13051/Nothing beats the chill like a warm fire

Nothing beats the chill like a warm fire
Date of Scene:	12 October 2022
Location:	Stark Tower: Penthouse
Synopsis:	Tony plays a practical joke on Pepper, and she doesn't quite see the humor in it. Feathers are unruffled, however, and the two end up taking an evening drive.
Cast of Characters:	Pepper Potts, Tony Stark

---

Pepper Potts has posed:
"Yes, but we did say that the shipment was to arrive in California by the 19th," Pepper is settled on the couch in front of the fireplace, though she is leaning forward, her hand up to the side of her head, fingers holding the earbud in as she speaks. Her tones are no-nonsense, even if her words aren't forcible. They do send that message of course. 'We'. Meaning the royal, 'Stark Industries', we. "If you can't, then we'll have to figure something out."

Within the next couple of heartbeats, Pepper breaks the connection on the phone via her earpiece and rises to her feet, bare against the carpet over marble floor. She's wearing a comfortable pair of jeans with a floofy, over-sized sweater. Her hair is down and casual, even if her tones were anything but in the last few minutes.

Padding across the Halloween decorated expanse of living area towards the small kitchenette, Pepper moves one of the many decorative pumpkins out of the way in order to start heating up something to eat.

The sun has set, and the sky beyond the ceiling to floor windows is glowing; the lights of the city giving illumination. The view on a clear night is exceptional.

Tony Stark has posed:
The sound is in the distance at first. Not quite discernible, but sounding like the peppy rhythm of an 80s song. There is some synth. As it gets louder, the voice becomes clearer - Huey Lewis, 80s icon, belting away. It is /definitely/ approaching from outside, and getting closer and closer by the moment.

Eventually, just before the sound is closer to deafening than enjoyable, a silver car roars across past the opening to the penthouse. It takes a sharp turn afterwards, and then loops around until headlights beam straight in as it comes in and hovers briefly on the balcony before settling down casually.

A door slowly rises up and, if possible, the song gets even LOUDER. "That's the power of love!" echoes Huey Lewis up and down the side of the tower. Smoke emerges from the doorway, followed by one shiny silver pant leg.

And then Tony steps out, silver plastic wraparound sunglasses covering his eyes. He looks around hurriedly, and spotting Pepper, quickly shouts out. "Pepper! What year is it???"

Pepper Potts has posed:
It's more the lights than the sound that pushes through the windows that gains Pepper's attention. She puts the large, wooden peppermill down slowly, green eyes staring at the sight beyond the balcony. A flying... right.

Retaking that peppermill in hand as if planning on using it as a weapon, she walks towards the door of the balcony, that spot that is dedicated to where Tony lands with his Iron Man suit.

"Tony?" Her mouth is open a little, and her head tilted as she tries to figure out this next bit of 'what is Tony doing now?', and is coming up empty.

"What do you mean what year is it? Tony, don't you know.."

Pocket dimension travel, sure. They'd both been stuck in a little side dimension in the Mansion, but... "Is that..." She pauses before, "Tony what are you doing?"

Tony Stark has posed:
The car is emitting billows of white smoke from within. It looks futuristic, issue, but not that significantly different than the electric race model that Tony had been working on. But slightly less aerodynamic, a bit bulkier. And noticeably, with repulsor technology glowing from underneath.

Looking out into the distance, and then back into the penthouse, Tony starts mumbling. "No no no no!" He walks over towards Pepper, placing both hands on her shoulders. His voice is almost unsteady. "Pepper, please, tell me - do the Jets and Giants /both/ still suck?"

Pepper Potts has posed:
Pepper has that peppermill in hand even as Tony approaches her. "Tony.." and she actually takes a step back. "This isn't funny," she warns.

He's acting a touch stranger than he has before, and the silver car just beyond? That one she doesn't recognize from his garage.

"Yes," she begins again, staring into those dark and wild(?) eyes. "Of course they do. Even when they don't." Pepper's not one for football; she's more baseball, as evidenced by the opening series last spring. "Tony, what is the matter?"

Tony Stark has posed:
Tony snaps his fingers and points at Pepper. "Ok, good. That's what I needed to hear." He flashes a grin. "Still my Pepper." He reaches out to try to give her a hug, flipping up the shades. He looks like, well, Tony. Same Tony as a month ago. A little bit less rested, but that's not unusual when he goes off...inventing.

"Sorry about the time travel gag," he says, brushing past her to head towards the refrigerator. "But I couldn't resist. I mean, could you have?" He retrieves an apple from the fridge and turns back towards her.

"I did it. I finished." He points at the car. "All electric, nano-arc reactor, fully renewable, and it'll blow the doors off of all the others that try to beat it." He takes a crisp bite out of the apple, and then nods approvingly. "And I still made it back in time for New York autumn apples. Sweet!"

He flashes a grin at Pepper. "Ok, I know what you're thinking. But Tony, that car flies!" He takes another bite from the apple. "I got the racer done, and I looked at it, and it just screamed Doc Brown at me, and since, you know, I was kind of already in the zone..." He shrugs a bit, and then waves a hand. "Ta da! A few years late, but BOOM - flying car!" He smiles, and takes one last enormous bite from the apple. "Whddya tnk?" he mumbles as he chews the last bit, tossing the apple in the direction of the garbage. A shot he would have made even if it wasn't an AI programmed to catch his trash.

Pepper Potts has posed:
Pepper long stares, and the tenseness in her frame is evident, even as he reveals that he's just 'gotten' her. "Tony..." and the word sounds a soft warning, even with the tremor of that undercurrent of 'that wasn't funny'. The peppermill is lowered, but still present as he shows off the car. With the explanation coming, the redhead nods slowly before that stress in her back, neck, shoulders begins to dissipate.

"Don't ever do that to me again," is the first thing she can manage that is anywhere near polite.

"It's..." her head bobs as she considers, follows him back into the Penthouse, "... definitely different."

Tony Stark has posed:
Tilting his head as he looks at Pepper, Tony arches an eyebrow. "Come on. You're dating a genius philanthropist superhero nerd manchild, and you're going to get upset that when he builds a flying car, he makes a Back to the Future entrance?" He walks over towards her and makes an attempt to kiss her on the forehead. "Sometimes I think you just don't know me very well, Miss Potts."

Is Tony playing with fire? It would seem so.

"I know it took a while to get it done, but there were no alien invasions or corporate takeovers, and I figured anything short of that you had perfectly under control."

Pepper Potts has posed:
Absolutely Tony's playing with fire.

Pepper sets the peppermill onto the countertop in the kitchette, but it is absolutely still within easy reach. "I had hoped for a brief moment that perhaps you'd grow up, just a little bit," she returns before giving him a long stare once more. Even as the words leave her mouth, she's exhaling in an exaggerated sigh, "Of course not," she answers herself more than actually talking //to// him. "Silly me."

The sigh is enough to help re-set her, however, and her shoulders return to their spot from the brief slump brought on by the sigh. "There were no alien invasions, and certainly no corporate take-overs. There were, however, board meetings, shareholder meetings, quarterly reviews and reports, meetings on supply for our Stark Air out in California, as well as our interests in Dubai..." and it sounds as if she could easily go on...

Tony Stark has posed:
"I hate to say it, Pep, but you really should know what you are getting here. If I asked ten people if they thought that was a Tony Stark move," he says, pointing at the car parked on the balcony. "9 of them would say yes." He pauses. "The 10th would cite me chapter and verse of the history of the Zemekis-verse about why what I did wasn't in keeping with the original story, but we don't like to talk to that ten percent anyway."

Tony tried to adopt a serious face as she talks about the business. She makes it as far as Dubai before he starts slipping over towards the car. "Let me just see if I can get maybe /fifteen/ minutes forward ..."

Then he pauses and looks back at Pepper. "Come on. Tell me you're not at least /a little bit/ interested in taking a ride in a flying car with the windows down on a beautiful October night."

Pepper Potts has posed:
"I could ask ten people about who they thought Tony Stark was, and all ten of them would be wrong," Pepper corrects. She's coming down from her moment of irritation, just as she usually does once she's got it all out, and he's not yelling back at her.

When she hits 'Dubai', Tony's doing the side step back towards the balcony. Brows rise as he quips once more, and in standing there and staring at him, she finally breaks and lets out a laugh. Slowly, she shakes her head and walks slowly towards the genius, her genius to wrap her arms around his neck. She doesn't lean in to kiss him, however; instead, she whispers softly, "Let me get something warm on, and we'll go."

Tony Stark has posed:
"Fair point, my unknowability does tend to skew most statistics." Tony laughs quietly as he sees Pepper's temper slowly starting to fade. It is always a game of brinkmanship. How much further can he push her when angry or annoyed in the hopes that the humor will defuse the situation entirely, versus wear itself out and yield a blow up? Tonight, he won. As he usually does. As much because Pepper tries really hard to let him win as anything else, but of course he knows that. One of the many reasons he loves her.

He slips his arms around her waist and gives her a brief squeeze. "I'll be in the fly machine." he murmurs back.