Intent Chapter 6

The beginning of a beautiful friendship


24 September 2010

New York

"I am so sorry," said Jennifer, 10 minutes into the dinner service as she finally came over with their drinks, "Two of our waiters are off tonight with the flu and we didn't have time to find any replacements. We are absolutely over our heads with work."

"Understandable," Tony said, nodding his head. He wasn't particular hungry tonight so could accept a little waiting. "By the way, what is up with Wayne's huge circle of guests over there? Don't tell me he's having a business meeting here."

"Oh," Jennifer looked over where Bruce Wayne was indeed sitting in the middle of a group of 10 or so men and women all dressed in evening fineries; the women with their hair up and makeup done immaculately and the men with their beard trimmed and hair coiffed. "They are Hadrian's sponsors for next week's cook-off."

"There's a cook-off?" Clint asked interestedly, moving over slightly so Jennifer can deposit a glass of water in front of him, "I haven't heard about it."

"Yes there is," the young woman confirmed as she moved over to Natasha, "But it's just begun to advertise on Food Network. It's supposed to be some big deal with Chefs from all over the world comes here to compete. Hadrian is naturally the youngest so there's a lot of pressure on him."

A clatter of plates hitting the floor shut her up with an abrupt halt.

"What…"

Jennifer looked over to where the noise had came from, frowning when she saw one of the waiters apologizing profusely to an irate customer on whom he had just spilled a bowl of soup. Even from this distance, Tony could see that the young man was on the verge of tears as the woman berating him stood tall, the wet orange splotch on the front of her once pristine blouse contrasting weirdly with her reddening face.

"Oh god," Jennifer moaned, "Ty; I knew he wasn't ready for tonight, but we didn't have any choice."

Tony looked over to Jennifer's distressed expression, Ty's desperation and the room full of diners and made up his choice. Later, he may end up regretting it, but for now, he has to at least offer.

"I actually waitered when in University and was told I was pretty good at it," Tony said, attracting Jennifer's attention, "If you're short on staff, I can pitch in."

"Oh we couldn't," Jennifer gasped, eyes wide in shock as if she couldn't even conceive the possibility of asking a guest to waiter. But then Ty, distressed from being yelled at, somehow managed to stumble and fall in the lap of an amused-looking younger man while his father looked on with a heavy frown. "Oh, Hadrian will kill me for this."

"Well," Tony shrugged and said rather cheerfully, "It can't be worse then this."

Jennifer looked over once more, noticing how the commotion was attraction Wayne's group of sponsors, and nodded her head resolutely.

"If you are serious about your offer, then we will take you up on it."

"Are you really going to wait on people all night?" Clint asked incredulously as Steve told him how nice it was for him to lend a hand.

"This will be hilarious," Natasha said, her cellphone already in her hand, ready to start filming at any moment.

"Filming is prohibited," Tony snapped, pointing to a sign to his left, before following Jennifer's disappearing figure in to the kitchens.


24 September 2010

New York

Tony had never ever been in a professional kitchen before - his waiter experience was actually for a party at a friend's house - and the myriad of activity he's witnessing in front of him actually took him by surprise.

From what he could see, the kitchen was divided in two sections by a wall going from ceiling to floor. A window entrenched in the wall made it easy for people in the inner kitchen to transfer food out to the outer kitchen. Heating plates filled a metal table in the outer kitchen where the food would be placed, waiting for waiters to come pick them up and bring them to the diners.

The inner kitchen was where all the magic happened.

From the window, Tony could see Hadrian busy at work at one of the stoves, tasting food and putting in just the right about of spices to make it taste delicious. There was a prepping table near him, where two sous-chefs – identical looking so must be twins – prepared the ingredients to ensure that the mise en place was just right as to maximize the Head Chef's efficiency. It was a very well-oiled process, Tony admitted, and it made him respect even more the hard work Hadrian put in to make sure that everything in his restaurant goes according to plan.

About a minute later, Jennifer came back, the click of her heels indicating her approach and with a tug of his sleeve, she broke Tony away from his observations and handed him a waiter's uniform.

"Hadrian agreed to let you help. You better not fail to deliver, Mr. Stark."

"Don't worry," Tony smirked, "I'm good at this; you'll see."


24 September 2010

New York

"Oh my," one of the woman said, sounding absolutely taken aback, "Isn't that Tony Stark? What is he doing as a waiter?"

Bruce looked up from his conversation with a white haired man who owned a rather successful Yoghurt company and followed the woman's finger with his eyes and saw, to his shock, Tony Stark step out of the kitchen, dressed in a waiter's uniform and carrying a platter of food. For someone who grew up having people wait on him 24/7, Stark was surprisingly good at waiting on other people. In fact, the platter never faltered or wobbled as he made his way through the crowd towards another table on the right. Bruce watched, entranced, as he deposited everything in front of the two rather star-eyed diners, before making his way back to the kitchen. As he passed Bruce's table though, the billionaire couldn't resist stopping him with a short "Stark."

"Yes?" Stark stopped, turning to him with a bland expression, "How may I help you sir?"

Bruce had once thought that hearing Stark addressing him with respect would satisfy his ego, but now that it was happening, it sent rather unpleasant chills down his body. It was just so unnatural, even if Bruce knew that it was technically Stark's job for the night. How that happened was actually beyond him.

"Why on earth are you a waiter?" he couldn't help asking.

"They're short staffed today and since I already had waiter experience, I offered."

"That's surprisingly kind of you," Bruce admitted, wondering if he should start seeing the playboy under a new light. The blush the sincere compliment produced was actually pretty cute. Of course, Bruce would never tell Stark that…not if he wants any shred of dignity left.

"If that's all," with a nod, Stark turned around and left, a trail of gaping faces following him.

"Was that really the CEO of Stark Industries?" one of the men asked in shock.

"Ex-CEO," Bruce corrected, "but yes, that was Tony Stark."

"It's so nice that someone so high up would still agree to do manual work to help out a friend."

Yes, it was nice, Bruce agreed silently, still unable to let the matter rest, a little too nice. He couldn't help but wonder, with Stark's track record and all, just what the other man was planning with his sudden sprout of altruism.


24 September 2010

New York

"Thank you so much for your help," Hadrian said, bowing slightly to the billionaire. When Jennifer had told him that Tony Stark of all people offered to lend a hand, he couldn't believe his ears. It just didn't fit with the image of the arrogant billionaire that he had constructed in his head after his first meeting with the man. Perhaps, Hadrian thought to himself, Stark actually had some hidden depth.

"I was glad to help," said Stark, actually sounding sincere, "Everything seemed to have gone well."

"It went perfectly," Jennifer assured him, looking at him with stars in her eyes. Hadrian knew this did nothing to help her hero-worship.

"I'm glad," Stark said before yawning. "I think I'll be heading home now."

"Wait," said Hadrian before he could leave, "Why don't you come back with your friends tomorrow? It's a thank you for your help today. Come by during lunch service around 1 and we'll have a table ready for you. And of course, everything will be on the house."

"That's awfully generous," Stark said, looking surprised.

"It's the right thing to do," said Hadrian, smiling genuinely for the first time that night, "Here, take some food back with you since you hadn't had the chance to eat dinner. Have a good night Mr. Stark."


TBC.

A/N: Thank you all for the wonderful support for the rewrite. And with this chapter marks the last of the chapters I had posted for the original version. I hope you guys like the direction where this is going.

Next chapter will be coming out soon. I'll be looking forward to reading your reviews. I hope to see you there.

Also next chapter, it will be Harry-centric so don't worry, he's still our main caracter and won't be forgotten. For those worried about the Stark/Wayne pairing, I guess we will have to see how the story develops. Nothing is set in stone yet.

Bye for now.