Okay, so I finally decided what my OC's romantic interest is gonna be! Took me ages, it really did. Can you guess who's going with who? Anyway, hope you enjoy this little golden nugget-and let me know if you have any queries or love for it :P
The next week, for the most part had been uneventful. Or at least, as uneventful as one can get when one works for Tony Stark.
Stark Industries was throwing a fundraiser-a ball, where all the money would go to all the children's hospital from Brooklyn all the way to Manhattan. It was a big event and so Tony was planning to be as late as he could with bringing down the wrath of Pepper Potts.
He sat in his beloved Ford Flathead and waited for the predictable rhythmic footfalls of his new cleaning lady coming down the stairs and into his workshop. He was started to look forward to their short meetings. She was unafraid of him, much like Pepper, and so she gave him a piece of his mind without fear of being fired. She was far too much like himself for him to fire. It was nice to have another genuine friend.
She walked down the stairs and opened the glass door of his workshop before yelling out a not-so-quiet hello and began the job of cleaning out his cars-he had used them recently to 'show some tourists around town'.
"Oh Melody," Tony sang, "the sound of your voice-it makes me think -of lemon and honey tea."
He had very soon figured out why he didn't want her seeing her resume. He would hide his life to if his name was Melody Nova Lachly. Seriously, was her mother high when she picked her name?
"Oh, Stark," she sang in reply, "If you call me Melody again-I'll bite your head off- like a shark."
He laughed hard at that. She seemed to fixate on vicious animals and what they could do to his anatomy should he continue using her full name. It was cute. She was like a little kitten. Though somehow he figured if he riled her up enough she just might make good on her threats. The youtube video he had managed to find of her throwing some guy halfway across the room and subsequently attack the camera ran seemed to support that theory.
"Oh, why? I think Melody is lovely name. It promotes happiness and well-being."
"Your well-being will be endanger if you continue on this path, Stark. The only thing you'll be singing will be the hospital-bill blues."
They laughed together at her serious threat and started to get her equipment out to being cleaning the car.
"Come sit with me," he said loudly. She stopped what she was doing and looked over at him warily.
"Really? You want another heart-to-heart, Stark?
"No, just come and sit with me, I just wanna talk about me for a second," he said smiling at her. She chuckled at that. Talking about himself, now that she could believe.
She acquiesced and sat down next to him in the Ford, yet again. The seats were very comfortable, and from this point she could see all his giant holographic screens that she generally had fun walking through when he wasn't looking. Childish, but fun.
"What do you know about cars?" he asked her.
"I thought we were talking about you?"
"I'm getting to that. Seriously, what do you know about cars?"
She sighed again. He wanted to get to know her all the time. It was annoying. People who got to know her always wished they had listened to her afterwards.
"Nothing."
"Really? Didn't you do any work on any cars as a roadie? I thought the circus taught you all sorts of life-ow!" he yelped out as she landed a swift punch on his shoulder.
"I warned you, Stark," she said smiling. He smirked and conceded as he rubbed his shoulder.
"So, why do you want to know the extent of my knowledge on cars?" she asked. She had been less curt with him over the week. It was fun. She never actually told him anything, but it was fun teasing him.
"Well, you've been cleaning my cars for the last week, I figure it's about time you knew about them," he said, matter of fact, and got up and walked over to the bonnet of the old car should be. He motioned for her to follow and she looked at him strangely before joining him over the engine.
"Now this is my pride and joy. A 1932 Ford Flathead Roadster," he said as he affectionately stroked the engine, "85-hp, 221-ci V8 engine, 140 lb-ft of torque at 1500 rpm, and with a body made of an alloy I created on my own. This was car my dad worked on, and I'm still working on it."
"Why?"
"I don't know. Compulsion? Who cares? Isn't she gorgeous?" Tony gushed over the car as if it was his lover, and Mel began to feel very awkward in the current situation.
"Should I give you some room, Mr Stark?" she teased, but was partly serious. It was not in her job to description to clean cars while Tony dry humped the engines.
"Don't be silly, you know you wanna watch," he snickered cheekily and walked over to the nice looking orange car.
"Now this is a real chick magnet," he began and smiled wickedly. He went off like for a while. He kept going on about V-8 engines and rpm's and she didn't have a clue what he was talking about, but it was fun to just talk about such trivial things. She and Isabeau did this often, just to get their minds off everything.
By the time he'd stopped talking about the orange car –a Selena or something- and the silver car – she had heard the name Audi before – and was about to start on the Austin Powers car, the voice of his AI spoke up out of nowhere making Mel jump.
"Mr Stark, Miss Potts has requested that you leave now for the fundraising ball, as you are already going to be half an hour late," JARVIS chimed.
"That's not even fashionably late yet," Tony chuckled.
"May I remind you the last time you were 'fashionably late', Mr Stark?" JARVIS droned sarcastically. Mel never thought she'd see the day where a computer would do anything 'sarcastically' to her. It weirded her out.
"Oh, I can handle, Pepper, don't you worry about that."
"What about Izzy?" Mel piped up. She was one of the few who'd ever seen her really mad.
"You can handle her, I'm sure," Tony said exasperatedly.
"Oh, hell no!" she snapped back, "If she gets pissed I'm pointing her in your direction, Stark." He looked over to her incredulously almost as if he could not believe she was afraid of anyone.
He conceded in the end after seeing a bit of genuine fear in Mel's eyes. But only a little.
It wasn't too long before the man was dressed in a black suit and tie, with a smug look on his face as he saw Mel take a good hard look at him.
"You know, my offer to take you on the tour of the more private rooms still stands," he said cheekily, winking at her. She looked over him with a contemplative look on her face as if she was actually considering it. She walked towards him, wrapped her hands around his tie and leant in to whisper in his ear, "Tempting, but I don't think you're quite enough man for me."
She stood back and smiled at his disgruntled expression. His pout was still on his face as she pushed him towards the door.
"I'd love to prove you wrong," he said, standing in the doorway.
"I bet you would," she replied just as smoothly.
"There's a lot more to me than meets the eye."
"And even more to me."
"I'd like to see that."
"You'll have to try harder than that."
"Don't wait up for me."
"Never do."
He smiled at the superficial and trivial banter. It was fun flirting with her. Even though she rejected and insulted his ability.
He chuckled when she pushed him out the door a little more forcefully than she needed and waved when he got in the car.
"Oh, so very tempting," she whispered to herself as his car sped off into the night.
The younger of the two could only watch as Pepper Potts ran around her office in a mad dash to find out why Tony was late for the ball.
The ball. She tried not to chuckle at that.
Pepper was completely frantic, whilst Isabeau had an odd feeling of calm about her. She wasn't too worried, as Mel had texted to say that Tony planned on being 'fashionably' late. So, since there was nothing she could do but prod and poke her friend via texting to make Tony hurry up.
He's out the door, as promised and I haven't slept with him – M . Isabeau couldn't help but giggle at her lewd friend, but she knew she had to take Pepper out of her misery before she started tearing her hair out.
"Miss Potts, Mel just told me that he's leaving now. He'll be there in about 15 minutes. Now we're just waiting on you," she stood up and said quickly, and watched Pepper quickly compose herself before going back out to the reception area to make light about Tony's tardiness.
The ball-again, she tried not to giggle-was being held in a large museum that, for the purposes of the event, had been transformed into a Victorian England dance hall and dining area. From her view point she could see the large, diamond chandelier hanging from the ceiling-fake candle lights and all- as well as the large beautifully decorated ivory coloured stairs that lead up to the second storey of the museum.
She was madly curious about what lay beyond the upper level. But her job was to see all and hear all-but to be seen and heard by no one. Like a ninja. Yes, that's what she'd tell Mel tonight. She was a ninja to the stars.
Oh yeah, that would go down well.
"Who are we spying on?" a young man whisper into her ear. If it wasn't for the sudden loud classical music that had started up, she was sure that everyone would have heard her sudden loud screech of fear.
She spun around in fury and her hand snapped forward to grab the collar of the rude man who felt the need to sneak up on her like that. She was a little shocked to see a young looking man with short brown hair that fell about his face in thick locks, and clear blue eyes that had a look of mischief in them. He was tall and had a certain level of muscle tone that was now visible because of the button she had ripped off in her haste.
"Well, hello to you too," the man said in a cheeky British accent, "My name is Benedict Smith. Sorry if I gave you a fright?"
She let go of him, eventually, and eyed him suspiciously.
"Isabeau Asmundor," she said stiffly and felt her face heat up as she realised he must have felt the full force of her 'fear'.
"It is an absolute pleasure," he said kissing her hand, "to meet you."
For the first time that night she giggled. And immediately felt ashamed for it. She could hear Mel's hysterical laughter already.
"And a pleasure to meet you too, Ben," she said, trying to belittle his sense of dignity to make herself feel better. Mel taught her that one.
"Benedict," he corrected, "and you didn't answer my question. Who are we spying on?"
"We aren't spying on anyone. I, however, am staying here until my boss gets here."
"Oh, who's your boss?"
She was about to reply with some witty retort about spies and secrets when Tony walked in trying to gain as much attention as possible. She glared at the extrovert, and left the bewildered but intrigued British boy to usher the womanizer towards Pepper.
Benedict Smith watched the young and beautiful girl and she subtly ran after Anthony Stark, and when he job was finished, quickly ran out the door without so much as a 'good-bye' or a 'can I have your number?'
He knew then that he just had to see her again. Even if it was to make her scream like a banshee for his own entertainment.
So...I hope you liked that. Let me know via review of PM, I don't mind. I like reader feedback. And don't worry, a few more chapters like this and our favourite costumed heroes will start to feature.
TOODLES