All of those things were good, but of course, secondary to the main purpose. People might argue that they were being sensationalistic or self-serving, but none of that would matter if they could still do could for so many people. And Pepper knew, after generations of the Stark name being associated with death and destruction, how important it was to Tony for him to be something more. "You'll be making a difference," she said quietly. "In a way no one else is yet."
Neither of them were strangers to emotional manipulation, but it had never been malicious. But she was uncomfortably aware that his show of vulnerability was only part of the reason she was agreeing to do this. Pepper honestly wasn't comfortable with someone else doing the job.
She snorted at his teasing, ignoring the fact that she did approve of his muscle definition - which had improved greatly while he'd been in Afghanistan; working at a forge did wonders for the upper arms and back, and he'd kept it up since - and snarked back on much safer ground. "Approve of you looking like a Mack truck's road kill? Oh, yes - I approve. I've finally gotten you to sit still. Now don't make me poke you in your very artistic bruises."
Appreciating that he was quiet as she took the pictures, Pepper didn't notice that she hadn't gotten off of him immediately until he finally did comment on her very suggestive position. When he asked after the photos, Pepper leaned over to show him, one hand bracing herself on the left of his head, the other holding the camera for him to see on the right... and only then did it sink in where she was and her eyes met his, her own narrowing like it was his fault she was crossing lines left and right.
Tossing her leg over his waist she dropped nimbly to the floor beside his bed without a word, ignoring his baiting altogether (dangerously aware that he might have been right) and tried to pretend she wasn't blushing by scrolling back through the pictures to the beginning to show him what she'd taken.