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Chapter Four.

Allie was thinking about the card.

She couldn't stop thinking about it, couldn't stop sorting through the mess that was her clothes lying in a heap in the bottom of the laundry basket in the middle of the night and unable to sleep, fishing it out, grasping the small, laminated square and staring at it, at the words, at the numbers set against a blank, empty background to speak for itself.

TONY STARK.

That's all it said, no more and no less. Sometimes, she would flip it over, turning it between her fingers deliberately slowly as if she was waiting for something else to appear on the back that she had missed after looking at it for the millionth time. But, as always, it bore no words, no pictures, no slogan or letters that would give away more than what was on the front. It was a small piece of white card that held the number and name of Tony Stark and Allie just could not stop thinking about it.

She would sit there on her bedroom floor, ignoring the harsh surface of the floor and how the coldness of the wood seemed to seep into her bare feet, sleep teasing at the edges of her eyes but dashing away before she could catch it. Instead, each night she would try to sleep and end up failing, scooping the card from beneath the weight of discarded clothes and stare at it, watching as the mistreatment was causing the tips of the corners to bend and dent. Each night she would stare and every time it would return to where it was supposed to be: in the back pocket of her jeans for her to forget.

Out of sight, out of mind.

It never left her mind and it was like a plague haunting her.

Allie was half convinced that none of it had actually happened, that her mind had been playing tricks on her after the being out in the cold and the rain, that when she had awoken the next morning with a sore head and blocked nose, it had all been some fever dream her addled brain had concocted up in her hazy sleep; sometimes, she liked to pretend it didn't happen and that it was just some daydream she had dipped her mind into. It was easier than thinking that Tony Stark was out there, waiting for her call, knowing that he had gained access to her files and had sorted through them. It made her anxious, unwilling to pick up the phone for that reason more than anything. And, at times, she had been half tempted to throw the card into the trash and to put it into the dumpster, just to rid herself of the thoughts that were pushing her to accept the job.

Lisa hadn't made it any easier, either; after apologising profusely despite Allie insisting it wasn't her fault, she had poked and prodded at Allie until the latter finally revealed what had transpired in the apartment while Lisa had been formally kicked out, left to press her ear up against the door but unable to catch even a snippet of the conversation. To say she was ecstatic would be an understatement; at first, Lisa had been nearly catatonic and unresponsive before the realisation at what Allie had said hit her.

Then, it had been a few minutes of uncontained squealing, excitement at the fact Allie had been offered to work for the Tony Stark, one of the richest men in the world and how amazing it was that something good had come out of the situation and that Allie would probably end up flushed with cash due to it. She glossed over previous annoyance with being forced out of the place and the fact she had been treated as an unimportant third party and had hugged Allie with unbridled joy.

Until Allie broke the news that she had turned the offer down flat.

Lisa did understand Allie's actions to some degree, saw why Allie was hesitant and unwilling to take the job offer, but, yet, she continued to question Allie on whether she had made the right choice; Allie had been unwilling to listen to her friend, to listen to another viewpoint on the situation because she knew that accepting the job offer was not something that could help her in any good way. If it weren't for the tiny detail of Allie having virtually no experience whatsoever as working as an assistant or, truth be told, any experience besides pouring coffee, the fact that it was Tony Stark of all people made her recoil from the thought of taking the offer up.

Allie had no idea if superheroes had any need of assistants; what did they do in their spare time? Attend birthday parties as an entertainment act? Visit orphanages? Apart from the God-awful PSA's made by Captain America intended for schools and other ventures that Allie had watched on Youtube, there was nothing that really told Allie about what they, meaning the Avengers, did in their spare time when they weren't saving the world.

So, Allie didn't actually know what she would be signing herself up for if she had said yes to him; would her life just consist of trailing after Tony Stark or sitting at a desk, bored and scrolling through her Facebook feed, waiting for the clock to roll around until home time? The one thing Allie liked about the customer service industry was that she was always kept on her toes, moving and preoccupied by one thing and another with no spare thoughts or lingering. The pay may be next to terrible, but money had never really been a big problem for Allie in recent years.

But the more thought Allie put into it, the more it consumed her; she tried not to let it bother her, to not let curiosity get the better of her but it was always there, lingering and lurking and she could not banish it. Superheroes and gods, aliens and monsters – they were a whole different world to Allie and the thought of letting them into her life made her almost buzz at the edges with some sense of excitement that was coupled with wariness. There was not a person in the world who would have loved to be able to step from the world of their mundane life into the one that seemed to be trapped in books and behind television screens.

As much as she fancied the thought, Allie had enough common sense left to know it would do her no good.

All she wanted to do, needed to do, was settle down, keep her life as normal and boring as possible and not dip her toes into anything that could possibly be dangerous; how hard had she worked to get the peaceful and good life that she had now? Adventures were for people who could live without risk and Allie quite liked being in her comfort zone, the walls of safety keeping her secure. She had a good home with a roof and a bed, and that was more than most people got; she had Lisa and she had a stable and steady job.

It was all she could have ever wanted, all she could have ever hoped to achieve.

So why couldn't she stop thinking about that damned card?

By the time morning rolled around, Allie knew that she had not slept more than an hour, maybe two hours at most; she sat on her bed, legs caught in the blankets with her back against the wall (the headboard lay propped up in the back of the wardrobe and she had meant to put it back on for the past year), the cold feeling of it long gone as her index finger trailed the top of the card, the material becoming smudged and out of shape at how many times it was mishandled.

TONY STARK, it said and Allie thought it meant to taunt her, teasing and unfair. She tried not to think that a job with Tony Stark – and as his personal assistant, at that – could mean a significant bump in her income, she tried not to think that taking the job could mean she would have access to superior technology which could be used to access her files – maybe an accident could occur and all information on her would be gone and she would be able to fly off to somewhere far, far away.

Or be able to go back home to Ireland.

Allie shook her head, pushing all of those tempting thoughts for her mind and scrunching the card in her hand for the final time, feeling it crumple beneath the pressure of her palm before she threw it to the other side of the room, landing on the small pile of clothes had kicked into a corner. The clock on her bedside table was crawling closer and closer to the time she had set her alarm and Allie was half tempted to lie in the bed until then, mindlessly scrolling through her phone for some form of distraction but decided against it, knowing that if she lingered beneath the warm blankets she would drift off and be torn from her sleep almost instantly. With an exhausted sigh, Allie reluctantly tore herself from the cocoon of her bed, shivering at the feeling of the cold floorboards beneath her feet.

She felt sluggish, eyes heavy and almost dragging her down as Allie found herself berating her damned mind and its inability to realise that sleep was a basic human function needed to survive; at moments, she paused and entertained the brief thought of perhaps calling in a sick to work but quickly shook the idea from her head. Despite how many times the suggestion floated through her mind, Allie couldn't remember the last time she pulled a sickie – or even had a sick day. Work was work, and she needed the extra money – or, rather, wanted the extra money.

Yet, as Allie dressed, the thought of calling in sick to work became more and more enticing, her eyes flickering to the bed and its messed-up sheets, looking that bit more comforting and inviting than it had ever been. But Allie was nothing if not a trooper, and she continued her menial morning tasks, putting on her socks, searching for the other shoe, giving up and deciding to go back and look for it later as she brushed her teeth with only one of the pair on her foot.

Her hair was a mess of kinks and knotty curls, begging to be brushed but she knew that the second the bristles would touch the strands that they would explode upon her head. Deciding to save the painful task of combing through the bush for her future self, Allie piled the usually tame curls atop of her head, careful to catch the wisps that fell at the back of her neck. Reassured that everything was tucked away, Allie ran the cold water tap, cupping her hands beneath the steady stream and watching it overflow before she brought her head down, splashing herself with the pooling puddle. For a moment, all went cold and sleep was momentarily banished; pulling back, Allie took a hold of the towel hanging beside the sink to catch all droplets of water that threatened to roll down her jaw and stain her uniform. Along her hairline, damp baby hairs clung to the skin and Allie ran the towel over them, quickly hoping to dry them before she caught her eyes in the mirror.

Dark violet smudges hung beneath her eyes, heavy and deep set from the amount of nights she had been unable to catch any sleep, reminders left behind by exhaustion. She seemed paler too, though it might be due to the splash of cold water rather than the restlessness that plagued her; her freckles were more pronounced along the bridge of her nose that dashed across the plains of her cheeks and she could catch sight of the lingering acne scars of her teenage and early adult years that were dotted along her cheeks. The wet strands of her hair gave the appearance of it being greasy and Allie cringed at her reflection; all in all, she truly looked like a mess.

Resigned, Allie placed the towel back in its original place and turned away from the image of herself, electing to flick the kettle on and hopefully find comfort in a cup of tea.

The world was quiet, slumbering before the inevitable break of dawn and the chirping of car horns and whistling of city life; everything seemed that bit more peaceful, sunlight not yet seeping in through the window, the golden fingers somehow finding their way through the maze of buildings and, despite the early morning coldness of the apartment, Allie didn't feel the ripple of goose bumps roll along her bare arm, the short sleeved shirt being somewhat impractical but effective in the workplace. When the kettle clicked, she filled her cup with the tea bag and set about looking for her other shoe, not trusting her mind to stay put and not run off with her thoughts.

After discovering her shoe lay stuck beneath her bedside table, Allie slipped it on, taking her bag that was resting behind the door and returned to the steaming cup on the table, the colour turning from a watery auburn to a deep and dark brown. Her stomach felt unable to take food, and Allie knew from past experiences that forcing something down her gullet would make her feel bloated and queasy, deciding it would be better to let her gut be. Already, she could hear the world waking outside, small stretches of the sun floating through the window and highlighting all the stains on the glass, resting out on the floorboards as Allie took a seat at the table, slipping the strap of her bag on the back of the chair as her hands wrapped around her mug and in silence.

Then, her mind turned once more to Tony Stark.

Less so his job offer, more so the man himself; prior to their meeting, Allie had not much knowledge about him save that he was rich and that he saved the world once or twice. She knew how much the media outlets loved him (she vaguely remembered reading a Buzzfeed article about his style in pants once) and that there was always something to report on him.

Of course, that had been before the Sokovia ordeal and rarely did Allie see any new pieces of information about him flooding her timeline the past nearly three months.

But, during these last two weeks, Allie could not help herself from seeking out new information about him and she eventually caved, looking him up; from his Wikipedia page to random headlines ranging from before she was born to a few weeks ago, she had tried to find any scrap of information she could. Most of it had been useless, of course, written by those who sought to raise him up as some kind of demi-god or those who were clearly biased in examining his achievements due to long running hatred of him and sought to insult him at every turn.

Occasionally, she would stumble on something useful; how he was the money source of the Avengers and completely funded their gear and their weapons, even creating a few of them himself. How he created the Stark Relief foundation to aid those in recovery or affected by The Incident, Sokovia or by any other disaster even if the Avengers had nothing to do with it. She read on his Wikipedia page (which had been so long that her eyes ached after reading it) about how he managed to create a clean, renewable energy source that currently being outsourced before worldwide usage. When he had shut down his weapons manufacturing department seven years prior, the industry lulled from the loss of a titan and all Stark weapons were scrapped and those that remained in the hands of terrorists or the like were now outdated and inferior to the technology of today. But that didn't mean they couldn't do damage and, as such, Stark Industries even created a department that saw to the clean up and dismantling of old Stark weapons around the world, not wanting any more death and damage done to the world.

And the more she read, the deeper she fell into the rabbit hole.

Despite her insisting that it was simply for research into her potential career, Allie had a feeling that Lisa knew it was more than that.

Because part of Allie was, begrudgingly, beginning to respect Tony Stark, despite all the countless articles that described as being a narcissistic, egocentric asshole. For every displeasing trait that he supposedly had, as said by the media, there were two, even three more redeeming qualities and actions that ranged from how he singlehandedly saved a small town called Gulmira, to the fact he had saved nearly the entirety of New York, in which resided eighteen million people.

As such, Allie was finding it harder and harder to convince herself that working for Tony Stark was possibly one of the worst ideas she ever had – and she had a lot of them in the past. She chewed on her lip, twisting her cup in her hand a feeling the heat of her drink seep into her palms; she wondered if working for him meant that she could also do some good, to actually do something with her life rather than sit around, waiting on people with a fake smile and even faker voice, letting each day pass by with her head ducked down because being invisible meant peace and peace meant an easy life. Yet the thought of doing some good stuck in her mind, and if Tony Stark managed to become a hero in the eyes of the people, being a decent and respectable human being despite his past wrongs, couldn't she do the same? Couldn't she be able to wipe the slate of her past mistakes as he had done for nearly thirty-eight years?

"Hey, you're up early."

Allie started, nearly knocking over her cup and spilling the cooling tea onto the table top, eyes darting to Lisa; her friend made her way through the kitchen, hair mussed up and eyes bleary as she flicked the kettle back on, letting it rumble as she made her way over to sit beside Allie, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Allie straightened her back in her chair, scooting in closer towards the lip of the table and clearing her throat, pulling herself from her previous thoughts.

"Yeah, I couldn't sleep," was all she said, nearly wincing at how drained and resigned she sounded. It seemed that Lisa picked up on her tone too, frowning and shifting closer in her chair towards Allie and placing her elbows on the table, cupping her chin as her green eyes stared piercingly.

"That seems to be a common occurrence these past few nights," Lisa commented, sounding much like a disapproving mother. A small smirk graced the curve of her lips. "Penny for your thoughts?"

"What, only a penny? I'm sure my thoughts a lot more valuable than a penny," Allie said wryly, hoping to lighten her own mood as Lisa gave an amused exhale, sitting back in her chair and slumping, ankles crossed and bare feet resting atop of Allie's shoes so as to not touch the cold ground.

"How about me finally doing the laundry then?" Lisa offered and Allie rolled her eyes, doing little to quash her smile as she pushed the cup containing the last few drams of her lukewarm tea away into the middle of the table, copying Lisa's sitting position as she stretched her legs out, the feel of Lisa's heels digging into her barely bothering her.

"Wow, it's almost as if you don't have to abide by the chores chart we have," Allie commented, snorting and crossing her arms over her chest as the kettle went off behind her, clicking and it's rumbling slowing as Lisa stood, retracting her feet and hand hitting Allie's bicep playfully as she went to get her own morning cup of lemon tea. The peace and serenity that had been present when Allie had awoken was now long gone and she could hear the traffic picking up, car horns honking and the murmuring of the neighbours' television through the walls and the echoing thumps of the people living in the apartment above her. Allie stretched her arms above her head, sighing as she continued to mutter beneath her breath. "I mean, it isn't as if you always leave it until last minute like two weeks ago after Tony Stark came and ruined everything."

She must not have been as quiet as she thought as when Lisa went to reclaim her seat, a deeper frown pulled at her lips, eyebrows knotting and a crease deepening as she placed the cup down in front of her, the tab of the teabag swinging as she pulled the chair into the table. Something akin to concern graced Lisa's features and the joking mood dissipated.

"You're being awfully dramatic at this time in the morning – and that's me that's saying that," Lisa remarked, taking a sip from her drink and pulling a face at the taste before placing it back down, looked to Allie with a sudden seriousness. "What's up, Al? You've been acting awfully weird."

Allie had hoped that Lisa wouldn't have noticed, but she knew that would never be the case. There was not a thing that went by with one of them that the other didn't notice. At times, Allie was grateful at their close friendship, how intuitive and in tune they were with each other that they didn't need words at times to communicate because of how Lisa knew how she was and vice versa. But there were times when the concern of one annoyed the other; Allie remembered how when Lisa had broken up with her first boyfriend, she had snapped at Allie to let her be alone and cope with her heartbreak by herself and there was a time when, once, she had hissed at Lisa to leave off with all the smothering after a particularly draining day that was worsened with the fact that it had been that time of the year, remembering how her brother had left and how alone she was.

Over the years, the two of them learned how the other wanted to cope when something was bothering the other. What had been bothering her these past few weeks didn't feel so big and Allie shook her head, resisting the urge to sigh. Sighing seemed to be all she had been doing these past few weeks and she was pretty sure that someone was going to smack her upside the head if she didn't stop it.

"It's nothing, Leese," Allie insisted, voice sounding weak and not at all convincing. At this, Lisa deepened her scowl, her pretty face twisting as she scooted her chair closer towards Allie, legs scraping on the floor and making Allie wince at the sound as if seemed to scream in her ears.

"Hey, no, you're not allowed to do that," Lisa said, voice soft and comforting as she let her hand rest atop of Allie's shoulder, fingers giving it a light squeeze before pulling back. Allie wasn't much for physical affection, save for when she was drunk or when Lisa was distraught, but she found consolation in the touch for the brief second it lasted. "Come on, what is it? It'll make you feel better."

A breath was building up in Allie's lungs, chest climbing and climbing as she mulled over her words, as her hands laced atop of the laminated table, picking out the knots in the wood and the stains that had accumulated throughout the years of abuse from hot plates and spillage. Releasing the air that had been expanding in her lungs, Allie reached a hand up to tuck away any loose strands that sprung free from her bun, clicking her tongue against her teeth before she spoke.

"No, really," she sighed, weary from her lack of sleep and from the thoughts that had been hammering away at her skull for the past two weeks. "It's just… I've been thinking – "

"Wow, you? Think?" Lisa quipped and Allie couldn't help the snicker that left her lips without her permission.

"Yeah, it's this rare phenomenon that you should try some time," Allie retorted and Lisa let out a small bark of laughter at her words. Allie then felt more relaxed, the tension and uncertainty in her dripping away as she managed to find the words she had been searching for this entire time. "Anyway, I've been thinking about this whole 'working for Tony Stark' thing."

"And?" Lisa asked, quirking an eyebrow at her words as Allie gave a small shrug, defeated from the constant thinking and the restless nights; she began wishing that she had stayed in bed and pulled a sickie.

"That's it – I've just been thinking about it," she continued, not delving any further. While it may have been the truth, Allie didn't go into how it consumed her, how she had searched far and wide (meaning she typed it into Google) for anything and everything to do with Tony Stark. She even looked up what a personal assistant did, not wanting to ask Lisa since she had only done it once or twice and that had been years ago and none of her bosses had been Tony Stark.

"And what have you concluded so far?" Lisa pushed, prodding Allie to keep speaking but already Allie could feel a deep rooted dull ache clawing its way through her mind to her temples.

"Nothing – aside that I get nothing but a headache while I do it," she muttered bitterly, trying to dispel the growing pain with a shake of her head, pinching the bridge of her nose and closing her eyes as she did so, dragging in a deep breath in hopes to untangle the mess in her brain and letting it free again, hand dropping to the table top again, index finger tracing the rings on the wood. Her teeth grasped the inside of her cheek, chewing on it before an exasperated groan left her. "I know that anyone would be lucky to be in my shoes right now and I feel like… I just feel so stupid for turning it down, but I know that it's the right thing."

"But do you feel like it's the right thing?"

"Yes? That's literally what I just said, Leese," Allie responded, screwing her face up at Lisa's words but her friend shook her head, black hair bouncing around her as she did so before she pulled herself in closer to Allie, placing her hand on Allie's and squeezing it, earnest and seemingly solemn as she spoke.

"But I mean do you really, really feel like it's the right thing?" Lisa ploughed on, voice no longer light and making Allie doubt herself, doubt her decision. Lisa took her hand back and heaved a sigh, running her hands through her bed head before turning once more to Allie. "Al, you know I'll support you through thick and thin and if you really do feel like turning him down is what's in your best interests what with… well, everything, then I won't ever say a word against your decision. But if you have any inkling of doubt… I think maybe you should at least give him a call."

"I don't know, Leese…" Allie hesitated, shifting in her seat but hearing the sense in Lisa's words. The debate for accepting the offer began to outweigh all the disadvantages that had previously been in the winning.

"Just give him a call, yeah?" Lisa smiled, reassuring and gentle, once more going to rest her hand on Allie's arm for a brief second before pulling back. Despite the talk and Lisa's words, it made Allie feel more torn than anything because, despite knowing that Allie shouldn't accept, she felt compelled to with all the positives that outweighed the negatives. "You don't have to accept, but at least try and think about it. Or better yet: think about the money."

"You just want a new T.V," Allie joked and Lisa placed a hand of her heart, the other pushing her cooling drink away, a small smile on her lips.

"You know me so well."

"I'm not taking a new job so you can record Game of Thrones," Allie responded, voice dead pan and Lisa's face twisted into an appearance of faux disappointment. The change in mood lightened Allie, briefly making her feel not as exhausted or weighed down as she had been.

"It's hard keeping up with everything, okay!" Lisa pouted and Allie didn't bother to stop her eyes from rolling, feeling quite in the teasing mood.

"Then you should have watched it like the rest of us when it first came out."

"You're mean."

"And I'm also going to be late, so I'll see you later," Allie stated, getting to her feet and grabbing her drink to pour it down the sink, deciding to wash it later when she got home. Lisa took her phone from her pocket, checking the time as Allie took her bag, checking to see if she had everything from her phone to the light rain jacket she had stuffed down at the bottom and turned to go.

"But you're not late?" Lisa said, and Allie threw a wave over her shoulder, letting the words rush over her head, bag bouncing on her thigh.

"Bye, Leese! Get the laundry done or I'll personally kick your ass!"

"As if you could reach it!"


Work always seemed to follow a pattern; in the morning, when she would first arrive, it would be a ghost town, not a single customer in sight until the clock stuck nine and then the floodgates would open, person after person pouring in as Allie tried to keep atop of the work. Years of working there had made her act on muscle memory alone, never doubting herself as she made each drink, varying it for the customer's taste and then moving on to the next one, lost in a mindless cycle of smiling, saying 'Hi! How can I help you today?' and then making their drink before sending them on their coffee fuelled, merry way. And then the rush lulled, leaving the staff to find something to do so as to not appear lazy until they completed all possible tasks, left with nothing to do except wait.

And each time, Allie would find herself once more in that rabbit hole, walls made out of thoughts of extra money and Tony Stark. She stood behind the counter where the customers would line up, eyeing the door and waiting for someone to come but it remained unopened. And the clocked began to tick by, the soft croon of the stereo a gentle wave that rushed through the shop as Allie found herself wondering once more.

After her talk with Lisa in the morning, she had been beginning to doubt her choice more and it annoyed her that she was blowing this out of proportion; it was a stupid job for Tony Stark, nothing more and nothing less.

But it isn't just that, echoed a voice in the back of her mind. It wasn't just a job, it was a potential risk. Who knows what might happen? She could imagine a thousand and one possible dangerous scenarios, of aliens and monsters attacking and her being dragged along. It seemed ridiculous, but it was enough to make her wary. Plus, there was no telling how much he knew, or that he knew more than he had let on and that was enough to send alarm bells ringing in her head. She mulled over her thoughts, lost in her own world and unable to take notice of the one around her; it all boiled down to money, in the end and it was becoming the biggest factor in pushing her to make the call. The wage she made here was next to shit, but money was never really a problem, but she didn't want to depend on her money source. All Allie longed to do is to finally becoming independent, to be able to do as she wished without having to worry about suddenly becoming dirt poor.

And, in her head, she wondered if working for Tony Stark was really any more dangerous than what she had gotten herself into before.

She didn't have to work for him for the rest of her life, a year might do, maybe even less. Saving up the money wouldn't be the most difficult thing to do as she had spent the better part of her life doing it. She wasn't an avid shopper or impulse buyer, and rent was controlled, not to mention that Lisa had secured a job interview after quitting her last job; after the whole ordeal with Tony Stark, she had waited a week before resubmitting her resumé to Pepper Potts a few days ago, unable to check her email for a response and making Allie do it for her. So far, there had been no confirmation and Lisa took it as a sign that she hadn't been accepted gracefully.

The more thought she put into it, the more sense it made to take the opportunity.

Maybe it would be better to leave it to a coinflip from how damn indecisive she was about it all.

"Allison!"

Allie jumped and her eyes flew to Francis, who seemed less than pleased as he continued to eye her, head cocked to the side and arms over his chest before he gestured in front of her. Confused, she turned her gaze to see a rather unimpressed middle-aged woman standing before her, thin lips pressed together and sharp eyes narrowing at the barista. Allie felt her face go up in flames, cheeks burning and stained pink as she tried to force that smile back on her face but knew it looked lopsided, crooked and menacing.

"Oh! I'm so sorry, Miss, how can I help you?" Allie croaked out, voice not as sugary sweet as it should have been and the woman spat out her order, looking rather unpleased and her face pinched, as if a lemon had been shoved into her mouth. Francis lingered near her, following her move as she made the drink, a simple caramel latté with whipped cream on top and turned to hand it to the customer, exchanging money before the woman turned on her heel and left, sipping on her drink. As she left, Francis stepped closer to Allie, a disapproving look on his face and Allie felt herself shrink up.

"What is up with you for the last few days? You've been spacing out a lot," he frowned, keeping his voice low as he clicked his tongue. There were rarely any times where Francis was as serious as he was now and Allie felt that hot rod of shame burn its way through her. "I don't really want to be that kind of manager, Al, but you can't keep this up."

"I know, Fran, I'm really sorry – " Allie stumbled, trying to find the right words before he held a hand up to effectively cut her off, her mouth clamping shut and trying not to cast her eyes to the ground.

"Sorry isn't going to cut it, Al," he said, shaking his head and his brown eyes softened slightly. "I know it's none of my business and I'm not going to cross the line, but whatever it is that's been at you, figure it out soon. This kind of behaviour isn't professional."

Allie nodded her head in agreement and scratched the back of her neck, hoping to lighten the mood.

"Not to make a bad situation worse, but that was kind of hot – you being all authoritative and whatnot."

"A habit I've picked up from the bedroom," he sighed dreamily, a small grin on his face as he gave a wink. If there was one thing Allie could count on Francis for, it was for him not to hold any kind of grudge against people. It seemed he wanted to move past the reprimand as quickly as Allie did.

"Okay, now I regret saying that and I'm just going to burn my ears off," Allie groaned, scrunching her nose up as he chuckled at her reaction.

"Instead of doing that, how about wiping down the tables? Kerri is sick, and Kyle has been picking up after you all week."

"Talk about harsh."

"Talk about being a lazy employee," he barked back without any bite.

"I'll give you that, but come on, Fran, you used to be way worse."

"Yes, until I became manager and realised I actually have to do stuff and run the place. Now go help Kyle clean up while the crowd is thin," he said, shooing her away to where the only other guy on staff was, reaching across a table to mop up a spill that someone had made moments prior before they left. She took a spare rag from beneath the counter, running it through her fingers as she made her way over to Kyle, whistling quietly to herself as the smell of the upturned drink hit her nose. As she neared the spill zone, Kyle turned his eyes upwards to meet her gaze and Allie gave a small wave of the rag in her hand to signal her intention. He gave her a grateful smile and the two began to take everything off the table.

"Francis looked like he was really giving out to you over there," Kyle said to her in a low voice as they worked, pulling Allie's attention to him and away from the small, beige puddle.

"Nah, not really," Allie shrugged, giving the table top a wipe down, already seeing the cloth in her hand soak up the liquid. Kyle was only a few years younger than her and had been working there for half a year already. Behind his glasses were a pair of brown eyes set beneath a mop of honey hair, strands catching in his eyelashes. He was a pretty cool kid, in Allie's opinion, and he never took anything to offence; contrary to many newbies, he settled in quickly and got the gist of the work instantly. They even had gone for lunch together a few times when they got the same break time. "I get why he had to reprimand me, or whatever, and he wasn't too horrible. Just doing what any other manager would do."

"I've had worse managers," Kyle told her, the two attempting to get rid of any trace of the drink and catching any drops that might fall to the floor. Allie wasn't sure where Francis was and threw a look over her shoulder, catching a glimpse of him tending to another customer. Normally, she wouldn't be so unsure about chatting during work, but she had already annoyed him enough for one morning. Seeing that he wasn't paying any attention and was far out of ear shot gave her a bit of confidence to keep the conversation flowing. "One actually made me cry once because he wouldn't stop yelling at me for not wiping down a top shelf that had dust on it."

"Yikes," she whistled, throwing the soaked rag into a nearby bin and grabbing a handful of paper towels to give to Kyle, taking his own cloth to dump it in the bin. Allie was lucky that she never had a boss so terrible as that, but there had been a few that just might compete with it.

"Not too bad, I guess," Kyle shrugged, handing her half of the bundle of napkins and rearranging them so they sat folded over one another instead of being scrunched up as she had done. "He got caught stealing from the store and was fired. Now, he leaves in some shitty apartment and got divorced."

"Oh, my God," Allie all but gasped, blinking at his words. Talk about unlucky karma, she muttered to herself and Kyle lifted his shoulders once more in response, finishing the menial task of cleaning up in silence.

It was then that it hit Allie that this would be her chance to ask Kyle about what had been bothering her all these weeks; she was pretty sure that he was into the whole Avengers and aliens thing, many of the young kids (she said as if she wasn't a young adult and was really an old woman) were into that and she specifically remembered how he had actually been trying to talk to her about them some time back before she shut him down with the fact she had no interest in the subject. Allie chewed on her lip, slowing her actions as she tried to find the right words to open up with; she didn't want to ask him out right but playing stupid wouldn't do her any favours and he would know she was putting it on. He was a smart kid and Allie knew he was a more reliable source than Cosmopolitan and their senseless interviews.

"Say, Kyle…" She began slowly, dragging the words out as she passed her wadded paper towel back and forth in her palms, clicking her tongue as they finished, standing back and scrunching the napkins to throw into the bin. He didn't seem to notice anything strange about her tone and they ploughed on with their task, replacing all the sugar packets and milk back onto the table.

"Yeah?"

"You're into the whole Avenging thing, right?" she asked and his head perked up, eyes narrowing behind his glasses as a scoff left him, hands wiping on the front of his apron. She attempted to remain nonchalant but doubted that it worked as he rolled his eyes at her words.

"They're the Avengers, and yes, I guess I am," he answered, pursing his lips and pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose after they slipped from how he been bending over the table during the clean-up. Allie a small hum, mulling over her words and what to ask without being conspicuous before he continued speaking. "And I'd say I'm pretty up to date on them. Not as fanatic as some people are. There are literally people who write self-insert fanfiction with Captain America and Iron Man on the internet – or write the two of them in a relationship."

Allie scrunched her face up at his words, recoiling at them – less so at the thought of Captain America and Iron Man going at it, but mostly wondering how anyone would have the time to write things like that, or why they would even want to write something like that. "I really did not need, or want, to know about that."

"It's a thing, and I suggest you stay away from it," he warned lightly, amused by her reaction before he crossed his arms over his chest, head tilted to the side and curious, seeing through her façade. "Anyways, why do you ask?"

"Just…" Allie trailed off, looking to her nails and picking at the dirt stuck beneath the curved stumps. "Wondering if you know what they do day to day in their daily lives. Like, do they actually do anything?"

Wow, Allie, you're amazing at this! He won't ever suspect a thing!

"Apart from saving the world?" he quizzed, eyebrow cocked and Allie pulled her eyes away from her hands to give a half-hearted nod of confirmation, trying to ignore the heat in her cheeks from how utterly terribleshe was at acting. Still, he didn't tease her for anything so that was better than what she had thought would happen. Once more he adjusted his glasses and swept away the long strands of his hair, obviously thinking about her words before he gave a reply. "I guess so. I mean, Captain America used to work with the government or some secret branch of it, I think."

"What about the, uh, the Iron Guy?" Please, stop.

"Iron Man. You really should know his name since he did save us all by flying a nuke through space."

"Iron Man is his actual birth name?"

"Please, tell me you're joking."

He looked at her as if she was really as stupid as she was pretending – maybe she was as stupid as she thought she was acting to be. Even Allie winced at her words but brushed them off with a laugh, once more glancing behind her to see Francis still tending to another customer, taking an order and not looking to find where his remaining staff were loitering. She waved her hand, as if to show she has only pretending and decided that maybe playing dumb wasn't the best course of action.

"Of course, I am," she reassured, though he still seemed slightly unimpressed by her choice of words and Allie could already tell she was losing her very valuable cool points (something Kyle had dubbed whenever Allie rarely understand any of his pop culture references – she hadn't had the heart to tell him that she was only pretending most of the time) from how she was acting. It wasn't that big of a deal and Allie shook herself internally, pushing her to stop being a big coward and just ask Kyle what she wanted to know. "This Tony Stark guy – does he actually do anything? I know he retired from his company a while back."

"I don't know," Kyle said after a brief pause of thought, reaching down to straighten the sugar packets on the table. There were no customers within hearing range of them but it still wouldn't look good to just linger around talking instead of working. "I read a few articles on some fan sites that try to keep up. He used to do charity balls and attend events for people affected by The Incident, or something. He'd raise money, give speeches, the whole shebang."

"Used to?" She repeated, picking the word up and copying Kyle by pretending to work, still focused on the conversation and berating herself from not just asking the younger boy about all of this weeks back instead of having to be cursed with sleepless nights and headaches. Kyle gave a grim nod and his voice dropped, as if they were discussing some forbidden and solemn topic.

"After the whole Sokovia thing – "

"You mean the thing with the evil robot that lifted an entire city from the ground and made it fly?"

"Yeah, that. Anyway, with that whole things he's been kind of MIA for a while," Kyle confirmed, using his apron to give the table top another wipe down as Allie shuffled around the table, going closer towards Kyle so as to hear him better. They were now further from the sight of both Francis and the customers and the idea of them talking about something that was not allowed was feeling more and more real. "The fan sites haven't really been updated in a while because of how reclusive he is now."

"Oh," she said softly, frowning at his words. She knew that he had been locking himself away – she couldn't go onto Facebook or Twitter without seeing useless headlines that described how much of a shut in he was – such a turn when there were countless articles about how extroverted he was. What with how much of a shitshow Sokovia was, and partly being responsible for the deaths of hundreds, coupled with the fact his long-time girlfriend had broken up with him, Allie didn't blame him for wanting some privacy. It seemed that he was the only one on the team that wanted some peace of mind as, once in a while, there would be an update on Avenger activities, from high alien tech being recovered, to gangs of terrorists attacking civilian places at home and abroad – all of the team would be taking part, sans Tony Stark and that hammer god, Thor.

"I wouldn't blame him," Kyle said, unknowingly agreeing with her thoughts as they ran through her mind. His tone seemed low and somewhat bleak, as if a part of him was upset by the fact Tony Stark was an introverted recluse. "With the amount of hate the entire team is getting and especially him, I'd want to shut myself away forever, too."

That pulled her up short and she stood, taking a break from her fake working, blinking at his words and eyebrows furrowing together. She knew that the team had been getting hate ever since The Incident, mostly due to the reparations that needed to be paid from the amount of damage done to the city, and it had tripled since Sokovia, but she hadn't known Stark was getting the brunt of it; from what she had read over the past two weeks, it seemed to her that he was the one doing the most to help the city recover from the damages done by the Avengers, from pooling money and resources, providing aid to the injured and those trapped. It had been stated by numerous journalists and media outlets that, without Stark's help, the city would have taken years to recover as much as it did over the past two months.

In truth, out of all the Avengers, he seemed to be the only one providing help to Sokovia.

"That sounds a bit… unfair," she finally said after deciding on her words, not quite articulating how she felt it to be almost unjust that Tony was bearing the brunt of the criticism towards the Avengers when he was the only trying to right their mistakes and misdoings. "I mean, understand why people are angry and hateful but…"

She trailed off, unable to finish her sentence but Kyle heaved a sigh, as if he agreed with her words too.

"I know. He's basically funding the entire city's recovery and whatnot," he explained, voice heavy and Allie could tell he was definitely upset by it. He must have been fifteen or sixteen when The Incident happened and idolising the Avengers for his generation of teens was like idolising Britney Spears for her generation when she was his age. And she knew how much he looked up to them, he lived in a time where kids could actually talk to superheroes in real life and not just see them in movies. "But, some guys will always been seen as bad no matter how much good they do."


Allie was thinking about the card again.

But this time, it wasn't a case that it was bothering her and making her frustrated, but rather she was trying to remember where she put it.

Coming home, Allie made herself to first do what she needed to do before she even thought about calling Tony Stark. Her brain was on complete shut down as she set about finishing her chores for the day, washing the plates and dishes that lay in the sink upturned, ordering dinner from a cheap Chinese takeout due to the fact fresh food was sorely lacking in the apartment as Allie spent her days working and Lisa was busy trying to find a job. Then, she showered and sorted through the tangles in her hair, wincing and cursing at her past self for leaving her to deal with the mess before managing to comb through the knots. Her feet ached that little bit less and she felt better, cleaner and whatever exhaustion that had been hanging over her the past few days seemed to scamper, disappearing when she needed it the most.

She needed sleep, wanted sleep, to clear her mind and focus her thoughts. Despite how early it was, Allie turned in to bed, wrapping the blankets around her as tightly as she could, pulling the covers up over her ears in order to drown the sound of the late city life but leaving her nose peaking out through a crack, curling into a ball on her side as she willed herself to sleep.

And then the count-down began.

A hundred, ninety-nine, ninety-eight…

Her eyes were squeezed shut and she focused in on her breathing, ignoring the whispers of the voices pleading with her to get up and out to find the card buried beneath the pile of clothes stuck in the corner of her room. Lisa had done the washing that day but left the clothes that weren't in the washing basket alone, not wanting to take anything in case Allie had wanted to wear it the next day.

Eighty-three, eighty-two, eighty-one…

She banned herself from going on her phone because she knew what would have happened had she allowed herself to browse through any of her social media. Watching T.V did little help either and all the while she knew all this trouble could be dealt with if she just picked up the damned phone.

Seventy-six, seventy-three… seventy…

It would take a few seconds, nothing more nothing less. Yes or no, it wasn't that hard.

Eighty-one, eighty-three, eighty-four…

Tighter and tighter she curled in on her side, blankets pulled from the corner of her mattress and darting half up the bed from the force. A few moments would banish away all these hours of restlessness.

Ninety-six, ninety-seven…

She couldn't take it anymore.

Ninety-eight…

All she had to do was make one damned call and she was acting like a drama queen!

Ninety-nine…

Yes, or no. Yes, or no.

One hundred!

Allie pulled herself from her bed, throwing the blankets from her and all the warmth instantly burst free, leaving her vulnerable to the coldness of the night. She felt downright infuriated with her own self, furious that she was making such a big deal out of one small job offer. But only if he knew, if only anyone knew. But, no more, she would withstand this no more.

Yes, or no.

It was that simple.

Allie swung her legs from the bed, reaching over to flick on her cheap lamp and instantly the room flooded with a dull light, burning at the edges of her eyes but Allie would not let herself try to get used to it, already flinging herself from the mattress to the pile of clothes that hid the buried treasure she longed to find. Allie tore at the pile, shaking every loose piece of fabric for the damned thing, becoming worried when she couldn't find the card until it fluttered down beside her bare feet, facing upwards and gleaming.

TONY STARK.

That damned bastard had been making her lose sleep for the past two weeks and someone had to answer for it. Not caring for the time, Allie picked up the small rectangle, moving back towards her bed and perching on the edge of the mattress, feeling it sink down slightly as she reached over to take a hold of her phone, unlocking it and nearly hissing at the level of the screen's brightness. Ignoring the pain in her eyes from the glare of her phone and the pain of not wearing her glasses for a long period of time, Allie opened up the calling pad, punching in the numbers instantaneously without needing to look at the card, having memorised the sequence from all the times she had stared at it for hours on end. Finished and still on a roll with her sudden bout of courage, Allie pressed call and placed it to her ear, a pause of silence before she heard the ringing through the speaker.

Then she feels the panic once more.

A small part is yelling at her to hang up, to just pretend she had never done what she was doing and her heart rate spiked as the ringing got longer and longer, half hoping that he wouldn't pick up and just assume that it was a call from a different number and not believe that it was her. Her mouth became dry and the wings of a hummingbird beat in her chest, threatening to burst as her shaky breathing grew louder and louder. Her thumb was moving across the screen and hovering over the red hang up button and she was half tempted to hang up and being nearly ready to do so. This is a mistake, this is a mistake, this is a –

"Hello?"

He picked up.

Shit.

"Oh! Mr. Stark," Allie fumbled, gripping the phone so tightly to the point she thought it would crack beneath the strain. Her heart rate elevated in her chest and she could feel her cheeks burning brightly, making her think that she would end up in flames. She wondered if he could hear the waver in her voice. "I'm so sorry to have called you so late at night, I didn't mean to – "

"Wake me from my first proper sleep in a few days? It's fine, it isn't as if sleep is a basic human function we need to survive," Stark commented, voice snarky but obviously thick with sleep, making her wince at his words. She knew all too well how annoyed he would be feeling; if Lisa had tried waking Allie up after being so long without a proper sleep then there would have been World War Three, Four and Five consecutively. Allie felt that awkwardness bubble in her, shifting on the edge of her mattress as her ankles crossed herself, trying to quell the nervousness in her. Truth be told, he didn't sound too irritated towards her, and she could hear movement on the other side of the line.

"If you need it survive, how come you said it was your first proper one in days?" She joked, not realising the words were being said until her mouth shut itself once more. Way to make a bad situation worse, she berated herself but she heard him give a snort at what she had said, making Allie relax somewhat, rigid form turning slack.

"Anyway, what can I do for you?" he said, voice clearer and he sounded less… well, grumpy than he had been when he picked up. Allie tore her fingers into the small dram of courage she had left to force the words out.

"It's Allison, Mr. Stark, Allison Lawrence – " Allie began but was promptly cut off by the voice of Tony Stark.

"Yes, I know it's you," Stark said, not as exasperated as he should have been after being called so late at night. On the other end, she could hear movement, that he was either getting out of bed or beginning to move about in his room. "I met you nearly three weeks ago in your apartment and I have your number saved to my phone. Plus, the voice gave it away."

She blinked as words, alarm bells going off in her head.

"Wait, how do you have my phone number?"

"There's nothing a person can't get online, nowadays," he told her, as if to say duh and she nearly smacked her forehead for being stupid. This was Tony Stark, and she already knew that he had enough information on her as it was already. So what surprise was it that he also had her phone number? Though a gross invasion of privacy, it made Allie felt stupid for not thinking that he would have her number. "You should really change your privacy settings on Facebook."

"Oh. Right." And there was that, too, she guess.

"So, did you just wake me up at… God, is it three a.m. already?" he groaned and Allie's eyes widened at what he said, eyes darting to the alarm clock on her bedside table to see that it was, indeed, just past three, edging closer to 3:09 and she resisted the urge to gasp, stifling it in shock at the fact she hadn't bothered to even glance at the time before she called him. She wouldn't have blamed him if he had hung up on her at first, but she could not help but wonder why he had answered her so late at night if he had been sleeping instead of ignoring it? He had her number, and knew it was her, so her could have called her back later the next day – or, rather, later that day. Embarrassment and shame burned in her cheeks and wanted nothing more than to bury her head in her hands but with one around her phone and holding it to her ear, it wasn't possible. "Well, what did I do to deserve a late hour call from someone such as yourself?"

After allowing herself to wallow in her self-hatred for a hot second, and hearing that he didn't seem too miffed towards her, Allie pulled herself together and managed to get her words out. Deal with this first, then you can crawl into a hole later.

"It's just… I've been thinking about – "

"Me?" Stark sighed, quite too happily and naturally for someone who had just been disturbed at three a.m. from their first proper sleep in days. She rolled her eyes, knowing he couldn't see her even if she did.

"Your offer," she stressed, ignoring the hotness in her face at both the dying embarrassment of realising how late she had called and also because of his words. "I've been putting a lot of thought into it since you asked me."

"You should have done since it's been over two weeks since I basically gave you a job," he huffed, now sounding truly annoyed but more so at the fact that he had been made to wait for her. The thought of Tony Stark waiting by the phone for Allie to call amused her greatly and it made her glad that she hadn't caved sooner. "I'd be quite insulted if you hadn't."

"Well, I did," she confirmed once more and she heard him give an amused exhale, sounding somewhat crackled from the other side of the phone.

"And this is you calling to say 'of course I'll accept, Mr. Stark! It would be such an honour and a privilege to work with someone as smart and as handsome as you!'" he squeaked, voice turning pitched and croaking, piercing Allie's ear and making her wince at the sound, pulling her phone away slightly from her ear to recover before placing it back, a scowl on her face.

"Not exactly," Allie told him, cringing at his terrible impression and screwing up her face, not quite sure if she would feel insulted or not. Her voice wasn't that high, was it? "And that was a down right horrible impression of what I'm going to assume is some caricature and not me."

"First you wake me, you insult my acting?" Stark gasped, sniffing as if her words had actually hurt him. "Now I'm being tempted to hang up."

"Wait, no!" Allie exclaimed, unsure if he would actually do it or not. If he did, she wouldn't have the energy to wait for him to call back or the courage to call him again. "I just meant that I'm not calling to accept. I just wanted to know what my job would be exactly if, hypothetically, I did accept."

"And this is all just hypothetical?" he teased, and Allie knew he was smiling at her terrible fumbling for words. As proven before by her earlier conversation that day with Kyle that was backed up by years of evidence, Allie could not act for shit unless she absolutely had to. "Well, truth be told, I don't know. You'd be my assistant and people would have to go through you to get into contact with me and all that. You'd turn them down, telling them that, unfortunately, Tony isn't available at the moment because he's dying or something big like that."

"But would I actually be doing anything?" she asked, none too pleased at his answer. How could he offer her a job and not know what she had to do? Better yet, how could she accept a job and not know what she had to do? It seemed all so ridiculous and idiotic – but the money¸ rang in her head and she pushed all notions of the whole ordeal being ludicrous from her head.

"There isn't that many people I've met that want to get paid to do something," he noted, clicking his tongue and she could hear a faint tapping from his end, a slow and steady rhythm as he mulled over it for a moment, gathering whatever thoughts he could before talking once more. "I mean, I could use someone with your skills since there's not another person within a hundred-mile radius that could come as close as you did in breaking my firewall."

"I wouldn't say a hundred-mile radius," she scoffed, voice shy and sweet. "Maybe two hundred?"

"I can see that you're quite the humble person," Stark chuckled, and with each word he began to fade away, as if moving from the phone. For a moment Allie was worried that she was losing connection but there were full bars and then turned to her volume but was reassured that it was just him moving about when he continued to speak. "I'll need someone to keep me 'down to earth' or whatever."

"So," Allie trailed off, relaxing her back and ignoring the ache of having sat without anything to lean on for quite some time. The clock was now crawling closer to 3:20 and she wondered how on God's green earth could she have been talking to Tony Stark for nearly fifteen minutes, at 3 a.m., without properly talking to him about what she had intended to talk about? Her brain was so addled by exhaustion that it didn't even register to her how weird it might seem to a third-party outsider. "What, you'd pay me to just sit around, declining party invitations and make you coffee?"

"I wouldn't say no to a good cup of coffee, I'll admit that," he said, jumping at her offer. She supposed making coffee for a higher pay wouldn't be too bad, but the thought of actually doing it made her recoil. After years in the service industry, specifically the coffee and other hot beverages making industry, there were somethings that just became ruined.

"It isn't all that great when you've spent nearly five years making it," she muttered, wondering if there would ever be a time when she would be able to take a breath without having the remnants of coffee grinds stuck to the inside of her nose.

"I've been drinking black coffee every morning and every hour in between since I was 14, I know what I'm talking about," Stark said nonchalantly, uncaring and making Allie's nose scrunched up on its own accord

"That's disgusting," Allie retched, shuddering at the thought of drinking black coffee and he gave a bark of laughter at her reaction.

"I bet you're one of those people who only drink herbal tea, talking about how great it is for the body but secretly despising how it tastes," he scoffed, none too bothered about the informal discussion they were having. Though the lack of unprofessionalism should have made her uncomfortable (talking to a guy who could be your potential boss at 3 a.m. and not talking about work wasn't always a good thing) but it helped her become more comfortable and free with her words, that he was just a normal person and not the Tony Stark, the guy who saved the world twice.

"Herbal tea is the worst, even more so than coffee," Allie snorted, face screwing up and allowing herself to be pulled along on the sudden change in topic. She was a barista – hot drinks were her specialty. Allie could barely remember what she had learned in school, so coffee and other hot beverages became her source of knowledge in a conversation. "And there's only one right way to make tea – black tea with milk, just as God intended."

"Sounds horrifying and quite disgusting," he told her, pausing before speaking again. "I should try it sometime, give my taste buds a fright."

"Anyways," Allie started, pulling the two of them from the strange conversation. She had called him to talk about a job and here they were, talking about coffee and tea, as well as their favourite types of all things. "Mr. Stark, if I wanted a job making coffee, I'd stick with my current one."

"How about this," he finally decided, voice still sounding quite far away as if he was on the other side of the room, butting in on her speaking and she heard more shuffling on the other side of the line, waiting for him to speak as she chewed down on her lip before he finally continued, sounding much closer than he had before. "Come down to the Avengers Compound tomorrow morning and we can discuss this whole working for me thing."

"Tomorrow? I don't know, I'm working."

"If you decide to accept, then you won't have to worry about that," Stark told her, as if waving her worries aside and sounding quite indifferent to the fact that she already had a job and actually had to do said job if she wanted to keep it. But there was a truth hanging in Stark's words.

"I guess you're right, but still…" Allie trailed up, already playing out the scene of talking with Francis in her head. She hadn't taken many days off, to be quite fair, but it was true that, during the past two weeks, she hadn't been exactly working to her best standard and he had only just talked to her about it today. She could be truthful with him, tell him that she had a job interview and she knew that he would understand, but that didn't mean Allie didn't feel horrible about it. "It'd be rude to not show up. I'm on pretty thin ice as it is."

"All the more reason for you to accept!" Stark exclaimed and Allie could hear noise on the other side of the line, of shuffling and movement, heavy objects being pushed aside and the clinking of things placed on metal or some other surface. She wondered if Stark had actually been serious about her waking him up or was it just a joke he did to make her feel as if she had and, thus, make her feel bad for doing so. "The pay is great and did I mention we have a good dental plan?"

"Yes, you have."

"Wow, and that didn't make you accept?" he gasped, as if offended by her words and Allie could almost imagine him placing a hand over his heart, faux hurt on his face. She nearly laughed at the imagine in her head but reigned herself in before she could; she didn't want him to think she was a complete weirdo. That was for after getting the job. And when did you decide that you're going to accept? A voice in her head asked, just as surprised at the thought as she was. "Capitalism is so sad."

"Listen, I'll… I'll try and call in sick tomorrow," Allie finally relented, reaching up a hand to run through the mess that was her hair before her fingers got caught on the hair band that pulled the strands into a bun atop of her head. "If I don't show up by ten, then you'll know I couldn't get it off."

"But not that you don't accept?" he said, voice becoming higher and giddy at her words, as if he was delighted that she was finally agreeing to some form of a formal job interview; maybe he was, Allie didn't know. In the end, she would have to find out the next day – meaning that she had decided that she would go. Damn it.

"Good night, Mr. Stark," Allie sighed, feeling a smile tug at her lips despite her trying to stomp at the urge. He wasn't supposed to make her smile, he was supposed to make her make it easy to turn him down flat and move on and wake up at the usual time for work tomorrow to put on her barista uniform and do the same thing every day, saying the same thing with the same fake smile. Then again, maybe a benefit to a job she wouldn't actually like would be having a boss that she didn't hate; it's the main reason she didn't dread going into work every day because at least Francis and her were friends.

"Dream sweet things about me!" he teased, sounding far too chipper for her liking at three a.m. in the morning. "Remember: we have good dental!"

"Good night," she repeated once more, shaking her head and not bothering to hide the smile (he couldn't see it anyways, so why bother?) while stressing her words and, before he could even think to reply back to her, Allie pulled the phone away from her ear and hung up, the line going dead and the room silent. She sat for a few moments with her phone in her hand, staring as the screen dimmed and then locked, her dark reflection being thrown back at her with the orange light from the lamp on her bedside table casting a glow over half of a face. She half expected him to call back in order to get the last word in but her phone remained silent, unmoving in her hand.

While she might have been Atlas some minutes before, her shoulders felt free and unburdened by her decisiveness to now deal with the situation rather than hop to and fro from wondering whether she should answer him or not. Taking a breath, Allie half threw her phone to its previous position on the bedside table, falling back into the bed with her arms spread out, catching on the jumbled mess of her blankets and her pillows, eyes glued to the ceiling as the world around her moved quietly and sluggishly. Her mind felt stuck but, at that moment, Allie knew what she was going to do, knew that she could not keep up the charade of not wanting to take the leap and take a hold of what was being offered to her.

She let out a small groan, hands going to cover her face as she thought of Lisa would react tomorrow finding out that not only had Allie called to somewhat agree to being Tony Stark's assistant, but she had done it at 3 a.m. and they had even strayed away from the intended topic of conversation to talk about tea of all things.

And then the worst of the situation hit her.

What in God's name was she going to tell Francis?


I know, I know! I'm a day past the update day but I've been really sick the last few days and I was working more days last week. My cold has gotten really bad and, as such, a large portion of this is written while the author is half delirious and can barely see due to watery eyes (not to mention the constant coughing and sneezing.) I'll probably come back to this another time to edit but at the moment, I must leave it in the state that it is in. I wrote this chapter in such a weird way; first I wrote all the dialogue then filled in all the description and what not; I worked from top to the middle point of the story then worked from the end back to the middle.

On another note: I've been thinking about doing giveaway fics whenever we hit a milestone with this story, like when we hit 100 reviews or something like that; it's just something that's been floating in my head and I've only worked out the basis of it so far while I've been dying in bed. Whenever a milestone is hit, I allow the winner to give me anything to write about (within this fic's universe or to do with certain characters) or, if they are unsure, I give them a pick of a few that I have in my head. It's just something I've been entertaining.

And thank you all my dear readers for sticking along on this journey so far! The rest of the story is going to be just as long but the plot does pick up after this chapter. I wrote out a story outline piece to help me and im already 5k into it so there's… a lot that's going to happen. Like, yikes, if only you guys knew.

Also, I really didn't want to show it but, yes, I'm "Team Iron Man" but I really don't want to drag down the other Avengers to raise Tony up; the reason I love him so much is because of how human he is and how he makes mistakes and learns from them. But, it has been stated in canon that the Stark Relief Foundation exists and, knowing Tony, he would definitely have pumped money into helping Sokovia's recover. The other Avengers don't have the same resources as he do and they help in other places.

Anyways, after realising my author notes are WAY too long, I'll round this up with a large thank you for all the reviews, follows and favourites so far!

Thanks for reading!