The Halo Effect, according to Wikipedia: "A particular psychological phenomenon that creates a bias among people which allows an impression on one attribute of something influence other, unrelated attributes."

Year Four: The Stark Halo Effect

Last Year - Academy Financial Aid Office - 8:18 AM

Naomi enters the financial aid office since she has an appointment soon. To her shock, she's called into the back early. She passes cubicles and other students whining and trying to haggle their tuition, as she planned to do as well since she can't afford it, but she's led to a private office instead.

She opens the door herself and closes it behind her. Once Naomi turns around, she sees Emily Stark sitting at the head of the table, smiling brightly. Her dark hair sits beautifully and healthily on her shoulders while manicured hands wave her over to the chair next to her.

Naomi doesn't know how to react. Why is the Sci-Tech Goddess on campus, let alone in Naomi's financial aid meeting? But she walks over slowly and carefully takes a seat so the chair doesn't make any noise. Her perfume smells like gold if the metal had a luscious scent. Emily Stark would find a way to make it smell like heaven.

Emily Stark loves making an entrance, even if she was in the room first. Naomi knows about Emily Stark. At this point, who doesn't know about Emily Stark? Naomi just read an article this morning about the young genius billionaire at the top of her class at an elite Italian university while already being a candidate for grad school in Japan. Then Naomi clicked on a related link that took her to an interview trying to get information on the young Sci-Tech goddess. She had to pay a subscription fee to listen so she closed the tab.

She's living a life Naomi can't even afford to dream about.

"Hi," Emily greets, her smile as white as fresh clouds. "I know you weren't expecting me but some cubicle agent here to tell you about all the money you owe. I'm more entertaining and useful than that. If you checked your student balance this morning, you might've noticed a small bursary on your financial statement called an 'Asgardian Grant' given by yours truly on behalf of some of my dear friends. I miss them a lot. Anyways, I heard about the scandal regarding your grades and study visa so I looked into it. I saw that not only were you a top student in two programs with a Ph.D. in a nice umbrella field of data science, but you're also in a growing massive student debt that will take you the rest of your life, even with a standard SHIELD salary. You're an international student so you have triple the costs, especially when converting the Canadian dollar to the US dollar."

Naomi blinks. It was almost as if Emily read some news articles about her.

Her life flashed before her eyes when she saw that her grades were tampered with while she was at Camp. She couldn't even do anything about it from the forest. The whole time, she was thinking about being kicked out of the Academy for a mishap she couldn't explain, and Camp nearly exploded since Xavier Rogers and James Pym got into a heated prank war.

Then it got resolved by the time she returned to campus. Naomi doesn't know how nor did she ask. All that mattered was that she survived Camp and got to stay at the Academy.

And now she's in this meeting.

"You're Emily Stark," Naomi finally says, immediately regretting it. Her cheeks burn in embarrassment. "Oh my god - goddess - I'm fucking - fricking fracking this up."

Fricking fracking? Is she serious? Naomi isn't sure whether to bow, curtsy, or wave. She ends up standing there in shock and bumbling incoherent thoughts. Anything she could do from now on would make this weird moment even worse. Emily Stark is still smiling pearly whites, though, so not the end of the world.

"My SO told me that you scored the highest mark for the Academy's admission exam in our year's applicant pool," Naomi continues. "You did better than Daniel Banner, oh shit he's the top of our class. I didn't think you'd know him-"

Emily nods excitedly. "Actually, I do."

Emily holds out her hand and shows Naomi her engagement ring. She remembers exactly where she was when she read the article announcing Stark's engagement: advanced biometrics class. A lot of her classmates freaked out and their professor had to call a break since everyone was losing their minds.

Then Naomi realizes what Emily was trying to tell her. She's engaged to Daniel Banner.

"Holy shit," Naomi states. "Are you serious?"

"I swear on Thor," Emily promises.

She takes out her phone and shows Naomi a picture. Her heart melts seeing Emily and Daniel's faces smushed together since she's kissing his cheek. Her hand holds the side of his face; the emerald engagement ring just making the shot.

Sci-Tech Goddess, their babies will be so smart and beautiful.

"Wait, what were you saying?" Naomi asks. She forgets the purpose of this conversation and meeting, let alone its intention.

Emily folds her hands on the table. "Right. I'm covering your tuition with the scholarship I was supposed to have if I attended the Academy and some more since yours is more expensive than mine would've been. I've reimbursed the first two years and will cover this year and next year. It should be in your bank account in 3 business days. If valid, I would've given you a cheque signed in lip gloss."

Naomi isn't sure what was more shocking: being in a room with Emily Stark, having Emily Stark tell her that she'll be paying all her tuition or that Emily Stark is engaged to Daniel Banner.

"No…" Naomi mutters. "Miss. Stark, I can't take this. It's way too much and I don't deserve it. I've been saving up myself, it's okay."

"Great," Emily responds, "treat yourself."

"Miss. Stark-"

"Emily."

"No, that's weird. Miss. Stark-"

"I have a slight conflict of interest given that I'm allocating my unused money for the Academy to you. I was expected to fund some Sci-Tech projects, namely whatever my fiancé was or is working on, which is a completely different conflict but Sci-Tech was willing to sweep that one under the rug. But by funding you, because I have high hopes in you based on what I know through your school record, I'm making you the best asset for those projects. I just have one thing to ask for you in return. Or two."

It wasn't just her charming eyes or perfect smile, or even her superior intellect that made Emily Stark the Goddess of Sci-Tech. She can work a room very well. When she enters a room, all eyes are drawn to her. She always laughs louder, speaks eloquently, stands straighter, and glows brighter. She's self-assured in a way that attracts attention and wins hearts. No wonder Daniel put a ring on it.

"What?" Naomi asks.

Emily leans in closer. "Tell nobody that Daniel and I are engaged. And don't tell anyone about the money, not even Daniel. It's another conflict that I tell my fiancé about this meeting and the plan."

-o-

Present Day - Edison Residence - 13:15 PM

James' dorm is oddly quiet for this time. He'd usually hear video games and cursing through the doors, textbooks being thrown at walls in frustration over certain principles, arguments about assignments or over whose turn it was to take out the trash, hell even footsteps. But today? Nothing. It's as if he's the only one in the building. Hell, he holds his breath as he walks down the hall since he doesn't want to be the sore thumb.

James slowly opens his dorm's door, expecting to see Daniel and ready to ask what the fuck is going on, but he sees Emily sitting at Daniel's desk, lying down and crying on the tabletop. Her teary eyes flicker at him and she starts crying more as James quickly closes the door behind him, throwing his stuff on the ground before sitting on the desk with her.

"Stark, hey, I didn't know you'd be here," he says calmly, rubbing her back. "What happened?"

"Daniel and I got into a fight," Emily responds.

James pauses since that was the last thing he expected to hear. Did Emily and Daniel ever fight about anything? "Are you serious?"

Emily nods and explains everything from a year ago with Naomi and the Sci-Tech funding. Then she gets to the fight with Daniel and starts crying on James' lap as he continues rubbing her back. Judging by how loud they seemed to be from Emily's story, he bet the whole floor heard it.

"If it's any consolation, my dad would be proud of you not giving money to the Academy," James says to lighten the mood.

Emily laughs a little, wiping her eyes with her sleeves. "My only goal in life is to make Hank Pym proud."

"Same!"

Emily smiles, sitting up. "I know Daniel only said all that cause he was mad about many things, but he said Xavier and Britney were smart for breaking up."

"Yeah, why would he call Xavier and Britney smart? That's when you know he's not thinking straight. Not that I ever hated it because I didn't, but Daniel would never shut the fuck up about proposing to you when he did. He's written dissertations and gotten recognition for his research from scholars across many fields, but getting down on that knee when he did was the smartest thing he's done."

-o-

Down the hall, Naomi sits at Keith's desk while he's on his bed sipping a soda, listening to Naomi recount the events starting from her meeting with Emily Stark. She stopped by earlier and started the story, but then they both stopped when they heard screaming coming from Daniel's dorm, hearing his voice and Emily's. She caught glimpses of the money talk and it ventured into other issues like her travelling, them not talking, and something about a break-up and Xavier being smart. Admittedly, Keith got lost by that last part but found his place when they heard a door close and it went pin-drop silent. Then, Naomi continued and finished her story.

"Wow," Keith finally says, "regarding your story and the future married couple having a spat. What a day for me and I'm just perceiving things."

"Nothing's ever about money when you've had more than enough," Naomi comments, taking off her glasses and putting them down on his desk.

"Still, wow."

"I bought myself a pair of boots and a purse when Emily said to treat myself, you know the pair. But, Keith, I'm not exaggerating. Emily Stark is an actual goddess. I know there's a bias towards thinking highly of rich and attractive people. Privilege in every sense. But even past the superficial things we read in the headlines and gossip everyone chatters about around here, she's a guardian angel who only wants the best for her friends. Daniel would've gotten in so much shit if he knew what Emily did with the money."

At the sound of a knock on the door, Naomi jumps as she silences herself. She eyes Keith who juts his head towards the door. She shrugs and he walks over, opening it a little and seeing Daniel on the other side. Naomi catches a glimpse of him but isn't sure if he can see her. She doesn't even know if he'd want to see her after everything.

Keith opens the door and Daniel nods at Naomi as well. Her heart slows in relief.

"Hey…" Keith says as he lets Daniel in and closes the door behind him. "What's up?"

"Don't act like you didn't hear all that," Daniel states.

Keith grins. "I bet the entire campus heard you call Xavier Rogers smart. So, you good?"

Daniel sighs. "My fiancée is crying in my room, so no."

Naomi stands. "Again, Daniel, I'm so, so fucking sorry. I had one job and that was really my only condition of the money and I broke it."

Daniel waves her off. "Emily won't give a shit. It's not you and I'm sorry for making it seem like that. It just took you to talk about other things. I don't know how Xavier and Britney managed to argue without crying in each other's faces, my god. I feel like shit after making her cry."

"As you should," Keith reprimands. "That's a sin in Sci-Tech."

"Thanks, Keith."

"You didn't break up, did you?" Naomi asks. "Please say you didn't. You said Xavier was smart for his breakup."

Daniel shakes his head. "No, no we're fine in that sense … for now. If she breaks up with me, then I will go to a different time zone and never come back."

"As you should," Keith repeats. "You'd deserve banishment for that."

Daniel rolls his eyes despite Keith being correct.

Their heads turn at more knocking at the door. Keith opens it and is confused when he sees James crying, immediately cringing at the sight.

"Hi Keith," James says, crying on Keith as he hugs him.

"Ew," Keith says, smiling when he sees Emily behind James. "What happened to him?"

Emily shakes her head. "I was catching him up on what happened and he started crying about his daddy issues." She pats James on the back and glances at Naomi. "Everything should be fine with your financial aid." She looks at Keith and grins. "Hi Keith." Finally, she faces Daniel. "Can we talk again? Outside."

Daniel nods before heading out, leaving crying James with Keith and Naomi. Emily slides on her sunglasses before they walk down the hall silently. Daniel scans his key before calling the elevator. Once the car arrives and they walk inside, standing beside each other like colleagues, he automatically hits the button for the ground floor but stops the elevator.

"I thought we were going outside," Emily comments, sliding her shades to the top of her head.

"Why didn't you tell me that you paid off Naomi's tuition?" Daniel asks.

"Because Sci-Tech wanted that money," Emily responds. "Essentially, they got it."

"Now that I think about it, that's a better investment. Naomi's great. But still, you could've told me."

Emily nods. "I wanted to but, no offence babe, you're a shitty liar. Sci-Tech would've gone after you if you knew, especially since you and Naomi are friends. They left you alone cause you didn't."

"I'm not a shitty liar."

Emily scoffs. "You're better than Xavier and Angela, I'll give you that, but you're too genuine to trust with that secret. Besides, Sci-Tech was always breathing on your neck."

"When did you even meet her?"

"When I was here a year ago. I gave out the Asgardian Grants and visited Naomi."

He smiles. "You continue to impress me."

"You seriously thought I hired a spy?"

"I mean, would you?"

Emily shrugs. "Maybe Victoria."

Daniel raises a brow and Emily rolls her eyes.

"My god, I'm not paying her either!" She exclaims. "Agent Iyu, maybe, but not me!"

"I'm kidding," he laughs a little.

"I'm not. She had to become friends with Merida, remember? Okay, let's get out of here. Are you doing anything this weekend?"

"My usual marking and answering emails about assignments. Why?"

"Wanna take a trip to Old Montreal? I left all the stuff I brought at my accommodation and have another three days on it. I'm heading back there before Tokyo so do you wanna come?"

Daniel pushes his floor's button. "Let's go."

"Wait," Emily stops the elevator again.

"What?"

Emily grabs his shirt collar and kisses him. When they part, she smiles brightly at him and he blushes, clearing his throat.

"Yeah, I can wait," he says before kissing her again.

-o-

Old Montreal - 17:56 PM

After Daniel packed a bag, they headed for Old Montreal in the helicopter Emily used to get there. Once they landed, he ditched his stuff and they immediately set out for the streets to grab a bite and a drink. The town reminds him of Europe with old-fashioned buildings like churches and basilicas on cobblestone paths and the cheerful street mood for the people frolicking.

He can't blame Emily for being here one bit.

Eventually, they walk into a bar and sit at a table, ordering drinks and some appetizers.

"How could Xavier and Britney argue over whatever while screaming at each other with their super-soldier and Asgardian lungs, and not bawl their eyes out?" Emily asks. "They're both ugly criers, especially Britney, my god. Xavier's crying just makes me cry."

"That's what I was saying earlier," Daniel says. "I think my whole dorm heard that argument."

"And we traumatized James. He told me his dad would be proud of me."

"Oh god," Daniel orders another drink once their first round arrives, "I called Xavier and Britney smart."

Emily nods, taking a sip from hers. "That was alarming. Do you have a notepad on you?"

"Always. Why?"

"Take it out and calculate how much booze we have in our drinks. Don't tell me the answer. I wanna show you a party trick."

Daniel eyes her before taking a notepad and a pen out of his pocket. He glances at their drinks and turns their glasses before scribbling down some notes. He closes his notepad before looking at her expectedly and she's already smiling excitedly, about to jump out of her seat.

"You got it?" Emily asks.

"Yup."

Emily takes both their drinks and downs them in one go without taking a break between glasses or flinching.

"Was that your trick?" Daniel asks. "You would've done that anyways."

"13.3 fluid ounces because I drank some before asking," Emily responds. "40% alcohol each."

Daniel stares at her before he starts laughing. He opens his notepad and points to where he had that answer circled at the bottom of his calculations. He can't help but applaud Emily and he bows her head.

"Again, you continue to impress me," Daniel tells her. "That's why I proposed to you."

"I thought it was cause you missed me."

"You always show me a new reason."