In the Lab: Bruce B / Pepper P
[Thankfully prior to all the chaos of Valentine's Day, when it's still only talking to strangers on the journal. He still has enough to worry about, trying to find an antiserum for Harry, even after the boy (they all seem so young) has stopped eating. Messaging him on the journal hadn't done much good, but he wasn't about to venture down into the basement to meet face to face.
He was hoping that Gwen would return soon from wherever she'd gone off to (something about dinosaurs?), but he wasn't actually expecting anyone to enter the lab any time soon. So the voice (and the co-mingled scents of coffee and Thai food) startled him out of a run of numbers from the latest chemical analysis, one that was seeming less and less hopeful or helpful as time went on. He'd paused to sigh and remove his glasses to rub at his eyes, and at the clip of heels joining the voice, he looks up. Startled, but not to any point near danger of a transformation. No, he had much better control than that, at least.
It took him a minute to place the woman entering the lab, only because he didn't expect to see her there. They'd never spent very much time together before his arrival in this place, but Bruce was well aware of who Pepper was. Tony was his best friend; how could he not be aware of the man's girlfriend?
He managed a smile, but it was tired.] Hi, Pepper.