He's had even longer than you to figure this stuff out, so. He lets me come over in the middle of the night to practice if I can't sleep - for being so prickly he's good at reading people and pointing out what might help.

[Pepper shrugs lightly, smiling fondly at nothing in particular. She'll drop the dating bombshell on Erskine later. Her smile fades slowly at the last, but she did say she had questions. No point in avoiding it now.]

Well, I guess how you're doing is a good place to start. It doesn't really look like you've been sleeping much. Or eating, which is part of why I brought scones.