Alrighty! Surgery is over and I'm good enough to write!! :D I shall be updating a lot in the next few days! As I said before, these aren't in any particular order, in fact they will skip around a lot depending on what year or what moment I think of that I want to write next. So please pay attention to the years! In this one, Tony is 15, Pepper is 14, and Rhodey and Happy are 18. This is very very very (I mean 'very') loosely based on an experience with my own personal Tony Stark. :) I was inspired by it a few weeks ago, and have been dying to write it since! So enjoy! Disclaimer: Don't own Iron Man.... :(

The year was 1989…

"Virginia!" Mrs. Potts shouted from downstairs to her daughter. "Move it! They'll be here any minute! You're going to be late!"

"Alright mom!" A 14 year old Pepper responded. Usually, the teenager was ready on time for everything…heck she was sometimes all set to go places hours before just to be prepared, but not today. For one, it was just barely 6 AM, far too early for anyone under the age of 18 to get up and not complain, and secondly, the reason as to why she was getting ready was somewhat upsetting.

Pepper finished putting on the rest of her makeup and quickly put her strawberry red hair up into a high ponytail. She sighed, looking at her appearance in her bathroom mirror; she was wearing a band marching uniform, suspenders and everything.

She swiftly went into her bedroom to grab both her marching hat and flute that sat idle in the closet for so long. Today was Los Angeles's annual St. Patrick's Day parade, in which Malibu's high school marching band had been asked to participate in as they do every year.

As a Freshman, Pepper didn't know what was coming to her. Rhodey, who was a Senior this year, had told both Pepper and Tony on numerous occasions to try to get a spot in the middle of the marching formation. When Pepper had asked him why at lunch one day he responded, grinning, "Let's just say those drunks know how to party." Pepper had remembered groaning after that.

Pepper didn't even remember why she joined the band in the first place…ohhh wait…she remembered…Tony Stark.

Yes, that's right, Tony had forced her to join band with him in 5th grade. She remembered being in front of the sign ups out in front of the elementary school's office. She felt someone come up from behind her…

"So…you joining, Peps?" She turned around to see Tony grinning up at her. He'd always been very short for his age. You would think that someone of that size would be completely overpowered by everyone…not exactly…he basically owned the school…and especially over the tallest girl in their class and his best friend…Pepper Potts.

"Oh…um." The nine year old girl was shocked at Tony's sudden appearance. "Not sure. Are you?"

"Yep." Tony sighed, getting in front of Pepper to sign the sheet. "You should, Pepper. You and me in band? Think of how fun that would be!"

"Oh…loads" She responded sarcastically. Tony was her best friend, but he always had a knack for annoying Pepper at any opportunity in class. This was just an excuse to be able to whisper to Pepper more bathroom jokes, in which she would then be disgusted and emotionally scarred by.

Pepper didn't sign herself up…but someone else had…in pen so the deed was done. Low and behold, the next day she came into school and went to look at the board…there was her name on the band list…in Stark's handwriting.

"Tony…" She growled under her breath.

"You called?" A voice responded behind her, making her jump. Turning around, she realized it was the devil himself. "I'd thought I'd put your name down." He smirked. "You're playing the flute by the way. They sit right in front of the saxophone section."

"And what are you playing?" Pepper sighed, although she already knew the answer.

"Sax." He grinned that grin that Pepper only received. He then turned around swiftly and walked away as not to face the wrath of Virginia Potts.

Fourteen year old Pepper sighed at the memory. Oh Tony. Somehow he had managed each year to convince her to stay in band, as much as she wanted to get out. Easy for Tony to say, he was amazing at the alto sax. But, Pepper on the other hand…she never practiced. So…she wasn't the best at the flute.

"Honey! They're here!" Pepper's mom yelled from downstairs once again.

"Coming!" Pepper shook herself out of her trance and bolted down the stairs and out the door. "Bye mom!" She said in passing.

"Sorry I'm a little late." Pepper laughed nervously as she climbed into the back of the car with all her things; her flute, hat, lunch box, etc. It was a lot to carry.

"That's alright, Pepper." Mrs. Kaysen laughed from the driver's seat as the car pulled out of the driveway. "We understand. It's not a favorable situation." Tony's nickname had stuck. The only people who now called her 'Virginia' were her parents, and even they pulled out the occasional usage of 'Pepper'.

Tell me about it. Pepper thought to herself.

"Hey Pepper!" Her friend, Riylee smiled next to her. "Are you ready for the big moment?"

"Oh…of course." Pepper said sarcastically, making the two girls laugh in response. "Are you?"

"Pfft. Can't wait." Riylee rolled her eyes, shifting her clarinet to a better position.

"These are the moments you're going to look back on girls." Mrs. Kaysen responded from the front seat.

"Sure mom. We'll see about that." Riylee laughed. She wasn't big on band either.

"What bus are you on?" Pepper then asked, changing the subject.

"Eh…bus 2 I think." Riylee shrugged. She then grinned. "Can I take a stab at whose bus you're on?" She laughed.

"…yeah." Pepper responded with a weak smile. But it wasn't like that…Tony and her were best friends…for now at least. She couldn't deny that part of her did indeed have small feelings for him…she didn't want to admit it.

They were at the school in less than fifteen minutes. Riylee had rushed over to a group of other girls that she had sat with at lunch. Pepper slowly made her way to the side walk, struggling under the weight of all the things she was carrying.

"Need some help?" A voice laughed. She couldn't see the person through the mound of crap she was carrying, but she knew that voice well enough…

"I got it, Tony. It's fine." Pepper replied, still attempting to make it to the sidewalk.

"Right." Pepper heard the smirk in Tony's voice. "Here. I got it." Pepper felt some of the weight lift from her arms. She could see now. There was the 15 year old Tony, still shorter than her, now carrying over half of Pepper's things.

"Um…thanks." Pepper responded.

"Don't mention it." Tony already was ahead of her, walking towards the side walk. "Hurry up, Potts. The buses are loading." Pepper sighed, rolling her eyes.

"Hey where are you sitting?" Tony had gotten on the bus with all of Pepper's things. Pepper was right behind him.

"I'm in the seat right next to you, Tony." Pepper sighed, rolling her eyes. "You were the one who signed me up for that seat, remember?" She laughed.

"Oh yeah." He grinned. "I forgot."

"Right…" Pepper rolled her eyes. Tony dumped the load into her seat and Pepper's bundle soon followed.

The two friends were the first ones on the bus. Other people then followed behind them, making it loud and crowded as everyone bustled around trying to find their seat. Some even through jealous glances at Pepper, longing to be the one with the famous best friend, like Tony Stark. Tony and Pepper sat opposite each other.

"You ready for today, Peps?" Tony grinned, facing inwards into the aisle…towards her.

"Nope." Pepper responded truthfully, laughing.

"Nah. It'll be fine." Tony assured her. Then he smirked. "Although, I hope you brought a weapon or something to fend off the drunks."

"Well…I have my flute." Pepper responded, smiling. "Does that count?"

"It won't last long." Tony scoffed. "I could have made you a much better defense mechanism than that." He pointed to her flute.

"Of course you could." Pepper shook her head. "Tony, I'm afraid this bus isn't big enough to fit your ego." She smiled.

"You're right." He laughed. "We're gonna need two."

"Or three." Pepper replied, smugly.

"Hey guys!" Rhodey was standing in the aisle, waiting for Tony to move over so he could sit in the seat. Tony just stood up, allowing him to climb in closest to the window. He rolled his eyes, clearly knowing why.

"You know Tony" Rhodey smirked. The bus was well into the journey to the parade. "You're very prepubescent for 15." Rhodey always brought up Tony's size casually. The Senior loved to brag about his size and muscle structure to everyone. He looked more like a Senior in college rather than in high school.

"Thanks Rhodey." Tony rolled his eyes. What Rhodey had said was true. Tony was still one of the very shortest in their Freshman class. His voice frequency was still that high pitched tone that most twelve year olds had. Heck, he even looked like a twelve year old due to his still childlike facial features.

"Anytime buddy." Rhodey smirked, jokingly ruffling Tony's hair, which was already unkempt enough. Rhodes knew exactly how to annoy his friend. Tony, feeling Rhodey's hand on his scalp, quickly reached up to bat away the eighteen year olds arm.

"'Anytime buddy' my ass." Tony replied, turning away from Pepper to face Rhodey, pointing a finger at his face. "One of these days, Rhodes. I swear to God, you're gonna get it." Tony then fake punched his friend, a grin playing on his face.

"The day you grow to be as tall as me, Stark, is the day we fight." Rhodey laughed.

"It's called a late bloomer, Rhodey." Tony patted his friend on the shoulder. "Look it up. My man hood is coming any day now."

"Ew…" Pepper, who had been listening in on the conversation now wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Hello? Female over here! I don't want to hear that!"

The two boys turned around to face her. "Sorry, Peps." They smiled apologetically in unison.

She sighed. Boys will be boys.

"Exactly, how long have we been waiting again?" Pepper sighed, sitting cross legged on the pavement of the parking lot where all those involved in the parade waited to march.

Tony, who sat next to Pepper, rolled up the sleeve of his uniform to look at his watch. "Approximately, two hours." He remained fixated on its clock. "Exact time we've been waiting, two hours, sixteen minutes and thirty two seconds." He sighed.

"I wasn't looking for an exact time, Tony, but thanks." Pepper rolled her eyes, letting loose a small laugh.

"No problem." Tony grinned, his dark brown eyes sparkling. "Hey Happy? Put the drum down here. I want to sit on it."

"Tony!" Pepper scolded her friend, as Happy made his way through the surrounding crowd of fellow high school band geeks. Happy, like Rhodey was a Senior. Happy wasn't exactly tightly intertwined with the trio, but he would hang out with them on certain occasions. He placed the drum down next to the friend's circle.

"What?" Tony shrugged in response to Pepper's disapproving look. "It's not like I'm going to break it if I sit on it."

"He's too miniature to." Happy joined in on the conversation. Like Rhodey, he was a pretty mature looking Senior. He took Tony's original seat next to Pepper eagerly as Tony himself took usage of the drum. Tony gave Happy a questioning look and took mental note to watch the Senior's motives very cautiously. Just as a friend or something more, no matter what the situation of the time was, Tony Stark always saw Pepper Potts as his girl.

"Exactly." Tony grinned, agreeing with Happy Hogan, shaking off his suspicious attitude quickly before anyone noticed.

"Ugh. I'm starving." Rhodey complained, groaning.

"Well, hey. If we're lucky, maybe our drunken friends will throw food at us while we walk." Tony sighed. "I'm bored."

"Hey Tony? Isn't that your dad?" Rhodey pointed to a man trying to weave through the sea of high school students. As he neared closer to the group, it was easy to see that it indeed was Howard Stark. It was clear that he was searching for someone.

"Yeah." Tony stood up to get a better view. "Dad! Hey! Over here!" He called, jumping up and down, trying to become visible despite his size. Howard noticed his son within the crowd, quickly making his way towards the group.

"How are we doing today, kids?" Howard Stark smiled as he approached the group. He was wearing one of his finest suits. Stark Industries, oddly had its own float in the parade this year. A lot of the team was marching; both Rhodey and Pepper's father's were.

"Just fine, dad." Tony took his seat back on the drum. "Bored out of our minds though."

"Oh" Howard Stark chuckled. "Well, it won't be long now. The float that's ahead of you just left."

"Good." Tony sighed.

"Howard!" A voice called from above the crowd. A man made his way through the high school students to get to Mr. Stark. The man was clearly balding, also dressed in a nice suit, and had a manner about him that was somewhat unsettling.

"Over here Obadiah!" Howard called back. Tony gave his father a disapproving look; he wasn't a big fan of Howard's best friend and business partner. Howard glared at his son, warning him not to act irrational. "Just saying 'hi' to my son and his friends."

"Ah. The whole crew is here!" Obadiah Stane laughed enthusiastically, coming up behind his friend. "How's it going guys? Haven't seen you kids hanging around the SI labs lately." The factor that annoyed Tony the most about Stane was his constant urge to talk to the trio as if they were babies, as if they didn't understand anything. An awkward silence followed, since all the teens were, maybe not as weary of Stane as Tony, but still were cautious around the man.

It was Rhodey who spoke. "Um…good." Rhodey started slowly. "We've been hanging around my house for the past few days."

"Ah, I see." Obadiah grinned, patting his friend on the back. "Hope you're not doing anything drastic and growing up to become a big party goer like your father was, Anthony?"

"It's Tony." Tony said abruptly, feeling himself beginning to fume. He hated being called by his full name. "And I don't think 'partying' is exactly in my forte yet, Obi" He stressed Stane's nickname that Tony had created from the time he knew how to talk. Tony knew how much his 'special' name annoyed the jerk.

"Right." Obadiah's cheap smile slightly faded as he stared at Tony, the only thing blocking his way to becoming future CEO, his direct bloodline, his son. He would remain only a business partner forever. "Well, looks like your troops are moving kids. Have fun." With that, Stane turned around and made his way through the crowd of band geeks now preparing to march.

"Tony, what don't you understand about playing nice?" Howard questioned sternly, shaking his head.

"Dad, what don't you understand about your 'best friend' being a creep!" Tony retorted.

"Tony…" Howard sighed, clearly not having the energy at the time to deal with his forever strong headed son. "Sometimes I just…never mind. Just go have fun. We'll talk later." Mr. Stark turned around abruptly, following the same path that Stane had previously webbed through.

"You don't know when to just shut up do you?" Pepper, once Mr. Stark was out of hearing range, reached over to hit Tony in the gut.

"Ouch!" Tony responded, leaning back on the drum so she couldn't strike him again. "Come on, Peps. You can't honestly tell me that there's something likeable about that guy?"

"No, Tony. But, sometimes we have to deal with people and situations we don't like. Unfortunately, this is clearly a concept you clearly don't understand." Pepper retorted.

"I understand it fully. It's just with that guy-"

"Tony, that guy happens to be your father's business partner-"

"I don't care-"

"For the sake of SI and your father, you should care-"

"It's not my problem-"

"Newsflash Tony Stark, someday, it will be-"

"And the 'odd couple' is off bickering again, ladies and gentlemen!" Rhodes interjected, pretending to announce it to the world.

"Rhodey!" Tony and Pepper stopped their arguing to stare at their friend, not amused.

"Guys, seriously, it's true." Rhodey was chuckling to himself, but it was clear that he was somewhat serious. "You two argue like you're married or something."

"What?" Pepper responded nervously, trying to move as far away from Tony as possible.

"No we don't!" Tony ran his fingers through his messy black hair, it was clear he was a little panicked.

"Happy, what do you think?" Pepper turned to Hogan, who had been sitting idly by himself for the past few minutes. Pepper had brought him out of silence and into the disagreement. He looked around the circle of friends nervously, not knowing what to say. "Umm…" He laughed nervously.

"Happy…do tell." Tony replied, eyebrows raised.

"You guys…sometimes…kinda do seem like an old married couple…" Happy smiled apologetically at his two friends. "But only sometimes…" Happy added quickly seeing the frustrated and flustered expressions that appeared on both Tony and Pepper's faces.

Suddenly a whistle blew above the crowd. "Alright band, time to march!" The band director's voice shouted. Everyone moved to their designated spots with their instruments ready. Tony and Pepper got up a little awkwardly, Rhodey with the satisfaction of weirding his friend's out, and Hogan finally knowing the true meaning of 'saved by the bell'…or better yet… 'saved by the whistle'.

The marching was a success; no one got attacked by a drunk. Despite having to walk five miles playing in boiling heat, it was actually a great day. Better yet, the march had made Pepper and Tony almost completely forget Rhodey's comment…almost. At least just enough to no longer be afraid to talk to each other.

On the bus ride home, Happy's seat had been taken over, so Rhodey agreed to let him sit in his seat. Clearly, Rhodey had a method.

"Oh here. I'll sit with you, Peps." Tony moved over to the empty spot in Pepper's seat when the situation occurred. Happy looked over at Pepper longingly; he was about to say something, but then decided against it.

The two talked to each other consistently on the bus ride home. Mostly, it was Tony making another one of his rude innuendos and Pepper trying to ignore them, but eventually burst out laughing unable to control herself. The conversation eventually became Tony talking about what kind of projects he was working on.

"It's a powerful missile, so hopefully someday Stark Industries will be able to use it." Tony, jokingly, lay down on the seat, his head resting in Pepper's lap. He completely fit within the seat; in fact, someone in passing most likely would have assumed, judging by Tony's size and high pitched vocal frequency that he was Pepper's little brother.

"You mean when you take over Stark Industries?" Pepper looked down at her friend who was grinning up at her. All of Pepper's things sat idly under the seat.

"Yep." Tony smirked. He then became serious, a thoughtful expression on his face. "Hey Pep?"

"Yeah?"
"Have you ever thought about what you wanted to do yet…after college and stuff of course?" Tony asked, looking up at her.

"Not really." Pepper sighed. "I honestly have no idea…I'm not fit for anything."

"Not true." Tony grinned, suddenly sitting up. "Now…Ms. Potts…what if I told you that you could be my P.A.?"

"Be your personal assistant? Really, Tony?" Pepper laughed.

"No, I'm being serious, Pep." Tony responded. "I mean, you already take care of my life 24/7 anyways." He shrugged.

"That's true." Pepper rolled her eyes at the thought of her usual morning phone call to her friend in order for him to wake up on time.

"So what do you say?" Tony asked.

"Tony…I don't know…that's so far away and-" Pepper stumbled for words, but was quickly interrupted.

"Now now…" Tony began, playfully wagging his finger in her face. "That's Mr. Stark to you, Potts. Deal, then?" He held out his hand for her to shake.

"Fine, Mr. Stark. Deal. But, only because, you're my best friend, I don't have a current occupation in mind, and I don't think any old bimbo but me would know exactly how to take care of you and your ego properly." Pepper shook on it, sighing as she did so. "And please, promise me it won't be that formal."

"I promise." Tony paused, grinning wickedly out of the corner of his eye at her. "Ms. Potts."

"Ugh!" Pepper groaned, letting her head fall into Tony's very low shoulder in disgust. Tony just laughed, allowing her head to rest there. After a few minutes of silence, he looked down to find Pepper asleep, using him as a pillow. He smiled.

Rhodey watched the whole scene from the seat opposite theirs. He shook his head at the sight of it. The term 'married couple' as 'true fact' is going to apply to those two sooner than I thought it would. Rhodey thought to himself, smiling.