As she swiped the card, the door made a pleasant chime and opened for her. Stepping into the elevator, Max let out a deep sigh.
"Good morning, Miss Stark," Friday, the resident AI, chimed from the speakers.
"Morning, Friday," Max greeted back casually., "I'm running late. Did I miss anything."
"There was a small fire in the research and development lab this morning."
"So, nothing new then?"
"No."
With a quiet chuckle, Max left the now stopped elevator. Walking straight to the lab, Max couldn't help but let out a louder laugh at the state of the room. Everything was in order, aside from one corner where Tony often tested his newest tech. That particular corner was filled with the foam from a fire extinguisher, complete with the foam coated genius sitting on the floor in the middle of it all.
"So...I'm gonna guess that there was a combustion issue with the new repulsor tech," Max noted, looking around and trying not to laugh even harder.
"Good call. It blew up," Tony grumbled, trying to get to his feet.
As he tried to stand, he slipped in the chemical foam and fell once again. With an unrestrained laugh, Max set down all of the things she was holding and stepped up toward him to give him a hand. As she pulled him up off the ground, he nodded in a gesture that was both "thank you" and "please don't tell anyone."
"Hey, Friday?"
"Yes, Miss Stark."
"For security reasons, I'm going to need the footage from the lab this morning. Email me a copy?"
"Yes, Miss Stark."
"So...that's not going away?" Tony shrugged.
"It's going to play at the Christmas party," Max noted simply, "That's for damn sure."
Tony's gaze travelled to look at the coffees and bag placed off to the side with Max's things.
"What's all this?"
"If you're gonna be late…"
"Be late with breakfast."
"Bingo!"
"Good girl," Tony smiled, "You know me so well."
As he reached for the cup, she lightly smacked his hand away.
"Get rid of the foam first, Tony. Then breakfast."
With a fake groan of irritation, he stomped out of the room to go change, causing Max to laugh even more.
"I'll leave it up in the kitchen, Boss."
"You're the best, Junior."
"That's what I keep saying," she smiled, recollecting her things and walking back out of the lab.
She made a stop by the kitchen to drop off the coffee and pastries, before planning to head toward the temporary office that she had at the tower. Her more formal office was at the headquarters for Stark Industries, but she rarely ever worked there. Her job was, in short, helping Tony balance the company and the Avengers and acting as a liaison for him when he couldn't be present for his namesake company. While, with Friday keeping him up to date, he didn't necessarily need an assistant, Max was the closest thing Tony had. In exchange, she had a good job and a healing relationship with her father.
"Friday, anyone else home today?"
"I may be able to answer that for you."
The calm voice from behind her was as familiar to her as anything.
"Morning, Vis," she smiled brightly.
"Good morning, Margaret," tha android replied pleasantly.
He took a look at the coffees before making the connection.
"Late again?"
"Yeah."
"If I may, you were rarely ever late before a few months ago. Is there something wrong? Is there any way I-"
"Thanks, Vis," she stopped him, "It's a bad habit mixed with some late nights. That's all. I'll...work on it."
His loaded silence hung heavy between them, before Max couldn't take it any more.
"Alright, out with it," she huffed, "What aren't you asking me that you want to?"
"Have you, by any chance, been to see…"
"Cap and the others?" she finished, watching his slow nod in response, "Yeah, I went to go see Uncle Steve last week. Don't worry, Wanda's fine."
"I didn't-"
"Don't try to lie. You're bad at it. She's fine, but, yes, she does miss you. I try not to bring it up too much, but...she talks about you a lot."
A bittersweet smile formed on his face and, if he could, Max imagined he would probably be blushing a bit.
"Vis, don't worry," Max tried to encourage, "It'll blow over. Then things can all go back to normal."
To tell the truth, she didn't really know if these accord problems would ever really end. For now, the Avengers were on truce terms at least. Tony decided to return to Stark tower as a public statement that he and the Avengers were still there as a beacon of safety for the public. Meanwhile, the upstate compound became a peace offering to Captain America and the New Avengers, in an attempt to also try and keep them from causing trouble in a busier area like the middle of Manhattan. It was just much easier for them to lie low and help people without being flashed over the media.
"Thank you," Vision smiled, before leaving as quietly as he had come in.
Max
When she made it to her office, she dropped her bag carefully on the desk and walked around to drop into the comfortable chair. As she sat down and prepared to get started, her phone buzzed loudly in her bag. With a huff, she reached into her bag and pulled it out. When she saw the name on the screen, she couldn't keep her face from lighting up and a smile from growing on her face. After waiting another second and looking around, she answered the call.
"I just saw you less than an hour ago," she started speaking, "What's so important that it couldn't even wait a full hour?"
"I missed you." the deep voice answered through the phone.
"We just had breakfast, which, I might add, made me late for work!"
"I have to say that I'm not sorry."
"I figured as much. This is a sweet thought, but what do you actually want?"
"Let me take you to dinner tonight."
"Can't. I have plans."
"I can't say I'm surprised that a beautiful woman has plans on a Friday night. I can say that I'm a bit hurt that they don't include me."
"I'm having dinner with my father, not cheating on you."
"I almost prefer the latter. Easier to think that you're denying me for another lover than to know that you're doing so for your egomaniac father."
"Hey, be nice!' she snapped quietly, "It's important to me."
"Leave early and then come to dinner. I can wait. I, quite literally, have all the time in the world."
"If I'm always showing up late and leaving early, he'll start realizing something's up. And - before you go on and on about this again - I know you think I should tell him. Again, my answer is still no. I'm not telling anyone yet. I'm...not ready for all that."
"Aw...how cute. You're embarrassed of me," he purred over the line, "Or maybe you just want to keep me all to yourself."
"I will hang up on you," she threatened playfully.
"No you won't. Just come to dinner."
"I can't. That's final. Maybe another day, okay?"
"Dessert?"
Max paused for a moment, thinking. Her cheeks had a slight tinge of red at this point in the conversation.
"I don't know…" she sighed, "You know the likely outcome of that."
"It's not like that. I know how you feel about that, and I would never-"
"I know. I trust you. It's my judgement I don't always trust."
"I'll pick up dessert. Something nice that you like. We'll spend the evening together, talking and...more realistically making out on the couch. That's all. Nothing else. Final offer."
"I…"
She could feel him waiting hopefully on the other end of the call as she paused.
"I'd really like that."
"Is that a yes?"
"Yes."
"Yes!"
"I'll come by after dinner, 'kay? And I expect to be properly wooed."
"Have I ever disappointed before?"
"Saying yes would only toss gasoline on that match, so I'm not going to answer that. I'll see you later, baby."
"Baby, huh? Yeah...I like it."
She rolled her eyes and hung up the phone, sticking it back in her bag and trying to relax the smile on her face. As much as she would have liked to look normal at the moment, the cheshire cat grin refused to dissipate, leaving her smiling like an idiot for a long while longer.
The day had passed painfully slowly as Max counted the minutes until dinner or, more likely, until after dinner. For the most part, she had been able to set those thoughts aside and focus on her work. Now, she couldn't help but to jump out of the taxi and all but run to the door of the old mansion. Normally, not everyone saw the house. If they did, no one knew or cared what the building was. Max was getting really used to the house, so she always saw it and didn't hesitate to go inside when the doors opened for her.
"Hello?" she called into the main foyer.
"Come up!" she heard him call from up the main stairs and down the hall.
With a small smile, she followed his request and scurried up the stairs. She looked up and down the halls on either side of her, but saw nothing.
"Stephen? Where are you?"
Choosing a side, she turned and walked down the hall where she thought his voice might have come from. As she walked, she noticed that there were candles lit along the hallway, leading in a certain direction. She smirked and followed the trail to the lounge room that Stephen had set up when he'd moved into the house. The majority of the house was a museum, filled with magical relics and artifacts, but there were still of number of almost normal rooms that made it feel like someone could actually live there.
As she entered the room, her face lit up at the sight. Even more calming candles littered the room. The room itself was neatened up with any books stacked neatly and extra blankets folded to perfection and laid over the arm of the large, plush couch. The carved wood coffee table in front of the couch was sweetly decorated with even more candles, next to the two teacups and the beautifully ornate cheesecake.
"Wow," she gasped.
She was caught off guard by a strong arm wrapping around her waist as someone nuzzled into her hair. The startling nature of the action caused her to jump slightly, before realization set in and she resorted to giggling.
"Hello, beautiful."
"Don't do that!" she gasped as she playfully smacked the arm around her waist.
"What do you think?" he asked, ignoring her warning.
"I think... " she answered, looking around the room, "You. Are. A sap."
She turned around in his arms and wrapped her own around his neck, before standing up on her toes to place a small kiss on his cheek.
"I love it."
"Clearly not that much, if that was all I got," he teased.
Max rolled her eyes and pulled the tall man down to her, dragging him into a long, slow, soft kiss.
"I love it."
"Better."
She went to sit down on the large couch, pulling off her heels and setting them off to the side, allowing her to pull her legs up onto the cushion with her. Stephen took in her appearance briefly, noting her grey dress, black tights, and carefully done makeup.
"You look nice," he commented.
"I had a dinner."
"And here I thought you only dressed up like this for me."
His playful tone matched his body language as he slid into the spot next to her and raised an eyebrow.
"I dress up for me, Stephen. You just happen to occasionally benefit from it."
She finished her strong point with a wink before taking a sip of her tea.
"That's fair," he agreed, unfolding her legs a bit and laying them across his lap, "How was dinner?"
"I had a great time initially," she answered, "I love talking with Tony when he's not all up in arms about the Accords issue."
"But?"
"But...I couldn't really enjoy the last half of dinner. For whatever reason, I was kind of in a hurry to leave and get to dessert. Who's fault is that?"
"Yours, for being hopelessly smitten with such a devilishly charming man such as myself."
She clearly over exaggerated her eye roll to prove her false disdain.
"You're so full of yourself, Strange."
He let out a deep chuckle and settled further into his seat, leaning back against the cushions and absentmindedly running a hand up and down her leg.
"Cheesecake?"
"From that place you love. La...something or other," he struggled to remember the name - or simply didn't care to - "Anyway, you liked it when I took you there for dinner, so I went back and got us a treat."
"It's perfect," she smiled, sipping her tea again before setting it down.
"Here," he offered, watching one of the small plates intently as it carried a slice of the cheesecake to Max.
Max casually took the plate out of the air, completely unphased by its movement. After taking a fork full into her mouth, her face lit up.
"Mmm! That's amazing!"
"I'm glad you like it," he smiled, currently content to sit by her and watch her enjoy her treat.
Soon after, he called another plate for himself, but he knew the dessert wasn't really for him. Max was the one that adored this particular treat. Not that Stephen didn't like it; he just enjoyed how much she loved it more. They sat in a comfortable silence for a minute, before Stephen set his half finished dessert aside.
"Tell me about your day."
"What? My day?" Max repeated, caught off guard by the question.
"That's a normal thing to ask isn't it?" Stephen shrugged, "My girlfriend comes over. I want to know about her day. That's not weird."
"Girlfriend…?"
"Please tell me you're simply surprised by the term, seeing as how we haven't used that one yet, and that you're not surprised because I misread this entire relationship," he said, cringing slightly, "Because that would be awkward."
"Oh, no!" Max added quickly, "It's fine! I just...we hadn't really put a label on this yet and-"
"Label? What is this? Middle school?" he chuckled.
"Hey, don't laugh at me!" she protested, "This is my longest relationship and I'm trying not to screw it up, okay?"
"Hey," he sighed, tilting her chin up, "I'm sorry. I just meant that you don't have to worry about that right now."
"Okay," she nodded, "But...my day was really uneventful and boring."
"Even better. I could use uneventful."
With a small smile, she proceeded to talk on and on about her day. After a while, however, she moved to lean against Stephen and felt herself slowly growing more tired and relaxed by the second. The last thing she thought about was how happy she was settled into the warm embrace.