thursday goes too slow ( closed )

[efficacy]

Who: Pepper Potts and Tony Stark
When: March
Where: Kauto R1, residence 15
What: Domesticity
Warnings: Deadpan snark and banter, probably


[ Another morning, another wake-up to an empty bed. It would be alarming for most folks in a steady relationship, but Pepper is used to it. She'd go so far as to say it's normal, even -- hers and Tony's schedules had a hard time coinciding on a good day, back home, and though they see each other more in Thisavrou for obvious reasons, their sleep cycles still didn't quite meet.

After her usual morning routine, Pepper pads barefooted into the garage with a fresh cup of coffee in each hand, making her way over to where Tony is hunched over a workstation tinkering with something or another, placing one of the cups on the desk by his elbow. ]

[ There's a certain, semi-playful lilt to her tone when she asks without preamble, ] Do you know what day it is today?

Comments

[arcreact]

[ Calling it a sleep schedule is generous, but being overly-generous with Tony Stark is pretty much Pepper's specialty.

It's clear that he doesn't even notice somebody else has walked in until his eyes light on the mug she deposits on the work bench, and then he's immediately scrambling into bluff mode. Watch, he's a professional. ]

Well, good morning to you. [ Is it morning? Shit. Whatever. No rolling that one back now. He leans back in his chair and gives her an appraising look, like maybe he can extract the answer to her question just from staring at her hard enough. ] I know for a fact that today happens to be... [ uh ] ... not your birthday?

[ He is downright positive he finally nailed that one down, but there's still a margin for error. ]

[efficacy]

[ Pepper cradles her own mug between both of her hands, watching Tony with her head tilted just slightly, expectantly. There's a small, amused smile playing about her lips as she waits; they're clearly not dealing with a matter or life and death, here, which is pretty much all the hint he's getting at the moment. ]

You know, I'm not sure knowing when it's not my birthday is really much better than forgetting when it actually is. But no, this is not birthday related.

[ Her lips quirk further and she stands up on her toes a little, up and back down. Is she deliberately not giving him more specific clues yet because watching him flounder amuses her? Why yes, yes she is. ]

Maybe have some coffee to jog your memory.

1/2

[arcreact]

Playing hardball, Miss Potts.

[ He reaches for the mug on cue, and surreptitiously taps his TAB where it lays forgotten on the table, bringing up the time and date. Okay, so, yes, no reverse psychology here, it really isn't Pep's birthday - amazing, well done, Stark! Back pats all around - but there's clearly something else of significant going on. Minor significance, at the very least.

He sips from the coffee.

It doesn't help. ]

Okay, I know it's not an anniversary, I have at least three AI within reaching distance that would've told me. Unless it's —

[arcreact]

Oh.

[ SHIT ]

It's Friday.

[efficacy]

The only way I know how to play, Mister Stark.

[ She hides the curve of a smile behind her cup before taking a sip of coffee herself, but her eyes gleam with that same fond amusement as she watches him trying to figure it out. Slowly but surely. She chuckles when he finally has his epiphany, aided by his TAB. ]

Bingo. [ Taking a step over to a spare stool, Pepper takes a seat and smiles on. ] And do you need another moment to recall what Fridays used to mean?

[arcreact]

[ Okay. Okay, okay, okay. No biggie. Low-stakes, perfectly salvageable. ]

Absolutely not, what do you take me for?

[ Rhetorical question; don't answer. ]

Y'know, I was just thinking we could do with a night on the town. Or a night in, but I trust some of our housemates about as far as I can throw them. Sans armor.

1/2

[efficacy]

[ For a moment, she's concerned he actually doesn't remember and is bullshitting to stall for time, as he has a habit of doing. ]

Uh-huh.

[ Suspicious!! Her eyes narrow a little and she dips her chin, giving him the do you really want me to answer that? look of hers. He's almost in trouble for like four point five seconds, there. ]

[efficacy]

[ But then he goes on and her features shift into pleased smile once more, mollified. Crisis averted! ]

Oh, were you now? Maybe because I just brought it up?

[ Her lips curve into a shameless smirk at the dig. There will never be a day when she won't needle him over something, the end. It's just because she likes him, okay. She opens her mouth to argue the point and defend said housemates, but then she thinks about it twice. Thinks about it hard and closes her mouth, pinching her lips together and nodding her agreement. Yeah, she can't really refute Tony's point. ]

...A night out. Definitely.

[arcreact]

[ Both eyebrows go up, the picture of perfect innocence. ]

I'll have you know that I was planning it the whole time.

[ Which isn't totally a lie. He'd bounced some ideas around, and then utterly failed at the part that involved having any concept of time or space. He's gonna have words with JARVIS for not reminding him. Not that JARVIS could be magically privy to a conversation that happened in a tent on a barren wasteland planet when the armor was dead, but sometimes it's easy to forget he's not omnipotent. ]

I even researched the place. Excellent cheesecake, great wine selection. Think about: space wine.

[efficacy]

[ Pepper hums in playful disbelief, pursing her lips; ever the amused foil to his hyperbole. She can't continue to tease him too badly this time around though, since apparently he has put actual thought into it. If anyone knows how terrible Tony is at time management, it's her, after all. ]

Oh, you had me at cheesecake. [ This claim better be legit! ] And I wouldn't dream of passing up space wine.