#irnarmor

"I've READ your file, Stark. If it wasn't in there it couldn't have been that bad." Or maybe it had been and SHIELD decided against putting it into his file. Either way his curiosity had been piqued and Steve was curious just what Stark's worst mistake really was.

All day long Pepper had maintained her disposition and was reasonably convinced that nobody else was aware of what was going on. She might not have been able to tell a lie to save her life; but she had grown a pretty good poker face in order to avoid needing to lie in the first place. Another skill needed for the life she lived in the orbit of Tony Stark --- the only one to know exactly what she was doing despite her innocent demeanor.

She didn’t often play games like this exactly; Pepper preferred to keep her life in boxes --- work, home, social, etc. The keyword being preferred, as there were many times in which this ended up not being the case. At home ?  That was another story --- but bringing them to work ?  Not so much. Flexibility, another key trait to dealing with Tony --- and as a former gymnast, Pepper was all kinds of flexible. Which was why, knowing they both had a slog of a day coming up --- one that would be long, boring and tedious, she utilized two of her perfected skills at once in order to help get them through it. Waking him up forty minutes earlier, to provide him with a little extra motivation to get through the day. 

Technology was truly an amazing thing; something she’d been shown by the brilliance of Stark International and it’s achievements time and time again --- but today, her thanks were towards the genius minds who created plugs and rings that could be controlled discreetly through her phone. Especially when she was watching Tony very politely finish up this latest round of meetings, knowing that the plug was humming silently inside of him, alternating between the lowest settings. Pepper tucked her phone into her pocket as she went to shake hands and say her goodbyes, leaving them alone once more in her office for twenty minutes of peace before the next onslaught began. 

Red lips pressed into a smirk, the ginger walked over to the mechanic and placed her hand against his cheek innocently. “ You were very good these last few meetings, I’m very impressed. How are you feeling ? ”

he’s  angry,  not  at  sam,  but  at  how  he  can’t  seem  to  do  anything  anymore.  nothing  works.  he  needs  help  going  to  the  damn  bathroom  now.  a  decorated  air  force  pilot,  a  colonel.  if  he  didn’t  heal,  they  would  force  him  to  retire.  there  would  be  no  life  for  him  anymore.  surely,  they  would  all  leave  him  after  that.  he’d  be  ALONE.  

       ❛ ─ look, i’m gonna be COMPLETELY honest with ya... i stopped listenin’ to what you were saying about FIVE to TEN minutes ago... ❜ the archer admits, before issuing a clearing of his throat. ❛ so you’re gonna have to repeat that question one more time. ❜

Pepper smiles and hands off their daughter to him, placing her on her father’s chest, gently rubbing the baby’s back before pressing a kiss to Tony’s forehead.