"This wing'll be Dr. Banner's – easy access to the lab once I extend the elevator, no problem. We'll reserve this side with the big skylight and wide windows for Thor whenever he decides to fly in..."
Watching Tony Stark manipulate and maneuver the 3-D projection of Stark Tower, Pepper Potts now understood how Dominique Francon had felt watching her boyfriend work the clay model of his hotel – there was something irresistibly sexy about the sight... which Tony could never know. His head tilted up a fraction, and she wiped the expression from her face before he could know it was ever there. She wondered if she need have bothered – when Tony Stark worked on a project, the rest of the world did not exist. For the time being, the whole universe was his plans for the repairs and alterations to Stark Tower. Pepper had been too pleased for Tony's liking when she learned the rest of the Avengers all had a place in his new plans.
Tony continued thinking aloud as he worked the walls, windows, and doors of the hologram: "Barton can have the wing adjacent to Natasha's..."
"What? You can't do that." Pepper stepped closer, successfully adding her presence to his bottle-universe.
"It's for their own good," Tony said, more to himself than to her. "The sooner those two loosen up, the better." He rotated the image 90° and magnified a suite of rooms overlaid with an image of Thor's face. "Pepper, you know anything about Norse mythology?"
"Not really," she answered nonchalantly.
"Well, then you know more than I do. We'll have to fix that before we start decorating. A little Asgardian décor might be appropriate, don't you think?"
"Makes sense," Pepper answered with a shrug.
Tony spun the image again and magnified a new section, overlaid with the image of Captain Steve Rogers. "What do you think should be the motif for Cap's wing?" he asked, holding his chin in his right hand. "North Pole? Retro 40s? Red, white, and blue? Land of m-" He suddenly stopped, shook his head, and wagged his finger. "No, no, no, I'm not gonna ruin my greatest achievement."
"What was that about?" Pepper asked, confused.
"Nothing important."
"What, a little red, white, and blue might ruin Stark Tower?"
Now Tony was the one looking at her confused. "You think Stark Tower is my greatest achievement?"
"I think you think it is, even though it's our achievement."
"My share was my greatest achievement last week."
Pepper nodded and said playfully, "Oh, right... before you saved Manhattan from becoming a nuclear wasteland."
"That's my second-greatest achievement," Tony said, turning back to his work.
"Second?" Pepper only had to think for a second before she was confident she got it. "Right, saving millions of lives wouldn't be as satisfying as building that miniaturized arc reactor," she said sarcastically.
"Hmm, good point," Tony said sincerely. "Okay, saving Manhattan – third greatest achievement."
Pepper rolled her eyes and silently scolded herself for letting her curiosity of how Tony's mind worked overpower her annoyance with his ego: "Okay, I give up. What is Tony Stark's greatest achievement?"
Tony turned away from the hologram of Captain America's suite, looked up at her, and said, gravely, "That I managed to make it through that entire mission without making one Mister Rogers joke. Do you have any idea how tempting that was?"