Who: Caleb Rivers, Hanna Marin, Tony Stark What: Tony Meets Caleb’s girlfriend When: 11 December 2015 Where: Stark Party Warnings: Low Status: Log | Complete
Things with Hanna had basically gone back to normal. And with her dragging him to all her family functions and her father’s work party plus he had gone to her mother’s Halloween work party it was time she attended one of his work events. Plus he had mentioned her to Tony a few times and apparently his boss wanted to meet Hanna. The Stark holiday party seemed like a good enough place to do it although he was sure Tony would be busy mingling with his thousands of employees.
“Thanks for coming with me,” he said to Hanna an arm wrapped around her as he led her into the party. “We don’t have to stay too long.”
Hanna had no problem with Caleb taking her to a work function, why would she when it meant she got to not only spend time with her boyfriend, but dress up as well? Really now. That and it was only fair that he drag her to things since he tended to get dragged to things with her. Especially her dad’s work thing the following week because that required him to keep her sane.
She had to admit, it was a really nice hotel that they had ended up going to. She knew that Stark was one of the bigger, if not biggest, companies in the area so it wasn’t so shocking. But still. “Yeah, no problem. It’ll be fun.” She didn’t care how long they stuck around. All she really cared about was spending time with Caleb.
Thousands of employees… and guests. Tony had been a busy bee all night, meeting people, shaking hands, excusing himself and wandering off before the conversation became too droll. He didn’t have time to see everyone, so he wanted to make sure to see as many people as he could, while also leaving time to sneak off with Pepper every once in a while.
Tony was by the bar, grabbing a refill. He didn’t ever get drunk at these events, though some of his employees did. It was a once a year thing, though, he couldn’t blame people for wanting to let loose--so long as they didn’t throw up on anything important. When he caught sight of Caleb and a pretty blonde girl, his smile brightened. “Caleb! And this must be the lovely Hanna.” He said, holding out a hand to her first. “Charmed.”
Caleb got along with a lot of the employees. So chances were other than Tony, there would be a few people Hanna would be meeting that night. And even if Hanna hadn’t gone with him he wouldn’t have been too bored but everything was always better when Hanna was around. And now that her finals were done he didn’t exactly want to take a night off from her either. Well he never wanted to take a night off from her he was just forced to so she could study. “I almost forgot how much you like dressing up,” he commented. He had already told her she looked beautiful when he picked her up. But yeah dressing up was definitely one of Hanna’s things.
Caleb suppressed an eye roll when Tony introduced himself and held out his hand for her. “Yeah, this is her,” he replied smiling proudly arm still wrapped around her. “Hanna, Tony.” Stark but he wasn’t all that into the whole last name business. Besides Hanna was smart she’d know who he was.
“The day you forget will be a strange one indeed.” Really. Hanna would never give up a chance to dress up. It would just be wrong. She enjoyed fashion, which meant she enjoyed figuring out what worked for the atmosphere and the season and what she hadn’t done yet before. There was an art to fashion, a certain finesse she had mastered.
But then they were being approached and the blonde smiled as she took the offered hand.
“It’s great to meet you.” He seemed nice. Then again, she also knew that he’d written the letter that let Caleb get his apartment, which had kept Hanna from needing to argue with the building manager as Caleb had mentioned Tony’s name and his attitude had changed.
Tony took Hanna’s hand and lifted it to press his lips to her knuckles. Then he released it and stood up straight again. “How long have you been here? You have to have a drink and try some of the food. It’s really good.” Expensive, but that was a Tony Stark thing.
“I’m going to have to take you to more weddings and Stark parties,” he teased. But he should give Hanna more reasons to dress up even it wasn’t exactly his thing. Not only did she look gorgeous, but he knew she enjoyed it.
Caleb was perfectly aware that Tony Stark was a big deal. But Caleb had never been intimidated by him, well other than the day of his job interview but that had been with Pepper with anyway. Tony was a pretty chill guy, he never seemed to have a problem with Caleb taking breaks when he pleased (if he even noticed, the guy was busy) or showing up to work in jeans and a t-shirt. Of course Caleb was somewhat dressed up tonight in a pair of nice pants and a button up collared shirt.
“Just a few minutes ago,” Caleb answered him. “Don’t worry. We’ll get there. Why do you think I showed up?” He was never one to pass up free food or drinks. Plus it would probably be the most expensive food Caleb had ever eaten and yeah he had to try that.
“Obviously.” Grinning, Hanna bowed her head in amusement. Excuses to dress up that weren’t tied to her dad’s job since there were certain people at those who made her uncomfortable but she always pushed it to the side anyway. But any chance to dress up was a good one in Hanna’s opinion.
And Tony Stark was as charming as everyone made him out to be. So she just let her hand drop back to her side once he let go, holding onto her clutch with both now as the two spoke.
“It definitely looks really good.” Hey, Hanna wasn’t only good at picking out good clothing, but food as well. There was definitely plenty to try.
“You’ll have to try the grey stuff. It’s delicious.” Tony said, motioning at the food table. Buffet. Thing. There were also penguin-like waiters and waitresses wandering around offering people food and champagne. There was a dance floor with people on it, and a band at the far end of the room, but the noise hadn’t reached a level where people would rather be anywhere but there. It was a nice party so far. Stark parties were often nice parties.
“So, Hanna,” Tony said, moving to wrap an arm around the girl’s shoulders, completely ignoring the fact that Caleb was already sort of doing just that. Tony turned to guide her in the direction of the bar. “What do you do? Where are you from? What’s your life like? Give me all the details; Caleb’s told me so little about you.”
What just happened? Caleb wasted no time falling into step with Hanna and Tony even though Tony had just stolen her right out from his arms. Really? And why would he tell his boss anything about Hanna. Yes Tony was a cool guy but it wasn’t like they sat down and chatted about their relationships often. Or ever.
“I wasn’t aware I was supposed to tell you her life story,” Caleb mumbled. The smile was gone from his face but he wasn’t unhappy. Just taken by surprise at the turn of events.
Ha. Beauty and the Beast reference. Very nice. “Are dancing waiters singing Be Our Guest going to show up now?” What? She could play along and it was a very valid question, thank you very much. Or… he could basically just kidnap her from Caleb, to whom she shot an amused look before turning her attention back to Tony.
“I don’t know exactly what there is to tell. I mean, I grew up here, I go to UC Irvine and am undeclared right now and I live with my mom.” No need to go into too many of the specifics. “Oh, and I have an internship with at Van Dyne Designs.” You know. When she wasn’t being cyberstalked in her dreams and only recently not feeling so apprehensive about the network since the whole Mona reveal. She just hoped the dreams were done even if she had a feeling they weren’t.
Hey, in Orange County, anything was possible. Tony hadn’t actually hired the Beauty and the Beast dancers, though it wasn’t outside the realm of possibility. She was right to ask. “I should have done that. Maybe next time.” Tony said, smirking a little as he led her over toward the bear. “I have no idea what Van Dyne Designs is.” He didn’t sound smarmy or snarky about it, more apologetic. “You’ll have to tell me all about it.”
Then Tony lifted a hand to flag down a waiter, and ordered a couple of cokes for the kids.
Dancing waiters? Be Our Guest? Caleb had no idea what Hanna and Tony were talking about. Another Disney reference he didn’t understand. Of course it was one of the Disney movies he hadn’t yet watched with Hanna. So he just furrowed his brow at their exchange. Again he would let Hanna explain more about her internship because well that was her thing and Caleb honestly didn’t know all that much about fashion. Just that Hanna liked it. However he did raise a brow as Tony ordered them cokes. Yeah okay Hanna was underage but Tony didn’t know that. And Caleb was legal, thanks. “What, no beer?” he asked his boss, placing his arm back around Hanna.
Oh, Beauty and Beast was definitely on the list of Disney movies that Hanna planned to show to Caleb, but there had only been so many hours in a day and things to be done. But she hadn’t forgotten. Though now it probably would be the next one they watched given it had come up in conversation.
“Ethically produced fashion design.” Because that was important. She didn’t really know how to describe it, just that it was fashion related and that Janet was very adamant on things being done ethically and not cutting corners. It was why Hanna liked it there.
Tony raised an eyebrow at Caleb, then glanced at Hanna and back to him. “...beer? Really.” He said, but it wasn’t like anyone here was checking IDs. He lifted a hand and flagged down the waiter who he’d asked before. “Throw a little rum in those cokes, eh?” He said, then turned his attention to Hanna.
She was very pretty. Tony could see why Caleb would be attracted to her. But she was… less than half Tony’s age. He felt paternal toward the young ones like that. Which in and of itself was a very strange thing, “What does Ethically produced fashion design mean?” He asked. “I’m sure Pepper would know, but I’m ignorant about these things.”
Yes really. He was promised drinks if he attended this party and drinks he would have. He usually just drank beer but he wouldn’t be opposed to rum. “Better,” Caleb commented turning his attention back to Hanna as well. He was well aware of how gorgeous his girlfriend was. She was a lot of things and Caleb knew perfectly well how lucky he was to have her. Again he would let her explain more of the fashion stuff because he was just as clueless as Tony when it came to these things.
How to describe what it meant. Or at least figuring out the words, nor was she going to complain about rum being added to the coke. It wasn’t as big a deal to her one way or the other, but she wouldn’t say no to it. “Basically that all the materials are made with materials and by people who are paid well and are treated like people.” There were a lot of companies that would cut corners by using materials made in sweatshops or pay their workers minimal or less than a living wage because it was easier and they were overseas.
“Ah.” Tony replied, nodding. “It’s a good thing to do--for a company to be responsible for who it employs, what it creates.” He’d made sure that his company didn’t employ people in sweatshops in China, or India, or whatever. Stark had overseas offices, naturally. It was an international company, after all, but Tony had insisted (and Pepper had agreed) that it was to be run properly. They paid a fair wage to all of their employees, and purchased materials that were appropriately made.
He liked that Hanna seemed to have a grasp on these things, even if Tony didn’t understand the fashion part, and that it was important to her was endearing. Tony found the amount of respect he had for both kids went up a little.
The waiter came by and handed them their drinks. Tony lifted his own in a cheers.
Caleb could tell Hanna had impressed Tony. Of course he knew she would, she was an impressive girl. But it was nice that his boss thought so as well, Caleb did look up to Tony after all, though he would never admit it. “Cheers,” Caleb said lifting his own glass. This night was off to a great start.