Calico got lonely a few minutes after Pepper and Tony left, so she was left to harass Jarvis- who she had discovered when she was talking to herself about how she wondered what the weather was like outside a few days earlier (needless to say he'd scared her at first*).

So she was cooped up in the house with nothing to do, her only companion being a computer. Nothing on the Television. No money to go see any movies or anything. At least, up to this particular day, Pepper had left her with some money and some task to preform. And Tony's workshops- where the magic happened.

Calico finally gave a dry sob of boredom.

"Jarvis, have any idea when Pepper and... the other one are going to be home...?"

"Miss Potts will be home on scheduled time as always."

"I wasn't here always... I just got here two days ago." Calico mumbled with a frown on her plump pink lips.

"Mr. Stark will be home in."

Jarvis paused. Calico winced at the silence on the house's part.

"I didn't... break you, did I?"

"Mr. Stark will be home in four."

"Four what, Jarvis? I don't speak in codes-"

"Mr. Stark is home."

Calico heard the front door open. She slowly walked to meet him in the foyer.

"Isn't he supposed to be at um..."

"Remember who it is you're talking about please, Miss Potts." Jarvis said as Tony walked in, a package in tow tugging at his tie with one hand and removing his (expensive looking) sunglasses with his other. He made a throaty noise and pointed at Calico with his tie in hand.

"Uh, no! This is a- a situation."

"Work?"

"I was bored. But this," he waved his tie at her and tucked his shades into hispocket, "Is a problem."

Calico's bottom lip protruded in confusion as she looked around for what he was whining about.

"Err..."

"You're clothes, Calico! They're too big; they offend me."

"Pepper's." Calico shrugged as if to say 'Hey, not my fault!'

"They are much too large. You look like you're drowning in them."

Calico pouted at him.

"Don't look at me like th-"

"What's in the box?"

"Things. But we have more important matters to attend to." Tony said, kicking the box so that it was fully in the house and unbuttoning his shirt simultaneously.

Calico gave a small squeak and slapped her hands over her eyes (but being Calico, she did peek through her fingers).

He looked down at the glowing blue circle looking thing in his chest and sighed.

"Alright- we'll worry about your pants sagging like you're a west coast gangster later."

"That was an oddly specific comparison."

"Follow me. I have to tell you something important."

"Yeah but... Do you have to be half naked?"

"Man up, Potts. You're grown ass woman. And we both know you're enjoying the view." The pair snickered as Tony led Calico to what seemed to be his workshop.

He sat at a desk and pulled a silver box out of the drawer, opening it up to reveal several sleek cartridges. He slid the blue power-source out, opening it up and replacing the old, burned cartridge with one of the new ones. He waved it in Calico's face while he attempted to form a sentence.

"I've seen you staring at this on... On uh, several different occasions."

" You make me sound like a creeper." Tony laughed at the awkward and guilty look on her face.

"Well, this is the device that's keeping me alive, and-"

"What's up with the hieroglyphics going on on your um... body?" Calico shyly pointed at the marks spreading out and around his reddened chest. Tony shrugged and popped the device back in.

"It's also killing me, if you'd please let me finish my sentence next time." Tony said smoothly, ignoring the look of horror on her face.

"What? I just met you and you're telling me this?"

Tony wagged his finger at Calico with a smile.

"See, this is where you overreact. You're smart and I'm smart. Obviously not as smart as me..."

"You egotistical-"

"...but you've made it clear that your the only person around here other than me that, you know, speaks English." Tony said, waving a hand around his workshop. Calico shrugged.

"So?"

"I have a proposal to make, Miss Calico Kitten Potts."

"My name doesn't have the word 'Kitten' anywhere in it-"

"Yeah, but that's what you get for having a name like Calico."

"..."

"Help me to help humanity. The world needs Iron Man." Tony finally said, his gaze dark and intense. Calico nibbled on her bottom lip.

She wanted to call Tony an egotistical son of a bitch, but she knew he was right. The world needed Iron Man, even if he was a complete jerk.

"So help me out here. Being poisoned slowly is not a fun experience, let me tell you." Calico snorted at his overly calm demeanor.

"Am I the only one who knows?" she asked as he slowly rose to his feet.

"So far. Either I work my ass off to find a way to reverse the process or I'm working my ass off to leave my legacy behind, and I don't want to have to go at it alone. And if I don't succeed in anything, you're who I want to spend my last hours with."

"If I recall, work is one of your least favorite past times." Calico said with a cat-like grin. Tony snorted.

"Oh yeah. Speaking of work, I could go for a drink. Something hard. You?"

"We just got finished establishing that you're slowly dying and we need to find you something to fix it... and you're already plotting on your next drink?"

"You betcha."

"... I'll take a few pints of scotch, I guess."

"Good girl!" Tony patted Calico on the back as they headed to his bar.

*Okay, honestly? If I was a guest at somebody's house and it started to talk back to me like Jarvis, I'd probably say something stupid like, "God? Is that you?" or "Holy doughnut, there's voices in my head."

I figured out an actual plot for the story! ^o^...

So maybe I should change the genre from "Humor" to like "Adventure" or something? XD Even though it'll still be pretty damn... Tony Stark.