Chapter 18: Juliet

For months, Rhodey had hoped and prayed for this day to finally come so he could move on with his life. Yet, now that it was here, he wanted to bolt.

Daniels had really thrown the kitchen sink at the play. Tickets had sold out. There were several media outlets reporting live. He had heard Daniels say that some people had ordered a recording of the play… all because Team Iron Man was part of it.

A week ago, when the official play pamphlet had gone out to the public and Daniels had offered some interviews, the news that Team Iron Man was going to be part of a school rendition of Romeo and Juliet had flooded the gossip magazines. Then, when it was discovered that Pepper was playing Juliet, but that Tony was not playing Romeo, the rumor mill had churned and churned nonstop.

Thankfully, the couple was stronger than ever, so they just let the hurtful comments and suppositions slide down their backs. Rhodey was proud of them for that.

Proud, Rhodey exhaled loudly, wishing he could be proud of Happy Hogan, too, right about now.

"Mr. Hogan," the hardly contained anger was evident in Daniels' tone of voice. "It is imperative that you collect yourself. We have curtains up in ten minutes. Let's go over the scene one more time."

"But I–"

"Mr. Hogan!"

"OK… I… OK…" Happy cleared his throat. He then turned to Pepper, who was hardly recognizable in her Juliet get-up, and held her hand."

"Uhm… I… I…"

"If I…" Daniels offered, encouraging Happy to pick up where she left off with a circling motion of her hand.

"Oh, yes! If I propane…"

Rhodey rolled his eyes and then pointed to the script in his hand. "Profane, Happy! Profane!"

"Profane, yeah, OK. If I… If I profane… uhm…"

Rhodey groaned before he read from the script again. "If I profane with my unworthiest hand…"

"Oh, yes! I remember now!" Happy snapped his fingers. "If I propane with the un-whore hand, this holy shire – the gentle shin is this – my lips, two blushing pillows, ready to start…"

"Stop!" Daniels threw her hands in the air. "That is not how the script goes at all! How is this possible, Mr. Hogan? We have been practicing for months!"

"I know. I'm sorry, teach, I just… I'm nervous. Did you see all the people here? It's, like, a lot of them!"

"I'm aware of this," the teacher rubbed her temples, "But I don't see anyone else forgetting their lines because of it."

"Well, to be fair, I have a lot of lines."

"So does Mercutio and Juliet," Daniels said as she pointed towards Rhodey and Pepper.

"Huh... that's a good point. OK. Let's try again. I propane…"

"Oh, my God, Happy!" This time, it was Tony who screamed from a few feet away from them, as he helped put up some lights. "Just… don't think about the people, OK? Just… pretend that you're really Romeo and just focus on the person you're talking to."

"Psh! Easy for you to say! You have NO lines, Stark! You might as well be an ornament during the play!"

"Happy!" Pepper scolded her friend. "That's rude."

"No! What's rude is all of you telling me to just suck it up. Have you read the lines? They're hard!"

"No, they aren't." Tony bit back.

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah," Tony replied.

"Right. I'd like to see you try!"

"OK," Tony rolled his eyes and scoffed. "If I profane with my unworthiest hand, this holy shrine – the gentle sin is this – my lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand, to smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss."

Rhodey should have not been surprised that Tony knew the lines, but he was – slightly. Daniels' jaw, on the other hand, nearly reached the floor.

Then, as if on autopilot, Pepper replied. "Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much, which mannerly devotion shows in this; for saints have hands that pilgrims' hands do touch, and palm to palm is holy palmers' kiss."

While never taking his eyes off Pepper's, Tony walked towards her until he was standing in front of her. "Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too?"

Pepper returned the intensity of his gaze. "Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer."

Tony vanished the distance between them and held one of her palms in his. "O, then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do; they pray, grant thou, lest faith turn to despair."

"Saints do not move, though grant for prayers' sake."

Tony's free hand held Pepper's chin, lifting it enough to barely brush her lips as he continued his line. "Then move not, while my prayer's effect I take."

Rhodey heard Daniels gasp when Tony leaned down to kiss Pepper in the gentlest way before he moved back an inch to finish the line.

"Thus, from my lips, by yours, my sin is purged."

The room became silent for a moment, as all eyes were on the couple. Before Pepper could continue with her line, however, a sniff coming from Happy made everyone look at the boy. "Oh, my God! That was so beautiful! And you didn't even say: propane."

Happy's admission made everyone else return to their tasks, and Ms. Daniels focus her attention on Tony.

"Mr. Stark, how do you know Mr. Hogan's lines? You didn't even come to rehearsal but a few times."

Tony shrugged. "I learned everyone's lines. I was bored, sometimes."

Daniels sighed in obvious relief. "Well, in that case… Mr. Hogan, I'm sorry, but–"

"Tony should be Romeo," Happy finished for the drama teacher. "I'll be the ornament."

"Happy!" the redhead groaned and rested her forehead against Tony's chest.

"Are you sure, Happy?" Tony asked.

"Yeah," Happy nodded. "I'm sure. It should have been this way from the start. I'm good."

"Good," Rhodey intervened. "Because curtains are up in 2. Let's get you changed, T."

"All right."

In the end, despite all the setbacks, the play was a complete success.