Chapter 2
Or maybe not. Tony Stark was irritating to the extreme- and that was at best. It wasn't that he wasn't letting her do anything, oh no. It was that he kept poking her with metal instruments.
"Would you stop that?" She snapped after about the seventh time he jabbed her. Perhaps she shouldn't be speaking to her new boss like that, but she was too fed up to notice.
"Nope," Tony answered with a huge grin, poking her with it again. Her eye twitched as she came to a conclusion. Tony Stark is a child. Closing her eyes, she quickly hummed a little tune to calm herself. It didn't work. Once she felt another poke at her side, her eyes flew open.
"Bruce!" She yelled, irritation filling her voice. The much more mature scientist turned around to examine her plight.
"Yes?" He asked tiredly, taking off his glasses. He was used to people complaining about Tony, not that he blamed them.
"Tony's being an ass!" Okay, maybe it was overkill to swear at your boss- but it was true. Completely and utterly true.
"Language!" Bruce and Tony said simultaneously with identical grins. Lovisa looked at them confusedly.
"What?" She asked, bemused. She was suspicious, not just because nobody said 'language' anymore, but also by their grins. She was definitely missing something. Her idea was confirmed when they made eye contact.
"Inside joke," Tony dismissed, "But now you're going to have to put money in the swear jar." Lovisa's eyebrows shot up in disbelief.
"Do you actually have a swear jar?" She asked hesitantly, knowing better than to put anything passed him. With a grin, Tony reached down under the counter and pulled out a large jar with a label stating 'Swear Jar'. It was already half-full with quarters, nickels, and dimes.
"You're kidding me." His grin was answer enough. With a sigh, Lovisa reached into her pocket and pulled out thirty-four cents.
"Here," she sighed, letting the loose change clank in the glass jar.
"Thank you, my dear," Tony said mischievously, putting the jar away. Sighing, Lovisa brushed away some stray hairs that had escaped her braid. Shaking her head, she got back to work.
"I can't believe you have a swear jar," she murmured under her breath, unaware that they could hear her.
"Of course we do," Tony scoffed, as if the idea was absurd, "What kind of uncivilized people don't?" Lovisa glared at him over her microscope.
"Most people," Lovisa answered dryly, before turning her attention back to her microscope. Tony chuckled before coming to stand behind her. The hairs on her neck stood up at the feeling like someone was reading over her shoulder.
"What are you looking at?" Tony asked curiously. Lovisa sighed at his almost child-like demeanor.
"Something that my friend brought me back from India. I haven't got the chance to examine it yet." Her only other friend, Tala, had brought them back for her. Lovisa hadn't seen her other friend in several years- she was too busy exploring her own homeland of India. Not that Lovisa blamed her, if she could travel the world and go back home, God knows she would. Tony sniffed.
"Cool," he commented, cooly examining her technique without her knowledge. After a moment, he moved away and Lovisa let out a sigh of relief. Luckily after that, he let her work in peace for the next several hours. But not for much longer.
After about the third hour, Tony started complaining again.
"I'm bored!" He exclaimed petulantly. Lovisa rolled her eyes. This certainly differed from what she'd heard about him. From what Pepper had told her, Tony would go days without eating or sleeping in his lab- until someone physically made him. Lovisa sighed, turning to face the man-child.
"Then what do you want to do?" Lovisa asked indulgently, placing her hands on her hips. After all she'd been through with her new boss, she'd resorted to old techniques that she usually used on children. Tony perked up immediately.
"Actually, I'm hungry- can you get us food?" He asked, sitting up and rubbing his hands together. Lovisa's eye twitched minimally before she nodded, rubbing the bridge of her nose.
"Of course," she said tiredly. Is every day going to be like this? Yes, she enjoyed being in a lab again- especially after so long; but Tony was hard to work with. For one, he was utterly ridiculous. He would do anything to annoy you or get a reaction. Lovisa thought it was like dealing with one of the children at the Day Care nearby. Well, it kind of is. Except this child just happened to be a genius billionaire.
Grabbing her purse from her chair, she slung it over her shoulder and stalked out of the lab. She ignored the elevator- not wanting to go in there a second time. She didn't even care that she was on the seventy-second floor. It was worth it. She brushed aside the thought of what she would do on the return trip.
Once she got to the ground floor, her legs were aching but it was worth it. She didn't have to go in that small metal box. Grinning in triumph to herself at her small victory, she went outside- only for it to start raining.
"Oh, great!" She exclaimed. Huffing, she took out her polka-dot umbrella from her bag. Disgruntled, Lovisa started to make her way down to the nearest subway.
/
Back at the lab, Tony was grinning from ear to ear, and Bruce was looking at him suspiciously.
"Why are you smiling?" Bruce finally asked with a note of suspicion in his voice. There always was with Tony. Who knows what he could be thinking.
"So our new scientist, she's pretty cute, right?" Tony asked offhandedly. Bruce looked at him with a look of incredulousness. Well, he was right. He suspected that was part of the reason why Tony hired her. Light brown hair and wondering, dark green eyes. The freckles didn't hurt either.
"Yes… I suppose…" He answered cautiously. What was he on about? Bruce was hoping that Tony didn't want to come on to her. But he doubted he would; after all, Tony had Pepper. (Who, in his opinion, was way too good for his friend). Tony's grin widened even more.
"Well, you know who else is around her age, and would look cute with her?" Tony inquired. Bruce's brow furrowed as he struggled to follow Tony's train of thought. His eyes widened with realization.
"Tony!" He started with a note of panic in his voice. He knew what Tony could do when he put his mind to something. "No, Tony- don't even think about it!" He was losing his grip on control as Tony ignored him.
"But think about it," Tony continued mischievously, "Lovisa and Speedy Gonzales would be so cute together!" He ignored Bruce shaking his head vigorously at his best friend. "Besides, the Witch needs a friend. The only other female here is Nat, and she's only here sometimes- and an assassin." Not that Tony disapproved of the latter, he still thought the best of the agent. But he doubted that the Witch would want to befriend an assassin who didn't trust easily. The twins needed some normal in their hectic life. See, he was thinking of the best for them!
"No!" Bruce blurted out, slamming his fist against a table, "You can't just go throwing away a budding scientist as a… reward for the twins." When Tony still didn't look convinced, he continued. "Besides," he sighed, "How do you even know she's single- or straight, even." Tony's brow furrowed as he thought about what his friend said.
"Good point," he murmured before brightening when a thought hit him. "I'll just ask her." By now, Bruce's eyes were at danger of bursting out of his skull.
"Tony, you can't just play matchmaker whenever you feel like it!" Bruce protested. Tony gave him a severe look.
"Wasn't I right about Clint and Nat?" He asked smugly when Bruce didn't answer.
"That's different," he grumbled after a minute. "You're talking about a human and a mutant being together." Tony rolled his eyes dramatically.
"Oh please," he dismissed, "They're perfect for each other." Bruce gave up, rubbing his face with his hands.
"Fine," he snapped, "But for the love of God, Tony, don't do anything stupid." Tony answered with an innocent look.
"I never do anything stupid." Bruce scoffed.
"That's up for debate." Their conversation was stopped to a halt when their newest science buddy walked through the door to the stairs, looking confused and holding two subway bags.
/
The rain had let up as Lovisa walked back to the tower carrying their food. She still wasn't used to the fact that she was working there now- and apparently expected to live there. She was still grumbling when she got to the doors of the tower. Not bothering to pull back the rain-soaked hood of her jacket, she marched inside the tower. She got several scandalized looks because of the puddles she was making.
"Sorry!" Lovisa apologized when she ran into a woman wearing a suit. The woman gave her a dark look before shoving past her.
"Well then," Lovisa muttered under her breath. Hefting her bags higher up on her arms, she started going up the stairs. Forget the elevator. She didn't care whether it took her half an hour to reach upstairs.
"This is not going as planned," Lovisa panted fifteen minutes later when her legs started giving out. She'd found out it was one thing to go down seventy-two floors, and a whole other to go up. This was not fun.
Stumbling to the landing, Lovisa sank to the ground in agony.
"Ugh…" She was obviously out of shape. That wasn't a really good thing, considering she usually prided herself on being fit. Well, semi-fit at least. Maybe she could just rest here. Her eyes drifted shut just for a moment.
"What are you doing?" Lovisa eyes snapped open. Standing in front of her, looking down at her in amusement, was a tall man with silver-colored hair. Clambering up, she dusted off her jeans sheepishly.
"Sorry, I-" she stuttered, tinting a light pink, "I was just taking a rest." The man looked at her in disbelief, and she couldn't help but notice how his pale gray eyes looked shrewd.
"From what?" He asked in a (Sokovian?) accent. Goddammit. Lovisa knew accents were the death of her. Sighing, she brushed a loose strand of hair out of her face.
"The stairs," she answered vaguely. "Also, if I might ask, what floor am I on currently?" A note of hope entered her voice. Maybe she didn't have that much more to go.
"Twelve." Lovisa's heart sank.
"Ugh," she groaned, shoulders slumping.
"What floor do you have to go to?" Lovisa was hesitant to answer his question.
"… Seventy-two…" The silver man's eyebrows shot up.
"Why don't you just take the elevator?" He inquired. Lovisa bristled.
"Because I don't want to," she huffed, turning and starting walking up the stairs again. Her legs screamed in protest, but she wouldn't let that stop her.
"It's going to take you an hour," the silver man commented from the stairwell.
"I don't care!" Lovisa retorted. She stubbornly pressed on. She almost heard a soft sigh from behind her, before she felt something pressing at her back and wind rushing in her ears. Freezing, she panicked and held onto whatever that thing was. Abruptly, it all stopped.
Looking around wildly, Lovisa was even more confused when she saw the silver man.
"Wha- How-" Lovisa struggled for words, "What did you just do?" She finally burst out. The silver man raised his eyebrows.
"You're welcome, you're on floor seventy-two," he said dryly. Looking down, Lovisa realized that she was currently in his arms, but it didn't really register. After he carefully set her down, Lovisa rushed to the window. He's not lying. She was so high up in the air that she could only barely make out the people on the pavement. They appeared little more than dots.
"But how-" She turned to ask the silver man, only to discover that he was gone.
"How did he do that?" Lovisa asked herself. Without an answer, she turned and walked back into the lab, carrying the two subway bags. She must have still looked very confused, because both Tony and Bruce looked at her strangely.
"Are you okay?" Tony asked after a moment. Lovisa looked at him with an affronted look on her face.
"Yeah, of course," she said distractedly, setting down the bag with their sandwiches in front of them. She took hers out, but refrained from eating it just eagerly dug in, while Lovisa pondered on the strange silver man.
"Aren't you going to eat?" Tony inquired, gesturing towards the uneaten sandwich she was holding. Nodding absently, she took a bite of it. Eh, she thought, shrugging. Not bad. Quickly, the three of them polished off the rest of their lunches.
"So," Tony started, drawing the word out, "Lovisa. Are you single?" Lovisa almost choked on her spit.
"What?" She coughed, looking at him in absolute bewilderment. Where did that come from? A touch of red brushed her cheeks at the improper question.
"Are you single?" Tony repeated with an air of innocence. Bruce was glaring at him, wondering why in the world he was friends with such an idiot. Lovisa looked at him skeptically.
"Yes…" She answered slowly, "Why?" Tony shrugged it off, but a mischievous glint gave him away.
"Oh, no reason," Tony dismissed, "Just curious." Lovisa stared at him incredulously for a moment, before shaking it off.
"Come on!" Tony called abruptly, bolting up from his seat- as if the fifteen minutes he'd been sitting down was too much, "Back to work!" Obeying, Lovisa went back to her microscope, unaware of the triumphant look Tony was shooting Bruce.
Hello! Can I just thank all of you lovelies for favoriting/following so much? My phone was blowing up all day. I'm surprised by how much love this is getting; I got like thirty follows in one day. Anyway, thank you all for reviewing and favoriting/following. This fic is inspired by the fanfic Look at Them, go and read it!
Please R&R!
