Chapter 4: In Which months pass and straws are thrown

Disclaimer: Why do you think I own Avengers? Seriously, because if writing fanfic on the internet makes you think I own a multi-billion dollar making movie, then my dear, you have some issues.

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Time has this really weird tendency to pass very quickly sometimes, Nina thought to herself, looking out the café window at the green trees and spring clothing. Like, I could have sworn it was November yesterday, and now it's April… Not that I mind, or anything. I live for summer – and it's almost here!

She yawned, stretching, right in the middle of another one of Tony's monologues. The genius glared, mock-hurt.

"I'm sorry, am I boring you?" he asked icily.

Nina shrugged, apologetic as he was hurt. "Sorry, but I tend to zone out when you start going all sciencey way beyond my reading level."

"No, no, it's actually really simple! See, first I-" he continued earnestly, and Nina fought off an indulgent smile. He was kinda adorable when he got to talking.

It had taken a while for Tony to really open up, she supposed, but he had always had this ability to go on and on.

I s'pose it's my fault, too, she thought. I didn't exactly discourage him. Still, I can hardly help being good at listening to people.

And listening to Tony Stark seemed to have become her job. At least she got paid – in free coffee, at least, as well as help with her geometry and physical science homework. The second time he had come in, months after the first, she had been genuinely surprised to see him and that he'd remembered her. She figured that was it, and good job, she got a coffee out of it along the way.

But then he'd come again a week later, demanding to know where she'd been – he had shown up twice and Nina hadn't been at her usual table.

She had blinked, confused, and told him to shut up because she was in the middle of a lecture.

Tony became a regular customer at the café. He showed up random mornings, when he was overworked, hadn't gotten much sleep, running away, etc. and began to greet the workers by name. His visits were erratic, sometimes not coming for weeks, and then five mornings in a row. Sometimes he was even called away on Avengers business while there. When he did come, he always sat by Nina if she was there, and always paid for her coffee. Of course, Nina wasn't always there either, but for less world-saving related business.

At first, the man would dress in suits and carry along a strange red briefcase he never seemed to open, but after a while she noticed he seemed to become more comfortable in ratty old band t-shirts and oil stained jeans. She hadn't seen the briefcase in a month or so, though she had a really good guess as to what it actually was. She never dressed less colorfully, however. When he asked why, she simply said it was more fun that way.

While Nina typed away, in the middle of geometry lessons, or sometimes just surfing the internet (or, as Tony began to suspect, writing), the billionaire would pull out his StarkWhatever and catch up on work, design new stuff, or play 2048. (When Nina expressed concern over the fact that Tony had become obsessed with the game, he waved it off, saying, "Sweetheart, this is not my worst obsession." Needless to say, it was not reassuring. She threw a napkin at him.)

He also ranted to her a lot. He found that, when she wasn't sarcastic or ignoring him, she was a fairly good listener and offered sound advice (when she understood the problem. When he was talking about 'sciencey crap way beyond my reading level', she was lost. But even then, it often helped to bounce ideas off her.) Tony didn't seem to realize that most of his rants were about Pepper, Fury, or various members of the Avengers Initiative, ("Nina, Pepper makes me go to all these boring business meetings!" "Nina, Rhodey is so boring, he won't drag race the Iron Patriot with me!" "Nina, Natasha threw her knives at me again!" "Nina, Steve gives me adorable puppy-dog eyes and I can't say no!") and when not revealing huge relationship issues, he was often giving away some pretty classified info. Not that Nina'd tell anyone, but still. She began to suspect that Tony had a huge crush on one of the Avengers (*coughcoughStevecough*) and didn't see it. It was, however, affecting his and Pepper's relationship, whether he knew it or not.

And so time passed fairly quickly.

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One day, when Tony arrived, he found something wrong. He hadn't met Nina there in about a week – he'd been busy, and the one morning he'd managed to make it, she hadn't been there.

Nina was there, dressed as cheerfully as usual in orange, and the grin she gave him on arrival was as wicked as usual, but there was something off.

He couldn't quite place it until he sat down across from her.

Bruises.

Nothing huge or obvious, but little ones that hadn't been there before. A few on her face, her arms, her collarbone…

"Hey, kid, what's up?" he asked seriously. Nina cocked her head.

"Dunno. Not much. Stuck on another proof again, but I think I've got it…" she trailed off when he saw him looking at her with a half-frown on his face. "Oh yeah, and I fell down the stairs again," she added brightly.

"…" Tony was speechless for a second. "Again. You fell down the stairs again."

Her stare was blank. "Uh, yeah – have you missed the fact that I'm as clumsy as a pregnant lady?" Tony choked. "Yes, I fell down the apartment stairs again. I was taking out the trash, and tripped over the bag. Shut up, it isn't funny!"

Tony held up one hand. "Wasn't going to… but really, pregnant lady?"

Nina stuck out her tongue. "Be quiet! You try thinking of a good simile for a klutz on the spot that's still flattering!"

"…If you were going for flattering, you missed that mark by a mile."

"I hate you."

"No you don't." She threw a straw at his head and went back to her computer.

Tony sighed, but kept an eye on her.

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Nina looked up from her laptop briefly as Tony left the café.

I'll have to be more careful… she mused.

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A/N

THANK YOU ALL
I HAVE SO MANY AWESOME PEOPLE

WHO WANT TO READ MY STUFF

OH MY GOSHNESS

:D

But seriously, leave me a review on what you think and what I can do better. I really enjoy writing, but I'm never sure if I'm actually any good at it or just pretending.

Also: There is a Robert Downey Jr. 2048. I'm terrible at it (and all other 2048s) but I still think it's awesome and that you should all play it. I didn't have any room to fit it in the story, though, which makes me sad.