starkingenuity | Radioactive

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Tony presses a finger to his lips and gives Bruce a 'shh'ing sort of command before he opens the door to Pepper's room. The place is lined in monitors and recording equipment but otherwise, he's done his best to make it comfortable for her even if she refuses to come back to their actual bed two floors up. If she thinks herself a danger, she's just as likely to burn the place down from here as she is from beside him but...

He's not going to give her any more fuel for the panic fire, pun intended.

Tony lets Bruce in first and follows after. "Pep? Honey? Guess who's here?"

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No kidding.

"Pepper, please. Ms. Potts is so formal." Especially these days.

She slides around the table and peers at the breakfast, reaching to make a plate as well as helping herself to one of those mimosas.

"Have a seat, Bruce. Have breakfast with us." See? She's gracious and is very politely sharing Tony.

"Sorry," Bruce says quietly as he sits down at the table, not bothering with the mimosa as it will do nothing for him and instead just having orange juice. "How are you feeling this morning?" To both of them. He has a feeling it was one of the better night sleeps in a while.

Tony shrugs, sniffing at the toast before e butters it. He has a strange way of sitting in the chair, pouring himself into it, and drapes over the side. There's a yawn.

As much as he likes being shared, and he does, really, they need to discuss Pepper. And her treatment. Preferably with Pepper in attendance. There's always a method to Stark madness.

"Just fine. So we got working on the temperature gauge watch. It's sporty, stylish, and can take a lot of fire damage."

"Pretty well. I haven't slept the whole night through in ages."

For various reasons. Fear she'd burn the place down, nightmares, etc. A variety of things, really.

"...Did you take my favorite Fossil apart, Tony?"

Staying right out of that argument. "That should help you get more nights of better sleep, which is a good start," he says calmly after swallowing a mouthful of eggs. "I'll spend today going over your new and old genes and attempt to match what has been changed. It'll take time; I'm only one man."

"Um. Not your favorite," Tony mentions and has himself some of the mimosa. "And you're two men. Well, three. Four. I probably make up five men with my brain power and JARVIS will help. So, seven men, you, JARVIS, all of me."

"My second favorite," she amends, still giving him a slightly bemused look. "So long as it works."

She's sure it will. She's just glad she didn't see what he had to do to get it to work.

Glancing between them, Pepper polishes off the mimosa and pours herself a glass of regular orange juice, then focuses on Bruce.

"What's the likelihood of me getting completely back to normal? No extremis, period?"

Bruce put down his fork, silent as he turns those odds over. He taps a finger before sighing. "I cannot promise anything, Ms-- Pepper." He corrects himself quickly.

"It depends on what this virus choses to do. It's still within you - I can't change that. It may fight back hard as we try to get rid of it."

It's...pretty...bad...to hope that the answer is no, right? There's something about Extremis. Something he can't get away from. Something he needs to perfect himself. Not at Pepper's expense, of course not.

He studies Bruce for several very, very long moments.

"We'll make it stable," he replies. "Guarantee that."

You sure about that Tony?

"If...you can stabilize it..." Pepper starts slowly, as she tries to wrap her mind around what had happened to her and that the very core of her DNA was changed. IT's a hard thing to accept.

"Then...that's a start."

"We will," Bruce agrees with Tony, giving the other man a nod. "We can stabilize it. I won't promise the world, because you're a grown woman and can accept the truth, but I will give you that much. I believe we can stabilize it." He shoveled another forkful of eggs and toast in, eating clearly for only the substance right now.

He looks to Tony over his fork, however. "I might need better equipment than we've got on premises, however." Tony is an engineer, way less in the field of the biological even with his tendrils extending into the implants beneath his skin.

"You think it up and I'll build it for you," Tony promises. He pours himself another drink because he thinks a lot better liquored up. "JARVIS, new database, conjunction with Extremis. File name... Smash." He has to. He just has too.

"Smash created, sir." Even JARVIS sounds like he's rolling his eyes.

"These eggs are pretty awesome, Banner."

Pepper thinks about swatting him, but then decides it'll do no good and instead works on finishing her plate.

"They are. You did pretty good, Bruce."

Bruce thinks for a second about 'Smash'ing Tony for the name but just sighs with quiet frustration instead. Why he puts up with this... ~~because he has a friend now in the world even if how that happened confused the hell out of him~~.

Instead he gives a shy smile to Pepper. "Thanks. One of the few things I can cook competently. A lot of people paid in eggs or other basic food." A little shrug.

"People pay in eggs?" he asks, grinning at Pepper. "We need to reassess your salary, Ms. Potts." He's teasing, but that's a good sign, as good of a sign as it is to be filling his belly like this.

The stress has been cut in half since Bruce returned. Tony missed him. Sort of wishes he was there for the attack in Malibu... But would the Hulk have realized Pepper was friend, not foe?

He likes to think so. He did put her in the suit after all.

"Don't even think about it, Mr. Stark." She does swat his leg now, but it's playful and not anything other than a love tap.

She relaxes next to them, stretching before setting her plate to the side. Having a full stomach is nice - she burns through so much food that it nearly takes double to keep her going.

"They were poor, but they always wanted to pay somehow. The clinic I worked out of was the upper floor of someone's home. Ended up eating mostly in what they paid. Not going to turn away someone who's sick because they couldn't pay in money... And a lot of them had chickens. Easy and cheap to keep."

If asked, Bruce would have said that it was complicated. If he controlled the change, she would have been safe, he was fairly sure. The Hulk's aggression still came out against people, but it was a more controlled aggression. If he hadn't controlled the change, it depended on what she chose to do. As long as she didn't get in his way, she probably would have been safe from any direct damage, though to Bruce more of the Hulk's damage came from flying debris and property destruction than directly hitting things. Equally... The Hulk seemed to avoid harming women, in some strange way...

"Besides, Pepper is worth more eggs than exist on earth, from what I hear she does for you."

The top of Tony's bare foot rests against the bottom of one of Pepper's legs. Why? Because it can. Because Tony has become a lot more tactile than usual, and because Pepper can manage to keep up with him on his quips. Plus, she's warm. His feet are cold. Prac-ti-cal-ity. That should be his middle name. Not Edward.

Edward is so... England.

At the mention of Pepper's worth in eggs and on what Bruce may have heard, Tony flings his hands up right away. "I swear to God I didn't tell him about how kinky you are!"

Teasing! Then again... Pepper is never boring in the bedroom, he'll give her that. "The things she can do with her tongue--" Oh, was that out loud?

"Tony," Pepper admonishes, pale cheeks reddening easily. "Really?"

Are you really announcing to poor Bruce that she's not exactly Miss Innocent? You're going to scandalize the man.

"Thank you for the compliment, Bruce. Ignore Tony. He's missing a few screws."

"Tony!" Bruce gasps at the other, his own cheeks flushing red at his words.

He immediately turns to Pepper, licking his lips in a nervous habit. "I believe you have every right to do whatever you'd like to him in punishment as that was very rude."

Not quite realizing what his own words sounded like.

Tony is about to mention that he could use his screws tightened when Bruce just offers that little gem right up into his lap on a silver platter.

Bruce might not realize what that sounds like, but Tony absolutely does. "Any ideas in particular, doctor?"

...Bruce you are not making this any better, nope.

Pepper rubs a hand over her face and just -- shakes her head.

Because seriously?

WHAT DO YOU SAY.

Bruce, still a touch oblivious, thinks about it. "I'd suggest she go somewhere she's truly appreciated but you do, in your way. She's clearly tied down with you. Maybe you should just- well she's been doing that too, making you sleep on the couch... Maybe she should make you do paperwork. Your own paperwork. You'd be hopeless."

"Tied down, I like where this is going," Tony says, grinning at Pepper. They need to stop trolling poor Bruce. He obviously doesn't get it, which really makes it all the more hilarious.

He gives Pepper the eyebrows before Bruce mentions paperwork and he glances at the ceiling, trying to think of a way to sexy that idea up too.

"You mean like...naughty school teacher? Have we done naughty school teacher, Pep?" Tony's a man of odd tastes. Most men in power rather like the idea of losing it from time to time. Then again, after New York? Restraints had to be eliminated from their bedroom play. Tony's PTSD was just killing him.

"Iiii don't think we have, no."

She cannot believe this is a discussion they are having in front of someone.

"But I do like the paperwork idea."

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Watch me be SUBTLE~

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