"Oh, fine," she replies, but she's not actually irritated. Tony had pointed out that she should probably stop trying to rig the house with confetti and noisemakers because that would probably only spook Gene, and she gave in. Her enjoyment of parties does not mean other people around her absorb it by osmosis.

Pepper takes the minorly disfigured pancakes without complaint; as long as they taste good she doesn't particularly care. Speaking of food, there's a decent chef's knife waiting for him on the inside of that wrapping paper.

"You're welcome," she says cheerfully after take a bit of the ugly but delicious pancakes. "But it's your birthday, so you don't have to say thank you because this is what you do for someone on their birthday. Anything you wanna do? I know you don't have work."