InsaneJournal

Who: Gwen Stacy, Merlin, Pepper Potts, Tony Stark
When: Early June
Where: Merlin’s not office
What: Prank War Continues
Rating/Warnings: Low/None
Status: Complete



It was the best prank ever. Gwen came in over the weekend with some help, and plastered Merlin’s door. They took off the frame, closed the door, filled it in with a sheet of … wall stuff… and then painted it over. When they were done, it was only slightly discolored from what the rest of the wall looked like. Since the paint was brand new. So Gwen hung a white board over the spot where Merlin’s door was.

What an amazing prank.

She showed up on Monday morning like nothing was out of the ordinary. Then she headed down to IT to hang around, waiting for him to show up to work. She pretended like she had business with a gentleman in a cubicle near Merlin’s door, and waited.

Merlin was running late so instead of walking to work he simply appeared in his office, sitting down at his computer and starting work. Not even noticing the missing door or mess on the floor where it used to be.

Pepper made her way down to the IT offices and spotted Gwen, “Where is he?” she asked, she’d arranged for Tony to attend a meeting with Merlin and she’d already received an email from the IT Team Leader that morning.

Tony stepped through the doors of the elevator on to the level of Stark Tower that housed the IT Department. He’d gotten the memo--and the email, and the text message--that he was supposed to be meeting with the head of IT and Pepper in Merlin’s office. He was a little groggy this morning, as he hadn’t been sleeping well, and was slurping down a coffee as he headed down the hall.

Gwen took hold of Pepper’s arm and pulled her into the cubicle where she was hiding. “...I haven’t seen Merlin yet”, she said, and motioned as Tony approached.

Tony walked right past where Merlin’s office was and then found himself in the wrong place. He frowned and turned back to look.

“That’s odd I’ve had an email from him already this morning” Pepper whispered before falling silent as Tony walked into the office. She placed a hand over her mouth to stop herself from laughing as she watched her fiance look around confusedly.

Meanwhile Merlin had also had the reminder of a meeting and glanced up to see if anybody was coming which was when he noticed the missing door. “What the...?” he stood and moved to knock on the wall.

The knock made Tony jump. He glanced around, and now some other employees were turning to look, and breaking into grins at the spectacle. Tony moved over to the wall, frowning just slightly, and lifted a hand to knock back.

“Oh my gosh, I’m dying,” Gwen breathed out, fighting off fits of giggles.

Pepper looked over at her and nodded, a hand over her own mouth. It was very very amusing to see her fiance knocking on the wall where it appeared Merlin already was.

Merlin meanwhile heard the knock and knocked back before transporting himself into the main office area and looked back at where his door should be, “Where the hell is my door?”

Tony jumped a little at the sight of Merlin simply appearing beside him. He was wide-eyed. “You’ve got to teach me how to do that.”

And Gwen burst into laughter, not bothering to hold it back now. She clapped a couple of times, too. There was good natured laughter and applause from the other folk in their cubicles.

“Would if I could boss” he told Tony before turning to look at Gwen, “You” he breathed, “I should have known. You know payback is going to be huge don’t you?” he told her though there was a grin on his face.

Pepper emerged from behind Gwen and moved over to press a kiss to Tony’s cheek, “I couldn’t resist when Gwen asked for permission to do this”

Gwen stood up and took a bow, then turned her attention to Merlin. “I know.” She stepped forward to wrap her arms around him in a quick hug, then motioned to the wall. “Isn’t it amazing??”

Tony was impressed, actually. He gave a little snort and a chuckle, then turned to Pepper. “You were in on this?”

Merlin returned the hug and laughed, “Okay yes it is amazing” he had to admit, a lot of work had gone into it and it was rather impressive. “I don’t even want to know how you came up with it”

Pepper nodded, “I was” she admitted with a smile, “It’s clever isn’t it. Gwen’s idea”

“Someone mentioned it on Valar. That’s where I got the idea.” Gwen beamed. “It was really just a matter of grabbing the right people to come in here. Two contractors said they’d do the work for free to just for a tour of Stark Tower.”

Tony raised an eyebrow. “I hope these were vetted contractors.”

Gwen waved a hand at him. “Background checked and everything.”

Pepper rolled her eyes, “Of course they were vetted” she told him, “I would not let cowboy builders into our building”

“Umm sorry to interrupt” Merlin said, “But I do have work to do and I would like a door again at some point”

Gwen simply pointed at Pepper and raised her eyebrows at Tony. See? She wouldn’t go about doing any of this without the proper approval. And Pepper was the proper approval.

“Right. Your office.” Tony gave the wall a hard punch, and it dented. “We can probably dig our way through to the door.” He could get power tools to help, too.

“I promised that I’d clean up the mess when it’s done.” Gwen said, still grinning.

"Let's leave remaking the door to the professionals" Pepper suggested though she wasn't sure she'd be able to convince Tony.

"There's a clean up crew on stand by Miss Stacy. And Merlin you can come up to my office for a while if you like"

Tony looked like he’d just had a toy taken away. “Really?” Damn. Ah, well. “Miss Stacy can help the clean-up crew while you supervise,” he said to Pepp, then wrapped an arm around Merlin’s shoulders. “I’m taking my Head of IT out for a latte.”

Gwen nodded. She was glad that the jokees would get a treat after that. It’d been all in good fun, and she was ready to put in the work to set it back again. The rest of the IT Crowd went back to work.

Pepper would make it up to Tony later for ruining his destruction fun. “That sounds like a good idea” she told him.

Merlin shrugged, “Works for me” he said, “Seems like there’s an upside to being tricked after all”