Guest Review Responses

apps: You are really a GEM...beautifully written...i just love you and your stories...i nearly drowned into this chappie as i was reading it somehow came to me that tony must be overhearing their conversation... pls keep on updating its growing interesting wanna see upto what length pepper will go to keep up with tony and then how will tony romanticise the same...and i am doing good hope you also doing great...also sorry for not reviewing TLM as i just want our couple to be ok by end of story – No worries! TLC will get very intense before it gets better. Lucky for you and me, Eye of the Beholder and Oh, Yeah: Her are here to save the day! Thank you for sticking around! Readers like you are the reason I write!

Your fan: Amazing please give me more chapters we need more writers like you xxx – You're new, I think ;) Welcome to the club! *blushes* Thank you for the compliments, too :) Hope this chapter is liked, too!

Chapter 2

When she had been around eight years of age or so, she had learned the value of trusting your gut instinct. That churning, almost nauseating feeling in the pit of her stomach had saved her skin from being in trouble before – or in too much trouble, as it was the case with her. She could not help it: trouble just seemed to find her, wherever she went; quite naturally, too, it appeared to be. Nevertheless, her sixth sense, or whatever it was called, had so far somehow managed to minimize the negative impact of her innate ability to attract less-than-pleasant situations in life.

Minimize being the keyword. Not prevent. Just minimize.

As such, and very early this morning, when she had opened her eyes before the alarm clock had even had a chance to put its pants on, Pepper Potts had left her home almost as soon as she had woken up. The feeling had been within her, strong and heavy, and it had made her feet feel like lead with every step taken to come to school. Walking to school before the sun even rose was not part of her routine. Chewing her nails until her fingertips were raw was not either. And neither was it common for her to yelp in almost terrified surprise when a pair of arms suddenly hugged her from behind.

"Sorry," Tony's apologetic voice in her left ear made her heart beat faster than she believed it could afford to do at this juncture. She should have expected this to happen at some point during the morning: it was almost a ritual for the genius boy to hug her as soon as he found her in the halls once he arrived to school. Nonetheless, it appeared to her as if time and space had connived against her, making her unable to put two and two together, let alone understand what was happening around her.

Whatever it was, it was going to be big. Whatever it was, it was going to happen soon.

Curse that gut instinct of hers. It was hardly ever wrong.

"S'okay," she retorted, lightly patted his arms with her hands a couple of times, but did not bother turning around.

Tony frowned with concern, tightened his grip around her, pressed her back closer to his chest, and then rested his chin on her left shoulder.

"Everything alright, Pep?"

"Yeah," she replied a little too loudly, almost squeakily so, and then forced a smile on her face when she felt Tony turning her around in place.

"You sure?" he shifted his hands so that they now rested on either side of her waist, and he tilted his head to the right in a suspicious manner.

"Of course I am sure!" she nodded exaggeratedly. "Why wouldn't I be sure? Everything's fine. Everything's perfect. Peachy. Awesome. Just another sunny day for me!"

Tony gazed at her face intently for a moment, studying every inch of it as if he were searching for something only he could see. The redhead felt her face and neck heat up at that, and her eyes swiftly shifted left and right to avoid his deep stare. She felt his thumbs glide up and down on her stomach, and the rest of his fingers tap on her back, as if silently debating his next move. And just as she was about to open her mouth to spew up even more fabrications to the boy, he sighed in slight exasperation before he leaned down to place a quick peck on her lips.

"You're a terrible liar, Pepper," he said once he pulled back his face from hers. "But I'll let it go… for now."

The redhead closed her eyes, nodded a few times, and then hugged him as hard as she could by snaking her arms around his back.

"Thank you, Tony," she mumbled against his chest.

"For what?" he rested his chin on top of her head.

"For just," she squeezed him even harder than before when she felt that gut instinct of hers starting to claw at her insides. "For being… you."

The inventor frowned even more with her response, stole a glance at her from his vantage point, and then returned the embrace, worry written all over his face.

"Anytime, Pep. Anytime."

xxxXXXxxx

The day was almost over. Or at the very least, the parts of the day that mattered to her the most were about to come to an end. The feeling of anxiety was still very much alive and kicking in her. However, she was now less uneasy that the warning signs that had woken her up with a start this morning were of something too life-changing or too life-threatening, this time around. Still, she had spent the school day being extremely alert – almost to the point of paranoia, if just to feel as if she had some manner of control.

She had double-checked that her father was alright – he had actually texted her that he had come home early from work, and that he would be waiting for her to have dinner together. Her teachers had not given her hard take-home assignments for the next day, and the score for her latest test had turned out to be nearly perfect, give or take a few points. None of her friends had been angry with her, in danger or in trouble. The city had been safe all day. And her loving boyfriend had not broken up with her. In fact, he was, at this very moment, walking her home from school.

"Are you still upset about yesterday?"

Pepper caught only the last part of his question, prompting him to stop them both in their tracks by standing in her way. She blinked several times to focus her eyes on his worried-looking face, realized they were no longer moving, and she then frowned.

"What?"

"Yesterday," he lightly shrugged, his hands in his pockets. "Are you still thinking about that?"

"I…" she looked towards the dark alley to her right – one that told her they were just two blocks away from her house. "No, Tony. I… I mean, I still want to, you know, do more science, for you, but I... Well, it's not… it's not…"

"Pep," his shoulders slumped. "Please, talk to me."

"I," she tried again, spared him a glance before looking away, and then busied her hands by tugging at the hem of her blouse. "I just… I…"

"Did I do something wrong?" he felt his throat dry up after uttering his question even though he was almost completely certain that he had done nothing to upset the girl.

"No," she sighed. "You've done nothing wrong. It's-it's not you, Tony. It's me. It's just me."

"You know," he kicked an invisible rock with his left foot, his gaze glued to the ground, his heart nearly beating out of his chest. "I know enough about relationships to know what the line It's not you, it's me really means."

It took her an instant to understand his words, but once the weight of them dawned on her, she gasped out all the air in her lungs.

"Tony!" she cupped her face. "I didn't mean it like that!"

He wanted to believe her – almost instantly, especially since they had been rather happy in each other's company just the day before – but he could not even face her. She had been acting strange all day; being practically on edge at all times, and she had flinched away from him every time he had tried to touch her after this morning's hug. She had not even said a word to him during their free period, and not because they had been making out, as they had spent their free period doing the complete opposite, in fact. He had been watching her intently while she had been spacing out the entire time.

"It's OK, Pep," he whispered. "I… I get it… I think."

"No, Tony," she threw herself at the genius, her arms surrounding him while his own were still pressed against his sides. "Don't say that. Please, don't say that."

Tony lifted his gaze to her hazel orbs, slowly pulled his arms from her bear hug, and then rested his hands on her cheeks. The worry in her eyes and the look of desperation on her face should have been enough for him to comprehend that he had obviously misunderstood her actions and intentions. However, and unexpectedly, she sealed the deal for him when she stood on her tiptoes, surrounded his neck with her arms, and then pressed her lips against his.

This sensation; this overpowering yet soft feeling of something warm clutching at his heart was new. Brand new. And it made him dizzy.

She had hugged him before, and she had kissed him before. But this was the first time she did both at the same darn time.

He had thought that her left hand rubbing against the back of his neck during their last make out session had been heaven, and yet…

How foolish he had been!

His left arm surrounded her waist and lifted her from the ground, allowing her to focus more on the kiss rather than on keeping herself propped up to be able to reach his face. His right hand then held onto the back of her neck, and his fingers lightly tugged at her hair.

They both lost themselves in the kiss – in the wave of new sensations it brought them, until the need for air pulled them apart.

"I'm sorry, Tony," the ginger breathed hard. "I didn't mean for you to think that. That…that-that's the last thing on my mind. I… I'm happy… so very happy… with you."

A smiled tugged at him as he put her feet back on the ground.

"I'm happy too, Pep."

"Then don't ever bring that up again, OK?" she pulled away from him when she remembered they were in public view.

"OK," he nodded, grabbed her hand, and then resumed their walk. "But what about you? Are you gonna tell me what's wrong?"

"I… I don't even know, Tony. I just… I just have this feeling, you know? Like, something bad's gonna happen. I don't know why, but I do."

Tony eyed his girlfriend up and down for a moment and then looked all around them; worry creeping up on him that her bad feeling was due to some paparazzi snatching a picture of their rather blatant display of affection of just now. He then squeezed and tugged at her hand when he realized that there was nothing to be done about it now – it was already said and done. Either way, if someone tried to bribe them for the pictures, he would gladly pay any amount, if only to keep Pepper from being called every name in the book for showing him affection in front of an intrusive crowd.

"Well," he began with a shrug, "You had a good day today, right? How about you try to sleep it off? If you still feel weird tomorrow, let me know. We'll figure out what it is, alright?"

"Yeah," Pepper nodded, confidence suddenly filling her at hearing his supportive words. "Yeah, you're right. It's probably nothing. I'm probably just overreacting or something like that."

"And, if you're not," he said when they stopped by the entrance of her apartment building, "You can tell me about it, OK? I… well, I may be your boyfriend now and all, but… but-but I'm also your friend."

"Best friend," she smiled.

"Best friend," he smirked and winked. "Just don't tell Rhodey that."

Her reply was to giggle before she made a motion with her right hand signaling a zipper closing over her lips. The genius then took his last chance to kiss his girlfriend's lips, give her a last hug, and then watched her run up the stairs to her floor before the front door slammed shut. He waited outside for a minute, worried for an instant that the bad feeling she had described was of something evil waiting for her to come home, but when he remembered that she had her armor backpack with her, and that she was freaking Rescue, for crying out loud, he simply shook his head and turned on his heels to head to his home.

Inside her building, Pepper could barely contain her excitement with what had just happened between her and Tony – with the way he had kissed her, played with her hair, and held her up in the air, just moments ago. She had not had enough time to replay the sweet scene in her mind right after it had happened, let alone dwell in the feelings of bliss that accompanied his eager disposition with the entire feat. The poor boy had thought she was planning on breaking up with him, yet he now knew that this was the last thing she wanted to do to him. Why would he even think that of her? She had never felt as content and complete in her entire life as she did being with him. Most especially, if he continued to touch her in the way he did – and if he continued making her feel as special to him as he already did.

Nevertheless, now that she was approaching her home, she could feel heat rising to her face. Hopefully, with any bit of luck, her father had not seen them kiss the way they had a few blocks back. If he had, she would have to hear the talk from him again – and even after hearing it over one-hundred times, it was still rather awkward for her.

Pushing away negative thoughts, Pepper tried to unlock the front door of her home, only to realize that the lock was not even on. It took her a second, but she then remembered that her father was home early, so it would make sense that he unlocked the door near her arrival time. It was not unusual or unexpected – it was just what her father would do.

With a wide grin and in high spirits, she took a step inside the living room, closed the door behind her, and then felt her entire world come crashing down on her.

Curse her gut feeling.

It was never wrong.

And as she stared with surprise at the two sets of blue eyes looking back at her from the couch, Pepper Potts finally realized what her bad feelings had been about.

It had not been about Tony, Rhodey, or Happy. It had not been about anything related to school. It had not been about superhero business; or even about her father at all.

It had been about something that was much, much, much worse.

She had believed that with everything going right in her life, nothing could conceivably go wrong.

But she had been mistaken. Very much mistaken. She had been utterly wrong.

Because, what could possibly go wrong in her almost perfect life, at this point?

Oh, yeah: her.

A/N: DUN-DUN-DUN! I promise this story is not about to get angsty… it's just… a wrench… a BIG wrench, but still nothing but a tool. Our Pepperony is strong in this story… and MS Word just capitalized the word Pepperony for me XD Don't forget to review!