"It'll be flat by then," Tony muttered, mostly to himself, but he hardly needed to raise his voice to be heard this close. He lingered there by Pepper's shoulder a beat longer before stretching his arm out and rocking up on his toes to spread her pins on the desk, taking the opportunity to squeeze her shoulder for support before withdrawing. Then he was giving her generous space, but it was with a straight-backed anxiety, hands fluttering and restless without a proper place to land without her, scratching through his beard then holding over his heart before he worked up what was eating at him. "I'm glad you're here," he started, with a pause there because that could stand on its own and he let it have its power before continuing. He stood by the end of the desk then, and slowly sank against it, scrubbing at his eye to prepare himself again to continue, "Actually, I wanted to, ah, confess. Something to you." Heaving a sigh, he managed to force his hands to settle for a split second where they naturally fell and looked to Pepper to make sure he had her support here because this already wasn't easy on him. Maybe she should drink more, that might make this a better experience for both of them.