Author's Note: I actually wanted this chapter out yesterday, because the Avengers trailer hit the net yesterday. It's so awesome. Anyway, thank you all for the reviews and alerts. Please continue to leave comments and feed back, it helps me to improve and lets me know what you think.

'What the hell was I thinking?'

Tony was tempted to replace that last bit with 'drinking' because after a whole day and a half of this business convention and its guests, Tony figured he must have been drinking something to think for a second that he could enjoy a minute of this soul-sucking black-hole of boredom.

Had this been any other situation, Tony would have left, no reasonable force on Earth could have kept him in that hotel, but apparently Pepper Potts wasn't a reasonable force, and thanks to Pepper's insistence and his promise to her that he'd stay the full term, Tony, however unintentionally, did screw himself into three days of suits, cheap laughter, and some really awful cologne.

Tony loved that woman, he really did, but people had been shipped to different countries for less.

In all fairness, not everyone attending the convention was unbearable. Tony had spoken with quite a few good professional men and women who had real personalities and some interesting business opportunities that Tony was serious about looking into, some true assets for Stark Industries. But, for every decent person, there were ten excruciating ones. The ones that lie through their teeth every other word, the ones that couldn't take a hint, the ones that thought they were so clever with their underhanded comments, yeah, Tony was reaching the end of his rope with this place.

And the Avenger wished he could say that Lawrence was some sliver of light in this dismal place, but he'd hardly had seen the guy. Their schedules for the convention were to different, each going to different meetings, different presentations, at different times. They'd been able to 'hi' to each other in passing, but that was it.

Really, what had he been drinking?

So now Tony sat at a long, glossy oak table, bored to death, with eight other well-dressed peers who were also bored to death, listening to some guy- Adberg-something?- go on and on about how his plan for oil consumption savings for business seemed expensive now, but the money back would be well worth it later. Yeah, like Tony hadn't heard that before.

Never so badly had Tony wanted some giant robot to attack the city, or some villain threaten to take over the world, at this point Tony was willing to take a cat stuck in a tree. But, maybe it wasn't all bad; after all, Lawrence was sitting across from him, 'Simple grey suit, white shirt, no tie, looks just as bored as the rest of us.' Noted Tony, at least he has someone to be miserable with.

Tony also saw that the ivory-skinned man was one of the few left finishing off his lunch, making Tony wish that he'd had the mind to save some food from the groups lunch break so he could at least eat while his brain pooled out of his ears from the monotone voice of Adberg-whatever-his name-is.

A brief glance at the clock and Tony was convinced some higher force at work was messing with time, because there was no way that he'd been sitting here, listening to Adberg-what's-his-face at the head of the table, droning on for only an hour. The man wasn't even using a power-point!

If Pepper ever complained about him being too extravagant in showing off new Stark Tech, then Tony was going to explain to her that it was just the universe compensating for the short, mild-aged, balding man up front who couldn't rile-up a crowd by stripping down naked and screaming murder.

Tony was positive that everyone in the room had to be half-asleep by this point and made to do so himself . . .

"Hrm, um, as, uh, as I was, hrrm, saying . . ."

. . .Until Adberg -Adbergly maybe?- began tripping over his words.

Tony forced himself to stop spacing-out and looked at Adberg-he'd-remember-his-name-eventually. The man had gone red, from his cheeks to the tips of his ears, and Tony could see him sweat a bit while tugging at his collar.

'Huh, that's weird', thought the Iron Man, 'he was fine a minute ago.'

Now with something to hold his attention Tony looked at the two people seated at the table who were closest to Adberg-insert-name-here. One, a woman in her mid-forties with a little too much make-up was gazing blindly at point on the wall in front of her; Tony suspected she'd mastered sleeping with her eyes open. The other was a man, blonde hair, younger than Tony, and was solely focused doodling on an envelope like it was going to be hung up in a museum next to Van Gogh's work.

Tony looked back to Adberg . . .ston?- and noticed the man's eyes were darting back and forth to some point to the left of Tony, and though he was no Sherlock Holmes, Tony figured there in-lay the man's problem so he discreetly moved his gaze over and was greeted to a sight that had Tony's brown eyes widen in shock.

Lawrence, not a few minutes ago, had been eating aimlessly away the leftovers of his salad. Now he was, well Tony was having a hard time registering what Lawrence was doing.

The man's posture was no different from anyone else's at the table; uninterested. His elbow was resting on the glossy surface and his head was relaxing on a loose fist. However, it would seem he wasn't entirely finished with his earlier meal. Lawrence's free hand was slowly dragging a cherry across his pale lips, and not in the 'I'm absent-mindedly chewing on my pencil' way, but a 'is this giving you any ideas?' way.

The contrast between the bright red of the cherry and Lawrence's light complexion was something like art; it drew the eyes, though the difference in color was hardly the only thing keep Tony's attention. Lawrence would move the candied fruit from one corner of his subtle smirk to the other in a leisurely fashion, occasionally opening his mouth a bit to graze his pearl-white teeth across it's red skin, as though to eat it, only to seemingly decide mid-way that the cherry wasn't quite ready to be eaten just yet.

And though it was hard to see from his angle, even though Tony was across the table from him, he was pretty sure Lawrence's gaze was holding Adberg-blank's, like a predator to its prey, daring the other man to look away.

Suddenly, like Tony's unwavering gaze had called him, Lawrence's bright green eyes met with Tony's brown, a mischievous glint held in their depths. He gave Tony a sly wink and returned to staring at his victim, who was now sweating profusely, nearly as red as the cherry he was being teased with, and making stuttering noises.

"Mr. Adbergen?"

Someone had finally noticed Adbergen's melt-down, Tony was happy to finally know the guy's name, and to keep from being discovered as Adbergen's source of delicious discomfort, Lawrence popped the cherry into his mouth and gave a smile. A visible relief could be seen washing over the stout man being released from his torment.

And it had seemed that Lawrence was finished with his fun until his eyes locked with Tony's once more with a look that said 'now watch this' and brought his finger and thumb to his lips, deliberately pulling out the cherry stem . . . twisted in a knot.

Adbergen stumbled into the wall behind him, jostling the woman with too much make up awake and drawing a couple of people over to see if he was okay.

Lawrence held a look of complete innocence throughout the rest of the meeting, which had been shortened due to Adbergen's refusal to look anyone in the eye, much less Lawrence's general direction, and Tony had to hold his sides, desperately trying to stifle his laughter from one of the funniest and sexiest displays he'd seen.


"Hey boss, how's it going?"

Pepper's voice had never sounded sweeter. It was the end of the second day and Tony was going over requests, rejections, and any other paper work that had to be finished before the end of the convention. He had to take a break after re-reading the same paragraph five times, the words started to look Latin.

And in swooped Pepper, a bag full of Chinese take-out in hand. She maneuvered to where Tony was seated and placed the bag on the desk, avoiding any miscellaneous documents.

"Pepper, I could kiss you."

"Try it Tony and you'll be on the receiving end of my self-defense classes."

Tony smiled at her not entirely serious tone and gathered all his papers into one area, the promise of food offering a boost of energy.

"So Ms. Potts, care to join me?" The dark circle forming under Tony's eyes revealed how much he'd been working, and after a few hours stuck in a room doing labor, some friendly company over diner sounded wonderful.

"Sorry Tony, I would, but I've got plans tonight." Pepper said, her voice giving that she really was sorry she couldn't stay.

Tony gave her a quick once over.

"Hmm, dark lipstick, shiny earrings, nice outfit, but not so nice that you couldn't pull it off as casual. You've got a date. Anyone I know?"

Pepper gave him a look. "Yes I do have a date, and no, you don't know him"

"You're not going to tell me about him, are you? Do I embarrass you?"

Pepper saw right through Tony's attempt at looking hurt and rolled her eyes. Glancing at her watch, Pepper knew if she stuck around any longer she'd be late.

"I've got to go Tony. Keep up the hard work and don't forget to eat,' reminded Pepper as she made to leave, swiftly fixing herself up in the mirror, 'you only have tomorrow left."

"Easy for you to say." mumble Tony, but stood up and gave her a small hug. "But seriously, thanks for the food."

Pepper gave him a smile, "No problem boss." and walked out the door.

Not wanting to eat in his room, Tony picked up the Chinese and left his cluttered area, some fresh air and a change of scenery would do him good.

Venturing down to lower floors Tony searched for a place to eat. It was fairly late, so the people still walking around the hotel were sparse. The CEO wondered around a bit longer, food in hand calling to his stomach, when he passed by one of the public meeting rooms and saw a certain someone hunched over paperwork, sleeves rolled up, looking much like Tony had minutes prior.

"Knock, Knock."

Lawrence startled and looked up, emerald eyes focusing on the new comer. Tony bit back a smile, amused that he'd managed to surprise the regal man.

Tony held up the bag. "Can I interest you in some noodles and orange chicken? It's not as sexy as cherries . . ."

Lawrence gave Tony the benefit of a semi-sheepish look and graciously accepted his offer.

Luckily, Pepper thought Tony was starving himself so there was more than enough food between the two of them. Add that with some conversation and they had settled into a comfortable atmosphere, paperwork momentarily forgotten.


"And what exactly are you accusing me of Mr. Stark?"

"Oh, just mild sexual harassment, really I feel kind of sorry for Adbergen, you almost made him faint."

Lawrence was trying not to laugh through his food at how not sorry Tony sounded.

"Oh come now, I was not going to spend another hour listening to that man drone on. I'd like to think my interference was a benefit to all in the room. You should be a little more grateful for my chivalrous act."

Tony chuckled as his pick at his rice with his chop sticks. "You're right. I never thought I could actually be bored to death, but man was Adbergen coming close."

Lawrence consented and returned to his box of noodles, Tony marveling at how someone could eat so imperially, moving with a grace, a confidence one wouldn't associate with eating food and not a speck of sauce on his white button-up shirt. It'd have to be the kind of mannerisms you're raised with.

"So,' began Tony, 'I still don't know a whole lot about you Lawrence. Got any family?"

The darkening of those green eyes, thinning of mouth, and abrupt tensing of shoulders told Tony that he couldn't have asked a worse question.

Tony coughed awkwardly. "Uh, sorry, I didn't . . ."

Lawrence raised a hand to silence him. "It is quite alright Mr. Stark, you were not aware of the weight of your question. You had no reason not to ask it." The stiffness in Lawrence's voiced had Tony begging to differ.

'Smooth Tony,' the Iron Avenger thought to himself, 'real smooth.'

The comfortable feeling was gone now and Tony hoped Lawrence wouldn't take his screw-up too personally.

"I was not . . . the favored child of my family,' began Lawrence, his food forgotten and fingers threaded in his lap, 'my father, he was a powerful man, and preferred his elder son to his youngest."

Tony put his food down too and waited for Lawrence to continue.

"My older brother, he received our father's affections so easily, could do no wrong and our father was proud to call him his son. I, it seemed, had to work so much more, strive that much harder, just to step into my brother's shadow."

Lawrence paused for a moment and inhaled deeply.

"I was envious of my brother, but I did not want to replace him. I simply wanted to be seen as his equal, to have what our father gave to him so effortlessly. I couldn't be as loved as my brother by playing by the same rules, so I went to some . . . extremes to gain my father's attention, to contend for his love. My plans, however, fell apart and my family and I are no longer on speaking terms." Lawrence finished, looking as though he was trying to garner some amusement from this situation.

"I suppose I could never have truly obtained his approval anyway."

Tony gave a questioning glance and Lawrence offered a crooked smile.

"I was, uh, adopted."

"Oh." Tony said lamely, something of an awkward silence filling the room and Lawrence took the opportunity to look away.

"Well, um, I'm not saying I understand your situation completely, but I can sympathize."

Lawrence went back to facing Tony, curious expression nudging Tony to go on.

"My dad, the late and great Howard Stark, he sounds like yours, strong, powerful, oblivious to the needs of his kids. My dad was so caught up in technology, in making the world a better place, catering to the problems of the nation, that connecting with his son was an afterthought."

"But I tried. Did a lot of stuff to get his attention, hell I was a prodigal kid who built a circuit board when I was four years old, but it was never enough for a 'I'm proud of you Tony' so I kept to my studies, tried to be everything my dad was, thought if I could be as great as him, then he'd finally see me."

Tony sighed, trying to keep from digging at old wounds. "But he died, and for the longest time, I hated him. There I was, trying to show him that I could be the son he wanted, and he dies. It wasn't that he'd been young, just that I never felt I was good enough to have the name Stark."

"However, a couple of years or so ago, I came across some stuff, stuff that showed me how much my dad really loved me, that he did notice his son, all the work he was pouring himself into, it was for my future. So if there's one thing I regret, it's not talking to him before he was gone." Tony had to force his hands to relax, just realizing how hard they'd been clenched into fists.

The silence was back, though this time it was filled with a contemplative air and Lawrence was staring at Tony with such a gaze that Tony was sure the dark-haired man was trying to look into him, searching for something that couldn't be named.

"Thank you Mr. Stark." Said Lawrence, finding whatever it was he was looking for.

Tony recognized it as an understanding. A familiar thing that connected them through the differences of their lives, that thing they could empathize with each other. It just turns out theirs was daddy issues.

"You know, you can call me Tony, I think we're past the honorifics."

Lawrence gave a small smile. "All in good time, Mr. Stark."

Both men returned to their food, now cold, and Tony couldn't help but notice the gravity of their deep exchange was still hanging over their heads like a cloud. Not one to like sitting in a serious situation when it wasn't necessary, Tony made to lighten the mood.

"I bet,' Tony began, leaning in with faux momentousness, 'that if you did the whole 'I can tie a cherry stem into a knot with my tongue' thing at a family diner, you'd defiantly get your dad's attention then, hell, you got mine."

Lawrence let out an honest laugh and threw a fried wanton at Tony.