Apologies for my lateness with this one. (andmanyothers) Though, I'm happy to say that it shouldn't be terribly long until others get updated. No promises, but I have been slowly progressing with HDG and at least one other. :) We have hope yet you guys! Welp, hope you guys enjoy this chapter!

Disclaimer: As per usual, IMAA belongs to its rightful owners and not me. How unfortunate for me.

"At it again, aren't you?"

Tony glanced up briefly from his work table, only to look back down towards his handiwork. He hummed out an affirmative to Rhodey's inquiry, demonstrating how focused he was on his work.

"You know," Rhodey began, taking his usual place across the work table. "There's a thing called sleep. It might help."

Tony sighed and set down his blow torch and pushed up his safety goggles. "I know what sleep is, Rhodey."

Rhodey leaned his palms against the table. "Then how about trying it sometime? You haven't been home all weekend, mom's worried."

Tony let his gaze fall onto the object that's kept him up for days, before looking at the time. He closed his eyes as he suddenly felt the tiredness he's been fighting the whole weekend. "Sorry," he finally apologized. "I lost track of time."

"Let's head home," Rhodey stepped around the table to offer his friend, his brother, help.

Let's go home.

Tony snapped his head up, his breath suddenly stolen from his lungs. Without a warning, he was no longer in his lab. Though, where he was, he had no idea. He closed his eyes as something warm pressed against his shoulder, causing his heart to race several times its normal rate.

"Tony."

Tony.

"Tony."

The warmth on his shoulder pressed harder until he felt himself moving. His eyes shot open to welcome him to set of worried eyes. He released a long breath—a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding until now. "Rhodey?"

Rhodey shook his own head with a sigh as he moved to remove the Tony's safety gear. "That's it," he spoke and tugged sluggish friend along with him. "You're leaving. You definitely need sleep."

"Right," Tony said, hardly glancing ahead of himself on the way out of the lab. He blinked and shook his head to free himself of that strange feeling. "You're right, Iron Man can wait."

Rhodey chuckled. "You're really enjoying this whole superhero thing, aren't you?"

"I saved those people, Rhodey," Tony insisted.

"Just don't let it get to your head," Rhodey said. "I know what Pepper said about Obadiah and your dad, but remember what I said?"

"She's a little on the crazy side," Tony deadpanned. "I know."

He had to wonder what Rhodey would say if he had told him about what really happened up on the roof. What she had said, and what he had actually heard. Though, he supposed he didn't even know what happened. He doesn't even remember what she had said in between her greeting and the news about her findings about Obadiah. He was so caught up in the three words he had heard...

In the end, he decided to stay quiet about it.

Night time, he realized, had quickly become something to dread. It wasn't entirely without reason as to why the night time appeared daunting. He could only guess this feeling sprouted from his newfound desire and need to not be alone. Night became a trap that inevitably brought misery and haunted his very being. Sleep solved nothing, staying awake could only make it worse. Sleep harbored nightmares, whilst the wake carried the memories. Night was an endless stream of chasing his tail, trying to figure out which of the two options sounded better.

Haunting nightmares, or relentless, unforgiving memories?

He threw his arm up over his head and spared a glance towards the glowing numbers on his clock: 3:15 AM. He let out a deep sigh and returned to staring at the ceiling which was under constant illumination thanks to his implant. "Screw this," he mumbled as he tossed his legs over the side of his bed.

Third night. This would be the third night in a row that sleep continued to evade him. It didn't exactly help his case that he had to be up to begin getting ready for the school day in only a few hours. Maybe a quick fly over the city would calm his nerves and maybe allow for a small nap before his day began.

His bare feet had barely grazed the cold floor of his room when he felt something wrap around his wrist.

Stay.

For the life of him, he couldn't remember the last time he had moved so quickly to get away from something. He let out a bizarre mixture of a yelp and a gasp as he sent several books tumbling to the floor. Ignoring the books, he turned to stare at the empty space before him, he couldn't find the source of the noise or feeling. Though even with his heart in his throat, threatening to burst out with each heavy beat, he felt oddly comforted. He didn't feel any immediate threat, instead he felt safer than he's ever felt since the place accident…

A knock at his door, abruptly brought these thoughts to an end. "Tony?"

Tony turned around to face the concerned parent of Rhodey. "Mrs. Rhodes...Sorry if I woke you."

She silently stepped in and took a set on the edge of Tony's bed. Tony watched her with his tired eyes as she spoke. "Is something wrong? Was it another nightmare?"

Tony opened his mouth to explain the noises, he found himself coming up blank. He couldn't remember what it was that had him so startled. He looked down at the book, now trying to figure it out himself what had caused all this ruckus. Though, still nothing but a blank came up. "I...I don't know," he lamely mumbled out as explanation. "I'm just tired. I should get to bed."

He could feel her watchful eyes as he maneuvered around the pile of fallen books to his bed."Tony, I know it's been hard. It's been hard on all of us. Just remember, you can always talk to me. Us. James is here for you too."

He nodded, and offered a small smile that was half pretend and half real. "Thanks, Mrs. Rhodes."

She reached over and gave a comforting pat on his shoulder and stood up. "Now, get some sleep. You have school in the morning."

Tony threw himself back onto the bed with a sigh. "I know."

Suddenly, he was unsure whether or not school was something he dreaded too, or if it was something he'd prefer over the night.

"Rough night?"

"Gah!" he flinched away from the sudden voice, only to realize who it was. He shook his head and took in a deep breath. "Very." He answered, looking to meet the girl's gaze. "Pepper, right?"

She smiled–well, more than she already had been. "That's me! So, other than the rough night, how was your weekend? Mine was great! Dad had the day off yesterday and he took me out to buy new shoes. Actually, he was the one who needed the shoes and I was just supposed to tag along, because we were going to stop and grab something to eat. Though, I convinced him to buy me the cutest shoes ever! Though, we never did get to eat out anywhere, since he got called in late and everything...It was fine though. I was happy enough with the new shoes. I ended up eating leftover Chinese food that we had on Friday. Have you ever…"

"My weekend was great," Tony muttered softly under his breath so she couldn't hear as she continued on her enthusiastic rant. He thought about stopping her–he almost did–but something made him stop before he could even open his mouth. His words weren't a lie either. Despite his sleepless weekend, and that he spent the whole weekend in his lab, it was actually a good one.

"...Oh! I almost forgot to tell you," she was saying when he tuned back into what she was saying, "On Saturday, I swear to you, I saw Spiderman! He was swinging across…"

Again, her words started blending together and drifting more into the background, and still he couldn't bring himself to silence her. She seemed so lively and happy, it seemed almost wrong to put an end to that, even if he was having a not-so-fantastic day. She had been sitting beside him on the roof, the sun beaming down without mercy onto her redhair. It strange, but to him, it seemed as if the sun made her glow.

"I love you."

Yet again, his breath was sucked almost completely from his lungs as a strange and unfamiliar feeling washed over him. It was like a wave, a really strong wave, which slammed into him full force to the point where it was almost drowning him. Though, as quickly and strongly as the unknown feeling came, it vanished without a trace.

"Tony?"

He snapped his head up and looked at the wide-eyed Pepper, before rubbing the palms of his hands against his tired eyes. "Sorry, what did you say?"

She let out an exasperated sigh. Apparently, she had said a lot. Not surprising in the least. "Are you alright? You were falling asleep on me!"

"Was I?" Tony wondered, he hadn't even remembered what the conversation was about, let alone what his thoughts were just a moment ago that had him so worked up."Sorry, I didn't get much sleep last night."

Or at all that weekend.

"Ugh, that sucks. I slept like a baby last night. Got to bed early and everything," she stated happily. Maybe she was trying to cheer him up in her own odd way. Strangely, it felt familiar and comfortable to him. "Oh, did you see the news about that new superhero? Iron Man?"

Tony resisted telling her that those had been the first words out of her mouth that morning as he was putting his things in his locker. Which made him wonder a few things. Like what on earth had he done that warranted this sort of behavior from the redhead. She talked to him as if the two were best friends, with no care as to the fact that they've only known each other for a few days. He wondered if he asked her, if she would tell him that she actually considered him her friend. He didn't even know what he himself considered her. Were they friends? Just acquaintances? Close friends? He was new to the concept of "friends". Especially since the only person he had to go off of was Rhodey, his adoptive brother.

Pepper snapping her fingers in front of his face snapped him out of another instance of him falling asleep on her. "Aren't you even the littlest bit curious? You know, as to who Iron Man is?"

"What?"

She stared at him for a moment, her eyes never once leaving his as she moved to sit in front of him instead of beside him. He watched her, wary of what she would do. She was a little on the crazy side after all. Who knows what she might spontaneously spring up on him? He pulled at the neck of his shirt, the heat of the sun finally getting to him. Her eyes finally broke away from his and slowly downwards to where his hand had pulled his shirt just low enough to give sight to his heart implant.

"Whoa!" she gasped out. Tony instantly let the shirt go, and looked away from her curious gaze.

"Sorry," he found himself apologizing. Maybe it was because only a select people have seen his heart implant. Not that he kept it a secret, actually quite a few people knew about the implant here at school. Except, nobody asked about it or wanted to see it. "It's kind of gross, isn't it?"

"No," she instantly surprised him. "It's not gross at all! Actually, I think it's really cool. I'm not lying! I heard about some kind of implant for your heart, but never imagined what it would look like. It's amazing, I mean, you made that didn't you? Talk about being your own savior, right? How'd you come up with something like that so soon after the plane crash?"

Tony could only stare at her with wide eyes as he tried to stop the sudden onslaught of images from entering his mind. Unfortunately, the more he tried, the harder it became. Soon enough he found himself face to face with the even of the accident six months ago.

The explosion.

The implant.

His dad…

"Tony?"

He closed his eyes tightly, his breath coming out in shallow, quick bursts with his heart quickly catching up to the pace. His hand pressed against the humming glow of his heart implant as if hiding it even more would make the whole thing disappear.

"Tony, I'm sorry," he could hear her words, but he could barely feel her comforting hand. "I didn't mean to.."

He shot up to his feet, his eyes avoiding her entirely as he rushed to get himself off the roof. "I'm sorry. I just...I can't…" he swallowed hard, his breathing not showing any signs of calming down. "I have to...go."

"Tony wait," Pepper tried, but he was already out the door and on the stairs.

"Don't go."

The entire length of the staircase was accompanied by multiple sets of sobs, causing Tony to only quicken his pace. He had to get away. He had to space himself from her. He didn't understand. He couldn't understand what is was that going on. He couldn't understand why walking away, an action so simple, made him feel almost as bad as he felt when he was told about his dad.

He pressed his forehead against the coolness of the wall beside him and ran his fingers through his hair. "What is wrong with me?"

There you have it. The second chapter of this story. I'd like to mention that this story is slightly running with how the show ran, but will stray away. So don't be surprised if some details are different. :P

Fun Fact: I've never been skydiving before, but I might get the chance to go sometime.

So, I do plan on updating something soon as long as things go as plan. Even though it is summer, I have work and I'm taking Spanish 2 over the summer so I can go straight to Spanish 3. Though, I hope that doesn't complicate things too terribly.

Hugs and Love, SilverPedals!