Chuck Bartowski is a huge nerd. (chuckmate) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2013-09-05 18:45:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, chuck bartowski, gwen stacy (ghost spider) |
Who: Gwen and Chuck.
When: Circa August 28.
Where: Stark Industries.
What: Meeting.
Rating/Warning: Low/None.
Status: Complete.
Chuck probably wouldn’t admit it to anyone, but he had a rough time sleeping the night before because he was so excited to start work at Stark Industries. He couldn’t help it. He had a list of people he admired, and Tony Stark was right up there (under the Justice Leagues), so being able to work for him in any capacity was pretty much incredible. Chuck went to work with a spring in his step, and made it through the morning without tripping over himself or being an embarrassment.
When he went on his lunch, he opted to wander around and a chew on an apple, getting a feel for the layout.
Gwen was carrying a couple of defunct modems from the storage room to the electronic recycling, and wasn’t watching where she was going. It was lunch time, but she’d gotten in to work early, missed out on her usual coffee, and was pretty much a walking zombie. No food and no coffee makes Gwen a zombie girl. She nearly crashed into Chuck as she walked, but took a step back and out of the way, blushing madly. “I’m so sorry!”
He blinked and took a step back, holding up his hands with an apologetic smile.
“Sorry, sorry. That was totally my fault. I’m all … Daydreams McGee up here.” Chuck shrugged a bit. “Sorry.”
Gwen broke into a grin at that. She was still embarrassed and stammering, but she had to ask, “...Daydreams McGee?” She repeated after him. Any other thought of insisting that the near collision was her fault had fled from her head. She was still clutching the old modems to her chest, but now she was grinning over them at him.
“Yeah, but when people get tired of calling me that, they usually just call me Chuck.” He cracked a smile and gave her a slight wave. “But really, I’m sorry.”
He was far, far too tall to be Charlie Brown. “I’m the one who should be sorry,” Gwen said, giving a sheepish grin. “I was just… thinking about the electronic disposal, my mind was ten steps ahead of my body.”
“Thinking about the electric disposal. Exciting.” Chuck let out a little laugh. “Is that your job here? Or does your job just encompass the occasional disposal of old, worn out electronics?”
Gwen grinned, going slightly pink. “I work in IT. I’m a Network specialist.” She said, then shrugged, struggling to keep the modems in her arms. She should have put them in a box, or something. “This is just a perk of my job.”
"Hey! I'm in IT, too! Brand new. Seriously, today is my first day." Chuck grinned. He was still pretty proud of himself. "But I have done nothing beyond fill out my paper work and follow people around so far."
“Really?” Gwen was surprised. Normally she knew when new people were coming in. But it was a pleasant surprise. This Chuck fellow looked pleasant enough. “Well… you can follow me around. I’m sure they’ll send you out to the electronic recycling sooner or later.” She motioned with her head for him to follow, and started off down the hall.
“That seems reasonable.” He took a bite from his apple. “You know, I know those things are just gonna be turned into something totally awesome, but I remember in college when we used to just refurbish them for fun.”
“We go through so much electronic waste here. I wonder if they donate them to kids learning how to make new and better ones in school.” Gwen responded, then one fell out of her arms and went clattering to the hallway floor.
“I’m pretty sure they go to something, in any case.” Chuck bent down to gather up the rogue modem, then waved it a bit triumphantly. “Got it! Crisis averted.”
Gwen had given a little yelp at the loss of the modem. Mostly because she was struggling, and its falling caught her by surprise. She gave a gentle “thanks” when he picked it up. “They go out of here, that’s all I know. It’s this way.” She said, then pushed open the door to the room with her foot. There was a bin for old technology, and Gwen unceremoniously dumped her load into it.
“... Huh.” Chuck frowned a bit as he followed her, tossing the modem in as well. “For some reason I thought it’d be …. Some super cool recycling system. Not some old bin.”
“Yeah… I think you’ll find a lot of your high expectations might come shattering down to the ground around here.” Gwen said, dusting her hands off. “Well… do you know where IT is? I can show you my desk.” She didn’t have an office, or even a cubicle. Just a desk. And it was covered in computer bits.
“Really? Aw, there goes all the magic for me.” But Chuck was teasing. “Oh, yes! I do know where IT is. But I would like to see your desk anyway, so if I need a place to hide out, I know where to go.”
“You’re always welcome to hide out at my desk.” Gwen said, finding that she liked this Chuck fellow. He was friendly. “This way.” She turned to lead him to her desk of awesomeness.
And Chuck happily followed. “I guess I should let you know that I will, in fact, take you up on that offer. Even I don’t have a good reason to.” He grinned, though, certainly feeling glad that he’d been a space cadet earlier and ran into her.