Stephen watches that penny drop with satisfaction in the negatives, a yearning for privacy riding in on Tony's coattails like a foreign seed in passenger's carry-on. Invasive species. He realises all at once how normal everything feels now. How everyday. It should be funny, but if he thinks on it for more than a second he knows it's really anything but.

The sudden-onset exhaustion manifests in a long breath in, the corresponding heavy sigh as good-humoured as he can make it.

"I did also mention beating the shit out of people in a controlled environment. In case you think she'd prefer that."