Chapter 5: Kiss Me

The bell had rang, and Tony had gone off to his next class, leaving an extremely flustered Pepper at their lunch table. She didn't have much time to form a response after he uttered his highly inappropriate…. promise? Threat? Proposition? She didn't know what to call it. All she knew was that it ran shivers down her spine and made her stomach flip in ways she hadn't known possible.

She didn't even look in his direction after he moved away from her ear, even though her mind was begging her to at least steal a glance at him to see if he was kidding or not. Normally in a situation like this she would hope for the latter… but now, she wasn't so sure. Just having Tony that close to her was making her feel things towards him she certainly had never felt before. At least not at this high of an intensity.

"Yet" What does that even mean? Of course she knew it was because of her earlier statement, of not belonging to anybody… but did that mean that he wanted her to belong to him? Not necessarily, but would it be such a bad thing if Pepper hoped that it did? He already admitted that he thought she was hot, was this just the next step in his plans?

Pepper had to shake her head. She was asking herself too many questions and was making her self even more flustered than before.

If there was one thing she learned in her few years as a teenager, it was never to assume with boys. At that's exactly what she was doing now.

She shouldn't assume that by his flirtatious remark that Tony Stark wanted her. And even if he did, she shouldn't get her hopes up. Tony Stark wanted a lot of girls, why would she be any different.

With a heavy sigh, she got up from the table and began walking to her long block class till the end of the day, nearly forgetting her plans after school.

Tony on the other hand, had not forgotten their plans, and couldn't wait to get out of his last block class to meet up with Pepper. He waited in his normal spot by the sidewalk, underneath the shade that the few trees planted in the front offered. A few girls passed him by, sending him flirtatious winks or alluring "Bye Tony's" and a few of the guys also said their goodbye's either with a pat to his shoulder or a shake of his hand.

He went along with all of it, though all he really cared about was seeing a certain redhead break through the crowd at the front doors and find her way to his side.

He didn't have to wait very long.

Soon enough Pepper was weaving through her classmates and politely trying to excuse her way up to Tony, who was smiling in amusement at her.

"I was wondering if you were gonna get out of there alive." he teased with a little grin, slipping on his sunglasses as they walked with each other to his car.

"People don't seem to understand the words "excuse me" any more." she replied with a sigh.

Tony shrugged, "Sometimes you just gotta walk with your elbows up." he mused, "Then people will get out of your way."

Pepper chuckled softly at the idea of her doing so, and just couldn't quite picture it. "Is that what you do?"

"Nah. People part like the red sea the second they see me coming."

Pepper rolled her eyes, "I'm sure they do." she hummed, keeping up with his quick pace to his parking space in the back. Or, well, two parking spaces.

"Really?" she commented, staring at his car that was parked diagonally right through the lines.

"What?" he frowned, lifting up his glasses as if to inspect the lines that his car was clearly overlapping. He didn't see a problem.

"Oh you know exactly what." she said, walking to the passenger door and getting inside.

Tony smirked to himself and got in the drivers side, closing his door and looking to her. "I get called a douche often enough, why not start parking like one?" he shrugged as if that was enough to justify his actions.

"You didn't take up three parking spaces yesterday."

"Two," he corrected, and put his arm on the back of her seat as he twisted around and began backing out. "And yesterday I was a little late. Some other douche took my spot."

"Your two spots." she corrected right back.

"…Yes."

"You're incorrigible."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"It wasn't a compliment."

"I'm still taking it as one."

Pepper huffed out a sigh and shook her head.

Tony grinned, glad he'd won their little quarrel and grinned to himself.

The ride was ridden in a comfortable silence for Tony, but what was going on in Pepper's mind was anything but peaceful. Thoughts of lunch kept creeping into her head, and how that one stupid word Tony uttered made her heart drop more than it ever had before.

She wasn't sure if she should bring it up, or just leave it.

He was joking, it was a joke, he'd think it would be weird if she brought it up, right?

No, she couldn't just let it slide. He was her best friend, they were allowed to talk about things like this. Bottling things up was never a good idea, she told Tony that on multiple occasions, perhaps it was time she took her own advice.

"Tony what did you mean when you said "yet" at lunch?" Pepper blurted out of the blue.

Tony furrowed his brows, that completely catching him off guard. "Uh wow, that was delayed." he said, stealing a glance over to her and meeting her gaze fleetingly. "Um, I don't know." he lied. "I was just kidding around." he shrugged. "To get a rise out of you."

Pepper felt her mood dampen slightly. She got what she was expecting, and didn't understand why his refusal to it being genuine made her a little more than upset. "Oh."

Tony looked over to her again and definitely caught her tone of voice. "Yeah." he said, "You know I'm just joking with you." he said, giving her a smile as they came to a stop sign. "That and I love seeing you blush."

Pepper instantly forgot about her damped mood and grew infuriated. "I did not blush."

Tony chuckled, glad that he'd gotten some other emotion out of her. "You so did."

Pepper stayed silent and crossed her arms, though a small smile was tugging at her lips.

"Don't lie, the thought of you being mine makes you blush." he said, smirking over to her.

"The lights green, Tony."

"Don't try and change the subject."

"You're holding up traffic."

"I could really care less."

"The lights going to turn red."

"Red like your cheeks?"

"Tony!"

Tony laughed and sped through the intersection. "I'll take that as a yes." he chuckled to himself.

Pepper was silent the rest of the way home, but that hint of a smile never left her lips.

Tony had parked his car in the garage and grabbed more than enough juice boxes for them before they made their way up to his room. He called out for his mother but didn't get a reply back.

Pepper noticed the slight change in his demeanour once finding that his mother hadn't responded, though she didn't say anything. She just walked into his room, just like old times and found her favourite spot on his couch, right in front of his TV.

Tony followed after her, and looked to the door. He remember his conversation with his mother earlier, and debated over closing the door or not.

He glanced to Pepper, and then back to the door before he closed it all the way.

"Do you think it's weird how you're the only girl I'm allowed to have in here with the door closed?" he asked casually, dropping the juice boxes on the table in front of them before sitting beside Pepper on the couch.

Pepper raised her brows to him and reached over to the coffee table, snagging a box. "Well, I'm sure my parents wouldn't be okay with it." she began with a little chuckle. "But no, I don't think it's weird."

Tony looked to her and raised a brow, sticking a straw in his own juice.

"I mean, it's not like we're doing anything." she said with a slightly nervous chuckle, hoping Tony knew what she meant.

Tony nodded in understanding. "You're right." he said, taking a long sip of his juce. "…So, let's change that… and do something." he suggested.

Pepper felt her heart sink. "Ah wha-"

"COD or Halo, you choose." he said, getting up and moving over to his xbox.

Pepper managed to catch her breath, sighing in relief. "Um, Halo. Please." she said, recovering from her near heart attack at what she thought Tony was suggesting.

"You got it." he said, placing the disk in.

It doesn't take long for Tony to get them into a private match, and soon enough their juice boxes were forgotten as the both of them became completely fixated on the screen.

Sometimes they would play together, other times they would verse online, but there was something satisfying about playing against one another in a small map.

It was fun, and nearly always brought out the worst of their competitive sides since it was so personal.

They were currently tied with eight kills each, but Pepper was winning since Tony killed himself once trying to do a trick shot.

"That's what you get for showing off." Pepper smirked, checking the score. "What do you know, you've put me in the lead."

Tony brought his eyes away from the screen momentarily to glance over at her. "What about… now?" he asked, and just before they were both going to shoot each other Tony reached over to her side of the couch and knocked her controller out of her hands. He quickly got the shot off and chuckled as it put them back at even points.

"What the hell Tony!" Pepper exclaimed, picking up her controller and glaring over at him.

"All's fair in love and war." he grinned, getting ready for his next attack.

Pepper held back a growl and got back into the game. She felt like slapping him, let alone his controller, but decided she was going to be the better person and not cheat.

That was, until he started winning.

He was a few points ahead of her now, and every time she glanced over at him he had that same stupid grin across his face.

She was going to change that.

She scooted a little closer to him on the couch and bumped his shoulder.

It didn't seem to faze him, but it did get a reaction. "Is that all you've got Potts?" he smirked, and bumped her shoulder right back.

She didn't reply, but she did bump him again, this time with her leg.

Tony kept his eyes on the screen and bumped her back once again.

Pepper needed a different approach, so she took her elbow and nudged him in the side with it.

That finally got a reaction.

"Ow, hey." he said, with a grimace, though his eyes kept to the screen, still managing to shoot her once again.

Pepper sighed. She didn't think she'd have to resort to this, but now it really seemed like the only way.

She waited for the perfect moment, and just when they were about to engage, Pepper reached over to smack Tony's controller.

Except, Tony saw it coming and managed to grab her hand.

But that wasn't all he did.

Once he captured one hand, he reached over and grabbed her other as well, their controllers falling to the ground.

Pepper gasped in surprised and tried to wiggle away from him but his grasp was too strong.

"You're a cheater." he said,pausing for a moment before he let go of her hands began to tickle her sides, his fingers poking her and dancing up her ribs.

"Tony!" she yelled, though it was masked with laughter. She squirmed away from his hands, baking herself into the corner of the couch.

Tony brought his knees up and continued poking her, laughing as he nearly came on top of her. "I didn't think you would stoop down to my level." he grinned, continuing to prod her sides.

Pepper kept trying to move away from him, but with him basically hovering over her, it was becoming increasingly harder to do so. "Well, I-" she had to stop, as he reached under her arms and made her shriek from laughter. She kicked him then, causing him to go back to her sides. "I do like to get even." she managed out, and with that, gave him a hard shove in the chest, knocking him off of her.

Tony wasn't expecting her to push him as hard as she did, and he fell right backwards onto the couch, eyes going wide.

Pepper took his surprise to her advantage and immediately came on top of him and grabbed his hands, holding them above his head.

Tony's eyes were still as wide as ever, not expecting the role reversal in the slightest.

She didn't tickle him though, she just… stared at him.

And he stared right back.

Everything began to come back into focus for Pepper. The fact that she was basically straddling him, their hands were now interlaced above his head, and they hadn't taken their eyes off of each other.

For some strange reason, she didn't feel like pulling away.

So she didn't.

Their game of halo in the background was as motionless as they were right now.

But then, Tony smiled.

And Pepper smiled back.

He gave her hands in his a gentle squeeze and raised his brows to her. He wasn't going to move until she did, and only half of that reason was because he physically couldn't.

She stared down at him for a little while longer and found that her gaze had some how settled onto his lips, rather than his eyes where they were just a few seconds ago. How did that happen? Surely, she didn't want to kiss him.

"Woah, are you going to kiss me?" Tony asked from underneath her.

Now she definitely didn't want to kiss him.

She immediately frowned and got off of him, releasing his hands and crawling away from his legs. "What? No are you kidding me?"

Tony shrugged, propping himself up on his elbows as if it wasn't such a big deal. "Your eyes were on my lips."

Pepper scoffed and looked over to him as he began to sit back up to the way they were before. "Don't flatter yourself."

Tony turned up a corner of his lip and turned on the couch so he was facing her now, their knees almost touching. "I'm not. I was just wondering. …Were you thinking about kissing me?" he asked again, his voice strangely soothing in the awkward atmosphere now surrounding them.

Pepper raised her brows to him, wondering what he was trying to get at. "No, I wasn't thinking about kissing you." she repeated.

Tony gave a few nods and looked down to his hands. "Alright." he said, "What about… not just there?" he tried, "Have you… ever wanted to kiss me?"

Pepper swallowed. "Tony." she said sternly, looking to him and keeping up her facade.

"Will you just answer the question?" he said, raising his brows to her with a soft chuckle. "If you don't answer, I'm going to have to assume it's a yes."

Pepper sighed and glanced to the multiple forgotten juice boxes on the table. It reminded her why she was here in the first place. They were friends, best friends, hanging out. They weren't supposed to be asking… questions like these.

"Tony, we're best friends." she began.

"Yes." he agreed.

"So why are you asking me things like this?" she nearly pleaded.

"Because I want to know if my best friend wants to kiss me." he shrugged. "So, do you want t-"

"I don't know." she said, interrupting him.

"...You don't know?" he repeated.

"I don't know."

"Okay…" he replied slowly. "You don't know… if you've ever wanted to kiss me…"

Pepper sighed and closed her eyes for a moment before she turned to him, facing him just like he was to her. She decided she might as well go along with whatever Tony wanted, because denying things wasn't really working in her favour. "Yes, I don't know." she replied honestly.

Tony nodded, looking quite content with that answer. "Well ...would you like to find out?"

All sorts of warning bells began to go off in Pepper's mind, her heart fluttered dangerously and she felt herself swallow. How was he being so calm right now while talking about all of this?

What she didn't know, was that Tony's palms were sweating more than he could of imagined, and he kept subtly wiping them on his jeans. "So?"

"And I would find out how, exactly?" she questioned carefully.

"Simple, really." he said, grinning. "Kiss me."

"That doesn't make any sense."

"Yes it does."

"No, it really doesn't."

"Pepper, this could be a once in a life time chance, Tony Stark asking you to kiss him."

"You asked me to kiss you yesterday in bio." she deadpanned.

"But now I'm being serious." he countered.

"Does this mean that you… want me to kiss you?" she asked.

"I don't know."

Pepper rolled her eyes and let out a huff. "Well now we've come full circle, haven't we."

Tony nodded, "Yes, that's why I'm suggesting you kiss me."

"So we can find out, if either of us want to kiss each other." she finished.

Tony nodded, and scooted a little closer to her. "Yes."

Pepper couldn't believe this was happening right now. She'd always been on the receiving end of Tony's friendship, but never his advances. At least, not the most serious ones. Yet here they were, sitting on his couch in his room with him asking her to kiss him.

"So we're going to kiss to find out." Pepper clarified.

"Yes." Tony said again, his hand creeping over to hers and taking hers in his.

Pepper pulled away from him. "What are you doing?"

"I don't know, I thought that would help." he said sheepishly.

"So you want to kiss me, and hold my hand now?"

"I don't know." he shrugged.

Pepper felt like pulling out her hair. "If I hear "I don't know" one more time, I'm going to leave."

"I won't say it again." he promised. "Just kiss me."

And so she did.

She leaned forward and before she could tell herself not to, she brought her lips to meet his. They only stayed there for a second or two though before she pulled back, not exactly sure what to feel.

Tony stared at her wide eyed once they broke away. "…You call that a kiss?"

Pepper's eyebrows hit the roof, he did not just insult her after nearly begging her to kiss him. "I'm sorry?"

"I don't think that could even be classified as a peck." he said.

Pepper was speechless.

"I get longer kisses than that from my grandmother." he smirked, "We're going to have to try that again."

Pepper was about to get up and leave, or smack him, something to let him know that she did not appreciate how he was speaking to her just now.

But then she saw his smile, and everything seemed to click.

"Are you being a jerk, or do you just want to kiss me again?"

Tony chuckled a little and gave her a smile. "I just want to kiss you again." he admitted, his tone considerably softer now.

Pepper hated herself for it, but she allowed a little smile too. "I still think you're a jerk."

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