Stark Industries [Tuesday]

[lots-of-olives.livejournal.com]

Pepper, honestly, was kind of still waiting for the fallout from those flowers she'd sent. She hadn't exactly approved of it, and the last thing she needed was Tony getting in romantic trouble with someone who could do more than babble to the tabloids or throw the flowers at his head or something.

So, she was just a little anxious as she worked today, though she was keeping her mind off of it. It wasn't really her problem, anyway.

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[memberslonely.livejournal.com]

Lindsay was also looking a bit anxious as she entered the office. But for other reasons.

"Hey, Pepper. Tony around?"

[lots-of-olives.livejournal.com]

"If he is, he hasn't alerted me to it," Pepper said, shaking her head. "I'd check his workshop, though."

[memberslonely.livejournal.com]

She cast a wary glance at the door to the workshop. "He mention anything about what happened over the weekend?"

[lots-of-olives.livejournal.com]

"The fight with Tyler?" Pepper said, thinking this was probably bigger than that. "Other than that, no."

[memberslonely.livejournal.com]

Lindsay raised an eyebrow at that. "Oh. Um. No. I didn't know about that," she commented. "There was a thing with him and a friend of mine and it got a little ugly."

[lots-of-olives.livejournal.com]

Pepper sighed. "What kind of ugly?"

[memberslonely.livejournal.com]

"She... slept with Tony," Lindsay groaned. "And then I found out about it. And I kind of flipped out. And then she flipped out. And then our friends kind of flipped out. It was a big flipping out thing. Which just happened to occur in front of a convention of law enforcement professionals."

[lots-of-olives.livejournal.com]

"That sounds like Tony," she sighed, squeezing her eyes shut. "I'm...sorry. He does that."

[memberslonely.livejournal.com]

"Not your fault," Linz sighed. "And I made the matter about a thousand times worse so... yeah."

[headkickpoet.livejournal.com]

"Morning," Ray greeted, coming in with two cups of coffee. Shut up, he had to return the favour. "Although it's kinda noon now. Whatever, hey."

[lots-of-olives.livejournal.com]

"Afternoon," Pepper suggested, smiling. "Please tell me that's coffee."

[headkickpoet.livejournal.com]

"It's coffee," Ray assured her straight on back. "Um, didn't know what you liked, so I got something with caramel."

Women loved stuff with caramel.

[lots-of-olives.livejournal.com]

"Normally I take it with two sugars, but caramel is always, always welcome," Pepper said happily. "Mostly because I'm used to getting made fun of if I get something too girly."

[headkickpoet.livejournal.com]

Win. Ray grinned. "Two sugars. Got it," he said, offering her the cup in question. "What's up?"

[lots-of-olives.livejournal.com]

"Nothing interesting, today," she replied, taking the cup gratefully. "In general, I'm waiting for my boss's non-boyfriend to come yell about a fight they had. Or for Tony to come involve me again somehow."

[headkickpoet.livejournal.com]

"Wait, so your boss has you involved in his, um, love life?" Ray asked, lifting up his coffee to his face mostly so he could shoot her a look that clearly spelled your boss is kinda whack.

[lots-of-olives.livejournal.com]

"My boss broke into my apartment and got tased because he wanted me to send Tyler flowers," she said, rolling her eyes. "But, yeah. This is sadly fairly typical."

[screwyoumarvel]

Steve had a few things to say to Tony re: sending men flowers, so he swung by Stark Industries during his run. When he saw a well-turned out redhead who obviously was working there, he said, without really thinking about it, "Hey, Pepper, is Tony around?"

[lots-of-olives.livejournal.com]

Pepper raised her brows at the guy who she...definitely did not know, but who seemed to know her. "I'm afraid I'm not sure. He might be in his workshop, but I haven't seen him yet. Can I help you with anything, Mr...?"

[screwyoumarvel]

"Oh, I'm sorry, we haven't met," Steve reminded himself. "I'm Steve Rogers."

[lots-of-olives.livejournal.com]

"It's nice to meet you, Mr. Rogers," Pepper replied smoothly, not bothering to wonder how he knew her. Pretty much everyone knew that Tony couldn't run his own life, after all. "Is there anything I could help you with, short of actually making Tony appear?"

[screwyoumarvel]

"Oh, I don't expect you to develop magical powers," Steve assured her. "Although I always thought the running in high heels might be a superpower."

[lots-of-olives.livejournal.com]

"I like to think s -- wait." She frowned slightly. "We haven't met, right?"

[screwyoumarvel]

"Not. Exactly. I know a version of you in an alternate reality," he admitted. "You look kind of different from her, though."

[lots-of-olives.livejournal.com]

"That's...new," Pepper said slowly, staring. "Alternate reality?"