Note: I own nothing and want more Pepper/Gene. Can you picture the two having kids? Poor Tony! If you think of a better name tell me. I just thought it up on the spot.

Tony likes to know whats going on around him. He doesn't like surprises and he is filled with a need to always have answers. This need has all been a blessing and a curse. He likes to think that he knows just about everything about his friends. That he can almost guess what they are going to say and when they are going to say it. So, when Pepper comes to school one day talking to Gene like their best friends he is a little taken back at how close they seem. He isn't shocked that their friends but he is shocked at how fast their friendship grew.

Tony likes to think that Pepper will always be by his side and cheering him on. He kind of likes her as his personal cheerleader. He would die before telling her that. He kind likes how much she seems to care about him and how much she is willing to give up to help him. So, when one day she says green is her favorite color he wonders if that means he likes him less. He asks why she doesn't like red anymore and she just smiles. He feels better when she says, "it's not that I don't like red. It's just that now I like green better." He doesn't know why that answer makes him happy and yet slightly upset.

Tony hates all her phone calls and he tells her this...all the time. But she never stops with them unless she's mad at him. It's not that he doesn't like taking to her. He just needs space to think and to breathe. He talks to Gene about this once and Gene just smiles a little and says he understood. He goes on to say that he and Pepper set aside a time every week to talk if he can't talk to her every during the week. Tony is a little surprised by this but brushes it off. Later during the week, he hacks into Pepper's and Gene's phone records to see when would be a good time for 'his' weekly talk time to Pepper, he is taken back at how much the two talk and more so that the reason Pepper doesn't call Gene like crazy is because he is calling her half the time too. He wonders two things then. One when did Pepper have time to call him when it seemed she's always talking to Gene and two just how close were the two.

Tony knows for a fact that Pepper's favorite animal is a monkey. He buys her a monkey stuffed animal for her birthday and he thinks that she'll love it. When she opens it, her face falls a little and her mouth shapes into an 'O'. She smiles kindly and says thank you but Tony can tell that she hates it. Than Gene hands her a gift a few hours later, he rubs the back of his back and says that he got it at the last second. He tells her that he almost forgot her birthday. Pepper opens the small box with a slightly hurt face. She doesn't like the fact that he almost forgot her birthday. Tony watches as her eyes grew wide. She's so happy that she can't speak. Gene picks up the item in the box. It's a necklace with a tiger on it. The tiger had jade stones for eyes and Tony can tell just by the cost of the necklace that this gift wasn't a last second thought. Gene smiles at her as he asks if she likes it and tells her that he thought she'd like to have something with her favorite animal on it.

Tony notices that Pepper always wears that necklace even when it's not in view. Even after Gene betrays them. She mostly keeps it under her shirt after that. He notices that she fingers it during class when she's bored or when she's quiet. She often has this look on her face that Tony has never seen her give him. It's a look of pure peace. He wonders what she is thinking about and why she loves tigers so much.

Tony calls Gene a snake once when he's really made. Pepper tells him that she doesn't think of Gene as a snake but some other animal. When he asks what she thinks Gene is she just touches her necklace under her shirt and turns her head. Tony doesn't notice the way she touched her necklace. He just thinks she's in thought thinking of something better.

Tony goes to the carnival to relax when Rhodey forces out of his lab. He thinks he sees Pepper there with Gene but when he moves closer they no longer look like the two. They seem older and the girl is wearing am outfit that the Pepper he knew would never wear. She's wearing black jeans and a tight pink top that's black on the sides. The guy seems taller than Gene. He is wearing clothes that look close to what Gene usually wore. Tony can see how he thought they were Pepper and Gene. But his 100% sure that Gene would never hold Pepper that way and that Pepper would never kiss Gene. Tony sighed in frustration as he saw a green tiger stuff animal locked between the two bodies.

How could he even let himself think that Pepper had feelings for Gene or that Gene cared about any of them? It was crazy. They had to have been just friends and Gene must have been using her. She would always be his cheerleader no matter what. She would always be by his side. Nothing could shake him from that belief not even the fact that Gene and Pepper were clearly in fact kissing in front of him as he walked to get back to his lab.

Note: This was in a way a tie in to Moment at the end... this isn't really a Gene/Pepper story nor is it really a Pepper/Tony story...idk who should it be under Tony or Gene? and this was written in less than an hour...I'm trying to make writing harder to see if I write better under pursuer