5394/It's not on whim!... Okay it is.

It's not on whim!... Okay it is.
Date of Scene:	18 September 2018
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Tony springs a vacation idea on Pepper.
Cast of Characters:	Iron Man, Pepper Potts

---

Iron Man has posed:
    The meeting with the new shipping contractors is over. Most of the meeting relied on Pepper and several other STARK consultants, but Tony did, out of nowhere, make an appearance towards the end. As is often the case (much to the frustration of Stark employees, sometimes), it rapidly swung the meeting out of being about the actual brass tacks, and more into a social event starring Tony Stark.

    On the other hand, he did seal the deals and get the handshakes, leaving the others to sign the paperwork. Tony's great at delegating paperwork. And he did do his job: he came in to get the thing finished, and then vanished off into the ether just as quickly.

    Now, though, Tony's in his office, and has submitted a 'request' that Pepper join him.

    The message was along the line of: "Pepper. Pepper. My office. Pepper. Peeeeepper. Okay, see you soon, honey."

Pepper Potts has posed:
Pepper was processing some of said paperwork when the request came across. She spins her chair around to look out the window and over the city for a moment with a contemplative expression. But the hint of a smile is there, and it takes over her countenance. She's still in her crisp navy suit dress and heels, strawberry hair pulled up into a neat twist that shows off her simple pearl earrings. She looks over the contracts, realizing she's done all the important stuff, and she hands them over to an assistant on her way out of her office. "Could you please be a dear and make sure that these are imaged and filed?" she asks. She doesn't respond to Tony's request. She doesn't need to, he knows she'll be there.

A few moments later, there's a knock at Tony's office door, and she leans in and asks, much to the entertainment of the assistant sitting outside /his/ office, "Are you decent?"

Iron Man has posed:
    "Yes, but if you want to give me a minute, I can make that a no," Tony replies. He's at his desk, leaned way back, tapping on a holographic array he's angled towards him as he sits back in the chair. He's distracted, working on his project, which means she got semi-attention multitask snark. "The best things need a bit of anticipation, I think." He brightens, though, and with a distracted flip of hand, closes the array.

    "Speaking of that, I've got something for you to anticipate," Tony says, in his usual way that suggests he's about the drop an enormous job on her that he's unaware is as massive as it actually is. Like the time he decided to have multiple holiday parties suddenly.

Pepper Potts has posed:
Pepper grins, letting herself in, and shuts the door behind her. "Give me a few minutes, and I could make that a no, too." She winks and sits on the corner of Tony's desk, watching him with amusement. And then comes his suggestion.

Pepper arches a brow and narrows her eyes. "And just what is it that I'm going to be anticipating, Mr. Stark?" Her tone suggests she's onto him, whatever it is he's about to drop on her. Not that she won't /do/ it. Just that she knows what he's up to. It's one of the few times she calls him by his last name. He /might/ be in trouble.

Iron Man has posed:
    Mr. Stark weighs her response. At least it wasn't 'Anthony Edward Stark'. Then that'd really be deep trouble. This is clearly fine. "It's like you don't have faith in me. You really should trust in all this," Tony says, waving one hand to sort of summarize all of himself. He's dressed immaculately today: suit with sleek navy and subtle silver pinstripe, gold and silver tie. It's quite probably something she'd picked out: much of his suit wardrobe is from her taste, and knowing what he likes.

    "I took the liberty of looking at your schedule. Looked pretty reschedulable," Tony begins, launching her itinerary on the screen to their left. It's packed, no doubt.

Pepper Potts has posed:
"No harm in /looking/," Pepper chides, moving around behind him to look over his shoulder at her schedule, already full of apparently reschedulable..stuff. "It's when you go changing it around that things get dangerous. Why do I get the feeling you've had an epiphone?" She's chewing on her bottom lip again. Tony's epiphones are at worst, deadly, and at best, time consuming. "Do tell. My attention is all yours, Dear."

Iron Man has posed:
"Faith," Tony says, in his cheeky and smiley way. Tony, with his most elusive frustrating factor. He usually does it right before some kind of reveal of something he's proud of. At the very least, he does care about whatever this is enough to tease her with it.

    Tony taps in something quickly into his console. It takes over where her schedule was. It's the interior of an elaborate suite, which looks out into Paris. The view rotates as Tony fiddles with it, to do a pan out onto the balcony and look out into the beautiful cityscape. "Thursday. Comes with some events - galleries, a play. I know it's more up your alley than mine, but that was sort of the point." Tony watches her, waiting with a somewhat subdued look to dark brown eyes. Will she like it?

Pepper Potts has posed:
"Paris?" Pepper stammers, trying to ask a question. But nothing comes out. Likewise, nothing comes out the second or third try. Finally, she manages to squeak out a reply. "You--you're coming with me? To Paris? We're going to Paris??" She knows she got her idea across before, but it still can't hurt establish verbally what she's seeing here. "Do you have a meeting over there? Something taking you there? Or is this just a 'Let's Get Outta Here' kind of thing?" Either way is probably just fine with Pepper.

Iron Man has posed:
    Tony is pleased at first, by that he surprised her, but then her questions diffuse it a little bit, and he starts to pivot, as if it wasn't important to him. "I wasn't sending you off alone, no. Hey, well, we can go somewhere else instead," Tony says, suddenly tapping the screen off, making Paris disappear, not allowing the extension of emotional offering to linger too long. Tony's little flashes of true emotion, and then things get buried under his sarcastic joking manner, again. "I mean, there's always Vegas." Vegas, which ends up with Tony drinking and gambling and being a massive celebrity, and not giving her much attention due to being drunk for most all of it. He's not aware, though: he does like Vegas quite a lot. For those reasons.

    "Or..." He makes an effort. What would she like? "Tokyo?" That's possibly what he'd like, again. Empathy is hard.

Pepper Potts has posed:
"Ohhh no you don't," Pepper prods. "You can't offer me Paris and then switch it to Vegas! That's completely against the rules!" Pepper gives him a dreamy smile, and her gaze is far-off. "Imagine, having coffee with a view of the Eiffel Tower." She's not one entirely given to flights of fancy, but this one has clearly captured her imagination. "And maybe a little privacy!" MAYBE.

Iron Man has posed:
    "I didn't really envision inviting Thor and Rhodey along into our suite," Tony answers of the privacy comment, with a liquid rogue's smile. "But if you want to bring, say, Bridget and Melinda, I mean, I'm relatively open to it, seeing as it would be your idea." It's not like it's a new experience. Tony, always digging himself those holes by talking a bit too much. He's teasing, though. He leans back in his hair, one ankle resting across opposite knee, hands folding into his lap against his abdomen.

    "Well, I'll send you what I picked out. Supposedly the play is great. And obviously, I have the best seats. I think there's a Eiffel Tower thing," Tony decides, once again all-in on the plan now. Sounds like he didn't personally set it all up: which is very like him. Still, the thought remains: he did direct someone else to do it!

    A series of quick taps on his keypad and he sets it aside again. "Can't promise the world won't implode and I have to fly to Jupiter to save it, but it is what it is."

Pepper Potts has posed:
"Oh, I'm afraid Melinda and Bridget will have schedules full of things that /aren't/ reschedulable. Or if not, I'll see to it." She grins and moves around behind Tony to cradle the back of his head against her midsection, running her fingers through his hair. "If the world implodes, you have a free pass to Jupiter, but only if you promise to take me THERE someday, too." She looks down into his face, her expression half amusement and half adoration. She leans down to tease a kiss from his lips and she sighs happily. "I knew there was a romantic bone in your body somewhere..."

Iron Man has posed:
    "Melinda will not be happy you denied her vacation time request," Tony lets her know, because he is really good at talking, in case she'd forgotten. "You wouldn't like Jupiter. Full of gas. Worse than Vegas, somehow," He replies evenly. Tony tilts his head up, which is something of a pose of approval of her apparent worship, by his expression. But the arrogant self-satisfied look doesn't linger too long, he looks up at her and it melts away in time for the kiss.

    "---You're doing that on purpose," Tony accuses her lightly, of her comment about his 'romantic bone'. "Usually it doesn't get called romantic, but I won't argue with that title being added on among the others." He saw the bait, but could not resist it. He draws her hands down over his shoulders to his upper chest, curling his hands over hers against his pectorals. "At least temporarily, for Paris, to be in theme."

Pepper Potts has posed:
"Excellent plan. Once we get back, I'll return to using things like "incorrigible" and "Wow hey, that's really nice, can I get a better look?" She laughs and gives his hands a squeeze.

"That's the only thing that bothers me when you take off to places like Vegas and Jupiter. If you get overwhelmed by the gas, then I can't do anything to help you. Scheduling meetings and schmoozing with clients, no matter how hard I try, can't substitute for someone who has your back when you're on the ropes."

Iron Man has posed:
    "Well, the other Avengers do that. I have a whole team, and then some, of Jupiter-people. I don't have anybody else that's good at keeping the company rolling: just you," Tony reminds her in his offhandedly honest way, unaware of the potential power of that easy honesty. "Without Stark-Fujikawa, none of the rest of it happens. At least, not in the same way. I'd have to join something else. And I'm not a joiner," Tony says, wrinkling his nose. But then lifts her hands some to kiss her wrist and thumb.

    All of that was sort of a compliment. He meant it as one, at any rate. "Besides. The company does just as much good worldwide, now that it's not making weapons. Just in a different way."

Pepper Potts has posed:
"I understand, Tony. I just worry about you, that's all. That kinda thing's never gonna go away, it's just still a new normal for me in some ways." She leans down and kisses his temple, then rests her chin atop his head. "Have you eaten anything yet today? Do I need to ask JARVIS?" she teases. But the question is serious. "I'll have sushi ordered in, if you'd like."

Iron Man has posed:
    "I've mostly determined I'll live forever," Tony boasts. But then moves his hands just a little, and taps his wrist on the arc reactor in his upper chest. Plastic sound, muffled through shirt. "Or make the most of what I've got, at any rate," Tony amends bravely. His recent scrape with death in February has chilled out a little of that arrogance. "Sushi's great," Tony votes, releasing her hands. "JARVIS, enlighten Ms. Potts on my breakfast," Tony commends.

    "Breakfast included eggs, hash browns, and various seasonal fruit," JARVIS says, a sigh in his voice, but polite anyway.

Pepper Potts has posed:
"Perfect!" Pepper retrieves her phone and fires off a quick text to an assistant requesting an assortment of sushi rolls and vegetable tempura to be ordered from her favourite restaurant. Deliverable, of course, to Tony's office. From there, they can decide whether to make it a business lunch or retire to someplace less busy. That whole delegation thing? She's getting better at it.

"I know you have confidence in yourself. And believe me when I say your confidence in me never goes unnoticed. It means the whole world to me. Just...that whole world wouldn't mean nearly as much without you in it. That's all." She runs her fingers idly through his hair, letting her other hand rest lightly over that same spot on his chest.

Iron Man has posed:
    Tony has some styling product in his hair, it's not the easiest to play with at the moment, but softens a little under her hands. He doesn't pull her hands away from either location: neither his hair nor his middle chest with the power source in it that keeps him alive. "Well, yes. I have rather far-reaching influence," Tony says, dodging the 'Feels' a little bit, with his easy humor. "Speaking of that, I needed to drop by SHIELD and check over those helicarrier updates. Personal touch and all that with Director Fury," Tony comments, his agile mind moving suddenly. "But sushi first," he promises her, with a quick smile. "SHIELD can wait." A wink.