Guest Review Responses

Thanks for the favorite/follows: adventuremaker16.

AllieLOVESM3: OMG your killing me with loveeeeeeeeee I DESPERATLY Need moreeeeee PLEASE I cannoootttt wait – MORE LOVE HERE! And a little bit of angst, ain't gonna lie ;)

Jhashisaki: Omg yes I loved it, this was so good. And please I am begging you kill Sam make it so that pepper and her get ina fight on the school roof and she Sparta kicks Sam off the edge. And if this were to be animated like the show I think it would get better views than the show. Oh btw me and my gf made up and good thing cause yesterday was our 7 month anniversary and then we got to make cookies if you know what I mean. – LOL! Sparta kicks! Something WILL happen on the roof that involves Sam getting what she deserves… but not yet. YAY! Making up is the best ;) Especially if "baking cookies" is involved :P

Miss geek: Omg OMG OMG ! He's gonna propose or something along those lines ahhhhhh I'm freakingalso loved ur Pokemon stories tooo AHHH I'm such a fan of the first Pokemon series ash misty and Brock and even gary ahh those those were the times such a 90s kid – YESH! POKESHIPPING FOREVER! Although, I also ship Egoshipping… but Pokeshipping is one of my first ships. I heart it.

Scaziieeeeer: Updateeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee – Here it isssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss :D

Guest: Update please it's so cringy with ho it left off – Sorry! This is a little bit cringy, too, but we got some more fluff, as well ^_^

A/N: Never thank you enough for being so patient with me. I'm still here because of you :D

Chapter 26

It's not unusual to be loved by anyone

It's not unusual to have fun with anyone

As the song continued to play and the choreography to develop, Tony rested his back against the couch and extended his arms on the back of it, his narrowed gaze reflecting how serious he was about taking in the scene emerging on the screen before him.

But when I see you out and about, it's such a crime

If you should ever want to be loved by anyone

It's not unusual

It happens every day

No matter what you say

The dance moves became even more complex as the song's tempo peaked, bordering on being labeled nothing short of professional grade, but he kept his face from showing any emotion other than pure concentration. He was slowly becoming rather intimidated by the flawless dance that his redhead expected him to learn and perform with her on a live broadcast on national television, but he did not want his anxiety to show on his face. He knew how much this meant to her. He had promised her he would do it. Hell, he had been the one to arrange and orchestrate the entire ordeal to make it up to her for forgetting their anniversary. It would be cowardly and unjust to simply go back on it now.

Towards the middle of the second half of the song, he could not help but smirk at the enthusiasm the silly dance the couple on screen was displaying. They appeared to be having fun, their motions fluid and in perfect sync with one another. He knew that he and Pepper had it in them to do things in tandem, when they set their minds to it. However, some of those activities they could do as mirror images of each other tended to take place while wearing their armored suits, or while wearing practically nothing, alone in the dark.

This was completely different. This was them, working together, not to publicly defeat an enemy or to privately enjoy the toe-curling sensations brought on by their teenage hormones. This was a show – a talent show, for all practical purposes. A work of moving art. And the eyes of millions of people would be on their every step. It would only take a second to crush Pepper's dreams; humiliate her with a delayed reaction or a forgetful act on his part. It would only take the blink of an eye to turn a wonderful, magical experience into a viral-video worthy mess up.

The brief song came to its end, not even two minutes existed of it, and the dance partners sat back on the couch of the staged living room from which their routine had originated.

He rubbed his chin with his right hand, feeling the barely-there stubble of the goatee he was trying to grow despite Pepper's protests, and then hummed loudly before hearing his girlfriend practically squeak her question.

"Soooo?"

"Yeah?"

"Wadja think?!"

Before he got an opportunity to gather his thoughts, the ginger jumped up from the chair she had been attentively watching the inventor analyze the dance video and then plopped next to him on the couch, her eyes wide, hopeful, and sparkly. Tony bit the inside of his mouth, his own gaze trailing down from her hazel orbs to her mouth, pulling away from her rapturous regard to sheepishly shrug and scratch at his left knee.

"It's a short song."

"Yup," Pepper nodded fervently. "Gives us less of a chance to mess up."

"Right," he stole a glance towards her.

"And I think the dress you already got me goes with the theme."

"Of course," he nodded along even though he had no idea if it did or not.

"And it's easier to pay an homage to a well-known dance people already like than coming up with our own original routine."

"True."

"Plus, with how strong you already are, you won't have an issue flipping me around in the air like that. If anything, I'll be the one needing to work on my stamina to last those 120 seconds."

He opened his mouth to say that he knew that there was nothing wrong with her stamina, proven countless times by certain situations when she had had no issue keeping up with his pace and endurance, but he shut his mouth almost as quickly as the thought had come to him. This was neither the place nor the time to bring up such situations – no matter how enjoyable they were. This was about his acceptance of the song she had chosen for him to fulfill his promise to her.

When nearly a minute of silence passed between them, it was her long-winded sigh that made him turn to face her. Nothing remained of the overly confident posture she had portrayed, just seconds ago. Her shoulders were now slumped. Her head hung. Her entire form was crestfallen, very likely taking his quietness and clipped responses as a preamble to rejection.

"Or not," her voice barely a whisper. "Or… I guess not…"

"Pepper, I–"

"It's OK, Tony," she looked away from him and hugged herself. "You hate it. I get it."

"I don't hate it, Pep…"

"Sure you don't," her voice was dipped in sarcasm.

"I don't!"

She held his gaze this time, her eyes narrowed and intense, not so much because he had raised his voice at her, but because she was convinced that he was lying to her.

"Then what? Are you wanting to call the whole thing off?"

"No. It's not that either."

"OK, then I don't know what the heck you're trying to say. Or not say. Or want. Or trying to say you don't want."

She stood up from the couch and shook her head from side to side before pointing her right index finger at the screen, memories of how long it had taken her to find what she believed to be the perfect song for them to dance together rushing to her mind. Did he not see how easy she had made it for them? The steps were already there for them to learn. The song was short enough that they did not have to practice it much. Extremis would do most of the work for him. And she really doubted anyone would judge them as harshly as the other cast members were put under the microscope – they were there to put on a show; not to compete, let alone try to win.

She opened and closed her mouth a couple of times, uncharacteristically failing to put her thoughts into words, mostly out of pure frustration with his jumbled signs, so she opted to instead throw her arms in the air and stomped towards where her Rescue armor lay on the floor. They had come to his place straight after a mission that had interrupted their after-school walk and talk home about exactly what was taking place right now: planning their upcoming guest appearance on Breakdancing with Celebrities. It had been one of the rare occasions when Rhodey and Samantha had left them alone for the afternoon, each minding a personal matter of their own, but a call for Team Iron Man had halted their otherwise lazy afternoon.

When she angrily shouldered her backpack, and then began walking towards the balcony of his penthouse, Tony knew what her intentions were at the moment. She was trying to haul butt out of his home.

"Just wait a second, Pepper."

"I did," she snapped at him over her shoulder as she pressed the button on the center of her armor backpack, only for it to do absolutely nothing. She knitted her brow for an instant, wondering if she had not placed enough force on the contraption for it to do its darned job. However, as she tried a second time and was as unsuccessful as the first, she raised a single eyebrow and turned in place to face a guilty-looking Tony Stark.

"Stop hacking the suit, Tony."

"No."

"It wasn't a request."

"Not doing it."

She glared at him with all she had, but he did not so as much as flinch under her scrutinizing look.

Or at least physically, he did not.

"Whatever," she took off the backpack and threw it on the couch on her way to the front door. "I'll take a cab."

"Whoa, Pep!" Tony stood in front of her, arms extended to either side. "Let me get two words in, alright? I don't hate it. I… I don't love it. But I don't hate it."

He felt he had earned a small victory when her shoulders visibly relaxed, even if she was now crossing her arms over her chest and was impatiently tapping her right foot against the floor.

"Go on."

"I just… it's…"

"Oh, Lord," she rolled her eyes at his inability to express himself, even after claiming she was the one not letting him say his piece.

"I don't want to mess it up."

"What?"

"I know this is important to you, and I want to make it up to you as much as I wanted to when I told you about this. But I don't know if I can dance good enough for it to be even remotely close to what you clearly have envisioned in your mind."

Her head recoiled before she lowered her arms to her sides.

"Tony, do you really think I want us… expect us… to dance as perfectly as you saw on the video?"

"No?" he tried, but his shifting eyes told her a different story.

"Ugh, Tony," she rubbed her face with her hands. "Don't be ridiculous, OK? We're not professional dancers. I just want to have fun and do a good enough job so that you can raise a good amount of funds for your cause. I figured… I figured this was the easiest thing we could do in the short amount of time we have to prepare for it. I… the other dances are crazy hard. This one… it-it…"

She finished her deflated response with a sigh.

This was the easiest? Tony's inner monologue would have twitched if it had a body. THIS was the easiest dance?!

What in the hell did the other routines entail? Excelling at mixed martial arts moves while performing underwater ballet dancing?

They remained silent for another half a minute or so, each lost in their thoughts until Tony spoke up once more.

"Wait? Did you say you want to make sure our performance raises enough money for the donation I want to make?"

"Well, yeah," she nervously shuffled her feet. "You… you find it important, right? So, I wanna help. You got us a spot there to make it up to me for our anniversary. And I wanna help you raise money for your charity mini-event. I… clearly, I can't donate whatever amount you intend to match, but I can… try, at least, to make it entertaining enough for people to want to donate in the first place."

"Well, baby, if you wanted to ensure people donated with minimal effort on our part, or, at least that guys did, you should've just offered to parade yourself in a bikini."

"TONY!"

"Oh, crud! Wait… that's… ugh," he shook his head, immediately realizing how his statement had probably sounded to her. "I didn't mean it in a sexist way, Pep. I just…" he rubbed his temples. "Look. Let's be honest here. I want to make sure you enjoy the time at the show and that you're not embarrassed by me. And you want to help me raise funds for the charity. Clearly, this is making us overthink this. And it's making us nervous. Because I don't want to disappoint you. And you don't want to disappoint me. And you'd look great in a bikini, by the way. Although, I shouldn't be thinking about that right now."

He did not miss the way her cheeks flushed at his compliment, but she did miss the quick rush of blood to his face, thinking about his girlfriend in swimwear.

"Anyway," he shook his head again. "Let's start over, OK?"

"OK," she said while she slowly approached him and circled his waist with her hands. "What do you really think about the choreography?"

"I think is hard as heck, Pep."

"Oh."

"But I think we can do it."

"Really?"

"Yes. Really. I… I'm not much of a dancer–"

"But what about that time me and Rhodey caught you d–"

"In public!" he snapped, his anger quickly fading when she giggled. "But we made a promise to each other, and to the SCB foundation. Let's just… enjoy the practice. Have fun at the show. And let everything else just fall into place. It will. Even if we suck. I'm Iron Man and you're Rescue. We could dance the robot in our dang suits and still nail the performance."

The half-snort, half-laugh that followed his statement made him laugh as well, his smile turning serious only when his redhead asked a question of her own; a constant inquiry of hers that he would continue to reply to with less than utmost honesty for her sake. At least until she was comfortable enough sharing the personal experience with him.

"OK. I get it. We'll just try our best and let it go if we stink at it. But seriously, Tony, you still haven't told me why, from all the charities you could've chosen to support, did you pick the SCA?"

When Tony had told her, just the day before, that he wanted to add a donation campaign to their fifteen minutes of fame at Breakdancing with Celebrities, she had been excited by the idea of helping him with something she knew he loved to do: helping make the world a better place. She had been on board immediately after he had explained to her that he planned to raise funds, live during their section in the show, and then to match the total amount of donated funds, times ten. What had taken her aback, however, was that he had not handpicked a foundation that supported science, research, feeding the poor, or of a medical-related cause. The cause he had his eyes on was not a typical one – and certainly not one she knew he had thrown money at before.

He began his response with a shrug. "I guess I'm expanding my field of vision? Thinking long-term? I mean, a lot of what people do when they're adults come from their experiences as kids, right? Adults… they make their own decisions and, for the most part, look for ways to help themselves. But kids… they… they sometimes don't have anybody that cares about them."

Pepper's eyes lowered and focused on staring at his chest as an attempt to keep her blatant look of guilt from being seen by him.

"And you think that donating to the Stop Child Abuse foundation will do that? Keep adults from becoming bad people if they have a better childhood?"

"I think it won't hurt," he replied, his voice as soft and low as hers appeared to be. "Do you disagree?"

"No. I-I… I don't disagree. At all. But, you know, not all kids who are abused turn out to be bad. That's all I'm saying."

"I know."

The edge in his voice made her look up at him, wondering if there was more to his choice of charity than he was letting on.

"Do you?"

"Yeah," he pressed her closer to him and locked eyes with her. "Some abused kids turn out to be beautiful, wonderful, loving, kindhearted people, in spite of the bad. Or maybe… because of it. They become people without a mean bone in their bodies… even if their own bones were broken a few times."

Pepper could feel her throat start to close, her heart clench, and her mind fog up with memories she wanted to recall never again. Tony was not far off from the truth – bones did tend to break a lot when one was abused as a child. Hopefully, Tony's donation would do for other children what no one had ever done for her for a long time.

"Pep, are you OK?"

"Yeah," she quickly replied, plastering a smile on her face that he knew was nothing but fake. "I'm fine."