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Annie Wagner ([info]cyberpath) wrote in [info]we_coexist,
@ 2013-01-01 14:41:00

Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Tell a Friend!  Next Entry
Entry tags:annie wagner, tony stark, zz:status complete

Belated holiday (Tony)
Annie had been taking time in returning her workspace to the way it had been. She'd come back to it from Fixit one day to find it ... not ruined... but not the way that she had left it. It was like the whole building had suffered an earthquake and things had shifted. Some things had broken, too, which annoyed her. Thankfully, though, the arm and the mini arm were okay and her current project hadn't done more than slide to the right on the table it was on.

The turmoil in Stark Tower had only gotten worse after that, and Annie could only suspect that it was coming from one source. She had not yet met the red headed girl who had taken up residence with Bruce downstairs, but she was sure that all the trouble had started with her. Eventually, Annie had sent a note up with the big arm to Tony, inquiring about the goings on.

In return she got a brief text: Yeah. Bitch fest and plot party 8pm, living room. Don't make other plans tonight.

Annie decided that it would also be a good time to give him his Christmas present, since it seemed to her that he'd just vanished on the actual day. It was nicely wrapped, and thankfully she'd taken it home with her so it hadn't suffered any of the violence. She hadn't wanted Tony to get curious and open it without her being there.

At the appointed hour, Annie headed upstairs. She was dressed a little bit nicer than she had been when she arrived for work, and there were no marks of what she'd been doing all day on her anywhere. She had pointedly ignored Jarvis when he mentioned that she was just going upstairs to see Tony in his home, and cleaned herself up.

The box was on the small side, wrapped in a deep red paper with a black velvet ribbon around it. It might have been a little too fancy, but Annie just wanted a nice presentation. In the bow was tied a titanium spork, not the real gift, but she'd overheard Tony talking to himself about how much of a let down the spork was.

She hit the call button for the elevator.


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[info]i_shoottothrill
2013-01-01 10:49 pm UTC (link)
Tony was, as usual, in a logo shirt and plain - albeit designer and perfectly shaped to his assets - jeans. Tonight's featured picture was Pacman, which had struck Tony as an interesting creature. He wondered if the City would ever bring that into its existence here. And if it did, how big would it be? Would it do nothing but roam the streets, potentially demolishing everything as it went, eating the "bright dots" that were actually street lights?

Or would it be sentient? Was Pacman sentient?

These thoughts occupied him for most of the evening until the elevator dinged, heralding Annie's arrival. Then his thoughts returned to the matter at hand. He was fairly certain he knew what Annie had sounded concerned, and maybe even annoyed about in her note. And he knew it couldn't have been easy when he was 'never around'. He'd been avoiding her intentionally, still too irritated with the whole debacle to want to unintentionally take it out on her. Avoidance wasn't the greatest alternative, sure, but it was one of his finer ones.

"There she is. Employee of the month. First to take my title since I began working here," he said, gesturing to the expansive coffee table, which was already set with a steak dinner, made entirely by Tony himself. Hence the potatoes were the dried mix-into-warm-milk flakes and the steaks were just a bit charred on one edge, and only the salad and rolls were properly done. But he'd worked on the meal and once enough wine had been consumed it would be just fine by anybody's measure. "Come on in, hope you haven't already grabbed a bite to eat. But if you haven't and can't do this, we can order out too. Wouldn't be the first time my cooking was turned down."

He had a gift too, of course. Something he'd selected and had wrapped and shipped. But it was in a slender black box with a simple bow, and was currently hidden under the couch where Tony sat. He didn't believe in dining rooms for normal meals. They were too formal, too grown up. Too.... family. If he wasn't eating on the go or in his lab, he was on the couch.

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[info]cyberpath
2013-01-02 12:07 am UTC (link)
Annie smiled as she saw the food. She had no idea that Tony cooked. It didn't look bad, either. She would probably cut away the most charred bits of meat, but the idea of steak right now really appealed to her. And she wouldn't have known the difference between instant potatoes and the real thing anyway.

"No, it looks great." She said, honestly. She stepped into the penthouse, not taking her eyes off of the meal placed out on the table until she was a few steps in. Annie just really couldn't get over the fact that Tony cooked. And he'd cooked for her. That portion of her that had gotten too interested in romance movies for a little while was trying to tell her that this meant something. For the most part, she thought that part of her was a complete idiot, but it did raise a little spark of hope.

Annie turned and held out the box containing the gift she'd both bought and made for him. She couldn't wait to tell him about the latter part.

"Merry Christmas, late."

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[info]i_shoottothrill
2013-01-02 12:36 am UTC (link)
Tony arched a brow, reaching out and taking the little box.... with a spork in the bow. And not just a spork, but a properly designed and well made spork. Tony let out a short laugh, tugging it free and turning it over in the light, then wiped it down with his shirt (because that would make it clean enough) and went after potatoes and a bit of salad with it, making an entire mouthful past his lips with ease.

"Yes," Tony closed his eyes. People, usually those trying to impress him or endear themselves to him, always bought him expensive or complicated gifts. Tony didn't care about complexity. He wanted cleverness, ideas that hadn't occurred to him. There was nothing he couldn't do, not on earth anyway, so he appreciated what he didn't have to do. A well made spork was as good a gift to him as a well built hover car.

He turned and grinned as Annie, holding out his arm in gesture for her to sit at his side as he put the spork down and pulled at the bow, moving the lid aside and then blinked. A watch. A very odd looking watch... not exactly what he'd pick out for himself but not what he'd refuse to wear either, to the right event.

"Well, not as clever as the spork, but look at that," he perked a brow, turning it over his hand. It was definitely quality, though it felt heavy for such a slender piece.

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[info]cyberpath
2013-01-02 12:46 am UTC (link)
Annie's smile grew when he had full appreciation of the spork. She'd thought that he would like it, but he liked it a lot more than she'd imagined. It made her happy.

It also made her happy to be invited to sit next to him. She did so gladly, and when his arm snuck around her waist a little bit, she leaned into it a little bit.

"It looks like it's just a fancy watch. Which it used to be." Annie had spent a good deal on the watch just to do with it what she had, but it had the gears that she needed, and the unusual look that she craved. And here in the City, money didn't really mean the same. "It does all the stuff that it was made to do, tell the time, whatever else. I don't know. Really, I just liked the face. I thought it was interesting to look at, and I didn't want you to have just a boring old watch face, even if it is actually something more."

She looked at the little machine that he held in his hands. She hoped very much that it would be well received.

"It's a way for you to communicate directly with the suit. Like I do. It can understand you, but you can't understand it. There's a direct link, so all it has to do is transmit normally, and it'll communicate through the watch to you audibly or through text, your choice and you can change the setting, what it actually means. You don't have to be wearing the suit or even near it for it to work. The link is long range. It's like a suit translator. In a funky watch face."

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[info]i_shoottothrill
2013-01-02 01:04 am UTC (link)
His eyes narrowed when she mentioned that it wasn't actually a watch, and listened to what she had to say. And all of a sudden the Glory of the Spork (Hallelujah) was completely forgotten.

A way to communicated with his suit. Not just the programming, but the.... was it a soul? Tony's arm pulled from around Annie as he looked at the watch more carefully, and then he turned and gave her a long look.

"I could kiss you," he said, completely seriously. He had no idea that her power could even be transferred into technology.

Then he blinked, realizing what he just said, and turned, taking her chin and leaning in, kissing her firmly on the lips. After all, he was a man of action, not words. Then he turned back to his gift, unlatching his watch and tossing it to the side before putting on the new device, looking for the 'on' switch.

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[info]cyberpath
2013-01-02 01:18 am UTC (link)
That the watch was so well received delighted her. It had taken Annie a lot of thinking and a lot of time to figure out something that she could get for Tony that he didn't already have, or couldn't get for himself. Or couldn't make for himself, for that matter. She'd wanted to do something very special, because of the way that she felt. She had no idea if her feelings would come through the gift to him, but it didn't matter in the end. It just mattered that she knew. His reaction was more than she had even hoped for.

The kiss...

Well, the kiss was wonderful, simply put. As first kisses went, it wasn't the most romantic or epic story producing moment, but it did send goosebumps all over her body. She didn't even hesitate to kiss back, and when he pulled away, though disappointed that it was over so soon, she sat quietly for a moment just reveling in what had happened.

She realized finally that Tony was trying to get the watch to work, and reached over. Her powers kicked in for a second as the face responded to her touch and lit up briefly to indicate that it was on. She'd even gone so far as to match that glow to the glow that came from the device on Tony's chest.

"It shouldn't need upkeep. The power source runs off of you." The words weren't really coming to mind what she meant to say about the watch. There weren't really any instructions for it, just information she thought he might like to know. "If you want to mute the suit, just push in the knob at the side. Turning it changes the output to audio or text, otherwise it doesn't do a lot of anything. The display will turn the glass on the face opaque, but you should still be able to read the time through it."

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[info]i_shoottothrill
2013-01-02 02:24 am UTC (link)
Tony's grin didn't falter as the watch switched on, and he turned the knob, moving to the texting portion. "This is fantastic piece of work," he said. He felt the giddiness just turning this on that he usually go from the first time he turned on one of his own major projects. Very few other people had ever given him that feeling.

"Well, let's see what the ol' suit-" he paused as he read the first few lines of text, then gave Annie a sideways look. "Does it call me that name a lot?"

Then he shook his head. "No, you know, never mind. I'll find out. Well. This... this is still fantastic, but let's let tonight be two, eh? Well, two and Jarvis, but he doesn't really count."

"Thank you, sir," Jarvis said dryly. Tony just smirked and switched off the watch, though he left it on. Then he remembered his own gift, which now seemed simple and a bit ridiculous by comparison, but he'd do better next time. He poured her wine and refilled his own glass, putting hers in easy reach before he pulled the box out from under the couch.

Putting it in her lap he moved back, re-looping his arm around her waist. It was a new year, a new slate. And Tony would be damned if he was going to face Bruce and Enigma with nobody in his corner as well. Or at least, not with an empty reservation slot where somebody could be. The City didn't love beautiful, spectacular, ordinary people like Pepper, so Tony let go. It was all he could do. And it wasn't like he hadn't noticed Annie's looks. Hell, the look on her face when he'd helped clean her up in the limo had spelled it all out for him, and she wasn't bad herself. She didn't seem too repulsed by his usual behavior, too, which was more than a few points on top of the obvious intelligence and abilities, and the looks that had bought her passage into his car the first day they met.

"This isn't a decoding-you-greatest-invention-for-you gift but, I'll make that up to you," he said. He actually had given a bit of thought and worked with Jarvis to pick the dress and earrings the box contained. He did know what looked good, after all. At least, in his own estimation.

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[info]cyberpath
2013-01-02 02:34 am UTC (link)
Annie leaned in again, and felt this time that the arm around her hadn't been habit, but on purpose. She dared to let her hopes rise even higher than they had been with the kiss. The kiss could have just been a moment of being impressed and nothing more. This was... this was a little more intimate.

She let the box rest on her lap while she opened it, it was a bit heavy, but when the contents shifted, she didn't hear any parts or metal bits scraping around. Which she wouldn't have been opposed to, of course.

The earrings caught her eye first, naturally, being on top. They were so sparkly and shiny, she held them up to reflect the light of the room around them.

"Wow." It came out in a fast whisper. She'd never owned anything like these, and didn't think she'd ever seen anything like them in stores. Of course, she didn't frequent jewelery stores herself, only glancing when window shopping.

The dress that went with them matched the color of the stones, and flowed in the box a bit like water. Annie had to stand up to get the full effect of it, it was so long. She couldn't think of a place that she would go to wear something like this, but she had no doubt that Tony knew of a handful at least.

It was the first time in her life that she'd ever gotten things so beautiful as gifts. It made her feel fancy and elegant, and she wasn't even wearing them yet.

Tony had kissed her because of the genius behind her gift, Annie kissed him because of the beauty in hers. She didn't even warn him first, and she didn't pull away as quickly.

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[info]i_shoottothrill
2013-01-02 03:09 am UTC (link)
When she turned back to him, Tony opened his mouth to mention the opera, or a gala, or just a rich person's fancy party they could crash together. Hell, sometimes it was just fun to wear ridiculously expensive clothes and run around amongst the commoners.... though he suspected she'd like to see the elite, too. But instead of words leaving his mouth he found a set of lips meeting his own, his comment muffled by a very sweet and warm taste.

She didn't end the kiss immediately, and so he didn't either, reaching up and touching her cheek, and then running his tongue over her bottom lip when the kiss finally did end. He pulled back, though only a few inches, looking over her face as if reanalyzing, though he'd already done that. Still it was always the same. When you tasted someone they looked different.

He smiled, then. His charming and winning smile. "Well. Definitely going with that designer again," he said, before he carefully took the earrings and closed the lid of their box. "How about you put your dress back in the box, I'll pull your plate over here, and we'll eat and drink until we can start laughing and complaining at the same time?"

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[info]cyberpath
2013-01-02 03:58 am UTC (link)
That was more like what she'd imagined a first kiss with Tony should be like. Annie thought to mention what he'd said about kissing him and what kind of enjoyment it would bring, but it had been the other Tony who said it, and though she thought the sentiment would cross over, it didn't seem right.

She righted herself and folded the dress carefully, though not quite the way it had been. She had no knowledge of how such things should be yet. So it sort of lay in the box instead of being displayed by it as it had been when she'd opened it. Which was okay, really, because as soon as she got home, she was going to take it back out and probably try it on.

"Being able to laugh while complaining would be a good thing." She nodded, setting her gifts away from the food lest any kind of freak accident happen. On her way back, she picked up the wine he'd put out for her earlier and had a big drink of it. If she was going to talk about the new girl, she was going to have fun doing it, because she wasn't very happy about the way that things were going.

She sat back next to him, happier then she'd been when she'd walked in. The evening had certainly turned into something she'd never expected.

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[info]i_shoottothrill
2013-01-02 04:32 am UTC (link)
While she folded the dress Tony moved her food over, and carefully reset the silverware. He was going to be using his spork, which was still cool, even if it was definitely a bow ornament to the tech in the actual present.

"I think the meal will be a bit tough enough to swallow without bringing anybody up, so let's eat and drink, then drink again, then talk about redheads with rage monster fetishes," he said, picking up his plate and starting in on his potatoes. "How were your holidays?"

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[info]cyberpath
2013-01-02 04:49 am UTC (link)
"Not bad, actually. The store had a rush of customers the days before, and then it went fairly quiet again. But it was nice to be able to help so many people find things for the people they care about. I've never been able to do that before. Getting to see the lights that people put on their houses, seeing the trees through the windows. We didn't really do things like that. It wasn't particularly safe to leave your curtains open all the time, and pretty lights were frivolous."

She did cut away the more scorched parts of her steak, but the rest of it was excellent, and apparently what she'd been craving. Annie had never craved meat before, but she was sure that she'd recognize it if it happened again.

"I went by the City Hall where they had this big tree and it was all decorated. I watched people buying presents for others. It was nice to see. Everybody scurrying around like ants. All the brightly colored wrapping paper. I think next year, I want to get a tree for my apartment. I didn't do it this year because I didn't really understand how much fun it could be to have all those little ornaments. It just sounded like a chore."

She smiled at the spork, happy she'd gotten it for him.

"What about you? I didn't see you around. But I did see some robots with hats on."

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[info]i_shoottothrill
2013-01-02 05:13 am UTC (link)
Tony slowly nodded. All of her enjoyments seemed like the typical first memorable Christmases. The memories that made people fall in love with the Holiday, and cherish it not matter how insane, impractical, aggressive, or commercial it got. Tony himself still enjoyed the lights and general mood in the air around the holidays, though he never participated or admitted it to anybody.

"Well, once I finished repairs to the tower and security systems, I followed my tradition of drinking until I forgot which day it was. And I came out of that around the time your note came up with Dummy," he said. He offered her a falsely innocent look. "I have no idea what you mean by hats or robots."

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[info]cyberpath
2013-01-02 05:19 am UTC (link)
"Sounds like an interesting holiday to say the least." Annie wasn't going to pry about why he'd choose to celebrate like that. Tony would have his own reasons for it. She had learned that even in the midst of all the happiness, there were still people out there who found the holiday a miserable thing. And not everybody got to see it with the wonder of her first-timer's eyes. Most people grew up with it happening around them and were encased in bitterness about many things.

"Hats." She said, pulling her phone out of her back pocket and opening up the photo she'd taken. It was of the two arms. "On robots." She passed it to him to see. She knew that she hadn't done it, and the arms hadn't done it. But they had seemed to like it, complaining when she tried to remove them after the big day was over with.

"I named the little one, by the way. Kleinwaf...shit. Jarvis?"

"Kleinwaffe. Small arm, in German." The voice came. Annie was really comfortable having Jarvis around, she didn't even think it might seem weird to somebody else to have an AI overseeing every single part of your life, knowing all the little secrets of your world. She liked knowing he was there.

"I decided to just call the big one Arm."

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[info]i_shoottothrill
2013-01-02 06:11 am UTC (link)
"Actually it was pretty much the same as spring break," he grinned, taking the phone and looking at the happy little robot arms. He remembered it, of course. It had been great fun, and he had laughed for ten minutes straight when he got all three household bots in the hats. He had a picture of his own, taken from his own iPhone, which had all three bots posed, and Tony's legs and one arm from where he'd lost his orientation and fallen over right as the timer had gone off.

Still, the joke had worn off and while it was worth a slight smile, revisitation wasn't what Tony did.

"Klien...." Tony did make a face at that. It was obviously German, it sound ridiculous in an English accent and almost definitely would sound like phlegm in a German one. "You want to name it after underwear and waffles? I mean, sure, it's your arm but... alright. I can't imagine Dummy will lament getting 'Arm' in comparison." He was giving her a hard time, of course, harder than he needed to, but not as hard as he could. It was who he was. If you attracted Tony's attention you would get it, and everything it entailed.

"Next Christmas we could probably put more up around the offices," he said thoughtfully. "Put a tree in the lobby or something. I didn't designate somebody to do that here, but I will." It had been Pepper, back home, but Tony wasn't dumb enough to bring her up after sharing two kisses with the girl in a space of less than five minutes.

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[info]cyberpath
2013-01-02 06:22 am UTC (link)
"It seemed interesting at the time." Annie admitted. "But now I can't seem to get it right to save my life. And the stupid thing is attached to it."

She made a bit of a face.

"Don't... relay that, Jarvis. That I called it stupid."

Annie felt a bit bad at the slight, though she hadn't really meant that it was stupid stupid. Just that she didn't know how it had gotten so caught up in the name so quickly.

"I keep wanting to say waffle." She nodded to Tony's translation. "It feels more natural coming out. I shouldn't have picked German, I think. Something in Spanish would have been better maybe. It's more of a romance language."

Despite her feelings for Tony, it didn't hurt them at all when he was playing rough. She saw it as a part of him, for one. For two, she could play rough, too. She was one of those people that felt if you couldn't take it, you couldn't give it.

"Arm is better than Dummy coming from me. It just sounds like an insult when you haven't grown up with the thing and have a fondness that makes it so you don't change the flaws in the programming."

Like the stealing.

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[info]i_shoottothrill
2013-01-03 02:58 am UTC (link)
"Never, Miss," Jarvis responded dutifully.

"J doesn't narc. It's against his programming and better nature," Tony chuckled, finishing his steak. It wasn't great, but not bad, and he didn't know why so many people hated on instant mash. It wasn't real, of course, but it had an appeal of its own.

"Well, I'll go with Waffle, but you're not gonna get me to work around the German thing," he said, tilting up his glass of wine. He nodded at the 'Arm' bit. He understood. And who knew, maybe Dummy wouldn't want anybody else to call it that anyway. Who knew with that thing?

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[info]cyberpath
2013-01-03 06:53 pm UTC (link)
Annie knew that she probably hadn't needed to tell Jarvis not to tattle on her about what she'd said. But she wanted the AI to know that she hadn't meant it. She didn't think that any machines were dumb.

Her steak was mostly finished, those parts that weren't too burned to eat, and so she moved on to the potatoes. Never in her life had she had flakes of potato before, part of her felt like they might have been extra starchy, but she couldn't really say one way or the other. Maybe Tony just had a different way of making them. They weren't bad, either way.

"Where do you think they put the hats?" Annie had realized that they'd been missing and she hadn't been the one to take them off. She didn't think Tony had either, which meant - to her mind - that the robots had likely stashed them somewhere. Waffle had taken up the theft as easily as a fish takes to water. So far, though, the little arm wasn't taking things that she noticed. She'd just seen it wandering off with discarded wire and extra washers.

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[info]i_shoottothrill
2013-01-04 02:46 am UTC (link)
Tony thought about that for a moment, then shrugged. "I dunno. I keep thinking they have a secret room they run off to. Someplace out of sight where they hold little rituals and dance around an old computer monitor or something. And now they have hats to wear while they do it."

He was glad to see she was eating his food. It was the one thing he liked to do every once in a while that he wasn't any good at. He didn't have many of those things, but if he didn't see himself spending much time with a member of the opposite sex who couldn't appreciate them as much as they did his genius.

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[info]cyberpath
2013-01-04 03:03 am UTC (link)
Annie took a moment to picture a little secret room with a worshiped old computer, picturing it fully in her head, the two arms doing strange arm dances around in circles, bringing it the things that they had stolen as homage.

It was mildly creepy, but still funny enough to smile at.

"Gifts for the almighty ancient one." She said, giggling into her last bite of potatoflakes.

She didn't bother to include Tony in her thoughts, he would either figure it out, or he'd have to suffer. There was no way that she was going to fully describe the scene that had just played out in her own imagination. He'd started it, anyway, he should be able to finish it.

Annie picked up her salad.

"I'm doing this backward, aren't I?" Salads were before the main course things. Usually. Oh well. She'd wanted the steak most, so she'd gone for it first. And now she was glad about that, since she didn't think she could finish the salad. It got put back onto the table, and the wine glass lifted instead.

"Thank you for dinner. It was a nice surprise. I didn't even know you had a kitchen up here." The last bit was a tease. But really, she hadn't thought Tony would ever bother with making his own meals.

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[info]i_shoottothrill
2013-01-06 02:58 am UTC (link)
Tony wasn't going to ask, but it sounded like she was right on the same track he'd been with the idea of what the arms did in their own little world.

He shrugged at her question. "If anybody cares enough they serve you in courses. I don't care though." He stabbed some new lettuce and then grinned at her. "You're lucky if you get a decent desert around here. Well. Of the edible variety."

When she made the comment about dinner he shrugged a shoulder. "Cooking is easy. Or, it should be. Sometimes it's worth taking a look at something you suck at, to put in perspective how awesome your talents are. And if something is made for somebody special in the process, it's a win win."

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[info]cyberpath
2013-01-06 03:36 am UTC (link)
Annie had read about things being served in courses, but she'd never experienced it. She thought it might be annoying, actually. Not having access to all the food at the same time. What if you didn't like a course, or were allergic to it? Did you just sit and watch other people eat?

"You don't keep desserts around for just whenever?" Annie liked to keep them around and sometimes ate them in lieu of actual meals. Her world didn't have the spectacularly intricate kinds of things she'd found in the City, and didn't even have a lot of the really simple things, either. She'd had cake in her life, but she'd never had double fudge cake with strawberry icing before. She'd almost made herself sick with that one.

"Somebody special, huh?" She smiled a bit. There was no way to take that wrong, she didn't think. Annie wasn't really looking for confirmation on what he meant, or for him to clarify. She just liked the way the words sounded and wanted to hear them again. Annie adjusted herself so she was leaning a bit on him and sat back, glass of wine in her hand. "You're just full of unexpected and wonderful surprises. Though I'm sure you already know that."

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[info]i_shoottothrill
2013-01-06 04:03 am UTC (link)
"Well. There's cakes and probably candy somewhere around. Usually is. When Thor's around there's always lots of poptarts and pringles," Tony shrugged. Usually he just bought in whatever he felt like eating, and that included junk food as much as anything else. He went through dramatic swings of eating nothing but pizza and burgers, and then nothing but salads and fully balanced meals. It was always a tossup for him.

His hand went up and stroked her hair as he smirked. "Yeah. Well. Not everybody around can just pick up a conversation with a multi million dollar piece of technology, or a coffee maker," he said, then leaned in and kissed her neck, pausing almost thoughtfully with his lips just outside her ear. "Or look quite so hot doing it."

Thought over he pulled back and mashed the rest of his meal into his mouth before wiping it and tossing the napkin onto his plate.

"Yeah. I've pretty much known since I was three. It's something I don't dwell on anymore," he smirked, thinking it must have been sad for him before he knew he was amazing.

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[info]cyberpath
2013-01-06 04:20 am UTC (link)
Annie didn't care about dessert after he got close. She didn't care about much of anything at all, if she was honest. She'd harbored this crush on Tony for months now, and hadn't stepped up to the plate because of Pepper. She hadn't wanted to be pushy or, honestly, to feel that rejection of hearing he was still hoping for her to get dumped here like he had been. Now, all in one night, those boundaries were not only being crossed, but obliterated.

It made her very happy.

It also made her happy how easily it was happening for him. It seemed to her that giving him the space was the right thing to do. Keeping things to herself as she had, she hadn't forced his hand. And she didn't think that Jarvis had said anything either. As Tony had said earlier, he didn't narc.

"Coffee makers are surprisingly intuitive." Annie hadn't spoken to any of the appliances in Tony's house area, but now she was kind of curious about it. "They see people at their worst. I think if they could have daytime talk shows, they'd give the best advice. Though it might all end in drink more coffee."

She could feel the wine starting to make her warmer. Another glass, and she'd be on her way to tipsy town. Which, she supposed, was the idea of the night, considering the thing that they both wanted to bitch about and not be sober for.

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[info]i_shoottothrill
2013-01-06 04:45 am UTC (link)
Tony had known about the crush, but it had been hard to think about things clearly. Part of him had definitely been waiting for Pepper to be flung in here now as well. But then she hadn't, and despite his habits of going through women left and right, essentially Tony was the type who needed partnership. Before Pepper it had always been temporary, but the redhead had shown him that he could work well, very well in fact, inside a relationship. At least, in his mind he worked well in it. And generally he was good at apologizing when he mucked things up.

When Annie was finished with her own food he topped off her glass and then took the plates, taking them all to the kitchen sink and then leaving them there. He opened up the fridge, taking out the piece de resistance, some fresh strawberries and the best creme he'd ever tasted, all on a tray. With that and a second bottle of wine, for later, Tony returned to the couch and sat back, lounging and putting his feet up on the coffee table.

"So. You have some concerns regarding other occupants of the building," he said, reclining languidly and putting the tray on his lap, opening up his arm so Annie could join him in a post-dinner haze of booze, fruit, complaining, and physical touching.

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[info]cyberpath
2013-01-06 05:06 am UTC (link)
Annie snuggled herself right into those open arms, eying the fruit. She was full, but the strawberries looked so ripe and perfect. Leave it to Tony Stark to find berries that looked like they came out of magazines.

"I do." She sighed, realizing that she was actually going to have to interrupt this awesome moment with talk of things that made her less than happy. She took a long swallow of the wine and settled into him further, as if that could make all of it better. Which in a way, it did.

"There's been a lot of trouble since... well, I don't know that it's fair to put any of it on your friend. But the girl? The redhead?" She made a bit of a face, though she knew Tony wouldn't be able to see it. "I haven't met her. But the trouble started when she showed up. I don't really like coming into work to find things broken and everything messed up like a dinosaur ran through."

She was glad that she hadn't been here when that happened.

"And now she's down there, hurt from what I've managed to pick up, and has strangers waltzing in and out? I know it's the top levels that are the secure ones. Not the bottom ones. But I also know that you keep having to change things in the security."

Annie knew the latter because of her power. Which might have been cheating a bit. But her desktop really liked to keep her informed of all the random stuff that went on with coding. She'd tried installing a chess game on it to keep it occupied, but always with the coding.

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[info]i_shoottothrill
2013-01-06 06:09 am UTC (link)
Tony curled his arm around her, eating a strawberry and then offering one dipped in creme. "It's light," he promised. A very good way to top off a heavy meal like potatoes and steak.

He listened to her complaining about Enigma. It was a lot of the problems he had with the girl and her workplace conduct. He'd done what he could with Jarvis, and the rest... he was working on the good will aspect, having sent her a get well basket when he noticed she'd gotten herself into something bad. It was probably her own fault, but he wasn't one to judge about that sort of thing.

"Jarvis knows to keep a better eye on her, and prevent her associates from getting into the building. She's some kind of genius hacker, according to Bruce. Apparently that makes it hard for her to resist attacking the mainframe. J and I have reworked all of the security protocols, however. And if you wanted to take a look I wouldn't be unhappy with a more expert once over."

He thought for a moment about what she said about the elephant. "As for Bruce... he Hulks out sometimes. It happens. Sure, being in a relationship probably means it'll happen more often than if he was just a sad sack in the depths of his experiments all the time, but if it does get to be too much I'll find him a better place to keep his woman and temper."

He smiled, the hand around her stroking and finding just a hint of skin to brush against.

"Trust me, she's not the houseguest I wanted to bring in next."

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[info]cyberpath
2013-01-08 03:45 am UTC (link)
Annie took a bite of the strawberry and had to close her eyes for a moment. They were so ripe and so juicy. It was like an explosion of flavor in her mouth. She'd been having some pretty good fruit, too, since meeting Charlie and learning about some new sorts of things. These looked exactly like you always dreamed of strawberries tasting. Better, maybe.

"That's like saying because I can communicate with machines, I can't resist stealing Iron Man and blowing things up with it." Annie didn't buy it. She used restraint all the time with her power. Less so, now, of course, but when she was out in public, she didn't just dig into people's lives through their phones or their cars. "I'll look. I'm sure I can figure out something that will stop her from getting very far."

Annie could close doors that nobody even knew were there.

"You told me about him and his power or whatever it is. I figured that's what happened to stuff, that he'd gotten all big and green. But can't he see that there's some problem here? That his girlfriend has caused him to lose his temper and she keeps breaking into his boss' stuff?"

From what little Annie had heard of Bruce Banner, he'd seemed to be one of those good guys who was really really a good guy, who wouldn't tolerate any kind of criminal activity or excuses for committing even low level crimes.

Not that Annie thought that breaking into Stark security was low level. Maybe she was biased, but she was pretty sure that it should constitute jail time.

"I want people to be happy, I do. Just not at the sake of my own happiness. It's selfish, I know, and I don't think that's going to change. I'm selfish now. Kind of. In some ways."

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[info]i_shoottothrill
2013-01-08 04:31 am UTC (link)
"Exactly. Or me building a couple nukes to finish off the entire world and then letting them off." Tony might have made some extremely high powered weapons, in his day, but even he hadn't made weapons that could get out of control or destroy overly large regions in one go. He'd never quite been that irresponsible.

He paused when it came to Bruce. The man was important to Tony. Important enough that he let a strange woman with thugs move into his building. Important enough that he'd put up with a lot of crap from her, mainly because he could handle it and sometimes it was interesting. But the happy couple were running on Tony's last nerve in several crucial aspects. "I told him she didn't have any more chances. She breaks the rules again, she's out. He can go with her if she wants, or he can stay, but I can't make them break up. I've already tried that. Then she cheated on him and he turned around, destroyed a chunk of the tower and City, and then proposed to her."

Tony rolled his eyes, never once bothering to hide his feelings on that subject. He stroked Annie's hair slowly. "She's a sexy little thing who put out to a lonely old nerd. It's going to be hard to get him to see her for what she really is. And he'll probably give up a for the sake of getting off regularly. If she wasn't such a bitch I'd be happy the guy was finally getting laid but...." he paused and shrugged, leaning in to give Annie a very thorough kiss.

"I'm more selfish than you are. This is my tower and I want you here a hell of a lot more than I want her. Or most anybody else." He smiled at her and then brushed her cheek with his thumb. "I prefer company with class. Sexiness without the need to cut off half their tops and climb into my lap begging. And yeah, ok. Blonde is better." He chuckled to himself and leaned in, kissing her neck, his hand unashamedly roaming down her side.

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[info]cyberpath
2013-01-08 05:13 am UTC (link)
Annie was pretty glad that Tony was the guy he was, and not somebody who would willingly make weapons that would destroy everything at once. She was also glad that he was the sort who learned from mistakes and wouldn't let weapons get into the wrong hands. Or even let them be made in his company anymore.

He could probably come up with some really horrible things if he wanted to.

"Cheated on him and he asked her to marry him?" That was weird to Annie. She didn't care who it was, she would never stay with somebody who did that to her. No matter what the situation was, she didn't want to deal with how that would feel. How looking at that person every day would feel.

Annie hadn't meant to imply that she wanted Bruce out of the building, just Enigma, or really even that he should break up with the redhead, though it did bum her out a little bit that neither one was going to be happening any time soon.

"I feel kind of bad for him. He sounds like such a nice guy, and she is just... not nice. From what I have heard anyway." Part of what Tony said hit her and she narrowed her eyes a bit. "In your lap and begging?"

Sure, Annie had no real claim over Tony before tonight - and she wasn't totally confident that her claim would go past tonight - but she couldn't help but hate a little bit that the redhead had tried to come on to him. Not just because of how she felt about Tony, but because she was supposed to be with Bruce.

She was going to say something about it, too, thankfully his mouth stopped her.

All the thoughts about the girl causing the problems started to fade from her mind as Tony kissed her again. She felt like she was melting from the inside. Her ex boyfriend had never kissed her like this. Actually, nobody had ever kissed her like this. Annie really liked it.

She grinned at the compliments he was paying her, eyes half lidded. There wasn't even a chance for her to respond to any of it before his lips were on her neck. Annie felt like she was on fire. In a really good way, of course.

In her attempt to turn a little so she could have a better angle, Annie's fingers ended up in the creme. She almost got up to go wash them off, when her brain gave her a much better idea. With a little squirming, she was straddling Tony's lap, a mischievous look in her eye.

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[info]i_shoottothrill
2013-01-08 05:35 am UTC (link)
Tony bypassed all of Annie's questions about Bruce and Engima. Mainly because it was frustrating for him and he didn't like to whine about what he couldn't affect. Those rare things that he couldn't, anyway.

He didn't miss that Annie didn't miss the bit about Enigma being in his lap. He wondered if he shouldn't have skipped over all of that, but then... well, he was unattached at the time, and if Annie was going to get upset over women Tony used to or would continue to attract, he'd best know about it now.

Luckily she reacted to his super sexy sideshow well, enough, which was important for the genius. He needed to be able to use his body to get out of trouble. It didn't matter that it worked just as well on him, or that as Annie wiggled into his lap it simultaneously got less comfortable and better feeling. He looked up at her, dark eyes bright with want and curiosity, waiting to see what she'd do. A small smile played at his lips, and his breathing rose and fell evenly, but he was already hot with desire.

His hands went to the sides of her knees and stroked upwards along her thighs, moving around to cup her more physical assets, though otherwise he practiced some amount of patience. He was more than capable of sizing the reigns and getting her under him on top of the bed immediately, after all. At least, in his own mind. It was more interesting to see how she went about things, since she clearly wanted a similar scenario in the end. The real question was how she was planning on getting them there.

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[info]cyberpath
2013-01-08 05:47 am UTC (link)
Even though bitching about what had been going on in Stark Tower had been the intention of the night, Annie was really glad to let it go. Tony had done a lot to rectify the situation, and she had no doubt that he'd continue to be vigilant. Annie would, too. She'd look into the security before she went home, just to be certain that nothing could be done while she was gone. She would have felt really bad if she'd been here and then left and Enigma had done something.

The fingers covered in creme moved quickly. She dabbed some on his lips, smeared some on the edge of his jaw, then traced her fingers over his neck. Before he could protest that she was making a mess, Annie followed the trail with her lips and tongue.

Smiling, she sat up again when she had licked the last of it off from near the collar of his shirt and sucked her fingers clean. The couch wasn't really the easiest place to maneuver and be coy, Annie had to pause a moment to decide on the best next move. She sort of wanted to play with the creme more.

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[info]i_shoottothrill
2013-01-09 12:14 am UTC (link)
He might've been about to make a comment about getting creme on his couch, but then her lips were taking to his skin and he didn't manage too much more than take a low groan, his smile growing as her lips traveled over his skin. Oh yes, she was feistier than she let on. That was a great revelation, since general attitude didn't always carry over into sexuality, or vice versa.

He almost purred when she moved back on top of him, and reached up, touching her face before he bucked slightly, just to remind her where she was sitting. She didn't have to do anything to continue to rile him up. Her very presence was enough.

He grinned and leaned up to kiss her again, fingers slipping to her waist to hold her close as he ground against her, hating all the fabric that was between them.

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[info]cyberpath
2013-01-09 05:09 pm UTC (link)
More than willing to follow his lead, but not so sure about where they were currently sitting, Annie pulled back a bit. She slid off of Tony's lap and stood in front of him. She smiled to let him know that she wasn't just walking off, or ending this moment. Even if this was the only time she got to have Tony Stark, Annie wanted him. She would make the most of it.

She kicked off her sneakers and then stripped off her shirt. Leaving the rest for him to remove, she bent and picked up the bowl of creme and one strawberry. The latter, she bit into as she wiggled the bowl at him.

Not saying anything, Annie turned to make her way to the bedroom. She hoped that he followed.

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[info]i_shoottothrill
2013-01-10 02:23 am UTC (link)
If there were two things Tony couldn't resist, it was new technology and beautiful women. But when the latter stripped the most irksome part of their clothing and made off with playful deserts to the bedroom.... well, Tony really only had one thing he couldn't resist.

He grinned, leaving the rest of the fruit, glasses of wine, and Annie's shirt where it had fallen. He didn't care much about those things, his focus was singularly on the gorgeous creature making for his bedroom.

He didn't particularly have plans beyond tonight. That wasn't his style, and talk of such things usually sent him running in the other direction, or at least escaping in the morning. But even though he was rather unceremoniously leaping into the sack with Annie as he did many other girls, he didn't have plans on letting go of her either. She wasn't the living-to-be-a-doll type of supermodel, but like Pepper there was significantly more to her that attracted Tony, and retained his attention after baser needs were met.

Annie had signed herself up for quite a bit of attention from Tony, as much as he ever gave a human being other than himself. The fact that they worked together as well only made her more accessible and desirable in the long run.

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