Right, still Pepper, still knew all of his impulses. There wasn't any way they would have made it this far without a major meltdown if she hadn't. This Pepper might be even better at cutting his mania short, now that Tony thought about it, so he would have to be extra delicate in his methods. Maybe he could try his hand at poaching an egg.
No, no eggs-- he was going to follow her wherever she wanted if she kept her hand in his hair, and swayed where he stood to prove it, so body won over scared, scrambling mind. Tony hadn't even realized how tense he was, from the moment he stepped into this less and less familiar place until the stroke of her fingers along his scalp left him feeling full of pins and needles. "We could order in," he suggested with a soft, wry smile, but already encouraged her back toward the first soft surface that would accept his body.
"Here's the thing," he started once they were both settled on the couch and Tony discovered he wasn't getting comfortable any time soon. Only it was difficult to continue because he didn't know how much of the story Pepper already knew. He was left hesitating with a hand in the air and lips parted to make his confession, only to wave it away and start again. "I'm Tony Stark," he decided, and wasn't that the most damning confession at all, "but not the one you know." Great, this was already going terribly. "He's fine, he's probably just kicking back right now and waiting it out, I promise, I was just there, all clear," Tony tried to smooth out, but it sounded strange and unconvincing to his own ears and he was frozen again, hand up, mouth open and brow furrowed. "There's a time machine," he finally offered, which he really should have led with, and this was easily his poorest presentation of the quarter. He knew he should have remembered his jacket. "Do you understand?" Pepper's notes were always more cohesive anyway.