Connecting : Chapter 7 (TonyxReader)

Chapter 7: He Who Speaks, Yet Says Nothing at All
It’s the same scene. A frosty castle and a room with icy thrones. Your fingers itch, sting rather, with the desire to reach out and touch large throne. Stepping up the low half steps, you draw closer, just close enough, before running a single finger down its side. How nostalgic! Wordlessly you place both of your open palms upon the throne and sigh with contentment. Its cool touch is subtle, soothing, and safe. Completely and utterly secure…like home.

“I’ve been expecting you for quite some time now.”

Who?

---

Snapping up from your desk suddenly, you look about the room before letting out a tired sigh. Glancing down to the desk you realize that you must’ve fallen asleep. And that dream again… You sigh once more before trying to get a hold of your bearings. You had been laying down the squares of fabric side by side, eying them with great uncertainty. You’d been certain the colors could, would, mesh but it was just a matter of figuring out how. After switching them around in the hopes something would come to mind, you’d closed your eyes just to rest them for a bit. Perhaps that was when you had fallen under Slumber’s spell. Normally when you worked, the patterns just leapt from your brain and straight to your hands, but not today it would seem. You set your elbows upon the desk before leaning forward and resting your head in your hands. Honestly though, how was a girl supposed to work like this? You let your head fall to the table with a loud thunk and immediately regret said action.

“Smooth move, (name),” you mumble to no one in particular.

“Miss Carlton.”

It was JARVIS. You look up to the ceiling, as had become customary, at the sound of his voice. You genuinely had no idea where the sound actually came from, but it felt natural to look upward, as if you could possible see the frequency of his voice as waves in the air.

“Uh…yes?”

“Mr. Stark is requesting an audience with you,”

Furrowing your brows, your frown slightly as you process his words.

“Requesting an audience, huh? You do realize you sound like some medieval servant, right? Not to mention that doesn’t sound much like Stark at all.”

“Truthfully, he demanded your presence, but I found it pertinent that it be asked of you more respectfully.”

You let out a warm laugh, “Well, aren’t you the perfect gentleman.”

“I try.”

Your eyes momentarily grow wide before you giggle again, a hand coming up to rest over your heart.

“Wow! An AI with a sense of humor. Looks like Stark might not be all that bad,” you tease as you roll back from your desk and stand to your feet, dusting strands of loose thread from your person.

JARVIS says nothing until you step out the door to your quarters and into the mini personal entrance way and pressed the button to call for the elevator. JARVIS relays to you which floor to press for once you stepped inside the elevator. The ride to the designated floor seems to go on forever, but eventually the doors open and you are greeted by the wonder that is Nic Cester. You smile fondly as you step into the room, silently listening to the song play.

“So, are you going to be my girl?”

The sudden voice in your ear makes you squirm and back away from its source. Beside you Tony is grinning like he’d won the damn lottery…not that he needed to win said lottery.

“What!? What did you just asked me?” You manage to splutter.

“Calm down...I was just singing the lyrics. You know, Jet…”

That smug grin of his is still in place and you’re certain that Tony Stark did not sing, therefore he is undoubtly teasing you. You bite your lip as an attempt to avoid pouting in front of the man. He chuckles before heading down the half-steps, stopping at the bottom to peer at you as you examine the expanse of the room with awe.

“So this is the great Tony Stark’s lab, huh?” you muses absently aloud.

“One of many.”

You blanch slightly, brows furrowing as you mouth takes on an ‘o’ shape before you laugh, waving his comment off.

“Oh really?  So I suppose you have designated lab for each field of science you dabble in, or something of the like.”

“Exactly.”

His quick assertive response catches you off guard. The thought of Tony having multiple floors purely with the purpose of enacting questionable science is beyond unbelievable…then again the this one lab alone is kind of crazy. You’re just about to ask him if he was being serious when something zips past your head before slamming into the wall. You stand stock still, frozen, with wide eyes. Tony, on the other hand, wordlessly observes the wall from where he stands with a curious gaze.

“Hmm…” he mumbles as he takes a step back over to you to peer at the device that had so nearly accosted you.

“Hmm! What do you mean ‘hmm!?’ That thing just tried to kill me!”

“Did not. She was simply giving you a greeting…of sorts,” Tony replies nonchalantly as he kneels down to pick up the small foreign device.

“Yeah! A murderous greeting!” you counter a bit angrily, peeved by his apparent lack of genuine concern.

Tony hums again as he seems to further ponder your words, “Perhaps you’re right. JARVIS, be sure to write that down.”

“Already recorded, Sir.”

“Good man.”

With that Tony takes the device over to one of the work table and you follow after. He then flips on his personally modified reciprocating saw and the sudden sound of its churning makes you jump back with a squeak. You eye the man with evident dismay. He was behaving as if you weren’t even there. A few seconds later and he shuts the saw off, slips his glasses off his face and onto the top of his head, and then turns to look at you as he leans against the table behind him.

“So what did you need?”

“What?” you inquire with incredulous eyes, “What did I need? You called me!”

He quirks his lips as he furrows his brows as if he were rationalizing as to why he would ever bother calling for you. Suddenly he snaps his finger before pointing it at you.

“That’s right. Follow me,” he says as he takes that strange device into his hand once more and heads off across the room without even waiting for your response. And you, reluctantly, follow after him.

The room is unbelievably huge and you find yourself admiring its sheer existence.

“This lab…” you begin before you’re interrupted mid-sentence.

“Is positively stunning?” Tony fills in with a smug smirk as he briefly glances back to you over his shoulder.

“Looks like the kind of place James Bond would infiltrate,” You pause as Tony stops, turning to face you fully, “…and then blow up.”

“Are implying that you want to ‘blow up’ my lab?” he asks with a raised brow and you begin to think that it simply has to be sinful to look thatgood.

You shake your head in the effort to shake the thought from your mind, “No, it was just a thought. A really bad thought.”

He quirks his lips up into a grin and you find yourself wondering if perhaps he could read minds. God forbid. If Tony Stark could read minds, the world would be doomed to come undone at its seams. Tony says nothing as he approaches another work table and sets the device upon it. Finally able to get a better look, you draw near to observe your almost-killer.

“What is that, by the way?”

“Her name is VEE,” Tony replies simply as he briefly holds the bot up to allow you a finer view.

“What does it do?”

“VEE ensures that any smoke or problematic vapors that plague the room are quickly removed.”

“So…it’s like a smoke vacuum.”

Tony makes a strange sound at the back of his throat as he quickly tilts his head to the side and back as though her were shaking off a growing annoyance,“She’s like a smoke vacuum.”

“Why does that exist?”

“Because I wanted her to,” is his swift response as he works away at the bot circuitry.

A slight frown mars your face as you watch him go, a hand at your hip as you ponder his words.

“You’re like the guy who invented the pool noodle, ya know. We just don’t really understand why.”

Tony glances back to you, brows furrowed and lips frowned. If you didn’t know any better you would’ve assumed the playboy was offended. Oh, of course not. Not the great Tony Stark. You chuckle at your thoughts before looking back to the device on the table.

“So does Vee stand for anything? Like some sort of cheesy acronym?”

Tony peers up from VEE and throw you a ‘look.’

“Oh god…it does have a tacky acronym!” You laugh happily as you eye the billionaire.

“For the last time, it’sshe.”

“Well, what does she,” you pause to waggle your brows in a playful teasing manner, making air quotes with your hands,” stand for?”

“Vapor and Exhaust Eradicator. VEE.”

“Aww…that’s so cute. VEE,” you coo rather sincerely.

At the sound of her name VEE floats up and off the table with a bubbly buzzing noise. She hovers up to your eye level and dances about in front of you as she makes an array of soft beeping sounds.

“Aww! She’s kind of cute…for a potential homicidal maniac.”

Reaching out, you take VEE into your hands and she—you swear to every deity—purrs, nestling herself further into your grasp.

“Hmph. Traitor,” Tony murmurs halfheartedly as he moves to make his way over to Dummy.

Huddling VEE close to your chest, you follow after the brunet man with your eyes and notice Dummy lingering across the way for the first time.

“Aww! There’s another one!?”

You rush over, VEE and all, and eagerly approach the other bot. Dummy makes beeping noises at your arrival, but his pitch is much lower than VEE’s.

“What’s this one do?” you inquire excitedly.

“His name is Dummy and he does pretty much everything.”

“Everything?” you drawl with slight skepticism.

Just as you ask that Dummy tries to make his way around the table, only to run into it and knock he contents closest to the edge off. The robot then sets off to cleaning the mess and Tony just let out a weary sigh, a hand making its way up to rest a his forehead.

“…most…some things. He does some things.”

You smile softly at the inventor before turning the smile on the robot before you, “He seems like a very efficient worker.”

Dummy positively trills when you reach out a hand to lightly pat the robot.

Tony smirks, pleased with your genuine compliment, but you miss it seeing that you’re quite absorbed in the larger bot in front of you.

“I bet all your friends think these guys are the coolest things!” you praise as you stand back up to your full height, tugging VEE closer to your chest.

“Well, assuming I had any friends, I’m sure they would,” Tony says as he moves to the work bench with a half-finished MARK suit upon it, wordlessly taking up a wrench and setting off to work

You frown curiously as you turn to address the billionaire, “What are you talking about? You have friends! What about, I don’t know, your entire team?”

“Exactly, we’re just that: a team.”

Your frown deepens and with scrunched brows you regard him. Tony glances at you from the corner of his eye before turning back to tightening bolts on the suit.

“If you haven’t exactly noticed, I don’t play well with others.”

You ponder upon his words, running them through your mind as you recall all the interactions you’d seen Tony have with others. None of them seemed out of place or problematic.

“You seem to be doing pretty well to me. Plus you could always learn.”

“Can’t teach an old dog new tricks,” Tony says with a sing-song voice.

“Oh! Not true! There’s a ton of research that proves that you can teach an old dog new tricks.”

The smirk on you face is positively triumphant and you stand akimbo ready for whatever the billionaire decides to throw your way. He silently peers over to you with a flat expression and you simply raise your brows.

“It’s a figure of speech,” he drawls lazily.

“And mine’s is fact. You live by fact, don’t you?”

Tony opts to say nothing, merely returning his attention back to the work at hand. Your shoulders drop at the lack of a witty reply and a curiously perplexed expression slips onto your face as your hands slide from your hips to rest loosely at your side.

“You know, I just don’t understand,” You pause before slowly approaching Tony in an effort to get him to look at you, “You talk so big about you to everyone, but you.”

Tony had been beyond prepared to deliver a smart-aleck response to anything you had to say this time around…except that. At the look on his face you pause again, afraid that you may have genuinely hurt him, but before you can even begin to apologize, the elevator bings and out step Thor and Clint.

“Starkster!” Clint calls he eagerly hops down the half-steps and makes his way over to you and Tony, “And (name)? So this is where you’ve been hiding! We we’re wondering where you went!”

“Indeed! I paid visit to your chambers but you did not answer,” Thor chimes in.

“Oh, sorry. I was down here tampering with Stark’s goods.”

“Yes, but not the kind I’d prefer.” The smug grin on Tony’s face is blinding and it hinders your thought process of analyzing what he just said.

“What are you—Oh my god!”

You hurriedly punch the inventor in his shoulder and VEE slips out of your arm to hover beside your shoulder.  You aren’t sure whether to be agitated or relieved that Tony seemed to be back to his usual self.

“You are incorrigible,” you mutter as you fold your arms over your chest, chewing at your bottom lip as you pout.

“I try.”

Your eyes snap wide open at that. Tony’s words made you think of JARVIS’ earlier today and you feel a sense of foreboding wash over you. Shoot! Perhaps JARVIS’ sense of humor was much too similar to Tony’s!

“What did you two want?” Tony asks, wiping his hands off on a nearby rag.

“The hockey game’s on, man! I’d thought I let you know your sorry excuse of team is about to get their asses kicked.”

An easy smirk makes its way onto Tony’s face as he tosses the rag haphazardly on the floor and Dummy is quick to retrieve it and place it upon the closest table.

“50 bucks says my team wins,” Tony replies coolly.

“Make that $150 and Stark you’ve got yourself a damn deal!”

“Done.”

The two then shake hands and nod at one another competitively. You watch them playfully bicker as you wonder how in the world Tony didn’t consider this a friendship. You shake the thought off, filing it away as a conversation for another day, before turning to Thor.

“Thor, do you watch hockey?”

“I admit it is a game most unfamiliar to Asgard, but I find myself quite taken with it. There’s no game like a fierce game amongst fellow men.”

You quirk a smile at that as you gently shake your head. So basically, he just liked when all the players got hostile. Somehow that’s very unsurprising.

“Tell me, (name). Do you also find yourself fond of ‘hockey?’”

You nod softly before relaying your favorite team to him.

“No damn way!  You like them too!?” Clint suddenly exclaims as he wraps an arm loosely around your shoulders.

“Yeah. Do you?”

“They’re the only team worth supporting!” Clint says cheekily as he eyes Tony with a smirk. Tony simply rolls his eyes at Clint’s little display.

You grin widely at his response. It felt really good to find have someone here that you had something in common with.

“Actually, the game starts in 10. You interested?”

“You bet!” is your eager response.

“Awesome, let’s get going. To the Theater Room!”

“You have a Theater Room?” you ask Tony and he just gives you that ‘look’ again.

“Yup, you’re right. That was a dumb question.”

Tony then heads off, back to work on his suit once more.

“Aren’t you coming? Don’t tell me you’re afraid to watch your team get owned?”

Clint grins widely as he eyes you, impressed with your well delivered taunt. Again, Tony replies with the mere roll his eyes as he waves you off with the flick of his wrist.

“I actually have work I have to finish up here first.”

You nod in agreement as you head over to the elevator with the others. Stark did seem like a busy man. Then something dawned on you and stop in place and turn back to look at Tony.

“Hey, you never did tell me what you called me here for.”

“Hmm…I can’t seem to recall. Probably wasn’t that important,” Tony replies without even looking back to face you.

He then switches on one of his many power tools and sets off to work. The sound makes you cringe so you swiftly stepped into the elevator, feeling relieved when the doors shut and the grinding fades.

“He was just worried about you,” Clint says as he leans back on the railing behind him.

“Tony Stark? Worried? About me?” you ask skeptically and dryly.

“You had not stepped out from your quarters for quite some time and we all began to wonder about your wellbeing,” Thor adds.

“I guess Tony just took matters into his own hands. Not that it’s any kind of surprise,” Clint finishes.

Though his words may have seemed agitated, his tone told otherwise. Despite all the bickering the two seemed to constantly do, it seemed quite clear to you that Clint thought of Tony as a friend. Then again, you couldn’t be entirely sure. They did work for SHIELD. Who knows what kind of personal boundaries they had to draw to be able to work together…your mind begins to wander.

In case they had to kill one another. Was that even a possibility? The sudden touch of Thor’s guiding hand brings you back to reality and you step out of the lift and into the Theatre Room, which seems more like an actually cinema than a room. Soon you find yourself curled up on a sinfully comfortable chair with popcorn and candy within reach and a satisfactory game of hockey up on the big screen. The three of you cheer, chant, and complain in almost perfect tandem, enjoying the simplicity of the afternoon.

---

Who? The sight of his face made you quickly pull your hands from the throne and hide them nervously behind your back.

“Loki?”