Title: Don't Piss of the Personal Assistant
Fandom: Avengers/Bleach
Characters: T'Challa, M'Baku, Ichigo, Various AI's
Chapter: 32
Word count: 1705
Warnings: None
AN: So, I'm going to warn you guys. The only places that I am responding to reviews is on Y! and on AO3. Why? Because some idiots keep leaving me anon reviews over on fanfic dot net and I'm not going to keep saying "don't like, don't read. Fuck off". It gets boring after a while.
Note: I will quite happily moderate my reviews if I need to on AO3. Don't think I won't.
I am a part of fandoms that have most of the writers doing that anyways. I'm nice though. I leave them unmoderated but that could change at any time.
To note: starting next week I will be switching back and forth between chapters that I post since it is Nano. That means, next week the only story to be updated will be this one. The week after that, my Dracula fic. I have things I need to do after all.
Ichigo carefully placed the meats and the bones from the butcher they liked into bowls and put the bowls into the refrigerator. He would deal with them later. Ichigo found the miso paste next and put it into the refrigerator along with the fresh udon noodles and the thinner ramen noodles that he planned on using. T'Challa and M'Baku watched as he worked, both men visibly amused.
Ichigo was quick to find the ingredients for the castella that he was going to make instead of the ramen, laying everything out on the island in a row, including the powdered green tea.
"I'm going to make a light dessert called castella tonight for us," Ichigo told them. "Tony-san likes the way I make it. Think sponge cake on steroids. It's a fluffy and soft thing and can be made in various flavors and varieties. Tonight, I'm going to do a green tea flavored one. We'll have the left-overs with ice cream tomorrow," he said as he found the cold bag. He pulled out three large containers of ice cream, one a specialty green tea flavored one.
"That sounds...interesting," T'Challa drawled as he eyed the ingredients. "I will trust you that it is good. You were kind enough to trust the palace cooks to create food that you will enjoy, even with what you would consider odd ingredients and spices, thus I will trust you with your own culture's food."
Ichigo smirked at that, placing the plastic bags into the recycling container before shoving it back into it's drawer. "It's rather light on the flavor, and easy on one's stomach when it's unhappy for whatever reason. I used to get green tea ice cream and castella whenever I was sick. Something about the lightness of both items settles the stomach better. Tonight will be just our pizza, but tomorrow will be grilled squid, vegetable tempura, udon with broth, and takatori with a nice herb rice." He looked at the two men again. "All very easy to make and easy on the stomach, but delicious still."
"It sounds like it will be good," M'Baku said. He nodded his head, sliding off the bar stool and finding the leftover food from their lunch earlier, placing the various slices of the deep-dish pizza into a high sided pizza pan. He slid it into the oven, smiling at the curious look he got from Ichigo. "It is a good time to eat. I tend to always want to eat when I have a concussion."
Ichigo just sent him a bemused look but still nodded, finding that he was also hungry, and Tony still hadn't arrived at the penthouse. He sighed when he read the text that came from the other man. "Rogers is fine with most everything but apparently he's making them wait around while they hash out the fact that while yes, the Rogues are living in the compound, they are still under watch while there. He's really not happy with having to carry around a card at all times that will watch where he is going and that there is an AI in nearly every corner of the compound."
"I do suppose that would be off-putting for a man such as Rogers," M'Baku mused. "He didn't like being watched while in Wakanada." He watched the oven with a careful eye, waiting for the pizza to finish heating. "Are they explaining just why they are being watched?"
Ichigo nodded as he pulled himself up onto the counter. "They are. Or at least the lawyer is trying to explain about why it is better to be 'collared' so that he can't leave the compound like what happened with Wilson when he made his deal. They'll explain how when he shows that he isn't going to try anything after the first month, he'll be allowed to have his full privacy and just keep the chip on him when he needs to leave for his community service, missions, or shopping for his personal things."
"He is making money on his own now, yes?" T'Challa asked. Ichigo nodded. "Doing what?"
"It seems once he got around his thing against computers, he found that he's good at data entry. His lawyers set up a job so that someone brings him the papers while he was in custody from the companies willing to work with him," Ichigo said. He waved a hand at his own paperwork. "He signs a contract that would hurt him more than him giving anyone secrets would, and he inputs the information using his log-ins. Right now, he's renting a Stark desktop and the only one who sees what he does is Friday and Jo. And they delete those recordings as long as he hasn't done anything."
M'Baku looked to his lover with a smirk before he pulled out the reheated pizza, placing it onto the tile that he had learned was used to hold hot dishes while they cooled. "It sounds as if he is picking up his life. Now he just needs to get used to being watched."
Ichigo smiled. "He is, and he does. I will say that while he was being forced to take the classes, he has done a one-eighty in terms of what he has thought of everything," he said. "I'm just glad that he didn't fight the therapists that the Accords Panel shoved on him, and that he's getting his head straightened out. And that Professor Xavier gave said therapists the layout on how to work with him."
"Are you going to get to know him now that he's getting better?" T'Challa asked as he dished up the food, handing a small plate to the other two males. He held his own plate and accepted the bottle of juice.
"Just enough to deal with him on the battlefield. He was quite surprised when I showed that I can fight and survive alongside and against those who have powers even though I look normal," Ichigo replied. "That was at the first training session to see how he would interact with others for the courts mind you. He has been given the same book that I suggested that you two read. I'm just waiting for him to grow some balls and ask me about it."
M'Baku shared a look with T'Challa as he took a fork to eat the deep-dish pizza, nodding his head. "I suppose that you will need to get to know him a bit more so that you can trust that he will not turn on you during Thanos' attack."
Ichigo nodded in response. "Yep. Every one of the Rogues will be trained up until he arrives, and it will be hard. We don't have that long to make sure that they can go up against him."
"That is true," T'Challa said, chewing a bite of his food as he thought. "Are the plans in place?"
"Yes. Tony-san and Loki-san are settling them with the world governments right now, but they're almost done with it," Ichigo said. He chewed his own bite of food thoughtfully. "And we have to make sure that the Rogues do understand that they are not allowed to break rank unless shit goes to hell."
"There is that chance that they will," M'Baku agreed. He put his plate into the dishwasher after rinsing it off. "And if they do break ranks?"
"They really won't like what I do to them in the long run," Ichigo drawled. He smirked softly as he finished his food and rinsed off his own plate. Leaving the two men to finish their snack, he settled at the dining room table and continued to work, wanting to finish inputting the paperwork.
T'Challa and M'Baku both watched for a few minutes longer before they moved to find something to fill their time. M'Baku chose a large print book that looked interesting while T'Challa pulled out his own paperwork that he could sign over with a digital signature while they were gone.
By the time that Ichigo had finished signing the papers, sending the boxes down with Pepper's assistant to put them into a specialized room and made their dessert, Tony was arriving with a groan. He stepped out of the portal that Stephen had opened, both men looking harried and hungry after their long day.
"If you had called ahead, I could have had your food started for you," Ichigo drawled as he looked up from his cleaning. He checked the time and looked to his friend and boss. Tony waved a hand with a smile.
"Save that for tomorrow. Me and Stephen swung by a favorite diner. It was nearly empty, and we were able to eat without rushing since the damn courthouse should have closed nearly an hour ago," Tony groaned. Ichigo smiled at him, shaking his head.
"Remember, I'm to be cooking tomorrow. I do believe that Pepper-san has set it up so that you will have the next three days off from any and all meetings for the company. Professor Xavier has also called and asked if they could move the day of your meeting a few days. He is going to have to set up Barnes' and Rogers' brand new therapy sessions that day with their lawyers," Ichigo told him.
Tony groaned, but still nodded his head. "Yeah, that's fine. Contact him and tell him that I'll be free on Saturday please. I have to be at the compound Thursday and Friday to greet Rogers, get him settled in, give all of the Rogues the full 'welcome to your new life' speech, and make sure they don't have any questions," he warned Ichigo. "But I'm going to take tomorrow and Wednesday to rest and do some more planning," he continued.
Ichigo nodded as he picked up his tablet, finding that Friday was already putting the information into his calendar as reminders for the next day. Loki sent him an amused look as he appeared in the penthouse as if he had just walked in from the garage. The red head just flipped him off, feeling the God's amusement radiate from him as he continued to clean things up. It was late and he wanted to relax for the rest of the night.
