Who: Tony Stark (Iron Man) and Scott Lang (Ant Man) When: Last week of July Where: Stark Tower What: Meeting Rating/Warnings: Low/None Status: Complete
Scott was beyond excited to be working at Stark Industries. It was about time his career took off. He was worried he’d hit his mid-life crisis before that ever happened. And Stark Industries was sort of the epitome of cool science job. He couldn’t wait to really get into, poking around at technology and helping develop cool new science things.
He was currently in one of the many coffee rooms that speckled the building, in front of the fridge. Milk or cream? It was the toughest choice of his day. (The answer was always cream. And sugar.)
Tony was looking for a specific piece for one of the machines he was working on. The droids. The whatever. A new invention that had been puttering around in his head, was now coming to fruition. This particular piece would arrive in a couple of weeks, special ordered, or he could go and find it in one of the vending machines in the break room downstairs.
He came in, without a word, and unplugged the machine that had all the snacks in it. Then he wedged himself between the machine and the wall, pushed the machine out, and brought a screwdriver to the back of it.
“Don’t mind me. Routine Maintenance. Or something just as believable,” Tony called out from behind the machine. He started to unscrew the panel covering the machine’s inner workings.
Well then. Scott leaned against the counter, nursing his coffee, watching the one and only Tony Stark futz around with the vending machine. Not everyone got such a show. Or maybe it was a common occurrence here. Scott didn’t think that was so far off. His eyebrows raised.
“Gotta maintain ‘em,” he agreed, slurping his coffee so it didn’t burn his tongue. “Those springs can get sticky.” ---
“Especially when they’re not… maintained.” Tony agreed from behind the machine. He had to give it another push. The thing tipped, and some of the snacks came falling from the inside coils into the trap below. Tony paid no mind.
By the time the back panel was off, Tony was pulling another tool out of --somewhere-- and was working on removing another piece. Then he was reconnecting wires and the like, trying to get the thing back to working condition again.
“You’re new?” Tony added, distractedly. Hey, might as well make small talk, right?
“Yep. New guy.” Scott set aside his mug and stepped over, reaching to steady the machine. Scott loved free snacks, but he also felt maybe, just for kicks, he could help while he was standing around.
“Hot -- damn, these things are heavy.” He shifted his weight, so he could support it better. “Scott Lang. I’m in one of the development departments.”
Tony nodded, finally removing the piece he was digging around in there for. He figured that either the vending machine company would come and replace it (they paid them for maintenance, right?) or the machine would work without it, or the piece he ordered but was too anxious to wait for would arrive and he could replace it himself. He pocketed the thing, though it was big and bulky, and then put wires back in place.
“I’m Tony,” he introduced himself, even though it was far from necessary. “Hand me that… thing… would you?” One of the pieces he’d pulled from the machine had rolled toward Scott’s foot.
“Yeah, I got that.” If you didn’t know who Tony Stark was, then there was probably something wrong with you, especially if you worked for him. Scott lifted his foot to catch the escaping piece under his toe and kicked it gently back towards Tony (he didn’t want to abandon his post holding up the machine and avoiding snack disaster).
“Good to meet you.”
“And you,” Tony replied. He finished up putting the back panel in place. “All right, should be good,” he added, then together they were able to put the machine back into place.
“I didn’t dislodge a Snickers, did I?” Tony set the part down on one of the tables. It had some industrial type grease on it, and now that was all over Tony’s hands. He moved to the sink to wash them.
“Uh …. No.” Scott rolled his shoulders, looking at the little bit of the candy haul that had come loose. “Looks like you got a coupe Kit-Kats, some gum, and an Oh Henry.” He reached in to get them, pocketing a Kit-Kat. “Oh Henry’s not far off from Snickers.”
Scott held it out to Tony, along with the remaining goodies.
“Hey, I’ll take it.” Tony reached forward and accepted the goodies. “You want anything else?” He asked. There was quite the handful of chocolate here. He might have to go share some with Pep. “Nah.” Scott shrugged. What a weird sort of conversation to have. Or maybe it wasn’t. Scott was so used to the mundane work life, skills being wasted at a computer in a cubicle, that he didn’t really know what life was like in a proper working environment. Then again, he suspected working under Tony Stark would be an experience of its own.
“Trying to watch the figure, you know?”
“Oh, yeah. I’ll have to work this off later.” Actually, Tony Stark’s metabolism was pretty good. Though, he’d been on a bit of a health food kick lately… he had to fit into a nice Tux for his wedding and everything. Right? ...meh, he had a few months to worry about that.
After picking up the piece he’d come in for, Tony gave Scott a salute--holding the candy bar in his saluting hand. “Nice to meet you, Scott. I’m in the penthouse, should you need anything.”
“You too, Tony.” Scott held up his hand in a semi-wave. Was he allowed to call him Tony? Too late now. “I’ll keep it mind, yeah.” He took his chocolate and went to retrieve his coffee cup, figuring that he was going to have a good time at Stark Industries.