Caleb is the cat in the hat (worth_therisk) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2016-07-24 11:31:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | !complete, caleb rivers, sharon carter, tony stark (iron man) |
Who: Sharon Carter and Caleb Rivers, forward by Tony Stark
When: Late June
Where: Stark Tower, Tony’s Lab
What: Poor Caleb
Rating/Warnings: Low/None
Status: Complete when posted
Tony adjusted the positioning of the plastic containers that held the plaster. Caleb’s hands were already elbow deep in the stuff, and Tony had instructed him how to hold his hands so he could get an appropriate mold. This was the first step in producing an impression that Tony would use for purposes he hadn’t shared with Caleb. (It was nice to know that all he had to do was say “hey, Caleb, stick your hand in here for ten minutes” and the boy would comply.)
“You all right?” Tony asked, though he didn’t wait for a response. There was a glass of scotch on the table. “You want something to drink?” He slid it closer, then ducked into a drawer nearby and produced a bendy straw. That he slipped into the glass and maneuvered so that it was somewhere near Caleb’s face. The plaster surrounding the younger man’s hands was probably hardening fairly quickly, and soon he would likely be incapacitated.
“Don’t move.” Tony said, then turned to head out of the lab. He had to go down to the shipping and receiving department to pick up a package. “I’ll be right back.” Of course, that was something like thirty flights down and all the way across the building, and he’d probably bump into at least one person along the way who wanted to ask him a question or two.
It was very much not silent in the lab. Even after Tony’s footsteps were out of earshot, there was the humming of the air conditioning, the buzzing of electronics, beeping of machines monitoring experiments nearby, and, of course, the tick, tick, tick that signaled the counting down of the egg timer Tony set up to measure Caleb’s time in the plaster.
Tony had requested some odd things of Caleb in that past. But this was by far one of the weirdest situations he had been in since working at Stark. Okay second weirdest right after swapping bodies with his boss. He had no idea why Tony was taking a mold of his hands. He tried to ask but Tony just brushed it off. Either from wanting it to be a surprise or he thought he had already explained the situation to Caleb.
Before he could ask anymore questions Tony had taken off. Well okay then. Oh well, at least Caleb had some scotch in front of him. He sipped through the straw as he waited for Tony to return.
Sharon Carter had paperwork to deliver to Stark Tower. She’d volunteered, actually, to make the delivery, because… why not? It was always amazing hopping up into the lab at the top of the building. Tony Stark was like Q from James Bond. He could make pretty much anything out of anything. Wait, was that MacGuyver? Whatever, Tony Stark was amazingly smart. And visiting his lab was like looking into the mind of a tech genius.
So Sharon knocked on the door between his office and his lab. “Mister Stark?” She asked, calling through the door. Then she turned the handle and pushed it open. “Are you here? I’m not interrupting anything, am I?”
“Uh,” Caleb replied hands still in the plaster as he turned his head to look at the door. “Tony’s not here right now,” Caleb replied. He had no idea who the lady coming in the door was, but Tony hadn’t mentioned anyone coming up to the lab and she wasn’t sure how his boss would feel about this.
Sharon came through the doorway, glancing around at the lab. And then she saw a young man sitting at a table, sipping from a straw, and holding his arms… in buckets of goop? Um. What? She broke into a little smirk as she wandered closer, hugging the envelope to her chest.
“What… what has he done to you?” Sharon asked, smirking softly as she took in the boy without use of his hands. She sounded amused, and didn’t seem surprised or disappointed that Tony wasn’t there.
That was a good question lady. One Caleb definitely didn’t know the answer to. “No idea,” she attempted to shrug but it was a bit difficult with his hands in plastery stuff. “He doesn’t tell me anything.” It wasn’t like Tony said jump and Caleb asked how high, but he definitely did the occasional odd thing for his boss. This being one of those odd things. “What’s that?” he asked nodding at the envelope.
Sharon nodded, the grin still plastered on her lips. She supposed she probably would have done the same thing, were she in his shoes. If Peggy asked to get plaster molds of Sharon’s hands, she wouldn’t have pestered her cousin with questions, either. And Tony had that way about him. He was charming and trustworthy, not to mention talking a mile a minute using large words that were often hard to follow.
“Oh, just some paperwork. Tony does some consulting with my company, and I’ve been sent to deliver these. Where… where is he?” Sharon asked, glancing around the room. God, she loved hanging out in his lab. She had no idea what half these machines were, but they were awesome.
The was another attempt of a shrug at Sharon. “He said he’d be right back,” that was about as much as Caleb knew about Tony’s whereabouts. Hopefully he got his ass back to the lab soon because Caleb didn’t want to sit around forever with his hands stuck in plaster. And it wasn’t like he could exactly move or chase Tony down himself.
“I’ll hang out for a few minutes, if you don’t mind?” Sharon said, and she moved to a nearby work station to perch on the edge of a chair. She was again amused at the sight of the boy stuck in the plaster, but with his drink and straw. A little, amused grin crossed her lips. “So… do you work here? I mean, at Stark Tower?” He could have been a craigslist find, or something.
“Fine by me.” It wasn’t like Caleb had a lot to do anyway and it was pretty boring just sitting there. Drink or no drink. “Yeah. Tony’s my boss.” Well and Merlin too but he communicated a lot with Tony. At least what he assumed was more than most other employees.
“Does he make a good boss?” Sharon asked, glancing once around the lab. “I mean, apart from the times he makes you sit with your hands in buckets.” She couldn’t help but smile. “Is there anything I can do to help? Itchy nose, or anything?”
“Uh, I guess. Best boss I’ve ever had.” Granted his old bosses had been criminals that came after him later on and kidnapped Hanna. So the standards weren’t all that high but working for Tony didn’t really feel like a job. “Even with the hands in buckets. Hopefully he will tell me what this is all about at some point. I’m curious now.” Knowing Tony though he might forget he even had Caleb involved in all this and Caleb would never get to find out what it was for. “Why did you have to say that? Now my nose does itch.” Power of suggestion, thank you very much.
Sharon gave a little laugh. “It amuses me that you’d just stick your hands in buckets without insisting upon knowing why.” Then again, if Tony Stark asked her to put her hands in buckets? She’d probably do it. Because he was Iron Man. And he seemed to always know what he was doing. She stepped forward and lifted a cloth from the table, bringing it to his nose to offer it up. “Here,” she said, “rub it here.” It would probably be easier to scratch it with the cloth, than to try and rub it on his own shoulder or something.
“I’m hoping this isn’t Tony’s evil plan to trap me here,” he quipped. Although he was very much stuck at the moment. Which was why he appreciated her help with the nose it. Even if rubbing his nose on cloth in some random woman’s hand was one of the more awkward moments of his life. “Thanks,” he said once he was done.
“That is his style,” Sharon said, grinning at the kid as he rubbed his nose. This was one of the strangest moments of her life, too--which was saying a lot, all things considered. “No prob--”
Tony Stark burst into the lab, already halfway through a thought. “--haven’t moved from that spot, have you?” But he stopped when he saw someone else in the lab besides Caleb. One of his eyebrows rose. “Oh. I see you have company. Pretty company, at that. Caleb, you sly dog, you. You’ll have to teach me your tricks one day--how to pick up beautiful women without the use of your hands.”
He moved over to where Sharon was standing, and they shook hands. “Miss Carter.”
“Mister Stark,” she said, giving him a smile. “Well, it was nice to meet you, Caleb.” Sharon said. “I’m going to steal your boss for like, two minutes. Then he can get back to his dastardly scheme of trapping you in the lab.”
Tony caught on quickly. “Mwahahaha.” He said, though it was relatively deadpan. “I’ll be right back.” He turned the little, bendy straw in Caleb’s drink so the younger man could reach it better, then motioned for Sharon to lead the way to his office. “After you.”
Sharon grabbed the papers and headed into the office, leaving Caleb alone in the lab once more.