At the description of 'Stark men' Pepper can't help glancing down and smiling affectionately. A warmth comes off her that has nothing to do with the fact that she's still a ticking bomb.

"After over ten years of knowing Tony I've learned that well. For all his faults, Tony Stark is the best man I know." Which was saying a lot with all the bullshit he put ans continued to put her through. Threatening a terrorist and giving his home address, hiding things from her for supposedly her own good - there was a lot to wade through to remember those words were true.

"The trick is to remember that the more obnoxious he is the more worried he is about something; or the more it matters to him." Sometimes she forgot that because Tony had a tendency to be more annoying then nails on a chalkboard, but it never ceased to be true in the end. Obnoxious was Tony's cry for help ... although sometimes it was just Tony being generally obnoxious.