There wasn't a twitch of recognition of the lie in the word 'meeting' in Tony's face, just his hand twisting in the air to brush away Steve's apology as unnecessary, then landing to idly rub over his heart. He had to appreciate Pepper for her elegant handling of every unpolished facet of his life. There must have been more than enough there for her to deal with, as coolly and smoothly unnoticeably as she did, than for her to be asking questions like 'Do you want me to get anything for you?', never mind 'What's going on?' or 'Can I work for S.H.I.E.L.D.?' Not that that last one had really happened. Yet. She just needed the time to formulate it and put all of the proper documents in order, as far as Tony could assume. Nobody thought Nick Fury was nice.
That train of thought had to be held at the crossing, though. Steve reaching for words was more unsettling than the terms of Pepper's employment. Tony couldn't let that struggle go on; he was already feeling seriously disturbed by the lack of assured commitment that he could always depend on Cap to at least project. "I know," he tried, hand still on his chest but the other raising to assure Steve he could sort out his thoughts for him. "Whatever Nick says, that's not the way this is going to go down. That's not how we do things, and I'm already working it out. Bruce isn't going to die. I won't let S.H.I.E.L.D. do that to him, or us." His hand finally dropped, both hanging limply and apologetically at his sides, palms turned out to invite Steve's concerns. If nothing else, hopefully Steve would at least see Tony was trying to make up for allowing the injustice of Bruce's imprisonment go on. That didn't make it okay, but Tony was trying. That was all he could ever do.