A.N.: Hey thar ev'ryone! I am back with another chapter, typed up weeks ago and never put up for fear of scaring you off with my mega-updates. However, I ended up losing the notebook and this update took WAAAAY longer than originally planned. I am so sorry!
So, apparently my work has gone from the initial attack of "its wonderful, update soon" to crap not worthy of reviews from the people who begged me for updates in the first place. I want you all to realize how "love is the w e a p o n" is the story in this entire category with the least reviews. Go ahead, look.
(Okay, well it had the least reviews like, two days ago.)
It's actually really sad that one-shots have more reviews than a continuous story with what's rumored to be the only decent OC on FF. By the way, Fletcher says thanks for the title.
DISCLAIMER: The "555" part of numbers belongs to Hollywood, it's their claimed area code for fake phone numbers. I still don't own Facebook, Twitter, or any other social networking service.
SPELL CHECK DIS-TRUST: So, is my spell-check just screwing with me or is it seriously spelled "panicked"? Like, "panic", but in past-tense? It looks wrong to me. Really wrong.
On with the story. And please guys, its five seconds to type "I like it. Update please." or "I don't like it." You don't even have to tell me what you don't like (though I'd love it if you did).
~~x~~
love is the
w e a p o n
(unrealism)
~~x~~
"She's hard to figure out, yeah, but maybe that's a good thing! She's probably the only thing you can't figure out," Rhodey announced, a hint of laughter in his voice.
"Yeah, and that's what drives me crazy! Now, please! I've got work to do," Tony replied.
"Oh, stop with the excuses, you aren't even listening to me!" shot the brunette's best friend.
"Rhodey, not this again."
"You've got to listen to me sometime, Tony. She's not that bad," Rhodey argued.
"No I don't, and yes, she is." The brunette tightened a bolt on the stealth suit's torso. "Give it a rest, Rhodey, you've been badgering me about this for weeks!"
Rhodey sighed. "How can you say that, you don't even know her!"
"And you do?"
"We've been talking a lot, yeah. We talk a lot about you, actually."
"Oh, great. And I'm sure you told her everything about me. 'Hey, Fletcher? Guess what! Yeah, Tony? He's Iron Man.' THAT will blow over well with those reporters. I can see the headlines now, 'Local Teen Girl Spills Secret Identity of Iron Hero, Turns Out To Be Teen Loser'. Thanks, Rhodey."
"I haven't said anything about that. We talk about the way you act, what you really mean."
Tony stopped. He turned, giving Rhodey a glare. "I mean exactly what it looks like I mean."
"Right," Rhodey laughed. "Like how you really meant that you liked Pepper when you saved her that one time and held her that close."
"You and I both know that I had to hold her close enough to get a decent grip on her, but keep her away from the suits' repulsors…" Tony argued.
"Exactly. So you didn't mean what you acted like you meant. You know, she still thinks you like her."
Laughing, the genius teenager slipped his arm into the left gauntlet for the stealth suit. He wiggled his fingers, making sure it fit right still. Ever since they got it back from Stane, Tony was working on it to make sure it hadn't been tampered with. A few things were looser than they should have been, but perhaps it was from wear-and-tear. He had no idea how the suits held up, really.
"Okay, I see your point."
"So, are you going to listen this time?" Rhodey asked, a hand in his jeans pocket. Tony nodded, smile on his face. "Good. 555-7236."
Rhodey threw a cell phone at Tony. "What?" he asked.
"555-7236," Rhodey repeated.
Tony stared at the phone as if it were alien technology. Slightly shaking, he pressed the numbers. 5, 5, 5.
Why am I doing this, I don't even know who's number I'm freaking dialing.
7, 2.
This could be a huge disaster, What if its Stane and he hears Rhodey talking about the armor or something in the background?
3, 6.
Don't press 'send' Tony. Anthony Edward Stark, don't you dare…
His fingers pressed send. Shaking, he held the phone to his ear.
"Hello?"
He froze. Tony could hear the quiver in her voice. It couldn't be, Rhodey was his best friend. Why would Rhodey make him call her. "Um… hi?" he replied nervously.
"Oh, um, hey, Stark. I see Rhodey gave you my number for some inexplicable reason… So, someone must be dying, what's going on?"
No, no, how did Rhodey even have her number? They talked, so he said, but when did they exchange phone numbers? Tony remained silent, stunned speechless.
"StarK? What's up?" she repeated.
"Uh, hey, Fletcher," he finally choked out.
"Hey, Stark. If I'm not mistaken, didn't we already cover this?"
He could hear her smile, see the smirk. "Yeah, I think 's… um.. what's up?"
"Not much is going on right now, Stark. Just a boring old life in New York. Clicking about on Facebook, Twitter, the works. You?"
"Uh…" He looked down; The wrench he was using to fix the Iron Man suit, the schematics for yet another set of armor, shrapnel littering the work table and floor. "Just fixing up some stuff."
"That's cool. The Iron Man suit, I take?"
"W-what?!" Tony exclaimed. He dropped the wrench with a loud clang. "Hold on a second, Fletcher…" Covering the receiver of the phone, Tony called out, "Rhodey!"
"What, what?" replied the boy, calmly making his way across the lab to his best friend.
"You told her. You freaking told her?" Tony hissed, shaking with the terror of the exposure he knew was well underway.
"No, no, I swear!" Rhodey promised, looking just as scared. He and Tony stared at the phone, and slowly the teen genius put it back to his ear.
"So, what was that you were saying?"
"I know you're Iron Man, Stark. It's obvious; Who else could think up that technology? And besides, both you and Iron Man have the same terrible come-backs. Also, ever thought of how he's always saving Stark International? It is beyond obvious, Stark. It's pathetically blatant," she explained. There was silence.
"How long have you known?" he asked suddenly, his tone quiet.
She laughed. "Maybe a week or so, I don't know for sure," Fletcher replied. "But it's your secret, so I swear to keep it. Don't have to worry 'bout a thing, Stark. You've got more of a concern from Pepper than you should from me."
"This doesn't change anything between us, Fletcher," Tony announced.
"I know," Fletcher replied.
She hung up the phone.
~~x~~
"She knew. She knew, Rhodey! Fletcher hates me, how am I supposed to trust that she won't tell anyone?" Tony panicked.
"Tell anyone what?" Pepper asked, walking into the bedroom. "That you're Iron Man?"
"Pepper! Shh!" Rhodey exclaimed, shutting the door behind her.
Tony nodded. "Fletcher. She knows."
"You told her?! Why would you-"
"I didn't tell her, Pepper," Tony interrupted. "She figured it out on her own. She just… knew. Said it was obvious, said I would be the only person who could build something like that."
"She's right though, Tony. You've got to be really careful! If she could figure it out… How long until someone else does, too?" Rhodey asked.
"I don't even want to think about it…" Tony mumbled back. There was a soft beep, then the doorbell rang.
"Alright. Um, Pepper?" Tony asked. The beep was from his heart implant, a warning that it had to be recharged.
She picked up on the hint. "Oh, right. Um, see you at school tomorrow, Tony," she replied. He nodded back.
"Tony?" Rhodey called. "You, uh, got a visitor…" the teen knocked on the bedroom door before entering with said guest.
"Oh. Um, I… I can come back another time, I guess… Um," she sputtered, upon walking in on the boy as he had the implant hooked up to charge.
"No, it's fine. What's going on?" He replied. Rhodey walked back downstairs.
"It's, uh.. Stane. I was doing some research online, and I came across this video of a press conference he had. He says he's working on armor for our soldiers, but the blueprints look exactly like yours."
"Um…"
"Just, look into it."
"And you had to come all the way over here to tell me that?" Tony asked. She nodded hesitantly. "Just wanted to see me, huh?"
"Don't push it, Stark."
"Of course, Fallon."
The two paused. "Did you just…?" she asked.
"I think so," Tony replied quickly.
"Well, Tony, it was, uh…"
"You just called me 'Tony'."
"You called me 'Fallon'."
Nothing was said for a minute. Then Tony stood, disconnecting the charging cable from his heart implant, and walked towards Fallon.
"I'm sorry, but that's hilarious and creepy at the same time.," she laughed. Tony smiled, shrugging in a kind of agreement.
"You totally ruined the moment, Fallon."
"I'm not so into the whole Hollywood romance, Stark," she replied with a crooked smirk.
"That's a shame," Tony replied. Then he stepped forward again and kissed her.
And she kissed him back.