She really needs to stop catching him off guard with this stuff. Tony frowns, shrugging one shoulder as he closes the conversation window and goes into Happy's messages again. "You don't have to say that to save my ego." Not that Pepper does that, but he finds it really hard to believe all the same. He's just as grateful for the subject change and latches on greedily.

"You don't know him like I do. And it's only mean if it actually gives him a heart attack." Which isn't too far out of the realm of possibilities tbh. If she should look over she'd see about a thousand messages, short and panicky in content. They take up far more than the viewing screen without a single reply from Tony to break them up so it's clear they're all from today. There's even more from the last twelve hours if you scroll up, too. "He requires a little... tough love."