm fine…" She muttered. He smiled lightly at her and her forced smile softened as she looked up into his blue eyes. Rhodey gave a loud fake cough bringing them both back to reality and Tony's gently smile vanish as he tried to situate Pepper on her own two feet, however as he did so he noticed that she looked a bit taller than him now. His brow furrowed as he looked down to see her feet were still not touching the ground.

"Oh…" He breathed quickly lifting his head. Pepper's brow furrowed as she glanced down to see what had surprised him, only to let out a nice scream as she lost her balance once again, this time falling backwards. Tony grabbed her wrists and pulled her back and held her hands to keep her upright, however this did not stop her already pink cheeks from turning red.

"What's wrong with me!? Why am I not touching the ground!?" She whined as she wobbled a bit. Tony's hands tightened around hers and she bit her lip nervously as she tried to focus on what he had to say to explain this.

"The electromagnet is interfering with your magnetic field making you interfere with others which is why you had the ability to repulse Rhodey." Tony explained quickly. Rhodey quirked an eyebrow while Pepper cocked her head to the side in confusion. Seeing their lack of understanding Tony let out an exasperated sigh. "Pepper has the ability to control magnetic fields." He deadpanned.

"That means she can basically control anything." Rhodey pointed out. Pepper gasped and her eyes got wide with that excited gleam coming to them. Tony shot Rhodey a look and Rhodey shrugged in response.

"That's amazing! So I can move things at whim just by controlling the magnetic field around it?" Pepper asked quickly as she glanced down at her feet which were still about a foot above the floor.

"If the object has a magnetic field, then yes. That's basically a lot of things, especially metals and different forms of technology." Tony pointed out. Pepper let out an excited squeal as she removed her hands from Tony's only to latch them around his neck. "Gah…Pepper!" He exclaimed as he struggled to get free of her death grip.

"This is so awesome! I can't believe it! I actually have a super power and it's all thanks to you Tony. Oh I'm so happy right now I could kiss you!" She babbled very quickly although the last part seemed to come out loud and clear making Tony stop struggling as Rhodey began to laugh.

"Why don't you just kiss him then? I'm sure that's what you both want." Rhodey laughed crossing his arms over his chest. His laughter began to slowly fade when he noticed the death glares he was receiving from both of them. He smiled nervously in response as he slowly began to backpedal towards the door. "I think I'll go get Pepper some food she must be hungry." He quickly said before exiting the lab.

The door hissed shut and the tension that had made the air thick dropped as both Tony and Pepper softened their expressions and turned back towards each other. Pepper still had her arms latched tightly around his neck as the two of them stood there stiffly finding their current position awkward; bodies pressed up against each other with faces mere inches apart with the talk of kissing still fresh in their minds.

"I'm sorry about the whole magnetic field defect. That wasn't initially supposed to happen." Tony said trying to break the awkward silence. Pepper gave him a reassuring smile as she shook her head.

"You don't have to be sorry. This is actually really cool! I don't know how I'll be able to explain this to my father but being able to control things and the fact that my senses are all enhanced after the symbiot left me for dead with my system fried is really cool; I'm really happy." She laughed. Tony gave her that sweet smile that she had always admired and her breath hitched in her throat.

"I'm glad. You really scared me…and Rhodey. I-We thought we were going to lose you for a moment there." He said choosing his words carefully. Pepper laughed at his obvious slip ups and her heart dropped in the most pleasant way.

"Well I'm lucky to have a friend who was willing to save my life by giving me an emergency implant." She said quickly. He nodded, his smile softening a bit as he locked eyes with her. "The best part is having this implant will always remind me of that and I will never forget just how much my best friends care for me. It's like I have you right next to my heart."

Tony nodded slowly as he glanced down at the dimly glowing implant that was in her chest. He noticed that hers was aligned with his and there was a literal magnetic pull instead of her repulsing it like she had done with Rhodey and the floor. He lifted his gaze to meet hers once again and he couldn't help but find a small bit of irony when it came to the small magnetic pull. It wasn't just the implant.

"So I'm your best friend?" He asked hesitantly. Pepper automatically nodded in response thinking the answer would be obvious so why would he have to ask.

"Of course Tony! I don't know how I've been living without you! I mean without you the best excitement I could get in my life was looking through FBI files or trying to follow my dad on a mission or something like that. Everything that has happened has made my life so…"

Pepper was cut off by his lips pressing to hers. She was completely caught off guard considering she was so focused on talking that she didn't notice him leaning in towards her. Her eyes grew wide for a moment in shock and her body tensed as Tony wrapped his arms around her waist pulling her flush against him.

It was sweet kiss filled with innocence and suppressed feelings that were finally being let out. It was a simple expression of affection with a promise hidden underneath. Before Pepper could even relax he hesitantly pulled away with a soft goofy smile on her face.

"Fewer words Pepper…" He muttered against her lips. She nodded numbly and his smile turned crooked. "Now let me rephrase the question; am I just a best friend to you or something more?" He asked gently before placing a chaste kiss on her lips.

"Umm…well yea of course you're my friend and of course I like you. I mean you're really cool and sweet and cute and I have a lot of fun with you so how could I not like you. I thought the symbiot made it obvious." Pepper babbled quickly as she turned a bright shade of red. Tony laughed lightly and leaned his forehead against hers in an affectionate manner.

"I said fewer words." He laughed. She gave a nervous chuckle as she shrugged her shoulders sheepishly. "I owe you an apology." He added.

"Why?" She said as her head cocked to the side in curiosity and confusion.

"Because I never gave your feelings a second thought. That's what the symbiot was right about…I was so focused on the company, Stane, and Iron Man that I forgot that I was going against what my father wanted for me and that was for me to have a normal life." He explained.

"Yea, but being Iron Man makes you uplift your father's dream of helping people. Didn't you say that he told you your inventions could save lives? Well he may not have known it was the Iron Man suit at the time but I think you're doing everything right."

"Yea, but the only thing I got things wrong too. In the back of my mind I knew I was disregarding the fact that I cared for you and that you liked me mainly because I wanted to keep you safe. However my plans sorta backfired and you ended up getting hurt because an alien was feeding off of how my ignorance made you feel."

"Stupid thing." Pepper muttered turning her head to the side a bit. She had been doing just fine suppressing those feelings but everything was for the better at this point.

"That's why I'm sorry Pepper." He said paying no regard to her little comment on the symbiot. He smiled at her gently as he brought his gaze to meet hers once again. "The fact that I could have lost you made me realize just how much I needed you."

"Yea I get that a lot." Pepper joked with a grin. Tony laughed lightly in response and pulled away from her. "So…where does this put us?" She asked carefully. He gave her that sweet smile again and she bit her lip anxiously.

"Well I thought you were my girlfriend now." He said coyly with a careless shrug. Pepper gasped and threw her hands in the air.

"Yes!" In her expression of excitement, Tony was thrown back into a wall due to the fact that Pepper's magnetic field had pushed him back. He let out a small groan as he fell to the ground and Pepper cringed as she smiled sheepishly. "Sorry."

"That's okay…you still need to work on controlling that." He sighed as he regained himself from the sudden hit and stood to his feet. "We'll work on that together." He added with a reassuring smile. Pepper grinned in return as she glanced down at her implant.

"This is ridiculous…" Pepper groaned a she sat in the corner of the lab. There was a rice paper screen separating her from Rhodey and Tony due to the fact that she was recharging and she was shirtless. Recharging soon became as an annoying factor when it came to her implant but she knew just how important it was.

She has been coping with the need to recharge for about a month now as she adjusted to her new life. Over those short four weeks Pepper had raised her grades in all of her classes including gym where she was never tha good. Tony instructed her to take it easy for the first few days so she did so by managing to stay home from school.

She has yet to tell her father about her implant considering that she would have to replay the story from start to finish, which meant she would have to tell him what happened to his missing symbiotic creature. She would also have to explain to him how she got the implant and that would lead straight to Tony and very possibly, Iron Man so she decided that hiding the glow in her best was her best option.

Speaking of Tony, he and Pepper had been going through a training progress that would help pepper gain better control of her electromagnetic abilities. Pepper was now able to walk without randomly floating in the air and she could also move small objects at her whim. It was gradual where she would switch to larger objects but just to be safe she was only allowed to move things such as pencils or water bottles.

When the two of them weren't working on her new found ability they would be spending as much time together as they could, letting their relationship grow every time they were with one another. Rhodey was always there to throw in the casual joke and everything seemed to be back to normal…

"I think I'm done!" Pepper called from behind the rice paper screen.

"Pepper it's been five minutes." Tony pointed out as he glanced down at his wrist watch.

"So?" She retorted quickly. Tony rolled his eyes and Rhodey brought his palm to his forehead.

"Pepper, do you want to die when that thing runs out of power?" He asked with a hint of sarcasm. Tony gave him a blank stare which he paid no mind to.

"I barely use my powers so I already have reserved power stored in this thing! C'mon guys this is really boring!" Pepper whined. Rhodey shook his head.

"You really know how to pick them Tony." He sighed.

"I heard that!" Pepper exclaimed. Before either of them knew what was happening, Rhodey was flung across the room and into a wall. Tony openly laughed as he watched his friend fall to the floor.

"Pepper!" Rhodey yelled. Pepper snickered evilly from her charging spot.

"Yes I really know how to pick them." Tony said with a smug smile. Rhodey rolled his eyes as he shook his head.

Yes, only one more chapter to go! Well that's not a yes moment but once this story is finished I can start my next story called The Boss. That one should be fun considering it will be much like Forbidden Fruit…only a tad bit more out there if you know what I mean. (No I'm not a pervert) My friend came up with the idea during a final. (Thank you Stephanie!) Anyhoo I hope you enjoyed this chapter and REVIEW.

MethodTOmadnesS