A/N Hi, guys! To get a fresh perspective on the newest and last chapter of my story, Loose Ends, I took a minor break to write this one-shot. This is set to take place after the episode "Line of Fire," when we first find out Tony and Whitney are... an... "item." (Rewatching the series, that still was one of the biggest plot-twists to me, especially when in the previous episode we had that gem where Pepper basically asks Tony to kiss her. Writers, why must you be this way?) I do think Tony and Whitney cared about each other (before she, y'know, tried to kill him) but in the end they proved incompatible. This one-shot focuses on that, as well as a certain someone else who might just be a bit more understanding. I hope you enjoy! I'll have Loose Ends updated soon.

EDIT: I just rewatched that episode, and tell me Tony isn't thinking about how much he messed up at the end. "Darn goofed, son."

IM:AA still doesn't belong to me.

"It's so nice having you over, tonight," Whitney purrs, relaxing her head on Tony's shoulder and lightly tracing a finger over his chest. Tony purses his lips, pulling away slightly as he pushes himself off the couch.

"Yeah, Whitney. Are you thirsty? I'm gonna grab a drink."

Instead of answering, Whitney launches up from her seat, crossing her arms and glaring at him defiantly. Tony blinks in surprise at her defensive pose, not exactly sure what he'd done wrong. That is, he isn't sure until she begins to berate him a moment later in her angry, shrill voice.

"You've been brushing me off all day. Every time I try to talk to you or be cute or do anything with you, you act like I'm not even here."

Tony averts his eyes, rubbing the back of his neck wearily. "I'm sorry, Whitney. I've just had a rough-"

"Rough day? Then talk to me about it. Don't just mope and act all gloomy and depressed. I didn't do anything wrong." Whitney's severe expression melts away only a moment later into something tinged with regret as Tony's eyes harden. He picks up his jacket from where it folded over the back of the couch and then stoops to retrieve his backpack. "Tony, wait, I'm sorry-"

"I'm feeling pretty tired. I think I'm just going to go. Goodnight, Whitney."

He slams the door behind him a little harder than he means to, Whitney watching him with a frown until he's gone.

Tony doesn't go home. He doesn't feel up to Roberta's third degree on why he's home early, why he looks upset, and a million other trivial things that she always seems ready to press him with when he's least prepared. He also knows Rhodey will want to hear about the date, and he just doesn't feel like trying to defend himself when he's sure Rhodey will tell him he's overreacted. Maybe I have, he thinks. That is, overreacted. Regardless, it's too late to salvage the night now.

He's beginning to think he should have just stayed in bed this morning like he'd considered.

When he finally ends up at the armoury and shuffles through the doors, he's surprised to find Pepper there as well. She's sitting in the comm. chair, her feet propped up in front of her and a physics textbook laying across her lap. Tony winces inwardly, suddenly remembering his promise to her that he would help her study. He hadn't intended to renege on their deal, but it had honestly just slipped his mind, in the same way countless other things did on a daily basis.

Pepper cranes her neck to peek at him when he enters, smiling and waving at him with an upbeat, "Hey, Tony!" He thinks he catches whiff of something slightly bitter in her tone, but it comes as no surprise. As of late, Pepper has been acting strangely around him, slightly off, rigid almost. He knows it has to do with the fact he's dating Whitney and expects that she'll return to normal soon enough, but for now he's always at least a little uncomfortable around her.

Tony wordlessly waves as means of greeting and slings his backpack across a nearby workbench. He presses his palms to the tabletop, all of his body-weight in his arms as he bows his head and sighs. He's tired of being so wired and jittery all of the time; he'd expected to have a fun, relaxing time with his girlfriend tonight, but all he'd gotten from it was more tension and griping. At least part of it, he knew, came from his Iron Man responsibilities, always weighing heavily at the back of his mind, but another large chunk just came from the strain of trying to keep the relationship itself together. Was it supposed to be this hard, trying to make another human being happy? Somehow he didn't think so.

It was a mistake, he decides, dating someone so close to him. After all, dating only can end in one of two ways.

"Tony?" Pepper's voice sounds nearer this time, and glancing back Tony sees that she has climbed out of the chair and hesitantly approaches, step by careful step. "Bad day?"

"Uh, yeah. Yeah." He brusquely cuts her off with a wave of his hand, making her halt a few feet away. "Don't really want to talk about it, though."

"Okay." She pauses, unsurely, wringing her hands together, and for a moment Tony thinks she's about to excuse herself and head home. He doesn't blame her. He knows he's no fun to be around when he's in these moods; it's like his body goes on auto-pilot, directing him to say and do the wrong things at the worst times. Then, all at once, Pepper's demeanour shifts and she's beaming excitedly at him, prompting him to squint at her in bafflement. "I know what will cheer you up! Computer, pull up Episode 4: A New Hope." She spins on her heel and practically sprints across the room to her bag, calling, "I've got candy, and lots of it! Prepare to to have your sweet tooth delighted- and then promptly drilled and filled for a cavity."

Tony can't help but chuckle, taking a few steps forward in spite of himself. "Pep, you hate Star Wars. You said so yourself," he says. He knows this for certain since he and Rhodey had argued her down for the better part of a school day when she'd dared insult the production quality of the originals.

"Yeah, well, maybe it's time I learn to appreciate them. I've never sat all the way through one, much less watched them in order."

"Oh, so are we marathoning them?" Tony glances down at his watch: seven at night. "Each movie is like two hours long."

"You never go to sleep before midnight anyways."

"You've got a point." He takes another step forward. Pepper pulls a few snacks- and by a few snacks, he means the entire candy aisle at a mom and pop gas station- from her bag and grins at him.

"You're right I do. Now, sit!" He obediently drops down to the floor, cross-legged, where Pepper joins him a moment later. "Admit it," she says smugly, side-eyeing him. "I get you."

"Yeah," he laughs, "you get me."

A few hours later, the credits are rolling on Return of the Jedi and Pepper is sound asleep. Her head lolls listlessly on Tony's shoulder, her fingers, barely visible through the too-long cuffs of Tony's jacket, clenching his arm in a vice-like grip. Tony has to press a hand to his mouth to stifle his laughter when Pepper starts lightly snoring. He's considering shaking her awake, as it's grown late, when he finally glances back down at her.

The shorter strands of her silky red hair have fallen across her face, completely obscuring one eye. Her freckled face is lax with sleep, strawberry pink lips fallen slightly apart, and her chest rises and falls steadily with her deep and even breathing. There's something serene and gentle that possesses people in sleep, erasing signs of times past from their faces and leaving them open and vulnerable.

God. She's kind of beautiful.

Immediately Tony feels guilt knife through him. He shouldn't be thinking things like that about other girls when he's dating Whitney- even if that girl happens to be Pepper.

Especially if that girl happens to be Pepper.

"Pepper," he whispers, gently shaking her shoulder, but she doesn't stir. "Hey, Pep. It's late, and I know you can't be very comfortable on the floor."

"Mm." Pepper nestles her cheek against his chest, searing Tony's face with heat, even if she isn't conscious enough to be aware of her actions.

"C'mon, let me get you home." Tony gently squirms out from beneath her, cupping her head in his hands as he pulls himself to his knees. Note to self, he thinks. Buy a couch for the armoury.

"I don't wanna," Pepper slurs, though she sits up groggily, rubbing the heels of her hands into her eyelids. Tony glances down at his watch; he really needs to be home in the next thirty minutes before Roberta completely loses her mind with worry, but he also wants to make sure Pepper gets to her house in one piece.

"Okay," he says, clapping his hands together, "we're gonna take a little trip." Pepper doesn't budge, curled up again on the floor amongst a slew of candy wrappers, until she hears the tell-tale noises of the armour clinking together. She cracks an eye open to gaze curiously at Tony, now donning the Mark II, as he approaches. His iron boots echo loudly in the cavernous room.

"Wha..?"

"C'mon," Tony repeats, his voice now distorted by the armour's voice modulators. "Let's get you home." He scoops her up into his arms- convincing himself in the meantime that this is just a very friendly thing to do- and fires the jets. Pepper's arms cling tightly to his armoured neck, now wide awake as she stares at the ground rushing away beneath them.

"Woah," she breathes, and it takes Tony a moment to remember that she's not yet accustomed to flying. He has to keep far above the skyscrapers- to ensure that a game of "name that girl" doesn't ensue in the news outlets as a result of being spotted- but he takes the scenic route for her, his smile hidden underneath the face-plate as Pepper gasps and coos at the lights reflecting in the harbour and at the different perspectives above the buildings.

All too soon he is touching down in the alleyway behind Pepper's apartment. Pepper pulls her legs free of Tony's careful hold, letting them dangle for a moment before she leaps to the ground. She smiles up at him, still a little bleary-eyed and softened by sleep, but the gesture warms Tony's metaphorical heart all the same- metaphorical since the heart is only a muscle and doesn't feel emotion, and since he has a mechanical heart anyways.

"S' did I cheer ya up?" she asks sloppily, slapping him playfully on the shoulder. He grins, letting the mask part to reveal his face.

"Yeah, Pep, I'd say you did."

"Good." She yawns and stretches her arms above her head, blinking her half-lidded amber eyes at him. "Goodnight, Tony."

"Goodnight, Pepper." She's still wearing his jacket; Tony doesn't mention it. He watches as Pepper stumbles to her front door, searching her purse for the key for a moment before seizing it and inserting it into the lock. She waves at him before she pushes the door open and disappears inside.

For reasons unknown to the inventor, he can't keep the lazy smile from spreading across his lips as he flies home.

One year later...

"I'm telling you, Rhodey! You always start a Star Wars marathon with the originals."

"That's pointless tradition, and it doesn't even make sense! Why would you watch them out of order?" Rhodey shoves his hands in his jacket pockets and glances to Pepper, hoping for her backup. "What do you think, Pepper? Start with Phantom Menace or with A New Hope?"

"Rhodey does have a good point," she begins, smirking as her friend pumps his fist jubilantly. She readjusts her hold on the couch pillow, folding her legs beneath her. "Why confuse yourself with the story-line just because that's the way it first came out?"

"Because," Tony insists, bending over the back of the couch to capture the ginger in his arms and press a quick kiss to her forehead. Rhodey groans with a roll of his eyes, expecting that he's just lost the argument.

"Oh, well, Tony does make a very good argument," Pepper grins, her face ablaze. Tony smiles smugly and sticks his tongue out at Rhodey as he flops over the back of the couch to land at Pepper's side. "But," she says, tapping her chin thoughtfully with a forefinger, "I still have to side with Rhodey."

"Wait, what-?" Tony is interrupted as Rhodey laughs raucously in victory, swiping up his copy of The Phantom Menace from the coffee table to insert in the player. "Pepper," Tony pouts, "you're supposed to be on my side!"

Pepper only grins, leaning into his side and wrapping her arms around his waist. Despite feigning betrayal, Tony lifts his arms to settle them comfortably around her shoulders in a warm embrace, the routine familiar and safe. "Someone has to keep you straight, dork."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Tony is about to press another chaste kiss to his girlfriend's lips while Rhodey's back is turned when he freezes, eyes widening in horror.

"Do you smell that..?" Pepper is asking just as Tony leaps up from the couch with a cry of, "I left the popcorn on the stove!" He rushes for the kitchen as Rhodey sighs discontentedly.

"They didn't have enough butter on them, anyways," he says with a shrug of his shoulders. He quirks a brow at her as he takes a seat on the opposite end of the couch, leaving the allotted middle space for Tony. "I assume you brought the goods?"

"Of course," Pepper grins as she pulls a few Snickers bars from her purse and tosses them to Rhodey, who cradles them to his chest like they're made of precious metals.

They exchange amused glances at Tony's groans emitting from the kitchen over the loud beeping of the smoke detector.

A/N Let me know what you think, and whether or not I should continue to post things like this! Have a great day!