Guest Review Responses

RosalineXverseli: Amazing chapter once again ;) I just wish you could update sooner as I'm waay to into this ;) and I'm sure it would be more popular if you updated more please ? – Me too! I really love this story, and I can't wait to get to the end (I love the end I have planned for it). Sorry I can't update as often as I used to. Life's kicking my butt.

Guest: Yes! The bitch is so jealous! She doesn't deserve to have what Pepper has because she wants to break Pepperony up! – LOL! I think the bitch is gonna get even more hate with this chapter! XD But worry not, my Faithful Reader! Our Pepperony is strong!

A/N: Sorry about the delays, my Faithful Readers! I've been working 12-hour days (No, seriously! That's actually a thing!). Today's physical therapy was GREAT, though! Enough to have me whip out this chappie for you. I might be able to sleep using a pillow tonight, too! It's a win-win scenario! But, we all win in different ways, so it's really a win-win-win-win… and maybe one more win.

Don't forget to review!

Chapter 7

The nerve of some people!

How dare the students of the Tomorrow Academy tell her where she could and could not go during her off period? How dare these people she did not even know assume they had any right to tell her how she should behave or what she should do? What kind of distorted reality did they live in? Did they actually believe she owed anyone any space? Did they actually expect her to abide by their stupid unwritten rules? What a load of crud! This was America, for goodness sake! If she wanted to go up to the roof to talk to Tony Stark during their common off period, she darn well would!

Samantha Alexa Potts was on a mission: a mission to save Tony Stark from her own sister; the same sister that had kept her from being able to have a partner during Physics class because the number of students had been uneven with her redheaded presence, and also due to the fact that, as Professor Klein had stated, Samantha could do the work on her own. It was Pepper's fault that she had been forced to spend the entire class sitting by herself, alone in a corner, being a worse outcast than she had ever been while back at home.

In Samantha's mind, Pepper had no business taking a Physics class; and she also had no business dating the genius that was Anthony Edward Stark.

What does he even see in her?

Samantha's hand landed on the doorknob to the roof access door, and she then took in a deep breath to calm her nerves.

It can't be her brain! She has none!

It could not even be her body, or so Samantha believed. As far as she was concerned, Pepper did not have enough curves to catch anyone's attention – no matter how drunk the person was.

She doesn't even wear girl clothes!

Truthfully, and if anger had not been blinding her usual judgment and logic, she would have admitted that she was not being exactly fair regarding her older sister's attributes. While Pepper's IQ was far below her own, when the redhead became obsessed with something, her focus on being the best at it was unshakeable. As for her body: while lacking the girl-next-door figure Samantha herself had, Pepper did possess what could be considered shapely hips. While not seen due to her long shirt, the leggings she wore probably made her butt look good too, by the standard a normal guy would judge.

But it doesn't matter! Tony's not a normal guy. And she's still nothing special!

The brunette narrowed her eyes and inhaled sharply, dreading to an extreme level the indecorous scene she expected that awaited her behind the door once she pushed it open. Everyone had told her that the roof was off-limits during fourth period and lunch time because Iron Man and Rescue hung out there, but she just had not cared enough to stay away. If swapping saliva and groping was all that was keeping Tony engrossed with Pepper, then limiting the opportunities for this to take place would surely strain their relationship. It was Sam's belief that, given enough time, once the thrill of the physical aspect of the romantic relationship came to a halt, that Tony would finally realize he was wasting his time with her.

Yes. This was Samantha's infallible plan: get in the way of Tony and Pepper every time they were alone, and not stop until the inventor realized what he was missing out by dating the wrong Potts sister.

He's still a man. If he doesn't get what he wants from her, he'll look for it somewhere else.

And Samantha Potts was ready, willing, and able to satisfy the genius's needs; whatever they were. She could do it all, anyway. She had the brains and the body.

She stomped her right foot on the floor with ultimate determination and overconfidence before she finally opened the door to the roof to find the most famous couple in the Tomorrow Academy doing something she had not predicted they would be engaging in, given the plenty of detailed warnings she had received on her way here. Contrary to popular belief, Tony Stark and Pepper Potts were not kissing, hugging, or even wearing their regular clothes while up here right now.

No. Presently, there was definitely no making out taking place on the roof.

At the moment, the genius and the ginger were actually – and quite surprisingly, in fact – very busy sparring.

What… the… heck?

To Samantha's shock, Tony Stark was currently wearing workout shorts, tennis shoes, and he was also shirtless. Pepper, on the other hand, was wearing a sports bra, running shoes, and a skort; her hair held in a tiny ponytail, and her midriff exposed. Samantha was not sure what astonished her most of the scene: the fact that Tony was ripped, or the fact that Pepper had clearly-defined yet feminine muscle marks on her arms, stomach and legs.

So much for her belief that Pepper was not attractive! The ginger's body – while less curvy – was way more toned and firmer than her own. And Tony had way more muscle than a boy of his intellect would ever care to have. The couple was not into bodybuilding, by any extent of the imagination, but it was clear to her that staying in shape was somewhat important to them.

The still dumbfounded girl barely had any more time to continue processing the unexpectedness of the scene or to decide whose appearance to be the most shocked by when she witnessed what was to come.

Tony threw a punch towards Pepper's face, but the redhead blocked it with no problem by using her left arm. She responded to the attack by upper-cutting Tony's solar plexus, and even though she did land her punch, Tony simply smiled. His left hand then circled her right wrist while it was still near his torso, and then used it as leverage to twist Pepper where she stood, his left arm now cutting circulation in her neck. The redhead groaned when she felt her shoulder being pulled with too much force, but she did not falter in her counterstrike. Instead, she bent her body back and then forward with enough force to flip Tony over her and sent him to fly away. Tony, however, quickly recovered from the move, turned around in place, and then ran back towards her. Just a few feet away from finally reaching her, Tony closed the distance between them by throwing a roundhouse kick against the ginger, but Pepper simply ducked out of the way. Expecting this to happen, Tony twisted in the air one more time so that he landed in a position that allowed him to pivot on the ground and used his left leg to swipe Pepper's feet.

With a grunt of pain, Pepper fell to the ground on her back, cursed under breath, and then used her feet to push an incoming Tony away from her. The genius cartwheeled his way back to his feet while Pepper lifted her legs in the air and pushed herself to a standing position by using the strength of her arms bent behind her head and the angle of her back. A nanosecond later, the two teenagers were at it again, holding back very little, and stopping only when Samantha finally found her voice once more.

"What is going on here?"

"Sam?"

Pepper's distraction almost cost her the round when Tony took advantage of the diversion to swipe her legs again, harder than before, and left her to fall on her back for a second time; this time, however, without giving her the opportunity to prevent the painful after-effects of the move.

"Ugh!"

"Eyes on the prize, Potts," Tony said in an almost angry tone and with narrowed eyes before he offered her a helping hand.

"Same to you!" the redhead responded as he grabbed his hand, and then used it and her legs to propel him in the air. The genius, not expecting her to attempt a last-ditch effort to win the match, ended up quickly mimicking her position on the ground, face up.

"Crap," Tony said in between deep breaths and slammed his right fist against the ground. "Can't believe I fell… for that."

"Yay for me," she replied, her breathing also ragged, before she bent her right arm and wiggled the fingers in her hand towards him. "Tie?"

"Yeah," he nodded and clasped his hand with hers. "Tie."

After a satisfied smile graced her features, Pepper began standing up from the floor. Tony was up before she was, however, and then surprised her by pulling her up by her right arm, tackling her waist and legs, and then throwing her over his right shoulder before beginning to rapidly spin in place.

"Tony, no!" Pepper slammed her fists against his back. "Put me down!"

"Say I won and I will!" the genius replied, chuckling as much as his girlfriend was.

"We said it was a tie!"

"Changed my mind," Tony said.

"Cheater!" Pepper stopped hitting his back.

"Say it!"

"CHEATER!" she pouted.

"SAY. IT!" the genius picked up his speed.

"AH!" Pepper closed her eyes, dizziness starting to creep up on her. "Fine! Fine! You win! You win!"

"Heck yeah, I do!" Tony cheered before he suddenly stopped. He then maneuvered his position so that Pepper was no longer on his shoulder but in his arms, and he then slowly placed her feet back on the ground.

"You stink, Stark!"

"You too, Potts," he winked and then began walking away from her.

Samantha's eyes alternated between staring at Tony and at Pepper, both of which busied themselves walking to opposite sides of the roof. When they finally met again in the middle, Tony gave Pepper a towel, and Pepper gave Tony the bottle of water she had just drunk from.

"Hey, Samantha," Tony said after he finished drinking the entire contents of the water bottle and then began patting his face dry with a towel. "What brings you up here?"

"Uhm," Sam swallowed hard, her gaze admiring the genius' flexed arms. "I-I… uhm… what… what is happening here?"

Pepper was too busy pressing the towel against her face and neck and catching oxygen to immediately reply.

"What do you mean?" Tony frowned. "You… you do know what we are, right?"

"Crazy?" Sam's high-pitched response was accompanied by a shrug that caused Tony to roll his eyes.

"Iron Man?" he pointed both hands towards himself and then his right thumb towards Pepper. "Rescue?"

"So?" Sam shook her head.

"We were training," Pepper replied.

"For what?"

"Superhero business, of course," the redhead shrugged.

"But," Samantha took a few steps towards the couple, "You have suits. High-tech suits. What do you need to train for?"

"The armors are only as good as the pilots inside," Tony reasoned. "Plus, we don't always have them available. We need to be able to fight without them, too."

"Really?" Samantha arched a single brow. "How often does that even happen?"

"More than you'd think," Pepper responded.

"More than it should," Tony added, his eyes briefly staring towards Stark International before he shook his head. "Anyway, need something?"

"I-uhm… I-I came to… hang out? I was told I could find you here."

"Oh," Tony was taken aback. "Yeah, I…" he stole a glance at Pepper. "We usually spend our off period here. Alone."

"Mind if I join?" Sam clasped her hands under her chin and batted her eyes at the genius. "I have nowhere else to go. And I really don't know anyone, and I– Please?"

"Uhm…" the inventor pursed his lips, stared at his girlfriend, and watched her shrug. His eyes then returned to Samantha's blue ones, her expression eerily similar to Pepper's when she was trying really hard to convince him to agree to something he had initially declined to do, and then sighed.

On the one hand, he did not want to give up his time with Pepper – spending time here with her, doing whatever they felt like doing, was the highlight of his day at school. On the other hand, he also wanted Pepper to try to patch things up with her sister, if only so that the redhead was comfortable and happy at home. He was selfish enough to not want to trade in his time with his girlfriend for the sake of family reconnection, but he also cared enough about Pepper to put her general comfort over his wants and needs.

Besides, how long would it take to call a truce between siblings? Surely no more than a couple of weeks, max? He could share his off period with Pepper and with Samantha while the magic happened. He could surely be present here to speed things up, too.

"Sure," Tony shrugged.

"Really?" Samantha asked.

"Yeah, really. But only if you promise to tell me embarrassing childhood stories about Pepper."

"What?!" Pepper almost dropped her gym bag.

"Kidding, Pep," Tony raised his hands on either side of his head in a defensive gesture. "But not really."

"TONY!"

"Oh, I have plenty of those!" Sam snickered. "Remember the time, Pepper, when you thought it was a good idea to pretend you were a boy to try to sneak into CSI Camp?"

"You, what?" Tony chuckled and walked up to his redhead. "You really did that, babe?"

Samantha felt her right eye twitch at hearing the term of endearment coming from Tony and aimed at Pepper, but she held back a verbal reaction to it. It was a better use of her time to inform the genius of the weird girlfriend he had, than to expend energy showing how much it really bothered her that Tony appeared to be smitten with the redheaded girl.

"Yes! Can you believe that? Who does that, huh?"

"Pepper, for sure," Tony said and brushed Pepper's reddened face with his thumb.

"Right," Samantha bit her bottom lip, inhaled deeply, and then turned around in place to stare at the flustered redhead being closely watched by the blue-eyed boy. "The real problem here is, though, that camp is over and Pepper is still pretending to be a boy. You can cut the act now, Pepper. Stop acting like a boy! You're not that much cuter as a guy!"

"Why you–"

Pepper's retort was suddenly stopped by Tony's hold on her face getting stronger, forcing her to face the smirking inventor looking down at her.

"She's right, Pep. You need to cut the act."

"W-what?" Pepper's mouth fell, along with her heart, at hearing Tony take part in the teasing. It was one thing to hear Samantha taking jabs at her, and it was another to hear her boy genius crack a joke at her expense – especially if it also came with the added bonus of somehow siding with her sister's opinions of her.

"Really, Pepper. You need to stop playing the boy part," Tony's smile widened. "Only one of us is supposed to be the handsome one. I can't keep competing with you. I'll lose."

It took the two girls a moment to understand what Tony had just all but heavily implied; and once it dawned on Samantha that her attempt at getting in the way of them had backfired completely, she had to keep herself from showing the rising anger that her failed plan caused.

"Tony," Pepper's gaze fell, her cheeks turning red again.

"What?" he shrugged. "You know how pretty I think you are, right?"

Pretty?! Samantha could feel the big vein on her forehead threatening to pop. He thinks she's pretty?!

"Anyway," Tony grabbed Pepper's hand and began pulling the stunned girl with him towards the door, "We'll see you next class, Sam. We gotta go."

"Huh?" Samantha blinked several times. "Go? Go, where?"

"Shower," he replied.

"Together?" Sam's squeaky response was out before she had a chance to determine its unintentional meaning; and Tony's face suddenly matched his girlfriend's hair.

"NO!" his eyes grew wide and both he and Pepper violently shook their heads from side to side.

"Riiiight," Sam arched a single eyebrow and rested her right fist on her hip.

"We're NOT showering together!" Pepper spat. "We're using the boys' locker… and the girls' locker… and not at the same time!"

"Mmhmm," Samantha side-smirked, opting to use the present opening to at least get a partial victory out of embarrassing them. "Yeah. Separate. Sure. I totally believe it," she added with an exaggerate wink of her right eye and a tone of disbelief in her voice.

"WE ARE!" both Tony and Pepper said in unison.

"Uh-huh," Samantha crossed her arms over her chest. "Of course. No doubts here. But, what are you waiting for? Go have fun, you two. I'll be here when you come back."

A defeated sigh and a hung head were their only mutual replies before they dragged their feet back into the roof access room, steam practically coming out of their ears.

Why, yes, she would be here when they came back.