[ Well, he does turn and look at it, because he has important things in here that shouldn't be falling and apparently he's remembering he probably should care, now, but from the quick glance backwards, it doesn't seem to have been anything too important. Which is good, but doesn't change things that much - even if it had been, there's a good chance he would have kept following her regardless.
He knows what she's doing - sort of. He knows she's teasing him, and that she knows that she's teasing him, because it's entirely one hundred percent on purpose, what she's doing. He knows that this, too, is not something that bothers or worries him, because Pepper can tease and Pepper can be strict but Pepper nearly always seems to know what to do and who should be doing it and how. Occasionally, very occasionally, she claims the affirmative on a subject he balks out a negative to - and we're talking important things, because if everything were included here then it would totally look like they disagreed all the time - but even then. Even then she manages to reason through it, trusting that he has a reason for the opinion, just the same as he trusts her for her judgement on everything else.
This is how he sees it all, anyway. It may or may not be right, but he's never found the need to confirm it one way or the other. It works as is.
Eyes flicking to different things she's doing, he follows her and her movements up the stairs: her fingertips along the wall, the sway of her hips, the glance back towards him and the resulting slight smile, the way she tends to make things seem effortless and efficient, without losing anything within the aesthetic. She has a lot of facets to herself that he genuinely admires, and while he's never actually said it, their relationship and the manner in which they both operate within it likely speaks to some degree of the depth of such admiration regardless. ]
no subject
He knows what she's doing - sort of. He knows she's teasing him, and that she knows that she's teasing him, because it's entirely one hundred percent on purpose, what she's doing. He knows that this, too, is not something that bothers or worries him, because Pepper can tease and Pepper can be strict but Pepper nearly always seems to know what to do and who should be doing it and how. Occasionally, very occasionally, she claims the affirmative on a subject he balks out a negative to - and we're talking important things, because if everything were included here then it would totally look like they disagreed all the time - but even then. Even then she manages to reason through it, trusting that he has a reason for the opinion, just the same as he trusts her for her judgement on everything else.
This is how he sees it all, anyway. It may or may not be right, but he's never found the need to confirm it one way or the other. It works as is.
Eyes flicking to different things she's doing, he follows her and her movements up the stairs: her fingertips along the wall, the sway of her hips, the glance back towards him and the resulting slight smile, the way she tends to make things seem effortless and efficient, without losing anything within the aesthetic. She has a lot of facets to herself that he genuinely admires, and while he's never actually said it, their relationship and the manner in which they both operate within it likely speaks to some degree of the depth of such admiration regardless. ]