A/N: This chapter will serve as a part of the explanation for Rhodey's mood in the previous chapter (5, Just Another Day) and some of his later actions...I hope.
Also, upon writing this and realising that in the actual story-text, I should be spelling numbers, instead of writing them, like...13 should be thirteen...I may have neglected this in the past, and there is probably a mix of the both in there, I will fix this asap.
Chapter 6, Shot Down, 1976
A nineteen year old Rhodey walked into Tony's dorm room, leaping out of the way of Tony's third, and presumably not last, roommate, his things bundled into boxes which he carried, and almost spilled over Rhodey.
"Don't go in there, man," the guy warned, but Rhodey already knew that to expect. With a sigh, Rhodey walked into the room.
"Tony?" Rhodey called, looking around the room.
He got no answer, but heard muttering and crashing under the bed on the far side of the room, and with a deep sigh, Rhodey went over and saw Tony's legs poking out from under the bed, a dull glow from a torch-light and the distant drone of Black Sabbath as well. With a nudge of Tony's foot, Tony started under the bed, and yelled out as he whacked his head on the beds metal frame.
"Ow." He muttered and slid out on the wood floor. Upon seeing his friend, he beamed. "Hey." He said as he took off the cannibalised headphones.
"Likewise," Rhodey said, "I don't know if you know, but your third roommate just left." He added, stepping back and helping Tony to his feet, placing the headphones and cassette player on the bed.
Rhodey gazed at the headphones for a long time. They were cannabalised from a pair of bulky headphones, made to fit inside the ear, rather than over it, and the speaker-buds were attached by cables that had been coiled around each other to form just a single line.
"Ingenious idea, right?" Tony asked, "The new design offers less noise escaping than how they were before." He said.
Rhodey paused. "Is that what happened to my headphones?" he asked slowly, pointing.
Tony looked away indignantly, "You're welcome."
"They cost a lot of money, Tony..." Rhodey sighed.
"Relax! They're almost 4 years out-of-date, and the new design will catch on, I'm going to sell it to dad, you watch, it'll catch on."
Rhodey sighed and picked up what used to be his headphones and then sighed again. "What are you doing? Or, what did you do this time?" he asked, gesturing to the mess on the other bed; Tony's now-ex roommates final belongings.
Tony shrugged, "I was fitting a new Ethernet cable for the computer dad sent me," he said, "I guess he couldn't handle the noise. I'll keep doing this until the Dean agrees to have you move in here."
Rhodey sighed, and said, "Tony the Dean wont allow that, and you know it, and you know why."
"Complications. Anyway, I must continue." Tony replied matter-of-factly, and got back down onto his back, reached up for the headphones and disappeared back under the bed.
Rhodey sighed, shaking his head, and moved towards the door. He stopped when he saw a girl standing there, she looked younger than most of the girls around here. He swallowed what he realised was a dry mouth, winced a little at the sensation, and cleared his throat, "Hi, can I help?"
The girl looked startled, "Hello," she said quickly to cover herself, dropping her book and several papers.
Rhodey crouched and helped pick her things up with her. He noticed her red hair, and freckles. She wore her hair up, but had bangs coming down that framed her face, it made her look mature, grown up, and slightly professional. The freckles and the brilliant green of her eyes only helped highlight her stunning beauty.
When she blushed, he realised he was staring, "Uh, are you lost?" he managed to ask.
"Yes, I'm thinking about coming here in a few years, my daddy told me it was better to get to know the place, but I can't make heads-or-tails of this map," she said, thrusting it out.
Rhodey took it, looked at it, and studied it. He withdrew a pen and marked an X on the map, "You're here, now," he said, "Does that help?"
The girl took back her map and smiled widely, "It does, thank you, very much. I'm Virginia, by the way, Virginia Potts, but my friends call me Pepper." She smiled brightly.
"I'm Rhodey, uh...James Rhodes, my friends call me Rhodey," he laughed nervously.
Pepper smiled and extended her hand.
"Oh, right," Rhodey said and shook her hand, then hesitated and quickly kissed her knuckle.
"It was nice to meet you, Rhodey," Pepper smiled shyly and looked down at her map, "Thank you," she said and moved off, glancing up and down from the map to her surroundings.
"Yeah..." Rhodey said, watching her leave, then shook himself, "Nice to meet you too, Pepper," he called after her.
"Did you say something, dear?" Tony's voice came from behind him, and Rhodey glanced over his shoulder.
"What? No." Rhodey said, "Um...just talking to...a friend," he said, looking back out of the door, but Pepper was already gone.
Rhodey spent the next week thinking back to Pepper, their brief conversation, and what an idiot he was for letting her get away without asking her if she wanted to do something, sometime. He sighed deeply and stared at the ceiling. He still had trouble processing the fact that the Dean had caved to Tony's demand that he and Rhodey share a dorm room.
Rhodey glanced over at the computer Tony was glued to; he'd tapped into his father's bank account and splashed out on an extra monitor, setting up a dual-screen system and was rambling on about increasing the processing power of the machine.
Rhodey sat up and looked over at Tony. "I'm going to go...find something to do, you wanna come?"
Tony looked at Rhodey as if he was mad, then disappeared into their bathroom.
Rhodey rolled his eyes, "Right," he said and left the room, slipping his thick leather coat on and wrapping the scarf around his neck.
Once he was outside, he glanced around at the snowy campus and began walking, straight into someone he hadn't seen there.
"Oh, shit...I'm so sorry," he said, helping the girl up. "Pepper?" he asked after a few seconds of hesitation.
Pepper smiled, "...Rhodey, right?" she asked, and Rhodey nodded, "It's really good to see you." She said, her voice was happy.
"Yeah, it's good to see you too," Rhodey said, smiling, "Uh...I was just going to find some food for the evening," he said, taking a chance, "Uh...would you like to join me?" he asked.
It had been a few weeks since they'd first met outside Tony's dorm room. No one had been on Rhodey's mind more, ever; not even Tony or his "antics."
"Actually I already have plans," she said, and Rhodey felt his heart sink, and saw her look past him.
Rhodey turned and felt himself turn cold as he looked into the eyes of his best friend, Anthony Stark.
Tony just smirked at Rhodey, "You two already know each other?" he asked, "Good, one less introduction to make," he grinned.
Rhodey swallowed, unsure how to react.
"Faux leather?" Tony asked, "I thought we discussed this." He added, smirking again as he took Pepper's hand. "Goodnight, Rhodey, if you come back and find a sock on the door knob, I'll put some cash in there for you," he joked, and Pepper, giggling, slapped his arm; and they left him standing there, speechless.
