It was very clear from the second she walked in that something was not right with her, but as attuned as Tony was to the variations of Pepper's baseline, he couldn't quite work out the bug until Mrs. Arbogast had wheeled in the cart with their lunch and shut the door behind her. Now they had to have this meal. Only Tony stayed behind his desk, head propped in his hand with his elbow on his armrest, refusing to get up to Pepper's speed when, obviously, there was nothing fun about it at all, as she powered through her meal and his plate (while thoughtfully requested, Tony wasn't sure who made the order but either Pepper or Mrs. A knew him too well and while Pepper rambled he drifted instead into worrying about his predictability and how he should maybe give a redesign of the armor serious consideration, not just because Betty could walk right by him but, okay, a little bit, and it wasn't like he had anyone pursuing him anymore which not only was doing a number on his ego but really could have been the element that kept everyone on their toes, like how Sunset was obviously horrible in every way but at least there wasn't a dull moment, even waiting her to reappear meant waiting for that shoe to drop), his plate remained largely untouched. Very deliberately, he sat up at her request to push the glass of water into her waiting hand, then slouched back into his chair, hands folded thoughtfully this time.
"Sorry, busy. How's next week?" he finally got a moment to say, as though he was the one hysterically scrambling for a second to have a grape. "I've got this thing, you know, I have to be very far away from you and everyone you come in contact with in case I'm also a carrier. I get around, I get very intimate with a lot of people, I don't want to be Typhoid Mary. That role is taken. She's crazy. At least she knows it, though, are you aware of the kind of power you have?" There were layers to that question, sure, but if Pepper took advantage of that fact and chose to misinterpret him, then they would both know she was in denial. She couldn't wear that mask with Tony, he made that mask with his own two hands and she'd owe him royalties.