Pietro POV

"Pepper and I broke up."

I looked at Tony sympathetically. His face showed that he had been crying. Everyone gave him a hug. I hugged him too, confused about why they broke up.

Three weeks ago we had all been at the beach, having fun, and Pepper and Tony had been perfectly fine. Now that I thought about it, they had been perfectly fine all the way through until now.

"Pietro, I need to talk to you," Tony said.

I nodded, puzzled, and followed him out of earshot from the group.

"She broke up with me because of the bet, Pietro," Tony said.

I froze. I hadn't told y/n about the bet yet. I knew I'd have to eventually, but I wanted to tell her after we'd been together for a while longer. If Pepper knew, that meant that she might tell y/n. Tony must have seen the look on my face.

"She knows that y/n was apart of it, but I told her not to tell y/n. She agreed because she saw the way you look at y/n," Tony said.

I nodded slowly.

"How did she find out?" I asked.

"Someone told her. She didn't tell me who, but she said that it wasn't anyone in our group," Tony said sadly.

I nodded again. Someone outside our group knew about the bet. If they told y/n before I did, things could get really messy.

"You've got to tell her," Tony said. "It'll be better coming from you than anyone else."

I sighed.

"I will tell her. But not yet. I want to make sure it won't... scare her off or anything," I said.

Tony sighed, knowing that I wasn't going to change my mind.

"You do you. Just make sure she finds out from you," was all Tony said before walking back to the group.

Your POV

I wanted to talk to Pepper about the breakup. She looked just as miserable as Tony did. She sat with some girls who I had only spoken to a few times. She didn't seem happy at all.

Tony was devastated. He said that they broke up because it just wasn't working between them, which confused me. They had seemed so happy together leading up to the breakup. What had happened? I didn't want to pry, but I was so sad for my two friends.

After school, I decided to talk to Pepper. I walked up to her at the bus stop. She was scrolling through her phone with her hood up.

"Hey, Pep," I said quietly, sitting next to her.

She looked up at me sadly.

"Hey, n/n," she said hoarsely.

I frowned sadly. I wrapped my arms around her into a hug. She broke down and began crying into my shoulder. I rubbed her back soothingly and hushed her.

"I've got you," I whispered. "You can let it all out."

She cried for a bit longer until she composed herself.

"Do you want to come over to my place?" I asked. "I have lots of ice cream, and I'm here if you need to cry."

Pepper agreed and we walked towards my house. I texted my mother, letting her know that I was bringing a friend home. Pepper walked beside me sadly. When we got to my house, I got some ice cream out of the freezer and two spoons and walked up to my room. Pepper had sat herself on the bed. I passed her the tub of ice cream and sat myself beside her.

I put on a sit-com, hoping that would cheer her up a bit. She did laugh a couple of times, but it seemed forced. I paused the tv.

"Pep, I'm here for you," I said. "You can tell me anything, and if you don't want to talk, I'm here to comfort you when you're upset."

Pepper started crying again and hugged me. I hugged her tight, feeling my heart break for her. I couldn't even imagine breaking up with Pietro. It would hurt me so bad. Even though we'd only been dating for about four months, it would hurt me so bad.

"I'm here, I've got you," I said to Pepper.

After a while, Pepper stopped crying and pulled away. I gave her some tissues and she blew her nose.

"Thank you," Pepper said in a faint voice.

"Any time," I said sincerely. "You are one of my best friends and I hate seeing you like this."

Pepper smiled at me.

"You're one of my best friends, too," she said.

I smiled back at her. When I turned the tv back on, Pepper's laughs didn't seem so forced.

The next day, I watched Tony closely. He was mopey and miserable. He barely ate at lunch and didn't make jokes anymore. The breakup had really brought him down.

I also noticed that none of the girls talked to Pepper anymore. They all glanced at her sadly, but never said anything.

"Maybe we should sit with Pepper today," I suggested quietly to the girls. "I know that you all knew Tony first, but she looks really lonely."

Wanda looked at me sadly.

"We want to. Trust me. But she doesn't want to talk to us anymore," Wanda said unhappily.

This confused me. She had hung out with me after school and we still talked to each other. Maybe it was because they had all been friends with Tony since freshman year. I looked at Pepper sadly. She was sitting by herself and poking at her food.

"Tell Pietro I'm going to sit with Pepper today, okay?" I told the girls.

I walked over to Pepper's table and sat down with her.

"Hey, Pep," I said.

Pepper looked up at me and smiled.

"Hey, n/n," she said.

We began to talk about things, avoiding the topic of boyfriends and romance. I felt bad for her. She obviously still felt something for Tony, and he definitely still felt something for her.

When the bell rang, I got up and said goodbye to Pepper. I headed to English and met up with Pietro along the way.

"How's Pepper?" Pietro asked.

I sighed.

"She's doing okay. She's still upset about the breakup, which is totally fine, but she's not crying every second, so that's good," I said. "I'm sad they broke up. They were so perfect for each other."

Pietro agreed.

"She didn't say anything about why they broke up, did she?" Pietro asked.

"No. And I'm not going to push her about it. If she wants to tell me, she can," I said.

Pietro nodded slowly. We entered our English class in silence, and I got the feeling that Pietro wasn't telling me something.