Hey guys! Sorry it's been a few days, I was visiting a friend and didn't have my laptop with me, but thanks for all the kind words on the last chapter!
November 20th 1992 continued
To say the rest of the evening was awkward for Tony would be an understatement. Casey had arrived just as dinner was being served and had been all over Pepper ever since, and while Tony wasn't exactly jealous, he felt a little bit put out. The fact that Casey kept calling Pepper 'Ginny' was grinding his gears, too. He'd felt special knowing he was allowed to call her by a pet name that only her father also used, but then here was Casey with his own special name.
He definitely wasn't jealous.
"So, Tony, where are you from?" Casey asked while they started on their desserts. He was a typical jock type, wide in the shoulders but not in the brain, and was making sure Tony knew it by wrapping his arm around Pepper's shoulders possessively.
"Long Island." Tony replied, to which Casey scoffed.
"A New Yorker? You're friends with a New Yorker?" he asked Pepper, chuckling. "Alright, Tony, I suppose you think the Mets are gonna beat the Red Sox this year, huh?"
Tony shrugged and glanced at Pepper's Dad, who had rolled his eyes and then jerked – it appeared Mrs Potts had kicked his shin under the table. "I, uh, don't really follow basketball." He said.
Casey laughed, loud and obnoxiously, to which Pepper tutted and elbowed him in the ribs. "Quit it, Casey. It's baseball." She said kindly to Tony. "Casey's a second baseman at his college." She smiled, but it seemed forced, like she'd had this conversation a million times over.
"Oh." Said Tony with another shrug. "I'm more of a swimmer, myself." He cleared his throat. "I won every race I've ever been in back in high school, and I'm on the team at MIT, along with the fencing team."
"Rich boy sports." Casey grunted, and got another elbow in the ribs by Pepper. Tony really didn't like this guy.
"Maybe so." He said, calmly reaching for his drink. "Maybe I'll buy the Red Sox and learn about this baseball thing." He said with a wide grin. Mr Potts snorted quietly and got another kick to the shin from his wife, who then stood up and began clearing away their plates. Tony immediately stood up to help, which went completely over Casey's head as he belched loudly and simply handed Mrs Potts his plate.
"Can I get another soda, Cathy?" he asked, practically glaring at Tony. Mrs Potts seemed to hold her tongue for a second before nodding and hurrying into the kitchen, followed by Tony.
"So that's Pepper's boyfriend, huh?" he asked, smirking at Mrs Potts, who sighed and shook her head in despair.
"I don't know what she sees in him." She said, angrily filling up the sink to do the dishes. "She could do so much better. Like you, dear." She sighed. Tony blinked, but ignored the comment, taking a dish from Mrs Potts.
"Go spend some time with Pepper." He said. "I'll wash up."
"Hell no." Mr Potts sped into the room and snatched the dish from Tony's hands. "For the love of all that is holy, do not make me sit in there with that gorilla feeling up my daughter. I'll wash up."
"And that's a miracle in itself." Mrs Potts said with a small laugh. "Come on, Tony, let's go face the music." She looped her arm through his and they walked into the lounge, where Pepper and Casey had moved to. Casey, Tony assumed, has switched on the TV and was now ignoring Pepper in favour of the college baseball game that was on. "Would anyone like a drink?"
"Just that soda I already asked for." Casey said without turning around. Pepper shot an apologetic look to her mother, who raised an eyebrow and left the room.
"Anyway." Tony said, raising an eyebrow at Pepper. "How's school going, Pepper?"
"Dude, do you mind?" Casey said in a growl and looking over his shoulder. "I'm trying to strategize over here."
"Casey!" Pepper smacked his arm and frowned, but Tony had hit the end of his rope.
"You know, if this game means that much to you, why don't you go home and watch it?" he asked, staring daggers at Casey.
"Tony, don't." Pepper snapped as Casey turned around.
"What the hell did you say?" Casey asked in a growl.
Tony shuffled forward in his seat, clenching his fists. "You were invited into Pepper's home, you've had food cooked for you without even so much as a thank you, and you've treated Mrs Potts like some kind of servant." He hissed. "Show some respect."
"Oh, you gonna talk to me about respect, posh boy?" Casey asked, standing up and looming over Tony. Pepper quickly stood up and tried to push him back, hands on his chest.
"Casey, for God's sake, sit down!" she cried, but Casey shrugged her off, sending her tumbling back down onto the couch, and Tony saw red. He threw himself at Casey, tackling him to the ground, or at least trying to. Casey had a good fifty pounds on Tony and easily shunted him away, sending a punch to his jaw.
"Hey!" Mr Potts voice boomed from the doorway and he got between the two young men just as Tony got back up. Pepper got back up from the couch and pushed Casey back, glowering at him.
"Get out, Casey." She said, voice shaking in anger. "Just…just go home. I'll call you later."
"What?!" he barked, incredulous. "He picks a fight with me and you're tossing me out?!"
"If she doesn't, I will." Mr Potts spat. "Pepper has asked you to leave, and now I'm telling you to get out of my house before I hand your ass to you."
Casey's lip twitched in anger and his gaze held over Tony for a few seconds before he turned on the spot and left, slamming the front door behind him. Tony let out a breath and wiped at his lip, which was bleeding, before stepping towards Pepper.
"You okay?" he asked, laying a hand on Pepper's shoulder.
Pepper shrugged his hand off and glared at him before storming out of the room and hurrying up the stairs, slamming what he assumed was her bedroom door. Tony sighed and turned back to Mr and Mrs Potts.
"I'm so sorry." He said. "I was totally out of line, I shouldn't have-"
"Don't be silly, dear." Mrs Potts said, hurrying over to him and getting him to sit down on the couch again. "Jerry, get the first aid kit."
"I got it, you go check on Pepper." Mr Potts said, quickly heading to the kitchen and coming back with the kit. "Well, it doesn't look bad." He said as he cleaned up the cut on Tony's lip. "Don't look too down in the mouth, Pepper'll come round."
Tony sighed, nodding his thanks once Mr Potts was done. "I just don't get why she's with him, you know? He's such a…such a…" he cast around for words but couldn't find anything appropriate.
"I know." Mr Potts chuckled, slapping Tony on the back and looking at him sympathetically. "You've really taken a shine to Pepper, huh?" Tony blushed but nodded, scratching the back of his neck. Mr Potts laughed again. "Believe me, kiddo, we're both rooting for you."
Pepper sulked for the rest of the evening, and eventually Tony had to go back to his apartment, but he left his number and asked that Pepper rang him once she'd calmed down so that he could apologise. He didn't get a call that night, but he was awoken the next morning by his phone ringing and quickly scrambled across the bed to grab it.
"Hello?"
"It's me." Pepper said in a small voice. "My Mom gave me your number, said you wanted me to call you."
"Yeah." He grunted and took a breath. "I wanted to apologise. I shouldn't have started a fight with Casey. I should have held it back, I mean you're my best friend, and I should have made more of an effort. I'm sorry." He waited a few seconds for Pepper to respond and eventually heard a sigh.
"It's not all your fault." She said. "Casey…he can get a little defensive sometimes. He's got a good heart, honestly, but I appreciate you coming to my rescue like that. I gave him an earful last night when I called him, too."
Tony let out a relieved breath and leant back against the headboard. He'd half been expecting her to tell him to go to hell. "Well, he definitely shouldn't be treating your Mom like that. Or you, I mean he pushed you, Pepper."
"I know." She said. "He won't be doing it again, I promise. My Dad said he's not allowed back into the house."
"Yeah, between you and me, I don't think your Dad likes that you have a boyfriend at all." Tony said with a quiet laugh which made Pepper laugh too. "So…we good?"
On the other end of the line, Pepper bit her lip and twirled the phone wire around her finger. If she was honest with herself, when Tony had charged at Casey, she felt a surge of something, though she wasn't sure what, but she knew she was going to forgive Tony no matter what.
"We're good." She said with a smile.
"Great!" Tony sighed, clearly happy that Pepper didn't hate him. "Okay…maybe we can go hang out or see a movie or something before you go back to school?"
"Sure, of course." Pepper agreed, smiling down the phone.
"Okay." Tony said again, pausing before he said goodbye and they hung up. He put the phone back in its cradle and leapt out of bed, a spring in his step as he got the day started.