She'd been trying to ignore him. The moment she'd muttered that bitter comment, she'd braced herself for the tirade that she knew would be coming. She knew Tony's pattern. He'd get angry and yell and kick and stomp and fuss until he eventually managed to tire himself out. Then there'd be nothing left but the pouting.
However, one thing she hadn't been expecting that immediately drew her back up to her full height, was the slow, almost threatening manner in which he began to stalk towards her. Pepper's eyes widened at him and despite her usual resistance to stand down before this man, she began to back away. Without even realizing it, she matched his footsteps one step at a time. Back...back...back... Her entire body she could feel tensing as those intense eyes locked with hers and she could see the muscles along the front of his chest tightening with his every deep, forced breath of air.
For just a moment, only the very breath of a second, she felt a fluttering of genuine panic welling up inside of her. In that moment, she actually knew fear. Fear from the one man she'd always known would keep her safe from harm.
And it was that briefest surge of fear that made something inside of her snap.
"Stop!" she shouted, just as her heel nicked painfully against the back of the couch and she knew one more step backwards would send her toppling into the cushions and immediately losing what bit of ground she had left. Reflexively her hands shot out in front of her and came up to meet with the solid structure of his chest. Her pulse was racing...adrenaline rushing through her as she forcefully pushed him back from her with what bit of strength her small body contained.
"Nobody ever asked you to go out in that damned suit of yours, Tony!" Pepper yelled at him - something that she'd never actually done before, despite how angry she'd gotten with him in the past. She took a step forward and shoved his chest again harshly, trying to regain the ground he'd stolen from her. "That was something you decided to do entirely on your own! You know I didn't want you to! You know how I feel about it! But you've got some kind of...'purpose in life' now with it and I couldn't stand in the way."
She shoved him again, but there was something in the push this time...something hopeless and desperate. There were tears forming in her eyes. It was something she'd never allowed Tony to see before. Something she swore she'd never show him. The sight of the strong, controlled Pepper Potts crying.