Immediately alerted and acutely aware of Pepper suiting up, Tony let himself be distracted by her progress, slowing his walk across the outer surface of the sphere as he squinted at the map on his HUD. She seemed to be heading for him immediately, which meant whatever the crisis was, it wasn't a life or death situation, but it still put him on edge. That suit was going to be the death of him.
He stopped completely when she came jetting out into the cold, unforgiving emptiness of space, glittering as the light of her repulsors reflected back at and off of her from the sphere, and watched her cautiously until she touched down. Oh, it was just a social call between heavily armored business partners on the surface of the sun, he could handle that. For once. "You always have been," he replied and deliberately pressed his thumb to the seam of her faceplate in place of a kiss. "But if you really want to take over, I'm sure you have some valuable insights on creating an atmosphere out here." Tony's walkabout was giving him a few ideas, but it wasn't yet feeling entirely practical, not when they still had most of the sphere itself yet to construct. Getting to that point, though, would be impossible if everyone capable of building was discouraged by homesickness and alienation. A little atmosphere could go a long way. Why else would anyone own any candles?
Pepper knew better than him what anyone did with candles, anyway. He wasn't entirely kidding.