[ He slowly, without looking, starts to manipulate the images again, getting back to work, since he's not sure what she's come over for and working makes it less likely he'll accidentally say something he ... means, but doesn't mean to say, how's that. ] I can't even, I couldn't begin to hazard guesses who that might be. That sounds like a very unreliable person.
You're impossible. Do you know that? [ There's a mute sigh, and for a moment, a second that passes by without really being acknowledged, she nearly has a hand on her hip. Exasperated, perhaps. But Pepper knows how to handle this situation as any expert would. ] I thought we decided not to do...this. [ Work, his version of work. Except she'd probably been talking while he'd been distracted. Again, the normal. ]
So maybe you should come upstairs with me instead.
[ Which is as good an invitation as any, almost coy but not so much in the way she turns just a bit as if to leave him there. ]
[ Yes, correct, she starts to get his attention again, mentioning how they'd agreed not to do any of this. He doesn't remember that, but that doesn't preclude him from having agreed to it anyway, so he mostly just glances over at her to gauge how she's really feeling about it.
And also she'd just said something about going upstairs with her. Tbh that probably got more attention, but he did honestly think about the other stuff too.
But it looks like she's actually going back upstairs, and that got his attention, and then she did, and apparently he's dropping what he's doing - with a clatter, something fell or something, he doesn't care. ] Yeah I can probably do that. [ Meaning he's already moving with her. ]
[ She doesn't even break stride or flinch or glance behind her at the sound of whatever it is that may be happening. The workshop is almost always a continuous hazard as it is anyway, and this is one of those rare moments she finds herself less inclined to mention it—if only to save the trouble of distracting him (again) in an entirely wrong direction.
They'd had so little of this since New York. Since the fighting and the mess and the rebuild and everything in between. Even if it worries her constantly, she's reluctant to bring it up beyond the start of his name and a topic that has nothing whatsoever to do with the conversation she wants, needs, pleads to have with him. All lost in the midst of their relationship, that he is Tony and she Pepper and it's how they have always operated. But there are other ways of speaking. Less inventive, less...well, verbal.
She does it in the way each step she takes becomes an achievable goal she can grasp. She does it in the way her hand lightly trails along the wall, fingertips barely there as she remains ahead of him by the margin of a few paces. She does it in the way she eventually glances over her shoulder behind her to look and encourage, the tug at the corners of her mouth slight but there and entirely noticeable while she continues steadily up, up, up.
Even in silence, it's a knowing smile, and she teases him the entire way. ]
[ 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. ]
[ The silence, now, isn't as disconcerting as it would have been a few months before. There's less tension and more of a specific, mutual understanding because she wouldn't tolerate it now. Not after everything that's happened, how much they've both dealt with considering. Still, it's always enough to give her pause, reaching the top of the steps and turning to look back at him. He's wild from working, but she wouldn't have that any other way either.
Pepper rests her hand against his chest as if to stop him, fingers barely brushing the collar of the shirt he's wearing. The feel of the arc reactor is evident, but she says nothing, offering him that much in the way of comfort. She's long since accepted this, him, and it's the reassurance in knowing he's still alive that grounds her. ]
Welcome home, Tony. [ Because she hadn't gotten a chance to tell him, to express everything in such simple terms. Her fingers move to lightly touch his jaw, thumb rubbing at what she suspects - hopes, in all honesty - is oil from, well, something. Perhaps a touch mothering, but there's other affections mixed with it too. ]
[ He stops when she turns back around to look at him, one because he was following her, and two, because if he kept going at that point he'd just run into her. It was very logical. Normally, he feels like he can tell roughly what she's going to do, but every now and then, when things matter or just because she feels like it, he supposes, she identifies herself as the singularly independent variable that she is and does the unexpected. It might be small - right now would be classified as small, when she places her hand on his chest and he doesn't take it as a threat that someone else is that close to the reactor, because from Pepper it's a comfort, that someone else accepts it and by proxy himself, and everything that that happens to mean. It might be large, and he appreciates those times as well, even if occasionally in the moments they're happening, they make him angry. She is a beautiful independence, and he's quite happy at this point to dependently vary right along with her.
So he lets her hand stay where it is, move up to his face when she feels like it, and, okay when she starts to clean him off, he sort of makes a face, but he still lets her do it. (It feels like that's what she's doing, anyway. It wouldn't be the first time he'd felt the sensation.) It's fine, again, because it's Pepper, and Pepper is allowed to do these things because it's different when she does.
He's just not entirely sure what to do with the rest of it. The 'welcome home', because she's here too, and so it's welcome to them both, even if it's weird to welcome yourself somewhere. He's pretty sure that breaks some sort of etiquette. That, and, he's just not sure what to do with it. So, he doesn't think about it - just goes on instinct, reaching out to take her other hand - totally forgetting he has a little oil still on his own, because he doesn't think about that, like, ever - and looking back at her. ] Good to be back. Right? We like it here.
Yes. [ It's a soft affirmation, eyes dropping to the hand that takes hers. Even if the grease isn't going to wash out easily, she actually doesn't mind. His skin is warm against hers, and she squeezes his fingers. ] I thought we could stay a little longer, so I made arrangements.
[ Which is Pepper's way of telling him he shouldn't spend all that time locked up in the workshop, though she knows there's a good possibility it's what he might do. At least she's hinting at it, an opportunity to relax and unwind and take care of himself--something she's been doing for so many years already because a certain someone seems to forget what's important. All routine, practice made perfect despite the kinks occasionally thrown in. ]
But I suppose I could always change that too... [ There's a smile, gaze meeting his rather than linger on their hands and the way it makes her feel. She keeps talking from habit, to fill a little of that silence with something better. ]
[ He already looked faintly happy with things, her, standing here on the stairs holding hands, but when she says she made arrangements, his face brightens further. There's a lot of things to read into from that, and while 'don't spend all your time in the workshop' isn't one that springs to mind immediately - it doesn't take long though, it comes along in the middle of another mental delineation of meaning - there's plenty of others that do that he likes the idea of. Or at least the feeling of. Anything that indicates she likes everything that's happening, with them, with life, and wants to continue it - anything in that vein makes him happy. Like he's doing things right.
Taking care of himself was definitely not one of the first ideas out of her statement though, but he'd contest the 'forgetting what's important' bit. He does quite well with that lately, he thinks; she just has her priorities in a different order than he does. ]
What? [ It's a little quick, even with her smile and how he knows she's not sincere. ] No, we're staying here. You can't tell me one thing and then move on to another. My choice now, staying longer.
Although not on the stairs forever, right? You meant stay longer in the house. Not that I mind the stairs, these are great stairs, but I think once we run out of things to talk about they'll get boring pretty fast.
[ She speaks mildly, a tease in those words. Of course she'd meant staying in a general sense, nothing specific like he's implying. But it's like Tony to cover all bases but the important ones, and Pepper knows that too. Still, she has her own ideas, and while they might not be what he expects, it's not as if he wouldn't enjoy them. Eventually.
The hand he isn't holding rests on his shoulder, and she uses it for a bit of leverage, leaning forward as if to whisper something. Like they're not alone now, like it could be a secret no one else should know just yet. Instead, she simply presses a kiss to the corner of his mouth, chaste and simple and particularly fleeting. Then, she's gone from his personal space, withdrawing both hands and stepping back as though she intends to leave him there on the steps.
The look she gives him might be a little too knowing, even for her. But she's turning around and walking again without saying anything at all. ]
[ It was a facetious bit of specificity, but it's nice for her to confirm it anyway. And he typically does enjoy her ideas, normally. When he gives them time to come to the fruition she was looking for, he does, anyway.
He feels like he should have been expecting something like that, but it doesn't make it any less surprising when it happens, when she pulls back, and then pulls back a second time, completely. He watches her, carefully, because she's being particularly cagey right now and he's not sure why. He doesn't have a problem with it, and when she starts to walk away, he definitely moves to follow her - he always follows Pepper. It's just how it goes. But he doesn't know why she's acting like this, and that itself is intriguing enough to provoke pursuit, even if the opportunity to watch her walk from behind wasn't incentive enough.
It is pretty quiet though. ] You sound like you already have. I'm not sure how I feel about you not telling me anything right now, you've been pretty vague. It's great, staying here longer, that's totally cool, but. Vague. What are we doing?
Don't start that. It's not vague. [ There's another look, leaning just enough to retrieve her PDA from the table she'd left it on. He's certainly the master of mystery in comparison anyhow, skirting around important topics when she needs him to be straight-forward. A glance at her hand, at him, and Pepper sits rather purposely on the sofa, legs crossed so that it's much more obvious just how barefoot she is. Relaxed here just as much as she had been the few times they'd managed being alone together.
She doesn't bother to look up as her fingers move to type. ]
As a matter of fact, there are plenty of things to be done. We'll get to each of them. But you should sit down first. I think. [ And only then does she tilt her head in his direction, hand dropping to rest on the empty spot beside her--a clear invitation. Not that he would ever need one, hasn't really, but sometimes, Pepper likes to give him that little reminder as though he might eventually forget it. ]
[ Well he found it to be vague, and he's pretty sure he's allowed to find things vague if he feels like it, except apparently he isn't so. Okay.
This is starting to feel more and more like it was actually a trap, and he watches her for a little bit, because he can't completely pinpoint precisely why it feels like a trap, just that it does. It feels like he's been lured and teased out of his workshop and the reward is instead doing different, much more boring, work up here, and while he can't really deny that the company is marginally better - sorry, Dummy - he's not sure what to make of it regardless.
But he never says no to being with Pepper, really, especially when she looks this at ease and sexy about things, and if he's going to be trapped he might as well be comfortable. So at the invitation - and no, he didn't need it, but that doesn't mean that even he doesn't appreciate the gesture of 'hey, I actually want you here' over 'well I don't bother myself with moving if you happen to get close to me' - he does move to sit, more or less flopping next to her on the couch and trying to peer over at whatever it is that she's working on. ] What things to be done? You sound like you have a list, and I'm almost abjectly opposed to those, just so you know, I'm not fond of them, the obligation of them. Unless you're on the list. I'd be okay with that.
Yes, because I don't know how much you dislike them. Which is why I make them, so you can complain about it. [ She's a little exasperated, true, but it's nothing new between them. In fact, Pepper's leaning closer so he can look at what she does as though it's on purpose. It's nothing significant, not really; a few emails, things that could be seen to at another time. She sometimes likes to be there with him, together in that silence and comfortable, as if there's something completely normal about who they are and what they're doing.
She tilts her head, fingers covering the screen as she drops her other hand lightly atop his thigh. A smile stretches her mouth, and she looks at him. ]
But all of that can wait for now. I like this better. Don't you?
I complain about them especially so you can feel like you've done a good job making them in the first place. [ But alright, this is alright. This is so far a little boring, but it's alright. He does take the opportunity to peer over better, watch her as she works on things that are also boring but he likes to watch her do things in general - she's so capable and efficient and understands things and yeah he's all those things too in certain elements, but her elements seem to be most of the table, and he's always liked watching a well oiled machine do its thing. She makes him slow down every now and then, like this moment, and while he protests it every single time she does, he usually appreciates it to some degree despite himself. He assumes that's part of the reason she keeps doing it.
None of this though - the mechanical appreciation, the snooping into her activities, the momentary pause - means that he's not happy when she seems like she doesn't actually want to just sit here on the couch typing emails to people that aren't him. He had no idea what they were doing - he didn't come upstairs with anything to mess with. Not that he wouldn't be fine with sitting either. He's just. Having a hard time getting into the right mindset for anything at the moment because he can't tell which one he actually needs to settle into. ]
Right now? This is nice, yeah. Chilling out. Not doing anything. Is this what we came up here to do?
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8D
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So maybe you should come upstairs with me instead.
[ Which is as good an invitation as any, almost coy but not so much in the way she turns just a bit as if to leave him there. ]
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And also she'd just said something about going upstairs with her. Tbh that probably got more attention, but he did honestly think about the other stuff too.
But it looks like she's actually going back upstairs, and that got his attention, and then she did, and apparently he's dropping what he's doing - with a clatter, something fell or something, he doesn't care. ] Yeah I can probably do that. [ Meaning he's already moving with her. ]
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They'd had so little of this since New York. Since the fighting and the mess and the rebuild and everything in between. Even if it worries her constantly, she's reluctant to bring it up beyond the start of his name and a topic that has nothing whatsoever to do with the conversation she wants, needs, pleads to have with him. All lost in the midst of their relationship, that he is Tony and she Pepper and it's how they have always operated. But there are other ways of speaking. Less inventive, less...well, verbal.
She does it in the way each step she takes becomes an achievable goal she can grasp. She does it in the way her hand lightly trails along the wall, fingertips barely there as she remains ahead of him by the margin of a few paces. She does it in the way she eventually glances over her shoulder behind her to look and encourage, the tug at the corners of her mouth slight but there and entirely noticeable while she continues steadily up, up, up.
Even in silence, it's a knowing smile, and she teases him the entire way. ]
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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. ]
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Pepper rests her hand against his chest as if to stop him, fingers barely brushing the collar of the shirt he's wearing. The feel of the arc reactor is evident, but she says nothing, offering him that much in the way of comfort. She's long since accepted this, him, and it's the reassurance in knowing he's still alive that grounds her. ]
Welcome home, Tony. [ Because she hadn't gotten a chance to tell him, to express everything in such simple terms. Her fingers move to lightly touch his jaw, thumb rubbing at what she suspects - hopes, in all honesty - is oil from, well, something. Perhaps a touch mothering, but there's other affections mixed with it too. ]
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So he lets her hand stay where it is, move up to his face when she feels like it, and, okay when she starts to clean him off, he sort of makes a face, but he still lets her do it. (It feels like that's what she's doing, anyway. It wouldn't be the first time he'd felt the sensation.) It's fine, again, because it's Pepper, and Pepper is allowed to do these things because it's different when she does.
He's just not entirely sure what to do with the rest of it. The 'welcome home', because she's here too, and so it's welcome to them both, even if it's weird to welcome yourself somewhere. He's pretty sure that breaks some sort of etiquette. That, and, he's just not sure what to do with it. So, he doesn't think about it - just goes on instinct, reaching out to take her other hand - totally forgetting he has a little oil still on his own, because he doesn't think about that, like, ever - and looking back at her. ] Good to be back. Right? We like it here.
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[ Which is Pepper's way of telling him he shouldn't spend all that time locked up in the workshop, though she knows there's a good possibility it's what he might do. At least she's hinting at it, an opportunity to relax and unwind and take care of himself--something she's been doing for so many years already because a certain someone seems to forget what's important. All routine, practice made perfect despite the kinks occasionally thrown in. ]
But I suppose I could always change that too... [ There's a smile, gaze meeting his rather than linger on their hands and the way it makes her feel. She keeps talking from habit, to fill a little of that silence with something better. ]
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Taking care of himself was definitely not one of the first ideas out of her statement though, but he'd contest the 'forgetting what's important' bit. He does quite well with that lately, he thinks; she just has her priorities in a different order than he does. ]
What? [ It's a little quick, even with her smile and how he knows she's not sincere. ] No, we're staying here. You can't tell me one thing and then move on to another. My choice now, staying longer.
Although not on the stairs forever, right? You meant stay longer in the house. Not that I mind the stairs, these are great stairs, but I think once we run out of things to talk about they'll get boring pretty fast.
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[ She speaks mildly, a tease in those words. Of course she'd meant staying in a general sense, nothing specific like he's implying. But it's like Tony to cover all bases but the important ones, and Pepper knows that too. Still, she has her own ideas, and while they might not be what he expects, it's not as if he wouldn't enjoy them. Eventually.
The hand he isn't holding rests on his shoulder, and she uses it for a bit of leverage, leaning forward as if to whisper something. Like they're not alone now, like it could be a secret no one else should know just yet. Instead, she simply presses a kiss to the corner of his mouth, chaste and simple and particularly fleeting. Then, she's gone from his personal space, withdrawing both hands and stepping back as though she intends to leave him there on the steps.
The look she gives him might be a little too knowing, even for her. But she's turning around and walking again without saying anything at all. ]
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He feels like he should have been expecting something like that, but it doesn't make it any less surprising when it happens, when she pulls back, and then pulls back a second time, completely. He watches her, carefully, because she's being particularly cagey right now and he's not sure why. He doesn't have a problem with it, and when she starts to walk away, he definitely moves to follow her - he always follows Pepper. It's just how it goes. But he doesn't know why she's acting like this, and that itself is intriguing enough to provoke pursuit, even if the opportunity to watch her walk from behind wasn't incentive enough.
It is pretty quiet though. ] You sound like you already have. I'm not sure how I feel about you not telling me anything right now, you've been pretty vague. It's great, staying here longer, that's totally cool, but. Vague. What are we doing?
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She doesn't bother to look up as her fingers move to type. ]
As a matter of fact, there are plenty of things to be done. We'll get to each of them. But you should sit down first. I think. [ And only then does she tilt her head in his direction, hand dropping to rest on the empty spot beside her--a clear invitation. Not that he would ever need one, hasn't really, but sometimes, Pepper likes to give him that little reminder as though he might eventually forget it. ]
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This is starting to feel more and more like it was actually a trap, and he watches her for a little bit, because he can't completely pinpoint precisely why it feels like a trap, just that it does. It feels like he's been lured and teased out of his workshop and the reward is instead doing different, much more boring, work up here, and while he can't really deny that the company is marginally better - sorry, Dummy - he's not sure what to make of it regardless.
But he never says no to being with Pepper, really, especially when she looks this at ease and sexy about things, and if he's going to be trapped he might as well be comfortable. So at the invitation - and no, he didn't need it, but that doesn't mean that even he doesn't appreciate the gesture of 'hey, I actually want you here' over 'well I don't bother myself with moving if you happen to get close to me' - he does move to sit, more or less flopping next to her on the couch and trying to peer over at whatever it is that she's working on. ] What things to be done? You sound like you have a list, and I'm almost abjectly opposed to those, just so you know, I'm not fond of them, the obligation of them. Unless you're on the list. I'd be okay with that.
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She tilts her head, fingers covering the screen as she drops her other hand lightly atop his thigh. A smile stretches her mouth, and she looks at him. ]
But all of that can wait for now. I like this better. Don't you?
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None of this though - the mechanical appreciation, the snooping into her activities, the momentary pause - means that he's not happy when she seems like she doesn't actually want to just sit here on the couch typing emails to people that aren't him. He had no idea what they were doing - he didn't come upstairs with anything to mess with. Not that he wouldn't be fine with sitting either. He's just. Having a hard time getting into the right mindset for anything at the moment because he can't tell which one he actually needs to settle into. ]
Right now? This is nice, yeah. Chilling out. Not doing anything. Is this what we came up here to do?