3617/From the Bunker

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From the Bunker
Date of Scene: 09 January 2018
Location: Stark Tower Bunker and Penthouse
Synopsis: Pepper drags Tony out of his lab to eat and get some sleep.
Cast of Characters: Iron Man, Pepper Potts




Iron Man has posed:
"Ms. Potts," JARVIS politely contacts her. He pauses, and then continues, "While it is time for dinner, but I must inform you that Mr. Stark has been asleep for approximately an hour, after having stayed up all night working. He may be unavailable to eat," the AI explains to her.

Tony HAD... hours ago... mentioned how great cheeseburgers would be, through the communication system, when prodded about maybe taking, say, a food break. But then he got involved in his project again. So this is certainly the natural evolution of that: Not sleeping and not eating.

"However, I am overriding the security on the Bunker to allow you entry, because he may be in physical distress; he removed himself from my monitoring." JARVIS probably questioned him.

Pepper Potts has posed:
When Tony gets on a binge like this, Pepper is normally not QUITE so overworried. She's seen these working binges before. But now she knows there is something wrong with his reactor, that he might be sick, and it's been hard not to be worried. Not to mention they had a date, supposedly, and had been a bit closer than previous times. It's a big mix for her having planned on a huge cheeseburger dinner which she now forgets upstairs, because she's moving in a half panicked speed down to the bunker.

"Thank you, JARVIS. I'm heading that way now. Keep the stove on warm with the burgers... Shit... Just... I'm almost there." Food can wait. Pepper's running down into the bunker as fast as her sky-high Prada heels will allow her. She doesn't look near so ragged around the edges as Tony probably does, but she's also not quite her perky, perfect stuff. She's been losing sleep, between running the company and worrying relentlessly over Tony. She doesn't even bother fixing her hair as she dashes over in his direction, fingertips reaching for neck and other hand for his shoulders, "Tony?...Tony! I swear...if you had a heart attack on me..."

Iron Man has posed:
On the upside, Tony is not, say, collapsed over a project like he just passed out. Tony did have the sense to move himself over to one of the 'thinking' couches, to do this there. He's laying back, clearly asleep (or unconscious) when she comes tearing in. He's dressed in a way that suggests he was welding: he reeks of melted metal, as does the bunker, and burned fuel. And sweat, and some grime on his bared arms, exposed due to being in just a t-shirt. His gloves are thrown to the side though, and he doesn't have other welding gear on except for semi-ajar red protective glasses. The scariest of the items is there are a few leads that are running up under his shirt, clipped onto the arc reactor, that run out onto the floor and... to nothing, they aren't clipped onto anything else.

Tony responds, but with some lag, squinting at her. "Stop; I'm not on fire. ....Am I?" Tony asks, confused and out of it.

Pepper Potts has posed:
Much like the mistaken issue that night of the party, but the other way around, it's now Pepper's turn to be leaning frantically over his sleeping body, half sick with worry, almost in his lap on the couch, her hand still on his neck to be certain his pulse isn't just there, but is hopefully even and strong enough. Especially as she sees those cables coming out of his chest. Just because he's moving doesn't mean he's well.

She stares down at him, not able to cut the heart-sick concern from her green gaze. "Tony... JARVIS said you took yourself off monitoring. You didn't sleep the whole NIGHT last night... it... It's dinner time. And no. You're not on fire. You're just passed out in the middle of your work space, missing dinner, covered in soot, have god knows how many wires hooked up to your chest, NOT on your monitoring and... giving me indigestion!" She half rambles half huffs.

Iron Man has posed:
Tony orients on her now though, sleep leaving his gaze, and pulls off the glasses, letting them loosely drop to the side of the chair, overwhlemed a little by her explosion. "I ate. I had some snacks. Chocolate Raisins," Tony says, pausing, and pulls a little bag out from under his left thigh to offer her some.

"JARVIS was distracting me. It's fine. I'm doing great," Tony assures her with his usual easygoing bravado, sitting up and yawning. He fishes under his shirt, pulling it up to expose abdomen with his other hand, and unclips the leads as if they were no big deal, barely paying attention to them.

Pepper Potts has posed:
"...you're unclipping eletric leads from your CHEST, Tony. You were doing experiments on your own CHEST and you took the monitoring off. Why was JARVIS distracting you? Was he warning you that perhaps you shouldn't be doing that?" Pepper breathes out, finally gently drawing her hand back from his neck, trying not to hover too close but she does look in a state. The fact that she's been sleeping at the office -- just in case he needs her -- and hasn't really stopped worrying since he told her? It's starting to take it's wear on her. Even a few locks of strawberry blonde hair have fallen out of place around her cheek.

"And...that's not dinner, Tony. That's barely food. I did make you cheeseburgers. The kobe beef you like... extra sharp cheddar... Everything's ready upstairs. YOu just actually have to come upstairs and *eat them.*" Pepper insists softly, but it might be a bit surprising that she made them. She didn't order in. She cooked dinner for him. Thoughtfully, exactly what he wanted... Pepper Potts cooked.

Iron Man has posed:
"I wasn't experimenting on my chest... I was just using it as a power source for... barely an hour," Tony says. As if that were not infinitely worse at this point. He withdraws the snack when she doesn't want any, and has a few himself while listening to her.

"Upstairs? With cheddar? Lead on," Tony says quickly, trying to reorient her scared train back onto that. And away from the new guilt coming in: he didn't know she was cooking it. He has a feeling JARVIS told him, though, but he had to finish up what he was doing first. He coughs and gives Pepper a charismatic smile, as if to prove he's fine. He's tired as hell but the smile is ... very convincing, actually. If a shade too close to the smile he gave her when he came back from being a captive. He puts the raisins aside and everything, and sort of... looks at her... close proximity to him. Normally he wouldn't really notice it, but there's a different tone to such things, after their last 'Meeting'.

Pepper Potts has posed:
Indeed, after their last 'meeting', well, she's cooked burgers instead of ordering in from whatever joint sounds good tonight. She actually made them dinner and while that might not be a date, it's certainly not a business meeting. Pepper's eyes go wide as saucers as he comments on using his reactor as a power source, though, "That's no better, that's probably WORSE! Isn't that... not working... perfectly?! Tony!" She begins, but he does manage to derail her a few heartbeats later.

Perhaps it's that smile, perhaps it's his agreement to come upstairs. More likely, it's a mix of both, but she gets off of her worried rant a moment alter and gives a small, brief nod, "Well..good. Yes. Come up and eat. Then sleep. I... I can't give you orders, but... you need both." Her fingertips which had been on his neck now come up, just a moment, tucking some of that careless hair behind his ear. It's a tender touch, a worried one but also slightly protective. But it shouldn't last. And with that, she turns on her foot, leading the way upstairs before she lingers so close a little too long and is tempted by other things.

Iron Man has posed:
"You could power your hairdryer off my reactor for the rest of your life and it wouldn't make me any worse," Tony assures her, helpfully, hands moving to her shoulders for just a brief squeeze. He doesn't SOUND like he's omitting something. Oh, here it its: "It's already bad." Yeah.

He gets up out of the chair, which sends his hair right back out from behind his ear where she tucked it, yawning very broadly. He's not entirely awake, he's just a good faker. As she turns away he stretches and rotates his shoulders, scratching his stomach a little bit before pulling the shirt back down and, apparently game to leave the bunker in her wake, does indeed follow her.

"JARVIS, shut down those two coolant tanks I had up, but roll the third overnight, log everything," Tony addresses the AI. "I'm probably busy tonight," he adds.

JARVIS answers: "Very good, sir."

Pepper Potts has posed:
It already being bad stops Pepper in her tracks. She almost trips over her own feet, for just a moment, but forces herself to stop and take a deeper breath. "...Then, if it's already bad, you are sleeping tonight. I don't care if I have to climb in that bed with you, you are sleeping." It could sound flirtatious, but it doesn't. Pepper is dead serious about her threat and, potentially, pinning him down if she has to.

Instead, she just keeps leading the way up towards the kitchen where the heavenly scent of well cooked kobe beef, spices, good cheddar and fresh vegetables hovers in the air. It's not as strong as it was the moment she finished cooking, but she did get him shortly after, so things aren't yet cold. The burgers are large, probably too large for her to finish one herself, and it looks like she got buns from Degennaro's down the street, so fresh and fluffy with the proper Italian cut to them. "...Dinner is ready. Hopefully it's... still warm."

Iron Man has posed:
"You believe that if you're in a bed with me, that I would be sleeping?" Tony asks behind her. She'll HEAR how high his eyebrows are lifted in his tone, alone, with that comment. And she probably will not have to guess that he's looking at her back and... lower, as she leads. It's not any secret that Tony often watches women leave the room, sort of a favorite hobby.

Yes, she leads to the food, but unless she entirely ignores him when they arrive, she'll easily catch him still looking at her, despite that he's tired. Then again, the man probably would be on his deathbed and still be up to go out with a bang.

Pepper Potts has posed:
Today, Pepper is in a custom tailored, dark charcoal gray suit with thin pin stripes. It's pants, so her legs aren't exactly on display, but they certainly cup her buttocks like they were made to fit like a glove, so he might be getting a pretty decent view either way. She's about to turn around and ask him what he wants to drink when she notices he's staring and just stops in her tracks. That makes her stammer a moment or two, a hint of blush raising up her cheeks as she clears her throat.

"...would you like water or something else to drink... And we BOTH need sleep. I promise you, tonight? All we'd be doing is sleeping. But... dinner first. Now. What are you drinking?" Pepper is doing her damnedest to act like he's not flirting, trying to keep to the business of dinner even if she did dare cook the entire thing for him and has offered to share a bed with him.

Iron Man has posed:
"You did all this, the /very/ least I can do is bartend for an instant," Tony says. "Truly the very least, there's a lot of other things I also could be doing," Tony admits, which is... wrought with possible innuendo. Or maybe just in reference to cooking. But since it's Tony, the first thing is the safer bet.

"I have the wine from that celebratory toast we forgot to do after the Cyrosync deal Monday," Tony considers aloud as if half to himself, passing around her to hunt for where he put it. He's tired, obviously, so isn't firing on full cylinders.

"Also, you shouldn't make promises that I don't intend you to keep," Tony's voice says from the cabinet. The man has an unlimited supply of playful flirtations when that floodgate is allowed to open. He isn't drunk, though-- so he's not saying them by accident.

Pepper Potts has posed:
A deeper smirk dances across Pepper's lips as she watches him dig for the wine. A single glass of wine she won't stop, and it even might compliment Kobe beef. "Get the red that you had, not the white, with this..." Pepper comments from the kitchen, the closest thing she's going to give to a blessing for drinking with this meal. She's then carrying out those heavy, still warm burgers on a tray, heading towards the table in the dining area so they might actually eat at an upright table like proper people for once. She did everything short of putting out romantic candles, really.

"And you might not intend it, but I do. One of us has to have some sort of control, and that is not your...forte, my dear Tony." She teases him lightly, though she doesn't sound overly worried about his flirtations. There is a part of Pepper fairly convinced he's going to fall dead asleep the moment he hits his pillow, especially if he has a glass of wine.

Iron Man has posed:
That's likely. Tony himself though is full of a different opinion. "I have exactly as much control as I want to have," Tony says, with a victorious raise of the red wine that he found. He likely would have had it anyway even if she had made a face at him, but with a blessing, that will make this much less awkward or uncomfortable. He sets it down but then gets a good look at hismelf. "Be right back." He disappears to the bathroom sink to wash his hands and forearms, in addition to quickly washing his face and neck, so he doesn't smell and look quite as much like something exploded in his face. He changes his shirt quickly, just into a comfortable graphic design tee, bright red, and comes back out. No shoes.

It's then that he'll uncork the wine and hook two glasses between fingers of his other hand to bring over, letting the wine breathe first, but putting it all down. He takes in the little setup, and seems to kind of chew on what he wants to say, instead of just the first thing off his mind. "You really do take good care of me," Tony says, simply, observational.

Pepper Potts has posed:
"Tony, you should..." Pepper starts as she sets the tray down, but then she's looking up and watching him already going into the bathroom. She didn't even have to ask him. A small smile blooms across her lips, watching that closed door and listening to the water running for just a few moments. It was painfully domestic, but it felt right, and she didn't have to ENTIRELY take care of him. That was nice too. When he comes back out, he might realize she's just been standing there, staring. Maybe she's simply that tired herself or, more likely, her mind is caught off in a few day dreams elsewhere. Pleasant ones, from the smile on her face.

As she realizes she was staring, she looks abruptly down and takes off her own jacket, getting a bit more comfortable in just her slacks and the silk chemise she's wearing under that jacket. Her slender, elegant arms are now bare as are her delicate collarbones and throat. She steps over to her chair, letting him set down the wine. Her head tilts as she sees him hovering on the edge of words. What comes out was not what she expected. Her smile warms just a bit more, "...I... try. I wouldn't know what else to do with my life anyway. And you're worth taking care of... even when you forget it."

Iron Man has posed:
"Well, don't sound /too/ grudging about it," Tony teases in mock injury. "If you're not here because you WANT to be, then there's a big elephant in the room that needs to be dragged out," Tony says, sitting down in one of the chairs and scooting in. He is fully capable of having an entirely proper meal: it's actually more automatic, since she set the tone for it, even if he's slightly underdressed for something fancy, the behavior is there: napkin to lap, good posture, and waiting for her. He has her to look at, besides, as she removes her jacket, but doesn't stare much. Somebody must have flipped the 'good behavior' toggle.

Or it's slightly awkward, because it's one thing to say date, and another to be at this table in a sort-of date with Pepper. Because the ease and comfort level that it went to: he sensed it too... and that was a bit alarming.

Pepper Potts has posed:
But it wasn't a date, right? Just a practical cooking of dinner when he was working long hours and this was easier than going out. Even if Pepper has ten million better things to do in her day than cook, and she decided to cook for him. Surely that meant nothing -- surely? She settles down into the chair catty-corner to him, not across, and grabs her own glass of wine to pour out the breathing bouquet. A little huff of frustration and amusement comes in reaction to his words, and a small shake of her head.

"You KNOW I did not mean it that way, Tony. I do want to be here. I... I've had other offers, you know, and I've not blinked at them. This is my life. You..." She looks up to him, just realizing what she's about to say before quickly blinking away, "Stark Industries is my life."

Iron Man has posed:
Tony considers that, watching her, eyes dark, emotions sort of held in check behind it. "Well. To getting what we want, then?" Tony suggests after procuring his own glass, one eyebrow tipping up, extending the glass across to coax her to join him in that toast. And winking at her, which no doubt rapidly diffuses him prodding her before with words. He caught her meaning then, and he catches in in her verbal stumble, too.

"Which might be delicious burgers, right now. No pressure," Tony says, softening it, the smile moving from sly to a more gentle one. One of those looks that isn't coated in a heavy layer of bullshit, but instead, sharing a moment with her.

Pepper Potts has posed:
The toast gets a slight arch of her brow, but Pepper raises her glass and clinks it lightly against his. "To... getting what we wish." She softens his statement just a bit more, but then, that's Pepper. She puts the soft edges to Tony's wild, bombastic style. She then smiles across her glass and takes a deep sip to back up the toast. A little laugh follows about the burgers, "I hope so, the beef was expensive enough. These cows better buy me dinner next time." She teases lightly, equally trying to diffuse the situation.

But then she realizes the tone of his statement. No pressure. That warmth. It reminds her of other times -- a dance in a blue dress -- some more gentle moments he's had. A warmth comes to her cheeks that probably isn't yet wine and her smile softens. "I...do hope you like them. I'm not much of a cook. I watched some videos."

Iron Man has posed:
That moment passes like the briefest of little clouds, because she gave him something to chatter about: "That.... sounds like a scary disclaimer. Own it, Pep," Tony encourages, his attention dropped to the burger he now has placed in front of him. He adds his condiments, though, and digs in. He doesn't wolf it, though he does relax a little bit out of the edge of awkward, to eat and enjoy the burger. Because food. And Tony is a great fan of food.

Pepper Potts has posed:
Dinner is shared in quiet contentment. While Pepper had thought only one glass of wine, it was a shame to leave the bottle half drank, so they both had another and finished up the burgers happily. Small chatter, a few notes about the contracts they are wrapping up, it was mostly business but with hints of familiarity. And the burgers WERE good, Pepper following that cooking video to a T. Picture perfect, as almost everything she does.

When they are done, she stands, drowsily scooping up plates. "Alright. Bed. Now. I'm serious, I'll be right behind you... But you need to sleep in a bed for at least 8 hours and if I have to guard you to make sure you do that, I will." She sets the plates down in the sink and immediately starts walking to his bedroom. She is not joking. She has also not put her jacket back on.

Iron Man has posed:
"Leave that stuff, it can wait," Tony says, not letting her go into gathering the dishes or tidying up when she starts to scoop plates and things up. Except that he does it from sitting at the table, anyway, just leaning forward to put a hand on her forearm. When she gets up and actually heads to the bedroom he looks after her a long moment, and then stands to follow. The food added another layer of heavy exhaustion. "I'll be ...well, okay, guarding the inside of my eyelids," Tony admits, rubbing his face with a hand and a soft laugh.

Pepper Potts has posed:
The expedience with which she prepares the bed might be nerves, or eagerness to get him in bed, or just Pepper trying to do everything as business like as possible. Clearly, this is business. Except she's now stepping out of her Prada heels and, while she hesitates a moment, she then looks over to his closet. "I...uh... am going to steal a teeshirt. I forgot to really pack anything..." She admits, "I'll be back in a minute. Just... get comfortable." Pepper coaches gently, motioning him to his own bed in some hovering, awkward touch. With that, she takes the first shirt she can find and ducks into the bathroom to finish her own nightly routine. She'll be fast, but it gives him (and her) a few minutes to compose.

Iron Man has posed:
Tony was half asleep. There was a business-as-usual tone to it before, and she's sent him to bed from various drunk locations so many times inthe past. But this is different: Now he is AWAKE. Why? Because she just informed him she's going to wear one of his shirts and will be back in a minute. After she vanishes, he looks down at her heels near the foot of his bed, and then across at the mirror over the way, looking at himself in it. Yeah, not looking his best: he's in lab-disaster mode and exhausted as he feels. Still awesome.

He looks at the door she disappeared into, and moves to lay back on the bed, reclining into pillows, intending to wait.

Pepper Potts has posed:
It's not too long. Guest tooth brush, face washing, the like. But within a few minutes, Pepper is stepping back out of his bathroom. Her strawberry hair is down around slightly freckled cheeks, and she's in a shirt that is clearly oversized on her, hanging to about her mid thigh. She tosses her slacks and stocking socks on the same pile as her chemise and bra, on a chair off to the side. Now she gives him a bit of a smile, looking over that nearly asleep frame. Something tells her she probably wouldn't even need to stay but she said she would.

So, Pepper steps over to the bed, slipping into the slightly less empty side, even if Tony is used to sprawling. She doesn't take up a lot of space. "...Good night, Tony." She whispers, ever so softly, not wanting to rouse him too much. She leans over to press the lightest of kisses to his temple before she tucks down onto the pillow, curled away from him in some foolish attempt at 'privacy', but still she is here to stay. She'll drop off listening to his breath.

Iron Man has posed:
Despite his best effort to be as awesome as he surely IS, he's on several glasses of wine, no sleep, well fed, and with a... medical problem he is loathe to think is a factor, but it is.

"Hmmm," Tony answers when she touches his forehead, moving one forearm up and across at her. The fingers extend to brush her side just under the arm adjacent to her bust, just a sort of disconnected reach. The fingers stretch out to touch, but then relax into a natural curl. That's it, all that actually happens, before Tony is falling off into sleep, as his breathing deepens naturally.