Chapter 3: SOS
I'm just not going to say anything. I have physically said every excuse I know.
But… I graduated High School last Friday. 0_0 I know. This is both great news and bad news! Great because it is summer and I have all the time in the world to get some stories done and continue updating! Bad news because once college starts, I'm not exactly sure what it'll mean for my updates.
NO MATTER. This isn't the time to worry about that!
I would like to dedicate this chapter to Miss Starfire, thanks for dragging my butt and brain back to this story!
Disclaimer: I own nothing but my story.
If Tony thought Pepper's reaction was fantastic from just entering the ship, he was mistaken.
The moment they entered the elevators, Pepper was permanently plastered with a smile on her face. He never saw her so happy, so this was really the greatest decision of his life. Anything that made her happy, made him happy.
"Oh! I can't wait! Which floor is our room in?" Pepper craned her neck to Tony, who was pushing the button "10". "What… The top floor?"
Tony stood back and stuffed his hands into his pockets, casually looking down at her. He pretended to be surprised and nodded, sarcasm slipping from his lips, "Oh no… Number 10? Oh! That's the floor where all the rich people stay in! My mistake… Of course I would never spend that much money for a suite room."
After a playful push, Pepper genuinely smiled up at him. It wasn't her excited smile, but her I-love-you-more-than-the-entire-world smile that she gave to her father often. "I don't know how to thank you, Tony. Coming from a poor family, I wasn't expecting to be treated this way for—for an anniversary."
Tony's smile disappeared as he noticed the insane amount of gratitude Pepper had. "Oh jeez, Pep. Really, this isn't a big deal! I just thought you wanted to have a good time, especially in some sun, since we don't get that often. It's seriously not a big deal. I woul—" Tony felt his lips seal around another warm pair.
After pulling away, he stood paralyzed, staring at Pepper. She grinned up at him. "I think this is our floor."
...
Since it was a suite room, it was towards the middle of the ship. Here they wouldn't feel the pulsing of the ocean or any kind of ocean rage that happened each time Tony was on a cruise.
He stepped in front of Pepper and stuck his keycard in before yanking it out quickly. The small indicator flickered red before snapping to a green, indicating that the key card matched the room.
"Ladies first." Tony smirked, pushing the door aside for Pepper to step in. It took a little nudging, but eventually Tony was able to push Pepper completely through the doorway. "Get used to it, because this will be our room for about 9 days."
Pepper opened her mouth in awe, and moved silently through the enormous room, dragging her bag behind her. Compared to the other rooms, that were about a third of a master bedroom, the Suite room was actually the size of a master bedroom. There was a Jacuzzi in the corner of the bathroom including a standing shower.
There were two sinks, with golden lights above each embroidered mirror. The whole bathroom was the size of a small bedroom. The theme was gold and bronze, so the hues almost had Pepper in tears.
She heard Tony pace outside the bathroom and realized, if that was just the bathroom how was the whole suite going to look like?
She cautiously walked out, afraid that she might faint if she caught sight of the room.
There was an enormous balcony that overlooked Massachusetts's port, and she could see the bustling people as they took pictures and waved wildly at the passengers boarding the ship. To the corner, there was a long couch that curved with the wall. A mahogany center table had magazines and strawberry covered chocolates sitting on a silver plate. A 50-inch TV was mounted on the wall, its remote also sitting on the table.
The bed… The bed was huge. It was circular, rather than rectangular, and had those cool nets tied to the bedposts that made Pepper think she was a princess from the fairy tales. She untied one of the nets and watched in marvel as it cascaded down the length of the bed until it covered one half of the bed. "Oh… my…" Pepper said softly.
Tony was leaning up against the glass wall that separated the room from the balcony. "What do you think?"
"What do I think?" Pepper turned to him. She smiled so much today, she wondered if she was secretly a Barbie. "WHAT DO I THINK? I love it, Tony! I can't believe this is where we'll be staying! It's—It's better than my apartment!"
Tony pushed off and slowly walked up to Pepper. He felt his eyes darken as he watched Pepper blush. "Only the best…" He softly said into Pepper's ear. She shuddered under his breath, but happily wrapped her arms around his waist, pulling him closer to her body.
Grinning, Tony leaned in for a kiss. It started slowly, as the two of them adjusted themselves, but it quickly escalated. Huffs erupted from their mouths, as they got deeper into their kiss. But Tony was, surprisingly, the first to pull away. "Your dad said no funny business." Tony said recalling his quick conversation with Virgil before he left to Massachusetts.
Pepper frowned, reaching up and pulling on Tony's neck to pull him into another kiss. "I don't care. It's not like we're doing anything. It's just an intimate relationship between a girlfriend and a boyfriend."
And they went back at it. Tony, unfortunately, had tons of experience with making out with girls, thanks to him being a Stark. So without even opening his eyes or breaking the kiss, he stepped backward, pulling Pepper away from the bed. The last thing he needed was for Virgil to find out in some way that his girl was making out on the bed.
He waltzed her around the room, pushing her against the wall, before running her against the counter in the bathroom. Pepper didn't seem to mind at all; in fact she felt daring and wrapped her legs around Tony's waist.
It surprised him enough to pull away a second time. "Wow, around the waist?"
Pepper was as red as her hair. Her breathing was completely erotic. "Well I don't like what you do to me, Stark. You bring out the animal in me." She said a-matter-of-factly.
But before Pepper moved in again for a kiss, a large low sound resonated through the room. Pepper screamed and rushed herself into Tony's chest as she covered her ears. "What the heck was that?" She shouted. She was sure that a bomb had gone off, and she feared that if she turned around, half of the port would be disheveled with fire licking on the docks.
"Relax, Pepper." Tony said wrapping his arms around his girlfriend. "It's the signal that the boat is about to go."
Pepper looked up at him in wonder. Had they been in the room for that long? The kiss couldn't have gone on for that long right? Pepper cautiously checked her watch… THREE HOURS? "Um… Wow." She said gulping. That was the longest she has ever made out with anyone ever. She shrugged; I guess time flies when you're making out with the hottest boyfriend ever.
Tony pushed back, and pulled Pepper to feet. "Let me take you to the pool deck. You can say goodbye that way. Plus the view is killer." He said with a wink. Pulling Pepper behind him, Tony felt like a thousand bucks as he moved to the elevators.
The ship's crew moved around with big luggage that was required to be checked in. They smiled politely, but some noticed how messy Tony looked with his messier hair and lip-gloss smeared lips.
Tony pushed the "up" button on the elevator floor and frowned at his image on the mirror elevator door. He hastily rubbed the clear gloss off and ran his fingers through his hair once.
"My bad." Pepper said, noticing what Tony was doing. She blushed when he winked at her. As the elevator descended from the top floor, Tony felt something, or someone, watching him. Tony turned, scanning his eyes across the lobby.
Pepper picked up his anxiety immediately. "Hey, is anything wrong?"
Tony unconsciously slid his arm around Pepper's waist. "I don't know. I'm sure it's nothing." He said at last.
"It's not nothing if you are looking for something." Pepper stated. The elevator dinged, opening up to an empty carriage. "Hey, lucky us!"
Tony walked in, but didn't feel comfortable with anything. "You know… I really should've brought my suit." He said looking at Pepper. She was making faces at the mirror walls inside the elevator.
She stopped pulling at her hair and turned to Tony, "Well we already decided on not doing that. Do you think someone's here?"
"I—No. I don't think it's just someone; it's someone we may know? I'm not sure Pepper, but it's making me nervous." Pepper took Tony's hand noticing how anxious he became.
"It'll be okay. I'm sure it will—" The elevator opened. A man had his back turned to them. He wore a black leather jacket and dark jeans. His hair was wild, very much similar to Tony's.
When the man turned around, he perked up after noticing familiar faces. "Oh! Mr. Stark!" David said smiling. He entered the elevator and shook his hand with the genius. "Going up to say goodbye?"
Tony blinked with the word 'goodbye.' It sounded… strange the way he said it, as though he knew something the two of them didn't. "Uh, yeah. Pepper hasn't been on a cruise before, so I wanted her to see the view."
David glanced at Pepper, his eyes sparkled as he took Pepper's hand and kissed the top of it. "I apologize for my rude run in earlier."
Pepper blushed and retracted her hand to her side. "A little old fashioned." She said chuckling nervously.
Tony frowned, looking at David warily. He seemed to be in his thirties when he ran into Pepper back at the check in counter. But in front of him, Tony couldn't mistake him for more than twenty years old. How strange.
"So, David, right?" David nodded, politely smiling back at him. Tony felt a twinge of guilt for treating him suspiciously. "So, are you with anyone?"
Tony made the effort to look around David, to make it look as though he were curious about David's life. "Oh no, sir. I don't have a significant other, but I do have an interest." Tony did not like the way this guy was talking.
The elevator finally dinged, and before anyone could step out, David put a hand to the door, preventing the sensors to close before any of them could leave. "Ladies first." He said looking at Pepper. If Tony's frown could deepen, then his face would be a lot similar to the grumpy cat.
Pepper exited, not wanting to be rude to David. But her hand was enclosed around Tony's the entire time. David followed behind them, a dark look across his face.
"Here Pep, why don't we stand over there? By the railing. We'll get a good view of the Boston Harbor." Tony led Pepper towards the east side of the ship, placing a protective hand on her back. He glanced behind him, and was slightly startled to see that David wasn't there.
The front of the ship was towards Tony's left, and the back was towards his right. He led Pepper towards the middle of the ship, and let her hold onto the railings to look over the ledge. Tony turned, leaning his back against the metal bars and looked at the enormous pool that was in the center of the Party Deck.
There was an enormous water slide that snaked around the upper portion of the deck before leaning out over the ship and circling back to the pool. Most of the passengers were leaning over the railings to get a better look of the ship leaving, but there were few that were already chilling by the pool and drinking some beverages.
The horn sounded again, making many of the passengers cringe and cover their ears. Tony heard a distant cry of a child who was startled.
Then there was movement. It was jerky at first, and Tony secured his arm around Pepper's waist as he waved at the observers on the harbor. "BYE!" Pepper shouted excitedly. "Wow, I can't—I can't believe that we are actually GOING to another country… on a boat. I—thank you Tony."
"Anything for you." He said kissing the top of her head. They waved for a long time; just watching as the harbor slowly disappeared. The ocean water frothed wherever the boat went, and left a beautiful blue trail of upturned ocean water.
Eventually, two U.S. Coast Guard boats joined in sync with the boat, trailing along. At the very front, a man stood with his hands on an object that looked very close to an assault gun.
"What are they doing here?" Pepper asked curiously. She figured it was just to protect the ship, but she didn't understand anything past that.
"Well, they have to watch the ship until it crosses the water's into international territory. This boat is guaranteed protection until then. Also, the Coast Guard people are talking to the Captain, just gathering information to make sure that the ship is allowed to leave."
"Interesting."
Tony chuckled. "Yeah it is."
And just like that, The Royal Jewel passed the American border, into the unknown depths of foreign waters.
….
Yay! I hope that was long enough, I am sincerely SO SORRY for the lack of updates. I literally have lost all sense of time and management, so yeah. I guess that's my way of trying to keep myself from freaking out about COLLEGE.
BUT… since it is summer, I will be updating, HOPEFULLY, a lot more frequently. I'll do it so I update at least every Monday. That way I have a deadline to make with my stories!
Thanks for sticking with me, and thank you certain writers and readers for PMing me from time to time! HAVE A FABULOUS DAYYYYY!
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