penistower | He made some bad investments.

Her lips twitch a little at the remark even as her heart gives an odd, tiny jump she puzzles over for a moment. She follows him without a protest a few steps behind, honestly a bit ashamed of herself to notice he has a really nice ass. Biting her lip, she quickly focuses on her own feet and hopes she's not blushing.

"We should probably talk about this whole... mission, at some point," she says, out of necessity as well as to remind herself why she's here in the first place.

Naturally, he's completely oblivious to the ogling, but her words send his heart plummeting straight through the basement. Could they just never talk about it? That would be better for his schedule.

"Yeah... you're right. Maybe after spicy noodles though." He's pulling up the menu on a tablet once they get to the kitchen.

Pepper slides onto a high stool next to the kitchen island, idly drumming her fingers on the countertop. "All right," she agrees easily enough. Full stomach made for better mood, after all. "I hope you were serious about the spicy part." She arches a brow, maybe just a hint of a challenge in her voice.

"Three stars spicy...?" he puts out questingly, moving to grab himself a drink before he remembers himself. "Do you want a beer? Soda, water, juice, wine..." One thing he was well-stocked in was beverages. Not so much on everything else.

"It'll do," Pepper says magnanimously after a moment, bobbing her head a little in agreement. She purses her lips in consideration at the offer; she's usually one to go for a glass of wine with dinner, but she's not opposed to switching things up every now and then. "Beer would be nice, thanks."

He nods, getting out two bottles of beer and opening them on the opener fridge magnet. Don't judge him and his life!! One is passed over to her as he scrolls on the tablet and slides that across the island for her to look at too. "I usually get this one." It's one with chicken and noodles and snap peas in a spicy peanut sauce.

She hides a small smile. Sorry bro, she has to judge your bachelor lyfe!! just a little ok. Just a bit. Curling her fingers around the bottle and tipping the tablet her way with the other hand, she glances at his dish of choice and nods her approval. "Sounds good. I'll have the same." Pushing the tablet back, her lips curve into a faint smile.

"And I'm just going to assume my rich boyfriend will foot the bill," she remarks wryly, lifting the bottle to her lips to take a sip.

Freezing for a second, totally deer-caught-in-headlights, he realizes he's being ribbed and lets out an awkward laugh. "Yeah... Of course. Your rich... boyfriend." Just like that it really sinks in what they're doing here. It's more than weird, and he clears his throat to address JARVIS. "J, can you place that order for us?" He's still staring at her, perhaps a bit too wildly.

Pepper looks slightly abashed at his reaction, but only for a moment. She waits silently for JARVIS' acknowledgement before speaking up.

"Too soon?" she asks with some of that same wryness in her tone, picking at the label on her bottle. She sighs a bit through her nose, lips thinning a little; this is why she thinks they need to talk about this. The assignment might be ridiculous, but if they're going to pull it off they should probably achieve some level of... familiarity with each other.

"No, it's not... that." His tummy keeps bottoming out every time her eyes snag his and he simultaneously wishes he knew what that was about and dreads finding out. Tony takes a brief sip to stall, wondering what the hell he thought this would be like. He doesn't have an answer; and it had seemed so simple in the planning stages. "I don't know how this stuff works," he admits after a beat, eyes flashing as the dam breaks, well-hidden vulnerability crashing through.

"What, dating?" Pepper asks softly after a beat, before clearing her throat delicately. "Or, well..." she trails off a bit awkwardly. Pretending to date. She doesn't know why pointing out the distinction makes her feel so apologetic. She's just doing what she'd been tasked to -- they both are. But the evident vulnerability on his face gets under her skin and burrows deep, some knot of emotion lodging behind her breastbone. She hadn't expected any of this when she'd reluctantly went along with Fury's plan, and she's left feeling slightly adrift herself.

"Well, yeah, that too." He blinks a few times rapidly, trying to get a real grasp on the conversation so he can stop feeling like he's drifting away. There's a long pause despite his efforts, and Tony picks at the label on his bottle while he thinks. "And... living together? Sharing space." It's kind of sad in a way he never allowed himself to process before, and suddenly his house seems so very big.

"Oh," she issues quietly. It's not until then that she stops to consider this. No, he's probably never had to split rent with a roommate. And his old habits were widely known and publicized; Pepper hazards a guess there's never been an actual girlfriend.

"If it's any consolation, I'm not very used to it, either," she finally ventures. "Not very recently, anyway." Which is true, but she's not sure if that's any help here. Probably not. Plus she can't shake the feeling that she's just a guest -- which is exactly what she is, in reality. Her manners are telling her to disrupt his life and living arrangements as little as possible, which goes contradictory to the assignment.

"Look, you don't have to... worry about all that. It's okay. I mean, you're not obligated to do anything you don't feel like while I'm here, or anything." She smothers a noise of frustration at herself, knowing she's not making any sense. She's also not entirely catching onto the underlying issue Tony has, here.

"Twenty years recently?" he can't help but counter, unbelievably self-deprecating. But then she goes on and he looks down at his lap, feeling like a jerk.

"Worry. I'm not... worried." He frowns, that last bit causing his gaze to bounce back up. "Okay, I'm... a little. But I just don't want you to feel -- obligated to do anything either." He somehow made that sound more suggestive than she did. Someone shoot him pls.

"Well. Maybe more like ten... ish." She didn't date overly often and rarely had she gotten to the point of co-habitation lately.

"I'm not. Feeling that way," she clarifies, biting her lip and tapping her fingers against her bottle a little nervously. "It's just. I'm basically a guest, here, a visitor. And I can't shake that feeling off quite yet."

Sighing, she gives a wan smile. "So, I guess we both have some work ahead of us if we're going to pull this thing off."

"Oh," he says dumbly, feeling even more insensitive for his outburst. God, what's wrong with him. Other than everything.

"Well, you're not. You live here now so..." So, what? He's fidgeting now, not quite knowing how to sit anymore. Not that he was ever good at it to begin with. "All relationships are work, right?" He flashes her an unsure little smile before taking a long swig from his longneck.

Pepper smiles slightly at Tony's insistence, a bit touched by it even though she knows it isn't exactly the truth. She might live here, yes, but only for now. Only temporarily. Eventually, this charade would be over and she'd go back home, back to her regular life. She tries not to think about that right now.

"That they are," she agrees a bit solemnly, silent for a beat before a tiny, wry smile tugs at her lips. "Some more so than others."

And Tony, for his part, isn't thinking about when the mission ends at all. Though he always tried to see several moves ahead, right now he's having trouble seeing to the end of his nose. Before trying to retort, he drains the rest of his beer and sets it aside, poking at the label now hanging half off.

"Ha... yeah." Good one!! No he isn't even hurt (maybe a little), it's just again something he's not adept at talking about. Mostly because he'd never had to before. Except to tell groupies they were delusional and stuff like that, which doesn't exactly apply here. "I--" He's interrupted by the doorbell, and it goes right through him, face draining of color instantly. It had startled him, he doesn't do so well with loud, sudden noises these days.

"That must be our food." He takes off like a cartoon character, leaving her in his proverbial dust.

She bites her lip at his reaction, getting the distinct feeling that didn't really go down as planned. "I didn't mean--" The doorbell startles her a little too, jumping a bit on her seat at the unexpected noise. She barely has time to process what happened before Tony is already zooming out of the room, leaving her alone with her chagrin.

"...This relationship," she finishes in a murmur to the empty room, sighing. They sure are off to a good start.

He doesn't hear her, naturally, already chatting animatedly with the delivery guy and not letting his extremely broken English impede it in any way. He agrees to sign the man's hat, but still tips him handsomely, making it back into the kitchen less than two minutes later. Tony deposits the food onto the counter and moves to grab them utensils. He hates the plastic ones they give you in the bag.

"Another beer?" he asks, getting one for himself before she can answer.

Pepper uses the time he's at the door to pull herself together, taking a long pull from her bottle. Nothing like a little liquid courage, right? (No.)

Thankfully the food provides a welcome distraction; her belly growls at the wonderful scent wafting into the air, and she starts unpacking it from the bag while Tony rifles for utensils. She still has some beer left in the previous bottle, so she probably shouldn't... "Sure," she says instead to his offer. Oh, well.

Too late, he's already opening her a new one and bringing it over with the forks and paper towels. He moves to sit next to her this time, his cheeks pinking subtly as he grabs the leftover container and brushes his hand against hers in the process. "Here." He slides the bottle over to her, though he can see she's still working on the first. He wouldn't mind being a little tipsy right now himself. Somehow it seems like it might be easier that way. "If this isn't spicy enough for you then you're even more badass than I thought," he says after a swig from his fresh beer and a mouthful of noodles. Honestly he usually orders the two-star but again he'd wanted to impress her!! His eyes are already watering.

She glances sideways at him with a little smile, startling a bit at the brush of their hands and swallowing dryly. Food, right. She murmurs her thanks and digs in, giving a hum of approval at the warm spiciness on her tongue.

"I don't know, it could stand to be just a bit hotter," she teases with a crooked smile, though she actually think it's just perfect, a hint of color on her own cheeks from the kick. If she notices his struggle, she isn't mentioning it; at least yet, finishing off her first bottle of beer. "It's good, though. Nicely recommended."

He huffs, busying himself with his own food. No matter the mission, it's still hard to be upstaged by her, even if he can admit he often is. He wouldn't call her his partner if she wasn't every bit as impressive as her file made her out to be.

"Glad you like," he settles on magnanimously, drinking his beer quickly now perhaps more to dull his tastebuds than for any other reason.

Hiding a knowing little smile, Pepper ducks her head and focuses on her food. It's unexpectedly pleasant, this simple act of just dining with someone, side by side. Maybe she's been by herself for longer than she'd realized; a startling thought.

"So, what do you really think of this whole... mission?" she asks to distract herself. "You think this idea has any merit to it?"

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