Chapter 3: Observing
Tony walked down the hallway and gave himself a mental slap in the face. Staring was something that had gotten him in trouble more times than once, but never really with Pepper. Sure he'd pretended to check her out for a few laughs, or just to make her feel better about a certain outfit she'd asked for his opinion on, but what had just happened a few minutes ago was a different story. He thought zoning out and awkwardly staring at someone wasn't exactly his smoothest move. ...Not that he was trying to put moves on Pepper or anything. He just found today that she was very... stareable. Yeah, stareable was a good word.
It would be an understatement to say he was surprised that the set of legs that caught his eye this morning belonged to his best friend, and even more of a surprise to find out he wasn't dreaming. He always thought she was cute, beautiful in her own little dorky way, but the Pepper he saw this morning didn't remind him of the pretty little redhead that he called his best bud. No, this was quite the surprise. A pleasant surprise to say the least.
He thought he played it off pretty well, acting as if nothing had changed to him. He even got a hug out of his slyness, and couldn't help but feel somewhat of a success in doing so. He saw a few guys eye her down the hallway as well and felt a small wave of possession pass over him for the short period she was in his arms. She was his best friend, they had no business staring at her like... like he was.
And he really had no business staring at her like he had either. It was fine during their bio class, since they were both joking around as their eyes kept meeting here and there, but when he left for his metal shop class and her to her english, he just sort of blanked. Something came over him and it seemed to click and he froze. Maybe it happened over the summer, or maybe it had always been there, but in that moment, he felt widely conflicted with his feelings towards her.
And none of those feelings were bad ones.
In fact they were very good. Too good. Good enough to make him zone out once again and almost walk into his metalwork teacher Mr. Ferring.
"Oh, sorry." Tony mumbled, before he looked up and smiled once he saw who it was.
"Tony! Hey! Do I have the pleasure of having you in my class again?" came the excited cheer of Mr. Ferring. Unlike Mr. Stryder in bio, Mr. Ferring was genuinely pleased to see his best student returning to his class.
"You do actually, full term." Tony smiled, casually leaning against the doorframe to let a few more kids walk into the class.
"Good, good. I'll be looking forward to a year as great as lasts then?" the teacher asked with a knowing grin.
Tony laughed charmingly and gave a nod. "I'll try my best." he said, pushing himself off the door frame and walking into the class.
The school bell rang once again and soon enough it was time for lunch. Tony and Pepper had met each other in the cafeteria with the rest of their friends, including Steve Rogers and Bruce Banner.
Tony refused to eat the slop they served in the cafeteria and usually went out to buy something, but today seeing as it was the first and all, he brought his little brown paper bag with "Tony" scrawled across it in a sharpie. He'd never tell anyone, but if he ever asked, his mother was still more than willing to pack a lunch for him; just like she did today.
He sat at their table, waiting for them to get their gross cafeteria lunches and had a few brief conversations with some of his other friends. One included talking to Thor, the giant foreign kid that no one dared messing with on or off the football field. He was one of the popular jocks and since Tony occasionally hung out with the popular crew, they went to all the same parties as each other and ended up becoming friends somehow. Tony assumed alcohol had something to do with it, but they never seemed to talk about how their friendship came about much.
Thor had just stopped by to say hi and ask how his summer went before he went off to his table with his girlfriend Jane.
Tony waved him off and didn't have to wait long before Pepper came to sit beside him and Steve and Bruce were soon to follow. "Hey guys, long time no see." Tony grinned, raising his brows at Steve.
Bruce nodded, and took a bite of his mac n cheese, or what they promised to be mac n cheese. "It's been a while, hasn't it?" he asked, taking a few more bites.
"How was Italy?" Steve asked, "Visit any cool places?"
Tony hummed, taking a sip of his water. "We were going to go to some museum, but I got invited to the beach with a few girls I ran into at the hotel." he said with a shrug. "So, I snuck off basically. Spent the day there, which I guess could be classified as a cool place." he said, "But let me tell you, Italian girls, whew." he let out a whistle and waggled his brows suggestively.
"I'm Italian." Pepper blurted out, her eyes going wide for a moment before she quickly looked down and pushed around her food.
Tony raised a single brow and turned to her curiously, "Really?"
Pepper held back a blush and swallowed. "Well I ah, one of my grandpas was. So I guess, I'm partially? A quater?"
Tony seemed to be the only one genuinely intrigued by this. "Hm, wow. Good to know." he said with a little chuckle before he turned back to the guys.
Tony'd gotten himself into a conversation over the Leaning Tower of Pisa with Bruce, and in doing so had missed out on the furious blush that was now gracing Pepper's cheeks.
Steve, on the other hand, had noticed and raised a brow to his redheaded friend, wondering if there was a reason for her strange little outburst.
Pepper caught Steve looking at her and averted her eyes down to her food, and stayed that way for most of lunch, too embarrassed to look up again.
Tony hadn't really had a chance to notice her since he was too busy catching up with Bruce, and then Steve once he decided to leave Pepper alone. They talked about the beaches, the sightseeing and once again, the girls that had invited him out to party whenever he was able to.
"Wow, and your parents just let you go out with them?" Bruce asked, knowing he'd never be allowed to leave his parents sight if they ever took him on vacation.
Tony bit his bottom lip. "Well, let's not necessarily say 'allowed' it. But I found a way." he smirked.
"Wouldn't it be kind of challenging, with the language barrier?" Steve asked putting in his two cents.
Tony scoffed. "I can speak Italian." he explained, "And even if I couldn't, I think the international language could of gotten me by just fine too."
It was Pepper's turn to frown. "…International language?" she asked not knowing what he meant.
Tony chuckled to himself and turned to face her, "Body language." he purred, pumping his brows in her direction.
Pepper smirked and closed her eyes, laughing softly to herself and trying not to blush again from his sultry tone. "Of course."
Lunch ended rather quickly, and they all headed back to their separate classes. Pepper ended up going to her accounting class and found that her friend Natasha was also in that class.
They talked for a little while between instructions from their new teacher, and Pepper learned that her and Clint had gone out to lunch together today, that being the reason for his absence at their table. Clint was better friends with the group than Natasha was, but everyone knew who she was, of course.
Other than that, nothing too spectacular had happened.
The bell rang finally ending their double block class and after a short visit to her locker Pepper made her way to the front of the school.
She normally drove herself to school, but this morning her father opted to drive her. She didn't realize at the time that would mean taking the school bus home.
She sighed as she watched the old yellow deathtrap pull into the parking lot and a few of the younger kids pile into it. She hated the school bus. It smelled, made her car sick, and was full of annoying little kids.
She was too far away to walk home, and without a car, it seemed like her only option. Dejected, she began walking over to the rusty machine but stopped when she saw something. Or, someone.
Tony was standing on the sidewalk talking with a few of the cheerleaders, one being his ex girlfriend. Well, now that she thought about it, a few of them might had been ex girlfriends. Anyways, with them all wearing their matching letterman jackets, Tony stuck out like a sore thumb in his plain v-neck she swooned over this morning.
She took a quick glance into the parking lot and felt her stomach flip when she noticed Tony's car was there, and perhaps she could catch a ride home with him.
She began walking over to the group surrounding Tony, and the second he saw her he grinned and waved her over. If it was one thing Tony did well, it was always making her feel welcome. Even if he was in a group she wouldn't dare hangout with.
"Hey Pep, what's goin on?" he asked casually, causing a few of the girls that hadn't noticed her approach quiet down.
"Hey, I was actually wondering if I could get a ride home?" she said, looking to him hopefully.
Tony furrowed his brows. "Where's your car?"
"My dad dropped me off." she shrugged. "And I don't particularity want to take… that." she said, pointing to the bus.
Tony glanced over to their direction as did the group of girls. He wrinkled his nose and the cheerleaders all winced at the thought of even touching something as grimy as the bus, let alone taking it.
"Ew, yeah. No, you're riding with me." he said, taking his sunglasses out of his shirt and unfolding them, before putting them on. "Alright, well I'll see you ladies tomorrow." he smirked before turning to Pepper with a genuine smile and walking off.
A collective. "Bye Tony." could be heard as they made their way into the parking lot.
Pepper felt like rolling her eyes but decided against it. She didn't want to seem jealous, because she wasn't. At all.
"Thank you for saving me." Tony said, with a dramatic gasp once they were out of earshot.
Pepper furrowed her brows. If anything she should be the one thanking Tony for saving her. "Really? You looked like you were enjoying yourself."
Tony lifted up his sunglasses to stare at her as they came around to his red audi, "I don't know about you, but is standing in a circle full of your ex's and their friends an ideal situation for you?"
Pepper just grinned, finding her earlier assumptions to be correct and got into the passenger seat of his car.
Tony got in quickly and shut the door, sighing as they got away from the chatter of outside. He started up the engine and began backing out of his parking spot and soon enough they were on their way home.
"You know, I just realized this now." Tony began, tapping the steering wheel as they waited at a red light. "Clint wasn't with us at lunch today, was he?"
Pepper resisted the urge to laugh. "Always the observant one." she chided, getting comfortable in her seat. "He was out to lunch, with Natasha."
Tony nodded at first, but then chewed on his bottom lip, "...Natasha, which one was she again?"
"His girlfriend?" Pepper tried, turning to look at him.
"Wait, Clint has a girlfriend?" Tony said suddenly, sounding rather surprised.
"Oh, yeah. He does now." she chuckled, only realizing now that it happened during the summer and Tony wasn't aware. "It's Natasha Romanoff, that Russian redheaded girl, gymnastics team…" she trailed off, hoping he'd remember.
"Ohhh! Natasha!" he said, nodding his head. "Wait a minute, Clint snagged her?" he laughed to himself. "Wow, lucky guy. She's pretty hot."
It was no secret to her that Natasha was attractive. Most of the guys she knew drooled over her a some point and she was surprised Tony hadn't tried something on her already.
Tony glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, wondering why she didn't reply. "What? You don't think so?"
Pepper rolled her eyes and shrugged. "I don't know, I mean, I know a lot of guys think so."
Tony nodded, "Of course they do. She's a redhead. Redheads are hot."
Pepper swallowed, feeling her heart skip a beat. Did he just, inadvertently call her hot then? Because she was definitely red haired, and he reminded her of that plenty of times. She could count more times than not when he teased her over not having a soul.
She didn't exactly know what to say. Perhaps he didn't mean her, maybe she was just the exception. She was always an exception, so now why would now be any different?
Because she didn't want to be an exception. She wanted him to find her attractive, because she sure as hell thought he was now.
She was going to open her mouth and say something or switch the subject onto something else, but he stopped her when he turned over to look at her and threw her a wink.
The wink meaning she was included, the wink meaning that Tony Stark found Pepper Potts under his list of hot redheads.
She'd be lying to say she wasn't thrilled.
A small smiled settled over her lips, though she gave him a scoff and chuckled slightly to ease the slightly awkward air around them.
He grinned back at her and brought his attention to the road once again. He'd turned down her dead end street and pulled right into her driveway. Quite the timing, as the conversation could of gotten a little more awkward if time had gone on.
Pepper picked her books off the floor of his car and was about to say something when he beat her to it.
"Do you wanna come over tomorrow?" he asked, lifting his sunglasses off his face and into his hair.
Pepper opened the door, and stepped out, gathering her things. "After school?" she clarified.
"Yeah, just like old times." he grinned. "I'll get my mom to buy some juice boxes for us." he teased with a little chuckle.
It wasn't that Tony and her didn't go to each others houses as often once they got into high school. They just hadn't really hung out alone as often. Occasionally they would still do so, but it was usually waiting for another friend to come over, or for them to all head out somewhere together. It had been a while since she'd gone to his house without Steve or Bruce, or even Rhodey there too.
"Ooh, that's tempting." she chuckled, holding onto the edge of his car door, books now in hand. "I think I'll have to come." she smiled, "Just for the juice though." she said, closing the door and looking at him through the open window now.
Tony smirked and put back on his glasses, giving her a nod. "Alright, I'll try not to disappoint."
Pepper smiled back at him and gave a little wave. "Then I'll be looking forward to it." she said, beginning to step away from his car. "Thanks for the ride."
Tony grinned and put his car in reverse. "Anytime Potts. See ya tomorrow."
"Bye Tony." she said, and with that he pulled out of her driveway and sped down her street.
Hello! Well, I put a part of this in Tony's POV after quite a few requests for it! Please tell me what you think! :)