Still Holding On

Chapter 35

Pepper steps into the lobby of Stark Tower with a smile on her lips that only grows when she sees Tony. Happy steps in after her. He looks less... well, less happy, for lack of a better term. Did he even have a choice in coming here? Tony has to hope he did. He knew he was asking a lot when he asked Pepper to come back here. He'd like to think she didn't force it on Happy, too.

But that's not important right now. What's important is that Tony's best friend is here, and she is looking very huggable. He crosses the lobby, his arms spread, and Pepper launches herself into them. He's not used to going more than two or three days without seeing her – which is his fault for not giving her enough days off when she worked for him, probably, and now they both have to reap what he sewed. It's hard, living on the other side of the country than your best friend of decades. He doesn't like it.

"Thanks for coming," Tony says quietly.

"Any time," she whispers back.

When their hug finally comes to an end, Tony looks up at Happy, who's awkwardly standing in the doorway and looking between him and Loki uncomfortably. Hopefully Loki's not overthinking that aspect of this meet-up.

"Welcome to Stark Tower," Tony says with a grin. His eyes light up at the sight of the bag in Happy's hand. "Sushi?" he says eagerly. "Is that sushi? You guys brought sushi, didn't you?"

"Enough to share, obviously," Pepper tells him. "And probably enough for leftovers. You're welcome."

Tony grins. "You guys need to come by more often," he says, "because I could really get used to this."

Pepper seems to be taking her job as the only person besides Tony who doesn't outwardly hate Loki seriously, because she turns her attention to him next, and her smile doesn't waver. "And you must be Loki," she says. "It's nice to finally meet you. I'm Pepper, and that's Happy over there."

Happy gives him an awkward, silent wave.

Loki smiles at them, a little uncertainly. "It's nice to meet you, too," he says.

Tony stands back, his hands on his hips, and watches. Maybe something good will come out of this before they've even gone upstairs to eat. That would be a nice change from Natasha's unwelcome appearance.

Loki cocks his head to the side, eyeing Pepper with intrigue. "Have we met before?"

"Um..." Pepper glances back at Tony uncertainly.

Well, shit.

He wasn't supposed to remember that.

Tony spits out the first lie he can think of (and god, he hates that he's getting good at that). "I think she came by once to drop something off. You might've seen her then."

"Ah." Loki nods. "I thought you looked familiar."

Pepper smiles again, a little less confidently this time. "Yeah, you know, I totally forgot about that."

"I did, too," Loki says. He doesn't seem so thrilled about that, either.

Things are getting weird. Tony can tell that things are getting weird. Maybe that was a bad call. Loki's already upset about forgetting things. Maybe making up more things for him to forget is a bad idea. (Although, to be fair, Pepper did just come from the grocery store when she met Loki the first time, so he's not really making it up, right? So he doesn't have to feel guilty about that. It's true. Mostly. It's not a lie. It's a mostly-truth.)

Before things can get weirder, Tony claps his hands together once, a big, forced smile on his face. "Who's hungry?" he asks. "Is anyone else hungry? I'm hungry. We should eat."