"So what'd you think?" Tony asks as they step off the elevator into the main lab for tinkering with projects.
Gabby stares stunned for a few seconds simply taking everything in. Her mouth hangs open before closing like a fish gasping for water.
"Don't have a stroke on me now Gabberoni, say something for proof of life."
"Holy shit!" Gabby exclaims, "Oh sorry," she continues slightly quieter.
"Don't apologize for language, we've both heard it all before," Bruce says calmly.
"Or we've heard much worse!" Tony adds.
"This is huge! There's ….. everything! " Gabby continues blabbering in awe of the mainlab Tony and Bruce share.
"Feel free to become familiar with the lab for a bit," Bruce tells her.
"Run around, have a blast, and don't get hurt!" Tony lets her know as Gabby walks briskly around the lab with large analytical eyes.
"So, an intern?" Bruce asks Tony once Gabby's left, "When'd this start?"
"Yesterday," Tony responds flippantly. "She needed a decent job and education. I figured between you and me and all of this stuff she can learn quite a bit." and build a support system along the way Tony thinks to himself.
"Okay…" Bruce says warily.
"Trust me Brucie. Please?"
"When don't I trust you?"
Instead of answering both men turn to look at Gabby who's still talking to herself analyzing different projects lying around. One thing that surprised Tony is that Gabby still has yet to even look at any of the iron man suit pieces anywhere in the room. Instead she seems more interested in a water cooling experiment Tony was working on for clean energy in other countries without electricity, but possibility using a nearby water source to power air conditioning. She's staring intently at one of Bruce's experiments at the moment and he walks over to her to explain something when her brows furrowed together.
Tony watches as Bruce walks over and she jumps when she notices him, but quickly recomposes herself and engages in an animated conversation with the scientist. Tony smiles slightly to himself as he watches the two interact geeking out over biochemistry. He knew Bruce would be a good person for her to meet because his calm spirit makes those around him feel incredibly comfortable, once you look past the possibility of him turning into a giant, green, rage monster. After a few moments Gabby looks up at Tony with a bright smile highlighting her dimples, with a few strands of blonde hair falling out of her braid into her face. Tony smiled back at her and moved around to work on one of his projects. His mind kept wandering as he worked on Peter's suit being upgraded with new protocols to alert Tony whenever anything was out of place as well as being more durable and protective of Peter. After a while of being unproductive he finally gave up on focusing on his project and looked back to see Gabby and Bruce's conversation slightly less animated and now Gabby was watching Bruce work with critical eyes carefully following his every move.
Gabby looked at Tony as he pushed his chair back and arched his back putting his hands over his face. Her stomach clenched slightly due to its emptiness and growled loudly. Tony snapped his head to look at her and smiled slightly at her cheeks turning red.
"I guess you're saying it's time for a food break?" He teased her as she shrugged.
"Alright, Brucie you coming up with us?"
"No thanks, but could you bring me down some coffee and fruit?"
"No problem big guy! Let's go Gabberoni!"
Gabby follows him back onto the elevator finally realizing how tired and hungry she really was. She leaned her back against the wall and rested her eyes momentarily waiting for the elevator ride to finish.
"Tired?"
"Yep." She answered not even attempting to hide her current physical and mental state.
"Let's hope Clint or Steve is in the kitchen. They can always make something good!"
"Who's Clint?"
"The weird bird dude with bows and arrows. Not to be confused with the weird bird dude with wings who can fly. That's Sam, but he doesn't come over too often so you probably won't meet him for a while."
They both walk out into the common area and start heading to kitchen for some food. When Gabby starts asking for clarification on each hero and their persona.
"So Steve's Captain America."
"Capsticle, yes."
"Bruce is Hulk."
"Hard to believe I know."
"Clint is Hawkeye. Sam is Falcon I think?"
"Yep our two resident birds."
"Anyone else I'm missing?"
"Just the best superhero ever!"
"Oh right! How could I forget!" Gabby exclaimed, "Peter's Spiderman."
Tony's face falls in mock sadness, "That's it you're banished."
"Whatever tin man."
"It's Iron Man!" He raises his voice slightly and doesn't notice Gabby's slight flinch at his raised voice.
"Sorry," she responds timidly all fight and amusement immediately forgotten in her mind. Tony instantly picks up on this and backtracks.
"Hey Gabberoni, no need to ever apologize to me, okay?" He lowers his voice considerably. "It takes a lot to get me mad. I was just joking around."
She shakes her head acknowledging his statements, but refuses to look him in the eye disappointed in herself for allowing her fear to show around him after only one day.
"I'm gonna need a verbal acknowledgment Gabs," he tells her softly instantly regretting raising his voice at all.
"Yes sir," Tony's lips draw down and his brow furrows at that reponse.
"Just to be clear, you can call me whatever you want, but not sir? 'K?"
"Yes, Mr. Stark." Gabby says raising her eyes to meet his slightly.
"What is with you kids calling me Mr. Stark all the time?" He remarks in a playful, but quiet manner.
"It's something called respect, Tony," a voice yells from the kitchen. The two turn the corner to find a Clint sitting on the kitchen counter wearing ripped jeans and a plain dark blue tee-shirt.
"Which I'm sure you know all about birdbrain."
"Absolutely. Get off my counter! We eat there!"
Gabby laughs slightly and meets Clint's eyes.
"Gabby," she says.
"Clint," he replies getting off the counter, "You here to watch the master chef in this house cook?"
"I'm here to eat!" She responds, "I don't care who cooks as long as the food isn't burnt."
"Standards are set low for you Katniss."
"Duly noted. How does grilled cheese sound?"
"Awesome!" Gabby tells him honestly, "Do you have a bathroom in here somewhere?"
"Yeah, down the hall that way," Tony responds pointing to a hallway, "Second door on your left."
"Thanks," She replies walking towards the bathroom.
"So what's her story Stark? Usually I'm the one known for taking in strays."
"She's not a stray," Tony snaps at him.
"No need to get defensive. I'm just asking."
They fall into a thick silence with Tony's stubbornness prohibiting him from breaking the silence first.
"I heard what happened on your way from the elevator," Clint tells him in a softer voice now, "I'm not stupid. I can see signs of emotional abuse from a mile away. Just want to know if there's anything I can do to help."
"It's not my story to tell," Tony trails off, "But you can make a damn good grilled cheese sandwich."
"Will do!"
With that Clint moves around the kitchen gathering the different ingredients and starting the stove to make grilled cheese. Gabby comes back into the kitchen and asks, "So how long is this going to take to make?"
"Just about three minutes," Clint responds buttering the cheese to prepare to put on the stove.
"Oh! I almost forgot I have something for you Gabby!" Tony exclaimed randomly jumping out of the stool he was sitting in, "I left it in the lab. I'll be right back!" With that he runs off heading towards the elevator.
"That was random," Gabby comments.
"Yeah he can be like that most times."
"My mom used to make grilled cheese a lot," Gabby states quietly.
"I guess I have some high standards to live up to then!" Clint jokes.
Clint finishes the grilled cheese sandwiches up and puts them on a plate with a bit of seasoning on top.
"M'lady," he says regally as he gives Gabby her plate. She takes a giant bite of her sandwich finally realizing how hungry she was noticing the clock that read 3:47.
"Damn," she groans, "This is hella good."
"Rating?"
"11/10. Can you make every meal for me?" Clint laughs at her response to his food.
"I'm not kidding this is so good. Imma eat Tony's if he doesn't hurry up."
After finishing about 3 ½ sandwiches Gabby and Clint hear the elevator ding to signal Tony coming back up holding a little silver box in his hand.
"Here ya go Gabberoni!"
Gabby takes the box from him and opens it to reveal a shiny Stark phone.
"Whoa," She trails off looking at it, "I don't… like… I can't have... "
"Don't mention it! I had fun programming it to do all kinds of cool things."
"How am I supposed to explain this to my dad?"
"Tell him it's required for your new job."
"Yeah, no. He's not finding out about this at least until I'm 18. I guess I could hide it."
"We're not going to force you to take it," Clint cuts into the conversation, "If you can't have it for any reason you can leave it here."
"Yeah, no pressure. It's just a really cool phone," Tony interjects.
"I'm sure he won't notice it. Thank you!" Gabby tells him, "I really, really appreciate it. This is really nice!"
"No problem kid."
The three continue to eat with the only the noises of them chewing and swallowing their water breaking up the silence. Once they all finish Gabby collects the plates and washes them in the sink, dries them, then leaves the plates on the counter.
"So birdbrain you want to join us for the tour of the facility?"
"I'm going to find Nat, but I'll probably meet up with you guys once you make it to the range."
"Sounds good. Less annoying commentary."
"Bye Clint," Gabby yells after him as he walks away. He waves to her before finally leaving the duo.
"Okay, so you already saw the main lab, but there's at least 7 more scattered around the facility. You can probably just hang in the main one with Brucie and I, but I can show you the others if you really want," Tony tells her while walking down the hall pointing out various bathrooms and common room areas along the way, "Usually Nat, Clint, and Steve are here whenever they aren't on a mission. Steve's here more often because he's technically not an agent. Bruce, Wanda, and Vision are here most of the time and of course Peter is here on most weekends. Also obviously I'm here almost 24/7 and Sam is here on occasion, but he actually has his own house he's not here as often..."
Gabby nods while only mildly absorbing the information. Her eyes were continually drooping and there were shorter periods between each of her yawns. Tony stops in the middle of his tour rant and notices her eyelids drooping lower and lower.
"You tired?"
"M'm," she affirms.
"I have a spare bedroom somewhere around here if you wanna take a short nap before we finish your first day."
"I'm good," She slurs softly.
"Nah, look at where we are! A spare bedroom with a comfy bed for a nap."
"You sure?"
"Absolutely. I'll come back in a bit and we can finish touring my wonderful facility."
"Thank you," Gabby says before flopping on the bed as Tony turns off the lights and leaves Gabby to take a nap.
So sorry it's been so long! I'm starting to fall back in love with writing again, so hopefully updates will be more frequent!