Chapter 2: In Which there are pedophiles and orange crème

Disclaimer: *laughs hard* Do I look like Whedon to you?

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A month passed, during which Loki was brought back to Asgard and the green-eyed girl was nearly forgotten.

Cue Tony Stark.

It was a chilly, Thursday November morning, and Tony wanted coffee. Well, he always wanted coffee, but he really wanted some right now.

Unfortunately, he couldn't just make some, because that would require being in the Tower, and then Pepper would find him (JARVIS was such a snitch), then Pepper would make him go to the S.H.I.E.L.D. debriefing. With all the Avengers. And Fury. Of which all of whom he very did not much want to see.

So Tony Stark had run away.

Well, driven. In a gorgeous, brand new sports car that stuck out like a lady's manicured thumb in a pile of men who hadn't showered in months.

Tony was very proud of that metaphor.

But he wanted coffee. Which means… he had to go into a shop.

So he located the nearest coffee shop (a privately owned, comfy little one) and walked in; shades on, suit smart.

He ordered the item with the most caffeine – a tall, quadruple shot espresso. With caramel, for good measure. He sipped it, found it amazing, said so, and turned to leave.

And saw someone rather familiar, typing away rapidly on a beat-up old Apple, at a table with two huge, plush armchairs right next to the fireplace. He stared at her for a second, mind racing, when it clicked.

Tony made a split-second decision and slid into the empty armchair across from her.

"You're that one girl, who threw that rock at Loki!" he said.

"Not your best pickup line, Mr. Stark," the girl said dryly, not even looking up from her screen.

Really, though, it was a surprise that he even recognized her. Last time, her most distinctive feature had been her bracelets. Now, she was nearly completely blue.

Deep blue jeans with electric-blue chucks, blue stars dangling from her ears, blue ear-cuffs, blue-ribbon choker, blue musical note pendant hanging from a blue chain (they made those?), midnight blue long sleeve t-shirt, blue fingerless gloves under her sleeves, blue infinity scarf, blue eye shadow. It was a rather odd look, and not entirely attractive, but you couldn't help but notice it. Tony figured that was the point.

"I don't know, I've heard worse. I've used worse. And please, call me Tony. Mr. Stark makes me feel old," Tony said, intrigued. "What's your name? I mean, you have to have a name, right?"

"Two for two, Mr- Tony. Can he make it a third time?"

"It's not Jane Doe. Thanks for that, by the way. I had to spend two hours explaining to Thor that you weren't dead. So – is it Abby? I like Abby. Abby's a nice name. Had a one night stand with a girl named Abby once. She turned out to be a guy, though."

The girl blinked, then recovered. "Oooh, sorry... wrong. Looks like you don't win a prize…"

"Dammit! I think two out of three's not bad! What would I have won?"

"A chance to buy me a coffee." She shook her empty cup. "I'm a regular here, so I don't think they'd mind, but I don't like sitting here if I'm not drinking anything."

"That's a crappy prize."

"Not for a pedophile like you."

"I'm not a pedophile!"

"Of course. Normal old men regularly sit next to and bug young girls who they barely know."

"I'm not old!"

"You're, like, 70."

"No, I'm not!"

"80?"

"I'm 41!"

"I was close."

"No, you weren't."

"Yup. Where's my coffee?"

"I thought I lost."

"You did. You're also rich. I'm not. Where's my coffee?"

"What do you want?"

"Whatever you have."

"Darlin', this has way too caffeine for you."

"I ate ground coffee once because I didn't have time to make a pot. Don't tell me that it has too much caffeine."

"Whatever…" Tony got up and bought another. Setting it down in front of her, he plumped down in the seat again.

"Don't you have somewhere to be?" she asked, sipping it.

"Rude. That was rude. And I even bought you coffee!"

"So?"

"Yes. A meeting. But I don't want to go."

"Ah. Can't you bug someone else?"

"No. What're you doing?"

"Homework."

"Oh. Hey! Shouldn't you be in school right now?"

"I am."

"You have school in a café? I am so jealous."

"I'm homeschooled. It's more… comfortable here."

"You're café-schooled."

"I don't think that's a word."

"It is now."

"Mmm. I s'pose it's more interesting. Sure. I'm café-schooled. And you're a pedophile."

"I thought we agreed that I wasn't!"

"When did we do that?"

"Just now."

The woman behind the counter waved as she got ready to leave. "Bye, Nina!"

"Bye, Sarah. See you tomorrow!" The girl Tony was talking to waved back as the waitress left.

"Ha!"

"Ha what?"

"Ha, your name is Nina!"

"Orange crème."

"I'm sorry?"

"Ah, never mind. And my full name's actually Janina.

"Ya-nee-nah?" Tony pronounced.

"Yup. Like I said, I'm here a lot, so all the workers know me pretty well."

"Hey, why don't you have Starktech?" Tony, changing the subject as he was wont to do, gestured toward her Apple.

"Pft. Like I could afford that. I had to save up for months, and do like a thousand hours of odd jobs just to afford this shitty thing."

"You had-"

"Hey, you said you had a meeting you didn't want to go to, right?"

"I believe I may have mentioned that, yes."

"Well, there's a really buff blonde guy outside who strangely resembles Captain America."

"What?"

"He's looking at your car – and now at the café."

"Fuck!"

"Here," Nina thought fast. "Hide behind my chair – it's big enough that no one'll see you."

Tony jumped up (grabbing his half-finished coffee) and hid. Just in time, too, because maybe-Steve-Rogers walked in at that exact second.

Maybe-Steve looked around, his eyes falling on Nina. His face lit up with recognition and he walked over to her table.

"You're that one girl, who threw-"

"The rock at Loki. Apparently, that's all I'll ever be known for. I'm Janina Adams," (Tony pouted, unseen, as she gave up her name so easily to Steve), "And you must be Captain America." It took everything Nina had not to salivate. Those muscles…

"Just Steve Rogers, ma'am." And so polite! Nina felt a sudden pang of envy directed at whatever girl (or guy) was lucky enough to have him. "Have you seen Tony Stark?"

"Me? Nah. What're the chances I'd meet two Avengers in the same day? Besides, wouldn't there be a mob of paparazzi following him?"

"I don't know. But I am fairly sure that's his car out there…" Steve nodded towards the out-of-place sports car parked between a minivan and a junker.

"Well, that could be a lot of people's car. Person's car? Peoples's car? Whatever. Could be anyone's."

"Only Tony would drive something so ostentatious to a café."

"I take offense at that!" Tony cried, popping his head over the seat.

"You idiot!" Nina dropped her head into her hands.

"Whoops…" Tony winced.

"You were supposed to be at the meeting three hours ago!"

"Couldn't you have just started without me?"

"No, because this meeting is about you!"

"Me? Aw, I'm touched!"

Nina's mouth was twitching upwards. They were kinda adorable together. Steve was rapidly becoming exasperated – not annoyed, like most people would be. Tony was grinning.

"You shouldn't be. It's about PR – which is not helped by you getting stone-dead drunk on Halloween night and hitting on anything and everything you see!"

"Not everything!"

"You asked out a squirrel, for god's sake!"

"She was pretty!"

Nina was shaking with the effort to contain her giggles.

"You are coming with me!" Steve grabbed Tony and literally began to drag him out of the store. "Thank you, miss," the captain added to Nina.

"Byeee, Nina!" Tony called.

She threw her empty coffee cup at him, hitting him in the face.

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A/N

Fanks dearies, and remember: Santa brings presents to reviewers :)