Hello there!
Okay, as you've probably figured out, this is an X-Men crossover, but I'm ignoring everything after the first movie. It got dumb and confusing and very very dumb. Either way, read, review, tell me what you think! :D
She didn't want to be there.
Ava declared that silently as her shaking hands cleaned the already spotless glass, her eyes glued to the counter.
She really didn't want to be there.
Tony Stark was talking rather loudly just off to her right, trying to get some sort of answer from Virginia Potts, though she suspected that he didn't really much talk with people so much as he talked at people.
"There's nothing wrong with parties," he stated for the fifth time.
"There is when you're the one throwing them," the strawberry blonde woman tapped at the tablet in her hands, ignoring Stark with the kind of determination that only came from years of experience dealing with Anthony Stark.
Why had they hired her? She had zero professional bartending experience and only a slight knowledge of the making of cocktails.
"Pepper," The man groaned, "Come on, just one night,"
"No," Pepper stressed the word, her eyes glued to her handheld screen, "Tony, every party- and I mean every party- you throw somehow ends in chaos,"
"Nuh-uh!" Stark retorted childishly.
The only reason she had even applied was to get the Professor to leave her alone.
"What about that gala that I threw last month?"
"You didn't throw it," Pepper let out an annoyed breath, "That was an annual investors' function organized by Stark Industries,"
"I basically threw it,"
"Tony I threw it"
"You threw it with my money,"
In no world had she actually expected to be hired.
The CEO's head hit the countertop in exasperation and Stark smirked.
"Tony," The poor woman sounded exhausted.
"All I need is the party hall!"
Though it might have had something to do with nobody else wanting the job. Working directly for the Avengers didn't come without considerable danger.
"You cannot have the Stark Banquet Hall,"
"What if I invited a bunch of important people?"
Ava probably shouldn't have been listening, but she really did have nothing to do, nobody had ordered any drinks whatsoever since Pepper had come in an hour earlier and asked for a single shot of bourbon, which sat untouched next to her elbow. Though it would probably disappear soon with how much the woman's soulmate was harassing her.
"Come on Pepper! What if I made it a charity function or something?"
Pepper let out a long, despairing sigh and set each of her hands to the side of her laptop, apparently done with trying to work, "What charity would it benefit?" she sounded defeated, and very very annoyed.
Stark sat for long moment, deep in thought it seemed, before shaking his head, "You decide,"
Pepper downed the shot.
Biting the inside of her cheek to keep from smiling, Ava returned her attention to the glass in her still-shaking hands. Pepper was nice, and she liked her, the older woman had been the one to interview her and, if truth be told, it was probably the reason Ava was still there. The woman had been exceedingly kind and understanding, and even though it had been for a job she didn't even really want, she would like the money.
You know the cloth she was wiping the glass with wasn't doing anything, it was probably just making it dirtier.
"Are you stupid?" an irritated voice floated through the air, followed closely by two arguing men striding into the room.
"No, dammit, I don't care if grapefruit are bigger than oranges, oranges taste better,"
"That's a matter of opinion,"
"No it fucking isn't!"
Sam Wilson and Clint Barton sat down at the counter, apparently in a heated argument about fruit. Ava watched them for a second, eyes narrowed, Hawkeye and The Falcon were arguing, very passionately it seemed, about whether grapefruit or oranges tasted better.
Oranges, obviously, but still.
Jaw clenched, Barton whirled away from Wilson with a sharp exhale, "Hey," his eyes locked on Ava and he waved his hand in the air a little, motioning for her to come closer, "You the new babysitter?"
Babysitter?
What the hell did that mean?
Frowning, she nodded.
"Good," he gave her a friendly smile, "Give me the strongest damn drink you have,"
She almost smirked, a man after her own heart. Setting down the glass she'd been wiping, Ava turned to pull the strongest proof whiskey from the wall behind her, which, as it turned out, wasn't that strong. That was probably for the best though, she thought as she pulled out a new, actually clean glass and poured a generous amount of the amber liquid in, nobody wanted a drunk superhero on the job.
Nodding to the sharpshooter, she slid the glass his way and turned to put the bottle back.
She heard Wilson scoff, "Running away from an argument through drinking," he chuckled, "I gotta say, I thought you were better than that, old man,"
"Old man!?" Barton screeched, sounding affronted.
"YES!" Stark's victorious screech had Ava flinching in surprise, nearly dropping the bottle of alcohol that she was suspicious cost more than her entire life. Pursing her lips, she straightened back up and slid it into place, breathing deeply through her nose.
She needed to calm down, she'd been nervous all day, jumping at everything, but she'd only been treated with kindness so far, she needed to relax.
Still, the more cautious part of her mind warned her to stay on her guard. Humanity sucked and very few people were worth trusting.
Keeping her mouth pressed into a flat line, Ava turned around and went back to wiping her glass.
"Alright," Stark turned away from Pepper, his demeanor shifting entirely, "Now that that's done, let's talk, Ava Pierce,"
She paused, letting her eyes flick to his, was he serious?
"Pep hasn't told me much about you, other than you're the only person to apply," He turned head, "Why is that?"
Pepper frowned, her eyes back on her tablet, "We've been blacklisted by all the employment agencies in New York,"
"Why?"
"You,"
"That is a bald-faced lie," Stark returned his attention to Ava, his eyes narrowing, "You do know what this job's about right?"
Ava nodded, her hands still wiping the once-clean glass, she should really put it in the sink, no one should drink out of it.
"Look kid," Stark leaned forward, his elbows on the counter, "This isn't just a bartending gig, you must've noticed how the requirements were a lot more extensive than just knowing how to pour a damn drink,"
Ava pursed her lips, frowning, of course she'd noticed, but she didn't actually care because she didn't think they'd choose her.
"Me and the team are away from the Tower a lot, and when we're here we spend a lot of time training," Stark rubbed his face, sounding tired, "We need- ugh, sorry for how this sounds, but we need someone to take care of the place,"
"They need someone to take care of them," Pepper corrected.
Stark shot her a look before turning back to Ava, sighing, "We get caught up with work and forgot to do a lot of things- and the things we don't forget we're too tired to do. Ever since the whole Thanos thing blew over it's like every evil crazy guy out there is trying to take over the world or commit genocide or something,"
Ava sent him a sympathetic look, it did seem like the Avengers were on constant call, there had been an insane amount of news stories on it.
"I'm not gonna lie to you, kid," Stark locked eyes, looking more tired than ever, "This job'll take up most of your time, and it'll be hard, you're gonna have to clean, fix things, cook, the list goes on, Pepper's already done the background check and all the other checks, I just wanna know if you'll be able to hack it, everyone else couldn't,"
"That's because you drove them away,"
Stark gasped, turning to stare at Pepper in betrayal.
She kept typing.
"Anyway," he huffed, turning back to Ava, "Do you think you can do this?"
She quirked an eyebrow, she was basically going to act some weird kind of pseudo-mom for the Avengers.
You the new Babysitter?
She blinked. Oh damn. Barton had it right. Her job was to babysit the Avengers.
Her job was to babysit the Avengers.
Oh that was rich. Holding back her smirk, Ava simply nodded, she could babysit.
Plus it was pretty damn good money.
Stark grinned, "Great!" he leaned back, "Now, I didn't look at the file Pepper gave me about you, so tell me, who's Ava Pierce?"
Pepper's head snapped up, "Tony," her tone was razor sharp and deadly. Her soulmate waved her off, "Quiet Pep," he said, "I don't wanna hear you regurgitate lines from the reference letter from Charles Xavier- which I'm super impressed by- I want Ava here to tell me all about herself."
Ava's lips twitched down, embarrassed tears burning to be released as she prayed to every and any god out there to make Stark stop.
"Tony-" Pepper's warning voice was cut off again by Stark.
"Come on kid," he encouraged, his coffee brown eyes shining, "You're going to be here a lot, say something, or are you mute?" He questioned in an obviously playful tone.
A playful tone that died when Ava nodded her affirmation.