Almost all of you don't want it to happen...I knew it! You'll all know her decision soon enough :)

And what about Pepper's birthday? Do you think he should forget it?

Pepper wasn't sure why he was acting so weird. She had asked Morgan if she said something, but was told no. She didn't know what was going on, but she had chosen today to confront him about it.

She walked into class and sat down. Like any other day this past week, he ignored her presence and continued talking to the girl behind him. She didn't mind, at all, but it was starting to irritate her. He was doing it on purpose.

She sighed when she saw the girl grab his arm, clearly using it was a way to get closer to Tony. It was disgusting. Wait. Why do I even care this girl is flirting with him? Could she be the tiniest bit jealous?

In that moment, he turned around. "Hey, Pep."

"Hi." He hadn't been this cheerful around her since they saw each other at the mall. "You're in a good mood."

"Yeah," he shrugged. "Cassidy said you were trying to get my attention?"

"Oh, no," she lied. "I just did it out of tiredness."

"Alright. Have you guys met," Tony asked, leaning back so the two girls could see each other. "That's Cassidy."

Pepper smiled and gave Cassidy a wave. She was the stereotyped popular girl: pretty, on a sports team, blonde hair, blue eyes.

"Hi. You're Pepper, right?"

"Yeah," she responded, stunned she knew her name.

"It's cool."

"Thanks."

And that was the end of their conversation.

"So are we on for Saturday," she heard Cassidy ask.

"Uh, yeah. I'll let you know."

"Done flirting," Pepper asked as he turned to look at her.

"Please," Tony said, dismissing her comment. "The only one flirting was her."

He wanted to keep the conversation with Pepper as minimal as possible. He was still sour about what happened at the mall. Ever since, he had done his best to ignore her. And if that meant doing work, so be it.

"So why are you in a good mood?"

He shrugged. It wasn't like he could tell her why he was being the way he was to her, so he lied. "Just woke up that way," he simply put.

"Really," Pepper asked. It wasn't believable, the way he said it.

"Yeah," Tony muttered, looking down at his work.

"So I'm just supposed to pretend you haven't been giving me the cold shoulder the past week?" His head jerked up. He didn't expect Pepper to be so blunt about it.

She hadn't noticed anything at first, but after two days, it was clear Tony was purposely avoiding her. It had been a week since then. His inappropriate comments stopped, his annoying behavior as well...at first she thought he was in some kind of funk, but then she saw that he was his regular self to everyone else.

"What are you talking about," he asked, feigning ignorance.

He was upset, and it was clearly her fault, so she didn't understand why he wouldn't talk to her about it. Weren't they friends?

"This! You're actually doing work to avoid me."

"Well, you complain I'm never prepared, so I thought I'd-"

"Cut the crap," Pepper interrupted. "What did I do?" She wasn't above demanding for an answer.

"What are you? My girlfriend," Tony shot back, staring pointedly at her.

"You don't have to be rude," she told him, not liking his tone.

"Right. Because the way you asked me that question wasn't."

She sighed. Tony was right. "Okay, sorry. Is this about Morgan?" Not getting a response, she continued. "When I stepped in and stopped her from going to your party?" It seemed like the only legitimate thing he could be upset about.

Honestly, he had forgotten about Morgan. He only kept quiet because he realized something. Pepper had taken his ignoring her out of context. In retrospect, he should have found a better way to deal with the feelings he had for her instead of ignoring her.

"Because if you like her that much, I'll give you her number," she went on. She hated herself for even considering it. Tony with her best friend made her uneasy. She didn't know why, it just rubbed her the wrong way. She guessed she didn't want to see Morgan hurt. Fun aside, her friend still believed in love. And Tony, he didn't. Or, at least, he preferred fun over it.

"It's not that."

"But you haven't treated me the same since," Pepper said.

"I know," he answered.

"So it's kinda hard to believe it has nothing to do with me."

"It's just that my day got worse after you left and seeing you reminds me of it." Hopefully his reply came across as him ignoring her having nothing to do with her.

"Alright," she surrendered, but still skeptical. She decided to not push her luck.

"I'm sorry I snapped at you."

"Me too," she replied.

"I like it." Then he smiled. "It fits you."

"How," Pepper questioned.

"You have red hair. Red hair, fiery personality," he equated.

"Wow, I don't know if that was an insult or a compliment."

He smiled. "Definitely compliment."

A silence filled them after that and Tony was grateful Mr. Jacobsen spoke up. He first detailed the parameters of the lab experiment and then told the class to get started.

"Do you want to be the recorder?"

"Unless you want to see me sweat and desperately trying to catch my breath."

"Sounds like sex," he thought out loud, getting up and heading to the exercise bike. He smirked when he saw her cheeks redden slightly.

"Just put these on," she said instead, handing him the ECG pads.

"Why can't you do it," he asked, not bothering to take them.

"I have better things to do," Pepper simply said, setting the pads on the table. She wasn't going to indulge his antics.

"Your loss." He lifted his shirt and stuck them on each side of his chest.

"Don't forget these."

Tony glanced up and saw her holding the electrode clips. He took them and could feel her staring as he connected the clips to the pads. "Like what you see," he asked, looking up.

"Oh, yeah. I can't stop staring," Pepper humored. As much as she hated to say it, she was glad he was back, but she couldn't help but wonder what caused the sudden change.

Tony smirked. "I get that a lot."

"I have no doubt," she replied, taking the other ends of the clips and attaching them to the proper machine.

It surprised him that Pepper bought his excuse. But it wasn't as if he lied to her, he did tell her the truth. His day did get worse after she left and every time he saw her, it did remind him of it. He just chose to blur the lines a bit.

Everything was simple before her. If he saw an attractive girl, he'd go up to her and they'd take it from there. He didn't even care if they had a boyfriend. If she didn't care enough to not cheat, their relationship wasn't going to last anyways. He was certain Pepper cared much about hers.

While Mr. Jacobsen was going over the lab, he had busied himself by staring at her and had figured some things out.

First, her boyfriend lived in Maryland. That was the only thing that made sense. Second, it was serious but troubled. He gathered it was him that made her cry the night he took her home. Third, she hadn't told said boyfriend about him. No boyfriend, in his mind, would stand on the sideline and let her talk to him if he knew anything about the flirting. And, lastly, she liked the flirting on some level. She hadn't told him to stop, which was the best part.

She was driving him crazy. He had no idea what to do. He tried to forget her with girls, but in the end, after it was done, his mind came back to her. His heart was telling him to go after her, but his brain was telling him to not risk it. And what if his heart won the battle? What was he supposed to tell her? I really like you, so you should dump whoever you're dating for me? It seemed pathetic.

"Are you sure nothing's wrong," Pepper asked, taking him out of his thoughts. He looked at her, confused, as he tried to snap back to reality. "I just feel like it does have something to do with me," she explained.

"It doesn't," he said, glancing over at the computer. His cardiac rhythm was on display and he wondered if his heart rate spiked during his minute of thinking.

"But you'd tell me if it were, right?"

"You care about what I think of you?" Somehow knowing that made him feel better inside.

"Well, we're friends, aren't we? Friends tell each other stuff."

"I think you're actually the first friend I have that's a girl," he thought, contemplating her response.

"Lucky me," Pepper humorously responded.

"You should feel lucky. It's a hard title to win," Tony told her.

She laughed slightly. "I'm glad you're back to your normal self."

Tony looked at her, raising his brow. "Are you saying you missed my annoying you?"

"I got accustomed to it," she shrugged. "Your inappropriateness, the narcissism, the arrogance..."

"Whoa, what's with the verbal attack," he interrupted, joking of course. He didn't care. He stopped caring about what people thought of him a long time ago.

"But somehow you're still bearable and it confuses me why that is."

A smile crossed his lips. "Is that your subtle way of saying you like me?"

He had a smug look on his face that she wanted to slap right off. "I never said that, but feel free to interpret it how you wish."

"Then I say you do."

They shared a laugh, and for a second, he felt like they had a moment. It made him uncomfortable, but only because it was a strange, new feeling. Growing up as a Stark, he learned early on to mask his emotions, so it surprised him how easy Pepper could cut through its surface.

"You know, you never answered my question." She watched him look up and could see cloudiness in his eyes. He was thinking about something, but what? "If I upset you, you'd tell me, right?"

Tony nodded, smiling softly. How ironic was this?

"I can't believe this," Pepper said. Tony looked over at her, just when he was about to leave, and saw what she was talking about. Mr. Jacobsen had handed back their latest test and she got a 72% on it. She barely passed.

"Could be worse. You could had failed."

She glared at him, not amused at his cracked joke. "What did you get?"

He hesitated, not wanting to add fuel to a burning fire. "What's important is that you passed."

"By two percent, Tony. I studied real hard for this, too," Pepper said, sighing.

"Maybe I can help you out," he said, taking her test and looking it over. "You're confusing the concepts."

"Really? Because I didn't figure that out on my own," she snapped.

"You did good on the last test."

"Only because you drew that diagram for me. Everything made sense after."

"We can go over this lab when we write the lab report," he said, deciding to help her, which seemed like a bad idea. Finding ways to be alone with her was the last thing he needed. "And I'll draw another diagram."

"I don't want to waste your time."

"You won't. Besides, I don't want you failing the class," Tony said, giving her a sincere smile.

"Tony Stark, are you saying you care about me," she asked teasingly.

He was about to reply, but saw Rhodey walking in with an amused smile. He overheard. "Interpret it how you wish," he replied, using her words from earlier.

"So I guess we're not meeting up on Saturday?"

"Why not?"

"You have plans?" Tony still seemed lost. "With Cassidy?"

"Oh, right," he said, grimacing. "Her." Cassidy or Pepper? It wasn't a hard decision. "She just wants to get in my pants, Pep. Why would I choose that over you?"

"Well, I..." Pepper trailed off, not knowing how to respond. Why wouldn't he choose her over me?

"Chill, I was kidding," he said, smiling at her.

She sighed. "You're impossible."

"But I'm more than willing to put out if you want the same thing."

"Just go before I smack you," she said to him. Which was literally what she wanted to do the moment she heard those words come out his mouth.

"Maybe you should do that to the blush on your cheeks first," he said, pointing at them. She swatted his finger away and glared at him. "Fine. I know when I'm not wanted. I'll text you," he grinned, chuckling as he left the lab room, Rhodey following behind.

"Dude, what are you doing?"

"What," Tony asked, glancing at his friend.

"She has a boyfriend."

"Relax, I'm not gonna destroy her relationship."

"Then what the hell was that back there? You never voluntarily give out help."

"I'm a caring person," he responded, mischief in his brown eyes.

"God, this is worse than I thought," Rhodey said. "It's disgusting how much you like her."

"I do not like Pepper," Tony argued, even though it was pointless.

"Sure you don't. You're just what then? Being a good friend?"

"Couldn't had said it better," he answered, the gears in his brain now working at full speed.

"Tony, whatever you're thinking, stop. It's not going to go the way you want it to."

"Nope. Too late. I already have it planned out." He was tired of feeling sorry for himself. It wasn't him. Not at all. Screw waiting. Game on.