The warm water was working wonders on his aching body.

Tony tilted his head back against the deck of the spa with a sigh, relishing in the sensation of his muscles relaxing as the knots unwound themselves and everything simply relaxed. The week had been a long one.

There'd been an incident with some clown calling himself the Juggernaut, rampaging through the city. They'd all quickly learned that the clown hit pretty damn hard, and could very easily take down a building. And a subway. And a Quinjet.
It'd taken them a few days of a cat and mouse game before they'd realized what exactly they were dealing with. A long explanation from Tony about physics and momentum (that left Hawkeye with a vacant look in his eyes) cleared everything up. But not before people had been hurt and damage had been done.

His head tilted slightly towards the sound of someone else slipping into the water, and was aware of a body sitting much closer to him.
"How are you feeling?" The voice was soft by his ear, and Tony fought a small smile "Pretty damn good, how're you big guy?"

Bruce nosed along his jaw and slid a hand across his stomach to wrap his arms around him "In better shape than you." He said with a small laugh before kissing his cheek "I was afraid you weren't getting back up after he knocked you into the bus."
Tony scoffed and turned his head to brush his lips against the doctor's cheek "It takes more than public transportation to keep Iron Man down."
Banner only grinned before pressing their mouths together in a kiss that was readily returned. Tony's hands went to his cheeks and then into the mess of curly brown hair. It was a heated kiss, but not the needy and overly sexual that was their norm. This was deep, and passionate, and when they broke for air left them both breathless.

"Tony,"

Bruce was trailing kissing on his jaw and neck, and Tony tilted his head to the side with a content sigh.

"Tony."

Banner had slipped into his lap, arms still around his waist

"Tony!"

The man jumped awake, eyes darting around to the empty hot tub.

"You're unbelievable."

His attention snapped up to Pepper, who was leaning against the glass doorframe with two glasses of wine in her hands. She was in her bathing suit, one Tony didn't recognize. It looked more like something Natascha would wear, not the usually conservatively dressing Pepper Potts.

"Sorry, babe." He mumbled, lifting his hands to rub his face.

"I was only gone for a few minutes," She looked offended and stepped further outside and onto the deck "If you were that tired you could have just gone to bed."

His head shook and he extended an arm to her, inviting her in "No, I just shut my eyes for a second. It's okay."

She didn't look convinced, but slipped into the water, sitting right where Bruce had been and offering the glass. Tony took it, and averted his gaze to the night sky, or what he could see of it through the glare of New York further down below.

Next to him, Pepper cleared her throat, and Tony glanced over. She looked expectant, and then very quickly annoyed when he tilted his head.

"I got a new suit." She gestured to herself.

"Oh! Yes, yes you did. It looks good." He shot a quick glance down at the garment, and then something struck him. Pepper was trying to be sexy. He looked back into her eyes, and then really saw the hurt. She'd never had to try with him before.

Was it really that bad? Had he become so distracted that Pepper had felt the need to try and recapture his attention? Guilt gnawed at the pit of his stomach and he shifted to face her. "It's not something I'd have pegged you to wear." He pressed, hoping to get an explanation that would be the opposite of what he was thinking.

"Nat helped me choose it." Pepper responded, examining her glass before taking a sip.

Tony nodded slightly "I didn't know you two had gone out."

That was apparently the wrong thing to say. It earned him a glare "I told you before we left."

"Oh." Also not the right answer.

"Tony Stark, you are unbelievable!" She looked exasperated and turned her gaze away from him.

"Pep, hon, I'm sorry. I am." Tony insisted, moving closer and putting an arm behind her "I've just been- I haven't been sleeping well."

She gave him a look "It's not just you not sleeping well," she pressed, voice getting an edge "You won't even look at me."

"I'm looking at you right now," Tony insisted with a gesture between his eyes and her face "See? Right now. I'm looking."

"No, Tony." She snapped, getting to her feet with the glass "You look at me, but you don't actually see me."

"What does that even mean?" His exasperated question followed her, guilt turning into irritation "Speak English!"

"You're unbelievable, Tony Stark!"

"And you're vague!"

Pepper made an irritated sound and headed inside "And you know what." She said suddenly, stopping in the threshold before turning around. "Don't think I haven't heard you at night. Saying his name."

Any anger Tony had went cold "You- what?"

"I said that I can hear you at night, Tony! 'Bruce, Bruce,' all night!"

"Pep, please," he insisted as he got to his feet, wine glass forgotten on the deck "It's not what you think."

Her eyes pierced through him in one last scathing glare before she headed inside.

"Pepper!" He walked quickly after her "Wait a second, okay? We can talk."

"Not tonight." She snapped, storming down the hall "I'm leaving."

"You're- Wait, wait, wait. Maybe you should think about this." He urged, jogging forward to stand between her and the door to their room.

"There's nothing to think about." She pushed him aside and headed to a bag that was half-way packed.

"You've been planning this?" Tony Stark stood stunned in the doorway.

Pepper suddenly stiffened and he could only imagine the look on her face. "Yes. I have." Venom dripped from her words "For a month, actually. We discussed this! It's a business trip, Tony!"

He felt his heart drop. That was probably something else that he'd forgotten… "Pepper…"

"Just stop," she shot a glare over her shoulder at him as she started to finish packing "Maybe this is what we need, okay? Just some time to ourselves."

He ran a hand through his hair and nodded lamely before turning and heading back out. He was suddenly reminded that he had a glass of wine waiting for him.