"You smell like my old piano teacher."

"Sounds like he has a good taste in cologne."

"She was a high functioning alcoholic who liked brandy."

Clearing his throat Mr. Stark shot a glance at his girlfriend sitting beside me.

"So... you're in school?"

"Yes."

"Doing well?"

"Alright."

I squirmed awkwardly in my chair. It wasn't as if I planned to be rude and stand-offish when I agreed to this whole ordeal. But Mr. Stark was late. As in hours late. And I wouldn't mind that if we were meeting under any other circumstances. I mean, he's Tony goddamn Stark - Iron Man. He probably has more important things to do than meet some high schooler. But when that high schooler is his daughter whom he's never met before (and who was getting increasingly more nauseous every minute spent waiting) it feels like being on time might be a good idea.

"'Alright', cool. That's cool."

Mr. Stark shot another look at Pepper, one that this time could be interpreted as a panicked "help me".

"I hear that you're the editor of your school's newspaper? That must be exciting," Pepper said, hearing his plea.

"I am, yes." A feeling of pride welled up in my chest. The magazine was my baby and I was one proud mom. "I'm taking a course in creative writing after the summer to make my writing more well-rounded too."

"Is journalism your calling then?"

"Maybe. I don't know. But it's fun and I like it a lot."

"Tony here is friends with a lot of journalists, you know," she said and placed her hand atop of his. "Aren't you?"

"I guess so?" Mr Stark answered, perplexed.

"So if you ever want to look further into journalism, like an internship or part-time job, he'd love to help out. Wouldn't you?"

Immediately my face lit up. "Really?"

"Sure? I mean, is there any paper in particular you're into?"

"I'll read anything as long as it isn't a lifestyle magazine."

Mr. Stark snorted. "Let me tell you, the people over at People's are just as you would imagine."

I raised an eyebrow. "Tell. Me. Everything."

The rest of the dinner was spent gossiping about the entirety of People Magazine's higher ups.

Tony Stark seems like a decent guy, I decided.


AN: And we finally met him - Tony Stark. The one and only. Thank you so much for reading.