"The most important time in history is, now, the present
So count your blessings cause time can't define the essence
But you stressin over time and you follow the Roman calendar
These people into cloning like Gattaca, you can bet
They tryin to lock you down like Attica, the African diaspora
Represents strength in numbers, a giant can't slumber forever…"
Black Star—"K.O.S. (Determination)"
"When can we meet Tony Stark?"
The chunky white girl with the dark goth hair and stank attitude glared at Erik as he stood before a podium giving the introductory remarks to the two hundred plus fourth through sixth-grade students who were attending the morning children's track of the Stark Expo.
Erik squared his shoulders and glared back at her.
"It's rude to interrupt someone's speech without raising your hand when they are explaining what is about to happen. How about you wait and let me finish?"
The girl's lips curled up in surprise and she looked around as the other children snickered at her. She rolled her eyes at Erik and folded her arms.
"Now…to finish my remarks, I'd like to say that the Children's Expo is going to be filled with various activities that you can fully choose to participate in throughout the day. Lunch will be at twelve-thirty and provided for all of you inside the Learning Annex tent located right next to the convention center…what is it now?"
The same white girl raised her hand and Erik could hear a few exasperated sighs coming from some of the other kids there.
"Will there be gluten-free food provided, because—"
"Did your parents fill out the registration form and check off gluten-free?"
"Yes—"
"Then why are you wasting our time asking about it?"
"I just want to make sure—"
"We are providing gluten-free, vegan, vegetarian, non-processed, locally sourced foods for those with dietary concerns. Anything else?"
Erik's lips curled into a scowl and a little Black girl with two tiny braids laughed out loud at his expression and quickly covered her mouth when he glanced over at her. She was the same girl that the chunky white girl had talked over at the beginning of Erik's presentation. He softened his expression at her and she visibly relaxed and dropped her hands on her lap.
He swiped his hand on his touchpad and the projected image floating behind him changed to a map of the expo space.
"Restrooms are located by following the blues lines on the walls and if you have questions or concerns, we have adult guides throughout the expo halls that can help you at any time…"
The same problem child's hand flew up.
"Stand up," Erik barked at the annoying girl.
The girl stood up, her lips tight, and her eyes still challenging him.
"What's your name?" he asked.
"Katy—"
"Everyone, Katy wants some attention right now. She's been asking questions that could be answered at the end of my little talk. She's spent time whispering to people around her and being a distraction, and she has also been rude to many of you. So, Katy, the floor is now yours, we'll all just sit here and give you all the attention you want."
Erik stepped away from the podium and held his hands clasped in front of his waist.
The children stared at the girl and Katy's face, that had once been smug, slowly drained. His mother who had been a school teacher would've handled the girl a lot better, but Erik knew this type of child. He went to school with a lot of them like her. So used to being considered smart, gifted, and "special" all their life that they tended to become conceited and grew a holier-than-thou ass-hole mentality. If there was a high-income family attached behind them, they were even worse. Katy had made fun of some of the other kids who had asked good questions by belittling them with comments meant to make them look stupid. Now Erik was making her look stupid.
"Can we get back to me giving everyone information now?"
Katy said nothing.
"Sit down then," he said.
She plopped back down and he didn't hear a peep out of her for the rest of his presentation. At the end, he answered pertinent questions and released the youngins to adult handlers that matched the color-coded badges all the children wore. Forty minutes of talking, ten minutes sprinkled throughout with Katy interrupting, and twenty minutes of Q & A already had him drained from being around kids the rest of the day. He expected to hear from Tony about Katy from some of the adult handlers in the room who helped with supervision, but he didn't care. Don't start none, won't be none is what his Mama taught him.
"Are you giving a tour Mr. Stevens?"
Erik turned to see Athena making a child-sounding voice.
"Thank God no," he said with a big grin on his face.
"My track is over and the high-schoolers are going to eat lunch now, so I have a break. What do you have next?" she said.
"The Track C group. Junior high. I thought the little kids would like graphics better but they seemed to come alive more when I just talked to them and ignored my pictures."
"You're good at talking. You get excited about what your explaining and its infectious."
"It doesn't feel that way."
He glanced around. No one was watching. He cozied up to her and put a hand around her waist.
"Can I come back over tonight?"
"Be mindful, Sir," she teased, pushing back from him.
He kissed her on her lips.
He'd been swimming in her pussy for three days straight and shit was so good she had him daydreaming about her while he worked with the expo crew team to set up. He didn't even try to be discreet with her anymore because she had him hooked. She glanced around then rubbed up against him, letting her lips rest on his lush mouth.
"Could I borrow him for a second? Or do you need to hump his leg?"
Giselle stood with a palm pad in one hand and a bunch of teen badges in the other.
Athena stepped back from Erik.
"These are some badges for a few attendees who just arrived and weren't able to pick these up downstairs."
Erik took the badges from her.
"You can pass them out at the beginning of your presentation. If there are some left because the attendees didn't show up, I'll take them back for tomorrow. We found some people trying to sell these outside."
"Alright," he said.
"Do us all a favor, try to stay professional and stop pawing at each other," Giselle snapped.
Athena rolled her eyes.
"I'll see you tonight, Erik," Athena said walking away.
Erik watched her swing her big hips in her tight ass slacks and he couldn't help but make a sound of approval under his breath. That was enough to annoy Giselle and she sucked her teeth.
"Don't be mad. I was tryna get with you, but you turned me down."
She ignored him and took her spot near the back of the room waiting for Erik's next session to start.
She cut her eyes at him.
"Be pissed at yourself…"
She crossed her legs and Erik noticed the deep split in her skirt and the sexy heels on her feet. Damn, she could still get it. He sat next to her. Giselle's fingers flew over her touchpad.
"I'll be professional, okay? Thanks for reminding me."
He patted her thigh and she moved her legs away from him.
"You plan on being mad at me all day?"
"I'm not mad at you."
"Jealous?"
"Of what?"
"Athena and me. You know we smashing."
"That's your business. No one needs to see it here is the point."
Giselle was cute when she was annoyed. The pout on her face was actually kind of sexy to him.
A surge of junior-high aged attendees filed into the space snagging seats. Erik stood up and headed to the podium. Checking his watch, Erik started promptly.
The junior high track was straight fire. The students were attentive, laughed at a lot of the graphics he put together for them meant to add humor to science and technology, and his Q & A session went over the allotted time because so many young people wanted to stay behind and talk to him. He had to finally type up his email and give it to the tons of questions that had to go unanswered. So many bodies flocked around him vying for his time. Giselle had to come rescue him, guiding him away from the crowd.
"They got you acting like Pepper," he joked.
"They bum-rushed you like you were Tony," Giselle said.
Her voice was pleasant. Actually friendly. He regarded her face with curiosity.
"You sound impressed."
"Actually, I was. You were great."
"Just great?"
"Okay…okay…that was a fantastic session."
"Ooh, fantastic. I leveled up in your eyes."
The expression on her face made her look open to him.
"You had lunch yet? I'm going to grab a bite and then I have to head over to the mini-lab and work there for two hours."
"No, I just had a latte earlier."
"Let's go eat…unless you have to go to your next station."
"I can eat."
He was surprised she agreed to go with him.
He steered her to the lunch pavilion in the tent outside the convention center, and they fixed themselves hearty plates of fancy catered food. They sat outside the tent on the steps of the convention building and ate their fill.
"Ah vitamin D," Giselle sighed, holding back her face to the sun when they were done eating.
She looked beautiful with her eyes closed, her lips slightly parted, and her hair resting on her shoulder. Erik ate his food while watching her sunbathe. He was still feeling her and didn't know how to get past her reticence toward him. She must've felt his eyes on her because her lids raised up slowly and for a second, Erik was lost in her face. He wanted to kiss her again and leaned forward toward her…and she was letting him.
"Hey, Devika!" Erik said pulling back from Giselle when his peripheral caught sight of her.
Tony's personal secretary strolled past carrying two bags.
"You need help?"
Erik threw away his empty plate and stepped to Devika. He took the bags from her.
"Thanks, Erik. That was a struggle," Devika said.
Her eyes took in Giselle.
"How's it going?" she asked.
"Good. I have to head over to the mini-lab. Where do you need to take these?" he asked.
"You're in luck, these actually need to go to the lab. The morning crew forgot to take these. Extra sample slides and tubes."
"Cool. I'ma head out. Holla at me later?"
His eyes gazed at Giselle.
"Maybe."
He grinned and walked with Devika.
"Are you two dating?"
"Me and Giselle? I wish."
"She doesn't like you?"
"I think she does, but she has this thing about being professional and not fraternizing while working together. Stupid."
"It's not stupid, Erik. Sometimes mixing business and pleasure backfires. I made that mistake once…"
Devika's eyes darted away from his and they both saw Tony walking toward them. Stark's eyes took in Devika and Erik knew immediately who she was talking about.
"Stevens," Tony said.
"I'm on top of stuff."
"I know you are. Lab?" he said pointing the bags.
"Yeah."
"I'll head over with you. I have a free twenty minutes so I'll show a little face…Devika I need to cancel dinner with Hartzel and Cook tonight."
"This is the third time—"
"I know. I just don't have the energy for those guys right now."
Tony walked ahead of them and Erik kept up with the bags. Devika pulled out a tablet and canceled Tony's evening plans.
The mini-lab was a replica of one of Stark Industries' actual working labs. It gave students the opportunity to see real-world applications with hands-on experience first-hand. Tony swept in to the usual fanfare and Erik handed off the lab supplies to another intern.
Erik walked around the finished lab and was shocked to see a microscope that he wanted to use back in L.A. but had no private access to. There was also other equipment he needed to be able to test the vibranium. The irony. The shit he needed but couldn't use in Los Angeles was right in front of him for little kids to play with.
Erik walked over to Samira the lab coordinator.
"Is there an evening shift?" he asked.
Samira glanced at her tablet and swiped the screen a few times.
"I have enough people, but if you want to hang out—"
"Yeah, put me on the list," he said while calculating what he would need to be able to run a discreet experiment out in the open.
###
Erik slipped past Samira and three other interns as they shut down the mini-lab for the night. He volunteered to power down all the science equipment, clean them, and pre-set them for Saturday morning so Samira and company could go eat dinner and take off early.
The vibranium was in his pocket and he moved to the back of the lab and snagged the tools he needed to take a sample of the metal and test it. He needed to be in and out of the convention center by ten and it was already seven at night. Three hours to do as much as he could to learn the properties of the metal. He would have to use episcopic illumination carefully. He had several options to choose from, so he opted to use crossed polarizing filters first until he saw that the amount of equipment in the lab was extensive enough to go full out. He decided to go with a differential interference contrast using unstained samples of the vibranium. Time was of the essence.
He worked fast and printed up results as they came, erasing any traces of his use of the equipment, including printouts of data. He felt jumpy as he heard footsteps move back and forth in the front of the entrance.
By the time he collected what data he could in the amount of time that he had, Erik was already strolling to his hotel room with his head full of wonder. Vibranium was not from earth. It had no trace of any elements found on the planet he walked on. His father and his people had been using something literally from outside of the world. The discovery actually made his hands shake as he took out his room keycard. He was excited. Dumbfounded. Even more curious. Aroused in a way that made his skin tingle.
He opened his door and across the hall, Giselle opened her door and put an empty room service tray on the ground.
Dressed in a hotel robe, her eyes met his as she stood up.
"You're back late," she said, a sly smile on her face.
Erik walked over to her door and slipped his left hand behind her neck and his right hand around her waist. Giselle's eyes had that same look she gave him at lunch, and when he crashed his lips on hers, he knew he wasn't leaving her until what needed to be done was done.