subject lines are for people who aren't WORKING, PEPPER [open]

[needsmoreiron]

Early this morning Tony Stark was rudely awakened by an explosion. This explosion was small, red-haired, and composed of "Tony, you have nothing in your fridge, you haven't unpacked anything, and you haven't been outside since you got here

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[needsmorepepper]

It's not until a while later that Pepper tracks him down to the coffee shop, having spent her time productively getting his apartment organized to her satisfaction without him underfoot and interfering in the process. Some people might consider that these are things she probably shouldn't be claiming responsibility for, but those people are wrong.

Most of her unpacked clothes at the moment are more suited to her internship than casual socializing, but she's mixing it up a little with a jacket one of her weekend boyfriends left behind once that she never got around to giving back. It kind of helps.

"Hi! Do you want another coffee while I'm getting mine?" TONY IT IS PEPPER, COME TO PROTECT YOU FROM THE MINNESOTA MASSES.

[needsmoreiron]

Later this will surely result in childlike bitchery that he can't find anything now, and his desk was organized exactly how he wanted it, and he liked the thrill of forgetting he owned things because he lost them only to rediscover them months later, all of which Pepper will weather until Tony wears himself out and three days later absently notices it really is easier to pick a shirt when they're alphabetized by color and style.

Aaanyway, speaking of organized in a special way, Tony carves a place out of the cliffs of paper in which Pepper can rest her coffee. "Absolutely. You owe me for staggering momentum I'll never get back." You were asleep, Tony, what is wrong with you.*

*plenty

[needsmorepepper]

"Sleep momentum?" Pepper gives him a skeptical (if fond) look and pats his shoulder as she goes past the table. "Okay, well, I'll be right back."

She threads her way through other patrons of the small shop and blessedly doesn't have to stand in a queue for particularly long before she's ordering for them both (of course she doesn't need to ask Tony how he takes it) and smiling pleasantly while she waits.

Coffee acquired, Ms Tiny Redhaired Explosion returns, puts Tony's cup down in front of him and slides into the booth.

...

Headtilt. "What got spilled on this?"

[needsmoreiron]

"I could have been dreaming the molecular structure of the cure for cancer!" He calls after, because god forbid we ever don't have the last word, "But we'll never know now, will we?"

Tony is pretty dependable as far as coffee goes: usually black, sometimes he goes CRAZY and puts a bunch of sugar in, but this is generally for hangovers. When Pepper gets back he smiles very prettily at her, any pseudo ill-will about the destruction of his...sleep momentum gone. "Thank you." :3 It will be a few more years before he gets into the habit of calling her 'Miss Potts' in these situations, but this does not mean he can't be gracious when it suits him!

Such as now, apparently. "Just some tea." The actual matter of whatever conversation with Alex ensued will be left until it is threaded relevant. "I haven't actually opened it yet." Because it's not like he needs whatever is in it, right? Pepper will know all these things, right?

...probably.

[brightlance]

"Hey, Skipper, can you pass me the sad remains of that paper over there?" You know, the only one left with an editorial section that seems to be stuck just out of reach. Rowena needs her knowledge-fuel just as much as she needs her delicious, delicious coffee.

[needsmoreiron]

"Sure thing, Captain." Ridiculous nautical nicknames are go! As is tugging Tonybrain out of his notes again; he should really just put those away. And he needs to get a refill anyway, so obviously Rowena's timing is aces. H

He bequeathes her with what's left of the paper and observes, head tilted. "Were the school colors intentionally ironic, or was that just a happy coincidence?" Even if St. Jude's colors aren't actually blue and black, which Tony is ...reasonably sure they are, they must be the color of some school somewhere.

[brightlance]

"Excellent. With this paper the Professor can built a coconut powered radio to contact the outside world." Well, duh, it's not like she'd be reading it.

After checking out the headlines, Rowena tucks it under her arm and shakes her head to fluff out her hair. "I would probably pee, just a little, in happiness if the school listed their colours as Blaquest Nyght and Blue Velvet." After all, nothing says school spirit like the colours of a nice, fresh bruise.

[needsmoreiron]

"I think they have some foil candy wrappers at the front." Because everyone knows in the world of Nick at Nite foil boosts radio activity!

Meanwhile: "Please don't, that's actually absolutely horrifying." Tony will never forgive himself if he brings that on. "You might be able to find the second one as long as you avoided the Lynchian connotations, but - really, please contain yourself."

REALLY.

[five_point_no]

There is yet another inquisitive blond in the coffee shop, who could iBrian.

In actuality, he isn't that inquisitive to start with - he doesn't even want to be on campus at the weekend but he forgot to buy coffee... and food, but right now what he needs after staying up all night programming Computo (who is now capable of completing the first five levels of Lemmings with only a 68.7% chance of initiating the self-destruct and watching them all explode) is caffeine, as fast as possible. Logically, it is most efficient to do this by obtaining coffee at the nearby coffee shop and then go grocery shopping, possibly online, once his needs have been quenched and he will thus be less open to the temptations of gourmet coffee blends that he should not be making room in his budget for

[needsmoreiron]

It appears to be in this coffee shop, what with the volume of people doing it! The feeling of eyes in his general vicinity is something Tony is perhaps a little too practiced dealing with, and thus he is preparing himself to look up slowly (in case of hot girls) when there are UNEXPECTED HANDS, wtf why is all of Minnesota interested in submarine repair.

"Careful, I'm going to start thinking I need to call for an adult here." Or Pepper! He scoops the papers into a pile where they are uh, less easily groped and looks up. YeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeBrian?

[five_point_no]

Brian is not a hot girl, which will perhaps spare him the brunt of Tony's flirtatious wiles but also makes his paper-groping much less forgiveable. He is approximately halfway through making a disgruntled noise at having the notes snatched away when the fact that they are not his notes and belong to the person speaking filters properly into his brain - wait there's a PERSON ATTACHED TO THESE PAPERS. This results in entirely comical surprised blinking and goldfish-mouthing in Tony's direction for the five or so seconds (oh did you see that) it takes Brian to regain his cool. Thankfully, he does not spill any beverages during this time.

"Most adults in the area wouldn't understand the difference between a Shadow Hand and a standard end effector unless you gave them a slide show." He says, sipping his coffee and completely missing the point.

[needsmoreiron]

"Probably not even then." Although FOR SOME REASON most of the students seem to. Oh St. Jude's, with your freaktastic academic standards and your hordes of science oriented people who are willing to descend on the innocent and also Tony like vultures. "I think they might understand the concept of invasion of personal space, though."

It's true, tragically, he would totally be making allowances if Brian was a hot girl and not just a boy his own age with suspiciously pink lips. Dammit, why can't the world be entirely full of hot girls for Tony to ........what would you do, Tony, sell weapons to them? Yes. Anyway. He pokes at one of the half-finished strings of numbers, maybe this encounter can be useful for everyone! "That one's giving me some trouble."