"Theo! I need that wrench!"
"In here! I need coffee!"
"Come hold this down for me!"
"No! I don't need that thing, I need that thing!"
"Why can't you figure this out, Theo? My coffee cup stays full at all times!"
"Who pays you to read Shakespeare? I pay you to look out for me, not neglect me."
And that was usually how all of Theo's days went with Tony Stark. Yep, that Tony Stark. Iron Man, billionaire, philanthropist, playboy, and also Theo's boss. Well, sort of. Her real boss was Pepper Potts, the CEO of Stark Industries. She was Pepper's personal assistant and also Tony's unofficial personal assistant. Theo kind of just believed her purpose for being around Tony was all because he didn't have a lot of friends. She didn't have friends either, but she didn't go seeking to spend time with anyone. She was quite content all by herself. Theo liked to think she was a decent worker. She never complained, even when Tony woke her up at three o'clock in the morning wanting her to go on a coffee run for him at least two times a week.
Currently, Pepper had sent her home early because she thought Theo had worked too much in the past week. As soon as Theo begrudgingly walked out of the building, she received a text from Tony telling her to come to Stark Tower with his regular from Starbucks. She swore he kept tabs on her at all times, which bugged her. She ended up doing as he asked – well, rather told her to do – and arrived to see he was all alone, holed up in his lab. That's where he usually was nowadays when Pepper wasn't around.
Theo had been working at Stark Industries for three months when all the stuff with the Mandarin went down. Needless to say it was then that she and Tony became more comfortable around the other. She helped him out, though in her opinion way less than Colonel Rhodes had. She had simply helped Tony when everyone else thought he was dead and helped save Pepper from Aldrich Killian. Though, for a while there, it seemed like she had failed to save Pepper… Anyways, everything turned out okay. The bad guy was defeated and everyone was alive.
And thus Theo begrudgingly became Tony's unofficial personal assistant/friend. She didn't like being called his friend though; Theo had never been the one to want or need friends.
Theo looked up with a stoic expression, closing the book. "You don't pay me to sit around while you do whatever it is that you do," She responded in a dry voice, her moss green eyes going to the hunk of garbage on the table. She wasn't even sure what he was trying to do.
Theo pale skin and a height of 5'2". She had a very voluptuous body shape to go along with it. She had a round face with down turned moss green eyes. She had an upturned nose and sharp lips. Scattered across her nose were freckles and to frame her face, frizzy red hair went past her waist. When she first got the job, Theo had tried to tame her curls in a bun, but her hair had a mind of its own so eventually she started wearing it down. She had refused to cut it, so over the years it had grown quite lengthy. Looks had never concerned her, so she had never cared much for someone finding her attractive.
"'While you do whatever it is that you do,'" Tony echoed her words, glancing up at her briefly. "My work gains no respect. Well, not from you. There are a ton of fan boys who would kill to be sitting in the same room as me."
"Fortunately for them they are not." Theo replied, picking her book up and resuming her reading.
"You're neglecting me again, Theo." Tony said not even five seconds later. He wasn't even looking at her, instead continuing his work on his bench.
Theo closed her book and put it to the side, her deep set eyes finding him. "What would you have me do, Mr. Stark? Get some coffee? I've cleaned up in here twice already and there is nothing left for me to do. I've already done all the work Pepper will let me." She said putting her hands in her lap.
"Such a busy-body, even more so than Pepper," Tony said as he looked up at her. "Why don't you brush through your hair a hundred times? Though the brush might get lost in your nest of hair. I think I just saw a bird's nest in there." Theo sighed at his joke and stood from the chair she had been sitting in. She began to pace around the room. "Hey, if you don't calm down, I'll send you back to the looney bin." Theo stopped and turned towards him, her eyes narrowing into small slits. He gave her an amused look before continuing to work on his garbage pile.
"I think it's time for me to go home." Theo responded after a few moments of watching him work.
"What? But we were going to stay up late braiding each other's hair and watching Sandra Bullock movies," Tony said with mock sadness, even sticking out his bottom lip in a pout. He was trying to elicit a witty response from her, but she just continued staring at him with a stoic expression. "Wow, I don't even get the beginnings of a smile."
"I don't think you realize I have never shared your sense of humor, Mr. Stark," Theo said as she walked over and picked up her book. She slid it into her bag with all her work things. Everything was perfectly organized just as she liked it to be.
"There you go again with that 'Mr. Stark' crap," Tony said with a sigh. "You don't have to be so formal with me, Theo. We've long passed that in our relationship."
Theo turned to face him, an unamused and unchanged expression. "The only relationship we have is a professional one. You ask me to fetch things for you and I do it. You ask me to spend time with you in your lab so you're not as lonely and I do it. All of this because I am a good employee."
"With no life," Tony added on. "And because you're a good friend."
"We aren't friends, Mr. Stark. You couldn't tell me a personal thing about myself that you didn't read off my file when you hired me." Theo pointed out.
"You read a lot," Tony pointed to her purse where she kept a book. "You always have at least one book on you."
Theo kept her eyes on him for a couple of seconds. "Do you know why I keep a book with me at all times?" She asked him.
"Because you don't like sitting still and if you finish your work than there's nothing else to do," Tony said with confidence. She shook her head slightly.
"I do take pleasure in some things, Mr. Stark. Reading just happens to be one," Theo said as she folded her arms over her chest. She exhaled slightly before continuing. "And partly because I need something to do."
"See? I'm a genius that can read you no matter how hard you keep that stoic expression on your face," Tony responded as he sat up in his chair. He gestured to his project on the table. "What do you think, Theo?"
Theo walked over and looked at his project. It was a miniature Iron Man suit, the size of an action figure. Except this one was fully functioning, shooting the junk piles around it. Every time a blast went off Theo couldn't help but flinch. "What on Earth?! Why would you make this?!" Theo questioned as she looked at him with a distasteful look.
"Don't look at me like that! I am older than you, you know. You shouldn't look at me like I am a five year old that just spilled their grape juice all over the new carpet," Tony said to her. He picked up the miniature Iron Man and held it up in the air. "It has everything my suit would and more."
"Well, isn't that swell for the mice." Theo commented dryly as she looked back up at Tony with one eyebrow raised.
"Did Theodora just make a funny?" Tony cooed to her, reaching out to pinch her cheeks but she quickly backed away. Her body went rigid for a moment as she got that dark feeling… Shaking it off, she gave him a glare.
"Don't touch me, you know I don't like it." She told in him a harsh voice.
"See? I do know things about you I didn't just 'read in your file,'" Tony pointed to her before sitting the action figure back down on the table. It continued shooting things and even took flight. Tony didn't blink twice and let it run ramped. "Still, you might want to get yourself checked for that. There's this one professor of genetics or some crap like that who deals with abilities like yours. I bet he would just have a field day with your bright demeanor."
"I don't need to speak to anyone about my abilities, Mr. Stark. Especially some professor who thinks he knows more about my abilities than I do," Theo responded as she looked down at the watch that was on the bottom side of her wrist. It was getting late. She needed to get home and tidy up. She had already eaten dinner, as Tony insisted she ate Chinese with him, so all she had to worry was getting to bed before nine-thirty. She had a certain schedule set, one she just could not bring herself to break. "I have to go now, I cannot stay any later. Ms. Potts should be home any minute so you will have her then. I will see you the next time you need coffee, Mr. Stark." Theo gathered her things and turned to look at him for a moment. "Have you taken your medicine?"
Tony waved her off, his attention back on his workbench. "I will in a minute."
Theo sighed and sat her things back down. She went over to where she kept his medicine (he spent a majority of his time in his lab, so she had thought it to be the most sensible place for it) and pulled out his medicine. She then went over and got out a juice box from the mini-fridge (which had other scientific experiments that made her skin crawl) before walking on the other side of the lab table he was at. She used the straw and poked the hole through the juice box and then put two tablets in the lid before holding them out to Tony. He knew it was futile to fight with her, she always won every argument they had. He stared at her with a childish pout etched on his face before he let her drop the pills into his hand. Taking a sip of his juice box, he managed to down the pills.
"Happy?" He asked her with a glower.
Theo screwed the lid back on the lid. "Satisfied, most definitely." She turned on her heel and went to put the medicine away. She kept a lock on the cabinet because, while she did trust Tony to an extent, she didn't want to take any risks. She knew he could most definitely get into the cabinet if he tried hard enough – he was Tony Stark after all – but he hadn't yet, and she took that as a good sign. As she locked the cabinet, she heard his voice behind her.
"Theo, why didn't you tell me about your gift when Pepper first hired you?" Tony questioned her. Theo processed his question for a moment before turning to look at him with a scowl.
"Why is that important?" She nearly snapped.
"I was just curious," Tony admitted, not taken aback by her tone. He was used to it whenever he asked personal questions or any questions she did not like being asked. It was funny how informal she could be with him despite claiming how they were not friends. "You know, getting a job with not only the most world-renowned superhero but smartest guy on the planet probably wasn't the best cover up."
"Smarter than even Reed Richards?" Theo said, slightly quirking her eyebrow.
"Well, arguably the smartest guy on the planet." Theo didn't laugh or smile, but her eyes did a slight eye roll which Tony knew was her way of showing amusement. He took another sip of his juice box and watched her with curious eyes.
"Now it is time for me to go," Theo said as she looked around his lab. "I trust you can handle closing up your own shop." Tony wasn't sure how Theo had managed to make it through with her harsh tone that she always seemed to keep. He wasn't even sure how she made it past the initial interview at Human Resources. If it was anyone else, he wouldn't even think twice about letting them be so rude, but Theo was Theo. He knew it was how she was, and recalling what he read in her file, he knew her people skills weren't good for a reason.
Tony was pulled out of his reverie by Theo opening the lab door. Turning halfway around, he saw her turn to look back at him also. "Goodnight, Mr. Stark."
And with that, Theo was gone.