As much as she hated to break the silence, especially during a moment like this (i.e. the two of them being in each others arms on the roof of some building, looking out at the lights in the city that hadn't been destroyed by the very recent heroic acts of 'Iron Man'), Pepper was frustrated and had to know.

"Why did you lie to me?"

Though she couldn't see his face, Pepper knew Tony's face had just twisted to a frown, and would bet her life on him having just rolled his eyes at her question (a perk of working for the guy all these years).

"Are you still on this, seriously?" He asked, every fiber of his being had hoped they had strayed away from this subject when they had beat the bad guy and lived to retreat away from the would-be chaos of cleaning the city.

"Yes, I am." She dashed his hopes to the ground in a fiery flop.

The philanthropist sighed, "Pepper, I'm fine, I told you."

"And I'm glad you are, for the most part," the red-head looked up at him, eyes still wondering and Tony felt something in him melt slightly at the sight of them. "But that wasn't my question, Mr. Stark."

"Well, Mrs. Potts, considering there's never been a question about me that you couldn't answer yourself, I think this entire conversations a waste of time. Not to mention a buzz kill." Tony muttered this last part and looked down at her, cocking an eyebrow in his playful manner. "Your fault, by the way."

"Don't try to turn this back on me," Pepper narrowed her eyes as she pulled from his grasp enough to glare at him and fold her arms in exasperation. "In case you forgot, I was the one running your company while you were out there with your little toy forgetting to tell me, the one person who actually cares, that you were knocking on death's door."

"Well, you said 'back on me' so obviously it was your fault somewhere along the way and I appreciate you taking responsibility." Tony shrugged, his tones careless though he was careful to keep the grin off his face that usually came from these types of conversations with his assistant. The one conversation he never seemed to gain the upper hand in, he noticed, but the ones he often looked forward to. "But as for your accusation of me 'lying' I never lied because you never asked me if I was dying…specifically."

Pepper's glare hardened, though a part of her knew the billionaire was, strictly speaking, right. "And I also recall you saying, and I quote: "I'm fine. Don't be mad, I will formally apologize. And in case you were wondering the definition of 'lie' is, it's 'to express what is false; or to convey a false impression'." She finished heatedly.

"If you use it as a verb, yes." The male allowed. "But no one does that."

"Everyone does that." Pepper stated modestly.

"Do they? I must have missed that memo, again something that was probably your fault." Tony said matter-of-factly,

The redhead rolled her eyes, sighing heavily. "Tony…"

"Listen, I told you I was going to tell you what more do you want?" Without waiting for an answer, he placed bot hands on her shoulders and looked at her, eyes accusatory. "Had you let me take you to Venice, we could be avoiding this conversation entirely."

"So you weren't going to tell me in Venice either?" Pepper raised an eyebrow in an oddly Tony-ish manner, tapping a foot, her arms still crossed but a visible playfulness in her eyes now that Tony was grateful for. At least he was out of hot water, for now.

"That's not what I meant." Tony retorted. "Here let me make this easy, what do you want me to say?"

"I want you to tell me why you didn't trust me enough to tell me you were I, do I really have to spell it out for you?" The redhead groaned, placing her face in her open palm. How she dealt with this guy was a mystery to even her sometimes. Honestly, he was such a child sometimes she wondered why she didn't just quit, entirely that is. But even thinking about it made something in her miserable and she knew the real reason she didn't leave, even if she was reluctant to admit it.

Not that Tony did any better, mind you.

"I'd enjoy that but we really don't have the time, plus I'm tired from well…that." Tony gestured an iron-clad hand to the city where buildings here and there had been utterly destroyed by is latest battle before continuing in slightly more serious tones. "And, I didn't tell you because I didn't want to alarm you, like I said before," He added not quite under his breath, turning to look at the city and wondered briefly if the after-party had been cancelled. He doubted it. "And because it really doesn't matter anymore because I'm fine, you're fine and for the time being we don't have to worry about some guy trying to put my head on a plate."

When this statement was met with silence, Tony looked back at the redhead, whose face was unreadable so he took a guess.

"You're still mad aren't you?"

"No." She answered a little too quickly, moving a stray piece of hair from her eyes nervously. "Just…confused, I think."

"Why?" As he asked, the philanthropist walked to her, pulling her back into their loose embrace, happy when she returned the gesture. "When have I ever given you a reason not to trust me?"

"Everyday since I started working for you."

"Exactly. And look where we are now."

Pepper let out a short laugh. She was finally laughing, and Tony considered that a good thing. Not to mention it was a damn adorable sound. "We're on the roof of one of the few buildings you haven't destroyed in the last 3 hours, and one of us is in a big metal suit." She said, eyeing him with hilarity.

"And that same one of us hopes that the other isn't going to gripe all night and perhaps join him for the omelet he owes her in the morning."

"Depends." Pepper said with feigned consideration. "Are you cooking?"

Tony scoffed, looking offended. "Now what kind of hero would I be if I couldn't at least make an omelet for me and a welcomed guest?"

Pepper blinked. "Welcomed guest?" she stressed the word ever so slightly.

"Well you do watch over me pretty much 24/7 and I've come to enjoy it, your company that is." Tony said as if there were a misunderstanding, and then pulled a melodramatic and thoughtful face. "Hell, you might as well just bring your stuff over to ensure you're relaxed during these lengthy days of working, valuables only though. I may have an extended amount of room but I think this should be a gradually thing over time, you-" he cut off as Pepper's lips met his suddenly, effectively silencing him as her hand forced him to her.

Leave it to Pepper to find a way to shut him up.

When they broke apart at last, a grin played on Tony's face as he took her hand in his. "Happy now, I'll take it?"

"Well, there are still 8,010 things I have to talk to you about." Pepper said, her hand caressing his face as she smiled back, her eyes twinkling. "But I think they can wait until tomorrow."

What? This is awful XD Random spur-of-the-moment needs to write XD