All things considered, Pepper couldn't have said whether she preferred when she knew these moments were coming or not. On the one hand, there was a lot of anxiety to be had as you waited around to hear whether or not your superhero boyfriend or superhero best friend were still alive and in one piece. On the other, sometimes you went downstairs on a seemingly ordinary day and found one of them laid out on the floor.

"Jarvis, please turn down the volume," came the sound of Pepper's voice at the top of the stairs, punctuated by the familiar clip of her heels as she moved rapidly down the steps. "I was just about to head down to the Compound, do you need— WHAT?!"

The last word was half-shrieked as she reached the bottom of the stairwell and spied Peter (or who she assumed to be Peter, it wasn't that easy to tell) sprawled across the floor. Tony stood above him with a frying pan, of all things, looking more than a little guilty.

"What did you do?" she yelled as she surged forward to drop to a knee at Peter's side.